A Sharper Focus

The Anatomy of Righteousness -part 6

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Pr. John Lomacang

Series Code: ASHF

00:20 Hello friends, welcome to Wednesday night Bible study
00:23 here at the 3ABN Worship Center, A Sharper Focus.
00:26 We thank you for taking the time to tune in
00:28 as we continue our study in, The Anatomy of Righteousness.
00:33 In just a moment I'll tell you where to get a copy of the
00:35 lesson and how to follow along with us.
00:37 But all you need is your Bible, your pen,
00:41 and whatever questions you might have.
00:43 We'll give you a website in just a moment
00:45 where you can send those to us.
00:46 But we thank you for tuning in.
00:48 Can we all say amen to that?
00:50 And we are asking the Lord to reveal to us
00:54 in His Word tonight what it means to be righteous.
00:59 How to walk in the righteousness of Jesus.
01:03 How to know that we have that connection and relationship.
01:06 We're going to also study in the beginning
01:08 the science of what sin really is.
01:10 You know, we talk about sin and we say that sin is the
01:12 transgression of the law.
01:14 But we need to know the practicalities of it.
01:17 And we'll talk about that tonight.
01:19 But before we go any further, before we even sing our
01:22 theme song, let's begin with a word of prayer.
01:25 Loving Father in heaven, we thank You tonight
01:26 for opening our hearts as we open Your Word.
01:30 Come and speak to us, we pray,
01:33 that the purpose of Jesus might be accomplished,
01:36 that Your name may be glorified.
01:39 In Christ's name we pray, amen.
01:43 Now we're on lesson number 38.
01:46 We're going to begin from question number 19.
01:48 And each one of us has a syllabus in front of us,
01:50 but to get a copy of yours, go to the following website:
01:57 And download lesson number 38.
02:00 And it's a total of 29 questions that you'll be able to
02:03 follow along with us as we cover the topic.
02:06 But before we do anything else, we're going to
02:08 sing our theme song.
02:09 And our theme songs is, Victory in Jesus.
02:11 Let's sing this song together.
02:22 I heard an old, old story how the Savior came from glory,
02:29 how He gave His life on Calvary to save a wretch like me.
02:37 I heard about His groaning, of His precious blood's atoning.
02:44 Then I repented of my sins and won the victory.
02:52 O victory in Jesus, my Savior forever.
02:59 He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood.
03:07 He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is due Him.
03:15 He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood.
03:22 I heard about a mansion He has built for me in glory,
03:30 and I heard about the streets of gold beyond the crystal sea,
03:37 about the angels singing and the old redemption story.
03:45 And some sweet day I'll sing up there the song of victory.
03:52 O victory in Jesus, my Savior forever.
04:00 He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood.
04:08 He loved me ere I knew Him, and all my love is due Him.
04:15 He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood.
04:23 He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood.
04:33 Amen.
04:35 The topic is, or the overall theme is, The Truth About
04:39 the Anatomy of Righteousness.
04:41 Say that with me.
04:46 Now I'm going to dive right in tonight because
04:49 I want to illustrate some things that,
04:51 you know, when we talk about sin, we don't often
04:53 talk about it in the sense of A, B, C, D E:
04:58 how it happens, how we get to the place
05:03 where we do things we never thought we could do,
05:06 where we do things we never thought we would do.
05:09 And then when we enter the Christian life, we do things
05:12 we never thought we could do.
05:14 So let me say that again.
05:15 Sin makes you do things you never thought you would do.
05:19 And righteousness enables you to do things you never thought
05:22 you could do.
05:25 But I want to talk about that tonight.
05:27 And I have a few slides that come before we dive
05:31 into question number 19.
05:32 But I want to ask our audio visual team to bring the
05:35 slide up, and I'm going to just walk with you briefly
05:38 through this slide that's called, Sin Is.
05:41 And look at this with me.
05:42 Sin is an enslaving power.
05:46 Bring that up for our audience to see that.
05:48 Sin is an enslaving power.
05:53 And then, sin is a controlling power.
05:57 Say that with me. Sin is a what?
06:00 ...enslaving power. Then sin is what else?
06:03 Controlling power.
06:05 In other words, in the picture you see,
06:08 you see a person in chains.
06:10 Because sin, before it controls you,
06:14 it has to enslave you.
06:16 It has to bind you first.
06:18 And then after it binds you, it controls you.
06:22 But it cannot control you until it first enslaves you.
06:27 And that's why the Bible uses the phrase, Paul uses the phrase
06:31 in Romans 6:16, "slave."
06:35 He says, "When we yield ourself we become that one's slave
06:40 whom we obey, whether of sin leading to death,
06:44 or of obedience leading to righteousness."
06:47 But it begins in an enslaving capacity.
06:50 And it's amazing that he uses the word, "slave," for both
06:52 righteous as well as for sin.
06:56 For living a good life and living an evil life.
06:59 And if you go further, let's look at this passage here.
07:02 I'm going to bring it up on the screen.
07:03 Romans 7:17
07:04 And I've hi-lighted certain words so you can see
07:06 exactly what I'm talking about.
07:08 Because a lot of times when we fall into sin,
07:11 or when we yield to sin, very few times do you fall into sin.
07:16 Sin is a choice.
07:18 In many cases, sin is a choice.
07:19 Now when a person is deceived, like Eve was deceived,
07:22 then her eyes were opened and then he finds herself
07:24 in a place where she should not have been.
07:27 But that's deception.
07:28 But outside of deception, sin is often a choice.
07:31 Sin is a choice to yield or not to yield.
07:34 To go left or not to go left.
07:36 And that's why Paul says this.
07:37 So after we yield, notice what happens.
07:40 After sin enslaves us, notice Romans 7:17, here it is.
07:45 Paul says...
07:57 "It is not longer I who do it."
07:58 So when you look at this, in fact, when you look at the
08:01 enslaving capacity, and I'm going to give you an example
08:03 in the Bible which you are fully aware of,
08:06 sin doesn't care how strong you are.
08:09 Once it binds you, it will control you.
08:13 Let's go to Judges very quickly with me.
08:16 "It is no longer I who do it."
08:18 So when sin binds you, it now begins to control you.
08:22 And then as Paul said so wonderfully in Romans 7,
08:25 he says, "What I want to do, I'm not doing.
08:28 What I don't want to do, that's exactly what I'm doing."
08:31 In other words, I can't control what's happening.
08:34 Because when sin enslaves, it then controls.
08:38 Now go to Judges 16, look at an example very quickly.
08:43 And the reason why I led into this by saying
08:46 it doesn't matter how strong you are,
08:48 I'm going to use the example of the strongest man
08:52 that ever lived, outside of Jesus.
08:57 Judges 16:21
08:58 Now you know the scenario very well.
09:02 Sampson and Delilah.
09:04 Delilah continued to egg him on.
09:08 And here is a very important spiritual note.
09:12 The devil does not attack us at our weak point.
09:17 He goes for our strong point.
09:20 Because if he can break you at your strongest point,
09:23 everything else is going to crumble.
09:26 If he breaks you at your strongest point.
09:28 Remember the question that Delilah asked Sampson?
09:31 She said, "Tell me wherein your strength lies."
09:36 She never said, "Tell me where you're weak."
09:38 She said, "Tell me where you're strong."
09:40 Now unlike the program that was on the air many years ago,
09:43 it says, "We're only as strong as our weakest link."
09:45 That's in human terms.
09:47 But the Lord granted Sampson the ability by obedience
09:51 to be strong.
09:53 And that's why we are told by Paul again,
09:54 "Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might."
09:59 We're never strong in our own strength.
10:01 Because we are by nature sinful weak human beings.
10:05 That's the nature that Adam gave to us.
10:07 But if you look at Judges 16:21, look at what happens when
10:11 Delilah finally breaks through and Sampson reveals his heart.
10:15 This is not on the screen.
10:16 Just walk with me through your Bible.
10:18 The Bible says, "Then the Philistines took him
10:21 and put out his eyes..."
10:23 Something else sin does: it blinds you.
10:26 "...and brought him down to Gaza."
10:28 You never go up after you sin. You always go down.
10:31 If you look at the Bible, any time a person is
10:33 running from God or in sin, the word, "down," is often
10:35 introduced into the scenario.
10:38 Then after he loses his eyesight, he's going down.
10:41 What's the next thing?
10:42 They did what?
10:43 "...bound him with bronze fetters,
10:47 and he became a grinder in the prison."
10:51 Notice the four things that happened in that verse.
10:54 Took out his eyes: lost his sight.
10:57 The other one, he went down.
10:58 His life was going down.
11:00 Once you lose your sight,
11:01 once you lose your spiritual sight, you are going down.
11:04 That's why the Bible says to the Laodiceans,
11:06 "Anoint my eyes with eye salve that I may see."
11:10 One of the sins of this age is, we are so increased with goods
11:13 we can't see our real condition.
11:16 Lost his eyesight, went down.
11:18 Then after he lost his eyesight, was on his way down
11:21 in the wrong direction, they bound him.
11:24 And then what? He became a grinder in the what?
11:27 Prison. That's what sin does.
11:29 After you're bound, you're going to go to prison.
11:34 But look at the next verse.
11:38 That actually pulls the whole thing together.
11:41 I'll just leave it right there.
11:42 That pulls the whole thing together, verse 21.
11:45 Because we know the rest of the story.
11:46 They took him down, he was grinding, and he lost his hair.
11:50 And the Lord gave him grace when he begged the Lord,
11:55 "Please, bless me this one more time."
11:58 And we know the rest of the story.
11:59 He killed more in his death than he did in his life.
12:02 But I want you to see something.
12:04 Was Sampson considered a strong man, yes or no?
12:07 He was.
12:08 Now go to Matthew 12:29.
12:10 This is not on the screen again.
12:11 We're giving you a chance to use your Bible.
12:13 I want you to see how it works.
12:15 Matthew 12:29
12:17 Because the question is, if two innocent perfect beings
12:23 in the garden can be led into sin,
12:29 then our only safety is to be in Christ.
12:32 Now you see the strongest man that ever lived: Sampson.
12:35 Lost his eyesight, went down, got bound,
12:38 and became a prisoner.
12:40 Alright?
12:41 Matthew 12:29
12:43 "Or how can one enter a..." What?
12:46 "...strong man's house and plunder his goods..."
12:51 And get this.
12:52 "...unless he first..." What?
12:55 "...binds the strong man?
12:57 And then he will plunder his house."
13:00 No matter how strong you are, in order for you
13:04 to be rendered incapacitated,
13:08 rendered helpless, rendered no longer in control,
13:12 you've got to be bound first.
13:14 So sin is first an enslaving power.
13:17 Then it is a what?
13:18 Controlling power.
13:19 But the text we read in Romans 7:17,
13:22 Paul says when sin binds you, "It is no longer I who do it,
13:27 but sin that dwells..." Where? "...in me."
13:29 Now let me give you some good news.
13:31 You know they say, "I've got bad news and I've got good news.
13:33 I'll give you the bad news first."
13:34 Let me show you the beauty of living your life
13:37 in yielding to Christ.
13:39 Go to the next one, this is on the screen.
13:40 Here it is.
13:42 Galatians 2:20. Here it is, follow along.
13:50 Galatians 2:20, Paul says...
13:55 And look at the phrases. I hi-lighted them again.
13:59 You're taken out of the equation.
14:15 Isn't that wonderful?
14:17 Now what I'm going to pull together now in the next
14:18 slide here is, we're going to begin with the power of sin.
14:20 Let's look at this very next one, because I want to
14:22 show you a side by side comparison.
14:24 Before we bring it up, once again, when sin enters,
14:27 when we yield to sin, we are rendered incapacitated.
14:30 We are rendered incapable.
14:31 We cannot free ourselves.
14:32 And look at this graphic.
14:34 It says...
14:40 But what is now controlling?
14:44 Once it gets in, once we let it in, once we yield to it,
14:47 it comes in and it first enslaves us.
14:50 And then it does what? Controls us.
14:53 And that's why people have said, when they've been set free,
14:55 "I don't believe I did that."
14:58 And we see people, we know them before
15:01 and we see them after.
15:03 And we look at them in the after affect,
15:05 and we say, "I can't believe that's you."
15:08 Because I'm going to tell you, sin may be powerful,
15:11 but Jesus is even more powerful.
15:14 Look at the next graphic.
15:15 The side by side comparison.
15:17 I'm going to add the power of Christ to it.
15:19 Let's look at this. Here it is.
15:28 Now leave it up there, because I want you to see this.
15:30 The power of sin.
15:32 On both cases, I want you to get off the hook,
15:34 "It is no longer I..."
15:37 You are not in control.
15:38 But once you yield, you lose control.
15:41 But the good news is, once you yield to Christ,
15:43 He is in control.
15:45 Amen?
15:47 Once you yield to sin, sin is in control.
15:51 But notice, look at them both.
15:53 "...who do it..."
15:54 "...who lives..."
15:55 And then, "...but sin...", when you are in sin.
15:59 And when we are in Christ, "...but Christ..."
16:01 And when we are in sin, sin dwells in me.
16:05 But when we yield to Christ, Christ lives in me.
16:09 See the difference?
16:10 It's an amazing comparison.
16:12 How amazing Paul uses in Romans and in Galatians
16:15 the phrases that are almost identical.
16:17 The comparisons are almost identical.
16:19 "It is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me."
16:22 "It is no longer who lives, but Christ who lives in me."
16:26 What a comparison!
16:27 So now we think about this tonight, and we think,
16:30 so the question to us, when we are led out of sin,
16:36 if we are bound by sin, then how are we going to get the victory?
16:43 Go with me to another text that's not on the screen.
16:45 1 Corinthians 15:57
16:46 This will be on the screen for those of you
16:48 who are watching at home, but it's not in our syllabus.
16:51 I just want to lay some important foundation.
16:54 Where are we going to get the victory?
16:56 Look at this.
16:58 Where are we going to get the victory?
16:59 Look at 1 Corinthians 15:57. Read it together with me.
17:01 Here it is.
17:14 Amen?
17:15 So where do we get the victory?
17:17 Do we win the victory?
17:19 Or does Christ win it and give us the victory?
17:23 He wins it and He gives us the victory.
17:25 You see, the emancipation proclamation, the release of
17:28 slaves was, the emancipation was already signed and ratified.
17:33 And the slaves, all they had to do was accept the fact that
17:36 they had been set free.
17:38 That's why the Bible says, "He that believeth..."
17:41 That's where salvation comes in.
17:43 "All things are possible to the one who believes..."
17:45 "Whosoever believeth in Me..."
17:48 When we yield, when we yield to Christ and accept this gift.
17:52 "For by grace are you saved through faith,
17:55 and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
18:00 not of works, lest anyone should boast."
18:04 And the beauty of it is, Jesus remembered His mission.
18:07 Let's look at one more before we go to question number 19.
18:09 Isaiah 61:1
18:15 Let's look at that one together.
18:17 The mission of Jesus.
18:18 The mission of Jesus.
18:20 This is not on the screen.
18:21 But since you have your Bibles, I know you're following along.
18:25 Isaiah 61:1
18:28 Praise the Lord.
18:31 Jesus recited this when He spoke in the book of Luke.
18:35 But here it is in Isaiah 61.
18:38 "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me,
18:42 because the LORD has anointed Me to preach..." What?
18:45 "... good tidings to the poor;
18:47 He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
18:50 to proclaim liberty to the captives..."
18:52 And look at this.
18:54 "...and the opening of the prison to those who are bound."
19:00 "...to those who are bound."
19:02 You read the story of Peter.
19:03 When Peter was thrown in prison,
19:06 the Lord not only broke the chains,
19:09 but He opened all the gates that was between Peter's freedom
19:14 and Peter's complete freedom.
19:15 And as I said before in the sermon called,
19:17 Breaking the Chains, freedom is a process.
19:20 Peter's chains were broken, but he was still in prison.
19:24 The Lord broke his chains, lead him past the first gate,
19:27 the second gate, and then the iron gate.
19:30 And it was not until Peter was in the street
19:33 that the Bible says the angel of the Lord left him.
19:36 Now many people might think,
19:37 "Wow, why would the Lord leave Peter?"
19:39 It says the angel left him.
19:40 It didn't say the Holy Spirit left him.
19:43 Alright?
19:44 Because Jesus said, "I'll ever leave you nor forsake you."
19:46 The Spirit will come and He will abide with you always.
19:48 Very important to understand.
19:50 So I want to lay that foundation because
19:51 when you talk about the anatomy of righteousness,
19:54 we have to make it very, very clear in the beginning
19:57 that this thing called righteousness is not
20:00 something we perpetrate, but we simply yield to Christ.
20:06 And, Philippians 1:6, "He who has begun a good work
20:10 in you will complete it."
20:12 "Christ in you, the hope of glory."
20:18 But sometimes we get discouraged when we don't
20:19 see results quickly enough.
20:21 So let's go now to question number 19.
20:24 Alright, here we are.
20:26 Question number 19.
20:40 Romans 7:22-23
20:43 And now that we have the foundation,
20:46 we know one of the reasons why there is a war
20:48 is because the war starts only when we come to the realization
20:52 that there's good and bad.
20:53 There's never a war when we only are living for the bad.
20:57 That's why people that are living in sin,
20:59 they look like they're having it easy.
21:01 They don't look like they have difficulty.
21:03 But when they become aware of the responsibility
21:07 of being obedient, and they face the law of God,
21:10 then the war begins.
21:12 Here it is.
21:13 Romans 7:22-23, the Bible says...
21:19 "...the inward man..." That's the spiritual life.
21:35 Notice the captivity.
21:37 Paul is saying, now this is a very important analogy here,
21:41 Paul the apostle wrote this after his experience.
21:48 He didn't write this when he was Saul.
21:50 He wrote this when he was Paul.
21:53 He acknowledged that, "Now that I'm in the way
21:58 of Christ, there's this battle going on in me."
22:02 See, when we face the responsibility,
22:05 the parameters of our walk with Christ,
22:08 and we recognize that this battle taking place
22:13 in me is present, the only thing that we could contribute
22:17 that too is the law of sin which is in my members.
22:21 The law of sin does what?
22:23 It controls.
22:25 It fights against the law of God.
22:28 And it brings us into captivity to the law of sin and death,
22:31 which is in our members.
22:32 So let's write that down.
22:34 Let's give the answer very quickly,
22:35 and we're going to walk through that together.
22:37 So how does the apostle Paul describe the war
22:39 that causes sin?
22:41 The law of sin.
22:43 The law of sin.
22:46 And the law of sin, by the way, is not five commandments,
22:50 or three commandments, or ten commandments
22:51 that are violated.
22:53 The law of sin is the nature of Adam that rules in this flesh.
22:59 The nature of Adam that rules in this flesh.
23:02 But there's some good news.
23:04 But there's some good news.
23:06 We're going to use the bad news first,
23:08 then we'll give you the good news.
23:10 Okay, question number 20.
23:12 Question number 20.
23:14 Here it is.
23:23 Go with me to Romans 7:24, just the next verse.
23:26 We don't even have to turn anywhere.
23:28 The very next verse.
23:31 Look at what Paul's realization is.
23:33 And by the way, you'll know in the analogy,
23:35 I alluded to this earlier, Paul says,
23:38 "This is what I want to do,
23:41 but this is what I'm doing.
23:43 This is not what I want to do,
23:45 but this is what I can't do."
23:48 So something has to be broken.
23:50 And so when I talked about it earlier, when I showed you
23:53 the power of sin and the power of Christ,
23:55 you might say, "Well, are we robots?
23:58 Do we just stand still, and sin does this and Christ does that?"
24:02 No, there's something that we must do
24:06 to fall as benefactor of righteousness
24:09 or victim of sin.
24:11 Something we have to do.
24:12 So, here, where do we end up?
24:14 Look at what the Bible says in Romans 7:24.
24:17 "O wretched man that I am..."
24:26 Or the boy of this death.
24:28 Depending on which translation you have.
24:29 "Who will deliver me?"
24:31 So let me ask you the question, what do each of us need?
24:35 Say it again.
24:37 Deliverance.
24:38 Each of us needs deliverance.
24:41 Jesus came to deliver.
24:43 Matthew 1:21
24:45 "He shall save His people..." What's the next word?
24:49 "...from their sin."
24:52 "Behold, the Lamb of God that taketh away the..." What?
24:54 "...sin of the world."
24:56 Jesus came on a delivery mission.
24:59 And I want to just say what He didn't come on.
25:02 Jesus didn't come on a mission of condemnation.
25:05 He came on a mission of reconciliation.
25:08 So often our preaching is condemnation.
25:11 But John 3:16 is a favorite verse that we all know by heart.
25:14 Don't we all know it by heart?
25:16 But John 3:17 describes who Jesus is.
25:19 "For God sent not his Son into the world
25:21 to condemn the world;
25:23 but that the world through him might be..." What?
25:25 "...saved."
25:26 Why didn't He send His Son to condemn the world?
25:28 You know why? Because we're already condemned.
25:31 You don't have to tell a prisoner he's a prisoner.
25:34 You don't have to tell a criminal he's a criminal.
25:36 He knows that.
25:38 What he wants is, when he stands before the judge,
25:40 you know what they say, when you're guilty
25:41 you don't ask for justice.
25:43 You ask for mercy.
25:44 When you're innocent, you ask for justice.
25:46 But when you're guilty, you ask for mercy.
25:48 A criminal... And this is amazing.
25:50 In America, we use the word, "alleged."
25:52 When they've got the video tape.
25:54 They see him blowing people away,
25:55 they see the guy, they see his face right up on the camera,
25:57 they say, "alleged."
25:58 In other words, they say, "You are innocent until proven..."
26:00 What? "...guilty."
26:02 Well in the reality of sin, you are guilty
26:05 till you are made innocent.
26:08 We are born guilty,
26:10 and we are made innocent by the blood of the Lamb.
26:13 Praise God for that.
26:14 So Paul sees himself in a wretched condition
26:16 and he wants to be delivered.
26:18 Unless you know what your true condition is,
26:21 you will think yourself as being a good person.
26:23 And I've met people that said, "Well I don't hurt anybody.
26:26 I've never stolen anything, I'm a good neighbor,
26:28 I keep my lawn in good shape.
26:30 I donate to the boy scouts, girl scouts, the pathfinders.
26:33 I'm a community activist,
26:34 I stand for all the good causes."
26:36 No matter what you do, you cannot remedy the condition
26:39 that you were born in.
26:41 1 Corinthians 15:22 "...as in Adam all die..."
26:45 Romans 5:12
26:46 "...just as through one man sin entered the world,
26:49 and death through sin, and thus death spread to all
26:55 because all have sinned."
26:58 In other words, Adam gave us this DNA of sin.
27:00 So you can't remedy that,
27:03 any more than the Ethiopian can change his skin color
27:07 and the leopard can get rid of his spots.
27:09 You're born in that condition.
27:12 But let's go to the good news.
27:13 Now the answer to number 20, where do we usually end up?
27:15 We usually end up wretched.
27:18 Begging for deliverance.
27:19 But here's the key.
27:20 If you think yourself as a good person,
27:22 you'll never desire deliverance.
27:24 And you'll come to the day of judgment and realize,
27:26 "Wait a minute, I'm not good enough to be saved.
27:28 Now I'm wretched."
27:30 That's why the Bible says there will be weeping
27:32 and gnashing of teeth.
27:33 Some people think that they're good enough, wealthy enough,
27:36 educated enough, kind enough, done enough to be saved.
27:41 No. There's no salvation by works.
27:43 It's always by grace through faith in Jesus.
27:46 Question number 21.
27:48 Question number 21.
27:50 Alright. This is beautiful.
28:00 This is a powerful question.
28:10 Romans 8:2
28:12 The Bible describes the freedom.
28:15 And here's the key.
28:16 Jesus didn't come to set us free.
28:18 He came to do what?
28:21 Say that.
28:23 He came to make us free.
28:26 There's a lot of people that get set free from prison,
28:28 but they fall into what they call, the recidivism rate.
28:31 They go back, because they may have been physically set free,
28:34 but spiritually and mentally they are still bound.
28:36 In their mind they still practice
28:38 the things of a prisoner.
28:39 They come into a society of those who are free,
28:41 but they never get acclimated to the life of a free person.
28:44 We have to be made free in our minds.
28:46 And here's what Paul says.
28:47 Romans 8:2, notice how the Bible says this.
29:02 Notice, I led into this by saying,
29:05 Jesus didn't come to set us free.
29:06 He came to what? Make us free.
29:09 And the law of the Spirit of life.
29:11 What is that law?
29:13 What is that law of the Spirit of life?
29:15 Now, in the benefit of putting the text
29:18 in the order that I want them...
29:19 And you might say, "Well why did he go to Romans 8:2
29:21 before he went to Romans 8:1?"
29:24 Because I have a specific science I want to reveal to you.
29:29 "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
29:34 has made me free from the law of sin and death."
29:38 What is the law of the Spirit of life?
29:41 Let's go to Romans.
29:43 Now put that down for question number 21.
29:47 But now let's go to question number 22.
29:49 What responsibility do we have in maintaining freedom
29:55 from sin's law?
30:04 Before I dive into that, I'm just going to go
30:07 for the answer here in just a moment,
30:08 before I dive into that, yes, before I dive into that
30:12 I want to just go back to, "the law of the Spirit of life."
30:17 Do you know...
30:20 When Jesus appointed His disciples to a life of ministry,
30:24 even when Jesus was baptized...
30:27 This is very important.
30:28 A lot of people get baptized by water,
30:31 but they don't get baptized by the Spirit.
30:34 The Spirit is where the enabling power comes from.
30:38 The Spirit doesn't plant Himself in us,
30:42 He plants Christ in us.
30:45 Because Jesus said Himself, "When the Spirit comes,
30:49 He will not speak on His own authority.
30:51 Whatever He hears, He'll speak
30:53 and He'll show you things to come.
30:55 He will glorify Me."
30:56 The Spirit doesn't glorify Himself.
30:58 That's why we are told, "Fear God and give glory to Him."
31:02 Some people are glorifying the Holy Spirit.
31:04 No, we're told to give glory to God.
31:06 Not even the Holy Spirit glorifies Himself.
31:08 He glorifies Christ.
31:10 And we are told to give God the glory.
31:12 "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do,"
31:14 1 Corinthians 10:31, "do all to the glory of God."
31:18 But the law of the Spirit of life, when the Spirit of God
31:21 comes into our hearts, when the Spirit of God
31:25 comes into our hearts, there's a power that takes over.
31:28 Go with me to, go with me to...
31:30 Well let's answer this question, then we'll go.
31:32 Since I've already asked the question,
31:34 let's go to the answer to number 22.
31:36 And then I'll turn you to the scripture
31:37 that I'm talking about.
31:38 What responsibility do we have in maintaining freedom
31:41 from sin's law?
31:42 Look at Romans 8:1. Here it is.
31:46 The Bible says...
31:58 Here is our responsibility.
32:06 It's the walk.
32:07 It's the walk that we begin.
32:09 You know, repentance is an amazing thing.
32:11 Repentance means you no longer walk in the same direction.
32:15 Repentance means a turn.
32:18 Well repentance also means that you acknowledge your sin.
32:21 As David says, "My sin is ever before me."
32:23 But he prayed, "Take not your Holy Spirit from me.
32:28 Restore to me the joy of your salvation."
32:31 He knew.
32:32 As people said, "Well, the Holy Spirit wasn't
32:34 given until the New Testament."
32:37 That is, to work through the lives of the disciples.
32:39 But the Spirit of God was always active.
32:41 David said, "Do not take Your Holy Spirit from me."
32:45 Because He knew the secret to repentance
32:47 and now living above the sin he had caused,
32:50 or had perpetrated, or had been involved in,
32:52 was the Spirit of God coming back into his life
32:55 and he's now no longer living according to the old way.
32:59 So David had to make a choice though.
33:00 He couldn't just say, "Free me and forgive me."
33:04 But David had to change the way he walked.
33:07 And so when we come into this relationship with Jesus
33:11 after He sets us free, let's go back to the prisoner example,
33:14 when he comes out...
33:16 I've seen enough prison shows to know in some of the scenarios
33:20 some of the prisoners say, "See you next month."
33:24 It's terrible because they know.
33:26 Some people have been in prison so long
33:28 some of them say, "I don't know any other life but prison life."
33:32 And they taunt their friends.
33:34 They taunt them, "See you next month."
33:35 "See you next week."
33:37 "Oh we'll see you soon."
33:38 And some of the prison guards say,
33:40 "You're going to be back."
33:41 You know why?
33:43 Because they haven't changed the way they walk.
33:47 So look at Romans 8:1.
33:49 Did we just read it?
33:51 "There is therefore now no condemnation
33:53 to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk
33:58 according to the flesh, but according to the..." What?
34:02 "...according to the Spirit."
34:04 Now they're walking differently.
34:05 And how are they able to walk according to the Spirit?
34:11 This is a very powerful point.
34:12 How do we get to the place where we walk according to the Spirit?
34:16 Now remember I said earlier that salvation is a gift.
34:19 Right? Is it not a gift?
34:20 "Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory."
34:24 He gets the victory, then He gives it to us.
34:26 But now if I'm giving you a victory,
34:28 and you don't receive it, then you don't have the victory.
34:33 If I've paid the penalty for your sin
34:36 and rose in giving you the example to now walk as I walk,
34:42 in giving you the power to live above sin,
34:44 but you don't receive the gift, then you're really not free.
34:48 Go with me to John chapter 1.
34:50 Go to John chapter 1.
35:04 We are going to look at two comparisons.
35:09 Wow!
35:14 Okay, we'll start with...
35:20 We'll just go to verses 11 and 12,
35:24 just to gives ourselves some room to continue to go through
35:27 the next questions we have.
35:29 John 1:11-12. What did Jesus say?
35:32 He said, "He came to His own, and His own..." What?
35:38 "...did not receive Him."
35:41 Now let's look at that very carefully.
35:44 One of the reasons why the Pharisees, scribes, the Jews,
35:48 those who rejected Jesus and didn't receive Him
35:52 continually were in conflict with Him is because
35:55 they had no power.
35:58 When you don't receive Him, you don't receive the gift.
36:02 When you don't receive Christ,
36:03 you have nothing by which to live.
36:06 Because the natural man cannot live according to the Spirit.
36:10 The natural man sets his mind on the things of the flesh.
36:14 But the spiritual man sets his mind on the things of God.
36:18 But now look at the comparison.
36:20 I'm talking about the power. Alright?
36:22 And I'm reading in the New King James Version,
36:24 but I'm going to substitute a particular word when I
36:27 get down to the word, "right."
36:29 Because the King James Version, I like the way it says it.
36:31 It says, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave
36:36 power to become the children of God,
36:40 to those who believe in His name."
36:43 There's a power that He gives.
36:45 To them He gave what?
36:47 Say it together. What did He give them?
36:49 He gave them the right, as the New King James Version says.
36:52 But the King James says, He gave them power.
36:55 What did He give the apostles on the day of Pentecost?
36:58 He gave them what? Power.
37:01 What did He say when He rose, in Matthew 28,
37:04 "All power is give unto Me."
37:08 A life that is not filled by the power of Christ
37:12 is filled by the power of sin.
37:14 Did you get the comparison now?
37:16 We go full circle.
37:17 If your life is not filled by the power of Christ,
37:19 it's filled by the power of sin.
37:21 And if I could go back to that chart, I would say,
37:24 when your life is filled by the power of sin
37:26 you are not in control.
37:28 Sin will do what it wants, when it wants,
37:31 and you have no choice.
37:37 You might say, "Wait a minute, pastor.
37:38 You just said I don't have any choice."
37:40 Your choice came before you chose sin.
37:45 Now anywhere along the way you can choose to no longer
37:49 continue in sin.
37:50 Because Paul asked the question in Romans 6,
37:54 "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?"
37:59 And what did he say?
38:00 "Certainly not!"
38:02 Don't continue that way because there's grace.
38:06 Some people say, and I heard a commentator once say,
38:09 "It's better to ask for forgiveness
38:11 than it is to ask for permission."
38:15 That's the worse thing to think about.
38:17 So when you decide to receive Christ,
38:21 you receive power to become sons or children of God.
38:26 And the power is only made available to you
38:28 when you receive Him.
38:31 Is Jesus all powerful, yes or no?
38:33 Yes, He said, "All power is given to Me."
38:35 So when you receive Christ, now get this,
38:37 you receive Christ...
38:38 Think about a battery.
38:39 I was going through the house today.
38:41 I have a TENS unit.
38:42 You know, I'm a tall man.
38:44 And every now and then I have tall man's disease.
38:45 Which means, my lower back.
38:47 And I played two hours of basketball the other night.
38:49 And I don't take pills, I don't wear knee pads for aches,
38:52 and I don't take anything for elbow pains, or nothing.
38:55 But sometimes I really, really run intense.
38:57 And I come home and my wife says, "Where's it hurting?"
39:03 "Uh, right there."
39:04 And in the dark last night she's massaging my back.
39:06 "Is it right there?" "Yeah, it's right there."
39:08 "Maybe if I lay flat I'll feel really good."
39:11 If I just... I'm... I'm...
39:13 To the right side, to the left side.
39:15 Because the pain is there.
39:19 And I looked around the house today for this
39:21 TENS unit I know I have.
39:23 You know, when you go to the chiropractor
39:24 they put those little diodes on there.
39:26 And they go...
39:29 And it kind of works the muscles out.
39:31 I found the unit. I found the bag.
39:34 It had five batteries.
39:36 Every single one was dead.
39:39 So after we'd done that,
39:40 I'm going to go get me some batteries.
39:42 Because I had the TENS unit.
39:43 I had all the electrodes to connect.
39:46 I had the wires. Everything looked so good.
39:48 No power.
39:53 Some of us are really good-looking Christians
39:56 with no power.
40:00 So don't ever, and this is the deception,
40:04 don't ever decide whether a person is or is not a Christian
40:07 by how they look.
40:09 You don't decide by how they look,
40:10 you decide by their fruit.
40:12 "By their fruit you will know them."
40:13 Amen, someone?
40:15 But you have to choose.
40:16 The power that Christ gives, John 1:12, the power that
40:19 comes into our lives, get this, it is an enabling power
40:25 and it is a controlling power.
40:28 "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me."
40:31 The power of Christ captures us.
40:33 Now let me ask you a question.
40:35 The word is used... Let's go to the next question.
40:37 Here's where it is. Question number 23.
40:39 I'm going to illustrate what is in the very next question,
40:41 so let me just go to the next question.
40:43 Question 23.
40:55 Romans 6:16 Romans 6:16
41:00 Wow!
41:02 Wow! Two choices.
41:04 And these choices are good before you mess up.
41:09 And even if you mess up, let me just tell you,
41:11 "If anyone sin, he has an Advocate with the Father."
41:15 Come on, can we say amen?
41:16 So I don't want to sound hopeless,
41:19 but I want to tell you, every day when you wake up
41:22 God's mercies are new every morning.
41:25 But look at Romans 6:16.
41:26 This is how we fall into the left box, the power of sin,
41:29 or the right box, the power of Christ.
41:32 Here it is.
41:33 The Bible says...
41:38 "...present yourselves..."
41:39 The King James version says, "yield."
42:02 So what's the word there?
42:03 I want to use the word...
42:05 What are the two choices that we have to determine our actions?
42:10 Sin leading to death,
42:13 obedience leading to righteousness.
42:15 We have to yield in one direction or the other.
42:18 We have to yield in one direction or the other.
42:21 And I don't know very many people that would say...
42:24 My wife and I went to Garden of the Gods the other day.
42:27 It's a beautiful place down...
42:28 We don't have mountains in southern Illinois.
42:30 We have canyons.
42:31 We have little rocks.
42:33 Whenever we see a hill in southern Illinois,
42:34 we get excited.
42:36 We went to the Garden of the Gods the other day.
42:38 And it's about 45 miles from here.
42:41 Beautiful, nice; so good to see some rolling hills.
42:44 And I have a drone.
42:47 And I'm flying my drone; I want to just see what I
42:48 can't see with my natural eyes.
42:50 And my wife wants to see down.
42:53 You know, when you're standing on the rocks
42:55 and it has a good plummet, she wants to see down.
42:58 Yeah, at the top rock. She wants to see down.
43:01 And every time she gets close to the edge, I say,
43:03 "Honey, no. Come back."
43:04 She says, "But I just want to see down."
43:06 I say, "But you don't know that the rock...
43:08 You get to a certain point and the rock just curves off.
43:11 And knowing you, your momentum is going to carry you
43:13 right over the edge."
43:14 She said, "But I just want to see over the edge."
43:16 I said, "Honey, you are not."
43:19 And I grabbed her arm, I wouldn't let her go.
43:21 She said, "But I'm just going to look."
43:22 I said, "You're not even going to look."
43:25 "I'm not letting you get close to the edge of that rock."
43:28 "But it's just right there."
43:29 I said, "Honey, no. We're right here.
43:31 You're not going to the edge."
43:32 Because you know what?
43:34 When you yield, sin has a momentum to it.
43:39 It carries you the rest of the way.
43:43 It has a momentum to it.
43:45 It's deceiving.
43:47 The deception of sin is its momentum.
43:50 When you yield to the point of...
43:52 And I've used this illustration before.
43:54 I might not be able to do it.
43:55 Because, you know, it's live.
43:57 And nothing ever happens the way it's supposed to...
43:59 Oh man, look at that.
44:01 I've been trying this for so long with other pens,
44:03 but I guess this is the one.
44:05 I have reached the fulcrum point in this pen, this digital pen.
44:10 Meaning, it's perfectly balanced.
44:12 But if I move it one way or the other,
44:15 you know what's going to happen?
44:17 I don't have to move very far for this pen
44:19 to lose its balance.
44:21 That's how our daily...
44:23 That's when we wake up in the morning, we wake up like this.
44:26 And if we don't wake up in the morning and accept Christ
44:28 in our lives, we are out of balance.
44:31 Now I'm not saying live with sin on one side
44:33 and righteousness on the other.
44:35 I'm saying, those are the two choices.
44:37 You can go left or you can go right.
44:39 But when you yield in the morning to Christ, you go right.
44:42 And let me just show you this.
44:43 Now this is the side that's righteousness.
44:46 See, when you go to the right...
44:50 ...sin just drops off.
44:53 When you go to the left, righteousness drops off.
44:57 But when you decide in the morning to yield to Christ,
45:01 sin loses its power,
45:04 and Christ is completely in charge.
45:08 So when you wake up in the morning and you think,
45:09 "How is my day going to go?"
45:12 wake up and say, "Lord, you know me."
45:16 There's only two people that really know you:
45:17 you and the Lord.
45:19 That really know your capability.
45:23 And you can wake up in the morning and fool yourself
45:25 and think that you're going to go into the day
45:27 without inviting Christ to come in.
45:29 And you'll find yourself just like the apostle Paul,
45:32 "O wretched man that I am."
45:34 And you'll find yourself falling in the wrong category.
45:37 The power of sin will take over
45:39 and will completely wreck your day.
45:42 But as I said...
45:44 Let me go now and pull this into the category
45:47 of helping us to see.
45:49 Now, I'm going to take it to another platform.
45:55 When you become a Christian, the battle continues.
46:00 Does it not?
46:02 Now the battle doesn't continue...
46:04 Here's where the battle has already been won.
46:07 Follow me carefully, because I talked about a battle,
46:10 then Jesus gives us the victory.
46:12 So how could I say that the battle continues?
46:14 If Paul the apostle didn't recognize that the
46:16 battle continues, he wouldn't say, "I die daily."
46:21 Because there's one thing that survives
46:23 committing our lives to Christ.
46:25 And what is it?
46:27 Come on, what am I putting on?
46:29 The flesh.
46:30 This ole wrecked computer.
46:33 It's going to be replaced one day.
46:35 You can't defrag this computer.
46:38 Every one of us has enough memories of our past
46:42 that could mess us up if we spend all our time
46:44 thinking about the past.
46:49 So when we are in this, as Paul says,
46:53 "O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the
46:56 body of this death," we have this flesh to contend with.
46:58 So where was the power, where was the victory won?
47:02 The victory was won when Jesus delivered us first
47:06 from the penalty of sin.
47:10 What did I say? The what?
47:12 Penalty of sin.
47:14 So when a prisoner is set free and he's no longer in prison,
47:17 the penalty is no longer hanging over his head.
47:24 So why do we need further deliverance?
47:26 Because there are two other things that are still remaining.
47:29 After we're delivered from the penalty of sin
47:32 there are two things still remaining.
47:33 My wife knows the answer.
47:34 The next thing that still exists is the what?
47:37 Power of sin.
47:40 And the final thing that we'll be delivered from when
47:42 Jesus comes, Isaiah I think it's 8:25,
47:49 Isaiah 25:9, you can check it out in a moment,
47:53 the last think that we're going to be delivered from
47:55 is the presence of sin.
47:58 So we have already been delivered,
48:00 when we accept Christ, we have been delivered from the penalty.
48:03 Say the word, "penalty."
48:04 Penalty.
48:06 Every day we need to be delivered from the power of sin.
48:10 When Jesus comes back, Isaiah says,
48:14 "It shall be said in that day, 'Lo, this is our God;
48:17 we have waited for Him, and He will save us.
48:21 This is our Lord; we shall rejoice
48:25 and be glad is His...'" What?
48:27 "...salvation."
48:28 Salvation from what?
48:30 From the presence of sin.
48:33 We have already been delivered.
48:35 "Thanks be to God who gives us the victory."
48:37 We have already been delivered from the penalty.
48:39 Amen?
48:41 So I'm not waking up in the morning, I'm not waking up
48:43 every day as a Christian, as a pastor, fearful of dying,
48:47 fearful of going to hell.
48:50 Amen.
48:53 If you are a Christian and you wake up every day
48:54 terrified of being lost, then there's something wrong.
48:58 You cannot wake up terrified of being lost,
49:00 lest you wake up every day choosing to not
49:02 accept Jesus in your life.
49:04 And you know what happens?
49:06 You're sliding slowly, sliding slowly back
49:08 into where you were before.
49:10 And that's a dangerous thing.
49:12 But if you take hold of the power of Christ every day,
49:14 you're going to see.
49:15 Let's go to question number 24.
49:17 If you take hold of the power of Christ every day,
49:19 you're going to see something that you're going to
49:20 be amazed by.
49:22 Question number 24, here it is.
49:30 You know, the Bible says, "The spirit is willing,
49:33 but the flesh is weak."
49:35 That's the truth.
49:37 The spirit is willing. The spirit is...
49:38 When the Bible says that the spirit is willing,
49:40 that means the Holy Spirit wants to do and He's able to do
49:43 exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.
49:45 We have to daily die to self
49:47 for the Spirit to continue living in us.
49:50 But notice this.
49:51 What happens when we realize that we are weak?
49:53 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
49:57 Here it is, the good news.
49:59 "And He said to me..." What did He say?
50:21 That the power of who? Christ.
50:22 Remember that chart earlier?
50:24 The power of sin, the power of Christ.
50:27 When I say, "I am weak, but Thou art strong..."
50:36 When we say, "I am weak, but though art strong,"
50:40 what do we say? "Jesus keep me from all harm.
50:43 I'll be satisfied as long as I walk close to Thee."
50:49 I won't to sing it.
50:50 But if we say, "I'm strong,"
50:55 then we have taken the power from Christ and
50:57 put it on ourselves.
50:59 Paul the apostle never talked about personal strength.
51:02 He said, "Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might."
51:07 Put on how much of the armor?
51:09 The whole armor of God.
51:11 So the answer, what transaction takes place
51:14 when we realize that we are weak?
51:16 What happens when we realize we are weak?
51:19 His grace is sufficient for us.
51:21 Now I'm going to talk about grace for a moment here.
51:24 Very important.
51:26 We don't grow into grace.
51:30 The Bible never says, "grow into race."
51:31 What does it say?
51:33 Grow in grace.
51:35 Why do we need grace?
51:37 Because at our best, our righteousness
51:42 is as what? Filthy rags.
51:45 How good are we?
51:46 "There is none that is good, no not one."
51:50 But are we the children of God, yes or no?
51:52 Yes. When are we the children of God?
51:54 Now.
51:56 So our Father, looking at us lovingly,
51:58 has started a work in us that He promises to complete.
52:01 Amen?
52:02 Promises to complete it.
52:04 So He takes us as we are.
52:06 But pastors, would you say, leaders, would you say,
52:09 don't just say, "Jesus loves you like you are."
52:11 Keep going and say, "He never leaves you
52:14 the way He finds you."
52:16 "Jesus loves you just as you are."
52:18 Heard that so much it just irritates me.
52:19 Let's say, there's another verse,
52:21 "But He never leaves you the way He finds you."
52:24 He never does.
52:25 He cleans up that life.
52:27 Because we cannot come to Jesus.
52:29 Any time you see a story: Isaiah, He cleaned up his lips,
52:34 gave him a turban; Joshua, took off his filthy garments;
52:38 the valley of dry bones, He filled them with His Spirit,
52:41 put on new flesh, new spirit, new attitude.
52:44 He never leaves us the way He finds us.
52:47 Broken down as we are, when we say to Jesus, "I am weak,"
52:52 He says, "But My grace is sufficient for you."
52:54 This text is saying this.
52:57 While we are walking in this flesh,
53:00 that's still our daily battle. "I die daily."
53:03 While we're walking in this flesh, the Lord is saying,
53:06 "There are going to be days that you might stumble.
53:10 And now let Me show you something.
53:12 The difference between stumbling and practicing sin
53:15 is the difference between a trespass sin and iniquity.
53:19 Study that in the Old Testament.
53:22 It says, "Forgive us our trespasses."
53:27 The Bible never says, "Forgive us our iniquities."
53:30 Iniquity is that cherished sin practiced
53:34 over and over, and over, and over, and over.
53:36 It became a love to us.
53:38 "Forgive us our trespasses,
53:40 as we forgive those who trespass against us."
53:43 And here's the point.
53:44 Sometimes people will stumble...
53:46 Well let me ask you the question, has anybody...
53:48 Well let me go deeper.
53:49 Have you ever met a Christian that irritated you?
53:53 Have you ever met a Christian that
53:55 did something you didn't like?
53:57 Yes. Yes.
53:58 Come on, speak to me. Yes.
54:00 Exactly.
54:01 They stumble in their weakness.
54:04 But don't let their weakness become the reason why you
54:08 cast each other away.
54:11 Because every one of us is growing in grace.
54:13 And He says, "My grace, Tracy, My grace, Bonnie,
54:16 My grace is sufficient for thee.
54:19 In your weakness..." And I love this.
54:21 "In your weakness My strength is made..."
54:28 Come on, say it. "...perfect."
54:30 Okay, wait. Now this is huge.
54:32 Can we be perfect in Christ?
54:36 I'm going to ask that again. Can we be perfect in Christ?
54:39 Yes.
54:40 Because His strength is what?
54:42 Perfect.
54:44 At what point is His strength perfect?
54:49 Every second of every minute of every hour of every day
54:55 of every week of every month of every year.
54:59 His strength is always perfect.
55:01 So when we think that His strength is not perfect,
55:04 we will fall back in our laurels and think, "I've got this."
55:07 Don't ever think as a Christian you've got it.
55:10 Because you will get it...
55:12 ...if you ever think that you can make it without Christ.
55:14 Let me hit you with...
55:16 And I'm going to continue the text.
55:18 Verse 10, bring verse 10 up for me, because I didn't finish it.
55:21 Here it is. Paul continues...
55:37 Let's read the last part together.
55:43 So when Paul faced infirmities, people reproach him,
55:47 he has needs that don't seem to be met,
55:49 he's going through persecution, he's in distress,
55:52 he says, "I'm not even sweating it.
55:56 Because when I am weak, then I am strong."
55:59 There's a reason why John the apostle, the disciple,
56:01 leaned on the breast of Jesus.
56:04 Because that's where his strength lies.
56:07 That's why Jesus said to Mary of Martha,
56:11 Martha of Mary, "She's found the best place."
56:14 At the feet of Jesus.
56:17 Now let's hit one more before we go.
56:19 Number 25.
56:21 The answer to number 24 is...
56:23 What transaction takes place when we realize
56:25 that we are weak?
56:27 His grace. His grace.
56:29 His grace is always perfect.
56:31 His strength is always perfect, His grace is always available.
56:35 Look at this. Number 25.
56:46 Look at this. John 8:36
56:50 And I'm going to go ahead, in the interest of time,
56:51 we're going to read this together.
57:08 If He makes you free, are you free?
57:10 Come on, say something.
57:12 Yes.
57:13 Are you almost free? No.
57:15 Are you free part of the way?
57:17 No. You are free indeed.
57:20 Chains dropped off Peter.
57:22 "Get up, Peter. Put on your garment, Peter.
57:25 Follow me, Peter."
57:26 And he follows Jesus, he follows the angel
57:29 out the prison.
57:31 Then the light is shining, so Peter is following the light.
57:34 He's back in the light.
57:35 Then the Lord opens one gate; done there.
57:38 Opens another gate; done there.
57:40 And then the last gate is the iron gate.
57:42 He opens the iron gate, leads him out to complete freedom,
57:46 and Peter goes on preaching his heart out
57:51 because now Jesus set him free.
57:55 See, friends, we can all be free in Christ.
57:57 If you don't believe it, keep studying the Word of God.
58:00 Because one day it will come into a sharper focus.
58:04 Let us pray.

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Revised 2018-01-18