Pathway to Life

God's Perfect Law

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: PTL

Program Code: PTL000006A


00:50 Hello friends, and welcome to, Pathways To Life.
00:54 Pathways To Life is a fifteen meeting, fifteen presentation
00:59 series of meetings that can truly transform your life.
01:04 I hope and pray that each one receive a blessing.
01:06 We're on meeting number six now.
01:09 I welcome you to the Paradise Valley
01:12 Seventh-day Adventist Church
01:15 where this event is taking place.
01:18 And we want to make a special welcome to those of you
01:21 that are watching on Three Angels Broadcasting Network.
01:26 We want to give a special welcome to those who might be
01:28 watching on YouTube, or whether you're watching on
01:31 Three Angels Broadcast Facebook live streaming,
01:35 or with our sister channel, Good News TV.
01:39 Each and every one of you, I hope you receive a blessing
01:41 from being here in the Paradise Valley
01:44 Seventh-day Adventist Church.
01:45 My name is Jim Hakes.
01:47 I have the privilege of pastoring this church
01:48 and being the host for this series of events and
01:52 meetings that are taking place.
01:54 Our speaker for the fifteen meetings
01:59 is Pastor John Lomacang.
02:01 He has different friends that come with him
02:03 to the different meetings.
02:05 Tonight he has the group, Dawn of Hope, which is
02:08 Stephanie Dawn and Dan Thornton.
02:10 They will be leading us in music in just a moment,
02:13 and then Pastor Lomacang.
02:15 Stephanie's song is called, Psalm 1.
02:20 And Pastor Lomacang will be speaking to us tonight
02:24 on the subject called, God's Perfect Law.
02:30 And we're looking forward to each and every part
02:34 of what's going to be taking place tonight.
02:37 But before Stephanie sings,
02:39 how about if we begin with a word of prayer.
02:41 Shall we?
02:42 Gracious heavenly Father,
02:45 we pray that You would come into this place,
02:49 that You would bless each and every one of us
02:51 that are either here in studio or watching on the different
02:56 opportunities and the different places.
03:00 We pray that each of us would receive a blessing
03:03 from the music and from opening Your Word together.
03:07 And we thank You, for we've asked it in Jesus' name.
03:11 Amen.
03:27 How blessed, how happy is the man
03:31 who will not walk in the way of the ungodly.
03:39 How blessed, how happy is the man
03:44 who will not stand in the path of the sinful.
03:51 How blessed, how happy is the man
03:56 who will not sit in the seat of the scornful.
04:04 And it's not hard to understand
04:10 why God would bless that man.
04:16 He delights in the law of the Lord.
04:23 He delights in the law of the Lord.
04:28 Night and day, day and night,
04:33 he meditates on all that's right.
04:39 And he desires nothing more.
04:45 His delight is in the law of the Lord.
05:00 How blessed, how happy are the ones
05:05 who have their hope in a living Redeemer.
05:12 How blessed, how happy are the ones
05:16 who will one day see the face of their Savior.
05:23 But how distressed shall be the ones
05:27 who turn away from the love of the Father,
05:35 unless they come to understand
05:41 God's kingdom is at hand.
05:48 And they delight in the law of the Lord.
05:54 They delight in the law of the Lord.
06:00 Night and day, day and night,
06:04 they meditate on all that's right.
06:10 And they desire nothing more.
06:16 Their delight is in the law of the Lord.
06:22 Oh, to be like a tree by the rivers of water,
06:29 bearing its fruit in season.
06:33 Should my leaf never wither, should I flourish and prosper,
06:39 there's a reason.
06:45 I delight in the law of the Lord.
06:51 I delight in the law of the Lord.
06:56 Night and day, day and night,
07:01 I meditate on all that's right.
07:08 And I desire nothing more.
07:14 My delight is in the law.
07:17 Oh, our delight is in Your law.
07:24 We delight in the law of the Lord.
07:30 We delight in the law of the Lord.
07:35 Night and day, day and night,
07:40 we meditate on all that's right.
07:47 And we desire nothing more.
07:53 Our delight is in the law of the Lord.
07:59 And we desire nothing more.
08:07 Our delight is in the law of the Lord.
08:27 Amen.
08:29 - Amen? ~ Amen.
08:31 Thank you so much, Stephanie.
08:35 And thank you, Dan.
08:38 Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of his Lord.
08:47 Let's go to the Lord in prayer tonight.
08:48 I want to welcome you, and those of you who may be
08:50 watching and listening.
08:52 We want to as for the Lord's presence and power
08:54 to be here this evening.
08:57 Loving Father in heaven, it is only by Your grace
09:00 and Your power that anything can be accomplished
09:05 to the glory of Your holy name.
09:08 We invite Your Holy Spirit, Lord, tonight to speak to our
09:11 hearts again as we open Your Word.
09:14 In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
09:20 Tonight we want to begin with a particular text in the Bible
09:22 that has been a quandary to many.
09:26 And this text has caused so many to be uncomfortable.
09:31 And tonight we're not just going to reveal the text,
09:34 but we are going to also walk through the Word of God
09:37 to discover that the perfect law of God
09:41 can be kept when Jesus is abiding in our lives.
09:47 But tonight, as we lay the foundation, let's read this
09:49 opening passage together.
09:51 The words of Jesus, John 14:15.
09:55 Together.
10:02 If you want to wonder what the world will be like
10:04 if the commandments of God were completely obliterated,
10:07 just look at the world around us.
10:10 Look at the world around us.
10:12 The decline, the continual decline of our society
10:15 is an indication, over and over, of the kind of world
10:19 that the devil would run if he had complete control.
10:24 Before I go any further, I want to thank the Lord
10:26 that He has not given the devil complete control.
10:28 What do you say?
10:30 He is still holding the world by the restraining power
10:34 of His Holy Spirit.
10:36 But when you think of the continual indicators
10:39 in our society, the rampant incarceration,
10:43 terrorism, violence, war,
10:46 continual treat of nuclear exchange,
10:48 immorality that is becoming more and more prominent
10:52 and popular, the Bible gives us an indication
10:56 as to why the world is the way it is.
10:58 Notice Isaiah the prophet.
10:59 He describes it very carefully.
11:02 And he points to the transgression of
11:04 God's law as a result.
11:07 Isaiah 24:5, the Bible says...
11:26 So the point is, if the law of God was never broken,
11:30 our world would not be in the condition that it's in.
11:33 But because God's law has been violated,
11:36 the world is in the continual declining
11:38 condition that it's in.
11:40 And the sad reality is, when sin becomes more popular
11:43 than the name of Jesus, we know we are in trouble.
11:47 In the world today if you want to be odd,
11:49 all you've got to do is talk about Jesus.
11:52 If you want to fit into our world today, all you've got to
11:54 do is fall in line, in harmony, with the
11:57 dark things of our world.
11:59 But God has called us in the midst of all of this darkness
12:02 to continue by His grace to be a light in a dark world,
12:08 to show that, yes, it is possible, by the
12:11 indwelling Christ, to live in harmony with a perfect law.
12:17 When you think about the world today,
12:19 let's go back a little ways to the antediluvian world
12:22 that will give you just a glimpse of how bad
12:25 it's going to get before it gets better.
12:28 Genesis 6:5 tells us in these words.
12:32 Speaking of the antediluvian world in Noah's day.
12:41 Is it getting like that today?
12:56 When I read that, I did a series not too long ago
12:58 called, Unclean Spirits, on the occult
13:01 and the entertainment industry.
13:02 And I'm convinced that one of the reasons why the world is
13:05 proliferated with digital devices is, the devil
13:09 doesn't want to give us a chance to think.
13:12 He wants the world and its media to be in our face
13:15 all day long.
13:17 I mean, when you drive around the world,
13:18 when you walk through the malls...
13:20 I've seen some crazy videos on YouTube of people walking and
13:23 falling into waterfalls.
13:27 We were in a country, I forgot what country it was,
13:29 but then they said the highest incidences of people
13:32 getting killed in traffic accidents were people
13:35 walking into the traffic while looking down
13:37 at their cell phones.
13:40 I was talking to two young ladies in Orlando, Florida
13:43 not too long ago, and they asked me after a sermon I preached,
13:46 "How can I get my life back on track with Jesus?"
13:49 I said, "All you've got to do is not listen to the music
13:52 and watch the things you do.
13:53 Just do it for one week.
13:55 Just put down your cell phone for one week."
13:57 And they give me a look like I told them to take their lives.
14:02 But the Lord, if the Lord cannot communicate with our minds...
14:07 I believe one of the reasons why digital devices...
14:10 And we're going from 4G to 5G.
14:12 Now let me make a point.
14:14 If you use it for the right reason, God can be glorified.
14:17 Because we're using it, 3ABN is using it
14:19 to communicate the gospel.
14:20 Can we get an amen?
14:22 But if you are using it to have your mind continually filled,
14:25 we're getting to the place like it was in those days
14:28 where every intent of the thoughts of his heart
14:32 was only evil continually.
14:38 And to show that our world is getting like that,
14:39 we read the words of Dr. Luke in Luke 17:26.
14:51 And we're getting ready for the coming of Jesus.
14:54 So we know that the world has to get like it was in Noah's day
14:59 as an indicator that the coming of the Lord is drawing near.
15:03 Now I'm not happy for the sin, but I'm glad that the coming
15:07 of the Lord is drawing near.
15:08 Amen?
15:10 I'm so glad that the coming of Jesus is drawing near.
15:13 But you know what? There could be no sin
15:15 unless there is a law.
15:18 And let me make a very good point here.
15:20 A very important point.
15:22 What saddens me is that preachers around the
15:24 world today have told many of their congregations
15:27 that the law of God is no longer impacting,
15:29 the law of God no longer exists,
15:32 or the law of God was done away with.
15:34 And I said a few nights ago, if you meet any preacher,
15:37 all you've got to do to determine you're either
15:40 in the right place or the wrong place is to read the
15:43 Ten Commandments and ask the preacher,
15:45 "Are there any of those commandments
15:47 you have a problem with?"
15:53 If they have a problem with any of God's Ten Commandments,
15:55 you are in the wrong place.
15:58 Because the Bible says in Romans 5:13...
16:04 In other words, you can't get a speeding ticket
16:06 on the Autobahn in Germany.
16:09 Does anybody know about the Autobahn?
16:11 No speed limit.
16:13 But you will get a ticket in Phoenix.
16:17 Why? Because there is a law against going
16:20 beyond a certain speed.
16:22 In other words, where there is no prevention of that act,
16:26 then you will never be guilty of that act.
16:28 Where there is no law, where there are no laws,
16:31 where there are no speed limits posted,
16:33 you'll never be guilty of violating the speed limit.
16:37 So if it's not imputed, you're not guilty of it.
16:40 But the Bible takes us even further back
16:42 than the days of Noah.
16:43 It takes us all the way back to the very beginning.
16:45 And we see tonight that the issues in the world today
16:48 are because of what happened in the very beginning.
16:51 Notice John 8:44.
16:53 The Bible tells us about the Grim Reaper, Satan himself.
17:01 "...and the desires..."
17:02 Meaning, the thoughts that exist in our minds
17:05 that carry on to produce a particularly sinful act.
17:31 I was talking to someone not too long ago.
17:33 And you know, my times just all run together
17:36 like melted chocolate.
17:38 So when I say, "Not too long ago,"
17:39 it could have been a week ago or a month ago.
17:41 But it was not too long ago because I still remember.
17:46 But I was talking to someone who was speaking about going to a
17:50 particular church, and I asked some very key questions about
17:53 the church and what they taught.
17:55 And when I touched on some very significant parts,
17:58 I mean, "Do they keep the commandments of God?"
17:59 "Well yeah, but not all of them."
18:02 I said, "Well, why would you want to go there?"
18:03 "Well, you know, it's not really that necessary to be saved."
18:06 And I thought to myself, "So the commandments of God are
18:08 really not necessary to be saved?"
18:10 "No. As long as you love Jesus."
18:13 One of the things that we often walk into darkness
18:16 by saying is, "As long as you love Jesus."
18:19 If we really love Jesus, we will also love His commandments.
18:24 You can't love somebody and violate the very thing
18:27 that they ask you to honor.
18:30 And the Bible makes it very, very clear.
18:32 Where there is no law, there can never be a transgression.
18:35 And even deeper than that, Romans 6:23 says...
18:43 "The wages of sin is death."
18:46 So if there is death, there has to be sin.
18:50 And if there is sin, let's look at the next text.
18:53 1 John 3:4
18:58 So let's take that back. Is there death?
19:00 Then there has to be sin.
19:02 If there is sin, there has to be a, what?
19:04 There has to be...
19:06 Where there is no law, there is no sin.
19:08 Where there is no sin, there is no death.
19:09 Because sin is the transgression of the law.
19:13 And the wages of that transgression
19:15 is always death.
19:18 Always death.
19:20 When you think about it, until we are born again...
19:23 And for the last couple of nights I've been talking about
19:26 the seed, remember that?
19:28 About the old nature and the new nature.
19:30 Adam's nature and Christ's nature.
19:32 Remember that?
19:34 I talked about how important it is to be born again.
19:36 Because if you just look at the commandments of God
19:39 and you say, "Ok, I am going to keep the commandments of God."
19:43 Do you know that it is impossible to keep the
19:45 commandments of God, it is impossible to keep a holy law
19:49 with an unholy nature?
19:53 Because the commandments of God are not just
19:55 a list of dos and don'ts.
19:57 It's not just a list of things
19:58 that we should be in harmony with.
20:00 But it is not possible to keep the law of God
20:03 unless our natures are regenerated,
20:07 unless the nature of Adam is put to death
20:10 and the power of Christ reigns in our lives.
20:13 It's not possible.
20:16 Here's what the Bible says. Here's the reason.
20:18 Romans 3:23, here's the reason why it's not possible
20:21 until we are born again.
20:30 It is not possible to keep that which is holy
20:34 until we are made holy ourselves.
20:37 Now the question may be,
20:38 is there a problem with the law of God?
20:42 No, the problem is not the law of God.
20:44 Notice the words of the apostle Paul.
20:46 The apostle Paul says in Romans 7:14...
21:01 Is there anything wrong with God's law?
21:03 What is it?
21:04 It's spiritual.
21:06 So when I hear a preacher...
21:07 And believe me, Pastor Doug and I through the years,
21:12 you know, we've called into radio programs.
21:14 I remember this guy, he's deceased now, Harold Camping.
21:16 You remember Harold Camping?
21:18 He was the one that predicted...
21:19 Well he's very famous in New York City.
21:21 But he was the one that predicted a few years ago
21:23 that the world was ending on May 22nd.
21:29 I think it was either May 22nd or May 23rd.
21:31 And my wife and I were in California,
21:34 and we drove over to his ministry the day before
21:37 the world was supposed to end.
21:39 And we went to his ministry, and you know, all the
21:43 parking places empty, no more traffic in the streets,
21:47 all the builder's tools were silent.
21:50 And we looked, and all we heard was the radio program going
21:53 over and over and over.
21:55 And I looked at the door, and they said, they gave, you know,
21:58 "Out of business. World is ending tomorrow."
22:02 And the world was suppose to end on May 23rd,
22:04 and my wife and I's anniversary is May 22nd.
22:07 And I said to my wife, if Harold Camping would have only
22:10 asked me, I would have told him that the world is not ending
22:13 the day after our anniversary.
22:16 Not to be light about that.
22:17 But there are particular prophecies in the Bible.
22:21 And the fact of the matter is, no man knows the day
22:25 nor the hour.
22:28 But whenever we called Harold Camping,
22:30 one of the things that he was very heavy on was
22:32 he always talked about how the commandments of God
22:34 were done away with, they were nailed to the cross,
22:36 they were just for the Jews, they cannot be kept.
22:39 And every time Doug and I would get a chance,
22:41 Pastor Doug and I would get a chance, we'd call him.
22:43 And you have to talk really, really fast, because
22:45 if you breathed, he'll hang up on you
22:48 and try to twist your question in a
22:50 completely different direction.
22:52 "Well, according to..." "Well, I understand..."
22:54 And I'm thinking, "Oh please."
22:56 So we would just kind of take a deep breath and
22:58 say everything we had to say.
22:59 And then when we exhaled, or inhaled,
23:02 we knew the phone was going down.
23:04 But we prayed that somebody would hear.
23:06 You see, there's nothing wrong with God's law.
23:09 But the sinful nature cannot live in harmony
23:11 with God's perfect law.
23:12 Notice how the apostle Paul makes this very, very clear.
23:14 Romans 8:6-8
23:19 Can there be death without sin?
23:23 Not a trick. Can there be death without sin?
23:25 Can there be sin without a law?
23:27 No. So to be carnally minded is death.
23:38 "...enmity..."
23:39 That means, is at odds against God.
23:43 So when somebody says that you can't keep the commandments,
23:46 it's not God's law.
23:47 It's their mind that's where the problem is.
23:51 It's their nature that's against God.
23:52 Not the commandments of God.
24:08 So the issue is not the law of God.
24:11 The issue is the condition of the mind.
24:16 A carnal life cannot live in harmony with a holy law.
24:20 The carnal life has to be made holy in order to live in
24:23 harmony with the holy law.
24:25 And even further than that, the power does not come from
24:28 us to live in harmony with God's law;
24:31 the power comes from Jesus.
24:35 "Christ in you, the hope of glory."
24:38 But let's look at the beauty of this law.
24:40 The beauty of the law is very clear.
24:42 Paul, in his converted experience, when he was
24:46 struggling with doing what he shouldn't do,
24:48 and not doing what he should do, he pointed out very clearly
24:52 in the battle of his walk, he said...
25:03 So when Jesus said, "If you love Me, keep My commandments,"
25:07 He was not trying to trick us.
25:12 He was not trying to..
25:13 It was no spiritual hoax.
25:15 He was not saying, "If you love Me, keep My commandments.
25:17 But you can't do it."
25:21 What He was saying is, "You need to be born again
25:23 to live in harmony with My commandments."
25:26 You need a new walk.
25:28 You cannot live in a new life, in a new walk,
25:32 in harmony with a holy law as long as your life is old
25:36 and corrupt, and controlled by the nature of Adam.
25:40 Very clear.
25:41 That's why this corrupt nature...
25:43 And this is why my presentations have had so much about
25:47 the righteous nature of Christ.
25:49 This corrupt nature cannot live in harmony with anything
25:53 that is incorrupt.
25:56 Notice how Peter makes it very clear.
25:59 In order for us to be in harmony with God's law,
26:01 something has to take place.
26:03 1 Peter 2:3, look at this.
26:10 "...corruptible seed..." That is Adam's nature.
26:21 When the Lord plants the seed of His Word in your life,
26:25 lives and abides forever.
26:27 When the seed of righteousness is planted in that heart,
26:31 it begins to produce in us what Adam's nature
26:34 could never produce.
26:36 And what's wonderful about that, it says,
26:37 "having been born again."
26:40 And when you're born again, there's a power that
26:42 comes into your life.
26:43 And I want you to get this clearly.
26:45 Because, let me ask you a question.
26:47 If you plant apple seeds, what's going to grow?
26:52 I mean, that's a fact.
26:54 The seed produces a harvest after its kind.
26:57 Am I right?
26:58 Look at the beauty of that seed of righteousness.
27:01 Look at the beauty of the seed of righteousness.
27:02 1 John 3:9
27:18 Now you might think, "Huh?
27:22 How is that possible?"
27:24 When you read carefully...
27:25 Let me put this together.
27:27 There is something that we have...
27:29 And let me talk about salvation.
27:30 I want you to put on your ears very carefully.
27:32 Tune them up.
27:34 When we are saved, when we are justified,
27:38 we are justified.
27:40 That means we are forgiven.
27:43 And justification means we are now standing in the presence
27:46 of God just as if we had not sinned.
27:51 Doesn't the Bible say, "If we confess our sins
27:54 He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
27:56 and to cleanse us from..." How much?
27:58 So if all has been cleansed, how much is remaining?
28:02 Nothing.
28:04 That's justification.
28:05 That's salvation from the penalty of sin.
28:09 Meaning, death no longer reigns over us.
28:12 Praise the Lord.
28:13 But there's something else that we need.
28:15 Because in the Christian world they generally teach
28:17 justification and they teach glorification,
28:20 but they don't teach sanctification.
28:22 Sanctification is the most important part because
28:25 that's the journey of the Christian life.
28:27 Let's follow this carefully.
28:28 Sanctification is salvation on a day by day,
28:32 moment by moment basis.
28:35 Salvation from the power of sin.
28:42 Don't need a hand to be raise, but there may be somebody
28:45 here tonight that use to be an alcoholic
28:46 that's no longer an alcoholic.
28:49 Or maybe use to be a drug addict that's no longer a drug addict.
28:51 Or may have been held bondage by cigarettes,
28:55 or a foul tongue, or pornography,
28:59 or anger, or hatred, and you are no longer held by those things.
29:03 Why?
29:04 Because when the seed of Christ comes into your life,
29:08 when the Bible says, "does not sin,"
29:11 the Greek means, does not practice sin.
29:18 My mother, she was an alcoholic.
29:20 She smoked two to three packs of cigarettes a day.
29:22 One day I'll tell you the whole story.
29:25 But I said, "Mom..."
29:26 I wasn't raised with her.
29:27 She abandoned me at three months old.
29:29 I met her many, many years later.
29:31 But I said, "Mom, give your life to Jesus.
29:32 Have somebody pray for you to be delivered."
29:35 And when I met my mother, she called me one day
29:36 and she told me she was coming to live with my wife and I.
29:39 And I was nervous, because when I met her she said
29:41 she had seven demons in her life,
29:43 she was an alcoholic, she smoked two to three
29:46 packs of cigarettes a day.
29:47 And I thought, "I'm a pastor.
29:49 How am I going to handle seven demons, an alcoholic,
29:51 and a person blowing smoke in my face?"
29:56 And I said, "Where are you?" She said, "I'm on my way."
29:58 "When will you be here?" "In a week."
29:59 I said, "Alright, alright."
30:02 But she said one more thing.
30:04 She said, "Remember you told me to have somebody
30:05 pray for me to be delivered?"
30:07 She said, "Six months ago I had a pastor
30:10 pray for me to be delivered."
30:11 And she said, "For the last six months, I've not only
30:13 not had a drop of alcohol, not only have not had a
30:17 single cigarette, but I have no desire for alcohol,
30:20 no desire for cigarettes."
30:22 And she said, "And I've gained weight.
30:24 I'm no longer a size one, I'm a size ten now.
30:26 Is that okay?"
30:28 I said, "Mom, don't worry. You'll fit in my house.
30:30 Come on."
30:32 And to the day she died, she never had the desire.
30:36 Only the seed of Christ in our lives can break the desire.
30:40 Can I get a hallelujah?
30:42 Only when Christ comes in can we be delivered.
30:46 I was a gambler, a pool hustler, a disc jockey.
30:49 That's the only sin I'm going to tell you about.
30:52 But I'm going to tell you tonight, I have no desire
30:53 for the world that's behind me.
30:56 Why? Because the seed is in there.
30:58 And when we live by the power of Christ,
31:00 we don't even desire the things that we once desired.
31:08 And so when you're born of God, and the seed is there,
31:12 all of a sudden a new behavior comes into being.
31:16 And then the Lord is able to point in the world
31:19 that His people are everywhere.
31:22 And what are they doing?
31:23 How can they be identified in a world where the law of God
31:27 has been violated, in a world where preachers
31:30 preach it cannot be kept.
31:31 Notice what God says.
31:33 Notice what He says. Revelation 14:12.
31:45 You cannot keep the commandments of God
31:47 without the indwelling Christ.
31:48 You can't do it.
31:52 We are saved from the penalty of sin when we accept Jesus.
31:55 When we invite Him every day, as Paul says, when we
31:58 die daily to self and He comes in,
32:00 we are saved every day from the power of sin.
32:03 Last night I said sin shall not have dominion over you.
32:07 Wouldn't control you.
32:09 But I'm looking forward to the last part of salvation.
32:11 One day we will all be saved from the presence of sin.
32:16 Until then, we need the power of Christ in our lives every day.
32:21 And what's so wonderful about this condition is,
32:24 when Adam and Eve fell, Jesus forecasted that they will
32:29 one day, by His grace, be victorious over every attempt
32:34 the devil makes to keep them bound to their failure.
32:39 Notice the prediction of Christ in the book of Genesis 3:15.
32:43 And by the way, this is on the heels of a man who just
32:45 fell into sin, a wife who was deceived into sin.
32:48 This is at the very beginning.
32:49 Look at what Jesus said.
32:55 He talking to the serpent.
33:00 The word, enmity, means discomfort.
33:02 Let me make it very clear.
33:03 Whenever you're about to do something wrong,
33:05 you ever feel uncomfortable?
33:07 That's a good thing.
33:09 That's enmity.
33:10 That's the comfort of discomfort.
33:12 When you lose the sense that what you're about to do
33:17 is wrong, then you have passed the borders of God's grace.
33:22 When wrong no longer even bothers you,
33:26 you are walking on a dangerous line.
33:28 The Lord put in us this discomfort.
33:46 When Jesus was victorious over death,
33:48 when Jesus rose from the grave,
33:50 He did that by stamping the devil on his head.
33:54 Amen?
33:56 In the process, He was bruised.
33:58 He was wounded for our transgressions.
34:00 By His stripes we were healed.
34:02 But He had the upper hand.
34:04 You see, if you want to kill somebody,
34:06 or if you want to kill a serpent, you step on its head.
34:09 The devil just bruised His body, but Christ is intact
34:13 because He's the head of the church.
34:14 What do you say tonight?
34:16 The Lord predicted that this power would come,
34:19 that this power would come, and He would give us
34:22 this great and precious promise now.
34:25 When you have the power of Christ in your life,
34:28 all of a sudden there is a new power inside of you.
34:34 And this power does not allow you to fall back
34:37 into the old habits.
34:38 Notice how the apostle Peter talks about this.
34:40 And by the way, if anybody should know, he would know.
34:44 2 Peter 1:4
35:12 Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.
35:17 Only when Christ comes in.
35:20 So when people say...
35:22 This is the part I try to undo this a moment at a time.
35:24 When a Christian says, "I'm only human,"
35:27 pause and say this, "I'm not just human anymore.
35:31 I have become a partaker of a divine nature.
35:35 Christ is abiding in my life."
35:37 And do you know, in the very same way when evolutionists
35:40 say that you're monkeys, you act like it.
35:44 But when you believe and understand that by partaking
35:47 of Christ's righteousness you are royalty, you act like it.
35:52 When you know that you are saved by the blood of the Lamb,
35:55 transformed, and now are covered by the righteousness
35:59 of Christ, you act like it.
36:03 When you know that you are a royal nation, a holy priesthood,
36:07 when you know that you are a son or daughter of God,
36:09 you act like it.
36:11 And I think too many times we say to people,
36:13 "Well you know, just try harder."
36:15 It's not about trying, it's about triumph.
36:23 We're not trying to be righteous,
36:25 we're trying triumphant because of His righteousness.
36:27 Amen, somebody.
36:28 That's why this text is here.
36:31 You know the text very well. Come on, let's say it together.
36:33 "I can do..." How many things?
36:39 Now, if it were not possible to do all things through Christ,
36:44 the devil would not be upset.
36:48 But the reason why he's upset with those who keep
36:50 the commandments of God is because he himself
36:53 knows that through Christ we can do all things.
36:56 That's why this passage is here, Revelation 12:17.
37:02 "...with the woman..." That is the church.
37:06 "...remnant of her seed..."
37:07 That means the last day aspect of the family of God.
37:11 Who is he upset with?
37:19 It would not be possible, he would have no reason
37:22 to be upset if the commandments of God couldn't be kept.
37:25 But the reason why he is upset is because there's a church
37:28 on earth where the commandments of God
37:30 will be perfectly reproduced in the lives of His children.
37:35 They won't make excuses about it.
37:36 They may have fallen into sin in the past,
37:38 but when Christ comes in He delivers us not only from
37:41 that sin, He forgives us of the sin,
37:43 He takes away that corrupt nature,
37:46 He puts His seed in us, and all of a sudden
37:49 the world can see a representation
37:51 of a son and daughter of God.
37:54 Amen?
37:55 But some people say that, I've heard pastors say,
37:57 "Well, Jesus got rid of the commandments."
37:59 No He didn't. No He didn't.
38:01 His own words, Matthew 5:17-19.
38:11 Now the word, fulfill, means, as Isaiah 42:21 says,
38:15 He came to magnify the law and make it honorable.
38:18 He didn't come to make it narrow,
38:20 He came to say, murder is not the only thing
38:24 that you can be guilty of, but if you hate your brother,
38:26 you are a murderer already.
38:28 He didn't come to say that only when you commit adultery
38:30 are you guilty of the act, but He says that if you look at a
38:33 woman to lust...
38:35 He magnified it. He didn't shrink it.
38:37 Amen, somebody?
38:58 Lord, have mercy to the pastors that teach you that
39:00 the commandments don't have to be kept.
39:15 He shall be called great.
39:17 But somebody said, "Well what about those passages
39:19 in the Bible where something was done away with?
39:21 What is, what is... But something was done...
39:23 Something was nailed to the cross.
39:25 I read the passages myself."
39:28 Another problem or another confusion
39:30 in the Christian world is this:
39:32 People get the ceremonial law, which are about 640 laws,
39:39 mixed up with the Ten Commandments of God,
39:42 which are only ten.
39:45 The 640 laws had to do with sacrifices, burnt offerings,
39:49 sin offerings, trespass offerings,
39:52 the shedding of the blood of the lamb, the goat, or the heifer,
39:54 the shedding of the blood of the doves.
39:56 But the commandments of God have nothing to do with that.
39:59 That is the law that Jesus nailed to the cross
40:02 when He gave His life.
40:04 You see, when John said, "Behold, the Lamb of God
40:06 that taketh away the sin of the world,"
40:07 the reason why he used the word, "Lamb,"
40:10 is because those who were a part of the ceremonial system
40:13 for more than a thousand years, the Jewish nation,
40:15 knew that they had been sacrificing
40:18 lambs for a long time.
40:20 So when John says, "Lamb," they should have known exactly
40:24 who he meant.
40:26 But notice what Jesus did away with.
40:27 Notice what He did away with. Ephesians 2:14-15
40:40 When Jesus died, the curtain of the temple
40:43 was torn in two.
40:44 The sacrificial system came to an end.
40:47 That's why the next verse is there.
41:07 I had a study many years ago with the Jehovah Witnesses.
41:10 And I read one of their publications where they tried to
41:12 prove that Jesus had done away with the commandments.
41:14 And you know what they did?
41:16 They stopped on this passage, "...the law of commandments..."
41:20 They excluded the words, "contained in ordinances,"
41:22 at the bottom right of the screen.
41:25 And I read their material and I said, "Wait a minute.
41:28 What about the other three words that's missing?"
41:30 They said, "What three words?"
41:32 I said, "Contained in ordinances."
41:34 That's what men do.
41:37 That's what men do.
41:38 They leave out certain passages to communicate their points.
41:41 What are these ordinances?
41:42 The Bible makes it very, very clear what these ordinances are.
41:45 Hebrews 9:9-10
41:47 Speaking about the ordinances.
42:01 In other words, the more lambs you kill...
42:03 And I'll have verse ten coming.
42:05 The more animals you killed,
42:07 can you imagine the flow of blood?
42:11 Can you imagine how many animals were slaughtered?
42:15 And every time the sinner would take that animal
42:18 to the temple, they would have to slit the throat,
42:21 watch that lamb...
42:23 The priest would put the bowl under the throat of the lamb
42:26 and the blood would be pouring into that bowl.
42:28 And they would watch the lamb as his eyes continued
42:30 fluttering and fluttering until there was no more
42:32 life blood left, and the lamb would just drop
42:34 to the ground and die.
42:36 Over and over and over and over.
42:38 And you know what? It's amazing.
42:40 Today not even the Jews sacrifice lambs.
42:46 But let's go on further to see what this is all about.
42:49 Speaking about these ordinances.
43:05 Until the time of reformation.
43:07 What reformation?
43:09 Let me make it very clear.
43:11 The ceremonial law was a continual object lesson
43:15 of the work that Jesus would perform when He comes.
43:18 So whenever a lamb was killed, it prefigured the Lamb of God.
43:22 It was a type; Jesus was the antitype.
43:25 The high priest on earth was a representation of
43:28 Jesus who is our High Priest, who lives and abides
43:31 and intercedes for us forever.
43:34 Everything about the earthly service was a prefiguring
43:37 of the work that Jesus would do.
43:39 So, why would there need be an earthly tabernacle
43:43 if Jesus had already come?
43:45 Look at this.
43:47 So this earthly tabernacle: the alter of burnt offerings,
43:51 the lamb being slaughtered outside of the temple,
43:55 and then the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place,
43:58 the laver, the table of showbread,
43:59 the altar of incense, the ark of the covenant;
44:01 all these were symbols of an earthly tabernacle
44:04 as long as the earthly priesthood was in place.
44:10 But when Jesus came, He became our
44:12 High Priest of better things.
44:14 Amen, somebody.
44:15 So this only was in place until He came.
44:18 Notice how the apostle Paul makes this point very clear.
44:21 Galatians 3:19
44:32 Now let's not run past that.
44:33 The law was added, the law was added because
44:37 another law was being violated.
44:40 A law was added because one was being violated.
44:46 But how long was it suppose to be around?
44:48 "...till the Seed should come..."
44:50 The seed is Christ.
44:59 It was only suppose to last until Jesus came.
45:03 So let's look very carefully.
45:05 That's why the Bible says today to us...
45:07 And this is so vitally important.
45:08 People said you had to be a Jew to keep the ceremonial laws,
45:11 and that's exactly correct, but look at the words of the
45:13 apostle Paul as it relates to the commandments of God.
45:17 1 Corinthians 7:19
45:20 The number one, I missed that.
45:21 1 Corinthians 7:19, the Bible says...
45:34 That's what matters.
45:36 Whether you're a Jew or not, keeping the commandments
45:38 of God is what matters.
45:39 They last much longer than the commandments of God.
45:42 Let's go quickly tonight.
45:43 The Ten Commandments in summary.
45:45 Very carefully.
45:47 The first one, "You shall have no other Gods before Me."
45:48 These are just summary.
45:50 The second, "You shall not make for yourselves
45:51 a carved image, or graven images."
45:53 The third, "You shall not take the name of the
45:55 Lord your God in vain."
45:57 The fourth, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
45:58 The seventh-day is the Sabbath."
46:01 The fifth, "Honor your father and your mother."
46:03 The sixth, "You shall not murder."
46:05 The seventh, "You shall not commit adultery."
46:07 The eight, "You shall not steal."
46:09 The ninth, "You shall not bear false witness."
46:11 And the tenth, "You shall not covet."
46:26 The law of the Lord is what?
46:29 Is what? It's perfect.
46:31 Nothing wrong with the Ten Commandments.
46:33 The only way that you can find that there's something
46:35 wrong with the Ten commandments is if there's something in them
46:38 that you don't want to live in harmony with.
46:42 But God's law is perfect.
46:44 Now I like the words of Jesus when He said this
46:46 in 1 John 5:3.
46:49 This comes from the heart of Christ.
47:00 When somebody says to you,
47:01 "Oh, you believe in keeping those laws.
47:04 You're still linked to the burdens."
47:06 No. The law of God is kept because we love Him.
47:11 It's not a burden.
47:13 When somebody is saying to do right,
47:14 the only way that doing right is a burden
47:17 is if you don't love that individual.
47:19 It's a burden.
47:21 But the commandments are not a burden.
47:22 Not any of the commandments is a burden.
47:25 The Bible goes on to say further in John 15:10...
47:37 It's a love relationship.
47:39 It's a what relationship?
47:41 And you cannot violate any of them.
47:43 We cannot violate any of them.
47:45 Going very quickly to James 2.
47:49 Keep this in mind.
47:50 The Ten Commandments are not multiple choice.
48:00 James 2:10-12
48:20 But notice this.
48:21 In other words, verse 12 means,
48:22 put your life where your mouth is.
48:32 Why is it called, the law of liberty?
48:34 Because when you live in harmony with the
48:36 commandments of God, you are free.
48:38 Amen?
48:39 If you're driving down the street and you pass
48:41 five highway patrolmen, and you're in the speed limit,
48:43 are you afraid?
48:45 No. Because you're within the confines of the law.
48:49 But if you're going 70 miles an hour
48:51 in a 30 miles an hour zone and you pass a highway patrol,
48:54 I guarantee you'll start sweating.
49:03 The commandments of God is the standard by which
49:05 will be we judge.
49:06 We are not going to be judged by race, class, creed,
49:09 educational status, financial ability,
49:12 possessions, where we live, where we don't live.
49:14 We will be judged.
49:16 The law of God is the standard by which
49:18 every one of us will be judged.
49:20 That's why the devil doesn't want us
49:22 to live in harmony with it.
49:24 Because if we violate it, we are guilty and we are
49:26 deserving of eternal death.
49:30 But he knows that if we keep it, by the indwelling Christ,
49:33 we, by His grace, will receive eternal life.
49:39 A wise man made it very clear.
49:41 Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
49:45 As we wind up the topic tonight, notice the words.
50:04 Can it be any clearer?
50:07 So somebody says, "What's my whole responsibility?"
50:10 Keep the commandments of God.
50:13 For this is the whole duty of man.
50:17 Why?
50:35 That should cause you to kind of say, "You know what?
50:40 Since I can't hide it, I might as well call on the
50:43 grace of Jesus to deliver me from it."
50:48 There's nothing wrong with God's law.
50:50 What would the world be like if all of a sudden
50:53 all the air traffic controllers turned off their radar?
50:59 What would the world be like if they said to pilots,
51:01 "Fly wherever you want to."
51:04 What would the city be like if they got rid of the
51:07 stop signs, the street lights, the yellow lines?
51:12 It's kind of like being in India.
51:15 Didn't mean to say that, but.
51:17 I was in India.
51:18 You get to an intersection, it's like first come, first serve.
51:22 But in reality, what would the world be like?
51:24 If you think the stop lights are a hindrance,
51:27 let them stop working.
51:28 They're really go lights.
51:29 Because when they stop working, nobody can go.
51:32 When the commandments of God are no longer impacting
51:35 your life in a positive way, you're not going anywhere.
51:38 You're abiding in death. You're living in death.
51:41 You see, God wants us...
51:43 And why is the commandments so vitally important?
51:45 You know, one day we are going to live in a sinless society.
51:50 One day we're going to live where there's no more death,
51:52 no more pain, no more suffering,
51:54 no more heartache, no more funerals.
51:55 Come on, somebody say amen.
51:57 No more need for eye glasses, and contact lenses,
52:00 and hearing aids.
52:02 I'll be able to see Steph and she'll be able to see me.
52:06 Amen?
52:07 No more need for anything connected to this sinful world.
52:10 The reason why the world is filled with sin
52:13 is because from the very beginning
52:16 the devil who sinned in heaven brought his wares to the earth,
52:21 led Adam and Eve into sin, they passed on the worst seed
52:25 they could to us, we were born with a sinful nature.
52:28 But then came Jesus.
52:32 And He said, "You don't have to live like this.
52:36 This doesn't have to be the way your story ends."
52:39 He said it to me when I was in the clubs,
52:42 "This is not the way your story needs to end."
52:43 He said it to you.
52:46 He brought to you light in the midst of your darkness.
52:49 He said, "This is not the way your story needs to end."
52:52 Your story can have a beautiful ending.
52:55 And that's why I love this next passage so wonderfully.
52:58 Revelation 22:14. Let's say it together.
53:11 When we get into the New Jerusalem,
53:13 we don't have to worry about crime and violence.
53:15 Come on, somebody.
53:17 Don't have to worry about drug dealers to our right
53:19 or thieves to our left.
53:20 It's going to be a sinless, perfect,
53:23 law abiding environment.
53:29 So when you are in a place where the pastor says,
53:32 or leaders say you don't have to keep
53:33 the commandments of God, you need to say to them,
53:35 "I don't want to live in your neighborhood."
53:40 Like Pastor Doug talks about he talked with a pastor,
53:42 he said, "The commandments cannot be kept."
53:44 And he said to the pastor, "So which one are you breaking?"
53:51 Stephanie, come and sing to us tonight.
53:53 One day we're going to be in that eternal city.
53:55 Are you looking forward to that?
53:57 The only way we're going to get there
54:01 is if we love the Lord.
54:03 Come on, let's end with the passage we began.
54:05 He says, "If you..." What?
54:07 "...love Me, keep My commandments."
54:11 I cannot express to you how much...
54:13 Go ahead Dan.
54:15 I cannot express to you how much I love the Lord tonight.
54:19 How I was sinking in sin, and He found me.
54:24 And He called me out, gave me a new name,
54:27 and gave me the joy of proclaiming
54:29 that liberty to you tonight.
54:31 Stephanie, let's talk about that.
54:32 Sing about that liberty we find in Jesus.
54:37 All to Jesus I surrender,
54:44 all to Him I freely give.
54:51 I will ever love and trust Him,
54:58 in His presence daily live.
55:06 All to Jesus I surrender,
55:12 humbly at His feet I bow.
55:20 Worldly pleasures all forsaken;
55:26 take me, Jesus, take me now.
55:34 I surrender all.
55:41 I surrender all.
55:48 All to Thee my blessed Savior,
55:56 I surrender all.
56:02 Heavenly Father, we've come tonight to commit our lives
56:06 to You in a beautiful way,
56:08 to embrace the cross,
56:11 to know that we no longer have to live in guilt and shame,
56:16 and worry whether or not we will be ready
56:18 for Jesus when He comes.
56:20 So Lord Jesus, tonight we've come forward to say,
56:24 "Yes, Lord, I want to be in that glorious kingdom of grace."
56:31 And we stood tonight to recommit ourselves
56:33 to following as You lead us.
56:37 And so, Lord Jesus, we thank You for Your sacrifice,
56:41 for Your deliverance.
56:43 May we say, "All to Jesus I surrender."
56:50 May we hold nothing back,
56:53 for you held nothing back when You gave Your life for us.
56:57 So we thank You, we praise You,
57:00 and we give You the glory.
57:03 In Jesus' name we pray.
57:07 And all of God's people said, "Amen."


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Revised 2018-08-01