Well, we're back in Colossians
chapter 3, and I want to look at the verses following on from
what we looked at last week, the first four verses of this
chapter. And I've called it, provocatively you might say,
the believer's rule of life, because it is a big point of
contention amongst those who call themselves orthodox Calvinistic
believers. To set the scene for us, what
is it to be a Christian? What is it to be a believer in
the Lord Jesus Christ, one who follows the Lord Jesus Christ?
Well, it is, first of all, to hear the gospel presented, to
hear it. You might read it somewhere,
or you might hear it preached, but it's to hear the the principles of the Gospel,
of how sinners condemned get to heaven in the Kingdom of God.
And it's to understand what you hear, and it's to trust in that
message, and it's to experience in your soul that your life,
your qualification for God's Kingdom is accomplished by God
alone in Christ, without any contribution from you. That's
the radical thing about the true gospel. Your qualification for
God's kingdom, for entrance to God's kingdom, is accomplished
by God alone in Christ, without any contribution from you. And
you sense in the process, God's holiness, and that your being
as a sinner demands hell, which is eternal separation from God.
That's what hell is, it's eternal separation from your God. You
say, oh, I reckon I could probably tolerate that because I've done
without him all these years. You don't know what you're talking
about. It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God, for our God is a consuming fire. It's to know your hopeless
condition, it's to know that you're mortal. How many people
live in this life as if they're going to live forever, as if
they're never going to die? We're all going to die. And to
know that you're guilty before God, and to know that guilty
before God, you're bereft of any hope. You have no hope, for
it says in the scripture, to not believe God is to be without
hope and without God in this world. And by grace, By grace,
the grace of God, the gift of God at Christ's expense. By grace,
by the Spirit's quickening. What's quickening? It's making
alive. The Holy Spirit comes and makes alive to see that to
which you were dead to all purposes. To see your eternal union with
God in Christ. And in that, the discharge of
your sin debt by what He did when He was made man. And when
he shed his life blood, for the life is in the blood, when he
shed that on the cross of Calvary, you were united with him. When? From before the beginning of
time is what this book teaches. We call ourselves the biblical
gospel church because we want our doctrine to be here. What's
your creed? What's your statement of faith?
This book, as far as we're able, God enabling us, it's this book,
and it shows that the true people of God were united with Christ
from before the foundation of the world. It's undeniable if
you read the words as they are in this book. On the basis of
that eternal union, Christ has discharged the sin debt of all
of his people with his lifeblood, and he's made his people the
righteousness of God in him, and thereby he has guaranteed
their hope of eternal glory. And Paul has reiterated in this
epistle in the earlier chapters, as in all his epistles, how it's
Christ alone that has done this. and how his people sabbath, they
rest. That's what sabbath means, it's
a rest. How his people sabbath in the truth of what he has accomplished
and the result of what he has accomplished. We rest in it,
we rest in it. How should a man be just with
God? I rest in the Lord Jesus Christ, for there is none other
name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Have you seen it? So where does
that put believers? And what does it mean for their
ongoing lives in this world? Have you believed this? What
does it mean for your ongoing life in this world? And so I
want to ask some questions and seek some answers. What is a
true Christian believer? What is his rule of life? What is the thing that guides
how he lives and interacts? Where does he get the power to
keep to that rule of life? So what is a true believer? Well,
we read in the Song of Solomon at the start, chapter 6 and verse
13, we read in there that what do we see in the Shulamite? What
do we see in the people of God? As it were, the company of two
armies. The company of two armies. What
does that mean? Look at verse 9 of our chapter, Colossians
chapter 3. which is renewed in knowledge
after the image of him that created him. There's the old man of the
flesh, the original you, the original child of Adam, descended
from Adam, the old man, and then there's the new man. It's exactly
what it says in Ephesians chapter 4. We're going to be looking
at other scriptures because the best commentary on any part of
scripture is the rest of scripture. So in Ephesians chapter 4, And
you don't have to turn to it, because I'm going to read them
anyway, but you might want to. Ephesians 4 verse 22. that ye
put off. Remember what we've just read
in Colossians 3, verses 9 and 10? Well, verse 22 of Ephesians
4, that ye put off concerning the former conversation, put
off what? The old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful
lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And verse
24, that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in
righteousness and true holiness. And then in Ephesians chapter
2, in Ephesians chapter 2, we see that the old man, the old
man, verses 11 and 12, remember that ye being in time past Gentiles
in the flesh, not the people of God in the flesh, who are
called uncircumcision by that which is called circumcision.
The Jews despised the Gentiles as not being the people of God
in the flesh made by hands, in that which the flesh did, in
that which religion did, that at that time, when you didn't
believe Christ, you were without Christ, being aliens from the
Commonwealth of Israel, from the Church of God, from the people
of God, from the promises of God, strangers from the covenants
of promise, having no hope, no hope, and without God in this
world. We were... children of disobedience,
yet again it says, sorry I keep losing my place, going back to
chapter 2 of Ephesians, chapter 2 and verse 2, it says at the
end of verse 2, the children of disobedience. This is what
people are by nature as they're born as children of Adam. It
says at the end of verse 3 of Ephesians 2, by nature the children
of wrath, even as others. But then it says, but God who
is rich in mercy, but God. In the believer, made spiritually
alive, awake, alert by the Holy Spirit, quickening, the life
that comes from the Holy Spirit, by that new birth, by that new
man within, living in communion, living in union with God in Christ. That's what it is to be a believer. This new man, let's look at a
few verses in Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight,
and if I can get these pages to turn over. Romans chapter
8 and verse 1. I just want to look at some verses
here, so follow with me if you can turn to it. Romans 8 verse
1, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are
in Christ Jesus. What do they do? They walk not,
they live their lives not after the flesh, but after the Spirit
of God that's given them life. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus, that's the true life of God. has made
me free from the law of sin and death. What's the law of sin
and death? It's the law of do this, be perfectly righteous.
This is what the law says, that you must continue in it without
ever failing. All things written in the book
of the law to do them continually. But Christ has made me free from
that. For what the law could not do,
for what I could not achieve by obeying the law, why? Because
it was weak through the flesh. The flesh is dead in trespasses
and sins. God sending his own son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the
flesh. He paid the price of the sin
of his people in the flesh. He was made a partaker of the
flesh of the children that he might thereby die the death that
was due to the children. that the righteousness of the
law, that the righteousness that God says, if you do this, this
is righteousness. That's what the law was for,
to define righteousness. That the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us who can't obey it in the flesh,
because we're weak in the flesh. But it can be fulfilled in us
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they
that are after the flesh Living without any knowledge of God,
do mind, do think on the things of the flesh. But they that are
after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally,
fleshly-minded is death, but to be spiritually-minded is life
and peace. Because the carnal mind, the
fleshly mind, as we are born, is enmity against God. We're
the enemies of God by nature. For it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be. So then, they that are in
the flesh, they that are living with no thought of God but just
in the flesh, cannot please God. But you, if you believe, you
are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If so be that the
Spirit of God dwell in you, does the Spirit of God dwell in you?
If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
The true believer is one who has the Spirit of Christ dwelling
in him, the Spirit of God dwelling in him. And if Christ be in you,
the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because
of righteousness. Does that not ring with that
verse in Galatians that I keep quoting, Galatians 2? 20, that
I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ
lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live
by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself
for me. Verse 11, but if the spirit of him that raised up
Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ
from the dead shall also quicken, make alive your mortal bodies
by his spirit that dwelleth in you. Therefore, brethren, we
are debtors, not to the flesh to live after the flesh. We're
not under the control of the flesh. For if ye live after the
flesh, ye shall die. But if through the spirit, You
do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. For as many as
are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. But
there is a constant warfare. As long as we live in the flesh
in this world, there is a constant warfare. It is the camp of two
armies, the company of two armies, and they're warring together
in you. What am I talking about? I'm
talking about what Paul in Galatians calls the flesh and the spirit. In Galatians 5 verse 16, This
I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust
of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against
the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary,
the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that
you would. There's a warfare going on. It's like this, I once
heard it described like this, and I think it's a good It's
a good picture. You are like a factory. You are
like a factory that's got old, creaky, rusty machinery in it,
but there's a new manager that's come to take up residence there.
That's it. Creaky old machinery, but new
management. What is it that directs the way
the believer lives his life? The true believer is directed
by that new manager, which is the new man within. So what then
is the rule by which true believers live. What is it? Now, many say
that it's the law of Moses. It's the law given at Sinai in
the Old Testament. It's the law of Moses, the Ten
Commandments, and the other moral things that go with it. But they
divide the Mosaic law. They divide the law given to
Moses at Sinai into three divisions. They say there's the moral aspect
of that law. They say that there's the civil
aspect of the law that applied to the theocracy, which was the
nation of Israel. And they say, thirdly, there's
the ceremonial aspect of the law, which is governing how the
sacrifices and the temple worship and the priesthood and all of
that was operated. Now, I tell you, and you tell
me if I'm wrong, but I don't see any scriptural warrant whatsoever
for dividing up the law into those three bits. Whenever we
read about the law of Moses, it's a unity. It's the law of
Moses. When Romans 6.14 says, you are
not under law, but under grace, these people say, ah, what that
means is, you're not under the Old Testament Israel's civil,
the way it governed its state, or the ceremonial law, the way
the temple worship and the priesthood was operated. But, they say,
you are still under the moral law to direct your behavior.
And in my experience, it largely comes down to this. The thing
that makes such an issue with these people is Sabbath-keeping. They make today, Sunday, the
Sabbath day in its Christian form. They set up rules and regulations
of what they call rules for the Christian Sabbath. And they're
completely arbitrary. You won't find anything in the
scripture. It varies from place to place. They will direct how
you dress. They will direct how far you
can walk. They will direct whether you
can use your car or not. They will direct about watching
television or not watching television. And all of it is constrained,
that behavior in these situations is constrained by threats and
promises. Threats of punishment if you
fail, promises of reward if you're good, because what a good jewel
you'll get in your crown when you get to heaven. They say at
judgment believers will be judged for conformity to or violation
of the moral law, for how well they progressed in legal conformity,
in sanctification. They talk about progressive sanctification. But what does the scripture say?
Is that not what always we should ask? What saith the scripture?
What does the scripture say about all of these laws? What does
the scripture say about the Mosaic law? It says that the law was
given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Christ Jesus. It
says Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believes. What says that? Did I make that
up? The scripture says it. Romans 10 verse 4. Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. That's
echoed by Galatians chapter 2 verse 21. For by the works of the law
shall no flesh be justified in his sight. Because if righteousness
do come by the works of the law that you do, it says this. Christ
is dead in vain. Christ died for nothing. If you
get righteous by obeying the Mosaic law, Christ died in vain. There was no need for it. It
says in Hebrews 10 verse 14, for he has perfected by one offering,
his one offering, he has perfected forever them that are sanctified. How are you sanctified? By God. in eternity, by God separating
in time, sanctified by God, set apart from the rest. Christ,
by one offering, has perfected forever. What liberty that gives
to the people of God. What liberty it gives. In Romans
8 verse 2, which we read just before, the law of the spirit
of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and
death. And so in Galatians 5 verse 1,
Paul says, Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ
has made you free. Stand fast in it. Don't let them
move you from it. Don't let them bind you. Don't
let them, as we saw in the last half of Colossians chapter 2,
don't let them impose Sabbath days on you. Don't let them impose
rules and regulations. Don't let them do it because
we are made free in the Lord Jesus Christ. But is this liberty
to do whatever we lust after in the flesh? You know, whenever
we see whatever we see in the moment before us, do we do it
and say it's okay for us to do it? We don't live, do we, like
the days of the judges? It says in Judges 17, verse six,
that what marked out that society, and it's so true today, that
every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Whatever
he thought he wanted to do, he did it. It's like every aspect
of life where people interact. Rules are necessary to avoid
anarchy, to avoid chaos, to avoid danger. There are rules of the
road. There are rules of the road in
the country in which you live. You are not free to drive in
a way that seems right in your eyes. I cannot leave here at
the end of this service and decide, oh, today I'm going to drive
down the right-hand side of the road in this country, because
we don't. We drive on the left-hand side of the road in this country.
Because if I did that, I would do harm to others. So what guides
the conduct? What guides the lifestyle? What
guides the demeanor of the followers of Christ? It isn't the Mosaic
law. So what was that for then, if
it's there? What was the Mosaic law for, if it's there in the
scripture? Why am I, who go on so much about
us being a biblical gospel church, why is the Mosaic law, which
is clearly in the scriptures, not the thing which guides how
we live and we don't live? Well, what was it for? It tells
us, Galatians 3 verse 19. Look at these verses with me.
Wherefore then, serveth the law. What's it for? It was added. Talking about Abraham, but it
was added 430 years afterwards. It was added because of transgressions. It was added to make clear what
was transgression. For how long? Till the seed should
come. What's the seed? The promised
seed of the woman in the Garden of Eden, in the Fall. The seed
of the woman, Genesis 3.15, the seed of the woman that would
come and would crush the head of Satan whilst his heel was
bruised by Satan. The seed should come, to whom
the promise was made, and it was ordained by angels in the
hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not a mediator
of one, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises
of God? God forbid, of course it isn't.
For if there had been a law given which could have given life,
that we could have obeyed, verily righteousness should have been
by the law. But the scripture has concluded all under sin. That the promise, were all sinners,
all fall short. That the promise by, the promise
achieved by what? The faith of Jesus Christ. The promise guaranteed by what
Christ has done. It's not our faith in Jesus Christ,
it's the promise by the faith of Jesus Christ, might be given
to them that believe. But before faith came, we were
kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards
be revealed. Wherefore, The law was our schoolmaster
unto Christ. I missed out to bring us because
that's in italics. It just says the law was our
schoolmaster. The Greek word is paide gogos,
which is the man with the cane that used to belt the kids and
make them get in line and do as they were told. The law was
that which drove us to Christ so that we might be justified
by faith. But after that faith has come,
We are no longer under a schoolmaster. What could be clearer? What is
the believer's rule of life? It isn't the law of Moses. That's
been fulfilled in Christ. What is then? Are we without
law? Are we antinomian, without law?
No. We have gospel precepts. We have
gospel precepts. instructions as to how we're
to live. All of the epistles contain very
many exhortations regarding conduct, how believers ought to interact
with their brethren, how we ought to react with the world around
us in general. That which is incompatible with
the life of the Spirit is underlined and made clear, and that which
aligns with it is made clear. Because the Scripture says it,
it must be obvious that it isn't something that we don't need
to be told about. The Spirit of God has decreed and has inspired
Paul in all of his epistles and the other writers of the epistles
to say that which aligns with life in the Spirit of God and
that which is incompatible with it. We're exhorted to kill the
sinful works of the flesh. We're exhorted to put those works
off, like you might take off a dirty, filthy, shameful old
garment, old clothing. And he lists here, look, mortify
therefore your members which are upon earth. And he lists
the sort of things, fornication, sexual adulterous immorality,
uncleanness, inordinate affection, by which he means that which
we see all around us today, it was rampant in the days of Sodom
and Gomorrah. It was rampant then and it's
just as rampant now. Inordinate affection. He's talking
about what goes under the title of LGB or whatever it is, I forget
all the things that they keep adding to it. But it's just perversity. It's perversity. He talks about
evil consupiscence. Just immorality, immorality.
And covetousness, which is idolatry. Why is covetousness idolatry? Because it's worshipping things
rather than God. And it's all things, verse six,
for which things sake the wrath of God cometh on the children
of disobedience. All these things draw God's wrath. Paul says, take them off. Don't
do them. Don't wear them as your habit.
Don't do them. He says, take them off. You once
walked in them, verse seven. You also walked sometime when
you lived in them before you knew Christ, but now you know
Christ. Think on things above and don't do these things. Put
them off. Put off all of these things.
Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your
mouth, lying, being dishonest with one another. You've put
off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man,
which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created
him. Take it all off. Take it all
off. Put on conduct that matches the
garments of salvation. Yes, we're still in the flesh,
we're weak, were sinful, as Paul himself said, in me, in my flesh,
there dwells no good thing. He said, I'm not worthy to be,
I'm the least of all the saints. He said, I'm not fit to be called
an apostle, for I persecuted the church. He said, I'm the
chief of sinners. The new man in David, the new
man by the Spirit of God that was in King David 3,000 years
ago, was a man after God's own heart. but in his flesh he committed
adultery and murder. So judge not one another because,
as we must confess, there but for the grace of God go I. What
does God call us to do as his elect, redeemed, justified, sanctified
people? Verse 12, put on, therefore,
as the elect of God, as the elect of God, as the people that God
has chosen in eternity. Put on, therefore, holy and beloved,
bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness,
long-suffering, patience, all of these things, forbearing with
one another, forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against
you, even as Christ forgave you, have you not been forgiven your
sins in Christ? So also you do. And above all
these things, put on charity, put on love for one another,
which is the bond of perfection, and let the peace of God rule
in your hearts, each considering his Christian brethren more highly
than himself, steeped in God's word, mutually edifying, encouraging
one another, helping one another. Now, you would say, that's a
tall order, isn't it? Isn't that a tall order? You
know, think on things above. You're a new person. You've been
created anew. Therefore, now, go to it yourself. Try and do all of these things.
And people do and they try and they fail again and again and
again. How to comply? Where do we get
the power from to comply? Where do we get the power from
to do what it says here? To mortify our members which
are on earth, to put away these things, to take off that old
man and to put on the new. Where do we get the power to
subdue the flesh, to promote the spirit, to constrain sin,
to encourage gracious behavior? Verse five. mortify therefore
your members now that word therefore is interesting because it connects
all of these instructions with the first four verses it's just
a connecting thing and it could easily just as easily be translated
not therefore but thereby Put to death your flesh and all of
its works, and take off that old coat of the filthy works
of the flesh, because why? How? How? Thereby, how? But I
look at verses one and two. How? Not by renewed resolution
to turn over a new leaf and try harder. Not by the fear of church
discipline, as some like to exercise, or even fear of the judgment
seat of Christ before which we all must stand, we're told. No,
but by verses one and two. If ye then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right
hand of God. Seek those things above. Set
your affections on things above, and not on the things of the
earth. Thereby put to death your members which are on earth. By
thinking on him, put to death your members which are on earth.
Because verse 11, verse 11, what's the key to everything? It's Christ. Christ is all and in all. Christ is everything. Christ,
who is our life. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, your life is hid with Christ in God. Christ is
all and in all. It's Christ. That's it. Set your
mind on these things and thereby you will put to death your members
which are upon the earth. When I see the redemption accomplished
for me by Christ's blood, when I see the degree of humility
to which he came to die that shameful death you know it's
what Philippians 2 verses 5 to 11 says let this mind be in you
which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God
thought it not robbery to be equal with God he lived in sublime
glory he prayed in John 17 restore to me the glory that I had with
you before the world was there is our God in all of his glory
in the second person of the Trinity and yet by the covenant of grace
in accordance with the covenant of grace in accordance with the
promises he made on behalf of the people he loved from everlasting
he came down he came down from glory he came down he took on
him flesh the likeness of sinful flesh there was no comeliness
that we should desire him and he came down lower and lower
and lower those that that that staircase down from divine glory
he came down he came down he was obedient unto death you know
the the obedience of christ what was his obedience it was the
obedience unto death which death the shameful death of the cross
it wasn't just any old death it was the criminals death it
was the lowest of the low it was how the romans put together
the work put to death the worst Criminals. He came down to that
death. And why did he do it? What motivated
him to do it? He wasn't taken against his will.
He said, no one takes my life from me. He said, I lay it down
of myself. What was his motivation for coming
down from so high to so low? His motivation was everlasting
love for me. for his child, for all of his
elect, his elect multitude, his long-suffering with me in my
flesh, his bounty of grace and spiritual blessings for me, the
glorious inheritance he's willingly shared with me. I'm a joint heir
with Christ, so are you if you believe him. Surely that is what
constrains my conduct. Not the law of Moses trying to
get the flesh to do that which he cannot do. It's that that
constrains my conduct. 2 Corinthians 5.14, the love
of Christ constrains me. Not fear of punishment, not the
promise of some reward, for God is our exceeding great reward.
God in Christ is our exceeding great reward. And it's the love
of Christ that constrains the behavior of his people. He tells
us how to live. He gives us a clear standard.
Gospel precepts. The more I look at him, and he
is the pinnacle of true life. You know, people think they're
living. They know nothing. Until you know something of God
in Christ, he is the pinnacle of true life. The totality of my being and
my life in this flesh are in Him. They're in Him. And the sinful works of this
flesh are mortified the more I think on Him, who is all and
in all. It is the gospel of Christ that
gives the power to put to death the works of the flesh. What
gives the power? Not the fear of the law breaking
it or the promise of some reward for keeping. It's the gospel
of Christ that empowers the mortification of the flesh. Because as Paul
says in Romans 1 verse 16, he says, he's not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ. Why? For it is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that believes. We contribute nothing
to salvation. Where sin abounded, grace much
more abounded. That's Romans 6. But shall we
continue in sin, it asks, that grace may abound? Shall we continue
in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that
are dead to sin live any longer in it? How shall we be happy
and contented and settled in it? The sin that so easily besets
us, as the scripture calls it, is unbelief. It's unbelief. It
works out in every other sin. It's the root of every other
sin. How do we put it off? How do we mortify it? Answer?
Look more to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's all and in all. Look unto
Jesus. Let us run the race set before
us looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith.
The more we look to him, the more we mortify the works of
the flesh, the more we think on him and the gospel of his
grace, the more we see of his accomplished salvation and how
it works out in me, the more we are aware of the heavenly
inheritance that he's preparing for us, that he has for us. So
what do we do? We commune with him, we commune
with him. It's not theoretical, it's not
just abstract theoretical thoughts that you you store away in your
mind like like Like the laws of physics if you're doing physics
or something like that. No, this is this is real. This
is personal This is an interaction between us As sinners saved by
grace with the God who has saved us we commune with him What's
that chorus that says? You ask me how I know he lives.
He lives within my heart. I walk with him and I talk with
him. He lives, he lives. Christ Jesus lives today. He
walks with me and he talks with me along life's narrow way. You
ask me how I know he lives. He lives within my heart. I've
probably missed some words out, but you get the idea. You commune
with him. You ask him for more grace. You
seek a deeper knowledge. You seek to inflame your love
for him, for what he's done. You immerse yourself more and
more in his word. When you look and think of all
the distractions of this world that are around us, the things
of this earth that we set our affections on, and yet Paul said
in verse two, set your affection on things above, not on things
on the earth. How are you going to set your
affection on things above? In his word. Immerse yourself
in his word. When I read the accounts of the
old saints of a couple of hundred years ago, and there were some
very, very godly people who knew God in a way that is rare in
the days in which we live, but you know, They just could not
get enough of the Word of God. They just consumed it. They digested
it. They chewed it over. They kept
going over it. They immersed themselves in it.
That is what brings you to that place of knowing more and more
of Him, whereby you will mortify your members on earth. Encourage
one another with fellowship. That's another thing. Encourage
one another. That's why fellowship is so important. It really is. It's great that
we've got the Internet. It's great that there are people
out there now watching this service, and others will be able to. But
look, there's nothing quite like being in the same room. as those
that believe the same things and encouraging one another and
encouraging one another on the way. And look at the record of
those I've just said about reading these books of people that lived
in Christ in the 1700s and 1800s. Look at the record of them and
the way that they walked and be thankful. That's it. What
was God's indictment against mankind in general? They were
not thankful. So stand fast. Stand fast. We're made free. The law of the
spirit of life has made us free from the law of sin and death.
Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. Not
with license to sin with impunity, but in the liberty of all that
Christ is and all that Christ has accomplished. Amen.