Now in 1 Corinthians 9, verse
21, the Apostle Paul says, to them that are without law, I
became as without law. And then at the other side of
the parenthesis, he said that I might gain them that are without
law. But in the parentheses he says,
being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ. Or a better interpretation would
be under the law of Christ. And that's going to be our subject.
Under the law of Christ. Under the law of Christ. What
is the law of Christ? Paul's point that he's making
here is that He was serving them in faith, trusting Christ, and
he was doing it in love rather than using the law. Now, if you
look back up at verse 9, he says, it's written in the law of Moses.
You see there, it's written in the law of Moses. Thou shalt
not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. And
then he says, He says down in verse 14, he says, Even so
hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should
live of the gospel. But now look what he said, But
I've used none of these things. In other words, I didn't go to
the law of Moses and I didn't use the law of Moses in dealing
with you. Now, if it was written in the
law of Moses, but he didn't use the law of Moses, and the law
he was under was the law of Moses, then by not using the law of
Moses, he broke the law. Isn't that right? If what he
was talking about here as being the law of Christ, if it's the
law of Moses, then he broke the law, because he didn't use the
law. He said, I didn't use those things. I didn't use that law. I didn't use it. He said, but
rather, I served you. I preach the gospel and ask nothing
from you." That's what he said. Now here's why he said he did
it. Look over at verse 23. He said, "...and this I do for
the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you."
You see what he's saying? He's saying, I didn't do this
from a spirit of law going to the law. I did it as being under
the law of Christ. So what is this law of Christ? It's the law of faith that works
by love. It's the law that says we trust
Christ who is the head and governing his church and governing his
people. And out of a love His love for
us and that love which constrains us, we do what He says do. And He says, preach the gospel.
And He says, I'll work the grace in the hearts of my people. So
we can trust Him to do that. And so we believe Him, we trust
Him by faith, and we serve Him in love. because of what He's
done for us. The law of Christ is the gospel
of His grace. That's what the law of Christ
is. It's the gospel that declares that God the Father elected a
people unto salvation. And because we know that we did
not choose Him, that He chose us and in time called us and
we've experienced that mercy from Him, then we know He's going
to call out His elect. So we don't have to do anything
using the exteriors of religion to try to gain men to Him. We
simply declare what He's given us to declare. So if we go into
a man who believes he's under the law, we don't have to beat
him and force him to let go of the law. Just preach the gospel
to him. Christ will make him let go of the law when He shows
him something better. If you go into a man who thinks
he's without law and he's a rebel, you don't have to try to bring
this man and constrain this man and bind this man with chains.
You can't do it. It won't work. Just preach the
gospel to him. God will bring him and constrain
him by His love and grace. But because we've experienced
that, we know that's how He's going to do it. And Paul had
experienced that. The law of Christ is the gospel
of a redemption accomplished by Christ. The blood atonement
has been accomplished by Christ. He's done that. In whom God is
just. And He's the justifier of all
who believe. To have our sin put away, to
be justified, to be robed in Christ's righteousness means
our sin is gone. It means the law says we're righteous. The law of Moses says we're righteous.
It means the curse is gone. And so therefore, Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. If
you believe, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to you. If you don't believe, you'll stumble over that and
Christ is not the end of the law for you. You're still hanging
on to it and still trying to come to God in it. But because
we do know He's the end of the law, we who believe, we don't
go back to it. Alright? The law of Christ is
the gospel that declares the necessity of the regenerating
work of the Holy Spirit. And because we've experienced
the Holy Spirit coming and giving us life, But when we were just
dead sinners, we've experienced that. When we were helpless,
He gave us faith. He gave us repentance. And the
fruit that makes up the new man is all of the Spirit of God.
Listen to this. The fruit of the Spirit is love. Where do
we get this heart to serve Him in love? We got it from God the
Holy Spirit. It's joy. Where do we get the
fruit of joy? We got it from the Holy Spirit.
It's peace. It's long-suffering. That's suffering
long, even when somebody's You just see them headed in the wrong
direction, and you're trying to encourage them, you're trying
to declare the gospel to them, and they just keep on trying
to hold on to that law, and you just have to be long-suffering
with them. You have to just keep preaching the gospel to them.
Where'd that fruit come from in you? It came from God the
Holy Spirit. Gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance. Against such, there is no law. You understand that? There is
no, this is God formed in you, Christ formed in you by God the
Holy Spirit. There's no law against God. No
law against that which is of God. You see what it says? So
this is not the law of Moses. The law of Christ is the law
of the everlasting, unchangeable covenant of grace that's ordered
in all things in sure by Christ, which is written on our heart
in the new birth. I was going to read to you from
Jeremiah 31, but I'll read to you from out of Hebrews. In Hebrews
9, it says here, It says in verse 8, finding fault
with them, He said, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when
I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with
the house of Judah, with His elect people. And He said, Not
according to the covenant, not according to the covenant that
I made with their fathers in the day when I took them out.
took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt. Because they
continued not in My covenant, I regarded them not, said the
Lord." You remember what that covenant said? That covenant
said, this do and live. Do all of this law, fulfill all
of this law. and you can live. That's what
it said. That's not the covenant, he said, I'm making in the hearts
of my people. This is what he said, this is the covenant I'll
make with the house of Israel after those days, said the Lord.
I'll put my laws into their mind and write them in their hearts
and I'll be to them a God and they shall be to me a people.
And He says, "...and they shall not teach every man his neighbor,
and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall
know Me." Each one that writes this law in their hearts, they
know Him. They really do know Him. They
know Him. And he says, from the least of
them to the greatest of them. For I'll be merciful to their
unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities I'll remember
no more. He says, I'll be merciful to their unrighteousness and
their sins and their iniquities I'll remember no more. When you've
experienced the mercy toward your unrighteousness and you
found out that God remembers your sins and your iniquities
no more, you know what that causes you to do? That causes you to
follow Christ. You want to stick close to Him.
Because of what He's done for you. You don't want to get out
of here. You don't want to go back to Mount Sinai. You want to stay with Him. In
that He set a new covenant. He made the first old. And at that time Paul said it's
decayeth and it waxes old and it's ready to vanish away. Now,
because this everlasting covenant is made in our hearts, when God
gives us faith to rest in Christ, because He gives us faith to
rest in Him, the law of Christ is called the law of faith. It
says, where's boasting then? It's excluded. Are we boasting
that we fulfilled the law? Are we boasting that we did something
to satisfy the justice of God and to make ourselves righteous
before God and holy to enter into God's presence? Are we boasting
about that? No, it's excluded. You know why? By the law of works? No, but
by the law of faith. It's excluded. Boasting is excluded. And because the law of Christ
freezes from the law of sin and death, from the curse, from the
dominion of sin and from the curse of death, it freezes from
that. And because it does, it's called
the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. This is the
law. because it frees us from the bondage of the law of Moses
and it brings us out and frees us. This law of Christ is called
the law of liberty. It's the law of liberty. We've
brought out now to where we're not in bondage anymore, serving
Satan is who we were serving. Calling it serving God, but all
the while doing exactly what he would have us to do, the prince
of the power of the air would have us try to come to God some
other way other than Christ. That's what the synagogue of
Satan is all about. Trying to get you to do something
to bring yourself, make yourself holy and acceptable to God by
what you've done. He got you right where He wants
you, right there. But God brought us out from under
that so that now we're free. from that yoke and that bondage
and that fear of death and that terror and that rigor we're with,
we're scared and always trying to either make up for what we
just did that was bad or going right back into it again. It
was just a cycle we were always in. He's freed us from that so
we can actually serve Him in newness of life and in love.
That's what the law of Christ does. The law of Christ is not
the law of Moses given at Mount Sinai. I know that's going to
hang some people up. But it's not. It's not the law
of Moses given at Mount Sinai. It's the gospel given by Christ
from Mount Zion, from heavenly Jerusalem. It's not this do and
live. It's the just shall live by faith. It's faith which worketh by love. Isaiah 2 verse 4 said, For out
of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem. He said in that day out of Zion
shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
What law is he talking about? He's talking about this law of
Christ. In that day when Christ comes and Christ establishes
His kingdom and establishes us in righteousness, His people
in righteousness and puts an end to their sins. And that day,
the gospel, the law, the word of the Lord is going to go forth
from Mount Zion. This is heavenly Zion. It's heavenly Jerusalem.
It's not Jerusalem below. Jerusalem below, which is below,
is in bondage with her children. She tried to come to God by the
works of the law. But this is heavenly Jerusalem,
which is the mother of all who believe. This is where God has
taught us through the Spirit, through His gospel, out of Christ's
heavenly throne. That's where He's taught us.
Hebrews... John said this, the law was given
by Moses. That law just was a cold letter. that was written out just like
the law on the civil law books over here at the courthouse.
And it just said, do this, don't do that, do this, don't do that.
It didn't tell you any spirit of that law. It didn't show you
any love. It didn't show you grace. It
didn't show you, it didn't do anything. And it required death
when you broke it. And we broke it. We'd already
broken it. We were sinners from the beginning. The law came by
Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. He came and
He taught us what grace is. And He came and He taught us
the spirit of what the law, the spirit is behind that letter
of the law. What it really is all about is
what He came and taught us. And He said in Hebrews 12, 18,
You're not come to the mount that might be touched, that burned
with fire, nor to blackness and darkness and tempest. Remember
Mount Sinai, how it looked? And it says, for they could not
endure that which was commanded. They couldn't. They just couldn't
do it. We couldn't keep the law of Moses. And he says, but you
come to Mount Zion, unto the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem, to the God, the judge of all,
to Jesus, the mediator of the covenant, the new covenant, that's
the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that
of Abel. See that you refuse not Him that
speaketh. Now that's important. See that
you refuse not Him that speaketh. What's happening in our day is
men are going back and trying to hear Moses. That's what they
did the whole time Christ walked the earth. He was preaching to
them the gospel of the grace and truth of God. And they kept
saying, but Moses said. Those that died under Moses'
law, under two or three witnesses, they die. How much more sore
punishment, suppose, we'll receive if we refuse to hear Christ,
what he's teaching, what he's speaking? Now this is, we're
talking about the word of Christ, the law of Christ, the gospel
of Christ, what he teaches his people. Believers are the only
ones who have established the broken law of Moses. The only
ones that have established it. And we're the only ones who teach
others to establish the law. That's so. We do so by declaring
it's impossible for a sinner to establish the law by his obedience. And we teach it's by the obedience
of Christ alone that the law is established. He put an end
to it and we establish the law through faith in him. Now anything
else, those who would say otherwise, they might pretend to have a
zeal for the law, they might pretend to have a zeal for God
and for holiness and for all these things, but they're breaking
the law and they're teaching others to break it when they
lower the demands of the law and claim that believers can
keep it. They're breaking it. They're
teaching them to come to God another way other than Christ.
We're sent to teach men what the law says about us, what the
law of Moses said about us, and shut us up to Christ. And then
Christ, having taught His people in the heart and made this new
covenant with His people, we're led by Him. Now, I said all that
to say this. Yet, there are some who vainly
imagine that being under grace means that we dare not preach
about character or conduct. There are some who believe that.
When they hear the preacher quote precepts which the Lord Jesus
or his apostles gave, these folks act as if they think the preacher
made it up. Like it's not right there on
the page in black and white. But character and conduct do
matter, and these are things the Lord Jesus taught. This is
the word that came from his mouth. The believer's body is not our
own. We're bought with a price, a price he paid. Therefore, we're
to glorify God in our body and in our spirit, which belong to
the Lord. There he is. Now, here's what I want you to
get from this. Christ did give his church ordinances
and precepts. And the believer is to observe
these while we're in this earth. He did. Christ said, if you love
me, keep my commandments. He didn't say, if you love me,
keep Moses' commandments. He said, if you love me, keep
my commandments. And Christ uses apostles to teach
us. He told them when he sent them
forth to preach and to baptize in the name of the Father, Son,
and the Holy Spirit. He says, and you teach them to observe,
teach them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you. That's
what he said. And he said, and lo, I'm with
you always. And that's very important to
remember, because as we're teaching these things, we don't have any
power to make anybody observe these things. We depend entirely
upon Christ being with us even to the end of the world to save
us from our enemies and to conquer the hearts of His people. We
have no power. Now he's speaking of what Christ
Himself taught as He walked this earth. That's what we're talking
about. These are the Master's words to His servants and to
believers. We're not under the law. were
under His grace. Everything written by Christ's
apostles in the New Testament is what Christ, either in person
or through the Holy Spirit, commanded them to teach us. And it's not
the letter of the Law of Moses. It is grace and truth. It is the spirit of faith which
works by the Spirit of love. Now, nobody but a believer is
going to understand that. And even as believers, we do
these things we're going to look at. It's as natural for a believer
to do these things as it was for us when we were unregenerate
to do the opposite. It was as natural then. But because
we have the light of our Savior, because the believer has the
light of our Savior, we see our sin. We see something of our
unfaithfulness. And because we see that, we don't
personally see ourselves as doing these things faithfully. You
remember the sheep that the Lord said, when He sets His sheep
on His right hand and He tells them what all they did in His
name, they'll say, when did we ever do that? But the goats on
His left hand, when He tells them, you didn't do any of these
things, they'll say, when did we not do them? So you see, the
spirit that's in the heart of God's regenerate people and the
spirit that's in the unregenerate, self-righteous religiousness,
they're two different spirits entirely, completely. Alright,
now let's look at some of these things. Titus 3, 5. Titus 3,
5. I'm not at all going to get through
even half of what I want to show you. Titus 3, 5. First of all,
Christ taught us to preach the gospel and to avoid contentions
and strivings about the law and all kinds of foolish questions.
He said, preach Christ. Look at verse 5. Titus 3, 5.
He said, not by works of righteousness which we've done. He's talking
about how we were saved. But according to His mercy, He
saved us. By the washing of regeneration
and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
This is a faithful saying. This is what he's talking about
right here. This is a faithful saying. And these things, this
gospel of the mercy and grace of God given us through Christ
Jesus, this gospel is what I will that thou affirm constantly.
Preach this constantly. And he says, for this end, for
this purpose, that they which have believed in God might be
careful to maintain good works. How are they going to be careful
to maintain good works? What's going to motivate them? What's going to constrain them?
What's going to make them be careful to maintain good works?
Constantly, continually hearing that salvation is by the grace
and mercy of God Almighty in Christ Jesus. that He came and
did all this work in our heart and showed us what He did for
us on the cross. And it's all by free grace. That's
going to make us careful. And then He says this, He says,
These things are good and profitable unto men, but avoid foolish questions
and genealogies, and contentions and strivings about the law,
for they are unprofitable in their vein." Now, he said, and
a man that's a heretic, after the first and second admonition,
rejected. The Jews, and later those who
claimed to believe Christ but kept trying to bring people back
under the law, they were constantly, continually bringing up questions
and genealogies and striving about the law to constantly try
to find some way they could steal glory in their flesh. That's
what they were doing. And Paul says here that getting
caught up in that garbage and getting on them rabbit trails
that they want to take you down is nothing but a smokescreen
to get you off of Christ and off of the mercy and grace of
God. He said it's all just unprofitable in vain. It won't do any good. And he said, and once you've
warned them, after the second time and they keep on with that
garbage, reject them. Don't have anything else to do
with them. Because it's just unprofitable. Believers are not
motivated by law. We do nothing from a legal principle,
but from faith which works by love. So Paul said just preach
the gospel continually. This is what the Lord said. He
that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth
me. That's the reason He does what
the Lord says. He loves me. And He says, and
he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father. It doesn't mean
that now you love Him and then the Father's going to love you.
It means that one that loves Him is because the Father loved
Him. The Father loved Him from everlasting. And the Father continues
to love Him. And the Father continues to keep
Him. That's why we love Him. We loved Him that He loved us.
And it's by that love that He continues to make us to love
Him. And He says, and I'll love Him, Christ said, and will manifest
Myself to Him. There's where our sight is. There's
who we follow. There's who we walk after. There's
how we know the way to go. He's manifesting himself to us.
And those that are constrained by that love, they serve him
by the will and wisdom of God, of Christ, not by the will and
wisdom of the constraints of men. If I could get you to do
something and you did it just whether in itself might be a
grand and glorious thing, but you did it because I constrained
you to do it or guilted you to do it, it'd be sin as bad as
any sin in hell. It would be. It wouldn't profit
you anything because it wouldn't be a faith. It wouldn't be that
which was wrought by God. It'd be that which was wrought
by the flesh. God is able to make all grace abound towards
you, that in all things you have all sufficiency to abound to
every good work. See, it's by His love and His
all-sufficient grace that this law of Christ constrains us.
All right, I'm going to try to give you a few of the precepts
of what these things are. 1 John 2.15. 1 John 2.15. This is concerning this world
that we live in. He says don't love it. That's
a precept. Don't love the world. Just don't
love it. Look at 1 John 2.15. Love not
the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any
man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that's in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the
lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father,
but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and
the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth
forever. You see, when you hear it say, Thou shalt not covet,
you don't get all that, do you? You don't get taught all that,
do you? That's grace and truth telling you, this is why you
don't want to love the world. You're going to perish. It's
a manifestation that the love of the Father is not in you.
You see what I'm saying? Alright? Then he said, do good
to your enemies. You'd be looking over to Romans
12, and I'm going to read you something the Lord said. You'd
be going to Romans 12. The Lord said, you've heard it's
been said, thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy.
He said, but I say, until you love your enemies, bless them
that curse you, do good to them that hate you, pray for them
which despitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be
children of your Father which is in heaven. He says, because
he makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good, he sends
rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love them which love
you, what reward have you? Do not even the publicans the
same? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more
than others? Do not even the publicans do
that? But be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is
in heaven is perfect." In other words, be just and merciful and
loving like the Heavenly Father is. Paul says the same thing
this way, and I think this will help us understand what the Lord
just said. Romans 12, 17. Recompense to no man evil for
evil. Provide things honest in the
sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as
lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved,
avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath, for it's
written vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. I'll repay, saith the
Lord. Therefore, if your enemy hunger, feed him. If he's thirsty,
give him to drink. For in doing so, you'll heap
coals of fire on his head." That doesn't mean you're going to
kill him. That means you warm him. That's a symbol of warmth
and love and compassion. It's not a symbol of trying to
He just said don't have vengeance on him, don't try to repay him.
Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. That's
what he's saying. You know this one, towards those
we work with. He said, servants, be obedient
to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with
fear and trembling and singleness of your heart, as unto Christ. Don't do it with eye service,
just when they're looking, as men-pleasers, but as the servants
of Christ. It's like you were doing it to
Christ. doing the will of God from the heart, with good will,
doing service as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that
whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive
of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. And he says, and you
masters, you do the same thing, forbearing threatening. Don't
be threatening, knowing that your master is also in heaven,
neither is there respect of persons with him. You see, it's what
believers do. It's what you do. You know, it's
not like something we ought to be glorying in. It's not something
we ought to be running around trying to whip people with. It's
just simple. Simple. In our families, He said,
Wives, submit yourselves to your own husband as is fit in the
Lord. Husbands, love your wives. Be
not bitter against them. Children, obey your parents in
all things, for this is well-pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke
not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged. In other words, raise them up
and nurture them in the same nurture and admonition as your
heavenly Father does you. Same thing. He doesn't chasten
us for His pleasure. He doesn't chasten us because
He's embarrassed and we embarrassed Him in front of everybody and
so He releases the fire from heaven on us. He chastens us
in love to turn us for our good. in the church, worship and serve
God in spirit and in truth, as opposed to looking to the exteriors
and to ceremonies, as opposed to doing what the Jew, what the
religious man does. He's looking for a sign. He's
looking for something in his fellow man that he does that
he can say, ah, that's faith. Or he's looking for something
where he can say, oh, no, that right there is not faith. Paul
said, we don't know any man of the flesh anymore. The Lord said,
the hours coming in now is when the true worshippers shall worship
the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to
worship Him. God's spirit, they that worship
Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware
of the concision. What are these evil workers?
They're ones that are pointing out all the exteriors and trying
to make the exteriors to mean that somebody has grace or doesn't
have grace. He says, for we're the circumcision. We're the true Jew. We're the
true spiritual Jew, which worship God in the spirit and rejoice
in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. And then he taught
us humility. Remember how he taught us that
those that are greatest in the kingdom are those that are the
least? That's why he said, be not called ye rabbi. He's telling
me, don't try to seek a title. Don't have men walking around
calling you master and calling you father. He said, you got
one master, he's in heaven. You got one father, he's in heaven.
Neither be called you master. You got one master, that's Christ.
And he says this in Peter, he says, through Peter, he says,
you all of you be subject one to another, be clothed with humility,
for God resisted the proud. And he says, and he gives grace
to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore,
under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due
time, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. You
see how he teaches humility? He taught us to keep the ordinances,
baptism and the Lord's Supper. These are precepts and ordinances. This is the law of Christ. This
is His command. He says, do all things, let's
look at this one, 1 Corinthians 14, 26. He says, do all things
in the church decently and in order. See, the purpose of this
is that Christ be exalted and that His people be edified and
His sheep be called out. The purpose of all of this is
to not make yourself the focus and not me the focus and not
be using the strength of our hand and the wisdom of our intellect
and crafting our words and trying to be all sneaky and political
to make things happen, it's so that we stay out of the way and
God does the work through His Word. So He says here in 1 Corinthians
14, 26, How is it then, brethren, when you come together, every
one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath
a revelation, hath an interpretation? You've seen churches like this.
They got to have a church service be relegated to about 10 minutes
of preaching, and it'll be about an hour and a half of every other
kind of hoopty-do there is. Every kind of talent, and every
kind of everybody getting up and saying something, and testifying
about this and that, and just all this stuff. He said, let
all things be done unto edifying. Look down at verse 33. For God's
not the author of confusion, but of peace. as in all churches
of the saints. Let your women keep silence in
the churches. That puts a lot of them out of
business today. For it's not permitted unto them to speak,
but they're commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the
law. The word law right there means
the Old Testament. You remember in Genesis 3, the
scriptures, the Lord said after the fall, He said to Eve, your
desire shall be to your husband, and he'll have the rule over
you. The picture there is the bride is in subjection to Christ.
If we're in subjection to Christ, We're going to bow to Him and
trust Him because we need Him to save us. And that's the picture
of the woman being in subjection to her husband. That's why he
says a woman's not to get up in the church and start trying
to run over the man. Because it's a picture of the
bride being in subjection to Christ. Look now at verse 40. Let all things be done decently
and in order. And he tells us then to be provoking
one another to love and to good works. You know how? By assembling
together to hear the gospel. You know what we're doing today?
I'm provoking you to love and to good works by preaching this
message to you. And then you'll talk about it
amongst yourselves. And then we'll talk about it
amongst ourselves through the week. And you'll continue to
provoke one another to love and to good works. But if you weren't
here, and you never heard it, You wouldn't know what was going
on, would you? That's why it says, don't forsake the assembling
of yourselves together. And then he says, be of one mind
and love his brethren. Love his brethren. He said, a
new commandment I give unto you that you love one another as
I have loved you. That you also love one another.
And he says, by this shall all men know that you're my disciples
if you love one another. That's the great grace, love,
love one another. Be all of one mind, have compassion
one another, love as brethren. Be pitiful, be courteous. You
see that? Concerning personal offenses,
they're going to come. He told us three things. He said,
first of all, be like a child and try your best not to offend
anybody. We saw a message on this. I preached a message on
these three things. Then he said, if you are offended, he said,
be long-suffering. He gave us four things, four
steps to go through to deal with the problem. You know, go to
them and talk to them by yourself, and then take two or three brethren. That takes time. Be long-suffering.
And then he says, forgive without ceasing. You see how this is
grace. This is rejoicing in mercy, not
judgment. This is trusting the Father and
loving one another. This is totally different from
the law of Moses. In other words, the rule of the
believer is simply this. Galatians 5. I want you to see
this. Galatians 5. Galatians 5 and
look at verse 6. Here it is. Let's look at verse 5. We through
the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. That
means a lot of things. I'm waiting to see. I have a
hope of righteousness being formed in some lost sinner here through
the gospel of Christ doing that work in them. And I'm waiting
for that. I have that hope that He's going
to do that. I'm waiting on it. And I'm waiting on Him to do
it. I'm waiting on Him to do it. I'm waiting by faith, trusting
Him to do it. I have a hope of righteousness
that one day He's coming again, and I'm going to be taking the
glory with Him, and so are you. We're waiting for that hope of
righteousness by faith. We're waiting on Him to do it.
We wait on the hope of righteousness for Him to deliver us out of
trials in this life. We do it by faith, we wait on
it. For in Christ Jesus, look here, neither circumcision avails
anything nor uncircumcision. It's not the exterior, but faith
inward, which works by love. Look over at Galatians 6, verse
2. This is the law of Christ, is
bearing one another's burdens. Galatians 6.2, bear ye one another's
burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. You know what Christ
did for us? He took all our burdens, all our sins, all our rejections,
all the things that we did against God, He took it on Himself. And
He stood between us and God and He said, charge that to me. That's
what Paul said. Remember that when Philemon It
was Onesimus that ran off and he said, whatever he owes you,
charge it to me. Bear one another's burdens. Alright,
let's look at 1 John 3, 23. I want to just bring it down
to this. It's one commandment, brethren.
The law of Christ is one commandment. All of that that I just told
you is contained in this right here. 1 John 3, 23. This is His
commandment. Just one. You see that? It's
just one. Just one commandment. Not plural.
This is His commandment. That we should believe on the
name of His Son, Jesus Christ. There's faith. There's our complete
acceptance with God Almighty, Christ Jesus, our righteousness.
And love one another as He gave His commandment. It's just one
commandment. If we have faith and we've been
begotten of him, we're going to love one another. Because
those that are begotten love one another, going to the same
spirit, giving the same heart of love. And we're going to believe
him. That's it goes together, one
commandment. And see, that's not grievous. That's not something
that you're beating one another over the head with and trying
to measure one another by. That's just love and grace. That's
what he's talking about. That's why Paul said, I didn't
go back to the law of Moses when I, that's what the law of Moses
stated. He said, I just preached the
gospel to you. Wait on the Lord to do the work.
You see the difference? I hope so. Amen.