By standing and singing 201, he is able to deliver the 201.
201. Tis the grandest theme through
the ages from, Tis the grandest theme for a mortal tongue, Tis
the grandest theme that the world e'er sung, Our God is able to
deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. Go by sin oppressed, go to Him
for rest, our God is able to deliver thee. Tis the grandest
theme in the earth o'er me. Tis the grandest theme for a
mortal's strength. Tis the grandest theme, tell
the world again. Our God is able to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. to deliver thee. He is able to deliver thee. Though by sin oppressed, go to
him for rest. Our God is able to deliver thee. With the grandest theme let the
tidings roll To the guilty heart, to the sinful soul Look to God
in faith, He will make thee whole Our God is able to deliver thee
He is able to deliver thee He is able to deliver thee. Though by sin oppressed, go to
him for rest. Our God is able to deliver thee. Thank you. Good morning. Good morning. Come with me to Hosea 11. Hosea chapter 11. When Israel was a child, then
I loved him and called my son out of Egypt. And they called
them, so they went from them. They sacrificed them to Balaam,
and burned incense to graven images. I taught Ephraim also
to go, taking them by their arms, but they knew not that I healed
them. I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love,
and I was to them as they that take off the yoke of their jaws,
and I laid meat unto them. He shall not return to the land
of Egypt, but the Assyrians shall be his king, because they refuse
to return. And the sword shall abide on
his cities, and shall consume his branches, and devour them
because of their own counsels. and my people are bent to backsliding
from me. Though they called them to the
most high, none at all would exalt him. How shall I give thee
up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, Israel?
How shall I make thee as Adma? How shall I set thee as Zeboim?
Mine heart is turned within me. My repentings are kindled together.
I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger. I will not return
to destroy Ephraim, for I am God and not man, the Holy One
in the midst of thee, and I will not enter into the city. They
shall walk after the Lord. He shall roar like a lion. When
he shall roar, then the children shall tremble from the west.
They shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt. and as a dove out
of the land of Assyria. And I will place them in their
houses, saith the Lord. Ephraim compasseth me about with
lies and the house of Israel with deceit. But Judah yet ruled
with God and is faithful with the saints. Father, we come to you this morning,
thankful for this chapter of scripture. And Lord, we are so
thankful for you bringing us together to hear the gospel. And Lord, we're thankful for
the first message that you brought us. And Lord, we're asked that
you open our hearts to hear and understand the second message
and father of Anything that we get out of these messages, Lord,
let it be just to trust you and trust Christ. And Lord, we ask
that you continue to watch over this congregation. We ask that
you continue to give us a place to meet and father that you continue
to support our pastor and his studies. And Lord, we're just
thankful. for everything that you've done
for us. And Lord, even in trials, let us find something. Let us
find what you're trying to tell us, what you're trying to teach
us in the trials that we go through. And Father, we just ask again
that you continue to watch over and care for this congregation.
In Christ's name. Let's sing 354, what a friend
we have in Jesus, 354. What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything
to God in prayer. Oh, what peace we often forfeit
Oh, what needless pain we bear Oh, because we do not carry Everything
to God in prayer Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful? Who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Are we weak and heavy laden,
Cumbered with a load of care? ? Precious Savior, still our
refuge ? ? Take it to the Lord in prayer ? ? Do thy friends
despise, forsake thee ? ? Take it to the Lord in prayer ? ?
In his arms he'll take and shield thee ? Thou wilt find us all
is there. Thank you. Before I forget, let me just
say, so next Sunday is Christmas Day. We're going to have one
service at 1015. Just the one service, and then
we'll be dismissed. New Year's Day, we're going to
have one service at the 11 o'clock hour. And I just, we'll take
the Lord's Supper together, but let me know if you guys want
to have a meal following that. You know, if you have other plans,
that's fine, but if you that are here want to have a meal,
let me know, and we'll just, we'll schedule that. Then the
very next weekend, we're also gonna have one service. In the
first hour, 1015, Brother Scott will bring the message, because
Darwin Pruitt asked me to go down and preach for him in Arkansas,
because he is getting married. He's getting married, so I asked
him what his, he didn't answer that part of my text, but what's
his wife's name? Gloria? Yvette? Yvette? I'm not sure. Anyway, he's getting married
to a woman in Rocky Mount, Virginia, where she's a faithful member
there, and so she'll be married, and they're moving back to Darvins
in Arkansas, so pray for them as you think of them. So after
that, then we'll get back on schedule. Lord willing with our
regular services of two each. Pray for Brother Scott and give
him a message too. So the Lord bless it. Let's go
to Galatians chapter 5. Galatians 5, text is verses 13
through 15. But before we get into that text,
I want to give you a little background to help us better understand
the spiritual life that we have in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. So the child of God is a born-again
creature. We are a born-again creature. We have a new nature which is
born after the seed of Jesus Christ. We are born formed, made
after the image of our Lord and Savior. We have come forth from
His seed. We're familiar with that scripture
in 2 Corinthians 5, 17 that says, if any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature. All things have passed away.
Behold, all things are become new. New. We are a new creature
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That being said, the child of
God yet remains in this flesh. We still are in this dead, corrupt
flesh from Adam. And we wait for a new body at
the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, called in scriptures
the redemption of our bodies, when our Savior, who came and
purchased us, comes and picks up that which he purchased. He
comes and claims, lays hold of what he's purchased. And so,
this flesh, what you see and know of this flesh, it is the
old man of sin, the old nature of sin, which was born after
the seed of Adam. He come forth of corrupt seed,
defiled seed, spiritually dead seed. When Adam sinned against
God in the garden, we were in Adam, we sinned also. And if
you have any doubts, all you have to do is be honest with
yourself and you see and know that you are a sinner just like
Adam. We all sin in this flesh. And
so even though we're new creatures, sin yet dwells in this flesh,
in the flesh of a believer. The scripture I like to go to
to that is Romans 7 verse 20, where Paul said, now if I do
that, I would not. It is no more I that do it, but
sin that dwelleth in me. So we yet have sin dwelling in
this flesh. And we're not going to rid ourselves,
purge ourselves of this sin in the flesh by works of righteousness
that we do, by religious services and by doing our best and trying
real hard. You're never going to rid this
flesh of sin. Christ does that when he returns
and resurrects us with a new body. And so in addition to sin
dwelling in this flesh, we feel the temptation of sin. We feel the temptation. Sometimes
you don't even have to do what you're tempted to do, but even
that temptation burdens you. and you still feel the suffering
of it because you hate your sin. You don't want to do those things. You don't want to be bogged down
in that corruption and having your mind swoon and worry and
the doubts that come in when we sin. You don't even want that.
And sometimes just the temptation of the sin is so disappointing
to us that we would even think those thoughts and consider such
a thing. Peter said it this way, showing
that we do feel the temptation. He said, dearly beloved, I beseech
you as strangers and pilgrims that you abstain from fleshly
lusts which war against the soul. Meaning, we're still tempted
by it. And he says, put it off. That's the old man. Put that
off. Now before the grace of God and
Christ, all we knew were the works of the flesh. All we knew
were the lusts of this flesh. But now being born again by the
regeneration of the Spirit of God, taking the things of the
Lord Jesus Christ, washing us in his blood, giving us a new
birth by the seed of Christ, the Holy Spirit is given to us
to comfort us, to teach us. And he always testifies of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who bears fruits of Christ in the child
of God. If you would know what spirit
do I have, does the spirit turn you to Christ? Because the Holy
Spirit always testifies of Christ, always turns the child of God
from self to behold, to look to, to cry out, to groan in the
spirit for Christ. We always are turned to the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's how we know whether it's
the spirit of God or another spirit. If you're looking to
the flesh, if you're trying to save yourselves, that's a false
spirit. It may be a religious spirit, but it's a false spirit
if it turns you from Christ. And so every blessing that we
have, every blessing is given to the elect child by God. It's
given by God through grace in Jesus Christ. I'm going to read
from 2 Peter 1, verses 2 and 3. Peter says it this way, grace
and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of
God and of Jesus our Lord according as his divine power hath given
unto us all things all things that pertain unto life and godliness
through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory
and virtue. So this life that we have in
Christ is something entirely different from the dead religion
of dead sinful men. It's entirely different in Christ. The dead religion of man teaches
you that you earn the blessings of God and you must earn those
rewards by the things that you do and that you must purge your
conscience of sin by atoning for that through various works
and doing things to save yourselves. That's the religion of man. That's
not what we're taught. by our God in Christ. We're not
taught to look to the flesh but to look to Christ and to trust
Him. All things truly are new in Christ. In Galatians 6 verse 15 it says,
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision
but a new creature. A new creature. And that new
creature is born of Jesus Christ. So Paul in our text is talking
here about spiritual life. He's speaking of the spiritual
life that new creatures in Christ have of Him. To live in the Spirit
is a spiritual work. To walk in the Spirit, to live
in the Spirit is a spiritual work that only born-again persons
who are redeemed by the blood of Christ can ever know. Without
the Spirit, any attempt that we do to please God is but a
fleshly, carnal work. They that are in the flesh cannot
please God. For without faith, anything not
of faith is sin. And so the carnal man will incorporate
the law, or it doesn't even have to be the law of Moses, it could
be some other religious work or some other religious service.
They incorporate things religious to accomplish what he thinks
pleases God. He turns to religion, he turns
to the law, because all he is is flesh. That's all he knows.
That's all he thinks God is looking for. And so he turns to things
of the flesh in order to earn or to obtain the favor and the
blessings of God. This is why we say all blessings,
all spiritual blessings, are in Christ and for Christ's sake,
not because you pull things together and turn things around. If you've
repented or turned, And you have a sweet fellowship with the Lord. It's by the grace of God, not
because you did something to earn that. There will be fruits. You'll see how the Lord blessed
you and rewarded you richly because it's all of his grace. It's all
in the Lord. We give him thanks. And we have
a heart to read his word and a heart to pray to the Lord and
a heart full of love. We give our God thanks. because
we know it's of his grace. If we were left to ourselves,
it would just be fleshly, dead, empty, vain works that do us
no good and do not save us. And so this is what the background
is to what we see in our text today. I've titled this message
Fulfilling the Law by Love. Fulfilling the Law by Love. So these Galatian believers here,
they were being taught by this group of the circumcision. They were being told that life
and salvation required their obedience to the law of Moses,
beginning with their circumcising their sons after the manner of
Moses. They were told, this is life.
This is your salvation. This circumcision group, sometimes
called the Judaizers, many of them did believe that Jesus was
the Christ. Or at least, at the very least,
there seems to be a sense even that the Jewish religion was willing to
accept the Christians and to accept Christ as a sect of Judaism
so long as they were the ones in charge, so long as they submitted
to Moses. So they saw Christ and the church
as subservient to Moses. And that would then leave them
in power and in control, the Pharisees and the Sadducees and
the high priests. It would be like the Catholic
Church. If all the Christian churches were under the Pope
or under the church, we'd all be under a corrupt system, a
system of Antichrist, a system that's a fleshly works that cannot
save. works, dead works of the flesh.
Our God has delivered us from them. He's given us his spirit
whereby we walk and know our God in a fellowship with him.
Thanks be to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we
don't now turn to the works of the flesh. We don't turn back
to the law to try and do what only the spirit can work in us. This is why Paul in Galatians
3.3, he said, are ye so foolish, having begun in the spirit, are
you now made perfect by the flesh? Is God going to turn you now
from spiritual things and what He's done for you by the Spirit
of God, is He now going to turn you back to the flesh to follow
the law according to the flesh? Is God going to do that for you
as a child? The Lord doesn't do that. We don't perfect what only God
has already perfected by Christ. We can't add anything to that
and improve upon it. And so that teaching, right,
there's a lot of places that once you come in through the
gospel, that sheep food, which is preached to you through the
preaching of Christ. They then slip away that gospel
food for the sheep, and they give you the goat food. They
say, now you're going to go on to maturity, and you're going
to start eating this. And they give you the law, the
law of Moses to perfect that which God has already done. All
right? And so that's a pernicious teaching.
Pernicious meaning it's death. It's deadly. It's dangerous.
It leads to death and destruction and causes great harm against
the truth. That's what it is. So this is
why Paul said in Galatians 5.12, I would that they were even cut
off which trouble you. And what he means by that is,
I wish that they were cut off from having any more influence
over you to harm you and to create mischief in the churches. It
was annoying that everywhere Paul went and preached the gospel,
you'd have these people come in behind him and undo that which
he tried to undo what he did, what he said. They were saying,
well, that sounds great that now you've heard of Jesus, but
have you heard of Moses? Because now you've got to go
on to stronger things. Now you've got to come under
the law. And so that became the focus,
was the law. And Paul said, that's dangerous.
I wish they were cut off. I wish they had no more influence.
And to show you that in Titus 1, I'll read Titus 1 verse 10
in the beginning of 11. He says, there's many unruly
and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision
whose mouths must be stopped. So he said, I wish they were
cut off, that they had no more voice in your pulpits, that they
weren't teaching you guys and you weren't hearing this nonsense.
So salvation is not achieved by something we do in the flesh. That's how the old man of sin
operates. But that's not the spirit of
God. That's not the power of God,
of which is revealed in the preaching of Christ in the gospel, that
simple word, that barley cake as we saw this morning, that
simple poor man's food, you preach that and I'll give the interpretation
to my child. They'll hear it and rejoice in
him who saves his people. And so the spirit is always testifying
of what Christ accomplished, what he has obtained for you. We see it constantly in the Old
Testament, where you see the sin of the people, the sin of
the people, God declaring, you've done this, but I. shall be gracious
to you. I'm going to turn you in spite
of your sin because you're never going to get it together. I'm
going to be gracious to you and I will turn your heart and you
shall be turned. You shall be delivered. That's
the power we need. That's the power we always want
is the Lord affecting that change in us. And if you cry out to
Him and groan, Lord, turn me, save me, deliver me from the
pollution of this flesh, it's because God gave you that burdened
heart and showed you what you are in self and showed you your
need of Him because He has shown Himself to you to be all-sufficient,
the all-glorious, all-sufficient Savior by Him and Him alone. And so we don't work to get more
spiritual life and greater blessings, God gives these blessings and
only He can give them through the work of His Spirit, by the
power through the preaching of the gospel made effectual unto
your hearts to see and to behold the Lord Jesus Christ and His
people live. This calling that we have is
called an holy calling. Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy
1. He said, God hath saved us and
called us with an holy calling. That doesn't mean that we now
It's put on a layer of the law over our faith in Christ. He
says it's within holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. That means God isn't turning
you to your flesh. The law was given because of
our sin. in the flesh because of what
we are by nature. The law was given because of
that. Paul said to Timothy, he said, the law was made for a
righteous man. was made for righteous men because
you have the Spirit of God who has filled your hearts with love
and hope for the Lord Jesus Christ. Not to go and do those wicked
things that we did in the flesh, but we don't need the law to
tell us that. We have the Spirit of God dwelling in us which shows
us our need of Christ and fills our hearts with love and care
for our brethren. and to be kind and loving to
them. Christ has provided it all. Let's
look at Romans 2 before we move on from this. Romans 2 verse
28 through 29. Since we're talking about circumcision and there's a tremendous amount
of similarities in Galatians and Romans. Things that he wrote
in Galatians you see in Romans. Things In Romans, you see in
Galatians, but this one he branched out a little bit more, saying
in Romans 2, verse 28 through 29, he says it this way, for
he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision,
which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew, which is one
inwardly in circumcision, there's a circumcision, but it's that
of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose
praise is not of men, but of God. Now this is all very relevant. This background is all relevant
because this understanding of these things is going to determine
very much how you hear the scriptures and informs your understanding
of spiritual life. One denies the power of God and
turns you to your flesh to practice holiness, to practice a righteousness,
or to make a sanctification by turning you to the law of Moses
for these things and equating the blessings that the children
of God have with their obedience to the law. They tie, oh, if
you have blessings of God, it's because you've turned to the
law and are trying your best to do the law. That's one, but
that denies the power of God spoken of in the scriptures.
The other one, through the Spirit, Paul said in Galatians 5.5, we
through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. By faith. That is, we follow
Christ. Not following after Moses, we
follow Christ and we seek our God through prayer, trusting
Him, believing Him, crying out to Him for His grace and mercy. We believe the truth as it's
revealed in Christ. In Christ. Alright, so there's
the background. Now Paul says in verse 13, in
Galatians 5.13, for brethren, ye have been called unto liberty
only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh but by love serve
one another." He doesn't say by law serve one another, he
says by love serve one another. Now that verse 13 is set in the
context of what we were looking at last time when we looked at
verse 11. Galatians 5 11 says, and I brethren If I yet preach
circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense
of the cross ceased. So the Jews were preaching circumcision
to control the sins and the passions that are in our flesh. These
things are yet present. We yet feel the temptation of
our sins, and the Jews were preaching Moses and the law to control
those passions and those lusts in the flesh. And that's often
what men are doing even today. It's to keep under the breaking
out of sin and gross sin and wickedness by turning people
to the law. To the law there. But Oh, and
it began with circumcision, right? They started it off by turning
these Christians, the Gentile Christians, to the law of Moses
to sanctify themselves and make a righteousness for themselves
through obedience to the law. And once they turned from Christ
and looked at the law, at Moses, it just picked up and progressed
from there. I remember when I was a teenager
and just beginning to seek the Lord myself, I met a fellow And
he had just read the Bible. If I remember correctly, he read
the Bible to disprove it, but he ended up being convinced of
it. But he was fixated on the law to the point where he wouldn't
spit because there's a verse in there about not wasting any
bodily fluids. He wore long sleeves in the heat
of summer because he didn't want to expose his skin to the sun
because that wouldn't be treating the body right. And so he was
just focused on that. And that was all his hope. And
you see it when you turn from Christ and you look to the law,
that becomes the greater thing because the flesh loves to have
something to glory in. It's a strong temptation for
us all to glory in what we've done and to feel like we're in
some level of control and influencing how life goes by the things we
do or don't do. But Paul preached Christ crucified. He preached Christ crucified.
declaring this is the power of God unto salvation. Why? Because we are sanctified through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And he goes
on saying, by one offering Christ hath perfected forever them that
are sanctified. Sanctified by that offering of
Christ. That's Hebrews 10.10 and 10.14.
So this calling, this holy calling of God in Christ, of which Paul
says, you've been called unto liberty, it refers to the fullness
of the salvation that we have of God in Christ Jesus. Everything
necessary is found in Christ because it's given by God in
Christ. Everything, brethren. Belief,
your God. The power of God is right there
in Christ. Everything you need for salvation
to stand before the throne of God, faultless, is met in Christ
Jesus and all who hope in Him, who come like Paul saying, I
don't want to be found in my own righteousness. Having some
righteousness of my own, I want to be found fully in the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm so confident So confident
in him, he said, I've committed everything and cast off all my
religion as complete dung that I might be found in him. Found
in him because there's the power of God. And I tell you today,
brethren, it hasn't changed. Nothing's changed. All your salvation
is provided fully in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the grace
of God, the grace of God. When we look a few weeks ago
back at Galatians 5.1, look at that verse, Galatians 5.1. Paul
said, stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke
of bondage. And that yoke is tied to the
law of Moses there in Acts 15. They want to put a yoke on the
neck of the Gentiles. Don't be entangled with that
yoke of bondage. We saw in that message how that
Christ, by his death and his life, he's delivered his people
from sin in this manner. We know that we still wait for
the resurrection of the body, the redemption of the body, but
Christ has delivered his people from sin in this manner, from
the guilt of sin, so that your sin is put away. There's no more
sin. There's nothing to condemn you with because the sin is gone. It's been washed clean, purged
by Christ. In the book where your name is
written, there's no sin. It's righteousness in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's delivered his people from
the dominion of sin. And what that means is that enmity,
which is in me by nature in Adam, that's been put away. So that
now I don't run from God and try to do my own things to come
to God. I come to him in fellowship met in the Lord Jesus Christ.
That dominion that kept me in enmity against the true and living
God has been destroyed by the death of Christ. He put it away.
And third, we saw he's delivered us from the condemnation of sin
so that our sin in this flesh, it doesn't determine our inheritance.
It doesn't decide where I'm going to be. Christ has decided that. He's determined. I don't stand
in Adam's inheritance. I stand in the inheritance of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's my hope, and that's your
hope. We're coming not what we are in Adam, but what we are
in Christ. In Christ. So he's delivered us from the
guilt of sin, the dominion of sin, and the condemnation of
sin, and he gives us his spirit. which gives us life in him, setting
us free from the fleshly bondage that men are in by nature. When they labored under the law
of Moses or labored in their church's traditions and church's
doctrines to try and settle their conscience and cool off that
burning, searing hot conscience because of their sin, we don't
have those fears and tremblings in Christ. We rest in Him. We believe Him. Man, we're doing
that in fear. We did those things in fear.
I remember for a long time when I called myself a Christian and
I didn't understand. So I was constantly worried and
afraid and doubting because I was looking to something I was doing
or not doing in the flesh and not resting in Christ. Because
I knew he was a savior, but I didn't know what that even meant. I
was still in darkness and in blindness, but thanks be to God,
He delivered me from that, from those works of dumb, because
I was still trusting in fleshly things. And so Christ's salvation
in Hebrews 2.15 says that He delivered them who through fear
of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. You don't
need to fear. Rest in Christ. I'm not saying
that we like what we see in the flesh, but we turn to the Spirit. We groan in the Spirit, crying
out to the Lord, Save me, Lord. Deliver me from these passions.
Deliver me from the lusts of this flesh. Keep me, Lord, ever
looking to Christ. Because I don't want to be unprofitable.
I don't want to be looking at what I've done and thinking about
how I've just messed up. I want to just keep thinking
of Christ and rejoicing in Him. I want to think of the Lord and
not be walking around in fear and doubts and worries, but trust
in Christ. So we don't now turn men to the
law for righteousness. We don't drive our brethren to
barren fields of hard, crunchy, worthless grasses at the base
of Mount Sinai, where there's lightnings and thunderings scaring
the sheep and terrifying us and making us afraid. That's not
where we bring our brethren. The Lord Jesus Christ, our shepherd,
leads us in paths of righteousness for his name's sake, and he brings
us to those cool, those cool, luscious green grasses of his
grace, of his righteousness, of his mercy, of his peace, besides
still waters, where you don't get scared, and you don't get
freaked out and worried, because of what we are in the flesh,
we rest in him. Now Paul says, only use not liberty
for an occasion to the flesh. Why? Because there are people.
There are crafty people who take that doctrine. and what they
know, and they use it as a shield to get away, to do what they
want, what they want to do in the flesh. But the Lord doesn't
leave us there. Anytime we've done that or thought
that, he's chastened us and turned us away from that. He teaches
his people. He doesn't leave them to go on
further and further into grosser and more wicked sins. He delivers
his people. He knows how to save the righteous,
how to preserve the righteous for himself. And so he does that. And he adds, don't use it as
an occasion. Let me just add that, too, that
even people who follow the law, I've known people that went into
horrible gross sins while being practicers of the law. Look to
the law or you trust in grace, the wicked man's going to do
what the wicked man's going to do. But if anyone be saved and delivered
from that, it's by the grace of God who puts you in Christ
and keeps you in there in Christ. Then he adds, but by love serve
one another. Now in Galatians 5.14 he goes
on for all the law is fulfilled. Fulfilled in one word even in
this thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. One thing you'll
see when you're reading the New Testament is the believers never
commanded to keep or do the law of Moses. We're never commanded
to do the law of Moses. Instead, the language of scripture
is always around how we fulfill the law. How we fulfill the law. And he said, all the law is fulfilled
in one word. Even in this, thou shalt love
thy neighbor as thyself. the Lord your God has given you
the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, who leads you, who turns
you to the Lord Jesus Christ, who brings you in His path of
righteousness, and the Spirit fulfills all the law in you through
love, which is the fruit of Christ, the fruit of the Spirit of the
Lord Jesus Christ in you. Love is the fruit of the Spirit,
and He fulfills the law through by filling you with love for
your brethren, love for your God and love for your brethren.
That's a very real and significant difference from doing the law
and practicing the law and making that your focus. The love he
fills in your hearts is how you fulfill the law. Not doing the
law, it's how you fulfill the law, accomplish what the law
was given for. Galatians 5.15, he goes on, but
if you bite and devour one another, take heed that you be not consumed
one of another. In other words, if you won't
hear this, and you turn to the law to try and work a righteousness
and try to live among your brethren, ultimately you're going to start
biting and devouring one another. Because you're going to be turned
to the flesh and it's going to provoke that enmity which is
in this flesh by the law. Just like Paul was, that enmity
rose up in him. And then he knew what a sinner
he was because he couldn't keep the law. So it's a walk of faith
led by the spirit, brethren. Let me read Romans 3. In fact,
why don't you go there to Romans 3, because I'll take you to another
verse in a moment. Romans 3.31. So yeah, Romans
3.31. Do we then make void the law
through faith? God forbid. Yea, we establish
the law. In other words, we fulfill the
law through the spirit who fills his child with love for his brethren
to serve them in a spirit of meekness and fear. We don't want
to hurt our brethren. That's not our desire. We want
to see our brethren established and comforted and to come in
peace to hear the gospel preached that we may come and be comforted
by our Lord. Have our eyes and hearts and
minds set on Him. We don't want to be worried about
the things of this flesh. We want to hear Christ. We want
to feed upon the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's wrought in us by the
Spirit and by the power of God in Christ. So this spirit of
meekness and fear, turn to Romans 13, verse 8. Again, remember, we're never
commanded to do the law. We're told that we fulfill the
law by love, by that love given to us in the spirit. Romans 13,
eight through 10. Paul said, 13, eight, oh no man
anything but to love one another, for he that loveth another, what?
fulfill the law. See the whole difference there?
We're not focusing on doing the law. We're focused on love. We want to love our brethren
in the spirit. And in that, that's how you fulfill the law. You
don't do the law, you fulfill what the law is saying. For this,
verse nine, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill,
thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou
shalt not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it's
briefly comprehended or understood in this saying, namely, thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling
of the law. You don't have to turn your focus
on doing and practicing the law of Moses. You keep looking to
Christ, who fills your heart with love. And in that love,
you're going to fulfill the law. You're going to fulfill it. That's
not our righteousness, it's Christ. And we walk in love and faith
and hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it's never fulfilled,
or it's never accomplished by doing the law of Moses. It's
accomplished through the law of faith and love, believing
the Lord, trusting him, brought by the Spirit and the power of
God in Christ. Turn over to 1 John. 1 John 3,
16. Go to 1 John 3, 16 through 18. He said, My little children,
let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in
truth. And hereby we know that we are,
oh I'm sorry, hereby, verse 16, hereby perceive we the love of
God, because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to
lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good,
and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels in
compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little
children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but
in deed and in truth. And so you see there, the Lord
gives you love for your brethren. You care for your brethren. You'll
be moved with love to provide for your brethren when they're
in need. not because you practice the law of Moses, but because
you have the spirit of God, and they're your brother and your
sister. And in loving them, not just in word, Lord bless you,
see you later, but in helping them in any way you can, that
law is fulfilled. It's accomplished, not by something
you've done, but the Lord working in you in love, in love for your
brethren. So having seen that, let's turn
over to 1 Corinthians. This is our last verse. 1 Corinthians
chapter 2. This righteousness of our God
to which we speak is only and can only be understood by those
who have the Spirit and are led by the Spirit, who are born again.
We're not trying to justify ourselves, or sanctify ourselves, or work
a righteousness for ourselves. We're walking in the Spirit,
in the new man. We're looking to Christ, believing
Him. So Paul says in 1 Corinthians
2 verses 12 through 14, Now we have received not the spirit
of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might
know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things
also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth,
but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with
spiritual. But the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, because they're foolishness
unto him. Neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned." So brethren, you that believe
Christ, it's because that's been given to you. If He gave it to
you, He gave you His Spirit and you have the Holy Spirit whereby
you rejoice in Christ. So don't look to the law to improve
things or make things better. Look to Christ who loved you
and gave Himself for you. You go and do likewise. You just
focus on the Lord Jesus Christ and love your brethren. And in
doing that, anything that needs to be done is done, it's fulfilled,
it's accomplished by the Spirit in love. And so we rejoice in
Him, we rest in Him, we trust Him for everything. So I pray
the Lord bless that word to your hearts, brethren. Amen. All right,
let's close in prayer and then we'll have one final hymn and
be dismissed. Our gracious Lord, we thank you, Father, for your
grace and mercy. We thank you, Lord, for turning
us to Christ. Lord, reveal that power and glory
in us, which is revealed through the preaching of the gospel,
through the preaching of Christ, declaring what he has done for
us. Lord, we're so thankful for his salvation, the salvation
you've given to us in him. Lord, keep us ever looking to
him, not going back to the law, not trying to work or affect
anything. But Lord, let us keep looking
to you, groaning in the spirit, walking by faith. And let us
love one another. Let us love one another. Be kind
and forgiving, impatient, long-suffering, helpful, thankful, humble before
one another, serving one another in the spirit of meekness. and
just in thankfulness of what you've done for us. Lord, help
us to receive the things of our Savior, to hear His voice, and
to be led of Him only continually. Turn us from false works, false
ways, dead works, and dead things that do not profit, and fill
us with your Spirit. with your love. It's in Christ's
name we pray and give thanks. Lord, we thank you for healing
our brethren of their sicknesses. We pray for those that are still
sick that you would heal them as well. Lord, help us with the
many infirmities that we have and help us, Lord, to be kind
and to serve one another. It's in Christ's name we pray
and give thanks. Amen. Okay, brother. So remember, one service, 10-15
next week. We'll also have our midweek service. Let's all stand and sing a closing
hymn. 447, the lily of the valley, 447. I have found a friend in Jesus. He's everything to me. He's the fairest of ten thousand
to my soul. The lily of the valley, in him
alone I see, all I need to cleanse and make me fully whole. In sorrow He's my comfort, in
trouble He's my stay, He tells me every care on Him to roll. He's the lily of the valley,
the bright and morning star, He's the fairest of ten thousand
to my soul. See he all my griefs has taken,
and all my sorrows borne, in temptation he's my strong and
mighty tower. I have all for him forsaken,
and all my idols torn, from my heart and now he keeps me by
his power. The who all the world forsake
me and tend and tempt me sore, through Jesus I shall safely
reach the goal. He's the lily of the valley,
the bright and morning star. He's the fairest of ten thousand
to my soul. He will never, never leave me,
nor yet forsake me here, while I live by faith and do His blessed
will. Of all the fire about me, I've
nothing now to fear. With His manna, He my hungry
soul shall fill. Then, sweeping up to glory, I'll
see his blessed face, where rivers of delight shall ever roll. He's the lily of the valley,
the bright and morning star. He's the fairest of 10,000 to
my soul. Thank you.