John 14, let's read verse 15
one more time. If you love me, keep my commandments. If you love me, keep my commandments. Now I'm about to tell us something. And as I was writing this, I
thought about your faces. And I thought about how blessed
we are to know this. But I hope that we enter into
it like it's the first time we've ever heard it. I'm about to tell us something.
But before I do, I want us to know that this is the most important
thing we will ever hear in this lifetime. This is the most important
thing. I don't care what we've heard
before, we can cut it off right now. Put that aside for a minute. It does not matter what we're
going to hear after this. This is the most important thing
that our ears will ever hear in this lifetime. This will make
the difference when we go stand before God. I'm going to set it up and then
I'm going to tell you what it is, okay? Men and women who are
in religion, and you know that when I say religion, I mean false
religion. The scripture is always talking
about the Jews' religion. And by God's grace, we're not
in religion. We're in Christ. By God's grace,
we're just not in religion. But men and women who are in
religion believe I'm okay and you're okay. I go to church and
you go to church. And we may not agree on every
little piece of doctrine. We may not agree on all those
things. And the reason people don't agree is because they're
not looking into the Word of God. If we would all look into
the Word of God, we would all be in agreement. But they say
at least we can agree to disagree. We can find some common ground. We're not going to part ways
at odds. So I'm okay and you're okay. We are not all okay. We're not
all okay. And great multitudes of people
are going to meet God right now, every day. They're dying, they're
having car-owned purposes. All kinds of things are happening
and they're going up to meet God and they're finding out right
now, I was wrong. Okay? People, you know, we know,
based on scripture, multitudes of people are wrong. They don't
know it. But they're going to meet God.
He's calling them home. Tonight, your soul is required
of you. And as soon as they get there,
they're realizing, I was wrong. I was wrong. I was wrong on the
fall. I was wrong on what happened
to man in the garden. I was wrong on it all. Absolutely
wrong. And then the judgment. They find out I was wrong. And then the judgment. Oh, can
you imagine? Man, tons of people are enduring
that right now. No matter what any man tells
us, starting with me, I don't care what I say. No matter what
any man tells us, none of us can afford to be wrong. We cannot afford to be wrong. Now, our Lord told those who
were in religion. He said, you do err not knowing
the scriptures. That's the problem. Not knowing
the scriptures. Now here is what I want to tell
us that is the most important thing we will ever hear in this
lifetime. Where men and women go wrong,
this is where men and women go wrong. Every religion, every
denomination, where men and women go wrong is they believe that
their Obeying God's law has something to do with their salvation. Where they go wrong is they believe
that their obedience to God's law, now let me ask you this,
do we obey God's law? All right, now here's where men
and women go wrong. They believe that their obedience, we have
these laws in here, we have these commandments in here. They're
on every page. They're on every page. Exodus
20 is the 10 commandments, but that's just 10. All right, now,
they believe that their obedience to God's law has something to
do with their salvation. It does not. That's a shocker, even to a person
who knows that, even to a believer, to really hear it that clear.
It's like, whoa, it does not. It just doesn't. Our obedience
to God's law has nothing to do with our salvation. Christ is our salvation. Right? The Lord put Jonah in the belly
of a whale. And after that whale vomited
him up, after it was all said and done, this is what Jonah
said. Salvation is of the Lord. He did not say salvation is of
the law. He didn't say that. Now, why
did our Lord keep healing people on the Sabbath day? Why did he
do that? How many times do we have in
scripture that he did it on the Sabbath day? And the Pharisees,
they got so mad at him. You can't do that. You can't
heal a man's withered hand on the Sabbath day. It's against
the law. And they were right. Your disciples can't pluck ears
of corn on the Sabbath day. It's against the law. Go with me over to Matthew 12.
That's where this is. Matthew chapter 12 verse 1 says,
At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day. Now this is God,
right? This is the Almighty High Heavenly
God. Don't you think that He could
have ordered and controlled and purposed for every bit of this
to be done on Thursday. Don't you think he could have?
Every bit of it. Well, it just so happened to
be the Sabbath. No. He did this on purpose. He does
all things on purpose. All right. So verse one says
at that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn
and his disciples were in hungered and began to pluck the ears of
corn and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it
and he's about to expose some Pharisees, that's what he's about
to do. It says, But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto
him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do
upon the sabbath day. But he said unto them, Have you
not read? You know what he's saying right
there? You do err not knowing the scripture. Have you not read what David
did when he was in hungered? And they that were with him,
how he entered into the house of God and did eat the showbread,
which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which
were with him, but only for the priest. Or have you not read? He said, let me give you another
one. Apparently you don't know this one either. Have you not
read in the law how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the
temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless? What he's saying
is they're working on the Sabbath. Now on Sunday, you know what
I'm doing all day long? Working. It's not lawful. It is not lawful. Now, this Saturday was their
Sabbath, and then Paul wrote in the New Testament, the first
day of the week will be a Sabbath unto you. So Sunday's our Sabbath,
so to speak, day of rest, sanctified, set apart for worship. I'm working
on it. All right, now, according to
God's holiness, as soon as I step up here and open this Word of
God and say one word, He ought to strike me into the lowest
part of hell, and all of heaven ought to say, Amen, justified. Right. All right. So verse five, he says, have
you not read in the law, how that on the Sabbath days, the
priest in the temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless.
But I say unto you that in this place is one greater than the
temple. But if you had known what this
meaneth, now listen to this, listen to these words. If you
had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. You would not have condemned
the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even
of the Sabbath day. You know where those Pharisees
went wrong? They thought that obeying that law, they thought
that keeping that Sabbath was their salvation. That's what
they thought. What they did not realize is
Christ is our Sabbath. That's what he's telling them
right here. Christ is our rest. We don't rest on any particular
day of the week. We rest on Christ. Exodus 20 verse 8 says, Remember
the Sabbath. You know what that means? Remember
Christ. Don't forget Christ. Remember
Christ, He said, search the scriptures. Every single one of them is testifying
to me. They're all talking about me.
Remember Christ that He is holy. He's perfect. He's pure. He's
righteous. He is the fulfillment of the
law. So just rest. Rest on the Sabbath. I hope the
Lord will enable us all right now to rest. I'd like to rest
on the Sabbath on a Wednesday. That's what I'd like to do. Right here in Matthew 12, look
at verse 10. And behold, there was a man which
had his hand withered, and they asked him, saying, Is it lawful
to heal on the Sabbath days, that they might accuse him? They
ask our Lord. You tell us, is it lawful to
heal on the Sabbath days? And he said unto them, what man
shall there be among you that shall have one sheep? And if
it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on
it and lift it out? How much then is a man better
than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do
well on the Sabbath days. Then saith he to the man, Stretch
forth thy hand. And he stretched it forth, and
it was restored whole like as the other. Stretch forth your
hand. Do you know what he told that
man? Do you know what he was saying
to him? Be free. That's what he was telling him.
Be free. I am the truth, and you shall
know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. You're not in bondage anymore.
You know why that man's hand was like that? Sin. That's why. And you're not in
bondage anymore. Can you imagine his happiness? Can you imagine that? Stretch
it out. Oh, free at last! Praise God Almighty. Listen to
the words of this psalm. We sing this sometimes. Free
from the law, O happy condition, Jesus hath bled and there is
remission. Cursed by the law and bruised
by the fall, but Christ has redeemed us once for all. Now are we free,
there's no condemnation. That's what Romans 8 verse 1
says. No condemnation in Christ. Now are we free, there's no condemnation. The Lord Jesus provides a perfect
salvation. Come unto me. Come unto me. Oh, hear his sweet
call. Come and he saves us once for
all. Once for all, oh sinner, receive
it. Once for all, brother, believe
it. Cling to the cross, not that
piece of wood, the Christ that hung on it. Cling to everything
He accomplished while He hung there. You know what He accomplished? Freedom from the law. Cling to
the cross, the burden and the bondage and every bit of that
will fall. Christ hath redeemed us once for all. My obedience
to God's holy law plays no role in my salvation. No role. Then the question is asked, why
did he give it? Why did he give it? Why did God
give us his law? The answer is in Romans 3. Go
with me over to Romans 3. Romans 3 verse 19 says, Now we know that what things
soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law. Every human being that is born
into this world is born under the law. Every one of us. Now we know that what things
soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped And all the world may become
guilty before God. That's why God sent His law.
That's the reason. To expose the world's guilt. To expose man's sin. If we didn't have God's law,
we would never know what sinners we are against God. Never know. We would never know that we just
don't stack up. We would never know. We would
never know that we need mercy. We'd never cry out because we
wouldn't know. We'd never know that we need Christ. Never. Verse
20 says, Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh
be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested. being witnessed by the Law and
the Prophets. The righteousness of God is Christ.
And the Law and the Prophets looked at Christ and said, Perfect. Verse 22, Even the righteousness
of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon
all them that believe, for there is no difference. For all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, whom God had set forth to be a propitiation, that means
an atoning victim, a bloody victim, through faith in His blood, to
declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at
this time, His righteousness, that He might be just and the
justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? Well, I keep the Sabbath. Really? Well, then the cross of Christ
must have been of none effect. Apparently it didn't fulfill
everything it was meant to accomplish. Where is boasting then? It's
excluded. By what law? Of works? No. By the law of faith. Believe
on the Lord. Man must believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now did you know that faith is
not a work? I have never known one company to put an ad out
for employees And the job title says Believer. Never known one
company. Well, we'll hire you. Okay. First
day on the job. What do you want me to do? Well,
all of our products are made from fiberglass. Do you believe
that? Yeah. $100. We have clients all over the
world. Do you believe that? Yeah. $100. It's not a word. It's not a work. It's not a work. People get confused. Well, now,
if you say you got to believe you're making it a work, it's
not a work. It's not a work. Some people even get paid to
listen. Psychiatrists. But belief is not a work. It's
just not a work. But he says in verse 28, Therefore
we conclude that a man is justified by this belief, by faith, without
the deeds of the law. Sinners are not saved by obeying
God's law for two reasons. The first one is God said so. Do I even need to give the second
one? Really, God said so. But the second reason is, it
is impossible for sinners to obey God's law. It's impossible. Galatians 4.21 says, you that
desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? Do you
not hear the law? God's law is not deed only. It's thought, it's motive, motive. Is there anything wrong with
what I'm doing? No. But your motive might not be
right in it. It might be lawful. It might be helpful. You that desire to be under the
law, do you not hear the law? Well, I've never killed anybody.
Our Lord said, have you ever gotten mad? Then you've broken
the law. You've broken the law. I have
a coffee mug. I've had it a long time. It's
sentimental to me. That's the only reason it's still
on the shelf in our cabinet. It's got a little crack in it. a small crack in it, and it does
not, coffee does not gush out, but slowly one drip will come
through and run down that mug, and it's kind of stained along
that crack, and one drip will come through. So when I use it,
which I don't anymore, but I'll sit it down, and if I sit it
there for a minute, it'll run down and it'll start
to pool up, and every time I pick it up, I got a mess, and it's
dripping, and I got to clean it up, and I'll take a sip, put
it down, It's a broken mug. Well, yeah,
but the handle is great. There is nothing wrong with the
bottom. If you look at the rest of the side, you could go all
the way around the mug and it's perfect. All of this part is perfect.
All of that part is perfect. Every bit of this is perfect.
Cast it out. It's a broken mug. But it's just
one little crack. It's a broken mug. one little place. The whole mug
is no good to me. Well, we keep the Sabbath. Well,
I hope you didn't drive a car over here to keep the Sabbath. I hope you didn't have any preparation
involved in any of your meals. You know, our Lord He wouldn't
even let them go out and pick up manna off the ground on the
Sabbath day. You know that? They couldn't
even go pick it up to bring it in and put it in their mouth. Why? Why was that the law? Here's why. It was to show you
don't mix law and grace. I'm going to give it to you and
it's not going to spoil on the Sabbath. It's going to be preserved
on the Sabbath. But you're not going to mix works
with it. You're not going to go out and get it yourself. Don't
you add one thing to Christ's finished work. Christ obeyed
the Law, everything that was written in the Prophets and in
the Psalms. Christ obeyed that the Scripture
might be fulfilled, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
Now, if the books were written that said that the Scripture
might be fulfilled, the world couldn't contain the books. He
fulfilled this Law. Every dot of the eye, every cross
of the T, and salvation is being put in Him. That's salvation. It's hiding in Him. Christ is
our salvation. Now hold your place in Romans
3 and go to Galatians 3. Galatians 3 verse 10 says, For
as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse,
for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not
in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. Wrong on one, you broke the whole law, you broke the
whole mug. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight
of God, man, that's evidence. For the just shall live by faith,
this thing that's not of work. And the law is not of faith,
but the man that doeth them shall live in them. If you could obey
them completely, you'd live in them, but you can't. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written,
Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree." Christ put away the
first, salvation by that law. God said, do this, you'll live. Nobody could. So Christ put away
the first, that he might establish the second. Salvation by grace. Salvation by grace. Salvation
in Him. Salvation through Him. Salvation
by His blood. Alone. Christ alone. Alright, here's my last question
on the subject. And it's back in Romans 3. Go
with me back to Romans 3. Romans chapter 3 verse 31 says, Do we then make void the law
through faith? Just because we're saved by faith,
faith in Christ, just because the law has nothing to do with
our salvation, it's not by the deeds of the law. Does that mean
we throw it out? He says right here, God forbid. We love his law. We love his
law. Even though we can't keep it,
can't keep it because we're centers. Listen to this. It's still his
law. It's still. what he demands and
we love him. Growing up in my dad's house,
we had rules. We had a bunch of them. He demanded
that I say yes sir and yes ma'am. You did not want to get caught
saying yeah at our house. He demanded that I be kind. He
demanded that I share. We had rules. Now, which one
of those commandments did I have to obey in order to belong to
Him? Which one of them did I have
to obey in order to be His child? Everybody knows the answer. None
of them. Right? None of them. If you don't say
yes sir, you can't have my DNA. That's how backwards religion
is. I had to obey those commandments
because I was his child. I used to have friends over.
He didn't demand it of them. I'd hear them say yeah and I'd
go He did nothing. Nothing. That was not his child. But still to this day, I'm 38,
I have two kids of my own, I have a wife, I live in a different
state. Still to this day, I want to say yes sir to him. Why? Because he demands it? No,
because I love him. That's the only reason I love
him. He has been nothing but good to me since day one. He has done nothing but provide
for me since day one. He's still doing it. There's
not a time that I see him that he doesn't slip me stuff. He's
still doing it. He helps me. He teaches me. And I love him. I really love
him. I respect him. I want to be just
like him. I really do. I want to be just
like him. He is your best friend. If you
know him, he's the best friend you'll ever have in your life.
He won't turn on you. I want to be just like him. That's
what he asked of me, and I want to do it. That's what our text
is saying tonight. Back in John 14. Alright, I'm
going to close this. Let's go back to John 14. Verse 15 says, Our Lord said,
If you love me, keep my commandments. He didn't say, if you want to
be saved, keep my commandments. He didn't say that. Salvation is of the Lord. Christ
gets all the glory for the work. Christ gets all the glory for
the obedience. This thing demands obedience.
God is holy. Well, Christ gets all the glory
for the obedience. But he's saying, if you have
seen what I have done for you, and if that causes your heart
to be thankful, if you're thankful, and if that puts love in the
depth of your soul for your God, if you love me, then obey my
word. Does that not make total sense? Obey my law. If you love me,
keep my commandments. Lord, because of Christ, we want
nothing more. We don't, we don't want anything
more. Do you want anything more than to obey God's word? Or don't put me back under bondage.
Oh, it's not bondage. That burden is light. We're never going to do it perfectly.
Not until we're in his image, right? We won't. We just will not. But our hearts want to try. They want to try. And the reason is because we
love Him. That's our motivation. Tonight's message is, even after
all I said, tonight's message is promoting works. It's just
not for salvation. It's because we love Him. Lord, we delight in Thy law. If You love me, keep my commandments. Alright, let's stand together.