Alright, let's open our Bibles
back to James Chapter 2. If you were present two weeks
ago, I had the reader read the first nine verses of Chapter
2. And speaking of the Royal Law
in action, And I had Brother Joe go back over those verses,
and my text this morning is verses 8 through 13. And I wanted you
to be reminded of the context of this passage. And this morning
I'm going to preach on this subject. Law, guilt, liberty, and mercy. Law, guilt, liberty, and mercy. And I have two points in this
message. First point is the reality of
the law and guilt. And the second point is the reality
of liberty and mercy. So let's look at this. There's
an astounding fundamental statement made in these few verses. One
that the natural man, the unbelieving person, does not know, does not
understand, will not receive. apart from a true, convicting
work of the Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches us that the
Holy Spirit's work in the new birth is evidenced by conviction. It's not just opinion, it's not
just some idea that we have, it's not just a religious profession,
but it's a real conviction of the heart, the mind, the affections,
the will. that reaches to everything that
we are in the inner man. The scripture speaks of the inner
man. That's the heart. That's the real person. You see,
you can dress up and hide what you are on the outside. It's
what religion does. The outward man. But you cannot
hide from God what we are on the inside. God looks on the
heart. The Bible also tells us in Jeremiah
chapter 17 that the heart is deceptive. In fact, it says it's
deceitful above all things. Desperately wicked, who can know
it? Our own hearts will deceive us. That's a scary thought, isn't
it? It is to me. Our own hearts can
deceive us. And that's why true religion
and salvation and truth doesn't come from within you or within
me. That's the way this kind of subjective,
opinionated religion that's prevalent. Even in Christianity, or what
comes in the name of Christianity, starch. Well, I just feel it
inside, therefore it must be true. Or, I just feel this is
right in my heart. No, no, no, no. You see, the
Holy Spirit uses the Scriptures, the truth of God, to convince
the heart, to convince us. It says in John chapter 16, you
don't have to turn there, verses 8 through 11, if you want to
see the three facets of conviction, there they are. He says that
the Holy Spirit will convict us. That means to convince us
now. In other words, if you're convinced of something, you know
it's true and you can't be unconvinced. He says he will convict us of
sin. And that sin, he says, because
they believe not on me, because they believe not on Christ. And
that means this, that without Christ, all I am and all I do
and all I think and all I say in God's sight is sin. Now, not
in man's sight, not in my own sight, but in God's sight. God
is holy and he cannot receive and bless and accept sinners
apart from the blood and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's one mediator between God and men. And I know
people want to argue with me on that. They want to argue with
you on that, but they're arguing with God. That's what God says.
That's his word. And then he goes on to say, he
will convince us of righteousness. That is, and he says, because
I go unto my father. In other words, Christ did his
work on the cross. He finished the work. He brought
in everlasting righteousness for his people, whereby God could
be just and justify us, righteous judge and a loving father. And
he's seated at the right hand of the Father, so we're convinced
that our only righteousness before God is Christ, and Him crucified
and risen again. It's not in you, it's not in
me, it's not in what we do. It's in Christ. And then thirdly,
he says, we'll be convinced of judgment because the prince of
this world is judged. The prince of this world being
Satan, the great accuser. And what he's saying there is
that I'm convinced by the Spirit that my sins were judged on the
cross. He was made sin. Christ was made
sin. He who knew no sin, that I might
be made the righteousness of God in him. And so when Satan
accuses, or a man accuses, or even, listen to this, John said
this in 1 John, he said, even, and I think it's in chapter 5,
he said, even when my own heart accuses me, you see, there's
no accusation that'll stick. And why? Because Christ died
for my sins. He was judged in my place. He
took the full wrath of God for all my sins. But this conviction
of sin is really what's in mind here in these first few verses.
So let's look at the reality of law and guilt. Now, the natural
man's view of the law and sin always lowers the standard of
the law so as to exalt and excuse himself. Always. Always looks down on others and
imagines himself to be better. You know, Christ spoke in the
parable of the Pharisee and the public, and he spoke that, it
says in Luke 18 and verse 9, to those who trusted in themselves
that they were righteous, they were all right, and despised
others. Well, any who imagine that God
would save them or accept them based on their works under the
law are deceived. They're deceived by their own
hearts, no matter how hard they try or how they appear outwardly. But man will always consider,
you think about certain sins, acts of heinous immoral behavior,
which he imagined he has not done, and judges himself to be
righteous, not a sinner. Look at James 2 and verse 8,
the reality of the law and guilt. Listen to this astounding statement.
He says, if you fulfill the royal law, if that's your aim, that's
what he's saying here. He says, according to the scripture,
now, according to God's word. So you can't go by man's standard
here. You know, man may look at you
and say, boy, you're the best I've ever seen. But you see,
this is according to the scripture. This is according to what God
says. He says, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, whether
you do well. Now, if that's your aim, to love
your neighbor, who's your neighbor? Well, Christ taught that even
our worst enemy is our neighbor now. Not just the ones we like
socially, the ones we're drawn to, the ones we have certain
aspects in common with, but pick out the person who would do you
the most harm. And that's your neighbor, not
just the guy that has the house number next to yours. Now, that's
what God's Word says. Well, what does that do for me?
What does that do for you? Well, it sets our aim high, higher
than we can achieve. Because we're sinners. And he
goes on to prove that. He says in verse 9. Now, somebody
says, well, and I heard a preacher say this years ago on tape. He
talked about, well, if I haven't murdered you, that means I love
you. Or if I hadn't committed adultery with your wife or she
with your husband, then we love, then that's love. God accepts
that. Now listen to him. Listen to what he says here.
Verse 9. He says, but if you have respect to persons, Remember,
he talked about that in the first nine verses. He said, here comes
the rich man in, the influential man, the well-known man, and
you give him the chief seat. You know, that's what we do naturally,
and we're drawn to that sort of person. Oh man, we, you know,
bring him down, let everybody see him, you know. And that's
an extreme version of respect of persons, but we all have respect
of persons. Now, you're lying if you say
you don't. I mean, that's so natural to us. And then that
poor fella comes in, you say, well, what's he doing here? Give him a tape and send him
home. We don't want him sitting around here. That kind of thing. That's the natural man, you see. Now, we may fight that, and we
should, but that's it. I mean, that's in us by nature.
We see this person, we like their personality, but we don't like
this one's personality. Or they don't like ours. This
one's related to us by blood. This one's family. This is my
son. What about your son? I pray that God saves my son,
but boy, that little fella back there, they ought to take him
out and beat him to death. It's not my son. It's my wife, my husband. We're all respecters of persons. And then he says here, but if
you have respect to persons, here's what you do. You commit
sin. That's sin now. No way of getting around it.
He says, "...and are convinced of the law as transgressors."
If we judge ourselves and others to be saved or lost, think about
this. And that judgment is not totally based on a person's faith
in or unbelief of Christ. You know what we are? Respecters
of persons. Somebody offends us. Well, they
can't be saved. We offend somebody. We can't
be saved. That's a judgment based on what?
Respect of person. That's exactly what it is. And
if we treat people differently as to our love and our compassion
and our charity towards them because of respect of their persons,
then what does it say? You commit sin. We commit sin. We are convinced of the law as
transgressors. These two words, sin and transgressors,
what does sin mean? Sin means that we've come short
of the glory of God. Romans 3, 23. For all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. What does that mean? Literally,
we missed the mark. In other words, if our aim is
perfect love and we have respect of persons, we missed that mark. We missed our aim. We missed
the target. We fall short. We're sinners. We commit sin.
And transgressor, that means that we go too far. We go beyond. We step over the line. If we
aim to have perfect love, and that's what we are to aim for,
and we have respect to persons, we step over the line. We've
stepped over the boundaries. Sin has to do with falling short. Transgression has to do with
being a rabble. It's like drawing a line in the
sand and saying, now you step over that line. You ever done
that to somebody, kids on the playground? Draw that line, step
over that line. When they step over that line,
you draw your fist up. You know, you've got to fight.
Because if somebody tells you not to do it, what do you get?
You've got to do it. You've got to meet the challenge. And that's
the way man is by nature. When God draws that line in the
sand, you don't step over that line. He told Adam in the garden,
he said, of every tree of the garden you can eat except one.
There's the line. the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil. You can't eat of that. That represents God's authority. That represents God's sovereignty. That represents God's right as
the creator to set the boundaries of what is right and what is
wrong. And Adam says, well, now I can set my own boundaries.
You know, I'm, you know, I'm, I've been given dominion over
all the earth. I can step over that line. And
he did and brought the whole human race into sin. Whereas
by one man's disobedience, the many were made sinners." Not
potentially now. Adam didn't just bring us into
potential sin. He brought us down into spiritual
death. Romans 5, verse 12. He ruined
us. Now, before you get too mad at
Adam and blame it all on him, just think about ourselves. Somebody
said, well, I wish it had been me instead of Adam. Well, you
think you'd have done better, huh? That's self-righteousness. Adam was a perfect man in that
sense, and yet he failed. And so the reality of the law
here is this. You can't pick and choose. You
just can't do it. If you have respect of persons,
if you have covetousness, that's just a desire to step over the
line. That's not even the action. You
know, we have problems not just with the actions, but with the
heart. Sin reaches the heart. You see, Paul said that in Romans
chapter 7. He said, I mean, I could talk to you about what I didn't
do. And that's how most people judge righteousness these days,
by what they don't do. But the law is also positive. It says, love your neighbor as
yourself. Love God perfectly. That's the royal law. It's the
law of the king. Love God perfectly, love your neighbor as yourself.
And notice when he says you're convinced as transgressors of
the law, he doesn't say you've broken a law. Did you notice
that? Look at it again. Verse 9, but
if you have respect to persons, you commit sin and are convinced
of the law as transgressors. He didn't say you've broken a
law. He doesn't say you've transgressed a law. He says you are a transgressor
of the law. That's your badge that you wear.
That's the identification right there. Somebody says, well, what
if I just committed one sin? Well, if you're foolish enough
to think that that's the case with you, what I'm going to say
may not do you any good, but I hope the Holy Spirit will take
that and convince you of sin. You see, if you've committed
one sin, there's nobody like that. But if that's the truth,
you're still a transgressor of the law. Guilty. Look at verse 10. Now, here's
the astounding statements. For whosoever shall keep the
whole law and yet offend in one point. You see that in one says
he's guilty of all. How can that be? Well look at
verse 11, for he that said, now who said this? Who is the author
of the law? God is. And so for God that said,
do not commit adultery, said also, do not kill. Now if thou
commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor
of the law. You say, well now I've broken
this one, but I've kept this one. Well the fact that you've
broken this one makes you a transgressor of the law. Now here's the reality,
we've broken them all. I mean, that's one of the main
basic things that Christ taught in the Sermon on the Mount, isn't
it? That the sin is not just in the act, but it's in the thought.
You see, that's why the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged
sword, to reach unto the thoughts and the intents of the heart.
That's sin, too. And that's why Paul said that
in Romans chapter 7. He could point to all the things
he didn't do and all the things he did do, but when he understood
the spirituality of the law, that the law reaches to the heart,
and he said, I found out the covetousness. I know the law
says thou shalt not covet, but he's really understood what covetousness
was. What is covetousness in that
sense? It's an unlawful desire. Do you have any unlawful desire? That's a transgressor of the
law. It violates the royal law. It
questions God's wisdom. God is the author of the law.
One sin against God, you sinned against God, and you're guilty
of all. It questions His wisdom in the
choice of His people. It glorifies and exalts self
above others. It shows covetousness, pride,
and self-righteousness. Turn over to James chapter 4,
give you a little preview of events to come. And this is something. James chapter 4. You know what was going on here.
Look back at verse 1. I won't read this whole chapter, but
he says, from whence come wars and fighting among you. That
word fighting, there's brawlings. You know what that is? You ever
been in a brawl? That's a fist fight. Who's he
talking to here? Guys down at the local pub? No,
he's talking to professing believers in the church. Somebody says,
well, they're not capable of that. You better look again.
You better look again. He says, from whence come wars
and fighting among you? Come they not hence even of your
lust? That, Lord, lust there is your
own pleasures. You want to please yourself.
That's covetousness. And he says, that war in your
members. And then look over at verse 11
now. He says, speak not evil one of
another brethren. This is believers speaking evil
of believers. He that speaketh evil of his
brother and judgeth his brother speaketh evil of the law. Now, how do you speak evil of
the law? Well, what does the law say? Love your neighbors yourself.
You go around speaking evil of yourself. And he says, and judge
of the law, you're a judge of the law. You're saying that law
is just not not wise. It's not good. And he says, but
if thou judge the law, thou art a doer. If thou judge the law,
thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. You're taking a
place that you don't have. That's what we do when we do.
God's the only one who has that place. And he says in verse 20,
now, why is that so? Why is it when you break one,
you're guilty of all? He says there's one lawgiver. That's
the reason. Who is able to save and to destroy?
Who art thou that judgest another?" There's one lawgiver. That's
what he's saying back here in James 2. The same God who said,
do not commit adultery is the same God who said, thou shalt
not kill. Any transgression of the law,
any falling short of the standard of righteousness in the law is
against that same one true God. And it means to be guilty. And
that includes to having respect of persons, favoritism, partiality. And that's so natural to us.
That's of the flesh, you see. And you know, by nature, we don't
really see anything that wrong with it. Not a great sin, at
least I didn't tell them. But God says, love your neighbor
as yourself. It's not like murder, but it's
still sin. And that's the extent and the
severity of the law. How many laws do you have to
break to be a lawbreaker? One. How many to be characterized
as a transgressor, a sinner? One. God's law is one law, as
there's only one lawgiver, God himself. One sin, many sins,
all sins defy God himself. One sin, many sins, all sins
are an attack upon His authority, His wisdom, and His glory. One
sin, many sins, all sins defy His Word and deny the full love
and devotion that we owe to God. That's what the Scripture teaches. You see, the law is not like
a segmented list of rules. It's like a pane of glass, somebody
said. You put one little hit, one little
spot, the whole thing shatters. Look at Galatians chapter 3.
Turn back there with me. Galatians chapter 3. Now, this
is spoken to those who were being taught by false preachers that
they could be made righteous before God by keeping the law. Now, we know that's against the
gospel. If anybody teaches you that you can be made righteous,
and that means to be not guilty, and that means to be righteous
just before God, justified by your works under the law, they're
teaching you a false gospel. So Paul puts it this way, look
at Galatians chapter 3 and verse 10. He says, for as many as are
of the works of the law are under the curse. Now, who's of the
works of the law? Those who are trying to be righteous,
trying to be accepted, trying to be saved by their works under
the law. He said they're under a curse.
What curse? For it's written, Cursed is everyone
that continueth not in what? What's those two words? All things
which are written in the book of the law to do. Hold your finger there and look
over at Galatians 5. One of the things they were teaching, these
false preachers were teaching, they were Jewish professors now,
they were Jewish people, preachers who claimed to be Christian.
And what they wanted to do is they wanted to make additions
to the grace of God for salvation, for holiness, for righteousness.
In other words, they wanted to say, well now, You're saved by
grace, Christ is your only hope, but you've got to, blah blah,
to do this in order to be really saved or to be really righteous.
You see, Christ alone was not enough for them. You had to do
something else. And one of the things they taught
was circumcision under the law. And they would teach the males
who were Christians of the Gentiles that, listen, you're saved by
grace, but if you're not circumcised, you're not saved, or you're not
holy, you're not righteous. You've got to add circumcision.
And they'd add other things. People today add other things.
There's a group that calls themselves Christian. They said you've got
to be baptized to be saved. It's the same kind of thing. You don't have to be baptized
to be saved. Not water baptism. Now, if you're
saved, you should, by the command of God, be baptized to confess
that. You see the difference? That's
the difference. If you step into the water here
in order to be saved, get out. You're just wet. That's all you
are. That's just what they say, dunk you, and that's it. And
that's why a lot of denominations, you know, people get saved, then
they get lost, and they've got to be baptized again. And what
was it the fellow said? One guy was baptized so many
times, the tadpoles knew him by his first name. No, no, no. Saved by grace, kept
by grace, glorified by grace in Christ. And we confess that
in water baptism. That's a confession. That's an
ordinance. And don't call it a sacrament.
A sacrament means something that has saving value. There's no
saving value in the pool of baptism. The only saving value is in Christ
and Him crucified and risen again. So they were saying, well, you've
got to be circumcised. Well, look at what Paul says in verse
3 of Galatians 5. He says, For I testify again
to every man that is circumcised, that is, for that reason, to
be saved. that he's a debtor to do the
whole law. You've got to keep it all, not
just circumcision. And it comes down to this, Ben,
that means you've got to love your neighbor perfectly and you've
got to love God perfectly. You cannot be a respecter of
persons. That's a reality, isn't it? That's
an astounding thing. He says in verse 4, Christ is
become of no effect on you, whosoever of you are justified by the law.
You're falling from grace. You're denying grace. You claim
to be saved by grace, but you're denying grace when you say that. Go back to Galatians 3 now, verse
11. Here it says, verse 11, now, if you're trying to be saved
by your works under the law, then you're under the curse.
So here's the conclusion, verse 11, but that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it's evident. For the justified
shall live by faith. Now what does that mean? By looking
to Christ. That's what living by faith is.
That doesn't mean that faith is a replacement for our shortcomings
under the law. It means that we look to Christ
who kept the law. We believe in Him. Our faith
is in Him. We rest in Him and His finished
work as He was obedient unto death. Romans 10 and verse 4,
for Christ is the end, the fulfillment, the finishing of the law to everyone
that believeth. Go back to James 2 now. Now, outward reformation, morality,
will not fulfill the royal law, no matter how far it goes. So
even if one keeps the whole law and offends in one area, he's
literally shattered the whole pane of glass, the whole thing. He stumbles only one point. Now, our problem is this. Now,
the reality, our problem is not just one sin, is it? We read
in Romans 5 there. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound. Why was the law given? First
and foremost, to show us our utter depravity and sinfulness
and our need of Christ, our need of mercy and grace. God's will
is not segmented. Any sin breaks the whole thing.
The law declares guilty and worthy of death all who break it. The
law makes no provision for grace and mercy, no way out for the
guilty. No. No, somebody says, well, God
knows you can't keep it all, so he'll understand and he'll
just overlook these things. Oh, no. You better read the book. God must judge according to righteousness. Well, where's there any hope
for me? Where's there any hope for you? Look at verse 12. Here's the reality. of liberty
and mercy. So, or therefore, since this
is the case, since I am a transgressor of the law, since I am a sinner,
commit sin, fall short, since you do too, so speak ye, therefore
speak ye and so do as they that shall be judged by the law of
liberty." Now there's our hope. The law of liberty. What's that
law of liberty? That's the good news of liberty. That's the gospel of liberty. Liberty where? In turning over
a new leaf? No. Liberty in being baptized? No. Liberty in joining the church? No. Liberty in Christ. Galatians 5.1, Stand fast, therefore,
in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free. And be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage. John chapter 8, he
said, if the Son sets you free, you shall be free, what? Indeed. You see, a lot of people imagine
themselves to be free, and they're not. It's like a guy running
around in a jail cell, and he can't see the bars. He can only
go so far, but he's free to do anything he wants to in that
jail cell. But you see, that's not the kind of freedom that
we're talking about in Christ. It's total freedom in Him. And
notice he says here, speak and do. You notice that? He's not
just speaking, and he's not just doing. John said it in 1 John
3.18. He said, My little children,
let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in
truth. This speaking here is not just
a mere outward profession of words, but it's the expressions
of a new heart. The regenerate heart given by
the Holy Spirit and evidence by truth and obedience motivated
by God's grace in Christ, not motivated as a mercenary trying
to earn your way into God's favor and his blessings, not motivated
by legal threats. If you don't do this, you're
going to lose this. You're going to be lost. You're going to go
to. No, sir. Motivated by grace and gratitude and love. That's
the law of liberty. It's not liberty to sin. It's
liberty to serve, serve God. in newness of spirit." And he's
saying here, let's live and act as people who are headed for
future judgment. We're going to be judged in one
sense. That's a vindication now. It's
not going to be that we stand before God, we who are in Christ
now, and our good works are going to be weighed with our bad works,
and which one weighs the most is going to determine. No, sir.
It's only going to be as a living testimony to our standing in
Christ. That's what the judgment of believers
refers to, that judgment will be based on the law of God. How
many times have I quoted this? What's the standard of judgment? Acts 1731, God's commanded all
men everywhere to repent. Why? Because he hath appointed
a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by
that man whom he hath ordained, and that he hath given assurance
unto all men, and that he hath raised him from the dead. What's
my hope of judgment? To be free, liberated in Christ.
To stand before God, washed in His blood and clothed in His
righteousness, charged to my account. That's my hope. That's
your hope. You've got no other. If I stand
there without Christ, my sins will be charged to me. And I'll
be damned forever. But if I stand there in Christ,
blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without my works."
Christ did the work. I received it. Our only hope
at judgment is to be found in Christ the law of liberty. Turn
to Romans chapter 6. Look at Romans chapter 6 with
me. This is a two-fold liberty I want you to see. First of all, for our justification
before God. If I'm a sinner and a transgressor,
which I am, and you are too, somebody says, well, I don't
like to hear you say that. Well, get used to it. And I'm not excusing it now. But here's the thing. If we can't
be honest here within these walls on this day, why are we here? I mean, why am I going to stand
up here and just lie to myself and lie to you? That would do
you no good and certainly do me no good. Sinner saved by grace. And so this liberty is twofold.
It has to do first and foremost with the ground of our salvation,
the basis of it, our justification before God. How does that come
about? Well, look at verse three of
Romans six. He says, no, you not. that so
many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ. Now, baptized there
does not mean water baptism. That's talking about our union
with Christ. Chosen in Christ, justified in
Christ, redeemed by Christ, placed into. That's what the word baptized
really means, placed into. And he says you were baptized,
placed into his death. He died as a substitute, a representative
of his sheep. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep. By His stripes, we are healed, Isaiah 53. In other
words, our sins were charged to Him. We were united to Him
by electing grace and by redeeming grace. And so when He died, He
died not for His own sins, but for our sins given to Him, charged
to Him. They became His by imputation,
by the accounting of them, by the charging of them. He took
responsibility for our debt. And it says in verse 4, therefore,
we are buried with him by baptism into death, placed into him.
He died, we died. That is believers now. It's talking
about those who believe in Christ or come to faith in Christ. And
he says that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the
glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness
of life. For if we've been planted together
in the likeness of his death, We shall be also in the likeness
of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man is crucified
with him, as the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth
we should not serve sin. Verse seven, for he that is dead
is freed from sin. The word freed there is literally
justified. What does that mean? That means because Christ died
for my sins, God doesn't charge him to me. I'm justified. How? By his blood. He paid fully all
the debt I owe by his righteousness. I stand before God as a righteous
person, not in myself now, but in him. Made the righteousness
of God in him. Charged with his righteousness.
And that's liberty. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies who's
he that condemneth is Christ that died. Now look at verse
17. Here's the here's the fruit and the result. of that justification
before God by the death of Christ. Here's the effect of it, not
the cause of it now. Understand? Here's the work of
the Holy Spirit who literally liberates us in our minds, in
our consciences, and in our hearts in the new birth. He says in
verse 17, but God be thanked that you were the servants of
sin. That's an unregenerate person. That's an unbeliever. He may
be religious, but he's still a servant of sin. He may be trying
to do the best he can, Saul of Tarsus was, but he's still a
servant of sin. Because any notion that you can
be saved or accepted by God by your works is sin in the sight
of God. Cain was an example of that.
He brought the works of his hand. What did Abel bring? The blood
of a lamb, picturing the death of Christ to come. And he says,
you were the servants of sin, but you've obeyed from the heart
that form of doctrine which was delivered to you. That's the
gospel. That's the law of liberty, freedom in Christ. Verse 18,
being then made free from sin. Now, remember the word freed
over in verse seven was justified. The word free here is liberated.
Being then made liberated from sin, you became the servants
of righteousness. What's a servant of righteousness?
It's a justified sinner. It's a redeemed sinner. He's
a regenerate sinner. He's a sinner who looks to Christ
and follows Christ for all salvation. Liberated in our minds, in our
hearts, in our consciences, in every way. free to serve God,
not as a mercenary, not as a legalist, but as a child of God, redeemed
by the blood of Christ. That's the law of liberty. And
that's how believers are going to be judged. Are you in Christ
or are you not? Every justified person, every
believer is a new creation in Christ, created in Christ Jesus
unto good works, not because of. And it's not that we produce
good works with the help of God, no. It's not that we see ourselves
as good or our works as good, no. It's not that we're trying
to earn blessings and rewards by our works. It's not that there's
anything of us or in us other than the Holy Spirit himself
now that's perfect within us. Even the works that Christ works
in and through us are contaminated by sin in the flesh when they
come through us, and they have to be washed in his blood. and
presented before God as a sweet-smelling savor through Christ. It's simply
this, that Christ works in us and through us so that we strive
to be like Him and glorify Him in whatever He commands us in
His Word. And it's a struggle. It's not
easy. I heard a fellow say it comes
naturally to a believer. Oh no, the only thing that still
comes naturally to you and me is sin. If it came naturally,
you wouldn't have to struggle to do it. Is there a warfare
within you? That's a mark of a believer.
It's not a legal warfare. It's not a little devil on one
shoulder and a little angel on the other. No, it's a struggle
within your own heart. For the flesh lusteth against
the spirit, Paul wrote, and the spirit against the flesh. These
are contrary, the one to the other, so that you cannot do
the things you would. You cannot love God perfectly
and your neighbors yourself because you've got too much flesh. Me
too. But thank God that the Holy Spirit
is in us and the life of God, spiritual life, is so much a
part of us now that we cannot go the full way of the flesh.
We have a struggle, a warfare within. And in our struggle,
we all fall, we all fail, but the pattern, the tenor of our
life is to follow Christ. Look at verse 13, and I'll close.
Now, here's what he says. For he shall have judgment without
mercy that hath show no mercy, and mercy rejoiceth, that word
literally is glorieth, against judgment. What's he saying? It's very simple. Not hard to
understand. It's hard to accept. Difficult
for us to face. He's saying this, if the spirit
and attitude of grace and mercy and love without respect to persons
is not in our hearts, then it's manifest that we're not recipients
of God's mercy and grace and love. God who shows respect to
no one but himself. Bible says, blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy. Now, that doesn't mean we earn
or merit mercy. by our showing mercy. If that
were truth, it wouldn't be mercy. But rather, that mercy flows
to us from those to whom God has been merciful. And he says
judgment without mercy. In other words, no mercy, grace,
relief, salvation in the law. Do and live, disobey and die.
Think of standing before God without mercy, without grace,
without Christ. Have you shown partiality to
anyone? Have I? Have you harbored any hatred,
vindictiveness, resentfulness towards anyone? Well, let me
tell you something. God's mercy is not sacrifice.
God's justice is not sacrificed in the name of mercy. Rather,
in mercy, God has met the demands of his justice by sending his
son into the world to pay the debt, to satisfy justice. And that's why he says, mercy
rejoices, glories, or triumphs against judgment. If your life
is characterized by mercy, which evidences your status in Christ,
your standing in Christ, you'll triumph over judgment because
Christ has redeemed you from the curse of the law. And you're
righteous in him before God. Now let me tell you something
that's very helpful here. And it's helpful to me, and I
believe it'll be helpful to you. We as believers, And you think
about this. We as believers really need to
spend a lot of time thinking about God's mercy towards ourselves
and how we by nature, based on our best efforts, deserve nothing
but condemnation and wrath. And therefore we need to spend
a lot of time thinking about Christ. and what he's accomplished
and what he's done for us. All right.