Now, if you would, let's turn
in our Bibles to the book of James, chapter 1. We've been studying through the
book of James and pretty much finished chapter 1, but I want
to go back to verse 25 of James, chapter 1, and I want to preach
a message this morning entitled, The Perfect Law of Liberty. I mentioned that last week, but
I've got some more I want to say about that because I want
to show you the reality of the, I want to show you from God's
Word, the reality of the liberty, the true, spiritual, eternal
liberty and freedom that all who trust Christ, all who entrust
our whole salvation to Him and Him alone, and what he accomplished
on Calvary in his death, burial, and resurrection. The true freedom
and liberty that we actually have. And these are fundamentals
of the faith. Every believer should be well-schooled
in these areas of liberty. And as you know, there are many
people when it comes to the book of James, they are confused and
they have problems. It has been a book in the history
of the church. since the New Testament come
together, it's been one book that has been sort of controversial. And the reason is, is because
they don't understand, many don't understand the fundamentals of
this liberty that I'm talking about. For example, James has
a lot to say about works. And yet we know that salvation
from Genesis to Revelation is revealed as a matter not of our
works, but of the grace of God in Christ. Salvation is not conditioned
on my works, what I do for God, but salvation is totally and
completely conditioned on the work of the Lord Jesus Christ
and what he did for me. But James even makes this statement
in chapter 2, which we're approaching, he says that A man is not justified
by faith alone, meaning the work of Christ. That's what our faith
is. Our faith is not in our faith, it's in what Christ did. But
he's justified by works. What is James talking about?
Well, James is not talking about how a sinner is justified. How a sinner is justified, made
righteous and not guilty before God. That's not his subject.
James is talking about how our claim of faith in Christ, how
our claim that we're justified before God in Christ, how that
claim is justified before men, vindicated before men. In other
words, you say you're a Christian. You say that you believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ. You say you love Him. Well, how
is that vindicated, evidenced, and professed out among men?
That's what James is talking about, even when he uses Abraham
in chapter 2. Abraham was justified before God in Christ long before
he obeyed God and took Isaac upon that mount, you remember,
Mount Moriah, to sacrifice Isaac. But Abraham's claim of faith
in God in the promise of the coming Messiah was vindicated
when he obeyed God in that area. He knew, Hebrews chapter 11 tells
us, Abraham knew that Isaac wouldn't stay dead, that God was able
to raise him from the dead because it was through Isaac that Christ
was to come. So it's a vindication. And there
are several things in the book of James that establishes this.
One of them is this phrase in verse 25. He says, But whoso
looketh into the perfect, that's complete, finished law of liberty,
and continue it therein in that law of liberty or that word of
freedom, that word of liberty, he being not a forgetful hearer.
That's just, remember he talked about be a doer of the word and
not just a hearer only. In other words, it's not enough
just to hear it and agree with it, comment on it, admire it,
but you're to do what God says. He says, but a doer of the work,
this man shall be blessed not by his deed, and that's the literal
translation there, but in his deed. And I've often said, if
you want to find a good commentary on the book of James, just mark
down Ephesians 2, 8 through 10. Ephesians 2, 8 through 10. Remember
what it says. For by grace are you saved, through
faith, that not of yourselves, that faith not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. In verse 10, for we are his workmanship,
and this is what James is emphasizing in the whole book, verse 10 of
Ephesians 2, for we are his workmanship, a sinner saved by grace through
Christ, made righteous in Christ, forgiven by the blood of Christ,
blessed with eternal spiritual life through the Spirit because
of what Christ did, kept by the power of God's grace in Christ.
We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. There's the
foundation, the work of Christ. Unto good works, not because
of good works, but unto good works. That's the fruit in which
God hath before ordained that we should walk in there. The
works are the fruit, the evidence, not the cause. God's grace and mercy and purpose
and love is the cause. Christ's work on the cross is
the ground. He made an end of sin. He finished
the transgression, he established righteousness, and the born-again
believer who follows Christ, not to be saved, but because
we already are. That's the fruit. We sang that
song, that hymn, Standing on the Promises. We stand on the promises of God.
The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 1 and verse 20, that all the
promises of God, everything God promises to His people in Christ,
all the promises of God are in Him, in Christ, yea, and in Him,
amen. In other words, all the promises
that God promises to His people in Christ are sure and certain,
not because we believe, not because we're so good, we're not, but
because of what Christ did. And the last verse of this hymn
expresses it. Standing on the promises, I cannot
fall. Now why? Because all the promises
are sure and certain in Christ. Listening every moment to the
Spirit's call. Where does the Spirit call us
to? He calls us to believe in Christ and repent of our dead
works and idolatry. He calls on us to serve God,
not to be saved. not legalistically trying to
pay our debt. We can't pay our debt. That's
why Christ came and died on the cross, to pay the debt in full.
In other words, we serve Christ because of grace and gratitude
and love. And he says, resting in my Savior
as my all in all. That's good, isn't it? Resting
in Christ. Standing on the promises of God. There's another verse
to that hymn that's not in our hymnal. When I found it, I wondered,
man, that ought to be in our hymnal. Let me read it to you. Standing on the promises, I now
can see perfect, present cleansing in the blood for me. Standing
in the liberty where Christ makes free. Standing on the promises
of God. Standing in the liberty where
Christ makes free. Well, that's what James is talking
about. He says the perfect law of liberty. What is that? That's
the gospel. It's the gospel of God's grace
in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. It's liberty of grace. The Lord
spoke of it back here in Isaiah chapter 61 that Brother Joe read. This whole chapter is a prophecy
and a promise of the coming of the Messiah and the blessings,
all the blessings that his people receive because of the great
work that he would accomplish in his obedience unto death.
And it says in verse 1, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because
the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings. In the New
Testament, gospel means good news. Good tidings unto the meek,
and the meek there are those who have been born again by the
spirit. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim
liberty to the captives. Somebody says, well, where in
am I captive? Well, I'll show you in just a
moment, until Christ sets us free. And the opening of the
prison to them that are bound, and verse 2 says, to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord. That's talking about when the
Lord would actually come and do his great work. The day of
vengeance of our God, when God would take vengeance upon all
the sins of his people. How? by raining his wrath down
upon Christ and to comfort all that mourn. That's what that's
about. It's the revelation of Jesus
Christ, the perfect law of liberty here, back in James 1, by whose
blood and righteousness his people are set free. That's what the
scripture teaches. Over in verse 12 of chapter 2,
James mentions it again. He says, so speak, he talks about
how we're all sinners. He says this, he makes a bold,
astounding statement in James chapter 2 there, verse 10, look
at it. This is an astounding, now in
man's law we can't say this. In man's law, in man's courts
of justice this can't be said. He says in verse 10, he says,
for whosoever shall keep the whole law. Now you say, let's
say that you say to yourself, now today I'm going to start
today, I'm going to keep the whole law. And that means keep
it. That doesn't mean, this is not
a sliding scale here now. What is it to keep the whole
law? That means to be perfect. That means to be sinless. For
whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one, the
word point there is in italics, the translator has added it,
but that's okay. Offend in one law. Break one law. One point. Listen to this. He's
guilty of all. Wow. Guilty of all? Yes. You know why? Because the law can be summed
up in really two statements. Love God perfectly. And love
your neighbor as yourself. And if you offend in any one
point, you're guilty of it all, in God's sight. Now, not in man's
sight. I mean, if you go out here and get caught speeding
and get a ticket, they're not going to bring you up in the
court, I hope not, and say, now, you're a murderer, too, so we're
going to throw you in jail. That's man's law. You see, we're
talking about God's law here. We're talking about man as he
relates to God, not to each other. And in God's sight, in His court
of justice, to offend in one point is to be guilty of all.
Now, what does that do for me? What does that do for you? For
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But not
only that, Romans 3 and verse 10, there's none righteous, no,
not one. Think about it. I didn't say
there's none religious, no, not one. It says there's none righteous
who have a righteousness that answers the demands of God's
law and God's justice. None that doeth good, he says,
that is in God's sight now. You see, the judgments of men
are no good when it comes to standing before God, a judgment.
Whatever men or women say about you or don't say about you means
nothing when you stand before God. And so he says, verse 11,
look at James 2.11, For he that said, Do not commit adultery,
and said also, Do not kiss one God who made both commandments,
you see. So to offend in one point is to be guilty of all
in his sight. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill,
thou art become a transgressor of the law. Either way, you're
a transgressor of the law. We're sinners. That's why somebody
said, well not me. Well then, you don't need to
hear what I have to say. You're okay. You don't need Christ.
You don't need salvation if this doesn't include you. You don't
need grace. If you can honestly say before
God that that doesn't include you, then you don't need grace. You don't need mercy. Why are
you here? That's just as silly as you going into the hospital
and you're healthy. Or going into jail and you're
not guilty. But you see, I need to hear this because I'm a transgressor
of the law. I'm a sinner. A sinner saved
by grace, but still a sinner. This is a message for sinners.
You remember what he said in Isaiah 61? He's going to bind
up who? The broken hearted. Broken hearted
over their sins. Their disease. They can't find
a cure. They know they deserve nothing
but damnation. They know they haven't earned
anything of goodness from God. So what good news are they going
to hear? He said, I'm going to set the
captives free. I'm going to let them out of
prison. And so he says in verse 12 of James 2, so speak ye and
so do as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. Now what
is the law of liberty? That's the gospel. The gospel. Paul wrote in Romans chapter
2 verse 16 about a day when God shall judge the secrets of men
by Jesus Christ according to my gospel, he said. It was preached,
he preached in Acts chapter 17, that all men everywhere should
repent, verse 30 and verse 31. Why? Why should I repent? Why
should you repent? He said, because God hath appointed
a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness. Whose righteousness? My idea
of righteousness? Your idea of righteousness? The
Christian view of righteousness? The Buddhist view of righteousness?
The philosophers? No. He's going to judge the world
in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, it says. In other words, the man who God
appointed to be the standard and measure of all righteousness.
Who is that man? He said, in that he hath given
assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead. Christ. Now you see our tendency
and in this world, and even in religion, is to compare ourselves
with each other. And usually we'll pick somebody
we think is worse than us, because we want to come out feeling pretty
good, you know. So somebody may say, well, you know, I'm not
perfect, but I'm not as badass. At least I haven't done that. Well, see, how you compare to
other men or women in this life means nothing. How do you compare
to Christ? That's the issue. Somebody says,
well, if that's the case, then there's no hope for me. Oh, yeah.
I've got good tidings, good news. I've got a perfect law of liberty
to talk to you about. It has five areas of freedom
I want to give you. Five areas of freedom. Five areas
of liberty. I want you to listen to these
five areas. The first area of liberty and freedom is the ground
and foundation of all salvation. The first area. You could say
it's the most important, but I don't like to put it that way,
because they're all important. Because if you have one, you'll
have the other. So this first area of liberty
and freedom is the ground and foundation of all freedom, all
salvation, all liberty. And here it is, number one. It's
freedom from the curse and condemnation of the law. Every sinner who
is in Christ, who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, is totally
free from the curse and the condemnation of the law. What does that mean?
That means he's not guilty. But you're a sinner. That's right. But in Christ, I'm not guilty. How can that be? That means he's
righteous. But you're a sinner. But in Christ,
I'm righteous. made the very righteousness of
God in him. Now let me show you that. Turn
to Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter 6. And listen
to this. Verse 3 of Romans chapter 6. Know ye not that so many of us
as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death. Now, when you think of baptized,
you always think of this pool up here, don't you? Most people
do. And that is a necessary thing, not to earn salvation or attain
it, but to confess salvation. That's what water baptism, the
ordinance, is an ordinance of confession. You don't have to
be baptized to be saved. That's not what baptism is for.
You see, those who are saved must be baptized to follow the
command of the Lord, to confess Him. But baptized here in Romans
6-3 doesn't mean water baptism. The word baptized literally means
placed into. That's what it means. That's
why we sometimes translate the word baptized as immersion. You're
immersed into. That's why we don't sprinkle
and pour around here, because we're identifying with Christ.
It's immersion in the water. We go down into the water, signifying
that Christ is our substitute, and when he died, we died. I
didn't die personally, but he died for me. And when he was
raised again from the dead, I was raised with him. But here it's
talking about union with Christ. That's what baptism here in Romans
6-3 is. Those of you who are in union
with Christ were in union with Him at His death. What does that
mean? It means when He died, He died for you. When He was
buried, He was buried for you. When He was raised again, He
was raised again for you. Who's He talking about? Who are
the you here? All who believe in Him. His sheep, God's elect,
that's what they're called in the scripture. I know people
don't like that terminology, but it's biblical. We didn't
get it from some magazine, the man wrote, we got it from the
Bible. So you've got to deal with it. He said, I laid down
my life, John chapter 10, for the sheep, didn't he? And he
said, my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, they follow
me. And he told the Jews there who believed, he said, other
sheep I have which are not of this fold, them I must bring. He said, All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing,
but raise it up again at the last day. So listen to it again,
Romans 6, verse 4. Therefore we are buried with
him by baptism into death, 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. We've been planted together in
the likeness of his death, that's our union with Christ in his
death. He didn't die for his own sins, he died for the sins
of his people. Our sins were laid to his charge,
that's imputation, they were accounted to him. He became,
Christ became legally accountable and responsible for the sin debt
of his people. He said, put it on my account,
just like Paul told Philemon about Onesimus in that little
book of Philemon. If he's wrong thee, put it on
my account. And you know, I always, and maybe you get tired of hearing
this, but especially for our children, this doctrine of imputation
that people don't hear about today. I always use the banking
analogy because I think that's the easiest one to understand.
If you found yourself, if you got a letter from your bank that
you owed that bank a million dollars, And you found yourself,
you didn't have one penny to pay that debt. That's the way
it is with our sins before God. You see, in ourselves, we owe
God a debt to His law and justice that we could not contribute
to and pay. But if you got a letter from the bank the next day that
said, well, your debt's paid in full. Somebody came and paid
it for you. Somebody walked into the bank
and said, now, Bill Parker owes you a million dollars, he can't
pay it, put it on my account. And they moved that million dollars,
that million dollar debt from my account to somebody else.
That's what Christ did on the cross. He said he can't pay the
debt, put it on my account and I'll pay it. But it doesn't stop
there. What if the next day you get
a letter from the bank and say in your account there's a million
dollars to the good? That's what we get in return
from Christ. Put that on their account. That's amputation. And that's what this is talking
about. We were planted together in the likeness of his death.
We shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. He paid
my debt. And in return, I got his righteousness
in glory. And he says in verse 6, knowing
this, that our old man is crucified with him, That the old man there
is a state of condemnation in Adam, that the body of sin might
be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Look
at verse 7. For he that is dead is freed from sin. I'm washed in the blood of Christ.
I'm clothed in his righteousness alone. That's what Brother Joe
read there in Isaiah chapter 61. At the end of that chapter,
Talking about the coming of Christ, verse 10, I will greatly rejoice
in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God, for he hath
clothed me with the garments of salvation. He hath covered
me with the robe of righteousness, and it's not a robe of my own
making, it's a robe of his making. It's his obedience unto death,
accounted to me. As a bridegroom decketh himself
with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with jewels. That's what a sinner Saved by
grace is in Christ. No condemnation. Romans 8, 1
that we read at the opening of the service, there is therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Why? He
took our condemnation. There's no wrath from God to
a sinner who's in Christ. Why? Because Christ took our
wrath in full. Oh, we may suffer here on earth.
We may suffer even the consequences of our sin, but there is no eternal
wrath and condemnation for those who are in Christ. That's right. Who shall lay anything, Romans
8, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's
God that justifies. God who declares me righteous
and not guilty in Christ. Who can condemn me? It's Christ
that died. Yea, rather is risen again, and
seated at the right hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession
for me. He's my eternal mediator and
intercessor. He's my advocate, eternally,
and he never stops. You see, the law itself will
not set us free. It can only curse and condemn
us. I'll give you an illustration of that. If you go out and commit
a murder, and I hope you don't, but if you go out and commit
a murder and you're convicted in the court of justice and you're
sentenced to die in the whatever, however it means they do that
now, capital punishment by lethal injection, and they put you on
death row and there you are behind bars in death row. Now let's
say somebody comes down to visit you. And they look at you and
say, thou shalt not murder. Will that set you free? No. That's the law. You say, well,
it won't do me any good. I'm already a murderer. And that's
the problem with those who are trying to be saved by their works.
They have their rules and their regulations, their list, their
commandments, and they Bear them down on people. Don't do this.
Do this. Taste not this. Touch not this.
Handle not this. And when it comes to salvation,
here's the reality. It won't do you any good or me
either. Why? Because we're sinners. We're
sinners. The law does not proclaim liberty
to the captives. The captives are in jail because
they justly deserve to be there. The law doesn't proclaim liberty.
It just says, thou shalt not kill. And then there's the penalty
if you do. The law says love God perfectly and our neighbor
as ourselves. That's what James said over here in James chapter
2. What do I need? The law? No, I need the perfect
law of liberty. I need the gospel. The Bible
says that the law was given to expose our sin and our need of
grace and mercy in Christ. Therefore, by deeds of law shall
no flesh be justified, declared righteous, not guilty in God's
sight. The Jews who perverted the law sought righteousness
by their works, and they failed. Paul said, my heart's desire
and prayer for them is that they might be saved. They have a zeal
of God, they're religious, but not according to knowledge, for
they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about
to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. What is the righteousness of
God? Romans 10, 4, for Christ is the end, the fulfillment,
the finishing, the completion of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. You see, Christ is my righteousness.
That's why there's no curse from God for me. That's why there's
no condemnation. Christ paid my debt. He established
all the righteousness that God requires for my salvation. And
that's the foundation. Now let me give you these others
briefly. Here's the second aspect of our
freedom. Freedom from the power and dominion
of sin. Now go back to Romans chapter
6. Now when I say freedom from the
power and dominion of sin, I'm not talking about freedom from
sinning. Because even, listen, how many
times we've said it, there's only two types of people on this
earth. There's sinners lost in their sins and there's sinners
saved by the grace of God. But we're still sinners. And
we'll be until this life is over. One day we'll experience an ultimate
freedom from even the presence and influence and contamination
of sin. But as we are here on this earth,
even as saved sinners, we're in a battle between the flesh
and the spirit. And everything we think, say,
and do is contaminated with sin. That's why we continually need
Christ. That's why we continually need Him so that we may not fall.
But look at Romans 6, 17. When I say freedom from the power
and dominion of sin, I'm talking about the freedom and liberty
to come to Christ for salvation and rest in Him. That's freedom
from the power and the dominion of sin. Look at Romans 6, 17.
He says, but God be thanked that you were the servants of sin.
Now he's talking about unbelievers there. But you have obeyed from
the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Literally,
which you were delivered to. You obey from the heart. That's
the regenerate heart. What is that form of doctrine?
The perfect law of liberty. The preaching of Christ to him
crucified and risen again. Look at verse 18. Being then
made free. Now the word free there is liberated.
Back over in verse 7, the word free there is justified. That's
our legal justification before God in Christ. The word free
here in verse 18 is our liberation in our experience. It's the new
birth. by the power of the Spirit. It's the fruit and the result
of what Christ did on the cross. And he says, being made free
from sin, he became the servant of righteousness. What is a servant
of righteousness? It's one who believes in, trusts
in, rests in the Lord Jesus Christ for all salvation. Yes, they
do follow him. Again, not to be saved, but because
we already are saved. And our obedience and service
is to be an expression, not of our legalistic, self-righteous
ways of paying our own debt. It's to be an expression of grace,
an expression of gratitude. Thank you, Lord. An expression
of love to Him. Paul says, the love of Christ
constrains us. And so, before this, before this
liberation from the bondage and the power and dominion of sin,
we were in bondage to the deceptions of Satan, to the deceptions of
self, Even our own wills were in bondage. Self-righteousness. We would not come to Christ.
We weren't free to come to Christ because we had no desire to come
to Christ. We thought too little of Him
and too much of self. That's bondage. That's the dominion
of sin in our lives. But God the Holy Spirit freed
us by the new birth. Look back at James chapter 1.
Remember over in verse 18? He says, of his own will begat
he us with the word of truth. That's the new birth. That's
freedom from the power and dominion of sin. That keeps me from Christ.
That's Satan's bondage. If our gospel be hid, it's hid
to them that are lost, who believe not, who've not seen the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Here's the third aspect. Turn
to Galatians 5. Freedom from the bondage. of
the law. Now, in Galatians chapter 5,
look at it with me, you'll find in most every religion, and even
in a lot of religion that comes in the name of Christianity,
the first thing that many people try to do is to get you under
some set of rules and regulations that you have to go by in order
for them, either a checklist or something they can look at
and say, well, now he's a real Christian or she's a real Christian.
Now listen, we have commandments from Christ in the New Testament
we're to follow, but it's not a list of rules and regulations
that come about by the making of man. And then here in the
New Testament, some of the Jewish Men and women who had claimed
to be brought to faith in Christ were trying to bring back the
old covenant law And bring Christians under that old covenant law And
that's the problem in Galatians, and here's what Paul says in
Galatians 5 1 look at it Stand fast therefore in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again
with the yoke of bondage and Look at verse 2. He says, Behold
I, Paul, say unto you that if you be circumcised, Christ shall
profit you nothing. What they were doing, some of
these Jewish professors were saying, well, we believe in Christ,
but the males have to be circumcised in order to be really saved,
in order to be holy, in order to be really righteous. Here's
what Paul's saying in verse 2. He says, If you're circumcised
for that reason, in order to attain or maintain salvation,
in order to recommend yourself unto God, Christ will profit
you nothing. You don't need Christ. You see,
the only thing, the only one who will recommend me unto God
is Christ and Him crucified and risen again. Not circumcision.
He says in verse 3, For I testify again to every man that is circumcised,
that is, for that reason that he is a debtor to do the whole
law. My friend, if salvation is conditioned on your doing,
or not doing, at any stage, to any degree, in any way, you know
what that makes you? A debtor to do the whole law.
You're denying Christ. He says in verse 4, Christ has
become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified
by the law. You're falling from grace. You're
denying grace. And then turn to Colossians,
chapter 2. Same problem existed in this church. False preachers
came trying to bind them up with their rules and their regulations.
And a lot of it had to do with what you don't do. You know,
men are good at measuring righteousness by what they do not do. Well, I don't do this, I don't
do that, I wouldn't ever go there, wouldn't ever go here. Wouldn't
ever be seen with that guy or that woman. That's why the Pharisees
were so good at pointing out to the disciples, your master
eats with publicans and sinners. He's the friend of publicans
and sinners, such people we wouldn't even be seen around and associate
with. I'll tell you what, if you ever
see, by the power of the Spirit, what we are by nature and what
we deserve and have earned, you will rejoice in the fact that
Christ is the friend of publicans and sinners, won't you? But look
here in Colossians chapter 2, look at verse 20. He says, Wherefore
if you be dead with Christ, that's that union with Christ in his
crucifixion, his burial, his resurrection, from the rudiments
of the world, the elements of the world, what the world says
about holiness and righteousness, why as though living in the world
are you subject to ordinances, that's man's ordinances, look
what he says in verse 21, touch not, taste not, handle not, which
are all to perish with the using after the commandments and doctrines
of men. Is that what your salvation is? Taste not, touch not, handle
not. What you don't do, where you
don't go, who you wouldn't be seen with. That's righteousness
to you. You're not looking to Christ. My friend, he's all my
righteousness. And yes, there are things we're
told to do and not to do in the New Testament. But that's not
our righteousness. If I'm baptized. is to confess
the Lord. If I think baptism makes me righteous
before God, then I've denied Him. We're to take the Lord's
Supper. We're to love one another. We're
to worship God. The Bible says, don't forsake
the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some
is. But you're coming to church here and sending Nephites. That's
no part of the righteousness whereby you stand before God.
That's just an evidence that you love to hear about Christ,
who is your righteousness. in whom you stand before God.
You want to worship Him. You want to serve Him. And see,
you have that freedom from the bondage of law. Here's the fourth
thing. Look at Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. This freedom,
which results from our freedom from the curse and condemnation
of the law in Christ, it's freedom to approach God, to commune with
God, and to worship God. That includes all that we do
in prayer and praise and worship. Freedom! And he says it in Hebrews
chapter 10, here look at verse 19. Now all of this, if you read
all of Hebrews 10 sometimes, it's all based upon the work
of Christ on the cross. His obedience unto death, which
is our righteousness, our holiness before God. And he says in verse
19 of Hebrews 10, having therefore brethren, boldness. Now that
word boldness, look in your concordance. probably liberty, isn't it? Unhindered
freedom, confidence, having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter the
holiest, the very presence of God. Based on what? Well, I had a good day today.
Or I haven't sinned as much today as I normally do. Or I quit smoking. Or I came to church. Is that
what it says there? Therefore, brethren, boldest
to enter the holiest of Presidents? No. Based on what? By the blood
of Jesus, God our Savior. By His blood. His blood is my
liberty to come into the presence of God. That was pictured back
in the Old Testament in the holiest of all, the tabernacle, where
the mercy seat covered the arch. And the priest would go in one
time a year and sprinkle the blood of the Lamb over that mercy
seat. And he had full access and freedom. He's the only one who could go
in there because he's the only one appointed. And as Christ
is our great high priest, he went into the very presence of
God with his own blood for his people. And therefore we have
free liberty access into the presence of God in prayer, in
worship, in praise, He says in verse 20, by a new and living
way which he hath consecrated, Christ made it for us through
the veil, that is to say, his flesh. Think about that, freedom
to, and here's the fifth one, turn to Romans 7. Now this is
mainly what the book of James is going to be talking about
as we continue through it. Here it is, freedom to serve
God. by obligation of law, or threat
of punishment, or promise of earned reward, that would make
you a mercenary. Freedom to serve God out of love. That's freedom. You see, this
freedom is not liberty to sin. It's not freedom to sin. Somebody
says, well, if I believe what you believe, I'll go out and
sin as much as I want to. You'll do that anyway. Grace, listen, grace gives nobody
an excuse to sin. Now, some people say it that
way because they don't have the Spirit of God. But this is freedom to serve
Him. He says in Romans 7, look here at verse 4. Wherefore, my
brethren, you are become dead to the law. That is, you're justified,
you're righteous, you're not guilty. The law has nothing against
you, cannot condemn you. Why? How? By the body of Christ. by his obedience unto death,
that you should be married to another, united to him in a spiritual,
eternal marriage, even to him who is raised from the dead,
that we should bring forth fruit unto God. You see, he doesn't
say that you should work your way into his love, his favor,
and his blessings. It's that you should bring forth
fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh,
when we were unbelievers, the motions, passions of sins which
were by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit
unto death. either in abject rebellion against everything
God says, or even in self-righteous religion, trying to work your
way into His favor. But now, verse 6, we're delivered
from the law, that being dead wherein we were held, that we
should serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of the left.
We serve in newness of spirit. What is that newness of spirit?
That's grace. That's gratitude. That's love. We serve Him because we love
Him. We serve Him. If you really did owe a million
bucks, and some fella come in and paid that million dollars,
wouldn't you want to know who that person is? Wouldn't you
want to go thank Him? Wouldn't you want to do things
for Him? He's already paid the million dollars and given you
millions of the good. You're not trying to earn your
way in His favor. He did it out of His own will. That's the way
God saves His people, of His own sovereign will. And when
we find out about it in the proclamation of the perfect law of liberty
in the gospel, And the Holy Spirit gives us life and ears and eyes
to see and hear and brings us to faith in Christ. We want to
know more about him and we want to serve him. He's already given
us, paid our debt and given us the million dollars. We don't
have to earn anything from him. We can't earn anything. God is never
indebted to us, but we'll be eternally indebted to him. And
as we owe him a debt of love and gratitude. That's what James
talked about when he talked about being a bond slave of Christ. A bond slave is one who serves
not to pay his debt, but he serves because his debt is already paid
and he loves his master. That's the freedom and liberty. The proclamation of the perfect
law of liberty. Let's sing as our closing hymn,
Praise the Savior.