But now hath he obtained a more
excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a
better covenant which was established upon better promises. For if
that first covenant had been flawless, This should no place
have been sought for the second. He's talking about the priesthood
and the law and the sacrifices at Tabernacle. If it had been thoughtless, there
would have been no need for the Lord Jesus Christ to have come.
And God himself found fault with them, saith, behold the days
come, saith the Lord. But I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Not
like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them
by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. Because
they continued not in my covenant and I regarded them not. I just
didn't even regard them. And this is the covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, after
this new covenant comes, saith the Lord, I will put my laws
into their minds, write them in their hearts, and I will be
to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. And they shall
not teach every man his neighbor and his brother, saying, Know
the Lord, for all shall know me from the least to the greatest.
For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins
and iniquities will I remember no more. In that he saith, in
that God saith, a new covenant he has made the first old. Now
that which is decayed and waxes old is ready to be done away
with. What the apostles doing is contrasting
the old covenant with the new. That old covenant of rituals,
and washings, and ceremonies, and a priesthood that dies. All
the sacrifices and laws that were enacted under the Levitical
priesthood. God said there was a fault in
them. And what the fault was, is that none of them could ever
put away sin. All the blood that was ever shed,
every priest had offered a sacrifice. Every high priest that went behind
the veil never put away one sin. It failed. God found fault with
them. And in fact, in those sacrifices
there was a remembrance again. Every year they were reminded
again of their sin. Had to be done over and over
again. Their priesthood was not eternal or effectual. But it
says that our Lord Jesus Christ is the mediator of a better covenant.
Established on better promises. The promise of the Old Testament
was this. Do and live. Don't and you're
cursed. The promises of the New Testament
is Christ finished it. Believe Him and trust Him. That
Christ Himself would come and accomplish salvation for us.
And that's why He's the mediator of a better covenant established
upon better promises and has a more excellent ministry and
this is what God said He said here in verse 10 I'll put my laws into their minds
and write them in their hearts and I will be to them a God and
they shall be to me a people And you won't have to have a
man teach them, you know, do you know the Lord or not? But
they'll all know me from the least to the smallest. And the question I want to ask
you is, is what law did he write in our hearts? What law did he
write in our hearts? I know it can't be the Ten Commandments. It can't be that. Galatians 3.10
says, curse it They that are of the works of the law are cursed,
for cursed is every one that continueth not in all things
written in the book of the law a new thing. So it can't be the
Ten Commandments because it says Christ is the end of the law
for righteous to them not to do but that believe. Is that
not right? And it can't be the ceremonial
law. It can't be circumcision. It
can't be the priesthood and the tabernacle. Because we were never under any
of those. But all the law, God's word,
Moses' law, Moher law, all they can ever do and all they ever
did is just reveal our sin. For by the law is the knowledge
of sin. That's all it can do for us.
So what is this law? What is these laws that God writes
upon his people's heart? Now he wrote some things on our
heart. You know, Paul says, you're an open letter written on fleshly
tables of the heart to be read of all men. So what is this law
that God writes upon his people's heart? It's an integral part
of the covenant. And I do know this, that only God can write
upon a man's heart. He wrote upon a stone, and then
broke that stone, broke that law. So he turned around and
wrote his law, not on tables of stone, but on the tables of
the heart. Let's see if we can learn some things tonight, maybe
get some spiritual understanding about the law that's written
on our hearts. There's several of them. See
if you don't agree if these ain't the law that God wrote on our
hearts. First one's in Romans chapter 7. Romans chapter 7. You know what that is? It's the
law of sin. The law of sin. That's what Paul said here. He
said here, you know that the law is
wholly just and good, in verse 12. But sin, in verse 13, but sin
that it might appear sin working in me, working death in me by
that which is good by the sin that by the commandment might
become exceeding sin and so God wrote this law on our hearts
and that's what he says for what I wouldn't do I do and what I
wouldn't do I do what I hate I do if I do that that I would
not I say that then I must there's no more how to do it but sin
that dwells in me and I know that the will is present with
me but how to perform I know not how So he writes in our heart
the law of sin. And the only people who know
anything about sin is those whom God has written it upon their
hearts. You can't know anything about sin until God writes that
law on your hearts. He stamps that deep on your heart.
You know, that's why David said, I was shapen in iniquity and
in sin did my mother conceive me. And that's why he said, it's
against thee and thee only that I've sinned and done this evil
in thy sight. And everywhere you find people
in the scriptures, God teaches them about sin. That publican
smote his breast and said, God be merciful to me. The sinner,
the Pharisee didn't do that. Abraham said, who am I but dust
and ashes to speak to the Lord? And David said, who am I in my
house that thou hast brought me hither to? when David said
bring Mephibosheth into my presence and he got in David's presence
and he said why in the world would the king ask me a dead
dog into your presence and that's what I'm talking about God writes
in our hearts this law of sin we don't become sinners until
God makes us sinners And He writes that in our hearts, and when
He writes that in our hearts, that thing becomes legible to
us when it don't become legible to anybody else. Men talk about
sins, but we know something about sin. Men talk about quitting
things, and we talk about, beloved, that we don't have no ability
to do what we would, and it has to be God that works in us both
to will and to do of His good pleasure. And I ask you, are
you a God-made sinner? That's why Paul said, Oh, wretched
man that I am! Who's going to deliver me? Are you a God-made sinner or
a preacher-made sinner? Preachers make sinners all the
time. They walk up and ask people, Are you a sinner? Do you want
to go to heaven? Well, of course I do. Well, are you a sinner? Well, they'll quote him a verse
of scripture, All sin that comes short of the glory of God. I
said, Well, if that's what it says, I am then. He said, will you
pray after me? Yeah, I'll pray after you. And
they said, well, you're alright. But the only people who know
anything about sin is when God writes that right in your heart. God writes it in your heart.
And I'll tell you something. Your heart, once that's written
on there, your heart is touched. It abhors it. It hates it. It despises it. It wished that
God in His sovereign mercy would let us be done with it. And we
long for the day when we're done with this, when this corruption
will put on incorruption. And that's what this is, is corruption.
We understand that sin becomes exceedingly sinful to us. We
don't have to do anything to become a sinner. That's the difference
in what God puts in a man's heart and what religion does. We don't
have to do a thing in the world to become a sinner. We don't
have to commit a sin now to become... You're sitting here right now.
And you're sitting here and you listen to the Word. You listen
to the Gospels. You listen to the Scriptures.
And every one of you know what I'm talking about. You're sitting here, you're listening
to gospel, but you know in your heart of hearts that boy, that's
why I need the gospel because I'm such a sinner. If you all
ever find out how sinful I am, you'll never, I've said this
so many times, if you folks ever really learn who I am and what
I'm like, you'll never listen to me preach ever again. You
certainly wouldn't have me in your house and you certainly
wouldn't bring me anything to eat. That's how I see my sin to be. Do y'all ever experience that?
Do you know what that's like? Let me tell you something else
He gives us. He writes the law of sin. Writes
the law of sin in our members. That law of sin bringing our
mind into captivity to the law of sin. But He also writes in
our hearts the law of faith. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Look in Ephesians 2
with me just a minute. The law of faith. God writes
in our hearts the law of faith. In Ephesians 2, look what he
says here. How can I know that God has written
in my heart the law of faith? Well, faith stops all boasting. It stops all boasting. Finds nothing to brag in, nothing
to boast in, nothing that they've accomplished Ephesians 2 says
this, For by grace are you saved through faith in that mount of
yourselves It's the gift of God Not of works, lest any man should
boast So you see when God by grace gives us faith It excludes
all boasting What can you boast in? God gave you faith He wrote
that faith in your heart And I know something about faith,
that that faith that God brought to our heart does not look to
or trust itself. Faith finds its strength in its
object. Faith doesn't find its strength
in itself, it finds its strength in who it's looking to. And faith,
one way you can know it is that it always goes outside itself. Always goes to its object. And
your faith is as strong as your object. Is Christ strong? Your
faith is strong. Is Christ the object of your
faith? Then that's the right object. If Christ is not, then
you don't have any faith at all. Now, believing that a chair will
hold you up doesn't make the chair hold you up. Believing that a chair will hold
me up is not what makes the chair hold me up. Abraham believed God and he hadn't
seen Him but by faith. And he went out not knowing where
he was going. God writes this law of faith
in our hearts that we can't do nothing. What did Todd say the
other night? A believer can't do nothing but
believe? Try not to believe if you can.
And you can't. Stop believing. Just say, I'm
not going to believe anymore. You can't. I'm not going to trust
Christ. You can't stop. You know why? Because God wrote that faith
in your heart. That law of faith. That principle
of faith. And that law that's there, beloved,
and it's based upon God's promises. I want you to see this. And I
hope I'm making sense out of this. But I know that God writes
these things on our hearts. And look in Romans 3. I said
that faith excludes all boasting. If you got faith, what in the
world can you boast in? What could you boast in? If God gave you faith, God worked
faith in you, and he wrote this faith on your heart, and put
it in your heart, this law of faith, this principle of faith,
what in the world could you boast in or glory in? Look what the
Apostle said here in Romans 3 and verse 27. You know it's talking
about God justifying those that believe in Christ Jesus the Lord.
God justifies those that believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
He justifies them, clears them of all guilt, equips them of
all guilt, declares them just in His holy sight. And so he
asked this question, and people automatically say, well, if all
we're saved is by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, and God
justifies us just by believing on His Son, well, where's our
boasting then? Where's our boasting? Where's
our law-keeping? Where's our works? Where's our
obedience? Where's our sanctification? And
he says, well, where's our boasting then? Paul said, well, it's excluded. Well, but what law is it excluded?
What principle of love works? No, no, it's not excluded by
that law. No, but what law? By the law of faith. Oh, my. Why? Because why does he say
by the law of faith? Because faith puts all of its
eggs in one basket, that's in the blessed Lord Jesus Christ,
and that excludes all boasting. Because you know what? He did
it all. We contributed nothing. Our faith
made it. Our faith did not make Him Lord. Our faith did not make Him Savior.
Our faith never put away sin. Our faith wasn't nailed to the
cross. Our faith never done anything
but believe what God said about His Son. And that's why faith
excludes, it just cuts all boasting out. And let me give you another
one real quick, over in Galatians chapter 2. Let me give you another
one. Oh, he wrote on our hearts the
law of faith. The law of faith. Look in Galatians 2. That's what
he called it. It's excluded by the law of faith. Oh my, I tell you this. How do
you know you believe? How do you know you have faith?
Who are you looking to? You're not looking to something,
you're looking to someone. You're not trusting in something
you did, you're looking to someone who already did it. Faith, always,
always, if you know it, real, true, saving faith. always goes
to the Lord Jesus Christ. The closer, that's why I love
preaching. And years ago, when Brother Mahan
and some of these fellows would preach so close, if it would
drive me to Christ, and make me free to Christ, and make Christ
to be everything before my faith, and take me outside myself, take
me outside my rights, take me outside myself completely and
entirely, I found great comfort in that
because I knew that Christ was the only one that could save
me. He's the only one that could save me then and He's the only
one that could save me now. Who else can we look to? That's
why we're talking about faith. And God wrote that in our heart.
Do you know how many people that don't know what it is to have
faith in their heart that actually trust Christ and Christ alone?
I'm going to tell you something. People say all the time, I trust
the finished work of Christ. Now let me tell you something,
the finished work of Christ is not what saves us, it's Christ
who finished the work that saves us. And that's the big difference
in that. It's a person that saves us.
It's a person that finished the work. It's a person that puts
sin away. It's a person that was crucified
on the cross. It was a person that went in
the tomb. It was a person that was raised
from the dead. It's a man that sits at the right
hand of God. And I tell you what, you wouldn't
trust any work I've done. I remember one time I might have
told you this. Years and years ago we stayed in this little
old trailer. I mean you had to roll the table
up, you know, and roll the bed down. And wasn't enough room
in that thing to whip a cat without getting fur in your mouth. And
so I was going to, we had to pack water and carry water from
the creek and carry water from the well across the street and
across the road. I was going to build us a horse
stand to set one of these little old ceramic horse pens that people
used to have, you know, and we still got one of them. I was
going to build us a little nice stand, talking about works now.
I was going to build us a horse stand to set that thing on so
we could go out there in the morning and wash our face, wash
our hands, you know. I built that thing. God is sitting there. Mary set the washstand on it. It just fell over. Now, you wouldn't trust me to
build you a washstand. And no more than you would trust
yourself to save yourself or anybody else to do it for you.
Right? Now, we're not building washstands. We need somebody
to wash us, cleanse us, and make us susceptible. And that's why
Christ, see I finished the work, it wasn't worth a dime. So don't
trust me, me, to ever do you a fourth stand. But you can trust
Christ, because I'll tell you what, He started it, He accomplished
it. He finished it. Before you and I ever existed,
before you and I ever drawn a breath, it was done. And that's why we
can look outside ourselves and look to Him. And here came Galatians
2.21. Now we have the law of faith.
Now look at the law of righteousness. Paul said in Galatians 2.21,
I do not frustrate the grace of God. If righteousness come
by law, come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. If righteousness could be attained
any other way than through the Lord Jesus Christ, then Christ
died in faith. Look what he said down in verse
31 of chapter 3. Is the law then against the promises
of God? God forbid. For if there had
been a law given, which could have given life, verily righteousness
would have been by the law. If God would have said, there's
one law, I'm going to give you. And you can have that righteousness
by that law. He said if there had been a law
that could have been a given. That could have gave you righteousness.
He said I would have done it that way. But there is no law
that he gave. One man, one law. And he broke
that law. And plunged us all into sin.
And so you see God wrote on our hearts the law of righteousness.
Now all men need righteousness. All of our righteousnesses are
as a filthy rag. Oh, there's none righteous, no,
not one. And this is what's so wonderful
and blessed about the gospel. The gospel reveals a righteousness.
That's why Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. For therein,
therein, is the righteousness of God revealed. Where? In the
gospel. The righteous nature of God and
the righteousness that God provided in His blessed Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And He provided us this righteousness,
and it is revealed in the gospel. And look with me in Romans 3.
I know we've been through this, I couldn't tell you how many
times, but this right here, these verses that I'm going to read
right now, they are the gospel, the heart and soul and center
of the gospel. These three, these verses that
I'm going to read here. There's a righteousness needed. there is a righteousness revealed
in the gospel and in God provides us a righteousness look what
he said in Romans 3 in verse 20 therefore by the deeds or
the doings of the law there shall no flesh be justified in God's
sight for by the law is the knowledge of sin but now watch it but now
the very righteousness of God without the law Without the ceremonial
law, without the law of Moses, without the priesthood, without
the sacrifices, without the law, this righteousness is manifested. It was witnessed by the law.
It was witnessed by every sacrifice that was offered. It was witnessed
by every time a priest went in there with the blood. It was
witnessed by Isaiah and Ezekiel and Jeremiah and all the prophets.
They witnessed to this righteousness that was coming. Jehovah saken
you, the Lord our righteousness, what Jeremiah said. Abraham believed
God and it was counted to him for righteousness. All the prophets
witnessed to the righteousness of God. Now watch this, even
the righteousness of God What is it? By faith of Jesus Christ. Not by our faith in Christ, but
by the faith of Christ. And listen, it's unto all and
upon all them that believe. Everything Christ done is put
on, given to you, and charged to you, and made real to you,
and there's no difference. And I'm going to tell you something,
Romans 3.23 and that's exactly as He said, all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. And everyone that's in that verse,
unto all and upon all of them are all the same ones that sinned
and come short of the glory of God. It's the same people. Now
watch this. He said, upon them that believe
now. Being justified freely without
any cause in them by His grace. God in grace did all this through
the payment price, the shedding of the blood that's in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now listen to it, whom God set
forth, God set him forth Setting forth in the law, setting forth
in the prophets, setting forth in the sacrifices, setting forth
in the womb of a virgin, setting forth when he is twelve, setting
forth when he is thirty, setting forth a thousand ways. But he's setting forth to be
a mercy seed, a propitiation. That through faith in the blood
that he shed, God declares that he's righteous to punish his
son for the sins of all the Old Testament saints, and God says,
I'm righteous, and I'll be just, and I'll justify every sinner
that believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, my Son. I tell you, God's got that righteousness
for us, and then how in the world are we going to get it? Well,
look what it said, Romans verse 3. What does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God. What did
God say to him? He said, you are a righteous
man. Let's all look over here at verse
21 of Romans 4. Now this is Abraham now. And being fully persuaded that
what he, God, had promised, he is able also to perform. Therefore
it was imputed to him for righteousness. He just believed what God said.
That's all he did. He didn't do anything but stand
there and believe. And that's all he did. God said,
you know, look at the stars. I see them. Look at the sand.
I see them. He said, that's going to be your seed like that. He
said, all right. You said it. It'll happen. and
therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now listen
to this, now it was not written for his sake alone that it was
imputed to him but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if
we believe on him that raised up our Lord Jesus Christ from
the dead who was delivered for our sins and was raised again
for our justification. Now we understand he wrote that
law of righteousness on our heart That if righteousness come by
anything we did, then Christ died in vain. God makes us understand
that the only righteousness we have is the righteousness of
Christ. We have no other righteousness. I hear people talk about imputed
and imparted righteousness. I know the way I say it is we
are made partakers of the divine nature. Because that makes a
man having two righteousness and a man can only have one righteousness
inside of God. Only one. And that's the righteousness
of Christ. I ain't never going to talk about
my righteousness. I ain't never going to talk about
my righteousness imparted or any other way. I ain't got one. The only righteousness I have
and the only righteousness... And this is what God taught us.
God brought this over our hearts. That Christ alone is our righteousness.
And how did you get that? God imputed it to you. God gave
it to you. God charged it to you. And you
know what's so wonderful about this? Now we've said this before.
What's so wonderful about this is that this will never change. The minute we leave this world,
we're as righteous now as we're ever going to be. When we get
to glory, we'll be no more righteous than we are at this moment. Is
God like that on your heart? Let me give you another one real
quick. Galatians 5.1. I'm taking too long on these.
Don't mean to. And then he wrote on our hearts the
law of liberty. Law of sin. Oh my, we didn't
know what sin was. And I'll tell you something else,
I've never had any problem with sin. until God wrote that lost
sin on my heart. I never had any problem with
sin. Never had any problem with sin.
Never had any problem until God saved me by His grace.
I never had any problem with trusting my own righteousness
and bragging about myself and what I accomplished until God
wrote on my heart the law of faith. I never had any problem
talking about living righteous and doing righteous and acting
righteous and dressing righteous and all that until God wrote
the law of righteousness on my heart. And you're in the same
boat I was in. I know you was. And let me show
you another law he wrote on our hearts. The law of liberty. James
called it the law of liberty. And then Paul said here, stand
fast therefore in the liberty Wherewith Christ hath made us
free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Don't
you do it? Now let me tell you something. Who Christ sets free is free
indeed. And James called it the perfect
law, looking into the perfect law of liberty. Some preach justification
by faith. And then sanctification by struggle,
by you trying to overcome your flesh, by you trying to stop
your own sin, by you trying to deal with all the things that
goes on in your life by yourself. And you know all that will do
is keep a soul in an uproar. There's no peace, there's no
assurance. That's why Paul said, what do
we owe to the flesh? He asked in Romans 8, what do
we owe to our flesh? What did our flesh contribute
to our salvation? Why does it ever contribute to
our sanctification? And that's what happens. People
go back and try to live a life by the flesh and keep the law
by the flesh. I'm justified by faith, but yet
I've got to still... I've got to sanctify myself. I've got to struggle with this
flesh and sanctify myself. Let me tell you something. My
flesh has never done us any good before God and never will. And
we're set free from this flesh. The law... I'm telling you, beloved,
Sanctification, this law of liberty is that we are sanctified and
as holy as God himself in Christ. And that's why he said, you stand
fast in that liberty. Don't you move from that liberty.
Don't let anybody bring you into any kind of bondage. Don't let
them tell you to quit doing this or go there and don't do this.
Christ is responsible for the sheep. And I'm telling you something,
when Christ sets you free, we're not going back under any kind
of bondage. Not going to do it. There's people
that think this is Armenianism. When I say, you know, that sanctification
is not something we do, it's something Christ gave us. He
himself is our sanctification. And I tell you, you know, people
can, they try so hard by the flesh to quit and, you know,
live by keeping this body and flesh under control. It can't
be done. It cannot be done. If you're trying to do it, stop
it. Stop it now. You know all you'll do is just
make yourself miserable and make everybody else miserable. Just stand in that freedom that
Christ gave you. You're free from the law. You're
free from sin. You're free from condemnation.
You're free from the flesh. You'll say Christ himself is
our sanctification. Now we don't use our liberty
to go out here and find out how far we can go into sin and still
be saved. No, we don't use our liberty
to how far we can go. Can I just do that then? Would
I still be saved if I done that? Would I still be saved if I done
this? Would I still be saved if I done that? We're not playing
those kind of games. That's why it says we don't use
our liberty as a cloak of maliciousness. And I'll tell you, don't never
say this. God help us never ever to be
like this. I'm saved by grace and I don't
care what anybody says, I'm going to show them I can do what I
please. Paul said, you know, there's nothing, nothing unlawful
to me. Nothing. But you know what else
he said? All things are not expedient
for me. All things are not profitable. And he says, if I do something,
that offends the weaker brethren and my brethren that if they
see me do something and act a certain way that will offend them and
cause that weak brethren to start perishing. He starts saying,
oh my, how can he have done that? Then what we'll do? We'll not
eat meat while the world's standing in front of that. We'll never
ever use our liberty to offend or hurt somebody else. Because
the minute we do that, we've turned to the grace of God. He's
always teaching us. I believe that. So if I ever do anything
that would hurt your opinion, you see me, you tell me. And
I'll not do it anymore and I'll ask you to forgive me. But I'm
like Paul. Everything's lawful to us. But
everything's not profitable. Everything's not good. Ain't
that right? And then look, let me show you
another one. Law of Love, James 2.8. James 2.8. James 2A. I'm sure you've done this.
When I first had some liberty, understood we had some liberty.
You're talking about a fellow who went to the street. Oh my. I went too far that way, and
I certainly don't go back way too far that way. I hope by the
grace of God I'll stay right here. Oh, but look what James
said here in James 2.8. If you fulfill the royal law
according to the scripture, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,
you do well. You see, there's the law of love.
The law of love. Our Lord, John said this, 1 John
says this, he said, A new commandment I write unto you. And you know
what that new commandment was? That you love one another. See,
the law never taught men to love God and love your neighbors as
yourself, but they never did that. And so, you see, here's
this law of liberty, this royal law, and Paul says, you know,
he says this, he said, Oh no man anything but what? But to
love one another. For he that loveth another hath
fulfilled the law. And love worketh no ill to his
neighbor. If you love a man and you're
going to thank him, love him, you're going to work him toward
him, you're going to try to do something to hurt him or do something
to make his life harder on him, no. Our Lord said, By this shall
all men know you are my disciples, because you have to love one
another. And what a glorious law God has
written on his people's hearts, the law of love. And I tell you,
of all the things, I'm taking too long, I know, but of all
the things that Satan can counterfeit, that's one thing he can't counterfeit.
He cannot counterfeit the love of God. He can't do that. He can't do it. He can't put
in a man's heart the love of God. He can't do that. He can make him religious, He
can make him, when he does something, on every recognition for everything
he's done, he can make him a church member, a good church member,
but he can never make him actually love the brethren. To feel the
pain of another soul can make him weep with them that weep
and rejoice with them that rejoice. He can't make Him pray for somebody. He can't make Him pray for His
enemies. He can't make Him love people that won't love Him back. He can't love people unless they
love Him back. But we as believers, we can do
that. And then the last one. In Galatians
6, let me show you this. In Galatians 6, the last one.
Oh, the law of love. Can I tell you something, brethren? It's obvious. I can't say much
about that because you all proved too many times, too many ways.
If you love for one another and
you love for us, you've proved it too many times. It's just
obvious. And then we have the law of Christ.
Look what he said in Galatians 6 verse 1, Brethren, if a man
be overtaken in fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a
one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou
also be tempted. And listen to this, bear ye one
another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Oh my! When he says fulfill the law,
bear ye one another's burdens, considering Thyself, when you
see somebody overtaken. When our Lord saw us in our sin,
what did He do? He cleansed us from it. When
He sees us, when He saw Simon Peter, He said, Satan has saw
us deception. He said, I prayed for you that
your faith fell not, considering him. And that's what we do, restore
them in the spirit of meekness. And then He says, bear you one
another's burdens. And so when we have burdens to
bear, and our Lord carries our burdens, he carries our cares
for you, and so fulfill the law of Christ. And he goes on to
say this, and what he says is, for a man to thank himself to
be something when he's nothing. That's not the law of Christ,
is it? For a man to thank himself to be something when he's nothing? Christ is the one that's everything,
not us. And let every man prove his own
work. You want to talk about your work? You want to talk about
your doing? Then let him have his own work.
Let him prove it. But oh no, he says, you go back
and you fulfill the law of Christ. And let me tell you something
about what the law of Christ is. It has to do with character.
It has to do with attitude. It has to do with graciousness,
and meekness, and humility, and honesty, and forbearance, and
patience, and generosity. The law of Christ is the opposite
of self. That's what the law of Christ
is. It's the very opposite of self. Of self-glory, of self-righteousness,
of vainglory, of wanting to be heard, Always wanting to express
your opinions, always carrying your feelings around. And when
the scripture says that our Lord Jesus Christ emptied himself
and made himself of no reputation. That's why our Lord is sinless.
He rose from suffering. This is the Lord Christ. He rose
from suffering. Took off his clothes and girded himself with
a towel. Got a basin of water, and there sat His disciples,
and He stooped down and started washing them disciples' feet. And you know what you do when
you're washing disciples' feet? You're cleaning the dirt off
of them. And that's what He said. If you see a brother overtaken
in the fall, wash his feet. Don't tell everybody how dirty
they are. And then he got to old Simon
Peter and Simon Peter said, Oh no, no, no, no, you ain't going
to do me that way. Oh, not me, not me. Oh, listen,
I'm too sinful and you're too holy. That was plainly hypocrite. And our Lord said to him, Simon
Peter, if I don't worship you, you don't have any part of me
whatsoever. Oh Lord I'm sorry I haven't thought about that.
Go ahead and wash, wash, wash, wash, wash. And that's what we
do. That's the law of Christ. You're
down, everybody else up. You let everybody else talk and
you be quiet. You let other folks, put them up and put yourself
down. That's the law of Christ. God
wrote all these laws in our hearts. Would you agree with those things?
It's those things in our hearts. And they're not natural to us
hardly. Not one of them is natural to us. Not one. Not one. Lord Jesus, our blessed Father,
in the Lord Jesus' blessed name, thank you for allowing us this
day, giving us this day, Lord, I stand in awe and wonder at
your grace for the strength you give, for the strength you, how
you uphold your people. Lord, how you enable us to carry
on. And I thank you that you wrote
these things in our hearts. And Lord, preserve and keep you
dear saints. Give men their traveling bursaries, and may things go
well. We ask it in our Lord Jesus'
name. Amen. Amen. Learning to lead. Learning to lead. I'm learning to lead on Jesus. Jesus. Finding more power than
I've ever dreamed, I'm learning to lean on