I think as the years go by that
I have put upon me in a greater manner the burden of the Word
of the Lord. Woe is unto me if I preach not
the gospel. And our Lord said, violate his word and teach men
so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of God." So what
a responsibility there is and what an awesome, fearful task
it is to preach the gospel. But I want you to look at Galatians
5. Paul says here, stand fast, highly
esteemed, hold strongly, unto the liberty, the freedom wherewith
Christ hath made us free. And don't be entangled again
with the yoke of bondage, that is, works and deeds and laws
and ceremonies. You don't want that to happen. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you
that if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. That's
how serious it is. What's he saying there? You see,
the Jewish people had their sons on the eight days circumcised,
every one of them. That was a token of the covenant. That was a mark of the covenant.
That was a sign that that boy was a Jew and one of the chosen
people, nationally chosen people. And it was required up until
Christ our Lord died. And circumcision is of the heart
and not of the flesh. And these Jewish teachers came
down and told these Gentile men who had never been circumcised
that if they weren't, they couldn't be saved. They had to do that
in order to have the sign or the seal or the mark or the token
of the covenant. So some of them submitted to
it. And Paul said this to them. If you do that in order to find
acceptance with God, you are lost then because Christ is not
going to profit you anything. And it doesn't only go for circumcision,
it goes for anything you do to add to the work of Christ. In
other words, the salvation and justification is in Christ. It's
not Christ plus anything. I am justified before God. I
am redeemed before God. My sins are forgiven by God only
because of the Lord Jesus Christ. If I go into this pool and I
say, well, I know Christ died, but I must do this too just in
case. Christ profits me nothing. Well,
I know that Christ died, but a man must do this, he must do
that in order to be saved. Christ profits you nothing. That's
right, Darwin. Anything you add. I don't care
what it is. I don't care how good it is.
I don't care how religious it is. I don't care how spiritual
it makes you feel. If you add anything, I hear preachers say, if you
don't do this, you can't be saved. Let me tell you this, if you
do that in order to be saved, you can't be saved. Now that's
the way it is. That's what he's saying here.
I, Paul, am saying to you, if you do anything religious in
order to be accepted of God, if you read your Bible or pray
or tithe or witness or be baptized or take the Lord's Supper or
be circumcised or anything, In order to be accepted of God,
in order to appear religious or appear pious or appear righteous,
Christ doesn't profit you anything. Christ only profits those who
come empty-handed. Christ only profits those who
come having nothing to give in return. Christ only promises
those who trust Him totally and completely and absolutely for
their salvation. And I testify again, he says
in verse 3, that if a man is circumcised, if you're going
to do anything in order to gain favor with God, you've got to
do it all. You've got to do it all. Now this is what Paul is
saying to these men. These fellows are coming down here and saying,
it's alright, these false teachers preached the cross, they preached
Christ died, they preached Christ was buried and rose again. But
they said, that's not enough. In order to be saved, you've
got to do these things, too. And Paul said, alright, if you
do those things, too, in order to add to Christ's righteousness,
you are obligated to fulfill the whole law of God without
one transgression. And he says more than that, verse
4, Christ has become, this is dangerous, I know people say,
well, you know, the Church of Christ said you can't be saved
unless you're baptized. Brother, that's nothing to laugh
at. That's dangerous. You tell a man he has to do anything
in order to be saved other than look to Christ, and you're on
dangerous ground. Because he says Christ is become
of no effect. to you who are justified by the
law. You've departed from grace. You've
fallen from the grace of God. You have turned your back on
the grace of God, and you've looked to works for salvation. In this thing of redemption and
acceptance with God, you've got to be all grace or all works. There's no middle ground. The
two never meet. They're never reconciled. Not
grace and works, for salvation, for justification. You've got
to believe that salvation is in Christ, of Christ, through
Christ, by Christ, for the glory of Christ, or else you've got
to believe it's in me, through me, by me, for my glory. There
ain't no middle ground. None whatsoever. And this law,
whatever place the law has, whatever place worship has, whatever place
baptism has, whatever place the Lord's table has, whatever place
praying has, whatever place witnessing has, it never has Christ's place. Never. That's one reason the
Lord gave us that thief on the cross. He couldn't work. He was hanging on a cross. He
couldn't walk. His feet were nailed to that
tree. He couldn't wash. His hands were nailed to the
cross. He couldn't knock on a door. He couldn't give a nickel to
the church. He couldn't be baptized. He couldn't take the Lord's suffering. He couldn't be circumcised. He
couldn't do anything but look to Christ. And that's all you
can do too. That's all you better do. Anything
else is all of God anyway. It's all of grace. Any motivation
you have for holiness is not of you anyway, it's of Christ.
It's Christ that liveth in you, yet not I, it's Christ that liveth
in me. Brethren, I believe in free grace. Free grace. And if you pay a
nickel, it's not free. If you pay a penny, it's not
free. I believe in totally, completely the free grace of God for the
chief of sinners and nothing else. Now then he says in verse
1, Christ has freed us. What does he mean by that? Christ
has made us free! Free! Now you better listen to
me tonight, because this is the heart of it. This is the foundation
of it. This is the supreme testing point. What has Christ made us free
from? First of all, from sin. He's freed us from sin. I'm free
from sin. I don't have any sin. Christ
hath borne my sin in his body on the tree and separated them
from me as far as the east is from the west, and I bear them
no more. Now I'm not free from the indwelling
of sin. I'd be dishonest if I said that.
I hope none of you say that. Paul said, sin dwelleth in me. You know that so. Let's just
be honest. Let the potsherds of the earth
strive with the potsherds of the earth, but let's don't make-believe
here. Let's make-believe anywhere but
here. I haven't been freed from the indwelling of sin, and I
haven't been freed from the temptation to sin. Have you? Now be truthful. The temptation to sin. What is
sin? Sin is a transgression of the
law. There may be sins of omission, sins of commission, there may
be sins of thought, imagination, motive, attitude, deed. These
are all sins. Anything that's not perfectly
holy is sin. The thought of foolishness is
sin. That's what the Bible says. Anything
that's not absolutely of God is of sin. The absence of faith
is sin. The absence of love is sin. Not
just the presence of hate, the absence of love is sin. There is sin in us and about
us from the sole of our feet to the top of our head. Our eyes
are instruments of sin. Our tongues are instruments of
sin. Our hearts are the source of sin. Christ said, Out of the
heart proceeds these things that defile a man. I haven't been freed from the
indwelling of sin and you haven't either. If any man say he hath
not sin, he is a liar in the truth, not in him. That's what
God said. If any man say he hath not sin, he make God a liar. That's terrible. That's dangerous. Well, how has he freed us from
sin? He's freed us from the penalty of it. He's freed us from the power
of it. Sin indwells us, but sin does
not reign over us. Sin does not have dominion over
the believer. Whosoever is born of God does
not practice sin. That's not his practice. That's
not the bin of his will. That's not the tenor of his life.
It's there, and he has to deal with it, and the temptations
are there. But that's not his direction of life. That's not
the bent of his will. That's not the tenor of his life.
Holiness unto the Lord, that's the way he wants to live. Sin
shall not have dominion over you. It does not reign. It remains,
but it does not reign. Sin in the life of a believer
used to be king, but when Christ comes in, it's demoted. It's
demoted. It's above private, but it's
still there. He raises a lot of dust, doesn't
he? But he ain't the king. Christ sits on the throne in
the believer's heart. Sin lives on the back porch,
but it's there. But it doesn't sit on the throne.
I've been saved from the penalty of sin, from the power of sin,
and from the practice of sin. Sin is not my practice, nor yours
either, if you say it. But I have not been delivered
or freed from the presence of it. Regrettably, unfortunately,
that's so. I will be someday. Because I'm
going to lay down this body of sin. I'm going to lay down this
wretched man. And I'm going to be like the
Lord. Huh? Alright. Secondly, Christ
has freed us from the ceremonial law. Turn to Acts 15 verse 1. From the ceremonial law. Acts
15 verse 1 said, And certain men which came down from Judea
taught the brethren, and said, Except you be circumcised after
the matter of Moses, you cannot be saved. Now that's how they
talked. That's how they talked. And you
notice this in Acts 15. They came down from headquarters.
They came down from Jerusalem. That's where they were. I've been freed from circumcision. I've been freed from sacrifices.
There, I think you can talk to a physician about this matter
of circumcision. There are good points and so
forth and things to be regarded, but not spiritually, not religiously. It's got nothing to do with my
relationship with God. It was a sign, it was a token.
And the fulfillment of it is the breaking of the heart, the
cutting of the heart, the wounding of the heart by the Holy Spirit.
Sacrifices are all done away with. Christ fulfilled them.
Sabbath days. Sabbath days are done. Don't let anybody bring you into
a ritualism, a ceremonialism of Sabbath keeping. Christ is
our Sabbath. We feast from our works and enter
into His rest. He is our Sabbath. Now then,
there ain't no such animal as the Christian Sabbath. It's misnamed now, it doesn't
say that in here. The Sabbath day is Saturday,
it always has been, it always will be. You can't change that. The Sabbath day is not Sunday,
it's Saturday, and that's the Sabbath day. If you're going
to keep a Sabbath day, you keep Saturday, don't keep Sunday. Sunday is the Lord's Day, the
first day of the week, the day our Lord rose from the dead,
the day that the apostles met together and worshiped and broke
bread and fellowshiped together and Paul preached to them. And
I think it's a good idea for us to spend that day in worship
and in spiritual communication and in rest, if it's possible. But brother, don't tie that around
my neck. I'm free from it. I'm not going to be in bondage
to that. Don't you bring that my way. Don't you tell me that
my son can't go out and shoot the basketball on the Sabbath
day because it's the Sabbath day. I'll send him out and let
him shoot it anyway just because you said that. Because I may
not want him to do it. And I may feel like he shouldn't
do it. But if you require it of me, I'm going to send him
out to shoot it. Like our Lord went through the corn field on
the Sabbath day and picked corn. And healed a man on the Sabbath
day. You make a day or a ceremony or a ritual necessary to worship
God and it becomes a bondage. And my Lord's freed me from those
things. He's freed me from the burdensome rites of all ceremonies. Christ is my Sabbath. Christ
is my rest. Christ is my life. Christ is
my love. And what I do on the first day
of the week or the seventh day of the week is between me and
him. Isn't that right? That's between me and him, not
between me and a law and me and a ceremony and me and a hierarchy
or me and an establishment or not to make me look religious.
Anything that I wear or do to appear religious unto men is
an abomination to God. Now you can put that down. God
does not look on your piety outwardly. He looks on your heart. That's
right. And I'm free from those things,
and I refuse to let anybody come in and entangle me again in that
bondage. It's fulfilled by Christ. Don't
do it. Don't try it. And then I'll tell you this,
and I hope I don't shock some of you, but I'm free from the
moral law, the Ten Commandments. Let me show you what I'm saying
here now. I'm free from the Ten Commandments as a covenant of
works. As a covenant of works. God said to Adam, you do this
and live. I'm not under that. I believe
and live. Christ gives me life. So I'm
free from the Ten Commandments as a covenant of works. I'm free
from the Ten Commandments as a curse, as a condemning factor
or force. And I'm free from the Ten Commandments
as a basis of sanctification. I am not sanctified by the law.
I'm neither justified by the law, nor am I sanctified by the
law. Paul asked that back here in
chapter 3. Let's go back to that chapter
3 of Galatians. He says, you foolish Galatians.
And a man is a fool that turns from Christ to the law. He's
a fool. Christ speaks peace and the law
speaks bondage. Christ speaks freedom and the
law speaks guilt. Christ Jesus speaks life and
the law speaks death. A man is a fool to turn from
Christ to the law. Foolish Galatians, who have bewitched
you? that you should not obey the
truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set
forth, crucified among you. I preach the gospel to you. He
said, This only would I learn of you. Did you receive the Holy
Spirit by the preaching of the law, or the works of the law,
or the performance of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Which
one? How did the Holy Spirit come to the believer? By faith.
He didn't come under the law, Ronnie. He came by faith. He
didn't come as a result of keeping the law. He came as a result
of believing on Christ. Now, are you so foolish, having
begun in the Spirit, trusting the Lord, looking to Christ,
resting in Christ, begotten of the Spirit? That's where you
start. Now, are you perfected, sanctified,
matured, perfected? See that word perfect again?
Are you made adults? Are you made mature and of full
age? By the law? Huh? Is that the
way it is? By the flesh, by the deeds of
the flesh? Is that the way, is that the Christian journey? I
come to Christ and rest in Him for justification and then I
go running to Sinai and rest in Sinai for sanctification and
holiness? Now listen to me and listen carefully.
The law of God is just, holy and good, the Ten Commandments.
Can you quote them? I can, every one of them. They're
good. They're just and whole. To every
one of them I say, Amen. Don't you? Thou shalt have no
other God before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee
any graven image. Thou shalt not take the name
of the Lord thy God in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep
it holy. Honor thy father and thy mother. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt
not commit adultery. Thou shalt not lie. Thou shalt
not covet. Isn't that beautiful? That's
God's law. And Christians love God's law.
David said, I love thy law. The law is just and holy and
good. The law is perfect, unchangeable,
immutable. The law of God is loved and esteemed
and honored. And our Lord Jesus Christ came
down here born under that law and fulfilled it and obeyed it
and every jot and tittle for my salvation and sanctification. And the desire of my heart is
to be holy before God. Isn't yours? Don't you wish tonight
that you could perfectly, in the flesh, keep that law? Wouldn't
that be something? Going, someday I will. Someday
I will. But that law, the desire of our
hearts, is to be holy and righteous, not before the law, but before
God. To be done with all sin. How long to be done with all
thoughts of sin, don't you? And all the deeds of sin, and
all the works of sin, and all the inclinations to sin. So when I say that Christ has
freed us from the law, the moral law, I'm not saying that Christ
has freed us to violate that law. Not on your bottom dollar. I don't believe that at all.
I don't believe Christ has freed the believer from the moral law
in order to violate it, in order to sin, in order to live a life
of sin. The believer hates sin wherever
he sees it, especially in himself, especially. And he sees it there
more than anywhere else. He does not look for an excuse
to sin, the believer does not look for an excuse to sin, and
he does not look for a reason to justify his sins when he finds
it in himself, does he? Why, certainly not. But our Lord
has freed us from the moral law, from looking to it for justification, from looking to it for acceptance,
and from looking to it for sanctification. He has freed us from the moral
law, from looking to it for justification or acceptance. We are accepted
in the Beloved. Or for sanctification. Now let
me give you something here, and I want you to listen to me. I'm
going to get real plain here. There's no way that the law of God, the moral
law of God I'm talking about now, when the Bible uses the
word law of God, sometimes it means the Word of God Sometimes
it means the ceremonial or libidical law. Sometimes it means the moral
law. But I'm talking about the Ten
Commandments. And I hope I have sufficiently declared unto you
that the believer loves that law. He has no quarrel with that
law. And that law is just and holy
and good, immutable, unchangeable. And the believer has a strong
desire in his heart to be holy, perfectly holy. He does not look
for an excuse to violate that law or to sin against that law
or to break that law. Not at all. But he cannot take
that law as a means of sanctification any more than a means of justification.
He can't look to it. You know why? Because no honest
man No honest woman can find even the slightest hope for holiness
or sanctification by looking at the law. There ain't no way. Looking at the law, I only say
one thing. Every time I read that law again
today, and I didn't read it lightly, I read it again, and you know,
it put me in the depths of despair. Charlie, every time I look at
that law, I get I get blue. I don't feel righteous. I don't
feel accepted. That's what the law is supposed
to do. It's supposed to strip us. It's supposed to shut our
mouths. It's supposed to render us guilty. It's supposed to bring
us to Christ. That's what it was given for.
Not as a means of sanctification. Because every time I look at
that law, I say, oh wretched man that I am. Every time I look
at that law, I say I'm a man of unclean lips. Every time I
look at that law, I say, woe is me, I'm undone, I'm done for,
don't you? You know why? Okay, let's take
them one at a time. I shall have no gods before me.
The God is an idol. Now some of you, and me too,
have been guilty of putting some people and some things before
Christ. Now don't tell me you haven't.
We may not bow down before idols of gold, but we've got an awful
lot of regard for these idols of clay right here. That's right. These bodies are made out of
clay. And I tell you too often, it's not loving God with all
my heart, mind, soul, and strength. It's loving myself and my sons
and my daughter and my wife and my parents my kinfolks and some
of you. Now, brother, let me tell you
something. This law requires absolute loyalty
and submission to one God. In thought and in imagination,
there ain't no way you can measure up to that. Thou shalt not make
unto thee any graven images. You got any pictures on your
wall? Preacher, you're carrying that too far. Now hold on, read
the law. I shall not make any graven image of anything in heaven
and on earth and under the sea. You got any mementos? Any at
all? You got any darling treasures?
You got a clip and a hair somewhere in a scrapbook? Anything? Anything at all? Huh? We thought
when we took the pictures of Jesus off the wall that'd do
it. No, that won't quite do it. You've got to take all the images
and all the mementos and all the darling treasures and all
the pictures and all regard for any creature except an absolute
alliance with the Son of God. I ain't got there yet. I don't
know about you. I shall not take the name of
the Lord thy God in vain. You use God's name today in any
shape, form or fashion. Have you ever used it? Have you
used it this week? How did you use it? In worship,
giving God all the glory. You don't have to use G.D. to
take God's name in vain. All you've got to do is use God's
name in such a way that you're not giving and ascribing to Him
every measure of glory and the highest praise. The old time
Jews wouldn't even use God's name. Elohim, God. People say the name of God so
carelessly. God this and God that. God sure
did bless us. We all do it. The Sabbath day.
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it whole. This is the law. And
as I said before, the Sabbath day is Saturday. And any time
you mention keeping the law, it's Saturday. It's the seventh
day. And it's a day to be kept absolutely
holy. If you're going to submit to
it, submit to it 100%. Honor your parents. Never think a thought that's
not honoring to your parents. Never utter a word. Don't get
provoked and aggravated with them. Respect them in the highest
fashion. Thou shalt not kill. What Christ
said, to hate in your hearts, to be guilty of murder, to call
your brother a fool, in danger of hell or fire. This thing will
kill him. You don't have to take a life. All you have to do is
think. All you have to do is think an
unpleasant thought about someone. You know, I understand a little
bit of what Paul said over there. Turn to Galatians 4, verse 21
a minute. He said, Tell me. Let's speak
up. Speak up, you that desire to
be under the law. Tell me. Do you hear God's law? Tell me, do you hear God's law? You can't argue with the law.
That's what the old Jews did. That's the reason Christ cut
their legs out from under them. He said, you whittled the law
down. You fixed the law so you could keep it. You've diluted
the law. You brought the law down to where
you can obey it. It's still where God put it. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
It takes two forms here. According to the law. Now some
of you have been married before. According to this law, ain't
no way you can divorce your wife or husband. No way. I'm sorry. Not according to the
law. Yeah, but the scripture says
in the New Testament. We ain't in the New Testament,
brother. We're in the Old Testament. You want the law? Here it is.
Any man who puts away his wife and marries another, commits
adultery, and causes her to commit adultery, and there ain't no
question about it, it'll never be changed, it sits like it is,
and you ain't got a leg to stand on. Right? That's what the law
says. You want the law? Here it is.
You say, yeah, but it said except for fornication. You know what
that means? That means that the girl was impure when she married
him, and the old Jews were allowed under the law. If a woman came
to a man and married him, she was not a virgin, and she professed
to be, he could annul the marriage. But not after he married her.
No way. I'm sorry. You want the law? I'll give you the law. That's
the reason Paul says, you want the law? You desire to be under
the law? You know what it says? Ain't no way. The law you say
but. There ain't no but with the law.
It's just flat law. That's the reason it can't do
anything but kill you. strip you, break you, humble you. And if you're smart, it'll turn
you to Christ. And you'll ski-daddle to the
cross and stay there. And don't ever look back at the
law. That's right. Another thing about adultery,
the thought of lust is already committed adultery. Everybody
in here has committed adultery already today. You're done for.
Forget the law. Close the book and go home. You
ain't got a shot. That's right. You're not sanctified
and never will be, not by this law. Tomorrow you'll do the same
thing. Don't tell me it's not true.
I know it is. Stealing. What about stealing? You can
steal by not rendering a full day's work where you work at
the mill. You put in a full day's work.
I was up at the hospital a while ago, and the boy, the nurse told
that boy to get those floors fixed, you know, and I went back
there in the father's lounge. How about that? It didn't say
grandfather's lounge. It said father's lounge. But
I went back there and sat down. Here comes that old boy. He pushed
that waxer over in the corner and he sneaked back there beside
me and sat down and said, I'm going to take five. I said, is
it alright? He said, no, I'm going to take it. He stole from
that man. That's right. Fill out your income
tax. You better be dead sure that
you're filling it out right or you've stolen. This is law. You want the law? I'll preach
the law to you. But I'll tell you what it'll
do. It'll send you home weeping. It'll send you home in despair.
It'll send you home with no hope whatsoever of ever being sanctified. What about false witness? You
exaggerated lately? Just how big was that fish you
caught? Just how hard did it rain? You told the story. Just how hot was it? Did you
get an accurate reading of the thermometer? Did you just say,
boy, it must have been 100 degrees in the shade? It was not 100
degrees in the shade. You lied. You say, that's foolishness. The thought of foolishness is
sin. I'm telling you folks, covet. Thou shalt not covet. We have
whittled that thing down. We said, thou shalt not covet
thy neighbor's wife or thy neighbor's oxen or thy neighbor's house
or thy neighbor's car. And we look at it and say, well,
I don't want his car. I want one like it. That's covetousness. The only way around covetousness
is this, be absolutely content in whatsoever state you're in.
I don't care if you've got a toothache, be content. I don't care if your
head is throbbing, to keep the law you're content. That's what
the law says. Be content with such things as
you have and avoid covetousness which is idolatry. Brethren,
if we preach the law, now this is what I'm saying. A lot of
folks say, well, we ought to have more law preaching. I don't
want to even hear it. I know what it says. I've been
to the law. And when I went to the law and
took one good look at it, I ran to Calvary. And that's where
I've been ever since. I preached the law to sinners,
but the law wasn't made for righteous men. It's made for ungodly people. It's made to shut their mouths.
It's made to strip them. And let me tell you this, if
the law doesn't strip you, you haven't accurately looked into
the law. If the law gives you any confidence, if the law gives
you any peace, if reading the law gives you any comfort, you've
missed it. I tremble before God's law. Don't
misunderstand me. I love it. I love it. That's what Paul said. David
said, I love thy law. Let's turn to Romans 7. Let's see what Paul
said over here in Romans chapter 7. Look at this right here. Romans chapter 7 and verse 22. I delight in the law of God after
the inward man. Now what law? See, he wasn't
talking about the Levitical law, ceremonial law. He was talking
about the moral law. The moral law. I delight in it.
But the bare law of God can give no justification or acceptance,
no sanctification, no peace, and no hope. And you know why? Back to Galatians 5, and this
will be in your Sunday School lesson next Sunday, and I'll
get ahead of the teachers a little bit because I want to make this
comment right here. Now what are we supposed to do?
Walk in the Spirit. Look back here at verse 5 of
Galatians 5. We through the Spirit, by the Holy Spirit's revelation,
we wait for the hope of righteousness, not by law, not by obedience
to the law, by faith, by faith. That righteousness I wait for,
the hope of righteousness, the fulfillment of it, the glory
of it, is in Christ. It's Christ's righteousness which
is imputed to me, and Christ's righteousness which is imparted
to me. And my hope is in that, and in Him, not in myself. And then look at verse 13 and
14. Brethren, you've been called to liberty, freedom. Don't use
it for occasion to sin, to the flesh. I know you won't. By love
serve one another. Let the basis of your communication
with other people be love. Christ said the whole law is
fulfilled in this. Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart and thy neighbors thyself. Now watch
this. The first four commandments have to do with my relationship
with God. Thou shalt have no other God. No graven image. Take
the name of the Lord thy God, not in vain. A Sabbath, a rest. That has to do with God. And
if I love God, if I love the Lord in my heart, I'm not going
to take His name in vain. I'm going to hallow His name
and love His name and glorify His name and worship Him if I
love Him. If I love Him with all my heart,
I won't love my children more than I love Him. And I won't
put them first if I love Him. And the next six commandments
have to do with my relationship with you and you with one another.
Thou shalt honor your parents. Thou shalt not kill, commit adultery,
steal, lie, bear false witness. If I love you, I'm not going
to take what's yours, or envy you, or be jealous of you, or
defraud you, or offend you. That's the basis. That's what
it's all about. And by love, sir, for he says,
verse 14, all the law is fulfilled in one word. Thou shalt love
thy neighbors, thou shalt. Now watch this. Ten commandments
are negative. Thou shalt not. Thou shalt not. Christ's law of love is positive. Thou shalt love. See the difference? You see the difference in verse
14? Exodus 20 says, Thou shalt not kill him. But Christ said,
Thou shalt love him. Exodus 20 says, Thou shalt not
steal from him. Christ said, Thou shalt love
him. Give to him. Give to him. Thou shalt not lie
on him. Thou shalt not. Moses said, Christ
said, Thou shalt tell him the good news. Huh? Alright, verse 16. Now I say
this to you. You want the key to this thing?
Walk in the Spirit. That's the key to it. Walk in
the Spirit. Walk in the Holy Spirit. As God has forgiven you and Christ
has loved you and your sins are passed. What I said to you a
while ago about marriage, divorce, the law won't permit that. Not
if you're going to find your sanctification in the law. But
Christ has forgiven that sin as well as all the others. A
man called me one time. He said, I was divorced before
I knew the Lord, and he said, I remarried. He said, do you
think God holds me? Do you think I ought to break
up this home and go put the oven back together? I said, no, sir.
No, I don't. I think that's under the blood.
I think it's all forgiven. I think Christ has put it away.
I believe the Lord Jesus has said this, if you're married
to an unbeliever and that unbeliever won't live with you, let him
go. The law won't let you do that. Let them go. You're not under bondage. You're
not in bondage to an unbeliever. You're not in bondage to the
devil. Let them go. Love them, but let them go. And he says this, walk in the
Spirit. Walk led by God's Spirit, forgiven by Christ's blood. That's
all in the past. Forget the past. Build your home
now. Build your relationship now.
your love for one another now, and build it not on a law, but
on Christ. Huh? Walk in the Spirit. You will not fulfill the lust
of the flesh. No, you won't. Now for the flesh, now watch
this, this is a continuing thing. For the flesh lusteth against
the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. They're enemies. They
always have been and always will be. My old nature, Unfortunately,
it's still around. I'm reminded of it pretty frequently,
aren't you? That old boy, oh, I tell you,
he sure can raise a lot of king to be so dead. They tell me he's
been eradicated, but I wish somebody would tell him. They say, the old man's dead.
Well, I wish somebody would notify him. He don't act very dead.
But he lusted against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh.
And watch this, and these are contrary one to the other. So
you cannot do the things that you would. You know what that's
saying? You can't do the things you would. That old man would
just say, let the gate open, here I go. But the new man won't
let you do that. And the new man would say, I'm
going to walk with God today and I'm not going to think anything
but holy thoughts. The old man won't let you do
that. You can't do either one. That's what he's saying. You
can't do either one. The flesh lusted against the
spirit. They're contrary. They fight.
They're in a warfare. And the old man says, I'm going
to do it. I don't care who thinks what.
No, the new man won't let you do that. He won't let you do
it. He restrains you because you
love Christ. I don't care. He shouldn't have
done that to me and had me bust up Jack. No, you're not either.
You're going to pray for him. You say that now, but you're
going home, shut the door, and ask God to bless him. You're
going to love him. That's right. You can't do that.
You can't cut him off. I'm going to cut him off. I'll
never speak to him again. Yes, you will. That new nature
won't let you act like that. You can't do that. And the new
nature says, well, I'm going to be perfect. I'm going to pray
all day long. I'm not going to sin today. I'm
not going to say what I said yesterday. Well, old nature ain't
going to let you do that either. So you're just in a fight. That's
right. Now just face it. Let's be honest. My strength
is Christ. I ain't got any. And I'm not
in bondage. I've been freed. If you aren't
in bondage, that's your business. But I just say with Paul, O foolish
Galatians, what can it bring you? Nothing but unhappiness. And we're... You know this, you
know what I think makes most of you love each other so much
and forgive each other 70 times a day, is you know what you are
by nature. And boy, that will take the Pharisee
out of you, that will take the criticism out of you, that will
take the gossip out of you, and that will take the judging out
of you. When you recognize what you are, God has really shut
your mouth and showed you that He got you off the bottom of
the pile. He got you down in the dregs of the river. He found
you under the worst pile of dung in the dung hill, the most wiggling
maggot that ever wiggled. And when you see that, you just
can't find much fault with other people. You just can't do it.
You just can't do it. I hope it's helpful. I believe
the Lord laid this message on my heart, and maybe it will get
a hearing.