The Full Story
Notes
Transcript
What does God want them to know? The marriage of Gospel and Law
Why? It leads to life
What does God want them to do? Rejoice in the Gospel and follow the law
Why? it leads to life
ME/WE
Knowing the full story of something is vitally important for us to completely, wholly understand what is going, what actually going on, what is taking place.
We see this in our lives in on a somewhat regular basis, we see this at work, in our families, in our friendships.
How many of us have walked into a conversation someone is having and drawn some assumptions and conclusions (sometimes they are true) and other times you drew a pretty false conclusion
You thought they were this person and not in a good light.
You thought this person A here was horrible and person B was totally loves them.
(I told them not today, not on my watch, if you try to do something like that again)
That’s all you hear
What conclusion do you draw?
Angry, mean, He needs the Lord
But if you were the whole story is that this guy told this to another guy who was trying to hurt this woman and her family you would say He was being loving.
Knowing whole story is vitally important, if we only know part of the story has a great potential to lead us down a of incorrect assumptions, false accusations.
TENSION
This is not only true about the human relationships we have, but also our relationship or view of God.
It is vital for us to know the whole story about God, the main things about, as much as we can this side of heaven,
We are in serious danger if we make some assumptions about God when we do not know the full story.
We are on dangerous territory when we decide to read only one thing about God or a small part about God.
We saw this with Oprah many years ago when she walked from God and the reason for it is because she heard God is jealous and we associate jealously as bad, but Godly jealously is good, very good.
And see this part take place and we will see this come to light in Acts 5 who God is two big over arching catagories
Law and Gospel
If we read parts of the Bible we will think we need to be obey and be accepted
If we read other parts of the Bible we will read it is all grace
We see this happening today.
Some churches and believers are all about it’s about following the law, the law,
LEGALISM
YOU HAVE TO FOLLOW and if you do not it is SHAME
How could you do that? It is oppressive
I grew up here
but what is absent from those are heavy law?
GRACE.
No, not the girl, but God’s grace
Jesus felt more loving than this folks
Some churches place a huge signification, and become ultra grace, grace, grace, grace, grace to the point that you can do whatever you want…It’s just grace
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
WE SAY YES AND AMEN!
Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?
For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.
Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.
Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.
For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.
But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
WE ARE RELEASED FROM THE LAW....PRAISE HALLIJUAH....what law have we been released from?
OLD COVENANT LAW,
The old ways you get right with God, with threw right living and threw animal sacrifices
Ongoing continually work
God in His great love wanted a better way.....to do so He needed to fulfill the Old Covenant and create a new covenant.
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation)
he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh,
how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
HALLIJUAH!!!!!!
Jesus did the thing that we cannot do
Does this now mean we can live whatever way we want?
Saved by grace, not by works
We are released from the old covenant
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
Is this what the whole thought of Ephesians 2 and Romans 7?
We are saved by grace
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
(works and serve, servant)
NEW COVENANT!
The old covenant laws were about how to be righteous
The new covenant law is about how to live righteously (we already are righteous
Interesting fact
How many laws are there in the OT?
OT LAW: 613
What about NT?
1050
How do we live righteously? 3 things God give us
1. We have been given Holy Spirit (what we just read)
Where does Holy Spirit reside in Old Covenant? In the New Covenant where is Holy Spirit?
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
He teaches and guides and corrects you according the law of the New Covenant
Not only do we have Holy Spirit in the New Covenant to lead us guide us and correct us.
2. Where does God write the law/instructions in the believer?
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Ezekiel 11:19; Ezekiel 36:26; Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 8:10
Does this mean we do not need the scripture anymore?
NO
3.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
THIS IS SO INCREDIBLE, GOD LOVES US THIS MUCH, THAT HE GIVES US GOD INSIDE OF US, WRITES THE LAW ON OUR HEARTS, and WE THE SCRIPTURES
BUT WHAT IF WE DECIDED…NAY I am just going to live the way I want, grace, grace, grace....no new covenant law
WHAT’S AT STAKE? WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL?
Some of you used to ask this question
I used to ask this question as a teenager?
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
There are many Christians then and now, that love grace, and reject God’s ways only to there own demise.
I was here as a teenager
Give me Grace not Law/instruction
I paid for it.
God shows us this truth in Acts 5
we are going to learn a destuctive thing that happens when we decide to go our own way....it is extreme and rare (we do see it happen several other times)
Aaron’s sons
Korahites
Annias and Sapphire
Brief context: this story takes place right after we learn how generous the early church was
No one was in need
People were selling land to help people in need
Barnabus was just praised
Then Annias and Sapphire come and they want to be know and praised like Barnabus, but they do not want to fully do what Barnabus does, but get credit for the full amount.
But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property,
and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?
While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.”
When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it.
Whoa! Why did Ananias die? For lying! For bearing a false witness
There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil,
a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.
This is an extreme case, rare case.
DEATH?
IT continues
The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.
After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.
And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.”
But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.”
Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.
And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.
WHOA!
God is showing us that if we do not live the ways of the New Covenant there can be DESTRUCTION
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
MYSTERY (Part of the mystery is because we do not have this history of the whole story, we have only part of it)
Who lies about knowing Jesus 3 times before He is crucified? Peter and yet was Peter killed? No restored and empowered be the leader of the church
What about Paul, Paul was squeekly clean, a Pharisees of Pharisees....no Paul was complicit in murder and persecution and yet He was the greatest evangelist for the early church....
THEY RECEIVE MORE GRACE
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
WE HAVE BEEN THERE
He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
We did something not smart and what we recieved was MORE GRACE....and we get that a lot more than we think, we sin every day, and every day
NO ONLY DOES GOD NOT TREAT US AS OUR SINS DESERVE BUT HE ALSO DISCIPLINE US US, which we are like yay! (not really, but really(
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
Why?
Does God displine us for no reason? NO!
He disciplines out of love, so we will go back on the path of right living that leads to life, this is just like a I do to my sons
When they decide to run across the street without looking for cars
I talk to them and discipline them, put them in time out and if it continues, I say you cannot walk across the street by yourself anymore
Why do I do this?
Because I do not do this one day they will surely get hurt or die.
Many of us have been there.
God discplines us and it was the best thing God has done.
OUR SINS HAVE BEEN FOUND OUT, WHICH STINGS, BUT IT LEADS US TO THE PATH OF RIGHTOUSNESS
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Even when it is our own sin
SOMETIMES GOD WILL USE OUR FRIENDS
Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.
This grace and goodness of God when we decide to not follow the law/instructions of the new covenant.
We have a new identity, a new law
THESE ARE THINGS GOD DOES WHEN WE DISOBEY GOD’S LAW, SLOW TO GET ANGRY, GRACE AND DISCPLINE, DESTRUCTION
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE FOLLOW GOD’S LAW, NOT TO BE RIGHTOUS, BUT TO LIVE RIGHTEOUSLY
(GOD’S LAW/INSTUCTIONS) Guides us. where does it guide us? TRUTH and LIFE and away from destruction
We live in a world that is post-truth…
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
Spirit says I will show you were to go and what to do
We all have a daily, minute by minute TRUTH GPS (we need to test it) because sometimes our TRUTH GPS is off and our FLESH GPS is high)
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
I think I should not tell my friend the whole truth because if I do they will not like me, so I will tell a half truth out of there protection.
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
The Spirit and God’s instruction lead us to LIFE and TRUTH
2. GOD’S LAW/INSTRUCTIONS Helps us defeat sin
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Many people try to defeat sin by, just trying to stop it!
You need to not only stop it but repent
Repent means to turn in a different direction
How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.
With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments!
I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes!
God’s law/instructions are the purity path, not the impure destructive path
3. (GOD’S LAW/INSTRUCTION) MAKES US Strong
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
STRENGTH COMES FROM GOD
Why many Christians are weak is because though they believe in the ROCK of there salvation they do not trust the ROCK of their salvation and they build elsewhere (I know this from experience) …look at this house over there…it is by the ocean, beautiful and then the rain fell and poof the house is gone)
GOD’S INSTRUCTION MAKES YOU STRONG, YOU ARE LIVING ON THE ROCK
NOT ONLY DOES FOLLOWING GOD’S LAW/INSTRUCTION BRING GUIDANCE TO LIFE AND TRUTH, HELPS US DEFEAT SIN, AND MAKES US STRONG
IT ALSO CAN LEAD OTHER TO LIFE IN CHIRST and it is a way to show God we love Him
4. FOLLOWING GOD’S LAW WITNES TO WHO GOD IS
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
5. SHOW GOD YOU LOVE HIM
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
You
We have so much good news today!
What God is saying to us today is the Old Covenant is gone away, Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the law to make us righteous…there is nothing you can do to make yourself righteous “save by grace” and the good news is God has given you the new instructions on how to live to have life to the fullest here
Walking by the Spirit
God’s law is written on our hearts
Scriptures
MY KIDS