Principle and Principles of Grace
Mike Doyle · Oct 28, 2007
Principles of Grace, No. 18
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926043223365

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

OK, we're still inching our way through Lesson 11. Almost done now. And we kind of covered this last week, but typically I didn't wait long enough for you to talk. So I'm going to ask the question again. List three commands in Paul's epistles. that are commands that if you don't do them, no one would care. See? See how much you care? What's that? Love one another? How about this one?

None of you have ever violated. This one is do all things without murmuring. That's a command. In Philippians 4.6, in nothing be anxious. I better not see anybody being anxious this next week. But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. How about don't observe days and months and seasons? I think we'll pass on Christmas. No Christmas service. We're going to stay home that day.

What do you say? How about for if anyone thinks he's something when he's nothing, he deceives himself. No, I'm guilty of that one. All right, your turn. Give me one. Say that again. See, you guys never study. Are you just afraid to talk? Come on. How about let us not lose heart in doing good. How about Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk worthy in a worthy manner of the calling in which you have been called." Boy, when you don't walk worthy in the manner in which you've been called, nobody's ever sent me an email and said, I've noticed you haven't been walking worthy lately. What is worthy in the manner in which you've been called?

What does that mean? Now those of you who took the identification truth should have your hand in the air and know the answer just like that. Say that again. Even more than that. It's who you are in Christ. The command is to walk in a manner that's worthy of who you are. Isn't that something? Now if you're not, Do you know anybody who's going to care if you don't? Yeah, if you're too negligent, you might. How about always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ?

Okay, I just picked a few out and you can't think of any? All right, here's the kicker. List three politically incorrect but non-biblical behaviors that might cause fellow believers to be offended. Come on, give me, this is easy, it's only three. Watching TV, smoking, drinking, playing poker. Give me some others. Those are the easy ones. What's that? Say that again? Oh no. OK. Not showing up here every Sunday, not being in here at 1015 this morning. What else?

I think the point that is trying to be made here is that sometimes or a lot of times that the things that we would focus on as politically incorrect are bigger than the Word of God and usually cause more fights than the Word of God does. Do you agree with that? What do you think? I think so. So, as we've talked about before, the Christian life is not based on a catalogue of do's and don'ts. They're there, aren't they there?

Which we'll talk some more about this morning. We must rest on the individuals using the principles of the Word of God and using their own judgment. If there's not a command in the Word of God, especially in Paul's epistles or from Romans forward, then if it's not commanded, then we have the liberty to make a decision about our behavior based on the principles in the Word of God. And we've been going through the principles and we've used some of them this morning. These principles are impregnated into the Word of God. They're there.

And it was interesting, I think it takes us a while as growing believers to actually come to the realization that the Word of God, especially for the Christian, yeah, as you study it and read it, there's specific things to do and not to do, but I think it takes a while to learn that, boy, there are principles within that Word of God, and I need to ferret those out And those principles are more important about what my behavior should be than the rules. No one's going to argue with you under grace when the Word of God says don't steal. Don't commit adultery. Don't do things like that.

But other behaviors are based on the principles, and we've talked about some of the principles, and I'll review them here in a minute. Now, the next issue is, am I restricted as a believer in terms of my behavior? In other words, do I have any rights as a Christian? What do you think? Or did I give them all up? How many think I gave all my rights up? You mean none of you are yielded?

It depends on if you look at it from the old Adam or the last Adam, if you're looking at who you are as Christ and your position and the rights that you have. Because of your position as Christ, and yes you do, if you look at yourself in the old Adam, well, since he's dead, then people don't have rights. Well, in some states they do both, but...

To look at this closer, let's go to, everybody if you have your Bibles, go to 1 Corinthians chapter 9 and we're going to work through some verses there. And this is Paul talking about rights that he has. And if there's anybody that has liberty and rights, or understands, maybe that's a better way to say it, that understands what his rights under liberty is. It's the Apostle Paul. Everybody there?

Verse 4 says, Have we no right to eat and to drink? Obviously we do. Have we no right to lead about a wife that is a believer? In other words, do we have a right to be married? Even as the rest of the apostles and the brethren of the Lord and Cephas, or I only and Barnabas, have we not the right to stop working?"

What's he talking about? Number one, the presumption is he's not married. But does he have a right to get married? Sure he does. Because he's who he is as the founder of these churches, and the spiritual head of a lot of them, and he puts a lot of time and effort in, does he have the right to stop working and for you guys to support him? Does he? Absolutely he does.

If you look at the book of Acts, there's in chapter 7 or 8 in there, where the elders said, look, you guys in the church in Jerusalem need to pick out seven guys who are good character filled with the Spirit and they're going to do all the menial stuff so that we can concentrate on studying the Word of God and praying. So Paul sets down here, yeah, he has rights using himself. Now, verse 7, he begins to demonstrate that he does have rights on a logical basis.

He says, What soldier ever serves at his own charges? How many of you were in the military? Did you pay for your uniform? Well, probably the second one, but you didn't pay for the first one. When I showed up at boot camp, they gave me everything. As a matter of fact, everything I had except my wallet went in a brown bag and I shipped it home. Everything, except for my identification. So they gave me everything. Did I have to pay for the bullets? Did I have to buy my gun on time? Matt Malloy is paying off that F-22. It's going to take him forever to pay it off. No, the logic is absolutely not. When a person joins the military, the military pays.

The next logic. Who plants a vineyard and eats not of the fruit thereof? When you planted your garden this year, Courtney, He was trying to give that stuff away. He couldn't eat it all. No, the logic is absolutely. Or who feeds a flock and eats or drinks not the milk of the flock? You guys aren't farmers, so you don't raise cattle, but if you raise dairy cows, you drink your own milk, usually. People that are farmers and ranchers eat of what they grow. And the point is, do you have rights as a believer? Absolutely you do.

Now, the next verses talk about not logical principles, but biblical principles. So Paul says, do I speak these things after the manner of men? Or says not the law also the same? So he's going to use the Mosaic law to show that he has specific rights, or we all do have specific rights, And he says, For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treads out the corn.

Is it for the oxen that God cares? The point is, do you know what he means by that? How that looks mechanically? They'd have the oxen walk around and they would walk around the circle and they would separate the grain from the husk and Doesn't the oxen have a right to eat some of that?

The biblical principle is absolutely he does. Absolutely he does. So you don't muzzle the ox. You let him, if he's hungry, he gets to eat some. Or says he it assuredly for your sake, yea, for our sake it is written, because he that plows ought to plow in hope, and he that threshes to thresh in the hope of partaking. What's the point? What's the point that he's making here in terms of having rights? You as a believer having rights. What's the point?

Is it really that unclear? I think he means that if you work for the kingdom, you're not a prophet in the kingdom. You should. I mean, it's a cause and effect thing. Anybody else? In other words, if you're involved in a ministry of any kind, you should be supported by those you minister to. Right? Know what he's saying?

Or if you're, don't you as a man have a right to be married? Don't you as a woman have a right to be married? Sure you do. unless you're a Catholic. Does he have the right to stop working? Does he? Can he stand before all of the people that he ministers to and say, look, I have the right to not work. I don't have to work. Logical and biblical principles dictate the fact that I need to spend all of my time ministering to you, so you need to support me. I need to get a little bit of the physical return. Verse 11, if we sowed unto the spiritual things, in other words, if we expend effort on spiritual things, Is it a greater matter if we shall reap of your carnal things?

You see that? That's a principle. That's a principle. If others partake of this right, in other words, if others who are busy in the body of Christ are compensated over you, don't we yet more? So I think he's presented a very, very persuasive argument about using this example of, yeah, he's entitled to have a wife, be compensated, that kind of thing. But here's the principle.

Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we bear all things. Here's the principle, that we may cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ. We all have incredible liberty under the principles of the Word of God to function and behave in any manner that isn't prohibited by commands. And if you're free to go to Bronco games, you can go. But the principle is causing no hindrance for the furtherance of the Gospel of Christ. Is that place a bigger onus on you than if this were a law? This was law.

Twenty six. What do you think? It forces you to think. Today, this particular day, I really want to go to something else. There's stuff like that's right. What am I doing? I have that dilemma going right now. Are you ready for this? I told you that John's team won the quarterfinals. You know when the next game is? Thursday night at 7 o'clock. Or no, at 5 o'clock, which means the game goes until 6.30 or so. We have Bible study at 6.15. At my house, some of you are supposed to be there. The Rockies have the day off. So what do you do? What do you do in that instance? Go to the game, did you say? Put it to a vote. So, I mean, you have the liberty to do lots of things, but the issue is the gospel. The issue is the edification. And as we'll see in a minute, all the principles come into play.

So Paul refuses to take any money in Corinth for one simple reason. If he had taken the right to be paid, it would have hindered the gospel. Does that mean he never took any money from anybody? No, he took money from from the Philippians, you know, from other people. As a matter of fact, he thanks the Philippians profusely because they supported him greatly and they were probably the church that was in the greatest poverty. But he didn't take any money in Corinth because his own judgment, in his own judgment, it would have hindered the gospel.

See the principle? Now, you all are being kind of quiet this morning, but I know deep down in your hearts that you have these dilemmas going on every once in a while, and should I or shouldn't I? Should I do this? I know I can take my right and go ahead and do it, but what kind of an effect is it going to have on somebody else or on the gospel?

Or on yourself, because Paul also said that I am free to do all things, but not all things are profitable. So you can use that principle when you're talking about the game as well. Is this something that would be profitable to you to do the Bible study? Or is it more profitable to go to the game and possibly evangelize somebody there or just enjoy yourself? And with sabbaticals you can do that. That's interesting. That would be a good rationalization.

The point is that Paul is making that he would sacrifice his rights for the furtherance of the gospel or for the benefit of somebody else. The great thing about being a believer, which early on doesn't seem like a great thing, is that your life is lived for somebody else. If you've been crucified with Christ, buried and resurrected, Really, how many rights do you have? The new man resurrected in Christ is a man who has tremendous liberty, but he's given up all his rights, hasn't he? That's where the liberty is, the fact that I can actually do it and live unto God.

I have another example. In my preschool class, I had been teaching my four-year-old for quite some reason and then the assistant director came in to me one day and said that one of the parents complained that I had said God in the classroom. And that's when? Inside I started boiling up, you know.

But I just stayed quiet about it and I let them make their decision. One director said it's okay, the other one said no. So I just didn't pursue it anymore. I just decided to be peaceful about it. But that was a deciding factor for me. You know, that's my right. I can say it if I want to, but I'm under the authority of someone else. I'm working for them. A lot of people know that I am a believer. They're not. So what do I need to do here? I need to be really careful. That's what I did. You know, that principle and that same thing is talked about in Acts 2, 3, 4, 5. We're studying it on Tuesday.

How the Sanhedrin called the apostles in and said, you guys got to stop. We're ordering you to stop preaching about this Jesus of Nazareth. And Peter's answer was, well, we realize that you have authority, but there's a higher authority than you, and that's God, and we have to do what God says. And so they continue to preach in the name of Jesus, and they're called in again, and now they've broken a law because they told them not to. And they get all over him, and Peter says, I heard what you said, but did you hear what I said?

And they were going to stone him, and they ended up slapping him around a little bit and letting him go. But they were arrested twice for that, but it didn't stop them. It didn't stop Stephen, and Stephen ended up getting stoned for it. So, it's interesting. Every one of those situations, in their case, they were preaching the gospel.

In that case, using the word God or not in the Pledge of Allegiance, again it's an individual, I think it's an individual thing. Some guys are stubborn like me and I'd go ahead and do it. The interesting thing that happened is a couple of weeks went by and I just encouraged the kids to pledge to stay quiet and I've been praying about it. not knowing exactly how to deal with it, so I just decided to leave it at home.

And then one day, a child brought it to my attention that we weren't playing planks. And I said, would you like to play the planks? And he said, yes. And I said, show me that you know it. And so they've been playing it every morning, and I'm sitting with my mouth closed. But I'm still doing what I was told, and the children have memorized it. So there you go. That's awesome.

Tom? Well, I think it's a little more strongly along those lines, similar to what she said. Billy Graham was in China visiting this one person who was strong for the Lord, but was considered an un-person by the Red Chinese. An un-person? Un-person. I like that.

And he had him in prison, and it served his time, he was loose, but that was the way they treated him afterwards, not to be trusted, not to be even paid, but he, at least he was directed in the rough neighborhood of where he lived in the mountains. And that person said to Billy, be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. Because that's what it would cost him. Yeah, that's something.

So, you understand the principle? that the furtherance of the gospel will modify your rights. You do have rights, but they're modified based on the furtherance of the gospel and some other things which we'll talk about. This is actually a few weeks and I get to go through some of the authorities and realms of authority. This is, I think, as I've studied more, the grace.

This is a really cool part about it. The liberties that we have are not dogmatic. You don't have to say, you know, I've got to say it and do this. It's a rule. It's a law and you have the law. you know, answering the way you did, and I think, you know, the other principles that you have, the principle of love, you know, and how you respond. Will that draw people to Christ or shun them away? It's one of the really, I think, neat things when you understand grace and the liberty that we have.

It's not a bunch of dogmatic Ten Commandments. Thou shalt do this, this, and this. We have, and living under principles rather than law, The burden is off in a lot of different ways. It's not just thou shalt and there's a line here and you're either on this side of the line or that side of the line.

In grace we have a lot of liberty and a lot of freedom. As we say, in Christ we have all freedom. In sin we have bondage. And looking at grace so much more, it is incredibly freeing to have the liberty to be guided by principles rather than dogmatic laws. I mean, we do have several commands. But the freedom we have under grace is tremendous. Yeah, it really is.

I was also going to say that I think the higher principle is the fact that Paul said, I am judged by no man. So that's truly the only answer in that day and time, because otherwise you've got Jewish legalism, you've got Gnosticism, you've got all the people that are trying to put these people underneath their control. So Paul comes out and says, I report to no man. And he would go straight to Jerusalem and even talk to Peter about the things that he did. And James, he didn't care because his master was Christ.

So, just a quick review. The first principle under which we decide whether we can do a behavior or not is what? Does it master me or not? Am I free to do it because it doesn't master me? Paul said, you know, as long as it doesn't master me, then I'm free. And we talked about elements that did master me. The second principle you brought up, which is what?

Is it expedient? Does it edify? Is it for the benefit and the spiritual growth of somebody else? Now, let's... I have one line of what Courtney is saying. It's amazing how much the focus becomes more on Christ, on the grace. Under the law, the focus is so much on yourself. Am I keeping the law? Am I meeting the standard? But under grace, everything is tempered according to, is Christ being glorified? Is he lifted up? Is he put before all men?

And we receive into the background, and in a way it forces us to be so much more in fellowship with Him, and so much more focused on Him, rather than looking at the law, okay, I did what I had to do now. And then, the tendency is just to lift ourselves up. We have to pray so much more, we have to look in God's Word, we have to take these decisions so much more carefully, because the goal is not, we're keeping the laws, it's Christ being glorified. and it exalts him so much more. It puts us in that position to exalt him so much more, which is where our joy as Christians comes from. Let's look at a couple of things. If I'm under a law principle as a Christian, where's my focus?

It's on whether I'm performing the law system I'm under. So it's totally on me and how I'm doing. You know, I'm checking off the list. So it's all about me. Under a grace system, what's the real freedom about being under grace? I can forget about me and I can behold the glory of the Lord.

I can be focused on Him because I don't need to check to see how I'm doing, but because of what He's done, I'm already accepted. There's nothing I can add to what He's already done. And there's nothing I can take away from what He's already done. I don't need more approval than I already have. So what am I free to do? I'm free to be occupied with Him. Under a law system, there's no such freedom because you have to constantly be diligent as to how you're doing with the rules.

The verses for Lesson 12 are 1 Corinthians 10. 10.31, 1 Peter 2.13, and Hebrews 13.17.

Under 1 Corinthians 10.23, my first question in lesson 12 was, what is my personal and God's goal in the Christian life?

What's He after? What's God after? Why did He do any of this anyway? What's your personal goal in the Christian life? on your refrigerator, up on your wall, in your mind, where am I going? What's the goal? To glorify God. And how do you do that? How is that going to happen? Imitate Christ. Imitate Him? What's that? Behold Him. I want to be like Him.

God's goal is to conform you to the image of Christ, right? Romans 8, 28 and 29. That's His purpose. So He works everything together, every nuance in your life, every action and reaction, everything, to accomplish that goal, to conform you to the image of Christ. And that's your personal goal too, right? You want to be Christ-like. Because you already are positionally in Him, conditionally you want to be Christ-like. So what have you got? Under grace, What is the object?

If you look at 1 Corinthians 10.23, it says all things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but all things don't edify. And what's the word edify mean?

Build up. And build up to what? Becoming Christ-like. The law cannot make you Christ-like. Can you buy that? If we were all Jews in this room, living 2,000 years ago under the Mosaic Law system, and we were really trying hard, how many of us would even be anything like Christlike? Not a single one of us. Not a single one of us. Because if the law were able to do what it proposes to do, what would it make you? What would it do for you?

Perfect? At the absolute best, if you could call among yourself the God in Christ, you'd be a just man. You'd be a just man. That's right. You'd be righteous in yourself. Now let's see. If I'm righteous in myself, can I approach God? Absolutely not. Why not? There is no need for God if you're... Oh, there is a need for God. It's all about me. I'm now a righteous human on the earth. But I'm not qualified to be anything heavenly, nothing. So in order to be able to approach God, I've got to be on His level. I have to be in Christ in order to approach God.

I've asked this question a thousand times and it's one of my trick questions. If, when the Lord Jesus died on the cross, the only thing that He did, the only thing that was accomplished on the cross, was the penalty for your sins was paid, none of the other 33 things happened, just that one thing, could you approach God? Could you be in His presence?

How many think yes? How many think no? Got some chickens in there that won't raise their hands. The answer is no. You know why? Why? Because I'm just a forgiven sinner, right? There's been no change. I'm just forgiven. A sinner can't be in the presence of God.

You see that? So what happens? What happens is that God determined that if He wanted me near to Him, there had to be a change in who I am. So what he did was, is he included me in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. I was baptized into Christ's death. I was buried with him, and I was resurrected in him. Now I'm a new creature. If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all is new. Everything is new. As a new man in Christ, now can I? Do I have a right to be in the presence of God? I'm a son now. Absolutely.

Forgiveness is the least of it. Does that make sense? So it's important, and that only happens under grace. A lost system does not lead you to the identification truth. So, under grace, God has done more to us than he's done for us. Understand what I just said?

What He's done for us is forgive us, but what He's done to us is recreate us in Christ. He has also taken us out of any kind of a law, system, environment, and put us in a grace system. And as we talked about, our definition of grace is it's God's unlimited, unmerited blessings based on the adequate work of Christ. He did it all. I live in this grace.

It's unlimited, it's coming at me full on all the time, and it's unmerited. I don't merit any of it, nor can I. Scary proposition, but it's wonderful when you get it. My second question, which we've really already answered, does obeying laws accomplish this goal? The answer, no, it can't. One does not see this principle and the likeness to Christ anywhere in the law system. It's not there. Coming out of Catholicism, there's lots of cool negative examples. One of the best ones is Thomas Akempis' Imitation of Christ. I think it's about this thick.

And what it is, it's a book written by a guy who didn't understand. He was sincere enough. But he didn't understand his position in Christ. So what was he trying to accomplish? He took all of the behaviorisms of Christ and listed them all, and what he encourages his readers to do is to imitate all of those things so you can be like Christ. And then you would be more acceptable to God than when you started. What did he miss? What did he miss? He missed the whole sentence, that God is not based upon behavior. It's not based upon behavior.

What's it based on? identification with Christ and his death, burial, and resurrection. And we'll get to this process in a second. At best, the law would try and convince one that they might be able to imitate the behavior of Christ while on the earth.

But Christ's likeness for the believer is conformity to his glory as it is manifested when? When he was on the earth? When you're being conformed to the image of Christ, is it Christ the Messiah walking around at Jerusalem performing miracles? Is that who we're being conformed to? Who is it? Who is the Christ we're being reformed to?

The resurrected glorified Christ. There is a man in the heavenlies right now who sits on the throne of God who is glorified. He has the sum total of God's intrinsic attributes radiating out of Him. And 2 Corinthians 3.18 says that we behold His glory. And by beholding His glory, we are transformed into His very image. We are not beholding the Messiah of Israel while on the earth. We are not even beholding the resurrected Christ walking around for 40 days. We are beholding the glorified Christ in the heavenlies. Now, that seems like a long way and a stretch, but that's what the Word of God teaches us. And that can only be accomplished by the Spirit of God.

So, does that make sense? You all right with that? I mean, that's a tough one. When you begin to realize that what God's purpose is is to conform you to the image of Christ, well, I have to think about what's that image? So what's the fact that it says, Christ in you, the hope of glory? What you're saying now is starting to make some sense to me, I think, because Christ had to come first in the likeness of a man, not the image of God, but in the likeness of man, so that when he died, he could send his spirit back to indwell us, and then we have that spirit The image of Christ in us is the glory, right? The mind of Christ. That's right. And he sent this. And this is the mirror in which you behold the glory of the Lord. And as you spend time in here and you behold His glory, you are transformed into His image. Now, you know what's cool about that? You don't even know what's going on. You are so free from you and so occupied with Christ that you don't matter anymore to you. And you talk about freedom, the greatest freedom there is is to be free from me. And only God would come up with a system like that under grace. That whole system is gracious, you see that?

What can you do to enhance that? Well, I've decided, I've made it rule six, that I'm going to study the Word of God and I'm going to look for Christ wherever I can. The problem with that is that this endeavor is something that the Spirit of God does. He'll let you in on it so that you know what the goal is and where we're going and your desire and your heart will be there, but it isn't legal. He draws you with His love. We'll talk more about love in a minute. What is the instrument the Holy Spirit uses to edify? Now this is another trick question. Yeah, us.

But what part of you? What does he use? Your mind? What else? Your body? He uses this thing. He uses your mind, your emotions, your will, your body to accomplish this edification process. Isn't that interesting? That's what he uses. Seems to me he could have picked a better vehicle. This old Ford is wearing out.

All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. The body is the instrument that the Spirit uses to build up the body of Christ. Everybody in this room. You're all better looking than me. If I let it dissipate to the point that it can't be used, I'm of no use to the Holy Spirit.

So I'm a guy who likes to walk, and the best I can, stay in shape. Is it important to stay in shape? Why? Because I look good? Why would you keep your body... So that the Spirit of God can use your body to edify the body of Christ. That's why you do it. You go to 24-hour fitness and walk around and ask those guys working on the barbells if they're all doing this for Christ. You know the old joke when you go to the gym and start lifting weights, you know what muscle swells first? Your head. But it's an interesting principle that we would be called of God to stay in physical shape so that we could be used of God to edify the body of Christ. I think that's kind of neat that God even thinks about and has that.

So I keep my body functioning as best I can for the glorification of God. So what's the motivation for everything we do? Easy question. It's for the glory of God, right? Again, I could use the same example. I keep my body in shape because I like the way people praise me because I'm looking so sharp, or I keep my body in shape because the Holy Spirit can use it. Why, whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do, you all do for the glory of God.

Why the glory of God? Why is that the motivation? What about that? How does that all go together? The glory of God. God is doing everything that he does for his own glory. Doesn't that sound awful self-absorbed? It keeps mankind from boasting. Okay. And that's one of the problems I think the church has today is that I call it hyper-enthusiastic. Yeah. Don't get me going on that.

If God does everything to glorify himself, we'll all agree, but why that? Why does he do it that way? He's the only one worthy. He just created for his own glory. He knows who he is, so to speak. what His attributes are and His desire has always been to share Him with His creation. And by sharing Him with His creation, the glory redounds back to Him.

Do you see that? So, what does He do? He takes somebody like you and me in a decaying body full of sin And he reveals the gospel to us, and by an act of unmeritorious faith, we believe in the person and work of Christ. And he takes it upon himself under grace to conform us to the very image, even though we're still in this body, to the very image of his Son. And the image of his Son is the manifestation of the glory of God.

And so we walk around, at least to some degree, moment by moment, being transformed from glory to glory into the very image of Christ. That glorifies God. When Verne stood up here a couple of years ago, and I think I knew the concept but it almost knocked me out of the pew when he said that the angels watch us, the body of Christ, to find out about God. They learn about God's love and His glory by watching us. God somehow finds it beneficial to His glory to take the absolute, most undeserved, decrepit creatures to use to manifest His glory.

His glory is greater that way than if He took the best of us. Believers often say, why when I was saved, why didn't I just get the new body and get done with this and be over with? Everything would be really cool. Not as much glory that way. A lot more glory this way. God is much more glorified this way. Why is a behavior under grace an individual decision when my behavior is not covered by specific commands? Do you understand the question? Why is behavior under grace an individual decision when my behavior is not covered by specific commands.

In other words, how come I got all this freedom and liberty? Why? Free will. What do you think? Well, if we were just robotically programmed after being saved and did everything just so, that would be a good idea. Under the heading of are you growing in the likeness of Christ, don't you find it interesting how much liberty God gives us to exercise our wills, to go along with him? Under law, do you have that option? No, you have no options.

If as teacher you command me that I have to agree with everything that you say, what good is that? It's not as glorifying to God for sure. you know yourself. If I accept your teaching and say that this is good and I live it out in my life, you have done something for me. You command me to do that and then I do it.

Not to God it isn't much. Did the second bell go off? I see people standing out there peering at me. What's that? They're all looking at me as whether I'm gracious or not. I'm going to reiterate the rules and then we'll quit because they're getting anxious out there. Principles. Alright, now think about these. Does it master me? Whatever I do, does it master me? Number two, will it cause my brother to stumble? Do I love? Does it edify? And am I motivated by the glory of God only?

Those are the five principles, and we'll expand on several of those next time. Let's close. Dear Father, how we thank you for your grace, that we live under it, and that you are about the business of teaching us what it is to live under your grace. We thank you. We pray in your Son's name. Amen.