The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit, lesson 20 end lesson 21 start
Mike Doyle · Feb 13, 2022
Holy Spirit (2021-23), No. 49
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49261925566413

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

We are in lesson 20, The Person, Work, and the Holy Spirit. We are on question six. So again, what we kind of lose a little bit and kind of force through the trees act is we're focusing now on the corporate spirit's work within the body.

Many times we start in the class and we focus on the personal side and because were always looking for ourselves usually so this is more looking at how the holy spirit works within the body and so we've been uh... go through a lot of different things and and uh... uh... how the how the holy spirit works uh... throughout the body and uh... uh... again uh... we we've we've many things that we just think of how it's working ourselves which is awesome i mean you can't deny that it's in the glory glorious aspect of that but now it's like how does it work within the body and i think that's uh... it's important we look at that uh... just so we understand and i i i think that that we talk about this just when you may have started the class this lesson on this when you go and you meet with believers anywhere that commonality that unity that you have that's that the unity of the spirit within the body that you suddenly know that somebody you have a relationship with and it's just not like the same in the world you know something different about it and that's the body concept of of the holy spirit working and so we're gonna look at the last couple things should be pretty quick and then uh... michael take over on the the next lesson but in in question six What two things did Paul learn in Christ's statement on the road to Damascus? And so we see this in Acts 9, and I'll read 1 through 9. So Acts 9, 1 through 9.

Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked for letters for him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. And he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, who are you, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and they will be told to you what you must do.

The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice, but seeing no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. And leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus. And he was there three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank." So what was the difference about this appearing versus previous appearings to the apostle and the disciples? What was different about this? He, I don't know if you heard, the mic is on or not. Glorified. He was glorified. So this is different.

And from all the others, remember where Christ, for how many days was it, appeared to them, 30 or 40 days, appeared to them. And he would associate with them. He would see them in the room, on the beach, all those different things. And they were able to communicate with him and talk with him and see him.

Now when Saul, Paul, sees him on the road to Damascus, It's different. He's blinded. He is, he, the glorious nature of him is blinded him. And it's interesting to see the other guys, the other guys didn't see it either. They heard the voice but they didn't see, which I was kinda, how'd you like to be those guys? I'd be kinda quaking in my boots, you know, I'm hearing a voice and I can't see and Paul's on the ground and, you know, I just, it's always me trying to put myself in those positions. What's going on?

So, what was the second thing that Paul learned? Learned two things. That he was made head, that Christ was the head of the church now. Yeah, so kind of expand on that. He was persecuting him. Yeah. So when he said that, he said, when Paul learned he said what the Lord said to him, he said he was persecuting him.

So who was Paul persecuting at the time? Christians. Christians. So what's Paul? Paul says, wait a minute, here I am, and now you're saying, he hears the Lord and says, you're persecuting me, the Lord. So what's the association now? What does now Paul understand? What? One and the same. One and the same. Huh. That must have been a shock to Paul.

Because he now realizes that he's been out persecuting. You want to drag him in? He's going to Damascus to yank these Christians back, to persecute them, throw them in jail, kill them. But he now realizes for the first time that by doing that, he's persecuting the Lord.

Wait a minute. That means all of these are the Lord. That's a new revelation for him and a very important one. And that changes his whole, well, obviously, he changed completely at this point, but it was a different thing. Now he realized that by persecuting Christians, he's now persecuting the Lord. And that's a big shift. Because he thought he was just being a great old Jew and persecuting these people. Now he realizes he's persecuting the Lord.

So I think it's a complete change, in acts, a complete change in Paul now. And it reflects his whole ministry at that point, too. From him going forth where he now, when he gets to Damascus and realizes all this. But his ministry now is to the body at large. Because he realizes that's the Lord's body. So it's a big, real. impactful moment in Paul's life at this point. Obviously impactful in the complete change from persecuting him to being, you know, a great teacher of the body.

So, um, right out puts it this way. The very manner of his conversion gave a suggestion of the entire character of his ministry. It was Christ in glory who appeared to him in the noontide of his enmity and persecution. Christ, the glorified head of the church, called to this bitter enemy, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

Thus, at that very moment of his awakening, Paul learned two things, that Jesus was glorified and that his people were in some marked way identified with him. Those familiar with Paul's subsequent history in his writing knows how this revelation on the road to Damascus colored his entire life, or his life after that. So again, a very important distinction that Paul learned at his conversion, basically, on the road to Damascus. The glorified Lord he saw, and that there is one body in Christ, and that's all of us believers.

So, last question. Anything on that one? Anything else? Alright, question seven. How are Jews and Gentiles alike? Are they alike? Huh? How so? See if you answer you have to give the reason. Do you have the mic on too? Do you know how to do that? Sure. Push the button.

But I would say in the point of Romans where Paul makes the statement that all have fallen short of the glory of God, so in the sense that Every single person, including Christians, other than being saved, we are all the exact same and held to the same judgment of Christ if we believe in him. Jews and Gentiles are both sinners. at that point. So that's the commonality of them. They all fall under sin.

So, and I also wanted to actually talk last week, you know, thinking about what, you know, kind of the future in the Jews. We talked, we talked Romans, Romans 9, 10, and 11, talk a lot about what's happening with the Jews at the millennial and all that. So we do have a lot of information on what happens there. So I wanted to follow that up from last week. So now the Jews and Gentiles, we all fall under the same category. We're both sinners. So right up, Greta puts it this way, but the cross comes in. Jew and Gentile are alike under sin. The Jew with and the Gentile without law. So we see this in Ephesians, and I can read it, 2, 13 through 22. This is where it comes together in Ephesians 2, 13 through 22.

But now in Christ Jesus, you who were formerly far off us have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall by abolishing in his flesh the enmity, which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in him, that in himself he might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. And he came and preached peace to you who were far away, and preached peace to those who were near."

So that's the both groups. For through him we both have our access in one spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the spirit. Again, the two coming together and also the body concept. So, again, what Paul learned on the road to Damascus was one body, that they're all one body. And so, in Ephesians, he brings that out about the two groups coming together. There's no eminence, there's no division between Jew and Gentile in Christ.

So did we talk about the persecuting me? Yeah, well, persecuting me, the point of that, who was Paul persecuting at that time? He wasn't himself going out after the Lord. The point being, Saul's going, wait a minute, you're persecuting me. What do you mean? Well, Paul's going, wait a minute, who am I dragging in? Who am I going to Damascus to persecute?

So that's where he finally figures out that it's not, he didn't realize he was, quote, going after the Lord, which is his body, the Christians. Oh, Courtney had a thought on that, actually, too, if we're jumping back to that for a second. Colossians 1.24, because I was looking at this and at Damascus Road this last week, and I always thought this verse was so puzzling, but Paul says this, right? He says, I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of his body. which is the church, and filling up what is lacking in Christ's affliction, which just sounds heretical, to say there's something lacking in Christ. Put those two words together in a sentence, right? But I think you connect those two, and there's an interesting kind of perspective that Jesus is the one who came and said, when you persecute these people, you're persecuting me.

And then Paul later says, when I'm suffering in his body, I'm suffering on, you know, it's Christ's affliction. Yeah, his suffering is Christ's affliction. You know, and I think, and again, that the one body, he's associating with the body and then the afflictions. The afflictions are the whole body, which is Christ. So yeah, he identifies with that. So yeah, the body concept. So again, you know, we're looking at the Holy Spirit, it's to the whole body.

Is this position? position or condition. What is Paul learning here? Let me think about that. I think it's got to be position because it's in the body. Once in the body, we're positionally there forever. But conditionally, the persecution is conditional. So, I think, learning two things. One, the body, which is positional, but yeah, conditional, and the Colossians aspect is talking about the conditional aspect of persecution. So, last thing, right out on this one. This remarkable passage confirms what we've just been seeing. The Gentiles were far off without God and without hope in the world. The Jews were in point of privilege, nigh. for what nation is there so great who hath God so nigh unto them as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for.

Deuteronomy 4.7. The law of commandments contained in ordinances was a witness of the separation, the enmity existing between Jew and Gentile. So long as they stood in the flesh, they were alienated rightly by this law. But the Jew could not boast, for he needed the death of Christ as much as the Gentile. Grace is reconciled, both Jew and Gentile, by the cross, that witness of all men's sin, and slain in enmity of sin, which separated from God, as well as in enmity by nature with one another, they are reconciled, not merely to one another, but to God by the cross, and peace is proclaimed alike to Jew, near, and Gentile far off.

I like that too, you know, it's kind of, I thought about that one. They're united, they used to be like this, pounding each other and looking at each other. Where's their focus now? I think that's the same in a marriage. If you're looking at each other and pounding each other, if you're looking at Christ, you grow together and you go, sorry, all the laughs in here. And my wife is one of them.

But it is, if your focus is on Christ, you come together. If you're looking at each other and doing, you're more likely to point out the problems and this and that. But if your focus is on Christ, you come together. And the same thing in the Jew and the Gentile. As they look to Christ, they come together. And there's no enmity.

So any other final thoughts or questions, thoughts? The only one is that we live in the church age. And someday that church age and the grace is going to go away, which is an important thing to understand. Well, yeah, when we step into eternity and the Lord returns? Well, just meaning that right now during this church age, Jews, Gentiles, everyone can just accept Christ and be saved.

And that window will close at the rapture. And a whole different scheme unfolds after that. It sure changes in neat time. Yeah. Things will change drastically at the rapture. Yeah. All right. Well, I'll give this over to Mike, and he can start on the next lesson. And if I'm wrong, correct me.

And most people don't think about it, because we don't know the time of the hour. But even before the rapture, the church will be persecuted heavily, it says, as we walk. So it's something that people in my age group, I feel like need to focus on definitely. Need to focus and be ready for the Lord. Focus on the grace of the Lord. He can save us. OK.

So my first question is, How many groups of people are there on the Earth today? Because we're right in the middle of Black History Month. And I was thinking that just because there are only two groups of people on the planet today, the lost and the saved, we ought to have a celebration of the lost month. What do you think? Or the saved month. Anyway.

It's interesting how we make so many distinctions from an earthly standpoint, and the Word of God really only has two. You're either lost or saved. It doesn't matter what the other distinctions are. And that's just the way the Lord has done it, which makes it pretty simple.

We confuse it, I think, with Well, I'm this, I'm that, I'm whatever I am from whatever background I'm in. No, my background is I'm from Adam and I'm lost. And I'm gonna go to hell and burn with all those other lost people. And it's really pretty simple. So the hardest question in this whole class is the next question. What relationship do the Gentiles have to God's law? Zero, yeah. Zero. Zero. I would say, I mean, the exact same that we do. What relationship does a Christian have with God's law? That's what I mean. Zero. Yeah. Zero. Why is that?

Because it, well, We're under grace. Because we now live under grace? Well, no. Not at all. Because we needed an entire Lord and Savior sent to us. We needed the Lord and Savior, the Lord Jesus. That's right. It's got to be by death. Say that again. Death. Death. It's a really important point, because when you become a believer, what's the very first thing that happens to you? You die. Isn't that right? Yes. And by death we mean you get separated. You get separated from what? You get separated from the entire first creation. All of it. There isn't any remnant carried over. You're buried with Christ and then recreated in newness of life, which is a life of the resurrected, glorified Christ.

So the other thing, which is kind of the insanity part, is were the Gentiles, us, ever under the law? Never. And so why do lots of Christians want to put themselves under the law? It's like the insanity. You're never under the law, but now as a believer, quote, in your whatever, covenant or whatever, you're now putting yourself under laws. And it's like, we never were, but we want to put ourselves under, and it's kind of the insanity part.

Yeah. I think we have something built into us from Adam that, after Adam sinned, it was, Lord, tell me what to do, and I'll do it. I got to do something, because I kind of messed up here. Well, it's the only way he functions now, is to try and make us work or do something against our liberty in Christ. We have this little cool thing called the sin nature. And the sin nature is the thing in us that wants to be relevant. And through the cross of Christ, the sin nature was rendered irrelevant.

It contributes nothing to the new life. Yet it's always wanting to do something to have some sort of recognition or standing. You know, I remember I read one time that the one thing a sin nature won't do is do nothing. It won't do nothing. That's terrible English, but it has to be doing something, and that's why the law appeals to it, because it gives you the list of the do's and don'ts. So it makes it a little bit more difficult I think it's a while, you know, none of us got saved on the road to Damascus. We didn't get that, you know, but we did meet the Lord Jesus Christ as our savior. We do understand what God has called us to do by faith and we do live in the Lord Jesus and we are growing in the knowledge and grace of him every single day.

So from that perspective, and we've been talking a lot about in the main service, And 2 Corinthians 3 and now into 4 about beholding the glory of the Lord. It isn't like Paul, who saw this tremendous glory in Adam. No wonder he was blinded. We grow in that knowledge and grace. We grow in that beholding of the Lord through the word. But we all get to do the same thing.

And only because we are in Christ and have a resurrected life can we even behold the Lord. Because Paul couldn't behold him as he's walking in Adam, he was blinded, couldn't see a thing. So, by the way, this is lesson 22, I'm sorry, lesson 21, and we're looking, we're talking about the Holy Spirit and his work in the church. So in question two it says, what were Jews in desperate need of to reconcile themselves to God?

And I didn't put, I'm getting better at putting the page numbers from the paperback book rather than the PDF form. The law of commandments contained ordinances was a witness of separation or the enmity existing between the Jew and the Gentile. I don't think we look at the law very often as that it is the element of enmity, separation, between the Jew and the Gentile. Like Courtney said, the Gentiles never had the law, ever.

You know, Christians love to read that the law was our schoolmaster to Christ. Oh, really? What law are you talking about? the traffic laws, the governmental laws. What laws led you to Christ? None of them. The fact that you're lost, the fact that you need a savior, and the fact that you cannot produce righteousness has nothing to do with law.

It has to do with your position. So to clarify what you're saying there on the school or taskmaster comment, we're saying that while the law is a taskmaster or a tutor to bring us along, we often refer to it as the mirror, right? The mirror that shows you, this is God's righteous standard and this is how you stand in relationship to that. What we're saying is that the purpose of that mirror was for the Jewish nation.

So when we use that, When we use that same concept for Gentiles, we're using it inappropriately, because the law was not intended for us to see ourselves as if in a mirror and not following or meeting the standard of the law. So when we use that, we're using it in Jewish context, not in a Gentile context.

It doesn't mean that the same results are not concluded, but it's not because of the law that a Gentile So that that is the what is the Galatians 2 23 24 that the law was a tutor to point us to Christ, but now that Christ has come we have no no use of the Was it? Yeah, no need for a tutor. Yeah Galatians, but that was that was Jewish related sure it was the Jews were pointed to Christ now that he's come there's no need for the tutor anymore and You know, from a practical standpoint, though, most of us, if we were raised in a home that, whether it was denominational or Christian or whatever it was, we were under some sort of law system. I don't care what denominations equals law, they just do. They give you the rules. You know, at some point you realize that the rules aren't, you aren't getting what God is after in you.

He wants you to be holy as He is holy. He wants you to be righteous. And He's willing to give you righteousness if you believe Him. You can't earn it. And you're always trying, in some respect, to achieve this righteousness by, whether it's a set and concrete denomination, like when I came out of Catholicism, 2,000 years of history, boy, we got it down right. Or whether you and your buddy had just sort of picked up your own deal, you still were trying to achieve righteousness with God. And when he comes to us, he says, I will give it to you because of the work of my son on the cross, if you believe me. You'll get it all.

And your sin nature says, nah, it's too easy. It's too easy. I mean, all I have to do is, yeah, too easy. That's it. So I have a scenario. In a situation where, in the church age, where a believer is using the law to help man become aware of his sin. So Gentile to Gentile, for example. Although there is none in the church age, but the point is that we're not talking to a Jew, so the confusion doesn't lend itself to that. If I were to say, hey, let's just pick one.

I mean, it's 316 or something. Let's pick the one on your mother and father, right? Sure. Have you broken that before? Yes. And the person says, Oh yeah, actually I have not a lot, but sometimes a little bit, a little bit, just a little bit. Yeah. Okay. Well that's, that's an example of how, Because of your sin, you're not able to honor your mother and father to the degree that the law demands. So that's why you need a savior. Is there something wrong with that? No. No, I mean...

I'm using... What is that? Which commandment is that? Second? Yeah. I don't know. So I'm just choosing one. I'm not going to go through all 316. My point is that if your understanding of a need for a Savior in the church age is based on one of the Ten Commandments, how does that play in terms of our helping someone understand their need for a Savior and how the law plays into that need? Well, didn't Paul say, I didn't know what sin was till I read. Till the law said, don't desire. The law exposed sin. Sure. And as soon as it said, don't desire, what happened?

There comes the desire big time, full on. I want to honor my mom and dad because somebody told me in a church, I ought to be doing that. Or my mom and dad said, you ought to be doing that. And you say, OK, I'm going for it. And then you find out maybe they don't even know about it, but you didn't honor them in your heart. I can fix that. I can fix that one. Until they make me mad. Let's just say I can fix that one.

I've still got a lot more to go. I'm just saying that there's a difference in terms of how we present our need for the Savior. Is it the Savior himself as the fulfillment of the law and the standard? helps me understand that I cannot be a sufficient sacrifice for my own sin. Is it the law that points me to that realization? I don't think it's that complicated.

It's a sacrifice. As a non-believer coming up to the gospel, the whole idea of a sacrifice is... Why do we have to have a death here? Death is essential, right? It's there. So, you know, how Malloy used to say that the three things you got questions you have to answer in your life.

Where'd I come from? What am I doing here? And where am I going? The big question to me was when I was, the Lord was drawing me is where are you going? Where are you going to spend eternity? I guess I was sold on the idea that eternity was a reality that I was going to have to be somewhere. and I wasn't going to be reincarnated as a donkey. And that became the big question. Where am I going? And wherever I'm going, how do I get there? Because what I've done up until this point is not getting me there. I somehow know. I really appreciate Jim's question there, or JD.

Because I know that's been a common kind of evangelism that I've been familiar with is like, first we show you that you don't measure up to the Ten Commandments, and then we show you your need of the Savior. But I've kind of come to the position that what that often can tend to cause people to do is think that they're accepting Jesus so that they can then keep the Ten Commandments or something like that, that Jesus is going to, you know, keep the law. And it's sort of a wrong focus. I mean, I've kind of shifted my evangelism to saying, You know, you were born dead, separated from God, and that's your biggest fundamental problem. Not that you can't keep a law, but that you're just separated from God. But I think I kind of hear where you're coming at with that question, and I really resonate with that. I mean, that's being separated from God.

Again, the class we're involved in is the person and work of the Spirit. Who persuades you about those kinds of things? It's the Spirit of God who does that. Otherwise, you would never know. How does a person who's never heard the gospel get a hunger in their heart to find out what it is? That comes from the Spirit of God. Otherwise, you know, read the Old Testament, you find out what men do.

So I got to tell you my joke. Somebody sent this to me this week. It might have been Stan Fran. A young man, 16, gets his driver's license. He goes to his dad, and he says, Dad, when can I use the car? And he said, well, you can use a car when you get your grades up from C to B. And you study your Bible a little bit every day, and you cut your hair. go a few months down the road, and he said, okay, dad, my grades are up to B. He said, great.

He said, and I've been studying my Bible. And the dad said, yeah, I've noticed you've been, every morning you study your Bible. But he said, the dad said, but you haven't cut your hair. He said, well, I've been in the Bible. All these great men of God only have long hair. And the dad said, you notice they're still walking. I love that joke. Salvation is a very interesting thing.

I just don't have the gift of evangelism. I've been involved in maybe half a dozen people coming to Christ and I always overstate it. over-theologize it, and I over-everything, rather than the real simple guys I know, the people I know that are evangelists, they say about nine words and the person says, okay, I believe, you know. And it really is, I'm lost, the Savior's provided, and I can avail myself of the salvation provided if I believe that he did solve the problem of sin for me. And it's a personal thing. When you come to the realization that Christ died just for you, if you were the only man or woman on the earth, he died just for you. And he's not kidding about that. Yeah, we all belong in the body of Christ, but he did it just for me.

Like Wednesday night on our thing that Andy Wood said that he was thankful that God waited for the rapture to 1984 because he saw Andy as a 16-year-old boy who needed salvation. So he waited for the rapture to get him. Well, that's kind of the attitude we all have. God waited He forestalled whatever he was going to do next so he could get each one of us. Bring us in. Really important. So question.

Paul said, I wouldn't have known this was sin had the law not said it was sin. Obviously he was a Jew. And so what context is he talking about? And not to go into that as much as to say, because we're talking about the Jew and Gentile and then the one body. Where does conviction come from in the Old Testament that Paul spanned, right? So he spanned under law, under grace.

Is the conviction of sin or the purpose of salvation, which is the same regardless, but let's say at the purpose of salvation, where does the conviction come from? Does it change? No. Because on one side you have the law telling me what sin is. On the other side, you have the conviction of the Holy Spirit. And is that conviction of the Holy Spirit under the old system? Right, that's what I'm asking. Is the Holy Spirit convicting a Jewish man, who's a godly man, about the law?

Does he come to a realization that, wait a minute, this is not Just adherence to the principles of the law isn't what God's after. He wants me to trust him. How does he know that? Well, if he's, depending on where he is in terms of time in the Old Testament, if he's reading the Old Testament, like the Talmud, he's seeing that the issue of righteousness is based on faith, not the adherence to the law.

He sees that. There are plenty of guys in the Old Testament that are talked about, in the Old Testament Jewish people, like how did John the Baptist figure it out? How did Ananias figure it out? How did any of those guys? In the Old Testament you have Jews, the collective body, the nation. right only the only nation that god is using to reveal himself to the rest of the world that's exactly right but within that jewish nation you have believers yes you do iran is an example of how did he come to become a believer? by faith what does it come down to? faith within the jewish nation you have people trying to fulfill laws constantly You're not picking up wood on certain days. And not being able to do. All the things.

But within that you have a smaller group of men and women who were believers by faith in what God had promised them. And so the means to salvation is the same, but we have to remember that even though we're referring to the Jewish nation, we also need to distinguish between those that were believers within the Jewish nation. And they could be put to death for breaking the law. That's exactly right. They could.

You could have a believing Jew day and still be in the presence of the Lord. Well, and plus you had centuries before the law was even given. And so, I mean, don't you marvel at the fact that Abraham lives in this pretty progressive town in the Chaldees and God just shows up one day and starts talking to him and makes some promises to him. And he says, okay, I believe you. And because he said that, God accounted him righteous. How did he know? I guess he just listened and thought, okay.

But the guy standing next to him, I mean, a lot said okay, too, because he followed him. But there were plenty of guys around him, like his wife, who didn't say okay. And other people in the sphere of influences who were going along with the system, But they weren't like Abraham. But here's the cool thing. Abraham's faith grew over 40 years from the point of just being able to leave town to actually sacrificing his son. It took 40 years to get him there, to grow his faith so that he would do it without argument, without question. And in those 40 years, you look at a man who is just a terrible guy. He can't live up to anything. He's trying to sell his wife to Pharaoh so that they won't kill him. You know, he's doing all this crazy stuff. But after walking with the Lord for 40 years, when God says, I want you to take Isaac, the son of promise, up to the mountain and sacrifice him to me, he never questions it.

OK. Are you done? Yeah. Have you heard that a lot lately? I think he's got the response down. I better be done. The eyes always roll. That was perfect. Sorry. Your point. Yeah, point. When you're talking about the law, what's running through my mind is when you're talking about the law, there's a surface treatment where you try to perform the law. believers are stuck in that pattern, trying to get better, trying to do better, trying to perform, when wouldn't you say it's just the Holy Spirit that shows you that there's something inherently wrong with you? And that needs to change. I was going to add to that, too.

If you look back at Paul, Romans 7, what is he trying to do? Follow the law, do it himself. of all i don't know if there's really a lot of the ones that i know it is a lot but it's not what you have to do uh... and it will be realizes not under law but he's trying to do it and what's the ultimate result person and he gets away from the law gets away from striving gets away from all that trying to get it but the self-improvement the basic tenet of the law is simple if you will obey me i will bless you if you don't obey me i'm gonna curse you That's real simple, right? So you build this whole temple of obey and avoid the cursing thing going on, and God comes to you and says, like J.D. says, you're not doing too good at this obeying thing. How about if you just believe me, I'll make it all happen? That's really hard. Because we're built, since sin came in, since Adam sinned, we have been built to perform and be rewarded. That's the way we function. That's the way the sin nature is. Tell me what to do, and I'll do it. And God says, okay, how about loving your wife as Christ loved the church?

How you doing with that one, big guy? Not too good. Honor your mom and dad. Well, most of the time. And he says, no, all the time. And if you do it, you'll be righteous in yourself. You get that part? If you accept my premise, which is you believe me, I will give you my righteousness. That's different. You won't be able to stand before me and say, I did. You have to stand before me and say, thank you, you did. And I have your righteousness, not my own. That's the big difference. We're way over. We've got to close. We'll pick up with question two next week. So let's close here.

Father, how we thank you for your word. How I'm thankful for the discussion and fellowship that we have and these studies that we do. It's so edifying to me and I know to those who attend. We pray for Roger in the next service that we would be in the Lord's table that we'll celebrate that we all would be edified by that. Thank you. We pray in your son's precious name. Amen.