Identification Truths Plus 2012
Courtney Hemenway · Dec 2, 2012
Identification Truths Plus, No. 47
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926336143764

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

We are on Lesson 25. I am going to, even though I said I didn't quite get through the intro that I wanted to as a review, since I only had 10 minutes last time, so a couple different things we got through about how do we live under grace. We started, we ended on that one. But what are the basic principles for believers to determine if a behavior is okay for us? Because we're not under law, right? We're all set with that, right? We're not under law, we're under what, grace? So if we're not under law, are we in this big open fishbowl to do whatever we want? So how do you know if a behavior is OK for you? We're going to expand on all these. But how do you know if something's OK for you? We talked last time that Randy liked to crack a beer once in a while.

We talked about Mike longing over going to the Bronco game. and that it masters him. You're putting words in his mouth. No, no, I would never do that. Never do that. You've got to realize, Mike and I have this iron sharp as iron. We punch each other just to make each other tougher. We do. So how do you know? things that build up believers. So if Randy has a beer, is that okay? That's for him to determine between him and God. Excellent point. Excellent point. That's one part of it. So how do you know?

I mean, because you don't have First Californians or First Hezekiah 8.6 that says thou shalt not touch this. Oh, okay.

You talked about fellowship last week. Fellowship? Didn't you talk about fellowship? I'm sure I did. What I thought I understood was that you didn't want to seem prudish or whatever or put somebody off. That there would be sometimes that when you're talking about being in Christ and so forth that you would consider that. If it was a time of fellowship and a time of...

I think part of it is doing it in love. I mean we have all things... Paul says, all things are lawful but not profitable. There are things that you can do that are perfectly legal, perfectly fine to do, but are they profitable? And that's where some of these things are done in love.

I'm thinking because it says in 1 Corinthians 6 verse 12, it says something about how it doesn't master you, but if it masters you, If it masters you, it's not okay, but if it doesn't master you, it's okay. That's mastering you. The way I say it is if you can take it away from you and you're okay, it's okay. If you take it away and you crumble, that's been mastering you. Does a guilt factor enter in when you have the Holy Spirit? It may be the Holy Spirit convincing you.

But a lot of times feelings are not, I mean you don't want to rule by feelings. I think mastered, feeling that's mastered, does that take feelings? Yes, yes, but you know, I guess I try and avoid just the feelings. It may be the Holy Spirit convicting you, convincing you, for you personally. You know, we'll get into things like you worry about him or not. We'll get into those, but it's really the mastery part of it. If it's mastering you, that's a key. I would say that the Holy Spirit does not accuse you and make you feel guilty. That's not his job. He may make you aware that this is not appropriate, but it's not on a guilt basis. Right.

And that's kind of what I guess the feelings, the guilt feelings. How do you get rid of the guilt feelings? There's a principle using the word principle, I guess. The flesh leads to guilt. And the flesh leads to guilt so that you will try to do more things in the flesh. The Holy Spirit convicts us unto relationship. When the Holy Spirit comes in and says, hey, this isn't right, he doesn't do that so you go, oh, I'm ashamed. He does it so that you say, oh, you confess your sin and walk in fellowship. So when you feel guilt, you know that's the flesh, and you know exactly what to do when you're walking with the flesh. I think also the Spirit of God, when He persuades you about something, He also instructs you as to what you should do. And that's where the convincing.

I think that's, if you feel uncomfortable about it, and maybe it's a feeling, I think, I wouldn't do it. Because I would feel, but if I'm uncomfortable at Him, That's a whole different issue. Okay, so I want to make that very clear about personal and somebody else. We're going to get into that. Some of that could tie in with the verse that we quote a lot about, there's no temptation or testing or trial that takes you, but God has provided a way for you to work through it. And I think that enters into this same thing, that if I'm so upset by something somebody else is doing that ruins the relationship between us. I need to take a look at my end. Yeah, from your end. Yeah, and that's really where we're going to get at in all of these principles. And the two things I came up with about, you know, if it's okay, it doesn't matter to you, number one, in great scripture.

The other is, does it cause someone to stumble? You know, those are the two kind of main ones that I look at. Does it cause somebody to stumble? The key is, though, what is the difference between stumbling and offending somebody? Offending is often the old man. Stumbling has to do with relationship, bringing them closer to God. Getting there. First part, yeah. I know what my answer is. I know what my answer is. No, you're getting to whatever.

Any other thoughts? What's the difference between stumbling somebody and offending somebody? Well, if you stumble, I mean, it would be like, I like to have a glass of wine sometimes. I know it's not terrible. And maybe something else. But I would, if I did that, Like with someone who just, I knew like they were an alcoholic. I would not want to drink in front of them. Okay, any other offending and stumbling? Holly, you look like you had something you were holding back there.

Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 8.13. Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble. Does that sound kind of law-ish? Yeah.

And stumbling. It's real key here is what the meaning of that stumbling is. Well, you'd be doing that in love if you didn't. to cause stumbling in the other person. I guess the thing we're getting at is what Paul really is addressing here. We confuse this issue a lot between offending and stumbling. It's very different. Paul's addressing stumbling and you got into it a little bit.

The way I would see the offending was if, well you're talking about a spin, a bad spin. But you know if you did something that in your mind was okay, you know, and so forth, but if you knew it was wrong in the other person's eyes, it would offend that person. It wouldn't cause that person to stumble, but it would offend them. Right. So offending and stumbling are two different things. Stumbling is drawing, and what Paul addresses here is having an action that causes somebody to go back into a sinful behavior.

And what he was talking about was the meat, and he made me clarify. This was basically the meat that was offered at the temple, which is where the temple prostitutes were. And so, what it meant was, if I eat this meat, they're going to have people go back, get the meat at the temple, and lo and behold, there are the prostitutes, and I'm right back into the world. That's what Paul was talking about.

It was having a behavior or something that would draw somebody back into a sinful behavior, alcoholism. You know you're with an alcoholic and you're having a few, knocking down a few, you might lead him back into that sinful behavior of being an alcoholic again. So, that's where he's talking about stumbling. Now, you know, if, as I said last week, if I go outside and after a night I'm going to go out and have a smoke outside, is that stumbling or offending?

You offended me. I offended you? 99% I'd be offending you. So is that what Paul's addressing here, stumbling somebody? No. So we want to get into this, you know, the difference between offending. A guy years ago told me this, and I love this, and it really helps me out.

He said, you choose to be offended. There's nothing you can do to me unless I choose to be offended. So, when you're offended, guess what? You chose to be offended. It's like the statement, he who angers you controls. Yeah, but the thought is, and this really helps, when you're offended, it's you who chose to be offended.

I mean, you could go beat my dog, you could slap my son, you could do whatever. Sorry. How'd you get dragged into this? You could do anything. But it's my choice to be offended. Just always remember that. You choose to be offended. So I use that a lot. Because if I'm offended, I have to look at myself. Why is it offending me? Now, there's a legitimate thing. I mean, if somebody went and slapped him, I would be obviously a little offended.

So just understand the difference between stumbling and offense. Because we meld those things together a lot of times and we say, well you had that glass of wine, I'm offended. You're stumbling. No you're not stumbling, you're just offending me. Well that's my problem, not yours. So have that glass of wine, have that beer, go to your Bronco game.

The thing that's funny is that a lot of that stuff we need to act, it should cause us to go back to the scriptures and see, am I offended because of culture? Is this the Holy Spirit? And we really need to have that fellowship and abiding principle be an underlying part of our response to things. And the abiding part is done in love.

If I know it irritates your socks off that I have you a glass of wine, and I know that, am I doing that in love? No, not at all. If I'm out there having my cigarette, I don't smoke by the way, having my cigarette, and it just irritates your socks, and I know it does, and I know it, and I know that. Is that done in love?

So, I mean, the liberty that we have is also underlined by abiding, love, all those different principles. Okay? Oh, he's going to hammer me on something I can see. He's going to hammer you in love. Yeah, exactly. We do it all in love when we beat each other up, so that's good.

One time on Facebook, there was a... That's your first problem, no. There was this train of thought and I mentioned something about in as loving way as I could and Jesus really is the only way and you really have to, you don't get cut dead without Jesus basically. And a friend of mine who I forgot was Jewish, she didn't roll me back and I can't believe you're so narrow minded and how in the world could you think Jesus is the only way? I'm Jewish, I have my own faith, you have your faith and I really offended him. How does that fit in?

You know, again, not at all. I think, you know, and we'll get into that where Peter, Paul were told not to preach the gospel by the Sanhedrin. Right. And did they go, OK, I'll do it. No, it's between believers, too, in this context. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that's a whole different thing as far as the gospel is offensive to the world. Right. So we can't use that as, you know, it's going to offend people. But we're told to preach the gospel.

So, again, all these principles are underlain by Scripture. If there's a principle that underlays this, you know, done in love, it has to be in accordance with Scripture. And we'll look into these things when we get into some of the different authorities and different things. And there are principles that guide these.

And if they violate those, then you know we're outside scripture and then we have to we have to amend or change it but offending the gospel will be offensive to the world and that's the scripture even says though the gospel is a stumbling block right and and we're told so that you're doing according to scripture if anything goes according to against scripture then it's out so now okay I'm I'm exercising my liberty as a believer And you as a believer come up to me and say to me, the exercise of your liberty offends me. Which one of us has sinned?

Me. Yeah. It's me. And we'll get into that. We're going to get into these spheres and what you can say and do and what we have. You know, we'll get into that. But that, it's mine. If I'm offended, it's my problem, not his. That's why I start out with that. You choose to be offended. Isn't the person who is offended trying to control the other person? If it's done maliciously, yes. I think, and that's why I say it, the underlying thing is in love. If you do it just to irritate my socks off. Oh, I would never do that. You'd always do that. Always do that. But I think that's what God's called us to do for some strange, weird reason. See, iron sharpens iron.

I don't know. And if you're doing it maliciously, then it's on him. But if it's just he's doing it, out of no malicious intent, then I'm the one who needs to evaluate and I'm in the wrong if I'm offended. But if he's doing it just to egg me on because he knows I hate something and he just does it just to get under my skin, then it's his problem because it's not on the underlying love concept.

So, you know, you should also ask, does it edify, does it glorify God? Am I doing it in love? So, if you see it in Ephesians 5, 1 through 2, 1 and 2, Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us as an offering to sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. So, walk in love. It's that love portion of it.

Alright, let's get to question one. Are there specific things in Scripture that detail human rights. I know this was going to probably egg people out. Maybe a better term, are there areas where God gives humans authority? I've got to get some answers on this.

Come on. Step up to the front. Take the first shot. Yes. Cheater. You know. Wouldn't it be like, you know, the leaders of our countries and stuff like that, they have authority. Perfect. And God-given authority. So, when Obama wins and you voted for the other guy, did God make a mistake? God doesn't make mistakes. Romans 13, he's the one who sets up governments and authorities. Okay, so, are there specific things in Scripture that give humans authority? Mike says yes. Any nays? You're all in agreement.

I thought this was hard to answer. The way I phrased it was probably bad, that's why. I thought it mostly had to do with governing, you know, local, state, whatever. And the Bible tells you to obey those authorities. Correct. So there is human rights or authorities. Yes. So you're agreeing with Mike. But we're going to see there are several different areas that he puts out these principles and authorities that we operate under grace. And that's where, even though we're under grace in liberty, which is fantastic, we're not under rules, regulations, and all this, but we operate under principles and certain authorities that the Lord has set up. And we'll see that, and actually that's one with governments, and that's what everybody kind of gleaned to, and that's Romans 13, 1 through 3.

Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore, whoever resists authority is opposed to the ordinance of God, and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. So, who set up the governments? God did.

So, there is an authority over us. So, you know, when I do 85 down I-25, Am I violating that authority that he has set up? Yeah. So even though I'm under law and I'm in liberty, I have grace, I still have to operate within the authorities that he's cut out. He has set up the government.

He said, I may not like all of them, and we'll get into that where an authority steps out of its sphere and goes against scripture, then there's that authority is negated. You know I like to think how the order of the most stars and spring and summer and fall and winter, I mean there is order in God's universe. And that's what we're saying. I think where government should create order among us, I think it's the same principle.

Well if you see actually what government, and I think I may get into it later, I will. I'll get into what government is. It's kind of funny. It's like two purposes. It's to alleviate evil, and I've got to remember the second one. Those are the purposes of government. That why he set government up. And I'll get to the verse later. I can't remember the second one right now. But there are two purposes of why he set up government. So there is a order. So there isn't this, you know, just anarchial society.

Okay, what about husbands and wives? Yeah. Ephesians 5, 22 and 24. Wives, be subject to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, and he himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.

Oh boy, are we going to have fun when we get into this one? I didn't put that one because it's not as direct as to the submission, subjection. Husbands have more criteria than wives, by far. And the submission here is really to put yourself under the teaching of your husband. That's really what that is. And it deals with respect and under the teaching of. But what if he is an alcoholic or a murderer or something? Are you supposed to still be subjected to that?

We're going to touch on that. Because I'll tell you, and you know, I If you look at these verses, and this is where, well, let me get into that real quick here. I'll get into that. I'll expand on that. Because that's an important thing. So we'll get on to that.

Husbands, I just didn't use that because it didn't have submission in there, but the husbands have the same thing. I'm just trying to get where there's actually words that say there's an authority. What about parents and children? What about them? Ephesians 6, 1. Children, obey your parents in the Lord. For what? It is right. So, it's interesting, the in the Lord phrase. Yeah, as in the Lord. Okay? And we'll get into some of those issues about, you know, if I'm a critic, bad. Does that negate that? So we'll get into all those topics later. What about the church and elders?

1 Timothy 5.17.

The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. Rule well. So is that an authority? So if we're under the elders of this body here, we are subject to their authority within the operation and teaching of this church and things like that. We're under their authority. If they rule well. Well, yeah. Who will rule well?

And that is, and we'll get into that too. We'll get into that. Qualifications in scripture for being in culture. Qualifications. We're going to get into, if you just don't like what they said. Yeah. Is that case enough to not be under their authority? That would be my... Now, if they're outside of scripture, then you have a different argument.

So we're going to get into all those things. Because there are spheres of authority that God has allowed to humans, but they're very limited and they're very specific. I had a thought while you were talking that the name of this class is identification. And the reason that it's such an important subject is that all humanity are slaves to sin.

That means that sin controls you and isn't the other way around. And so through the doctrine of identification you discover that you really are free. Free from what? Sin. Free to do what? to serve the Lord. Under a legal or sinful system, you're not free to do that.

So, when you get into principles like this, what we're really discussing is how that freedom functions after we have been set free via co-crucifixion, burial, resurrection, and the cross. Absolutely. That's why we do this, the way the class, even though Holly, I know you want the Holy Spirit, we're walking through, the identification is critical. I think that's the most misunderstood thing and that's why other things always pop up and there's incorrect doctrine and different things is because people don't have that solid foundation of the identification.

Because they're always trying to fix up the old man. They're always trying to do something. In grace it's the unmerited. You don't do things under grace. You don't have to. You do a lot of things to serve the Lord and we'll get into that, mastering. There are two masters and now we've gone from one to another. And what that means, we're going to touch on all these different things in these lessons coming up, this one and the next few.

But the identification is key that you know this co-crucifixion, the flesh has been dealt with. The sin nature has been judicially taken care of. We have then been crucified, placed into Christ, and so now he sees us in Christ. That's who he sees us in, yeah. And I read something about We're in Christ and Christ is in us. Christ doesn't live under the law. Oh yeah. He fulfilled the law.

Why would we expect that? We would. You know there was, I think there was, you know that brings me back. I had, you know, the other day I read one from the Hungry Heart thing. It was, it kind of touched on that. I meant to do that. Let me see here. I think it had it. Yeah, I like this. And it kind of touches a little bit on that. As a Christian, I am now in Him before the Father, as He is in me before man. And the Holy Spirit has been given as an enablement to enjoy the privileges above and to make good the responsibilities below. Well, this is the Hungry Heart. This is a bunch of, it's kind of an anthology, daily devotional. None but the Hungry Heart. Ask Mike for it. Yeah, Mike. And if you want these, they're really good, and it's good to get it actually at the first of the year, because they kind of build upon each other.

And there's 12 different series that you basically, Miles Stanford put together. It's a bunch of a bunch of the Old Brethren teaching a lot, and a lot of the things we teach, he's kind of capsulized into daily devotionals. And it's great from the normal devotional, it kind of says go out and, you know, walk somebody across the street, or go down and serve at a homeless shelter, or something like that. A lot of devotionals. This basically walks you through the identification, who you are, and all these truths. So you can talk to Mike about that. They're great.

And it's good to get it the first year, because if you start in January, you can just read one each day, and so you don't have to get confused. If you start in March, and you start with one, it gets confusing. Well, Kortney, you better warn people. If you buy it, you're going to be buying seven or eight of them, because you'll be handing them out to your friends.

But they're great, they're basically just some good things. It's better than just kind of feel good and you know, it's walking you through the identification, kind of who you are as a sinner and then the identification and then how you spiritually grow, identifying that old man. and what that entails, and manifesting Christ. And it kind of walks you through a lot of that, and it's really good.

I mean, that's one of the things I said last week. I think Helen was going to say what she was reading in the newspaper. You know, I've said, mine is usually I read one of the Hungry Heart of the Bible, and then one of the other, Miles had a whole bunch of stuff, different spiritual anthology, I think I've quoted a bunch, and some things like that. I like to know what the enemy's doing, so that's why. I like to figure out after I've been strengthened in the word. I like to do that. I'm glad you're doing this. I don't want to go off in the rose garden too far.

But churches split and marriages get ruined by not recognizing We'll get into that, and I touch on that, and that's a tough one to swallow sometimes. Because, and this as a husband, I can tell you, I've struggled with this, and I'm learning, I still learn. You know, as I'm supposed to love my wife, as Christ loved the church, and there's a whole bunch of criteria. You think the wives have their submission, but look at the qualifications for what a husband's supposed to do.

I come to the point where I can't do that. I can only do it through the Spirit guiding me and convincing me and convicting me of who I am in Christ. Because I can't do what it tells me to be as a husband. Now, the other thing is though, and this is the hard pill to swallow, am I supposed to do that because my wife is submissive? No. Is there any link between my being a husband like Christ and a wife being submissive? Is it okay if you are divorced to be here?

I don't know. I think this is all new. You're fine. Actually there are a lot of things talked about a divorced woman and equally yoked, unequally yoked. There's a whole bunch of different things in there. So there are a bunch of specifics. There is allowed divorce. And so no, we're not. No. You're perfectly fine to be here. That's great. So is the length the opposite way then too? Is that what you're going to say? That's what I was going to say. And that's the thing.

Wives being submissive. If your husband sits on the couch in his underwear and watches TV and has a beer once in a while and doesn't clean the dishes and whatever, does that mean you're not supposed to be submissive to his teaching? Well, if he's there, he's not much of a teacher. But are you to be submissive under it? Are you supposed to be angry? Are you supposed to be whatever because he's not doing his part of the deal?

Scripture says very clearly, you're supposed to do your part. because it has an influence on the other part. There are a bunch of things in the marriage and that's why I say there's a whole bunch in divorce and this and that and whether unequally yoked and how you witness and what to witness and whether you're the believer or not the believer or the unequally yoked. There's a whole... Scripture is very replete on a lot of that.

But I'm just getting to the fact that these don't have a switch either way. The wife's supposed to be submissive if he's Christ-like. If he's just, you know, Sunday school teacher and has a halo over his head, then I'm submissive. Or, I'm supposed to love you as a wife, Christ-like, only when you're submissive. They don't have those hooks. And that's a tough one to swallow. Because ours is usually, well, if you do it, it's a payback. We're back into this merit system. Grace is not a merit system.

I guess it shows Christ's death on the cross too. It was kind of submitting, you know, although it was within his plan, you know, he placed himself there. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, you know, we go back into our identification. What did we bring to the table in salvation? Sin, a corpse, we're dead. We came to the table with a lot of really good stuff. We offered up a lot for his submitting and fulfilling what he agreed to with God the Father. That's what we come with.

For a husband, love your wife like Christ loved the church. Can I do that? Can I do that in my flesh? Well, Christ loved the church unconditionally. Unconditionally. That means if my wife's not submissive, that Christ-like stuff's out the door until she's submissive. So, we're actually getting to that in the second question. What happens when a human rule or authority orders something that is not in harmony with Scripture? So, we've actually got one of the ones that covered was, you know, the husband one.

What about as a child, you have a parent that seems to have many rules, Can you disobey the parent under these circumstances? I went to see the Shirley Temple movie. And you weren't supposed to? Oh, no. Oh, no. I snuck away. So, can you disobey them because they have a lot of rules? Well, you can, but you're not supposed to. Well, a lot of people bring up like with that thing as like Hitler. I guess you can't.

You would go, like if you were a Christian, I guess, you would do If it's something like that, which is against the scripture, which is against God, you could do it, but I guess you suffer the consequences of getting killed. Right. And that's it. And we're doing that. If it goes against scripture, and we'll see that with Paul and Peter, who knows, that the Sanhedrin said, don't do it. And they said, we're either going to follow man or follow God. And then you follow God and you suffer the consequences. Yeah. But that's where we're talking about these authorities.

So what about an elder who teaches from the scripture on something that you don't like? Do you have the right to ignore that teaching? I said that earlier. Do you have the right to ignore it just because you don't like it? No, you search the scripture to verify that that becomes really a thing. As long as it's under the scripture, then you're fine. And then you need a revolt, right? Was that all things in love? In love? What was that?

So, when can you disobey the authority that God has established? Under what circumstances? We already kind of touched on this. Under what circumstances? When it exceeds the authority that God gave it in the scripture. Right. And if it goes contrary to scripture. So within the authority that it gives, And then also that it goes against the scripture. Those are the two kind of criteria if you're getting out from under that authority that God has established.

Case in point is that the apostles continued teaching in Jerusalem when they were ordered by the Sanhedrin to stop teaching. This is in Acts 5, 27 and 29. When they had brought them, they stood before the council. The high priest questioned them, saying, We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet you fulfill Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. But Peter and the apostles answered, We must obey God rather than men.

So, they were obeying God's commands, not the scripture, but their command, God's order for them against the Sanhedrin. An authority set up by God, an authority, but it was contrary to scripture. So they were okay to go outside that authority and do what God had said in the scripture or had told them. Again, when it exceeds its authority or goes against scripture, that principle or that authority that God has cut out for humans, that's when you don't have to be under that authority or that sphere. So, question three, what does Christian freedom mean? I'll give you that Webster's definition of freedom. Is the quality or state of being free, independence, exemption or release?

I love the last one. We need Monique here. A political right. So, as a Christian, are you free? Well, you've been bought with a price. In reality, in one way, you're not free because you're under a Christ. Yep, good. What was that? We're no longer under sin and we're free. Liberty, I just blew it. Combining Galatians. We're not under law anymore. And we're no longer slaves. And we're not slaves to it. No longer slaves to sin. Because Christ is living through us and Christ isn't under the law.

Good. Could I take it that far? You can. I think it's important here to understand that freedom is not freedom from authority. We as human beings are always going to be under some sort of authority. It's either going to be sin or a law system or it's going to be grace. In any sense we are not free independent thinkers, you know, in spite of what the Constitution says. We'll get into that. I mean, we're going to expand on what this means to be free. And so, I said, you know, as Christian you're free.

If you look at Galatians 5.1, stand fast, and this is the New King James Version, stand fast, therefore, in the liberty by which Christ has made us free. and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage. If you look at it in the New American Standard, the first part is a little bit changed. It was for freedom that Christ set us free, therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery.

So it's interesting that the word for liberty and set us free are exactly the same word. Freedom and liberty, set us free or liberty, are both the same word in the Greek. So, the same word, liberty or freedom. So, Paul is saying, stand fast in your freedom or your liberty.

So, does it mean you can do as you please? No? Okay, so does it mean we're not obligated to service? That's very confusing to me, is that we live under grace and so, you know, like, Most of my life it's been like, well, I should do this, now I should do that.

And yet you want to do these things, and then I get, that really confuses me. And that's the, you know, and this is where I think like Paul in Galatians, this is where I have said many times, Paul in Galatians is really, And then he's telling him, stand fast in the liberty. That's got to be just mind-blowing to those guys.

Like you, when you suddenly see what grace is, it's not a do's and don'ts. It's not a set of laws and if I have that glass of wine, I have to do it sneakily because there's nothing... I got over that one. But the do's and the don'ts. Grace is free. totally freeing and liberating.

And the thing that people tend to drag along is that guilt. Why do you have the guilt? Does God look at your sin anymore? Today's sins, tomorrow's sins, yesterday's sins. Does he look at it anymore? But she's kind of going the other way. She's going out toward sin, but saying service. But then we go back into identification. Who's the one who wants to do something? The old man. And I use my example myself.

And the old church that I was in, I tell you, I built a million dollar building and I wanted no recognition by anybody. But in my heart, doing it was, God, you're pretty happy with me, aren't you? I don't want any of these people to see anything, but I'm looking up going, pretty proud of me, aren't you? Because what I've done, that's why you sent me and your wife. What was that about the flaming darts? The thing that can get awkward there is what are you doing it for? If you're doing it to try to please someone, whether you're acting as a it's very clear in scripture that we are to do good works. And it's, we're back to that love operation.

And by doing it for the duty part and recognition part, like the old man wants that, and I find that all the time. Professor, you know, a professor. Boy, that puts me on a pedestal better than... I think the thing is... I understand. I understand that. I understand that. But I'm talking about what I feel within myself.

Grace is not something, you know, just, I came like maybe two or three months ago, or two or three weeks ago, that just blew my mind. So now I struggle with that, but you can't, I'm reading those books, what, Miles? Oh, Miles Stanford, the Green Letters and some of those, yeah. But it isn't something like, before, you know, when you join the church. I want to understand, but that's going to take time. You know what?

I'm going to order that. No. A hungry heart. That's what is necessary, I think. You have a hungry heart. These truths are different. They are. But it's so freeing, because it's not on you anymore. And when you realize you have to do something, you feel guilty because you didn't, you know, we're talking about Helen, you know, helping the lady and feeling guilty about not being able to help her after her knee is trashed. Don't worry about that. I mean, it's not, you don't feel, I'll say it a little bit, it's the motive.

I go back to what the identification truths teach us, which we have been co-crucified, the old man has been dealt with. We have now been placed into a new birth in Christ, a new creature, new in kind, new in quality, completely different. They both reside in us.

But as that life becomes more manifest, it's like the second Peter 3.18, to know, to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ.

That's the key. So as you know him, it's a life. I go back to the thing that Christ didn't wake up every morning and go, you know, I've got to help her and I've got to do that. And that father, he has my checklist for today. It's a life. I always go back to it's a life. And as that life is manifest, as you know who you are in Christ and who Christ is, that's who you are.

And it's not a guilt feeling if you don't do that or you do do that. That's the old man on a metric system. It's, it's, I've got to do something. When you have to do something, really evaluate whether that's the old man saying, you know, you really have to pump yourself up because God, God's going to look at you a little differently if you just do this. It shouldn't, there shouldn't be anything. The motive should be just because that's who you are in Christ.

It's not out. And it's very freeing because it doesn't, you're not required to do anything. It's unmerited. That's why we go into this unmerited part so hard. in grace is because it's unmerited. But then the tough part is if you do feel or whatever, want to do something, then you second guess yourself. Am I doing this because I'm thinking this or am I doing this? Guess what? The minute you do that, you've already had the answer. grace motivates you to trust God to live his life through you and so as you learn that you find that my goodness he's given me this freedom to love somebody who under any other circumstances I would ignore or to do whatever he's called me to do or what the word has called me to do I can't do I can't love my wife like the word calls me I can't live 15 seconds as a believer in and of my own strength and my own willpower and my own anything.

I can't do it. It's impossible. So the more spiritual person is the more dependent person. Exactly. And what grace teaches you is to be dependent. And we're going to see that slaves to righteousness are slaves to sin. We've changed masters. But is that contrary to being a master in this freedom, this liberty?

We're going to explore that. Because there are some really interesting scriptures that kind of lay this out going, boy, if you just read this, how does that make sense? So we're going to get into it. We've got three questions done. So we'll start on number four. All right, let's close.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you again just for your operating system of grace. And Father, we realize that it's not something we can just look out into nature and see and figure out. Lord, we have to study it and to see how this system operates. And we thank you for all that you've done in grace and what that means.

It's unmerited and unlimited blessings based on the in that fact and realize that is we can't do it. There's no way we can do what you've told us to do unless we're abiding in Christ. So Lord we just give you thanks for this time we've been able to study and we just pray for Vern upstairs just since he gives the message just prepare our hearts to receive it Lord we do all these things in Jesus name. Amen.