August 7, 2025 • 39 mins
Grace changes everything. When we truly understand it, we stop seeing our Christian life as a list of rules and start experiencing the freedom of relationship with Jesus. This message explores the radical idea that when you have Jesus, you truly have everything you need.
Drawing from 2 Corinthians 7, we discover that God has placed each of us exactly where we are for a purpose. Whether in marriage or singleness, wealth or poverty, health or illness—our circumstances don't define us. What matters is our relationship with Christ and our willingness to walk with Him wherever we are.
The most revolutionary truth? The commands of the new covenant aren't the 613 laws of the Old Testament. They're simply faith and love—trusting in Jesus and allowing His love to flow through us to others. We're not called to produce love but to reflect it, like the moon reflects the sun's light. Our role isn't to strive but to receive and then allow His love to naturally overflow from our lives.
Perhaps the most freeing realization is that God is never angry with believers. Because Jesus fully satisfied God's wrath against sin on the cross, there's no anger left for those in Christ. When we sin, our instinct is often to hide from God out of shame, but grace teaches us to run toward Him instead. The enemy tempts us to sin, then condemns us afterward—but grace gives us a different response.
Ready to stop performing and start receiving? Listen as we explore how God's sufficient grace transforms everything about how we view our relationship with Him and with others. You'll never see your Christian life the same way again.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, something's got to change.
That is the title of today'ssermon.
Father, I pray that you wouldshow us how perfect your grace
is.
Show us how praiseworthy andglorious you are, jesus, how
much better and brighter andmore perfect you are than
(00:20):
everything this world offers us.
In your name, we pray Amen.
All right, we're going to finishup the second half of 2
Corinthians, chapter 7, today,and so I got two jokes for you.
I'm just going to kick it off,right with jokes.
Speaking of change, are yousurprised how little people
(00:41):
change?
Actually, the process is thesame.
They just have smaller clothes.
No offense, all right, my wifesaid that she was angry with me
because of my obsession withwearing different clothes like
every half hour.
Right, and I said wait, wait,wait, don't be angry with me, I
(01:04):
can change.
All right, you just threw themback at me.
They're untransferable,non-transferable.
Jesus points.
All right, it says in 2Corinthians.
(01:24):
We're starting in verse 17.
But as God has distributed toeach one Jesus points, see,
distributed as the Lord hascalled each one.
So let him walk.
And so I ordained in all thechurches.
So this means you haveeverything you need when you
(01:47):
have Jesus, when you got Jesus,you have everything that you
need.
There's a huge temptation tobecome something more or become
something different than whatyou are.
When you came to Jesus, likeyou need something more.
God does have a purpose for youand it says that he has
(02:12):
distributed to each one.
That means he has chosen yourlife for you.
He chose when you would be born, to who you would be born, what
nation you would live in.
All the things of your life hechose specifically for you and
it was all for the purpose thathe could call you At some point
(02:36):
in your life.
He would call you to be his,his friend, and then to be his
instrument in this world thathe's placed you in.
That was the purpose for yourlife.
Sometimes people say what isthe purpose of my life?
I want my life to have meaning.
I want my life to have purpose.
(02:57):
Your purpose was that you wouldbe called and that you would
then be God's instrument, toknow him and then be used by him
.
Because God is giving.
That's what the worddistributed means.
God was, he's out there,distributing.
He's giving.
He gives you life.
Then he calls you to live thatlife with him and it says
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walking with him.
You're supposed to walk withhim.
He says so, let him walk Onceyou've been called.
He says your purpose now is towalk with him.
He says so, let him walk Onceyou've been called.
He says your purpose now is towalk with me.
God didn't save you so that youcould do a bunch of stuff for
him.
He didn't save you because heneeds people to vacuum.
He saved you to walk with himor walk right next to me.
(03:39):
That's cool.
It's totally cool, guys.
No worries In the churches,paul taught every church the
same exact principle when youhave Jesus, you have everything
that you need.
You don't need something.
You don't need anything tochange on the outside, which
(04:02):
means your circumstances whenyou're born again on the inside.
That is where life comes from.
What more could God give youthan he's already given you?
I want you to think about thatquestion.
What more could God give youthan he's already given you when
he gave you Jesus?
(04:23):
Did God give you just a littlebit of Jesus when you got saved,
and then you have to reallywork hard to get all of the Holy
Spirit or all of Jesus?
No, it says.
God filled you with all thefullness of himself when you
believed, and this is whatyou've been called to.
We don't live a life beggingfor scraps from God.
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We live a life thanking him foran abundant life of grace.
We abound in praise and thanksfor this abundant life that he's
already given to us.
So does God want me to becomemore religious?
(05:07):
Everyone should shout no, noone gets Jesus points because no
one shouted.
Just kidding.
You should be throwing tomatoesat me when I ask silly
questions like that.
Does God want me to become morereligious?
No, look what he says.
Was anyone called whilecircumcised?
(05:29):
Let him not becomeuncircumcised.
Was anyone called whileuncircumcised?
Let him not be circumcised,because circumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing,but keeping the commandments of
God is what matters.
So we're not going tounderstand this verse if you're
not wearing grace glasses, ifyou haven't been with us through
(05:52):
the 13, 14 weeks that we'vebeen learning about his grace
really hardcore.
You're going to read this andyou're going to be like oh okay,
so I need to follow the 10commandments, but that's not
what he's talking about, becausewhen you have the grace glasses
on, you're not going to see arelationship with God as a
religious list of rules, becausethat's what our tendency is,
that's what so many churchesstruggle with is they make
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church and God about a religiouslist of rules.
You know what one rule they hadback in the day that they
really loved Circumcision Woo.
They were big fans.
You know why?
Because it set you apart fromall the dirty people.
It set you apart from all thesinners.
(06:40):
They were big fans.
And that's exactly what happenstoday.
Churches and we get obsessedwith specific rules that we
think are easy to follow.
Oh, I don't struggle with thattemptation, so I can just make
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that the rule that shows howcool I am and how godly I am and
how great I am.
If we don't have grace glasses.
We will act like that.
We will behave like that.
When he says keeping thecommands of God, he's not
(07:23):
talking about the oldcommandments of law, but the new
commandments of faith and love.
So the law had anyone knowhere's an opportunity for Jesus
points how many commands are inthe Old Testament?
Who said Ten?
(07:45):
You're way off.
There's ten big ones.
But then there's I hear yousaying it 613, alan.
Okay, you get three Jesuspoints.
You get seven Jesus pointsminus two for Mark.
Just so you guys know Jesuspoints are all fake.
(08:09):
You guys know this, right.
Okay, it's all fake because Goddoesn't give Jesus points.
Okay, right, so there's 613laws and commands in the old
covenant.
Anyone can name them all.
Alan, no, just kidding, ofcourse not all right, because
that's a system that nobodycould keep all of it.
(08:29):
I mean, have you ever tried tokeep the 10?
You can't even do it for anhour.
We're already breaking themalready.
Probably.
No, the old covenant has itsrules.
The new covenant has differentcommands.
So the command in the newcovenant is faith and love,
(08:50):
faith and love.
Faith in Jesus is what the newcovenant demands.
So you're never going to beperfect, but if you have faith
in Jesus, god gives youperfection.
You're not going to keep allthe law, but if you have faith
in Jesus, god gives you his lifein exchange for your life and
you are now perfect.
You have now kept the law, eventhough you personally didn't
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keep the law.
Jesus kept the law, but hisrighteousness is credited to you
.
It's given to you for free.
That's how the new covenantworks.
That's the command.
You have to trust in Jesus.
If you don't trust in Jesus andyou still trust.
Well, I go to church a lot, soGod will see me as holy and
righteous.
That will not work.
You'll get to heaven and Godsays why should I let you into
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my heaven?
And you'll say because I wentto church and I was a good
person and my parents wereChristians and I was an American
, I was born in Texas.
And God will say I'm sorry, butthat's way not good enough.
You have to be more perfectthan the perfect person that
ever lived.
You have to have perfectrighteousness to enter my
perfect heaven.
Because I'm kind of perfecthere, guy, all we can plead is
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Jesus.
That's the only thing.
Why should I let you into myheaven?
Only because of Jesus, becausemy trust is in him, my faith is
in him.
And he'll say enter in to myjoy, my beloved's child.
We'll already know, but yeah.
So faith is the command andlove is the command.
(10:19):
Faith in Jesus and the love ofJesus living through us.
This describes relationship.
Okay, 613 rules is there anyrelationship in those rules?
Meh, no relationship.
It is all do this and live,don't do it and die.
All performance-based religiousliving.
(10:40):
We have relationship.
Jesus, I actually trust in youand Jesus, I need you to come in
me and live out your love.
I have faith in him and helives his love through me after
he gives his love to me.
That's veryrelationship-centered, isn't it?
And that's the differencebetween law and grace.
I believe in him and hefulfills his loving promises to
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me.
So faith and love, faith andlove, they go together.
That's the commands of Jesus.
Let's read Galatians 5, 6, andsee if we see that.
For in Christ Jesus, neithercircumcision nor uncircumcision
avails anything.
Wow, he says the same thingthere as we just read right.
Then he says Then he says butfaith working through love.
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So that's how the gospel worksFaith working through love.
Why doesn't circumcision matter?
Or any religious rule?
He just picked that one becausethat was the big one that
everyone loved, because inChrist we have a union with
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Christ.
So rules don't avail, rulesdon't work, rules don't change
Christians.
Our new lives, through this newcovenant that we've been given,
are faith-based, not rule-based.
So we trust in Jesusexclusively.
We have to trust in himexclusively and Jesus shares his
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love to us and through us, andthis describes again the
relationship we have with God,or we call it our union with
Christ.
I trust in him.
He lives through me.
It's not religion.
It's not a list of rules oroutward measurements of how good
or bad we are.
It's a life of faith in him,and then he lives through us.
(12:34):
I've said the same thing likefour times in four different
ways, but we're never going tostop talking about this, because
this is the gospel he livesthrough us.
Are we sure this is about thecommands of Jesus?
Are we sure that's what itmeans?
Well, let's read 1 John 3.23.
It says and this is hiscommandment that we should
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believe, that's faith, right Onthe name of his son, jesus and
love.
Do you see him again?
The two go together always loveone another, as he gave us
commandment.
So twice John says this is hiscommandment faith, love.
That's his commandment.
Do we get it?
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Is it clear enough?
Yes, that's it.
The way of Jesus, the way of thegospel, the way of the new
covenant is to trust him andthen his love.
Let his love overwhelm you andflow through you to other people
.
But let's look at where Jesusactually told us this himself,
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so let's let him speak forhimself.
In John 6, 28 and 29, it saysThen they said to him what shall
we do that we may work theworks of God?
And Jesus answered and said tothem this is the work of God,
that you believe in him, who hesent.
This is as clear as you couldbe about the believe part, the
faith part.
You can do nothing to measureup to God's perfect standard.
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So God set us free by the lifeand death of Jesus, and
believing that is now our life.
There is no law that we canobey that can change all the
rules we broke.
When you, when someone breaksthe law, what do you call them?
A lawbreaker?
It doesn't matter which lawthey broke.
They are a lawbreaker.
(14:29):
It is now their identity.
So God offers us grace insteadof laws.
He promises to save all who puttheir trust in Jesus
exclusively.
Our trust has to be exclusivelyin him, not mixing him with
anything else, not just to saveyou.
So when Jesus says you believeand then you're saved, yes,
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we're saved, but it's not justto save you, but he saves you to
invade you.
He saves you to invade you, tocome in and live through you.
God says he's going to takeover your inner life by
replacing your invisible spiritthat was dead to God, with his
Holy Spirit that's alive to God.
(15:14):
And that is what Jesus says howwe do the good works that we're
supposed to do.
We're supposed to do good works.
We're supposed to be nice.
We're supposed to be kind.
We're supposed to be loving Allthe things we're supposed to do
.
How?
By believing in his sufficiency.
Then what?
Well, look at what Jesus saysabout the next part, john 13, 34
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.
A new command might give to youthat you love one another as I
have loved you, that you alsolove one another.
By this, all will know that youare my disciples if you have
love for one another.
Okay, now I gotta pause righthere, because in the law, in the
Old Testament, the message ofthe law was to love God with all
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your heart, soul, mind andstrength, and to love your
neighbor as yourself.
Remember, they actually came toJesus.
Some lawyers came to Jesus andthey're like hey, jesus, what's
the greatest commandment in thelaw?
What did he say?
Love God with all your heart.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Right, that is completelydifferent than this.
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This is a new command, becausethose commandments were laws
Love God or what you die.
Okay, so let me tell you We'veall broken this command.
Okay, I'll prove it to you.
Do you love God?
Yes, I love God.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Do you love God.
Yes, I love God.
Oh no, no, no, no, no, no.
Do you love God the way hedeserves to be loved?
(16:44):
All of us should say no,because that's the law-based
version of love.
Okay, it's you do it.
You do it perfectly, or you dieThen.
Do you love other people?
Of course, I love other people.
No, you don't.
Do you love other people theway they deserve to be loved, at
all times, even though we'reacting like goobers?
No, we don't.
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We fail because that's the law.
This is totally different thanthat old covenant commandment to
love God and love others.
Is loving God and loving otherswrong?
Is it bad?
No, it's perfect.
But Jesus is giving ussomething new and something
different.
It's rooted the way.
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This is different.
Is this Ready?
This is so cool.
It's rooted in the love Jesushas for us.
He says as I have loved you.
Do you see that differencethere, those words not included
in the old covenant Love God,love others.
Why?
Because I said so.
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That's law.
This is love one another.
Why, as I have loved you, letmy love sink into you, transform
you and then allow it to leakout of you.
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This love we have now in the newcovenant is a reflection of the
love we receive and walk in inthe new covenant of grace.
There's nothing you have toproduce, you're simply
reflecting it.
You know the moon is not bright, the moon is a rock.
But we look up at the sky andwe're like, oh, the moon's so
bright.
Oh, you scientificallyinaccurate person.
The moon is simply whatReflecting the light of the sun.
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So be the moon.
The new covenant says be themoon, reflect the light of the
sun.
Oh, I just got that.
That was a good one.
You don't even have to payextra for that one.
That one's right through me,from the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit empowers us tolove this way, to live this way,
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not with rules.
He's not going to tell you youshould love.
He's going to be like look howmuch I love you and go do
whatever you want.
That's scary.
You can't tell people to dowhatever they want.
Yes, you can, because they'regoing to do whatever they want
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anyway.
If you connect them to the loveof Christ.
His love will actuallytransform what you want to do,
and that is called the freedomwith which Christ has set us
free.
Do you get to do whatever youwant?
Yes, you will.
Anyway, you're going to do whatyou want, but his love
transforms what brings you joy.
And now, sin won't ever satisfyyou again.
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Once you've tasted his love,what could be better?
What was the first thing we'relearning today?
If you have Jesus, you don'tneed anything else.
You don't need anything else.
Alright, your life isn't abouthow good you follow Jesus or the
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rules, sorry.
Your life isn't about how goodyou follow the rules, but in
your relationship with Jesus offaith and love.
So now, when we totallyunderstand what Paul is thinking
when he says circumcision isnothing and uncircumcision is
nothing, but keeping thecommandments of God is what
matters.
It's not about rules, it'sabout receiving his love through
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faith and then his love livingthrough you.
Those are the commands of JesusFaith and love, faith and love,
faith and love.
Memorize it.
What does Jesus command me todo?
Faith and love.
My faith towards him, his lovetowards me.
That's what changes our life.
Well, what about mycircumstances?
Will Jesus change my life inthat way?
He says this let each one remainin the same calling in which he
(20:54):
was called.
What does this mean?
It means don't follow Jesus forhim to change the same calling
in which he was called.
What does this mean?
It means don't follow Jesus forhim to change the outward
things in your life, but don'tbe surprised when he does either
.
Jesus always works from theinside out, okay, so don't focus
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on things on the outside.
Focus on are you receiving hislove on the inside, and then the
outward stuff will take care ofitself.
But he says don't seek thosethings, just be content to
remain in the place in which youwere called.
He says were you called while aslave?
Don't be concerned about it.
Easy for him to say right, butif you can be made free, rather
(21:40):
use it.
He says yeah, you might get setfree.
God might work that out.
Don't focus on it, don't worryabout it.
Don't be concerned about it.
Just receive the love of theLord and let him take care of
your life.
For he who is called for, he whois called in the Lord while a
slave, is the Lord's freed man.
Likewise, he who is called inthe Lord while a slave is the
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Lord's freed man.
Likewise, he who is calledwhile free is Christ's slave.
You were bought at a price.
Do not become slaves of men,brethren.
Let each one remain with God,with God in the state in which
he was called.
So Jesus changed your identity,which changes how we view
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everything.
That's putting on the graceglasses.
Okay, I see the world nowthrough what he says about me,
what he did for me.
So I am not a slave.
I'm a missionary of grace inthis horrible company that I
work for.
I'm a missionary of Jesuswherever I'm at.
I'm not a slave.
God's in control of my life.
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God can move me out if he wants, or he can keep me here.
It does not matter to me whereI am.
That's the freedom we have.
You are free to not giveanything, a single anything,
(23:07):
about where you're at or yourcircumstances, because God is
with you and God will move youand God will keep you and God
will uphold you.
Nothing matters because Jesusloves me so much.
That's why this is so crazy,and this freedom is something
the world cannot understand.
What do you mean?
Your life is terrible.
Your marriage sucks.
(23:28):
Your kids are this, yourfamily's that?
Your job is this.
Don't you want things to change?
Jesus says when you have me,you don't need anything to
change.
I am everything for you.
I'm your whole life.
I will meet every single one ofyour needs.
I'm not a slave.
(23:48):
I'm God's spy, infiltrating thekingdom of darkness with his
light and love.
I was free to do whatever Iwanted, but now I'm free to do
what my Father in heaven puts inmy heart, and he'll make the
way for that to happen.
We're now in verse 25.
(24:11):
What about my relationships?
Will they change?
What if I'm engaged and Ibecome a believer?
Should I abandon thatrelationship?
Well, those are some goodquestions.
Let's see what he says Nowconcerning virgins or people who
are not yet married.
I have no commandment from theLord yet I give judgment as one
whom the Lord, in his mercy, hasmade trustworthy.
So I suppose, therefore, thatit is good, because of the
(24:31):
present distress we'll talkabout that in a second that it
is good for a man to remain ashe is.
Are you bound to a wife?
Do not seek to be loosed.
Are you loosed from a wife?
Do not seek a wife.
But even if you do marry, youhave not sinned.
And if a virgin marries, shehas not sinned.
Nevertheless, such will havetrouble in the flesh.
(24:53):
But I would spare you.
Probably because the presentdistress and what he's talking
about here.
It's probably because Rome wastorturing Christians at this
moment, burning them alive andsaying recant, and tell me who
you're.
You know who you.
You know Batman.
Where is he?
Right, john, we had a Batmanmarathon this week.
(25:15):
Yeah, so they were torturingChristians and it's hard to you
know, when you have a wife andthey're like we're going to
torture your wife right in frontof you, unless you recount.
It's hard to go through that.
It's a really rough thing.
So you know, that's probablywhat they would go through.
But he says but I say this,brethren, the time is short, so
(25:35):
that from now on, those who havewives should be as though they
had none, and those who weep asthough they did not weep, those
who rejoice as though they didnot rejoice, those who buy as
though they did not possess, andthose who use this world as not
misusing it.
Basically, what he's sayinghere is everything in your life,
life should be about the gospeland the kingdom of God, not
(25:58):
yourselves.
So if you're married, he wantsyou to stay married and love
your wife.
But it's not even about yourhappiness, it's about the
kingdom of God.
You need to love your wifebecause it's about the kingdom
of God, not about you.
Like we talked about last week,if you're single, great, it's
still about the kingdom of God.
That's why God has you in thatplace.
(26:19):
So all of the lesson is thesame in this chapter when you
have Jesus, you have everythingthat you need.
He is sufficient for your joy,for your happiness, and so many
things can become distractionsto us, but when we're focused on
Jesus and his kingdom that'swhat he's saying is the right
way.
Jesus and his kingdom that'swhat he's saying is the right
(26:45):
way.
Again, for the form of thisworld is passing away, but I
want you to be without care.
He who is unmarried cares forthe things of the Lord how he
may please the Lord but he whois married cares about the
things of the world how he mayplease his wife.
There is a difference between awife and a virgin.
The unmarried woman cares aboutthe things of the Lord, that
she may be both holy in body andspirit, but she who is married
cares about the things of theworld how she may please her
(27:06):
husband.
Again, there's nothing wrongwith being married.
It's not bad, it's just focusedlove.
So you're focusing all yourlove on one person, and when
you're not married, you canfocus your love on loving all
the world.
And this I say for your ownprofit, not that I might put a
leash on you but for what isproper that you may serve the
(27:29):
Lord without distraction.
See, the point is thedistraction part.
But if any man thinks he'sbehaving improperly toward his
virgin or his betrothed, likesomeone he's engaged with, if
she's past the flower of youth,that means she's ready to get
married and thus it must be.
Let him do as he wishes.
So they would be betrothed whenthey're like 10 years old,
really young, and then theywould arrive at the age where
(27:51):
it's time to get married andpeople are like, should we get
married?
And he's like, yeah, getmarried, it's fine, you want to
get married, get married.
He says he does not sin, sin,let them marry.
Nevertheless, he who standssteadfast in heart, having not
no necessity, but has power overhis own will, and has so
determined in his heart that hewill keep his virgin, his fiance
(28:11):
, you know he does well.
So the one who gives her amarriage does well, but the one
who does not give her inmarriage does better.
Okay, all of it is to say yourlife isn't about the distraction
and if you focus on Jesus youcan be in any situation and be
good.
What if I'm widowed is the nextquestion he's going to answer.
(28:32):
He says a wife is bound by lawas long as her husband lives,
but if her husband dies, she isat liberty to be married to whom
she wishes, only in the Lord.
But she is happier if sheremains as she is.
According to my judgment, and Ithink I also have the Spirit of
God so when it comes torelationships, they all take,
(28:54):
they all require investment andeffort.
Okay, relationships all do that.
Love costs our time and ourattention and our sacrifice, and
so getting married is signingup to love one person more than
everyone else, includingyourself.
That's what marriage is.
(29:14):
In the Bible, paul says that'sgood, it's really good.
But there's another way to livewhere you can love everyone
with all your energy, and that'scool too.
But you have to have the giftof singleness or self-control to
be able to serve God in thatway.
Okay, so it's clear.
But here's the main point again, going back to the top of our
(29:36):
chapter here, verse 14, it saysor 17,.
But as God has distributed toeach one, as the Lord has called
each one, let him so walk, soGod has distributed, god has
given each one of us grace Fromour very lives.
You were born.
That was a grace God gave you.
(29:58):
He chose your family, you knowto this.
Eventually we meet him, webecome a believer and a new
relationship with him.
It's all free from self-lifeand completely dependent on
Jesus for everything.
Did you choose where you wereborn?
Did you choose who your parentswere?
(30:18):
You're like no, I would havenever chosen those yokels, of
course not.
God chose those things for you.
Those are really great.
God distributed, he gave as andthat's really important to me
God didn't make a mistake ofwhere we were.
You know, he could have put me500 years ago, but I would have
(30:39):
died in the plague, I'm sure,because, like, yeah, I just
couldn't make it then, you know,but they probably couldn't
stand Twitter, so we're all good.
He calls us, then, to walk withhim in all the circumstances of
our life.
Yeah, you don't get to choosethe circumstances of your life.
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You don't get to choose whenyou get cancer.
You don't get to choose if youhave kids or don't have kids.
You don't get to choose whenpeople die.
You don't get to choose whenyou get sick.
You don't get to choose thesethings.
But God has called you, invitedyou to walk with him in these
(31:21):
circumstances.
He promises he will be therealways.
He'll never leave you, neverforsake you.
Amen.
He will always supply what youneed if you ask him, if you
trust in him.
He promises to give us guidanceand wisdom.
He promises to treat us as hisbeloved children.
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He'll never abandon you.
Do you know?
God will never be angry at you?
That's a lie of Satan that Godis mad at you and you're like
well, isn't God holy?
Of course he's angry at sin andI've heard pastors hammer
churches and hammer peoplesaying God's angry at you if
you're participating in sin.
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And it's nothing but a big, fat, goober-faced lie.
Because God, it says, jesusbecame the propitiation for us.
You ever heard that wordpropitiation?
Everyone say propitiation.
Now don't you feel all smug andlike you're wearing some fancy
clothes?
Propitiation is a big, fancyBible word.
(32:25):
That means Jesus satisfied thewrath and anger of God towards
sin.
He satisfied the wrath of Godtowards sin.
So God was angry at sin,absolutely.
But he took his son and pouredout all of his wrath, beat his
son let's just put it in animage beat his son until he was
(32:46):
a bloody pope and poured outevery ounce of anger he could
possibly have at all.
The sin in the world, everymurder, every abuse, all the
small sins, every single thing.
He poured out on Jesus until hewas done Jesus, a bloody mess
(33:07):
on the cross, so that when Jesusrose from the dead and we are
in him and he is in us, god canlook at you and say I will never
get angry at you for something.
I already got angry at Jesusfor you.
I already poured it out.
I'm okay, I understand that yousinned, but it's been paid for.
(33:31):
Accept this grace, believe inthis grace.
If you are going to live bygrace and understand what we're
talking about here today, you'regoing to have to deal with this
.
God is not mad at you ever, butI'm literally doing the bad
thing right now, isn't God?
Doesn't he have to hide hisface from me because I'm such a
(33:52):
sinner?
No, run to him, don't run awayfrom him.
Run to him, don't run away fromhim.
Run to him.
But you know what we feel like.
We feel like, ooh, I justscrewed up.
So now I need to be in time outwith Jesus, time out with the
(34:13):
Lord.
I'm sure I'll get struck bylightning if I go to church
today.
I'm sure God doesn't want me tojust be with him in his word
right now because I just cussedout my this or that or did
whatever.
No, he's not angry with you.
He invites you to him.
Only the devil says you shouldhave shame.
So the devil puts an idea inyour mind to sin.
(34:35):
And then when you do sin, thedevil said look at you, you're
such a sinner, look who you are,god's holy.
Well, he wasn't reminding youof that before you did it, but
after you do it.
That's what he twisted aroundto be.
So that's how we deal with this.
This is how it sets us free.
Our response to his grace himdistributing all this grace to
(34:59):
us, giving us all this grace isto trust him in faith and then
allow his love to leak out ofour lives.
And this only happens throughrelationship, and the
relationships in our life iswhere we can love, where love is
.
That's the only place we canlove.
You can't love people on TV.
No matter how hard you try, youcan't do it.
(35:20):
You can only love the physicalpeople who you have contact with
, and the biggest one is goingto be your marriage and then
your kids.
So pour out your love on thepeople that you're connected
with people, that you'reconnected with the people around
(35:41):
you need to feel and experiencethe undeserved, unearned love
of Jesus, especially the goobersitting next to you.
That person needs you know.
Elbows flying Violence no, justkidding.
(36:02):
We desperately need to know andfeel the love of God so when
that's impacted, you reflect itto the people around you.
That's what this chapter isabout.
I hope it goes with you throughthis week and his love
transforms your mind.
I don't know that wasn't in mynotes about God never being
(36:23):
angry with you, so that probablywas for someone special here
today.
It was for you.
All right, 10 Jesus points forme, just kidding.
All right, guys, we are readyto worship the Lord and respond
to his love.
So would you guys all standwith me?
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Father, we turn our hearts andeyes towards you to believe in
your grace, to believe in thework Jesus did for us.
Jesus, as you hung on the cross, as you received the wrath of
God, the punishment for sin,jesus, you were thinking about
(37:22):
me, us.
We are your children.
Now we believe in you.
And as you rose from the deadvictorious over all the sin,
paying the price completely, theprice of sin having been paid
by your blood, jesus, you rosein victory and glory, and so now
(37:46):
we know that we can live aresurrected life.
Also, father, fill our heartswith your love.
Keep our eyes focused clearlyon what you have done for us and
the life that you've promisedus and given us, a life of union
with you.
There is nothing that canseparate us from the love of God
(38:11):
.
Lord, flow through us in ourrelationships with our marriages
and our families, and to eachother here in the church and
then to the whole world.
Let us be filled with love.
Open doors for us to love anddo good works.
Jesus, we trust you when theenemy comes to deceive us and to
(38:36):
make us feel shame for ourbehavior and our failures and
our weaknesses.
Jesus, we trust you.
We're going to look to you.
We're going to believe yourword instead of what the enemy
puts into our minds.
Father, we need you to set usfree from all sin.
I believe and trust that you'regoing to save Michael.
(38:58):
This week we ask again.
We lift him up to you and askyou would bring him back.
Leave the 99 sheep and go afterthe one who has lost Jesus and
bring him back to you.
We pray In Jesus' name, amen.
Okay, something's got to change.
That is the title of today'ssermon.
Father, I pray that you wouldshow us how perfect your grace
is.
Show us how praiseworthy andglorious you are, jesus, how
much better and brighter andmore perfect you are than
(00:20):
everything this world offers us.
In your name, we pray Amen.
All right, we're going to finishup the second half of 2
Corinthians, chapter 7, today,and so I got two jokes for you.
I'm just going to kick it off,right with jokes.
Speaking of change, are yousurprised how little people
(00:41):
change?
Actually, the process is thesame.
They just have smaller clothes.
No offense, all right, my wifesaid that she was angry with me
because of my obsession withwearing different clothes like
every half hour.
Right, and I said wait, wait,wait, don't be angry with me, I
(01:04):
can change.
All right, you just threw themback at me.
They're untransferable,non-transferable.
Jesus points.
All right, it says in 2Corinthians.
(01:24):
We're starting in verse 17.
But as God has distributed toeach one Jesus points, see,
distributed as the Lord hascalled each one.
So let him walk.
And so I ordained in all thechurches.
So this means you haveeverything you need when you
(01:47):
have Jesus, when you got Jesus,you have everything that you
need.
There's a huge temptation tobecome something more or become
something different than whatyou are.
When you came to Jesus, likeyou need something more.
God does have a purpose for youand it says that he has
(02:12):
distributed to each one.
That means he has chosen yourlife for you.
He chose when you would be born, to who you would be born, what
nation you would live in.
All the things of your life hechose specifically for you and
it was all for the purpose thathe could call you At some point
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in your life.
He would call you to be his,his friend, and then to be his
instrument in this world thathe's placed you in.
That was the purpose for yourlife.
Sometimes people say what isthe purpose of my life?
I want my life to have meaning.
I want my life to have purpose.
(02:57):
Your purpose was that you wouldbe called and that you would
then be God's instrument, toknow him and then be used by him
.
Because God is giving.
That's what the worddistributed means.
God was, he's out there,distributing.
He's giving.
He gives you life.
Then he calls you to live thatlife with him and it says
(03:18):
walking with him.
You're supposed to walk withhim.
He says so, let him walk Onceyou've been called.
He says your purpose now is towalk with him.
He says so, let him walk Onceyou've been called.
He says your purpose now is towalk with me.
God didn't save you so that youcould do a bunch of stuff for
him.
He didn't save you because heneeds people to vacuum.
He saved you to walk with himor walk right next to me.
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That's cool.
It's totally cool, guys.
No worries In the churches,paul taught every church the
same exact principle when youhave Jesus, you have everything
that you need.
You don't need something.
You don't need anything tochange on the outside, which
(04:02):
means your circumstances whenyou're born again on the inside.
That is where life comes from.
What more could God give youthan he's already given you?
I want you to think about thatquestion.
What more could God give youthan he's already given you when
he gave you Jesus?
(04:23):
Did God give you just a littlebit of Jesus when you got saved,
and then you have to reallywork hard to get all of the Holy
Spirit or all of Jesus?
No, it says.
God filled you with all thefullness of himself when you
believed, and this is whatyou've been called to.
We don't live a life beggingfor scraps from God.
(04:47):
We live a life thanking him foran abundant life of grace.
We abound in praise and thanksfor this abundant life that he's
already given to us.
So does God want me to becomemore religious?
(05:07):
Everyone should shout no, noone gets Jesus points because no
one shouted.
Just kidding.
You should be throwing tomatoesat me when I ask silly
questions like that.
Does God want me to become morereligious?
No, look what he says.
Was anyone called whilecircumcised?
(05:29):
Let him not becomeuncircumcised.
Was anyone called whileuncircumcised?
Let him not be circumcised,because circumcision is nothing
and uncircumcision is nothing,but keeping the commandments of
God is what matters.
So we're not going tounderstand this verse if you're
not wearing grace glasses, ifyou haven't been with us through
(05:52):
the 13, 14 weeks that we'vebeen learning about his grace
really hardcore.
You're going to read this andyou're going to be like oh okay,
so I need to follow the 10commandments, but that's not
what he's talking about, becausewhen you have the grace glasses
on, you're not going to see arelationship with God as a
religious list of rules, becausethat's what our tendency is,
that's what so many churchesstruggle with is they make
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church and God about a religiouslist of rules.
You know what one rule they hadback in the day that they
really loved Circumcision Woo.
They were big fans.
You know why?
Because it set you apart fromall the dirty people.
It set you apart from all thesinners.
(06:40):
They were big fans.
And that's exactly what happenstoday.
Churches and we get obsessedwith specific rules that we
think are easy to follow.
Oh, I don't struggle with thattemptation, so I can just make
(07:02):
that the rule that shows howcool I am and how godly I am and
how great I am.
If we don't have grace glasses.
We will act like that.
We will behave like that.
When he says keeping thecommands of God, he's not
(07:23):
talking about the oldcommandments of law, but the new
commandments of faith and love.
So the law had anyone knowhere's an opportunity for Jesus
points how many commands are inthe Old Testament?
Who said Ten?
(07:45):
You're way off.
There's ten big ones.
But then there's I hear yousaying it 613, alan.
Okay, you get three Jesuspoints.
You get seven Jesus pointsminus two for Mark.
Just so you guys know Jesuspoints are all fake.
(08:09):
You guys know this, right.
Okay, it's all fake because Goddoesn't give Jesus points.
Okay, right, so there's 613laws and commands in the old
covenant.
Anyone can name them all.
Alan, no, just kidding, ofcourse not all right, because
that's a system that nobodycould keep all of it.
(08:29):
I mean, have you ever tried tokeep the 10?
You can't even do it for anhour.
We're already breaking themalready.
Probably.
No, the old covenant has itsrules.
The new covenant has differentcommands.
So the command in the newcovenant is faith and love,
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faith and love.
Faith in Jesus is what the newcovenant demands.
So you're never going to beperfect, but if you have faith
in Jesus, god gives youperfection.
You're not going to keep allthe law, but if you have faith
in Jesus, god gives you his lifein exchange for your life and
you are now perfect.
You have now kept the law, eventhough you personally didn't
(09:12):
keep the law.
Jesus kept the law, but hisrighteousness is credited to you
.
It's given to you for free.
That's how the new covenantworks.
That's the command.
You have to trust in Jesus.
If you don't trust in Jesus andyou still trust.
Well, I go to church a lot, soGod will see me as holy and
righteous.
That will not work.
You'll get to heaven and Godsays why should I let you into
(09:34):
my heaven?
And you'll say because I wentto church and I was a good
person and my parents wereChristians and I was an American
, I was born in Texas.
And God will say I'm sorry, butthat's way not good enough.
You have to be more perfectthan the perfect person that
ever lived.
You have to have perfectrighteousness to enter my
perfect heaven.
Because I'm kind of perfecthere, guy, all we can plead is
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Jesus.
That's the only thing.
Why should I let you into myheaven?
Only because of Jesus, becausemy trust is in him, my faith is
in him.
And he'll say enter in to myjoy, my beloved's child.
We'll already know, but yeah.
So faith is the command andlove is the command.
(10:19):
Faith in Jesus and the love ofJesus living through us.
This describes relationship.
Okay, 613 rules is there anyrelationship in those rules?
Meh, no relationship.
It is all do this and live,don't do it and die.
All performance-based religiousliving.
(10:40):
We have relationship.
Jesus, I actually trust in youand Jesus, I need you to come in
me and live out your love.
I have faith in him and helives his love through me after
he gives his love to me.
That's veryrelationship-centered, isn't it?
And that's the differencebetween law and grace.
I believe in him and hefulfills his loving promises to
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me.
So faith and love, faith andlove, they go together.
That's the commands of Jesus.
Let's read Galatians 5, 6, andsee if we see that.
For in Christ Jesus, neithercircumcision nor uncircumcision
avails anything.
Wow, he says the same thingthere as we just read right.
Then he says Then he says butfaith working through love.
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So that's how the gospel worksFaith working through love.
Why doesn't circumcision matter?
Or any religious rule?
He just picked that one becausethat was the big one that
everyone loved, because inChrist we have a union with
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Christ.
So rules don't avail, rulesdon't work, rules don't change
Christians.
Our new lives, through this newcovenant that we've been given,
are faith-based, not rule-based.
So we trust in Jesusexclusively.
We have to trust in himexclusively and Jesus shares his
(12:13):
love to us and through us, andthis describes again the
relationship we have with God,or we call it our union with
Christ.
I trust in him.
He lives through me.
It's not religion.
It's not a list of rules oroutward measurements of how good
or bad we are.
It's a life of faith in him,and then he lives through us.
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I've said the same thing likefour times in four different
ways, but we're never going tostop talking about this, because
this is the gospel he livesthrough us.
Are we sure this is about thecommands of Jesus?
Are we sure that's what itmeans?
Well, let's read 1 John 3.23.
It says and this is hiscommandment that we should
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believe, that's faith, right Onthe name of his son, jesus and
love.
Do you see him again?
The two go together always loveone another, as he gave us
commandment.
So twice John says this is hiscommandment faith, love.
That's his commandment.
Do we get it?
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Is it clear enough?
Yes, that's it.
The way of Jesus, the way of thegospel, the way of the new
covenant is to trust him andthen his love.
Let his love overwhelm you andflow through you to other people
.
But let's look at where Jesusactually told us this himself,
(13:43):
so let's let him speak forhimself.
In John 6, 28 and 29, it saysThen they said to him what shall
we do that we may work theworks of God?
And Jesus answered and said tothem this is the work of God,
that you believe in him, who hesent.
This is as clear as you couldbe about the believe part, the
faith part.
You can do nothing to measureup to God's perfect standard.
(14:09):
So God set us free by the lifeand death of Jesus, and
believing that is now our life.
There is no law that we canobey that can change all the
rules we broke.
When you, when someone breaksthe law, what do you call them?
A lawbreaker?
It doesn't matter which lawthey broke.
They are a lawbreaker.
(14:29):
It is now their identity.
So God offers us grace insteadof laws.
He promises to save all who puttheir trust in Jesus
exclusively.
Our trust has to be exclusivelyin him, not mixing him with
anything else, not just to saveyou.
So when Jesus says you believeand then you're saved, yes,
(14:51):
we're saved, but it's not justto save you, but he saves you to
invade you.
He saves you to invade you, tocome in and live through you.
God says he's going to takeover your inner life by
replacing your invisible spiritthat was dead to God, with his
Holy Spirit that's alive to God.
(15:14):
And that is what Jesus says howwe do the good works that we're
supposed to do.
We're supposed to do good works.
We're supposed to be nice.
We're supposed to be kind.
We're supposed to be loving Allthe things we're supposed to do
.
How?
By believing in his sufficiency.
Then what?
Well, look at what Jesus saysabout the next part, john 13, 34
(15:37):
.
A new command might give to youthat you love one another as I
have loved you, that you alsolove one another.
By this, all will know that youare my disciples if you have
love for one another.
Okay, now I gotta pause righthere, because in the law, in the
Old Testament, the message ofthe law was to love God with all
(16:00):
your heart, soul, mind andstrength, and to love your
neighbor as yourself.
Remember, they actually came toJesus.
Some lawyers came to Jesus andthey're like hey, jesus, what's
the greatest commandment in thelaw?
What did he say?
Love God with all your heart.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Right, that is completelydifferent than this.
(16:20):
This is a new command, becausethose commandments were laws
Love God or what you die.
Okay, so let me tell you We'veall broken this command.
Okay, I'll prove it to you.
Do you love God?
Yes, I love God.
Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Do you love God.
Yes, I love God.
Oh no, no, no, no, no, no.
Do you love God the way hedeserves to be loved?
(16:44):
All of us should say no,because that's the law-based
version of love.
Okay, it's you do it.
You do it perfectly, or you dieThen.
Do you love other people?
Of course, I love other people.
No, you don't.
Do you love other people theway they deserve to be loved, at
all times, even though we'reacting like goobers?
No, we don't.
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We fail because that's the law.
This is totally different thanthat old covenant commandment to
love God and love others.
Is loving God and loving otherswrong?
Is it bad?
No, it's perfect.
But Jesus is giving ussomething new and something
different.
It's rooted the way.
(17:28):
This is different.
Is this Ready?
This is so cool.
It's rooted in the love Jesushas for us.
He says as I have loved you.
Do you see that differencethere, those words not included
in the old covenant Love God,love others.
Why?
Because I said so.
(17:49):
That's law.
This is love one another.
Why, as I have loved you, letmy love sink into you, transform
you and then allow it to leakout of you.
(18:15):
This love we have now in the newcovenant is a reflection of the
love we receive and walk in inthe new covenant of grace.
There's nothing you have toproduce, you're simply
reflecting it.
You know the moon is not bright, the moon is a rock.
But we look up at the sky andwe're like, oh, the moon's so
bright.
Oh, you scientificallyinaccurate person.
The moon is simply whatReflecting the light of the sun.
(18:40):
So be the moon.
The new covenant says be themoon, reflect the light of the
sun.
Oh, I just got that.
That was a good one.
You don't even have to payextra for that one.
That one's right through me,from the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit empowers us tolove this way, to live this way,
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not with rules.
He's not going to tell you youshould love.
He's going to be like look howmuch I love you and go do
whatever you want.
That's scary.
You can't tell people to dowhatever they want.
Yes, you can, because they'regoing to do whatever they want
(19:24):
anyway.
If you connect them to the loveof Christ.
His love will actuallytransform what you want to do,
and that is called the freedomwith which Christ has set us
free.
Do you get to do whatever youwant?
Yes, you will.
Anyway, you're going to do whatyou want, but his love
transforms what brings you joy.
And now, sin won't ever satisfyyou again.
(19:48):
Once you've tasted his love,what could be better?
What was the first thing we'relearning today?
If you have Jesus, you don'tneed anything else.
You don't need anything else.
Alright, your life isn't abouthow good you follow Jesus or the
(20:09):
rules, sorry.
Your life isn't about how goodyou follow the rules, but in
your relationship with Jesus offaith and love.
So now, when we totallyunderstand what Paul is thinking
when he says circumcision isnothing and uncircumcision is
nothing, but keeping thecommandments of God is what
matters.
It's not about rules, it'sabout receiving his love through
(20:32):
faith and then his love livingthrough you.
Those are the commands of JesusFaith and love, faith and love,
faith and love.
Memorize it.
What does Jesus command me todo?
Faith and love.
My faith towards him, his lovetowards me.
That's what changes our life.
Well, what about mycircumstances?
Will Jesus change my life inthat way?
He says this let each one remainin the same calling in which he
(20:54):
was called.
What does this mean?
It means don't follow Jesus forhim to change the same calling
in which he was called.
What does this mean?
It means don't follow Jesus forhim to change the outward
things in your life, but don'tbe surprised when he does either
.
Jesus always works from theinside out, okay, so don't focus
(21:16):
on things on the outside.
Focus on are you receiving hislove on the inside, and then the
outward stuff will take care ofitself.
But he says don't seek thosethings, just be content to
remain in the place in which youwere called.
He says were you called while aslave?
Don't be concerned about it.
Easy for him to say right, butif you can be made free, rather
(21:40):
use it.
He says yeah, you might get setfree.
God might work that out.
Don't focus on it, don't worryabout it.
Don't be concerned about it.
Just receive the love of theLord and let him take care of
your life.
For he who is called for, he whois called in the Lord while a
slave, is the Lord's freed man.
Likewise, he who is called inthe Lord while a slave is the
(22:00):
Lord's freed man.
Likewise, he who is calledwhile free is Christ's slave.
You were bought at a price.
Do not become slaves of men,brethren.
Let each one remain with God,with God in the state in which
he was called.
So Jesus changed your identity,which changes how we view
(22:25):
everything.
That's putting on the graceglasses.
Okay, I see the world nowthrough what he says about me,
what he did for me.
So I am not a slave.
I'm a missionary of grace inthis horrible company that I
work for.
I'm a missionary of Jesuswherever I'm at.
I'm not a slave.
God's in control of my life.
(22:46):
God can move me out if he wants, or he can keep me here.
It does not matter to me whereI am.
That's the freedom we have.
You are free to not giveanything, a single anything,
(23:07):
about where you're at or yourcircumstances, because God is
with you and God will move youand God will keep you and God
will uphold you.
Nothing matters because Jesusloves me so much.
That's why this is so crazy,and this freedom is something
the world cannot understand.
What do you mean?
Your life is terrible.
Your marriage sucks.
(23:28):
Your kids are this, yourfamily's that?
Your job is this.
Don't you want things to change?
Jesus says when you have me,you don't need anything to
change.
I am everything for you.
I'm your whole life.
I will meet every single one ofyour needs.
I'm not a slave.
(23:48):
I'm God's spy, infiltrating thekingdom of darkness with his
light and love.
I was free to do whatever Iwanted, but now I'm free to do
what my Father in heaven puts inmy heart, and he'll make the
way for that to happen.
We're now in verse 25.
(24:11):
What about my relationships?
Will they change?
What if I'm engaged and Ibecome a believer?
Should I abandon thatrelationship?
Well, those are some goodquestions.
Let's see what he says Nowconcerning virgins or people who
are not yet married.
I have no commandment from theLord yet I give judgment as one
whom the Lord, in his mercy, hasmade trustworthy.
So I suppose, therefore, thatit is good, because of the
(24:31):
present distress we'll talkabout that in a second that it
is good for a man to remain ashe is.
Are you bound to a wife?
Do not seek to be loosed.
Are you loosed from a wife?
Do not seek a wife.
But even if you do marry, youhave not sinned.
And if a virgin marries, shehas not sinned.
Nevertheless, such will havetrouble in the flesh.
(24:53):
But I would spare you.
Probably because the presentdistress and what he's talking
about here.
It's probably because Rome wastorturing Christians at this
moment, burning them alive andsaying recant, and tell me who
you're.
You know who you.
You know Batman.
Where is he?
Right, john, we had a Batmanmarathon this week.
(25:15):
Yeah, so they were torturingChristians and it's hard to you
know, when you have a wife andthey're like we're going to
torture your wife right in frontof you, unless you recount.
It's hard to go through that.
It's a really rough thing.
So you know, that's probablywhat they would go through.
But he says but I say this,brethren, the time is short, so
(25:35):
that from now on, those who havewives should be as though they
had none, and those who weep asthough they did not weep, those
who rejoice as though they didnot rejoice, those who buy as
though they did not possess, andthose who use this world as not
misusing it.
Basically, what he's sayinghere is everything in your life,
life should be about the gospeland the kingdom of God, not
(25:58):
yourselves.
So if you're married, he wantsyou to stay married and love
your wife.
But it's not even about yourhappiness, it's about the
kingdom of God.
You need to love your wifebecause it's about the kingdom
of God, not about you.
Like we talked about last week,if you're single, great, it's
still about the kingdom of God.
That's why God has you in thatplace.
(26:19):
So all of the lesson is thesame in this chapter when you
have Jesus, you have everythingthat you need.
He is sufficient for your joy,for your happiness, and so many
things can become distractionsto us, but when we're focused on
Jesus and his kingdom that'swhat he's saying is the right
way.
Jesus and his kingdom that'swhat he's saying is the right
(26:45):
way.
Again, for the form of thisworld is passing away, but I
want you to be without care.
He who is unmarried cares forthe things of the Lord how he
may please the Lord but he whois married cares about the
things of the world how he mayplease his wife.
There is a difference between awife and a virgin.
The unmarried woman cares aboutthe things of the Lord, that
she may be both holy in body andspirit, but she who is married
cares about the things of theworld how she may please her
(27:06):
husband.
Again, there's nothing wrongwith being married.
It's not bad, it's just focusedlove.
So you're focusing all yourlove on one person, and when
you're not married, you canfocus your love on loving all
the world.
And this I say for your ownprofit, not that I might put a
leash on you but for what isproper that you may serve the
(27:29):
Lord without distraction.
See, the point is thedistraction part.
But if any man thinks he'sbehaving improperly toward his
virgin or his betrothed, likesomeone he's engaged with, if
she's past the flower of youth,that means she's ready to get
married and thus it must be.
Let him do as he wishes.
So they would be betrothed whenthey're like 10 years old,
really young, and then theywould arrive at the age where
(27:51):
it's time to get married andpeople are like, should we get
married?
And he's like, yeah, getmarried, it's fine, you want to
get married, get married.
He says he does not sin, sin,let them marry.
Nevertheless, he who standssteadfast in heart, having not
no necessity, but has power overhis own will, and has so
determined in his heart that hewill keep his virgin, his fiance
(28:11):
, you know he does well.
So the one who gives her amarriage does well, but the one
who does not give her inmarriage does better.
Okay, all of it is to say yourlife isn't about the distraction
and if you focus on Jesus youcan be in any situation and be
good.
What if I'm widowed is the nextquestion he's going to answer.
(28:32):
He says a wife is bound by lawas long as her husband lives,
but if her husband dies, she isat liberty to be married to whom
she wishes, only in the Lord.
But she is happier if sheremains as she is.
According to my judgment, and Ithink I also have the Spirit of
God so when it comes torelationships, they all take,
(28:54):
they all require investment andeffort.
Okay, relationships all do that.
Love costs our time and ourattention and our sacrifice, and
so getting married is signingup to love one person more than
everyone else, includingyourself.
That's what marriage is.
(29:14):
In the Bible, paul says that'sgood, it's really good.
But there's another way to livewhere you can love everyone
with all your energy, and that'scool too.
But you have to have the giftof singleness or self-control to
be able to serve God in thatway.
Okay, so it's clear.
But here's the main point again, going back to the top of our
(29:36):
chapter here, verse 14, it saysor 17,.
But as God has distributed toeach one, as the Lord has called
each one, let him so walk, soGod has distributed, god has
given each one of us grace Fromour very lives.
You were born.
That was a grace God gave you.
(29:58):
He chose your family, you knowto this.
Eventually we meet him, webecome a believer and a new
relationship with him.
It's all free from self-lifeand completely dependent on
Jesus for everything.
Did you choose where you wereborn?
Did you choose who your parentswere?
(30:18):
You're like no, I would havenever chosen those yokels, of
course not.
God chose those things for you.
Those are really great.
God distributed, he gave as andthat's really important to me
God didn't make a mistake ofwhere we were.
You know, he could have put me500 years ago, but I would have
(30:39):
died in the plague, I'm sure,because, like, yeah, I just
couldn't make it then, you know,but they probably couldn't
stand Twitter, so we're all good.
He calls us, then, to walk withhim in all the circumstances of
our life.
Yeah, you don't get to choosethe circumstances of your life.
(31:01):
You don't get to choose whenyou get cancer.
You don't get to choose if youhave kids or don't have kids.
You don't get to choose whenpeople die.
You don't get to choose whenyou get sick.
You don't get to choose thesethings.
But God has called you, invitedyou to walk with him in these
(31:21):
circumstances.
He promises he will be therealways.
He'll never leave you, neverforsake you.
Amen.
He will always supply what youneed if you ask him, if you
trust in him.
He promises to give us guidanceand wisdom.
He promises to treat us as hisbeloved children.
(31:42):
He'll never abandon you.
Do you know?
God will never be angry at you?
That's a lie of Satan that Godis mad at you and you're like
well, isn't God holy?
Of course he's angry at sin andI've heard pastors hammer
churches and hammer peoplesaying God's angry at you if
you're participating in sin.
(32:02):
And it's nothing but a big, fat, goober-faced lie.
Because God, it says, jesusbecame the propitiation for us.
You ever heard that wordpropitiation?
Everyone say propitiation.
Now don't you feel all smug andlike you're wearing some fancy
clothes?
Propitiation is a big, fancyBible word.
(32:25):
That means Jesus satisfied thewrath and anger of God towards
sin.
He satisfied the wrath of Godtowards sin.
So God was angry at sin,absolutely.
But he took his son and pouredout all of his wrath, beat his
son let's just put it in animage beat his son until he was
(32:46):
a bloody pope and poured outevery ounce of anger he could
possibly have at all.
The sin in the world, everymurder, every abuse, all the
small sins, every single thing.
He poured out on Jesus until hewas done Jesus, a bloody mess
(33:07):
on the cross, so that when Jesusrose from the dead and we are
in him and he is in us, god canlook at you and say I will never
get angry at you for something.
I already got angry at Jesusfor you.
I already poured it out.
I'm okay, I understand that yousinned, but it's been paid for.
(33:31):
Accept this grace, believe inthis grace.
If you are going to live bygrace and understand what we're
talking about here today, you'regoing to have to deal with this
.
God is not mad at you ever, butI'm literally doing the bad
thing right now, isn't God?
Doesn't he have to hide hisface from me because I'm such a
(33:52):
sinner?
No, run to him, don't run awayfrom him.
Run to him, don't run away fromhim.
Run to him.
But you know what we feel like.
We feel like, ooh, I justscrewed up.
So now I need to be in time outwith Jesus, time out with the
(34:13):
Lord.
I'm sure I'll get struck bylightning if I go to church
today.
I'm sure God doesn't want me tojust be with him in his word
right now because I just cussedout my this or that or did
whatever.
No, he's not angry with you.
He invites you to him.
Only the devil says you shouldhave shame.
So the devil puts an idea inyour mind to sin.
(34:35):
And then when you do sin, thedevil said look at you, you're
such a sinner, look who you are,god's holy.
Well, he wasn't reminding youof that before you did it, but
after you do it.
That's what he twisted aroundto be.
So that's how we deal with this.
This is how it sets us free.
Our response to his grace himdistributing all this grace to
(34:59):
us, giving us all this grace isto trust him in faith and then
allow his love to leak out ofour lives.
And this only happens throughrelationship, and the
relationships in our life iswhere we can love, where love is
.
That's the only place we canlove.
You can't love people on TV.
No matter how hard you try, youcan't do it.
(35:20):
You can only love the physicalpeople who you have contact with
, and the biggest one is goingto be your marriage and then
your kids.
So pour out your love on thepeople that you're connected
with people, that you'reconnected with the people around
(35:41):
you need to feel and experiencethe undeserved, unearned love
of Jesus, especially the goobersitting next to you.
That person needs you know.
Elbows flying Violence no, justkidding.
(36:02):
We desperately need to know andfeel the love of God so when
that's impacted, you reflect itto the people around you.
That's what this chapter isabout.
I hope it goes with you throughthis week and his love
transforms your mind.
I don't know that wasn't in mynotes about God never being
(36:23):
angry with you, so that probablywas for someone special here
today.
It was for you.
All right, 10 Jesus points forme, just kidding.
All right, guys, we are readyto worship the Lord and respond
to his love.
So would you guys all standwith me?
(36:58):
Father, we turn our hearts andeyes towards you to believe in
your grace, to believe in thework Jesus did for us.
Jesus, as you hung on the cross, as you received the wrath of
God, the punishment for sin,jesus, you were thinking about
(37:22):
me, us.
We are your children.
Now we believe in you.
And as you rose from the deadvictorious over all the sin,
paying the price completely, theprice of sin having been paid
by your blood, jesus, you rosein victory and glory, and so now
(37:46):
we know that we can live aresurrected life.
Also, father, fill our heartswith your love.
Keep our eyes focused clearlyon what you have done for us and
the life that you've promisedus and given us, a life of union
with you.
There is nothing that canseparate us from the love of God
(38:11):
.
Lord, flow through us in ourrelationships with our marriages
and our families, and to eachother here in the church and
then to the whole world.
Let us be filled with love.
Open doors for us to love anddo good works.
Jesus, we trust you when theenemy comes to deceive us and to
(38:36):
make us feel shame for ourbehavior and our failures and
our weaknesses.
Jesus, we trust you.
We're going to look to you.
We're going to believe yourword instead of what the enemy
puts into our minds.
Father, we need you to set usfree from all sin.
I believe and trust that you'regoing to save Michael.
(38:58):
This week we ask again.
We lift him up to you and askyou would bring him back.
Leave the 99 sheep and go afterthe one who has lost Jesus and
bring him back to you.
We pray In Jesus' name, amen.
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