First Works Baptist Church. Let's all find our seats.
As you find a seat, grab a song, which is song number 129.
Song number 129, "Rock of Ages", and let's all stand together for this first song.
Song number 129, "Rock of Ages", all together, nice and strong on that first verse.
Rock of Ages, flat for me.
Be high, south wind, leaves flow, say it's night.
Singing, let's start off our service with a word of prayer.
Lord God, heavenly Father, we just thank you for giving us another day that we can come
here to your house and hear the preaching of your word, and we ask that you please bless
our service, every aspect of it.
Please bless the singing, that it would be pleasing to your ears, that it would prepare
our hearts for the preaching, but most importantly Lord, please fill Pasadena with your spirit
as he preaches unto us, and give us your spirit in the congregation as well Lord, that we
may leave here changed.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
You may be seated.
Please turn your song books to song number 152.
Song number 152, security.
Song number 152 altogether, nice and strong on that first verse.
More secure is no one else of the saints, though his love is litigious, the Father so
he may trust his children.
Great singing.
Welcome to First Works Baptist Church.
There's a few announcements here.
Before we see our next song, which will be 106, abide with me if you want to get that
ready in your songbooks.
106.
If you did not get a bulletin, go ahead and raise your hand.
One of the ushers can get one for you.
Some important information on there.
And of course, if you're visiting with us today, make sure before you leave, you get
one of these packets here.
Some important information on there.
And so I'm sure the ushers will get that to you.
Inside the bulletin, you'll see a handout in there that we're going to go over in just
a bit regarding our summer calendar.
Now we do welcome you to come back to our Sunday evening service tonight at 5 p.m.
And then we have a Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock and we are currently going through
the book of Isaiah, though we're almost finished with it.
And so we hope to see you for our midweek Bible study.
We are a family integrated church and so infants and children stay with their parents in the
service.
However, for your convenience, we do have mother baby rooms located throughout the building
should your children need some diversion.
Changing tables are available there as well.
Which is by the way, it's important that you have one of these packets that actually has
a map there of our building layout so you know where everything is at.
You see the so many times in teams listed there in the middle and then the list of expecting
mothers if you can keep them in prayer.
I do want to mention something.
If you can keep someone in prayer, brother Eddie Quinones in our church had a heart attack
not this past Thursday but the Thursday before that and he's actually currently in the hospital.
I visited him yesterday, I just found out about it yesterday, but he's going to actually
be having bypass surgery tomorrow at 2 p.m.
And so I went by to visit him yesterday and you would not think that he just had a heart
attack.
He's, you know, walking around, he's listening to neuroscientists and Portuguese and dancing
and he's like I think I'm in denial but I just feel great, you know.
And we're trying to tell him like hey you should take it easy at least until tomorrow,
you know.
His spirits are up, his disposition is great but please pray for him, tomorrow will be
his surgery.
He's going to have open heart surgery tomorrow at 2pm and obviously that's a long surgery
and his recovery will be a little longer as well and so please pray for him.
I'm sure he would appreciate, he's actually at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton and
so I'm sure he would appreciate someone to text him, call him or even pay him a visit.
I told him yesterday, I said, "Hey, maybe people from our church might come tomorrow
just to see you.
Are you okay with that?"
He's like, "Please have people come so you can see them."
Obviously, after his surgery, I would wait a bit but today he would be available to visit
if you'd like to do that or you can just shoot him a text, give him a call, let him know
that you love him, you're praying for him and so please, please, please keep Brother
Eddie in prayer and we will give updates as soon as we find out how the surgery goes.
You see there at the bottom left hand corner is the stats for salvations and baptisms for
the month of May.
On the right hand side is the upcoming church events.
We have the Father's Day hike coming up this Saturday, June 14th.
We're meeting at Black Star Canyon at 6.30am and if you'd like to participate, there is
a sign up sheet at the guest center.
We encourage all the men to participate in that.
If you have any questions, you can see Brother Ulysses Hernandez or Brother Jose Gonzalez.
He's actually the one who's heading up the event there and so we're looking forward
to it.
All dads are welcome.
And of course, if you're not a father, you're still welcome to come.
So single men can participate in that as well.
And then on Sunday, June 22nd, we do have a Nacho Fellowship and then the TJ missions
trips coming up on June 28th, leaving the building at 915.
Make sure you bring your passports to that.
Now, before I continue, I'm going to go over this summer calendar here, just briefly go
over it.
Keep this with you so that you know what's going on throughout the summer.
I'm just going to briefly go over this.
On Friday, June 20th and the 27th, along with the 11th of July, I'm going to be hosting
some team fellowships at my house on Fridays.
And so your team leader will get with you, we're going to have food, fellowship, we're
going to party, you know, Baptist party, you know.
And so I want to welcome you to come to that.
Just get with your leader as far as what day you will be going for the fellowship.
And then we're going to have family nights during the summer as well.
We always have a great time for family nights.
On June 22nd, we started with, as I mentioned, with the Nacho Fellowship.
And then on the 29th, we're going to have jumpers and hot dogs, of course, jumpers for
the adults, hot dogs for the kids.
I'm just kidding.
We should one year do that though.
Fourth of July, we have the annual church picnic, which will be on a Friday.
Of course, we have the birthday breakfast on July 6th.
Family nights on July 6th, we'll also have board games on Sunday night.
And I'm sure we're going to have some little snacks as well after the service.
We do have a special soul winning trip to TJ on Wednesday, July 9th, and I'll give
you more information as we approach that day.
And then the family nights conclude on July 13th, oh, I'm sorry, no, they don't conclude
on July 13th.
We have the watermelon Sunday, but the family nights conclude on the 20th with an ice cream
social.
Now, a big thing that we got going on this year that it's not that we didn't do in previous
years is actually we're going to be going to a youth conference.
Pacific Baptist Church invited our church to come to their youth conference.
And so we're excited about if you look at your bullets in there, just some information.
Now, let me explain a couple of things because most of our people have no idea what a youth
conference is, even though it's pretty self explanatory.
But you know, obviously it's a conference that's geared towards the youth, but the preaching
is applicable to everyone.
And so the conference is going to go from Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and it starts
Monday night.
Now, I want to encourage our church and I'll talk more about it in the coming weeks to
let's just all go on that Monday night.
Let's mob deep on that Monday night.
Okay.
And I will host a specific activity afterwards.
So I'll invite everyone to pizza after the conference, but I want to encourage everyone
to participate in that.
Now, if you have a teen, sixth grade and up who'd like to participate in the activities
of the conference, please make sure you sign up at the guest center.
And this will be paid for and so, but we do need you to commit to go if that's what you
want to do.
Sign up at the guest center.
Let me just say this is that modesty is required.
You're representing our church.
You're representing the Lord Jesus Christ, right?
Representing new IFB churches in general.
So we want to make sure parents make sure that your children are modest, no pants for
the girls, skirts for the girls, no worldly clothing for the boys either, okay?
And we want to make sure we uphold that standard there.
And then as I mentioned, it's sixth grade and up.
All families want to encourage you to join on Monday, but again, if you want to participate
in the actual activities, which is on Tuesday and Wednesday, sign up.
We'll pay for it.
Want you to have a good time.
And so parents, if you have any questions about that, you can see me after the service,
but the deadline to register, which means to sign up at the guest center is June 15th.
We want to get this paid for ahead of time.
So if you could do us a favor and just sign up if you want to participate in that, it
will be great.
And so we have that.
And then lastly here, Friday, August 1st is the annual beach bonfire.
We have this every year.
We'll give you the address in the coming weeks because we were doing it in Newport before,
but we actually might pick a new spot near Newport.
And so we'll give you info on that.
And then lastly, September 14th is the church anniversary.
We're looking forward to that as well and so on.
A lot of information there.
Just make sure you keep this.
If you have any questions, you can see me after the service.
And that is it for our announcements.
One hundred and six abide with me.
Psalm number one hundred and six abide with me.
Altogether nice and strong on that first verse.
Abide with.
Singing.
At this time the ushers will come forward to receive the offering.
You turn your Bibles to 1st Timothy chapter number one.
1st Timothy chapter one.
Timothy chapter number one.
1st Timothy chapter one.
The Bible reads.
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior, and Lord Jesus Christ,
which is our hope, unto Timothy, my own Son in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from
God our Father, and Jesus Christ our Lord.
As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus when I went into Macedonia, that thou might
have charged some that they teach no other doctrine, neither give heed to fables and
endless genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith,
so do.
of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and of good conscience and of faith
unfeigned, from which some, having swerved, have turned us out into vain jangling, desiring
to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm.
But we know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully, knowing this, that the law
is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and
for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves of mankind, for men-stealers, for liars, for
perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine,
according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.
And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful,
putting me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious;
but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly and unbelief.
And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus.
This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.
Howbeit, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first, Jesus Christ might show
forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which would hereafter believe on him
to life everlasting.
Now, unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever
and ever.
Amen.
This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went on
before thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare, holding faith in a good
conscience which some, having put away concerning faith, have made shipwreck, of whom is Hymenaeus
and Alexander, whom I have delivered unto Satan, that it may learn not to blaspheme.
Let's pray to the Lord God.
We thank you for this church.
Thank you for our pastor.
Just ask that you would bless him with your Holy Spirit now as he preaches your word unto
us.
And in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Okay.
We're in first Timothy chapter one this morning.
And the title of my sermon this morning is the law is good.
The law is good.
It says in first Timothy chapter one and verse number seven, desiring to be teachers of the
law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm.
But we know it says that the law is good if a man use it lawfully.
This morning I want to preach on the subject of the laws of God.
And the law of God is often a broad term in the Bible that can mean a variety of things,
right?
You know, it can be referring to the word of God as a whole.
When we think of the commandments of the Lord in general, we can say this is the law of
the Lord because law is synonymous with the commandments of God.
It can also refer to the Old Testament as a whole as well, including not just the first
five books of the Bible, which we would commonly refer to as the Pentateuch, but it could also
refer to the prophets.
So we would say that the Old Testament, those first five books, including the historical
books, the poetical books, the minor prophets, major prophets, we would say that's the law.
People would refer to that as being the law.
But it's also referring to just the Torah, which is just those first five books of the
Bible.
People often refer to that as the law, or it can simply refer to the law of Moses that
was given to him at Mount Sinai on the two tables of stone.
Now when it comes to the laws of God, Christians have different opinions as to what aspects
of the law still apply to us today, right?
And I'm sure you've gotten into various conversations with people regarding the law and people have
various opinions about it.
And there's a wide spectrum ranging from those who believe all of the Old Testament Mosaic
laws are to be instituted today, including the dietary and purity laws.
This is often promoted by what we would refer to as the Hebrew roots movement, right?
Where they claim that all of the Mosaic laws should be instituted.
We should still abstain from shrimp, from pork, from mixed fabrics, things of that nature.
That's the Hebrew roots movement.
Then there are those who believe that none of the law is relevant today because we're
under grace, right?
You know, you'll often talk about the laws of God and God's standard of morality and
what God deems to be holy, righteous, and just.
And you often get met with, well, we're not under the law, we're under grace, right?
Implying that none of that is applicable today, God did away with that.
Now both of these extreme positions are wrong, right?
They're extremely wrong.
And so this morning, I want to go over specifically the Mosaic Law and what aspects apply today
and which aspects of the law do not.
Now let me start off by saying that God's laws, as I mentioned, are good.
Now go to Leviticus chapter 11, if you would.
Hold your place there in First Timothy because we're going to come back to that.
Leviticus chapter 11, I'm going to read to you from Romans chapter seven in verse 12.
It says, "Wherefore the law is what, holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good,
showing us that the law is good.
Was then that which is good made death unto me?
God forbid.
But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good, that sin
by the commandment might become exceeding sinful."
So what the Bible is telling us here is that we inherently know what is wrong, but it's
only when it's compared to the laws of God that we realize how bad it really is, right?
Sin becomes exceeding sinful in light of the scriptures, in light of the laws of God.
And this is why God labels it as something that is very good, because it helps us to
recognize our sinful condition before God.
It goes on to say in verse 25, "I thank God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
So then with my mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin."
Now as I mentioned this morning I'm going to spend some time explaining the Mosaic laws
and how they apply to us as Christians.
Now if we were to look at the Mosaic laws, we can say that they're essentially broken
up into three parts, okay?
Part number one is the ceremonial laws.
Now what is the ceremonial laws?
This is referring to the purity and dietary laws, okay?
So you have ceremonial laws, which is referring to dietary and purity.
Then you have moral laws, and then you have civil laws.
So keep those in mind, ceremonial, moral, and civil laws.
Let's look at the first one, ceremonial laws regarding the purity and dietary laws.
Now what is this talking about?
Well, when you look at the Old Testament, you see that a lot of sacrifices of animals
are made, right?
This is part of those ceremonial laws that got instituted in the Old Testament, but it's
also filled with a lot of dietary restrictions.
It's filled with a lot of purity laws.
You know, if you touch a dead animal, the carcass of a dead animal, the Bible says that
you would be, you know, ritually unclean.
You cannot participate in certain rituals of the tabernacle and of the temple because
of that until you were ritually made pure.
This is what's known as the ceremonial laws.
Now this is something that people bring up.
When you talk about God's moral laws, people are like, "Oh, this guy, what do you do?
You know you're wearing mixed fabric, too?
Do you eat shellfish?"
Right?
Oh, do you mix seed when you are planting trees or whatever?
They bring up these ceremonial laws to essentially expose the absurdity of keeping God's moral
laws.
But these are two different laws, right?
God's moral laws transcend the Mosaic law, even though they're definitely instituted
in the Mosaic law.
These ceremonial laws were temporary.
It was only for a window of time.
Now I'm going to focus mainly on the dietary laws for this particular sermon.
Let's look at Leviticus chapter 11 and verse number one.
It says here, "The Lord spake unto Moses and to Aaron, saying unto them, Speak unto
the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the
beasts that are on the earth.
What's over part at the hoof and is cloven-footed and cheweth the cud among the beasts that
shall ye eat."
So he's specifically giving this charge here, this commandment, that these are the animals
that the children of Israel are allowed to eat within the confines of being an Israelite,
being God's chosen people.
They had to abide by this specific dietary restriction.
And there were essentially mammals that were even-toed, right?
They parted the hoof, meaning they have two toes, they're even-footed.
This would encompass deer, goats, things of that nature.
And it says that they had to chew the cud, meaning that they had to be animals that slowly
chewed their partly-digested food, okay?
Now if you think about it, these regulations, there's nothing, you know, intrinsically
moral about this, right?
There's nothing morally intrinsic about abstaining from eating swine and bacon and pork.
In fact, you know, we actually like that in the New Testament, okay?
But you can't say there's something intrinsically wrong with it.
This is something that was given in an arbitrary type of way where God instituted this specific
law for particular foreshadowing of a spiritual truth in the New Testament.
So he tells them, "You have to abstain from these particular animals.
You can eat these animals, but you have to abstain from these."
Look at verse number four.
He says, "Nevertheless, these shall you not eat of them that chew the cud or of them that
divide the hoof as the camel, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof.
He is unclean unto you.
And the cony, because he cheweth the cud, but divideth not the hoof.
He is unclean unto you.
And the hare, because he cheweth the cud, but divided not the hoof.
He is unclean unto you.
And the swine, though he divide the hoof and be cloven-footed, yet he cheweth not the cud.
He is unclean unto you.
Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcass shall ye not touch.
They are unclean unto you."
Now make no mistake about it.
If you lived during these Old Testament times and you participated in eating these particular
animals when God clearly commanded not to, it was sin unto them because it was something
that was commanded by God to abstain from for that particular window of time.
So these laws were arbitrary.
Now what's the purpose of God even instituting those types of laws in the Old Testament?
Well as I mentioned, they were a foreshadowing of a spiritual truth.
When he's referring to animals that divide and not the hoof, he's essentially referring
to the fact that the spiritual truth that he's trying to get at is that Christians should
be separated from that which is unclean, right?
Spiritually unclean.
Come out from among them, say the Lord, and be separate, touch not the unclean thing,
and I will receive you.
He's essentially saying we as God's people should be a peculiar people, not involved
in the sinful actions of others, not involved with sinful people, not allowing ourselves
to transgress the laws of God.
We should be considered those who are divided, we are separated from that which is unclean
in this world.
This is not to say that we are not sinful.
We understand that the Bible tells us that there's not a just man upon earth that do
with good and sin is not.
However, the Bible does require for us to have a standard of holiness in our personal
lives, right?
That we should abstain from sin, we should keep from trying to sin, keep from particular
sins.
Why?
Because it's an indication between us and the world, okay?
And he specifically says you shouldn't go with those who do not chew the cud.
And this is a spiritual application to say that Christians should fellowship with other
Christians, right?
We shouldn't necessarily have fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather
reprove them.
Because the indication here is that we should be with those who actually ruminate on God's
Word.
They have the Word of God in their mouth.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein
day and night.
What does that mean?
That he's chewing the cud.
So we should be around those who chew the cud.
We should be around those who consume the Word of God, who essentially have a spiritual
diet of chewing the Word of God, ruminating on the Word of God.
These are principles that he is establishing in the Old Testament to foreshadow spiritual
choose in the new.
But make no mistake about it.
If they literally participated in that particular unclean animal, even though it's referring
to a spiritual truth, it would be sin unto them because during that window of time, it
would be considered a transgression to disobey God in that area, right?
So even though they possess a spiritual truth.
Now go to Genesis chapter nine, if you would, Genesis chapter nine.
Now you have people today that will say, no, it's always wrong to eat pork.
You know, it's sinful, it's unclean.
Let me show you Leviticus 11 that says that people, if they eat an unclean beast, it's
sinful.
Therefore you should stay away from shrimp, stay away from pork, stay away from these
unclean animals because according to the Bible, it's sinful and you would be unclean.
But this is obviously ignorance of what the entire scope of the Bible actually teaches.
Okay.
Because what people seem to fail to realize is that this law literally came into existence
at Mount Sinai.
They didn't exist before that.
So in order for something to become sinful, you know, God has to have this view of a particular
action beforehand, right?
Because God's morality transcends all time.
It transcends the mosaic law.
Well, I don't know if you know this, but you know, God's people or safe people, should
I say, were allowed to eat anything prior to Mount Sinai.
In fact, look at Genesis chapter nine, eating all animals were permissible before the institution
of the Old Testament after the flood.
Look at verse one of Genesis nine, it says, "God blessed Noah and his sons and said unto
them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and the fear of you and the dread
of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl," fowl is referring to
bird of the air, "upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the
sea into your hand are they delivered."
And I want you to notice verse number three, "Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat
for you."
Now, that would include the swine.
That would include, well, everything, right?
Yes, it would include the camel.
Now, I'm not for eating camel.
I'm not really interested in eating camel.
I'm not even interested in eating dog, okay?
But according to the Bible, you know, it's permissible to eat dog according to the Word
of God.
Now, I'm not saying that, you know, that's a good idea.
I'm not even saying that it's good meat or that it tastes great.
I'm just saying that according to the Bible, it's under the canopy of being sanctioned.
Prior to the Levitical law being instituted, God said, "Everything that moves shall be
meat for you."
And he says, "Even as the green herb have I given you all things."
So as plentifully as green herbs were upon the earth in like manner, animals were plentifully
to just eat for sustenance.
He says, verse number four, here is the only caveat here, he says, "But flesh with the
life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall you not eat."
So he said, you could eat anything, you just need to make sure that when you eat that animal,
it no longer possesses blood, you know, you can't eat anything with the blood, you got
to make sure that it drains out and, you know, eat it appropriately.
Why?
Because of the fact that blood in the Bible, obviously, is sanctioned by God to represent
life.
Okay?
And so it was a sin to eat the blood.
Now don't come to me after the service and say, what about a steak, you know, when I
order a little blood?
First of all, that's not even real blood, okay?
That's just something that people say because it looks like it.
This is referring to the prohibition to eat raw animals with blood that has not been drained
out of the carcass of the animal, okay?
So eating all animals were permissible prior to the Levitical law being instituted.
And after the Levitical law was essentially "abolished" regarding these particular laws,
they are now once again permissible.
Now go with me, if you would, go to the New Testament and go to Romans chapter 14, if
you would, Romans chapter 14.
Now I'm not going to belabor this particular point.
We all know this passage of scripture in Acts chapter 10, but it's the most famous one,
right?
Where you have the apostle Peter, who is essentially given a vision by God, where a great sheet
descends from heaven, knit at the four corners, filled with all types of animals, clean and
unclean, right?
So you got a goat, you got a deer, but you also have swine, you have camels, just a sheet
that's just filled with all types of both animals, clean and unclean.
And God tells Peter, rise Peter, kill and eat, okay?
Gives him this smorgasbord of meat and he says, eat it all, right?
And of course, Peter responds with, not so Lord, for nothing common or unclean hath entered
into my mouth.
And what is he referring to?
He's saying, I can't eat this because the Levitical law forbids me to, you know, according
to Moses, eating camels, eating swine is considered common or unclean, and because I've kept the
Levitical law from my youth up until this point, I'm not going to eat that because of
the fact that it's unclean, which is a crazy thing to say to God after he just finished
telling you rise, kill and eat, right?
And what does the Lord respond with?
That which God had sanctified, that call not thou common or unclean.
He's like, look, New Testament, these things are sanctified.
These things are set apart.
Now it's once again sanctioned to consume as food, right?
Now why is that?
Well, because the death of Jesus Christ of the cross brought in a New Testament, which
also brought in the end of these Levitical dietary laws.
And obviously that's also symbolic representation of the fact that he's trying to communicate
to Peter, hey, don't call these Gentiles unclean or common.
These Gentiles need the gospel.
They need to get saved.
Stop just trying to preach the gospel to Jews.
You need to make sure that you go to the camel.
You go to the swine.
You go to the Gentiles.
That what you would consider to be common or unclean because I've sanctified them through
the gospel.
He's basically sanctioned them to also be saved through Jesus Christ.
And you know, Peter's really stubborn.
So the vision had to happen three times because he didn't get it the first time.
You know, like it's like when I give announcements, whatever I announced today, you guys are not
going to even know what I announced today until like four weeks from now.
And then you're going to be like, Hey, is there like a conference going on or something?
Is there, Hey, do we have, you know, after the Father's Day hike is like, is there a
hike happening sometimes, you know, because typically it takes a couple of times to get
through, right?
Well, the Lord had to do this to Peter three times in order for him to understand, oh,
okay, I can eat these animals and I can preach the gospel to that which I previously considered
to be common or unclean.
Now in Acts chapter 10, you actually have Cornelius, who is a Roman centurion, coming
to Peter to get saved, which is why the Lord had to give him that vision to prepare him
so that he wouldn't be prejudice against Cornelius, that he would be willing to give him the gospel.
He comes, he ends up getting saved, his household gets saved, a great work is accomplished because
of that.
Okay.
But the point that I'm making here is the fact that in the New Testament, God used the
sanctioning of eating these so-called unclean animals from the Old Testament as a picture
of being able to preach the gospel to those who are not of Jewish descent.
Look at Romans chapter 14, verse number 17.
It says here, "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness and peace
and joy in the Holy Ghost."
So don't let anybody tell you that somehow you're less spiritual, you're less godly,
you're less biblical if you're eating pork, if you're eating bacon, if you're eating
some kind of unclean animal that the Bible deemed to be unclean in the Old Testament.
If you participate in that meat, it's not going to make you any less spiritual.
Because it says that the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink.
What you eat and what you drink does not determine how spiritual you are, okay?
And in fact, 1 Corinthians 8 says this, "But meat commendeth us not to God, for neither
if we eat are we the better, neither if we eat not are we the worse."
Now, obviously, when we go to the hole in the wall Chinese restaurant and we eat that
styrofoam box of Chinese food, you're thinking to yourself, "I feel like the worst, okay?
You know, I just, I'm tired, by the way, don't go get Chinese food between services, okay?
Because you will be the worst afterwards.
There are certain foods that you just feel worse after you're done eating, right?
But this is referring to spiritual things, okay?
You're not less spiritual just because you participate in eating bacon and shrimp and
crab and oysters.
You're not the worst, the Bible says, because, you know, food does not have any intrinsic
moral value.
It doesn't have any intrinsic spiritual value to them.
It simply pictured something in the Old Testament of something in the New.
And this is why the Apostle Paul is reiterating this in the New Testament, because you have
a lot of people during this particular time that are trying to infiltrate the churches
to try to get people to bring them back under the law to observe these dietary laws.
So Paul has to come and say, hey, you're not better or worse if you eat pork.
You're not better or worse if you eat camel.
You're not better or worse if you eat dog.
Me commendeth this not to God.
OK, now go to First Timothy, chapter four, if you held your place there.
You can just flip over there real quick.
Look at First Timothy, chapter four, First Timothy, chapter number four.
And look at verse number one.
It says here, now the spirit speaketh expressly, chapter four, verse number one.
Now, the spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart
from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils,
speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with the hot iron.
And I want you to notice this. What are they teaching?
What are the doctrines of devils that he's referring to?
Forbidding to marry.
So essentially saying, oh, if you want to be godly, if you want to be a church
leader, you have to abstain from marriage, i.e. the Catholic Church, right?
Forbidding to marry.
And I want you to notice this and commanding to abstain from meat.
Now we can apply this to like Christian
vegans or something where people who are vegans will say, oh, it's sinful to eat.
That's not God's original intent.
It wasn't like that in the Garden of Eden.
But the actual application to this is
referring to Pharisees who are commanding Gentiles to abstain from meats, right?
These meats that were previously considered unclean in the Old Testament,
they're still commanding people to abstain from these particular meats.
But I want you to notice what it goes on to say, which God has created to be
received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
Now, here's the kicker in verse number four, for every creature of God is good.
It doesn't say that it tastes good.
It just says that it's good.
You can have it if you want.
If you're in a bind or something, you're in the tribulation.
And the only thing available is your chihuahua.
No, I'm just kidding.
Not enough meat on the chihuahua.
A lot of chihuahuas in our church.
For every creature of God is good.
And I want you to notice this and nothing
to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving.
Why, Lord? For it is sanctified by the word of God in prayer.
So there's your text verse there to the Israel united in Christ, to the Hebrew
roots movement that want to command you to abstain from previously considered
unclean animals now that we're in the New Testament.
The Bible says, no, every creature of God is good.
Don't ignore the verse because creature is in context of meat.
Creature is referring to animals that we consume for sustenance.
It says that all of them are good.
You shouldn't refuse them.
And in fact, they're sanctified by the word of God in prayer.
Now, don't take the sanctified by the word of God in prayer too far.
This doesn't mean that if you eat a really
unhealthy meal, God's going to somehow remove the calories from that meal.
You're like, Lord, just don't let me get fat from this.
And Lord, don't let me suffer the consequences of this Chinese food.
You know, that's not what it's referring to.
Referring to the fact that it's just sanctioned to eat.
You can consume it if you would like, you know, and we joke around about dog.
But that's actually a legitimate thing
that people actually eat in Asian countries.
My wife has an uncle who was a missionary in Southeast Asia.
And he was there with his daughter and his daughter made him a meal and fed it
to him. And she's like, how do you like that?
And he's like, that's pretty good.
She's like, you want to know what you ate?
And he's like, what did I eat?
And she brought out the head of a canine and she's like, this is what you ate.
You know, I would be livid.
But quite frankly, it's probably more meat
on that dog than there are chickens in that area, too.
So I don't know.
But you know what? He's he didn't sin by eating that.
You know, obviously it would be
considered culturally inappropriate in the United States of America.
But it's not culturally inappropriate, according to the Bible, though,
because every creature of God is good, nothing to be refused.
OK, dogs in the United States of America
have been humanized a little too much there.
All right. Now go to Colossians, Chapter two, Colossians two.
Actually, go to Hebrews, Chapter nine, Hebrews nine.
I'm going to read to you from Colossians, Chapter two.
The apostle Paul, when writing to the church at Colossi, tells them,
let no man therefore judge you in meat.
Now, again, he's telling them this because of the fact that there is a there was
movement during this particular time of Judaizers that were going into the
churches, trying to bring people back under the law, trying to get people to
observe the law of Moses, that which has already been abolished,
that which is already supposed to be done away with.
They were trying to get people to observe
those ceremonial laws, which is why he tells these Gentile
believers, don't let anybody judge you in meat.
If you're eating bacon, don't let someone come to you and say, hey,
you're sinning by doing this. Moses commanded this.
Right.
He says, let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of an
holy day or of the new moon or of the Sabbath days.
And I want you to notice this, which are a shadow of things to come.
But the body is of Christ.
So if you think about the lamb, for example,
there were the lambs and the goats that were sacrificed in the Old Testament.
They were a foreshadowing of the body of Jesus Christ.
They weren't the literal
atonement for their sin, it foreshadowed what Jesus Christ would do in the future.
So he tells them, don't let anybody judge you on this.
And Colossians two is the Hebrew roots movement's worst nightmare.
They don't know what to do with it.
They try to turn it on its head and claim, no, this is saying that they're eating
those dietary, they're having those dietary restrictions.
They're observing the Sabbath.
But people are coming in telling them not to observe the Sabbath.
They're telling them they don't have to eat, you know, to abstain from these
particular, or that they, yeah, that they they don't have to abide by that,
that they can just eat whatever they want.
But obviously that's nonsense.
And it contradicts the entire narrative
of the New Testament, because when you read the Book of Acts, you see the only
opposition that Christians had were Jews who were adherence to Judaism,
trying to bring people back under the law.
OK, now look at Hebrews, chapter nine,
Brother Ulysses, if you can turn up the AC, please.
Hebrews, chapter nine, verse six, it says, now, when these things were thus ordained,
the priest went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing accomplishing
the service of God, but into the second went the high priest alone once every year,
now without blood, which he offered for himself and for the heirs of the people.
Now, what does he refer to?
He's talking about the Old Testament tabernacle and or temple.
OK, specifically the tabernacle.
He's giving the layout of the tabernacle and what it is that the high priest would
do, what were his functions within that tabernacle.
And it says in verse eight, the Holy Ghost, this signifying that the way into the
holiest of all was not yet made manifest while as the first tabernacle was yet
standing. And I want you to notice verse number nine, which was a figure for the
time then present. What is that saying?
It's saying that the tabernacle of the Old Testament was a figure.
What does that mean? A symbol.
It represented something else, right?
He says in which were offered both gifts
and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining
to the conscience.
So the Apostle Paul is addressing the fact that these Old Testament ordinances
of offering the animal sacrifices, going into the tabernacle,
they symbolically represented other things that were coming in the future.
Pretty simple to understand, right?
And I want you to notice verse 10,
which stood only in meats and drinks and diverse washings and carnal ordinances
imposed on them until the time of reformation, specifically saying that these
laws that got instituted, known as the ceremonial laws,
only existed for a window of time.
They were instituted at Mount Sinai and they were instituted until the time
of reformation, referring to the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.
And in fact, in the previous chapter,
chapter eight, it says that the old covenant was ready to vanish away.
It was already being done away with.
So there goes your argument that the old covenant is an everlasting covenant.
How can it be an everlasting covenant
when the apostle Paul specifically says that it's ready to vanish away?
I'm telling you why, because the new covenant replaces that old covenant.
OK, point that I'm making here, he specifically says that meats and drinks
were imposed on them, those dietary restrictions, the purity laws,
the ceremonial laws was imposed on them for a small window of time until Christ
came and fulfilled that. OK, so eat up.
We can eat what was previously considered to be unclean because according to the New
Testament, these laws have now been repealed, meaning they're no longer instituted.
And people often say this as an argument, like, what about Jesus, though?
Jesus kept these dietary laws.
And to that I say, yeah, he did.
He absolutely did.
He offered the gift of Moses.
He went into the temple.
He offered the sacrifices he abstained from the meats and the drinks
that the Old Testament required of him.
Why? Because during his ministry, he was still in the Old Testament.
He observed the Sabbath.
Why? Because he was still in the Old Testament.
He did everything.
He came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it.
He kept all the God's commandments perfectly,
including these dietary purity laws, ceremonial laws.
Why? Because he was still under the Old Testament while he was alive.
And in fact, it was his death that brought about the New Testament,
which is why you don't see him being done thereafter.
And in fact, when you read the Book of Acts,
you don't see apostles going into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.
And automatically people think, oh, they're keeping the Sabbath.
But that's not necessarily the case.
They're going into the synagogues because they know that God's people or the
previous God's people were congregating at the synagogue.
Therefore, they're going there to reach those people.
They're going there to preach the gospel to those people.
They're going in there to preach the word of God, to get them saved.
They're not doing it because they're observing the Sabbath.
OK, go to Romans, chapter six, if you would, Romans, chapter number six.
So point number one is the ceremonial laws that are done away with.
And we focus mainly on the dietary laws.
But this is also the Holy Days.
This is the the the festivals, the Feast of Weeks,
all of these observances of the new moon, the Sabbath days, all of these things,
according to Colossians, chapter two,
Hebrews, chapter nine, are completely done away with.
Those have been repealed.
So when someone comes to you and says, no, we're supposed to keep those dietary
laws, we are not supposed to eat that, you know, because Moses commanded.
Well, what about before Moses, though, for Moses?
Those were sanctioned to eat after Moses.
Those are once again sanctioned to eat.
And it's interesting that these same people who want to place such an emphasis
on the dietary laws, most of them are not even saved.
They're not. You know why?
Because they miss the point of the ceremonial laws, because the Bible says
that the law is given to us to bring us unto Christ.
The law is our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ.
And we could obviously interpret that to mean that the moral law shows us how
imperfect we are and in light of that helps us to recognize that we need a Savior.
But we could also say that the Old Testament laws,
the ceremonial laws pointed us to Christ because he's the fulfillment of those
ceremonial laws such as the animal sacrifices.
OK, so we have the ceremonial laws.
Now let's look at the moral laws.
What is morally right and wrong?
OK, now when we think about this,
the first thing that comes to mind is the Ten Commandments,
because the majority of the Ten Commandments, or should we say that the
second half of the Ten Commandments, deal with our relationship morally to others
that we shouldn't kill, we shouldn't steal, we shouldn't lie, we shouldn't covet.
These are moral issues that the Bible proposes, right?
And we believe that those laws are still instituted today.
And I would say that the majority of Christians would agree with this,
that it's still wrong to kill people.
It's morally wrong to lie.
It's morally wrong to steal.
It's not right to do these things.
Yet, in spite of that, people often say,
well, we're not under the law, though, we're under grace.
But let me explain to you what that means according to the Bible.
It means turning the grace of God into lasciviousness because often what they're
referring to is the fact that now that we're in the New Testament, it's OK to do
these things, we're under we're not under the law, we're under grace.
And therefore, you know, we're not, you know, those laws aren't imposed upon us.
OK, so that means that we can just go out
and murder people and steal without suffering any consequences whatsoever.
That's nonsense. Now, what does it mean?
Look at Romans, chapter six. Let's read it first and foremost.
Look at verse 14.
It says for sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law,
but under grace.
So when people say we are not under the law, but under grace,
what is that referring to?
Well, to them, it means that you have a license to sin.
You can just go and break God's commandments.
God's not mad at you.
But that's not what it's referring to at all.
And we're going to disprove that in just a bit.
What does it mean when it says that we're not under the law, but under grace?
It essentially means we're not under the curse of the law because the law brings a
curse. Who's ever keep it?
The whole law yet offended in one point.
He's guilty of all.
You see, you can get into heaven by keeping God's commandments.
The only thing is no one can keep God's commandments.
You can get to heaven if you just obeyed all of God's laws, his moral laws and his
commandments, you would be able to get to heaven.
But here's the problem.
No one's been able to do that because we've all transgressed the laws of God.
We've all sinned.
In fact, sin, the biblical definition of sin is to transgress the law.
So when God tells you not to do something and you do it, according to the Bible, that's sin.
If he tells you to do something and you choose not to do it, that is sin, according to the Bible.
So therefore, it's impossible for us to obtain eternal life via keeping the law, right?
So the law imposes a strict standard upon us that essentially leaves us cursed.
Cursed meaning that every single human
being will go to hell because they transgress the laws of God.
That is a major curse.
But when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we're no longer under the curse
of the law, we're under grace, because for by grace are you saved through faith
and that not of yourselves.
It is the gift of God, not of works that any man should boast.
Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith.
Listen to this without the deeds of the law.
Over and over again, the emphasis of the
New Testament is that salvation is offered freely through the sacrifice
of Jesus Christ, through our faith in Him, with no requirement of us obeying His law.
That's what it means to not be under the law, but under grace.
Because, you know, there's people out there that believe that you have to keep
the law in order to be saved, like, are you living in holiness, though?
And they base whether you're saved or not on whether you keep God's commandments.
But folks, there's not a just man upon Earth that doeth good and sinneth not.
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
There's none that doeth good, no, not one.
There's none righteous, no, not one.
The Bible says that our righteousness
has filthy rags in the eyes of God.
There's not a single person,
and you may think to yourself,
"Yeah, but I've never murdered."
Yeah, but hold on a second.
If you've lied, that merits the punishment instituted on sin.
Because Revelation 21 verse eight,
the last sin that's mentioned is lying.
Liars shall be cast into the lake of fire, okay?
Not just murderers, not just kidnappers,
not just rapists, not just pedophiles.
It says, "Liars will."
So in order for you to avoid the curse of the law,
you have to place your faith in Jesus Christ.
And it's not by both.
It's like, well, I'm gonna place my faith in Jesus Christ,
but I'm gonna also do my part.
Then why does Ephesians 2 say not of yourselves?
Meaning it doesn't require your effort, your participation.
Your participation means nothing to God.
You don't have the right amount of payment for that.
The only payment that God will even accept,
you know, he doesn't accept American Express.
There's only one type of payment that he will accept,
and that's the blood of Jesus Christ.
You know, you have Confederate money is what you have.
It's worthless and you can have stacks and stacks of it.
You can have stacks of righteousness, stacks of justice, stacks of moral living.
That's not enough to save you.
It can't purchase salvation for you because of the fact that salvation has already been
purchased through the blood of Jesus Christ and the only payment that God accepts is Jesus
Christ.
Okay.
So this is what it means when it says we're not under the law, but under grace.
It's essentially saying we're not under the curse of the law.
We're under the grace of God.
We're saved by grace through faith.
Now this does not mean that because we're not under the curse of the law and that we're
under grace, that somehow that means that we can just sin now and nothing's going to
happen to us.
Because what does it say in verse 15?
What then?
Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace?
God forbid.
So God forbids you.
He prohibits Christians from sinning, not because it means that if you do sin, you lose
your salvation because according to the Bible, salvation cannot be lost.
But the reason he forbids you, he prohibits you from sinning is because, number one, it's
displeasing to him.
But number two, you end up curing the wrath of God upon your life here on earth.
Folks, I don't know if you know this, actions have consequences.
And just because you're saved doesn't mean you will not suffer the consequences of your
actions here on this earth.
You won't suffer for the consequences of your sin in hell because that's already been paid
for, but Jesus Christ did not die on the cross so you can just, nothing will happen to you
if you murder someone.
There's consequences to that.
The Bible tells us if you sow to the flesh, you shall of the flesh reap corruption.
So you could be a saved person who has the Spirit of God dwelling within them and you
are a Christian, you are saved, you have the Holy Spirit indwelling you, but if you choose
to commit sins, if you choose to commit crimes, guess what?
There remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.
You will suffer the consequences of that here on this earth, okay?
That's what the Bible's teaching.
Go to Galatians chapter three, Galatians chapter three.
So what am I saying?
God's moral law transcends the Mosaic law.
It was wrong to murder before Moses said that it was wrong to murder.
Before the Bible said, "Thou shall not kill," it was wrong before that.
And in fact, the very first sin committed, other than Eve, was her son murdering her
other son.
Look at Galatians three, verse seven, "Know ye therefore that they which are of faith,
the same are the children of Abraham?
And the scripture foreseen that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached
before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, 'And these shall all nations be blessed.'
So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse."
So if you choose to place yourself under the law of God to keep the law of God to be saved,
the Bible says you won't be saved, you'll just be cursed.
"For it is written, 'Cursed it is everyone that continueth not in all things which are
written in the book of the law to do them.'"
Now this is an important verse.
Why?
Because often people who preach that you have to keep the laws of God in order to be saved,
you'll confront them with the reality that they've sinned, that they've broken God's
commandments.
To which they'll respond with, "Yeah, but you should at least try though, right?
Are you saying we shouldn't try to keep God's laws?
It's right to keep God's laws?
We should at least strive for having a right relationship with God.
We should at least strive for keeping the commandments of God."
Well, you know, I got news for you that says, "Cursed it is everyone that continueth not
in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them."
So, sorry, you know, not to quote Yoda, but there is no try.
There is no try.
There is no law.
I'm going to just try.
No, you can say that all you want.
You're still cursed because God's standard is what?
Perfection.
So if you're choosing to keep the laws of God in order to be saved, you have to perfectly
keep the laws of God all the days of your life, which obviously every single person
would say that's absolutely impossible.
You got it right.
But hold on a second.
Jesus Christ kept all of the laws of God perfectly, which is why salvation is only through him.
Because once we believe on Jesus Christ, His righteousness, His perfect record is imputed
unto us.
And then when the Lord looks upon us for salvation, He sees us through the blood of Jesus Christ.
Look at verse 13 of Galatians 3, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being
made a curse for us.
For it is written, "Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit
through faith."
So when Jesus Christ hung on the cross, He embodied the person who is essentially suffering
for the sins of all the world, right?
He allowed Himself to be a curse for us.
The Bible says He had made Him to be sin, who knew no sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him.
That's what the Bible tells us.
Go to Romans chapter 2, if you would, Romans chapter 2.
So the ceremonial laws, my first point, is to address the fact that the Hebrew roots
when we got it wrong, you don't have to keep the ceremonial laws according to the Bible.
Point number two, the moral laws is to prove to those who say we're not under the law but
under grace, therefore it's okay to sin, it's to disprove them as well.
Now here's the thing, folks, and this next verse that I'm going to show you kind of answers
both crowds, okay?
Because you know, a lot of people will say, "No, you got to keep the Sabbath."
That's the command in the Ten Commandments, you know?
Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy, right?
But I want you to notice verse 12 of Romans chapter 2, "For as many as have sinned without
the law shall also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law shall be
judged by the law."
What does that mean?
It means that a person who lives their entire life but was never exposed to the written
laws of God, they will go to hell, according to the Bible.
The Bible says that they will perish without the law, okay?
So you know, the illustration people always give, what about the person in the Congo who
never had a fundamental Baptist church, they never heard the word of God, they never heard
the name of Jesus Christ, according to the Bible, that person will go to hell.
Because it says right here, for as many that have sinned without the law, shall perish
without the law.
It doesn't say God makes an exception for them, because they didn't have the law, they
didn't have the Bible, they didn't know the name of Jesus Christ.
The Lord literally says that they shall perish without the law.
He says, and as many as have sinned in the law, shall be judged by the law.
So he says, those who were exposed to the laws of God, those who heard the preaching
of God's word, those who know the standard of God, if they refuse Jesus Christ, guess
what?
They will perish in the law as well.
They'll be judged according to the Bible.
And in fact, let me just say this.
The person who is judged by the law is judged far more harshly than the person who's perishing
without the law.
Why?
Because they knew what the word of God said and they still ignored it.
They still rejected Jesus Christ.
To whom soever much is given of him shall be much required.
You understand what he's saying here?
Look at verse 13.
For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in
the law, these having not the law are a law unto themselves.
So the guy in the Congo who dies without hearing the name of Jesus Christ, according to God,
the Lord says of that person, that Gentile, that they do things that are contained in
the law.
So even though they're absent of the written word of God, of the laws of God, guess what?
Then how do they know not to murder?
How do they know not to lie?
How do they know not to steal?
How?
Well, I'll tell you how.
Look at verse 15, which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience
also bearing witness and their thoughts to meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another.
So he says the reason they're judged without the law is because at the end of the day,
they have the law of God in their heart.
The moral law of God is still in their heart.
Now when it says that they have a law written in their hearts, does that mean that the guy
in the Congo is just like, man, I just, I feel like I got to observe the Sabbath.
I feel like I shouldn't be doing anything on the Sabbath.
I don't know what it is.
I feel like I need to be offering a sacrifice or something, just, I just know it in my heart
that I shouldn't be eating shrimp.
Well, they don't have shrimp there, you know, I know in my heart that I shouldn't be eating,
you know, uh, cobras or I don't know what, you know, you know, lions, I shouldn't be
eating lions or something like that, you know, I shouldn't be eating mosquito burners, whatever
it is that they have.
I shouldn't.
I just know in my heart that that's wrong to do.
That's obviously not what it's referring to.
The law of God that's written in the hearts of every human being is God's moral law because
of the fact that at the end of the day, if a person does not have the word of God, they
don't have the law of God, they're still without excuse because they have the law of God in
their heart.
This is what the Bible would also commonly refer to as the light that God has given to
you.
He lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
And every person has a measure of light that they're exposed to.
Even if even if you were raised in communist China, every Chinese person in communist China
has light.
The mere fact that they're born into this world is light.
And let me just let me give you we don't need testimonies or examples, but let me just give
you one because obviously we have the word of God.
That's all we need.
You know, my sister-in-law, she's Chinese.
She's from China.
Her parents work for the Chinese government.
She was a major communist, an atheist.
But she ended up coming to the United States and getting saved.
And now she's a fundamental Baptist.
But before that, though, she said, like when she was younger, she knew that there was a
God.
And she's like, I just know that there's a God in heaven.
In spite of what my school is telling me, I just know there's some sort of divine God
out there.
And she would pray to that God in spite of the fact that she was without the law.
She was in a country where the law of God was not being exposed to her.
It was not being given to her.
But guess what?
She had it right here.
And in light of that, she sought out the Lord.
And guess what?
God brought her to America to hear the right gospel, to get saved.
Why?
Because when you respond to the light that God gives you, God sends you somewhere or
He sends someone to you so you can get more truth.
The point that I'm making here is the fact that God's moral law transcends.
Prior to the laws being written on a rock with the finger of God on Mount Sinai, it
was already written in our hearts.
Let me have you turn to, go to 1 Timothy chapter 1 if you will, 1 Timothy chapter
1.
Let me read you a couple of verses here.
Romans 3.31 says, "Do we then make void the law through faith?
God forbid, yea, we establish the law."
Romans 3.19 says this, "Now we know that what things soever the law sayeth, it's
sayeth to them who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world
may become guilty before God."
So to say we're not under the law, we're just under grace, therefore these moral laws
that you're trying to impose upon, you bunch of legalists trying to impose these laws upon
us.
Well, the apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9 that we're not without law unto Christ.
We have the laws of Christ.
We have the laws of God.
We should be under these particular moral laws because God still deems murder as being
evil and wicked.
Which leads me to my third point, and that is the judicial or civil laws.
And this is the point that I really want to talk about this morning, and that is the death
penalty.
Because up until this point you're like, "Oh, I know I could eat shrimp.
I know murder's wrong."
But there's also a third aspect of God's laws, and we would categorize them as being civil
laws, but they're essentially punishments for breaking those moral laws, okay?
Corporal punishments, capital punishments, fines and restitutions, right?
And what are these for?
These are to ensure, first of all, that people get justice for crimes committed against them,
but it's also to ensure that a society functions properly as well, okay?
Now here is the major division within Christianity is regarding these civil laws, okay?
Because people will readily admit murder is wrong, sodomy is wrong, bestiality is wrong,
adultery is wrong.
Well, let's go ahead and make it look exceeding sinful though, because when the Bible, when
those sins are compared to the punishments that should be instituted upon them, you realize
how actually wicked and sinful they are in the eyes of God.
And the problem with Christianity today is they understand these are all sinful, but
they just kind of put sinfulness all across the board, not realizing that there are sins
that are actually worse than others.
There are sins that are just sins, but then there are sins that are actually criminal
in the eyes of God.
Okay?
Now, obviously, we live in a society, we live in a country where a lot of these laws aren't
being instituted and they're not being imposed, but we don't really care about that because
at the end of the day, our job is just to explain what the standard of God is.
And when we expose people to the standard of God, you realize, "Oh, homosexuality is
not just a sin, it's not just an abomination, it's criminal in the eyes of God."
Adultery is not just a sin, it's not just iniquity, it's actually criminal in the eyes
of God.
And people say, "Well, we're not under the law, but under grace, though."
But you can't really disattach the consequences to these criminal actions from the moral law
itself.
If God says these particular sins are evil and wicked, how wicked do we know they are
without the punishment that's instituted upon them, right?
For example, if I were to ask you, "What's worse, murder or theft?"
You would say, "Oh, murder. How do you know that, though?"
How do we prove from the Bible which one's worse?
Now, obviously, when it comes to heaven and hell, all of them will take you to hell, right?
Even a lie will.
But we're just referring to society, because I don't know if you know this, the Bible
not only has answers for spiritual matters, it actually gives you answers of how a society,
a city, a country, a nation should be run properly, okay?
Now look at 1 Timothy 1, verse 8, where we started, it says, "But we know that the law
is good if a man used it lawfully."
This is New Testament, by the way, knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous
man.
What does that mean?
You know, the law isn't for law-abiding citizens, right?
He says, "But for the lawless and disobedient."
The law's not there to make sure that the law-abiding citizen just continues to just
be a law-abiding citizen.
It's actually made as a deterrent for lawless people, right?
For disobedient people.
He says, "For the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy
and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers."
Oh, just kidding.
We're under the law and under the grace.
So I guess it doesn't really matter if you murder your mom or your father.
There should be consequences to that.
When children murder their parents, guess what?
Being under grace doesn't cut it as a reason why not to do anything about it.
According to the Bible, there should be a punishment instituted on that.
Why?
Because God is just, and you know what?
God requires justice for victims.
So when you say we're not under the law but under grace, you're basically saying forget
the victims.
That's what you're saying, right?
Not only that, don't we want to prevent future children from killing their parents in the
future?
We want to prevent from that happening again.
So you know what the greatest preventative measure is?
To institute a just punishment that will deter a person from committing that crime again.
Now let me just say this, you know, hating someone in your heart is murder, right?
Hating a brother in your heart is murder according to the Bible.
But it's not the same as physically committing the murder though.
So the Bible's not instituting capital punishments for the sins of the mind, the sins of the
heart because we don't really police that, God polices that, right?
All we can do as Christians, all we can do as a society is keep people from actually
living out those, acting out those criminal actions in their heart.
So even if there's like a murderer out there who wants to commit murder, if the death penalty
was instituted upon murder, guess what?
He's probably not going to do it.
Or it's less likely that he will because he knows there's a just consequence to it.
He says in verse 10, "For whoremongers, for them that defy themselves with mankind, for
men stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary
to sound doctrine."
The Bible's explicitly telling us here that the law is made to keep people in check, right?
To keep the murderers in check, to keep the violators in check, to keep liars in check
knowing that there is just consequences to those actions.
That's why the civil laws were instituted in the Old Testament.
Now, people say, "Well, you know, yeah, but are they instituted in the New?"
Go to Romans chapter 13.
And the answer is, I can't tell you because it all depends on what nation you're in, right?
Because God sanctions nations to institute laws in order to govern their area.
What we do know is this, is that God is pro-keeping those civil laws in any nation because they're
simply a template that you should use in order to have a functioning, peaceful society where
crime is not rampant, okay?
Now let me give you an example of this, Romans chapter 13 verse 9, actually let's look at
Romans 13 and verse 1, it says, "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.
For there is no power but of God.
The powers that be are ordained of God."
What does power mean?
It means authority.
And he's saying that God allowed authority in this world.
So people who are over, you know, there are these governments, over societies, God sanctioned
for them to be in that area, right?
He's not sanctioning them to decree the laws that they decree.
He just placing authorities with over nations.
He doesn't want anarchy.
Verse two says, "Whosoever therefore resisted the power, resisted the ordinance of God,
and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation."
So he's saying, look, on a practical level, if you choose to disobey the government, disobey
authority, disobey the police officer, you're probably going to suffer the consequences
because of that.
If you're getting pulled over by a police officer, it's probably not a good idea to
act like you're pulling out a gun or something because you will receive the just punishment
for that.
That's what it says.
"Sist the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation."
Damnation is not referring to eternal damnation, it's just referring to consequence punishment.
Look at verse three, "For rulers are not a terror to good works, or at least they shouldn't
be.
But to the evil, wilt thou then not be afraid of the power?
Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same.
For he," referring to that power, that governor, that authority, "for he is the minister of
God to thee for good.
But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid.
For he beareth not the sword in vain.
For he is a minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil."
What is he saying?
The ordinance that God instituted in the land, God allowed them to have a sword, not to spank
you with, not to slap you on the wrist, a sword is to kill.
Here's your New Testament verse for the death penalty right there.
And what is the apostle Paul saying?
He's saying this under the Roman government.
So when people are like, oh, are we under a theocracy?
Well, was the apostle Paul under theocracy?
No, he wasn't under a theocracy.
Jesus Christ wasn't under a theocracy either.
Even though he's God, he wasn't under a theocracy, yet he said, let him die to the death, showing
full well that he approved of sanction advocated for the death penalty.
Because why?
Because the death penalty, capital punishments, corporal punishments go hand in hand with
God's moral law.
God's moral law helps you to see that it's wrong, the punishments for those breaking
of those laws shows you how bad it really is.
Okay?
He says, wherefore you must need to be subject not only for wrath, but also for conscience
sake.
So, what is the point that I'm making here?
The point that I'm making, go to Leviticus chapter 20 if you would, Leviticus chapter
20, the point that I'm making here is that God is pro-death penalty.
And look, if the death penalty was instituted today in the United States of America, there
would be a lot less crime, for sure.
That's not to say that crime would not exist, because it would exist because there's sinful
people.
We are sinners.
Human beings are sinners.
But let me say this, it would be a lot less than what we have today.
Why?
Because there's consequence.
And you know what the Bible tells us?
It tells us that because a sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore
the hearts of the sons of men are fully set in them to do evil.
In other words, if you don't punish crime, if you don't punish evil works, you know what
it does?
It emboldens criminals to continue to commit crime.
Oh, I don't get punished for sodomizing, I don't get punished for murder, I don't get
punished for child molestation.
They just keep on doing it because there's no punishment for it.
And God specifically told you have to punish these.
And by the way, not over a period of 10 years, right?
Not like the night stalker who was on death row for like 10 years or whatever, 15 years
and ended up not even getting the death penalty.
He just died of cancer or something like that.
It's like people are put on death row, but they stay on there for like years.
And I don't even, you may know, I'm not educated as far as why they keep them on there for
that long.
Maybe they just keep appealing and appealing and appealing or something like that.
They're on death row for years.
The Bible says that you should execute it, what, speedily.
There should be a speedy consequence to those actions because it deters other people from
actually doing it.
Now look, that's not to say that there won't be homosexuals in society if you institute
these laws, that there won't be pedophiles if you institute these laws, that there won't
be murderers and thieves.
They will still exist, but they'll think twice before committing those crimes though.
Because why?
Because of the power, the authority that's present to punish them if they're caught.
Okay?
And let me just say this, this isn't even a spiritual thing.
The Bible is a spiritual book, but there's a lot of practicality within the Bible too
though.
Just on how to live, how to be successful, how to have wisdom, how to interact with others,
how to have a functioning, successful society.
And so let's not ignore those aspects of the Bible that God ordained to be in the Bible
in order for us to have a peaceable life.
Okay.
Now, obviously we can't do anything about whether the law institutes these laws or not.
And people will say, yeah, but you know, thou shall not kill.
That's Old Testament.
Well, actually in Genesis chapter nine, God said that, you know, if a man takes another
man's life, his life shall go for his.
And that's way before Moses actually went up to Mount Sinai, again, proving that God's
moral laws transcend the mosaic laws.
Okay.
Look at Leviticus chapter 20 verse 13.
He says here, if a man also lie with mankind as he lies with the woman, both of them have
committed an abomination.
So there's the sin, right?
It's committed an abomination.
They shall surely be put to death.
Their blood shall be upon them.
That's the death penalty.
Now you'd say that to Christians.
You're just like, Oh, how can you say that?
But, but let me ask you, are you saying that what God's saying is wrong though?
And that's what's astounding to me as a Christian is when other Christians are offended at what
God says.
Because they're like, how can you say that's wrong?
So are you saying that what God said is wrong?
Are you?
Well, you know, but that's Old Testament.
But are you saying though, that what the judgment that God instituted upon this crime is wrong?
And obviously they don't want to answer that because it would sound really bad if they
said that.
But why would God institute such a law like this in Leviticus 20 13?
Well, if you read your Bibles all the way to Genesis 19, you wouldn't understand why.
Because when you don't institute something like this, then you have pedophilia, you have
rape, you have murder taking place on a city like Sodom and Gomorrah.
And because there's no government, righteous government to execute justice, God took matters
into his own hands and ended up raining fire and brimstone upon Sodom and Gomorrah and
the cities about them in like manner in order to prevent more pedophilia from spreading.
So then when the laws of God are instituted, now you have a functioning government that's
able to legislate these punishments for these crimes.
And now God says like, "Hey, I can't just be raining fire and brimstone all the time.
You guys need to handle this."
So then you have Judges 19, which is an identical event to Genesis 19.
The difference is God doesn't rain down fire and brimstone.
He expects Israel to take care of it.
He tells the tribes, "You do it.
You take care of it.
You need to execute punishment upon it."
And look folks, don't think, "Oh man, the God of the Old Testament is just so mean though.
Why is he so mean?"
Well, no, the God of the Old Testament is still the God of the New Testament.
He has the same exact views.
He takes the same exact positions.
The difference is the nation of Israel was a theocracy where God can make his people
legislate that.
He's not going to make the governments of this world legislate what he says in his word.
They have to choose to.
And make no mistake about it, Leviticus 20 13 is not a ceremonial law.
It's not a dietary law.
It's not a purity law.
This is a civil law that goes hand in hand with God's moral law.
And you cannot disattach one from another.
You can't disassociate them.
So you know, Christians will readily say it's an abomination, but let's go ahead and, you
know, abomination.
But how does God really feel about it?
Because wouldn't you say like, oh, yeah, it's an abomination.
But once you read Leviticus 20 13, you're like, wow, God must really hate this particular
sin.
It's like, you know, to the point where he just wants it not even in the land.
Well, that's what God wants you to understand is that he wants you to see it as this as
exceeding sinful.
And look, this is why adultery is also exceeding sinful because it was punishable by death
as well.
But yeah, we're in a society where adultery is exalted by rappers, by music, by, you know,
society that is just promoting by these guys who claim to be traditional in their values.
You can marry a wife and sleep with as many women as you want.
That's called adultery.
But you know why people don't bat an eye at it?
I'll tell you why.
It's because of the fact that they don't know that God expects the death penalty for
something like that.
And when you know the standard of God, that it's not just sin, but it's criminal.
It's a capital crime.
You realize, whoa, you know, we do greatly err in our society.
Bible says in Romans 1 to 32, who knowing the judgment of God in context of sodomites,
that they which commit such things are worthy of death.
That's New Testament.
And look, Paul was pretty bold to write this because who is he writing it to?
Someone tell me.
Romans.
Now, are we educated on how the Roman Empire was when it came to sodomites?
Sodomy was rampant in the Roman Empire.
That was just, they were a godless nation, okay.
And the, you know, the death penalty was not instituted for sodomites in the Roman Empire.
So he's pretty bold to write this and they're reading this in Rome in the churches.
All right, let me move on here and I'm pretty much done.
Go to Hebrews chapter 10.
We're done.
Hebrews chapter 10.
We're under, we're not under the law.
We're under grace.
Yeah, for salvation, for sure.
For salvation.
But you know what?
God is also a God of justice.
He expects justice to be carried out against those who violate victims, against those who
do criminal acts against others.
God is not just a God of eternal justice.
He's of temporal justice as well.
He wants people to get justice here and now for crimes that are committed.
Eventually, the God of all the earth will do right.
Eventually criminals, even you think about these mass murderers who got away with their
crimes, they never suffered a day in jail, they never got the death penalty, they just
live long.
Obviously, they're getting their punishment in the afterlife, right?
But it's God's will for that person to suffer their punishment here on this earth as well.
Let me give you proof of that and we're done.
Hebrews 10 26 says, "For if we sin willfully, after that we receive the knowledge of the
truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.
For a certain fearful looking for a judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour
the adversaries, he that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three
witnesses."
This is the fact that someone within the nation of Israel, if they despised Moses' law, meaning
they transgressed Moses' law in an area that merited capital punishment, they died without
mercy under two or three witnesses.
This is not referring to a spiritual matter, this is referring to a capital crime.
Two or three witnesses were present to see this person commit this crime, and the Bible
says that they died without mercy.
And in the Old Testament that means that they were stoned to death, okay?
Everyone with me, look at verse 29, "Of how much sorer punishment," so what does this
mean?
How much more of a punishment, because people say, "Oh, you know, the God of the Old Testament
is a lot nicer."
Well, "Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden
under the foot of the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith
he was sanctified an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the spirit of grace."
What is he saying?
He's saying, "How much more punishment do you think you deserve if you commit these
crimes?"
The Old Testament Israelites only had the law of Moses to go off of.
We have the entire Bible, so we have an entire book that exalts God's abhorrence for these
particular crimes.
It doesn't just give us commands, but we see examples in the Bible of it, right?
So therefore, he's saying, "How much more of a punishment do you think people deserve
knowing all the plenary of Scripture of how God views a particular crime, and yet in spite
of that, still commits those crimes?"
He says in verse 34, "We know him that hath said, 'Vengeance belongeth unto me; I will
recompensate the Lord.'
And again, the Lord shall judge his people."
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
New Testament!
This is after Malachi in your Bibles, right?
This is written to the Hebrews of the New Testament.
He's saying the standard for the New Testament Christians is a lot higher than the standard
for Old Testament Christians.
Because we have the stories of those who disobey the laws of God and were punished for it
under two or three witnesses, and in spite of that, there's Christians who still decide
to murder, steal, lie, cheat, do all manner of wickedness.
He says you deserve a sore punishment because of that.
Because you basically deserve to perish in the law.
You're not like a person that's without law.
You're like a person that has the law.
You have the Bible, and yet in spite of that, you could continue to commit crimes.
What's the point that I'm making?
The laws of God are good.
The ceremonial laws are good because they pointed us unto Christ.
They were used for a window of time as a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ.
The moral laws are wonderful because it helps us to realize that we are immoral and we need
a savior because we can't save ourselves.
The civil laws are wonderful because it keeps us from committing crimes, and it helps us
to be functioning members of a society.
It helps us to realize that God is a God of justice, and you know what?
Try to tell a person who's the mother of a victim, who's the father of a victim, who's
related to a victim, tell them, "We're not under the law but under grace."
It's not going to work now, is it?
I mean, that'll sound outright absurd, and you know what?
It's absurd to God, too, because he would want these laws to be instituted in order
to bring justice and to prevent future crimes.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for your word.
Thank you for the laws of God, and we're so thankful how perfect the law of the Lord is.
And Lord, I pray that you'd help us to admire it, to abide by it, Lord.
Obviously, we know that we're not under the law but under grace, and we know to be a good
Christian we just need to walk in the Spirit because love worketh no ill to his neighbor
and love is the fulfillment of the law.
So instead of going through the law and as a checkbox to make sure we're not committing
those crimes, the Bible just tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves and in doing so
we fulfill the law of God.
And I pray that you'd help us, Lord, to exalt the punishments for the breaking of these
laws in order to communicate and convey to others what God's standard is, what His perspective
and His view is on particular sins and crimes.
And I pray that, Lord, you'd help us to do so.
We love you, Lord.
We thank you.
We pray these things in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Please turn your songbooks to song number 6363, a day that will be altogether nice and
strong.
Verse, verse, verse, verse, verse, verse, verse, verse, verse, verse, verse, verse, verse,
verse, verse, verse, verse, verse, verse, verse, verse, verse.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, I am going to cross
your arms over your chest, buried in the likeness of his death, raised to walk in the midst
of life.
Congratulations.
All right, let's pray, we'll be dismissed.
Father, we thank you so much for the baptism, thank you for Desiree, Lord, and her decision
to get baptized.
We're thankful, Father God, for those who follow you in the Lord's baptism.
I pray you bless our service tonight, Lord, and I pray you help us not soon forget the
principles we learned this morning.
We love you and we thank you.
Pray this thing's in Jesus' name.
Amen, you are dismissed.
Thank you so much for coming.
Nice and warm.
It's nice and warm.
Well, you know before, we didn't have a heater, so it's really nice.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, it's a horse trap, yep.
Yeah.
That's what we used every single, since we started, we used a horse trap.
That's what fits people, you know?
Yeah, did you feel it?