You
Welcome to First Works Baptist Church.
Let's all find our seats.
As you find a seat, grab a songbook,
turn this 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.
But my seal, no length or no, These four sin could not atone.
Thou must save and Thou alone, In my hand no price I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling.
is glad for me, let me hide myself in thee.
Amen, great 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.
The most importantly Lord, please fill pass me here with your spirit as he preaches unto us
and gives your spirit in the congregation as well Lord, that we may leave her 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 all together nice and strong on that first verse.
In his holy courts they flourish, like a father kind he spares them, in his loving arms he bears them.
Neither life nor death can ever, from the Lord his children sever for his love.
or what he gives us, shows the Father's love so precious, we may trust his purpose only,
tis his chill.
All right, great scene.
Welcome to First Works Baptist Church.
Just a few announcements here.
Before we see our next song, which will be 106.
Abide with me if you wanna get that ready
in your song books, 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 five p.m. and then we have a Thursday night Bible study at seven 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.
It 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,
and keep them in prayer.
I do want to mention something.
If you can keep someone in prayer,
Brother Eddie Kenyones 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 gonna 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 in 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?
But his spirits are up, his disposition is great.
But please pray for him, tomorrow will be his surgery.
He's gonna have open heart surgery tomorrow at 2 p.m.
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 them 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 are you okay with that? He's like
please have people come so you can see them. Obviously after his surgery I would
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 Salvation and Baptisms
for the month of May on the right hand side is the upcoming church events.
We have the Father's Day High coming up this Saturday, June 14th.
We're meeting at Black Star Canyon at 6.30 a.m.
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 Gonzales.
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
All right, so single men can 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 gonna go over this summer calendar here
Just briefly go over it. Keep this with you. So the
you know what's going on throughout the summer.
I'm just gonna briefly go over this.
On Friday, June 20th, and the 27th,
along with the 11th of July,
I'm gonna be hosting some team fellowships
at my house on Fridays.
And so your team leader will get with you.
We're gonna have food, fellowship.
We're gonna party, you know, Baptist party, you know?
And so,
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 gonna have family nights during the summer as well we always
have a great time for the family nights uh on june 22nd we started with as i mentioned with the
nacho fellowship and then on the 29th we're gonna 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 uh for the july
which would 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 gonna have some little
snacks as well after the service. We do have a special soul-winning trip to TJ on Wednesday,
July 9th. 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
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 we didn't do in previous years
is actually we're gonna be going to a youth conference.
Pacific Baptist Church invited our church
to come to their youth conference.
And so we're excited about it.
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 gonna 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.
Sixth grade and up, who would like to participate in the activities of the conference, please
make sure you sign up at the guest center, okay?
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, okay?
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 can do us a favor and just sign up if you want to participate in that it'll 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 it's September 14th
It's 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. 106, abide with me.
Song number 106, abide with me.
Altogether, nice and strong on that first verse.
Abide.
Change
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wonderful singing. At this time the ushers will come forward to receive the
offering. You can turn your bibles to 1st Timothy chapter number one. 1st
Timothy chapter one.
we're in 1st 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
as 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.
Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of good conscience and
of faith unfeigned, from which some, having swerved to turn to sight and to vain jangling,
desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm.
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 hormongers, 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
I'll be it for this cause I obtain mercy, that in me first, Jesus Christ might show
forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which would hereafter believe on him to life
everlasting.
And I want of the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honouring
glory for ever 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 Hamanaius and Alexander, whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.
Let's pray, dear Lord God, 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.
Amen.
Okay, we're in 1 Timothy chapter 1 this morning, and the title of my sermon this morning is
The Law Is Good.
The law is good.
It says in 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse number 7, 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.
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.
Okay?
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?
You know, and I'm sure you've gotten into various conversations with people regarding the law and people have various opinions about it.
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 will 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
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 1 Timothy because we're going to come back to that.
Leviticus chapter 11, I'm going to read to you from Romans chapter 7 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 of...
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 will bring up.
When you talk about God's moral laws people are like, oh, here's this guy. Well, what do you do?
You know you're wearing mixed fabric, too
You know, are you do you eat shellfish, right?
Oh, do you mix, you know 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 are 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 in verse number 1.
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 of the hoof and is cloven-footed and chew at 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 in Israelite, being God's chosen people.
They had to abide by this specific dietary restriction.
And there are essentially mammals that were even toad, 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 have to chew the cud,
meaning that they have to be animals
that slowly chewed their partly digested food, okay?
Now, if you think about it, these regulations,
there's nothing intrinsically moral about this, right?
There's nothing morally intrinsic about
abstaining from eating swine and bacon and pork.
In fact, 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 a specific law for a particularly
Excuse me 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 chewed the cud but
Divided not the hoof he is unclean unto you and the Coney because he chewed the cud but divided not the hoof
He is unclean unto you and the hare because he chewed the cud and divided 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 you 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. Okay?
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 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 doeth good and sineth 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 God wants separation 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 there in day and night.
What does that mean?
That he's true in the cut.
So we should be around those who chew the cut.
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
truths 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 sinning to 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 9 if you would Genesis chapter 9
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
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
We're allowed to eat anything
prior to Mount Sinai
In fact, look at Genesis chapter 9
Eating all animals were permissible before the institution of the Old Testament after the flood.
Look at verse 1 of Genesis 9.
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 moveeth upon the earth and upon all the fishes of the sea, into your hand are they delivered.
I don't 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.
with the lifter of, which is the blether of, shall ye 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, it'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 quote-unquote 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?
And of course Peter responds with not so Lord for nothing common or unclean has 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
Therefore 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 commoner and clean.
He's like, look.
New Testament these things are sanctified these things are set apart now
It's once again once again sanctioned to consume as food right now
Why is that well because the death of Jesus Christ at 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 is 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 gonna even know what I announced today
until like four weeks from now.
And then you're gonna be like,
hey, is there like a conference going on or something, you know?
Is there, hey, do we have,
you know, after the Father's Day hike is like,
is there a hike happening sometimes, you know?
Cause 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,
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 prejudiced 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 first Corinthians 8 8 says this but meat
Commendeth us not to God for neither if we eat are we the better?
Neither if we 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 think of yourself. I feel like the worst
Okay
You know, I just I'm tired. I'm by the way, don't get don't go get Chinese food between services. Okay?
Because you will be the worst afterwards
You know, 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.
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 us not to God, okay?
Now go to 1 Timothy chapter four.
If you held your place there,
you can just flip over there real quick.
Look at 1 Timothy chapter four.
First Timothy chapter number four and look at verse number one
It says here now the spirits speak at the expressly
Chapter four verse number one now the spirits speak at the 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, okay?
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 meats
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 were commanding Gentiles to abstain from meats, right?
These means that were previously considered unclean in the Old Testament,
they're still commanding people to abstain from these particular means.
But I want you to notice what it goes on to say.
Which God hath 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
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
They 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 me
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 gonna 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 you know suffer the consequences of this Chinese food
You know, that's not what it's referring to
It's preferential 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'd you
like that?
And he's like, that was pretty good.
She's like, you want to know what you ate?
And he was 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 on the chickens in that area, too
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. Okay dogs in the United States of America. I've been humanized a little too much there. All right
Now go to Colossians chapter 2
Colossians 2 actually go to Hebrews chapter 9 Hebrews 9. I'm going to read to you from Colossians chapter 2
The Apostle Paul when writing to the church at Colossae
Tells them let no man therefore judge you and meet
Now again, he's telling them this because of the fact that there was a 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.
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,
There 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 movements
worst nightmare.
They don't know what to do with it.
They try to turn it on its head and then 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, 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 adherents to Judaism trying to bring people back under the law.
Now look at Hebrews chapter 9, brother Ulysses if you can turn up the AC please.
The priest went always into the first tabernacle, 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 is he referring to?
He's talking about the Old Testament tabernacle and or temple.
Okay?
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 8, 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 9, 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—
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 8 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 a never-lasting 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, okay?
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, okay?
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 will 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 out 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'll 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.
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 festivals, the feast of weeks, all of these observances of the new moon, the sabbathays.
All of these things, according to Colossians chapter 2, Hebrews chapter 9 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?
Before 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.
No.
They're not.
You know, why?
Because they missed 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 school master to bring us unto Christ.
And we can 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 can 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, okay, so we have the ceremonial laws now
Let's look at the moral laws
What is morally right and wrong? Okay?
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 will often say,
whoa, 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 okay 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.
Okay, so that means that we can just go out and murder people and steal without suffering any consequences whatsoever. It's nonsense.
Now what does it mean look at Romans chapter 6? Let's read it first and foremost look at verse 14
It says for sin shall not have dominion over you for a year 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 is 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 serve to 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 sin in fact sin the biblical definition of sin is to transgress the law
So when you when God tells you not to do something and you do it according to the Bible that sin
If he tells you to do something 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 as Steny 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 sin is not
For all of sin 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 are as filthy rags in the eyes of God
There's not a single person and you might 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 8 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 two 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 gonna happen to us because what is the same verse 15? What then shall we sin because we are not under the law?
God but under grace God forbid
So God forbids you he prohibits Christians from sinning not because it means that if you do sin you'll 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 is 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 in dwelling you,
but if you choose to commit sins, if you choose to commit crimes,
guess what? There remain no more sacrifice for sins.
You will suffer the consequences of that here on this earth.
That's what the Bible is teaching. Go to Galatians chapter 3.
Galatians chapter 3.
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 shalt not kill, it was wrong before that.
In fact, the very first sin committed, other than Eve, was her son murdering her other son.
Look at Galatians 3, verse 7,
No 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,
So then they which of 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 just be cursed
For it is written cursed it is everyone that
Continues 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 broke in 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, I got news for you.
It says, cursing is everyone that continues not in all things
that are written in the book of the law to do them.
So sorry, not to quote Yoda, but there is no try.
There is no try.
There is no I'm gonna 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 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, okay?
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, curse it as 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 cursed forest.
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 2 if you would.
So the ceremonial laws my first point is to address the fact that the Hebrew roots movie 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 is to disprove them as well
Now here's the thing folks and this this next verse that I'm going to show you kind of answers both crowds, okay?
Because you know a lot of people say you know you got to keep the Sabbath
That's the command in the Ten Commandments, you know keep the 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
Bible says that they will perish without the law okay so you know the
illustration people always give what about the the person in the Congo who's
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 reject the Jesus Christ to whom so ever much is given of him shall be much required
You understand what he's saying here?
Look at verse 13 for not the hears 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 that things contain 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 are 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 the law written
in their hearts, does that mean that the guy in the Congo
is just like, man, I feel like I gotta 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.
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
whatever, you know
You're lions. I shouldn't be eating lions or something like that. You know, I shouldn't be eating mosquito burrs
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 it's 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're 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 and 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 giving given to her
But guess what she had her right here
And in light of that, she sought out the Lord,
and guess what, God brought it 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 1st Timothy chapter 1 if you will 1st 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. Yay
We establish the law Romans 3 19 says this now
We know that what things so ever the law say it it say 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
You're 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, okay?
Cause this is, you know, up until this point,
you're like, oh, I know I can eat shrimp, you know?
I know murder's wrong.
But you know, there's also a third aspect of God's laws
and they're known, 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's 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.
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.
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 we're not under the law but in a 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 all of them will take you to hell right?
Even a lie. Well, 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 chapter 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 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 just this 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 is not instituting corporal capital punishments for the sins of the mind the sins of the heart because we can't we don't really police that
God police is 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 gonna 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 Hormongers, 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 is explicitly telling us here that the law is made to keep people in check.
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 Roman 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's just placing authorities
He doesn't want anarchy.
Verse two says,
Whosoever therefore resisteth the power,
resisteth 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 gonna 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 if you resist the ordinance of God and they do resist shall receive to themselves damnation damnation is not referring to eternal damnation
It's just referring to consequence punishment. Look at verse 3 for rulers are not a terror to good works, or at least they shouldn't be
But to the evil will thou then not be afraid of the power do that which is good and that shall 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 dealeth evil.
What is he saying?
You know, the ordinance that God instituted in the land, God allowed them to have a sword,
Not to slap you on the wrist, a sword is to kill.
Here's your New Testament verse
for the death penalty right there, right?
And what does the Apostle Paul say in this?
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 a 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-weldly 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 they're 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 sent 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.
Cause there's no punishment for it.
And God specifically told you have to punish these.
And by the way, not over, you know, 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 that I'm 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 don't I'm not educated as far as why they keep them on there for that long
Maybe they just keep appealing and appealing appealing or something like that. They're on death row for years
The Bible says 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, this is and let me just say this. This isn't even a spiritual thing
You know 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
You know 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 institute these laws or not and people say yeah, but you know thou shall not kill that's Old Testament
Well, actually in Genesis chapter 9
God said that you know if a man takes another man's life his life shall go for his and that's beef 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 if committed an abomination
They shall surely be put to death
Their blood shall be upon them
That's the death penalty
Now you say that to Christians are 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 2013?
Well, if you read your Bibles all the way to Genesis 19, you would 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 says like God says like hey, I don't I can't just be raining fire and brimstone all the time
You know like 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.
and make no mistake about it.
Leviticus 2013 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 though because wouldn't you say like oh, yeah, it's an abomination
But once you reload it against 2013 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 is 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 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 air in our society
My assistant Romans 1 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's he writing it to someone tell me
Romans, now are we educated in how the Roman Empire was when it came to
Sodomites? Sodomy was rampant in the Roman Empire that was just there 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
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 you know do criminal acts against others
You know 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.
Now, 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 firing indignation which shall devour the adversaries
He that despised Moses law died without mercy under two or three witnesses
He's referring to 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 sore
Punishment so what does this mean how much more of a punishment because people say you know the God of the Old Testament is a lot nicer
Well, of how much soar 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?
You know 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, 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 verse 34 we know him that had 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
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 knew because you you 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 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 gonna work now is it?
I mean, that'll sound outright absurd.
You know what, it's absurd to God too.
Because he would want these laws to be instituted in order to bring justice 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.
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 and as a 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 song books to song number 63.
number 63. What a day that will be. Altogether nice and strong on that first verse.
There is coming a day when no heart ain't shall come. No more clouds in the sky. No more tears.
All is peace forevermore On that happy golden shore
What a day, glorious day that will be What a day that will leave
When my Jesus I shall see And I look upon his face
me by his grace, when he takes me by the hand, and leads me through the promised land. What
a day, glorious day, that will be. There'll be no sorrow there, no more burdens to bear,
no more sin.
meets me through the promised land. What a day, glorious day, that will be.
We have a baptism this morning. Please turn your song books to song number 148.
Song number 148, Jesus Only Jesus.
All together on that first verse.
I walk the path of pleasure.
I toil.
baptized you in the name of, I'm sorry, there we go.
Upon your public profession, I'm gonna now baptize you
in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit, going across your arms
over your chest, buried in the likeness of his death.
Praise to walk in the new supply.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
All right, let's pray and 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.
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 things in Jesus' name.
Amen, you are dismissed.
Congratulations.
Thank you so much for coming.
Thank you, Father.
Nice and warm, it's nice and warm.
Thank you.
Well, you know before we didn't have a heater
Yeah, it's a horse truck. Yep. Yeah, that's what we use every season started use the horse truck. It's what fits people, you know
Yeah