Bible Teaching

Now the thing that most of us are struggling with is this - we have now righteousness imputed (put to our account). What frustrates us is the degree of righteousness imparted, that which has been actually placed within us and we're experiencing on a daily basis. The faith then comes, and this is where positive confession (and we've talked about how it has been abused by the faith camp) comes in. Positive confession declares what is in your account - how God sees you and perceives you as righteous. Not a judging of your actions and saying, I'm only thirty percent righteous today. Yesterday I was sixty percent, I had a good day. I was going downhill, picked up a lot speed, and just had a good day; I was sixty percent righteous. Today I'm only thirty percent, and unless you're fifty percent, you can't witness. Because how can you witness to somebody else if you're only forty-nine percent? I don't feel righteous, and because of that, I don't feel worthy to witness. I should really reprove my children, but I'm doing the same thing, so how can I reprove them? So, I'll just let it slide because, you know, today I'm only forty-nine percent. We're trusting in works. We're judging our justification by impartation instead of imputation, and it will always bring you into bondage. It's good to be free, it's good to walk free.

This is what we're talking about in Galatians, chapter 5. Stand fast, the Scripture says, in that liberty. And so, here we are saying, yeah, I'm going to stand fast in that thing, man. I'm not going to allow myself to come into any bondage at all. We read down to verse 13, and it says, "For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty [and then he gives us this admonition]; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh." So we begin to find a little bit of guidance as it pertains to our walk in liberty to let us know that liberty never gives occasion to the flesh or a transgression of moral law. So now, beloved, when it gets down to disputable matters, and how we relate to one another, and how we even begin to judge ourselves -- we talked about customs, traditions, all of these different things last Sunday -- it's very simple to see here that you don't use it as an occasion to the flesh. All you have to do is look in this book of Galatians and read the other lists that we've given you out of Romans and Corinthians, and you can begin to see what is not in the category of Christian liberty. Adultery isn't liberty! Fornication -- no! Uncleanness, lascivious living -- unacceptable! These that say, I have grace, and by this grace and by my faith in Jesus Christ, I'm righteous even though I am living a lascivious lifestyle are lying against the truth. But there are those always who say, yeah, but you know, if that's good, more is better! And that's where we left off last Sunday night. We were talking about how these people try to bring us into a letter-of-the-law righteousness or to bring us into bondage. We're now in Corinthians; I told you we'd pick up in Corinthians and deal with chapters 6, 8 and 10 this evening. Paul is using the example in I Corinthians of meat. He starts off the 6th chapter in Corinthians by saying, what's wrong with you guys that you can't judge among yourselves? They had a little bit of a problem here. We're not going to get into this specifically tonight, but the problem was that as they were having disputes among themselves, they were going to the civil courts. We're not going to talk about that tonight, but this does point to one of the core problems. What's the real problem here among these people? Selfishness. They don't love each other. I'm going to have my way, bless God! I've got rights! Yeah, I recognize that you have rights, too; but yours are subordinate to mine." Paul says, That's the spirit you have to get rid of. You have to learn to begin to prefer one another if you're going to move in the spirit of liberty. We're free. Paul says, I'm free, I'm not under bondage. I want you guys to know that all things (verse 12) are lawful unto me. Dear Lord, can a carnal person take that and kill himself with it! But he goes on and says, "But all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any." We talked last time about those things that are moral laws. Paul here, by the Spirit, talking about liberty, however, bumps that thing up. He's saying, you know what? There may be things that aren't on the list of Galatians that hold you under their power. That's sin. Any amoral event or pursuit --whether it's a vocation, whether it's recreation, whether it's physical appetites, or whatever it might be -- if you are under its power, it's a sin, it's your god. It's a subtle form of idolatry because you have been liberated. You've been bought with a price, you're not your own. The flesh would rather retreat back and say, well then, if that's the case, give me some guidelines. Don't make me have to mature and make judgments. Don't make me have to make decisions. Tell me, man. Can I eat seven french fries, or seventy, or seventy times seventy? There's a good scriptural number! Set the parameters. Paul is saying, grow up. I don't want you to have to walk in that kind of bondage. All things are lawful. French fries are lawful and we say, praise God, but they're not expedient, and I won't be under their power. That's a principle we're going to have to walk in. Now, be careful that you don't judge your brother for eating a french fry. I'm going to take you a step further: don't judge him for eating 490, he may be hungry! I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. He has to determine if he's under its power or not. Sobriety? Probably lacking at that moment, but that's not the issue. We've got to be careful that we're not judging one another, and trying to inflict upon them our conscience in areas that are amoral. Stop bringing people back into bondage. You think you're trying to help them, and bring them holiness and spirituality, and you yourself are denying the blood of Jesus Christ.

Paul is saying, look you guys have to stop judging one another, and bickering among yourselves, and fighting. It's your shame that you can't reconcile these things among yourselves, and you're going to court with one another -- brother with brother to the law." He says (verse 7), "Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you [this is wrong].Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?" This is the spirit that we're speaking of. The context in which Paul is trying to set this for us talks about what we were prior to our regeneration. He says that now, all of that selfishness and self-will -- and we saw in Colossians Sunday night how it expresses itself. I want to tell you something. Many of us who have become religious (self-willed, prideful, religious people) are involved in the Colossians will-worship that we were talking about. The ascetics are nothing more than prideful, selfish individuals yet they are perceived by so many as being zealous, spiritual. It has nothing to do with spirituality. It's just a discipline, a pride, that was taken from the world and put into religion. We have to begin to make discernment as to what is working in us. Is it the work of the Holy Spirit or is it the self-will of man? "Without Me, you can do nothing that's acceptable of Me," Jesus said.

That's the problem we have in a lot of churches today, and that's why you go to so many churches, and who are the deacons? The deacons are the successful businessmen. What got them there? Self. Why? Because they're diligent. They're shakers, they're movers, they're people who make things happen. They've sacrificed, they've studied, they've gone to school, they stay up later, they work harder, therefore, they succeed. So we place them in the church as overseers. Natural attributes don't qualify you for spiritual maturity. And so, we're seeing that there are naturally-disciplined people who aren't born-again. Look at these body builders and these guys that have one percent body fat. You can count the striations in their abs and in their washboards. I told somebody the other day, "I've left off washing and gone to ironing!" You can do it in the natural. That person is a disciplined person. That person has a goal he's trying to achieve. And many times, we mistake natural discipline with walking in the spirit. They're not the same thing, beloved. When we talk about bringing the body under, we're not talking about doing it with self-will. We're talking about the Spirit of Christ in you working that submission and that obedience. And so, it's very important, and that's the core of a lot of these principles I'm going to show you here in just a second.

As Paul is pointing these things out, he says, "You used to be thieves, and covetous, and drunkards, and revilers, but you've been washed; you're sanctified; you're justified in the name of Jesus." After having given the list, he says, "All things are lawful, but I'm not going to be under the power of them." And then he makes this statement that we're all very aware of. "Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats [that was an ancient saying of that day among the Corinthians throughout the region of Macedonia]: but God shall destroy both it and them." And he makes the comment concerning the body -- presentation of a pure body unto the Lord -- and makes a distinction to you and me then. "But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit (verse 17)." Now, "Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, that you are bought with a price, that you're not your own? Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." So we see that what we're looking at here is not just an outward expression of righteousness, but that being the consequence of a regenerated, purchased spirit man who is subordinate to and in pursuit of the will of God.

Now the problem that Paul was facing with these guys here, he goes on and addresses in a more detailed manner in chapter 8. Look at this. He injects into the 6th chapter, where they're selfish. They're going to law with one another, they're fighting. He says, look you guys need to grow up and, in the process, begin to realize that you're not your own, you're bought with a price. That person you're abusing is not his own, he's bought with a price. Paul says each one is going to answer to their Master in judgment. He said, "Now you wrote to me (chapter 8) pertaining to touching things that are offered to idols." He deals with their pride, he tries to diffuse their pride. There were people who said, yeah, some people really have trouble with, and they don't have spiritual liberty. The reason they don't have liberty is because they don't have knowledge. But if they knew what we knew, that idols are nothing, then they would be at liberty to be able to eat. So, why don't you guys grow up? And they went forward and ate as these gnostics with great, new, superior knowledge, revelation that was beyond the Scriptures. In the process, they were obviously hurting little brothers and sisters, those who were weak. Paul said, you're wanting me to give you a theological discourse on idolatry, and that's not what you need to hear. I'm going to talk to you about love. So many times people are wanting more bible knowledge. What's the Scripture say? They're wanting to look deeper into things, and they're not even loving their brothers and sisters. Your knowledge is puffing you up, and you're killing people with it. Now, have your knowledge, have your faith unto yourself before God, is what Paul is going to tell us here. Stop trying to put everybody else under your knowledge. Yes, knowledge is a very necessary part of maturity, but spiritually immature people with knowledge (who are puffed up) destroy.

And so, we begin to see the process here, and he says, "Concerning the eating of things [verse 4] that are sacrificed to idols, we know." I think it's funny that Paul has to say, guys, you're not telling me anything that I don't know. This is what Paul is saying. These guys are so puffed up, they thought they had some understanding of idols that maybe Paul wasn't illuminated on yet. Paul said, "We know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there's none other God but one." I think if anybody knew about idols and demons, Paul probably had a pretty good idea. I think he was recognizing the demons in a lot of these guys. He says in verse 6, "But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him. Howbeit, there is not in every man that knowledge: for some with conscience of the idol unto this hour eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being weak is defiled." When you look at what's being said here, and you go to the 10th chapter of Corinthians -- and I want you to jump over there for just a second. I'm going to try, because of time (I used too much time here), to tie this together. He's coming out of the teaching on communion or the Lord's Supper, and he's saying you can't fellowship and drink from the cup of devils and the cup of the Lord. And then he starts off in verse 23, "All things are lawful for me [there's that statement again], but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things [and he uses a little different emphasis here] edify not." It's lawful, but it doesn't edify. It doesn't build me up, it doesn't build others up. Therefore, "Let no man seek his own [good, gain, pleasure], but every man another's wealth." The word wealth is in italics there and probably should be. Wealth is not what's being spoken to here. He's talking about another's edification, another's good, another's prosperity, another's pleasure. And so we begin to see the principle that Paul is trying to established. We're always looking for how we can build up our brothers and sisters, love our brothers and sisters, prefer our brothers and sisters. He says back in the eighth chapter, verse 13, "Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend." That's the spirit that Paul is trying to set forth.

Now, don't lose (in his trying to bring these selfish people under control) Paul's declaration of his liberty and his real desire to see these people edified. Paul doesn't want the weaker brother to stay weak. He's saying, I've got to find the proper method to get him to grow up. That's the whole motive of the apostle here. He's aware that these people are in bondage. He says back in Romans 14, "Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations [don't bring him in to judge him, to criticize him, to set him straight]. For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not." Those of you who are strong, don't despise these people in their weakness, in their bondage. It can't be a despising; it can't be a looking down, saying, why don't you grow up? Why don't you love them enough to show them a mature believer so they'll want to imitate you as you imitate Christ? This is what Paul is trying to get across. Then he speaks to the weaker brother and says, "And I don't want you judging your brother in his liberty." Isn't it interesting how the strong can despise the weak, and the weak (who are many times weak because of their own pride and self-will) have that judgmental spirit? As he's speaking toward this, he says in verse 5, "I want every man to be fully persuaded in his own mind." You're going to see in just a moment that until you become fully persuaded in your own mind, you don't have liberty. You may still be able to partake, as we're going to show you in a moment in the tenth chapter of Corinthians, but if you're not fully persuaded, you'll still be judged of another man's conscience. "I wondermaybe, well.maybe that would be better. Maybe I should abstain from the meats. Where are you in the liberty, in the maturity, to walk out your faith before God? If you're mature, however, you will never exercise your liberty at the destruction of a weaker brother. You will never solicit them by saying in a despising way, come on, man, why don't you grow up? Here, have a burger. You can go to McDonald's's and be safe, there won't be meat involved! What we're looking at is knowledge, conscience, and love.

Back to the eighth chapter of Corinthians -- I'm going to tie it together for you here, the time factor got us. He says, you have this liberty; you eat. Their conscience is not illuminated; they eat the thing offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. Verse 9, "But take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak." We're talking about liberty in Christ. Where does our liberty cease? When it becomes a stumblingblock to the weak. We need to define the weak here and understand who these people are. We're not talking about a willful Judaizer who says, I'm staying under the law! We're talking about a baby who has not yet been instructed to liberty. If they've been instructed, if they've seen the biblical principles, if they've seen it lived in a godly life before them, and yet they choose to remain in bondage to law, then they're no different from the Judaizers. And I want to tell you something, beloved, you're free to heal on the Sabbath in their presence, because the Church cannot be brought into bondage to a Judaizer, letter-of-the-law mentality that puts itself off as weak conscience. That offends me, brother. Well then, grow up! Do you say that to a brand new convert? Of course not. What about a guy who's been sitting there for thirty years being offended? You can't put a stumblingblock before the children, the infants, the babes in Christ. You can't offend the little ones. And so, when you're around the little ones, be careful of their conscience, be careful of these things. Don't do anything that offends them. Don't try to bring them beyond their knowledge or their conscience to their destruction. But you're going to see them begin to grow and mature, because Paul said in Romans 14 that those who are strong, those who are mature, can eat all things. That doesn't mean as much as you want -- all things, not at once. This is the aspect that Paul is trying to apply, and he's saying this liberty that you've come to through your maturity, don't let liberty be expressed in selfishness. Serve one another, defer. Verse 10, "For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened.?" People are watching you. They're wanting to emulate you, they're wanting to grow. And if you're not careful in the way you present to them this liberty of yours, saying, man, you know, come on,; there's no problem down here at the temple - you're going to kill them. Let me share something with you about the meat thing for just a moment. This may help you a little bit as to what's going on. The sacrifices that were being made in these temples weren't exactly like the sacrifices that we're familiar with in the Levitical order, but there was similarity. These sacrifices would be taken to the temple. Some of this meat would be offered to the idol and burnt. Another portion of it would be given to the priests (very similar to the Levitical order). Usually, Adam Clarke tells us, about a third or so would be either sold, sent to the markets; the priests may take their part (and we're not talking about the Levitical priests; we're talking about the priests of the temple); they lived very similarly to those Levitical priests who were able to partake of or, in some cases, sell, disperse, or whatever. This is how they received their livelihood. And so, these priests there at the temple would take and sell meat. They couldn't eat it all. You have to understand thousands of people are bringing these sacrifices in. The priests are getting this portion, so what do they do? They set up a deal with Joe the butcher, and Joe the butcher is down here selling the meat, he's getting the kickback. Joe the butcher gets ten percent, the priests gets the rest, and everybody's making out. The problem began to be this: the Christians, and especially those who were converts from Judaism and got saved, began to ask, what do we do about the fact that you go down to Safeway, and we don't know if that thing was offered to an idol or not? What does he say? You know, when you ring the bell there at Safeway and say, I'd like you to cut me a couple of nice steaks, and by the way, I'd like to ask you something. Was this offered to an idol? You ought to ask him and see what his response is the next time you're down there. But this is what they were doing. And Paul said, stop doing that. This is one of his admonitions: stop trying to find something wrong. The idol is nothing. We're not worried about whether this was offered to an idol. We're worried about whether or not somebody's conscience is going to be defiled or injured in the process who has not yet come to the knowledge that idols are nothing, that shooting pool is nothing. We talked about the pool hall and how that was sin, and how there are people today -- I guarantee you I know some preachers today that I could bring to my house, take them into my basement, and they'd cry, Ichabod because they'd see I have a pool table down there. I could understand it if we had a bar, and there were some girls up there dancing the can-can, beer sloshing all over the place, and it's reeking with cigarette smoke. But we talked about the fact that the amoral knocking together of a couple of balls is not sin. They've drawn their conscience from generations of teaching that this is an offense, and to them, it's an offense. So, what do you do? Don't invite them to the party! It's that simple. What's another good way to do it? Have your faith to yourself before God. Shoot pool at home, but don't let him see you down at the bar shooting pool. Do you know what? I could go down to the bar and shoot pool, and it wouldn't bother me a lick -- absolutely wouldn't hurt my conscience at all. I could walk down here to the bar, and people smoking, and drinking, and if I felt like it, I could walk in there and shoot pool, and it wouldn't bother me a lick. It's lawful. I can do it, but I wouldn't. And so, these are some of the things that we have to understand that Paul is trying to get across to us. Because, he says, your weaker brother can perish (verse 11) for whom Christ died. "But when ye sin so against the brethren [now, watch: you didn't sin by eating the meat; you sinned by not taking consideration of the brother], and would their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ. Wherefore, if meat make my weak brother [not the Judaizer, not the self-righteous ascetic, but my weak brother] to offend.," I won't eat it, period. You and your weak brother are walking down the street and see a sign saying, "Pool Hall -- Free Pool, Free Pepsi and Pretzels, Hundred Dollar Bills Given Out to the First Two." What do you do? You send him to the 7-Eleven. Could you go down to the 7-Eleven and get me a coke? You don't eat meat! You prefer your brother. That's what we're talking about and what Paul is saying. The liberty that you and I have is a real liberty. We have this freedom: "All things are lawful to me." Beloved, please don't let anybody bring you into bondage by their conscience. But at the same time, let's use our liberty properly to where you're not hurting anybody. This is all that we're talking about.

Go over the chapter 10, and we'll finish with this for tonight; look at verse 24 one more time. "Let no man seek his own [his own way, his own ease, his own profit, his own gain, his own pleasure], but every man another's wealth." Now, let me give you guys some understanding, Paul says. Whatever is sold down there at the shambles, just eat it and don't ask any questions. Why? Verse 26, "For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." This is where people get into trouble. We get back under the law, the Levitical law, the ceremonial law, the Mosaic principles, which Galatians says came 430 years after the promise to Abraham. And he said that what came 430 years later did not come to disannul that which was promised in Abraham -- the life of faith, the life of promise. It came (as we saw Sunday) for a schoolmaster. We saw that it came for the purpose of revealing sin, of causing sin to abound in our knowledge, to really understand the consequences and the power of it. But it didn't come to make us righteous. Prior to Mosaic, levitical ordinance, the Lord said the earth is His and the fulness thereof, and He said you could eat of all the creatures and receive them with thanksgiving. That's the primary law. Why did the dietary laws come in the first place? There's a lot of debate about that among scholars. Some of them, I think, get a little too secular in their understanding. I think the dietary laws came primarily as a method of preservation. But if you'll study historically, you'll find out -- and it's still the case today -- what do you think of when I say spaghetti? What country? Italy. Where did it start really? China. But we think of Italy, and we identify cultures with their food. Rice-A-Roni? San Francisco. Historically, cultures were known by their dietary laws and practices. And so, God, having a covenant people and a unique people, came up with principles that nobody else was practicing, and they're still not. People still think they're stupid and weird. You get on the airplane, and they say, we have three kosher! How many of you have had to wait fifteen more minutes for a kosher meal to show up? I have. I was looking for that guy, I wanted to go bring him some liberty! But cultures were known by their dietary practices. And they, being a peculiar people, had dietary laws as a way to distinctly set them apart. So we know that it was for health reasons. We believe that it could be for distinctive reasons (to make them a people separate to God). But with all of that, we understand that in Christ, there is neither Jew nor Gentile. This is part of what Paul is trying to propagate here. He's telling them, look the gospel is bigger than Judaism now; you're going to have to understand, lighten up, you guys, and start bringing these other brothers and sisters in! They're going to eat meats, and they're not going to be as conscious with wringing out all the blood as you are. They might like their steak rare. Yours looks like one of the briquets! So, both of you eat as it pleases you, because the earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof. Receive it with thanksgiving. Grow up. If it's sold in the shambles, then eat it. He didn't say run into the temple in the midst of the offering to the idol and say, hey, I'd like that piece right there because I'm free. That's not what he's saying. He's just talking about the fact of letting your normal course, your life, work itself out. "But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not [why?] for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake.Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the other: for why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience? For if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that for which I give thanks (verses 28-30)?" He brings the spirit of this thing. What he's saying to you is this: Abstain because of his conscience, but don't let it affect yours. Have your faith to yourself before God. Don't begin to question your liberties. Don't begin to question the principles or whatever else. You're basically looking to try to give this individual time to grow, to keep them from bondage. Then he says, "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, or to the church of God. Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved (verses 31-33)." And so Paul, again, is dealing with that spirit. So you're invited to a house (let's end with this one). It may even be a person at this time who's a pagan, and you're disposed to go. You're going over there to minister to him, you're getting an opportunity to sow the Word into his life. So he says, I just want you to know, I know that you're a Christian. And I just want you to understand that this meat has been offered to idols. Now, you have a couple of choices. If he's a pagan, what do you think the best thing to do would be? Should you abstain? Not necessarily. I think that's something where you need to really have a knowledge of what the Spirit of God is saying. What if there is also a weak brother present who says, I heard that these were offered to idols. And he asks, were these offered to idols? The guy says, yes, they were. Then what do you do? You abstain. You could run into a scenario like this: the guy throwing the party now gets offended. You say, no thank you. We'll pass on the filet mignon. Do you have any corn flakes? And so, they're all eating their filet mignon, and you're going, crunch, crunch, crunch, thinking, what did that dude come to the party for? You can't have that kind of attitude. You may have an opportunity to speak to the guy who gave the party the next day at work. You say, I want you to understand something, the reason I didn't eat that meat is because the other person with me hasn't matured to the place yet of understanding what our liberty in Christ is. But I want you to understand something, we're not in that kind of bondage. There's a liberty in Jesus Christ that would allow me. I won't come and worship your god, but your god is nothing. He's a dumb rock, God created him. God created the rock, but one of your rockheads carved out that image! So, the idol is nothing. You're probably in demonic bondage from this, but I have power over your demons, too. I just wanted you to know why I didn't eat your steak. What are we doing? We're looking to the good of trying to show everyone that our sufficiency is in Christ, that we are not bound by self-indulgence -- man, my only chance this week for a filet mignon, and I ate corn flakes! We don't prefer ourselves. We're always looking to edify others. There's a good chance the guy could send you home with a steak, who knows? But anyway, the spirit we're trying to get across to you is this: use the law lawfully. Don't be under the bondage of ceremonial law, but surely don't be under the bondage of self-will and selfishness, to where we're going to express our liberty to the destruction of the weaker brothers around us. Nor can we leave the weak, weak. We have to identify and distinguish between weak consciences and Judaizers. We do not abstain from doing the living law as opposed to the letter of the law because of Judaizers and the offense that's going to be brought to them. Sometimes our liberty needs to be an offense to show the offense of their bondage and their trust in flesh and denying the body and the blood of Jesus Christ.

Father, we thank You for the Word of God, and we just ask that these principles would be real to us. Father, don't let any of us sit down now and try to come up with a list of do's and don't's again and where my liberty ends. Let us walk in the spirit. Let us be free and understand that the kingdom of God isn't meat, and it's not drink. It's righteousness, and it's peace, and it's joy in the Holy Ghost. You've called us to right living, but You've also called us to joy -- not in natural pleasures, but joy in liberty and freedom, Lord, that You've given us. We're a people who are not under bondage of self-reliance, of natural reputation. We're not afraid of being judged of men in our liberty, but we are conscious of offending the little ones because Your love to us is real, and we want Your love through us to be real. Help us to see, Father, that some of us have contributed to testifying that Jesus is dead in vain by our self-righteousness. We thought we were so spiritual because we worshiped on Saturday, because we fasted three days a week, because we abstained from amoral activities and therefore were righteous. It's a bondage; it's a denial and a betrayal of the death of Jesus. And we, Father, ask that Your people would come to liberty, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Let's stand before the Lord tonight. As Gary plays, we'll take just a moment and wait in the presence of the Lord. We're going to be taking a few sessions; we're going to still continue on Sunday. On Sunday, I think I'll spend a little bit of time again on the doctrine of justification by faith. We're going to try to spend a good amount of time to point out, as practically as we can, the initial regeneration process -- the justification that's absolutely by faith, and try to bring in the biblical illumination of how a sanctified life is expressed. Oh, beloved, what a bondage to try to live righteously in the flesh! What a frustration to try to walk in the spirit naturally! One failure after another, one frustration after another, self-condemnation, doubt of your faith and your relationship, doubt in the effectiveness of His blood just because you have the wrong doctrine, or the right doctrine without application. You know what needs to be done, but you're still lord of your own life. I think it will really help us in experiencing that liberty and that peace of the unconditional love of God. He loves you, beloved. While you were a sinner, He loved you. He doesn't love you more because you're doing better, and He won't love you less when you blow it. If you are in fact His son, you'll never be satisfied until you're like Him. You will not sit content in fleshly behavior, but you won't look to escape in the flesh, and it won't be to feel better about yourself, so that you can be free of the condemnation. It'll just be the natural consequence of wanting to be like Dad. So that's where we're headed in the next couple of sessions. I think it's going to bring some healing and some liberty to some of your lives. Those of you who already know and walk in that illumination, I know how thankful you are for it. Let's not be quick to despise those who aren't there. That shows an area in your life that still needs sanctification. Let's be longsuffering, kind, gentle, without compromise.

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