Participants: Marquis Johns
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000308
|
00:30 Hello, my name is Marquis Johns and
00:32 our subject today is Proposition 13:10. 00:36 But before we get into our subject 00:38 let us just bow our heads 00:40 and have a word of prayer. 00:43 Father in heaven, Lord we thank you and 00:45 we thank you, and we thank you again. 00:46 Lord we could stand here and say 00:48 we thank you until next year and still 00:52 would be unable to put into words 00:55 the thanks that we feel for giving 00:57 us your dear son Jesus Christ and 00:59 the Cross of Calvary that we may 01:01 some day enjoy the company of angels 01:04 as well as the company of yourself 01:06 and your son. Please Lord, 01:08 help no one including myself 01:10 under the sound of my voice 01:13 to be excluded from such a grand festivity. 01:17 I ask that you would bless us as we study your 01:19 word in Jesus Christ name. Amen, amen. 01:25 Today, we're gonna talk about a proposition. 01:28 Now, I grew up in Los Angeles, California 01:31 and propositions come along, 01:32 you know in November where there's 01:34 new election and they're laws and 01:36 when I got to the age where I could vote 01:38 I'd see these propositions 01:39 and I'd go in, and I just start checking 01:41 whatever I wanted to check. You know, 01:43 I'd see these laws or these bills that they 01:44 wanted to pass and just started checking 01:46 things yes no, yes no, yes no, yes no. 01:48 and unfortunately sometimes what happens 01:50 is you end up voting for something that 01:52 you don't actually stand for or voting 01:55 against something that you actually do 01:57 stand for, the key is reading exactly 02:00 what it says. And today we're gonna 02:02 talk about a proposition or an ideal 02:05 that all too often people don't really 02:08 understand what is being said or 02:10 what's behind a certain text. 02:12 A mathematician once said and this 02:15 is a very interesting statement, 02:16 every proposition that we could understand 02:19 must be composed Holy of constituents 02:21 with which we are acquainted. 02:23 Well, what are the components? 02:25 What are the constituents of 02:26 this proposition? The first proposition 02:28 or statement that I'd like us to go through 02:30 and whether you agree with it or not, 02:31 this is just what the Bible says. 02:33 I like to think of it this way, the Bible 02:35 says it, I believe it, that settles it. 02:38 As a matter of fact, the Bible says it that 02:41 settles it whether I believe it or not. 02:43 However turn with me in your Bibles to 02:45 James chapter 2, James chapter 2, 02:47 and we'll be begin reading verse 8, 02:48 we'll read verse 8 and skip over verse 02:50 9 for now and go to verse 10, 02:51 the Bible says this, "If ye fulfill the royal law 02:54 according to the scripture, thou shalt 02:57 love they neighbor as thyself, ye do well." 03:00 Verse 10 says, "for whosoever shall keep 03:03 the whole law and yet offend in one point, 03:05 is guilty of all." Now, I like to look at 03:09 a couple of statements in this verse. 03:11 The first thing that we saw as if ye 03:12 fulfill the royal law, now what does the 03:14 word royal imply? It implies that this 03:17 is the law of a King or of a Ruler. 03:22 The royal law here is the law of God, 03:25 but what is that law? Well, the text goes 03:27 on to explain itself. We need not ask 03:28 ourselves these questions when if you 03:30 ask the right question the text will give 03:33 the right answer. All too often we ask 03:35 questions that have nothing to do 03:36 with the text or we look for the 03:37 answers in another text. What we should 03:39 do before we jump around to other places 03:41 in the Bible is try and understand it first 03:43 from the text. If we can't understand it 03:46 from the text then we should go to 03:47 the chapter, if we can't understand it 03:50 from the chapter then stay within the 03:51 book first, lets look around the book and 03:53 see if the book has anything to say about 03:55 this text or it has language that is similar 03:57 to this language and then if we can't 03:59 understand it from the book then lets go 04:00 to a sister book or a book that was 04:02 written by the same author. 04:03 Let's go to the book written by the same 04:05 author first and as James is the only 04:08 book written by James then we have 04:10 to look for books that have similar 04:12 thoughts and similar ideas as the 04:14 book of James. In my study the 04:16 book of James has opened up and 04:17 showed me something beautiful, 04:18 something wonderful. The book of James 04:20 or the word James is a Greek word and 04:23 the Greek word is Yakobus. 04:25 Yakobus means Jacob, this is the book 04:28 of Jacob, now who was Jacob? 04:31 Jacob was the patriot of what we 04:34 know today as the 12 tribes of Israel, 04:36 so this book is a book that has some 04:39 thing to do quite possibly with the 04:41 12 tribes of Israel. And as a matter of 04:43 fact the Bible tells us in James chapter, 04:45 in James chapter 1, verse 1, that this is 04:49 written by the servant of Christ 04:53 to the 12 tribes scattered abroad. 04:57 This book does have something to do 04:59 with the 12 tribes. Now, I just like us to 05:01 keep that in mind because what we're gonna 05:03 read has everything to do with those 05:05 of us who expect to be a part of that 05:07 number as the old song goes and when 05:09 the saints go marching in, how I want 05:10 to be a part of that number. Well, 05:12 if we want to be a part of that number 05:14 I think we should pay special attention 05:16 to what we're gonna be studying today. 05:17 What proposition are we speaking of? 05:19 Well, we first found out that the royal 05:21 law is the law of the King and 05:23 what was that law? It was that you 05:25 love one another. You love your neighbor. 05:29 As a matter of fact the text said you love 05:30 your neighbor as you love yourself and 05:32 if you do that, you do well. And the next thing 05:34 that the text says when we went on to verse 05:36 10 it says "Whosoever shall keep this 05:38 whole law yet offend in one point 05:40 is guilty of them all." Now, what I notice 05:43 happened is that there are discrepancies 05:45 between certain denominations. 05:46 And what happens is this text is used, 05:49 it's singled out and used to tell other 05:52 people that they aren't keeping certain 05:54 aspects of the law that they think they 05:56 should be keeping. Now, believe you me 05:58 I believe in keeping every single one of 06:01 God's law, specifically his Ten Commandments, 06:03 because they are a transcript of his 06:05 character, they tell us exactly who He is, 06:07 as with their rules, as with the rules of 06:09 your parents, when you were in your 06:10 parents' house. If your mother said you 06:12 had to be in bed at a certain time that 06:13 meant she priced sleep, that told you 06:17 something about her character. 06:18 As does God's law tells us about his character. 06:21 Now, it said if you offend in one point, 06:23 now today I wanna explore what 06:25 is that one point and in order to 06:27 understand that one point we must take 06:29 James chapter 2, verses 8 and 10, 06:32 in the context of the chapter, 06:36 that's important. Contextually reading 06:39 this text as opposed to isolating the text 06:42 and then using it for our own benefit. 06:45 This isn't what we should do, 06:46 we shouldn't do this, now I'm not saying 06:48 that we can't prove text and this text 06:50 won't line up with another text. 06:51 However I'm saying that what we 06:53 should do also is read it in its context. 06:56 Now, in order for us to do that let's first 06:58 look at James chapter 2, and verse 1. 07:00 James chapter 2 and verse 1, the Bible 07:02 says this, "My brethren, have not the 07:05 faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, 07:07 the Lord of glory, with respect of persons." 07:14 You can have respect to persons. 07:16 You know as a matter of fact I'm 07:17 an abide student of the King James Version 07:20 but I love the way that NIV puts it. 07:22 Let's look at how it reads in the NIV, 07:23 James chapter 2 verse 1 from the NIV says 07:26 this, "My brothers, as believers in our 07:29 glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don't show 07:33 favoritism." Don't show favoritism. 07:35 So what, what James is saying to us here 07:37 is that we should not have favorites, 07:39 we should not be respecters of persons. 07:42 We should esteem others better than ourselves. 07:49 What is this have to do with the law? Well, 07:53 the Bible tells us in Leviticus chapter 19, 07:55 Leviticus chapter 19 verse 15 because 07:57 this isn't the first time that we saw 07:59 something like this, God is telling us 08:01 or via Moses in the book Leviticus, 08:03 the word Leviticus means legislation and 08:05 it is full of laws it says, 08:07 "Ye shall do no unrighteousness 08:09 in judgment; thou shall not respect the 08:12 person of the poor nor honor the person 08:15 of the mighty, but in righteousness shall 08:17 thou judge thy neighbor." 08:18 So, here God is telling us that we should 08:21 not have respect of persons whether 08:22 it's poor or whether it's rich, 08:24 a rich person. We should look at 08:25 every body equally as someone that 08:28 Jesus Christ died for, when you do 08:30 this it makes it very easy to witness 08:32 to people, because I believe that one 08:33 of the chief reasons why God called us 08:36 to be Christians is to tell other people 08:38 about Christianity and specifically about 08:41 Jesus Christ who is soon to return. 08:43 And so if that is the case if we are here 08:46 to witness the first thing that we must 08:48 do to witness effectively is to see 08:50 everyone as someone that Jesus 08:52 Christ died for. Not look at someone 08:54 and see Jew, not look at someone 08:56 and see Hindu, not look at someone 08:57 and see Black or White or Hispanic, 08:59 look at every person as someone 09:02 who Jesus Christ died for. 09:04 And if we look at that we can witness 09:06 to anybody irrespective of what we feel 09:08 they should be wearing or what we think 09:10 they should be eating or drinking or not 09:12 drinking or any of those thing, 09:13 it doesn't matter because when we look 09:15 at them we look at them as a precious soul 09:17 for whom Jesus Christ died for. 09:19 And we won't respect that person, 09:21 we'll just see them as a child of God. 09:24 Leviticus 19 verse 15 coincides perfectly 09:28 with the theme of what James chapter 2 09:30 was gonna be about. Let us go to 09:31 our next text. Our next text will be 09:33 Romans chapter 2 and verse 11 09:35 because not only did, was this preserved 09:37 in the Old Testament, it was also spoke 09:39 of in the New Testament by the Apostle Paul, 09:42 Romans chapter 2 and verse 11, 09:44 the Bible says this, "For there is no 09:46 respect of persons with God. 09:49 For as many as have sinned without 09:51 the law also perish without the law, 09:54 and as many as have sinned in the law 09:57 shall be judged by the law." 09:59 So what God is saying here through Paul 10:01 is that he is not respecter of persons, 10:05 he looks down and he sees everyone 10:07 as a potential candidate for heaven because 10:10 that's the reason why his son Jesus Christ 10:12 came down here and died. So that everyone 10:14 of us could have the potential or could 10:16 possibly inherit heaven. What a 10:19 beautiful thought. What a beautiful thought 10:22 that if we were to see with the eyes of Christ 10:24 we would see everyone as a potential 10:27 next door neighbor in heaven. 10:29 And the Bible tells us in James chapter 2, 10:32 let's continue reading contextually 10:34 James chapter 2, I just wanted us 10:36 to see that when James chapter 2, 10:37 or when James is talking about not 10:39 showing favoritism that, that's not brand new, 10:41 the beauty about the book of the Bible 10:44 is that even though it has these 40 10:46 different authors, these 66 books over 10:49 2000 year period of time it harmonizes 10:52 better than books written by a single 10:53 person. The reason why is because this book, 10:57 the Bible, was written by a single person 10:59 and he is called the Holy Spirit, 11:00 the Bible tells us that all of the scripture 11:03 is given under the inspiration of God 11:04 and it's profitable for reproof, 11:06 doctrine and correction and instruction 11:08 in righteousness. So if all of this is 11:10 inspired by the Holy Spirit, 11:12 by the Holy Spirit, there is no wonder 11:14 why it has this continuity to it that 11:16 is unparallel then any other book 11:18 in the whole wide world. So, let us go back 11:21 to James chapter 2 and pick up in verse 2, 11:23 because we've found thus far that you 11:25 cannot show favoritism, you need not be 11:28 a respecter of persons. The Bible says this, 11:31 in verse 2 it says this in King James Version 11:33 for if they come unto you assembly, 11:35 now this is very important, so let's 11:36 look at it carefully "If they come unto 11:38 your assembly, a man with a gold ring 11:40 in goodly apparel, and there come in 11:43 also a poor man in vile raiment, 11:44 And ye have respect to him that weareth 11:47 the gay clothing and say unto him sit 11:50 thou here in a good place; and say to 11:51 the poor, stand out there, or sit there 11:54 under my footstool: Are ye not then 11:56 partial in yourselves, and are become 11:59 judges of evil thought?" Verse 5, 12:02 "Hearken, my beloved brethren, 12:04 Hath not God chosen the poor of this world, 12:06 rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom 12:09 which he hath promised to them that 12:11 love him? But ye have despised the poor. 12:13 Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you 12:16 before the judgment seats? Do not they 12:18 blaspheme, do not they blaspheme that 12:20 worthy name by the which ye are called?" 12:24 Brothers and sisters, I am telling you that 12:25 this is an awesome, this is an awesome verse 12:27 and the Bible is basically telling 12:29 us here that we cannot be respecters 12:30 of persons. There is a couple of things 12:32 I like to key in on, first of all in verse 4 12:35 it says "Are ye not then partially 12:37 yourselves and are become judges 12:39 of evil thoughts?" You know in Genesis 12:41 chapter 3 when our fore parent Eve 12:44 found herself by the tree of acknowledge 12:47 of good and evil and the serpent began 12:48 to whisper to her it said, he said God 12:52 knows that you shall be as Gods and 12:54 that word there God, Eloheem, 12:56 Eloheem is also interpreted in the 12:59 original Hebrew as judges. God never 13:01 intended for us to know evil, only good 13:05 and good continually but when we are 13:09 partial to someone else over another, 13:11 to one person over another, then we 13:13 take ourselves right back to standing 13:16 at the foot of the knowledge of good 13:17 and evil and are becoming judges. 13:22 What a solemn thought. We are then 13:24 become judges. Now the next thing 13:26 I like to key in on here is in, 13:27 in verse five where it says, that the 13:31 poor of this world are rich in faith, 13:32 and God has intended that they become 13:34 heirs of the kingdom which he promised 13:36 to them that love him. So, here we see that 13:39 this thing is based on again love and 13:42 loving everybody equally. Not looking or again 13:46 not looking at anybody as less than you 13:49 but looking at people or esteeming 13:51 others better than yourself as the Bible 13:53 says in Philippians chapter 2, 13:55 looking not on the things of others 13:57 but on the things. Not looking on the things 13:59 of yourself but on the things of others, 14:00 seeing how you can help someone 14:01 who is in a less fortunate positioning 14:03 than you yourself might be in. 14:05 The Bible then goes on and says do not, 14:07 they blaspheme that worthy name by 14:10 which ye are called. How was it that we 14:12 blaspheme the worthy name by which 14:14 we are called. Well, the book of 14:15 Revelations chapter 2 tells us that 14:17 blasphemy is claiming to be something 14:19 you're not because it says I know the 14:21 blasphemy of the Jews who claim to be 14:22 Jews but are not and are the synagogue of Satan, 14:24 they are claiming to be something they are not. 14:27 Revelation chapter 2 verse 9 tells us, 14:29 so when the Bible says here, 14:30 if you are a respecter of person, 14:32 if when you see a person comes in who 14:34 has a nice tie on and a nice suit and 14:38 you say hey you come and sit next to me, 14:40 but when that person who straggles 14:42 in off the street, who's poor, who's not 14:44 dressed so nicely attempts to sit by you 14:47 and you say move or oh! I can't stand that smell, 14:52 then you are claiming to be something 14:54 you're not if you profess to be 14:55 a Christian. You are blaspheming 14:57 the worthy name by which you are called. 15:00 You are not living up to the character 15:03 that a Christian should have. 15:06 I'm reminded of a story, 15:08 a story about Alexander the Great, 15:10 Alexander the Great we know from the 15:12 Bible as well as from history conquered 15:14 the world faster than anyone else before 15:16 him or up to his time. However there was 15:19 a soldier in a particular battalion and this 15:22 soldier was disruptive and wouldn't listen 15:24 to orders, wouldn't follow orders the way 15:25 he was told to and before, because when 15:27 you did this out on the battlefield the 15:29 penalty could very well be death, 15:31 but the commanding officer liked this 15:33 particular soldier and didn't kill him 15:35 and he got word that one day Alexander 15:38 the Great would be visiting their camp. 15:39 So, he decided that what he would do was, 15:42 he asks Alexander the Great to deal with 15:46 this young man and watch how he dealt 15:49 with it, so that he would know how to deal 15:51 with it in the future. So, lo and behold 15:53 Alexander the Great comes to the camp 15:55 and one night the commanding officer 15:58 sends for the young man to be brought 16:00 to Alexander the Great's tent, 16:01 upon coming into Alexander's tent, 16:04 Alexander with his back turned to the 16:06 young man says, young man, 16:07 what is your name and the young man 16:11 trembling says Alexander sir, Alexander 16:16 the Great becomes livid, he turns around 16:19 to him and he approaches him, he says, 16:20 young man I tell you today either you 16:23 change your name or you change your behavior. 16:27 Brothers and sisters, some of us must either 16:30 change our name and stop professing 16:32 to be Christians or just simply change 16:34 your behavior, because otherwise we are 16:36 blaspheming the worthy name by 16:38 which we are called. When 16:40 we called ourselves Christians but we 16:41 look down on our fellow man who is really 16:43 our brother or sister. The Bible goes on and 16:48 tells us now. I would like to turn our 16:50 attention to the propositions in question 16:53 in James chapter 2, and verse 8, 16:55 the Bible says in James chapter 2 and 16:57 verse 8 again, "If ye fulfill the royal law 17:00 according to the scripture, Thou shalt 17:02 love thy neighbor as thyself, 17:03 ye do well." "But if ye have respect to 17:08 persons," verse 9 says "If ye have respect 17:10 to persons ye commit sin, and are 17:13 convinced of the law as transgressors, 17:14 for whosoever shall keep the whole law 17:17 and offend in one point is guilty of all." 17:20 Now look at that text now that we have 17:22 verse 9 in there, now that we're not 17:23 just cherry picking verse 8 putting it 17:25 with verse 10 and then coordinate to people 17:27 saying if you keep the whole law yet 17:28 offending one point you're guilty of 17:30 them all. If we look at the whole text 17:32 in context, what we find is that that 17:36 point is being a respecter of persons. 17:40 And God says here through James that 17:43 if you are a respecter of persons, you 17:44 are a sinner. Wow! Do you mean it to tell 17:50 me if I will loan money to my brother 17:53 yet not to a stranger on the street, 17:54 I am sinning? Do you mean it to tell me 17:59 if I am brothers and sisters and I can 18:00 hobnob with those of my own denomination 18:02 but can speak to someone who is outside 18:04 of my denomination, I am a sinner. 18:07 Is that what the Bible just said? Absolutely. 18:14 James makes it clear. You have to love 18:16 your neighbor as yourself, that's how 18:18 you do well, but if you are a respecter 18:21 of persons ye commit sin and our convinced 18:24 of the law as transgressors. So, 18:26 therefore if you keep all of the law, 18:28 now and this is, this is, this is special 18:31 because we like to use this text, 18:32 some of us like to single out this text 18:34 and say you know what, I keep the 18:36 whole law but you don't keep one part 18:39 of the law, so you are guilty of them all. 18:41 Guess what, I submit to you today 18:43 that God wasn't talking to those who 18:45 might keep nine Commandments, 18:46 they don't profess to keep the whole law. 18:49 He wasn't talking to those who keep 18:51 two commandments, they don't profess 18:53 to keep the whole law, he wasn't talking 18:54 to those who even only keep one 18:56 of the commandments they don't profess 18:57 to keep the whole law, he was talking 18:59 to those of us who profess to keep the 19:02 whole law yet are offending in a 19:04 particular point and that point is being 19:07 a respecter of persons. What a sobering thought, 19:11 here we use this text, we use this text 19:14 to get people to subscribe to our 19:16 particular denominational believes 19:17 however what God is saying is not 19:19 discounting that, don't get me wrong, 19:21 I'm not discounting that, if you keep 19:23 the whole law yet are offending in one point 19:25 you're guilty of them all, don't get me wrong, 19:26 if you keep all nine commandments but 19:28 you're still lying well you're guilty of 19:30 them all. If you keep eight commandments 19:33 yet you murder and you covet, 19:35 you're guilty of them all. 19:36 However what God is saying through 19:38 James in this text that if you keep all 19:41 of the law yet are a respecter of persons 19:44 in actuality you are still sinning. 19:46 Do you know why you are sinning? 19:49 Because you do not have perfectly 19:51 reproduced in you the transcript of 19:53 God's character. And God wants us to 19:56 have His character in order to dwell 19:58 in heaven with Him because anybody 20:00 in heaven with Him must be like Him. 20:04 Brothers and sisters I tell you today 20:05 that we need to look at these text and 20:08 stop cherry picking them and using them 20:10 for our own game. We need to look 20:13 at the totality of what God is trying to say 20:16 and understand how it might pertain 20:18 to us not how we can use it against 20:20 someone else. The Bible is telling us 20:23 right here, we can not be respecters 20:25 of persons because if we are, we are sinning. 20:28 We cannot section ourselves off into 20:30 some group, who believe we believe 20:32 in all of the law and all of the prophets. 20:34 Yet, those people over there who only 20:37 want to keep the law but don't want 20:39 to listen to the prophet well there's something 20:41 wrong with them. No, no, no, no, 20:44 likewise if you're a person who says 20:47 well you know what, I believe in the 20:49 love of God I believe in the love but 20:50 you know those doctrines, that's 20:52 not that important no, no, no, no and 20:54 the people who keep the doctrines 20:56 well they're phonetics. No, you're a respecter 21:00 of persons. If you can only fellowship 21:03 with those who believe like you believe, 21:05 you are being a respecter of persons 21:07 and if you are being a respecter of persons, 21:09 brothers and sisters, the Bible just told us 21:11 in James chapter 2 that you are a sinner 21:14 and are convinced of the law as 21:16 a transgressor. Which commandment 21:20 is the greatest commandment? 21:21 I can't speak on this enough because 21:23 we have forgotten what the essence 21:27 of the law is? What the essence of doctrine is. 21:30 The way that doctrine must be shared, 21:31 doctrine must be shared in love. 21:33 You can't, you know I have this idea you 21:35 know before I went off and learned how 21:37 to do evangelism and how to do Bible work. 21:41 You know I had the idea that what I would do, 21:43 because I felt I like I had all the truth as 21:45 what I would do was I would club people 21:46 over the head with the truth because 21:48 I had an intellectual message and drag 21:50 their lifeless body in the church. 21:53 You know I learned that you can't get 21:55 people into the church by being a brain 21:57 surgeon, you have to learn to be a heart 22:00 surgeon. You have to deal with the heart, 22:03 Jesus Christ was able to come and meet 22:06 the people where they were. 22:08 He was able to deal with their heart needs, 22:11 not prove that he was smarter than they were. 22:15 He very rarely had to do so and when 22:17 he did it, He did it very simply and He 22:19 did it in love. One of my favorite, 22:22 one of my favorite lessons is when the 22:23 Pharisees and the scribes and the elders 22:25 as they were always following Jesus Christ 22:27 around. They single them out, they find him 22:30 at the temple and they ask him a question. 22:31 They say hey, by what authority do you run 22:35 around cleansing the temple? This is 22:37 basically what they were saying, 22:38 I'm paraphrasing. And Jesus said well, 22:41 let me ask you a question, the baptism 22:45 of John, who was that of, all of a sudden 22:49 they were backed up into a wall, 22:51 they had to confronted with one and 22:52 another in private and so they just started, 22:53 well, what do we say, I don't know, 22:55 if we say this, oh no, we can't say that, 22:57 then we must say this, they out and say, 22:58 I don't know who authorized the 23:01 baptism of John and Jesus Christ says 23:03 very simply, then neither will 23:05 I answer you. You know it's simple, 23:08 he didn't have to beat them down. 23:10 He didn't have to be one of the, 23:12 boy and I guess, the sons of thunder, 23:14 he wasn't ready to call thunder down 23:16 on people when they didn't do what 23:18 he thought they should do. He still love them. 23:21 As a matter of fact, he told James and John 23:24 when the came and they said hey, 23:25 we saw somebody over there doing 23:26 things in your name but he's not one of us, 23:28 should we call down fire from heaven 23:30 as did Elias, what did Jesus Christ say, 23:33 you don't know what spirit you're of? 23:35 You don't need to call down fire on people 23:37 because they're not doing what you 23:39 want them to do, you'll never know 23:40 where God is working with them. 23:42 We never know where the Holy Spirit 23:44 is working with them, it is not your job 23:46 or my job to convict of sin, righteousness 23:48 and judgment, that is the job of 23:50 the Holy ghost. And if we let the Holy ghost 23:52 do his job he will bring people into the church 23:54 that will be ready to spread the message 23:57 of love. They will spread the message 24:00 of the doctrines in love. Brothers and sisters, 24:03 what we need, what we need today 24:05 is to be able to deal with people as Christ dealt 24:09 with them and not be respecters of persons, 24:11 not go out with one of our person, 24:14 that's in our denomination and be 24:16 ready to pounce on anybody who doesn't 24:18 know what we know or believe what 24:19 we believe. We need to go and meet 24:21 them as Christ would have met them. 24:23 Do you think Christ would have ran upto 24:25 somebody and had his Bible ready 24:27 to just beat them down when they 24:28 didn't understand a particular set 24:29 of doctrines? No, I don't think so. 24:31 I don't think so. As a matter of fact 24:35 what I think Jesus did was I think that 24:37 Jesus would have loved them just the same. 24:40 Look at Zacchaeus, look at Mary Magdalene, 24:43 look at Peter even. He could have told Peter, 24:46 Peter, you are wrong. But he loved Peter, 24:49 he looked at him with love in His eyes. 24:51 And even after that came to Peter and 24:54 gave him another chance. Peter, rise, kill and 24:56 eat, not so Lord. He could have said listen, 24:58 I told you to eat, but that's not what 25:01 He did, He continued to speak to him 25:06 of love and to give him the chance that he 25:10 need to understand in his mind that 25:13 he was being a respecter of persons. 25:19 You know a lot of times I hear people 25:20 tell me about that story where Jesus Christ 25:23 comes and tells Peter to rise, kill and eat 25:24 and they think that it's about diet, 25:26 they thing that God is sanctioning eating 25:29 whatever you want to eat, but in actuality 25:32 He's teaching Peter, that Peter was still 25:34 harboring feelings of racism, of racism. 25:40 That Peter still in his heart was a racist, 25:44 and that's, it didn't stop there. 25:46 As a matter of fact the Bible tells us 25:47 in Galatians chapter 2, that Paul had to 25:50 withstand Him to the faith for the exact 25:51 same reason. Did God cut him off? No, 25:54 we have half of the Book of Acts dedicated 25:57 to what Peter did in ministry. The Bible says 25:59 in acts chapter 1 that when after Christ died 26:01 that Peter stood up and if you study that 26:03 word stood up it says that he is in charge, 26:05 he took charge and he began to be leader 26:07 of the disciples and tell them what they 26:09 should do and how they should move. 26:10 But he didn't do it from his own mind, 26:12 he did it from the unction of the 26:14 Holy ghost and as the Holy ghost moved him, 26:16 he was able to do it and not be a 26:18 respecter of persons. Ultimately, 26:21 brothers and sisters, we need to really 26:24 look in ourselves and see, are we respecter 26:28 of persons? Because if so, 26:30 we need not worry about which day 26:32 we keep, we need not worry about 26:34 if we murder or not, we're still sinning. 26:38 We must not murder, we must keep 26:42 the Sabbath Holy, but we must not 26:47 be respecters of persons. You know, 26:50 the Bible tells us in Matthew chapter 26:52 22 and verse 36, "Master, 26:55 which is the great commandment in the law? 26:57 Jesus said unto Him, thou shalt love 26:59 the Lord thy God with all thy heart 27:00 and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. 27:02 This is the first and great commandments 27:05 and the second is like unto it, 27:06 thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, 27:08 on these two hang all the law and 27:11 the prophet." All love, all love and in 27:16 conclusion here is the ultimate proposition, 27:18 here is the ultimate law. 27:19 The Bible says in Romans 13:10, 27:21 in Romans 13:10 as we bring this 27:23 to a close, the Bible says in Romans 27:25 13:10 that "Love worketh no ill 27:28 to his neighbor, therefore love is 27:31 actually the fulfilling of the law." 27:34 Brothers and sisters, are you a respecter 27:36 of persons? Do you think you're keeping 27:38 the law, yet you have favorites? 27:40 Then the Bible says, you blaspheme 27:42 the worthy name by which you were called. 27:44 The Bible says you are convinced of the 27:46 law as a transgressor. God loves you and 27:50 He wants you to keep the 27:51 law but in love. God bless you. |
Revised 2014-12-17