Participants: Pr. CA Murray (Host), Jill Morikone, Pr. John Dinzey, Pr. Ronny Shelton, Shelley Quinn
Series Code: SSP
Program Code: SSP000029A
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00:01 The Bible tells us, "In the beginning was the Word,
00:03 and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." 00:07 It says, "To receive with meekness 00:10 the implanted word, 00:11 which is able to save your souls 00:14 and to be diligent to present yourself 00:16 approved to God rightly dividing the Word of truth." 00:21 Join us now for the 3ABN Sabbath School Panel. 00:25 Our study today is "The Gospel of Galatians". 00:34 And we welcome you once again 00:35 to our 3ABN Sabbath School Panel. 00:38 I'm CA Murray and it is my privilege 00:40 and pleasure to welcome you 00:41 to a time of study in the Word of God. 00:44 This quarter, we have been looking 00:45 at the Book of Galatians, 00:48 the title of the lesson this quarter 00:49 is "The Gospel in Galatians". 00:51 Now if you are a student of Adventist history, 00:53 you may know overtime when that term 00:55 The Gospel in Galatians was fighting words 00:58 in the Adventist Church. 01:00 Even up to the General Conference president, 01:02 there was The Gospel in Galatians, 01:04 there was the Law in Galatians, 01:05 and the church had divided itself into two camps, 01:08 the gospel camp and law camp 01:10 and that was quite heated discussion. 01:12 And so, here in the Book of Galatians, 01:14 there is some minor difference of opinion 01:19 as to some of the things in Galatians, 01:20 but there is one universal opinion 01:23 and that is that Christ has seen, 01:25 Christ has lifted up, 01:26 and there is a universality in the Book of Galatians, 01:30 that if you look very closely 01:31 you see it very, very evidently. 01:33 And that's what we're gonna talking about today 01:35 as we look at the idea of justification 01:38 in the Book of Galatians, 01:40 and how that effects your life, 01:42 effects my life, and how we work our way 01:46 through that very, very important 01:47 and sometimes lost sight of doctrine 01:50 in Adventism, in Christianity, and in the Book of Galatians. 01:54 Let me say this also, by way of homework, 01:57 should you want to follow us, follow along with us, 02:00 may I encourage you to turn to, what is it? 02:03 ABSG, Adventist Senior, Adventist Bible Study Guide 02:09 .adventist.org, or have it correct? 02:12 Adult Bible Study Guide. Adult Bible Study Guide. 02:14 ABSG.Adventist.org. Thank you so very much. 02:17 It's good to have friends to bail you out 02:18 when you're drowning, and we appreciate that. 02:22 But the notes are there, now I need to mention also, 02:25 these are not our notes, 02:27 these are the official Bible study notes 02:29 as produced by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, 02:31 our notes kind of belong to us. 02:34 You may not always want our notes 02:35 'cause our notes tend to be... 02:38 We write them on and whatnot. 02:39 So this is how you can follow along 02:41 what we're going to be talking about. 02:42 We, of course, are following that 02:44 but we have additional light to give, 02:46 additional commentary to give, 02:47 and that's what the Sabbath School Bible study 02:48 is all about 02:50 and we just are so very, very excited to have you. 02:52 John Dinzey, Jill Morikone, Ronny Shelton, Shelley Quinn, 02:57 good to have you guys all here. 02:58 We want to launch right up because there is precious time. 03:02 We're gonna have a word of prayer 03:03 and then lets just launch out together. 03:05 Father God, we thank You 03:06 and praise You for Your goodness, 03:07 and for the power of Your Word. 03:09 Help us now as we dig into Your Word, 03:11 give us as it were gold in shovels 03:13 that we may dig deeply and find out that 03:16 what You want us to know, 03:17 so that we may do it and put it into practice, 03:20 so that we can be like Christ Jesus. 03:21 And we thank You dear Father in Jesus' name, amen. 03:25 Amen. 03:26 Our first day's study 03:30 really built on the heels of the, 03:34 dare I say, dust up between Paul and Peter 03:37 as we looked at previously. 03:41 One of the things that I see in the Book of Galatians 03:45 is that Judaism 03:48 because of the way the structure is wedded to do, 03:52 Christianity is wedded to be, and they come from 03:56 two different theological mindsets. 03:59 The eastern mind says, you are what you do 04:01 and that is true, 04:03 but Christianity is more we have to be 04:06 and our doing comes out of what we are. 04:09 So you've got two, 04:12 not adverse theological mindsets 04:14 but certainly they don't lay on top of each other. 04:16 And we see the beginnings of some diversity 04:21 in thinking the early church, of course, was very Jewish. 04:24 And one of the things that Christianity 04:26 had to establish for itself was 04:28 when we see the beginnings 04:29 of this in the Book of Galatians 04:31 is that you don't have to come to Christ through Judaism, 04:34 in fact, you cannot come to Christ through Judaism. 04:36 Yes. Judaism was not... 04:38 Christianity was not just an improvement on Judaism. 04:42 It was a change in direction. 04:44 That was a totally different paradigm 04:47 and we see the beginnings of this happening here 04:49 in the Book of Galatians. 04:50 We begin to see 04:51 some of the different things that happen. 04:53 Now for me, I base Galatians, particularly Galatians 2 04:56 after the Jerusalem Council. 04:58 We are talking 48, 50 AD. 05:01 There are some who place it before, 05:03 I place it after, 05:04 simply because we see the ascendancy of James 05:06 and some of these people here in the Book of Galatians. 05:09 And of course, James sort of came to the forefront 05:11 after Jerusalem Council. 05:12 So I'm going Jerusalem Council beyond 05:17 and taking a look at that. 05:19 What takes place in the aftermath 05:22 of Paul and Peter at Antioch has some deep spiritual 05:27 and theological roots 05:29 and we want to take a look at that. 05:31 The writing in Galatians by Paul is rather strident. 05:36 Paul was never one, if you look at his writings, 05:38 the whole Pauline epistles and the Pauline letters, 05:42 Paul does not mince words, he doesn't take a lot of time 05:45 to be politically correct 05:46 or very, very tactful sometimes. 05:48 He kind of puts it out there. 05:49 He puts it out there in love but given his conversion, 05:53 given what he was, given his background, 05:55 given his training, Paul kind of just puts it there 05:57 and puts in very, very plainly. 06:02 One of the things I want to talk about 06:04 is the idea of justification in Pauline literature. 06:14 The verb to justify, the lesson tells us 06:16 is used some 39 times, 06:18 27 in the Pauline letters by themselves. 06:22 This is a very, very strong, strong stance 06:27 as to what Paul is thinking. 06:30 When I talked about Do and Be, 06:34 when you think of Do and Be, 06:37 you are gonna run up against justification sooner or later, 06:41 because justification flies in the face of Do 06:45 and is much more a consequence of Be. 06:48 We see here the beginnings of theological controversies 06:53 which in time will split Judaism from Christianity. 06:58 They cannot go hand in hand with each other 07:01 because of this idea of justification. 07:04 Interestingly enough, it was a Jewish community 07:06 that made the first strong attempts 07:08 to separate themselves from Christianity. 07:11 You think of Jamnia in 1980, 07:15 where the Jews added The Birkat ha-Minim, 07:18 which was a blessing against the heretics, 07:20 really it was a curse but they call it a blessing. 07:23 And everybody in the temple had to say "Amen". 07:25 Well, since it was a blessing against Christians, 07:28 Christians could not say amen, 07:29 so they began to filter themselves out 07:31 of the Jewish temple, but originally Jews 07:36 and Christians worship together. 07:38 The church was predominantly Jewish 07:40 but as the gospel moved out, 07:42 it began to take on more of a Christian flavor 07:44 and the Christians left. 07:46 So, then comes this idea that justification 07:50 is the way to righteousness and not working yourself 07:55 into a correct state with the Lord. 08:00 The lesson takes pains to say 08:02 that justification is a legal term. 08:04 And it's interesting that Paul given his mind, 08:06 given his background, chose to use terms 08:09 that were forensic in nature, 08:12 that were legal to try to explain 08:14 what he meant by justification. 08:18 Of course, we're talking about right standing with God. 08:21 The idea that you could be right with God 08:25 through an act of faith was alien to the Jewish mind. 08:29 It was alien to Jewish thinking. 08:32 Their mindsets said, I've got to do something to be right, 08:35 the idea that I can just accept Christ, 08:37 and be made righteous through my acceptance of Christ 08:40 was alien to them and I may say, 08:42 it's also alien to many, many people today. 08:44 The idea that I can just love Christ, 08:47 accept Christ, take Christ unto myself, 08:49 give my life to Christ, and then be accounted 08:51 as righteous as justified through that act 08:55 seems a little farfetched to those of us 08:58 who may like to try to work out our salvation 09:02 or like to have control of the situation. 09:04 The truth is that work has been done 09:06 through the death of Jesus Christ. 09:08 We're gonna talk a little bit about this idea 09:10 of the stumbling block of someone dying on a tree, 09:13 being a stumbling block to the Jewish mind 09:16 because anyone dying on a tree, not dying on a tree 09:18 but even put on a tree after death 09:21 is an accursed person. 09:23 And yet, Jesus not only died on a tree 09:26 but remained on a tree after death 09:28 before he was taken down, that idea is just alien, 09:30 how do we follow someone like that? 09:32 How do we accept someone like that? 09:33 How do we give our lives to someone like that? 09:35 And yet, that is the basis, the crux, the nexus 09:39 of what justification by faith is, 09:41 that I have faith in Christ, I surrender myself to Christ 09:45 and then I'm accounted as righteous, 09:50 alien to the Jewish mind. 09:51 And so Paul speaks very, very stridently 09:54 that this idea of working yourself 09:57 into right standing with God is alien to heaven. 10:01 It is alien to what Christ is all about. 10:03 It is alien to the principles of heaven. 10:06 The idea that you can work your way in is not of God. 10:10 In fact, it's really of the enemy. 10:12 The idea that you surrender and become righteous 10:16 as an edict by God is alien to our thinking 10:19 but it is the basis 10:21 of what justification by faith is all about. 10:24 The opposite, and I just want to take a moment 10:26 before my time runs out 10:27 to talk about this of justification, 10:29 of course, is condemnation. 10:31 Romans 8:1, "There is now therefore no condemnation 10:36 to those who are in Christ Jesus." 10:38 So we are justified by faith and by faith in Jesus Christ, 10:43 our Lord and Savior. 10:45 So Paul implies this legal term. 10:48 Paul is outlining the way to righteousness 10:51 or rather right standing 10:53 and that is faith in Jesus Christ 10:55 not by works of the law. 10:57 In fact, Paul hits it so hard 10:58 that later on he's got to come back 11:00 and bring some balance to this 11:02 because the question that is naturally answers 11:04 if the law means absolutely nothing, 11:06 what is the good of a law. 11:07 And Paul takes a lot of time to explain that, 11:09 and we'll be talking about that in our future lessons. 11:11 But one of the things I want to touch on 11:14 also is the fact that justification 11:17 is not just a reactive response to sin, 11:21 it is proactive through the working of grace. 11:25 God does not just forgive your sins, 11:28 He cleanses you from sins. Absolutely. 11:30 He allows you to walk with Him 11:33 so that you do not continue in sins. 11:35 So it's not just mobbing up behind you, 11:37 it is that and also orienting your life 11:41 so that you do not continue to sin. 11:43 And all of that is a consequence 11:45 of your surrender to Jesus Christ. 11:47 That's what Paul is trying to get through to a community 11:50 that doesn't think that way. 11:52 That is not part of their mindsets, 11:53 the fact that I can just accept Jesus 11:55 and be accounted as righteous. 11:58 And so Paul speaks very stridently, 12:00 you see some very, very strong statements 12:02 in the Book of Galatians. 12:06 What is wonderful about Galatians 12:08 is rather than being exclusive as some people think, 12:11 it is very much inclusive. 12:13 It is in the Book of Galatians that we find that 12:16 if we accept Christ, we are Abraham's seed 12:19 and heirs according to the promise. 12:21 So all that they got, we now get 12:25 because we have been grafted in 12:27 through our love of Jesus Christ. 12:29 And so as we talk about the idea of righteousness 12:33 and being in right standing with God, 12:35 it starts with a symbol ascent of your mind and your heart, 12:39 Lord Jesus, I will follow You, 12:42 and then this massive and wonderful plan of salvation 12:44 kicks in for you. 12:46 And you become what the Jews call "Mishbuka", 12:49 you become a brother, a family member 12:52 of the family of God, and every right and privilege 12:55 that is available to the family 12:57 is available to you through Jesus Christ. 13:00 Amen. Amen. 13:02 Well, John. Praise the Lord. 13:03 Well, when we move over to Monday's part, 13:05 we are now moving to Galatians 2:16. 13:09 And Galatians 2:16 and if somebody has it, 13:13 would you kindly read it? 13:15 Sure. Sister, Jill. 13:17 "Knowing that a man is not justified 13:19 by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ, 13:22 even we have believed in Christ Jesus, 13:25 that we might be justified by faith in Christ, 13:27 and not by the works of the law, 13:29 for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified." 13:33 Thank you very much. 13:35 So it says here that Paul mentions 13:37 the works of the law. 13:40 So what is he referring to by the phrase, 13:42 the works of the law? 13:45 And so this is something that we need to understand 13:49 because Paul is saying 13:50 you cannot be justified by this. 13:52 So if you cannot be justified by this, 13:54 we need to understand what is this thing, 13:56 what does it mean? 13:58 But before we move on to understand 13:59 the works of the law, we have to understand 14:01 how the Bible uses the word law, 14:04 specifically in the New Testament. 14:06 And the lesson brings out that there is a word 14:08 "Nomos," it's a Greek word, 14:11 that you will forget in about 30 seconds. 14:13 And this word is used in several different ways 14:18 as you look at the New Testament. 14:19 One, it could refer to the entire Old Testament, 14:22 it could refer to the first five books, 14:25 it could refer to a principle from God 14:28 or even a commandment direct from God. 14:31 So you see that it has several uses, 14:34 so what do you do when you see the word law 14:37 in the New Testament? 14:38 It helps you to examine the context 14:41 so that you can see what... 14:43 You can say, "Ah, okay, this is referring 14:45 to the Ten Commandments, 14:47 or this is referring to the books of Moses only. 14:51 So you have to examine the context 14:53 to help yourself out in this endeavor. 14:56 So when it talk about the works of the law, 14:59 we have to ask ourselves whether what does it mean, 15:02 does it talk about the ceremonial law 15:05 or it said the Ten Commandment law 15:07 also refer to as the moral law. 15:11 And so Paul points out that, no matter 15:15 how hard one tries to follow to obey God's commandment, 15:18 our obedience will never be good enough 15:21 for God to justify us. 15:22 We'll talk about that in a little bit. 15:25 So what do we do with the works of the law? 15:28 It's interesting that 15:29 when they discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls, 15:33 they found some writings by the Essenes. 15:37 Now the Essenes were a people 15:38 that lived at the same time Jesus lived. 15:41 And outside of the scriptures, 15:46 the writings of the apostles, 15:49 they found this phrase, "The works of the law." 15:53 And they indeed, the Essenes did teach 15:56 that you could be justified by certain works of the law. 16:02 So I like to point out some of these things 16:04 as presented to us 16:05 in the scroll titled Miqsat Ma'ase HaTorah 16:12 which just means important works of the law. 16:15 And the law describes, this scroll describes 16:17 a number of issues based on biblical law 16:20 concerned with preventing holy things 16:22 from being made impure. 16:25 Including several that are marked out as to Jews, 16:28 as to separate yourself from gentiles. 16:30 If you separate yourself from gentiles, 16:32 you are doing a work of the law 16:34 and this can help you in being justified. 16:38 So they say, if you follow these things, 16:43 you'll be reckoned righteous before God, 16:46 so the Essenes strived to do works of the law 16:50 so that before God, 16:51 they can be considered righteous. 16:53 And so you see Jesus making a little reference 16:56 to somebody that want to justify himself, 16:58 when you see the two men went to the temple to pray 17:02 and he says, I thank God that I'm not as other man, 17:05 and then he begins to mention some things that he used to do. 17:08 Yeah. 17:10 That he thought were great things before God. 17:12 And I'm not like this publican over here, 17:15 and so he, of course, you know, 17:18 you see himself justifying himself before God 17:20 because of his good works, but Paul does not do that. 17:25 He specifically mentions that you cannot be justified 17:29 by the works of the law. 17:30 So when we go to Galatians 3, we're gonna see verse 2, 17:35 I'm gonna read verse 3... 17:38 Yeah, actually, Galatians 3:2 and 3. 17:41 "This only would I learn of you, 17:42 received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, 17:47 or by the hearing of faith?" 17:49 Now Paul begins to do something to wake them up a little bit, 17:53 "Are you so foolish?" 17:55 These are some of the strongest words 17:57 used by Paul. 17:59 Having begun in the spirit, 18:00 are ye now made perfect by the flesh. 18:04 And now I would like to point to another book 18:07 that Paul wrote and that's the Book of Romans 18:09 which is a wonderful book on righteousness 18:11 by faith as well. 18:12 And in the Book of Romans 3:20, 18:16 Paul makes a statement that is very clear. 18:20 He says, "Therefore by the deeds of the law 18:24 there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, 18:29 for by the law is the knowledge of sin." 18:32 So, we believe as Paul that you cannot be justified 18:37 by the deeds of the law, 18:38 and I would say that sometimes people not knowing 18:41 the Seventh-day Adventist to say, 18:43 you're trying to be justified by the deeds of the law 18:46 by keeping the commandments. 18:47 And no, we believe that we are saved 18:50 by grace through faith 18:52 that not of yourself, not of works, 18:54 lest any man should boast 18:56 just as it's written in the Bible. 18:58 And so another verse, Romans 3:28, 19:01 "Therefore we conclude 19:03 that a man is justified by faith 19:07 without the deeds of the law." 19:09 So we also conclude this here. 19:11 Pastor CA would do the same, 19:13 we all do because this is what the Bible says. 19:15 Now I like to point out some good news. 19:18 I like good news. Does anybody like good news? 19:19 That's right. Oh, yeah. I like good news. 19:21 We had enough bad news, don't we? 19:23 That's correct. 19:24 Here is the scripture that says Romans 3:23, 19:28 and I think, most of us here can quote it, 19:31 what does it say? 19:32 "All sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." 19:35 That's right. 19:36 All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. 19:39 So then, I usually ask a question at this point, 19:41 okay, so if all have sinned 19:43 and come short of the glory of God, 19:45 how many good deeds can you do 19:48 that will cancel or clean that one sin. 19:54 Because the Bible says in Romans 6:23, what? 19:57 "The wages of sin is death." 20:01 So this first part of Romans 6:23, 20:04 wakes us up to understand that we're in serious trouble 20:07 if we have sinned, for the wages of sin is death, 20:10 and the last part is good news. 20:12 You know, it's interesting, 20:14 I heard when we record some prisoners from time to time, 20:17 one of them said my favorite scripture is 20:20 Romans 6:23 and I listen, "Really?" 20:24 For the wages of sin is death, 20:26 but he was focusing on the last part. 20:27 That's right. 20:29 Because the gift of God is what? 20:31 Eternal life through Jesus Christ. 20:33 Amen. 20:34 And so good news, you cannot do one good thing, 20:39 not a million good things. 20:41 And if it was possible for you 20:44 to commit just one sin in your life 20:46 and live the rest of your life doing good things, 20:48 it will not cancel out that one sin 20:51 because the wages of sin is death. 20:54 So we agree with the Bible, 20:56 so we're justified by faith in Jesus Christ. 21:00 Now here's where we find a scripture, Romans 3:24, 21:03 "Being justified freely by His grace 21:07 through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." 21:10 There is only redemption in Christ Jesus. 21:13 So what do we do if we find ourselves with sin? 21:18 If anybody is in this condition, 21:20 I point you to 1 John 2:1, and in 1 John 2:1, 21:26 I'm gonna have to read it because time is short. 21:28 It says, "My little children, these things write I unto you, 21:32 that ye sin not." 21:34 You've heard these things, and I write these things 21:36 so that you do not sin, but if any man sinned, we have? 21:38 Advocate. 21:40 An advocate with the Father... 21:41 Amen. Jesus Christ, the righteous. 21:45 And so verse 2, 21:47 "And he is the propitiation for our sins, 21:49 and not for ours only, 21:50 but also for the sins of the whole world." 21:53 I consider this good news. Amen. 21:55 So if you have sins, what are you supposed to do? 21:57 1 John 1:9, if we confess our sins, 22:01 He that is God is faithful 22:03 and just to forgive us for our sins 22:05 and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 22:09 So by the deeds of the law shall no man be justified. 22:11 So if anyone has sinned, 22:14 good news we have an advocate with the Father, 22:17 Jesus Christ, the righteous. 22:19 And so, I would like to read one last text 22:22 and this is found in Romans 5:1. 22:25 "Therefore, being justified by faith, 22:30 we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." 22:35 And I think this is something that we all need, 22:37 peace with God. 22:39 And we can only get it through our Lord Jesus Christ. 22:41 Amen. Amen. Amen. 22:43 Sister, Jill. Amen. 22:45 That's well done, Brother Johnny. 22:46 I'm so excited about this lesson. 22:51 I know that Paul in the Book of Galatians 22:53 writing to the Galatian Church, the Galatian believers, 22:56 the Judaizers came in 22:58 as we mentioned in previous lessons. 23:00 And trying to say that faith is not enough, 23:03 faith has to somehow be combined with works, 23:06 somehow in order to be saved they had to do faith plus works 23:11 in order to be saved. 23:12 And I know that they taught circumcision 23:15 and the Judaizers were trying to say that 23:17 the gentiles had to be circumcised 23:19 in order to be saved. 23:21 But I know today in the Christian church, 23:23 I think back to my growing up years, 23:26 growing up in the church. 23:28 I was raised my entire life as the Seventh-day Adventist. 23:32 And I believed in justification by faith. 23:35 I believed that we were justified entirely 23:39 through no work of our own, 23:41 we come before Jesus and we say, 23:44 "I accept you as my savior, I claim Your forgiveness, 23:48 seek Your forgiveness 23:50 and the cleansing blood of Jesus to cover me." 23:52 And at that point, I stand before Christ justified, 23:57 made righteous, in His robe of white righteousness. 24:01 However, having said that, I was also taught that 24:06 as soon as the justification process took place, 24:09 which is, I was taught the work of God. 24:11 Then I needed to move to the sanctification process, 24:15 which I was taught was the work of Jill. 24:18 Yeah. Oh, boy. 24:19 So this is what Paul was combating 24:21 in the Galatian Church. 24:22 Exactly. 24:24 So they were taught, it was faith plus work. 24:27 And I was taught justification by faith, 24:29 sanctification by my own effort. 24:32 Now we're not saying, 24:33 we're throwing out sanctification 24:35 but sanctification is the work of Jesus. 24:37 Amen. 24:38 The work of grace in our hearts and in our lives. 24:41 Philippians 2:13, "God is the one 24:44 who works in us both through will 24:46 and to do of His good pleasure." 24:48 I remember reading 24:50 and then we will get to Tuesday's lesson. 24:53 I was 19 years old, 24:55 I came home from a Bible college. 24:58 And we were in church 25:00 and I remember the organist was playing 25:02 and I remember it to this day. 25:03 The song was, "Cover with His Life". 25:07 Look upon Jesus, sinless is He Father, 25:10 impute His life to me My life of scarlet, 25:14 my sin and woe Cover with His life, 25:18 whiter than snow. 25:19 And I remember standing in church, 25:21 everyone is just singing it 25:23 because this is what we've done our whole life. 25:26 And I began to cry, 25:28 'cause until that point and I was 19, 25:31 I did not know that the blood of Jesus covered me 25:37 and it wasn't my effort to try to get to heaven. 25:41 I had been stressed thinking I have got to be perfect, 25:46 I have got to be perfect to make it to heaven, 25:48 and I'm trying but I can't. 25:51 I'm trying and I'm failing, 25:53 and realizing that the blood of Jesus covers us. 25:56 So that's why I'm passionate about this topic. 26:00 The basis of our justification and it's Tuesday. 26:03 And I want to go back, 26:05 Brother Johnny, you read this already. 26:06 But let's look at Galatians 2:16 and 17. 26:12 We see the word and, Pastor CA, 26:13 you talked about that the word justification, 26:16 to justify being used 39 times in the New Testament, 26:21 27 of those in the writings of Paul 26:23 and four times in these two verses 26:25 that word "justify" is used. 26:27 The word is, I don't know 26:28 how to pronounce it properly, dikaioo. Dikaioo. 26:32 No, I'm not sure how to pronounce it. 26:34 Okay, I'm not sure how to pronounce it 26:37 but it just means to show to be righteous, 26:40 to declare righteous, to make righteous. 26:44 And justification means to, to declare not guilty, 26:47 you're acquitted from your sin by God. 26:49 Absolutely, it's a legal term. 26:51 You imagine going before a judge and knowing, 26:54 I did speed and I deserve this punishment, 26:57 or I did x, y and z and I deserve this. 27:00 And then the judge saying, declaring you acquitted, 27:03 you are freed, you're justified before the law. 27:08 So we see this word four times here in Galatians 2:16, 27:13 "Knowing that a man is not justified..." 27:16 There's our word, we are acquitted, 27:18 we're declared righteous before God. 27:21 "We're not justified by the works of the law 27:23 but by faith in Jesus Christ." 27:26 We're talking today on the basis of our justification. 27:30 We're justified not by the work of the law 27:32 but by faith in Jesus Christ. 27:35 "Even we have believed in Christ Jesus, 27:37 that we might be justified by faith in Christ, 27:41 and not by the works of the law. 27:42 For by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. 27:46 But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, 27:49 we ourselves also are found sinners, 27:51 is Christ therefore a minister of sin?" 27:55 Certainly not. 27:57 Four times we see that word "justify", to be acquitted, 28:01 to show to be righteous, to be declared righteous. 28:05 The believers made righteous justified by the Lord, 28:08 cleared of all charges we laid it to sin. 28:12 Moreover, they're justified 28:14 or made righteous by God's grace. 28:16 Each time we receive faith, now that word for faith, 28:20 I love that because it's always, 28:23 the faith is a gift from God. 28:25 It's never something that you or I can conjure up ourselves. 28:29 It's always a gift from God never produced by people. 28:33 And in secular antiquity, faith was referred to 28:36 as a guarantee or a warranty. 28:38 In scripture, it's God's guarantee 28:41 that what He has promised will come to pass. 28:45 So I love that, we're justified by faith 28:47 and God Himself gives us the faith that we need, 28:51 that's beautiful. 28:53 Let's look at a couple more scriptures Philippians 3:9, 28:58 still looking at justification by faith 29:02 and the basis of our justification being that faith. 29:05 Philippians 3:9, you have that, Brother Ronny? 29:10 I do. 29:12 "And be found in him, 29:13 not having my own righteousness, 29:15 which is from the law, 29:17 but that which is through faith in Christ, 29:20 the righteousness which is from God by faith." 29:23 Yes, I love that passage. 29:26 That same word for righteousness 29:28 is the form of that word for justification. 29:32 And it means literally righteousness of 29:35 which God is the source. 29:37 Amen. 29:38 "Being found in Him, not having my own righteousness." 29:41 So it's, we don't stand before God with our own righteousness 29:44 'cause we know our righteousness is 29:47 as filthy rags. 29:49 We stand before cloth 29:50 and the righteousness of Jesus Christ, 29:53 not having our own righteousness, 29:55 it's through faith. 29:56 And one more scripture, Johnny, you looked at this one 29:58 but Romans 3, Romans 3, and I got so excited 30:03 when I studied this and I'm sure 30:05 you all already have studied this, 30:06 but it was the first time I had put this together. 30:09 And I got so excited, I jumped off the couch 30:11 and I ran and told Greg and I said, "Guess what? 30:14 I just found in Romans." 30:16 And great, it's been here all along 30:18 and many people have discovered it, 30:20 but it's the first time when I saw that. 30:23 When Romans 3 and we already read verse 23, 30:26 "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. 30:29 Verse 24, "Being justified," that's our word again, 30:33 "To show to be righteous, 30:34 declare righteous freely by His grace 30:37 through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 30:41 whom God has set forth as a propitiation 30:44 by His blood through faith 30:47 to demonstrate His righteousness, 30:49 because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins 30:52 that were previously committed." 30:55 Verse 26, we see variations of this word 30:59 "justify" three times in verse 26, 31:02 and this is the first time I had ever realized that. 31:06 They're all a little different form 31:07 but they're all the same root word in the Greek. 31:11 "To demonstrate at the present time, 31:13 His righteousness," 31:15 meaning His righteousness of which God is the source. 31:18 "That He might be just to be declared righteous 31:23 in the eyes of God. 31:25 And the justifier, same word to be showed to be righteous, 31:30 to be declared righteous of the one 31:33 who has faith in Jesus." 31:35 So God is the one who is righteous 31:38 because He's divine, Jesus is divine. 31:40 He was the propitiation, the substitute, 31:42 He took our place on the cross that He might be just 31:47 and the justifier because He is righteous 31:51 and holy and pure, He can impute, 31:54 impart His righteousness to you and I. 31:57 And when we stand before the Father, 31:59 we don't stand covered in Zechariah 3, 32:03 those filthy garments, 32:04 and Satan the accuser of the brethren, 32:06 and you mentioned condemnation, Pastor CA. 32:09 Satan might come in with condemnation 32:11 but justification. 32:12 Jesus says, "My blood, my righteousness, 32:15 I have declared, Pastor Ronny, 32:18 perfect and righteous before me, justified. 32:23 Praise the Lord for that. Amen. 32:25 And the second that we got left. 32:26 I've looked at that and I have some notes here 32:28 that one is reactive, the other is proactive. 32:31 Nice. 32:32 When you're justified I see that 32:33 as because the root is the same 32:35 but they're playing out just slightly different. 32:38 When you're justified, there's nothing against you. 32:40 There's nothing negative in you, 32:42 but to make righteousness kind of a positive 32:45 and not only there is nothing against you, 32:47 you actually got some money in the bank here, 32:50 you know, it's not just a absence of negative, 32:53 it's the presence of positive, you know. 32:55 So it's two sides of the same coin. 32:57 But not only there is nothing bad in your record, 33:00 there's some good stuff in your record. 33:01 You know, you're made righteous and it's completely, 33:06 old is taken care of and now you're moving forward 33:07 in Christ Jesus. 33:09 Pastor? Amen, I like that. 33:12 Wednesday talks about the obedience of faith, 33:16 obedience of faith. 33:19 First, we talked a lot about faith. 33:22 I kind of like to get a good definition, 33:25 what is faith? 33:26 What are we talking about? 33:28 Faith is not something that I can reach out 33:29 and grab a hold off like this, you know, I can literally, 33:33 physically reach out and grab this, 33:35 that's the kind of person that I am, 33:37 I want to put my hands on it, but faith, where is it? 33:40 Somebody help me with this. What is faith? 33:43 Is this something that we can take a hold off, 33:46 that we can grasp? 33:50 The first thought that comes to my mind, 33:52 the Bible says that, 33:54 "Faith comes by hearing 33:55 and hearing by the word of God." 33:57 I believe that faith is rooted in our knowledge of God, 34:01 our correct knowledge of God. 34:03 Faith is something that we, it's a belief, 34:07 we understand how much He loves us, 34:10 we begin to trust Him, 34:11 that's kind of the root for our faith. 34:14 But faith is not just ethereal, 34:17 faith is leaning into God with and totally relying on God. 34:24 Okay. 34:25 What is the Bible definition to faith? 34:27 Well, CA, go ahead. 34:28 When I think of faith, I think of, 34:30 if I could put in a word, "response." 34:32 You know, we love Him because He first loved us. 34:34 There is this reaching out of God, 34:37 this eternal reaching of God to us and faith is the, 34:42 in my mind the response to that eternal reaching out of God. 34:45 The substance of things hoped for. 34:46 That's right. I can guarantee. 34:49 Yeah, yeah. Hebrews 11:1. 34:51 Oh, yes. 34:52 I like the way that is expressed 34:54 because it says, the substance of things hoped 34:58 for the evidence of things not seen. 35:00 Evidence is something tangible 35:03 and something you can see, okay. 35:05 It still brings, Paul is trying to help us by saying, 35:09 faith is the substance, I just look to the definition 35:12 for substance that of which a thing consists, 35:16 physical matter or material. 35:17 So substance, he is trying to help us with this word, 35:20 substance by using say, 35:22 just like you grabbed that glass or that cup, 35:26 he says, is the substance of things hoped for, 35:29 the evidence of things not seen. 35:30 And that is what He says, that just shall live by faith. 35:35 Yes. 35:36 In the Greek, the word there is hupostasis. 35:38 Hupostasis. 35:39 And it means a title deed, that's part of faith. 35:42 Trusting, I mean there's various things 35:45 but that is the title deed. 35:46 That is when we recognize that all of God's promises 35:50 are ours in Christ Jesus and faith is the substance, 35:54 it's the title deed, it's that claiming and leaning into. 35:57 How does one make and you did this, 36:00 you said to ask me. 36:02 Yes, yes, I did. 36:03 How does one make the ethereal real? 36:05 How does one make the intangible tangible? 36:08 How does one make the metaphysical physical? 36:11 Through faith, it makes 36:13 what seems to be unreal, very real. 36:16 It is that quality given to us by God that reaches out into 36:22 what seems to be a void and grabs hold of something 36:25 that's out there and brings it to myself 36:27 and makes it very, very real. 36:29 So we've talked basically about the biblical faith. 36:32 Is there any other faith in the world I mean, 36:35 that don't we exercise faith everyday? 36:37 Oh, sure. You're on an airplane. 36:40 Oh, yeah, very good, very good. 36:42 Absolutely, sitting in the chair. 36:43 Very good. 36:44 You know, we walk over 36:46 and we look back at the back of the studio, 36:47 and we think it's dark, 36:49 but if I walk back there and I flip the light switch, 36:52 am I exercising faith? 36:53 Sure. Oh, yeah. 36:54 How so? 36:56 You assume that lights gonna come on. 36:57 I assume that there's something in that wall 36:59 behind the switch that's going to make the lights come on. 37:02 But don't you think it's based on past experience? 37:04 Oh, good point, good point, past experience. 37:07 In other words, a child that has no idea of what that is, 37:10 they won't go over there and flip on the switch. 37:12 It's just dark that's all they know, 37:13 they don't know how to reach out, you know. 37:16 But good point we learn along the journey, 37:19 this sanctification process after we're justified, 37:23 we proceed down a course of by faith. 37:28 And how do we know if faith is actually working then? 37:32 Can we see it? I mean it's invisible. 37:34 You know, it's another word for faith that is very good, 37:38 it's trust. 37:39 Yeah, trust the Lord with all your heart, 37:41 lean not on your own understanding. 37:43 So if I understand faith correctly, 37:45 it's more than just one thing, it consists of two things, 37:49 it's trust and belief. 37:53 I believe when I flip that light switch 37:56 that it's gonna come on. 37:57 Every one of us will leave here pretty soon 37:59 and we will take that key out 38:01 and we will put it in the ignition 38:03 and by faith we turn the key. 38:06 And we're expecting that car to start, are we not? 38:09 By faith, we left our comfortable position 38:12 here in the air conditioning and we went out to the car, 38:14 and by faith we got in and said, 38:16 this thing is gonna take me home. 38:18 And so we learned from that, you know, 38:20 but there's times that lets us down, you know. 38:23 Sometimes it has to be towed to the garage, 38:26 you know, when it's not working. 38:27 I've been there, I've taken into your garage. 38:28 Pastor, many times. 38:30 You know, but the question that... 38:33 When we talk about faith, Paul makes it clear that says, 38:37 absolutely is functional 38:41 and is foundational in the Christian life. 38:44 So to be a Christian, I mean, 38:45 we can't be a Christian without faith, can we? 38:47 That's right. No. 38:48 Without faith, it is impossible to please Him. 38:50 There you go. 38:52 Hebrews 11:6, "Without faith, 38:55 it is impossible to please God." 38:57 Why is that? 38:58 Because God again is that invisible being out there 39:02 and it takes faith to believe that He is there 39:05 and that He is who He says He is 39:07 and can do what He says He can do, 39:09 it's all a matter of faith. 39:14 I want to look at a couple of the text there we talk about, 39:17 the question is asked in our quarterly, 39:19 what do the following text teach us 39:21 about the origin of faith? 39:22 I want someone to go with me to Genesis 15:5 and 6, 39:28 and then we look at the second one, 39:29 John 3:14-16. 39:33 The Genesis 15:5 and 6, talking about faith, 39:39 one of the first examples of faith in the word. 39:42 Jill, you have that? 39:43 "Then He brought Him outside and said look now toward heaven 39:47 and count the stars if you're able to number them 39:50 and He said to Him so shall your descendants be. 39:54 And He believed in the Lord Abraham 39:56 and he accounted it to him for righteousness." 39:59 I can see two problems with this. 40:04 And go with me, when we think about this, 40:06 Abraham, I mean what he had a whole parcel of kids, 40:10 he had a large family. 40:13 What was his, what was his situation? 40:14 Childless. 40:16 He was childless 40:17 and here God is saying you're gonna have... 40:19 And old, childless and old. And then there you go. 40:21 Yeah, he's beyond the years of reproduction. 40:24 The years of reproduction, you know, it kind of, 40:26 has a border that that's the end of that. 40:29 So by faith he believes what God says, 40:33 he looks up and he says, look at all of those stars 40:36 there's no way I can count those. 40:37 But God says, my descendants are gonna be like the stars 40:41 or we say like the sands of the sea, 40:44 they can't be numbered. 40:46 So I can see them, what faith, but what does it say Abraham, 40:49 what did he do? 40:50 Believe. He believed. 40:52 He believed in God by faith, he believed. 40:57 Okay, and John 3:14-16. 41:01 John 3:14-16, "And as Moses lifted up 41:05 the serpent in the wilderness, 41:07 even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 41:10 that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, 41:14 but have everlasting life." 41:15 Somebody give me a little background 41:17 lifted up the serpent. 41:18 What are we talking about here in the wilderness? 41:22 Wasn't there a time that in the wilderness, 41:24 they begin to be bitten by poisonous snakes. 41:26 Absolutely. 41:28 And so Moses says then, let's take a serpent 41:31 and put it on a pole 41:33 and the one who looks on him shall live. 41:35 How does that work? 41:37 I mean, looking at a symbol is going to save your life? 41:41 Isn't that something? Isn't that something? 41:43 Again, it's the response of the suppliant to God 41:48 who is able to supply, it's response of faith. 41:51 it's not logical... Right. 41:53 Just staring at a serpent on a pole. 41:55 It's not logical. 41:56 Yeah, it's not rational. Yeah. 41:58 To believe just looking at but, 42:00 that's the crux of the Christian experience. 42:04 There are lot of things that are illogical 42:06 and it is faith that makes the illogical logical, 42:10 the irrational rational, the unreal real 42:12 and this is another example of that. 42:14 I like that. 42:15 Interestingly enough looking at the serpent on the pole 42:17 does not prevent the snake from biting him. 42:19 Good point, they would still get bitten. 42:22 They would still get bitten. But this was a way to live. 42:24 The remedy. 42:25 Yeah, this was the remedy, beautiful. 42:27 And think about 42:28 some of the other promises that God made. 42:30 I love the one that God 42:31 when He talks about in Malachi 3, 42:34 when He talks about "If you bring your tithes 42:37 into the storehouse," He said, 42:38 "I will open the windows of heaven for you 42:41 and pour out a blessing upon you, 42:43 you won't have room enough to see it." 42:45 And then God does something there 42:46 that I don't think He does any place else. 42:48 He says, "Try me and prove me." 42:50 That's right. Amen. 42:52 Yes. 42:53 By faith, try me and prove me and see if I won't do. 42:56 What I say I will do it. Good example. 42:58 By faith. Shelley? 42:59 Yes, well, I have Thursdays and the title of the lesson is 43:04 "Does Faith Promote Sin?" 43:06 So what we had going on in Antioch and Galatia, 43:10 the Judaizers had come down 43:12 and the Judaizers were Jewish Christians, 43:14 who had faith in Christ 43:17 but as we've said they believed that they, 43:21 you still had to fulfill the works of the law of Moses. 43:26 So here they come down and they're teaching, you know, 43:29 you've got to be circumcised. 43:31 They're trying to upset the gentiles 43:33 and basically by doing, 43:35 by demanding this strict obedience 43:38 to the ceremonial law, 43:39 what they were doing is bringing in the gentiles 43:45 under the condemnation of the law. 43:47 But what they were accusing Paul of, is hey, 43:51 you are lowering our standards to that of gentile sinners. 43:56 So let's look at Galatians 2:17 44:02 because what the Judaizers believed 44:05 that anytime you talk about a justification, 44:09 the gospel of justification by faith alone, 44:12 what they were thinking is hey, 44:14 this is going to encourage disobedience to God. 44:16 And, you know, there are some in today's church that, 44:23 that when you're teaching grace they will swing over too far 44:27 and they make it license to sin, 44:31 so which is not true. 44:33 Then there are those 44:35 who are kind of like the Judaizers. 44:37 So how does Paul respond to the accusation 44:41 that a doctrine of justification by faith alone 44:45 encourages sinful behavior, here's what he says. 44:48 Galatians 2:17, "But if we..." 44:52 Oh, excuse me. "But if, while we..." 44:54 And here we means in the Greek it's "ourselves." 44:59 So he's talking to the Jews, and especially when you look 45:02 in the context of verse 15, he is saying, 45:06 "We who are Jews by nature." 45:07 So if we Jews seek to be justified by Christ, 45:13 to be declared righteous, to be put in right standing 45:17 with God just by Jesus Christ act. 45:22 "If we seek to be justified by Christ, 45:25 if we are ourselves are also found sinners 45:29 is therefore Christ a minister of sin?" 45:34 Is He a party or a contributor to this sin? 45:38 What does Paul say? 45:40 Certainly not. Certainly not! 45:43 Because what was happening here, 45:48 the Jews had basically express, 45:52 they understood the inadequacy of the law to save them 45:55 or else they wouldn't have accepted Christ, right? 45:57 But now they are trying to go back to that law 46:00 and Paul, his reaction to them is that this is absurd, 46:06 it's absurd. 46:08 Christ promised justification to those 46:12 who came to Christ through Him. 46:15 And if Christian Jews were found to be sinners 46:20 after they came to Christ, then we got a problem. 46:24 They're suggesting that that makes Christ 46:28 an accomplice to sin, 46:31 that His provision of grace wasn't enough, 46:34 and that He was unable to fulfill His promise. 46:38 So in the strongest possible terms, 46:40 Paul is saying, God forbid, absolutely not! 46:46 This is utterly absurd, 46:47 that Christ would be a minister to sin. 46:50 And we think about even people 46:54 when it comes to the foundation of the Ten Commandments, 46:58 which is the foundation of God's government. 47:01 We see that God put the Ten Commandments 47:03 inside the ark, 47:05 put the mercy seat over the commandments. 47:08 Yes, the commandments were written in the Mosaic Law 47:11 because God dictated them, Moses dictated it to the people 47:16 and then he wrote them out. 47:18 But God afterwards, 47:21 even after they had the altar built 47:26 and ratified the covenant, 47:28 then God writes on stone the Ten Commandments 47:31 and has Moses put them inside. 47:34 So it is possible that since the commandments 47:38 are still enforced, it is possible 47:41 that we might fall into sin by breaking a commandment, 47:44 but that doesn't make Jesus a contributor to that. 47:47 Let's look at verse 18, Paul says, 47:50 "If I build again those things which I destroyed, 47:56 I make myself a transgressor." 47:59 He had learned the truth through direct revelation 48:02 through careful study of the Bible. 48:04 Paul knew that Jesus Christ had fulfilled the Mosaic Law. 48:10 He knew that this plan for justification 48:14 came through Christ and not through the law. 48:17 So what he had done as he preached 48:20 justification by Jesus alone, 48:24 he had torn down that old teaching 48:27 that you're justified by the law. 48:29 And now he is saying, hey, you know what? 48:32 If I return to the Mosaic legal system 48:35 or even if I insist that it's obedience 48:38 to the commandments that saves me. 48:39 He says, I am building this up again 48:43 and I've proven myself to be a transgressor 48:45 because I'm saying yeah, it's still enforce 48:48 but I haven't been doing it. 48:50 So Paul is also saying here that he would be sinning 48:57 against the law of God's grace if he tried to tear down 49:02 or restore, excuse me. 49:03 If he tried to build up what God had already torn down. 49:07 So he goes on in Galatians 2:19 49:12 and he's describing his union with Jesus Christ. 49:16 He says, "I threw the law," 49:20 under the operation of the curse of the law. 49:21 "I threw the law, died to the law." 49:26 Basically in Christ by... 49:29 I mean he died by curiously through Christ death. 49:33 "That I might live to God." 49:36 See in Paul's previous life, 49:40 he was the Pharisee of Pharisees. 49:43 He was doing everything as Jill said, 49:45 you try to do as I tried to do, 49:47 not growing up in the Adventist church 49:49 but being taught, I had to be perfect 49:50 to be loved by God. 49:52 So he was trying so hard 49:56 to be justified 50:00 by keeping all of the ceremonial laws, 50:03 by keeping the works of the law, 50:05 by doing the Ten Commandments and keeping those commandments. 50:10 But he had now, 50:13 he learned that this system was ineffective 50:17 to achieve salvation 50:19 that all that the ceremonial system did 50:21 was point to Christ. 50:23 And you know what I love. 50:26 When you think about it on the sanctuary 50:28 that was theology, 50:31 the sanctuary was theology in a picture form, if you will. 50:35 True. 50:36 These people could not read. Right. 50:38 You know, there were some that even doubted 50:41 that Moses had written the Pentateuch or the Torah, 50:44 as Pentateuch in Hebrew or Greek. 50:47 Greek. 50:48 But the Torah, because it's like hey, 50:52 they didn't have writing back then, 50:54 and then they found now that they did, 50:55 archaeologists have uncovered it. 50:57 But God's people couldn't read so he shows them 51:01 the remedy for sin and every one of those symbols 51:03 pointed to Jesus Christ. 51:05 But Paul is saying, hey, I have died to the law, 51:09 my heart no longer responds to it. 51:11 Before his life revolved around the Mosaic law 51:15 but now his life revolves around Jesus Christ. 51:20 And he says in verse 20, 51:21 "I have been crucified with Christ, 51:24 it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me 51:29 and the life which I now live in the flesh, 51:32 I live by faith in the Son of God 51:36 who loved me and gave Himself for me. 51:38 Amen. 51:39 So, you know, Paul's so good to impart, 51:41 in Romans, he talks about 51:42 when he was united with Christ that, 51:45 you know, you die to your old sins, 51:47 you were buried with Christ in the baptism 51:49 but more than that you were raised 51:52 to the resurrection life. 51:55 And this complete union with Jesus Christ, 52:00 this vital relationship, it's a very relational thing. 52:05 What he's saying is everything is new, 52:09 I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. 52:11 Amen. 52:12 You know, so He sees everything, 52:16 he sees himself as being crucified 52:19 at the time of Christ crucifixion, 52:20 that old nature, that old man died. 52:23 He buried it, he's been resurrected 52:26 and Paul is now in Christ Jesus. 52:30 I wanted to read you something 'cause I just, 52:34 I don't have time to finish but let me read this. 52:37 This was written from selected, excuse me. 52:39 From Faith and Works, and written by EG. White, 52:43 "The danger has been presented to me again and again 52:46 of entertaining, as the people, 52:47 false ideas of justification by faith. 52:51 I have been shown up for years that Satan would work 52:54 in a special manner to confuse the mind on this point. 52:58 The law of God has been largely dwelt upon, 53:02 and has been presented to congregations, 53:05 almost as destitute of knowledge of Jesus Christ 53:09 and His relation to the law as was the offering of Cain. 53:14 I have been shown that many have been kept 53:17 from the faith because of the mixed, 53:20 confused ideas of salvation, 53:23 because the ministers have worked 53:25 in a wrong manner to reach hearts. 53:28 The point that has been urged upon my mind for years 53:32 is the imputed righteousness of Christ. 53:37 There is not a point that needs 53:39 to be dwelt upon more earnestly, 53:42 repeated more frequently, 53:44 or established more firmly in the minds of all men, 53:48 than the impossibility of fallen man 53:51 meriting anything by his own best works. 53:55 Salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ alone." 54:00 Amen. 54:02 It is only as His righteousness is imputed, 54:07 it's reckoned to our account. 54:09 Like you said, CA, not only when we are justified 54:14 are we acquitted and the sins are no longer evident. 54:19 But then the righteousness of Jesus Christ is credited 54:23 to our account, imputed to our account, 54:26 and that's the only thing that makes us righteous. 54:28 Amen and amen. 54:30 Not only does He bring you, 54:31 bring you out of your deficit state, 54:33 you no longer in the red, you are not at zero, 54:37 you are well in the black, you know. 54:39 So you are, you have this credit, 54:41 you're well in the black. 54:44 Before we go, we've got a few moments 54:45 anybody want to just pull out a bow on their thought? 54:47 I'll give you a chance before we wrap up, 54:50 we've got a minute or two. 54:52 Anything you want to add because I think 54:54 this is so thorough, 54:56 the fact that justification is that 55:01 I don't want to say the default setting 55:03 because that's a little cheap. 55:04 But all you have to do is accept Christ, 55:07 open heart to Christ, 55:09 your past sins are taken care of 55:12 and you've got now an open account 55:14 with Jesus Christ as you can draw at any time 55:16 and cannot be overdrawn. 55:18 Shelley? 55:19 Hebrew 7:20 says, 55:21 Christ is our surety of a new covenant. 55:24 He is the surety on behalf of God. 55:28 The promises that God has made in Christ, or yes, an amen. 55:32 But He is the surety on behalf of us to God 55:37 that we will walk in covenant, loyalty, and obedience 55:42 because He works in us to will 55:45 and to do His good pleasure by His spirit 55:49 and He will complete the good work He's begun. 55:52 So Jesus Christ is our salvation, 55:56 Jesus Christ is the new covenant 55:58 there is nothing else that can be done. 56:01 Very briefly. 56:02 You know, it seems like it's almost natural 56:05 for most people to think they have to do something big. 56:08 But the Bible... Right. 56:10 Emphatically says 56:11 that it's a gift that is by grace. 56:15 And if somebody gives you something, you feel like 56:19 "Oh, I didn't get you anything." 56:22 That's almost natural for people 56:24 but I think we need to keep before us that Jesus says, 56:28 "I am the way, the truth and the life." 56:31 What an incredible God we serve. 56:34 Amen. 56:35 You think the plan of redemption 56:36 put in place from before the world began 56:39 and the privilege we each have 56:41 of being His sons and daughters. 56:42 Amen. 56:43 So we just want to appeal to you, 56:45 you don't have to live 56:46 in condemnation or guilt or shame. 56:47 Amen. 56:49 You can be free in Christ Jesus. 56:50 Amen. Amen. 56:51 I just want to say one more thing. 56:53 Faith writes the check, grace takes it to the bank. 56:56 Amen. There you go. 56:58 I think grace writes the check, 57:00 then faith takes it to the bank. 57:01 I said that, bad mistake. 57:03 And we get to cash and praise the Lord. 57:05 I want to come back to that word Mishbuka, 57:07 which is family of God. 57:08 You become Mishbuka once you accept Jesus Christ, 57:13 all of the rights and titles and privileges of that family 57:16 now belong to you. 57:18 You get the signet ring. 57:20 You get the ability to speak on behalf of the family. 57:23 You get the inheritance of the family 57:25 and everything that God has outlined 57:27 for that family is now yours. 57:29 Thank you for joining us for this edition 57:32 of Sabbath School Panel. 57:33 We'll see you next time. 57:34 There's so much more in the Word of God. 57:36 Let's dig together and live together. 57:38 Amen. Amen. |
Revised 2024-06-17