-Transcript-
00:36 Amen. Welcome to the program. Welcome to the cafe.
00:42 Great to have you here today. Today we are in God’s Word looking at God’s justice and His judgment on those that believe on Him. The justice of God.
00:55 The fact that we’re no longer under the law but we’re under grace. Matthew 12:1-20, a scripture that we’ve been reading this week, and I’ll just read a few verses from it to catch us up. Matthew 12, at that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn and His disciples were hungered and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat.
01:21 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto Him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day. But He said unto them, Have you not read what David did when he was hungered and the day that were with him? How he entered into the house of God and did eat the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him but only for the priests?
01:43 Or have you not read in the law how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless? But I say unto you that in this place is one greater than the temple. And we have, that’s Matthew 12:1-6, and we have here Jesus Christ telling the Pharisees.
01:57 Who were the Pharisees? They were kind of the elite, the upper crust Jewish people that had expertise in the Bible, specifically the Torah or the Old Testament, and they understood the Mosaic laws well, and they were the ones that were interpreting those laws.
02:16 This is also why I believe that Jesus and the Pharisees had so many rough encounters and arguments in the Bible. Previously I tried to spend some time researching, you know, what was it about the Pharisees that drove Jesus so nuts, like made him so angry about how they acted?
02:35 And of course everyone would say, well they were hypocrites, you know, they would say this is the law and they’d do something else.
02:42 But I think it was deeper than that, and in my conclusion, this is just the preacher talking, but my conclusion is the Pharisees were adding to and taking away from God’s law in a way that made it more burdensome to the people.
02:57 And that is what was so infuriating to God in the flesh, was that they were taking God’s law and they were perverting it. They were adding to and were taking away to make it more burdensome on the people and beneficial for them, I’m sure.
03:11 Well look, is that not what happens in many denominations here today? That they are taking away or adding to and it’s making things more burdensome on the people? Think about this, say you go to a megachurch and they say get baptized in a parking lot and come here like a nightclub and it’s great.
03:29 And we’re not going to preach on sin, we’re just gonna tell you how good things are. Now they’ve taken away from God’s Word and they’ve diluted down that gospel to something that’s hard to understand.
03:39 And they’ve made it into some kind of pep talk. And they led people to believe that by simply getting dunked in the parking lot that now they’re they’re saved. Now there are people I’m sure at some of these congregations that are in fact saved.
03:56 I got saved at a very large church and I preferred the traditional service and that preacher would rear back and preach on sin and so I’m not criticizing all large churches. But some of these things, some of them that I’ve seen online, some of them that I’ve seen people that I love go to or want to go to, they clearly don’t preach on sin.
04:18 They’re taking away from God’s Word and they’re creating a false gospel and that must infuriate a living and holy God.
04:26 And on the other end of the spectrum you have denominations and groups, small and big, that may tell you you need to do certain things to be saved. You must keep certain rules to be saved or you’re gonna go to hell if you don’t do this, this, and this. Or you don’t follow the words or the information of this individual and this individual.
04:45 Well that also too is very burdensome to a holy God because now you’re dealing with man and their words, amen? I won’t say any specific religion but one of them that I can think of has a book written by a man and they tell their members, of which I believe there’s millions, they tell their members this book trumps the Bible. You follow this book by this guy, it trumps the Bible.
05:07 Now that’s not good, amen? And so this is, I believe, really, really bad for people and what KJV Cafe, to bring it full circle, is here to do, simply rightly divide the Word of Truth.
05:26 Here in Matthew 12, New Testament Scripture, it’s telling us we’re not under the law. Well if we’re not under the law, then what are we under? We’re under grace. Well what does it mean to be under grace?
05:34 It means that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Lord and that we are justified not by what we do.
05:40 The Pharisees, they were trying to be justified by what they do because they’re saying, oh we would never eat corn in the field on a Sabbath day but you are, you know, of course Christ points out that they’d pick up their sheep if it fell in a ditch, but anyways, they’re trying to be justified by their works.
05:55 They’re saying we’re gonna try to keep the law and of course God gave us the law to help us understand that no one could keep the law. And so what we are justified by, what can we actually do to please God? Believe.
06:08 The Bible tells us that you cannot please God without faith. Well what’s the opposite of that? That if you have faith, you’re pleasing God. We’re told that we are justified by faith.
06:19 What does that mean through the Bible? What does that mean? That means that if we believe on Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, that he died for our sins.
06:27 And think about this, God in the flesh, Jesus Christ, right, the Son of God, the only begotten, dies for your sins. Well that means that that sin penalty, that sin debt, has been paid by who? By God Himself.
06:42 So God saw the need of mankind and met that need through his own work. And that should lead to great praise and adoration and love for Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and for God the Father who had this plan and executed this plan. But oftentimes it leads to what? Rebellion.
07:00 It leads to natural man calling it foolishness. It leads to man saying, I want to justify myself by works. Man loves to be justified.
07:09 They love awards. I always get a kick out of award ceremonies. Man giving man an award and everyone applauding.
07:22 It’s just ridiculous, okay? God is a true God, a loving God, and he knows our inner need that we cannot do it on our own. And when we come to that place, now if you’re hard-headed like me, maybe you have to hit a lot of obstacles before you come to that place.
07:42 But when we get to that place where we realize who we really are, amen, and we are face-to-face with who we really are, and we realize that there is sin in our life that we cannot get out, that we cannot fix, and we cannot keep this law that God has, we say, well, Lord, what can we do? Please save us.
07:59 Save me, right? What can I do? Please, God, save me. He’ll save you. He’ll save you.
08:05 Because at that point, you realize your need for Him. And from that point on, you should be making Him Lord of your life. And that’s not just something you say or put on a greeting card.
08:14 That’s something you live. That’s how you live. That’s how you go about your life.
08:18 If Jesus is Lord, you’re getting in that word every single day, as best you can. Not to fulfill some kind of law, or not to impress someone, but because he’s your Lord, because you love Him. You say you love your wife or your husband.
08:28 Well, if you say you love them, you like spending time with them, presumably, right? A lot of time, you miss them when you’re not around them. But you say you love God. Are you spending time with him? Do you miss him when he feels so far off, when He’s not close? You should, Amen.
08:51 People say they don’t know how to get close to God, or they don’t know how to grow in a relationship with God. The Bible tells us that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. We need to be in His word.
08:57 And if you’re like me, I like to learn visually, and through audio, and all these things. I study the word as best I can, and then I’ll listen to preaching. I’ll listen to Bible studies.
09:07 I’ll watch preaching. I’ll watch Bible studies. I’ll immerse myself.
09:12 Multimedia, Amen. And that’s how I learn. That’s how I’ve learned the last decade plus, is by spending time in God’s word.
09:19 And that means that it’s less about, what does man think? Oh, here’s what man’s got, some kind of example, some cute example. Forget that. What says the word of God? It’s still relevant today, Amen.
09:32 We’re called KJV Cafe. Guess what? We use the King James Version here. We use a Bible that many view as outdated, or unimportant, or whatever.
09:39 It’s the greatest book I’ve ever read, amen. And it’s the greatest book that I read daily, that speaks to my heart, and that gives me peace, that surpasses all understanding.
09:48 Now, is it the book in and of itself that’s giving me peace, or is it the Spirit of God that lives in this living word that gives me peace, and that will give you peace? Oh, isn’t it time that you turn to God today, that you get on fire for God, that you realize that you are not justified by works, but by faith? I believe it is, Amen.
10:07 God is good, and he is worthy of us to be obedient to him. The Bible tells us that obedience is better than sacrifice, and so sometimes we want to do something great for God, our way, right?
10:16 And God says, no, no, no, just be obedient, and do what I’ve called you to do. And what we need, and where do we know what God’s called us to do? The word, Amen.
10:27 Recently I was preaching on thankfulness. The Bible says, you know, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of Christ, of God through Christ Jesus concerning you. The will of God is for in everything to give thanks.
10:41 I didn’t discover the will of God in some great revelation out in the forest, I discovered it in his word, amen, as he wrote it, amen, through inspiring the writers that wrote it through the Holy Spirit.
10:54 This is, in everything give thanks, this is my will, in everything give thanks. And if you really follow that principle, that’s a pretty deep one.
11:01 But to kind of start wrapping up our message here, the justice of God. The new judgment has arrived, Amen, and it has arrived because it’s already here, that we are saved by Christ alone.
11:17 Again, the Pharisees were trying to live by the old, the law, and they’re trying to say, oh, the temple, the law.
11:20 And Christ is saying, I’m greater than temple. And in fact, he’s saying, I’ve fulfilled the law. Romans 7:6. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.
11:34 We are now delivered from the law, Paul writes in Romans 7, that being dead wherein we were held, that we should serve in newness of spirit, not in the oldness of the letter.
11:45 So we are under this new, this new, the new gospel here is, think about it, what was, what was, what were believers trying to do before Christ came, and say, before John the Baptist, the forerunner?
12:00 They were trying to be saved by living as God commanded Moses to tell the people to live, and as God himself had put on the stone, amen? They were trying to live under the law. That was how they were trying to get approval from God, and they were failing massively, right?
12:18 And so then you have John the Baptist, and then you have Jesus coming, and Jesus telling us, no, I’m, this is, this is, I’m God, and this is the new, newness of the spirit.
12:29 This is what I’m doing. And we have to accept his mercy and grace, and realize our salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. We have to accept it, and once we accept that, then what do we do? Well then we’re free, Amen. We’re free to no longer be under the law.
12:49 The Bible tells us that where the spirit is, there’s liberty, amen? And so the idea is that we are no longer under the law, so that we are then free from the law, so then we have liberty to live imperfectly.
13:03 Now we don’t want to intentionally sin, but the Bible tells us that when we do, if we go to God in repentance, he’s faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
13:14 The Bible tells us that we have a mediator in Jesus Christ, amen? The Bible even tells us that when we pray, the Holy Spirit will murmur things that we can’t even describe or say.
13:25 The point is, God knows our condition. He made us, amen? He knows our condition. He knows our need, and so once we’re saved, we can relax.
13:34 We can say, hey, okay, you know, thank you God. I’m no longer under the law. I don’t have to earn my way into heaven.
13:44 I now can live for you freely in a relationship. I can even be called a friend of God, Amen. A brother, an heir. I can live in a way that is like a good relationship would be, and I can be steadfast and honorable to God through living like that, through trusting Him in His word.
14:02 I wish I had more time, but for today that wraps it up. Please tune in next time as we wrap up this series and we look at rejoicing in the justice of God, rejoicing the justice of God. I thank you for listening.
14:14 Take care, God bless, and Amen.