Don't Twist Law and Grace, Part 2

How well do you like the growing freedoms that are taking over this world? It's an age of freedom and a spread of democracy, freedom of thought, freedom of action, freedom of speech, the opportunity for an individual to be free and to move forward. It's an age of vanishing rules. It doesn't seem to be any rules that are enforced very much, even on the way just driving here this morning. I had one car going by, maybe at 100 miles an hour, just with impunity and didn't even care.

No police around seemed to bother, be bothered by that. A little further down the road, on the freeway, my wife and I saw a motorcycle and the guy rared it up into a wheelie running on the back wheel only and drove along for some time, just on the back wheel, before finally coming down. It's really an age of freedom. I saw a film festival advertised this week, and at the film festival they ran through the titles and the themes, and every one of them was abysmal immorality and murder and some of the worst things that you could imagine, and the person talking about them was saying how great these film festivals are.

We live in a world where our borders can be overrun by people who are not brought to any kind of responsibility. They simply come in and do what they want. Drug lords that come into all the cities of the United States and set up shop and push drugs and maim and kill. They kidnap people. It just seems that that, coupled with school shootings and theater shootings, we have freedom in our world. Freedom to go blow up people, it seems. Freedom to conspire. Freedom to say and hate. Immorality that is celebrated with joy. How many people that are immoral, according to what the Bible says, are now in government and taking over new government posts here, there, and around the world with smiles and celebrations?

We have free money, it seems. Printing money. Devaluing money. Doing anything you want with money, it seems. Corporate or government. It's a heyday where people don't have to abide by the rules. They can pretty much do what they want. They can lie. They can cheat at sports and get away with it for a long time. Half the children, almost, in this country in which we live are born out of wedlock. And only have one parent, if that, and what you don't tend to realize is we have a person who works in the hospital in the maternity ward here in the Phoenix area. And that's her job. And she said it's rare that one of those babies are born and the mother even cares about it or wants to even see it.

It was something, some mistake, some thing, some event. And a 50 million some kids that have been killed by abortion were totally unwanted and more and more people today are unwanted. These are freedoms. These are rules and laws of social behavior that have fallen and people laud and applaud them. We've had an Arab Spring and an Arab Fall. You don't have to be under government. You can rebel. You can do anything you want. You can tear at. You can fight.

You can destroy. And it looks like you can also develop nuclear bombs while you're at it. It's a brave new world that we live in. And it's trending towards something that Jesus Christ called a time of great tribulation. Let's go over to Matthew 24 and just notice some of the words that he used there, some of the description of where this freedom from law is taking us. Freedom from rules. In Matthew 24, we begin in verse 12. It says, And because lawlessness will abound, turn on your TV, turn on your radio, listen to music, listen to what people are saying, listen to what people are doing.

Look at the scorecard of how the world is living and operating. And you'll find lawlessness is growing and abounding on every continent, everywhere. The floodgates are open and opening wider. And because lawlessness will abound, and what is lawlessness? Well, you know, the law is about not hurting your neighbor and not offending God. And so lawlessness means more harm to others, more freedom to hurt other people and offend God. And because this is going to grow and abound, obviously the agape of many will grow cold, including in the church.

If we continue on with this theme down in verse 21, it says, For then there will be great tribulation. See, the two are combined. Tribulation comes when people don't love other people. And this lawlessness is going to grow into a tribulation that is such as has not been seen since the beginning of the world to this time. Known or ever shall be. That's where freedom, in the guise of lawlessness, or lawlessness under the guise of freedom, will take us. Now it goes on. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved alive.

That is the horrible consequence of individuals not loving their neighbor and not following the directives of God. Now what does God think about this? Well, let's continue on. In verse 44, Jesus says, Therefore you also be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. When he comes, there's going to be consequences for our actions. We continue on in verse 48.

If that evil servant says in his heart, My master is delaying his coming and begins to participate in this lawlessness, a lack of loving your brother, and begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunkards, then the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites, and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

So the lesson here of Matthew 24 that I'm trying to bring out is, yes, there's lawlessness, and that lawlessness is not excused away. There is a penalty for that lawlessness. You know, there's a cardinal rule in the plan of God, and that is, your sin requires your death. Consider that for a moment. Most people think that went away. It was vanished when Jesus died. That got taken away. Oh, no, it did not. That's an absolute rule.

Your sin, John Elliott, requires your death. John Elliott always has, always will. Always has, always will. We go back to Genesis 2 and verse 17 to the very first couple. In fact, before Eve was even created, here's what God told Adam. But then it applied to her as well. Genesis 2 and verse 17, God said, of the tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Here's a rule. Here's a law. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. You sin, you die. That was implemented with Adam. And it didn't go anywhere. It didn't get taken away. Many would say, oh, but Paul teaches us, you're not under law, you're under grace. Well, let's go see Paul on this topic in Romans chapter 5 and verse 12.

Romans chapter 5 and verse 12. When Jesus came and Jesus died, did that cardinal rule, did that law, sin requires your death, go away? Did he take it away? Well, let's see. Romans 7 verse 10. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. Romans 7 verse 11.

For sin, which is the transgression of the law, taking occasion by the commandment, deceive me, and by it, it killed me. In other words, it put me in the death penalty. Death penalty still applies. Verse 12.

Therefore, the law is holy in the commandment, holy, just, and good. We're the ones that aren't holy and obedient sometimes, and just, and good. But the law remains holy and just and good. And by breaking that law, as we just saw, we put ourselves in a condition of deserving death. Because that is the penalty. That is the penalty. Now, it's common for humans to minimize God's law. And to try to... because our carnal nature doesn't like the law of God. It's hostile to the law of God. It can't be subject to the law of God. Paul said, I find a law in my nature that I don't want to do that.

I don't want to do that. So we're always looking for this way around the law. Well, if we trivialize obedience into just kind of, well, I like the law a lot. We sang a song a while ago, oh, I love, I, my law was in there. Notice that? Oh, we can love it. We can treasure it. But do we really want to obey it? If we just keep the spirit of the law, the high points, just, you know, get the idea and the gist of it.

Is that good enough? Rather than striving for perfect obedience? Well, if the righteous are scarcely saved and the righteous are the ones who obey God and all His commandments, then what should your and my attitude be towards God's law? The title of the sermon is Don't Twist Law and Grace, Part 2. Today we're going to talk about law. If you haven't heard Part 1, I would encourage you to go back and listen to that. It talks about the grace.

But this is about the law. You know, when we say grace, it's a very positive concept to our carnal nature. It tells us, ooh, somehow I can get away with what I want to do here. I'm not sure how. But somehow I can do that. On the other hand, when we say law, just when you heard that word, was that a real refreshing, positive word to you? To just make you say, oh, I love that! Not so much. Think about law. We think, hmm, law, hmm, have to obey, hmm, sin, hmm, law. That's just the way we are.

You know, recognize that. We all need to do that. When Paul said, well, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, we're all ears. Oh, yeah. He's my guy. The curse of the law. Well, we assume that the death penalty, you see, is no longer a big deal. Remember that rule God made? You disobey me, you die. The consequence of sin is death. The wages of sin are death. The soul that sins will die. But we think, not anymore. No, we're under the new covenant and all that stuff went away and now we're free.

And we can be a little bit lawless and not under so many rules and kind of go along like the world, according to the course of the world. And where is that lawlessness going? The Great Tribulation. And who's coming at the end of the Great Tribulation? Jesus Christ. And He's going to appoint those who are hypocrites with destruction and those who are not with salvation. We have to remember the law. What's the reward of hypocrisy? Death. What's the reward of righteousness? With God creating that in us? Life eternal. That did not change.

Any more than there was a tree of life that Adam and Eve were offered and also essentially a tree of death or the result of eating that tree would be death. The big rule doesn't change. Now, again, we can assume that this death penalty is no longer a big deal. But consider this. Consider it from how big a deal sin is to God the Father and Jesus Christ.

Sin is a big enough deal that Jesus Christ came from the throne in heaven to earth as a human and lived and was scourged and died a terrible death for you and me. That's how big a deal sin is to God.

Now, we might then trivialize and say, well, I think it's not a big deal for God. It's a huge deal for God. Huge. All the Creator, all the design, all the sustainer and everything come down. Die. Sin is a big, big deal with God. Here's another. How big a deal is sin to clean animals? What if you're the turtle dove or the sparrows or the lamb or the unblemished young bull?

Your master just sinned. You're going to die as an animal. You're going to get hauled up there, roasted, boiled. It's a big deal. In the sacrificial system, they didn't really think that much about it. The animals didn't.

But, you know, it's a pretty big deal for the animals.

Now, how big a deal should breaking God's law be to you and me?

Well, let's go over to Revelation 20 and verse 8.

This is after the New Testament, the Old Testament, everything. This is right at the very end.

Let's go to Revelation 21 and verse 8.

It says, but the sinners, cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murder, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and even liars, all liars, will have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

You see, the penalty is there. The penalty for sin is death, and that penalty has not gone anywhere.

Every sin requires your death. That's where it goes.

What about this? Now, we say, I can wiggle out of this. Somehow I can get out of this.

Look, let's go to Galatians 6 and verse 7.

Let's get the Apostle Paul in on this. Galatians 6 and verse 7.

Now, we can say, oh no, no, the law was kind of relaxed under the new covenant.

When Jesus expanded it, he at the same time somehow relaxed it.

And he knows that, you know, I don't know, he's okay with me being a little edgy.

He's taking care of it all somehow. I just have to be in the right church, with the right doctrines and the right leaders, and then we're good.

But what does Paul say here in Galatians 6 and verse 7?

Do not be deceived. Whoa! Here's the guy whose words, more than any other in the Bible, have been used in deception.

And he's saying, don't be deceived. God is not mocked.

Whatever a man sows, that is what he will reap.

He who sows to his flesh himself, not loving God and loving his neighbor primarily, sowing to yourself, will reach rottenness.

Corruption just means putrefaction of the body.

Corruption, you're not going to live. Another word for death.

Whose sows to the flesh will reap death.

But he who sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap everlasting life.

So consequently, he says in the next verse, let us not grow weary while doing good.

For in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

Consequently, therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially those of the household of faith.

Let us obey the law of God, of loving our neighbor as ourself.

That's what he's stressing here. Of course, loving God with all of our heart, soul and mind at the same time.

God has this basic rule that my sin requires my death. Your sin requires your death. Always has, always will. You didn't wiggle out of that just because you got baptized.

Your past sins at that point were removed through the blood of Christ.

Your next sin was not covered.

Do you ever think of that?

Until, or unless, you repented of that and it also got covered.

But the sin after that put you right back in the same spot.

The individual who sins has a death penalty over them.

And that death penalty does not go away.

You know, God has an underlying rule in human life and that is, sin has consequences.

A lack of loving your brother or a lack of loving God has consequences.

He taught this very clearly to Israel in Leviticus 24, verses 16-22.

And later on he talks about this to us in the New Covenant.

So let's go back and see what he first says here in the covenant he made on the Sinaitic covenant that he made with Israel.

Leviticus 24, verse 16 says, Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death.

It's pretty clear. You sin against God, you will be put to death.

And they did not have salvation, so that would have also put them under the death penalty for eternal death.

And the congregation will get involved and shall certainly stone him.

And the stranger as well as him who is born in the land will stone him.

When he blasphemes the name of the Lord, he shall be put to death.

Verse 17, Whoever kills any man shall surely be put to death.

Whoever kills an animal shall make it good, animal for animal.

If a man causes disfigurement of his neighbor as he is done, so it shall be done to him.

You will disfigure him.

Fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.

As he has caused disfigurement of a man, so shall it be done to him.

And whoever kills an animal shall restore it, but whoever kills a man shall be put to death.

And you shall have the same law for the stranger and for one from your own country, for I am the Lord your God.

See, that is the underlying rule that God lives by.

Every sin has a consequence.

Every lack of love, every action that does not contain love for others has a consequence.

And this was not done away with.

It's not that these things don't still exist.

They are with God.

You might think, oh no, I think God just got all lovey-dovey.

Not so. Not so.

God is the ultimate love, but this is love.

This is part of love. His laws are part of love.

We might say, well, I thought Christ's sacrifice did away with the penalties of sin. Again, Jesus Christ's blood washes away past sins, repented of sins, forgiven sins, of those who have been baptized.

According to Romans 6, we are joined with Christ in his death at baptism.

So you see, this is a pretty big deal, isn't it?

If you don't think it's a pretty big deal, let's consider this.

God did not go soft on sin.

Just because Jesus Christ came and lived and died, that made sin, should have made sin to us, that much more detestable, that much more important to avoid.

It should have put spotlights on it and said, wow, look how horrible this is in the eyes of God, that he himself would come down here and have to die for it.

I don't want anything to do with this.

But somehow our carnal human nature switches it around and says, oh, he already died for that, so I'll jump in.

I'll have a little sin, thank you.

I kind of like that from my carnal nature.

It's the exact opposite of what the intention is.

Now, you know Jesus Christ came back and said, you've heard in old times it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, right?

Because he said it. He said it to Israel.

But he came back and he said, now, in this covenant I'm making with you, who will be my bride, those in the new covenant will be the bride of Christ, those who are successful, his coming, who will rule with him and reign with him.

I want you to defer that. I want you not to do that yourself. Let's notice Romans 12, verses 19-21. This again is the Apostle Paul speaking here.

Romans 12, verse 19. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves.

Under the new covenant, we do not do revenge. We don't avenge ourselves.

If somebody deals badly with us, we pray for them, we bless them, we give them our coat.

Does that mean God just got rid of all sin? Uh-huh. Let's read on.

Do not avenge yourself, but give place to those sins, to that wrath.

Let them happen to you, in other words. For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.

See what he's saying? This Jesus Christ is coming back, and he is going to repay. Remember the eye for an eye, and the tooth for a tooth, and all those things?

God didn't get soft on the law.

I thought Paul said the law was a curse in one place. Well, that's the way it's translated.

Now let's consider for a minute this law of God.

Jesus Christ talked about, he was asked, what's the greatest law? And in Matthew 22, he talks about all of the law and all of the prophets, and he said they can be brought down into two great commandments. Love Agape God with your heart, soul, and might, and Agape your neighbor as yourself. Now we're going to read a verse here that says something about the law and something about a curse.

Is loving God a curse? Is loving your neighbor a curse?

So somebody who would equate a curse with the nature of God, because God is love, is not on the right track, are they?

No, they're not. Agape is certainly not a curse, but there certainly is a penalty for not living the Agape way.

Let's take a look at a few scriptures here. Deuteronomy 27, verse 26.

We go back to what God says once again. Deuteronomy 27, verse 26.

Cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law.

It's not the law that's cursed. It's the individuals who don't keep the law, and who don't confirm it, who don't agree to it.

They don't come under the covenant that God would want to make with them.

If we go to chapter 21 of Deuteronomy, verses 22 and 23.

Deuteronomy 21, 22.

If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he has put to death, and you hang him on a tree.

Notice this verbiage.

He sins, guilty of death, you hang him on a tree.

His body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Notice. For he who is hanged is accursed by God.

The curse wasn't the law here. The person who broke the law and got himself hanged was accursed.

Now, let's go back to 1 Peter 2 and verse 24, keeping the same verbiage that we've been reading.

1 Peter 2 and verse 24.

Jesus himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed.

Ah. Well, here's the one who's on the tree.

Here's the one who was accursed for our sakes.

And here's the one who is dying for our sins, that we might live for righteousness.

We were redeemed, or returned to the Shepherd of our souls, through his blood.

And finally, let's go now to Galatians chapter 3 and find this scripture that is so used to do away with the law and excuse lawlessness.

Because somehow the law is said to be a curse.

So, Galatians chapter 3 and verse 10 now says, For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse.

You know, the translators, when they translate the Bible into English, they translate it through the lens of, I don't want to keep the law. I just don't want to do that.

And so there's no clarity as to what is actually being said in many, many instances.

It says here, As many as are of the works, you might say, of sin that the law brings to light, these are under a curse. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

That's where we end up getting cursed.

In the next verse, let me find where I am here in just a second.

Let's go to verse 13 now.

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. How did he redeem us from the curse of law?

By getting rid of the law? No.

By having become a curse for us.

For it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.

And that's what he was hanging on.

He was nailed to the tree and he hung on that tree.

And he was the one who is able to take the penalty for sin from us.

The penalty remains. The only question is who is going to pay it?

Now I said at the beginning, every sin that you and I have requires our death.

What Jesus Christ hanging on the tree did was, if we qualify for him to take his blood and wash us of that sin, he will pay the penalty.

And that's a wonderful thing. But the penalty will be paid. And I guarantee you, if we could see Jesus Christ shredded and hanging on a tree and going through what he went through, we would understand that sin that caused him to do that, that we commit, is a horrible thing. It's a big, big deal.

And not to be minimized and somehow, oh, just push that out of the way. We don't think about sin so much.

When we partake of the Passover every year, do we really understand the gravity that it's our death every time we sin?

It's required.

And what a wonderful thing he has done to enable us a way to die for us.

If we truly repent, if we truly hate sin, if we truly are growing and overcoming, if we are converting to his mindset, then he will take our past sins and we are not under penalty of death because we are in a process with a very gracious God who is leading and guiding us into righteousness, in more righteousness.

Paul was very clear in Colossians chapter 2 about payment and about the death requirement.

And let me just stop here and say something.

The reason why I'm having to say this to you is because the New Testament is so positive, the New Testament is so encouraging to those who are called, those who are baptized, those who receive God's Holy Spirit are expected to persevere in righteousness and grow in God's character with God living in them.

And so there's encouragement. Jesus Christ gave encouragement. The apostles, Paul, John, Peter, Jude, James. But every one of them also gave warnings.

We don't tend to remember the warnings so much. That there's a whole bunch of people who won't be truly in the process, who won't, their heart won't really be in it. And therefore, their sins won't be covered by Christ's blood. It will be covered by their blood. Because the great law still remains. Every sin requires our death.

Every sin requires our death.

Paul says here in Colossians chapter 2, verses 13 and 14, and you being dead in your trespasses. Whoa. That didn't go anywhere, did it? Just because Christ died didn't take away death. The requirement for death, for sin. No, he says you being dead, you being in a state of death because of your trespasses, you're breaking God's law. You having the penalty of death.

He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven all your trespasses. Those ones in the past that you've repented of, He's forgiven. Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us.

Mind switches, handwriting of requirements that was against us? Yes, that's the law. Oh, those handwriting requirements. They were against us because, you know, those are hard to do and I don't want to do them. And they required, you know, my death. So I just have a New Testament and Psalms version of the Bible. I like that a lot better. It's what our carnality wants to say, see? Wait a minute. Oh, let's see. Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us. What's against us? The agape mindset of loving God and loving your neighbor? Is that against us? Ooh. Wouldn't that be terrible to somebody to say, yes, the mind of God is hostile towards us. It's not good for us. It's against us. And he really needs to come and take that away and let us just drown in carnality like we want to. That's not what's being talked about here. What's being talked about that was against us is the thing that prevents our eternal life from happening. That's against us. You know, the soul that sins will die, that's sort of against us. It's God's will that nobody perish. But we sin, and therefore we've got a list of charges, a formal list of charges. You know, if I had all the list of charges against me, you know, I might think, well, would it be this long? This long? You know, it might be one of those things that goes from here to the moon and back five times.

And it's growing, you know, like the clock of the national debt. We don't tend to realize how many times we act selfishly or selfishly or unthinking about hurting God and our fellow man.

So when we come here now and we would think, say, well, we're going to look at this thing of preventing our eternal life, and we then say, well, is God's nature hostile for us? Is it somehow bad for us? We begin to realize, you know, it's our carnal mind that thinks that way. We want to get around it. Verse 14, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, the thing that's really against you, you know, is when you go up in the court, and Jesus Christ, who gives life and death, starts pulling out the volumes and reading the charges. You're like, I didn't do that. Oh, I guess I did. It's got a date and a photograph and this video. You know, this is going on and on and on, and you're thinking, I am cooked. I'm going to be cooked. He's taken away the handwriting of requirements, which was not the law of agape, but rather, he's taken away the list of our sins. He's taking them on himself, which he says here, which was contrary to us. What's contrary to us? Agape, the law? No. Death. And he's taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the tree. What was nailed to the tree? Jesus Christ was nailed to the tree, and he had all of your sins and my sins attributed to him at that time. Now, those sins were taken away from us. Those were contrary to us.

Those were certainly against us, because we had to die. Remember? Penalty of sin is death, but he died for us. So Jesus Christ was nailed to the tree with our curse, and he paid the penalty for us when we are repentant. But that's not to just say, well, I got baptized, therefore I'm covered.

I'm good. I've got some sort of shield on, and I can just go do whatever I want. I'm covered. Not so. Not so. The big question for us really is, who do you want to pay your death penalty? See, this is a different question than we often ask. Maybe we're asked out there, is there really rules? No. The real question is, who do you want to pay your death penalty? Do you want to pay it, or do you want Jesus Christ to pay it?

Now, which of those is a good answer? You want to pay it? You're dead forever. You want God to come down from heaven, who created you and loves you, and live and die and get shredded, and excruciating pain, die for you, for this sin? Now, there's your choice. Which do you want? There's really a third option, isn't there? Don't sin. Really, what this should do is, like, when you kill an animal, I sinned, okay, I've got to kill this animal. I smacked him in the nose, ooh, I got my nose smacked. I hit him in the eye, they hit me in the eye. You're supposed to learn from this. I think I'll slow down on the sin a little bit.

I'm getting low on animals. Well, you and I, when we start thinking, wow, I sinned, I've got to die now, unless God will die. Maybe I'll check with him. I mean, that's what we do daily. Father in heaven, please forgive me of my sins, forgive us of our sins, as we forgive each other. And here's my sins that I'm wanting forgiven of. You know, that's coming up. That's lifting your animal up to the person who's slaughtering, and it's taking your precious little lamb, you carried it all the way there, it's like, ah, I'm going to give up a lamb.

This poor little lamb is going, yeah, I like you, maybe lick you a little. Sorry, you've got to die now, and this is terrible. Your white fur is going to be all covered in red. But you lift it up, you give your sacrifice with raised hands to the priest who's now going to slaughter this thing. And that's what we should be doing when we come before God, every time we realize we sin. It's a big deal. It is a big deal. You know, the result should be hating sin. Really, we should really come to despise it. We should have remorse for the blood that Christ has to shed because of what I said, or what I did, or what I thought.

Deep remorse and great appreciation for how ugly sin is in the eyes of God. We should have deeper respect for God's laws and have them really in the forefront of our mind, really written in our hearts and in our minds, and love God's law, and love it so much that we don't want anything to do with hurting God or hurting our fellow man. The result would be a stronger hatred of sin, work harder to overcome, pursue a greater level of the mindset of God in our lives, be more diligent. Jesus Christ did not go soft on obedience to His laws. That's a human thing. Let's notice in Matthew 12, verse 36, how much focus He places even on words, let alone deeds.

Matthew 12, verse 36 says, But I say to you that for every idle word, and the word idle there doesn't mean just a word that maybe wasn't well thought out. I don't believe. I think an idle word would be a word that is not properly formed in an ingracious way for God or fellow man. That for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.

And we think, whoa, what, what, what, what? That seems so trivial. He's saying even for that. Verse 37, For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. And we might say, well, I thought Christ was coming with peace and love, and He's going to just forgive everybody, and it's going to be a wonderful world tomorrow, and it'll be green, and everybody will have solar mills, and everybody will just be happy somehow. Well, let's remember what Paul said in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, verses 8 and 9.

2 Thessalonians chapter 1, beginning in verse 8. 2 Thessalonians verse 8. Now this is regarding Christ's second coming. We're all praying, Your kingdom come. Well, here He comes. He's coming in flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 3 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. Does that match the return of Christ that you and I tend to think He's coming?

Or the mindset of God? Didn't we think that somewhere He dropped all the rule things and all the requirements and all the penalties? This church is different than any other. Our church preaches and teaches a gospel, a gospel that Jesus Christ taught that begins with repentance.

It's not just the good news of some life that's coming. It starts with repentance. It's a gospel. It's glad tidings, really, that God's way works. That loving God and loving your fellow man really does have good consequences. In that way, the knowledge of God and the law of God is going to go out from Zion and cover the earth like the waters cover the ocean. So that's good news. What that spells for you and me, though, is we are called to obey the gospel now. We are called to convert and be part of the process now, not then. And so judgment is now upon us who first believed. And that judgment, that decision that Jesus Christ has to make and God the Father has to make about whether we live or whether we die is being made now in your life and now in mine. That's the question. Are we going to live? Are we going to live because all of our penalties will be paid by Christ, because this gracious God is taking us and we're being led by Him to the goal that He wants us to make. Or are we going to die ourselves? Are we going to pay the penalty? Be one of the goats. Be the tares. Be the whatever that gets burned up that Jesus talked about so often. We teach that God is reproducing Himself, that He's preparing a bride and the bride is being made ready. And that bride will assist Jesus Christ in righteous judgment and righteous rule. Jesus preached the Gospel of repentance and the coming Kingdom of God. In Jude 1, verses 14 and 15, it says, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints. There's the bride. Ten thousands. You know, it talks about 144,000. Ten thousands of His saints He is coming with. Verse 15, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds, which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. That's a little different sometimes than what we have in our mind, isn't it? About the bride and about Jesus Christ and what they do.

The point is, remember back at the beginning, the rule? If you sin, it requires your death. The law of deeds and consequences for those deeds is still in force and will be when Jesus Christ and His bride meet the new age, begin the new age.

Well, let's go back and look at this rule a minute. The rule is every sin requires your death, but all have sinned and come under the death penalty. It's not a good position for any of us, is it? Without a Savior, without somebody to come in and say, well, instead of you dying, I'm going to die for you. Somebody's going to die. I'm going to die for you. We would literally be toast. So in John chapter 3 and verse 14, let's notice what John the Baptist says here. No, it's actually Jesus Christ said it here. John chapter 3 and verse 14, I want you to notice how these passages all work together here as we read them. Often times people will pluck out John 3 16. Oh, it's so nice and wonderful. Let's just notice how Jesus Christ says this whole section. Because you've got the serpent being raised in the wilderness. You've got Jesus Christ being raised on the tree.

I'll add that. Why? Because you're going to perish. We are going to perish. The rule applies. But if we believe on Him, we should not perish but have everlasting life instead.

See, He didn't get away with law and therefore there's no rules. Everybody, no, they have to be saved because they're going to die. All of us are going to die unless we're saved.

He who believes in Him is not condemned, but He who does not believe is condemned already because He is not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation that the light has come into the world and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed.

But he who does the truth comes to the light that his deeds may be clearly seen that they have been done in God. We should not only be coming to the light, we should become light. You are the light of the world. We are intended to shine that light of agape, godly mindset, thinking and deeds. And if we do that, we're shining light on ourselves, on each other, we're looking for sin with God's help, we're putting it out, we're being cleansed.

The bride is indeed being made ready. You know, final judgment is coming and the final decree is being made, but you and I only have this window. And we've got to understand what the rules are really clearly. In 2 Peter 2, verse 9, it says, The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment. In chapter 3 and verse 7 of 2 Peter, But the heavens and earth, which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

Perdition is a wonderful word. It's nice how the translator slipped that in there. How many of you said the word perdition this week in just some talk that you had? It's interesting, though, that that word just keeps staying there. It's like, we don't want to know about any penalty for saying, well, just put perdition there. What does perdition mean?

Death? Okay. It means total annihilation, destruction, death. So if we read it the way it would be written, Until the day of judgment and death of ungodly men. The Lord, verse 9, is not slack concerning His promise, as some account slackness. But His long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish.

Because we're all going to perish if somebody doesn't perish for us. But He doesn't want anybody to perish, it said, but that all should come to repentance. Repentance. What about those who don't repent? Ezekiel 18, 20, The soul whose sins shall die. What about those who do not repent? Paul said of himself in Romans 7, 24, Who will deliver me from this body of death? That's what you and I have. We have a body of death. We are going to die eternally unless somebody dies for us. Now, the good news is, if you're baptized and you've truly repented, you're past sins that have been repented of.

I don't know which those are and which those aren't. I have to ask myself the same question. Just because I'm here and I got baptized a long time ago, are all the sins in between here and there covered? Not necessarily. I may be treasuring a few, just bringing those along. There's been plenty of people in our church that have even said openly, Well, I lie, or I commit adultery, or I do these things, but it's okay because of who I am or what I do. The human body, the human mind, can bring some of this right through the church and continue to sin in it.

Now, a sin that's not repented of is not forgiven, and we will bear the penalty of that sin, which is our death. So the important thing is for us to genuinely be repentant and hating all sin and putting it out. God will even cover those micro-sins that our brains and minds don't even pick up. As long as we are going forward, Paul says, we are not under the penalty of sin, as long as we are truly living with Christ and Him living in us. Same. But as soon as we start playing the games in a little of this, a little of that, and a little lust and greed, and lying, and cheating, and stealing, and feeling liberated because somehow we are under grace, we are back in the tank.

We are back on the docket. Jesus Christ is coming in. He is going to point us with the hypocrites, if we are of that mind. Paul says in Romans 6, 24, What fruit did you have then, and the things of which you are now ashamed, for the end of those things is death? He didn't say, was death, is death. I am just pointing this out. Verse 23, Romans 6, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. So we earn, our sins earn us eternal death. But if we can receive this gift through repentance, then we will get life.

Romans 8, 13, If you live according to the flesh, you will die. The penalty didn't go anywhere. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. God is a very gracious God. He is very merciful and long-suffering to people who are repentant and people who are pursuing His righteous mindset. As Joel 2, 13 says, So therefore, rend your heart and not your garments, return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful and slow to anger and of great kindness, and He relents from doing harm. God doesn't want to kill us. He wants to forgive us.

But there are conditions, and there is a covenant, and there are rules that have to be followed. There is a process that must be followed. And salvation comes through the process of a gracious God working in you and me with faith and repentance and forgiveness and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit leading us and guiding us, developing fruits of the mindset of God.

In Hebrews 12, verse 25, there is a bit of a warning that Paul gives. Paul says, you know, just in case you are going along and you think that God's laws and commandments and the law, it's not so important anymore, beware. Beware of that concept.

Hebrews 12, verse 25 says this, See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. This is God. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven.

Verse 29, For our God is a consuming fire. He is the one that's going to burn us up if we don't listen to Him, if we don't follow, if we don't obey. Now, the good news is, as we wrap this up in Revelation 21, of course, I'm only taking a limited view here. It's really to point out the importance of law and the importance in God's mind of law and the importance in your and my mind of law and the penalties for breaking the law. It's all very much here and current. And it's got to be a big deal for us if we want to hate sin, the transgression of the law. And if we want to abide by the laws of God, which remember Jesus Christ defined as the mind of God, agape.

The law and the prophets define for us, humans, what the nature of God is. Loving with all your heart, soul and mind, God and your neighbor.

Revelation 21, verse 7 says, He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be my son.

Yes, God is very gracious and merciful and he wants to die for your sins. He wants to save you by dying for you.

However, as we read before, the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters and all liars will die in the lake of fire.

That's the second death. Yes, God is a wonderful God and Jesus Christ gave us a wonderful gift.

Do we take that gift of his sacrifice for granted? Don't we take it lightly some time? Oh, yeah, I said that. Well, God, forgive me. I did that. Oh, well, oops.

Or, I think I'll do this. You know, I know I probably shouldn't, but I really want to, and it'll just require my death. Oh, no, it'll require Christ to come down and die. See, how can we get away with that anymore when we come to realize that this is serious business with God and needs to be serious business with us?

So, in conclusion, in this short series of two sermons, we've seen that sin will be paid with death, either yours or his, or it won't happen. It just won't happen in the first place, at least not as often, because we'll hate sin and we want nothing to do with it.

And we'll respect not only the consequence, but we'll respect God and our fellow man in the first place and won't want to harm them.

And so, therefore, we'll avoid it more and more. We'll run from it.

The new covenant was given to transform the bride of Christ, and God is very gracious in that covenant.

And he is so willing to create all this and do all this and come and live and die and get in us and move us forward and then to transform us into godly minds so that he can raise us up to live with him forever.

Oh, that is so wonderful! God is so graciously working to perfect all those who obey him, who want to obey him. He'll help us obey him.

But let's remember, the rule remains in action today. Serving the self brings eternal death, repentance and the agape mindset bring eternal life.

That law existed from the two trees in the beginning to the very end of Revelation.

Let's make no mistake. God, his rules, his mindset, his laws, they are related and they are very active.

And your and my final judgment is about to be made. Let's notice what Jesus says here in the last chapter of the Bible, Revelation 22 and verse 12.

Once again, he says, Behold, I am coming quickly and my reward is with me to give to everyone according to his work.

Will it be life because he dies for our sins or will it be death because we die for our sins?

He's coming with a reward to give to everyone according to his work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I started this creation. I will end this creation by burning it up.

I started by calling you. I've worked through you all the way to the end. I will resurrect you and make you spirit like me.

I am the beginning and the end and the first and the last. I am the first of the first fruits.

I will bring in all of those into the family of God because God has given him the power of giving life and also death.

Verse 14, Blessed are those who do his commandments. Do them that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city. He says, He who testifies to these things says, Surely I am coming quickly.

John, with all the rest of us, I'm sure would say, Even so, come, Lord Jesus, the graciousness of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.