License

I know you're probably wondering about these things hanging up in the ceiling. That wasn't put up by Hampton Inn, in case you want to know. It does have something to do with the message today, as I am hoping to bring something to an understanding. I'll reach in my pocket first. I'm going to ask all of you, men who have a billfold, women who have a purse, you have one of these.

It's a driver's license, right? Does everybody here have one that drives? Well, it surprised me this morning because I was out on the highway and it didn't seem like many people got one of these, if you know what I mean. My driver's license, most everyone's got one. It's required. But there are also some laws tied to this. Thank you. One of those, it's written on the back, my eyes are not good, or it's on the front, that says, Operation of Motor Vehicle constitutes consent to any sobriety test required by law. I think most of us have these understand that we have a license to drive, but we don't have a license to do anything we want to do in a car. We cannot drive 100 miles an hour. We can, right? But there is a penalty to pay if we do. I remember being young, dumb, and stupid at, I think I was 18, I wasn't 16, I was 18, maybe 19, when I decided that I needed to drive 100 miles an hour. Good? I had a license, I had a car, but the car was a small little car, little four-cylinder car. It got great gas mileage, but it didn't have a lot of pep. And so I tried to go 100 miles an hour, to which I found out that little car wouldn't go 100 miles an hour. So I had to plan it then to go as fast as I could up the top of this hill and then be able to hit 100 when I came down the hill, which I was able to accomplish 105 miles an hour. You notice I said this way, the kids were out of the room. I survived just because the car was in decent shape, and the police were not sitting there, and it was late at night. Not a smart thing to do, but I took license with my license. I thought I could do that.

The word license means permission to act. Permission to act.

We have to have a license to drive a car. You have to have a license to practice medicine, or you should, or make sure your doctor does. Remember, we had a woman down here in Miami that was giving shots of silicone to increase different areas of women's bodies, and a couple of women died because of it. And they got her and arrested her because she was performing medical procedures without a license. So, it requires a medical license. When you get married, I've had to sign them when I've married people, there is a marriage license that has to be signed by the minister who is authorized to do it, and the two people themselves, which makes marriage in this country, and most of the countries, what? Legal! Because you're not legal unless that marriage license is registered. So, there is some authority there.

I think of James Bond, James Bond, Bond, James Bond, on the movies and so forth. And they revoked his license one time on one of the movies, and I was interested, so I went online to find that out. And they revoked his license to kill because he had this supposed authority to assassinate people for the British crown in his duty. Now, don't think there's anything, a license like this, that shows you can kill somebody. But I did look it up on the internet, you can find anything on the internet. And there was a picture of James Bond's license to kill, just like my license. Okay. Now, why am I talking about license? Well, because most people don't understand that with license, there is responsibility. Almost every license is given. I had a contractor's license when I was in Tennessee, and that meant I had a responsibility. I could pull permits, I could do this work, but they were with some guidelines. It wasn't, well, I've got a contractor's license, Jeff, I'll just do whatever I want to do, and I don't care about your building, Inspector. Doesn't work that way, does it? Because I could have had my license if I did things. So, this understanding of license, besides coming with responsibility, there's also wisdom involved, and logic. That's what most license-giving places expect there to be basic understanding and common sense.

Permission to act or permission to do is what a license definition says. I remember growing up on the farm when we were a kid, we never had any luck raising watermelons. Just couldn't, and I love watermelons. We could raise corn, raise okra, could raise these things, but nothing I wanted to get excited about, like watermelon. And I remember my father would go and buy a watermelon for like four bucks. Big, nice watermelon. And then he would cut it in two, and then divide it into eight or ten pieces. And you would get that one piece when you were a kid. And you would eat that one piece, and you would go all the way down, because you didn't get it very often, especially if it was summertime. And you would go all the way down into the ride. Everybody ever do that, or am I the only one? Oh, you did too. And I thought, man, you know, it was so good at the start, but by the time you get down to the rind, it's kind of like, not that good. So I swore at a very young age, about nine or ten years old, when I get old enough, I'm going to buy me a watermelon. I'm going to cut it in two, and I'm just going to eat the heart out. And I'm going to throw the other away, when I get old enough, and when I can't afford. And so all those years, I was looking forward to that watermelon. And I did that when I was about 18 years of age. Cut that watermelon in two, and just ate the middle, and threw the other away. And I thought, boy, I would be the happiest person in the world. Because I had, it was mine, I had permission to do it. Permitted myself to do it. I had license to do that. But it didn't always turn out that way, as I realized that I just paid $5 for about six bites of a watermelon. We have an understanding in the church, hopefully, but I wanted to address it. About license. Because people take license with God's grace. License with God's grace. And think, I don't need anything else. I can do anything I want, because I'm under what? Grace. I don't have to go by any rules, laws, because I'm under grace. And most, or I say a lot of Protestant churches, play the grace card. And I actually ordered off the internet some grace cards. And they give you this card as you come into a church. Grace be to you, and peace from God, our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, Philippians 1-2. And on the back, it says, Welcome! We would like to get to know you better. Please complete the card, as they're looking to increase membership. And they wanted to make sure that you got the word on the front, grace. I think that's good. But I also wondered if they gave out this grace card, as they call it, because then you can understand that you're, this is a grace church, and you're under grace. If they gave you a grace card, would they also give you a sin card? Hmm? A card that said, I'm under grace, that means you are saved. And you can do anything you want, you can go sin all you want. Because even though many will not say that, that is comes across. And they do actually say, I'm saved, not in the process of being saved, that we'll talk about today. But I'm saved, I'm under grace, so I can sin, and it's not held against me. As many times as I want. Now, I would think if you were going to have and believed in a grace card, you would believe in a sin card that gives you the card that says, oh, I can go sin. Does that make sense?

Well, I believe if you gave a sin card, I believe on the back of that sin card should be a free pass to the lake of fire, because that's what the Bible teaches on that. So, are you under grace or law? Are you under grace, or are you under law?

Most would say, I'm under grace. All right. David just talked about being baptized and read about grace. So, if we're under grace, which means what? Anybody? Favor. Okay. Anybody else? Call, but if you are under grace, what are you saying? Now, you're grace and you're under the protection of devil law. You're under the protection of devil law. Yes. So, God gives you His grace. We ask on this meal here, we will ask, as I say, grace. What does that mean? Want it to favor? Thanks or favor? And it's not us. We don't ask. I say, oh, Mike Hamill, you say grace. Well, he doesn't thank himself for the food. Does he? Thanks God, because we realize it's his favor that we have the food, and we're asking him to bless it. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Well, I think a better question to ask is, are you under grace? Are you under the penalty of the law? Are you under the penalty of the law? And when does one begin and the other one ends? Is there a beginning and you just stay right here? Or is there a time where you are under the penalty of the law? Or is, or wait a minute, could the two be brought together? What does Scripture say? Well, I think a lot of people are confused because some words are exchangeable in the Scripture. It depends on the special New Testament who's writing, but you find grace aligned with faith because how do we have grace unless we have faith? And faith and grace are through Scripture interchanged and used with each other and apart from each other, but we typically understand we have faith that we are under grace because of what? Hopefully we understood from David's message because our sins are taken away by the blood of Jesus Christ and we are given the Holy Spirit because it's a gift. Nothing we can earn from God. By His grace, we have the Holy Spirit and we have faith in that grace. But it's interesting in the Bible, you also have law because it's used by Paul, it's used by various disciples quite often, and you also find that law is tied with works. That you've got to keep the law and that there needs to be some works. So I thought this was interesting because some, even in the church, they think that all that's needed is grace and faith and then nothing else is required. There is a famous minister. He's still on TV. His name is Jesse something, Duplantis. Is that his name? Okay. You know him personally? Well, you rattled that name off. I thought, wow, maybe that's your uncle or something. I don't know. But I remember seeing him on flipping channels one time in a religious day, and here he came on and he made this incredible statement, I never sinned. He said, I can't sin because I'm under grace. And he just made, and I so remember, I mean, I've seen a lot of religious things, but he just rattled that off and he was on a panel of people. Nobody said a thing. And he believed that once you're under grace, once saved, always saved.

People believe it. Why? Why do people believe it? Oh, man, you talk about selling a product. Ah, okay, here, just join our church. We'll throw you in the water. You come out, we say a few good words over you. You sign this card saying you give your heart to Jesus. And guess what? Do anything you want whenever you want to do it, because you're under grace. Boy, we'd have to, we had that thing we could probably fill this room and then something, couldn't we? Ah, yes, I like that church. Wait a minute. Do you? Well, you wouldn't even have to be here on the Sabbath, right? Because that would be under law. So that means you can keep whatever day you want to keep. But we know, what does the Scripture say? Well, you're here today because it's called the heavenly of God. The Sabbath of God! He gave it! It's not the Sabbath of the Jews, not the Sabbath of the United Church of God. It's not the Sabbath of the church of God. He laid it out. So they're like... So with this grace card comes a lot of baggage. Hard to prove, and yet they have books after book, after book, after book, telling you that everything's about grace. And that nasty, dirty, stinking, obscene law. Now, I like having God's grace because penalty for sin has been paid for. When I sin, and I do, in case you didn't know it, you do too. I need God's grace. I'm under God's grace as long as I repent and claim that sacrifice that was laid out for me. But is it possible to be under grace and never ever have to repent again?

That's what some teach.

We're going to look at the Bible today. We're going to look at Scripture to show this point, to show this part. Because the question is, is grace and faith antithetical to works and law? Is grace and faith contrary to law and works? We must be able to answer the question because if it's not once saved, always saved, it's a matter of salvation. That's why it's a very important thing. Now if it was once saved, always saved, why did Jesus Christ in the Olivet Prophecy, Matthew 24, verse 13, says, "'He who endures to the end, the same shall be'" what? Saved.

Why? Why do you need to endure to the end? If it's once saved, always saved, you're under grace. You don't need to endure to the end, right? That's logic. It's common sense. That's why this grace card and everything it encompasses and why you that's the only thing you need in life and to do in life is so prevalent. So does grace or God's favor negate God's commands? Well, I think we have to go to the source because I don't want you listening to me just believing because a minister said it because you could go to Jesse DePlantis. Thank you.

He calls himself the raging Cajun or something too, he said. But I'd like to go there and look at what Paul said because anyone that really preaches grace and once saved, always saved, turn to Paul. They live with Paul. They know they have to go to Paul because they said, Paul, yeah, he's teaching something different. Well, go with me if we will now. I'd like you to go with me to the book of Romans if you'll go to the very first chapter, if you will, because Paul discusses this in great detail in Romans and people try to use it. People try to use these certain verses out of Romans except they do one thing. They pull one scripture out that has about grace and the law, and so they separate them. They don't read the whole context of what Paul's saying. So it's kind of like pulling this out. Ah, that works over here, and so they separate it, and then he has law over here. Ah, look out! He says it's evil. But that's not what Paul is teaching. Paul writes this letter to the churches at Rome, and I say the churches at Rome. There were many churches at Rome. There were church houses. There were houses of members, and that's where the people would meet it. Okay? He wrote this letter from Corinth. Had it delivered by Phoebe. But he would write this letter, and then it would all go to the various churches, because in the church in Rome, as it was in Corinth, you could only have 25 people in each congregation before it was a problem with Roman authority of an illegal meeting, an insurrection-type meeting. So they had this law that no meeting could take place of more than 25 people, unless Roman government was involved. So how do you get around that? You have multiple houses. So that's what Paul did. He had multiple houses there that people met him.

And the letter is written about 5758 BCE. But the church was founded by Paul, and Paul was a Roman citizen. And so it was his responsibility, as he built this church up, that he had to correct some issues and problems. It happens. Some misunderstandings that happened.

Paul started this church with the help of Priscilla, Aquila, and various people who were mostly the church consisted of Jews. I thought around 45, so this would have been the church, been up about 13-14 years running at this time when he wrote this letter.

So the church was growing in Rome, but it was mostly 90% Jewish. And as they grew and grew and grew, because Rome was a city at that time of almost a million people. So it was a good-sized city, especially back then. So what happened was that the emperor came in and had some real issues and problems with Jewish people who were coming in. They were very good at banking and marketing and doing this kind of stuff and got all upset. And around 49 A.C.E., the emperor kicked all Jews out of Rome. Every one of them. Didn't want them around. They didn't leave, but as you say, Gentiles in the church, a very small group of Gentiles at 49 A.D. The amazing part was that during the next five years, the church began to grow and grow and Gentiles and grew and got almost the size that it was before. And so here we show five years later at 54 A.C.E., or A.C.E., the emperor Claudius, who at that time died. And so the new emperor came in and said, wow, we need some business. We need a boost in the economy. So he said, bring the Jews back in. Let's open it up. Bring some of those bankers, bring some of those business people back into Rome. We've got those roads going from various places. Let's start this business up. As a matter of fact, one historian made the statement that all roads lead to Rome at that time because they had concrete roads they had put through. And they were the inventors. The Romans were the inventors of concrete. And so they made it so their armies could move, but they made it just so marketers' products could move through in and out of Rome. So here in 54, the Jews are able to come back in. Now, Paul is writing this in 57 to 58. Well, guess what? The Jews came back in. Jewish people came back in. So the church grew even more because you had Christians who were Jews, Jewish Christians, if you want to call them that. Followers of Christ came into the church. And so all of a sudden you had these people who had been in Jerusalem or various Jewish cities who were more straight line into, you have to do these, you have to do this, you have to do this. And in the church, they came into the Roman church then, and the Gentiles are kind of like, we've been hearing and we are all about grace. But the Jews who were in the church were saying, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, it's about law, law of Moses. So you had two extremes. Can I remind you of Democrats and Republicans today, doesn't it? Nobody can compromise. It's this way, or it's this way. It's my way or the highway. Now wouldn't you know the church would mirror society as it can sometimes today even. So Paul is having to address this grace versus law thing. Well, the Jews are like, yeah, you got to do this. And then Gentiles, no, we've had this church going, no, we learn from Paul, we're like this.

So with that background, because I think it's important that we know the history of this, Paul writes this letter to the Roman church, churches, because one church would read the letter, they would hand it to somebody else, and they would hand it to all the churches till it got read. Paul does a unique thing that's in no other book that he wrote. Paul knows the Roman mind, the intellect, because it's there. They were not in the city of Rome, it was not an agrarian society, it was not, it was more of a trade, it was business, it was law. You can read the biography of Cicero, or one of the leaders in the Roman government at the time, and you can see how they really were into thinking and mind. And education was very important. Paul asks, Paul asks in this one book of Rome, 85 questions. Great! You go back if you don't have anything else to do this afternoon, you want to study the Bible, go and look at 85 questions he asks the churches at Rome. Now, why do you ask questions? Isn't that a good question? It starts people thinking, if you have, have you ever had a professor or a teacher who just stood up there and talked and didn't ask anything? You're just like, but when you have someone ask you these questions, it stimulates your mind. You're having to, oh wait a minute, he asked me a question, can I answer that question? Now wait a minute, there's another question, there's another question. It's one thing I like about interactive Bible studies. I, you know, I ask, why do you believe that? You read that, tell me what that says to you, and then why is it? And so it is a great teaching tool, and this is what Paul is doing. He asks these questions to get them to thinking, because he wants them to come to a consensus, to an understanding, not just, okay, you guys are right and you guys are wrong, because it's not that simple, is it?

Let's go. Let's go with the time I have left. Let's go to Romans 3. Romans chapter 3, and I'll be reading from the New King James unless I point otherwise. Go to Romans 3 and verse 21. Romans 3 and verse 21, now, but now the righteousness of God, apart from the law, is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.

So he's covering, you're going to see, he covers one side and then he covers the other. Why? Because he's talking to both sides, and he wants them to come to an understanding. Wouldn't that be great if Washington, D.C., would do that? Verse 22, even the righteousness of God, which is through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe, for there is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

A memory scripture for many of us. We all sinned! Okay, guess what? You church members who are all about Moses' law and how we have to do all the little things and have the tassels and have all this kind of stuff, guess what? You've sinned. Well, yeah, we know that. Well, guess what? You that think you're under grace, you've sinned too. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, because the glory of God is what God wants us to be.

He says, become you perfect, not! That's what I mean. Become you perfect. It's a process. Conversion is a time, time and time and time and time to get there. We're in the process of perfecting ourselves. The more we become like Christ, the more perfect we are. That's the story for us. That's what he wants us to do. 24. Being justified freely by his grace — nope, yep, there's a grace word — being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth to be a propitiation by his blood, or propitiation also can, as my margin says, mercy seat.

We can come there. By his blood through faith. Here we go. We're talking grace and faith. We have faith in that blood. To demonstrate his righteousness because of his forbearance, God has passed over the sins that were previously committed. Thank you when I'm baptized. I baptized David, baptized Olivia, baptized a few people in here, and have you repented of all of your sins? That's one of the questions we asked before God. Yes. Okay?

Otherwise, it's a very short day because if you haven't, we don't baptize you. I have passed over the sins that were previously committed. To demonstrate at the present time his righteousness, that he might be just and be the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. He's not backing away from faith. Where is boasting then? Is it excluded? By what law? Got two right there. Oh, of works? No, but by the law of faith. So there is this combination. Here, that he talks on.

Okay? Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified or made right with God by faith apart from the deeds of the law. Because somewhere teaches, well, you've got to do this, and you've got to do this before you're right with God. You've got to keep everything. It has to be that, no. Paul is saying to the law people, no, you can do everything. Think you're doing it perfect as the Pharisees and the Sadducees thought they were. Thought they were righteous in their own eyes.

And he's saying, no. Doesn't work that way. 29. Or is he the God of the Jews only? Point blank. Do you think that you're in the church, you're Jewish, so you're the only one? Gentiles, that's not really their God. He's us because we're of Moses. We're born of Abraham. Is he not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also.

So is he laying it out there pretty heavy? Yes, he is. Since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Because the other side was saying, you're not really right because you're not circumcised.

And Paul has told him, no, it's circumcision of the heart. It's an inward circumcision, not an outward. But they're like, no, no, no, no, that can't be right.

Verse 31. Do we then make void the law through faith? There is no law. Certainly not! Or as the old King James says, what? God forbid! So is he getting rid of the law? Absolutely not. Is he saying that law can save you and every righteous act or everything you do and keeping every commandment like you think is perfect is going to save you? No, because otherwise then you just, you don't need Christ. And you think you can do it on your own and it is impossible.

We cannot do it. There are sins that I have and you have in your life that I will not and cannot conquer without Christ. I can't do it on my own. And I found that out. And I think many of you have. And sometimes we need more. We need more of Christ in our life. We need more of God's grace to help us. So, do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not. On the contrary, we establish the law. It works together. It's not one or none. It's not my way or the highway. God says, here, He gave the law, but He also knew that's why Christ had to come. That's why God in the flesh came here to die for all of our sin. So, you need this, but you also what? You need to keep His commandments, and we're about to see that. And I think it's beautiful, because I won't go into chapter four, but chapter four just talks about Abraham. Abraham showing works and law, showing faith because he went, and God said, take your only son up there and kill him. And he was going to do it, and the angel had to stop him because he had the knife to the throat, and it was as good as done. Why did he do that? Because he had faith, because God told him to. That's why he's called the father of the faithful. So, there was faith, grace works involved in it. Let's go over to chapter six. Chapter six, verse one.

Let's go up to chapter five and verse 20. Chapter five verse 20 says, Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace abounded more. So, guess what? They're sin, but grace, God's grace can cover all of your sins and then some. So, if there's sin, you say, well, how can any of you, and I've had this before, I've had this before, especially in prisoners or someone that's killed somebody, how can they ever forgive me? How can God ever forgive me? Well, God's grace is that big. Yes, you sinned mightily. I had one guy tell me, I know that in one day I broke all 10 commandments in one day, and I was so proud of it.

I don't know, maybe spirit of the law, but he was not talking the spirit of the law, he's talking the letter of the law, he did. In one day. And so, he thought God couldn't forgive him. But that's what this says.

We're sin abounded, grace abounded more. So that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ. What? If you're sin and you're under the law and there is no grace, you're going to die. The penalty is death. If you're under grace, this abounds. You're not under the death penalty because you've been forgiven for that. But in chapter 6, verse 1, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Can we just, okay, I'm under grace, so let me do all 12, all 10. I'll do 12. What does it matter? What? That's what he's saying. So if grace covers us, just like telling the other side, then it's all about grace. Then should you just go sin more? Because the more there's sin, the more grace can, God's grace can be given. Is it a bad thing that God's grace is out there? No, it's a great thing, but how much do you want to keep calling and calling upon the sacrifice of God? He says you should try. Strive for that perfection.

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? I think he's being very sarcastic and cynical in his writings. He says, certainly not, or God forbid.

Verse 14, For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace. That's what Paul says. That's a one scripture you can find in all the Protestant literature. Oh, boy, they'll wear that one out. They'll have that one in capital letters. But look, go on. Just take that. Okay, this is what he said, because he's talking to the two sides, and he's saying this. But he says, What then? Next verse, they leave this one out. What then? Another question. Shall we sin because we are not under the law or under the penalty of the law? If we're under grace, we're not going to die for what we've done. So he's saying, should we do that? But under grace, God forbid, or certainly not. Can it be any more simple? Can it be any more simple? But in verse 18, as he's finishing the story, And having been set free from sin, you have become slaves of righteousness. We have taken where before we were baptized, before we came under grace, before we were given God's grace, we were slaves to sin. We just did whatever we wanted to do. And then we came to an understanding of the law, and things changed. And so then we decided we would live for Christ. We live for God because we're under grace. Go over with me to Romans 7. Romans 7 and verse 12. Romans 7 verse 12. This is for all those that want to throw out chapter 6 and verse 14. Now get this, because I have it on some papers back home that this church gave me. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace. And one of the papers says that Paul despised the law. Paul despised the law and how wicked the law was. Yeah? Well, go over to next chapter, chapter 7 and verse 12. This is Paul's writing. Therefore, the law is... what's your word there? Holy! So, you know, that's why he's telling the grace people here. No, it's not getting rid of it. It's holy! It's what helps you become like God. But when you're not, when you're not like God, thank God there's grace! Therefore, the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good. Can't say it much more than that. This is Paul, the anti-law preacher. Go with me to James as we begin to wrap this up. James, to me this is not complicated. When you look at... unless you have such a bent on things that it's just like, oh yeah, we need to do anything we want to do and we're free to do that. James chapter 2. James chapter 2. James is explaining it. Not just Paul. Here is James, the half-brother of Jesus Christ, the head apostle at Jerusalem Church, at the headquarters church.

Verse 14, chapter 2. What is it, prophet? My brethren, if someone says that he has faith, faith but does not have works, can faith save him? Why do you think he was hearing this? Why do you think he wrote this? Where was he the pastor of? The Jerusalem Church. So you had these same Jews that just like Roman came there and go, oh, it's not about faith. It's not about grace. It's about the law. And I'm sure he had some of the others in there, too. If a brother or sister is naked in destitute of daily food and one of you says to them, depart in peace, be warmed and filled, but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body and what does it profit? Thus, also, faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, you have faith and I have works. Same. See? The same thing has been going on. It's still going on today.

Show me your faith without your works and I will show you my faith. What? By my works. It's not one or the other. They work together. You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe and tremble. But do the demons believe and do something? No. Do the demons keep the law? No. But they believe, but belief is just not saying, I believe, I believe. But do you want to know, foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham or father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works and by works, faith was made perfect? It's not one or the other. It's not one or the other.

And Scripture was fulfilled which said, Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And he was called a friend of God. You see, then a man is justified by works and not by faith only, but is only by works? No. Takes both. Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messenger and sent them out another way? For as a body without the Spirit, without God's Holy Spirit, your body is dead. You won't have eternal life because it's Spirit. For the body without the Spirit is dead, also the Spirit in man, if you don't have it, you're dead. So faith without works is dead also. Oh, made of Hebrews. Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10, I'm going to read this because I think it's important for us because this is in my face and I want to read it from the New King James, I mean New Living Translation since most of you are having the New King James or something like it, but I like the way it's put here. It's not that I don't like the New King James. I just think this is, this is, this gets to the cruts of the matter really quickly. Okay, Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 26. Dear friends, if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. It's not even talking, but if you reason that, oh, it's just sin. No, he says it means continually sinning. You want to go and think you're under grace and then every week you go to your job and you steal something and God's in and go, oh, you're forgiven, you're forgiven. Okay, every week you come home and your kid is there, your wife is there, and you go, bam! You should have had my dinner ready five minutes ago. You think God's gonna just like, oh, well, smack her again. Oh, wait a minute, do it the next day. Are lying. You think you could just continue to lie all the time, but have I lied? Yes. Am I trying to work on not lying? Yes. Do I continually lie? No. That's with all the sins we look at. That is what this is talking about. If we think we're under grace and we're just all covered once saved, always saved, you're in trouble. If you believe that, you're in trouble. Let's see what it says. See what it says. There are no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins. There is only one terrible expectation of God's judgment and the raging fire that will consume His enemies. What He's talking about, the lake of fire. For anyone who refuses to obey the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God and have treated the blood of the covenant which made us holy as if it was common or unholy. You're going to stand before Christ, judge, see Christ, go, oh, I got my grace card. That's not going to work. That's not going to work because you had the Word of God. You had the law of God which helps perfect us and shouldn't condemn us because we're under grace.

And having insulted and sustained the Holy Spirit who brought God's mercy to us, for we know that the one who said, I will take revenge, I will pay back. He also said, the Lord will judge His own people. That's who we stand before, the judgments see to Christ. And He says, it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God without mercy and without grace. So I hope that you can see that it isn't one or both. I love being under grace. I also love being under the law because it helps me become more like Christ. And when I find I'm not, then I can pray to God and be back under grace because the two work together. And yeah, there are sins that I don't even know. I commit it.

Thankfully, I'm under grace. But those that I know I did, I need to repent. The two will and can work together. So let's turn to one last scripture. So we wrap this up in Philippians. Again, Paul. Philippians chapter 3.

Paul is teaching them something here in Philippians. Oh, I need to go to the other Bible. I just had the wrong one. Philippians chapter 3 and verse 12. This is Paul here, and he's telling about his life. And he's telling them about pressing towards the goal of the kingdom of God. And in chapter 3 and verse 12, it says, Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected. It's not once saved, always saved. He makes that crystal clear. He's not there yet, but he's working on it. But he says what? But I press on. Just like you will do, just like I will do tomorrow. We're going to press on, and we're going to fall short. And we're going to have some really good days, and then we're going to have some bad ones. But God, because of his loving grace, just like blessing this food, he's going to bless us to carry on and to press forward.

It says, I press on that I may let hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself too apprehended, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. I press towards the goal for the prize of the upward calling of God and Jesus Christ.

Brethren, powerful words from God's sermon. I am so blessed to be under grace, and I am so blessed that God gave me his law so that I can become like his son. And one day, be in the kingdom of God for eternity.