Classic Christianity – Book of Romans P6 (10-30-19)
Synopsis
Bob George continues sharing from the key passage of Romans 1:16-17. In the gospel, a righteousness from God is revealed that is by faith from first to last, and is the power of God unto salvation for all who will believe. When you believe the gospel, accept Christ as your life, you are able to communicate with the living God, to know His love and to know and love Him. There are only two types of righteousness, self righteousness, which is really no righteousness at all, and God’s righteousness. The righteousness of God is revealed by the Holy Spirit, who is drawing all men to Himself.
If a man thinks he has righteousness of his own, by what he does or fails to do, then he is only comparing himself with others. Only two things can occur. You see yourself as better or worse than someone else. You are either puffed up in pride or are overcome with self condemnation. Either way, you are bound by deception and enslaved to sin. That is really what happens in religion. You have to have rules and regulations, and that just keeps you in deception and bondage.
Bob continues to share about the Old Covenant system the Jews were under, the legal system God instituted to keep millions of Jesus alive, keeping them from destroying themselves. God set up a legal system of law and order for them, but they turned it into a religion of legalistic righteousness, as if by their conformance to the law they will make themselves acceptable to God. According to God’s word, there is no one who is righteous, no not one. No one will be declared righteous before God by observance of the law because through the law, you are conscious of sin.
So God send Jesus into the world so that by seeing His righteousness, we might see our own unrighteousness. So Jesus, was born into this world as a Jew, but by the Spirit of God came from heaven. He came to the Jews first, choosing twelve men, of whom eleven believed, and in whom he would explain the reason why he came, what he was about to do and what will soon take place, that when it does, they will believe. Jesus was explaining to them the meaning of his death, burial and resurrection. Then one day they were filled with the Holy Spirit, at Pentecost, and then they understood. God brought to their remembrance all that he had taught them. The Spirit of God revealed truth to them. They then spread the message of the gospel.
Then Saul of Tarsus came along, a Pharisee of Pharisees, trying to destroy these people of God. But Jesus Himself got his attention and met him on that Damascus road. He believed and was also filled with the Holy Spirit, and was appointed by God to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles. He was not ashamed of the gospel, for he himself received by faith the gift of righteousness. He was commissioned as an apostle, through whom the word of God, the gospel of righteousness came to be written down for future generations, which we now read about today. So we read Paul’s letter to the people in Rome.
The message of the gospel is that I can receive the gift of life in Christ Jesus. I was born dead spiritually. I am a sinner, finding myself not able to do the things I ought to do and still doing things I know I ought not to do. Those things I hate to do I still do. I find myself a wretched man in need of forgiveness and in need of a new way of living.
The good news is that all your sins have already been taken away from the eyes of God when Jesus shed his blood on a cross. But salvation is not getting your sins forgiven. For if I sin again, I would die again, except for the cross that took away the sins of the entire world. The greatest news is the receiving of new life, which is what salvation is. You are dead and in need of life. The power of God for salvation is the power of the resurrection that raised Jesus from the dead. That same power that raised him from the dead can raise you from the dead also.
Jesus died to take all your sins upon himself, and when he rose, having no sin of his own, he now offers that same life, that raised him from the dead, to you. You have a choice to reject, ignore, or accept that gift of life. You do not deserve the gift nor can you work for a gift. It is impossible for you to work for it because you are already dead and are a sinner. You cannot pay the price of death sin deserves. You cannot earn it because it requires perfection, not sinning once. The standard is too high for you to attain.
Jesus is God in the flesh. He alone never sinned. He is the only person who has a life to lay down in order for that life to be raised again. Death has no hold on him because he is without sin and he has power in his name to be raised up again. He alone provided salvation as a gift for all men.
As God, he spoke all that we can see and not see into existence. That same power is what can raise you from your condition of death into the very presence of God, to have the life of God reside in you the moment you believe. God wants you to receive His love so you can love him willingly from the heart, with all gratitude, so you can participate in the divine nature and experience love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self control. He wants to produce that in you and through you into the lives of others.
Bob then offers a suggested prayer so you can enter a right relationship with God, a righteousness that is by faith. Now, saying a prayer does not save you. Prayer is an attitude of your heart, something you express to God. The attitude in your heart, from a proper understanding, and in agreement with the truth, and is something you want to do, so you express that to God. You are not under compulsion to do so. It is totally your choice. But from our vantage point, we know it is what God wants for you and is what we have found the very life we needed ourselves. So if this is the attitude of your heart, pray along with Bob George, as he leads you to accept what you want to accept, the gift of life in Christ Jesus.
Father, not knowing where our own individual hearts are, but knowing full well from experience that when you are lost, you are searching. Nothing ever seems to fit or work. You are always wondering why the things you want to do you do not do and the things you do not want to do, you do them anyway. You are wondering why that people seem to have a peace about them that you do not possess. You are wondering what am I doing here. Where am I going? Why am I here? What is going to happen to me when I die? Jesus has the answer to every one of those questions. If there be one here listening or reading online today, who does not truly know you, then there is hope and an answer in Christ Jesus. Oh, you may have an intellectual assent towards God. But I mean to really know God. The attitude is, “I really want to know you, God”. Would you just by faith, accept this gift of righteousness? Thank Him for the cross where he took away the cause of spiritual death. Thank him for that. Then thank him for this marvelous offer of bringing spiritual life to your dead spirit and raising you from the dead into eternal life with Him. To merely by faith, accept that. Thank you, Lord Jesus. When that occurs, and if it already has, we know by the testimony of God that he who has the Son has life. When you do not have the Son, you do not have life. These things I have written unto you who believe in the name of the Son of God in order that you may know that you have eternal life. I thank you for these things Jesus in your holy name, amen.
Transcript
Jesus is talking about having a relationship with Him that if you were the only people on the face of the earth you two could be rejoicing in the love for each other. If that table over there was the only born again people in the world, they would just enjoy Christ in one another. He did not come to build big buildings. Constantine did that. He ruined the whole concept that Jesus put into effect. Constantine made a state religion out of Christianity and ruined it.
We read Paul’s testimony of having a relationship with Jesus Christ in his letter to the Philippians.
Philippians 3:8-10
8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have put aside all else, counting it worth less than nothing, in order that I can have Christ, 9 and become one with him, no longer counting on being saved by being good enough or by obeying God’s laws, but by trusting Christ to save me; for God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith – counting on Christ alone.
Romans 1:16
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.
So Paul is going into that type of environment in Rome, saying guys, “I am not ashamed of his gospel. It is the power of God for salvation, first of all to the Jew but also to everyone who believes”. Now, he is going to define humanity. First, he is going to the Jew. Then he is going to the Gentile. So that included everyone did it not? No one missed in that. Jew and the Gentile.
Romans 1:17
17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed – a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
If you mark your bible, mark that term, “a righteousness from God”. This is what we are talking about, a righteousness from God. What other kind of righteousness is there? Self righteousness. How does self righteousness manifest itself? Pride. What do you have to have to be self righteous? What would you be having to grab a hold of to be self righteous? You would have to have some laws, rules and regulations, and then say, “I do all those things. You don’t.” When you get down to a point where you have a bunch of things that you have to do, and you are going to do them, then there is only two things that can occur. I am going to compare myself. When you compare yourself with somebody else, only two things can happen. One says, “I am better than they are”, and that is pride. Or, “I am worse than somebody else”, and that is self condemnation. And both of those things are out of the pit of hell. So in religion, you have to have rules and regulations, and that just keeps you in deception and bondage.
2 Corinthians 10:12-13
12 We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise. 13 We, however, will not boast beyond proper limits, but will confine our boasting to the sphere of service God himself has assigned to us, a sphere that also includes you.
So if you are a religious Jew, you grab a hold of the law. The law was given for civil obedience. That was the reason God gave the law to the Jews. The Gentiles never had it. They just came over and stole it. God gave the law to the Jews after they left Egypt and they were going to roam in the desert. And there were millions of them and they were strong. They had been slaves. So in order for them to not murder each other and to have any kind of civil obedience and not to have total anarchy, He gave them laws to live by, the ten commandments.
He also knew that they were going to be roaming in the desert for 40 years. So he gave them dietary laws to keep them from killing themselves. He said things like, “Do not eat pork”. General Electric, even if it existed, did not have refrigerators in those days. So you had refrigeration problems. That stuff will kill you. So you had dietary laws He gave. He gave dietary laws to keep people alive living in the desert. It was for the purpose of preservation.
Did God have an interest in preserving the Jewish bloodline? Did he? Why? Because out of the Jewish bloodline was going to come who? Jesus the Messiah. So He preserved the Jews. He told them here is how to live without killing yourselves. He gave them civil laws. He gave them dietary laws. And He said this is for your good.
Isaiah 9:6-7
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7
Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.
(You can read all about the Jewish laws, the 10 commandments, the dietary laws and their wandering in the desert for 40 years in the book of Exodus.)
What did the Jews do with the law? We got the priests. “Oh, we have got something to do. So let us make the laws as a means for righteousness. That if we keep these laws, we will be righteous before the sight of God”. God did not give us laws to please God, to make us acceptable before Him. He gave us laws to keep us from killing ourselves. He gave us laws to keep us from total anarchy and to keep us from killing ourselves by eating bad foods. People, or we ourselves, took the law, and said, “No. No. This is what pleases God. This is pleasing to God”.
Romans 3:20
20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
Galatians 5:6
6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Why did God give us a day of rest? Why? So that we do not work like poor Richard. He needs a day off. You can work six days but you need a day off. What did he give us a day off for? To rest. Am I right? Are we all together on this? To rest. Why? Because you need rest. When the Jews were slaves in Egypt, did they have a day off? Never. This is something brand new. The Jew is saying, “A day off? I worked every day as a slave.” God is saying, “I know, but I am giving you a day off. You need a day of rest to restore your body, to build yourself back up again so you can work, provide for your family and do the things you need to do.“
Exodus 31:15
15 For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death.
Now, we would not put somebody to death for not observing the Sabbath today. Consider what is written in Hebrews concerning the Sabbath. Why were the Jews wandering for 40 years when it would have simply taken considerably less time to get into the promised land? What does the promised land symbolize for us today? Consider what Paul wrote in regards to the Sabbath.
Colossians 2:16-17
16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
Hebrews 4:1-3
1 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. 3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,“So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest. ’ ”And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world.
What did we do with the Sabbath? We made it into a holy thing that God never intended for those under a New Covenant. We are like a person with a dog. We are pointing to the dog and saying go over there. The dog comes up and sniffs your finger. You are pointing over there and he wants to sniff your finger. It is the same thing. The law was for others, the Jews, and we are up there sniffing the finger.
Galatians 3:19 (TLB)
19 Well then, why were the laws given? They were added after the promise was given, to show men how guilty they are of breaking God’s laws. But this system of law was to last only until the coming of Christ, the Child to whom God’s promise was made.
So we use this day of the week. Someone says, “Oh, but you do not worship on Sunday?” It does not make a difference if you worship on Wednesday. You need a day of rest. But the day of rest for the Jews happened to be on a Saturday. But it does not matter if it was Sunday, Wednesday or Tuesday. You just need a day of rest. It is not to make you holy or to make you obedient to God. It is for your own preservation and your own good.
Colossians 2:16-17
16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
Jesus said, “Was the Sabbath made for you or were you made for the Sabbath?” He tried to tell people back then, “You are sniffing the finger. I am pointing to something.” We did not listen. So man still is not listening. We are still in the process of trying to make these things something I can do that deep down in my heart you know you are not doing so I can look down on you and say, “look what I am doing”. Am I right or wrong? That is the law. What did the Jews do with the law? They took it and made it an act of righteousness instead of obedience for our own good.
Luke 13:14-16
14 Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”15 The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? 16 Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”
Mark 2:26-28
26 “In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.”27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
Romans 1:16
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.
Paul said, “I got some good news, folks. I am going to tell you something. I am not ashamed of it.” Paul would be a person saying, of his former life, “as far as legalistic obedience is concerned I was without equal. Without equal, there was no one as obedient to the law as me, the apostle Paul.” Now he says, “I consider all of that stuff dung compared to that of knowing Jesus. I am so happy that I am not ashamed of this gospel that has annihilated all of this self righteousness. I am here to tell you about a righteousness from God.” There is that phrase. Hang onto it: “a righteousness from God”.
Philippians 3:4-11
1 Further, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. 2 Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. 3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh – 4 though I myself have reasons for such confidence.If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ – yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Now, folks, a righteousness from God means this. God is saying, “I am going to put you into a position of righteousness and I am going to do it. You are not going to have anything to do with it. If I name you an ambassador, then you are an ambassador. You had nothing to do with it. I elected you to be an ambassador.“ That is what God is saying here. This righteousness you possess is a gift from God. You had nothing to do with it except come and receive it. That is all you can do with a gift of righteousness, receive it or reject it. When you receive it, you possess righteousness. You possess. It is because of God you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us our righteousness. He is your righteousness because you do not have any.
1 Corinthians 1:30
30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God – that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
No one has any righteousness of their own. When I came to Christ, I had, to first of all, accept the fact that at the cross, I was cleansed of all that I was, unrighteousness. I had to be cleansed of all that unrighteousness to be filled by His righteousness. I do not stand in any because I do not have any. Do you? How many of you ever thought about how righteous you are? When I was involved in that obsession with confession for forgiveness, I thought I was righteous, that I had short accounts with God. I would think, “I have all my sins confessed.” Sins are not the problem. Just so it is confessed. I would think, “Just make sure you have your sins confessed before you die, then you will be okay.” I can literally say, and Amy the same way, we were all into that same deal, that faulty thinking.
Hebrews 10:1-3
1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming – not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins.
2 Peter 1:3-9
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
This is the faulty thinking, “It is obvious to me that old Paul does not have all his sins confessed. Now I have got all mine. I am as clean as a pen before God, but I think he has a stain somewhere.” What is that? Self righteousness. Thinking that I have done something to make myself more righteous than you. So here is Paul, who is coming and saying, “I am going to introduce something brand new to you. It is a righteous from God.” So what have we done? Taking the righteousness from God and using it to proclaim my self righteousness.
That is why Jesus called us sheep, the dumbest animals on the face of the earth, sheep. That is what he referred to us as, a sheep, that without a leader, he would go off a cliff, and all the others go follow. Does that sound familiar? He says, “I have got a gospel, a righteousness by God. It is going to be revealed to you.” That righteousness is revealed by faith from the start to the finish. It is by faith and faith alone. Just as it has been written, “the righteous will live by faith”.
John 10:14-18, 27
14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me – 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father – and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life – only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.
Folks, what I have given you here is the key to the book of Romans. This is what every passage to be interpreted in the book of Romans must flow through. This is the funnel. This is the key. This is the reason he wrote the book, to say, “we have a gospel that I do not care whether you are presenting it to all the pompous people in Rome or to those lost depraved or the most poor people some place else. It is universal in scope. It is true all over the world. And if it is not true one place it is not of God.”
That is why I said before with this prosperity gospel that is being perpetuated around the country. You go into New Guinea, an impoverished region, and preach a prosperity gospel and see how that is accepted. The prosperity gospel is no gospel at all, a name it and claim it false gospel that is no where taught in the scriptures. Anyone teaching godliness as a means to financial gain is a man of perverted mind. So if you have listened to things like that in the past, you have been listening to a person with a perverted mind. If you have been listening to a person of a perverted mind, then you are capable of listening to another one.
1 Timothy 6:1-5
These are the things you are to teach and insist on. 3 If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, 4 they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions 5 and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.
Anyone can be deceived, including me. I could be lying to you. Do you know whether I am lying to you? How many of you are born again? How many of you have the Spirit of God living in you? What has the Spirit of God promised you? To teach you the meaning of the word of God. How do you know whether I am teaching you the truth or not? Get into this book and read it, and ask God to reveal the meaning of the word of God to you. If we agree with each other, then we are smart. That is how you know.
John 16:13
13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
If you are born again, the Spirit has already come and lives in you. At the time of Jesus, they were to wait until the day it happened, for Jesus had not yet risen and ascended to his Father. He told them to wait in Galilee for that day. The Spirit first came to indwell believers at Pentecost. Today, when a person is born again, The Spirit of God immediately takes residence in a person.
Hebrews 8:10-12
10 This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel
after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
11
No longer will they teach their neighbor,
or say to one another, “Know the Lord,”
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
12
For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
Is that a miracle of God? Is that the power of God that God can take the scripture, and you can go over to someone in another country, and you can agree on the meaning of God’s word. We get calls from people in Australia, New Guinea, Europe, and all over the world from the internet coming back reading the books and saying, “You know this is something I know down in my heart”. It does not make any difference whether you speak this or that language. It does not make any difference. We talk to people in Russia who have studied the word, who have the Spirit of God, and say, “that is what I believe”. If you have the Holy Spirit living in you, then you have the ability to understand the meaning of the word of God.
Take it in context. Again, I emphasize the fact for us to be sober minded. God does not want us to be silly. One of these guys going around doing this laughing stuff. (This is what happened during revival meetings with Rodney Howard Browne. Some may recognize the “Toronto Blessing” or “Vineyard Church” or “Brownsville Revival”). Can you imagine Jesus and the guests sitting around giggling all the time. Come on! Is this what Christianity is? When you have people hurting, going through struggles, divorced, or people with drugs and alcohol, and then have people sitting around laughing and giggling! They will say, “Oh, it is the joy of the Lord”. No, it is not. It is stupidity. But we have it, do we not? Find that in the bible? Not there. Find anyone getting slain in the Spirit in the bible? Not there. Did the Spirit come to slay people or to give life to people? Can you imagine the Holy Spirit come upon me and knock me over. Go see Mike Tyson (a professional boxer famous at the time), he will do the same thing for you. That kind of thing is nonsensical, yet people follow that by the thousands and thousands. How do I know that is not true? It is not in the bible.
1 Thessalonians 5:5-7
5 You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night.
1 Peter 4:7-8
7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. 8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
How do I know that in this dispensation that we live in that tithing is not the form of giving? (Read Malachi and then ask who the writer is speaking to. Are you a descendant of Jacob?) How do I know that it is not in the New Covenant? I do not know that because of tradition. I know it because it is not in the bible. In the Old Covenant, it was the ways and means to support the Levitical priesthood. Do any of you have your priests called Levite? Hopefully you do not. It says when there is a change in the priesthood, there also must be a change in the law.
Hebrews 7:12
12 For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also.
That is why you do not see tithe in the New Covenant. What do you see in the New Covenant? Free will giving. Paul spent two chapters on that in 2 Corinthians. The key attitude and summary of the teaching on giving is 2 Corinthians 9:7.
2 Corinthians 9:7
7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
If tithing was the form of giving, why would Paul devote two chapters telling you how to give? He should have just wrote “tithe” and “Don’t rob God, tithe”. But you do not see that written down by Paul. How do I know that tithing is not true? It is not in the bible, in the New Covenant we are under today.
So folks what I am getting at is this. You and I are privileged above all people. First, to be possessed, indwelt by the Spirit of God. Then to have the Spirit, not just something to talk about, but the Spirit who is active in your life, teaching your head, controlling your mind, controlling your emotions, directing your will, teaching you truth that sets you free from all of the garbage in the air, that religion wants to put on you, or the deceivers want to put on you, and it frees you from having to give into that error. That is walking free, isn’t it, folks? Is that what want you to be, free?
Philippians 2:13
13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
2 Peter 1:4
4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
Romans 12:2
2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.
John 8:32
32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
If truth sets you free, then what is it that binds you? Error. You have people who say I am in bondage. They say thngs like, “I never had a mother. I was potty trained too early. I was born this way”. Yes, you are born that way. You were born sinful. I will go along with that to a degree. But you were not born homosexual or the wrong gender. You may think you were, but you are thinking in error and not in accordance with truth from God’s word. It is not your father you are dealing with, but it goes back a few (an understatement) generations to Adam. That is where it all started. And you have sin living in you. If you have sin living in you, Paul says it is no longer I who do it but it is sin living in me. Then you have problems. But the only solution to sin is who? Jesus.
Romans 7:14-25
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
So folks, this is such a power of God for salvation. It is such a marvelous thing that God has done for you and me.
Ephesians 1:18-20
18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, 19 and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
He has given us His Spirit and that Spirit has promised to be our teacher. He is called our counselor. There is no $100 per hour fee. He is our counselor. There is no prescription of Prosaic. He is our counselor. What did he say? You need truth. If you are messed up because your head is full of what? Error. How do you correct error? You correct error with truth. What does that truth do to the error? What does it do? It pushes it out.
John 14:26
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
There are people sitting around talking about casting out demons. Do you know how you cast out a demon? You get the right man in and the wrong man goes out. When you get Jesus in, the other goes, if there is such a thing as demon possession. (There are people who are demon possessed, for the bible records that. Mary Magdalene had seven demons cast out of her by Jesus. But that was before the Holy Spirit was given. Jesus did it.) Today, we have something greater, the Spirit of Jesus that takes residence in men upon believing the gospel. When someone, who happens to be demon possessed, hears and believes the gospel, who takes residence in him? Jesus. Who then must leave? All demons must leave.
So folks, we are privileged above all people of the world, aren’t we? We live on this earth in this body, indwelt by God. That does not make you God. You are a man indwelt by God. God is your teacher, who will teach you truth. He says that truth will set us free.
John 8:32
32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
There are only three things you can do with this message. Paul says, “I am not ashamed of this gospel. It is the power of God for salvation.” If you are not saved, then there are only three things you can do with it. One, you can reject it. We are going to talk about those who reject the message next week. You reject. You consider it not worth it to hang onto the knowledge of God. Or, you can say I am not quite ready for this yet, but maybe next week I will. How do you know you will not be here next week? How are you going to know? The other thing is to accept it. How do you accept something? The way you accept anything, any gift. You reach out and you take it. And you say, “Thank you”. If you say, “Lord, can I pay you for this?” The Lord answers, “No, it is free”. Someone else says, “Can I earn it?” The Lord says, “No. No man will ever be good enough to earn my righteousness. It is a gift”.
Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
I am not ashamed of the gospel. It went first to the Jew and now it going to you, a Gentile. It is a gospel of righteousness. It is a gospel that the Lord says to you, “I will make you what you cannot make yourself”. The only issue is this. Do you want to sit in your stubbornness and refuse love? Refuse love! That is the thing we want more than anything in the world. Jesus is saying, “I am here to give it to you. I am here to give you love, unconditional love. I am here to give you life, my life.” What are you going to do with it? Accept it, ignore it, or reject it. Let us pray together.
Bob George, if he were alive today, would be right here to help you come into a relationship with Jesus Christ. Those in Christ Jesus, who are born again, encourage you to receive this unconditional love, to accept in Christ Jesus, a new life, eternal life. Now, saying a prayer does not save you. Prayer is an attitude of your heart, something you express to God. The attitude in your heart, from a proper understanding, and in agreement, and that is something you want to do, so you express that to God. You are not under compulsion to do so. It is totally your choice. But from our vantage point, we know it is what God wants for you and is what we have found the very life we needed ourselves. So if this is the attitude of your heart, pray along with Bob George, as he leads you to accept what you want to accept, the gift of life in Christ Jesus.
Father, not knowing where our own individual hearts are, but knowing full well from experience that when you are lost, you are searching. Nothing ever seems to fit or work. You are always wondering why the things you want to do you do not do and the things you do not want to do, you do them anyway. You are wondering why that people seem to have a peace about them that you do not possess. You are wondering what am I doing here. Where am I going? Why am I here? What is going to happen to me when I die? Jesus has the answer to every one of those questions. If there be one here listening or reading online today, who does not truly know you, then there is hope and an answer in Christ Jesus. Oh, you may have an intellectual assent towards God. But I mean to really know God. The attitude is, “I really want to know you, God”. Would you just by faith, accept this gift of righteousness? Thank Him for the cross where he took away the cause of spiritual death. Thank him for that. Then thank him for this marvelous offer of bringing spiritual life to your dead spirit and raising you from the dead into eternal life with Him. To merely by faith, accept that. Thank you, Lord Jesus. When that occurs, and if it already has, we know by the testimony of God that he who has the Son has life. When you do not have the Son, you do not have life. These things I have written unto you who believe in the name of the Son of God in order that you may know that you have eternal life. I thank you for these things Jesus in your holy name, amen.
1 John 5:11-13
11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
