Abounding Grace

Guest (Male): Someone has described the law as the light that reveals how dirty the room is, not the broom that sweeps it clean. Here's Pastor Ed.

Pastor Ed Taylor: The law reveals that we're sinners. That's what the law does. When we're reading the Bible, it reflects back to us our behavior and we go, "Oh, I'm not supposed to lie, but I am lying. Therefore, I've transgressed God's perfect law." And it reveals to us the areas of our lives.

This is why the Bible can become very offensive and very hard to read for those living in sin. It's a hard book to read. There is a tendency to avoid God's loving word to us when it disagrees with our lifestyle, when it disagrees with our preferences, when it disagrees with the way we want to live our lives. That's the whole point. It's like God saying to us today, "You've lived your whole life one way. When will you come to me and live the right way?"

Guest (Male): As Christians, we have come to realize we're saved by grace through faith, not by keeping the law. But does that mean the law no longer serves a purpose? Why did God give us the law? We'll look into that today on Abounding Grace. Pastor Ed Taylor will point to four reasons that God gave us His law. We'll cover the first two today. We'll be jumping around in scripture, so grab that Bible of yours and join us. Here is Pastor Ed to continue our series in Galatians.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Take your Bibles and let's open them to a few places. First of all, Romans chapter seven, Joshua chapter eight, and eventually Galatians chapter three. That will be the order. Romans chapter seven, actually, I think Joshua eight is first, then Romans seven, then we'll get to, but I don't know. One way or the other, we'll get them. Find all three of them, and I've entitled our Bible study today, "The Law is Very Good."

We asked and answered the question last time, what is the purpose of the law? It's a good question to ask, and the answer is equally important. The grace of God does not mean that the law was bad. No, not at all. The grace of God is wonderful and glorious, and we're enjoying it, but the law is wonderful, good, and glorious, and we enjoy it as well.

Many will put the discussion of the law and grace into the category of an either-or, but the Bible doesn't do that. The Bible puts the discussion of law and grace not either-or, but both. Both are very important. Yes, the new covenant replaces the old covenant. Yes, the old covenant is very important for why God gave it.

Jot it down in Deuteronomy chapter four and verse eight. It says, "What great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law, which I set before you this day?" Psalm 119 verse 172 says, "My tongue shall speak of your word, for all your commandments are righteousness." We will learn today that the law is holy and the commandment holy, just, and good.

Which leads us to a question some of you may even already be asking. The question would be something like, "Wait a minute, Pastor Ed, are you telling me that I must keep the law in order to be saved?" And the answer to that would be no. It's the exact opposite of what I'm teaching, and it would be the exact opposite of what Paul is teaching the churches in the Galatian region.

I realize if you just dropped into the church today or last week and you're brand new, you have to understand something about our church. We study through the Bible verse by verse. So for 11 weeks already, 11 studies, we have studied the book of Galatians from verse one all the way to where we are right now in chapter three. There's a lot of foundational work that we have developed that you would do well to go back and listen to as we have learned from Paul the significance of the law and also the significance of grace.

Paul is teaching the exact opposite. There was a group of legalistic men that came into the churches in Galatia and disrupted their simple faith. You'll never meet those men, but there are always people that would love to disrupt your simple faith. Just a simple relationship with God. "I love God, He loves me. I read my Bible, I pray every day, and I live a life abiding in Christ." There are always those that would say, "That's not enough, that's not enough, that's not enough."

For this group, they came and not only said it's not enough, they added and said, "Hey, if you want to enjoy God, you need to get circumcised." And it's like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on a second." Not only do you need to be circumcised, men, but you men and women need to complete the entire law in order to be a Christian and a follower of Christ. The whole book of Galatians is dismantling that false teaching. It was there then and it's here among us now. He not only dismantles this false teaching, but he asserts the fundamental truth of the grace of God. And what is that? That the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is sufficient to forgive you of all of your sins and save you completely. And by faith, you can enjoy God. Simple Gospel. Simple Gospel.

Now, Romans chapter seven. Let's look today and see at least four things God does when He uses the tool of His law. Why did God give us the law? What are four ways God uses it or four ways the law is used in our lives? Four reasons why God gave it to us. When you get to Romans chapter seven, pick up with me in verse seven there as Paul is writing to a different group of believers and he says this, "What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not. On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, 'You shall not covet.'"

If you're taking notes, here's point number one. Why the law? Why did God give us the law? Number one: the law defines for us what sin is. The law defines for us what sin is. That's very important to learn because a pastor doesn't define what sin is. A church doesn't define what sin is. A denomination doesn't define what sin is. A council doesn't define what sin is. The Bible does. God through His law reveals God's righteous requirement for all of creation, and He tells us what sin is.

Paul says that he wouldn't even have known what sin was except for the law. Because God uses the law to reveal to us. We're using the same illustration through the whole study in Galatians. I'm going to keep using it because I want to improve your driving habits, but you've got to remember this. The law defines for you what is the right way. So you're driving to church this morning and you see that white sign with black letters. You know what I'm talking about? The one that says speed limit and it has a big number there. That is the law. And the law defines for you not only what the speed limit is, but when compared with your speedometer, whether you're keeping it or not.

It shows you. Now, you could not pay attention to those signs and it would make you a deeper sinner, but you pay attention to them and you can see. That sign just by itself, it doesn't jump in front of you. It doesn't flash in front of you. It's just sitting over there to the right with a number on it defining for you. The law defines what sin is. So when you see the number, it not only tells you what's expected, but when compared with your behavior with your speedometer, you now see whether you're sinning or not.

It's the same with the law. The law tells you, "Do not steal." That's what the Bible says. The Bible says, "Do not steal." When you compare what the Bible says with your behavior, you'll be able to tell whether you're sinning or not. So for example, if you steal, you can see from God's word that stealing is a sin. And that's what the law does. It reveals to us, it defines for us God's holy and righteous standard.

Now, let's go to Joshua chapter eight. Joshua chapter eight and read a very important passage. Joshua chapter eight. When you get there, go to verse 30. This is after the children of Israel have entered into the promised land. This is after they've experienced miraculous victory in Jericho, and it's also after the disastrous failure and loss of life at the city of Ai. The people are discouraged. Joshua the leader is discouraged. And notice what he does. He decides to bring the nation back to God's word.

When great failure takes place, he's not looking for blame and he's not looking to point the finger. He says, "I know what we need. We need to come back to your word." So the first thing he does in verses 30 and 31 is he re-establishes worship and he builds an altar and gives a sacrifice. In verse 32, it says, "And there at that altar, in the presence of the children of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses which he had written."

Then all Israel, with their elders and officers and judges, stood on either side of the ark before the priests, the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, the stranger as well, he who was born among them. Half of them were in front of Mount Gerizim and the other half were in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded that they should bless the people of Israel.

Verse 34. "Afterward, he read all the words of the law." And this is the phrase I wanted to draw out. It's in other places like Deuteronomy, but here in this time in Joshua, it says, "the blessings and the cursings according to all that is written in the book of the law. There wasn't a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before the congregation of Israel, with the women, the little ones, the strangers who were living among them."

It was clear to the nation of Israel that the law dictated the pathway of blessings and the pathway of cursings. Today we would use the language: the pathway of blessings and the pathway of consequences. There are very natural blessings that come with obedience, and there are also very natural consequences that come with disobedience. How do we know that? The law. The law tells us the pathway of blessing. "I will run the course of your commandments," we read in the Psalm today. "I will run in the way of your commandments," the path of blessing. The path of cursing or consequence is to go against what God has dictated.

And that's what God's law does. It defines for us what sin is. Sin is the number one cause of death, pain, suffering, and sorrow. It creeps into houses, into cubicles, and into the lives of those who choose to yield to temptation. And remember this, it's already been stated, but let me state it with emphasis: who defines what sin is? God does. God defines what sin is. Society cannot define what sin is.

We live in an age that was predicted and prophesied that good would be called evil and evil would be called good. That's our world today. The laws of the land do not dictate what truly is right or wrong because the laws of the land, I don't know if you noticed lately, they change. They change with whatever administration's there, whoever's been voted in charge. They change.

It reminded me of a question that I always would train pastors to stop answering the wrong way. It's a familiar question, some of you may have even asked it yourself, and it's simple. Somebody will come and say, "Pastor, is it okay to smoke pot?" Now, the marijuana for those of you that don't know what pot—how do you smoke a pot? Marijuana, all right. Is it okay to smoke marijuana?

The quick answer that pastors would often give would be this, years ago. "No, it's against the law." Guess what? It's not against the law anymore. So that's an invalid answer because it's really not a biblical answer. Although it's accurate, like anything against law, we're going to follow the laws of the land until the laws of the land contradict God's law. Then we always follow God's law. So that makes sense, we're going to follow the laws of the land.

But the laws of the land are not always indicative of the morality of God. Does that make sense? You guys with me? Yes. Okay, just want to make sure because if you lean on culture, culture changes its mind. Not only can you smoke pot now, but now you can engage in all the mushrooms that are available, which is really weird, but the psychedelic drugs. Because you have to understand something, and I know this might be new for you, but the government thrives when people are not alert. Those in charge thrive when people aren't alert.

And so let's go back to that question and say, "Okay, Pastor, I'm asking you right now. Is it okay to smoke pot?" No. Why? I'm glad you asked, it's always a good follow-up question. I would take you to a passage in the Bible where it says, "Do not be drunk with wine, which is in excess, but be filled with the Holy Spirit." To which, I could already hear the answer coming back, "But that's wine, Pastor, that's wine." All right, all right. You're right. The precept, whenever you're reading the Bible, remember this, I'm teaching you something really important on how to handle the Bible.

Whenever you're reading the Bible, you're always looking for two things: the precept, which is the actual teaching, the passage itself, the interpretation of the passage. The interpretation of the passage I just quoted to you from Ephesians, you are right. The precept is directly to what was popular in the first century, the drunkenness that came through the alcohol of wine. You're right. And so the teaching today would be the same. Don't be under, don't be drunk with alcohol. Very true.

But the second thing you want to look for once you get the interpretation of a passage is not just the precept, but the principle. Because there's a principle behind passages. The principle in this passage actually focuses not on wine, but on the word drunk. The word drunk in the Greek has the idea of being under the control of. And in opposition to or in comparison to being filled with, being controlled by the Holy Spirit. Here's the principle: do not take any substance that will remove the Holy Spirit's control in your life. That's the principle.

So now with that principle, can we apply that to smoking pot? Yes. Do not ingest anything, do not smoke anything, do not take anything, do not snort anything, you can name it, that will remove you, believer, from being filled and empowered and controlled by the Holy Spirit. That's the definition of God, not an ever-changing government that actually will make laws that will benefit the government by making money on getting people drunk, high, and hallucinating.

God defines sin. Pastors, as I mentioned, do not. We do not. I do not. I am not the final authority on defining sin. Our church and the leadership of this church is not the defining order and authority of sin. The family of churches that we're a part of, any kind of leadership council, they—that is not the definition of sin. Only God defines for us what sin is, and He does that through His word. Through His word. The law defines for us what sin is.

And that's why a culture that rejects God's word is a culture that allows sin to take root. Filled with sinful people. Politicians have a tendency to cave into public pressure, high-paid lobbyists. People clamor for looseness, and they vote for people that will approve things that will validate their own sinful behaviors. That's why sin takes root in a culture like ours, but not just a culture like ours. Sin has taken root. The Bible says that the whole world is under the sway of the wicked one.

So in a world that's under the sway of the wicked one, we want our lives to be under the sway of the Holy One. We want to walk in holiness and righteousness. And that's why I'm so thankful for God's word. It tells me what I need to know. It's an interesting season in my own ministry because I've seen all these invitations come to teach at men's conferences, which brings back a memory in my life, a very important memory.

As a new believer, my life was so broken. I did not know what a man looked like. I didn't know what a godly man—I didn't know what it meant to be a man. I didn't know what it meant to be a dad or a husband or an employer or employee. Every facet of my life was broken because most of my life was lived under the influence. That's how I dealt with all my problems. I just drank, I just drank, I just drank, and that created more problems.

And it was when I began to open the Bible and the Bible would say to me, "Ed, this is not for you." And you know how you get overwhelmed. You might be—I might be sharing my story and that's your story. You've got all these things. "I just don't know what to do. I don't know where—I didn't have a good example and I just don't know. I don't know how to do this, I don't know how to do that, I don't know." It's like, "Okay, it's okay, don't take on that pressure. It's okay. God will work on one thing at a time in your life."

But I do know this, as you open up the word and you see it, you start reading it with eyes of God, you go, "Okay, the Bible says don't lie." And you start to obey that. It makes you a better man. When you read "don't lie" and you go, "Okay, that's God's will for me. I'm not going to lie, I'm going to tell the truth," it makes you a better woman. God begins to change you through His word as you're learning. "Okay, don't be drunk. Okay, I won't be drunk anymore."

Not just because the Bible says and I'm making some decision, but that it doesn't—it doesn't go along with my new relationship with God. It's not the way He wants me to live my life. Now I know you've had people tell you that. I know you've had family tell you that. I recently had a brother call me and say we need an intervention. I know there's so many messages, but God says that. He says, "This is not good for you, daughter. This is not good for you, son." And as you receive it, you become a better man and a better woman. The Bible tells me what sexual sin is, so I can avoid it. The Bible tells me what societal sins are, so I can avoid them. He tells me what my personal sins are, and I can avoid them, and I can confess them.

Some of you today, even in the moment of this Bible study, you need to offer up to God what you've been wrestling with, what you've been struggling with. It wasn't too long ago I taught a Bible study on—and one of the points that I made is you don't have to struggle. You can confess. You can walk in the newness of life. But what we do is we begin to excuse things and we begin to rename things and we begin to show, "Well, no, no, that's not me, that's not me, that's not me. That's not sin, that's not bad, that's not that bad." And before you know it, we avoid God's word altogether, which brings us to point number two. Point number one is that the law defines for us what sin is, but notice at the end of verse seven, Paul said this, "I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, 'You shall not covet.'"

So this is point number two. The law reveals that we're sinners. That's what the law does. The law when we're reading the Bible, it reflects back to us our behavior and we go, "Oh, I'm not supposed to lie, but I am lying. Therefore, I've transgressed God's perfect law." So the law not only defines what sin is, but reveals that we are sinners.

Guest (Male): We'll expand on that second point next time we're together for Abounding Grace as Pastor Ed Taylor returns to Galatians. If you joined us late or would just like to give this a second listen, go online to aboundinggraceradio.com or look for our program wherever you get your podcasts. Have you had a chance to download our Calvary Church app? Yes, this is another great way to take in the teaching of God's word. We enjoy hearing from our listeners, even just a quick hello telling us the station you listen to means a lot. And maybe you didn't realize it, but Pastor Ed reads these comments. Let us know how we can pray for you as well. You can email us through the website at aboundinggraceradio.com.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Hey, this is Pastor Ed, and it's an honor for me to share with you my brand new book. It's called "Letting Go of Your Past." And one of the things I wanted to let you know right away is there's an audio version. We've never done an audio version before, but there's an audiobook version that you can get and take it with you in your ears. It's kind of cool, but this book God is using testimony after testimony after testimony.

I've been traveling actually with it around the country, teaching at different churches and sharing a Bible study on how to deal with your past biblically, and then making this resource available. And the feedback coming back is so encouraging. I just know it'll bless you. You can look it up and see the different themes that it deals with. I believe it's like eight or nine chapters and maybe, I don't know, 25 different things that will help you. One of them is your identity in Christ. Just knowing who you are will open your heart to receive all that God has for you.

The title again is "Letting Go of Your Past" by Ed Taylor. You can get it on our store. Our store is at calvarystore.com, calvarystore.com, or wherever you get books. But I appreciate your prayers and your support. And just continue, continue to pray for us and continue to pray for this little book because God is using it greatly.

Guest (Male): Please remember that Abounding Grace is made possible through the support of our listeners. We look to the Lord to provide and guide. And when you give a donation of $25 or more to Abounding Grace, you're invited to request a copy of Pastor Ed's book, "Letting Go of Your Past." To order it today, call us at 877-30-GRACE. That's 877-30-GRACE. Be sure to join Pastor Ed next time for more teaching from Galatians, that's right here on Abounding Grace. Abounding Grace is brought to you by Calvary Church Colorado here in Aurora.