Abounding Grace

Pastor Ed Taylor: Sin promises you so much, but then kills you. Sin promises you the world, and then when you go after it, you find out that it's not the world, that's death, that's not life. Ruined relationships, a ruined peace, a heavy conscience. I mean, the consequences of sin go on and on and on and on and on and on. It promises much and delivers little.

Guest (Male): You know, here in Colorado, there are thousands of laws on the books across various legal codes. And while at times we may wonder why some were written or even disagree with them, they all serve some sort of purpose. Today on Abounding Grace, we'll see the purpose behind God's law. In other words, why He gave it to us. Last time, Pastor Ed Taylor showed us the law defines what sin is, and then reveals we are sinners. We'll pick things up from that second point now.

Pastor Ed Taylor: 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." 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?"

To which I know there are some listening and go, "But wait a minute, Pastor, are you calling me a sinner?" Yes. But it's more than that. It's more than that. I don't do so from a place of judgment or condemnation. I do so from a place of equality. I'm not merely calling you a sinner; I'm letting the Bible declare all of us sinners.

The Bible actually says such. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. You don't need to hear a rehearsal of my life, but I could give it to you. I could give it to you: recent sins. I could give to you issues that I wrestle that I grew up with, that I've laid on the altar and somehow show up in my garage like, "Where did this come from? I laid that on the altar a long time ago." I know where it came from: the flesh. We'll learn that later on in Galatians. We'll learn the value of walking in the Spirit and the lack of value of walking in the flesh. We'll get there soon enough.

But the Bible declares all of us sinners, you and me. And because we like to hide our sin and we like to pretend and we like to excuse and we like to blame, we like to explain things away, we stay away from God's word. But it doesn't change its damage. The wages of sin is still death. I don't care what you call it.

You want to call it a mistake? Great. You want to reflect upon, "But I tried my best"? Okay. I mean, today, even some of you go, "But Ed, you're calling me a sinner? Yeah, but I'm a good person." I believe you. I believe you when you say that. I believe that when you assess your life, we could see many behaviors in your life that are good and moral and wonderful. And we need you. We want you to be good. We need more good people in culture.

However, when it comes to your relationship with God, listen, God does not require good. God requires perfection, which makes grace all the more beautiful because you know as well as I do, I'm not perfect, you're not perfect. I will never measure up to God's righteous standard in my own efforts. It's impossible.

However, because of what Jesus Christ has done for you and me, God so loved you and God so loved me, God so loved us that He sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. That is amazing. What we were unable to do in our own, God did for us. So that when you place your faith in Jesus, when you place your faith in Jesus, His perfection is your perfection. His righteousness reflects over your unrighteousness. The wrath of God has been satisfied by the righteous sacrifice of Jesus.

That's the deepness of the theology of grace and law, that it's important that you realize the price that was paid on behalf of Jesus so that now, by faith in Christ, you keep the law because He kept the law. And that's why when you sin, you're uncomfortable, believer. Believers get uncomfortable with sin because God lives in you and says, "We don't do that anymore." You go, "What do you mean 'we'?" Yeah, I'm God, I live in you, and we don't do that anymore. That's not your nature. That's the old you. You're a new person in Christ.

And so we don't steal and we don't lie, and we don't take advantage of women or men. We're trustworthy now. God inside of you brings about that weight of conviction, not condemnation. It's not God's heart to beat you up and to destroy you, but rather it's God's heart to bring conviction so we will flee from the sinful behavior that brings so much pain.

Now, before we move to the next point, I want to draw out what Paul dealt with very quickly here. Do you notice at the end of verse seven he says, "I wouldn't have known covetousness unless the Bible taught me, 'You shall not covet'"? Now, I don't meet a lot of people coming up after a sermon, emailing me or even calling the radio that confess the sin of covetousness. They don't go around, "I'm so covetous, I'm so coveting," but there's a lot of coveters in this room right now. This is a big deal. These things that are hidden and under the surface that don't necessarily come out. Some sins are very readily evident to others. Covetousness isn't always evident, but it does deep, deep internal damage.

Let me define for you the sin. Covetousness is to desire what belongs to another or to wish earnestly for something. Now, its ugly sister or ugly cousin or ugly brother is jealousy. Jealousy. So you've got jealousy and covetousness. Jealousy usually moves in the realm of, "Oh, I wish I had what you had. You got a new car? I wish I had it." But covetousness is this: "I wish I had it instead of you." It's personal. And sometimes covetousness will even lead to taking what belongs to someone else. It leads to other sins. It's a serious sin that needs to be confessed and needs to be faced. Paul says, "I didn't even know how covetous I was until the Bible told me, 'You shall not covet.'"

This is the attitude that's developed through advertising today, to disrupt your peace and "Hey, you need this, and you need this. You won't be full until you get this. You need this." Advertising for sure. But covetousness covers more than just things. It also develops and primarily develops in the realm of relationships. This is the essence of these fictional romance novels and movies, stirring up a discontent, soap operas. But even more than that, social media develops in us a covetousness that almost always starts with jealousy.

And covetousness, listen, is the enemy of contentment. So that lack of contentment you may be dealing with today, I want you to actually seriously pray and ask God what you're so covetous about, what you think you're missing that God has been faithful to you. It's very important that we pay attention to this.

I think on a simple—let me give you a simple illustration. You wake up one morning, got a day off. You do your devos, take care of everything, get ready for the day. Go down to the kitchen, pour yourself a bowl of stale Cheerios and the milk that's one day before expiring. You got them all stirred up, you're there, put your sugar on it, and you've already done everything, so you pull out your phone and you start to look at your feed on Instagram or TikTok and there he is, your best friend at that new restaurant with the best breakfast in town. And you're mad. A minute ago, you didn't mind your stale Cheerios, but now you're upset. Look at what he got compared to what I got and I don't even have money to go there, and how can he do that and that's not right.

And before you know it, you're all jacked up and you were just fine with your stale Cheerios moments ago because what happened? It stirred up in us a discontentment. Not only that, we actually want what someone else has. And if you keep running with it, you're like, "You know what? He should eat my Cheerios. I'm going to go leave them at his doorstep, and I'm going to breakfast." Again, it doesn't typically get lived out that way, but that's the way sin is. It doesn't get lived out that way, but it stirs up in us. It may happen so much you don't even realize it.

The Bible says, here's the truth, you ready? The truth is this: Godliness with contentment is great gain. Not that dude's breakfast. You don't need that person's breakfast. It's okay to eat your Cheerios. It's fine. It's nourishment for your body. It's fine. Because godliness, you already did your devos, contentment with your cereal, great gain. And there's spiritual growth that happens right there in your kitchen. Or not.

I wouldn't even have known covetousness. Now, this sounds familiar, doesn't it, in relationship to others? Because in Exodus chapter 20, what does the Bible say? "Thou shalt not covet your neighbor's stuff, including his wife. Don't look at your neighbor and want his stuff so that you might take his stuff, including his wife." That's the word of the Lord. Paul says, "I didn't know what an issue this was in my life until the Bible told me not to do it," and then you're like, "Oh, that is something I need to deal with. That is something I cannot live with. That is leading me in a path that is not righteous before God."

Number three: Notice with me verse eight, Romans seven. "But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law, sin was dead." Same illustration: speed limit sign. If there were no speed limit sign, you would never know what the speed limit is, so you can drive however fast you want. That's what he's saying. Without the law, you don't know that you're breaking the law. Without the law, you wouldn't know. Without the law, you wouldn't know what sin is.

And then he says in verse nine, "I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died." Now, this is interesting, and let me give you point three as we walk through these verses. Number three is: The law shows us how deceitful sin is. First of all, the law shows us what sin is. Second of all, the law shows us that we're sinners. Thirdly, the law shows us how deceitful sin is. This is amazing. The very thing that Paul thought was giving him life was actually bringing in him death. The law brought out and produced so many sinful desires. He thought he was living in reality, but in fact, he was dying.

That's deceit. That's what sin does. Sin promises you so much, but then kills you. Sin promises you the world, and then when you go after it, you find out that it's not the world, that's death, that's not life. Ruined relationships, a ruined peace, a heavy conscience. I mean, the consequences of sin go on and on and on and on and on and on. It promises much and delivers little. Before I knew the law, I lived and you lived free from an accusing conscience.

So again, back to my conversion story: Marie and I were lost, raising a little family, don't even own a Bible. We don't have a Bible in the house. We didn't read the Bible, didn't care about the Bible, didn't have a Bible in the house. So we lived in a sense of false peace. We just lived our life however we wanted to and no connection to God whatsoever. I mean, it's not like we were anti-God, but we weren't pro-God either. And so here we are, got no Bible, and I'm doing great. I start to read the Bible. Oh, I'm not doing so great.

And then definitions started coming in why I wasn't doing so great. God began to say, "You read that in the Bible, Ed? Yes, that's you." Oh man. "You see that guy in the Bible, Ed? Yeah, he's messed up. No, no, no, you're messed up." Oh man. And all of a sudden now, I'm faced with temptations and freedom. Temptations and freedom. And you know what's easier to do? Temptation. That's much easier. Just avoid it, explain it, not pay attention to it, blame the Bible, blame the church, blame the pastor, blame grandma, blame everybody. Or I can obey God and say, "I hear what You say, God, that is me. But I also see what You did with that brother."

I didn't have a conscience that was accusing me because I didn't know the Bible. But now that I know the Bible, God is showing me where peace comes from. And peace comes from an abiding relationship with Him. Peace comes when I trust Him. Peace comes. You see, the law gives me enough to show me my need, but it doesn't have any power. So I'm reading the Bible and as I'm reading it, the Bible is not jumping out and living my life for me. It's just showing me. It's revealing to me.

For example, when you get up in the morning and you see yourself in the mirror and you're shocked at what you see. The mirror is not going to put your makeup on. The mirror is not going to comb your hair. The mirror is not going to put a hat on your head. The mirror just shows you. You've got to do something about it. There's that cooperation between God and His revelation and you walking in the Spirit.

And so before the law came, Paul says, "I didn't know." But now that I know, it's awakened all—and basically he's saying this: I didn't know I was a sinner, and I really, when I started reading the Bible, I didn't know how bad of a sinner I really was. And it awakened all of these things now where I have to now make choices.

Again, driving. You have no speed limit sign. If there were no speed limit signs, then you could drive however you want. You can drive however you want, there's no dictation of how fast—it's the autobahn down Parker Road that you can go as fast as you want up and down Quincy, Buckley, you can go as fast as you want. But when you see the sign, it awakens in you. And the question it awakens is: am I—you know, when you see the sign, you're actually not so concerned about the sign. You're not even caring about the sign. You know what you're caring about? Is there a police officer around here?

Because if I don't see a police officer, I'll take my chances. I've been driving this fast all the way here, I can keep driving, but you saw the law. It awakened in you a temptation or a choice to obey, blessings or curses or consequences. That's what Paul is saying. The more you see the law, the more sin is revealed. And the more you see the law, the more power of God is revealed in your life. And he didn't know it. He says, "Hey look, verse 10: The commandment that I thought was going to save me, which was able which was to bring life, that's what he thought, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me and by it, it killed me."

Let me speak to the thing about speeding again. You don't need a sign to tell you that kids play in your neighborhood. Your kids play in your neighborhood. That internal knowledge, you don't need a sign to tell you to just go slow. Why? Because now as a believer, you care more about others than you care about yourself. That's why. You just think that way. You don't need, "Well what is it now? What is it now? What is it now?" You live such a life where you go, "I'm fine, I'm not in a hurry. I respect every—I'm fine."

I don't need that, but if the sign does pop up and you look, you say it's not going to accuse me because I already know. My heart, my desire, my heart, my actions are to do what's required of me. Why? Because of love, not obligation. That's grace. When you begin to live out of love and not obligation, it's amazing what will come from your life. It's amazing the forgiveness that will flow. It's amazing where you will just learn: love covers what? A multitude of sins. And you begin to relate to each other in the agape love of God.

Which brings us to our final point before we leave. Go back to Galatians—well first before Galatians, sorry, verse 12. "Therefore the law is holy," this is Romans 7, "commandment is holy, just, and good." To which we say, "Well wait a minute, we've heard a lot of heaviness when it comes to the law. How is it good?" Come back to Galatians now. It is good because the law ultimately, number four: points you to Messiah.

The law reveals that you need a Savior. It opens our eyes to the significance of the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. And there it is, we studied last time in Galatians chapter 3. We learned, really as we were studying it, we learned how—if you look in chapter 3, verse 19, "What purpose does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions till the seed—who's that? Jesus, the Messiah—should come to whom the promise was made, pointed through angels, handed a mediator. Mediator doesn't mediate for one, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not. For if there had been a law that could given life, then righteousness would have come by the law. But the scriptures confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus might be given to all those who believe."

So this is basically a summary of what we just studied, the whole purpose of the law. Verse 23: "But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith, and after faith is come, we don't need the tutor anymore." The law served a purpose. It kept us and schooled us and pointed us in the right direction. But once the child grows up, you don't need the law anymore. It's like God saying, "I've shown you your need and I've given you the remedy. Now it's your choice. I've shown you and I've given to you, and therefore the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, just, and good."

Paul says the law brought about in me death. I can't do what God asks me to do. I can't be perfect in my life. Only a change of heart. That's what Jesus would say to a man by the name of Nicodemus. He says, "Unless you're born again, you won't see the kingdom of heaven." And you hear a statement like that today, and maybe you think like Nicodemus does, "What do you mean 'born again'? Do I have to crawl up into my mother's womb again and come right back out? I'm a grown man." And Jesus said, "No, no, no. It's not about physical death or birth. It's about spiritual birth. Physical birth is done in the physical; your mom gave birth to you. However, spiritual birth happens from God alone." He alone can change your life, not by following an external code of rules and regulations, but by a surrendered life to Christ. So when you're confronted with a law that's just, holy, and good, and you learn what it reveals, you run to the cross and you accept His forgiveness, and you live your life in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen?

Guest (Male): Why did God give us the law? The four reasons are: the law defines for us what sin is, it then reveals we are sinners, shows us how deceitful sin is, and then points us to the Messiah. After a study like this, you can't help but see the law is very good. And so that's the title we've given this message from Pastor Ed Taylor on Abounding Grace: The Law is Very Good. You can hear it again at aboundinggraceradio.com or oneplease.com.

Pastor Ed Taylor: Hey, this is Pastor Ed here at Calvary and Abounding Grace Media, and I'd like to let you know about our brand new book. It's only a few months old, it's titled "Letting Go of Your Past." It was written during a time where I felt in our church, a lot of the issues we were dealing with had to do with unforgiveness, feeling stuck, dealing with church hurt, family hurt, and I began to teach a series of Bible studies for our church that we edited into book form that will help you greatly.

And the neat thing about this book is not only will it help you move forward and get unstuck, but all the net proceeds go to our missionaries. And so it's kind of a double win. So if you're looking for a resource like this for yourself or for a friend or a family member, the title "Letting Go of Your Past" by Ed Taylor, you can get it on our store at calvarystore.com. That's calvarystore.com, or really, you can pick it up anywhere. It's available wherever you get books. There's even an audio version, so if you like audiobooks, I'm really happy the way that came out. Thank you for supporting the ministry. I just know the Lord's going to use this book—He already is—and so be sure to get a copy or two.

Guest (Male): I think you'll find this book encouraging and helpful. Request a copy of "Letting Go of Your Past" today when you give a gift of $25 or more to Abounding Grace. Call 877-30-GRACE or order online at calvaryco.store.

And please remember, we are listener-supported. We'd very much appreciate your standing with us. If the Lord is leading you to take an active role in this ministry through either a one-time gift or ongoing support, please visit us online at aboundinggraceradio.com or call 877-30-GRACE. Well, that'll do it for today. Come back next time when Pastor Ed will pick up where we left off in Galatians, here on Abounding Grace.

Abounding Grace is brought to you by Calvary Church, Colorado, here in Aurora.