You are invited to stop trying to earn God's love through your actions and instead rest in the grace that already defines you. When you focus on who Jesus says you are, your life will naturally begin to reflect His love and power. Take a moment today to look into the mirror of the Word and see yourself through His eyes.
Welcome to The Real Church Podcast. Our mission is for you to "know the love of Jesus" and live out your God given purpose. Now join us and listen in to the latest message from pastor David John Phillips.
Well, good morning, Real Church. Good morning. You guys have a good week? You know, when people ask me how are you doing, I always say, man, I'm not sure I could be doing any better. I'm serious.
I'm I'm not sure I could be doing any better. I get to I get to be the pastor here at Real Church. I get to to come here on a Sunday morning and preach the gospel. I get to know all of you guys or a lot of you guys, and I'm getting to knowing you guys more. It's just it's it's my favorite time of the week.
It's my favorite thing I'm doing and favorite thing I've ever done. Thank you guys for for choosing to be here on a Sunday morning. If this is your first time, know we've said it multiple times, you're welcome. You're welcome here no matter who you are, no matter what you've done, no matter where you've been. It doesn't matter.
Jesus loves people boldly. And *Philippians-2:5* says to approach the relationships in the same way that Christ Jesus does. So how did he approach his relationship with us? Right? No matter even even when we were in the middle of shaking our fist at him and saying, hey, I don't I don't want what you have for me.
Even in the middle of our sin, of our mess, Jesus loved us so much that he gave his life for us because of his radical love for us. We're So to approach relationships with other with the same kind of love, the same kind of boldness in approaching other people. That's why we were out, you know, giving food to the the homeless yesterday, which was amazing, like, just loving people boldly. That's why we do what we do. So we don't care I don't care if you're rich.
I don't care if you're poor. I don't care if you're young. I don't care if you're old. I don't care if you feel like, you know, you're saying, oh, but you don't know what I've done. You're right.
I don't know, and I don't care to know either. Really. Because it's about who Christ says that you are, who Christ says that you can be in Him. It's about moving forward, not looking in the back in the past. Right?
So we love you. God loves you. And when you receive that and you understand what he's done for you, it changes everything. That's why we are who we are. Real Church will do whatever it takes for you to know the love of Jesus and live your God given purpose.
That is Real Church. That's who we are. That's who we're becoming. And it's it's just a lot of fun. Amen?
Alright. So let's jump right into this. And as we do, I want to read a scripture. *James-1:22-25*. And if you if you don't know on your phone, if you click on go to realchurch.us, click on this Sunday, you can you can click on the notes, and it'll pull up all the notes in the Bible app for you, so you can follow along, or you can follow along with your Bible.
Either either way, that's fine. *James-1:22-25*. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, into the "perfect law" that gives freedom, into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it, they will be blessed in what they do. Father God, thank you for who you are. Lord, thank you that you are here. Lord, thank you that you love us. Lord, thank you just just for for being you.
And God, I pray I just rebuke every religious distraction, every every thought that would exalt itself against Jesus. Lord, we want to point to Jesus. We want to see you. We want to see how you see us more clearly today, father. And I just I just pray that people walk away from today's message, Lord, with a deeper understanding of of truth and grace.
Lord God, a deeper understanding of you. In Jesus' name, amen and amen. Alright. You guys ready? We're gonna continue the big series.
Have you guys enjoyed the big series so far? A little bit? Maybe? Sort of? Yes?
Good. So big. What's it all been about? We started with God's big plan. I think it's up there.
But, anyway, we started with God's big plan. And what is God's big plan? God's big plan is for you to know him and to be known by him and to make him known in the world. God's big plan for clear water is you. Period.
Right? God's big plan for for your job, for the people at your work to to experience the love of Jesus is you. God's big plan for your family, it's you. It's it's "Christ in you", the hope of glory. God's hope of glory in the world is Christ in and through you.
You are God's big plan, and that's a big deal. Number 2, the next message was the big fall. So we talked about maybe you've heard about it. You you know, the 2 trees, and Adam and Eve ate from this, you know, a lot of people say the bad apple or whatever. But the big fall, what really happened there was mankind choosing instead of choosing God, they chose self.
That's what happened. And because of that, sin and death and sickness and all kinds of crazy stuff entered into the world, and the world is the way it is because of what happened then. Okay? All of the pain, all of the suffering. As a matter of fact, Romans-5:19, we briefly covered it.
And if you missed these messages, go back and check out our podcast. You can you can catch up. We go in in way more detail there. This is just a quick review. But Romans-5 19, we covered this.
For just as by the *disobedience* of the "1 man", the many were made sinners. Let's stop right there. Just as by the disobedience of the 1 man, the many were made sinners, so are you a sinner because you sinned? Reflex would say yes, but that's not what truth says. You're not a sinner because you sin.
For just as by the disobedience of the 1 man, the many were made sinners, you're a sinner because 1 man sinned. You're a sinner because Adam sinned. It's a nature issue. And I've said this probably 752 times from this stage. Not really.
But a a 2 year old, if they want this thing, this book on the on the thing on the table there, they'll say, mine. They naturally steal. It's a natural inclination towards self. Johnny, did you do that? No.
Sally did it. They A 2 year old naturally lies. You don't teach them that. It's something natural. It's a nature thing that's passed down from Adam.
That's what we learned in the big fall. Right? For just as by the disobedience of the 1 man, the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the 1 man, the many will be made righteous. This is what so many religions and religious people get wrong. You're not righteous because you do good things.
You're *righteous* because Jesus was obedient. You're righteous based on his work, on his effort. Right? You don't stay righteous because you do good things. You stay righteous based on the grace, based on what Jesus did for you in trusting and looking to him.
Period. Romans-5:19. Amazing chapter. So then, we got into the big fail. The big fail, and it's kind of a play on words.
You know, we're going through God's grand plan, and we started at the end on how what God's plan is to know you. We went back to the beginning, and then we're going a little bit through scripture, kind of covering in general, and we got to the big fail. What was the big fail? Well, you had the flood. This judgment happened.
Right? And we saw that that Genesis-6:5, we saw that the inclination of man's heart was on evil from birth, this this sin nature thing. Right? And then judgment happened. God judged the world.
And then in Genesis-8, it said the inclination of man's heart was still on evil from birth. So wait. Man's heart's on evil from birth, judgment, then man's heart's still on evil from birth, judgment didn't work. Judgment doesn't work to change a man's heart. I'm just letting that sink in.
Judgment doesn't work to change a man's heart. See, God is this storyteller, and history is his story. And through all of it, he wanted us to see, to look back today, look back at the flood, and he's showing us that judgment doesn't change a man's heart. Judgment is getting what you deserve. I'll give you what you deserve.
That doesn't make them want to change. We learned it's the kindness of God that leads a man to repentance. Right? Judgment is you getting what you deserve. Mercy is you not getting what you deserve.
It's kindness of God. Grace is getting what you don't deserve. It's mercy and grace that change a man from the inside out, not judgment. So why do preachers preach judgment trying to change everybody in their congregation? Fear and judgment make you go home and feel like, oh my gosh, God hates me.
It's dumb. It's religion. I'm sorry. It just makes me angry because God loves people. So, the big fail.
Now, today so if you if maybe you can guess what we're gonna talk about today because God's big plan, once again, it's knowing him and being known by him. You know, there was a fall, and then there's a nature issue. Now, God's teaching us some things through history, through his story. And, 1 of the first things he taught us was judgment doesn't work to change a man's heart. So, there's this issue on trying to change a man's heart, so it's not bent away from God, but bent towards him.
Right? So now, we're we're gonna learn some more stuff. Today is big breaking those big rules. So I'm excited about today. There's gonna be a little bit of a history lesson in today.
So as we go through history, if you don't like history, just think of it. This is his story once again. God's story, so just be interested, and I'll I'll I'll get through the history part. It's gonna be kinda cool. So after the flood, God started over hold on.
Make sure I'm not messing up my notes here. Apologize. There we go. So after the flood, God started over, right, with Noah. And this sin nature thing was in his heart still.
And Noah lived for another 350 years. They reproduced, made babies, and and and people filled the whole earth. So if the sin nature thing's in their heart and people filled the whole earth, what fills the whole earth too? Sin. Right?
Right? So about 400 years after the flood, Noah lived 350 years. About 400 years after the flood, God started over again. He he saw a man named Abraham. Right?
And God spoke to Abraham, and God said, go. I will bless you, and I will make a great nation out of you, and I will bless all nations because of you. Crazy thing. God spoke these words, go. Abraham heard God.
He listened to God. He believed God, and he left. I I just have to wonder how many people did God speak to that didn't hear him. Just I'm just just wondering. But so Abraham believed God, listened to God, and because of that belief, Abraham left.
Now the crazy thing is, we know that Abraham believed him because of what he did after he heard him. Okay? Now, Romans-4:3 says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. Abraham believed the word that God spoke, and it was given to his account as right standing with God, as blameless, as holy. Now question, when God spoke those words to Abraham, what was he speaking?
He was speaking the word. Who's the word? In the beginning was the word. The word was with God, and the word was God. And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, Jesus.
Abraham was receiving the word, believing in the word. He was receiving and believing in Jesus, looking forward to him, and because of that, he was made right right with God, not based on what he did, but based on his faith in the word. Amen? So remember Romans-5:19, by the obedience of the 1 man, the many will be made righteous in right standing with him. By the obedience of what Jesus did.
Abraham believed in Jesus, and it was a big deal. So, just so you know, God is this amazing storyteller, as I I I've already shown. And in God's story, God is working out this beautiful picture of His grace and His goodness and His plan for mankind to know Him. Let me prove it to you. So, wanna drill down once again.
Will you pull up Romans-5:19 1 more? There we go. By the obedience of the 1 man, and this is where we're gonna stick. Probably, we're gonna we're gonna go to a lot of different places, but we're gonna stick and come back to this. This is important to understand.
*Romans-5:19*, by the obedience of the 1 man, the many will be declared righteous. I think we get stuck thinking that we can try by ourself to be good enough over and over and over. I think we get stuck in this **performance based mindset** that we have to perform in order to be good enough for God. And because of it, let's just get there. Alright.
So Abraham, after Abraham, Abraham had a son. Abraham's son was Isaac. And I I messed this up. Isaac had Jacob. So Abraham had Isaac.
Isaac had Jacob. Jacob had 12 sons. And here's a little bit of a history lesson. Right? And then those 12 sons, 1 of them, Joseph, they threw him in a pit because they didn't like him.
They were jealous of him. There's a lot of messages that we could preach about just all of that, but we're just kinda skimming it. So threw him in a pit. Some slave traders came by, picked up Joseph out of the pit, took him to Egypt. Some things happened.
Next thing you know, Joseph is is, like, second in command in all of Egypt, ends up saving his brothers and his family. They bring them all to Egypt. It's wonderful in Egypt for a little while, and then all of a sudden, this whole family, which is Israel now, the descendants of Israel, becomes slaves. So they're slaves in Egypt for 400 years. That's a long time.
And then, as story goes, as history goes, Moses came along. God raised up Moses. The people were crying out to God, deliver us, save us. And God raised up Moses to deliver these people. That's where you have the 10 plagues.
You guys have you guys seen them the movies of Moses? Read the story. Right? So you have the 10 plagues. They cross the Red Sea.
It parts before Moses and the people. They they walk out, and then they end up at this place called Mount Sinai. Can you guys say Mount Sinai? Mount Sinai. So they end up at Mount Sinai, and God makes a covenant with the people, the covenant of the law called the Mosaic law.
So that you have this this law thing. You guys you guys know that law. Right? It's the "10 commandments". You guys have heard of the 10 commandments before.
Right? So the 10 commandments you got, you know, it's all of the thou shalt nots. Thou shalt not have, you know, thou shalt not have any other gods before me. It's the, you know, thou shalt not murder. It's the, you know, thou shalt not covet.
That's a that's a tough 1. Like, you shall not desire what other people have. I I think that's that's something that we all have issues with. You have these 10 commandments, but really, it was more than just 10 commandments. There was 613 of them babies.
613 commandments that showed mankind something that we're gonna talk about today. Alright? Now, let's go to Exodus-24:7. 0, it's up there. So Exodus-24:7.
Then he took the book of the covenant and read it to the people, that's Moses, and they responded, we will do everything that the Lord has said. We will obey. You ever said that? You ever been faced with something in your life personally, and and you're like, man, God, I wanna do the best that I possibly can. I promise you, I'm gonna do the best that I possibly can, only to realize over and over and over that you fail over and over and over to do that very thing you promised God that you would do?
Is that just me? No? Like, what is the issue there? Why does that happen? We will do everything the Lord has said.
We will obey. Let's see what they did. Let's go to Exodus-31:18. When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the 2 tablets of the covenant of law. So it's the law written down in these 2 tablets of stone, inscribed by the finger of God.
Moses walks down from the mountain. In the next verse, *Exodus-32:1*. So the very next verse in the Bible. So God writes these tablets. In the very next verse, it says, when the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, come, make us gods who will go before us.
As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't even know what happened to him. They just said, we will obey. Very first law is, thou shalt not have any other gods before me, and they break the very first 1 just because they can't wait. Craziness. What is it?
It's this sin nature. It's this nature issue, this thing that is bent towards self and not towards God. No matter how hard they tried, over and over and over, they couldn't follow, and they started by day 1. Now, what happened next? Exodus-32:25-28.
It goes on to say, I'm not sure if I I put that 1 up there, but it goes on to say, on the very day that the law was given, they broke the commands. Now, sin is choosing not God, and the punishment for sin is death. The punishment for choosing not God is death. It's separation from God. Period.
And you know what happened that very day the law was given and they chose to to to run from it? God said, kill him. Because God's a legal God, and the punishment for sin is death. Moses had the Levites, the priests, strap on swords on their leg, and they went out throughout the camp and began killing people, 3000 people died that day. 3000 people died on the day that the law was given.
That's tough. But once again, it's history. It's his story. What's he trying to show us? *Deuteronomy-28*, if you read it, it talks about the law.
And with the law, there's blessings for *obedience* and there's curses for disobedience. Blessed if you do, cursed if you don't. You see this cycle, the rest of the Old Testament. Blessed if you do, cursed if you don't. The cycle looks something like this.
Before this, I have a I think there's a slide where it says sin. It starts with sin. Anyway, it's sin. And you see this throughout the whole story of the Old Testament. There's sin, and then there's bondage, and then they hit "rock bottom", and then they cry out, and then there's deliverance, and then there's victory, and then there's pride.
They fall again, then there's sin. Let me explain. So sin happens or or they're at this this sorry. The the people of Israel at this this place of normality, this this place of, you know, they're just chilling, they're they're hanging out, they're they're riding along, and then all of a sudden, they begin to sin. And then, the sin, because they they're stepping out of of, you know, walking in line with blessings of obedience.
They step into disobedience, this law covenant thing, you know, and so they they sin. Now, the enemy comes in, takes over, and they're in bondage to the enemy, right, because of their sin. And so they're they're crying out, oh, God, help us, and but but really, they're still in their sin and everything, and then eventually, they hit this rock bottom. So they're at rock bottom because of their sin and because of the enemy coming and attacking them because of all of that. They're at rock bottom.
When they finally get to rock bottom, they cry out, God, would you help us? God, would you save us? And God, because he's a merciful God, even though they broke the covenant, even though they deserve to die, even though they deserve to pay the penalty for their sin. Right? They cry out, God, would you save us?
God delivers them from the enemy. Alright? And next thing you know, have this miraculous amazing victory, and then for a period of time, they're in peace, and and and they're happy and thankful and they're worshiping God, but eventually, it goes to their head in this in this period of victory and peace. It goes to their head and they get prideful. Pride comes before a fall.
Next thing you know, they're in sin again. Next thing you know, the enemy comes again and takes them over. Next thing you know, they're in bondage because of the sin and the enemy taking them over. Next thing you know, they hit rock bottom again. Next thing you know, they cry out, God, would you save us?
Help us. We'll never we'll never screw up again. And God says, absolutely. I'm a merciful God. He saves them even though they deserve to death and die and whatever.
He saves them and and delivers them miraculously. Next thing you know, they're in victory. Next thing you know, they get prideful again in their victory. Next thing you know, their sin. Next thing you know, the enemy comes.
You see the pattern? You ever experienced that in your life? I think a lot of people, even though you don't have to experience that anymore in your life, there's just a little foreshadowing. A lot of people experience this "mountaintop valley" experience in life because, man, it's all about their performance. And and, man, if I do good, I'm blessed.
And if I don't do good, then I'm I'm cursed. And it's just what a lot of people experience. I've been there. So, I got a question. What was the law?
What was it? Let's look to Scripture to find out what the law was. What is the purpose of the law? *Deuteronomy-31:26*. Take this book of the law, these 613 laws.
Take this book of the law and place it inside of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God. There it will remain as a **witness against you**. Everybody say against you. The law is a witness against you. It's not for you.
It's against you. Go to second 2 Corinthians-3:7. Now, if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved on stone came with glory, it's the first part of it because it talks about the the second covenant, but if the ministry that brought death So it's a witness against you, and it's the ministry that brings death. Didn't we see it? 3,000 died on the first day the law was given.
*2 Corinthians-3:9, now if the ministry that brought condemnation* was glorious, how much more glorious the ministry that brings righteousness? The ministry that brought death, the ministry that brought condemnation, and and it's a witness against you. Colossians-2. Having canceled the charge of our indebtedness which stood against us and condemned us. The law is the ministry that brought death, the ministry that brought condemnation.
It stands against you, and it condemns you. It is a witness against you. Crazy. Why? What is the purpose then of the law?
What's the purpose of the law? You know, the Bible is very clear. I told you what it does. It condemns you. It's against you.
It brought condemnation. It makes you feel guilty and shameful and all of those things. Right? What's the purpose of the law? *Romans-5:20*.
The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. The law was brought in so that sin would not decrease, but increase. The law was brought in so that sin would increase. Now, remember, there's a sin nature inside of mankind. If you ever I I remember just just earlier this week, my daughters are in the dark in their room, and they're playing with a flashlight.
I walk in, I see my daughters, she's 5 and 3 years old, and I see them playing with this flashlight. And I say, hey, Selah, make sure not to shine Eden in the face with the flashlight. So I give her a command. Right? I turn around to walk out, and I look back, and guess what she's doing?
Why? *Sin nature. There's a nature towards self, towards what I wanna do, a nature to break the law*. A mentor of mine had a garden, and he had he had kids that would come home from school every day. They'd walk beside this garden.
They never even noticed the garden, never cared about it, and he was gonna test out this principle. Right? And so what he did, he put some signs up by the garden that said, do not spit in the garden. The kids now, he's sitting watching. The kids are walking by the garden, spitting as much as they possibly can all in the garden.
The law was brought in so that sin would increase, not decrease. Because there's a *sin nature* that is in us, not in us. The we're born with a sin nature, a proclivity towards self, a leaning, a bent towards self that cannot follow God's law. *Romans-3*. Check this out.
What what was the purpose of the law? Therefore, no 1 will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law. Rather, through the law, we become conscious of our sin. We become conscious of our inability to follow him. We become conscious of our norm the normal bent of ourselves to choose not God.
The purpose of the law wasn't to make you better. The purpose of the law was to show you that you can't become better by your own effort. Why is the law against you? Why is it the ministry of death? Why is it the con the the ministry of condemnation?
Because it's 2 big old tablets of cold stone that show you God's perfect will without empowering you to keep his will. So because of that, you're destined to fail. The law wasn't meant for you to follow, it was meant to break you, to break you of yourself. *Romans-5:19*. For just as through the disobedience of the 1 man, the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the 1 man, the many will be made righteous.
Judgment doesn't work to change a man's heart. The law doesn't work to change a man's heart either. So why do so many pastors out of fear, preach the law saying you have to do this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and then this some more. Why? Fear.
It's the obedience of the 1 man. Because the obedience of the 1 man, the many will be made righteous. *Romans-4:2-3*. Check this out. If in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about.
So if he was justified, if he was made right with God because of what he did, then he would be able to boast in and of himself, but not before God. But, what does scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, as right standing with God. Because of Abraham's belief in the word, it was credited to him that he was in right standing with God. This is grace.
*Law* is doing something for God. Every religion is based on law. Every single 1. I have to do enough good things to outweigh my bad deeds. And if I do enough good, then I'm performing well enough, then the God in the sky or or nirvana or Allah or whatever the religion says is pleased with me.
If I buy enough of these Scientology books, then I'll know enough of the mystery, and and and they'll be pleased with me. No. No. That's performance. If I if I pay enough money, if I do these No.
*Law* is doing things for God to try to be right with him. *Grace* is God doing things for, in, and through you. Grace is getting what you don't deserve. We deserve the same thing that Moses and them got I mean, that the the people of Moses got the day the law was given. We deserve death and condemnation and all of those things because we're born sinners.
We're born because of that sin nature. That's what we deserve. But because of God's *grace* See, God is a legal God. He he has to punish sin. It's a must.
But Jesus died on the cross. Jesus took the complete and total punishment for all of your sin. Period. So he could unconditionally bless and love you. That's an amazing thing.
Woah. Are you preaching this this greasy grace thing? Like, that's why preachers are so scared to preach this. Are people just gonna take this as a license to go and sin? No.
Absolutely not. Because if they take it as a license to sin, they don't understand grace. No. Look up. I I didn't put this up there, but look up Romans-6:14.
So clear. Romans-6 verse 14. For sin shall no longer be your master because you're not under the law, but under grace. I'm gonna read it. For sin shall no longer be your master because you're not under the law, but under grace.
If *sin*'s your master, you're not under grace. If sin's your master, you don't understand grace. You don't understand what God did for you. You've forgotten that you've been forgiven. Or you don't realize that you've been forgiven.
You don't realize who he says that you are. *Romans-8:1-2*. Remember, you have the ministry of condemnation, but therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. So right before it in Romans-7, the people the thing that people have all this trouble with, Paul saying, for I don't for I know the good itself 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.
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. It's that that mountaintop and valley experience that these the Israelites experienced for so long. Now if I do what I do not want to do, is it no longer I who do it, but it's the sin who live living in me. And then so all of the focus notice and all the focus on Romans-7, he's focused on I.
If I do this and I do that, when you focus on I, you reproduce I. You reproduce self. But everything shifts. He's given the example of somebody who doesn't know Jesus, who still they're they're still bound by the law. They're still bound by this performance based mentality.
And then he gets to the end of it and he says, who will rescue me from this this body subject to death? When he took the focus off of I and he put it on the who, everything began to change. When you take the focus off of what you're doing and what you can do for God and you put it on and you realize I can do nothing anymore in and of myself for you. I give up. I give my life 100% to you.
That's where grace comes in, empowers you, and lives through you, and you begin to produce Jesus in every aspect of your life. You experience love. You experience joy. You experience peace, and and lives begin to change. You want to go do the homeless not so they can prove to God that you're good.
You know, you want to go feed the homeless not so you can prove to God that you're a good Christian. No. You want to go do it because God's so generous and radical radically loves you so much. It just comes out and you just want to go do it. It's a part of it.
We're not we're not we're not doobies. We we don't do we we don't do to be. We don't we don't do we don't do more good things in order to be a good person. We're be dos. Because of who we are, because of who we be, we do amazing things.
When you understand who you are, the doing comes naturally. So Paul takes the he he takes the focus here off of the I and puts it on the who, and he says, thanks be to God who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord. *Romans-8, therefore, there is now no condemnation* for those who are in Christ Jesus. Because through Christ Jesus, the law of the spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. What is the law of sin and death?
Right? It's what we just talked about. What is the law of the spirit who gives life? See, when you give your life to Jesus, the law Jesus fulfilled the law completely and totally. Jesus lives in you.
So he who fulfilled all of that lives in you and empowers you by his spirit. He shifts your heart. You're born again. He the the sin nature died with him on the cross, so you no longer have a bent away from God. Now he made your heart brand new.
Now you have a bent towards God. Right? We're just renewing our mind to the reality of who we are in him. So now his spirit empowers us to live out that bent towards God. To live out what God puts on our heart.
To live out this life that he's created us to live that's amazing and wonderful that we were created to live like that from the beginning. Now we have it in Jesus because of the spirit who gives life. That's the law that we're under. It's amazing and it's wonderful. So let's go back to James.
We started with it. I wanna end with it. *James-1:22-25*. And I know today was a lot, but it's part of his story. The law doesn't change a man's heart.
It's his grace that does. *James-1:22*. Do not miss merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Who's the word?
Jesus. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in the mirror, and after looking at himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. And Peter, it says the person it gives us list of the fruit of the spirit, and it says like Peter's version of the fruit of spirit. It says the person who doesn't do these things has forgotten that he's been forgiven. Same thing.
So it's the person who looks into the word, and they're seeing what Jesus says about him. It's a person that goes to church on a Sunday morning, and man, they're getting filled up with all of this amazing stuff that hey, you're in right standing with him. You're forgiven, 100% forgiven because of what Jesus did, and you receive it, and you're like, man, that's amazing, and as soon as you leave that night, you forget that you're forgiven. You feel an all condemned, and you begin to live as someone who's condemned instead of someone who's forgiven. That's the that's the person when you look in the mirror at I mean, this is the "mirror of God's word".
It's he's showing us who we are in him, who we are in Christ. The Bible says in 1 John-4:17, in this world we are like Jesus. So when you see Jesus, that's how God sees you. You're looking in the mirror. God's God's showing you how he sees you.
He sees the goodness of Jesus if you've received him. He calls you a son. He calls you a daughter. It's a big deal. So you look in the word, you see Jesus, you're seeing how God sees you.
It's amazing. But when you walk away and you forget who he says that you are, you're this person. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, the perfect law that gives freedom. What is that? It's not the law of sin and death.
It's the law of the spirit that gives life. It's freeing. It's amazing. We're free from our self and "alive to him". And continues in it, forgetting what they have heard, but doing it, they will be blessed by what they do.
You can't help but live like Jesus when you are focused on Jesus.
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