054: John Launchbury - Sin and the Poverty of Law

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:13

   Welcome to the good Christian talks podcast. I’m Levi and I’m Chris. Thank you so much for joining us this week on this podcast. We select one taco week to help each one of us get the Bible in our daily news feed. We post at the start of each week for you to listen.

2. 0:30

   With a short intro before hand to kind of set the stage for the talk. You’re about to hear and now let’s hear more about this week’s talk. This class is by a brother John launch Brewery. He presented it in 2011 at the Minooka Bible School. The title of this class is to sin and the poverty of Law and really enjoyed this class. John does kind of give a warning right at the beginning that he’s going to say things kind of an extreme fashion. He himself is still, you know working on this topic. You know studying it out.

3. 1:01

   So he appreciate actually all through the class. He says, you know at risk of sounding extreme and then and then goes on to say the statement but I I do even though I always enjoy a class like this gave me something to think about even though I may not agree initially or even eventually with what the speaker is saying I did I still found a lot to benefit in from this class. He particularly, you know, he goes into the detail of why why it is that at law cannot bring us to Salvation and really the purpose of it.

4. 1:34

   But then still how we so often slip back into it. He makes the statement that if Chris delphine’s wanted to find a community most like them. We probably need to look at the Pharisees which was pretty damning for us if an interesting thought but then he also said and this is this is I think my favorite quote Jesus says follow me and we say to him no Lord, give us some rules to follow that’s really fast.

5. 2:00

   That’s going to be sticking with me and actually reminded me so much of how a story that Bob Lloyd used to tell that I’ve used in my own talks as well that he tells I’m going to go ahead and tell it he tells the story of the driver and there’s a very rich man. He’s hiring a driver to a chauffeur to drive him around and he has for interviews and he the first driver he tries out that he comes up to a cliff and ask the driver took Park as close to the cliff.

6. 2:29

   If as he safely can and the driver parked so close to the cliff and then barely is able to step out and walk around the car and he’s gives the same question to the second driver the second driver parks with the wheels right on the cliff and S2 U, no crawl over the steering wheel and exit on the passenger side and third driver Parks the car half off the half off the cliff and barely balances it and creeps all the way out and then the fourth driver Parks the car on the complete other side of the road. And says that’s the safest place, you know that as close as we can while being maximum safe and I love that story. It really fits into the same attitude that brother launched very is trying to is sharing in this class that that really our motivation when it comes to sin is to should should never be to look for rules or lines to know exactly where and how far we can go what we can and can’t do but to always be thinking of what is the most that we can do to please the Lord. the most that we can do to avoid sin, you know, what what what in our life can we do to be constantly pushing, you know for constantly pushing towards towards doing good and loving and not just tolerating a certain amount of sin, which is essentially what laws do so it really excellent class it and I that story kept ringing through but but but but again for the lunch break was really into a lot of detail of

7. 3:52

   this uses a large breadth of passages and this class was suggested to me and I’ve only listened to this first class actually And decided it was good enough to put on the put on the podcast even though there is still a whole series after this. I thought this class was just a really excellent study into into law in the and the poverty of since.

8. 4:13

   Oh, here it is how good morning everyone it’s a it’s good to be here. This is a series. I’ve been working on for many years of people often ask, you know, how long have you been working on a particular topic and in some sense the Answer is always all my life and but this one particularly the last five and also the last 10 years.

9. 4:38

   I’ve been working on it and it’s only now just distilling. So I really appreciate the opportunity to share it with you here at Manuka Manuka. I always think of as my home Bible School. You guys know me so, you know, I can say outrageous things as I’m sort of trying out ideas and you’ll just sit. Steps that yeah, that’s John and you know won’t have you think badly of me?

10. 5:04

    So think of this set this is the first time I’ve given these classes as something of an experiment you guys are guinea pigs, welcome to the laboratory and I will I’m sure overstate things I’ll miss Express things. But as I say, you know me, you know, you know my heart, you know my spirit, please please listen accordingly. The issue that I want to address in these five classes is how does the process of Salvation actually work in us what goes on with the process of salvation?

11. 5:45

    And I think the Insight certainly as I was working on the series that led to my book is that it’s not about transactions that take place but it’s about transformation. It’s not about some some contract that has happened, but it’s about real change. It’s about transformation. And of course the the whole title about the transformed mind, you will recognize immediately.

12. 6:14

    Its that verse we are Unquote in in Romans. Don’t be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We have to see the world differently from the way before we before we came to Christ. Today what we’re going to do is some dismantling we’re going to do some dismantling.

13. 6:41

    The title is a little grandiose sin and the poverty of Law and what we’re going to actually address is the uselessness of rules. The uselessness of uselessness of rules as a mechanism to overcome sin. Now, you might see that as a moment that I’ve just overstated something as I warned you. Earlier, but let me stick with that. I’m going to argue from scripture the rules and a religion based on sets of rules is actually counterproductive to the Salvation.

14. 7:20

    I’d like to you to have the following image in your mind actually the following pair of images in your mind in one of them. You have a vicious dog that is chained up. Okay, go near it and it savagely comes at you and then the chain holds it back. And then the other you have a dog who has a warm and friendly spirit. You see religion that is oriented around rules doesn’t do anything about what goes on inside the dog. It just limits what the dog can do it limits the damage the dog can do it’s the chain.

15. 8:03

    You still have the viciousness inside. Whereas what? We’re actually called to is the transformation to change what we’re like on the inside. Like the following phrase unless there’s real change. It’s all just paperwork. Unless there’s real change. It’s all just paperwork. So we’re going to explore this whole idea of the uselessness of rule as a mechanism to overcome sin if we talk about and think about religion.

16. 8:45

    What is someone’s religion. My religion is this my religion is that I don’t eat pork because of my religion. I do eat something. Because of my religion I go to church on Sundays because of my religion because of my religion. I wear certain clothes or certain patterns of clothes at certain times or I don’t wear certain clothes at certain times because of my religion because of my religion I mix with some people because of my religion. I don’t mix with others because of my religion I make sure I read my Bible every day because of my Religion, I pray three times a day because of my religion. I pray before meals.

17. 9:33

    None of these are bad or wrong, but it’s important to realize that this is actually not the essence of what the religion that we’re called to is about turn with me if you would to Colossians chapter 2 Can you spend quite a lot of time with Paul one way or another but we’ll start here in Colossians 2. They were really struggling with this question in the first century at leisure’s.

18. 10:12

    He says in verse 16. Do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink? all with regard to a religious Festival all with re are all the new moon celebration or a Sabbath day. Don’t let anyone judge you by what you eat drink or with regard to a religious Festival. I don’t know like Sunday morning.

19. 10:50

    Verse 17. These are a shadow of the things that were to come. The reality. However is found in Christ in particular what he was addressing at this time were the religious festivals associated with the keeping of the law of Moses the particular manifestations of the law of Moses, which were an echo a shadow of the reality that was there in Christ.

20. 11:15

    First 20 since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why is though you still belong to it? Do you submit to its rules don’t handle don’t taste don’t touch all of those religious rules that they had again through their background and growing up through Judaism. Why do you submit to these he says?

21. 11:43

    These are all this as restaurant E2 these are all destined to perish with use because they’re based on human commands and teachings. And here’s I think the key verse of this whole section such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom with their self-imposed worship their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual Indulgence these outward regulations. Is outward rules they look very religious. The manifestation of your religion somebody looks at you and thinks that person is very religious. But he says these things even when their rigorous things the the harsh treatment of the body, I wonder whether that’s a reference to extensive fasting or something like that. These things that were based on rules and regulations. He says they look they look like they’re really religious. You look at someone and you think man, I wish I was as religious as that person.

22. 13:00

    But he says they’d like the chain on the dog. They actually lack any value in restraining sensual Indulgence. They don’t get to the real problem that salvation is all about. So as I said, we’re going to continue to explore this from a number of Dimensions when I was when I was young I stressed over questions like well, here’s a specific one. I used to stress over as a teenager. How far can you go with sex before marriage before it’s wrong?

23. 13:40

    I mean, where’s the line, you know you can go this far and no further and you know, I struggled with that. What where’s the right teaching here to exactly understand what I was allowed to do and what I wasn’t allowed to do.

24. 13:58

    Or I hear people ask is gambling a sin. What if it’s just four quarters, is it still a sin and if it’s just four quarters? Or is it wrong not to dress up for Sunday meeting? Did you see the kinds of questions that that we ask ourselves either as young people or even as not so young people? We have all of these kinds of questions which are important questions.

25. 14:29

    We want to understand aspects about our our connection with God our connection with each other and how do we go about answering these questions? Well in my experience, we do the following we look at various passages. We pull all the various passages that are relevant where God has said one thing and then in another circumstance, he said something additional to that in another situation something additional we way up. All of these commands and instructions and we try and sort of figure out what’s the rule for this situation? And we do it because we genuinely think that this is what God is wanting us to do and we have phrases like we come to God the way he wants us to come to him. Not the way we want to come to him things like that. At the risk of overstating things again brothers and sisters.

26. 15:23

    This is dangerous. I think this is a dangerous way to go about looking at our Behavior. It’s exactly what the Pharisees did. Where they took the law that was there in the law of Moses and they were trying to work out exactly. How far can you walk on a Sabbath day? And so they would look at examples and they would end up saying you can walk this far and no further exactly.

27. 16:02

    How much should you wash your hands before a meal and they would identify what the right amount that you have to wash your hands at least this much before a meal and they we’re often down on the Pharisees and I’d like us just to take a moment to lift them up to recognize.

28. 16:23

    The Deep spirit that was there in many of them. They came as a community of people who were set apart that that’s how they viewed themselves. They hated the way that the religion had become a political thing in their in their Nation Under the time between the the gospel between the Testaments. They hated the way that everything had become political that the party of the Sadducees and the hype priest was just this political appointee and whoever happened to be wealthy and all of these kinds of things going on and they said that’s not how God wants us to do our religion and we what we need to get back and actually commit Our Lives to following God. So their intent was was wonderful. It was marvelous.

29. 17:14

    And indeed when you look at the new at the the early church, many of the early church who came aboard in those early days were from the Pharisees where they recognize that there was something just remarkable about this man Jesus Christ. They wanted to follow him. So so even though scripture and and we will see failures in the Pharisees.

30. 17:40

    Let’s not consider them to be a totally black people in terms of everything that they were doing was wrong. They were motivated by the right thing. They fell into a wrong way of thinking about the nature of righteousness. The reason this is relevant rather than sisters. I risk overstating something again is that if you look in all of scripture to find the community of people that are most like christadelphians.

31. 18:12

    It would be the Pharisees. And so we have to learn their lessons. We have to take the condemnation that Jesus offers to them and look at what parts of our Lives we have to have different. So that we don’t fall into the same ultimate destructive patterns that they fell into.

32. 18:38

    Let’s look at an example when Jesus actually came across them. This is in Matthew 12. I was reminded of Mark saying follow your notes Mark and I’m a little bit like that myself here. So this is just stepping back a little bit Matthew chapter. 12 Jesus is in the Jesus is hungry with his disciples and they find themselves in the grain fields.

33. 19:07

    And it says his disciples were hungry and began to pick some ears of corn and eat them and this is on the Sabbath. When the Pharisees saw this they said to him look your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.

34. 19:25

    It may have been kind of like a genuine question though. Jesus seems to suggest it was much more of a condemnation that they were the giving a condemnation that although they’re breaking the law. They’re doing what was unlawful on the Sabbath. And what’s Jesus answer? If Jesus believed in the legal approach to righteous in the sets of rules and regulations, he might say something like well, if you look back at Exodus when it was set up they were these circumstances in which somebody was able to as it were violate the Sabbath and in these other so he doesn’t do that.

35. 20:08

    He does something much more profound if you noticed he says verse 3, haven’t you read? What David? Did when he and his companions were hungry he entered the house of God and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for them to do but only for the priests. Jesus responds to them saying your disciples are breaking the Sabbath is he says David also broke the law of consecrated bread. Now, I’ve heard christadelphians speakers try to argue that David wasn’t actually breaking the law because he was in some sense King and priest as a forerunner of Christ who was King and priest Jesus tells us that David was breaking the law. He said it was not lawful for him to do. The David broke the law. by going into the showbread and Jesus is saying haven’t hasn’t that actually had an impact on the way that you think about law. That David could go in and violate this law of God to do with the Holy place of the Tabernacle. And yet still have the approval of God. Well, that’s five.

36. 21:34

    Haven’t you read in the law on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet our innocent do no work says the Sabbath. And yet the priests on that day had to do work. There wasn’t a special exception built into the the law of the Sabbath and it’s wrong thinking to go and try and find a legal loophole which allows the the priest to do that. What Jesus is trying to do in this discussion is strike at the very way we think about law the very intent that God had from it.

37. 22:14

    It’s not about breaking law. You broke the law your do for punishment. he says if you had known what these words mean, this is verse 7 I desire Mercy not sacrifice. You would not have condemned the innocent. For the son of man is Lord of the Sabbath. Hmm in another place. He says the Sabbath was made for man. Not man for the Sabbath.

38. 23:00

    That is he saying when the law of the Sabbath was established it was established to accomplish a purpose. To help in the Salvation to help in the support of human being don’t spend every day of your life fixated on this world take a day where you just come away from it and you just completely focus on the things about God that that was the law of the Sabbath and it wasn’t about if you break this you will get punished now you might have object to some of the things in the wilderness. We could talk about those details later. The point is it’s about stirring them onto to be able to have that space to have that time where they can truly connect with God.

39. 23:53

    They can truly worship. Jesus recognized that the design of the law of the Sabbath was in order to promote spirituality in people. And that he and his disciples taking grain in the grain field because they were hungry was in no sense violating the intent of that law. The reason why God put that in place.

40. 24:19

    Even though they were technically in violation. They were not violating the intent of what God had put it there and I think that that’s that’s really important. There was a deeper purpose to the rules and that deeper purpose is what the rule was supposed to be about and where the rule ends up conflicting with its deeper purpose.

41. 24:44

    Then the rule goes it’s the purpose that God always cares about and this is the point of this quotation here from Hosea where Jesus said if you had known what these words mean I desire Mercy not sacrifice. You would not have condemned the Innocence. Oh, the law required sacrifice abundant sacrifice. And if you didn’t bring that sacrifice, technically you were in violation of the law.

42. 25:17

    But the sacrifice was there in order to accomplish a purpose and accomplishing that purpose was about something like Mercy. There’s this verse Hosea 6:6 I desire Mercy not sacrifice is quoted by Jesus more than any The verse in the Old Testament. He quotes it directly twice. He alludes to it once it’s an important verse for him. I desire the intent of what the law is therefore not the actual regulations and rules of the law. I heard a while ago about a seminary that was teaching teaching the people in the Seminary the parable of the Good Samaritan and having them sort of really explored in detail. And what they did was they set up as it was part of the in this course, what they would have is the professor would set it up so that at the end of the course the students had to give a detailed disk.

43. 26:25

    On the parable of the Good Samaritan and there would be the professor there and there would be some other professors who they don’t normally interact with and some peers as their judgment as the panel who were assessing the story so they would spend time preparing this and then at a designated time, they would come and they would present their view of the Good Samaritan what they had learned and what they had researched and so on what they didn’t know. Was that for each of them on the way to the presentation the professor would have arranged for somebody in great need to be there on the road on the pathway and the person would walk past them.

44. 27:10

    And actually the question was are you more worried about getting to the time of the presentation and presenting everything that you have learned about the parable of the Good Samaritan? Or saying this person who is in need and doing something about the person who is in need and of course the professor made it really challenging in emphasize how vitally important it was that they were there on time and how they would fail the class if they weren’t there on time and all of these kinds of things. It’s very interesting, isn’t it?

45. 27:46

    It’s sobering I would have failed and I know that. And we do that to each other with our rules and regulations. Where it’s more important to get to meeting on time. Than it is to find somebody and help them and you know, especially as a speaker the idea of as I’m on my way to an appointment, you know, when I’m supposed to speak if there’s somebody there who suddenly needs help man.

46. 28:22

    That is so hard to actually say, you know, what, of course they will understand. Of course, I will understand. Here’s somebody who needs help. something else will happen and yet we have our own sets of rules and regulations that I think end up interfering with with with our true exercise of our faith Matthew 5 and verse 20 this is the this is the thing that our Lord is telling us. For a tell you christadelphians you go. He doesn’t actually say christadelphians, but he tells his disciples I tell you disciples those of you who want to be my disciples Matthew 5:20.

47. 29:13

    I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. You’ll certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

48. 29:27

    If our righteousness is based on a manifestation of rules and regulations and our understanding about what you’re supposed to do in this situation and what you’re supposed to do in that situation. Then that is only what the Pharisees had. And we haven’t actually seen the kind of righteousness that allows us to step into the kingdom of heaven. I’m going to emphasize this point even more Matthew 23. This is a big deal for Jesus.

49. 30:03

    Okay, let’s not let’s not think that it’s the sort of thing that just happens one occasion or another occasion. It is the fundamental conversation. He has with the with the Pharisees. He says it again and again and again in this way and that way in 10 different ways and here in Matthew 23 We this is the whoa chapter woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees hypocrites. I think it’s interesting when we read this to read it. First of all, maybe as a woe to you as a sort of, you know, shake them up with condemnation, but it’s also interesting to read it with sadness.

50. 30:48

    Like he’s weeping. I’m so desperately. Sorry for you teachers of the law and Pharisees and hypocrites because you’re missing it all the time. I think it’s fascinating to read it in both those voices. Look at verse 16 woe to you blind guides. You say if anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing but if anyone swears by the gold on the temple, he’s Bound by his oath that’s ridiculous. He says, how could you possibly make a distinction like that? It’s the temple that made the gold sacred. I mean, even if you are doing this thing with oath, Which is a bad idea in the first place as he says elsewhere at least be consistent with it.

51. 31:43

    At the risk of being controversial. I’m going to give an example from many many years ago, 20 30 years ago in Scotland the sisters in a particular closure over in Scotland had wondered they had Sunday morning meeting and then at six o’clock they had evening lecture and they wondered whether they ought to wear head coverings for the evening lecture. It had been their practice.

52. 32:10

    They wear head coverings for the evening lecture, and they Wondering should we wear head coverings for the evening lecture? And so the ABS met together to discuss the matter and they weighed up the pros and the cons and thought about the scripture and in this particular case, they concluded that no it’s it’s it’s not necessary for the Sisters to to wear head coverings for the Sunday evening lecture. Afterwards the sisters got together. And they ended up saying, you know, we actually think that we should.

53. 32:51

    And so they decided to wear head coverings. I just think about this for the minute. The traditional view of head coverings is that they are a sign of submission of authority from the woman to the man.

54. 33:11

    And so what we have here is a situation where the sisters say. No, I am going to assert that. You actually don’t have authority over me by wearing this thing, which says you have authority over me. If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he’s Bound by his oath. And I don’t mean to be hard on us as a community. But do you see how easy it is for us to fall into this to look at the externalities and not actually think about what’s going on inside of us.

55. 33:58

    For the Pharisees this is rules gone. Wild. It had lost all meaning. It had lost all purpose verse 23 woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees you Hypocrites. You give a tenth of your spices mint dill and cumin but you’ve neglected the more important matters of the law Justice mercy and faithfulness.

56. 34:22

    I know about the law of tithing and I’ve got some peppercorns here so nine for me and For God and nine for me and one for God and and this is religion. When you have things like Mercy. and fairness and enduring faithfulness that go neglected because how do you measure that? See we tend to We tend to focus on the things that can be measured that can be seen that that are external and yet Jesus if he says anything.

57. 35:05

    It’s about not responding to the external. But having the change that happens with in verse 25 woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees and hypocrites you clean the outside of the cup and dish you dress up with your suit and tie when you come to meeting. But inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. blind Pharisee first clean the inside of the cup and dish And then the outside also will be clean. And again, I’m not saying that it’s a bad idea to wear a suit and tie to meeting.

58. 35:46

    That may be a perfectly good manifestation of the relationship you have with God. But when we make those kinds of things the important kinds of things then we’re worried about the outside of the cup and we’re not worried about the transformation of the inside the cleansing of the inside the change that happens on the inside going back to Paul in Galatians 3. He makes a case very strongly.

59. 36:15

    I realize the time is just zipping away from me here Galatians chapter 3 verse 10 Who rely on observing the law are under a curse? If you think that it’s through observing rules. That you will get into the kingdom then you are wrong because you are under a curse.

60. 36:53

    Romans chapter 3 first 20 therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by observing the law. I mean these are powerful verses.

61. 37:12

    Have every regulation written down do every one of them. And Paul here in Romans 3 verse 20 says that is not sufficient to have you declared righteous in God’s eyes. Just keeping all those rules will not do it.

62. 37:36

    Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing. The law rules cannot save they cannot rescue us. So what is the purpose of them? Why are there any rules at all? Why does God ever give ruled and and he has given rules I think the second part of this verse is very insightful. It said Paul says through the law we become conscious of sin. It shows us something about Sin now. We often think of breaking the rules is the same as Sin that is sin is breaking God’s Commandments. I don’t believe that that’s the case. I do think however that what the rules do is they show us something about the nature of sin. They helped shine a spotlight on sin. In fact Paul says in Romans 7.

63. 38:40

    I’ll just read it to you in verse 7 third what shall we say? Then is the law sin. Certainly not indeed. I would not have known what sin was except through the law. I wouldn’t have known what coveting really was if the Lord said do not covet. But then he says as soon as there was a law. Thus in seizing the opportunity afforded by the Commandment produced in me every kind of covetous desire. What happens is when we get a law when we get a rule that God gives us that allows us to see something about what our heart is actually like something about what’s going on inside of us. the ACT I mean, so So as I say we often make this the mistake that sin is breaking God’s Commandments and I think rather that breaking Commandments shows us about Sin that is inside of us.

64. 39:48

    So what is it? If sin isn’t just breaking the rules breaking the Commandments, what is it? It’s one of the teens came up with a great definition, which I’m going to adopt sin is hurting ourselves or hurting others. I think that’s Exquisite I had sin is destructiveness. But I love I love that sin is about hurting other people or about hurting ourselves.

65. 40:28

    Sin is actually estrangement from God and it’s estrangement from one another and we will see through the course of these talks more about that connection sin is anti-love. Sin is anti Oneness. It is selfishness and what we see here in Romans is until we have law where ignorance of sin. Law is a spotlight which shows us sin.

66. 40:59

    I think this gives us insight into Genesis. What was going on there seems to me that what we’re being told in Genesis is that Adam and Eve were spiritually naked?

67. 41:12

    And yet we’re unashamed because they didn’t they didn’t know they didn’t get that they were spiritually naked and it seems to me that that taking of the fruit that act of transgression was not the thing that is strange them from God, but it was a symptom that they were already estranged from God.

68. 41:36

    Because if they were not estranged from God they wouldn’t have taken it. But it’s a manifestation that there was already something off. A man doesn’t go out and commit adultery and so become estranged from his wife.

69. 41:59

    Man goes out and commits adultery as a manifestation that he is already estranged from his wife. Do you see the point that I’m trying to make law shows us symptoms of sin. It shows us manifestations. It is not the sin itself. And when we equate sin with breaking law, we forget that sin is about what’s going on inside of us. It’s about this anti It’s about the separation between us and God so rules can show us failure. They don’t define success.

70. 42:39

    And the problem is that laws are things that can be measured externally and so we love them. It’s sort of like like weight losing weight. I’m losing weight. I measure myself every day and I’m losing weight. And yeah, I’m making progress in getting more and more healthy, but somehow I seem to be losing muscle not fat.

71. 43:05

    You know the problem and yet you’re still tied into this idea that you want to lose weight. Even though the evidence is that weight is a rotten measure of Health mean it’s a component of the measure, but it’s not the measure itself.

72. 43:25

    Getting less and less healthy because there’s a bad balance now between muscle and fat or between water and other things going on in the body. The other reason we like laws is because through laws we get to control other people we get to Define standards of righteousness for other people. And I think actually this is the essence of law if you think about when somebody is saying but we have to have rules.

73. 44:01

    It’s not about we have to have rules because otherwise I might do something that is not helpful. It’s about we have to have rules so that I can know when other people are crossing the line. By having measurements, you can control other people and this is the essence of Law and Paul says something a little bit like this in Galatians 3.

74. 44:27

    And this is I think a classically misunderstood verse in our community Galatians chapter 3. Verse 23 before this Faith came we were held prisoners by the law locked up until Faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ as the NIV so that we are that we might be justified by faith.

75. 44:56

    Now that faith has come we are no longer under the supervision of the law the King James I think has the law was a Schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. The Greek has a word from which we get pedagogue. I’m because in English pedagogue means teacher we think of the law was a teacher to bring us to Christ.

76. 45:16

    But actually if you look in the old literature as to how that word was used. What was the pedagogue the pedagogue was not actually the teacher in the school. The pedagogue was the slave who would take a young man by the hand and make sure he got to school.

77. 45:38

    I like the translation truant officer. The law was the truant officer to bring us to Christ. I think that really captures the purpose of law. It stops US straying too far. It acts as that boundary that says Ah, no where it was straying.

78. 46:06

    And now that faith is come verse 25. We are no longer under the supervision of the law. Look at chapter 44 and verse 19 Can the context of Galatians is hair? This is the struggle of the first century. Ecclesia is where you have the legal pressure follow this set of rules coming from the X Pharisee judaising influence and you have Paul and others saying know the transformation is to be inside of you.

79. 46:39

    It’s not this yoke of slavery of here are the rules and regulations that you’re supposed to follow. My dear children, he says verse 19 of chapter 4 for whom I am again in the Pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you.

80. 46:59

    It is really clear that Jesus did not measure his day-by-day relationship with his father by a set of rules. And Paul is asking for that same thing to happen in us. He wants Echoes of Christ to be created inside each one of us. So that we are christ-like. Jesus says follow me. We say no Lord. Give us some rules to follow instead. I want to have a sense that I have earned the right to be in the Kingdom that I am worthy.

81. 47:48

    That’s not Christ being formed within us. Look at Romans 8. Just dipping into little bits here. first five and we’ll spend quite a bit of time and Romans 8 one way or another through these classes those who live according to the sinful nature. The flesh has their mind set on what that nature desires, but those who live in accordance with the spirit have their minds set on what the spirit desires if if in your spirit you are connected with God if you are aware of that seed of God that is growing within you that that for me. Shouldn’t of Christ within you.

82. 48:47

    If that’s your Touchstone as to what gets manifest in your life. Then your minds are set on what the spirit desires. As opposed to the Mind Set On what the flesh desires says it verse 9 you are not controlled by the flesh by the sinful nature, but by the spirit if the spirit of God lives in you, and if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ.

83. 49:20

    He does not belong to Christ. Don’t don’t write these office first century words. This is powerful stuff an echo of Christ is growing as a seed within you if you let it if you permit it to if you let that be the thing, which guides then you can say, I am Christ’s. But if instead you are the vicious dog with a chain around your neck, you can’t say that your Christ’s. It’s not guiding that’s not changing Who You Are. And this isn’t just New Testament. It’s there in the Old Testament as well. We could look at Psalm 51 we often have in the past about the the if you wanted sacrifices and so on our bring them, but what you want is a broken Spirit or Jeremiah 31 talking about the New Covenant.

84. 50:22

    I’ll take my law and write it in their hearts and their minds it will be it will just be welling up from inside. It won’t be this externally imposed thing. But I’d like us to go to Isaiah 28. I like this one, Isaiah 28. This is this is legalism.

85. 50:46

    First nine, who is he trying to teach to whom is he explaining his message to Children weaned from their milk to those just taken from the breasts are you so young in Christ that it has to be like this for it is do and do do and do rule on rule rule on rule a little here a little there.

86. 51:07

    Are you so young in Christ that you need the external restraint like this? Very well then with falling lips and strange tongues. God will speak to this people to whom he said this is the resting place let the weary rest and this is the place of repose, but they wouldn’t listen. So then the word of the Lord to them will become do and do do and do rule on rule on roll a little here a little there.

87. 51:37

    And actually the Hebrew here is interesting. The Hebrew is Sadler Salve Salve losev. Kavlock of Cavill. Yada-yada-yada blahblahblah. That’s what the law becomes if it doesn’t actually make a change. It’s just the blah blah blah blah going on. That’s not real change. It’s all just paperwork. Yeah, but you say you have to draw a line somewhere. No.

88. 52:12

    Just because I have black over here and white over here and every shade of gray in between where would you draw a line to say? This is black and this is not black. The idea of a line is a philosophical idea. It comes from Cartesian thinking. It’s not a Biblical idea. and just because there is no one place that you can draw a line doesn’t mean we have any difficulty in distinguishing black from white but we recognize that there is a whole Spectrum in between and where I find myself on that spectrum and where you find yourself on that spectrum is at the end of the day an issue between you and God.

89. 53:03

    In I’d like us to take our final reading from Romans 14. But while you’re turning that up, you might notice that in James James says anyone who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it sins. What kind of rule is that? That’s about if you see an opportunity for healing if you see an opportunity for healing and you choose not to take it that is a manifestation of sin within you you haven’t broken any rule. There’s nothing that you’ve done wrong. It has shown you something about what’s inside chapter 14 of Romans verse one except him whose faith is weak without passing judgment on disputable matters one fat man’s Faith allows.

90. 53:55

    Him to eat everything but another man’s Faith allows him to only eat whose faith is weak eat only vegetables the man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does for God has accepted him, who are you to judge?

91. 54:13

    Someone else’s servant to his own Master. He stands or Falls and he will stand for the Lord is able to make him stand. The idea here is allow one. Other allow one another to be at a different place in the way. They are in their relationship and their understanding of God and their connection with God. So new it’s not the dog fence or the chain. It’s the Gentle Spirit in the dog. There is no fence because there’s no need for one when we’re transformed Within.

92. 54:58

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93. 55:33

    If you know of a great talk, we want to know about it to send a suggestion to good Christie delphian talks at gmail.com or message us on any of our social media platforms. Thank you for listening. God bless and talk to you next week.