Which Side of the Cross - Lesson 10 Week 2
Courtney Hemenway · Jun 18, 2017
Which Side of the Cross, No. 23
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49266023608

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Alright, we are in which side of the cross? We are in lesson 10. And we've just started question 3. So, lesson 10, question 3. Do you think grace is a natural way of thinking for us? I think I started off, is grace realized through Adam? No, we got that far, I think, last week. So do we know biblical grace before salvation? No. Does the world show or teach us about grace in any way, shape or form?

No. Even the most philanthropic person that there is, does that really show grace? I don't think so. A lot of times, what is the motivation? I always wonder the motivation a lot of times in these things is to draw attention to the person or what or even that.

It is not what we experience in grace and what the system of grace or the reigning principle of grace is. So would grace be a natural thing for us to know once we become a believer? Because we said we couldn't know it beforehand, but now we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And so are we now, is it a natural thing for us to just understand grace once we become a believer?

Why is that? Shouldn't it be obvious to us, like day one? Facts on the tracks in favor, yeah. Anyway, whatever that is. So it's not normal for us to, once we become believers, to just understand grace 100%. Romans 5, 1 and 2. I think this is where it kind of starts it off. I thought, therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have what? Obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we exalt in the hope of the glory of God. So we get an introduction to it. which tells me that's the beginning. There's a beginning and a growth.

And with the 2 Peter 3.18, grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. So I don't think day one, when we believe that we know that, this is just the introduction to grace. Also, in 2 Timothy 1, 8 and 10, Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, or of me, his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our words, but according to his own purpose, and grace which was granted us in Jesus Christ from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ. So, it's just being revealed. We have an introduction and we have a revelation of this. It's being revealed in Christ. So, again, it's a progressive revelation of grace, I think, and our spiritual growth is growth in grace. So, again, how do we get to know about grace? Osmosis. Again, we don't look to the world for it. So where do we get grace?

God's Word. And we've talked about this, and I'm kind of a corollary to what Mike is in, and I agree, is that we learn grace through Paul's epistles. I think that's the functionality of it, how it works, the principles of it. But I go back to the root of this and what a lot of the verses that we looked at last week were, grace and truth were realized in Christ. That's what grace is realized. Paul gives us more of the mechanics and the principles I think, but I think the underlying root of grace is knowing Christ. Because it's realized in Christ.

So I think Studying the Word and looking at Paul's epistles are the way we look at the mechanics of it and the principles of how it operates. And that's where we learn, and we need that. But the underlying foundation is in Christ. That's where it's realized. So I think in combination with Paul's teaching of the operation of the principles of grace is the knowledge of Christ. That's where grace is realized.

So, you know, I think, again, Paul is the one who teaches us, and that's how we know, because do we know, Brace, any other way, really, kind of how it works? No, we don't. Paul lays it all out. Paul is great in all of his epistles. Usually he gives us the facts and then here's how it operates. Based on these facts, here's how it operates. So Paul is the one who really lays it all out. I don't dispute that.

But I think the real thing is understanding who Christ is. And that's where the intimacy with Christ, the understanding of who Christ is, that's where grace is ultimately realized. Or the realization of what Paul is teaching is based on our knowledge of Christ. And as we know Christ, I think it comes together with the grace and Christ the knowledge. And that's where I think the second Peter verse comes in.

Grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're tied together. Are you on board with that? I wanted to read out of The Hungry Heart. It was one of those ones, and it kind of backs that up a little bit. It was 6-8. I'll read from the top.

The written word is meant to reveal the living word, not to hide him. Many know prophecy better than the prophet. Our Father gave us his written word that we might know his Son, not only as Savior, but as our very life. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. That's John 17, 17. It's really getting at.

The knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ is the basis of the believer's life. That is, it underlies our very relationship with God. It underlies all our growth in grace. It underlies every fragment of our service. There is nothing which comes within the compass of the life of a Christian which does not depend upon the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Heart acquaintance with Christ is the secret of spiritual growth.

One may know all the truths of the Bible and yet be practically ignorant of the person of the Lord Jesus. Mike and I have talked about that. We've used that example. There could be a lot of people who when they get to heaven are carrying their books and know all the facts about the Lord and walk right by Him. They know everything about Him, but they don't know Him personally. And all the facts of Him, but they don't have the union that is expressed in John 17. That intimate union, as the father had with the son, we have that same union with Christ.

And that's where the real knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, 2 Peter 3.18, is the knowledge of Him, not just the study of Him. Again, what if you just read books about your spouse? Would you really know them? as opposed to living with them and seeing how they operate, how they work, how they function, how they respond, how they do that. Would you know as much if you just kind of read the book? So I think this is where the relationship in the scripture is that we come to know him. I owe this to Mike Maney when I first came here. You know it's going to be a bad day now. Yeah, I can see his head going like this. We'll have to slap him around afterwards and get him back to reality.

No, it's to read the scripture to know Him. For intimacy with the Lord. And you know, I relate many times how trying to memorize scripture and do all this stuff and it never got me anywhere because I was doing it to do it. So, you know, it was reading to know Him. And that's changed. You just read it. Every day I read a chapter, starting John and go through to the beginning of Revelation. And I read a chapter every day. And I just read it. I don't make it a big study. I don't pull out big study notes. I don't do anything. This is just me. This is not a law. This is not anything or suggesting. It's just what I do.

And I just read it. I read it. and not pull out my study Bible and do all this stuff. I just read it to know Him. And that's really helped. And I just revolve it. As soon as I get to the end, I start again and keep going back and forth. And that's just helped me to have that relationship with Him. Because I read Him all the time and I get to know Him. And that's for me personally.

So again, I think the root of all this, the natural way of us thinking, it's not natural. So we have to grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that growing is through his word and then the indwelling of the Holy Spirit convincing us of those truths.

So, good? Comments? Thoughts? threats. Number four, do you agree with this statement? This is a Mike question. Now this is where I start beating you up. All the good things were to get to this point where I beat you up. Do you agree with this statement? There is no more immoral, rotten, and filthy to the core with sin than a person who is a legalist. Is that a harsh statement? Come on now. Is that harsh?

Legalist about what? Applying law, being legal about relationship. What law? The law or any law system. Mosaic law. Mosaic law? Should you mix that? Are we under the mosaic law? I'm just wondering what he had in mind when he said legalist. There's a lot of different types of legalists, right? I think the appearance of trying to mix law with grace, any kind of legal principles with grace, if you do that, are you a dirty, rotten scoundrel?

Nobody's going to say, yeah, yeah, I am. I'm a dirty, rotten scoundrel. Well, there's certainly a lot of help. That's, I think, the key. I put, yes, you know, is this a harsh statement? Yes. But is it true? And then, yes. But how do you know that's a harsh statement? Or harsh but true? How do you know that? What would you go to and think that that would be harsh but true?

Glacians 221? Glacians 221? I've been crucified with Christ and... I know 21, that was the... and then to finish that is... Righteousness come by the law? It would be, yeah. It's futile. Any others? So I'm thinking about this, Mike. I'll sit down for a while. So in our day we have legalism in the Christian church, right?

Part of that is chaining folks to the pews with tithing or whatever kind of law that they may have carried over. Surely they're not making sacrifices and keeping all 613, but they've got their favorites, you know, the 10 or the 5 or the 6 or the 1. And so in error, they sometimes will teach keeping law, and it's based on blessing. So if I do this, then I'll be blessed. If I die 10%, then I'll receive God's blessing. Some teachers haven't learned the difference between law and grace, and so they do it in error, and they're legalistic in error, and they need training and teaching, right?

Others do it because they're convinced that by keeping some portion of the law they'll have gained favor with God in some way or shape. And that's the kind of legalism that Paul speaks against so clearly. and says, hey, if you were trying to keep the law, you're reversing the redemption that Christ provided for you by breaking you free from the law. You're free from the law and you're joined to Christ. So the teaching, in contrary to that, is to try to reverse everything that Christ did for you on the cross. My grace.

So law in and of itself is the very opposite. It stands in complete contrast, right? Yeah. So that's why it's so dangerous. It's reversing everything that Christ did in order to join you to Him and give you the freedom that you have. See, I don't limit it to just the 221. Galatians, in a whole, is I see Paul's frustration with the people who want to go back under law. It's the legal legal description of law versus grace. It's almost like a courtroom transcript of grace versus law. And you can see the frustration.

I think I expressed this before many times about when we had the help with the kids band and we were helping with catering and we had an orthodox Jewish meal that we had to provide one of these catering things that we did. And it was amazing. I mean, all the things we had to do, you know, the silverware, the plates, the pots, everything that had to be, and all these legal, you know, just crazy. But they wanted to do it. And that was it. They had to do it. And I started to realize when I started looking at it, look at how Paul in Galatians I just sense after that, not the frustration, but just why do you want to go back to this?

The Galatians 5.1, stand therefore in the liberty. Why do you want to go back? You guys are crazy.

But think about what they've done. Their whole life was based on law. And responding, and the synagogue, and all the prestige, and all the things that you did, and this and that, and this and that. And now you say, oh, and by the way, that's all not anything about your life now. Just think about how you'd react to that. I mean, think of something in your life you've done for 30 years. And then they say, oh, and by the way, that's not valid anymore. What would you do? Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?

You have to show them in scripture, otherwise there's no way for them to understand that. That they're free. Oh yeah. Because there's no way to override tradition with a conversation. No. No, I mean for us, we have scripture and that's why I say go to Galatians. I go to Galatians all the time for this. And also in Romans. Romans, you're not under the law, you're under grace. It's explicit. It says you were made to die to the law. Made to die to the law. That's what I said with some of the things in the CBS stuff. It was kind of interesting to see the responses. Here's the scripture. Here are five scriptures that say this.

You know what's funny is that 2 Peter 3.18, right before that, Peter talks about how hard it is to understand Paul's teaching on these matters. He even says it's hard to understand. And so it's so contrary to how we're born. The natural man gravitates to it. And that's why the question before is, does the world teach it? The world teaches us totally contrary to this. Traditions teach us contrary to this. Look in the bookstores. And just what you're saying. Do this and you'll get this. Do this program and do this. Do this and you'll get this. Under legal principles.

Everything is contrary to this. So I understand the frustration. Read Galatians with Paul trying to tell the Jews And the new believers, you have liberty now. Don't go back but you have all these people whispering to them going, hey, mix a little of this back in.

Your insurance policy is this. Take a little bit. The question is based more on Romans 7, 7 and 8. I have that coming up. The biblical premise from Paul's perspective is that what the law does is it stimulates sin. Let me stop and I'll read it and then continue. So Romans 7, 7 and 8. What shall we say?

Is the law sin? May it never be. On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the law. For I would not have known about covening if the law had not said, You shall not coven. But sin, taken opportunity through the commandment, produced in me, produced in me, coveting of every kind. For apart from the law, sin is dead.

So the point being that if you understand the premise of why the law was given, it was given to enrage the sin nature. And if you're going to be under law, what it's going to do, it's going to cause you to be because that's what it's designed to do. It's not designed to modify your behavior, it's designed to expose you. And so if you're going to be a legalist and you have to deal with the scripture from the wrong 7-7 viewpoint, that's why it's so dangerous and that's why it should be avoided as much as anything because it does in the wrath that you are in Adam. So I said, from these verses, why would somebody trying to mix law with grace or to put people under law be so despicable? And basically it's because it activates sin. That's what the law was meant to do. So mixing a little law with grace just activates a little bit of sin. So it goes back to Paul's, you know, should I sin more because I'm under grace? No! Yeah, so it's December I think. Reggie, were you going to say something?

You touched on it when you said that when we hear God's Word and believe it, that the Holy Spirit takes that and brings the transformation, shows us Christ, but also transforms us. And that's why we don't just teach about the truth, but we teach the truth, because that's the power of God. That's what God uses by His Spirit to reveal Christ to us. Isn't that neat though, that we can depend on God to do that, even though we may be confused or under false teachers, through all of that God takes His words that are powerful. You know, I think what underlies all of that, and we'll get to it in the third section of this class, is faith. You have the Word, you have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit convincing you of this, what does it come down to? But still it's the Holy Spirit that shows us Christ that we can believe in. Yeah, but for us, simple faith. It's all, the more I study faith, that's the bedrock. Because if you don't believe it, what does the scripture do for you? But it's not our faith that saves us, it's only the means.

The veracity of the faith is in the object, or the who-says-what. But I'm talking about the personal faith. So we go through the different aspects of faith. The veracity is in who said it and who did it. That's the rock solid part. I'm talking about the personal faith. It comes down to do we believe this?

I guess what I'm going with that is sometimes we are so academic in our teaching that we're teaching about and we're not expecting the Holy Spirit to be at work at the same time. with those actual words. These words that I speak unto you today are life. And Paul says it several times that he preaches the gospel, which is the power of God. And he always focuses on Jesus Christ and those messages through those words. And every spirit does the same thing. I think of the guys from Emmaus, right? Didn't our hearts burn within us as we went along that whistle work of the Holy Spirit?

Yeah. Again, the different aspects of faith. But that's the underlying to me as the more I study that. Do you believe this? Do you believe what He says? And I think this is the growing in grace and the knowledge. As He reveals more and He convinces you of it, then it's yes. I believe. I have faith in what you said. The one under law thinks he's so good that that makes him a major sinner. I'm really good. I beat the sin.

So who's the focus of that one? Self. The bigger sin as far as scripture is concerned is among the legalists because of their mental attitudes. Even though it doesn't look like it, what is it? Pride. I did this, right? I did this. I kept the law. I, I, I, I, I. Total wrong focus when you mix the legal end of it because it relates to you and what you did, not what Christ did and continues to do.

And then again, I refer back to the book of Galatians where Paul lays out law versus grace and how the two cannot be mixed or grace is negated. So, okay, question five. We already answered it basically, yes. How is grace known? As I said, we've already looked at it a few verses.

Again, I go to Romans 5.15, but the free gift is not like the transgression. For by the transgression of the one, the many died. Much more did the grace of God, the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to many. So the grace of one man, again, where is grace and truth realized?

In John 1.17, for the law was given through Moses, grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.

And also John 1.14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory. Glory is the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. Oh, this is where I beat you up now. This is another question Mike had in here.

So, should we be in anticipation in what God is going to do for us? I want answers on this one. I don't want crickets. I want answers. Should we be in anticipation in what God is going to do for us? Do we anticipate what he's going to do for us, however? No. There we go. I like a man with conviction. Why? We'll get to that. I want yeses and nos. Any yeses? Yes. Yes.

No. No. I think that there's two aspects. There's a future and no, he's already done it all. That's a chicken answer. But it's the way it is. Because we have a position and we have a condition. I'm with you. When I read this question I knew this was, yeah, that's probably why I buttered you up so much. You know, I think there is grace, but we, yes, it's all done for us. And Ephesians, we have been blessed with all spiritual blessings. And I agree, it's position and condition. There are two different aspects of that. Our position, it's all done for us. Everything's done. So position is first.

Yeah. And that's rock-solid. Bless me with a little bit more, Lord. And condition follows. Yeah. You will, as you are conformed, transformed, you know, the position and condition come closer. But I think it's two different things. I think the position is we can't expect anymore. It's all done. It's unmerited and it's unlimited. Done.

Can we say, and I don't know if I'm saying this right, can we say that our spirit and our soul has been redeemed positionally but our body still languishes with the old sin nature and we're, you know, we have yet for the that too, but that isn't true yet. Our bodies still... A circle back position condition, we have been crucified with Christ, you know, and we still live in a sinful body, yes, but we have a new life, and we don't have the slave to righteousness or slave to sin, which one, I mean you don't have to respond to sin now, So, again, anticipate. Yes, I want to pick on it. I think I think we're going to point.

If we're talking about blessing, what that's going to do for you, are we talking about blessings? I left it open to grace, so not only blessings. So every spiritual blessing is in the heavens for the believer. There are no earthly blessings. That was what happens under the law. If you do this, then you receive this blessing. The other side of it is you curse. You die.

So if we're talking about blessings, should we end to... So you re-read that question with the word blessing instead of God doing. Should we be in anticipation of what God is going to bless for us or bless us? Yes, should we be anticipating God's blessing?

That's a different question. You think? Oh yeah, I think so. Because if you're looking for blessings, does God ever promise us the blessings that we're going to have a, you know, cookies and cake for the rest of our life and it's going to be wonderful and great. And the blessings are just going to be poured out upon us. Let me ask you this. Is rest a blessing? Rest is part of the Holy Spirit. We're talking about spiritual rest, not physical.

Yeah. The Galatians 5, the attributes of the Holy Spirit. So you just went through a really tough situation. You're trusting the Lord. You know your blessings are in the heavenly places in Christ. But you're looking to the Lord for rest and peace through this circumstance. Would that be an anticipation of God doing something for us?

That's where I think it's different. That's where I say between physician and condition. That's where I say we can. Paul asked for all of the Timothy and what he's doing in Ephesus and bless and stay true to the word. So I think that's what I said. The way I broke your question down was position and condition. Position ain't right. We should not anticipate anymore. It's already done.

But conditionally, I think through the Holy Spirit, and that word, peace, joy, rest, all those things, I can ask for that, you know, in the midst of the trial. Not that you remove me, but give me peace, that you promised me. Even the Lord doing the living through you is... And that could be, again, the fruit of the Spirit is Christ himself, right? So, could we anticipate the Lord doing the living on our behalf, and that be something we expect of him.

Is that the same thing? There's an interesting flip-flop to the way that question might work. Right. And that's why when I got it, it was kind of like, I broke it down so the genesis of the question will now end. I don't think there is any problem from a conditional standpoint because we are encouraged to go to the throne of grace in the time of need. The problem is that the need is already there and the need has already been answered.

In other words God has not withheld anything waiting for me to to ask him or anticipate. If you look at the concept of biblical hope, hope is a certainty. I may not, from an experiential standpoint, have entered into whatever new body, but it's certain. And the point being is that the certainty of God's blessing Whether I'm conditionally realizing it or not, it's an anticipation of something that's already true or an anticipation of something that may be true in the future. Or will be true.

Yeah, I mean, but that's what I was saying, kind of unconditionally. You know, even just before we talked about Secondary 318, growing the grace and the knowledge. He's praying for them to grow in the grace and knowledge. So that to me is an Not an expectation, but an anticipation or a prayer that says, grow in this. And that's a conditional standpoint. It's like, I think we're always going to be growing Christ for all eternity.

Right, yeah. Do we want to anticipate that? I guess I do. Yeah. So that's what I mean. Like I said, I broke it into position and condition. Position, we got it all. But on a conditional basis, in the midst of a trial. I can anticipate that he's going to call me through that. Because I know it's true.

Maybe you should give some examples of how it really works at the street level. I think that I grew up thinking I needed help from God on a number of things. And so my prayers for many years were or give me the strength to do X and help me focus on you through Y. And those are the kind of, the motives are pure at the time, like we want the Lord to be there, we're trusting Him with it. We're just not understanding the truth of the scripture, right? He's already provided, and it's his life that is the focus. It's not you getting better and getting some kind of special gift to get through this thing, right?

Well, I go back to what I say is bedrock is faith. Do you believe what he told us? Right. You're back to a live, co-operative faith. Yeah. Consider it all joy, my brother, when you encounter various trials, knowing that testing your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its perfect result, and you'll be perfect and complete. Do we believe that? in a trial. Consider it all joy.

I think my kids are working through this a lot right now. I want the Lord to help me. Teaching a different means of which things get done in an environment of grace is such radically different. Everything is going against you. The world, everything. The sin nature hates it. Hates it. So it's again going back to the Word, the indwelling of the Spirit, working on you to believe what is true, what is true about you, what's already true of you.

You were reading 6, I was reading something different than last year. It just said, does God have the power, excuse me, the grace of a power to control us? Yeah, well that's, yeah, this is an ancillary question to number 5. So we're now moving on. Mike had a question in there. So I wanted to relay that on. That was an extra credit. Yes, that was extra credit. God is just a little happy with you because you've answered that question. Okay, number six. Does grace have the power to control us? I can bear witness to that. He does. He does? Other thoughts?

It is by grace, but it is God that does the actual work. The indwelling of the Spirit is the one working in us. It's not just the word grace. It's the character of God that's involved. And it is His power that manifests through that grace that we see. The contrast is grace versus law. Amendment versus divine. I think I want to put grace in the context of the believer. If we look at Romans 5, 20 and 21.

The law came in so that the transgression would increase. Again, remember, mixing law, so the transgression would increase. But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. So that as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through the righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So what is the reigning principle or operating system that we operate in now? It just said it. We're in grace. That's the operating system. If we operate in a system of grace, does it have the power to control us? Through the righteousness of God, yes. Does? Is grace a means? Is that all it is? It's a reigning principle. Okay. What's the means of the believer's walk? How does the believer... What does the Bible say about the empowering needed to live the life? Where is that? Is it grace? Do we look to grace to empower our lives? It's the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the Word. Those are the two.

If you go to the definition we've been working off of, it's unlimited unmerited blessing from God based on the adequate work of Christ. Then what else is there? I mean, to live a Christian life, to function, to anticipate, it's unlimited and it's unmerited. I may not be aware of it, but what else is there?

How about the reality that came with Jesus Christ? The truth? How about grace came living, but so did reality? So did reality? A realm of understanding of God himself. That's truth. The word truth is really a synonym for What is real? What is really real from God's perspective, the Lord Jesus Christ? He is true. He is true.

Right. So the realm, I think, increases the realm of grace, increases our understanding of God himself. All we can see is the nature of the world. We're going to make Kirk park him further out in the parking lot. Yeah, we're going to hit him. But diesels are really quiet. Diesels are really quiet.

If we operate in a system of grace, it has the power to control us. But is it better than the law? If law was meant to control, is grace better? Again, I think the principle that people put to it is that law is meant to control what's not. It's supposed to incite. No, grace is infinitely, infinitely not in the same zip code better than a law-based system. Because law was only meant to incite your sins, so it never was meant to control us.

Who has been justified by the law? So, look at Titus 2, 11-14, I think this is about maybe how it operates. For the grace of God has appeared, in Christ, bringing salvation to all men. Then what is it in verse 12? Instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires, and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age. Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus, who gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds.

So do you think grace can control us in this age? Does it have the power to control us? I just don't think of grace as a means of the Christian life. I mean, the Holy Spirit enables, energizes, empowers us to live in an environment of grace. I mean, that's where, if you want to use the word, control. When we trust the Lord with whatever matter it is, then it's the Holy Spirit It empowers or, for lack of a better term, controls us. I don't know. Control sounds like it's being done against our will. Yeah, and I kind of have the same thing. The control word was tough for me in this question. I think you operate, and that's why grace instructs us.

It helps us live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age. It threw unlimited blessings to us based on nothing that we do. It is a motive though. Grace is the motive. But that's what I'm saying. And why? Because Christ did it all. We don't have to do it. And it's done.

Grace now we operate in because again I think grace motivates us because now it's not up to us. There's no responsibility for us except to say thank you and receive it. That's where I think it controls now is that if you get away from this, I've got to do something. Or I failed. Now it motivates us because he just pours it out upon us.

That's a question. Does grace have the power to motivate us? I think that's the better question. See, I started off by buttering you up so I could beat you up later. So you should know that. If I'm buttering you up, something's going to hit you later. So let's quickly go on. I want to ask a question. I think it's pretty clear that we are people to be controlled. I think it's the height of the soon nature to think that I'm independent.

So I'm either going to be a slave to sin, or a slave to righteousness. And being a slave to righteousness is under the controlling and reigning principle of grace. So I'm never in a position, from God's perspective, that I should be a free agent. You know, what does Paul start all of his epistles with? I'm a bondservant, a bondslave.

So there is that. The freedom we have in grace. From the tyranny of sin, to abiding Christ and to walk in him. That's what I want to do. Grace is just a motivating factor now, because the way I put it, it's not up to us anymore. How freeing is that? How does that motivate me? It's not up to me, I can't fail because I didn't do something.

There's child training and all the chasing and all the stuff when I screw up, obviously. But grace is still the reigning principle. All my sins paid for. All those dumb things I still do and will do in the future are paid for. And he now operates in grace. Just believe what I tell about you. Here's the love, here's unmerited, unlimited Not about what you did, about what Christ did.

I think though that the Titus verse talking about what grace teaches us, it does teach us. It teaches us to deny ungodliness in worldly desires. It teaches us that. Without grace we wouldn't learn that. And the other thing it teaches us is that we live soberly, righteously and godly.

It teaches us to do that in the sense that we can't wait. to respond to grace, it's not because it's twisted our arms, it's because we're so overwhelmed with blessing. We don't have any trouble walking away from ungodliness and what the Lord wants us to do. We don't have any trouble doing that, and we don't have any trouble living sober and righteously and godly under grace because it's through desire.

Right, that's the motivating. The grace of God teaches us and lets us live sensibly. So it is a motivating factor. The operative word control is probably what gives us the heartburn more than anything. Control seems like a legal term. This is a reigning principle, how it operates. manifestation of His controlling us.

I mean, His love constrains us. We'll get to that in a later question, but where does that start? What is the first of the circle? God loved us, number one. And that constrains us in the sense of control. It isn't an involuntary control, it's a voluntary one. Because you love Him. He loved us, so we loved Him. But in our sin nature, we either have the attribute is, I want to please God, or I don't want to please God. And we can't match either one of us, we can't make it. Right? We want to do something, just tell me what to do and I'll do it. Or, don't tell me what to do, I'll do my own thing. But in either case, we're focused on ourselves.

And those are the aspects of sin that the law reveals, but so does grace. Grace reveals the good side, God's side, and His love. We become lovers of God by God's Word, so that we respond to His goodness with belief and trust. Yeah, I mean, again, I go back to the root of that, is if God is love, God loved us.

How do we respond to that? We love Him. And that's how it all starts. It doesn't start with us. That's our usual, as we put it. Because I loved him so much, he's got to love me. This dirty rotten scoundrel. All right. We will continue on with question seven next week. Let's close.

Heavenly Father, we thank you again just for all these truths. We thank you just for the greatest truth of all, that we are in a system of grace, your grace, and it was realized through Christ, and truth and grace were realized through him. And that grace is just unlimited, unmerited blessings based on what he did, not anything we do. The only thing we can do in grace is say thank you, receive. And what a position that is versus law where we had to do something in order to get something.

Now it is received. And it's not out of selfish, it's out of first of all the love, you are love and then you loved us. And it's our response in love to you for all that you do for us in this system of grace. We say thank you. So we just thank you for this time where we can open up your word and just to see about your system of grace. We thank you for that. We pray for the next meeting with Vern that you'll just prepare hearts to receive it and have him just give us the word accurately and according to your word. So we just pray for all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.