Sharing good news of great joy to all people.
Elation Church. Today, our title of our message
is Loved and Blessed. How many loved people do
we have in the room? Somebody say, I'm loved.
How many blessed people do we have in the room?
Everybody say, I'm blessed. So we're going to
be talking about being loved and blessed. Here's
some familiar verses hopefully to you. John 3
.16. How many of you know that one? Have you
heard that one before? For God so loved the world.
Do you think He loved the dirt or the people?
I think He loves people more than dirt. For God
so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son that whoever believes in Him, Jesus, should
not perish but have. Everlasting life. Look at
the person beside you and remind them God loves
you. God loves you. God loves you. Romans 5 .8
Here's what I like to say when I read this verse.
God just didn't say that He loved you. Because
talk can be cheap. Has anybody ever had someone
tell them that they love them, and then it turned
out that they really didn't love you? Anybody
experience that before? If you've never experienced
that, it's amazing, right? And I believe most
of the people in the room have experienced somebody
telling them that they love them, but then the
love was not demonstrated. Actually, opposite
of love was demonstrated. Romans 5 .8 says God
demonstrates, He has demonstrated His own love
towards you. And that while you were still a
sinner, Christ died for you. God loves you. He
not only says He loves you, He's demonstrated,
He's already demonstrated His love for you. John
15 .12. Jesus is talking. He says, this is my
commandment. Love each other in the same way
I have loved you. There is no greater love than
to lay down one's own life for one's friends.
So God demonstrated his love by stepping down
out of heaven, the eternal son of God. stepping
down out of heaven, adding humanity to his deity,
living a perfect life. We've all messed up. Look
at the person beside you and remind them you're
not perfect. We've all messed up. God's a holy
God. He can't let one sin into heaven because
if one sin gets into heaven, then heaven is messed
up just like this world because one sin messed
up this world. Right? Are you with me? He stepped
down out of heaven, lived a perfect life, the
only human who never sinned. So then He could
willingly lay down His life and die for you in
a demonstration of His love. But He didn't stay
dead, just to remind you. He didn't stay dead,
He rose again. He's alive. But His love was demonstrated
in the greatest way by laying down His life for
you. Look to the person beside you and remind
them, that's love right there. That's love. 1
John 4, 8. Beloved, or beloved, however you want
to say it. Let us love one another. For love
is from God. Did you know that nobody on earth
would even, understand or even have a concept
of love apart from God, whether they acknowledge
Him or not. Love would not exist without the
Creator who is love. Beloved, let us love one
another, for love is from God. Whoever loves
has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who
does not love does not know God, because God
is. God is love. He is love. Now, He does a lot
of other things. And He loves, but He is love.
It's who He is. God is love. That word love,
we did a whole series on love. You can go back
to the podcast and look at that if you want a
refresher course on love. But when it says God
is love, it's using that Greek word agape. Here's
what that word means. It means love. It means
affection. Which we can say is liking. How many
of you have heard people say, well, I love you,
but I don't like you? How many of you have said
about somebody, I love them, but I don't like
them? Well, if you don't like them, you don't
agape them. Alright? Because liking is part of
that. It also means benevolence. It means concerned
about the well -being of someone. This is the
God kind of love. It also means love feast. Look
at the person beside you and say, huh? Love feast?
I mean, love is love feast? Well, it's desiring
fellowship and community, intimacy. So that's
what the word agape means. So when we say God
is love and God loves you, it means God likes
you. It means God loves you. It means God is
concerned about your well -being. It means that
God desires fellowship and intimacy with you.
And He has that love for everyone. Same love.
No degrees. God's love is full -on love. He doesn't
love anyone in this world any more than He loves
you right now. And He doesn't love anybody in
this world any less than He loves you right now.
We need to get a hold of this. I think it will
change us if we really get a hold of this. God's
love is unconditional. I'll say that again. God's
love is completely unconditional. God's love
is not based on your worthiness. God's love for
you is not based on your worthiness. It's also
not based on your behavior. We need to get a
hold of this because sometimes we think if we
do wrong and we know we do wrong, all of a sudden
we feel like God doesn't love us. Has anybody
ever felt that before? Come on. Has anybody ever
felt that way before? I messed up, so God's disappointed
in me and God doesn't love me. Listen, God's
love for you is not based on your performance
or your behavior. God's love for you is based
on His divine nature. God is love. God is love.
You know, there was one guy, at least one guy,
who really got it. And I wish that we could all
really get it like he got it. Does anybody know
who I'm talking about? Somebody who really got
God's love for him. Anybody want to take a guess?
Look to the person beside you and say John. John
got it. If you read his gospel, here's just one
instance. John 20, verses 1 and 2. Mary Magdalene
came to the tomb. This is on Resurrection Day.
Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that
the stone had been rolled away from the entrance.
She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple,
the one whom Jesus loved. You know who he's talking
about? Himself. That's who he's talking about.
He's talking about himself in third person. He
didn't say that Mary ran and got me and Peter.
No. She ran and got Simon Peter and the other
disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. See, he got
it. How many times have you referred to yourself,
talking with somebody else, and you said, you
know what? I'm the one who Jesus loves. I'm loved.
I'm the one who God loves. God loves me. See,
he got it. He got it. We could be bold enough
to say, I'm the one who God loves. Right? I mean,
He had it so ingrained in Him about this love
of God. He just said, you know, I'm the one He
loves. See, it didn't mean, by Him saying that,
He didn't mean, well, you know what? He didn't
love all the other disciples. That's not what
He's saying. Some people could look at this as
some kind of spiritual arrogance, right? If I
was to walk up to you and say, well, I'm the
one who God loves. You might think that I'm saying
that He loves me more than He loves you. But
that's not the case. That's not the case. So
everybody in this room could say, I'm the one
who God loves. And we would all be correct. And
by getting a hold of His love and understanding
and wrapping our little human brains around the
love of God, the length and the height and the
depth, when we get a hold of it, it doesn't mean
that God loves anybody any less. We just got
a hold of His love, and that's what John did.
He understood it. He understood the love of God.
I want everybody to say this with me. Just repeat
after me. God loves me. God likes me. God is
concerned about my well -being. God desires fellowship
with me. Can you take hold of it? Do you believe
it? Here's a question. Will you quit Beating
yourself up and thinking that God loves you less
when you do wrong. Can you do that? God wants
you to do that. God wants you to live in that
kind of freedom. See, we put a lot of self -condemnation
onto ourselves. But in Christ, there's no condemnation.
No condemnation. Now that doesn't mean that we'll
never experience conviction. But the conviction
of God is not condemnation. If you ever feel
condemned, it's not coming from God. Condemnation
is not from God. Conviction, of the Holy Spirit
who is in you if you're in Christ, looks like
this. Hey, let's go this way. Let's do this.
Let's move in the right direction. He's guiding
us from our failures to our victories. That's
the way conviction works. Holy Spirit conviction
is leading us and guiding us out. of where we've
been. He's bringing us out. I'm about to get
happy. None of this was in my notes, by the way.
You have a way of pulling things out. God's love
is unconditional. Everybody say, God loves me.
Here's what we're going to focus on the rest
of the time. His love is unconditional, but His
blessing, or His blessings are not unconditional.
Now when you are in Christ, when you are in covenant
with God, blessings are now available. And they're
readily available. And God's not holding back
on us. We've talked about that a lot, right?
Who's heard me say before, God's not holding
out on you? His love is unconditional, but His
blessing is not unconditional. It is conditional.
Everybody say, blessing is conditional. Here's
some Old Testament verses before we focus in
on a New Testament text for the rest of the message.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.
We can sing God bless America and God bless the
USA all we want to. But we will experience His
blessing as a people. And it's not just our nation,
it's any nation. Blessed is the nation whose
God is the Lord. Blessed is a nation who recognizes
God as Lord. You can't help but be blessed. When
you recognize God as Lord. Here's another one.
Psalm 1, verse 1. Blessed, everybody say blessed.
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel
of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of the scornful. What does
that tell us? If we choose to walk in the counsel
of the ungodly, we will not be blessed. I mean,
we can look at this both ways, right? If we stand
in the path of sinners, people who just live
in sin and for sin, they don't care about God,
right? If we live there, we're not going to be
blessed. If we sit in the seat of the scornful,
If we're just judgmental and scornful all the
time, looking down at everything and everybody
all the time, we're not going to be blessed.
So we're blessed when we don't do those things.
We're blessed when we don't walk in the counsel
of the ungodly, when we don't stand in the path
of sinners, when we don't sit in the seat of
the scornful. But his delight is in the law of
the Lord. And in his law, he meditates day and
night. So we're blessed when we delight in the
word of God. We're blessed the more we meditate
in God's word. The more we meditate on what he
has given us and what he has said to us, the
more blessed we're going to be. It's proportionate.
Some of you are thinking way too hard. It's proportionate.
Your blessing is proportionate to your honor
of God's Word, to the time you spend with God.
Your blessing will be proportionate. Here's that
Old Testament word we've been looking at. And
those two verses along with all the other blessed
that I can find in the Old Testament is Esher.
Esher. And here's what it means. It means to
be blessed. Everybody say blessed. It means to
be happy. Everybody say happy. I tell you what,
so many churches speak against God wanting you
happy. I don't even know where it comes from.
They obviously are not reading the Bible. God
wants you blessed. God wants you happy. Some
people think happiness is against God. Or that
God is against happiness. He's not. I mean, this
is the Word. I'm not writing this. I'm not making
this up. This is the Hebrew Word. And how many
times do we see people saying, well, God's not
concerned about your happiness. He's only concerned
about your holiness. Has anybody ever heard that
phrase before? I'm here to tell you God's concerned
about both. We're not having happiness to the
exclusion of holiness. No, that's not what I'm
saying. But this word blessed means happy. I
did some word study and I really like this so
I copied it and pasted it to share with you.
Blessed is a God -given of blessedness and happiness.
Enjoyed by those who walk in covenant faithfulness.
Listen, it's not a fleeting emotion. Most of
us think that this happiness is just, well, I'm
either happy or I'm sad or I'm not happy. It's
not a fleeting thing. It's not a fleeting emotion.
Listen to what it is. It's a settled state of
well -being. grounded in the character and the
promises of the Lord. I just got happy when I
read that. So when you say you're blessed, what
you're saying is, I'm living in a God -given
condition of blessedness and happiness. I'm enjoying
it because I'm walking in covenant faithfulness
with God. When I talk about being happy, I'm
not talking about some fleeting emotion that
depends on what's going on around me. Because
some people say happiness depends on happenings.
But this kind of happiness depends on the character
and the promises of the Lord no matter what is
going on around me. Hallelujah. I get happy just
talking about it. The New Testament word for
blessed. is makarios. And here's what it means.
It means supremely blessed. Now if we form two
lines, and on this line you are coming to be
blessed, and on this line you are coming to be
supremely blessed, which line are you going to
get in? Which line? You're going to go to that
line. Who else is going to that line? Who's going
to the supremely blessed line? That's what the
word means. Listen, every time, every time, every
time you read the word blessed in the New Testament,
it means supremely blessed. It also means happy.
Somebody say happy and smile a little bit. It
means fortunate. It means well off. Hello? And
you might say, well, why are you talking about
Hebrew and Greek? Because that's what the verses
were written in. We just translate them in English,
right? Most of the Old Testament is Hebrew. All
the New Testament is Greek. And these are the
definitions of the words. It doesn't depend on
your preferred translation. Depends on what God
said. God wants you supremely blessed. He's made
being supremely blessed and happy and fortunate
and well off. He's made that available to you
and to me. Now the first condition is that we're
in Christ. See, that blessing is not available
if you're not, first of all, in Christ. If Jesus
is not Lord, if you haven't asked for His forgiveness
and confessed Him as Lord, then those blessings
are not available to you. But if you've done
that, every blessing of God is now available
to you. But it doesn't mean that it's going to
automatically just show up in your life. But
it's available. Look to the person beside you
and say, it's available. Blessing is available.
Happiness has a, you know, let's take a look
at the definition here, the word study. Blessed
in the New Testament describes a believer in
an enviable position. Three of you are smiling.
Is anyone blessed? That means you're saying that
you are a believer in an enviable position. How
many people are looking at you and looking at
your life and they're envious of your blessing?
I mean, this should be our testimony to the world.
The problem is there's so many Christians that
walk around looking like their mama raised them
on lime juice. We're different. We're different.
Well, we're supposed to be different. Considering
that all God has made available to us, if we'll
take hold of that, we will definitely be different.
We will definitely be blessed. We're peculiar
people. Right? That's what the Bible says. We're
supposed to be different than everybody else.
Not because we're holier than thou, but because
we're carriers of the presence and the life,
and the love of God. Hello? Are you a carrier
of the presence, and the life, and the love of
God? If not, you need to step it up a notch.
Bless describes a believer who is in an enviable
position. The reason why we're in an enviable
position is because we've been receiving God's
favor. We're taking hold of His grace benefits.
This happens with receiving the Lord's in -birthings
of faith. Hence, faith and blessing are closely
related. I'm just letting you think about it.
Why does faith keep showing up? Could it be because
without faith it's impossible to please God?
Could it be that we're supposed to walk by faith
and not by sight? Could it be that if we're going
to experience the abundant and blessed life,
it's going to take faith? Could it be? Could
that be why it keeps showing up? How many of
you read your Bible for years and years and years
and never noticed all this faith stuff coming
up right in the middle of all this stuff? I mean,
I didn't. I'm glad you all did, but me and Mike...
said that we read through our Bibles and it just
didn't... That part didn't even come alive. But
everybody else did. Everybody else got it from
the first day. I must be slower than you. Because
it took me a while of preaching before it came
alive to me. Is that a description of you? Are
you someone in an enviable position because you've
been receiving God's favor and His grace benefits?
How do we take hold of His grace benefits? How
do we take hold of God's acts of kindness and
favor towards us? How do we take hold of them?
I'm filled as a preacher. Thank you. By faith.
God's love is unconditional. But experiencing
His blessings is proportionate to our faith.
I'll say that again. God's love is conditional,
but experiencing His blessing is proportionate
to our faith. And we preach whole series on faith,
but for those of you who haven't experienced
those series, it's simple. Faith is simple. Everybody
say, faith is simple. Faith is hearing what God
said, Everybody say hearing. Faith is wholeheartedly
believing what God said. Everybody say believing.
Faith is being so sure that God is faithful that
you're confident in what God said. Everybody
say confidence. And you have so much confidence
that you start talking like it's... true before
you ever see it with your eyes. Everybody say
talking. Because Jesus said he had faith in God.
And then in that series in Mark, he says say
three times, says believe one time. If I ask
you what faith is, you would say faith is believing.
Well, Jesus said saying three times and said
believing one time. So faith has to do with your
words too. Because life and death is in the power
of your tongue, the Bible says. So where are
we at? Hearing? Believing? To the point that
confidence and hope is established? Then all
of a sudden our words have to be in agreement.
We can't speak against. the promise of God or
the blessing of God and expect to receive the
promise of God? And then, many times, there's
another act that needs to take place. Sometimes
your confession is the act. So many other times,
there's an act of faith. Where God tells you
to do something. His Holy Spirit leads you to
do something. He's inside you. If you're in Christ,
you are the temple of the Holy Spirit. He's inside
you. So we need to be sensitive to His voice
because He might tell us to do something. We
might be standing in faith. Listen. We might
be standing in faith and believing the promise
of God. And we've wholeheartedly agreed with
it. We have confidence in it. We're speaking
in agreement with it. And then God may tell us
to do something. He may ask us to do something
by the still small voice of His Holy Spirit.
And get this, it may seem to have nothing to
do with what you're believing for. That's the
part that shocked me. When we did that series
on that, I was like... Do you mean what God is
telling me to do concerning where I'm standing
in faith, you mean it doesn't necessarily have
to do with what I'm believing for? Well, Naaman
had to go dip in a dirty river. What does that
have to do with being healed? It's just one instance.
So there may be an act that's missing. It may
be an act that's missing. An act of obedience.
And that's how simple faith is. That's how simple
faith is. Here's our text. I'm going to read
it and then we're going to break it down and
look at words. Look to the person beside you
and say, listen fast. Because I'm supposed to
be finished in like 15 -20 minutes. I'm supposed
to be done. James 1 .22 How many of you have
faith that I can be done in 15 or 20 minutes?
Some of you are not raising your hands. James
1, 22. Be doers of the word, not hearers only,
deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer
of the word and not a doer, he is like a man
observing his natural face in a mirror. For he
observes himself, goes away, and immediately
forgets what kind of man he was. How many of
you look into a mirror and you say, hmm. But
then after you leave the mirror you say, you
think you look better than you did when you looked
in the mirror. He who looks into the perfect
law of liberty and continues in it and is not
a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this
one will be blessed. Everybody say blessed. Supremely
blessed. Fortunate. Well off. Happy. In what
He does. How many of you do some stuff every
once in a while? How many of you want to be supremely
blessed? Well off and happy in what you do? Hallelujah.
Here's the command, real quick. Be doers of the
Word, not hearers only. It's a two -part command.
Two -part command. Now I know he's got it reversed
in our way of thinking, but before we can be
a doer, we have to be a hearer. Right? If we're
going to be a doer of the word, the first part
of that command is actually the second part of
the sentence. Because you've got to be a hearer.
You've got to hear. Look to the person beside
you and say, you've got to hear. You've got to
hear the word. You've got to hear the promise.
There's three categories of hearing. First category
of hearing is that you don't hear at all. You
don't hear. Say walk by faith, not by sight.
Sing it for them. He's not going to sing on command.
So the first category of hearing is not hearing.
Yeah. Yeah. It's not hearing at all. The second
category is only hearing. How many of us are
guilty of only hearing? If you're used to going
to a worship service and listening to a preacher
preach, and then you hear it and you say, well,
that was nice, and you have no intention of applying
it or taking hold of it or carrying it out of
the door with you, You're just hearing only.
And hearing only is not going to help you. Then
the third category, here comes daddy. The third
category of hearing is to hear and to do. Sometimes
it takes effort to hear. This is a perfect illustration.
Thank you for helping me with that perfect illustration.
Because you cannot hear, even if you're hearing
sound coming in, you can hear sound and not actually
listen because your brain can be focused on something
else. So not hearing, only hearing, and then
hearing and doing. Two -part command. Hear the
Word. Everybody say, hear the Word. Then do what
it says. Do what it says. Be doers of the Word
and not hearers only. I think this is an area
that I have missed out on so many times in my
life. Where I've heard, but I haven't responded.
See, there are many books in this world. You
can read books to gain information. You can read
books to gain knowledge. You can read books to
get intellectual stimulation. You can even read
spiritual books to get spiritual inspiration.
Some people read for amusement. Who just likes
to read? And that's like what you like to do.
God bless you. Some people read for entertainment.
And guess what? You can read the Word of God
for all of those things. It can be to you just
like any other book that you've ever picked up
in your entire life. But to be a doer of the
Word demands action. See, the Bible is a living
book. From a living God. And we need to respond
to the Word of God. Other books you read, you
don't have to respond to. Sometimes you do. In
some business books and self -help books, I mean,
they call for some kind of response. Listen,
the Word of God is always calling for you to
respond. Always. Always. Matthew 7 .21. Not everyone
who calls out to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the
kingdom of heaven. Only those who actually do.
Everybody say do. Only those who actually do
the will of my Father in heaven will enter. Matthew
7 .24, just three verses later. Anyone who listens
to my teaching is wise, like a person who builds
a house on solid rock. Is that what it said?
Be careful. That's not what it said. It's only
half of what it said. Anyone who listens to my
teaching and follows it, responds to it. Anyone
who listens to my teaching and follows it is
wise, like a person who builds a house on a rock.
And we know from the rest of that story, when
the storms of life go, Whether you're built on
the sand or built on the rock, same storm. But
the result is much different. For the person
who is wise, for the person who listens to the
teaching of God and follows it, I've got to hurry.
Has anybody faced any problems in your life?
Even recently? The outcome. See, this is what
makes us enviable to the world. Because our outcomes
from going through the same problems are supposed
to be drastically different. I don't have time
to park there. Information with application brings
transformation. It's not just information that
brings transformation. It's got to be applied.
It's got to be applied. Look to the person beside
you and tell them it's got to be applied. The
Word of God has to be applied to bring transformation
in your life, to bring transformation in your
family, to bring transformation in everything
that you put your hand to. The Word of God has
to be applied. Here's a caution. The doers of
the Word are not here is only deceiving yourselves.
Do you know it's possible to deceive ourselves?
To deceive yourself? It's possible. That phrase
deceive yourself means to cheat yourself, to
lie to yourself through false reasoning. Just
in your mental, in your human reasoning. See,
some people get into their human reasoning when
it comes to the Word of God. You know, it started
out in the garden where human reasoning was challenged.
Did God really say? Is that? Is it really important?
I mean, I hear Dean talking about this this morning,
but is it really important? Is it really going
to make a difference in my life? We can cheat
ourselves, lie to ourselves through false reasoning.
Is the Word of God really true? Did He really
say that? Can I really expect God to keep His
Word? The Bible says he watches over his word
to perform it. Here's the illustration. I meant
to bring a mirror. I couldn't find the mirror,
the preaching mirror. I've had a preaching mirror
before. Couldn't find it. If anyone is a hearer
of the word, not a doer, he is like a man observing
his natural face in a mirror. For he observes
himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what
kind of man he was. It's just like I said a minute
ago. You know, I see myself as a lot younger
than I am when I'm not looking in the mirror.
I see myself skinnier than I am when I'm not
looking in a mirror. I see myself more handsome
when I'm not looking in a mirror. You got the
same mirror? I need to get rid of that mirror,
don't I? Again, I got glasses this year and I
keep telling her, take off those glasses and
I'll look a lot better. Here's an illustration.
The mirror is God's Word. Everybody say God's
Word. The mirror is God's promises. The mirror
is God's blessing. We see that in His Word. We
hear it and we see it. And like, there are different
times when we see it. I hope you see it more
than this. You're seeing it right now, right?
Going to church, you're seeing the Word of God.
You're seeing what it says. Sometimes when I
look into the Word of God, I see areas in my
heart and in my life that need some improvement.
Like when I look in the mirror in the morning.
I need to fix my hair. I don't need it. This
is fixed, by the way. This is as good as it gets.
So I look in the mirror and I see some things
that need to be changed and wish some things
could be changed. But it's not just wishing,
but I can see it and then I walk away and then
I forget it, right? So going to church, we're
exposed to the Word of God. Reading your Bible
personally, you're exposed to the Word of God.
Going to Bible study on Friday night, going to
life group, you're exposed to the Word of God.
And we're exposed to the Word of God in these
ways and maybe even you're exposed to the Word
of God in some other ways. But God says don't
look at it and see it and then forget it. If
you do that, it's just like looking in a mirror
and forgetting what you look like or thinking
that you're better than you are. Right? Don't
shout me down while I'm preaching to you. Then
there's a promise. He who looks into the perfect
law of liberty and continues in it, Everybody
say looked. Everybody say continues. And is not
a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work. This
is the one who's going to be blessed in what
he does. So looks. Everybody say looks. This
word in the Greek is, it's actually not just
a glance. Not just a fleeting glance at the word.
No, this look means to stoop down and to look
intently. Everybody say intently. With penetrating
absorption. So if you look at the perfect law
of liberty with you stooping down, you're setting
aside time. It's not just a casual thing. Stooping
down, looking intently, penetrating absorption.
Who looks into the perfect law of liberty. Perfect
law of liberty. That word law here in the Greek
means the complete law including the volume.
Everybody say the Old Testament, the law. Right?
It's the complete law including the volume. Here's
the deal. We are so blessed. The Word of God
is available to us. It's even available on your
smartphone. It'll even read it to you for free.
What if you pay your bill every month? This is
written to people who have no Scripture in their
house. There were Scriptures at the synagogue.
There were some letters floating around at this
time. We're so blessed. The complete law. included
the scripture that would have been at the synagogue.
It included the gospel which was in those letters
and the people who were telling people about
the great news of God's love. Real quick. I'm
not going to spend much time on this, but how
can law, everybody say law, which we think of
as rules and commands. How many of you know that
there are rules and commands in God's word? Right?
How many of you know that the rules and the commands
are not to hurt you? They're not to burden you.
It's only been like 10 years ago when I thought
about the Ten Commandments and I was like, that's
not a burden, that's just setting you up for
the best life that you could possibly have. How
can law, rules and commands be liberty and freedom
at the same time? How can that happen? Well,
without the law and the gospel, everybody's just
on their own. No moral standard. And maybe this
is a bad illustration, but I want you to think
of a wild dog. A wild dog. There's no moral standard.
So there's freedom. A wild dog has plenty of
freedom. Everybody look this way. Focus. Focus.
A wild dog has plenty of freedom. There's no
restraint. But they're completely unprotected.
They're always subject to danger. Right? Let's
continue. With the law, there was legalism. Everybody
say legalism. That's kind of like a chain dog.
Has anybody ever... Had a dog that you just put
on a chain in your backyard. Now they kind of
make, they won't throw you in jail for doing
such things, but I grew up with chained dogs
in my yard. Because dogs would run away. Right?
They weren't chained. They'd be on the run. I'd
only see them like one day a week if they weren't
on the chain. They'd only come back when they
got really hungry. Or if they weren't in a pen.
So the law, can lead to legalism, and then there's
restraint, but no freedom. But with the law and
with faith, and with the gospel, I want you to
picture a train dog. The perfect law of liberty,
there's freedom in obedience. There's freedom
in obedience. When you're lawless and you break
the law, you're always on the run and you're
always in fear, right? But when we respect the
law, when we honor the law like we talked about
last week, we can have freedom through obedience.
There's freedom. There's freedom. Let's keep
going. But he who looks into the perfect law
of liberty and continues in it, the law and the...
Principles of the gospel. When we continue. Everybody
say continue. We got to continue. Continue. Continue.
Continue in it. And not a forgetful here. It's
like it's not just going in one ear and out the
other. I don't have time for my joke. I'll tell
you a joke if you wind up at my table eating
barbecue with me. I'll tell you my joke. Not
a forgiver here, but a doer of the Word. There's
a response. There's an application. Right? When
we hear and when we do, our hearing leads to
doing. Then what? We'll be blessed in what we
do. Who wants to be blessed in what you do? It's
available. It's available and you will receive
it proportionally to your faith. You can be supremely
blessed, well off, fortunate, happy in every
area of your life, every aspect of your life.
That's the kind of life God wants you to have.
To the degree that everybody without it wants
it. They're enviable of your life. Let's pray.
God, thank You. Thank You for Your Word. Thank
You for Your promises. Thank You for what You're
doing. Thank You for what You have done. Thank
You for what You make available to us. I pray
that we would receive Your Word today with joy
and that we would respond, we would act according
to what we've heard. God, I pray that you would
help us be doers of your word, not hearers only.
I pray that your word would be planted in good
soil in our hearts. Not distracted by the world
around us, but good soil and that it would grow
up and produce a harvest in our lives. A harvest
of faith, a harvest of truth, a harvest of life,
a harvest of love, a harvest of blessing. In
Jesus' name I pray, amen. This online worship
experience was brought to you by the friends
and partners of Eulation Church.