Is Christianity Jewish? - [Luke 5:33-39]

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Alright, I'm not even going to recommend a book tonight, let's just get right into it. If you have your Bibles, why don't you turn to Romans chapter 11.
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We won't be there for very long, but Romans chapter 11, as we continue our series in the parables, and you say, there's not a parable in Romans chapter 11.
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I know that, but that'll be our springboard. We're just picking a variety of parables on Sunday night and going through them, verse by verse in the parable sections, a lot in Luke, and then this fall,
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Lord willing, we'll be in the book of Ruth. By the way, does anybody know what the most important part about Ruth is?
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What is the key to Ruth? And without it, you don't understand the book of Ruth. Trust in God.
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That's kind of like, you know, what you say to your kids after Sunday school, what'd you learn about in Sunday school? God. What about God?
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Trust in God. Trusting in God, well certainly trusting in God's important,
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Doug. Tinsman Redeemer is an excellent concept, I'm not sure if it's the most important, but we see that concept of Christ there.
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Close, that's probably close number two. Yes, Karen? Obedience, that's a good one.
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Now you're going to have to show up in the fall to figure out what I'm talking about. We'll learn then, I won't tell you what until then.
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No, just kidding. The most important part about the book of Ruth is that out of her line, the seed of David shall come.
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If you don't get that, you don't get the book of Ruth, that out of this Moabitess woman that God would use her so Jesus Christ would come through the line of David, but we'll do that this fall.
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By the way, if you're just visiting tonight, welcome, and Sunday nights we kind of talk back a little bit, and so if I ask you a question on a
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Sunday night, literally you may answer it. If I ask you a question on Sunday morning, literally it is rhetorical, so God just led me to say that.
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Did you have a piece about coming back tonight? Our visitors are thinking, what is going on with this guy?
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We had a message this morning about how to analyze peace and feelings and being led and circumstances and open doors and closed doors.
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For those of you that do have questions in our own congregation, hang in there with me next week and even the week after before you send me the nasty grams or whatever might be the emails, because we want to cover all the bases, and today was kind of shock value, and then we'll reel it in a little bit more to talk about the issues of how we make real biblical decisions.
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We'll look at Romans chapter 11 verse 6, and this is of course in the context of does
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God still have a faithful pact with Israel, did he forget about Israel, but on a larger scale, verse 6 says, but if it is by grace it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.
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Whether applying to Israel or applying to anything else, do you know if you take 99 billion parts of grace and add 0 .5
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% part of works, what do you get? You get works, and so you can take all the grace that you want, and if you add a little bit of works, you nullify everything.
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Grace plus works equals works. Grace alone is grace alone, and tonight we're going to look at this topic of what happens when grace gets mixed with works, and you'll see
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Jesus trying to make a very clear demarcation so that doesn't happen. And so let's go to that passage,
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Luke chapter 5, as we see two things that don't mix. Like oil and water, grace and works do not mix.
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Can you think of other things that don't mix, by the way, as you're turning there to Luke 5? Fire and gasoline do mix, and it's called combustion.
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What doesn't mix? That should not be mixed, but it can be mixed in a sense.
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What else doesn't mix? I could only think of oil and water, and so when you can't think of anything else as a pastor, you ask the congregation for help.
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Grace and works don't mix, but is there anything else? So next time I preach this, I'll have a better intro.
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Well tonight, let's take a look at this passage in Luke chapter 5, and we will see the theme not only of grace and works are mutually exclusive, but we will see that Christianity is not a religion of addition, it is a religion of instead of.
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Did you get that? Christianity is not something that you add on to your life. It's like the Hindu who had the gospel preached to him.
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He said, that's great, I'll just accept Jesus. And what he meant by that was, I'll accept Jesus and not exclude anything else.
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I can be a Hindu and love Jesus too. When Christ comes along and he demands it all, and it's an exclusive religion, and so you can't say
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I will add Jesus into my pantheon of gods, it's Jesus or it's nothing. So it's not addition, it's instead of.
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Jesus instead of everything else, and by the way, this is very hot in evangelical circles today, that people don't want to offend people.
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It's offensive. I was just asked about nine days ago, Pastor, what do you think about Islam?
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And I had to tell them, well, there's certainly some nice people in Islam. It's a monotheistic religion, but it's a works righteousness religion, and if you follow it to the day you die, you will be damned, because you will have to pay for your own sin instead of having
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Jesus pay for your sins. It's not very politically correct, the kind of conversation stopped after that.
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And the same kind of thing is going to happen here in Luke chapter 5, where these Pharisees come and try to get
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Jesus to have his religion tucked nicely underneath their works -righteous legalistic hypocrisy.
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Luke chapter 5 starts off when Jesus is teaching the men how to fish, and then he says you're going to be fishers of men in verse 10.
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Then he heals a leper, then he heals a paralytic, and now we move into verse 27 for a little bit of context.
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And after that, he went out, Luke 5, 27, I'm in the New American Standard tonight, and noticed a tax gatherer named
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Levi sitting in the tax office, and he said to him, follow me. And you can just see everything caught up in that, repent, believe, he says follow me, and he left everything behind, and he had to, he was a rotten tax gatherer, and began to follow him.
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And now Levi does something that's so great, he influences people for the
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Lord, and introduces the Lord to his old friends before his old friends drop him like a hot potato.
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It's good, you get saved, and you might as well start preaching early, because you might lose friends when God saves you.
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And Levi gave a big reception for him, capital H, Christ, in his house, and there was a great crowd of tax gatherers, and other people who were reclining at the table with them.
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The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at his disciples saying, why do you eat and drink with such tax gatherers and sinners?
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Now we're reading all this because remember, every parable and its meaning can be found by its local what?
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Context. There's a situation or an occasion for the parable, and that's what we're trying to figure out here.
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The Pharisees and the scribes are grumbling, you guys are having big parties, you're having a festival, you're happy, you're joyful.
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Verse 31, and Jesus answered and said to them, it is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick.
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See they realize it. I've not come to call the righteous self -righteous, but sinners to repentance.
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And they said to him, the disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the
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Pharisees also do the same, but yours eat and drink. And that leads us to the parable that's going to come up soon.
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Now Jesus doesn't give a direct answer right away, he's going to lead into it. We want to ask the question tonight, what does this parable mean?
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What's going to happen in the verses to follow? Now what were they doing?
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They were fasting. Now I have a trick question for you, maybe it's not so tricky. Tell me some
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Bible commands for us to fast today. You don't even need to give me the reference, you can just quote the verse if you like.
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Where are the verses where it tells us to fast today? Some of you are looking down, some of you are smiling, a couple are going hmm.
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Well let me ask you another question then. Why did people fast in the Old Testament times? Why would you fast?
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I remember Kim and I, we first got saved and we said, we're fasting every Tuesday. Every Tuesday we're going to fast, religious fast, and we'll pray more and stuff.
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Why would people fast in the Old Testament? To show grief.
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That's the answer. Thank you. Is your dad a pastor? That is awesome. To show grief.
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Let me just read a couple to you. Fasting, did you know, is always associated with times of trouble or testing.
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Always associated with times of trouble or testing. I don't have time to give you a whole excursus of fasting, but 2
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Samuel chapter 12. David was begging for his son's life. He said to Nathan, I've sinned against the
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Lord. Nathan replied, the Lord has taken away your sin, you're not going to die. Verse 16,
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David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and went into his house and spent the night lying on the ground. Fasting, sadness, trial, trouble.
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King Jehoshaphat was threatened by the Moabites and the Ammonites. Alarmed, he resolved to inquire of the
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Lord and he proclaimed to fast for all Judah. We're going to get invaded by another country. It's time to fast.
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Queen Esther and all the Jews in Susa, for three full days they fasted while they wanted the
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Jews to be spared. Times of trouble, times of testing, and now we have two groups of fasters.
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We've got the disciples of John the Baptist and the Pharisees, or the disciples of the Pharisees.
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Now why do you think John the Baptist's disciples were fasting? Okay, he's in jail, good.
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His message was... easy for me to say. His message, the Lord led me to say it that way.
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Yeah, that's right. His message was a message of redemption. Repentance, which was tied in to fasting.
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Excellent. I think of Matthew 11, 18, for John came neither eating or drinking.
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How about the Pharisees? Why were they fasting? It was a great show -off thing, wasn't it?
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Boy, I'm fasting and standing there. Oh, I'm fasting another day. Remember Luke 18, where the
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Pharisees said, I fast how many days a week? Twice a week. Now there were certain fasts in the
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Old Testament, but the only fast they really had to do was the Day of Atonement in Leviticus chapter 16, which was once a year.
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Here they're fasting twice a week. Super spiritual. Reminds me of a story
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I read this week. A man bought a new radio, brought it home, placed it in the refrigerator, plugged it in, turned it to WSM in Nashville, home of the grand old
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Opry, pulled off all the knobs. He had already tuned in all he ever wanted or expected to hear.
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Have you listened to grand old Opry, Brian? Pharisees are fasting.
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John the Baptist's disciples are fasting. Everybody's mourning and have a gloomy face.
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Remember Jesus says, when you fast, don't have that gloomy face on. We're so pious, and look at your folks.
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Jesus, your disciples, then implicating Jesus by that, they're not fasting, they're having a feast with all these wicked people.
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Fasting versus feasting. And so Jesus gives one marriage analogy and two parables to answer them.
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In a very strange way, like only Jesus could do. Look at the marriage analogy first.
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We have all these BBC weddings around here. We'll see if anybody breaks the mold, but I bet you they won't. Marissa Nelson got married last
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Saturday, and we had ourselves a good old fashioned fast.
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The table decorations had a little bit of ashes, and we just all wiped it on our faces. Everybody's super gloomy.
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The best man got up and tried to offer a toast of joy, but everybody was just...
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It's just stupid, isn't it? When somebody gets married, it is a party. And if you were back in the
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Middle East, it wasn't just a party for the reception night. It was a seven -day party. You were king and queen, not for a day, but king and queen for a week.
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Can you imagine a reception? The newly engaged ones back here are going,
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Yeah, that's right. My bank account can't handle it for a week. Some people never got that time off in their entire life, except when there was a wedding, and it was a joy.
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And that's exactly what Jesus is going to say. Verse 34 of Luke 5. Jesus said to them, You cannot make the attendance of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you?
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You wouldn't do that. That goes against nature. That goes against the festival and the rejoicing of marriage.
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Think of Revelation 19. Let us rejoice and be glad and give glory to him, for the marriage of the
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Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. You don't fast when the bridegroom is there.
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It would be insane. It would be improper. Fasting is out of place.
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I remember what John 3 says. John answered and said, Man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven.
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You yourselves bear witness with me that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him. He who has the bride is the bridegroom, but the friends of the bridegroom who stand and hear him rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice.
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And so this joy of mine has been made full. See the veiled little analogy and description of Jesus the bridegroom?
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William Hendrickson said, If it be true that God with us, Emmanuel spells joy for the disciples, should not
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God within us, the Holy Spirit, awaken in every child of God? Joy unspeakable and full of glory.
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The point is Jesus is here. Jesus says, I am here. Why would all my disciples be fasting?
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I am here. What does he say though in the next verse? You see it?
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What does he say? But the days are going to come when you will fast.
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When do you think that was going to be? When the bridegroom is taken away from them, they will fast in those days? When was that?
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Christ gets crucified. They're going to fast in those days when they're running from the law, as it were, and the
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Pharisees, they'll fast in those days. Taken away, snatched away, just like Isaiah 53 .8.
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By oppression and judgment, he was taken away. Jesus knew what was around the bend for him. And I got to thinking, even in my own life, we all have trials and circumstances.
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The Christian life should be a life of joy, shouldn't it? It should be a life of joy. Everything about Christ's life oozes joy.
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One preacher said, if you have no joy in your religion, there's a leak in your Christianity somewhere. Everything in my life pretty much is falling apart that we own.
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The boat, that was broken, we got that fixed. The riding lawnmower, that was broken, it got fixed.
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The van was broken, and that got fixed. My nose was broken, and I still can't breathe out of it very well. Hopefully that was fixed.
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What else is broken? The computer is broken, and that is close to be fixed. The inner tube that you take behind the boat, that had a leak in it, and that had to be fixed.
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I mean, it just goes on and on and on. You ask me why I don't believe in evolution, because the second law of thermodynamics says everything goes downhill.
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There's a leak in your Christianity somewhere if you're not joyful. Nietzsche, the German philosopher, said,
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I would believe in their salvation if they looked a little more like people who have been saved. Now, I was part of it too today, but this morning, our first song that we sang,
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Praise Him, Praise Him, sounded like a bunch of ducks that were getting strangled. I mean, it was bad.
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Praise Him, Praise Him, Jesus our blessed Redeemer. You know, you hit the person to the side of you,
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Praise Him, and I'm just thinking, this is like the drone here. It's a funeral procession or something.
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I couldn't believe it. And I listened to my own voice and thought, it's probably they're all following my lead.
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I don't have to go to hell. I don't have to pay for my sins. Jesus is my Savior. He's my Lord. And it's just this joyless life.
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It reminds me of the psalmist in Psalm 16. He says, In your presence there is fullness of what?
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Joy. Jesus says, These disciples of mine aren't going to fast. Yes, if there's an Old Testament command to fast for the
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Day of Atonement, that's fine. But above and beyond, they don't want to fast and they don't need to fast because I'm here.
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Why do you think there's no New Testament command for a Christian to fast? Why? The closest thing you can get to is
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Acts chapter 13 where the elders needed to be chosen for a church and so they fasted.
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But it doesn't say you have to do it. I don't think we should ever have to fast. There's not a command to fast until there's a time of sorrow.
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Somebody says, Well, there's a family crisis or financial crisis or health crisis and you don't feel like eating and you want to fast.
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Great. But I'm telling you, let's put it this way. Could we kick somebody out of the church for not fasting?
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Unrepentant fasting and non -fasting? No. There's no New Testament command to fast. Why? Because we have
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Christ. He's not dead. He's risen. And I got convicted this week because everything about Christ oozes joy.
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At his birth, the same regents, some shepherds staying out in the fields keeping watch over their flock by night an angel of the
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Lord suddenly stood before them. Glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terribly frightened and the angel said to them,
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Do not be afraid. Behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all people.
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How about regarding Christ's word? John 15. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy, he said to his audience, may be full.
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His ascension. Luke 24. He led them out as far as Bethany. He lifted up his hands and blessed them and it came about that while he was blessing them, he parted from them and they returned to Jerusalem with great what?
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Joy. Praise Him. Praise Him. Remember that song,
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They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love? We could probably put in there, They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Joy. Because only we as Christians can have joy when the world is upside down.
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You say, Well, I'm in a big trial. I don't know if I can have joy. First Peter 1 .8. And though you have not seen Him, you love
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Him. And though you do not see Him now but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory.
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That's right by a passage of trials. Grandma Evie, if she's read it once, she's read it what?
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500 times? Every time we go back to her house, she's got a little book out next to her Bible and it says,
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Make It Your Choice to Rejoice. That's her favorite book. And can you imagine in the
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Christian life joy is a fruit of the Spirit but joy is also a command. Remember we saw that this morning, 1
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Thessalonians 5. Rejoice always. You know, it just doesn't make sense to sing that song,
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I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. Where? With just that look.
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Alright, let's get back to the passage here and get to the parable. You came here for a parable series. Here's the parable. It's a short one.
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Back to Luke chapter 5 verse 36. He first gives the analogy of marriage and now he gives the parable.
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By the way, what's a parable just in general? Anybody out loud? Sunday school definition? Story that makes a point?
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Earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Excellent. Here comes the first one, verse 36.
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The first thing, the earlier one may be marriage, this could be mending if you want, if you want to have them all
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Ms. And he was also telling them a parable. Remember the context what was going on with the fasting.
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Trying to say Jesus, I know you're coming here preaching your gospel but we've got to add this other stuff that we do what the
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Pharisees do. No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment.
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What will happen? Don't read anymore. What will happen? How many people knit? You knit?
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Carl knits. My name's Carl Larson and I knit. Right on. Okay, and so tell me a little bit about this.
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Would you get some old fabric that's like 30 years old and then knit something new to it?
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Why wouldn't you do that? It'll rip even more and what is destroyed? One or the other or both?
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Both. I remember my grandmother used to darn my socks. You know, it's kind of like the you know, lots of Christians and even myself as a parent
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I don't like my kids to say, you know, darn because that's kind of slang for another word and I don't like them to say oh my gosh.
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You know, what was the old phrase heck is a place for people who don't believe in gosh or something like that.
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I don't like the gosh and everything else because it's just slang for the other stuff.
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So where am I? He says right here in the passage, otherwise he will tear both.
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See, both. If you add grace as Jesus is coming to preach it and the traditions of the
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Pharisees the Pharisees are not representing the Old Testament because there's even grace in the
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Old Testament but there are man -made traditions with Jesus' grace that he's preaching he will both tear the new and the peace from the new will not match the old.
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Jesus says it's not addition my religion, if you want to use that term
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I know we say no, it's a relationship, but what he's preaching is not in addition, it's instead of. And that word tear there means rendereth we get the
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Greek schizosa, schism It's not going to do, you can't add it, it's instead of.
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Listen to what Ellison said, John the
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Baptist comes and preaches repentance and says you want to abandon your Judaistic system? I'll go ahead and say that's fine, you're going to be baptized not for salvation, but to say you renounce your old ways that patch job didn't work that well
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Jesus said you're going to ruin both you take grace and traditions and laws and works, both are ruined then he gives another one this is the third illustration, but the second parable, verse 37 and no one puts new wine into old wine skins how did they carry things around back in those days?
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two liter bottles? what kind of skins? good and the neck of the skin to pour happened to be what?
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the neck of the animal, good otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and look, see both are ruined and it will be spilled out and the skins will be ruined
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Dr. Block was very insightful when he was here and he was trying to make the point that it's not the Old Testament is law and works and the
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New Testament is grace as a matter of fact, both systems have an operation of grace there's a mosaic law, that's for sure but it's not for the law
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John 1 .17 was given through Moses but grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ it was for the law was given through Moses grace and truth were realized through Christ Jesus Jesus is not saying here, the
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Jewish Old Testament system is wrong and I'm here to patch it up he was not saying the
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Jewish Old Testament system I'm going to replace no, Jesus came to fulfill the Jewish Old Testament and he says to the
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Pharisees, what you've done adding tradition and everything else you've perverted the grace of the
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Old Testament and turned it into legalism and I'm here to destroy that Jesus isn't after the
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Old Testament not one little jot or tittle someone once counted them and said there could be 6 ,000 jots and tittles in the
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Old Testament not one jot or tittle would go unfulfilled so he's not saying there's anything wrong with the
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Old Testament but he's saying your form of Judaism doesn't need reform it needs to be obliterated but new wine must be put into fresh wine skins all the fermentation process and everything else
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I wish I had a better illustration but taking a fork and popping it through an empty 2 liter bottle of Diet Pepsi what would be a better way to do it?
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I don't know, but you shake those things up enough and drop them and you put a little crack in there, the whole thing's going to go verse 39, no one after drinking old wine wishes for new he says the old's good enough in all these cases, things don't mix things don't match fasting at a wedding, no what's the second one?
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here's old fabric and new fabric and here's now new wine that ferments and expands and an old wine skin, none of these things mix and Jesus' answer when they ask him, why don't your disciples fast he basically says,
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I'm not going to answer your question but what I will tell you, what I'm preaching doesn't mix with what you're doing and here's the truth so I said for the sermon title tonight is
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Christianity Jewish? how would you answer that? in light of this passage, if I said to you, is
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Christianity Jewish, what would you say? it's a fulfillment of Judaism, ok good what else?
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Jesus, Jewish? yes, certainly stems from a
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Jewish Messiah that's true what about Judaism? does Christianity come from Judaism?
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now I'm trying to play around a little bit, I'm not talking about Old Testament the Old Testament from a
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Jewish perspective I'm talking about Judaism that comes along and says now you've got to do all these extra things maybe
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I could put it this way to explain it better Daryl Bach said this warns against syncretism between Christianity and any other religion if syncretism were possible, one would think that Judaism would be the best candidate if Christianity cannot be mixed with Judaism its closest cousin, then certainly it cannot be mixed with anything else available in the world's cafeteria of religions to do so will destroy both if you define
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Judaism as the Old Testament and the grace of law I don't mean that,
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I mean Judaism that the Pharisees represented and Judaism that's even preached today now there's two thoughts that I want to talk about before we leave and they're both politically incorrect so that should get your attention first one is
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Messianic Judaism how many people have heard of Messianic Judaism? can anybody give me a definition?
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it's very popular today I'm not impugning or impugning anyone's motives that it's somehow bad people but what is your take on Messianic Judaism?
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you've got Reform Jews and Orthodox Jews and Conservative Jews and now you have Fulfilled Jews, Messianic Jews Lewis, ok, and so certainly if somebody's in our congregation and they're
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Jewish and they want to celebrate a Passover or something traditional or cultural, you're not saying that's wrong are you?
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no, that's certainly fine but how about Jewish traditions mixed in with Christianity? what would you say about that?
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what would you think Lewis about, and I'm not just putting you on the spot keeping kosher laws, lighting candles on the
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Sabbath wearing Jewish yarmulkes reading from the complete
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Jewish Bible requiring some of the Gentiles to be circumcised before they can be members ok,
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I think that's good in light of that, would you turn your Bibles to Galatians for a moment and I want to show you what
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Paul thought about his Judaism that can make my point here
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I think, and I'm not saying everyone because I haven't met every Jewish rabbi in every Messianic synagogue but I'm scared about Messianic Judaism and I don't like it and I don't support it look at Galatians chapter 1 verse 13 and following just something about that and we'll look at one other passage in Ephesians chapter 2 that I think we're starting to add the old cloth to the new cloth and I think there's trouble
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I think that it's very showy and there's a lot of things that are appealing and there's a good new book about it, but I just think it's basically church growth within Jewish context, but look at Galatians chapter 1 verse 13 and see how
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Paul referred to his Jewishness as something that was pre -salvation something that was in the past for you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism how
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I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it I was advancing in what?
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Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries, among my countrymen being more extremely zealous from my ancestral traditions but when
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He who had set me apart even from my mother's womb and called me through His grace was pleased to reveal
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His Son in me that I might preach among the Gentiles I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood and we could go on, but did you notice how
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He starts talking about it as past? He says that Judaism used to be part of me He's not saying
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I'm some kind of fulfilled Jew furthermore the church is not made out of Christianized Jews or Christianized Gentiles we're all considered what in Ephesians chapter 2?
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One, and what are we called? Saints? The church?
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The body? Keep going, we haven't hit it yet Sorry, the bride, good
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Children of God, excellent So far you're all right, except what does Ephesians 2 say? Jews sit on this side,
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Gentiles sit on that side Okay, let's find out
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See, you ask enough questions and you say, well I gotta go find out, Ephesians chapter 2 For the past 2 ,000 years we have
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Judaism that has systematically rejected the deity of Christ and now we're going to call ourselves
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Messianic Jews? If you're Jewish and you're Messianic, that's fine, but I think you need to call yourself something else and I'm going to try to use
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Ephesians 2 to prove it I'm not going to use it out of context, but I'll just show you
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Ephesians 2 .14, for He Himself if you ever see the He Himself part, that's very emphatic who made both groups into one.
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Which groups? Jews and Goyim Gentiles and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall
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What was that? Think about the Old Testament temple area Was there dividing walls around?
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Can't go here, can't go there Matter of fact, there was a bunch of them I found There was the court of the priests, court of Israel, court of women they were all on the same level, but five steps down there was a five foot stone barricade that surrounded the temple another 14 steps that descended down to the court of the
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Gentiles and did you know they found about a hundred years ago what was on a plaque at that temple and here's what it says
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No foreigner may enter within the barricade which surrounds the sanctuary and enclosure
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Anyone who is caught doing so will have himself to blame for his ensuing death
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Josephus talks about it now too If you are a Gentile and you want to go over here past that dividing wall and that barrier you are going to get killed
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What does he go on to say? This is interesting I like to call that, by the way, I've been to Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin years ago when the wall was still up they go to Checkpoint Charlie and they had all the mirrors there before you went into East Berlin to see if anybody was hiding underneath the buses and everything and you just go around East Berlin and come back and you see places where people tried to crawl over the wall and they would get shot
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Anyway, I call that barrier wall, not Checkpoint Charlie Now after that big intro, it's not even going to be funny I call it
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Checkpoint Yitzhak So you can only be a Jew to go there or you're going to die He broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, this is
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Christ That wall didn't get destroyed until 70 AD but spiritually that wall was done.
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No more Jew and Gentile By abolishing in his flesh, by his death the enmity. What is the enmity?
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What was the enemy that kept the two apart? How could you distinguish between a Jew and a Gentile back in Bible days?
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Okay, circumcised What else? The law.
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Give me some ideas about what the law... You ask yourself the question, why did God give the
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Jews the law? Well there's many reasons, but one of the reasons was so everybody would know they were totally different People go around saying, well you couldn't eat pork if you were
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Jewish because God knew about trigonosis. That may be a side benefit But you didn't eat pork like everybody else did because you weren't like everybody else
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So if you take the law, the law of Moses away can the
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Jew and Gentile be different? No. What is the dividing law?
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By abolishing in his flesh the enmity it says what it is.
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Look at the passage, 2 .15 Which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances Jesus totally fulfills the law
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God judges all those who would ever believe against the law on him and now Jesus dies and that has been abolished 616 laws in the
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Jewish count from Genesis to Deuteronomy The real barrier, the real culprit is the
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Mosaic Law Done! Now I love my friends that think the Mosaic Law is for Christians today
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That's fine and I know most of the reformers teach that but I don't know what they do with Ephesians 2 .5
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What makes a Jew different than a Gentile? The Mosaic Law What makes Christians now all the same?
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Not Jewish Christians and not Gentile Christians but all Christians There's no Mosaic Law separating the two Look at the passage, it says having abolished it means to make ineffective or powerless
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Done! Romans 10 .4 says Christ is the end of the law for righteousness Christ fulfilled it all, slammed it
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Charles Hodge, the reformer, you'd think he'd have a different position said Christ abolished the law by fulfilling its conditions
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So he abolished the Mosaic Law by fulfilling all its types and shadows He was the end of the law in both these aspects
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Peter O 'Brien, the best scholar in Ephesians living today said but the Mosaic Law which is firmly tied to the
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Sinai Covenant is not a direct and immediate guide to the New Covenant believer That's why
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Jews and Gentiles can get together and now we're going to go to a Messianic congregation and be under Torah? I find that strange
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So you say pastor, you never answer the question What are people called today? Verse 15 That in himself he might make the two into one new man
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Jew and Gentiles into one And so another definition of us as a church is the one new man
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Thus establishing peace We're new creations,
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I don't think we need to build up the wall and say on Messianic Jewish synagogues these are all the things that make us different People say, well you could evangelize
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Jews better that way I was super convicted one day when MacArthur said to me I told him, New England, it's so hard to evangelize and everybody they could care less and it's hard and cold, it's like Europe John looked at me and said,
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I'll never forget it as long as I live I think the gospel is power enough for salvation in England New England too, don't you
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Mike? By the way, on a side note, if you're wondering why
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I'm wearing a 1980s suit kind of a pin -striped, double -breasted suit that's out of date you'll do anything to preach better and one day, actually
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I had to loan this suit to John MacArthur and I figured I'd put it on tonight and get a little anointing from John because he actually wore this suit
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I get a phone call one day saying, John needs a suit he went to the office without a suit, there's some movie film thing he's got to be in Mike, you're about his size, can you loan a suit to John MacArthur?
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So this was the suit It didn't seem to work tonight though to help me preach better Oh man
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Briscoe said he simply made something altogether new He did not Christianize Jews or Judaize Gentiles He produced no half -breed
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Ephesian children of Abraham or Abraham -ized children of Diana And then one last question, this is even more politically incorrect to preface it a little bit
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He said, if you lived in Idaho and Utah what kind of people around you might you want to evangelize?
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Mormons, do you know there's a huge population of Mormons not only in Utah but also in Idaho I was in an operating room once there and I said to someone do you have any good
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Bible services on Wednesday night? They said, oh I don't know, pretty much everybody here is Mormon I didn't really know that Do you think
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Jesus was loving when he told these things to the Pharisees? He can't patch these two things together
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Of course, how about us? If you have your heart on evangelism and you live in Utah don't you have a heart to tell the truth to the
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Mormons in Utah who if they believe what their church teaches the LDS are not going to go to heaven
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Shouldn't you have a heart? That's unloving if you don't So let me ask you this question
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Why is it deemed unloving in New England if Protestant people say 80 % of those in this county, in this state are
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Roman Catholics and if they believe what the Roman Catholic church teaches they're not going to heaven So beloved, tell them as the
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Pharisees added tradition so too does your church would you please talk to me about what the Bible teaches because I want you to know how to have forgiveness of sins
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Why is that unloving? It's Catholic bashing. Was Jesus Pharisee bashing?
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Well, maybe Okay, strike that Where am
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I? You cannot patch man's traditions to the gospel
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And I think it's loving if you tell people that And I can prove my point
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They believe that mass was mandatory under the penalty of mortal sin Celibacy of the priesthood
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Indulgences to reduce time in purgatory Tradition claimed equal in authority with the
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Bible by Council of Trent Immaculate conception of Mary Fallibility of the
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Pope Virgin Mary proclaimed co -redeemer And the list goes on Beloved, there may be
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Roman Catholics who are saved But they are not saved because of the Roman Catholic system So in love, preach the gospel to them
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Catholic catechism Through baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God We become members of Christ, are incorporated into the church
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And made sharers in her mission Council of Trent If anyone says that by faith alone the sinner is justified
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So as to mean that nothing else is required to cooperate in order to obtain the grace of justification
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Let him be damned Romans chapter 4 makes it clear that it is by faith alone
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And you will do yourself a favor to tell Roman Catholics the truth And why don't you just go to Luke chapter 5 and say
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Here's a parable that Jesus told about man's traditions Being patched into Christianity because it destroys both
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You have 99 parts grace One part works, and what happens to the whole thing?
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I think there should probably be more urging From this pulpit to evangelize your
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Roman Catholic friends If you lived in Utah and didn't know anything about Mormonism Wouldn't that be kind of strange if you were an evangelical?
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I think that would be very strange I could put it this way
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If you don't think that the reformation should have happened
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No, let's do it this way If you don't evangelize your Roman Catholic friends It's because you don't think the reformation should have happened Because you think they're going
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Because if you think somebody's not going, you want to tell them the truth Galatians 3 .11
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So beloved, I don't hate Roman Catholics I don't want you to hate them I want you to love them enough to tell them the truth
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You can't mix works with grace You can't patch on sacraments
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You can't sew on baptism Any questions about that?
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Then we're going to finish Am I the only one who thinks it's loving to tell somebody the truth?
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Aren't you glad somebody preached the gospel to you with truth? Loved you enough? Think about it
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It's hard to confront people with the truth Do you like it? I don't really like to do it
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I like to just live in kind of like the sequestered
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What's that like aquarium boy? It's not aquarium boy, what is it?
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What? Yes, the boy in the bubble, excuse me I wasn't trying to speak ill of anyone
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You just live in that, I mean who wants to confront people Because they're not going to like it and they're not going to like you I want to be liked,
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I want to have friends But you have to tell them the truth
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My grandmother died two years ago Her name was Nona and she was a staunch Roman Catholic One day
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I wrote her a letter and I said, Grandma, I know you believe X, Y, and Z This is what the Bible teaches about the free grace of Christ Found based on his death, burial, and resurrection
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And she got mad I love my grandma, I just needed to tell her I still have that letter and I'm thinking
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God, maybe on the last moment before she died you snatched her out of But I'm so glad we have a savior that told us the truth
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That told us the good news and by the way that's the only good news Next time, final point, somebody comes knocking at your door
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Hi, I'm Jim and this is my friend Jack And we have bicycles and we're going to tell you about good news
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And we want to talk about religion And you just basically say this, what's your good news? Well, the good news is you can know
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God, how can I know God? By doing this, by doing this, by doing this You tell them, I already tried that and I can't do it
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I'm sinful and I can't do it and I can't measure up to God's standards Well, if you just try a little harder, you just try that and you say
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That's not good news at all, let me tell you the good news The good news is nobody can be perfect and God requires perfection
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But since Jesus Christ was perfect By faith when you trust in him and his finished work on the cross at Calvary And his resurrection,
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God counts his perfection to your account Your sin to his account and you can stand before God That's good news
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By the way, stay away from my neighbors until you repent too I've had to tell people that, why?
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What would you do? Knock, knock, knock Hi, we've got special water for sale, it tastes like Evian But it's got arsenic and strychnine in it
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And it's especially good for kids, we have them in special sippy cups What would you do? I guarantee you would call the police
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But no, if a JW or a Mormon comes to your door saying We want to sell you spiritual strychnine
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Don't confront them, you don't be offensive
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But your message should be offensive And I've had to tell them, if you go to my neighbors,
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I'm going to follow you around the neighborhood And I had to do it once, I went across the street in North Hollywood And they went knocking on the door and they said
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Hi, we're here to talk about spiritual things And I said to Mr. Torres, who was a Roman Catholic at the time I said, Mr.
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Torres, these people don't believe Jesus is God And they're trying to tell you to get to heaven by good works Don't believe them, they're accursed
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Mr. Torres didn't know whether to look at them with a head like this Or look at me like I was whacked out
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So he just shut his door, like amen Somebody knocks at the door, don't you ever hide
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Why hide? God, just give me somebody who crosses my path this week To evangelize to They're coming to your door
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I don't know what to say I'm starting a new church growth stuff up here, what am
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I doing? Just open the door and say Tell them your testimony, that's all you have to tell them
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You don't need to be a theologian, although you are If you know about God and Jesus and His death, burial and resurrection And it's by grace alone, through faith alone, through God's glory alone
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You preach the gospel to them, and tell them you'll pray for them Let's pray
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Father, thanks for our night tonight, and that you have chosen us And you've elected us, and you've given us free grace through Christ Father, we could have been on the receiving end of your son's judgment
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Like these Pharisees were Yet you are gracious and merciful towards us, thank you for that Give us hearts that are bold Give us hearts that see opportunities
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And that we might seize them through your Spirit's grace As we can preach the gospel to friends
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And Father, I pray that you would pack our church with a bunch of new believers Who've been rescued out of the abomination and the falsehood of Mormonism And Jehovah's Witnesses And Roman Catholics Father, be merciful to them, would you please use us?
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We're fragile and we're weak Yet you're mighty, powerful and strong In Jesus' name,