Good Works. Two Trees. Your Anointing.

with a personal issue, wondering about a tricky verse? At BibleQuestions.com you'll get clear, grace-based answers in 10 seconds or less. No fluff, no confusion, just practical, biblical truth. Ask anything anytime and experience the power of God's love. BibleQuestions.com, that's BibleQuestions.com. You're go too for biblical clarity. Jesus plus nothing. 100% natural, no additives. Andrew Farley is celebrating your freedom in Christ. Call in and ask your questions at 877-655-6755. That's toll-free at 877-655-6755. By a satellite from Texas, it's The Grace Message with Dr. Andrew Farley. Hello everyone, welcome to The Grace Message. I'm Andrew Farley, so glad you're joining us today. That number to call 877-655-6755. We've got open lines, room for you right now. You'll be sure to get in if you call right away. Maybe you've got a question today about a scripture passage or something you heard in church or maybe something online on the internet scrolling through social media. Maybe something came up. Well, if that's The Case, let's make it a conversation together right now. 877-655-6755. If you're a first-time caller tonight, please know we love it. We want to hear from first-time callers and of course our veteran callers as well. So whatever's on your mind, go for it, give us a call right now. We've got open lines, room for you. Maybe it's a personal issue going on in your life right now in your marriage with your kids in your church. Or maybe you're not even sure about your relationship with God. You just need some clarity, some encouragement. Well, that is precisely why we're here.

We are live across the United States and Canada on SiriusXM. All kinds of FM and AM stations and we're live streaming. It doesn't matter how you're watching or listening, you can simply call in and be a part of tonight's interaction. We'd love to have you. I'll give you that number one last time, 877-655-6755. We are going to go to California for our first call, but first a quick reminder of our brand new resource. It's called "Forgiven Forever." It's available for just another four days. So make sure to request your copy of this new resource. Are you forgiven of all your sins or are you being progressively forgiven? You know, like paying off your car, paying off your mortgage. Are you forgiven daily, even hourly as you ask God? The great news of the gospel is it is way better than that. It's all about the finished work of Jesus. I'm excited about this new resource. It is called "Forgiven Forever." And that's the truth of Hebrews chapter 10. By one sacrifice, you've been made perfect for all time. So make sure to request your copy of "Forgiven Forever." When you give your gift this month, in the month of August, we're giving it away to each and every donor. It's our way of encouraging you in the love and grace of God. It's our way of reminding you that you are forgiven forever. Yes, you are forgiven forever. We want you to know that. Be reminded of it. Be encouraged in it. And that's exactly what this new resource is all about. It's called "Forgiven Forever." You can find out more right there at our website at AndrewFarley.org. And we thank you so, so much for your support. All right. Well, we're going to California first, and we'll talk with Julius. Hi, Julius. What you got for us today? Well, hello, and good evening. So I'm really excited that God prepares my good works for me ahead of time that I can walk in them. I think that's probably one of the most encouraging verses in the Bible.

However, I wonder if God is, well, kind of tapping his foot going, I sure wish he'd have more quiet time so that I could use him for some different things. The sure is more I'd like to get done in people's lives if only he would get his mind renewed a little bit more. Okay, yeah, I hear you. Well, I think it's a pretty unhealthy Way to think and I want to explain why the first reason is that to God God's really a big fan of you Julius right here right now He doesn't just choose to use people who are super great at Bible study as great as Bible study is it's important You got to realize the early church was illiterate. I mean the early church you talk about a quiet time No, almost nobody in the early church could have a quiet time. They couldn't even read 80% of them were illiterate and they absolutely rocked the world Christianity exploded They knew how to love people by the spirit. They knew how to share the good news of Jesus. They knew how to forgive people and just get the message out and Display the the fruit of the spirit and so when you look at the fruit of the spirit, which by the way is God's number one Product in your life is his character his character the fruit of his spirit, you know love joy peace patients Kindness gentleness. Look at that. Where does that come from? Well, that comes from a Julius in California who knows that he's loved and accepted and embraced by God and enjoyed and Held tight and safe and secure. That's where gentleness and kindness come from Do you think gentleness and kindness just come from all a whole lot more quiet time? No, no So, you know, I think first and foremost you need to know that where you are and you know, who you are is 100% awesome to God. He recreated you in Christ Jesus You're his righteousness and as far as you know, these works that he prepared in advance for us Ephesians 210 is not Really spelling out what what you asked about well, you know It's not saying you can level up to level two and level up to level three and if you do six more quiet times Then you'll be able to double your your works and if you do 12 more quiet times, you'll be able to triple your works And I mean, that's not what we see in Scripture. What we read in the New Testament is Colossians 2

We grow with a growth that is from God now. I know that we could make choices Obviously, we do make choices every day, but still the growth comes from God and so I think the the flaw in the thinking of that sort of systematic logic there is that the growth comes from literacy or If you you know log time in a book, then that's automatically going to result in some sort of You know growth and then more productivity well I mean there are people who have their heads buried in the Bible all day long and they aren't even Christians You can find them at the local university in the religion department So I guess what I'm saying is number one the early church was illiterate. They couldn't have a quiet time They couldn't read the words on the page number two. They knew how to bear the fruit of the Spirit simply by a Childlike trust relationship and then number three watch out for formulas Watch out for the formula if if you do this then this will happen So, you know if I read the Bible 52 hours, then my works will triple That's really at the bottom line of that premise. I think instead think about The Holy Spirit living in you and you living in the Spirit and that the living word is inside of you I mean don't get me wrong. We love the scriptures. We teach the scriptures verse by verse every week at the grace church We talk about them every night on the air But even Jesus. I mean he said you search the scriptures because you think in them you have life But the scriptures testify about me and you refuse to come to me so that you may have life so the author is the point we read the Bible but only really to get to know the author and to trust him and to depend on him and to look to him as life and so I just want to encourage you There's no greener pasture you out there in California today your smack dab in the middle of God's will because you're in Christ and The whole you know could have would have should have could have read more should have studied more should have done more Get away from that rest in Jesus and say thank you Lord that you've got me exactly where you want me I'm in Christ, Christ is in me. I'm growing with a growth that is from you, Lord. You began a good work in me. You're going to carry me on to completion.

I want to learn the secret of contentment. And I'm not a works factory. I'm a child of God. And so the goal is not maximum productivity. The goal is relationship and to really understand his love, his grace, because the product is gentleness and the product is kindness and the product is love. And so that's not formulaic and it's not as a result of XYZ, you know, poor in X, poor in Y, poor in Z and outcomes, the desired product. And no, that is a dynamic, vibrant, living relationship of trust in the Holy Spirit who lives in you. And so that's for the least to the greatest, from the seven-year-old to the 99-year-old Bible scholar and everybody in between, we're all on equal footing. And yes, it's great to get your mind renewed over time, amen, to that. But we got to learn the secret of contentment right here, right now, otherwise that whole gentleness, kindness, love thing is not going to happen. It only happens in an atmosphere of grace and freedom and joy and contentment. And that comes from knowing that you're forgiven and righteous and holy and accepted. That's how real fruit is born. So I'll put you back on and see, does that make some sense, Julius? Well, it very much does, I think I almost hear you saying that God's going to get his purposes accomplished in the world regardless of whether I level up or not. Yes, I think you got it. That's exactly what I'm saying. And there's a book, the book of Acts, you know, a passage there, Julius. It says, "God is not served by human hands as if he needed anything." And I love that because it's really striking. It's really shocking. God is not served by human hands, but come on, God, look at me, I'm living the Christian life. I'm serving you.

I'm doing stuff for you. And yet, I mean, even the rocks would cry out if we didn't. And God already showed us that, you know, he can speak through a donkey and he can use total failures in miraculous ways. So God's not desperate and he's not up in heaven ringing his hands. Gee willikers, I wish Julius in California would crank out some more good works this week. I'm getting frustrated. Boy, if we could just get his mind renewed, he'd be way more productive at the works factory. And that's just not the way that he operates with us, you know, I mean, the whole father son, the whole father-child relationship, that's what it's all about. And that union with Christ, you and him and you. So I love your question. I know in a way you already know the answer in your heart of hearts because even in your responses, you're more than tracking. And I think you've helped a lot of people by bringing this question up today. So thank you, Julius, and please call us back anytime there in California. We want to hear from you again. All right, let's go now to Connecticut, and we'll talk with Steve. Hey, Steve, what you got for us? Hey, Andrew, thanks for taking my call. It's been a while since I spoke to you, it was like over a year, but I've been listening every day and I love Saturday through the message. I listen to both morning and night, the same message, I just love it myself. I'm going to get to my question. My question, the other night you were talking about the law and I started thinking about how admin even when their eyes were opened when they ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And right away they felt shame about being naked. And I just I know when I tried to file the law, I always got a feeling, guilt or shame.

It never just works, you know, never feel forgiven, you know. So I just want to, is there a connection between the law and the tree of knowledge of good and evil? Oh, yeah. Yeah. I think you're on to something because it's not the tree exactly. It's do not eat from the tree, right? So that's the law. I mean, they had one law. Isn't that a beautiful picture, Steve? I mean, you're on to something big there because you go back to the Garden of Eden. How many laws are there? One, what happens in the, in, in all that freedom? They just had one law, hey, don't eat from that tree. What happens? not a great mix from the very beginning. And also, I want you to notice, you know, what the sales pitch was. There's several things about the sales pitch back in that garden that are a big revelation. First of all, you know, God's a liar. That was the sales pitch. God's a liar. He's holding out on you. You could be, you could be more like him. You could have your eyes opened. You could see better. God's holding out on you. You don't have enough. You're not complete. He didn't make you right. If you could just eat of this tree, then you would really see the truth. And so it was like they, they felt they needed some sort of big news flash. They needed some sort of big revelation that they didn't already have. And so they were suckers for the sales pitch of self-improvement, which leads me to the second point. I mean, this whole thing was about being more godly. And that's what got them in trouble when they thought they needed to be more godly. Now, is that not ironic? Did we not just have a discussion with our previous caller, where his question was, basically, if I could level up, would I be more godly? If I could level up and do all the right things, couldn't I achieve more works? Couldn't I be more productive? If I just had more quiet times and did more of this and did more of that? Couldn't I bear more fruit? Couldn't I be more godly? Couldn't I have more works? And so you see the parallel. And by the way,

I think he, he really knew the answer to that question, but he was helping all of us by asking it, our previous caller. But back to the point, you know, this is very, very early on in human existence that we become suckers for the idea of leveling up into more godliness. Now, what's the cure for that? The cure for that is OK-ness. The cure for that is completeness in Christ. And that's what Colossians tells us. You're complete in him elsewhere. It says you have everything you need for life and godliness. And you're blessed with every spiritual blessing. What does that tell you? You don't need to level up. You don't need more to get more like God. And that's what Adam and Eve fell for. And we can fall for it today. There is certainly a beautiful parallel there. Law-based living comes along. Knox at our door says it's great that you're saved by grace. Now, how about you level up and do some spiritual disciplines? If you just follow these rules, if you just follow these laws, if you just do this, this, and this, then let me tell you, God's in love with a future version of you that is more dedicated, more committed, more serious. And if you could just get more serious, more dedicated, more committed, then you would be more productive. And really, God would like you better. You'd be more godly. Well, again, that was the first sin in the garden. They chose the knowledge of what? Good and evil. Why? So they could do more good and do less evil. That was their intention. Sounds like a good intention, but it's not a grace intention. So there's a difference between the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and then the other tree. Remember the other tree? The tree of life. So we got a bunch of Christians, sorta, at least metaphorically, hanging on, hanging on to the good branch. They're on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They're on the good branch and they're sitting there working hard and they're saying, "Thank you, Lord, that I'm not on the bad branch." And then God leans in and he says, "Yeah, but it's the wrong tree. It's the wrong tree. You're on the good branch, but it's the wrong tree." So God doesn't want more good or less bad. He wants to be our life. He wants to be our everything. So we can't afford to be suckers for the sales pitch of self-improvement. The first sin was self-improvement. And the only cure for that is to know your completeness in Christ to be able to rest in that and thank God for who you are. So I hope that helps my friend and reach out to any time. Great to hear from you. Let's go to Colorado Springs next. We'll talk with Omar. Hey, Omar. Hey, Dr. Farley. First thing's first time caller. I did want to encourage you. I don't know if you know the impact you're having in this world by standing firm,

by communicating this message of grace that we call it. really quick, there's a pastor who, I guess, concerns himself and influencer as a big following, was recently communicating how we need to be under a pastor to receive its specific anointees. Because in his words, we see throughout the Bible that anointees knows to be vessels. And it bothered me, didn't sit well, didn't sit well with me? Just wanted to get some insights, your thoughts on that. Yeah, well, it didn't sit well with you because it's a lie and your completeness does not come through another Christian. And your anointing does not come through another Christian. You know, the bottom line is is that every elder really in a healthy church, every elder, every leader is a pastor or a shepherd. There's not one person. It's a community, a community of leaders known as pastors, elders, shepherds, whatever you want to call them. They got lots of names in the New Testament and the apostles certainly set it up that way and affirm that in half a dozen places, but we don't get our completeness through a person. We get our completeness through Christ. And so first John chapter two says you have an anointing from the Holy One. And you all know, so where's your anointing from? It's from the Holy One. It's not from the pastor down the street. You know, that's dangerous thinking because, yeah, five months, five years later, that pastor has a scandal. Or you find out to that pastor's clueless on the truth of the gospel or whatever. What happens to your anointing? Oh, it came through him. Now what? I mean, it's just it's controlling is really what it is. Every believer on the planet is free to fellowship wherever they'd like. Yes, there's huge encouragement and gathering together. Hebrews tells us that we can encourage each other when we're together. Yes, you can't just have total chaos and 17 different doctrines that conflict with each other in a in a congregation. So clearly you got to have orderliness. You got to have some leadership. But those leaders are equal to each other. There's not one that's above the rest of them. And secondly, it's really a damaging teaching that our anointing would come through someone else. I mean, our anointing is is being in the spirit. Our anointing is that the Holy Spirit is in us. There is no greater anointing than the Holy Spirit. So let's read 1 John 2, 27. How about this for a contradiction? Compared to what you heard, it says, as for you, the anointing which you received from him abides in you and you have no need for anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and is true and is not a lie. And just as it has taught you, you abide in him. So you don't abide in the pastor. You abide in Christ. You're not anointed by the pastor. You're anointed by Jesus. And when it says you have no need for anybody to teach you here, what's that mean?

Well, you already know God. You know God through the Holy Spirit who dwells in you. They will all know me. That's the new covenant. They will all know me from the least to the greatest. I will forgive their wickedness. I will remember their sins no more. There is one mediator, Jesus Christ. He is your Savior, your Lord, your life, not the local pastor. For more information on the broadcast ministry of Dr. Andrew Farley, please visit AndrewFarley.org. That's AndrewFarley.org. Join us next time as we invite you to celebrate the grace message with Dr. Andrew Farley. This program is sponsored by your generous financial support. Hi, I'm Andrew Farley. I hope you enjoyed today's program. And if you have more questions, whether it's about a Bible verse, a personal struggle, or anything on your heart, BibleQuestions.com is here for you. You'll get clear, gray-spaced answers in 10 seconds or less. No confusion, no judgment, just practical truth that meets you right where you are. Whatever's on your mind, you'll find real answers rooted in God's love. Visit BibleQuestions.com. That's BibleQuestions.com. [BLANK_AUDIO] you