Session 4 - What’s In Your Heart? (Spoiler: It’s Not Moses!)

All right, so we're looking at frequently asked questions here in this session. And the first category of questions is going to relate to law and grace and the new covenant and what it means to live under grace. So one of the big questions we get is, isn't the law written on our hearts? Now that's a very conflicting message because look at this. Imagine that the gospel is, you're dead to the law, but it's on your heart. You're not under the law, but the law is on your heart. Christ is the end of the law for you, but it's on your heart. See that would make no sense. You don't have 613 laws from the Old Testament written on your heart. Instead what we see, John writes, 1 John 3, he says, this is his commandment. What are they? Two things really, that we believe in the name of his son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us. And you know, Jesus said this, he said, a new command I give you, love others even as I have loved you. So if you want to know what's in here, right? Just like the commercial, what's in your wallet? Well what's in your heart? It's not Moses, it's Jesus. It's not 613 commands. That would be a crazy, confusing message. It's Jesus himself. You want two commands that are written here, etched on the lining of your new resurrection heart? It's that you believe in Christ and you love others even as he's loved you. And I'm telling you, that is compatible with every situation. You can't love somebody and steal from them. You can't love somebody and lie to them. You can't love somebody and cheat on them.

Love covers a multitude of sins. All right, now, you know, here's one that's pretty big, right? Aren't we still under the moral law? And it goes a little something like this, 613, okay, 613 laws, let me see. We're gonna take 603 of them and we'll set them aside, but here's the 10, the big 10, the tablets of stone, and we're gonna say these we're still under because we're nervous about lying, cheating, and stealing, and we need the moral law to prop us up as Christians, right? Well, look now at what Paul says in Romans chapter 7. He says, I would not have known about coveting if the law had not said, you shall not covet, but sin taking opportunity through the commandment produced in me coveting of every kind for apart from the law, sin is dead. Now, what is Paul saying to do about the law? He is saying to live apart from it, but that's not my question. My question is, which part of the law is Paul referring to? Thou shall not covet, which is one of the 10 commandments. So the context is the 10 commandments, and Paul is saying, if you're under the 10 commandments, you're gonna covet more, coveting of every kind. And the solution is to live apart from the law, specifically apart from the 10 commandments. He's not talking about ceremonial law. He's not talking about temple cleansing or washings. He's not talking about animal sacrifices. He is talking about the big 10 that everybody tries to hold on tightly to, like Linus with his blanket. You start yanking Moses from people, and they get nervous. They get nervous about sin. They start saying, what about lying and cheating and stealing? And then you can say, well, what about Jesus? He's not gonna lead you there. And so I want you to notice the context of Romans 7.

It is the 10 commandments, and Paul says the solution is apart from the law. Live apart from the law, and sin will be dead in your life. Now the second passage, although I'm not showing it, it's 2 Corinthians 3. You could mark that down. In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul says there is a ministry of condemnation and death, and he says it's written on stone. Now 613 laws. How many were written on stone? Only 10. So Paul is talking about the 10 and he calls it a ministry of condemnation and death. I don't want that in my life. Martin Luther and his buddies say no no we need a third use of the law and they're saying put the ministry of condemnation and death in your life as a Christian. Find a use for it. The law kills. The Spirit gives life. Somebody says no no but but the law is your goal. No it's not. Knowing Jesus is your goal and the fruit of the Spirit is what Jesus does. It's not the fruit of the law it's the fruit of the Spirit. The law is not your goal and the law is not your source. Knowing Jesus is your source and knowing Jesus is your goal and the byproduct is the fruit of the Spirit. So here's another one. What about the Sabbath? Sabbath-keeping. Well Paul's very clear on this one. First of all that is part of the law and remember you're dead to the law so you're dead to the Sabbath. You're not under the law so you're not under the Sabbath. Christ is the end of the law for you who believe so Christ is the end of the Sabbath. We have a whole new way to rest. It's not about Friday and Saturday it's about every day in Christ and so this is why Colossians 2 says therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. Things which are a mere shadow of what is to come but the substance belongs to Christ. We got people trying to relax on Friday and Saturday when we need to relax in Christ. That was a shadow. We got the reality and what's so ironic so counterintuitive so beautiful is that fruit comes from rest. There is nothing like a relaxed Christian to exude the fragrant aroma of Jesus. The enemy does not want believers to discover this. The enemy loves anxious

Christians, worried Christians, fearful Christians, uncertain Christians, Christians that don't know what God thinks of them, Christians that are confused about sin and judgment, Christians that are obsessed with self-improvement and sin management. Half the church thinks the goal of the Christian life is to sin less. If that's the goal everybody's horrible at it. The goal of the Christian life is to know Jesus, trust Jesus, rest in Jesus, express Jesus, and be yourself at the same time. That's the goal. And the beautiful byproduct is if you walk by the Spirit, huh, look at that, coincidence, you won't fulfill the desires of the flesh. But where's your focus? On not sinning? Imagine waking up every day, thou shalt not sin, better not sin, better not sin, better not sin, what's gonna happen? You're gonna sin. What if your focus is fix my eyes on Jesus? The author and perfect, he began a good work, he's gonna carry me on to completion. Or what about tithing? Money, money, money, right? Ten percent. All right, so if we're believing we got to give ten percent, let me say a few things about that. Number one, that's the wrong percentage. You go back to the Old Testament, get out your calculator, over a span of three years there you average it out, it's like 23 plus percent. It's more than 23 percent. Okay, it's not 10 percent. So if we're teaching tithing 10 percent as a requirement for the Christian, we're teaching the wrong percent, we're teaching the wrong covenant, because it's the law, and we're teaching the wrong motivation, and that's the biggie, the wrong motivation. Here's the motivation in Scripture. Paul says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 9, each one must do just as he is purposed to where? In his heart, because it's grace giving, and it's grace living, and fill in the blank, you can trust your heart. You can give from the heart. You can live from the heart, because you have a new heart, a good heart, a righteous heart. Each one must do as he's purposed in his heart, not grudgingly. Now let's talk about that, because here's what happens for months or years sometimes. People get stuck, and they think this is enjoyment in Christ. They go, they sit on their hands, and they sit on their wallet, and they say, I'm I'm not giving nothing because of grace.

I am free and I'm not giving nothing ever again because I'm sick of that giving. And I'm going to declare my freedom. Yeah, but you kind of look a little pent up there. Okay, you're free, but do you believe God that there is a joy in giving? He says that. There's a joy in giving. In fact, we were studying it recently here at the Grace Church, and we found one of the words used is where we get the word hilarious, is right here actually. God loves a hilarious giver. It's the Greek word where we get the word hilarious from. So there's a joy, there's a cheerfulness, there's a hilariousness in it. Not grudgingly. Okay, now let's go the other side. No pressure, zero pressure. No percentage, no quota, no benchmark, nobody looking over your shoulder, no spreadsheet, no tally, no record. Not under compulsion. Okay, so not stingy and grudgingly. Not over here being forced or being coerced or being pressured. Put your car title in the offering box. None of that. That stuff happens. And then there's that other thing that happens where they tell you, oh yeah, if you give, you're gonna get back. So now you're giving to get, it's like Vegas, right? You're gonna hit the jackpot here in a minute. And for years, you can Google this one if you haven't already seen it, but one church started the 90-day tithing challenge, right? The three-month tithing challenge. If you're not blessed in 90 days or less, you'll get your money back.

Now, the reason this worked is because, honestly, who wants to go up to the church leadership? Yeah, excuse me, sir, I gave a couple months ago and haven't been blessed, so I was wondering if I could get my money back. You know what's coming next. Oh, brother, you have been blessed. You just need to see it. Come on, are we allowed to get candid here? So here's what happened. People started wanting their money back, and then now there's even a lawsuit, it's still in the courts. People want their money back. The church wasn't giving it, and now they're going to court. So we have God, we got God, yeah, we have got God on a timer, on a stopwatch. And if He doesn't bless you in 90 days or less, then you get your money back. Look at the motivation I'm giving to get. Paul, in the same chapter, talks about a harvest, and we plant seeds not to get back. The way seed has been used in the Christian world, sad. The seed he's talking about is the harvest of righteousness, lives that are transformed when we get to know the love and grace of God. Does God's grace put a smile on your face? If so, then wouldn't it be cool if other people got to enjoy that same smile? And there you have it. That's the motivation right there. Grace giving, just like grace living. All right, the next category is forgiveness. So here's one that's pretty big. Doesn't the Lord's Prayer, uh-oh, say to ask God for forgiveness? All right, so let's talk about this, because, I mean, here it is, and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. That's the Lord's Prayer.

So now we're talking about the words of Jesus. The Sermon on the Mount, the Lord's Prayer, inside of that sermon, and Jesus is saying, here's how you pray, forgive us our debts. Slow down, though, look at it again. It doesn't say, Father, forgive us. It says, Father, look at how I've been forgiving people, and forgive me just as I have been forgiving other people. Father, I want you to survey how nice I've been. I want you to survey how loving and merciful and kind and forgiving I've been, and I want you to forgive me to the same degree that I have been forgiving others. Ouch. Are you not sure Jesus meant that? Watch this. I'm pretty sure. He continues, Jesus sums it up, if you forgive others, if you're nice, if you forgive others for their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, if you're not being nice, then your Father will not forgive your sins. I ask you, is this the gospel? Are you forgiven because you're nice first, or are you forgiven because Jesus shed His blood once for all? So, what we have to recognize is that this is the Sermon on the Mount, and we already saw it today, cut off your hand, pluck out your eye, be perfect, give to whoever asks of you without question, let them beat you up, let them mistreat you, give to an evil person. I mean, wow, the standard is way up here. And then he wants that little gulp in their throat, so he says, you want to know how to pray? Here's how to pray, Father, look at how sweet I've been. Look at how forgiving I've been.

Give to me the same treatment that I have given to others. What's that going to do? These people are before the cross, before the resurrection, not born again, deceitfully wicked hearts, full of hypocrisy, full of bitterness and resentment. They're going, wait, what? That's all I get? I only get the way I've treated others? Ouch. Eventually they see that's the whole point. That's why you need Calvary. That's why you need the blood of Christ. So then, if we don't have to, here's the bottom line, I mean, if we don't have to beg and plead and hope and wait to be more forgiven, if we don't have to confess to be more forgiven, if we don't have to ask to be more forgiven, then what should we do when we sin? Well, here's a crazy idea. How about we stop? It's not rocket science. People are so confused. They confuse repentance, which is just turning from it, no thanks, I hate sin, getting away from it, yuck. They confuse that with getting more forgiveness. Let me say it clearly, there's plenty of reasons to say no to sin, but getting more forgiven is not one of those reasons. There's plenty of reasons to say no to sin, like, look at you, look at that new heart. You don't want to sin. You're a slave of righteousness. Look at that new heart. You're amazing on the inside, a partaker of the divine nature. You're dead to sin, alive to God. There's plenty of reasons to say no to sin, but you can't get more forgiven, because Jesus

is not going to hang on a cross again. What should we do when we sin? Here's what Paul says, not rocket science, he who steals, here's a crazy idea, steal no longer. Does he say get down on the ground and beg and plead and hope and wait to be cleansed? No. How about you steal no longer, instead, how about you get a job and labor? How about you work with your hands and work what is good, and then you might have something to share with other people instead of taking their stuff? Are you forgiven? Yeah, but look at you. You're making a mockery of the whole deal. You're forgiven, but you're miserable. You're forgiven, but look at your reputation. So he doesn't say beg, plead, hope, wait, confess to be forgiven. He says pull a 180. You've been grabbing people's stuff, pull a 180, stop stealing, work with your hands, earn a living, give to those in need, but you're a forgiven person. All right, so lastly, I'll finish with this, doesn't the message of total forgiveness lead to more sinning? In other words, isn't this dangerous? Too much forgiveness is dangerous, they say. Well, let's see. Let's see what Jesus says, because that kind of matters. For this reason, I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, what happens? They love little. So guess what happens? If you believe that you've been forgiven little, what's going to happen?

You're going to love little. If you believe that you've been forgiven a whole lot, guess what's going to happen? You're going to love much. If you're forgiven much, you love much. If you're forgiven little, you love little. That's Jesus talking. Does Jesus Christ sound like he's scared of too much forgiveness? The opposite, the opposite. In fact, Peter says this in 2 Peter 1.9, he says, whoever lacks these godly qualities in their life, like love and peace and joy, whoever lacks these loving godly qualities is blind or short-sighted. They have forgotten their purification from their former sins. I still think I'm the sum total of my past. If I will remember my purification, I'm clean. I'm clean, I'm holy, I'm righteous, I'm blameless, I'm one with Christ, I'm clean and close. If I remember my purification, what happens? Godly qualities. If I don't have godly qualities, what's the problem? I forgot my forgiveness. What's the answer? Remember your forgiveness. Sound like Peter's scared of too much forgiveness? No. When you know you're clean, you start to act like somebody who's clean. When you know you're close, you start to act like somebody who's close. Now that's dangerous, but only to the enemy. There's nothing like a Christian who knows they're clean and close to God forever. Let's pray together. We've had a great time this morning. We're coming back later.

And we know, I mean, your word just, it never disappoints. And we give thanks right now for the opportunities we have to break bread and eat together and go out to restaurants all over and just continue to celebrate your finished work. We thank you for the food. We thank you for the fellowship. We thank you for this awesome weekend together. We love you so much. This gospel, what you've done for us is off the charts. It's incredible. Thank you. In Jesus' name, we thank you. Amen.