Paul the Apostle of Grace wrote a letter to Timothy and in this letter he was teaching Timothy that it is important that he teach no other doctrine than the doctrine of grace.
He told Timothy to teach those who would come to Christ as a result of his administration of The Gospel to believe and teach the very same thing.
This is what Paul wrote paraphrased:
Don't listen to fables (theories, opinions and what men have concluded) and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith.
(You edify with the ability that will leave no room for doubt.
Faith doesn't mean that it's wrong for people to have a reason or to understand what is happening.
He says that you will minister in such a way that the questions will be answered.)
Paul went on to say,
Now the end of the commandment is charity (love) out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unshaken and uncorrupted, unmatched:
From which some having swerved have turned aside( taken another route, a thief and a robber) unto vain (useless) jangling;
Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say and having no confirmation for it.
But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;
( We are going to see what lawfully used means shortly)
Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient (unbelieving), for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for man slayers.
For whore mongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;
According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.
Amen.
Let's look at using the law lawfully.
So Acts 15 Paul taught why the law was not to be used as a yoke or leash for the believer.
Today we are going to look at why it isn't to be used as a hook to the sinner.
Many believe that it's the pointing out of man's own wretchedness that draws him to God.
The Word declares that it is the goodness of God that leads men to turn from the world of wretchedness.
Romans 1:15-17
Look at everything that was described in 1 Timothy 1:4-11
That is the wretchedness of sin.
How did man come to be a murderer, a whore monger, a liar, a thief and profane?
Did he become that way because there was no law to keep him from doing those things?
No
Was he created that way?
NO!
It was by one man that sin entered into the world and that man was Adam.
What I want you to know if you have rejected Christ is this:
God does not desire that you live a wretched life, a life of pain, perversion, fear, sickness, depression, lack or confusion.
Hate, murder, anger, stress, impatience, disease are all produced by fear.
Fear is produced by lack of knowledge.
It was by no initial fault of those who came after Adam, our own fault that sin fell upon all men.
Romans 5:12
So you ask, "Well if it wasn't our fault why do we have to pay for Adam's mess up?"
Exactly.
Use the law lawfully.
God is righteous and just.
He is not going to make us pay for what Adam did unless we want to.
You don't have to pay for it unless you want to.
Understand that much.
This is where The absolute eternal and unconditional love of God comes in, through Christ Jesus.
LISTEN
Because God is a righteous and just God He requires righteousness and because He loved us so much, He has provided that righteousness for us In Christ.
Now, once this goodness has been made apparent to you, you are responsible for what you hear.
The sin no longer rests solely on Adams shoulders.
Your house note may be due and it may be a thousand dollars, you may not have the money to pay it.
Say that your parents know that you need that money and they have far more than a mere thousand dollars, plus they love you simply because you came out of them.
You are not to love your children because they do exactly what you say.
You are supposed to love them because they are God's gift.
If God stopped loving us because we didn't do exactly what He said we would have never come into being after Adam slipped.
Amen.
What are your parents who are not greater than God going to do when you are in need?
I am a parent and my babies will be provided for.
God is not an infidel.
God is a believer.
The Lord asks in the Word, If our children ask us for fish to eat, would we give them a snake?
If God being much greater than we are, how much more if we look to Him to deliver us from the wretchedness of sin.
You have heard how you came to be and now you have heard about how you came to the place that separates you from God and His righteousness.
Then you hear of God's goodness and How He has made a way for you by simply believing.
In Christ it puts you back in the place of Grace.
The Father has dealt to every man a measure of faith, this means that God Himself has placed the ability on the inside of every man so that when the Holy Spirit speaks to men through other men and women filled with the Holy Spirit you are able to believe.
This is why Jesus sent the Comforter to us so that everything that "He said" could be brought back to our remembrance and spoken, because it is in His Name and by His Spirit that men can confess Him as LORD.
Use the law lawfully.
Romans 1:16,17
Romans 3:21-31
This is how men come to live by faith because now the fulfilling of the law has been established In Christ.
You don't have to beat saints or sinners over the head.
We are not Fred Flintstone were we have to club folks and drag them off to the altar.
If you are in the pulpit preaching to saved folks and they don't already believe that God is able, you had better set some time aside for fasting and prayer.
We can't say in one breath that God is pressing us to prove us and then in the next breath say that the devil knows how to push our buttons.
Which one is it?
The Word says that the enemy comes to apply pressure but God gives the grace to withstand it.
Double minded teaching is unstable, it's divided and it does not draw men because it does not lift up Christ.
I love y'all and I pray that you come to understand the love that God has shown and is showing to all men.
Meditate and speak out loud the scriptures that are in this blog today.
Blessings
In His Grace.
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