WEBVTT 00:00.191 --> 00:01.312 [SPEAKER_00]: Romans chapter 13. 00:01.352 --> 00:04.993 [SPEAKER_00]: So please turn in your Bibles of Romans chapter 13. 00:05.633 --> 00:07.794 [SPEAKER_00]: We will do one more message in chapter 13. 00:07.834 --> 00:13.977 [SPEAKER_00]: We'll come back to it in February because we're going to be entering into some other series and then we'll be back. 00:14.557 --> 00:19.139 [SPEAKER_00]: Before I get into that, last year or last year, last week, 00:20.246 --> 00:29.183 [SPEAKER_00]: I told you that my wife and I after 12 years finally finished a book on parenting and it is out there for you to pick up if you want one. 00:29.884 --> 00:32.630 [SPEAKER_00]: If you go, well I don't have any kids anymore. 00:33.672 --> 00:35.774 [SPEAKER_00]: If you're a grandparent, I think it will help. 00:36.315 --> 00:39.558 [SPEAKER_00]: Because you want to come alongside your kids. 00:39.598 --> 00:41.740 [SPEAKER_00]: You're not in the first position to help out. 00:41.780 --> 00:43.021 [SPEAKER_00]: You're in the second position. 00:43.582 --> 00:47.686 [SPEAKER_00]: But you want to come alongside and pour into those kids. 00:48.386 --> 00:52.570 [SPEAKER_00]: Or if just the kids that are at our church, I think it can help. 00:52.771 --> 00:54.372 [SPEAKER_00]: So I offer that to you. 00:56.394 --> 00:58.336 [SPEAKER_00]: Romans chapter 30. 00:58.416 --> 01:00.177 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, man, this week was a biggie, huh? 01:01.098 --> 01:06.223 [SPEAKER_00]: So we sent the election sent a big blue wave to Washington. 01:07.123 --> 01:15.310 [SPEAKER_00]: So the Democrats could troll the house and the Senate and looks like there's going to be a little bit of gridlock in the last next two years. 01:17.632 --> 01:19.814 [SPEAKER_00]: My own analysis for whatever is worth, okay? 01:20.855 --> 01:23.697 [SPEAKER_00]: Trump promised that we would be in no war. 01:24.438 --> 01:30.702 [SPEAKER_00]: He promised that there would be more money in our pockets, and we got a new forever war, and the prices of gas went up. 01:31.283 --> 01:39.408 [SPEAKER_00]: So that's probably why, and the fact that Trump is not one that reaches across the aisle to build consensus, he's kind of a polarizing dude. 01:39.908 --> 01:42.810 [SPEAKER_00]: There is a landslide victory for the Democrats. 01:43.671 --> 01:49.955 [SPEAKER_00]: And though personally, I care about keeping the government small, 01:51.218 --> 01:59.201 [SPEAKER_00]: Um, my greater concern actually is the radical social engineering that gets pushed by the Democrats. 01:59.922 --> 02:12.327 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, it used to be the Democratic Party was the party of big government of the safety nets of Medicare and Social Security and Labor unions, but it's expanded now. 02:12.387 --> 02:17.149 [SPEAKER_00]: It's almost like all you hear is that they are the platform of freedom for every sexual 02:20.315 --> 02:30.541 [SPEAKER_00]: Which concerns me because their encouragement speeds the unraveling of our country all in the name of freedom, all in the name of protection of rights. 02:32.061 --> 02:40.686 [SPEAKER_00]: And Trump has his false, but he has slowed down the moral decline, which is kind of funny or ironic, isn't it? 02:41.226 --> 02:43.828 [SPEAKER_00]: Because he is not the paragon of morality. 02:46.069 --> 02:47.790 [SPEAKER_00]: God works in mysterious ways. 02:48.921 --> 02:49.601 [SPEAKER_00]: I would just say. 02:50.062 --> 03:01.548 [SPEAKER_00]: So the question is, why should Christians care about stopping like game marriage or abortion or gender rebellion or transgenderism? 03:01.608 --> 03:03.730 [SPEAKER_00]: Why would we care if they don't hurt anybody? 03:04.050 --> 03:05.311 [SPEAKER_00]: Why not give them their freedom? 03:07.132 --> 03:10.233 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, because prohibiting these things will not save anybody. 03:10.273 --> 03:15.757 [SPEAKER_00]: We know that at the same time, these prohibitions 03:16.769 --> 03:27.675 [SPEAKER_00]: They keep people in check, and government, according to Romans chapter 13, is to punish wrongdoers and reward the good. 03:28.876 --> 03:30.517 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what it's all about. 03:30.577 --> 03:38.701 [SPEAKER_00]: They should reward the good by incentivizing the good, like what is a real marriage, and then incentivize it through tax breaks or things like that. 03:38.721 --> 03:40.162 [SPEAKER_00]: That's how you encourage it along. 03:41.263 --> 03:44.845 [SPEAKER_00]: But the question is, what is good and who gets to determine the good? 03:45.842 --> 03:47.723 [SPEAKER_00]: And really, it's the voters. 03:49.724 --> 03:55.507 [SPEAKER_00]: And when the good is determined by people without a moral compass, the goal post keep moving. 03:57.628 --> 04:05.332 [SPEAKER_00]: All Americans can agree that murdering and cheating and stealing and lying are wrong, but that's about all we can agree to. 04:06.832 --> 04:07.273 [SPEAKER_00]: We voted. 04:08.839 --> 04:24.264 [SPEAKER_00]: We are responsible American citizens, and we voted now what John, well, we stay locally involved, getting into places to make decisions that will help locally. 04:25.093 --> 04:34.886 [SPEAKER_00]: because we have only a little bit of influence out in the whole nation, but locally we have a lot more influence that we can push. 04:35.086 --> 04:43.417 [SPEAKER_00]: And all the time we're keeping in mind that the eternal impact is through declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ. 04:44.519 --> 04:46.461 [SPEAKER_00]: That's where the real change comes from. 04:46.561 --> 04:54.468 [SPEAKER_00]: And the church's work is declaring Jesus, we're getting the gospel out, and we're discipling people, okay? 04:54.508 --> 04:56.891 [SPEAKER_00]: We're helping develop Jesus followers. 04:57.411 --> 05:01.455 [SPEAKER_00]: It's the hope of the world, because when a life gets changed by Jesus Christ, what happens? 05:02.176 --> 05:03.177 [SPEAKER_00]: It affects the family. 05:04.165 --> 05:07.326 [SPEAKER_00]: It affects the friend group and then it affects the community. 05:07.386 --> 05:11.406 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a slow work, but this is what we have been placed in our lap. 05:11.766 --> 05:17.107 [SPEAKER_00]: And along as we state together, and we can march along together, we're going to see change. 05:17.328 --> 05:19.208 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, just look at what's going on in our church. 05:19.888 --> 05:24.449 [SPEAKER_00]: Again, very small microcosm, but this is what God has given to us. 05:24.509 --> 05:26.209 [SPEAKER_00]: This is the ministry, God has given to us. 05:26.309 --> 05:29.890 [SPEAKER_00]: So if we can just stay together, stay moving. 05:30.990 --> 05:40.655 [SPEAKER_00]: declaring Jesus, having getting the gospel out, taking people through the path of discipleship, just walk through it, take somebody along. 05:40.955 --> 05:49.819 [SPEAKER_00]: If we do that, the church gets stronger and stronger, and we spread out, we plant more churches, that's the vision. 05:50.520 --> 05:51.900 [SPEAKER_00]: Can we keep doing that together? 05:52.681 --> 05:55.542 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, the Lord has placed this for such a time as this. 05:57.623 --> 06:01.625 [SPEAKER_00]: And we don't know always how our efforts are going to play out. 06:02.485 --> 06:04.466 [SPEAKER_00]: But we do it unto God. 06:04.506 --> 06:16.551 [SPEAKER_00]: We leave the results to him, but we are going to move our resources and just our influence to declare Jesus and develop Jesus followers. 06:16.591 --> 06:17.831 [SPEAKER_00]: And we'll just see what God does. 06:18.672 --> 06:20.252 [SPEAKER_00]: And it's pretty exciting to be a part of. 06:22.913 --> 06:24.634 [SPEAKER_00]: So let's read the passage. 06:24.794 --> 06:25.895 [SPEAKER_00]: It's Romans chapter 13. 06:27.584 --> 06:32.467 [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm going to take the next section here versus eight through ten. 06:32.527 --> 06:36.029 [SPEAKER_00]: But let me read verse seven to tie it up with last week's. 06:37.951 --> 06:40.272 [SPEAKER_00]: Pay to all what is owed to them. 06:41.973 --> 06:50.058 [SPEAKER_00]: Taxes whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed. 06:56.641 --> 07:00.323 [SPEAKER_00]: For the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 07:01.424 --> 07:14.093 [SPEAKER_00]: For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and any other commandments are summed up in the word, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. 07:14.473 --> 07:20.417 [SPEAKER_00]: Love does no wrong to his neighbor, therefore love is fulfilling the law. 07:22.395 --> 07:40.048 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul is talking about our allegiance to the governing authorities, placed over us, where to give taxes to them, and revenue, customs, tolls, all the things that is asked, respect, honor, because of their God-appointed position. 07:41.349 --> 07:48.614 [SPEAKER_00]: And as we have pointed out, in every authority, if it's appointed by God and our obedience honors, 07:53.452 --> 07:58.634 [SPEAKER_00]: Our motivation should be one of love because love fulfills the law. 07:59.194 --> 08:12.199 [SPEAKER_00]: Okay, if every active obedience to the governing authorities is actually obeying the Lord, then we can bring love into all of those relationships because we're doing it out of love for God. 08:12.699 --> 08:14.080 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's look at this little closer. 08:14.520 --> 08:18.642 [SPEAKER_00]: The first point I wanna say is, oh, nothing but love. 08:19.382 --> 08:23.526 [SPEAKER_00]: kind of verse seven, oh nothing, but love, actually it's verse eight. 08:23.806 --> 08:29.211 [SPEAKER_00]: But verse seven commands us to pay, pay up, pay taxes and revenue. 08:29.872 --> 08:32.454 [SPEAKER_00]: He's not reversing that in verse eight. 08:33.054 --> 08:35.457 [SPEAKER_00]: You're to pay nothing, but love, no, no. 08:36.037 --> 08:39.100 [SPEAKER_00]: Pay up, satisfy all the debts. 08:39.660 --> 08:44.425 [SPEAKER_00]: But what he in verse eight is doing is giving us a better motivation than just fear. 08:45.856 --> 08:53.637 [SPEAKER_00]: Because fear is what the government uses to coerce you to pay taxes, and to behave. 08:54.177 --> 08:55.998 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what keeps everybody in check. 08:56.058 --> 08:58.098 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a fear motivation. 08:58.698 --> 09:04.879 [SPEAKER_00]: And love is an internal motivation that the government can rarely tap into. 09:06.520 --> 09:11.840 [SPEAKER_00]: The government can tap into it in time of war sometimes, because maybe a love for our country, patriotism, 09:15.504 --> 09:22.615 [SPEAKER_00]: But for the most part, it uses fear to motivate obedience, the fear of consequences, okay? 09:22.855 --> 09:27.242 [SPEAKER_00]: You just think of fear as a motivator like training wheels. 09:28.083 --> 09:31.188 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not the ultimate, but it does kind of train behavior. 09:32.534 --> 09:39.039 [SPEAKER_00]: even with parenting, it trains behavior, but you want another motivation to kick in after a while. 09:39.599 --> 09:43.062 [SPEAKER_00]: God uses fear to motivate obedience, but love is a better motivator. 09:43.602 --> 09:54.289 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, God uses it, like the fear of God is a good thing, because there's a proper honor and respect to God, honor and reverence that go together. 09:54.970 --> 09:56.591 [SPEAKER_00]: Think about first Peter chapter two. 09:57.071 --> 09:58.673 [SPEAKER_00]: It's very similar to Romans chapter 13. 10:00.598 --> 10:10.921 [SPEAKER_00]: 1 Peter 217, honor everybody, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the emperor. 10:12.121 --> 10:20.923 [SPEAKER_00]: See how it lays out, and then you know, Proverbs 910, the fear of the Lord is, is the beginning of wisdom. 10:22.099 --> 10:26.060 [SPEAKER_00]: It's the training wheels, it's helping us move in the right direction. 10:26.401 --> 10:32.043 [SPEAKER_00]: Fear is a useful motivator, but love exceeds it. 10:32.063 --> 10:34.724 [SPEAKER_00]: Think about law, they're nameless, they're faceless. 10:35.544 --> 10:39.525 [SPEAKER_00]: There's boundaries which gardener are bare minimum. 10:40.466 --> 10:43.547 [SPEAKER_00]: We're only going to do what's required to stay at a trouble. 10:44.567 --> 10:49.631 [SPEAKER_00]: And when we do that, when we're related to laws, it's really, we're thinking about ourselves. 10:49.651 --> 10:50.932 [SPEAKER_00]: We're not going to give out too much. 10:50.952 --> 10:52.713 [SPEAKER_00]: We're only going to do what's required. 10:53.834 --> 10:57.277 [SPEAKER_00]: But when love operates, we're thinking about other people. 10:58.357 --> 11:07.924 [SPEAKER_00]: We're, it's just not just boundaries, like law keeps us in, no it motivates to us to contribute and to sacrifice. 11:09.045 --> 11:10.346 [SPEAKER_00]: Love is a better motivator. 11:14.128 --> 11:15.331 [SPEAKER_00]: Love is a better motivator. 11:15.812 --> 11:18.637 [SPEAKER_00]: It says, oh, nothing but love. 11:19.178 --> 11:21.904 [SPEAKER_00]: And I would just want to just say it side note here. 11:22.285 --> 11:25.732 [SPEAKER_00]: That's not a prohibition to borrowing money. 11:27.352 --> 11:29.353 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, nothing but love, okay? 11:30.053 --> 11:31.274 [SPEAKER_00]: Some people use it that way. 11:31.774 --> 11:34.435 [SPEAKER_00]: The Bible doesn't forbid going into debt. 11:34.616 --> 11:42.239 [SPEAKER_00]: It just warns that, okay, don't do it for frivolous reasons and don't do it for luxuries that you can't afford borrow. 11:42.359 --> 11:44.760 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, most of us borrow to get a house, okay? 11:44.800 --> 11:52.244 [SPEAKER_00]: So, but the Bible doesn't forbid it, but we are to pay what we owe, which is the same as saying, 11:53.865 --> 12:21.558 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, nothing to anybody, satisfy your debts, satisfy your debts is verse eight, which is a good reminder to us of the seriousness of paying back anything you borrow, whether it's to institutions, or to friends and family members, you're going to make yourself stink in their nostrils if you are lack of days ago about getting things back to them. 12:22.703 --> 12:29.007 [SPEAKER_00]: If you just keep it and put the weight on them and you forgot about it, but you borrowed it, don't do that. 12:29.908 --> 12:30.708 [SPEAKER_00]: That's not love. 12:31.649 --> 12:33.750 [SPEAKER_00]: You're putting the weight on the wrong person. 12:33.790 --> 12:37.712 [SPEAKER_00]: You want to be in a position so that you can love and to give. 12:38.653 --> 12:42.475 [SPEAKER_00]: Do not take advantage of the kindness of others by failing to pay them back. 12:42.776 --> 12:43.916 [SPEAKER_00]: So here's a question. 12:45.537 --> 12:48.339 [SPEAKER_00]: If someone were to borrow your car, 12:51.984 --> 12:53.824 [SPEAKER_00]: How would you want it returned? 12:55.145 --> 12:56.765 [SPEAKER_00]: How would you want your car returned? 12:58.725 --> 12:59.325 [SPEAKER_00]: Empty tank? 13:02.166 --> 13:04.666 [SPEAKER_00]: A mess on the outside mud splattered everywhere. 13:04.766 --> 13:05.507 [SPEAKER_00]: Scratches on it. 13:06.187 --> 13:07.527 [SPEAKER_00]: Trash still in the car. 13:10.528 --> 13:17.489 [SPEAKER_00]: If someone were to borrow your clothes and you lent them, how would you want them returned? 13:18.625 --> 13:24.547 [SPEAKER_00]: Unwashed in a bag, stretched out, no. 13:26.047 --> 13:32.549 [SPEAKER_00]: No, no, no, if you're gonna lend your car, you want it back in better condition than when you let it out. 13:33.409 --> 13:38.130 [SPEAKER_00]: Love goes beyond what law demands that you just give it back. 13:38.231 --> 13:43.652 [SPEAKER_00]: No, you're gonna give it back with a gas filled up, washed inside and out. 13:43.692 --> 13:46.913 [SPEAKER_00]: You're gonna say, man, I should let that guy borrow it more often. 13:48.057 --> 13:56.282 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, because you want to pay back that kindness, same thing with clothes, if you're gonna borrow it, if you stretch it out by a new one. 13:56.783 --> 13:58.524 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that's what love does. 13:58.604 --> 14:02.286 [SPEAKER_00]: It never just takes advantage of people. 14:02.426 --> 14:04.868 [SPEAKER_00]: Love doesn't do the minimum, it exceeds it. 14:06.383 --> 14:09.725 [SPEAKER_00]: Like love fulfills the law. 14:10.266 --> 14:13.628 [SPEAKER_00]: Remember, law course is people to do what they're supposed to do. 14:13.668 --> 14:15.930 [SPEAKER_00]: The bare minimum, but love goes way beyond. 14:16.350 --> 14:20.833 [SPEAKER_00]: And positions itself to give and give, and give, that's what love does. 14:20.853 --> 14:33.542 [SPEAKER_00]: And when I say position, you should always be striving to be in a position because you save and you work hard, to be in a position so you can give. 14:35.028 --> 14:42.111 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of you are always in the place of I gotta get, I gotta get, someone's gotta help me, someone's gotta help me. 14:43.052 --> 14:44.513 [SPEAKER_00]: You're gonna be there sometimes. 14:44.533 --> 14:50.755 [SPEAKER_00]: We're all gonna be there at some point, and that's a good humbling thing that God puts us in that spot. 14:51.296 --> 14:57.779 [SPEAKER_00]: But the goal is always to be in a position, manage money, work hard, so that you can give. 14:58.579 --> 15:06.381 [SPEAKER_00]: So you can lend your car out, or you can lend something out to help another brother a sister. 15:07.281 --> 15:08.281 [SPEAKER_00]: But how do you love? 15:08.321 --> 15:12.682 [SPEAKER_00]: So that's 0.01, oh, nothing but love. 15:12.782 --> 15:18.324 [SPEAKER_00]: Number two is, how do you love like you love yourself? 15:19.844 --> 15:21.205 [SPEAKER_00]: You love like you love yourself. 15:21.985 --> 15:22.985 [SPEAKER_00]: Sounds strange, doesn't it? 15:23.365 --> 15:24.865 [SPEAKER_00]: Love like you love yourself. 15:24.905 --> 15:26.666 [SPEAKER_00]: That's verse nine. 15:27.690 --> 15:34.094 [SPEAKER_00]: You remember that Jesus summarized the whole law in Matthew chapter 22, verse 37. 15:34.595 --> 15:42.620 [SPEAKER_00]: He says, you should love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, this is the great, this is the great and first commandment. 15:43.501 --> 15:48.804 [SPEAKER_00]: And the second is like it, you should love your neighbor as yourself, there it is. 15:49.605 --> 15:52.327 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus said at first and Paul reiterates it, 15:53.357 --> 15:57.039 [SPEAKER_00]: But Paul mentions a few commandments along the way in verse 10. 15:57.059 --> 16:00.682 [SPEAKER_00]: He goes, we're not to commit adultery. 16:01.282 --> 16:07.586 [SPEAKER_00]: We're not to murder, steal, or covet, because love doesn't move you to commit adultery. 16:08.887 --> 16:09.507 [SPEAKER_00]: Lust does. 16:10.708 --> 16:15.431 [SPEAKER_00]: And love doesn't move you to murder, hatred does. 16:16.271 --> 16:20.654 [SPEAKER_00]: And love doesn't move you to steal, or covet. 16:20.934 --> 16:22.315 [SPEAKER_00]: You're just looking after yourself. 16:23.802 --> 16:26.423 [SPEAKER_00]: Love is different, it has the other person in mind. 16:26.943 --> 16:31.905 [SPEAKER_00]: Love, like you love yourself, you see? 16:31.945 --> 16:37.188 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus stated it that way to give us an illustration when we think of, well, how do I love? 16:37.228 --> 16:37.868 [SPEAKER_00]: How do I love? 16:38.308 --> 16:41.069 [SPEAKER_00]: Love, like you love yourself. 16:43.710 --> 16:50.553 [SPEAKER_00]: Sadly, people have twisted this one to be a summons to love yourself first, 16:53.283 --> 16:57.366 [SPEAKER_00]: That kind of psychological mumbo jumbo is heading in the wrong direction. 16:58.427 --> 17:00.509 [SPEAKER_00]: You're just now turning it up on its head. 17:01.030 --> 17:02.211 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I gotta let myself first. 17:02.251 --> 17:03.472 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, when are you ready then? 17:04.773 --> 17:08.336 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, it says, love, love like you love yourself. 17:09.617 --> 17:17.844 [SPEAKER_00]: We don't need to learn how to love ourselves first because to love others because if we do that, it just leads into deeper self-absorption. 17:21.357 --> 17:23.199 [SPEAKER_00]: Protect yourself, preserve yourself. 17:23.259 --> 17:25.041 [SPEAKER_00]: Do not lose yourself for the sake of others. 17:25.061 --> 17:27.264 [SPEAKER_00]: But how does that square with what Jesus said? 17:27.965 --> 17:32.490 [SPEAKER_00]: The height of love is to lay your life down for the friends. 17:33.451 --> 17:34.412 [SPEAKER_00]: John 1513. 17:35.834 --> 17:37.175 [SPEAKER_00]: Lay your life down for the friends. 17:37.356 --> 17:41.581 [SPEAKER_00]: Love is self-emptying, not self-preserving. 17:42.383 --> 17:42.963 [SPEAKER_00]: See the difference? 17:43.583 --> 17:44.424 [SPEAKER_00]: It's self-empting. 17:45.104 --> 17:50.686 [SPEAKER_00]: Yet those who sacrifice for the sake of others, why do they do it over and over and over again because it's addicting? 17:51.106 --> 17:52.286 [SPEAKER_00]: It's fulfilling. 17:53.347 --> 18:00.749 [SPEAKER_00]: When you let go of your life for the sake of others, oh my, it is a deck thing. 18:00.769 --> 18:01.790 [SPEAKER_00]: You just wanna do it again. 18:02.663 --> 18:04.524 [SPEAKER_00]: because it's so fulfilling. 18:05.404 --> 18:16.628 [SPEAKER_00]: Paul uses the same analogy in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 28 when he urges husbands to love their wives as they love what their own bodies. 18:17.768 --> 18:23.430 [SPEAKER_00]: He uses that because men love their own self and we love ourselves. 18:24.631 --> 18:27.972 [SPEAKER_00]: It's a given, it's axiomatic, we love ourselves. 18:29.633 --> 18:30.974 [SPEAKER_00]: He said, well, wait, time out, John. 18:30.994 --> 18:33.997 [SPEAKER_00]: What about the person who has self-hate? 18:34.057 --> 18:35.218 [SPEAKER_00]: That's the thing, isn't it? 18:37.420 --> 18:44.226 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, yes and no, I still think they loved themselves, but let's just talk about it. 18:44.687 --> 18:54.456 [SPEAKER_00]: People who have self-hate have guilt over actual sin or shame over what people have done to them. 18:55.630 --> 18:59.513 [SPEAKER_00]: or disappointment from not meeting their own standards. 19:00.333 --> 19:05.116 [SPEAKER_00]: But all of which would be helped by meeting the needs of others. 19:06.277 --> 19:06.737 [SPEAKER_00]: All of it. 19:07.457 --> 19:07.717 [SPEAKER_00]: Why? 19:07.758 --> 19:09.819 [SPEAKER_00]: Because self-haters are in this echo chamber. 19:10.259 --> 19:13.181 [SPEAKER_00]: They are constantly thinking how bad they are. 19:13.201 --> 19:16.643 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, you've got to get out of your own head and move toward people. 19:17.935 --> 19:29.346 [SPEAKER_00]: move toward people, they need God's Word to correct their destructive thinking and they need people to serve and love because they're so busy here that they want to isolate. 19:30.747 --> 19:33.049 [SPEAKER_00]: But the healing comes in God's Word. 19:33.069 --> 19:38.475 [SPEAKER_00]: God's Word is what we ought to trust, move toward people, move toward people. 19:39.753 --> 19:45.456 [SPEAKER_00]: Stop, stopping to love oneself first will send you into deeper darkness. 19:45.476 --> 19:51.240 [SPEAKER_00]: You have to get your eyes off yourself and onto God, yes, but onto others, do something. 19:51.860 --> 19:57.804 [SPEAKER_00]: Don't just keep in your own head, move toward something and people to love and care for. 19:58.284 --> 20:03.227 [SPEAKER_00]: John 13, 34, a new commandment I give to you, and that's what Jesus said. 20:04.608 --> 20:06.769 [SPEAKER_00]: That you love one another just as I have loved you. 20:07.899 --> 20:09.440 [SPEAKER_00]: You also are to love one another. 20:09.920 --> 20:15.081 [SPEAKER_00]: By this, all people will know that you are my disabled disciples, if you have love for one another. 20:15.602 --> 20:20.223 [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus did not say, this is the mark of following me. 20:20.943 --> 20:21.443 [SPEAKER_00]: Success. 20:22.764 --> 20:22.904 [SPEAKER_00]: No. 20:23.924 --> 20:24.744 [SPEAKER_00]: Self-discipline. 20:25.365 --> 20:26.485 [SPEAKER_00]: That will show that you know. 20:27.505 --> 20:28.446 [SPEAKER_00]: Attractive bodies. 20:29.126 --> 20:29.306 [SPEAKER_00]: No? 20:30.246 --> 20:31.247 [SPEAKER_00]: Jewish ancestors. 20:31.987 --> 20:32.207 [SPEAKER_00]: No. 20:33.592 --> 20:33.872 [SPEAKER_00]: love. 20:35.013 --> 20:35.293 [SPEAKER_00]: Love. 20:36.174 --> 20:36.875 [SPEAKER_00]: Just think about that. 20:37.716 --> 20:37.996 [SPEAKER_00]: Love. 20:38.957 --> 20:44.341 [SPEAKER_00]: Think about how you take that into your family, into your marriage. 20:45.362 --> 20:58.473 [SPEAKER_00]: The mark of a believer is how they love one another, that when you go into your home, that atmosphere, when you go into the church, when you go into your 21:03.347 --> 21:04.207 [SPEAKER_00]: Are you know my love? 21:05.308 --> 21:07.509 [SPEAKER_00]: That is the mark of Jesus followers. 21:09.129 --> 21:28.797 [SPEAKER_00]: Colossians 312, put on then as God's chosen one, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience bearing with one another, and if anyone has a complaint against another, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 21:29.317 --> 21:31.458 [SPEAKER_00]: And here it is, and above all else, 21:32.388 --> 21:36.511 [SPEAKER_00]: love, put on love which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 21:38.212 --> 21:39.613 [SPEAKER_00]: First, John 4, 7 and 8. 21:41.093 --> 21:46.677 [SPEAKER_00]: Beloved, let us love one another for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God. 21:47.657 --> 21:51.940 [SPEAKER_00]: If you love, it's a good indication that you've been born again. 21:54.262 --> 22:00.625 [SPEAKER_00]: Anyone who does not love does not know God because God has loved, it's a pretty massive 22:01.802 --> 22:06.424 [SPEAKER_00]: But he could have said, love as you have been loved by God, because that's true of first John. 22:07.605 --> 22:13.788 [SPEAKER_00]: But Jesus said it this way, love as you love yourself. 22:15.549 --> 22:17.050 [SPEAKER_00]: It's to give an illustration. 22:17.850 --> 22:21.632 [SPEAKER_00]: It's to help us understand how we are to love other people. 22:22.012 --> 22:22.853 [SPEAKER_00]: How does it work? 22:24.934 --> 22:25.674 [SPEAKER_00]: You could say it this way. 22:26.554 --> 22:31.017 [SPEAKER_00]: Do unto others what you would want them to do to you. 22:33.688 --> 22:40.092 [SPEAKER_00]: Love your neighbor as yourself and the phrase, do unto others as you would want them to do the same. 22:40.112 --> 22:42.114 [SPEAKER_00]: Let's just set in a different way. 22:43.415 --> 22:45.796 [SPEAKER_00]: So, how does it work? 22:48.158 --> 22:53.541 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, you have to ask yourself, well, what kind of snacks would I want someone to bring to my party? 22:57.004 --> 23:00.686 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, then love would bring that to my friend's party. 23:04.273 --> 23:07.874 [SPEAKER_00]: That's love, let's try something more serious. 23:08.575 --> 23:16.458 [SPEAKER_00]: If I'm experiencing a loss, a mourning a loss, what would I want from others in that moment? 23:18.699 --> 23:20.099 [SPEAKER_00]: How would I want them to treat me? 23:21.340 --> 23:22.460 [SPEAKER_00]: And you start thinking about it. 23:23.581 --> 23:25.942 [SPEAKER_00]: Within, treat them. 23:26.662 --> 23:31.144 [SPEAKER_00]: Treat those who are experiencing a loss, go and love them that way. 23:33.027 --> 23:40.009 [SPEAKER_00]: If, and when I sit against someone, what would I hope for from them in return? 23:41.609 --> 23:42.189 [SPEAKER_00]: I've messed up. 23:42.269 --> 23:43.310 [SPEAKER_00]: I've sinned against them. 23:43.330 --> 23:45.410 [SPEAKER_00]: You know, I've been short-tempered. 23:45.930 --> 23:48.051 [SPEAKER_00]: How would I want people to respond back to me? 23:49.471 --> 23:55.813 [SPEAKER_00]: So when someone short-tempered to you, when someone isn't very nice, how would, then that's how love would respond. 23:56.940 --> 24:00.602 [SPEAKER_00]: See, love your neighbor as you love yourself. 24:01.403 --> 24:04.485 [SPEAKER_00]: You end to others as you would want them to do to you. 24:05.305 --> 24:18.794 [SPEAKER_00]: And when I make a mistake and when I fail, and when someone speaks about me and away from me and I don't hear it, how do I want them to say? 24:18.994 --> 24:20.235 [SPEAKER_00]: What would I want them to say? 24:20.335 --> 24:22.697 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I want to be that person to my friend. 24:24.638 --> 24:29.002 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, just take the time to think about it and you'll know how to love. 24:30.123 --> 24:33.406 [SPEAKER_00]: Because love, like you love yourself. 24:34.487 --> 24:37.970 [SPEAKER_00]: And thirdly, finally, do no wrong to your neighbor. 24:38.350 --> 24:39.111 [SPEAKER_00]: That's in verse 10. 24:39.171 --> 24:44.476 [SPEAKER_00]: Do no wrong to your neighbor, which seems to be like, well, yeah, that's obvious. 24:44.516 --> 24:47.378 [SPEAKER_00]: You already said, love, like you love yourself. 24:48.742 --> 24:52.304 [SPEAKER_00]: So, of course, you wouldn't do wrong to your neighbor, but that's what it says in verse 10. 24:52.344 --> 24:59.489 [SPEAKER_00]: So it's reiterating, love, there's no wrong to a neighbor, therefore, love is fulfilling is the fulfilling of the law. 25:01.370 --> 25:04.672 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, I know that's obvious, but it does bring up a good discussion. 25:05.673 --> 25:12.517 [SPEAKER_00]: Doing wrong needs to be defined biblically, not according to hurt feelings. 25:14.140 --> 25:14.800 [SPEAKER_00]: Does that make sense? 25:16.582 --> 25:17.742 [SPEAKER_00]: I will bring it out a little. 25:17.943 --> 25:23.286 [SPEAKER_00]: Because, you know, flattery, you might is not love, even though it makes your friends feel good. 25:25.187 --> 25:31.532 [SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes truth will hurt, and they will feel wronged, but have you wronged them? 25:32.913 --> 25:38.116 [SPEAKER_00]: Think about Nathan the prophet when he confronted King David over Bashiba. 25:39.417 --> 25:42.259 [SPEAKER_00]: Was he doing something wrong to David 25:45.442 --> 25:54.869 [SPEAKER_00]: didn't feel good, David, and when Jesus confronted the rich young ruler about his idolatry with money, did he wrong the man? 25:55.970 --> 26:05.537 [SPEAKER_00]: Even though he went away sad, it says, because wrongs cannot be evaluated by the feelings it evokes in others. 26:06.298 --> 26:07.819 [SPEAKER_00]: You understand what I'm trying to get out? 26:08.259 --> 26:10.421 [SPEAKER_00]: Like, we may be doing the right thing. 26:11.707 --> 26:20.729 [SPEAKER_00]: So please evaluate your doings, not by what it evokes in others, they feel sad that you did that, but is it biblically right? 26:22.180 --> 26:27.805 [SPEAKER_00]: Because Romans 1310 is talking about a moral wrong done to people rather than hurting someone's feelings. 26:28.505 --> 26:34.851 [SPEAKER_00]: People can feel wrong when love exposes their sin. 26:36.172 --> 26:42.197 [SPEAKER_00]: When love opposes their actions, when love refuses to join in the celebrations. 26:44.083 --> 26:46.445 [SPEAKER_00]: You have exhibited love. 26:47.445 --> 26:49.407 [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't mean that you've wronged them. 26:49.767 --> 27:03.437 [SPEAKER_00]: But I would just say, listen, if you're someone who is so nice, you wouldn't hurt a flea, you just have to be careful not to be people, please, or it's because people, please, or it's our self-lovers. 27:05.491 --> 27:05.791 [SPEAKER_00]: Why? 27:05.811 --> 27:09.572 [SPEAKER_00]: Because they don't ever want to have an uncomfortable situation. 27:10.032 --> 27:14.153 [SPEAKER_00]: So they'll never say the truth, they'll flatter, they'll do everything. 27:14.473 --> 27:16.034 [SPEAKER_00]: But say what they need to say. 27:16.054 --> 27:25.676 [SPEAKER_00]: If you're that kind of nice person, you are a people pleaser and people pleasers are self-lovers. 27:25.796 --> 27:27.196 [SPEAKER_00]: You're taking care of you. 27:27.637 --> 27:29.197 [SPEAKER_00]: You are preserving you. 27:29.257 --> 27:32.038 [SPEAKER_00]: That's why you don't say what needs to be said. 27:35.137 --> 27:39.659 [SPEAKER_00]: That doesn't mean you get to tell the truth in a brutal way. 27:42.341 --> 27:50.705 [SPEAKER_00]: Some of you pride yourself in telling the truth, but you also out of love need to figure out how to position that truth so it can be heard. 27:51.945 --> 27:52.946 [SPEAKER_00]: Yes, you need to say it. 27:53.466 --> 28:00.430 [SPEAKER_00]: You haven't had a hard time saying it, but I would just suggest, since the point is to win the person over, 28:01.421 --> 28:04.845 [SPEAKER_00]: You need to say it in a way that they will hear it as best you can. 28:05.646 --> 28:07.248 [SPEAKER_00]: Again, ultimately it's not up to you. 28:07.649 --> 28:11.313 [SPEAKER_00]: But you have to be thinking about the other person, because that's what love does. 28:14.237 --> 28:14.818 [SPEAKER_00]: So it's summary. 28:16.920 --> 28:17.762 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, nothing but love. 28:19.207 --> 28:20.048 [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, nothing but love. 28:20.629 --> 28:26.775 [SPEAKER_00]: Don't just pay your debts doing the bare minimum, but let love keep giving to others. 28:27.456 --> 28:28.076 [SPEAKER_00]: What does that mean? 28:28.177 --> 28:31.840 [SPEAKER_00]: You love people like you love yourself. 28:31.920 --> 28:35.044 [SPEAKER_00]: The way you wanna be treated, do that to other people. 28:36.113 --> 28:40.094 [SPEAKER_00]: and do no wrong to your neighbor out of revenge. 28:41.434 --> 28:42.695 [SPEAKER_00]: Right, we're holding back. 28:43.075 --> 28:53.217 [SPEAKER_00]: We're gonna allow God to bring the judgment to bring the revenge, whether through the government or the final day, we are holding ourselves back. 28:54.638 --> 28:56.618 [SPEAKER_00]: Love fulfills the law. 28:56.778 --> 28:57.298 [SPEAKER_00]: Here's the thing. 29:00.179 --> 29:04.060 [SPEAKER_00]: Every commitment, almost every commitment, we have broken. 29:05.756 --> 29:09.418 [SPEAKER_00]: So how can we say we fulfill the law by love? 29:10.679 --> 29:18.002 [SPEAKER_00]: When we are in debt for our own sins, well, we fulfill the law, but not without Christ. 29:19.083 --> 29:19.843 [SPEAKER_00]: Not without Christ. 29:19.883 --> 29:21.724 [SPEAKER_00]: We stand condemned without Him. 29:22.304 --> 29:27.147 [SPEAKER_00]: He loved His Father perfectly and He loved His neighbor perfectly. 29:30.039 --> 29:37.046 [SPEAKER_00]: We haven't done that as small as that summary as love God, love your neighbor. 29:37.627 --> 29:38.788 [SPEAKER_00]: We haven't done that well. 29:40.049 --> 29:41.171 [SPEAKER_00]: We haven't fulfilled that. 29:42.572 --> 29:50.621 [SPEAKER_00]: So we need Christ to represent a stop presenting your own achievements as if it will save you. 29:51.121 --> 29:52.703 [SPEAKER_00]: It only condemns you further. 29:54.235 --> 29:59.499 [SPEAKER_00]: Because we have sins that need to be forgiven, we have no hope without Christ. 30:00.019 --> 30:01.900 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, what do you do? 30:02.261 --> 30:05.763 [SPEAKER_00]: Look away from yourself and look to Christ, by faith. 30:06.223 --> 30:07.084 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, how does that work? 30:07.564 --> 30:08.185 [SPEAKER_00]: On the cross. 30:08.845 --> 30:11.807 [SPEAKER_00]: What Jesus was doing, he exchanged places with you. 30:13.328 --> 30:16.370 [SPEAKER_00]: He is dying for your sin. 30:17.631 --> 30:20.773 [SPEAKER_00]: And you are to believe and go free. 30:24.373 --> 30:27.897 [SPEAKER_00]: That frees you up to truly love the person around people around you. 30:29.439 --> 30:30.700 [SPEAKER_00]: It's that exchange. 30:30.720 --> 30:31.721 [SPEAKER_00]: You remember Barabas? 30:34.044 --> 30:41.913 [SPEAKER_00]: Barabas, when Jesus was brought before the Roman governor, he could find no fault in Jesus deserving of death. 30:43.077 --> 30:47.740 [SPEAKER_00]: Nothing, but the crowds demanded him to be crucified. 30:48.200 --> 30:55.025 [SPEAKER_00]: The crowds even suggested a barter with the governor, suggesting a trade. 30:55.145 --> 31:00.969 [SPEAKER_00]: He said, they said, give us barabas, and we will give you our criminal to be crucified. 31:02.710 --> 31:04.111 [SPEAKER_00]: His barabas was a murderer. 31:05.111 --> 31:06.152 [SPEAKER_00]: He was in jail. 31:06.292 --> 31:08.214 [SPEAKER_00]: He was going to be crucified at some point. 31:09.250 --> 31:18.854 [SPEAKER_00]: But here you have it, Barabas was a murderer, deserving crucifixion, and Jesus was innocent, deserving freedom, yet he was crucified for what? 31:20.555 --> 31:31.700 [SPEAKER_00]: Well, the Apostle Peter said in his first letter, he said, for Christ also suffered once for sin, the righteous for the unrighteous. 31:33.160 --> 31:34.901 [SPEAKER_00]: Christ is righteous, we are unrighteous. 31:36.483 --> 31:40.205 [SPEAKER_00]: He exchanged, right, that he might bring us to God. 31:40.946 --> 31:43.427 [SPEAKER_00]: He is the only way to God the Father. 31:43.667 --> 31:45.809 [SPEAKER_00]: He is the only way to reconcile. 31:46.109 --> 31:47.510 [SPEAKER_00]: He's the only way to be forgiven. 31:47.690 --> 31:48.570 [SPEAKER_00]: It's through Jesus. 31:48.810 --> 31:50.751 [SPEAKER_00]: It's not through your record. 31:50.811 --> 31:56.655 [SPEAKER_00]: Your record is a record of wrongdoing, either toward God or toward your neighbor. 32:00.041 --> 32:02.283 [SPEAKER_00]: This is how sinners are made right with God. 32:02.383 --> 32:12.770 [SPEAKER_00]: Christ takes the punishment instead which sets up the offer whoever believes in Him will not perish that have everlasting life. 32:14.271 --> 32:19.615 [SPEAKER_00]: Since forgiven, made righteous because of Christ for God's will of the world that He gave His own Son. 32:22.477 --> 32:24.839 [SPEAKER_00]: The Bible doesn't tell us what happened to Barades. 32:26.560 --> 32:28.862 [SPEAKER_00]: He imagined the weight upon that guy. 32:30.112 --> 32:39.500 [SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he's in jail, he knows it's only a matter of time, and all of a sudden he gets pulled out into the bright sun, and he gets to go free. 32:39.740 --> 32:49.688 [SPEAKER_00]: He gets to go free, and he's going to learn that they bartered for him rather than Jesus, and Jesus goes to the cross. 32:50.829 --> 32:55.192 [SPEAKER_00]: And then certainly he hears about his resurrection, and certainly later he's going to hear 32:59.742 --> 33:03.864 [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that must have fell upon him with greater and greater weight. 33:05.284 --> 33:05.904 [SPEAKER_00]: That was me. 33:06.645 --> 33:08.465 [SPEAKER_00]: He died in my place. 33:09.986 --> 33:11.386 [SPEAKER_00]: Physically, that happened. 33:11.927 --> 33:20.810 [SPEAKER_00]: But here, now for us, Christ died for us, spiritually, he took our sins and he exchanged places with us. 33:21.390 --> 33:23.351 [SPEAKER_00]: What will you do with that? 33:24.331 --> 33:26.032 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, I would just suggest, you know, 33:28.040 --> 33:37.728 [SPEAKER_00]: Growing up in a Christian family, I kept out of trouble, I was a good kid, it was what the law demanded of me. 33:37.888 --> 33:39.309 [SPEAKER_00]: I was just going to do the bare minimum. 33:41.010 --> 33:51.359 [SPEAKER_00]: They told me, you know, my parents took me to church, they took me to different things, but I was doing the bare minimum until God got a hold of me at a church camp. 33:52.019 --> 33:53.680 [SPEAKER_00]: and I truly met the Lord. 33:54.160 --> 34:00.384 [SPEAKER_00]: And the love that was put in my heart now, I came home and I just devoured the Bible. 34:00.824 --> 34:03.085 [SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to speak about Jesus Christ. 34:03.226 --> 34:04.486 [SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to live for Him. 34:04.686 --> 34:05.307 [SPEAKER_00]: It changed. 34:05.447 --> 34:06.387 [SPEAKER_00]: It was a miracle. 34:07.368 --> 34:13.511 [SPEAKER_00]: Because you have to go from law-keeping to love, love for God. 34:13.752 --> 34:16.353 [SPEAKER_00]: And that is if miracle that has to happen in your life. 34:16.733 --> 34:19.395 [SPEAKER_00]: So Christian school kid, homeschool kid, okay? 34:20.481 --> 34:23.563 [SPEAKER_00]: You are being confined, one day you're gonna be out of the house. 34:24.924 --> 34:28.786 [SPEAKER_00]: Are you truly controlled by love or just by law? 34:29.227 --> 34:30.928 [SPEAKER_00]: Cause law is not going to keep you. 34:31.852 --> 34:55.700 [SPEAKER_00]: Trust me it's not going to keep you because the world is going to then like say hey come over here This is what's really fun and you're going to be tempted and you're going to be vulnerable and you will waste years of your life Hopefully Jesus will bring you back and put you on your knees, but you need a miracle Just stay in out of trouble is not going to keep you out of sin or hell 34:57.141 --> 34:57.982 [SPEAKER_00]: You need a miracle. 34:58.182 --> 35:07.435 [SPEAKER_00]: You need to call out to Jesus that He would transform your life and get you lit up with love because that's what's going to keep you. 35:07.696 --> 35:08.897 [SPEAKER_00]: And that's what keeps me. 35:09.118 --> 35:10.560 [SPEAKER_00]: That's what happened to me. 35:11.100 --> 35:12.943 [SPEAKER_00]: And I want that for every single person.