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You know, down in the States, we believe that most people in Canada live in igloos and it
never turns summer up here. I can go back and happily report that we’ve been right all
along.
One thing about – funny thing that I’ve noticed that I didn’t know about Mr. Newton,
who had written Amazing Grace and he was from Olney. And he traveled around and
spoke in buildings where ever he could. I happen to be from Illinois and I travel around
speaking in buildings where ever I can. I don’t know if Mr. Newton ever spoke in a
funeral home or not. We’ll have to research that.
You know, the subject of God’s grace really is an extremely powerful Gospel. It’s just
not the message. It is the Gospel of the Grace of God. There’s only 2 things called the
Gospel in the New Testament and that is the Gospel of the Grace of God and the Gospel
of Peace. And that is the Gospel of the cessation of hostility between God and man and
the Gospel of the Grace of God and it truly is undeserved or merited favor. Favor with
God that God has dispensed and a peace with God that he has dispensed and he has not
asked man anything about what he thought about it. He just wants us to receive it and
understand it. The understanding and the receiving of it can have major impact in this
life but thank God what he did has taken care of everything pertaining to anything
beyond this life whatsoever.
We encourage you that if you have never ever stopped and consider who Jesus is and
you’ve never stopped, in your own heart and your own mind, to acknowledge Jesus
Christ as the Lord and the Savior of the whole earth, we hope that you do that. We invite
you to do that. He is the Lord. Let me tell you something that you can’t do. You cannot
make Jesus your Lord. Jesus is already Lord. It was quite a shocking thing to me when I
had spend fifteen years in Evangelical Christianity trying to talk people into making Jesus
Lord and Savior, and then I started really looking to see where I could base that teaching
from, and found out it is no where in the Bible whatsoever. Man was never given the job
or the responsibility to do something that he could never do anyway and that is to make
Jesus Christ, the Lord.
God made Jesus Lord. We have the wonderful opportunity to respond to that. We have
the wonderful opportunity to apprehend it, believe it, to receive it, but there is nothing
you can do to make Jesus Christ Lord. I remember a lot of the teaching whenever I was
involved in several parts of the evangelical world, when I did try a lot of it. And I
remember our teachers coming through or either myself, and if we really wanted to
emphasize- you know the mark of a good evangelical meeting was an altar call. And you
just absolutely could not walk away without an altar call. That was when you found out
if you did a good enough job after all.
And so, basically it almost got down to where we took everybody who was a believer and
we tried to make them doubt it, so we could make them come up and do it all over again.
We’d do everything. And one of the statements that was made, that I heard of course and
it was passed along way before me and I’m sure it has gone on since I’ve stopped doing
it. And that’s the statement, that if Jesus is not Lord of all, he’s not Lord at all.
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And that meant if you had any faults in your life, then you were still on your way to hell;
that Jesus was only Lord of your life if he was Lord of all of your life. And if all of your
life wasn’t in complete submission to all of God’s ways, then Jesus was not the Lord of
that area of your life, so you needed to come up and make him Lord of that area. Jesus is
Lord because God made him that way, not because we make him anything. Trying to
turn that up on its head was really not a very smart thing that we did. And thank God
though that we can now acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord and take the responsibility
of making him something that he already is – off of your shoulders. He is the Lord of
your life. He was the Lord of your life before you ever believed in him. He’s Lord of all.
And this glorious Gospel has some profound impacts upon the heart and the mind of the
believer. In fact, Jesus made it very clear in the book of John that there would never
really ever be a believer until the law was done away with. There was no way man
would ever be able to believe as long as the law was in affect. The law and faith are two
different things. The only two people that Jesus acknowledged as having great faith were
two people who were not under the law; a Samaritan woman and a Centurion he said had
great faith. But he made it very clear, especially all the way through the book of John,
that as long as the law was in effect, the law and faith are not something that you can mix
together.
Many times, we now on this side of the cross, experience a great deal of guilt, unbelief;
we experience a lot of emotional turmoil which we really should be experiencing peace in
our believing. You know that was one of Paul’s prayers. He said, “I pray that you might
have joy and peace in your believing.” That is something that in many cases, people do
not have in their believing, is a real joy and a real peace. Well if your believing is
wrapped up in the context of the law, there really can’t be a whole lot of joy there. And
the one thing that you can’t have for sure is a whole lot of peace. You may have a lot of
repeated confessions, sins and repentances and renewing but you can’t have a whole lot
of peace.
The Gospel of Peace, and the joy that comes along with that and the fruit of the Spirit;
again, one of the fruits of the Spirit is faith, but we’ve tried to get you to have faith so you
can have the fruit of the Spirit. And one of the fruits of the Spirit is what we’re requiring
you to have, so you can get it. Hum! That doesn’t seem to work out too well. This
Gospel that we share with you is one that comes from a great confidence of the love of
God for the human race, not just for yourself, but also for the whole world. This Gospel
that we share with you is rooted in a settling factor of who God is and his promises. He
is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness. But has indeed
fulfilled his promise to this human race and has sent to us a redeemer; a great and mighty
Savior called Jesus Christ.
Now that doctrine that we share is called heresy. It is called many things and I’m called
many things. But all of those titles can be labeled on to me. It really doesn’t make any
difference to me, as long as I still get to profess this one fact and that is – Jesus Christ is
Lord of all. And that is a great joy of the title that I may carry in some people’s views
and opinions regardless of what that might be. It is still, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the
greatest honor I’ve ever had in my life is proclaiming the lordship of Jesus Christ.
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His love for you is boundless. It knows no end but it’s also the same, his love for the
entire world is unconditional love.
You know I used to preach the Gospel of the Grace of God and add a “Yes, but you have
to believe.” I started being challenged occasionally by people who would speak up and
say, “Yes but Mike, isn’t “believing” something that you have to do?” I remember
getting almost angry with those people for asking me that because I’d have to explain
away their question instead of answering. Because every time that the question was
asked, I knew in my heart what the answer was; believing is a work. In fact, Jesus also
affirmed in the book of John that believing is a work when they asked, “What must we do
to do the work of God.” He said, “This is the work and that is to believe on him who
God has sent.”
And even though we say this great and mighty redemption doesn’t have any works to do
with it, Jesus labeled believing as a work that would have to be done. However, that
requirement did come before the cross. Does anybody see the significance of that? I
don’t know why I missed it; the requirement to believe came before the death, burial and
resurrection of Jesus Christ, not after the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Before the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, there was a requirement to believe and
after the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, there is this wonderful opportunity to
believe. And it really, really is a very awesome opportunity that we have.
So, as we’re finishing up this last night, one of the things I want to share with you is a
chapter that I always truly enjoy sharing on and that’s II Corinthians Chapter 3.
All right, turn with me to II Corinthians Chapter 3. This really is vital, vital territory.
Some of you may have heard some of this information before, but it is just a very, very
important subject to cover.
The power of this Gospel and the power of this grace is apart from the law. It must be
understood apart from God’s law. Now, to ever get it apart from God’s law, we really
should look into Paul’s views. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth and for us to see the
validity or exactly how apart from the law this Gospel is, this chapter of all chapters
really does bring it out. Now the interesting thing is that II Corinthians was written to the
church at Corinth. It is obviously to the church at Corinth. How many of you know what
the church at Corinth was most famous for in any church doctrine? If you bring up the
church of Corinth, what were they most famous for? They were famous for sex, drugs
and rock and roll. I mean, these folks…and Paul said, “It’s just not sex, but it is guys
having sex with their step-mother.” And he said, “This is really out of hand.” Not only
was there rampant sexual activity but he said they were getting drunk during communion.
Now, I suppose that wasn’t just those little cups, you know those little cups that we pass
out. I guess it wasn’t those. And I guess it wasn’t even everybody drinking out of one
goblet and passing by the front but they not only got drunk, they really pigged out. I
mean this was a real feast. Communion for them was a feast.
And also in the church of Corinth, they had a history of identifying with certain leaders
and certain people and he addressed that problem. He said, “Some of you say, I am of
Paul. I am of Apollos. I follow this man’s doctrine and this man’s doctrine and this
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man’s doctrine.” But you see, the only way that we’ll get away from following man’s
doctrine, is getting away from following the law. That’s how we fall under man’s
doctrines. Now many people will say, “Well now, there are many people following you
that have gotten under this doctrine.” You would not believe how little people follow me
who get under this doctrine and begin to understand it. They actually find out they don’t
have to come to meetings; even mine. I’ve tried my best to tell them they don’t have to
go to anybody else’s, but bless God, they’ve got to come to mine. So I haven’t been able
to incorporate that law. They get free and they know they’re free.
So, this Gospel really should produce some very good things in the heart. And I tell you
what; judging other people is not a good thing. Amen? Judging other people’s motives
of their heart, judging their relationship with God…do you know that you can judge
anything you want by observing someone. You can look and say, ‘now that man is
abusive to his children.’ You can judge that. You can say that is wrong but you know,
when you start judging a relationship with God because their doctrine doesn’t fit up with
yours, you have become a judger of the law. Therefore Paul said, the very time you
judge somebody by the law, your heart and mind is going to fall under the full impact of
all of the law and you are guilty of breaking every law if you judge somebody else. So
judging is really not a good thing. Now it’s everyone’s option to judge what you hear
and whether you believe it to be the truth or not but to judge the person, that is another
thing altogether; whether it’s in ministry or not in ministry or whatever. This is one thing
that we seem to take great liberty with.
Now I take great liberty with judging doctrines. Paul said that we should judge doctrines.
We should talk about them. We should reason them out and talk about them, but he said
when it comes to the point of judging other people – you know that is the very essence of
the basis of this Gospel is that we not only are freed from judging others, which is
judging their relationship with God, it’s just not a part of this Gospel whatsoever.
It’s something we’re supposed to do. We’re supposed to judge what we hear but not
judge the individual. For the Gospel to really be clear, again this is really fascinating,
that the strongest chapter about freedom from the law and the fact that the law has been
completely done away with and destroyed. How many of you have ever addressed
somebody and said that the law of God has been completely done away with? It’s gone.
And the first thing that they say to you is, “Show me where it says that.” Well, we’ve
have one whole chapter here and we can show you actually several other places but in
this chapter, it’s very important. You know, it would be irrelevant to me as to whether
the law of God had been done away with, but if it is part of the teaching of the Gospel
and part of what causes us to actually be able to believe, then it is vitally important for
me to teach that to you; is your freedom from the law.
Many believe that the law was given for many reasons that just is not in the Bible. Many
people believe that it was given to show us how to do things right. That is not
established. It was never given to us to show us how to do things right. Paul says that
the law was given to us to bring us to Christ. That’s what it was given for. It was given
not to show us even the difference between right and wrong. It’s not even stated that
way. He says that the law was given to govern actions so that a condition of sin, which
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was in existence before the law was ever given, could be revealed. The condition of sin
was what Jesus died for.
I was talking with a gentleman on the phone today and he was talking about that very
simple thing and it is a very powerful and simple thing and that was the sin of the world
that Jesus died for. And Jesus took upon himself the sin of the world. You see, a lot of
times, we see him taking on – that he took upon himself every disobedience to the law.
People say, “Well Jesus took your sin and he became sin, alcoholism. He became all of
these things. He became adultery. He became murder. He became these things. He
took upon himself all of these sins.” Jesus did take care of those sins by taking away the
law, but when Jesus took on our sin he took on our condition of sin, which in effect, was
before the law was ever given. The law was not given to straighten out the mess called
sin. It was given to reveal the condition of sin so that man could understand his desperate
need for a redeemer or savior.
I love God’s law, but if you start loving it for the wrong reason, you’ll become a selfrighteous,
judgmental person. I encourage you to love God’s law, but love it for the
reason God said he gave it; not for the reason the nation of Israel turned it in to. The
nation of Israel said, if we do these things, this will be our righteousness if we do these
thing. So, love God’s love. It is a beautiful thing. We’ve not come to you speaking
negatively about the law. We’ve come to you speaking clearing about the separation
between the understanding of law and grace. The thing that Jesus was upset with the
Pharisees about was the fact that they were adding a little bit of grace to the law. He
didn’t want any grace or mercy added to the law because the law needed to point out for
man’s mind to come in contact with the fact that he was a sinner before God. He had to
view it through his actions because he could not see his condition. Okay? Let me say
that again. God gave the law, not to show us exactly how life….you know that being
human was against the law. I mean if you find out, if you go through the law of God, I
mean it’s amazing. There’s hardly anything human that was not against the law. But it
was so that it would become very clear to us that we were in a condition of sin.
Remember how Paul described that while he was under the law in Chapter 7 of Romans.
He said if I keep doing what the laws says I am not supposed to do – what is the
revelation then? It is not I that sinneth, but sin that dwelleth in me. You see, that was the
revelation that the law was to give. The law came along with this incredible revelation of
a condition that man had before the law ever came. Now the wonderful thing about the
grace of God which replaced the law of God, is that the preaching of the grace of God is
doing the same thing. You see, the law did not make man a sinner. Law did not make
man a sinner. Law came to reveal a condition that existed before; a condition that
already existed. What is the preaching of grace? The preaching of grace is not so that
you can become righteous. The preaching of grace is bringing a revelation of a
righteousness that you already have. The same as under the old covenant, the law was
given to reveal a condition that already existed. Grace is the preaching of a condition that
already exists in you. It’s not something that if you do it, you’re going to become that.
Because when somebody broke the law, is that when they became a sinner? No, because
how much of the world were sinners before God ever gave the law? You see! The
whole human race was sinners before God ever gave the law. Did they know that? No.
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What was important? It was important whatever man’s relationship is with God. It’d be
important for man to understand that relationship with God. If there was a problem, it
would be important to know there was a problem and if there’s not a problem, it would be
important to know that there’s not a problem. The law was given because there was a
problem that man was unaware of. Because we’re trapped in time and space and actions
and deeds, God gave his laws into our space of time where we could equate things and
measure things based on performance. It was never our performance that was ever a
problem in the eyes of God in the first place. The law was given to reveal a condition
that existed before governing law over actions was ever implemented. The law never
turned man into a sinner. The breaking of God’s law never turned a man in to a sinner.
But when he did – can you see that? If God set down these laws and men broke them and
it was virtually impossible for anyone to keep the law, if the law was preached
accurately, what would be the revelation everyone would have? Paul taught this in
Romans chapter 7. Remember? He said, “Now if the law says not to do this and I do it
anyway, when I don’t want to do it, it becomes obvious then that the problem is not my
actions and deeds. It is sin that dwelleth in me.” Now Paul was speaking about the first
covenant, not the covenant he was under in the book of Romans because he was
speaking, beginning in Romans 7, where he said I speak to those that know the law.
Folks, I really do love God’s law. I love it so much. But please don’t love it for the
wrong reason. If you fall in love with God’s law because you think that its’ rules will
give you better stance with God or gain you favor or enhance this Gospel in any way, it
will create self righteousness that you yourself won’t want to live with. I mean, the nicest
people become judgmental people. And guilt- there’s all kinds of things. Self
righteousness has many, many expressions. But I tell you what, the Gospel completely
lays aside self righteous because this Gospel- he said we were kept under the law, shut up
under the law, until faith came. You see, faith didn’t even come until law came to an
end. There was no such thing. You know, in the Old Testament, there’s only 2 times that
the term “faith” shows up; two times. And do you know what it says both times about
faith? They didn’t have any; both verses say they didn’t have any. And that is the
comment. Why didn’t any of them have any faith? It’s because they were under the law.
It is impossible to equate relationship with God by viewing laws and live by faith, all at
the same time. It is not possible.
Now if I would have been called to speak to the church at Corinth or if you would have
been called to speak to the church at Corinth, and you found out that these people are all
having sex, they’re all getting drunk, and we need you to go preach to them. Or you
might say, I don’t want to go preach to them. I want to go join the church. Let me just
go be a part of it. (chuckle) And they might gain a big leadership. They might gain a
real big following but you know one of the things I think Paul would go and teach to
them certainly wouldn’t be what you find in II Corinthians chapter 3. I wouldn’t think
that the strongest chapter- how many of you would think that the thing that the person
who is committing adultery needs to know is that they’re freed from the law. Is that the
first thing that pops into your mind? It wouldn’t have been the first thing that popped
into my mind either. How many of you would think that somebody that is getting drunk
in church – the first thing they need to know is that they are completely freed from the
law of God. That would not be my guess. That was the big problem.
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But as we go through this chapter, I wanted you to understand this is to the church at
Corinth and this is II Corinthians. The profound thing about I Corinthians and II
Corinthians is you know you can even see Paul growing in grace, between his first letter
to Corinth and his second letter to Corinth. You know in the first letter to Corinth, Paul
said to take this man and kick him out and don’t even eat with him. You know what he
told them in the second letter? “You’re being too harsh to that guy.” This is the same
Paul about the same situation. What was happening in Paul? Paul like all of us, had to
grow in this grace because you’re always going to draw a line in the sand as to what can
and cannot happen and somebody still be accepted by God. But you see, these walls, if
the Gospel keeps coming to our heart, will keep falling down one after the other, more
and more and more until our minds, even as the law kept pointing out our sins, sins, sins,
sins, sins, sins, sins, grace keeps pointing out righteousness, righteousness, righteousness,
righteousness, righteousness and finally the walls break down and we realize this
incredible Gospel of the Grace of God that has included the entire human race.
Folks, this is good news! It’s good news. Now it’s frightening to those who do not know
what it is to live out from under the law of God. And it’s frightening because – do you
know why it frightens people about being freed from the law of God? Because they
know how much in violation they are even under the law. If they are violating God’s law
this much while they know they are under the law, what in the world are they going to do
if they accept they are freed from the law? See, we get afraid of what we might do and
we always say, that just says so and so can go out here and do this and do that. See, it’s
not so and so we’re afraid of ourselves. We know our own hearts. We know what we’re
capable of doing.
But I pray that your heart and every one else’s heart on the face of this earth through the
saving knowledge of Jesus Christ will begin to find a heart that is almost unfathomable to
know and see that you actually have. Do you know what it feels like to go around and
know that you have a good heart? Man, I tell you what! I was told all my life that the
heart’s wicked. It’s evil. It’s all of these things. Someone would say, boy have you
looked at God’s law? And I would say, “Yeah, that’s me – personified! But then I
started hearing the Gospel and hearing about the heart that is influenced by the grace of
God. And you know what? I stopped and said, “Yeah. That’s me. That’s me.” And
that was a beautiful thing because my identity completely switched from being my
condition of sin being pointed out by the law to my condition of righteousness being
pointed out by the grace of God.
Folks, that’s really the essence of the difference between these two covenants. And this
covenant is very, very powerful, but freedom from the law can be a frightening thing.
II Corinthians 3:1 Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or need we, as some
others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?
Paul is saying are we going to go back to the old system to where that – for us to know
who we are that I have to write a letter to you and tell you, you know, and give you a “pat
on the back” letter and am I going to have to get a “pat on the back” letter from
you. Is that how we’re going to keep this up by getting these “pat on the back” letters
from each other, or is there something much more solid to hold our identity and who we
are in Christ?
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Verse 2 He said, “You are our epistle, written in our hearts, known and read of all
men.”
Now, what was this church known best for? I think I would have chosen the church at
Ephesus saying, “Man, now if somebody wants to know what the offspring of my
ministry is like, look at the church at Ephesus.” But Paul said you guys are the very
express image of this Gospel that I preach. I don’t think I would have picked them to be
an example, for sure.
Of course many people say, well that church at Corinth must be one of those churches
where Mike Williams has been preaching at.
Verse 3 For as much as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ
ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not in tables
of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
Now, the law was written down in only 2 different forms? There’s not 3 different ways
that the law was given. The law was given and it was either the Levitical law written in
ink and there’s one particular group of 10 commandments that we know of that were
written in stone. Now, when he says that which was written in stone, how many of you
have any complication in knowing and understanding what laws he was talking about
specifically when he said those that were written in stone. That would have been the Ten
Commandments, wouldn’t it? All right! And the rest of them were written in ink, as he
says.
And a lot of people say, yes Mike, God took all of his law that was written in ink and in
stone, and he wrote all of that law on our hearts. But folks, we’re under a new law. He
said that we’d been freed from that law and we’re now under the law of liberty. Why
would Christ free us from the law of the old covenant, put us under the law of life, and
write the dead letter of the law on a brand new heart? You see, God’s law is written on
your heart, but you know what that law is? You are free! That’s the law. You are free.
That’s the law you are under. And that’s the only law that’s written on the heart cause
that’s the law of this new covenant.
Verse 4 And such trust have we through Christ to Godward.
Verse 5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but
our sufficiency is of God.
One thing you’ll notice about Paul’s writings. Every time, he made sure that everyone
knew that no matter what he did, what he was, or how he did it, he attributed it to the
grace of God. You remember, he even said, “Because of the grace of God, I’ve labored
more abundantly than they all; yet not I but Christ that is in me.”
He treated this grace with ‘kid gloves’ if you will. He handled it so gently. He never
wanted to make a statement that even sounded like he was taking credit for something
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because he knew that his only life source after being a man under the law, that his only
life source was the grace of the living God; the grace of Jesus Christ. And he clung to
that.
People are concerned that without the law, many would become murderers. I would
challenge you to take a look at the man named Saul who under the law became a
murderer and when he heard the grace of God, he ceased his murdering ways. You see,
the law, if you believe you’re right, and you believe that your being right is your
righteousness, that is part of your standing with God – is being right, when you hear
somebody you think is wrong, you won’t just say, Hum. I don’t agree with that. You’re
going to get flaming mad. That is self righteousness that is rising up on the inside of us.
Now folks, I admit that after I got involved in to the grace of God and then listened to
some of the stuff I see on TV, I did the same thing. And after awhile, it was like, you
know, they’re only doing what is in their power to do. There’s no need in me expending
all this energy and getting so angry about these guys because they’re only doing what is
in their limit of their information and understanding to do. Still don’t like hearing
it…but. He made sure that they knew he was sufficient before God, but this sufficiency
is of God.
Verse 6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter,
but of the spirit for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
…but the letter was given to us to get us straightened out…is that what it says?
The letter of the law was given to us. Why? For the letter of the law killeth. Folks, this
is not a mild issue we’re dealing with as to what role the law was positioned in; it is not a
mild thing. It is a very serious thing that we accept the position of the law because if we
don’t, we’re going to bring the law into our lives and begin to die on the inside in our
knowing our close relationship with God and that it is uninterrupted and it is not
interrupted at all.
For the letter does what? It killeth! Now you say, but Mike, it says the letter, but you’re
going to have to prove to me that he’s talking about The Ten Commandments. Well, I’m
not going to have to prove it to you because Paul does it. How many of you ever heard
that The Ten Commandments kills? See, nobody ever told me that. Nobody ever told me
what The Ten Commandments did; that which was written in stone and that which was
written in ink.
In Verse 6 ….not of the letter…that’s not the letter of the New Testament. He’s talking
about the letter of the Old Testament.
Verse 7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraved in stones, was glorious,
so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the
glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away.
What part of God’s law was written and engraved in stone? And he said it was what? It
was the ministration of death. Now if God gave it and it was the ministration of death
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when he gave it, is it still the ministration of death? It hasn’t changed. You see, we gave
it a roll that God didn’t give it. God didn’t give the law to straighten out the human race,
he gave the law to point out the condition, which was the real problem in the human race.
You see, we still think that it is people’s actions and deeds that are the problem. You say,
well Mike, it’s obvious that actions and deeds are the problem. That’s because we still
believe that.
We do not accept that people have been made holy and righteous. Children are being
taught that they are born sinners and being put under laws and rules and by the time they
are thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen years old, they finally determine they cannot
live up to these rules, and that under the doctrines they’ve heard, they might as well rebel
anyway. And if you’re going to hell for what you did, you might as well go in style. I
mean that really is what is coming to many of these kids’ heads. If I’m not going to make
it anyway, why try and in fact, why not try to do as bad as I can if I’m not going to make
it because of this small part I’m done wrong, why not do massively wrong? At least, I’m
going to feel better about going to hell, if you can feel better about going to hell.
Verse 7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraved in stone was glorious (this
wonderful little term) the term glory and glorious means the view and the opinion of God.
What was the law? The law was the view and the opinion of God. Now if the law was
the view and the opinion of God, does that mean that the view and the opinion of God
may have changed? And if it has changed, and the law was how he expressed that view
and opinion, would the law still be here enacted by God if his opinion changed? It just
wouldn’t be here because it would be sending a mixed message, wouldn’t it? If the law
was given to show the opinion of God, the world is all sinners. If that opinion changed
through Jesus Christ, why would the law still be in effect? In fact, it were, it would water
down grace so much, we would never see the power of the Gospel, even in the lives of
those that said they believed in Jesus. Why? Because how many laws do you have to get
under before the power of the Gospel becomes ineffective or watered down? In God’s
eyes it just takes one law and you have fallen from grace and the power of Christ
becomes of no effect. Now falling from grace doesn’t mean you are no longer righteous.
It just means you’re righteous and stupid. You don’t know it. You’ve lost the revelation.
Why have you lost the revelation of the grace of God? Because you judged one single
situation by God’s law. Now folks, that sounds fairly dramatic to me. And then yet we
say that the law is still in effect? When Paul said if you use one single law and you use
that law to determine position with God, closer or further away, either way, if you use
that law, he says the power of grace in the heart becomes of no effect.
Folks, I don’t see what’s so wrong with the teaching that is designed to free you to where
the grace of God can have its most powerful effect that it could possibly have in the heart.
I can’t find 40 things that stop the grace of God from working in our heart. In all of the
New Testament, I can only find one thing that stops the power of God’s grace from
working and it is one single law. Well stop it! You see that’s what Jesus was upset with
the Pharisees about because one little bit of grace would stop the law from having its
effect. You could find an excuse. You could work around it. Remember he came to the
Pharisees and he was telling them he was upset with them. But he wasn’t upset with
them because they weren’t being nice guys, he was more upset with them because they
were not preaching the full impact of the law. He said, you know, your law says…you’re
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going out telling people – the law says this but you’re following it up by saying, but if
you do this and this, then it’s excused. And then he took the law and brought it to its
highest form of what it was actually intended in its first place, proving that all are sinners;
revealing a condition. But folks, if the law was given to reveal a condition that existed
and that condition no longer exists, can you tell me why the law would still exist? You
say, “Well Bro. Mike, it was given to show us the right way.” But you see, you won’t
find that anywhere in the Bible. The law was given by God to reveal a condition that
came through Adam that existed before the law was ever given.
Remember Paul asking, ‘Did the law make me a sinner then? Oh God forbid. The law
didn’t make me a sinner.’ That’s not what the law did. The law was there to reveal a
condition.
He said, now this that was written in stone used to be, it was the view and the opinion of
God. How many of you have looked at God’s law to try and figure out what God thinks
about you. I’ll tell you. That’s one bleak day. Now it may be a nice day when you’re
measuring how bad you used to be. You might say, well I’m better off than I used to be
but that’s a Pharisaical view of the law. Under the law, there is no such thing as better
off or less or worse or better. But under the law, you either are guiltless and totally
innocent of breaking any of God’s laws at all or you’re guilty of breaking all of them.
Even James says that if you offend God in one point of the law, you have broken every
law in the book. How can we incorporate that into the teaching of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ? We can’t. It is not possible to mix the two together. One is completely divergent
away from the other.
He said it was glorious so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face
of Moses because of the glory (the view and the opinion of God) that showed up on
Moses’ countenance. Which glory was done away with? Now, when Moses came back
with the law, remember when he came back, it said that the glory or the view and opinion
of God, showed up on his face so much that they had to put a sack over his head because
they could not handle seeing God’s opinion right on someone’s face. Now do you
remember what Moses expressed when he came back? He got so upset, he broke one
tablet. And what did the people see when they looked into the face of Moses? Oh the
glory of God was shining on his face so bright. Look what you’ve done! You have built
a golden calf and you’re worshiping it. No! The glory of God showed up in his face; the
view and the opinion of God. How many of you have ever seen somebody’s view and
opinion of you just through that look on their face? You know you don’t have to say a
word. All you have to do to find out somebody’s opinion of you is just to look at their
face. Look at the glory. See which glory is there. I mean, you won’t have to look very
long. And you may want to put a sack over their head. You know the sad thing about
legalists is that they cannot hide off remove from their face the view and opinion they
think God has. They can’t hide it. It shows up. They try to smile and be nice even but
the legalist’s face always shows the view and the opinion that they believe God has. It
always shows up. And maybe we ought to carry around sacks with us. Whoops!
There’s a legalist.
Put a sack over it, honey – and a sock in it. (chuckle) Views and opinions show up on
people’s faces.
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And when Moses came down with those Ten Commandments, they saw God’s view and
opinion and it scared the crap out of them. It says that they saw this glory.
Now, we always look at the term glory, like angels show up and TAH DAH….there’s
glory bumps going up the back of your spine, you know the glory of God is here. But the
glory of God just really means the view and the opinion of God which is an awesome
thing. It all depends on what his view and opinion is but it was so intolerable. It says
that they could not bear to look into his face. Now I never did understand this until
probably a year or so ago. And I finally saw through this. Why in the world would they
cover up his head? You know if they saw the glory of God, I mean, wouldn’t everybody
be wanting to go around, “Oh the glory of God is on Moses’ face. Go look” What they
saw they didn’t want to see because it was the ministry of death. It was the ministry of
death and when they looked into Moses’ face, they saw death looking them right straight
in the face. So the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for
the glory (the view and the opinion) of the countenance, that view and opinion was to be
done away with. Wow! The view and opinion of God that produced that countenance
was done away with. Well why are people going around with this countenance still? It’s
because they’re still under the law. And you can see it folks! It doesn’t take a brain
surgeon or a Bible scholar to figure out if someone is trapped in legalism. All they have
to do is hear a little grace and you’re going to see the thunder clouds come over them.
It’s going to be like the mountain that rumbled with thunder and lightning and darkness;
that if so much a beast should touch the mountain, it should be stoned or thrust threw
with a dart. And honey, you’re going to feel like that. You’re going to see that coming
from people whose opinions are formed by God’s laws rather than formed by God’s
grace. You know, disagreement is a good healthy thing. It really is. There’s nothing
wrong with disagreement. There’s nothing wrong with all of us having different opinions
of things. But I think the sad thing is- well I think the great thing is that we can see
where many of those opinions come from because of what it produces.
And they said they couldn’t stand this. But it said that glory, that view and opinion, is
going to be done away with. How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather
glorious or much differently glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation- now
what is the ministration of condemnation; everything written in ink and everything
written in stone. Now so far, we’ve been told that the Ten Commandments kill. Now
we’re talking about the Ten Commandments plus everything else written in ink. The Ten
Commandments kill. It is the ministry of death and it is also the ministry of
condemnation. Now it says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to those that are in
Christ. But if you are in Christ, but yet you live under the law, you will start feeling
condemnation and what will that begin to produce? It will produce one confused
believer. It’s a contradiction going on in your own heart and mind. Folks! I lived with
those contradictions for many, many years. And I’m not going to live with those
contradictions any more. I’m not going to try and figure out one God as compared to the
other God I know; the God of mercy and the God of wrath because the God of wrath
expressed all of that 2,000 years ago. He is a God of judgment. And yes he is a just God
but his justice was the cross of Jesus. His justice isn’t going to come to you when this
life is over. His justice came to you 2,000 years ago and his justice is truth.
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It is absolutely true. If his justice comes to you in any degree when this life is over, you
don’t have a hope! If it’s outside the blood of Jesus and the cross, honey we don’t have a
hope.
Verse 9 He said if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the
ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. Wow! The ministration exceeds in glorythe
law was there to point out sin not as an action. It pointed out sin as an action because
people couldn’t get the understanding of sin as a condition and the problem was never
what we did, it was what we were. You know, even the evangelical says you were going
to hell from the moment you were born; that you were born in sin. Now, I don’t believe
that but that is what evangelical Christianity teaches – that you’re going to hell from the
moment that you’re born. You’re born in sin. Well, then why this big uproar about the
law? The law was given to point out a condition. My question is – are people still born
in that condition since the cross? That is something we have to resolve in our hearts.
Folks! If that condition does not exist, after the cross, then the preaching of the law is
absolutely one of the most anti-Christ things someone can do because you’re trying to get
people to come to grips with a condition that doesn’t exist. It would have been like
teaching grace to people who were under the law. It won’t work. You see, the moment
the message divides, just a little grace added with the law, those people couldn’t come up
with the idea that they were sinners. They had all kinds of little things they could do to
get around what they had done.
But folks, if this Gospel is true, it’s true 100% and if you add one law, you take away the
power of this Gospel of the grace of God. So you say, we’re out to preach the grace of
God to people who are sinners but now wait a minute. Wait! The only thing that you’re
told to preach under the new covenant is to preach the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ.
All right? But if they are sinners according to God’s plan, the only way to know that
you’re a sinner is through the revelation of the law. You can’t preach grace to a sinner if
he is a sinner and get him to understand righteousness because he doesn’t even know he’s
a sinner. You say, “Well okay Mike. You’ve revolutionized my teaching. Now I’m
going to go out and let all people know and preach the law to them so they can accept
their condition so they can change now.” Well see, that is the basic thing that is taught
now around the world. My question is – is that true? And what has it accomplished? I
don’t think it’s accomplished a lot. In fact, I think it’s done some damage.
He says this ministration exceedeth in glory for even that which was made glorious. Now
what was or used to be glorious in this context? The law used to be the view and opinion
of God.
Verse 10 Paul said, “For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect,
by reason of the glory that excelleth. The law used to be/was glorious. The glory of the
new covenant (the view and opinion that God has of us under Jesus and under the grace
of God) has far surpassed the glory (the view and opinion that God had of us under the
law) far surpasses anything that the law ever did.
Verse 11 He said, “For if that which is done away was glorious- now what did he say
was glorious? He said it was the law. Did he say The Ten Commandments were part of
this gloriousness? Yes and what did he say had to happen to this thing that was glorious?
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It has been done away with. He said for if that which is done away was glorious, much
more that which remaineth – now if it says this which remaineth, what is clear by
deduction, remaineth no more? The law doesn’t remain any more. If grace remains, that
means the other doesn’t remain. Why – it’s because it’s been done away with. This
really isn’t all that complicated.
Verse 12 Seeing then that we have such hope we use great plainness of speech.
Seeing then that we have such hope – whoa – what does this give us? Hope. You get
under the law you know what you’re going to lose? You’re going to lose your hope.
Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech. Now, let me take
license with this and explain my teaching to you. Some people say, “Well Mike you
ought to just say it a little softer. Don’t say it so direct. It shocks people too much.”
Folks, you had to be shocked, under the old Covenant they had to be shocked with the
totality of the reality of the law and you’re going to have to be shocked with the totality
of the reality of the grace of God which has brought righteousness to this world. It’s a
shock and we have to preach it with boldness.
Paul said, “That hope there is what causes this boldness to come out.”
Verse 13 And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel
could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished. Wow!
Now what showed up on Moses’ face? It was the glory of God based on what? It was
the law. Can you imagine what his face must have looked like? Honey, I tell you what.
I just can’t even imagine the concept that even Moses knew that he had to put a veil over
his face. These people can’t handle this. Maybe Moses looked into a mirror and said,
“Oh my God. I better put a veil over my face. There’s no way anybody can even take
this.”
How many have ever got up in the morning and said the very same thing? (chuckle)
I better just put a veil over this thing. I don’t think anybody can handle it today. There’s
the term abolished. Do you see the terms we’ve read here; abolished – done away with –
taken away. The glory of it and the law itself – the law and the view and the opinion that
it produced has all been done away with.
Verse 14 But their minds were blinded – wow- for until this day remaineth the same
veil untaken away in the reading of the old testament, which veil is done away in
Christ.
You know, people who still do not have an understanding of the Gospel, still read the law
and see an angry God. Show me someone who believes God is still angry and I’ll show
you someone who has not believed this Gospel. That’s the veil. They can’t see that
anymore. They can’t look at the law because they have to look at it with a veil over it
because they still see an angry God. But he said, “In Christ, that veil has been done away
with.” Why? It’s because you don’t see an angry God under the law any more because
you know that law was done away with according to Paul’s teachings.
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Verse 16 Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.
Now, Mike do you believe that people should accept Jesus Christ into their lives and that
is important? I believe it is desperately important for people to come to grips with an
understanding of the saving, redeeming nature of Jesus Christ. But I’m afraid that
evangelical Christianity has painted a picture of this gospel where that no one can see the
full glory of this gospel because they’ve added God’s law which was his opinion to this
grace which is his opinion. Everybody is getting a mixed message. We don’t need a
mixed message. If grace is so great, if grace is so glorious and amazing, why are we
afraid of it? Do we actually think that the power of this grace can’t do in the heart what
ever it was supposed to do outside of our control? Do you mean that we still need the
law to make sure grace works? The law doesn’t make sure grace works. The law makes
sure grace got here and says, “I’m outta here.” You’re here. There’s no need for me here
any more. I’m gone.
Man, I tell you, I had one of my friends up in Edmonton, a pastor there, begin to embrace
the understanding of this and he was telling me about his own studies. Do you remember
the story about Simeon at the temple, when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to be
dedicated at the temple? I can’t remember exactly what the ceremony was. And there
was the woman there at the temple, Anna, who had been praying all of her life time. And
what was she praying for; the salvation of Israel. All right? She was in there praying for
the redemption of Israel when Simeon had been promised by God that he would not die
until his eyes saw the redemption of Israel. Now, how many of you know that especially
in the Old Testament times, which that was still Old Testament times, because the new
covenant had not been established yet. These were Old Testament people even though it
was after Jesus was born. How many of you know that their names were always
significant? Man, I tell you, if you want to find out what the whole story means, just look
up the meaning of their names and it tells you the definition of the whole story about their
life.
The name Anna comes from the name in the Old Testament, Hannah, and it means grace.
The name Simeon means the former things or the old way. Do you know what happened
when grace saw Jesus come into the temple? Grace left the temple and went out in to the
streets. Do you know what Simeon said (former things/the old way)? Now I can die.
What did the old way and former things say? Whoa. We’re going to have church now.
I’m here. Jesus is here. We’re going to have church. No! He said, “Now I can die.”
Folks, I tell you what, there’s no part of anything that’s ever been more glad to be put
away than the law itself because no longer was it there to point out a fault; a fault that
would no longer exist after the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. There would be a
whole new way of living; not going around pointing out man’s sin condition, but pointing
out their righteousness condition so they can believe. And I guarantee you, I can make
more believers out of this Gospel – if believing is the key folks – remember Paul said
some believe out of strife and some believe out of contention, some believe out of this
that and the other. I don’t understand why even the legalists wouldn’t cheer me on
because I win people to the Lord they’ll never get to; never get to. They’ve been there.
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They’ve tried it and they know under that system they’re not going to make it. They’re
just more honest than the rest of the folks.
Verse 17 Now the Lord is that Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is
liberty.
Now I used to think that was a church verse, a church service verse. Man, where the
spirit of the Lord is – Whew! There is liberty. Man, I tell you. The Spirit of the Lord is
coming here and now we’re all happy and now you can quit smoking and now you can
give up sex and now you can give up all this stuff. The Spirit of the Lord is here; there’s
liberty. You know what the term liberty means? I dare you to look it up for yourself. It
means to be made exempt from moral and mortal law. Where the Spirit of the Lord isthere’s
an exemption from God’s laws. It’s an exemption. Where the Spirit of the Lord
is – now what was one of Isaiah’s prophecies about the Spirit of the Lord after Jesus
would come? The Spirit of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea, so
where does this exemption from the law exist for the whole planet? It’s where the Spirit
of the Lord is, isn’t it? For you see, we can’t accept that. So we make holy places, holy
ground. You know God comes in to church here, and he comes to that service here and
He’s appearing over there and he’s making manifestations over here and over there and
people keep chasing, saying that they’re seeing these things going on. They may be right.
There may be things going on but folks, it’s irrelevant to the Gospel. Wherever the Spirit
of the Lord is, there’s an exemption from the law. Wherever the Spirit of God is, there is
no law.
Now the Lord is that Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom from the
law. And you wouldn’t even have to define that by the Greek word. When he says,
“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” What is the only thing he has talked
about being in bondage to in this whole chapter? It’s the law and how much of the law;
everything written in ink and everything written in stone.
So where the Spirit of the Lord is, you are now exempt from everything written in ink or
in stone; the Ten Commandments or not. You’re exempt. Wow! There’s an exemption
folks and man that exemption is so powerful and it fills your heart with the love of the
living God.
Verse 18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory (or the view and
the opinion of God) He said, “Now we’re looking at God’s view and opinion just like
we’re looking in a mirror.” Why? Where is the Spirit of the Lord? Is he out floating
around some place? No, he is in you. Man, I tell you! If you ever got a revelation of the
Spirit of God being in you, it’d show up on your face, just the same way as being under
the law shows up on your face. It shows up folks. It’s a glorious, glorious gospel.
Verse 18 But we all with open face beholding as in a mirror, the view and opinion of
the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of
the Lord.
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Now how many of you have heard this verse that we are changed from glory to glory no
matter what church background you’ve come from? We are changed from glory to
glory. Now how many of you heard it stated, we are changed from glory to glory to glory
to glory! Is that what it says? No! We are changed from glory to glory. We are changed
from one glory to another glory. How many glories has this chapter talked to us about?
Isn’t that amazing? Is it three glories or four glories? No! One was the glory of the law
– right? If the first was glorious and that glory has been done away with (the view and
opinion of God through the law has been done away with), we have been changed into
the same image from glory to glory. And how did you get here? Even as by the Spirit of
the living God. And who is that Spirit? Jesus Christ himself! Wow! And who is Jesus?
He is the Word.
Folks, you’re not in a process of change. You’ve been changed. Now the reality of that
change would bring a drastic impact upon your heart and your life. But trying to achieve
that change will destroy your life. It killeth. Accepting that you are the righteousness of
God in Christ and no law can take away nor add to that, will cause you to have a
revelation of who you are. You know that’s what this is really all about. It’s finding out
who you really are. Do you know why you act the way you do? It’s because that’s the
view and opinion that you have of yourself. You accepted somebody’s view and opinion
of you somewhere in life. Somebody told you what they thought about you and you’re
living it out today because you believed the opinion. It could have been a teacher. It
could have been a parent. You know there’s people that are in their 70’s and 80’s still
living out the dark cloud of what their parents said about them when they were children
Man, I tell you. I’ve watched elderly people say what Mom and Dad said to them when
they were little kids and watched elderly men and women weep because of what their
Dad said when they were little kids. I thought, ‘my God.’ Folks, we operate out of what
we believe. We believe some somebody’s opinion. You go through this life listening to
people’s opinion of yourself and somewhere along the line, one of them gets in your heart
and that’s how you will live this life.
I never will forget one particular incident in closing; a silly little incident when I was just
probably five or six years old as my Mom was going out through the check out lane, and
I reached up and got a piece of bubble gum and put it in my pocket. We got in the station
wagon, a 1955 blue and white station wagon; everybody remembers those. I guess you
don’t, do you? (chuckle) We got out of the car, Mom was unloading the groceries, and I
reached into my pocket and you know how you just pulled on the ends? And the bubble
gum popped out and I popped it in my mouth and my Mom turned around and said,
“Where did you get that bubble gum?” And instantly, my head went down and I started
crying. She didn’t even have to ask anything. That was just the nature of the way things
were with me. That’s just the way it was. Well anyway, she said, “Well Mikey. Get
your shoes back on.” I said, “Where we going?” She said, “We have to go back to the
grocery store.” I begged her to beat me instead. You know, beat me; do anything. Take
away food for a month, whatever you want to do. Don’t do this to me. And I said, “Why
are we going?” She said, “You have to go back and apologize and pay for the gum you
stole.” And my Mom did make me do the right thing and that is the right thing to do with
children. It’s the right thing to do with anybody. But you know what? After we went
over there, and she called the manager up to the front, and she said, “My son has
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something to tell you.” And the moment she did, I went…ehhhh.. and just broke out into
tears. He and I didn’t want to be there. My Mom seemed to be enjoying this. It was like
he was saying, “It’s okay Geneva. It’s okay, you know.” And uh, but she was going to
see this thing through. So I got my penny out of my pocket and paid for the gum. We
got back in the car and on the way home she said, “Mikey. There’s something you need
to understand. You’re a Williams and Williams don’t steal.” Now my Mom could have
told me if you ever steal again, we’ll kick you out of the family. (chuckle) You aen’t no
son of mine. Anybody that would ever steal is no son of mine! But that’s not how she
dealt with it. Oh she dealt with it to the letter. But when it came to my identity, she did
not impede that at all. She said, “Mikey you have to understand. You are a Williams and
there’s one thing about the Williams. They don’t steal.” You know that took away, for
the rest of my life, all desire, luring temptation, to steal. This wasn’t about having to face
the manager; no it was about facing the Williams’. I heard the view and opinion of the
Williams’. They don’t steal. Man, she should have told me a whole lot of other things
they don’t do! (chuckle) ‘Cause I think I experienced about everything else other than
being a thief.
Really what we’re telling you about folks in the Gospel is an identity. This Gospel gives
you an identity. People don’t know how they survive outside the law. The law strips you
of your identity and makes a fake and a phony out of you. It accuses and rejects. It
accuses and rejects. The law accuses and rejects and the response that comes from that is
an identity that comes from the rejection. This acceptance is a powerful thing and it’s a
glorious thing.
Blessed Assurance.
Amen!
This is my last night with you. We need your help financially. If you can help us, we’d
appreciate it. There are envelopes on the chairs. Either you’re sitting on one or there’s
one close to you; maybe you picked it up when you sit down. If you’d put your name and
address on the front of it, you’ll get a tax deductible receipt, and do whatever you can to
help us out, we really would appreciate it. We also have for those who want to be a part
of the on going phases of this particular Gospel, we have made available for you, there’s
sheets in the back where you can have an automatic debit made either from your
checking account or your credit card account; one of the two. It’s whatever you decide
and once you sign the paper, we’ll turn it in and you won’t even have to think about
doing it the next month. And of course you know, even if you do an automatic debit
from your credit card or from your bank account, you are the one who is in charge. It is
for a year and if you don’t renew it, it won’t be renewed. But if you should decide to
stop, all you’d have to do is call your bank and tell them. It’s not us that would be calling
your bank. Of course, we wouldn’t call your bank and tell them to stop it anyway.
(chuckle)
But you of course have total access to your own accounts and if you did decide or need to
stop it at any time, you’d have that freedom to do it. All right? So we have those and the
guys are going to pass the baskets around.
Glory to Glory
19
I’m cooking. I don’t know about you guys but I’m just…roasting. I saw a brother back
there using the envelope for uh..getting some cool going here. All right. How many of
you this makes sense to you tonight? Did you see the law in a way that maybe you didn’t
see it before? The one thing that no one will ever be able to accuse me of and that is
showing disrespect for God’s law. I respect God’s law for the reason God gave it.
People who say that it was given as a guide; people who say it was given to show us the
right way, are people who disrespect God’s law because God didn’t give it for that
purpose. Respect for God’s law, but respect it for the reason he gave it.
In him, we live and move and have our being. And in him there is no sin. You are free.
You are exempt. You are holy. You are righteous. You are without fault. You are
without blemish. You may have to make a lot of things right and redo things with
people, but you’ll never have to make things right with God ever again.
Mike Williams Ministries