Hello, this is Brother Denny.
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Well, blessed be the Lord this morning for
the rich blessings we've already received.
I'd like us this morning to turn in
our Bibles to John, chapter 1, to begin
a reading there.
I'd like to give a teaching this morning
that's been on my heart for, oh, I'd
say a few months and was brought upon
my heart as a fresh burden during the
revival that was going on around here.
The title of my message this morning is,
The Spirit of Law and the Spirit of
Grace.
The Spirit of Law and the Spirit of
Grace.
Now, there are many areas where the Spirit
of Law or the Spirit of Grace can
affect, but I believe I'll be directing most
of the message on how this affects relationships.
Relationships with one another.
Relationships between husbands and wives.
Relationships with children.
The Spirit of Law and the Spirit of
Grace.
In John, chapter 1, where we had you
turn, we want to read from verse 12
through verse 18.
But as many as received him, to them
gave he power to become the sons of
God, even to them that believe on his
name, which were born, not of blood, nor
of the will of the flesh, nor of
the will of man, but of God.
And the word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld his glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth.
John bare witness of him and cried, saying,
This was he of whom I spake.
He that cometh after me is preferred before
me, for he was before me.
And of his fullness have all we received,
and grace for grace.
For the law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
No man hath seen God at any time.
The only begotten Son, which is in the
bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
This morning, as an introduction, I'd like us
to consider the difference between the coming of
the law and the coming of grace and
truth.
The Scripture here says that the law came
by Moses.
But if we could just for a moment
lay a little groundwork for the message and
go back and remember how the law came.
Exodus chapter 20 is where we would drop
in and read, if we were going to
read, about when the law was given.
But if you remember, God told Moses to
gather the people together.
God told Moses to sanctify the people.
He said, I'm going to appear unto you
tomorrow.
And then the people were to gather outside
and around the mount.
And Moses was to go up in the
mount, and there God spoke to the people
of God.
They heard His word.
They heard His law.
And we know the scene that is laid
there, Mount Sinai.
It's a place of trembling.
There was a place of thundering.
There was fire on that mountain.
And the Bible says that the people exceedingly
feared and quaked as they heard the word
come forth from that mountain.
Well, this is the way that the law
came by Moses.
And it had its effects upon the people
there when they heard it.
And all down through the centuries after they
heard it, that law had its effect upon
people.
And the Bible says that grace and truth
came by Jesus Christ.
What a different way that grace and truth
came.
We heard a little bit already about it
this morning.
Here He comes, just like everybody else.
Humbles Himself, fulfills all manner of righteousness.
He is baptized there of John in the
river Jordan.
The Spirit of God descends upon Him.
Out into the wilderness He goes.
He comes back.
Yes, we read it there in Luke.
He's seated there speaking to the people.
And what is the ministry of grace and
truth?
But to bind up the brokenhearted, to minister
grace to people, to proclaim liberty to the
captives, and to loose those that are bound,
this is the way grace and truth came.
And when John described it, he said, We
beheld His glory.
Oh, it was beautiful.
It was the glory as of the only
begotten of the Father.
And He was full of grace and He
was full of truth.
And that's the testimony that we have this
morning of our Lord Jesus.
He was full of grace and He was
full of truth.
And what a beautiful combination those two make
together, don't they?
Grace, that is the divine influence and power
of the grace of God working in the
heart of an individual.
And truth, that's the divine revelation of the
mind and will of God.
And we read in the Scriptures that our
Lord Jesus was full of both of them.
He was full and running over of the
grace of God, the divine power, the unction,
the strength that was needed to live the
way He needed to live.
And He was also full and running over
of the truth of the Word of God.
That was our Lord Jesus.
The law came by Moses, but it came
in a very different way than the coming
of grace and truth.
Words like this we read in the Scriptures
as our Lord Jesus begins to manifest Himself
and His ministry upon the earth.
The people marvel at the gracious words that
come out of His mouth.
Words like this are spoken to the people.
Come unto Me, all ye that labor and
are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest.
Take My yoke upon you and learn of
Me, for I am meek and lowly of
heart, and ye shall find rest unto your
souls.
Very different than the law that came on
Mount Sinai.
But totally different influence and effect.
And that's what I'd like to speak about
some this morning.
There is a difference in the effect of
the law than there is in the effect
that grace has upon our lives.
There is a difference in the attitudes that
flow out of a life that is controlled
by principles of law as compared to the
life that flows out of one who is
controlled by the principles of grace.
And maybe that would be a good way
to divide the two of them in our
minds this morning.
There are those who live by principles of
law and there are those who live by
principles of grace.
And the principles of law and the principles
of grace are very far away from each
other.
The spirit of law and the spirit of
grace, the influence of the principles of law
compared to the influence of the principles of
grace in somebody's life.
Turn over with me to 2 Corinthians yet.
For a reading there, 2 Corinthians chapter 3.
Do we begin again to commend ourselves?
We're in verse 1.
Or need we, as some others, epistles of
commendation to you or letters of commendation from
you?
Here are epistles written in our hearts, known
and read of all men.
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 the fleshly tables of
the heart.
And notice the difference there again.
The effect of the principles of law compared
to the effect of the principles of grace.
One is only written on a table of
stone or a piece of paper or a
book somewhere, but the other is written on
the fleshly table of the heart.
Big difference.
And such trust have we through Christ to
Godward, not that we are sufficient of ourselves
to think anything of ourselves, but our sufficiency
is of God, 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.
There again we see the difference.
The principles of law and the principles of
the spirit or the principles of grace.
One kills and the other gives life.
But if the ministration of death, written and
engraven 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,
how shall not the ministration of the spirit
be rather glorious?
For if the ministration of condemnation be glory,
much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed
in glory.
Now let me just explain a little bit
what that word ministration means.
It's basically the same word as ministry.
That which flows out.
That which flows out of a life.
That which flows out of a family.
That which flows out of a congregation.
We have a ministry.
The ministration of your life or the ministration
of your family or the ministration of a
church.
It is that which flows out.
Ministry.
It's the effect on others.
That's what it's talking about.
For if the ministration or that which flowed
out of condemnation be glory, how much more
the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.
You see, the law was given as a
ministration of condemnation so that its effect and
its influence would be that which would bring
condemnation.
It would be that which would bring death.
It would be that which brings somebody to
a place where they realize that they cannot
do it and then only turn to Christ
where they can find the grace of God
to do it.
But the ministration of righteousness that produces and
fosters righteous living.
That's what that little verse there is saying.
That ministration which produces and fosters righteous living,
it exceeds in glory.
For even that which was made glorious had
no glory in this respect by reason of
the glory that excelleth.
The ministration of righteousness is so much more
glorious than the ministration of condemnation.
It just clouds it out of the way.
For if that which is done away was
glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
Seeing then that we have such hope, we
use great plainness of speech.
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.
But their minds were blinded.
For until this day remaineth the same veil
untaken away in the reading of the Old
Testament which veil is done away in Christ.
But even unto this day when Moses is
read, the veil is upon their heart.
Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord,
the veil shall be taken away.
Verse 17, Now where the Lord is that
Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty.
Liberty, power to do the will of God.
Let us remember that little phrase, that little
verse there as we go through many different
points here this morning.
Remember that where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty, or power, or grace,
or strength to do the will of God.
So, obviously when we begin to ponder this
whole matter of the effect of the principles
of law compared to the effect of the
principles of grace, surely we want to lean
on the grace side because where the Spirit
of the Lord is, there is liberty.
That is power to do the will of
God.
But we all with open face, beholding as
in a glass the glory of the Lord
are changed into the same image from glory
to glory even as by the Spirit of
the Lord.
The principles of law and the principles of
grace, these two have very different effects.
If you are an individual who finds yourself
living after the principles of law rather than
the principles of grace, and I know that
there are some in this room because it
became very evident through the three weeks of
revival that we had that some were leaning
on living after principles of law and others
were experiencing the grace of God in a
beautiful way in their lives.
So listen, there is a big difference between
the two of these.
It will affect the way you think about
God.
If you are living by principles of law,
it will totally affect how you think about
God.
Number two, it will affect how you think
about yourself.
And number three, it will greatly affect how
you relate to others.
Think with me.
If in your mind you are thinking and
relating in your Christian life after principles of
law, that means you have to do something
in order to please God.
That is going to affect the way you
look at God.
Because every one of us know if we
stop and think about it that if you
have to please God by the things you
do, then if you don't do everything that
you are supposed to do, you are not
pleasing God, and thus you live under God's
displeasure most of your life.
That is not the will of God for
a Christian, to live under that sense of
God's displeasure.
And by the way, it is a false
sense of God's displeasure.
It is a theology that we brought up
in our own mind.
Number two, it will affect how you think
about yourself.
Because if you are living after the persuasion
of the principles of law, then you have
got to perform.
And if you don't perform, you are a
failure.
And if you are a failure, you will
begin to think like a failure.
You will feel like a failure.
You will make decisions like a failure.
And you will be a failure.
That is the way it works.
And number three, I will save that one.
But these two are very much apart from
each other.
The one, if you carry it all the
way to its end, you will have a
Pharisee.
And the other, if you carry it all
the way to its end, you will have
a beautiful example of Jesus Christ upon this
earth.
Which one do we want?
Do we want to be a Pharisee?
Or do we want to be a beautiful
example of Jesus Christ?
The Pharisees were afraid of God.
The Pharisees were proud of their attainments.
And they figured they were pleasing God by
their attainments, and they were proud of their
attainments.
And the Pharisees had very little influence on
other people.
On the other hand, our Lord Jesus Christ
was not afraid of God, but He rested
in the love of His Heavenly Father all
through every day.
He was filled with humility and meekness, rather
than pride of attainment.
And last of all, He was the most
influential man that ever walked on the earth.
Which one do we want?
The Spirit of Law and the Spirit of
Grace.
They are very different from each other.
They will affect our influence on others considerably.
They will affect the way you raise your
children.
They will affect how you relate to your
spouse.
They will affect how you relate to your
brothers and sisters in the Lord.
And they will also affect how you relate
to a lost and dying world.
We'll see these as we go down through
several points of comparison between the Spirit of
Law and the Spirit of Grace.
We'll be able to see that there's a
great difference in the effect or the influence
that we have on other people.
There is a danger of our hearts being
established by laws and not by grace.
If you'll turn over with me to Hebrews,
I'll remind you of a verse that Brother
Aaron preached to us here a few weeks
ago in an opening.
I believe the name of his message was
that established in grace was the title of
his message.
It was such a blessing, such a thrill
to listen to him preach about having our
hearts established in grace.
Well, the very fact that our brother needed
to preach that message shows us that there's
a danger that our hearts can be established
in laws rather than grace.
Read the verse with me in Hebrews 13,
verse 8, 9 and 10.
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and
forever, be not carried about with divers and
strange doctrines, for it is a good thing
that the heart be established with grace, not
with meats which have not profited them that
have been occupied therein.
We have an altar whereof they have no
right to eat which serve the tabernacle.
Let your hearts be established in grace, not
in meats or in laws, in legal codes
and rules.
Don't let your heart be established in legal
codes and rules, but rather let it be
established in grace because Jesus Christ is the
same yesterday, today and forever.
So let your heart be established in those
things.
So let us look at a few of
these differences.
I have 15 of them, believe it or
not, but I don't plan to spend a
long time on them because I'd like you
to get the principle of operating under law
and operating under grace.
I want you to see the difference of
the two.
First of all, the spirit of the law
demands.
The spirit of grace encourages.
There's a big difference between the two of
those.
The spirit of the law demands.
It allows no excuse.
It must be this way and no other
way.
But the spirit of grace encourages.
And by that I mean it comes alongside
and encourages you in the direction of holiness
and righteousness.
Big difference between the two of those.
One demands, the other encourages.
Go this way.
That's right.
That's good.
Keep on going.
That's right.
Keep your heart open.
Just keep going.
This way.
This is the way to go.
The other demands.
You'll do this.
And you have no choice.
And there's no excuse.
This is the way it'll be.
This is the way you'll do it.
One is the spirit of law.
The other is the spirit of grace.
They have a tremendous effect on how we
relate to people, don't they?
Second of all, the spirit of law condemns.
The spirit of grace convicts.
Big difference.
Condemnation is judgment.
Condemnation is heavy.
Condemnation brings the heart down low.
But conviction simply enlightens the heart.
One is condemnation.
One is conviction.
Conviction.
That still, small voice.
That sweet prompting of the Spirit of God
inside of the heart of God's people.
Conviction.
The spirit of grace is just a gentle
spirit that comes alongside and enlightens our heart.
You know, you shouldn't have done that.
Think of it.
Think of how the grace of God works
in your life.
You make a mistake.
You say something out of sort.
And it might be five minutes.
And all of a sudden you have that
little quiet moment there by the kitchen sink
or at your workbench.
And here it comes.
You shouldn't have done that.
But the spirit of law condemns.
That was wrong.
That's evil.
You're wicked.
And all those kind of things go along
with it.
If we are moving in the spirit of
law, that's going to have a very different
effect than if we're moving in the spirit
of grace.
And I believe when we work with people,
God would have us work like the Holy
Spirit, not like the law with other people.
And just come alongside, give a gentle encouragement.
You know, that wasn't a very good thing
to do.
Rather than to condemn, to judge, to give
feelings of failure and judgment, rather than that
gentle wooing of the spirit of God.
Number three.
The spirit of law brings bondage.
And the spirit of grace brings liberty.
Now, the word bondage means just what it
says.
Bound.
The spirit of law brings bondage.
It binds.
It hinders.
If you're moving under the principles of law,
you're probably failing in your Christian life.
You probably try but fail.
And try but fail.
But the spirit of grace brings liberty.
For where the spirit of the Lord is,
there is liberty.
That is, power to do God's will.
Liberty.
Emancipation.
Proclamation.
You're free!
You can do what you want to do
now.
You can do the will of God.
You can serve the Lord.
You can have victory over your sin in
your life.
The spirit of grace gives liberty or freedom
or emancipation.
A freedom to do the will of God.
The other brings bondage.
Number four.
The spirit of law is never good enough.
It's never good enough.
You ever feel that way?
It's never good enough.
Well, that's the spirit of the law.
It's never good enough.
You always fail under the spirit of the
law.
The principle of law is always never good
enough.
You always fell short of it.
You maybe got it here, but you lost
it here.
And you gained a little here, but you
lost down here.
The principle of law is never good enough.
But the spirit of grace is always excited
by each step that is taken.
Spirit of grace is acceptance, encouragement, praise.
Often heard, you want to raise your children
right, give them about nine doses of praise
to every one dose of correction.
Then another nine doses of praise and then
one dose of correction.
Why?
Because the spirit of grace is an encourager.
It is always excited by each step that
is gained.
And the grace of God, when you take
even a baby step in your Christian life,
the grace of God is right there to
say, That's good.
That's right.
You're going the right way.
Keep on going.
Don't quit now.
Keep on going.
But oh, the spirit of law, when you
take a step, one step in the right
direction, the spirit of law is right there
to say, That's not good enough.
You could have done better than that.
Why didn't you do it this way?
What about your motives?
And on and on they go.
The spirit of law and the spirit of
grace, very different one from another.
Number five.
The spirit of law curses and the spirit
of grace blesses.
Curses.
You have failed.
Judgment is coming.
There is a payment due.
For that which you did wrong, you failed.
But the spirit of grace blesses and shows
a way to victory.
Even in failure, the spirit of grace shows
the way to victory.
Even in total failure, the spirit of grace
comes along and says, There's a way out.
Get up.
God will help you.
Keep on going.
But the spirit of law comes alongside of
one who fell and curses and brings judgment
and tries to make the load heavier on
top of them.
Big difference between the two.
The spirit of law is critical, and the
spirit of grace gives the benefit of the
doubt.
Critical.
Always finding something wrong.
It's a little bit like never good enough,
but I think it's worthy of a point
in itself.
The spirit of law is critical.
It finds something wrong.
It's always finding something wrong.
But the spirit of grace gives the benefit
of the doubt.
Benefit of the doubt.
I thought of these verses over in 1
Corinthians 13, where it's giving a definition of
love, and it says of love, among other
things, it says, Love hopeth all things and
believeth all things.
Love gives the benefit of the doubt.
Love believes in the other.
Love hopes the best in the other.
Love gives the benefit of the doubt.
The spirit of grace gives the benefit of
the doubt, rather than looking for something wrong,
and trying to find something to put a
finger on, and being critical as somebody else.
It just comes alongside and gives the benefit
of the doubt.
And the first response, if the grace of
God is stirring in the heart of an
individual, the first response will be, well, there
must be some other explanation.
Surely, there must have been a reason for
that.
It gives the benefit of the doubt.
Wouldn't you like to have the benefit of
the doubt?
So would your brother.
So would your sister.
So would your children.
So would your wife and your husband.
Wouldn't you like to have the benefit of
the doubt?
But the spirit of law is critical.
Always finding something wrong.
Number seven.
The spirit of law remembers sin.
Again and again and again.
Just like in the Old Testament, under the
law, they'd come, they'd offer the sacrifice on
the Day of Atonement, but a year later,
they had to come back again, and offer
it again, and a year later, they came
back and offered it again.
The spirit of law remembers sin, but the
spirit of grace forgets it.
What?
What was that?
I don't even remember.
What was it you did?
I don't even remember.
I don't even remember it.
The spirit of grace forgets.
The spirit of law remembers it, reminds you,
reminds you again, reminds you again, and again.
But oh, the grace of God just forgets
it.
Buried in the deepest sea, separated as far
as the east is from the west.
So are my sins separated from me.
Number eight.
The spirit of law exposes sin, and then
leaves you there.
That's all law can ever do, is expose
sin, and then leave you there.
That's all the law could ever do.
But oh, the spirit of grace comes alongside
and forgives and covers where we're willing to
deal with it.
That's what the grace of God will do.
It'll come alongside and encourage you to repent,
to be forgiven, and to cover it so
that it's gone, so that nobody else finds
out about it.
Number nine.
The spirit of law is rejection, and the
spirit of grace is acceptance.
Law drives away.
It'll drive you away from God.
It'll drive you away from people.
It'll make people want to run away from
you.
They won't want to be around you.
Spirit of law is rejection.
But the spirit of grace is acceptance.
It says, come.
Come.
Come to God.
Come the way you are.
Come and be forgiven.
Come and be cleansed.
Oh, listen.
Probably the greatest motivation of the growth in
our Christian life comes from the acceptance that
we have of the Heavenly Father.
Is it not so?
I don't know of anything that motivates me
more to go on in my Christian life
than to know that God accepts me right
where I am.
And I don't mean that God accepts sin.
But God accepts me right where I am.
If I'm clear in my heart, God accepts
me.
And sure, maybe six months from now, He'll
begin to show me something else that I
need to deal with, and I'll see it.
But all that six months, God was loving
me.
He was accepting me.
He was blessing me.
He was encouraging me.
And that very acceptance caused me to have
my heart open so that God could minister
to me about another need in my life.
The Spirit of Grace accepts, but the Spirit
of Law rejects.
It makes you want to run away from
God.
But the Spirit of Grace makes you want
to run to God.
Number ten.
The Spirit of the Law tends toward exclusivism.
And the Spirit of Grace is free to
all.
Hallelujah!
Free to all!
Red, brown, yellow, black and white.
They're all precious in His sight, but not
so with law.
The principles of law and those who live
after the principles of law, they tend toward
being a sect, or they tend toward being
an individualist.
This is how I see it.
This is the way it's going to be.
I don't care if I have to be
by myself.
This is the way we're going to do
it.
That's not that way with the Spirit of
Grace.
Rather, it says, others, Lord, yes, others.
Let this my motto be.
Quite a difference between the two of those,
isn't it?
The Spirit of Law has no mercy.
No mercy.
When you have failed under the Spirit of
Law, there's no mercy.
But under the Spirit of Grace, there's complete
mercy.
Release, forgiveness, encouragement, acceptance, total mercy through the
blood of Jesus Christ.
But total mercy compared to no mercy, no
forgiveness.
The Spirit of the Law and the Spirit
of Grace, they're very different.
Number twelve.
Under the Spirit of Law, the highest goal
is performance.
Under the Spirit of Grace, the highest goal
is a relationship.
The one, performance.
The other, relationship.
Boy, there's a big difference between the two
of those.
If we are living our lives to perform
and we are basing our acceptance on performance,
or if we base others' acceptance on performance,
or how we accept others on performance, then
if they don't measure up, we don't accept.
And if we don't measure, we don't feel
God's acceptance.
Because the highest goal is how you perform.
But not so with the Spirit of Grace.
The Spirit of Grace, the highest goal is
relationship.
Oh Lord, help us to see that one.
As I pondered this message, and there are
dozens and dozens of ways that we could
go, but I had to think of many
of the plain churches and how that they
are so much on the performance side that
if you come in among them and you
don't look quite right, or you say kid
instead of children, or a few things like
that, there's this silent, mysterious wall that comes
up there.
And it comes up there because of the
theology of performance.
And you didn't perform right, so things don't
go right.
But oh the grace of God, let the
grace of God come over our hearts as
individuals and as a church that the highest
goal is relationship.
Relationship with the God of Heaven.
And relationship with God's people.
And relationships with the lost and dying world
out there.
And there's a big difference between the spirit
of law and the spirit of grace if
you come and visit a church like that.
The one you'll go away wondering what happened.
The one you'll go away not feeling accepted.
But the other you'll go away saying, they
loved me.
They accepted me just the way I am.
I want to go back again.
There's something magnetic about those people.
And I tell you what it is.
It's magnetic because it's like God.
That's exactly the way God is with every
one of us.
I mean God.
He wants a relationship with us.
That's number one.
And He'll walk with us.
I mean He'll walk with us when we
have long hair.
And He'll walk with us before we got
rid of our cigarettes, brethren.
And He'll walk with us when we're failing
in this area.
And He'll walk with us when maybe we're
not as meek and quiet as we ought
to be.
And He'll walk with us when we're not
as modest as we ought to be because
number one on God's list is a relationship.
And we've got to be the same way
because it's godliness to be like God.
Amen?
So it's godly to accept somebody right where
they are.
It's godly to come up and put your
arm around some fella who has long hair,
who's been born again for only two weeks.
It's godly to come up and put your
arm around him and encourage him and bless
him and accept him and love him.
It's God-like to do that.
In the law, the highest goal is performance.
And we all come up with our own
levels of performance.
But you better measure up to my level
of performance.
And I had to think, you know, with
our children, this one comes pretty close to
home.
You begin to ponder our children.
And I think we need to have some
performance in our minds.
I'm not against that.
But let number one be relationship.
Relationship.
I don't know anything that motivates a child
to do what Papa and Mama say more
than a sweet relationship with Papa and Mama.
Nothing but, oh, the burden of a little
child whose father and mother moves under the
principles of law and sets up the rules
of performance and withdraws their acceptance and their
blessing and their encouragement when the performance isn't
what it ought to be.
Poor child.
That child's view of God will be very
mixed up.
Number 13.
The spirit of the law tends to details.
The spirit of grace to flexibility.
What do I mean by that?
Well, I guess a good way to put
it is the letter of the law and
the spirit of the law.
You know, the letter of the law, we
can follow the Pharisees and we can study
Jewish history and it doesn't take us long
to find out what the spirit of law
does.
If you leave it by itself, it will
make up 5,000 Sabbath rules over the
course of 200 or 300 years of things
you should do and shouldn't do.
It will make a book this thick just
to read so you can learn how to
behave on the Sabbath.
But the spirit of grace or the spirit
of the law is the principle.
And in the principle is flexibility.
There's a big difference between the two of
those.
Tends to details.
You'll do it this way.
Down to the detail.
You'll wear these.
You'll part your hair here.
You'll wear your hair this way.
You'll wear this kind of covering.
You'll wear black shoes and only black shoes.
The principle of law tends to details.
But the spirit of grace or the principles
of grace, it tends toward a flexibility.
Number 14, the spirit of law tends to
be negative and the spirit of grace positive.
I didn't have time to do it, but
if you're one who struggles with being negative,
I would encourage you to take a study
of the Gospels and study the Pharisees.
Just do a study on the Pharisees in
light of this whole matter of negative, doubtful,
unbelief.
And you'll find an answer to your need
because principle of law tends toward the negative.
That's just the way it is.
Because you never can measure up and there's
no faith where there's law.
They can't dwell together.
But where there's a spirit of grace, there's
this positive, faith-filled, encouraged, uplifted look toward
the God of heaven, trust in the circumstances
of life, faith in God that completely comes
out in a different way.
The spirit of law and the spirit of
grace.
And last of all, and we said this
already, but I think it's worthy to make
it a point.
The spirit of law is like a Pharisee.
And the spirit of grace is like Jesus.
Consider this.
The law creates rebellion.
The law stirs up the flesh.
The law drains spiritual life.
You know how many times I've talked to
a brother or a sister who's been born
again.
I mean, one of those fresh new births.
They're about a month old in the faith
and they go back to their old church
and sit in the service and listen to
the message.
And when they get out, they feel like
they need to go to church because all
the life has been drained out of them.
That's what law does.
That's what it does.
Consider with me.
Law creates rebellion.
Law stirs up the flesh.
Read it there in Romans 7.
It's supposed to.
That's what God gave it for.
So that it creates rebellion.
So that it would stir up the flesh.
So that sin would be revived.
So that we could see our evil condition.
But brothers and sisters, if we're in the
grace of God, if we're washed in the
blood of Jesus, if we are no longer
walking after the flesh, but after the Spirit,
we should have no part with any of
that which the law does, but rather the
Spirit of grace working in our hearts to
produce a holy life.
And I know we'd all have to agree
that the end result of grace is always
higher than the end result of law.
Always, always, always.
It will always be higher.
It will always reach higher than law.
It will always do it.
Well, these issues came up over and over
during the revival.
In some cases, we had to conclude and
give very clear counsel.
You are living under the principles of law
rather than the principles of grace.
Are you living after the principles of law
rather than the principles of grace?
The principles of grace.
There's liberty.
There's power.
There's strength.
There's overcoming ability there.
But after the principles of law, it's just
not there.
You don't have it.
It won't be there.
It can't be there.
It's contrary to God's law for it to
be there.
Are you living after principles of law or
principles of grace?
Think with me for a moment here.
And we're just about done.
But think with me.
What kind of person do you want to
be?
Do you want to be one who encourages?
One who gently reproves?
One in whose life flows out liberty and
grace and power?
One who's always excited when somebody else takes
a little step forward?
One who blesses those around you?
One who gives the benefit of the doubt?
One who is willing to forget sin?
One who encourages people to be forgiven and
repent and have their sins completely covered?
One who accepts and blesses?
One who's free and open and reaches out
to all?
One who has complete mercy toward others around
him?
One who's flexible?
One whose highest goal is relationship?
One who's positive and filled with faith?
One who is like Jesus?
Or would you rather be one who's always
demanding, condemning, heaping failure on others, bringing
bondage upon them?
One who is never satisfied?
One who's never good enough?
One who brings curses and judgment and payment
due?
One who's critical?
One who remembers sin again and again and
again?
One who exposes sin, but then just leaves
them set?
One who has rejection coming forth out of
your life?
One who tends toward exclusivism rather than an
openness to those around them?
One who has no mercy?
One whose highest goal is performance?
One who tends to the details and they're
very important to you?
I mean the details, and if the details
aren't right, I get frustrated inside.
I'm not free.
I come to church, lose my joy, lose
my blessing because the details are really important
to me more than relationships.
One who's negative?
One who's like a Pharisee?
You see, the difference between the two of
these is very big and they've got to
affect our relationships.
And I realize, as I meditated upon this
message, that probably nobody here is going to
fit into one category or the other.
But let us be open before the Lord
and allow the Spirit of God to reveal
to us how are we operating?
How are we operating with our children?
How do we operate with our brothers and
sisters?
What kind of an eye do we have
when we look around us?
How do we relate to a lost and
dying world?
You know, there are those who look around
them and say, they don't want it.
They're gospel hardened.
It's too high for them.
Nobody wants to pay the price anymore.
And I tell you, that is the spirit
of law.
That's what it is.
They have theologized the thing away so bad
that they haven't done anything for decades.
Which one do we want to be?
What is the answer to this problem?
Well, there is an answer.
If you sit here this morning and you
say, Oh, that's me.
That's exactly how I find myself.
Those are the very struggles that I have
in my heart.
Oh, there's an answer.
Hallelujah.
There's an answer.
Number one, acknowledge where you're at.
First step to victory every time.
Just acknowledge.
That's where I'm at.
Number two, repent.
Turn away from it.
See it for what it is.
And turn away from it.
Number three, establish your heart in grace.
That's the answer.
Yes.
Same old answer.
Walk in the grace of God.
Be filled with the Spirit.
Move in the Spirit of God.
Walk after the dictates of the Spirit of
God rather than the dictates of your flesh.
Put off religion and put on Christ.
Put off the doing and put on the
being.
And you'll find yourself beginning to think differently,
respond differently, talk differently, share differently.
And you'll be a little grace of God
going around the midst of the congregation.
You'll be a little grace of God in
your home, guiding your children, encouraging them, blessing
them, guiding them forward and onward.
You'll be a little grace of God moving
around the congregation, walking out in the world
around you.
And rather than seeing someone and wanting to
heap judgment and condemnation on them, you'll be
one who comes alongside and says, you know,
there's a way out of this.
There's a way out.
There's an answer for your problem.
I know what it is.
Listen to me.
Big difference between the two of those.
When I think of this whole matter of
being established with principles of law rather than
principles of grace, I have to think about
children.
I cannot get away from it.
It haunts me in the back of my
mind.
And I guess the reason is I get
a lot of letters from around the country
from people who've listened to the home tapes,
but they've approached it from a law point
of view rather than a grace point of
view.
And they see, well, the answer to this
whole thing is to make a bunch of
rules for my children.
And the answer to this whole matter of
my children is to spank the child every
time the child is wrong.
And they see that the answer to this
whole thing is for me to get stricter
on my children.
And somehow, as they listen to all those
tapes, they miss the grace that was in
there.
And they only came up with the law
of the matter.
And then they try it and it doesn't
work.
And then they write me letters and they're
totally frustrated.
And they say things like, I don't know
what to do.
I spank my child and spank my child
and I spank my child.
And they're only getting worse.
And I've spent many hours pondering those letters,
trying to figure out what is going wrong.
And I believe that I found the answer.
They're approaching the whole matter of raising their
children from the principle of law rather than
the principle of grace.
And remember, the highest principle of law is
performance.
And the highest of grace is relationship.
And they've not built a relationship with those
children.
They've only laid some rules along them and
told them, now, Brother Denny says this in
his tape and if you don't, you're going
to get a spanking.
But that's not grace.
That's not grace.
Grace builds a relationship.
Grace moves in love.
Grace moves with encouragement and blessing and praise.
And yes, sometimes grace comes in and corrects
and disciplines, but then it moves right back
into the area of relationship and blessing and
encouragement.
May God enlighten our hearts both with our
children and the relationships that we have with
one another in the world around us as
to how we're relating to people.
And may I say again in closing, remember,
if it's off, it will affect the way
you view God, it will affect the way
you view yourself, and it will affect the
way you view people around you.
May God add His blessing to the Word.
Shall we kneel together in prayer?
O Father in Heaven, we come Thee in
Jesus' name this afternoon.
Lord, my heart, my mind goes to the
Scriptures there in Zechariah.
Lord, where the prophet saw one standing shouting,
grace, grace.
Lord, we know that it's so when we
get to glory and we stand in Your
very presence and we look upon Your face
and we see the beautiful place that You've
made for us, we're going to shout grace,
grace, grace.
Father, I pray this morning, letting each and
every one of our hearts be established in
grace.
Father, I pray that You'll enlighten our hearts
to grace.
I pray, Father, that You'll reveal any area
where we are living by a regulated code
of rules rather than by the grace of
God.
O Father, we just lay this message before
You.
Lord, I realize it should have had three
hours for all the groundwork that needed to
be laid for it, but I just lay
it before You and I pray, Father, that
You'll take the Word and minister the hearts
of those.
God, just give direction to us.
Father, I pray for our children this morning.
I pray blessings upon them.
Father, I pray, God, that You'll minister to
their needs also through this message.
Father, O God, teach us to be like
Jesus.
That's our prayer.
Teach us to be like Jesus.
Lord, we don't want to be anything else.
Lord, and many times we just don't see.
Open our eyes, Father, and let us behold
His image and be changed into the same
image from one place of glory to a
higher level of glory.
O God, we ask Your blessing on the
further service.
We pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Well, we want to go on with the
service and just open the meeting up at
this time for testimonies of victories this week,
for blessings, a word of praise.
Maybe some of you brethren would like to
give a word about the message.
We just want to open it up at
this time and we're going to do as
we have been and just ask brethren who'd
like to share a little bit to come
over here.
Sisters, if you have something you need to
share, make a confession, share a blessing, you
can rise to your feet and come to
this side over here.
We just want to open it up for
a few minutes here for anyone who would
like to share before we move on.
Is there anyone?
Thank you.
Okay.
I've just been sitting over there.
I don't know what to say, but since
I've come this morning, just praising God for
working in my life.
I thank God for those revival meetings that
just began to stir my heart to order
my conduct aright.
And I can't tell you what Brother Danny
said, just the whole thing.
I'm just so encouraged about the way that
the Lord has been working in our home.
I'm sure in two weeks' short time nobody
really notices all the difference, but I sense
the difference in my heart.
The difference between the spirit of the law
and the spirit of grace.
And I just thank God.
My heart is just rejoicing at the way
that God is working and what Danny said
about...
It just keeps reminding me to order my
conduct aright and I shall see the salvation
of God.
And it's just incredible what that little verse...
God putting that in my heart just has
been changing my attitudes, my anger, all those
negative things that he listed down under the
law.
And it's been filling my heart with the
spirit of grace toward my children, toward my
family.
And I'm just praising God.
I must confess that I've had too much
of the spirit of the law in my
life and not been exclusive and so forth
and not willing to spend more time with
my brothers and playing games and things like
that.
I want to repent of it.
I thank God for the message today.
I appreciated it so much.
It just kind of confirmed what God has
been trying to teach me and the relationship
between God and I.
It's just so sweet when we live in
grace.
I know as I look back on my
Christian life, the times that I lived in
the law, the times that I lived in
grace, the times I lived in grace is
just so much sweeter.
And I just thank God for it.
And I thank him for the way that
he has led and for the blessing that
this congregation has been to us.
I know since we've been here, the acceptance
that we've felt here has been such a
blessing and a growth in our life.
It's helped us so much to just grow.
And I just thank God for the privilege
that we have of being in a brotherhood
like this and I say I'm open to
anything that anyone would have to share to
me.
And if I come in offense to anyone,
that you would feel free to come and
share it with me.
I just want to be free with each
one.
And also I want to learn to, continue
to learn to have the spirit of grace
rather than the spirit of the law, especially
with my younger sisters also.
I know the way I respond to them
will affect the way that I will respond
to my children in future years.
And I just want to learn all that
God has for me.
Praise the Lord.
What a blessing to be here today.
It's just what I needed.
It's so clear to me this morning that
how I've been living under the law.
I know there's times that I have victory.
I know what a blessing and a peace
it is.
But then I go back to the law
again.
I just want to acknowledge that this morning.
I want to be completely free from it.
I want to repent of it.
Of being under the law and the struggles
that it has been for my wife because
of the performance that I want to see
out of her.
That she's not up to where I think
I would like her to be.
I just want to repent of that this
morning.
I just ask for your prayers that I
would live under the law of the Spirit
not under the law.
I thank the Lord for the message this
morning.
I did much thinking during the message.
About six, eight months ago someone had asked
my son as you were growing up how
did you view God as a loving Heavenly
Father or a vengeful God?
He said a vengeful God.
That's what the Spirit of the law will
do to your children.
I realized also this morning that even though
God has done a big work in my
heart and continues to do a work on
living in grace I realize there's still some
areas in my life where I still live
under the law.
And I do want you to pray for
me that I would be totally free of
this.
This marvelous grace of our loving Lord.
I just praise God for His marvelous grace
to me.
Many of you remember how I had fallen
there for a few years.
And it's just what Brother Denny was...
I've experienced what Brother Denny was talking about
this morning a relationship with Jesus Christ.
And many times since that time when I've
fallen, I've fallen and I've stumbled.
But again, I would just turn to Jesus
Christ.
He was always there.
He ministered to me grace.
The truth of His Word.
He was never there to condemn me.
And I can say that's what's brought me
through.
Just His marvelous grace.
Each time He's reached out, He's touched me
again.
Afresh and anew after I'd fallen and stumbled.
And I still stumble at times.
But praise the Lord I can trust His
faithfulness.
I can trust that He'll be there each
time I stumble.
Each time I fall, His grace will be
there again to pick me up.
I just want to thank the Lord for
the work that He's doing in my life.
I just can't explain what the last week
has been.
It's just never been that way in my
life before.
It's just like a new world is opening
up to me and I see.
God has just stripped me from all my
own ways of thinking and the way that
I thought about God.
I know I was living under the law
so much.
And I want to confess too that I've
had a lot of negativism in my life
and critical attitudes and just an inward pride
so much to the extent that I couldn't
even feel the Spirit of God working in
my life.
I had unbelief.
But this week the Lord just showed me
His grace.
I don't have to worry about anything.
I can just be free and live under
His love.
And I know that I just feel like
I took a little baby step but I
know that God is with me and that
He'll see me through if I keep my
eyes on Him and just keep that sweet
relationship with Him and not let condemnation.
That was another thing that I really struggled
with was I could never really understand why
I couldn't...
I couldn't understand why I would tell people
that I didn't feel convicted.
I wouldn't feel convicted.
And it was because I was condemning myself.
And I would try and look back in
my life and pick sins up instead of
just trusting the Lord and letting Him do
the work.
So I just thank you all for your
prayers.
I praise God for the message this morning.
We have a balanced God, don't we?
This thing of law and grace.
I had to think about how God put
it there.
He said, grace and truth.
It isn't all grace.
We need some truth with it to see
where we go wrong, to see wrong in
others, see wrong in ourselves.
But He has it balanced with grace.
Just another addition to the message, another picture
I'd like to bring up in your minds
of the two different realms that we were
looking at this morning.
I had to think of the...
Just going back in time a little bit
further than Moses, let's go back to the
Garden of Eden and notice the two different
trees that were there.
What were they?
One was a tree of life.
The other was the knowledge of good and
evil.
Isn't it a picture of the same thing
we were looking at this morning?
What are we going to be feeding on?
That knowledge of good and evil?
You know, the picking out of wrongs and
rights?
Are we going to be feeding on that
tree of life?
Especially, I praise the Lord for this message.
It just met the deepest needs of my
heart.
I know the Lord has really been working
in my life and I just praise Him.
He's really showing me the difference between law
and grace.
But I felt I needed to come up
here and confess, especially the needs in my
home, and how I've been trying to perform
and using the law instead of grace.
I just want to repent, especially my children
and my husband.
I just want a good relationship instead of
performing.
I want to give God again the glory
for this message.
I know it was Him I had control
of this message today.
The message this morning was just such a
picture of what God has been trying to
teach me in the last number of years.
We have such a human tendency to live
under the law because it's something physical we
can see.
And God has been delivering me from that.
But this morning the message spoke to my
heart that it's not just that way in
my life, but I'm that way in my
home.
We're going to have a home that's in
order, and this is how it's going to
be, rather than that spirit of grace and
that nine doses of encouragement that He was
talking about.
And it just explains everything so well, especially
when I think of a sermon Brother Denny
preached on Paul's burden for his people.
It just really turned up the burden this
morning.
When I think about all the people that
they want what's right, but yet how to
get it, they're on the wrong track to
get there.
And yesterday we were to a wedding in
Delaware, and there's a cousin of mine that
married and lives in Delaware, and they were
down to the wedding too.
Now he's a, I don't know how to
term it, but I say he's an invisible
Mennonite.
And Mennonites, we have visible and invisible.
And Christians, we just have visible Christians.
There's some that call themselves, but they aren't
really.
He's what you'd call an invisible.
He can't really tell any difference from anybody
else.
And he was talking about this.
He loves to study.
And he was in the Rosedale Bible Institute,
and he did a study on the German
Mennonites and the Swiss Brethren.
And he said the German Mennonites tend to
be, this is the way it is.
We're going to live, we're going to order
our lives just like this.
And they set everything down in order, exactly
how we're going to do it.
And he said the Swiss Brethren were a
little different in that.
They were just kind of kooks.
And I was thinking about that this morning.
And it's not a difference from where you
come from, whether you're Swiss or whether you're
German or whatever you were.
It's a difference whether you're going to choose
to live under grace or whether you're choosing
to live under the law.
And I want to live under grace because
there's power there.
Well, I just thank God for the message
this morning.
I know it did speak to my heart
because I know in the past I have
had that critical attitude and that spirit of
judgment on others.
And back in the revival, I confessed and
asked the Lord to take it away.
And I can sense that He is doing
that, that I'm able to look upon people
with more love and compassion.
Yesterday I had just such a beautiful experience
of that.
The last two days I was working with
some of these temporary fellows.
It wasn't people that we hired, but I
was working with somebody else.
And the person that we got, we're working
for, hired some of these people.
And this one man was such a, he
had long hair down past his shoulders.
And he looked, you know, you could tell
that we came from completely two different worlds.
But it was just such a blessing to
look upon him out of a spirit of
love and compassion and realize that God loves
this man and I need to too.
There's no point in judging him.
And to just be friendly with him and
share with him.
It was just such a blessing.
And then yesterday it seemed like the Lord
was just teaching me all day long to
simply lay down my plans, what I had
planned, and just leave it up to the
Lord.
Because the day went totally different than what
I had planned.
I had planned on working only half a
day and about 12 o'clock comes along
and everything was just going all backwards for
me.
But anyway, it worked out that I was
supposed to be picking up stones with this
one fellow.
Totally unexpected.
I had my whole afternoon planned.
But on the way there I just said,
Well, Lord, I don't know what you're trying
to do.
I said, I'll just lay my day before
you.
Just help me be a blessing or whatever.
And I got over there.
Here it turned out that I was working
with George is his name.
We had worked the day before.
And we were working there in silence for
a while.
And I was just praying and asking the
Lord, Lord, just give me a heart of
love for him.
Let me minister to him some way.
He had shared the day before how he
was going in the middle of a divorce.
But he hadn't shared anymore.
And so finally I just was able to
ask him about his personal walk with the
Lord and if he has one.
And then he just broke down and started
sharing with me the hurts that his marriage
had been through and everything.
It was just such a sweet blessing just
to be able to tell him that there
is hope.
There's hope for him.
And there's hope for his wife even though
it looked like a totally hopeless situation.
There is hope if he's willing to get
back to the Bible.
And he was just so open and just
so hungry.
And I just walked away from there and
I just said, thank God, you know.
There was a reason that he changed my
day just for him.
And I just want to continue.
I just ask all of your prayers that
I continue to look through people with the
spirit of grace in my heart.
Not that I leave up with the truth
that God has showed me, but rather that
out of grace I minister to people.
And I just sense a real need in
my own heart for that.
That I'd be free from that judgmental spirit
and rather look at him as a spirit
of love and compassion like Christ did.
And I just ask all of your prayers
and ask your forgiveness for those in the
past where I know I had that kind
of a spirit towards and I just want
that to be healed and mended.
I thank and praise the Lord for the
message that was clearly for me.
It just verifies that a lot of other
people have been sharing with me.
And I don't want to be a Pharisee.
I want to be like Jesus.
I can see so clearly that I've been
largely living under the law and comparing myself
a lot with others and finding myself with
their experiences and their lives.
And just looking at Jesus and finding my
acceptance in him.
And because of that I've even drawn back
from greeting others because my experience wasn't just
like others.
And I find what I share with me
felt like even if...
the point that I never feel like I've
done enough or even if I had an
experience like a real...
I question even that.
I just don't want myself to be under
too much doubt and condemnation.
And let the Holy Spirit show me the
truth of sin in my life and convict
me.
And I just choose to repent of all
that and where I've expressed that spirit among
you all and toward you all.
And I know I've been aware lately of
my conversation with myself because I tend to
examine and question things too much to be
critical of things in the church.
And I just ask you all to forgive
me and pray for me.
I choose to repent of it and renounce
all that and just be established in the
grace of Christ and be free in him.
Thank you.
I can say I appreciate the message very
much on what Dan just preached.
I just have a few verses to share
here.
But now we are delivered from the law
that being dead wherein we were held that
we should serve in newness of spirit and
not in the oldness of the letter.
What shall we say then?
Is the law sin?
God forbid.
Nay, I had not known sin but by
the law for I had not known lust
except the law had said thou shalt not
covet.
He's just saying that the law is still
used to bring people to recognize their sin.
But we should not live under the law
if we're free in the spirit, praise God.
And Galatians 5 verse 1 says, Stand fast
therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made
us free and be not entangled again with
the yoke of bondage.
That's for the Christian.
We should not be entangled again with that
yoke of bondage of trying to perform.
But we're free.
We're free.
God has accepted us into his kingdom right
the way we are.
And we're free.
Let's not try to perform to try to
gain his respect again.
Praise God for the message.
The whole time Brother Denny was talking I
just thought, well, this is me, this is
me, this is me.
It's a real problem in my life.
It may be the problem, although maybe it's
just the one God's dealing with right now.
I had such a sense at my conversion
of being delivered from law.
A lot of law, a lot of religious
law.
But it seems there's still a root in
my heart that I haven't really been delivered
from.
It's the law of my own actions, my
own doings mainly.
I'm sure it comes out to other people,
especially my family, that I am critical and
condemning and harsh with them.
But I just go in circles so much
about my own failures.
It's like when Brother Denny says about exposing
sin and leaving you there, that's just how
I feel so often.
I just see myself as a great sinner,
but I don't know what to do about
it.
I don't know where to go.
I don't know how to get the victory
over what I'm struggling in.
I can see that it's a lot just
because I haven't accepted grace.
I want to confess this and just ask
you to pray that I will come into
this freedom of grace and that God will
complete the work that He has begun in
me.
I do know there are times when grace
has prevailed in my life and they've been
very sweet to me.
I'm not sure what happens when I fall
back into the law, but I know it's
not just in what I do.
I can't deliver myself from the law.
I just want to look unto Jesus.
I just noticed this verse on the board
that says, My God shall supply all your
need according to His riches.
I just want to trust Jesus to do
that for me in this.
Well, I want to thank God for both
messages today and especially the Lord convicted me
through Denny's message on the spirit of the
law and spirit of grace, especially in raising
our children.
I think when I got the vision of
a godly home, in my zeal for that,
I got into that trap of the spirit
of the law.
I've been aware of not wanting to get
into that.
Somehow I get into that trap again and
I just want to be free from that.
And I realize that one thing I was
thinking about, if we can lose our children
just as easy, maybe not just as easy,
I don't know if it's just as easy,
but we can lose our children by having
the spirit of the law.