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The Rock Family Worship Center
Taking The Church Outside The Walls
The Rock Family Worship Center
Finished Work
Ever wondered why, despite all the talk of blessings, we sometimes struggle to truly experience them in our daily lives? Today's episode uncovers this mystery through the transformative concept of the "finished work" within a spiritual context. We promise you'll leave with a clearer understanding of how to align your expectations with the belief that everything you need is already within reach. Inspired by scriptures such as Colossians 2:8-20 and insights from the Mirror Bible, we explore the profound disconnect that exists between speaking about promises and living them out.
The episode embarks on an insightful journey through themes of completeness and identity in Christ. We dive into the powerful message to the Colossian church, highlighting the historical challenges they faced with false teachings that questioned Jesus's deity. By celebrating the perfection of God's work in Christ, we reclaim His likeness in us and counter the distortions of legalism. This discussion is a call to embrace the freedom found in God’s unconditional love and grace, moving beyond human-imposed requirements and toward a genuine spiritual experience.
Prepare to be inspired as we share stories and reflections on embracing the supernatural and living in true spiritual freedom. We challenge the traditional imposition of rules and behaviors, emphasizing the sufficiency of Jesus's sacrifice as a "finished work" that liberates us from judgment and condemnation. By recognizing our identity in Christ, we unlock a powerful transformation that propels us toward a more profound faith experience, where anticipation and manifestation of promises become a reality. Join us as we honor faith's achievements and commit to living in the mighty name of Jesus.
I was saying something to somebody the other day and it hit me. You know that when we were having a conversation there wasn't nobody here, it was somebody else and I was talking about finished work and we carried on our conversation and then when I got done I could tell real clearly they had no idea what I was talking about. And I'm not saying that to be negative, I'm just saying how often are we talking about things and we're preaching on things and we're throwing stuff out there but people really don't understand the language that we're saying, because some people don't. When we talk about finished work, they don't necessarily know scripturally what that means and why we're saying that. And I believe that if we're to receive and to step into the promises of God and we're to step into everything that he has already destined for us because he chose us already before we're able to step into that, we have to understand about the finished work. See, there's things that we can step into right now that I'm not waiting on one day, and I think we've got so accustomed to waiting one day To someday we'll get this. Listen, I don't need healing in heaven, I need healing now. I don't need a financial breakthrough in heaven. I need financial breakthrough now. All of these things we're talking about, that we're waiting to get and we're hoping to receive, we need right now and we're entitled to it right now. We have access to it right now. So my question is why are we so often not stepping into these things and I'm saying that to all of us, I'm looking like a mirror. I'm asking myself that question as well why are we not stepping into these things when we have access to them? Jesus paid the price for them. It is a finished work and I think the answer to that is sometimes we don't see it. We use the language, but sometimes we don't see it. We use the language, but sometimes we may not see it like that.
Speaker 1:There's been many times I've prayed over myself my back or something was hurting or something going on, and I'm speaking healing over myself, but then I step outside or whatever, and I'm expecting, when I take the next step, that it's going to hurt. Okay, I'm praying healing, I'm praying manifestation, but my expectation is I'm fixing to feel this when I take another step that don't line up. Okay, that don't line up. It's a finished work, it's done, it's complete, and my level of expectation has got to match what I'm speaking and what I believe in my heart and what has already occurred. Please, I'm not taking this as a beat down on anybody, or even myself. I'm just saying I want to figure out how do we begin to step into this, how do we move to that place, because I don't want to keep walking in a place that God never called us to be in.
Speaker 1:Okay, so let's start out this morning with a couple of verses, a few verses here. I want to read in Colossians 2. I want to read in Colossians 2. I want to read verse 8 through 20. But a couple of them I'm going to stop on when I start reading them, because I want to share with you what it says out of the Mirror Bible too. But we're going to read 8 through 20.
Speaker 1:I'm going to stop on verse 10 and I'm going to share something with you. It says Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ, for in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him. Listen to that. You are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. Hold on right on verse 10 a minute, ronnie, because I want to share this with you out of the mirror Bible. This is where it says you are complete in Him.
Speaker 1:I love what it says here. It says we are complete in Him. I love what it says here. It says we are complete in Him. Jesus mirrors our wholeness and endorses our true identity. Okay, this was done through Him. This is not anything we've done because we are anything of our own strength. This is what we've done through Him.
Speaker 1:So, verse 11, in Him you were also circumcised, with the circumcision made without hands. Okay, we've got to understand what this is talking about here by putting off the body of the sins, of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you being dead. We've got to pause right here and really catch this. You being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh he has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us, and he has taken it all out of the way. Having nailed it to the cross, having disarmed principalities and powers, he made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them in it. So let no one judge you in food or drink or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbath, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind and not holding fast to the head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grow with the increase that is from God. Last one, verse 20. Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulation?
Speaker 1:We could go on and we could keep reading, but I want to stop right there. That's a lot of verses, I know, but I couldn't just pick one or two verses out of there. It just wouldn't make sense. So I wanted to read that whole thing to you. But now what I want to do is I want to stop a minute and put all of that into context and just give you a context. We talk about it all the time.
Speaker 1:We say the exegesis of the Word. What was it really? You know, in the hermeneutics and all, what was this really meaning? And when you look at it, the context of Colossians 2, this was written by Paul while he was in prison. Now there are some theologians that will dispute that. There's a lot of biblical theologians, biblical scholars, that believe that this in Colossians was not even written by Paul, but it was written by one of Paul's close disciples. But the majority of theologians believe that it was written by Paul. It was just in a different vocabulary than he often used in other writings. That's why they feel like it might have been written by somebody else. So, regardless of that, I believe it was written by Paul and he was telling the Colossian church something specific. Now you've got to understand here.
Speaker 1:The Colossian church was under attack from false teachers who were denigrating the deity of Jesus. They were basically saying he is not who he says that he is. That's what they was telling the church people. This man is not the man that he says he is. He is not truly the son of god. He is not this. He is not. You know all this stuff. They was rebuking, refuting.
Speaker 1:Paul never went to this church. He never attended this church, but when he heard what was going on, he addressed these issues head on. He heard this and he said I've got to address it. And it's pretty neat if you go back and study this out when he was writing this and how he got the message to him. There's a lot of history in there. You can go back and study. But in this book Paul continues to celebrate the perfection of God's work in Christ. In redeeming His likeness in us, his aim is to make the mystery of the Gospel known in its most accurate context. I love this. I love Paul's writings because Paul makes it really clear Paul ain't like some of the other writers who would? You know he was pretty blunt in what he said. So you got to understand.
Speaker 1:Here inside the Colossian church, you got to take yourself back here a minute and say I always say this, what was going on? You might know who the writer was, who he was writing to, what was going on? You might know who the writer was, who he was writing to, what time period was he writing in? But now say okay, you know who he was writing to. He was writing to the church you know the Colossian church but then you got to say what was going on during this time, what was happening for him to write these letters to the church. So we know what was going on there.
Speaker 1:But also inside the Colossian church there was a self-appointed jury that kind of looked at the church people and they looked at the church itself and they said this is the way it's supposed to go. And there was like an inner circle of men that felt like they had the inside scoop on true spirituality. They were the ones to listen to. According to them, you are not doing it right if you are not doing it the way we say to do it. And they were telling the church this is what you need to do. Don't believe that guy out there, don't believe what he's saying. This is what you're supposed to be doing.
Speaker 1:They believe the spiritual path that was paved by the law. We're going to introduce a set of laws and if you do this and you follow this law and you follow these regulations, then you are in good standing with the church, with the ones who are making these laws. But if you don't, then you're out of order. They were saying you've got to abstain from certain foods, you've got to abstain from certain things that you drink, you have to observe certain days and festivals, and new moons, sabbath could only be on a certain day. They had all these different regulations and they said you've got to go by these rules and regulations. So the false teachers what did they do? They set a boundary up of what true spirituality looked like to them and they were judging the church according to these rules they set up, whether you was a Christian or whether you was not. Now you've got to understand that there were sincere Christians in the church who were being hurt and being burdened by these rules and these regulations.
Speaker 1:Now Paul wanted them to know that the judgment they were feeling from all these men that were setting up there was absolutely wrong. And that's what he was writing for. He said I'm writing to tell you this is wrong. You do cannot be judged by these men who are making these laws, because we're no longer in the law. And if you're no longer in the law, I'm trying to ask you a question of why do you want to go back to it? Why do you want to go back to something that you've already been brought out of.
Speaker 1:So he was in prison, but he was writing to these people to try to get them to understand they don't have to go backward, they can keep moving forward. They didn't, you know. It's kind of like he was saying they don't have the right to pass judgment now. And I still use the word judgment here as correction, because that's what these people were doing. They were setting up. I picture them setting up on a stage and watching everybody to see what they were doing, right and wrong, and pointing a finger at them. That's the way we look at judgment. But judgment is actually to bring correction, and they felt like they had the authority to stand up here and say you're doing this wrong and you're doing this wrong and you need to do this to bring correction to the people.
Speaker 1:And what Paul was saying right here is he said they don't have the right to pass judgment to bring correction to you. God has already passed judgment on the cross. It's finished. The judgment they're trying to pass on you has already been done, and I know that's a topic right there that will mess with some people, because I know we're all waiting on judgment day. The judgment's already occurred. He's already brought correction to what was messed up and he said he put us in a position now to where we don't have to abide by all that and be bound by the law, because we're in a new covenant. The law was fulfilled. He didn't come to destroy it, he came to fulfill it and he fulfilled it, as Paul said in Colossians 2 and 14,. He said God forgave our trespasses and canceled our debt by nailing it to the cross. Okay, he only went to the cross one time. So if he did this, if he's talking to the Colossian church during this time and I didn't look up exactly the year that he was talking to them, it's easy to find, but I didn't write it down so I'm not going to try to guess on when it was, but we know it was after the cross. And he says God forgave our trespasses and counseled our debt by nailing it to the cross. So he's saying that was already done, it's complete, it's finished. So what these people are telling you to do is trying to get you to line up with something that has already been accomplished. Don't go back there. Don't do it.
Speaker 1:Jesus was perfect in every way. He never sinned and I know we talk a lot about that word sin and we break it down a little bit different than what most people are looking at it. Most people are looking at it from the traditional behavioral stuff that you do, you do something wrong, you do something bad, you're sinning. We're still looking at it from the standpoint of a distorted image and then those things flow from a distorted image. Okay, but Jesus was perfect. He never had that distorted image. He always knew who he was.
Speaker 1:But on the cross he was judged for our sins as though they were His. He took everything that you were ever going to do, and the Colossian church too, and he took it upon Him and he paid the price for it. That's why the cross is oftentimes you hear it called the great exchange. Because there was an exchange that happened. All of our sin, all of our distorted form, distorted image that is different than what God created, was placed on Jesus and in return, all of His righteousness was granted to you. There was an exchange. I'll take that and I'll give you this. You no longer have to deal with that. Now you're righteous. That sin is dead to you. Now you are dead to it. I'm going to make you alive. He took death, he gave life. He took darkness, he gave life. So there was an exchange and you can go all the way through the Bible and you can see exchanges that happen all the way through, but it all happened right there on the cross. There was an exchange. That happened. Now, if that's true, how many of you believe what he done on the cross actually happened? I mean, we believe it, I believe it, it happened. So, if that's true, who was left to judge the Colossian church? Who was left to judge the Colossian church? Who was left to judge you?
Speaker 1:I'm comparing this because what the Colossian church went through so much so that Paul had to write them a letter is still happening today. It's not new. What we're saying is not new. What I'm preaching up here from this pulpit's not new. What we're saying is not new. What I'm preaching up here for this pulpit is not new. Paul preached it to the Colossian church, so it's not that we've got some new theology out there. This was already preached. He told the church don't go back. It's already done. It's a finished work. Jesus paid the price.
Speaker 1:What are we saying today? Get out of the condemnation, get out of the guilt, get out of that place that you're in, get out of that, thinking that one day it's already occurred, but can we see it? Can we see it as that? Because we can say that we believe it but never have an expectation that we can walk in it. And I believe that's where we get stuck at a lot of times. We can believe it in our mind and we can speak it out of our mouth, but does it go down another 8 to 10 inches down into our heart to where it becomes a belief system?
Speaker 1:There's a difference there. If God has judged and acquitted in Christ, there is no higher court of appeal. There's nobody else that's going to do it. That has the authority to. That's Paul's point. That's our point. Anybody that's teaching finished work. That's the point that they're making, the same one that Paul was making back then. There is nobody else, nobody else can condemn you, nobody. Then. There is nobody else, nobody else can condemn you. Nobody else can judge you. Nobody else can correct you and say you got to do it like this and this and this and you're sinning if you don't, or you're not a christian, if you don't, or whatever. No, jesus already set the pattern and there's nobody else that can come back and now try to put their what they want in it.
Speaker 1:And what does the church do? The church keeps saying I know Jesus done this. I believe he died on the cross. I believe that he went to the cross with pain and suffering. I believe all that, but I still need you to do it this way. I still need you to read out of the King James Bible, because if you start reading all those other ones, you ain't in the Word of God. So if you really want to be a Christian, I need you to read this, and if you really want to be a Christian, I need you to All these behaviors, all these rules and stipulations and guidelines. There's not a guideline there that I need to listen to, because Jesus already set it out. He already established what's got to be done. So all these other things that are added on by man, it was added on by men back then and it's still added on by men today. So when somebody says you shouldn't speak against that, I'm going to say well, you're going to tell Paul the same thing, because Paul spoke against it and he said don't listen to them, don't go backwards.
Speaker 1:What I'm trying to make with this point is this is not a new theology. This is nothing new. This goes all the way back to the original of what God intended In this pattern that Jesus set out and what he did on the cross. It's not only true when you first believe, but it remains true for the rest of your life. He's not coming back to do it again. He didn't fail at it. There's no problem that's going to be big enough. There's no circumstance that's going to be bad enough that he's going to climb back on the cross again. Why? Because it's done, it's complete, it was sufficient and there's no reason to do it again. Now we can come to terms with that and we can come into agreement with what he did and it'll change everything. But he's not going to come back and do it again because there's no need to. Everything was complete, everything was done. Every day. You are as free as if Jesus died for you yesterday. I know we think 2,000 years ago it was the same as if he did it yesterday. You're just as free Now.
Speaker 1:In fairness, perhaps I think a lot of these false teachers, if you go back and look, would probably agree that Jesus paid for our sin. There's probably not a person that goes to church that would not admit that he died for our sin. That's the number one thing that most people say. He climbed on a cross and you say what did he get on the cross for? Because he died for our sin? Yes, he did, but there's more to it than that. That's all we're saying. When we say there's more to it, we're not debunking that part of it, we're not saying that he did not do that, but we're saying there's more to the story than just that.
Speaker 1:And I want to know more, because I don't want just a little bit of what he done for me. I want everything that he done for me. I don't want just a little bit of what he's done for me. I want everything that he's done for me. I don't want to just walk in a little bit. I want to walk in everything that he says, because I'm a child of God and because of what he did and because I believe and I confess I now have the access to walk in everything he promised. I don't want just a little bit of it. I want every single promise. Everything he spoke, I want every single promise. Everything he spoke, I want it to manifest in my life, in your life.
Speaker 1:So, in fairness, they believe too that he died for sins, but they held a certain path as a way to true spirituality. But see, what was that? That was new law, kind of like I said a while ago well, we believe he did that, but, yes, we believe he died for sin. But there ain't no but See, that's what we get in trouble at is, we've always got a but, but you do this or but do that.
Speaker 1:I heard a guy preach a sermon on that one time. He said it's time for the church to get its but out of the way, because we've always got a but and we're always trying to come up with something different. I don't know why we do that. That's just human nature. We always think we can add to what he done, but then we'll be happy to put our bumper sticker up and say that it was all sufficient. Everything he done was sufficient.
Speaker 1:Stop trying to improve upon it, because that's what the church is doing. We're trying to improve what Jesus already done and was perfect at it, and then we can't figure out why we keep failing, because you can't perfect perfection. You can't improve perfection, shall I say. It's already perfect. So the more we try that, the more we're going to fail at it and the more we're going to be discouraged and upset and not understand and be confused and all he wants us to do is just say Paul said stop, just stop trying to do it. You want to stop being disappointed. Stop trying to improve it. You want to stop being let down. Stop trying to do what Jesus never said to. It's real simple. But when we start teaching this, everybody says, oh, new theology? It's amazing, nothing new.
Speaker 1:Look what Paul says in Romans 7.4. It says, therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be made to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. I've got several verses I'm going to pull out and show you here because I want you to see the connection. If we have died to law, what good is it to live to it again, as if it can give something that Jesus hasn't already given? Amen. This is the easiest way to refute teachings out there. That's not biblical, rather than me just stand up and say I don't agree with that, because then they're going to say well, that's your opinion. I'm going to use Scripture and I'm going to say exactly what the Scripture says and that's really what it's saying right there If you're already dead to this through the body of Christ, why go back? Why go back and be bound by something that you've already been freed from? It don't make any sense.
Speaker 1:Paul says that these false teachers are merely chasing shadows. I love the way he puts that. They're after the old age, but the new age has come. They're still living over here in old covenant and everybody else is walking over here in new covenant and they keep saying y'all come on back, because this is the truth. And Jesus is saying nah, I completed everything. Don't go back over there, don't go back into what I brought you out of.
Speaker 1:Okay, look at Hebrews 10 and 1. I'm going to show you this verse because I just said this about chasing shadows. It says, therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead for the law having a shadow of the good things to come. Now, think about that just a minute. You may be reading this and say this don't make any sense.
Speaker 1:What he's talking about For the law having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the thing can never, with these same sacrifices which they offer continually, year by year, make those who approach perfect. Let me summarize it them animals you're sacrificing is not sufficient. They had a reason for sacrificing those animals back then. But guess what? Now there's already been another sacrifice and because of this sacrifice, those are not sufficient any longer. I won't accept animal sacrifices. That's why we don't still bring pigs and goats and do all that and sacrifice them every week. That's what he's saying right here. You've been doing this year after year, continually, but it's not necessary anymore. We don't have to do that because there was already the sufficient sacrifice. That's already occurred. Animal sacrifices are insufficient. The substance belongs to Christ. He is the fulfillment of the law and we have that fullness now in Him.
Speaker 1:Listen to this quote right here. I didn't write down who said it, so I would give him credit. It wasn't me, but I like the quote. He says what the law demands of us is given to us in the gospel for free. What the law demanded of us is given to us in the gospel for free, what the law demanded of us is given to us in the gospel for free.
Speaker 1:So why do you want to go over here, back to the old covenant, back to the old law, and they're going to tell you. You've got to do this and you've got to do this and you've got to work and you've got to strive and you've got to be perfect. You've got to do something to get to a place that Jesus says I'm giving you free of charge. Listen, if Miss Tracy Martin tells me that I can take a month off and she'll still pay me, I'm going home. I'm not going to work for a paycheck that she's willing to give me for free. If she says, here, I'll just give you this, I'm going to go home and relax. So why would I continuously go back to an old system that tells me I've got to do all these different things? Is any of this making sense, because some of y'all are looking at me like I'm crazy why would I go back to a system where I've got to do all these things, when Jesus says I'm giving it to you free. Don't go back to that. That's what he's saying. Don't go back.
Speaker 1:And there's a name for this too. It's called legalism, and we'll get into that in a minute. But if we already have the gift of full obedience to the new law imputed to us by Christ it comes through Christ, it's because of what he done then why go back to the law Like it can add anything to the finished work? He's already finished it. There's nothing else he's going to do. The problem can be boiled down to one word, and it's legalism.
Speaker 1:Legalism is the idea that we can earn favor with God through works. Sometimes we've all been there. You may be there now. If you are, hopefully we're going to get that out of you, because we don't want anybody to have a legalistic mindset, because there's freedom in what he does. We're not working for it, we're not earning it. We're not doing something, and if I do it, good enough, jesus loves me, but if I fail at it, then he don't love me anymore. That's legalism. That means I work for certain things.
Speaker 1:Legalism is the idea that we can earn favor with God through works. Obedience is important. Now listen to me when I'm saying this. When I'm talking about that, we don't have to work for it anymore. I'm not saying that we don't do good things, but we do those good things out of who we are, not to become something. I do them because I am loved. I do them because I want to serve. I do them because I do care, and that's because of the identity of who I am in Christ, I don't do them and then hope that I pleased God. Come on now. We do that a lot. I've done that a lot. Oh, I know God, come on now. We do that a lot. I've done that a lot. Oh, I know God sees this. We've all been there. We've all been in that legalistic place to where we're hoping that God puts a little star beside our name somewhere or a little check mark Because we did something really good.
Speaker 1:It's legalism, maybe God is doing that, but guess what? It ain't going to give you no more favor because he's already favored you. It ain't going to make you more righteous because you've already received the righteousness through Jesus. So all of these things that we're hoping that it will give us, we've already been given and it will absolutely wear you out and keep striving, striving, striving to try to get something that you already have. And that's a frustrating place to be, to know that you have something or something be there, but you don't know that you have access to it. That's a bad place to be to it, that's a bad place to be. So it does not give us favor with Him when we're doing these things, when we work. We have favor with Him. Already. Our works add nothing to what God has already given us. Let me get down here to the end.
Speaker 1:I was thinking about this last night when I was looking over this. I was thinking about how many of you has got to have siblings, have a brother or sister. Or maybe you're a parent that has more than one child. Either scenario, do you believe, if you've got siblings, that your mama and daddy loved that more than they loved you? If you've got a child more than one children, some of y'all say that, okay, we're going to work with that. Okay. But if you've got more than one child, I mean as a parent do you say, oh, I love this child a lot more than I love this child. That don't happen. It don't happen. Okay, so we've got to look at it the same way.
Speaker 1:Do you think God loves like this too? It's almost like we're saying that God loves with a certain degree of affection. He has more affection for this one than he does for this one. Why? Because this one comes to church. This one over here misses every once in a while, so apparently he loves this one. No, that's crazy. God ain't lying there. God is love. And it says he chose you before the foundation of the world, which means he chose you before you started coming to church. Okay, so God don't love like that. We're not trying to earn it. He loves you as he loves Christ.
Speaker 1:The doctrine of adoption of God means we are adopted as sons and daughters in Christ. As Jesus prayed in John 17 to 23. You ain't got to go listen to it, you have loved them. This is what Jesus said. You have loved them even as you have loved Me Now. Jesus was the Word. He was with Him in heaven before creation and he said you love them the same way that you love Me. It's no different. That's Jesus' words. There he's saying that he knows who the father is and he knows he's not a respecter of persons and he don't love one more than the other or anything else.
Speaker 1:And this is hard to wrap our minds around, because we think about a good christian sitting in church every sunday and then we think about somebody out there on the street doing God knows what, and we say there's no way. God loves that person the same as he loves the person that's here every Sunday and doing good. We don't want to wrap our minds around that because we just can't imagine. And what the problem is? A lot of times and I think I just heard somebody say it is it's not the fact that we don't have a problem. Believing God does it, it's the fact that we can't do it. We can't look at them on the same level. God does, but we can't. So that's the problem. So it's not. You know, it ain't anything with God.
Speaker 1:Quit blaming God. Maybe we need to say God, check me, search me. God, david, search me. Whatever's in me that's not of you, whatever's in me that is not right, get it out. Bring out that love that places no condemnation. That's not just for myself, that's for other people. I'm not condemning other people, I'm not condemning myself. If I'm in Christ Jesus. There's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 1:Legalism says that John 17, right there, says you have loved them the way that you have loved me. You have the fullness of God's love and favor in Christ, freely and fully. It's yours. He has loved you the same way he loved Jesus. Think about that a minute. But legalism says no, you don't. Legalism says you got to earn this, you got to to earn this. You've got to get to this point.
Speaker 1:Legalism establishes requirements of moral conduct beyond what the Bible teaches and then says the boundaries of true spirituality and acceptance depended upon whether you are adhering to those regulations or not. I don't know, because I don't go to some of those churches, but I know some people that's probably not considered Christians anymore because they missed a few Sundays. I'm talking about people looking at them and saying, well, you can't be a Christian, or they'd be in church. You know, I'm not saying that. I'm just saying there's people that would look at it like that. Surely you would go to church if you was a Christian. So I mean there's rules and there's regulations and there's guidelines and there's all these things that the church has. Legalistic stuff the church has put there and we try to hold people responsible to that put there, and we try to hold people responsible to that.
Speaker 1:In its ugliest form, legalism forces that same theology on others, because if I'm held to that and I see myself in that way, guess what I'm going to look at everybody else in that same way. So what does it do? It starts this like a domino effect and then we've got a church full of legalistic people who don't believe that they're favored by God, don't believe they're loved by God because they messed up or they slipped up or they've done something wrong at some point. They're condemning themselves and they don't believe that God can. Surely, surely God can't love me the way he loves somebody else? And then all of a sudden I begin to portray that to other people and I begin to look on other people that same way. And then I go back and when I read that there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, I can't figure out why I keep condemning these people. Because it's what's in me right now. I'm seeing myself from that way. I've got legalism, I've got a legalism mindset and I'm seeing myself that way and I'm beginning to see other people that way. When that changes and I begin to see myself differently and I understand my identity in Christ, I don't look at people the same way anymore. Everything changes.
Speaker 1:But the only way someone is fully in, according to legalism, is if you obey the rules. If you follow the rules, you are fully in. But the problem with this is if we take that think about this a minute if we take that idea and we say, maybe that's true, maybe I do need to follow the rules and that's what gives me good makes God look down on me and smile because I'm following the rules. But if that's the case, then faith becomes a separate issue, because it's not about faith anymore, it's about rules. Works are what really matter. To people who have a legalistic mindset, it's not about faith, it's about work.
Speaker 1:This is what happened to the Colossians. I said all that to get you right back to the Colossians. This is what happened to them. But this is also what's happening in the church today. Legalists were excluding Christians from the church. The problem is they're not in charge. Jesus is so. I can't come in here and become a legalist and tell you you're not entitled to be here anymore. I can, but I'd be wrong. And that's what's happening. Don't think it ain't happening because we don't do it here. What's happening Don't think it ain't happening because we don't do it here. It's happening, I promise you, right here in Bacon County. I'm not saying they're kicking them out, but they don't feel welcome. There's a difference.
Speaker 1:One of my favorite phrases and we're going to get ready to end right here. One of my favorite phrases. You hear it all. To get ready to end right here. One of my favorite phrases, you hear it all the time is the finished work of Christ. The finished work of Christ. There's a reason for that.
Speaker 1:When Jesus died on the cross, he did not say my part is done, now you do your part. He said it's finished. It is finished Period. Jesus lived the perfect life and gave His life to set us right with God, now and forever. So it wasn't just about forgiveness of sin. It was about to bring us back into right order and to give us access to everything we needed to be in right standing with God. He brought us back to that and gave us access to it. Jesus lived that perfect life. He finished the work and was raised on the third day. What he accomplished on the cross was complete. I just want to say this, I want you to hear it it was complete. I just want to say this, I want you to hear it it was complete. It was completed on our behalf. And here's the thing he's never asked any single one of us to go back and do what he did. He's never asked you. He might say you've got to carry your cross, but he never said you've got to hang on it. He never said you've got to go back and do this because I slipped up and I didn't quite finish it and it wasn't good enough, so I need you to complete it. He never said that. He said it is finished Done.
Speaker 1:In wedding ceremonies, when people get married, we do the ceremony. We always say what God has joined together, let no man separate. Can we change that around right here and say what God has deemed finished? Let no man continue what he has deemed finished. You do not have to continue with in trying to improve upon it, because you're going to get frustrated and burn out and mad and upset for no reason. God asked us to obey Him, yes, but out of the fullness of grace.
Speaker 1:Obeying Him is out of grace. It's not a path to get grace. We obey because of grace. We obey because we are loved, not to be loved. We're not trying to earn His love and respect. We obey because we have spiritual life in Him. We don't do it. Obey because we have spiritual life in Him. We don't do it to try to get spiritual life. We already have it. So there's a difference of somebody who's doing it that's in Christ and somebody that's doing it to try to get to Christ. Big difference, true spirituality, is found in Christ alone, in communion with Him, in relationship with Him, in living inside His gospel promises and I put that word specifically because I didn't want to just say in His promises.
Speaker 1:But it's living in His gospel promises. Gospel means good news. It's living in the good news promises. Why do I say that? Because it's not living in fear, it's not living in condemnation, it's not living in guilt, it's not living in sickness, it's not living in disease. It's living in the gospel promises, the good news. He says I've given you peace, I've given you love, I've given you healing, I've given you a. I've given you healing, I've given you a manifestation of being restored. I've given you the things that are good. But we've got so many Christians that keep living over here in the bad, in the negative. All they see is sickness, all they see is pain, all they see is an angry, resentful God who is out to get them. And he says it's the good news promises, the gospel promises.
Speaker 1:We come to an understanding when we come to an understanding of who we are in Christ. We get there not because of what we're doing, but because of what he's already done. It's a finished work. We come into agreement with it. And I'm going to just summarize this right here because I believe it really is this simple. Years ago I preached I think it's right when we got into this church and into this building, god gave me several messages and it was talking about how to simplify what we were teaching, because we make it too hard. How do we simplify it? And that's what I wrote right here. I said we understand who we are, not because of what he's doing, but because of what's already been done or what we're doing, but because of what he's done. We come into agreement with it. We got to come into agreement. It's got to move from head knowledge to heart. It's got to move down. So we come into agreement with it. We believe it, we repent, we change our mindset, we decree, speak and manifest. I really do think it's that easy. Change our mindset, we decree, speak and manifest. I really do think it's that easy. But it's not easy to do all those things. But that's the promises that he told us.
Speaker 1:If you can understand who you are and you understand that you're a child of God and that I'm not looking down on you, I'm not allowed to get you. I'm not allowed to get you. I'm not judging you. I'm not casting you down into hell Because of what you just did, that I love you. You're my child. I called you before the foundation of the world. I created you in my image, after my likeness. I sent my son to the cross. My only begotten son I sent to the cross. He died on the cross to restore you back to the image and the likeness of what I created. I sent Him to the cross just to bring you back. And you think I don't love you. He did all that.
Speaker 1:And if we can just come into agreement with it and now begin to speak from that position of who I am Not the position of a We've got too many Christians speaking from the position of a victim instead of a victor but if I can speak from the position of who, I am in Christ, understanding who, I am understanding what he did. Now my whole language changes and I'm not speaking what I want or what I desire. I'm speaking what I already have and I'm coming into agreement with it. Brother, I don't see it, I don't feel it. That's why we're speaking in faith. It may not be there yet, I may not feel it in my body yet, I may not wake up every day and feel healed, but according to His Word, by His stripes, I am healed.
Speaker 1:I really believe it's this simple, that there's a difference in somebody that says, god, I'm praying for you to heal me versus thank you for the healing that I already have. I believe there's a big difference in that. Big difference in that I'm coming into agreement where what's already been done versus the expectation of waiting on something that I already have. That is a frustrating place to be. I would hate to have all that money. Somebody drop a million dollars in my bank and I live in poverty every day and no one didn't even know that money was there, didn't know I had access to it, and that's kind of the way we are. Didn't know I had access to it, and that's kind of the way we are. We live with things and we have to deal with this every day. And he says I've given you every spiritual blessing in heavenly places, church, can you agree with it? Can you begin to repent? Can you change your mindset? Because if you change your mindset, you will change your language. If you change your mindset because if you change your mindset, you will change your language if you change your language, you'll change your belief system. If you change your belief system. You'll change what you manifest, the order. But I believe if we can get those things in order, that's why I always pray god, come back, bring us back into creative order, because we're created in this way, we're not going to become that one day. He created me, he created you, just like Him. So those things are already there.
Speaker 1:And I wrote something at the end this morning. It was so funny because I called Monica and when she come by, I said hey, we need to do a new t-shirt. I said let's put our logo, our rock logo, maybe on the front or something. And then I said on the back. I said I want a cross. It ain't got to be a cross, just something, some kind of design. And then we're going to put finished, complete, sufficient, complete, sufficient, finished, complete, sufficient. And of course, google heard me saying this, because as soon as I turned my phone on, before I came out here, you know, the first thing that popped up it was a shirt. It was a shirt on Facebook that said it is finished. I was like, wow, but you can stand to your feet. We have got to see it like this.
Speaker 1:The title of this message today is Finished Work. I could preach a hundred different sermons with the same title, because we've got to see things differently than what we have been. I want to manifest the promises. I don't want to just hope for them. I want us to be a church where people wonder. You know, there should be and I remember preaching this one time there should be when we come into and enter into the presence of God. There should be and I remember preaching this one time there should be when we come into, enter into the presence of God. There should be some wonder, because God's doing things that we, just to the natural mind, don't make sense. It makes people go man, what just happened? That's the church I want to be. I want things to happen, I want things to manifest.
Speaker 1:And people say how in the world? I know what that person was dealing with, I know what that person went through, I know what's going on. How in the world, how do you explain this? And we just say because it's sufficient, because it's finished, and we agree with it, we believe it, we speak it. We believe it, we speak it, we manifest it. It's that simple.
Speaker 1:I'm not trying to water down the Word. That's as simple as the Word states it. We make it hard. I'm just trying to bring it back to what Paul said, what Jesus said, but I want you to see too, it's not a new thing. Paul taught this many, many years ago. Now. I want to go with this now. Not just healing, but healings too. Anything in your life, anything in your life. Peace Sam's going through. He just told you the loss of his father. He needs a peace. But see, the word says I'll give you a peace that surpasses all understanding.
Speaker 1:People might look and say, man, how are you dealing with a peace that surpasses all understanding? That surpasses all understanding? I don't know. Some things we can't explain. That's what we want. We want a church. That's my goal is to have a church that we can't explain, to have things happen that we can't explain. I can't explain it to you, but I invite you to come and then God, just blow their mind. We have access to walk in that, but we've got too comfortable just maintaining having church. So I'm ready to move it up to another level. And there's things that's going on in people's lives right now that can be the catalyst for that.
Speaker 1:Father God, we thank you for who you are. We thank you for everything that you've done for us. We thank you for sending your son to the cross, for not just forgiveness of sin, but bringing us back into the true understanding of who we are in Christ, bringing us back and giving us access to walk in every promise that you've given us, to truly walk out these things. Not just pray for healing, but know we are healed. Not just pray for healing, but know we are healed. Not just pray for prosperity, but to know that every day, that everything has been given to us, that we are prosperous, that we are healed, that we have something in us, father, that just people cannot understand.
Speaker 1:Because we're bold enough to say I believe this Word, I will decree this Word and as we do, father, I just pray for supernatural manifestation to happen in this house, to happen in everybody in this room, everybody that can hear me right now. That manifestation will begin to happen in their life in a supernatural way and, father, we just thank you that you have a plan. Manifestation will begin to happen in their life in a supernatural way and, father, we just thank you that you have a plan that's bigger than what we can see. You have a purpose for this church and this congregation in this community that is more than just coming to a church service on Sunday morning. But you have a bigger plan and a bigger purpose and we pray, father, for you've given me the vision. But I pray, father, for provision. I pray that everything that we need to accomplish, that it comes. It's already here, but it manifests. Father, we thank you. We'll be careful to give you the praise, the honor and the glory for everything, in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen, be blessed.