Good morning to everyone. I showed up at church this morning and there was three people and a dog here, so that's the audience this morning, but I know I'm speaking mostly to those of you at home that'll hear it on the internet, so I'm glad that we have that option. We're hoping by next week we'll be able to live stream the sermons. We're working on that, but for now you can look it up at livinghopesermons.com and share that with people.

We're going to be continuing our study in 1st Timothy 1 this morning, and the message I've titled the message this morning, Godly Edification. So 1st Timothy 1, 3 to 11. I've been thinking a lot in the last week about how fragile and vulnerable we are as human beings. Did you know that this coronavirus has really only been a big deal for America for about a week? It was a week ago yesterday that Bobby and I were driving home from our vacation in Georgia and Florida, and things were pretty normal that week before. Some concern, some talk about what was going on in other countries and what may happen here, but nothing had really changed before last Friday and Saturday. What has happened in a week? What has changed in our world?

We were experiencing an unprecedented time of prosperity and growth in our country, in the economy, in jobs, wealth, and seeming unbounded potential. Did you feel like that? Like we were hitting on all cylinders in America. Things were really going well and we only had bigger and better to look forward to. I did. I was feeling pretty sure about the future and what we might be able to accomplish, but as a nation, even as individuals, I wonder how many of those plans were God's plans? How many of our thoughts and intentions and concerns were about what God is concerned about?

One thing this last week has reminded me of, has shown and convinced and convicted me more clearly of than ever before, is that I am not in control in any way, shape, or form. Now, on one level, I have to tell you, I guess I could say in my flesh, I really don't like that truth. I like feeling secure, having a little cash to spare, a growing retirement account, even if it is small. Sunny days and warm weather, baby pigs and lambs and calves running around, hope and promise and some sense of control over and security in the temporal things of this world. The comfortable life that we have all settled into for so long in America.

If I'm honest, I have to say that I like that, but I'm not sure how good all that prosperity and hubris is for my spiritual life, for my understanding of my total dependence on the grace of God in my life, my focus on His purpose for my life, His plans for me here in this time, being faithful today as I trust and believe Him. This past week has shown me how helpless I am, how stunningly quickly everything can change, and I can go from having the world by the tail to being locked in my home with pending doom lurking outside.

Regardless of what reality is in all this, and I'm not sure any of us know, the lesson to be learned for believers, for you and for me, is this. We are wholly dependent on the grace of God moment by moment, each and every day. This isn't something new, that hasn't changed, it was true a year ago, it was true six months ago, and it's true today. We may just not have been as keenly aware of it as we are now. We are dependent on His grace every day, and it is only His grace and power that can produce fruit, can bring glory to Him, can fulfill His purpose in our lives to the fullness that He desires.

And so whatever it is that brings us to that realization, to a point of total dependence on Him and a refocus of who we are and why we are here and what means it is that God intends to work through us, in that we can rejoice. We can count it all joy, we can experience the peace that passes understanding when we come to the place that we understand and truly believe that He is in control and we are dependent on Him.

And amazingly enough, this is the very truth that's at the heart of our text in 1st Timothy this morning. If you look at 1st Timothy 1 with me at verse 3, Paul writes, as I urged you when I went into Macedonia, remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies which cause disputes rather than godly edification which is in faith. Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, from which some having strayed have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.

But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.

I have four points on the outline this morning. First, we're going to review no other doctrine. Second, the purpose of the commandment. Third, lawful use. And fourth, according to the glorious gospel. Well, I want to go back to the message last week and briefly review the vital statement that Paul makes in verse 3. Paul says that he wants Timothy to stay in Ephesus so that he might charge some to teach no other doctrine. As we discussed last week, this doctrine that we are to teach is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the truth of salvation by grace through faith and sanctification by grace through faith, a life lived one day at a time by faith in the grace and power and promise of God. This is the only doctrine to teach. This is what Timothy was to command these teachers to focus on and stick to.

This is such an important point, a truth that is easy to stray from as a leader, a teacher, a pastor in the church. It's easy to preach law, and we're going to see that in our text this morning. It's easy to be drawn into the philosophies of men of the world thinking we need something more than Jesus, some new method, some new idea. It's our tendency as men to want to come up with something new, but one of my favorite sayings from the late Vance Havner is that we need something, we do not need something new, but something so old it would be new if someone would try it. And that is really where we are in the evangelical church today. That's why this is such an important charge that the Apostle Paul gives here. Teach no other doctrine. Teach Jesus Christ and the gospel and the grace of God and life by faith in Him, dependence on Him one day at a time, moment by moment as we walk in this world.

So this is very important to remember right here at the beginning of the letter, Paul gives Timothy his purpose in Ephesus, to charge them, to make sure that no one teaches any other doctrine. Now let's just talk about who these men were that Timothy was to charge, to command, to teach the gospel of truth and grace and faith. We're going to see a lot of strong language and evidence as we go through the book and on into the remaining two pastoral epistles that there were false teachers in the churches there and that these false teachers needed to be removed. However, I don't think that this is only or maybe even the primary application that Paul has in mind here. 

I believe these men were in place in these churches, they were most likely pastors. So if they are false teachers, then why wouldn't Paul tell Timothy to kick them out of there, to get rid of the leaven? But rather he tells Timothy to charge them to teach the gospel truth. In very similar language in Titus, Paul says avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable and useless. Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned. 

Titus was to take these men who were straying off into genealogies and strivings about law and he was to admonish them to get back to the gospel truth. Admonish them once and then twice, and then if they would not listen and continued to teach law and not grace, they were to be considered false teachers, warped and sinning, being self-condemned. I believe that we have here in Ephesus and in Crete and in those churches where men who were pastors and teachers within the body of believers, established in preaching, teaching, overseeing, were men who were the pastors of those churches. They weren't false teachers from outside or maybe even coming up from within, but they were teachers who'd been drawn astray and were going into teaching false doctrine, and that is one reason that Timothy had such a monumental task before him and perhaps why he was struggling to carry it out. 

Some of these teachers would turn out to be false, unbelieving impostors, and they would have to be dealt with, kicked out, exposed, and they will be accursed. But I really believe that the heart of Paul's instruction here for Timothy is to get the pastors and teachers who had been drawn away from the truth of grace and faith, slipping into a works law centered sanctification type of teaching, back onto the right path, back to the right focus of preaching and teaching Jesus and Jesus only, grace and faith for godly edification in the church. 

I do not see the same type of language that we see, for instance, in the book of Galatians. There Paul was dealing with a legalistic works righteous way of salvation, justification by faith, plus works. Let's turn over to Galatians 1, Galatians 1 at verse 6, and look at how Paul addressed that situation in Galatia. Galatians 1 6, he says, I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 

But even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. Paul gives no indication here that these teachers, these men who came to Galatia from Jerusalem, the Judaizers, should be admonished once and then admonished twice, called back to teach no other doctrine but grace through faith. He says, let them be cursed to hell. They teach a false gospel, let them be accursed. 

There's something very different going on here in 1st Timothy. Yes, some will be found to be false teachers and they must be dealt with, kicked out, exposed, and they will be accursed. But some of these men are teachers, pastors, believers who have been drawn away, who have been taken captive by false doctrine, a doctrine of law and works for the believer, I think particularly for holy living. And they need to be rebuked, they need to be admonished and charged to teach no other doctrine than grace for godly edification. They were hung up in genealogies of the Old Testament, they were focused on law teaching, and they had ceased teaching Christ and grace and faith, and they needed to be admonished and charged to come back to the gospel truth for life, for sanctification. 

I think we will see that the words of our text bear this truth out this morning. And we will also see that this understanding brings a very important application for the church today as well. So we see again, no other doctrine. Next I want to look again at the purpose of the commandment. Verse 5, he says, now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith. Here we find God's purpose and plan for the church. 

The commandment to teach no other doctrine than one of God's grace through faith for justification, sanctification, and glorification is love. God's plan and purpose for us in saving us and dealing with the sin that dwells in us and recreating us, giving us a new heart and a new spirit and coming himself to dwell in us and live his life out through us, is love. And love is manifest out through our lives as we walk by faith in dependence on him. We see this over and over throughout the New Testament. The book of Romans is perhaps the clearest on this, on God's plan for producing consistent life of fruit through the believer by his power, by his grace in our lives. 

And in chapter 118 to 320, we see the condemnation of man. In 321 through chapter 5, he gives us the abundantly clear truth of justification by grace through faith in Jesus alone. And when we come to the end of chapter 5, and especially chapter 6 to 8, we see that God's plan for sanctification, for conforming us to the likeness of Christ, is based in what he has already accomplished in us through his saving work of regeneration and uniting us to Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection to newness of life. 

The way that God intends to produce agape love in and through our lives each day, poured out to others and manifest to the world, is based in the truth that we died with Christ, that our old man was crucified with Christ for the express purpose that the physical body, controlled by indwelling sin, might be rendered powerless. We died to sin, Romans 6 teaches us. We died to the law, Romans 7 teaches us. And Jesus came and dealt with the power of indwelling sin in us for the very purpose that the righteous requirement of the law, Romans 8, that is love, might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 

Romans 7, 6 says, but now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. We must know and understand the magnitude of what God has done in us, performing His saving work on us through our union with Jesus Christ. We must understand who we are in Christ, and we must understand our relationship to law, sin, and death, if we are to understand the life that God intends as we now live in Christ. 

And the practical application of these truths is found in Romans 6 to 8, and also in 12 to 16. God's plan for us is to know these truths, then to reckon them to be so, a continual moment by moment, counting up the facts of our salvation, of who we are in Christ, and trusting and believing Him, yielding to His life and power in us as He produces, pours out His life, His love through us. This is why John says that the commands of the new covenant are to believe Jesus and love one another. 

The purpose of the commandment, the commandment to teach no other doctrine, Paul says, is love. Love from a pure heart and a clear conscience. These are the core truths of our faith and understanding of our Christian life. But unfortunately, in Timothy's day and in ours, we have in the church, among many pastors and teachers, those who have strayed from this truth into idle talk and have become teachers of the law and not grace through faith. 

We see no other doctrine. We see the purpose of the commandment, and next we must pay attention to what Paul says here about lawful use of the law. Verse 5 again, now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, from sincere faith, from which some having strayed have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm. 

But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous person. The phrase in verse 7 is so important, desiring to be teachers of the law. And Paul says, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm. These men had fallen into the trap, the false teaching of works or law sanctification. And because they were trying to use the law of God for something other than it was intended, for a purpose apart from why God gave it, beyond its limitations, Paul says they were not using it lawfully. 

So we must first answer the question, what does it mean to use the law lawfully? That is, for its intended purpose. And I think we are mostly aware of this truth and have understanding here in our fellowship because we talk often about it. However, in the church at large, this is a major pervasive problem. Let's consider a couple texts from the many in the New Testament concerning God's intention for the law, why he gave it, and what it can and cannot do. 

Romans 3 19 we're familiar with, we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, in order that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Here we see clear teaching that the law only speaks to those who are under the law, and its purpose is to hold men guilty, to stop every mouth, every excuse. And Paul draws a conclusion from this in verse 20, by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Did you catch that? By the law, the knowledge of sin. It does not say that the law delivers us from sin, it merely says that the law informs us of our sinful condition. 

In fact, in Romans 14, Paul says the law brings about wrath. Righteousness cannot come through law keeping. The law defines sin, it exposes our sin, but it gives us no power to overcome indwelling sin. And we know the book of Galatians has the clearest teaching on this, if you turn to Galatians 2.18, Paul is really working against this kind of thinking in Galatians. Not only justification by the law, as he's addressed, but also the believers had fallen into the idea of being sanctified by the law there as well. Galatians 2.18, Paul says, for if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I, through the law, died to the law. That I might live to God. I, through the law, died to the law. That I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Verse 21, I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. 

Paul says, for I, through the law, died to the law. Keep a finger here in Galatians and go back to Romans 7 at verse 5 with me, please. Romans 7.5, the core of Paul's teaching, what he wants to get across to the believers in chapter 7, is in verses 5 and especially 6. He says, for when we were in the flesh, speaking of when we were in Adam, when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. 

In verse 5, Paul raises two questions concerning the law. He ties the law to indwelling sin. The sinful passions were aroused by the law. He ties the law to death. The sinful passions by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. Two paramount questions arise, especially in the Jewish mind. Verse 7, Paul, what are you saying? Is the law sin? And in verse 13, Paul, are you saying that that which is good, the law, has become death to me? And Paul spends the rest of this chapter answering those two objections concerning the purpose and intent, the practical function of the law. 

In fact, he's defending the true purpose of the law and highlighting indwelling sin as the problem in the man in Adam. What we see is an interesting explanation as to the purpose of the law in answering the question in verse 7. Follow with me in verse 7. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not. On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law, for I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, you shall not covet. But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire, for apart from the law, sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, which Paul thought was going to bring him life, I found to bring death. 

For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good. First of all, notice what law Paul is talking about, you shall not covet. Paul is concerned here with the moral law, the Ten Commandments, not the ceremonial or civil law of Israel. It is the moral law that we are no longer under, that we have died to, that has served its purpose in the life of the believer, that we no longer live under, nor can it produce righteousness in our lives. 

Rather, we now live, Paul says, by the Spirit. Paul explains in these verses how he thought he was to be righteous by the works of the law as a Pharisee, but then when he came to understand the purpose of the law of God, his sin became utterly sinful, it showed him the true nature of his sin, and it brought death to him. He realized that he was dead in his trespasses and sins and that he was in need of a Savior. Now if we go back to Galatians 3 at verse 19, we see this very thing laid out explicitly by the Apostle Paul as he asked the direct question, what purpose does the law serve? 

And he'll go on to say in verse 20 and following, that the law was given to show us our sin and to lead us to faith in Christ. He said we were kept under guard by the law, by a tutor, but after faith came, after we came to faith in Jesus, Jesus came and died on the cross, we heard the gospel, we believed Him, he says we are no longer under the tutor, we no longer have need of a schoolmaster to lead us to faith in Christ. And he concludes in verse 26, for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Clearly, consistently, we see in the Scriptures that the law was not given for us to keep to become righteous, nor has it any power to produce righteousness in us, even in the believer. 

But rather it was given, it was added, after the thousands of years from Adam until Moses, it was given by God for the express purpose of showing us our sin and leading us to faith in Jesus Christ. And my brothers and sisters, after faith has come, we are no longer under the tutor, we are no longer under law, but we are under grace. One more passage in Galatians at the beginning of chapter 3, the last verse of chapter 2 says, I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. What righteousness is Paul talking about here? Justification or sanctification, positional righteousness or practical righteousness?

Notice in verses 19 to 20, he's talking about how he has destroyed the law as a means of righteousness, he does not wish to build it again. In verse 20, he's talking about the life that he now lives in the flesh, a life of faith in Jesus to produce his life out through Paul. Now pick it up at chapter 3 verse 1, O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn from you. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? 

Paul is forcefully correcting the idea of the law of God for sanctification, how we walk, being made perfect, that is conformed to the likeness, matured, sanctified, becoming like Christ outwardly. Are you now being made perfect by the flesh, by your own strength and efforts through law-keeping? O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? I think we have to ask the same question of the church today. O foolish church, who has bewitched you? But I believe I know who has bewitched the church into a teaching of law sanctification. In fact, this movement in the church has been developing for sixteen to seventeen hundred years, and it actually today follows the very pattern that Paul is condemning in 1st Timothy 1. 

1st Timothy 1.3, again, listen to Paul's instruction. As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine, nor give heed to fables and endless genealogies which cause disputes, rather than godly edification which is in faith. Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, from sincere faith, from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm. 

In Timothy's time, this heresy existed within a very Jewish context. Old Testament genealogies, fables of old passed down by the rabbis, idle talk, the doctrines of men. But in our day, this same bewitching power exists and is exalted in the church. Those who love to go through the details of church history spawned by Augustine of Hippo, endless academic endeavors, loyal allegiance to systems of men, and what is the end of all of these things? A desire to teach the law. It is a powerful influence in the church today, my brothers and sisters. I don't say this lightly, but I have been fighting back this influence for all these years I have been in the ministry. 

Continually, people in various places around the country and around the world have expressed to me the pervasive nature of the doctrines of a false teacher named Augustine, whose teachings have been worked out through men like Calvin and Luther and have a powerful influence on the true church today. We don't have time this morning to trace the history and delve deep into the doctrine as we have done before in this place. If you're interested in that, you can go on the website and go back to the doctrinal series, and I believe those messages were titled, Revelation Not Imagination, if you want to listen to more in-depth teaching on this. 

But what is the end of these things? It is the binding of the law of God on the believer for the purpose of sanctification. It is the very thing that was going on in Ephesus, from a different root, yes, but springing forth the same fruit. Reformed teachers today say that the law is a rule of life for the believer, and I'm still, after all these years, trying to figure out what that means. But they consistently teach that the law of God is binding on the believer, and this leads to all kinds of confusion and misinterpretation of the scriptures. 

An application that leads to fruitlessness and disillusionment. Paul says right here in our text, the law is not for a righteous person. What law, Paul? Verse 8, we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly, for sinners, all the way down through this, anything that's contrary to sound doctrine according to the glorious gospel. 

Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not use the Lord's name in vain, do not lie. It is the moral law of God that is not for the righteous person. It is for the lawless and ungodly and sinners, the man and Adam. Whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, but we are not under the law, we are under grace. Paul says whatever things are contrary to sound doctrine according to the gospel. The gospel is the doctrine, grace by faith, because of what Jesus has done, what He accomplished on the cross, and daily life, the Christian life, is not by law, it is by grace through faith. 

The law cannot produce righteousness in our life now today. We do not live by the letter, we live by the Spirit. I want to be clear here, just as Paul was, they called him antinomian, against the law, but he was not, and I am not. The law is holy and righteous and good, but it was given for a purpose, and it's limited in its scope. When we walk in the Spirit, our lives will be conformed outwardly to who we are inwardly, to the likeness of Christ, and this will be in consistency with the law, with that which is holy and righteous and good, the expression of God's nature, but the law is in no way a means to that end. 

It cannot produce righteousness in our lives. Rather, God's plan is His life in and through us by faith. We have a much higher standard than ten external rules that we live by as believers in Jesus Christ, and we have the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ living in us, guiding us into truth, convicting us of sin, and producing holiness through our lives. God's plan is His life in and through us by faith. 

Romans 8, 1 says, There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin, He condemned sin in the flesh. Why? That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 

Romans 13, 8 says the righteous requirement, the fulfillment of the law, is love. What the law could not do, God did by sending Jesus. Jesus condemned sin in the flesh. He made me free from the controlling power of indwelling sin for the very purpose that His love might be made manifest through my life as I abide in Him, as I reckon what He says to be true, my death to sin and law and death itself. As I choose to believe, to rest, to yield to His life and power in and through me by grace through faith. 

In this way and only this way can I see consistent fruit produced through me as a branch abiding in the vine. I have had several people over the years come to me who have followed law teaching for sanctification. I remember one in particular, a young couple, and they were trying to do everything right and they were kind of into some more legalistic movements, but I remember the young lady coming to me just crying and crying because she was trying to keep the law and she'd fallen even into some teaching of sinless perfection in this life and she would try and try and try to keep the law and be a good wife and be a good mother and she was homeschooling her children and then she would lose her temper and yell at her husband and she'd be so distraught that she wouldn't come out of her room for two days because she'd failed. 

Looking to the law, trying to keep the law in our own power only leads to extreme disappointment, disillusionment. You see, my brother and my sister in Christ, we are in control of nothing. We are powerless in and of ourselves. We see that now in our world, as all the idols of our prosperous society vanish before our eyes. And if we have been finding peace and security in those things, if we had confidence in anything in this world or in ourselves, then we will be shaken. But if our confidence is in God, if our trust and faith is in His grace, in His promises, in His purposes, if our desire is to live for Him, to live a holy life, to be a witness for Him, to focus on Him, abide in Him, to choose to believe Him every day, if we're in His Word renewing our minds, and if these things encompass our hope, then we shall not be moved. 

We shall, as believers in Jesus, be a powerful witness in a panicked world. That's what God wants for us. That's what He desires. That's why He's done the work of salvation in us, and that's why He wants us to trust Him, to abide in Him, to believe Him. And that's why Paul wrote to Timothy, tell these guys that they can teach no other doctrine. Get back to the gospel. Quit trying to be teachers of the law. I leave you with these encouraging words from Paul in 2 Corinthians 3, we are an epistle read by men. Let the world, especially in this trying time, see that our faith and trust and confidence is not in ourselves, not in the things of this world, but in Jesus Christ and God our Father who has promised never to leave us or forsake us.

Listen to these words, 2 Corinthians 3.2, Paul says, you, talking to the believers, you are an epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men. Especially you are an epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart. And we have such trust through Christ toward God, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. That's the life we want, the abundant life in Christ every day, as a witness and for His glory, and that comes through the power of the Spirit through faith.

Let's close in prayer. Father, we thank You for these words, these truths that we see consistently throughout the Scriptures. We thank You that You have saved us, You have placed us into Christ, You have dealt with the sin that dwells in us, You have released us from the controlling power of sin, from the law, from the fear of death. Thank You that we now live under grace, under righteousness and eternal life, that Your very life is in us, producing Your love out through us to the world, to the believers, to others, to You, Lord, for Your glory. Help us to understand these things, to rightly apply these things, to trust You and believe You one day at a time, in Jesus' name, amen.