Treasured Truth

We continue to look at the law today and understand how it exposes our sin, exalts God’s promises and enhances the gospel. And Pastor Ford will remind us that if we’re crucified with Christ, then Christ lives in us and His love covers us. So we’re under love, not under the law!

Today, Pastor Ford will help us understand today that the law of the Old Testament was given to us to show that God had a standard that we couldn’t reach. Therefore, it demonstrates our need for God’s grace, through the promise that He gave, which would be fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

Being delivered from our sin is directly related to the closeness of our relationship with Jesus. Knowing Jesus more closely makes us more aware of our sin. And as our sensitivity to sin increases, which is evidence of our maturation, then our activity of sin ought to decrease. In other words, the more we fellowship with Jesus, the less we will sin.

As we continue to look at Romans 6 to discover how we can be delivered from our sin, Pastor Ford wants us to understand that we need the power that comes from being in Christ to be able to overcome the thing that’s overcoming us.

Today, Pastor Ford reminds us that God has “a restraining order” on the devil. He cannot do anything unless God allows it. We may not understand what God is doing when He allows Satan to tempt us, but we must trust Him and realize that it’s for our best.

When we are seeking a way to be delivered from our sin, Pastor Ford points us to the writings of the Apostle Paul in Romans. In Romans 6 Paul says, ‘Who the Son sets free is free indeed.’ Now what is Paul’s point, exactly? He’s saying to us, “Listen, you need to know that you have to die to your sin in order to live.” Freedom in Christ comes after dying to self.

Believers who backslide don’t need our judgment. What they really need is our love. And love doesn’t expose sin. Love covers it. And we need to understand that’s what people need. In Luke 22:31, Jesus actually told Peter, “You’re going to fall and you’re going to backslide, but because I prayed for you, don’t you worry about it—I’ve got you covered!”

Do you know anyone who could be considered a “backslider”? If so, what have done about them? Pastor Ford asks us today, “Who have you gone and snatched back from the Devil—someone who really belongs to God?” He suggests that instead of saying, ‘Well, the Devil’s got them now…” We should go get them! Because they don’t belong to Satan, they belong to God!

There are those of us who are such self-righteous Pharisees, that whenever somebody falls, instead of picking them up, we step on them. Instead of picking them up, we talk about them. Instead of picking them up, we disregard them and hate on them. Today, Pastor Ford will let us know how to avoid being one of those types of self-righteous believers.

God is the ultimate promise keeper. His promises are guaranteed. When we truly understand God’s covenants we’ll understand that God will never change His view of us because if He does, He has to change His view of Jesus Christ, which is something we can be sure He will never do.