announcement: 0:02

Hello and welcome to the Waking Up to Grace podcast, where we celebrate and explore the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Waking Up to Grace podcast can be found on every major platform. And now here's.

Lenny: 0:16

Lenny. Several years ago now, my wife Melissa and I needed to find a new dentist. We found an option nearby, so we went in to have a cleaning. When I sat down in the chair, he introduced himself and began gathering his tools. When he drew near and began working, I noticed that his glasses were very smudged and spattered. I thought to myself how in the world is he going to see well enough to clean my teeth? He clearly knew how to operate the tools and displayed a level of experience, but how could he see clearly through those glasses? Would he just keep on cleaning endlessly, seeing things that were not there, or would he just give up at some point and figure it would have to be good enough? Needless to say, the end result did not feel refreshing like the cleanings from those who could see with clarity while working. It didn't matter how hard he tried. He wasn't able to see what the others were able to see, and so the end result was not good. I can't imagine his work was fulfilling. I think this experience is a lot like Christian living today.

Lenny: 1:20

Mainstream teachings tell us that we need to work to maintain our fellowship with the Lord. Mainstream teachings tell us that we need to work to maintain our fellowship with the Lord and that our sin breaks that fellowship and can result in our Lord being angry with us, turning away from us and even punishing us. There is nothing less true than this. When we adopt this paradigm, we go through life with smudgy and spattered glasses. We see sin getting between us and God, sin that has been paid for by the blood of Jesus. We look at ourselves and see a filthy, wretched sinner instead of a new creation pleasing to God. We are taught to self-cleanse this sin from our lives through continual confession. Some can go about their lives ignoring the spatters and smudges, imagining themselves as good enough and better than others. Many who are more honest with themselves and true to this doctrine will never feel clean or close to our Heavenly Father. All of this error is brought on by not understanding the fullness of the gospel. Every Christian can say that Jesus died for their sins, but how many will tell you they are alive to God? How many people, when you ask them, are you a sinner or a saint? Will answer I am a saint. How many Christians do you hear talking about the resurrection life they have because of Christ? Welcome back to the Waking Up to Grace podcast everyone.

Lenny: 2:43

When we put on our gospel glasses or look at scripture in light of the gospel, we can quickly realize what a difficult passage is not telling us. We can read our entire Bible with much more clarity and not get so hung up on passages that are not clear. It might take a little more studying to find what a challenging passage actually does mean sometimes, but we save ourselves a lot of effort and maybe even a lot of despair when we first consider that everything must agree with the gospel in order to be true. It doesn't matter who wrote it. The gospel of our Lord is the standard by which we must examine all of scripture in order to understand the intended meaning and the proper context of what we're reading. On that note, if our gospel glasses are a little smudgy, we can find ourselves veering off of the path of grace and into a works-based relationship with our Lord. My goal is to clean the lenses of your gospel glasses so that you can see exactly who you are in Christ Yeshua. If we cannot discern who we are to God and how God truly sees us, we are going to stumble through our lives as Christians. Now, to be clear, there are other hermeneutic principles that need to be considered when examining scripture, audience relevance being at the top of the list, but the first principle always needs to be the gospel message. If we remove our gospel glasses, we drift far from the path that Yahweh has set for us. Now audience relevance is probably a close second. In my opinion. We absolutely have to stop reading our Bibles the way the mainstream teachers promote.

Lenny: 4:20

These writings were not written directly to us. When Jesus spoke, there was a specific audience listening and being spoken to. We are sort of eavesdropping in on these texts. If we look at the text as being directly to us, we lose the meaning and apply things to ourselves that our Lord never intended. One simple example of these two principles is the famous Sermon on the Mount.

Lenny: 4:47

When Christ Yeshua spoke this challenging teaching, who was he speaking to? Well, it started out being his disciples, but we are told, teachers of the law and Pharisees were nearby. There was a crowd listening in, but what did all the people involved in this mind-blowing event have in common? All the people involved in this mind-blowing event have in common? They were under the law. They were all expected to be following the law and its 613 commandments in order to deal with their sin. Do you still follow the law? If so, what altar are you using for your animal sacrifices? What temple are you using for your worship? The temple built for those things was destroyed by our Lord using the Roman army in 70 AD. So are you still living under law? Whether you think so or not doesn't matter.

Lenny: 5:33

Christ Yeshua fulfilled the law at the cross and the temple of the first covenant has been completely destroyed. The days of the law are over. The old covenant is done. We are living in the new covenant age. Was Christ Yeshua speaking to you at the Sermon on the Mount? You can say no. He was speaking to Jewish people who were still under the law. And what major event had not taken place yet the cross and the resurrection. What did we receive in Christ, thanks to the cross and resurrection? The spirit of God living in us and sealed forever. Eternal life, reconciliation, justification, unbreakable fellowship with God, freedom from the law. Our sins will be remembered no more. We are a new creation in Christ. We are alive to God, forgiven as far as east is from the west, and so much more. Did those in the audience at the Sermon on the Mount have these things? No, they did not. Don't get hung up on this simple fact. Our Lord Christ Yeshua had not finished his work at this time. Although they had the blessing of walking with Christ, they had not yet been reconciled to God. The law was still in effect.

Lenny: 7:01

Now, today, I'll be using the ESV Bible translation for our study. Our first passage is Galatians, chapter 4, verses 4 through 6. But when the fullness of time had come, god sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption. As sons, and because you are sons, god has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying Abba, father, christ Yeshua had to be born under law to redeem us from the law. The law and all of its requirements needed to be satisfied. Once that was finished at the cross, he rose from the dead so he could give us his life. The spirit of God is now in our hearts and we are sons of God who can call on our father. For Do you see how much that changes the way we interpret these passages?

Lenny: 7:52

Hebrews 10.14 says For by a single offering, he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. Hebrews 8.12 says those passages describe what you have been given thanks to the finished work of our Lord, the same Lord that set the bar so high that we could never reach it. He reached that bar for you. Hebrews chapter 4 says so. Then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works, as God did from his. Our Lord has given you rest. You have entered the Sabbath forever. Christ is your Sabbath. The work is done. You have been reconciled to Yahweh forever. The Sermon on the Mount is not Christ teaching you how to live. It is Christ teaching you how to depend on him and how to realize the incredible love he displayed for you at the cross. Our Lord brought mankind back into a right standing with him by giving us the spirit of life. We are alive to God forever. Some say Jesus is my co-pilot. I say Christ is king, he's the captain, and we are always trying to take the wheel and do things our way. Thank God he is not just a co-pilot. Where would the body of Christ be going without the head to lead us?

Lenny: 9:19

In my last podcast we talked about what could be considered a healthy spiritual diet for the Christian. I explained how most of what we get from mainstream teachers is the equivalent of junk food. Think about when kids are given as much junk food as they desire. They get all amped up, don't they? They will be suddenly bursting with energy but will soon crash. They will likely not feel well and have lost their appetite for nutritious food. They might even become irritable if you ask them to eat something like meat. But if you ask them if they want more candy, you can bet they will be ready soon enough. This sounds a lot like the institutional church experience from my vantage point. You will rarely get spiritual meat, if at all. Instead, you get all pumped up with candy. You get all this teaching about what you need to do and all the self-improvement you need to get to work on in your life. You feel super motivated, like you just got out of a multi-level marketing convention and soon after you leave the building you crash. Some can prolong the crash by eating more candy. They become even more irritable. No matter how much junk food you eat, you will never feel full. You will never be satisfied. You will hunger for more and more.

Lenny: 10:41

You go to the conventional church weekly or even more, as if you're stopping into a gas station for a snack or a little pick-me-up like a slushy or a bubbly soda drink. You need something more me up like a slushy or a bubbly soda drink. You need something more. You just don't know what it is you need yet, but surely you'll find it there. Where else do you go?

Lenny: 10:59

We certainly need to eat as Christians, but the food we need is not the food that we're being fed. The food that we are told is healthy is actually garbage. The institutional church is about the same as our good old government. In that way, government-regulated institutions will tell you that garbage is great for you and even heart-healthy, while convincing you that what you eat does not even affect your health. You just need more medicine. That's your problem. When you put food in your mouth and it ultimately goes into your blood and becomes your fuel, that has no effect at all. But medicine that works, it fixes that symptom you were having perfectly, even though it causes three more issues that need medicine.

Lenny: 11:39

You don't want to be the Christian that seeks medicine from the institution. You want to eat the meat that sustains and become healthy. You don't need the system, you need spiritual meat. Paul the Apostle uses vegetables in his analogy. Vegetables, unlike junk food, have an appearance of good health, but, a lot like junk food, they do not sustain the appetite. They also leave you hungry. Some people like eating nothing but vegetables because they never feel full. Our bodies want to be full, though. They need to be satisfied or else they can never rest. If we want to rest in Christ, if we want to experience grace living, we need to eat spiritual meat.

Lenny: 12:19

We live in a culture today, at least in America, where there is information everywhere. There's so much information out there for Christians that it can be overwhelming. You have books on how a Christian can run his business. You have books on how a Christian can raise his kids. You have books on how a Christian can run his business. You have books on how a Christian can raise his kids. You have books on how a Christian can cook his food. It's like Christians don't know how to do anything these days, isn't it?

Lenny: 12:43

Imagine that you've decided that you want to make a change to your diet. You're going to start focusing on food that sustains, but you live in a house where there are all kinds of delicious treats on the counter at all times. These treats are going to make you feel terrible, but they taste so good. Then when you go to visit some friends or go to work, there's some more treats waiting for you there. From my vantage point, this is what it looks like to be waking up to grace in America. It takes a lot of discipline to seek out the meat and feed on what is good. We really need the Lord to guide us on this. When you wake up and realize that what you were told was good food is really nothing but rotting garbage, your shift of paradigm is going to be radical. You might be as disturbed as you are at peace.

Lenny: 13:29

Paul the Apostle said the works of the flesh are obvious in Galatians 5.19. Knowing what sin is should be vegetables. Knowing what sin is and when you are sinning is not the primary focus of the healthy Christian. Those vegetables do not satisfy the spirit. Meat gives you the motivation and energy. Meat fills you up and satisfies the spirit within.

Lenny: 13:53

In Romans 14, paul writes as for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but do not quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Paul here describes the one who only eats vegetables as weak. He also goes on to tell the mature in Christ to be easy on those who are weak. This is important. Paul also uses the analogy of milk and meat in other writings.

Lenny: 14:21

Weak Christians are like infants, according to Paul, and if we don't treat them gently we will not be helping them. What infant responds well to harsh criticism? It would only make them cry. They're not going to learn that way. But let's face it. I don't think anyone wants to be the weak Christian or the infant Christian we should desire to feed on meat.

Lenny: 14:43

I believe that the second and third chapters of Paul's first letter to the Corinthian church outline this principle perfectly. Let's take a look, shall we? 1 Corinthians, chapter 2, reads and I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom, for I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. Why is it so important that Paul proclaimed Christ crucified? It's for the same reason that we discussed earlier.

Lenny: 15:30

If it were not for his finished work, we would be left at the Sermon on the Mount for eternity. When you accepted Christ, did you accept the Christ that is holding you to the Sermon on the Mount standard and watching your every move, or did you accept the risen Christ, who fulfilled the Sermon on the Mount for you and now comforts and guides you to peace whenever you call on him? This is something every Christian should consider at some point. Many today will teach you that the grace of God enables you to live up to God's laws and commands, but the truth is that the grace of God has satisfied all of God's laws and commands so that you can rest in Him. How much greater focus will you have when you know that your spirit can rest? All of Yahweh's requirements have been met for you.

Lenny: 16:18

Paul continues. Yet among the mature, we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory, but, as it is written, what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. Paul explains how Christ was the plan from the beginning. The rulers of the age they lived in, the scribes and Pharisees, did not understand this mystery. Instead, they crucified their own Messiah. Many today continue to crucify him in the rejection of Christ Yeshua as Lord and Savior. It is actually quite amazing that our Lord and those who proclaim him continue to be mocked and persecuted to this day, thousands of years later.

Lenny: 17:19

The Spirit of our Lord will never die. As I said in my last episode, he is fully alive, living in you and me. He is back and better than ever, continuing in Paul's writing. These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God, for who knows a person's? For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God, for who knows a person's thoughts except the Spirit of that person which is in him? So also, no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God, and we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

Lenny: 18:05

Are you being taught wisdom of the Spirit or the wisdom of the world? What was the wisdom of the world in the time of this writing? If we go back to what we just read, paul referred to the rulers of the age, the Jewish leaders. The wisdom of the world could then be seen as the wisdom of the law and its regulations, the wisdom of self-offer. Today, it could be stretched into self-development. I'm not going to mention any names, but when a certain popular Christian teacher, known for their inspiring messages of self-development and loving messages, was asked if Christ was the only way into salvation, the response was that's not my ministry. What a sad public declaration by one of today's most popular Christian leaders. Do you want to learn from someone like that? Say no, thank you. Continuing on.

Lenny: 18:57

We read the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct. We just read. So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we read that we have the mind of Christ. To me, this means that we have been given the ability to see ourselves as Christ sees us. Not only can we clearly see the filth in our lives and despise those actions, but most importantly we see that we have been reconciled. We are right with God and can and should come to him for all things. The peace on earth that came with Christ was the peace that those who have been born of the Spirit receive. It's not world peace. You're not going to see that.

Lenny: 19:59

Now we're getting into the part about spiritual milk. 1 Corinthians, chapter 3, Paul writes but I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says I follow Paul and another I follow Apollos, are you not being merely human when we judge others from a worldly standard. What happens? Are we at peace? No, we get frustrated with each other and the result is strife, just as we saw in Paul's writing here.

Lenny: 20:45

And then Paul continues what then is Apollos? What is Paul Servants, through whom you believed as the Lord assigned to each? I planted, apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything is in charge of their spiritual growth. Those mature in the body of Christ can water and plant. In other words, we can share truth, encourage others and love one another, but it's God who is in charge of growth. We do not grow if we are not looking to him. When plants grow, it's as if they are reaching for the sun. They grow upwardly towards the sun. We too must reach for the sun in order to grow.

Lenny: 21:51

Paul goes on to say Let each one take care how he builds upon it, for no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus. Now, if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay or straw, each one's work will become manifest, for the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. Paul is very clear about the foundation he laid. His foundation was saving grace. Those who had this foundation had everything they needed. All they needed to do was look to Christ and his truth to build on what he taught and grow in the grace that God freely gave to them. But if they instead decided to build with the flesh or self effort, not depending on the Father, not being guided by the Spirit, not reaching for the Son of God, they will suffer great loss, though he will still be saved.

Lenny: 23:03

I've discussed this passage in the past, but a simple way of seeing this passage could be that when we build on the spiritual foundation that we have been given, with worldly teaching like those self-development pastor types teach, teaching like those self-development pastor types teach, in the end there is nothing but disappointment. Things of the world do not satisfy the spirit. Going back to our analogies, those teachings are at most milk or vegetables and often are nothing more than junk food. We need the meat. We need Christ and him crucified, not the Sermon on the Mount standard of living that Christ fulfilled for us. In my last episode I said we have become a society that is looking for a king, just like the ancient Israelites. We disregard what God thinks and look to our super popular teachers on TV or those at our local church who received the training of our day those at our local church who received the training of our day. We've stopped looking to the sun for our growth and are not rising above things of this world. As a result, reach for the son of God and rise above the world.

Lenny: 24:08

In John, chapter 16, yeshua said I've said these things to you, that in me you may have peace In the world. You will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world. Never forget my brothers and sisters in Christ. You are reconciled. You are right with God. Go out there and live for Christ, live with Christ, live in Christ. Christ lives in you and he will also live through you. You are a new creation. Live it, love it, embrace it.

announcement: 24:42

Have a good day out there, you guys. Thank you for joining us today. This podcast is brought to you by Waking Up to Grace Ministries. You can visit our blog page, add comments or reach us privately from our contact form at wakinguptogracecom.