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00:00:00 today's passage is taken from James 2 verse 5-1 17 listen my dear brothers has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the Kingdom he promised those who love him but you have insulted the poor is it not the rich who are exploiting you are they not the ones who are dragging you into court are they not the ones who are slendering the noble name of him to whom you belong if you really keep the Royal law found in script love your neighbor as yourself you are
00:00:33 doing right but if you show favoritism you sin and are convicted by the law as law breakers for whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it for he who said do not commit adultery also said do not murder if you do not commit adultery but do commit murder you have become a law breaker speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom because judgment without Mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful Mercy triumphs
00:01:04 over judgment what good is it my brothers if a man claim to have faith but has no Deeds can such Faith save him suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food if one of you says to him go I wish you well keep warm and well fed but does nothing about his physical needs what good is it in the same way Faith by itself if it's not accompanied by action is dead this this is the word of God e e e in Christ The Glory he has given us and each other today we're going to look at the next four points number one
00:04:01 partiality against the poor breaks the heart of God's law we can't pick and choose which laws to obey Christ fulfilled the law to give us the freedom to love and lastly our challenge action matters words don't so let's start off with partiality against the poor breaks the heart of God why can't we oh every time I move it's got something there switch this the mic all right can you switch this off the one back y okay it switched off sorry someone right partiality against po breaks the uh the the the heart of God
00:04:53 now let's look at the passage here if you really friend there's a echo fulfill the Royal law according to scripture you shall love your neighbor as yourself you are doing well but if you show partiality you're committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors so he's talking about the Royal law which is the number one law you love God with your heart your soul and mind and also you love your neighbor as yourself so why are we going why why is it wrong to discriminate against the poor number one
00:05:27 because it breaks the heart of God's law Leviticus 19 18 it says you shall not take Vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people but you shall love your neighbor as yourself I am the Lord this is a very important verse of which everything is based on and there are a couple of ways in which we misunderstand it so we're going to break it down for you today the first Mis understanding the law you shall love your neighbor as yourself some people say you shall love your neighbor as you
00:05:59 love yourself self very tricky here I don't know whether you think that's right because they take this command since you have to love your neighbor as you love yourself then you should love yourself and the whole Focus changes not loving your neighbor but changes to loving yourself so you got the whole industry of psychology that comes up and they tell you if you don't love yourself how are you going to love someone else so the whole focus is to build up your self-esteem you came from a poor family very difficult
00:06:36 dysfunctional so before you actually reach out to the first light girls you know you should look after yourself and and trouble is looking after yourself never ends it just stays there that's the problem here's a psychologist who said self Lov means having a high regard for your own well-being and happiness self Leve means taking care of your own needs not sacrificing your own well-being to please others self- Lov means not settling for less than you deserve you see this kind of message comes into the media all the time you
00:07:08 deserve you deserve your day at the spa your many paty you go to no noou restaurant and spend all your money there that is a danger so you shall love your neighbor as yourself the words are not a command to love yourself To Love Yourself is an assumption I mean you don't need anybody to tell you to love yourself let me give you an example in scripture if you look at um Ephesians chapter 5 where husband and wife love are you know basically explicated here the same sentence is done in the same way husbands should
00:07:47 love their wives as their own body he who loves his wife loves himself now he's not the focus here is husbands you must love yourself the full focus is is loving the wife right so you love your wife as you love yourself the love for yourself is assumed that's the issue here uh instead scripture takes the opposite view if anyone would come after me let him deny himself take up the cross daily and follow me whoever will Ser save his life will lose it whoever loses his life for my sake will save it that is the proper understanding
00:08:27 love is not possible if the object of the love is yourself all the time love is meant to be between two parties that's why if you talk about Christian theology the Theology of God is completely different from in Islam or any other religious system because there God could be they could be monotheistic but how can that God love himself love is a characteristic that can be only shared so therefore we have a Doctrine where we talk about the Trinity father son holy spirit so that love between Father Son and Holy Spirit is
00:09:02 right from the beginning love defines God all right so um to have self-love is difficult if you look at 2 Timothy 3 1 and4 I understand this that in the last days there will be times of difficulty people will be lovers of self lovers of money proud arrogant abusive disobedient to their parents ungrateful Unholy heartless unappeasable slanderous without self-control brutal not loving good treacherous Reckless swollen with conceit lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God so the focus of sin is
00:09:40 loving yourself so the biggest example I can find in today's is is this chap you know everything he does he's the cleverest person in the world the wisest person in the world the strongest person in the world and if you disagree then you're the one who's horrible typical textbook example of narcissism someone who just focuses on himself uh the second misunderstanding is that you shall love your neighbor as yourself okay so this love is well we'll dial it down a bit because to love other people other people like yourself is a
00:10:14 bit difficult so you shall not do to others what you want them want to uh them to do to you so don't do anything bad to them right so that's called loving your neighbor you could fulfill this law in your sleep did you know that go you're sleeping you're not doing anything bad to people right so you're fulfilling this law Hallelujah I'm I'm a law you know upholder now and this is actually very common if you look at the Jews famous Rabbi Hill uh stoics epicus confusious they all interpret this way
00:10:46 do no evil I guess you live in a very terrible world where everything goes wrong that is at least what you would settle for okay but scripture isn't like that there's Matthew 7:12 it says whatever you wish that others would do to you do also to them for this is the law and the prophets he explicates what it means to love your neighbor which means you treat them as how you would like them if you like your neighbor to celebrate your birthday or you like to celebrate your birthday you want them to
00:11:18 celebrate your birthday too right or you celebrate their birthday and this is a very very high bar it's almost an impossible bar but there it is you shall love your neighbor as yourself so the next problem is wow if that's the case h who's your neighbor wow if I narrow my circle of neighbor then I'm kind of safe right maybe my neighbor is my wife if I'm more generous is my children beyond that they all aliens I mean I mean it's natural right you can just draw that but if you look at what Jesus says he purposely talks in Luke chapter
00:12:00 10 about who your neighbor and the neighbor is the Samaritan who actually helped the Jew and they could not be further apart ethnically so therefore there is a breakdown of the ethnic divide in James chapter 2 who is your neighbor the poor guy not the rich guy the poor guy is focusing on then if you look at Ephesians chapter 2 Paul says the Jew and Gentile their neighbors because for he himself is our peace who has bro made us both one and broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility the Jew and the Gen are
00:12:44 neighbors so we have a new community created by Christ in the church no the barriers are race language culture everything is broken down because of what Christ has done and and it's starts with us and the ultimate vision is in Revelations one day the revelations says after this I looked and behold a great multitude that no one could number from every nation all tribes all people languages standing Before the Throne and before the lamb clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands and
00:13:19 crying out with loud voice salvation Belongs To Our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb that was a very interesting Doctor Who was on the PES Persons Of The Year some years ago he was a missionary Doctor Who was sent off to Africa to fight that growing plague called the Ebola virus Which is far worse if you thought covid-19 was bad Ebola is bad it's it's a hyped up souped up version of Deni fever where you got blood coming up from your eyes and your mouth everywhere else so he went there
00:13:56 and he actually unfortunately contracted the Ebola virus and he was actually shipped back to the states to be looked after there we have a nice Christian person called Anne cter who's basically a Conservative Christian Media Pandit which means talk a lot on the media and she says oh I don't care about anything else Christ died for my sin and nothing else matters if you say that you sound like a solid Christian right all right great it is what she said it's a waste of resources to spend on the missionary why you sent all the
00:14:30 way to Liberia better spend Ministry in the USA more impact for the gospel charity begins at home trying to be hero wow going to Africa and she said if Dr Brantley had practiced in Ceda Sinai Hospital which is the Private Hospital in Los Angeles and turned one single Hollywood power broker to Christ he would have done more good for the entire world than anything he could have accomplished in the century spent in Liberia area that's the kind of thinking that you actually have but you ask Kent Bradley why he went to
00:15:08 libraria and and and after all he caught Ebola virus you know what he said it's about our great loving compassionate God who has called us to love our neighbors very very simple isn't it for Kent Bradley his neighbor was not the the people in Los Angeles or California his neighbors were in Liberia which stretches your imagination of who your neighbor is isn't it so in this sermon you're not going to have me circumscribe to you where your neighbor is because Christ doesn't circumscribe it he lives it to your heart and your
00:15:49 conscience and what he did K Bradley was become that kind of incarnational model that Jesus modeled when he first came and the word became flesh and dwelt amongst us and we have seen his glory glory is the only son from the father full of grace and truth if you look at Luke chapter 15 a series of lost Parables every single one of these lost parables are totally illogical it's as illogical of Dr Kent Bradley going all the way from the USA to Liberia you talk about the Sheep the man having 100 sheep
00:16:30 and he loses one of them and he leaves the 99 you know what you do when you leave the 99 the Wolves will come your neighbors will come and they will take it he leaves them behind to look for the one it's ridiculous what about the lost son ran away took all the money at his inheritance and what does the father do when he sees him when he was Far Away the father runs towards the son leaves everything behind and goes toward this son who is lost what about a woman who loses one coin she lights a lamp spends
00:17:05 a whole day to find the lamp to find the last coin totally illogical but the focus is always on the lost one Rejoice with me for I found my sheep that was lost just as I tell you there will be one more in heaven over one there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance I was fitting to celebrate and be glad for this is your brother who was dead and is alive he was lost and he was found and the woman said Rejoice with me I found the coin that I have lost see
00:17:46 God's heart is always towards the neighbor who was lost it's never back to the church oh my church very big very doing very well God's heart is towards the person who is lost and that neighbor the preciousness of the neighbor is what is focused in this series of uh Parables Deuteronomy chapter 15 verse 7 to8 let me look at this if any among you if among you one of your brothers should become poor right and he didn't tell you why he became poor he could have gambled his money away he could have invested in the
00:18:26 soft Bank of s Silicon Valley the he had the they collapse today we don't know he could be deserving poor or undeserving poor it doesn't matter in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you wow he reminds you that whatever money you have whatever land you have actually God gave you he lost his but you still have yours and yours is given to you not earned by yourself you shall not Harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother you shall open your hand to him and let him
00:18:59 sufficient for his need whatever it may be I'm not asking you to put him up at the Sheran hotel and feed him Japanese sushi every day I'm asking you this passage tells you to lend him didn't ask you to give or so sufficient for his need whatever it may be right so what is the right thing as the Lord wants us to do it's like this cartoon it's basically the last one you can treat everybody equal but not everybody is in the same place he needs to see the game you need to treat your fellow brothers and
00:19:41 sisters and who are poor enough though the they have their needs taken care of so partiality gets poor breaks the heart of God's law of loving our neighbor number two we cannot pick and choose which laws to obey right whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it for he who said do not commit adultery also said do not murder do not if you do not commit adultery but do murder you have become a transgressor of the law so basically law would be best symbolized
00:20:15 by a chain you've got all sorts of sin there which you do not do but if you do one sin murder as it were Bible says You're Breaking the Chain youve already broken the law so the law is is indivisible all parts equal to the whole we have a concept of the law it's like a checklist I done one 2 3 4 5 six ah and then I'm graded on a curve right if I'm in the middle I'll be okay lot of people go to hell before I go to hell right so you put yourself on the end of the curve isn't it it doesn't quite look like that
00:20:52 what about the sins of omission where you should have done and you did not do what about some people who think the law law is a hierarchy of laws and they threw this woman in front of all the people Jesus went to defend her in uh John chapter S uh they and she was accused of sexual sins and he Jesus challenged them oh you guys very good right he who has no sin take the first stone and cast why is it that her sin is brought up for stoning and your sin is carefully hidden away the church is always shocked we gossip about adultery
00:21:29 sexual sins divorce or homosexuality but other sins we are blind to the fact that every day we walk past the poor and we Harden our hearts and we did not reach out our hands not loving the poor is also breaking the law which is indivisible why don't we gossip about you walking past the poor why are we gossiping about that mega church Pastor who shacked up with his secretary and we're talking about it for years and years later on but we conveniently forget about the number of people we walk past every day if you
00:22:11 look at the construction to the Ten Commandments the first part is but love to God the second part is actually loving your neighbor if you love your neighbor you won't murder him you won't steal his wife you won't steal his Goods you won't bear false witness you won't cover his money it's about your neighbor now the in fact Jesus is so clear about loving your neighbor that his application of law is scary he says you've heard it was said of days of old you shall not murder and whoever murders shall be liable for
00:22:44 judgment but I say to you anyone who angry with his brother will be liable to judgment whoever insults his brother will be liable to the counsel whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell F hell of Fire the the Commandment is very broad very difficult isn't it so Isaiah actually criticizes the people of Israel he says when you spread your hands out when you worship I will hide my eyes from you even though you make many prayers I will not listen your hands are full of blood wow he's actually criticizing the People
00:23:22 Israel as if they're all mass murderers you know what they've been doing if you look carefully has a city faithful City become a who is full of she who was full of Justice righteousness lodged in her but now murderers everyone loves a bribe runs after a gift they do not bring Justice to the fatherless and the Widow's cause does not come to them you know why they murderous you know why there's blood in their hands because they've actually taken bribes that's that's quite obvious right but they've actually
00:23:53 not brought Justice to the fatherless and the Widow's cause does not come to them they've walked past the poor they've walked past the oppressed and if you walk past the oppressed and and and and imagine that they are invisible then your hands are full of blood so they close their hearts to the poor so social injustice support is just as bad as murder or adultery now the Prime Minister actually came out when he first came to office and told us the great news we got a 1.2 or $1 1.5 trillion dollar debt and he said the
00:24:27 poor will suffer what was your reaction the selfish reaction my heart was oh the poor suffer that's not me be honest you said the poor suffer and I didn't really think about it because that's not me that's what it means to sin against your neighbor I'm okay loving your Justice Means your neighbor means social justice it's even worse it's social justice wash yourselves make yourself clean remove the evil of your Deeds from before my eyes cease to do evil learn to do good seek Justice correct oppression
00:25:09 bring Justice to the fatherless plead the Widow's cause it's not just giving it's also changing the structures that actually cause Injustice and poverty story was told of a young man who visited a Mountain Village in a far away country uh and he noticed the people there in the church were very good uh the the road was very winding and treacherous so they often had accidents cars overturned went down the cliff people were severely injured you know what they did they got together the church got together and
00:25:45 they started the only Ambulance Service there so they went around picked up people doctors very skilled patched them back together but a lot of people warmed out paralyzed or had disabilities then the visitor said you you know if you dig a tunnel from this end of the mountain to the other end then you don't have to have people being forced to to to to drive all the way through the mountainous roads and the people told him oh no cannot build tunnel why no Mania no because the mayor he owns a restaurant and rest stop
00:26:20 halfway up the mountain ha the mayor also Elder of the church ha so we should be just building ambulances isn't that describe the church today we build the ambulances but we are not willing to get involved with correcting social justice which is the actual cause of the poverty in the first place because we own a restaurant halfway up there we have vested interests this a controversial Roman Catholic uh Bishop help Elder Kamara of Brazil and he actually said these things which are very striking when I give food
00:27:04 to the poor they call me a saint when I ask why the poor have no food they call me communist you see very very po this is a guy who who had a lot of social political work for the poor human rights democracy you know he actually set up an organization to provide loans for the poor and if he did something for the poor then he's a communist he when you do something for the poor you threat the established order of social injustice this Martin Luther King famous Civil Rights uh uh hero as it were and
00:27:39 and he was commenting on how the early church was very successful and grow and grew and they actually brought about the end of infanticide and Gladiator contest and he WR whenever the early and he wrote this from prison whenever the early Christians enter the town the people power became Disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being disturbers of the peace and outside agitators but the Christians pressed on in the conviction that they were a colony of Heaven called to obey God rather than man small in
00:28:16 number they were big in commitment they too they were two got intoxicated to be astronomically intimidated by their efforts and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests G gladiatorial contest in the ancient world was the number one entertainment this like in America the NFL in Malaysia the batminton you know or football imagine getting rid of that because they were small in numbers and Intoxicated by God as it were is the church today a thermometer that measures
00:29:01 what the temperature and reflects the temperature of our society in the social injustice or is it a thermos that the acts to reset Society the next question when we venture this area is some people criticize the church is not an organization for Social Action we're just here to share the gospel so uh they say give a Hungry Man a meal and you keep him alive for one day share the gospel you offer him eternity that's the argument isn't it right but it's actually an artificial choice if you convert the heart you will
00:29:35 change their hearts and their hearts are changed it will change their behavior the spirit will Empower transformation if you have social action social action demonstrates the love of God in a concrete Manner and this action manifests the crucified Christ and when you transform Society the gospel is involved as well they're actually an artificial choice they are both separate distinct loving your neighbor and the Great Commission but they're related but non-contingent very careful so when you actually have the first light Children's
00:30:10 Home you do that because you love them they are your neighbors but you do not force them to do your Bible reading every morning and you do not put money in the first light Children's Home in order for them to become Christian that could be a byproduct the the motives are separate we just love you because if the motives are mixed what will happen is that you'll produce whole bunch of rice Christians they'll come to you Uncle got man then they'll become Christian W I'll sing the song no money bye-bye you don't
00:30:48 produce real disciples social action love for the poor is a demonstration of what is real in our hearts and when you help someone you help someone you're loving them and you're asked to love them right but you don't love them in order that they come to know Christ if they come to know Christ that's the highest level of love you Just Praise the Lord for that but you don't make them contingent they're like this the the blades of a scissors you declare and you demonstrate but they're separate and they work together now Jesus didn't see
00:31:23 the difference in actually between between two you know what he said in the they call this The Naz Manifesto Isaiah 61 the spirit of the Lord is on me because is Anointed me to pray proclaim the good news which is the gospel to the poor he sent me to Proclaim Liberty to the captives social justice recovering the sight of the blind Medical Aid to set at Liberty those who are oppressed in prison to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor the gospel he sees it all as one because human beings are holistically one you
00:32:00 can't tell him about the news of Jesus Christ and don't feed him man is holistic he has a spiritual nature he has a physical nature you can't separate the two Jesus never separated two do you know he healed many many people at the end when he died and the early disciples in the upper room they numbered no more than 120 people I thought by the end of Jesus three years he have a mega church right even Joseph Prince Church in uh Singapore is bigger than Jesus Christ Church you see he just loved people and
00:32:40 that's what we should be doing the apostles didn't separate the two here when James and keus this talk and and John this is Paul writing who seem to be pillars perceived the grace that was given to me they gave me the right hand of Fellowship to Barnabas and me that we should go to the G Gentiles and they to the circumcised which means they ministered to the Jews we minister to the Gentiles with the gospel right only they asked me to remember ask us to remember the poor the very thing I was eager to do they did
00:33:12 both they did both and they're both equally God's command to us in fact if you look in Asia today in in in Turkey the there was a uh monk called St basil and at right at capadia he was the first person because the monks used to live and practice their Christianity sequestered away from society they would pray have the moments of Silence study the Bible and then the non-christians would go for healing with the Greek god esclipus you know and and all that but St basil was the first one who actually
00:33:52 brought sick people to the monastery and he started the first Christian hospital he actually put forward the idea that medical healing is a gift from God because medical healing at that time was Associated and tainted with the idols he brought proper understanding so from then onwards came this idea of hospitals that has spread all over the world and people are incarnational this is some of our brothers who've been helping since the the day the church started 12 13 years ago uh and and these are all folk
00:34:26 who have been in you know uh Afflicted with HIV uh AIDS some of them and uh if the one who ministered to them directly is Pastor Isaac a wonderful man uh who lives and works amongst these people because he loves them uh so partiality against the poor breaks the heart of God we cannot pick and choose which laws to obey Christ fulfilled the law to give us freedom to love now so speak and act as those who are to be judged under the law of Liberty for judgment is without Mercy to on who has shown mer No Mercy Mercy
00:35:08 triumphs over judgment this is a little bit difficult that's the only difficult bit of the passage I need you to pay attention so I can explain to you what's happening here so he says we need to operate under a new operating principle it's like your computer you get an update isn't it and suddenly update comes in and it you know it really messes up a lot of your applications but this one is a new operating system it says speak and act as those who are to be judged under the law of Liberty that's the thing law of Liberty the
00:35:43 basis of this principle is Mercy now if you talk about law and Liberty it's like an oxymoron you know it's a contradiction in terms because our concept of law is a list of dos and don'ts our concept of Liberty is wow I can do whatever I want I can do whatever I like and so therefore let's look at Liberty now Liberty the human concept of freedom is actually independence from God when Eve said uh God says don't take the fruit Eve says no no no I I must have freedom I will take whatever I want and the most
00:36:21 free person in the world at that time actually was leave right she took that was her idea of freedom in depends from God so today we've got Reproductive Rights we got sexual rights we got free speech got all sorts of Rights and we think we are free uh if you look in the states uh uh in 2020 because they've got Reproductive Rights 620,000 babies have been killed through abortion what about the rights of the babies in fact the 620,000 doubl the number of people who died of covid that day that that year in the United
00:36:55 States so our concept of of freedom is a bit skewed we talk about sexual freedom and it brings about pornography where people are abused to act in those films addiction gender dysphoria rape adultery broken families see our idea of freedom is not really Freedom it brings about a slavery to sin all right what about the law it's dos and don'ts I don't like that imagine this this is Psalm 119 and David says I will keep your laws continually forever and ever I shall walk in a wide place for I have sought your precepts I will also
00:37:37 speak of your testimonies before Kings and shall not be put to shame for I find Delight in your law in your Commandments which I love the word there is I shall walk in a wide place which which I shall have Liberty see David finds true Freedom all right in obeying the law which he Delights look at his attitude towards the law it's like walking through a trail in the treacherous mountains which are both accelerating beautiful wonderful step in the wrong place very wonderful on the way down it'll be
00:38:17 wonderful for a while until you hit rock bottom so therefore youve got to stick to the Lane and there are some signs as long as you look at the signs you know the limits to which you can walk disobey the signs and then you will meet an untimely end and that's what the law is the law provides vital limits to our journey in life and it provides an area of safety for you to do whatever you want to do within those circumscribed area of safety because God has designed us I give this to my patients who are
00:38:57 often have kidney stones and the kidney stones come from also uh cause gout so you ask them this is what you should eat and this is what you should not eat I say within the bracketed red areas whatever you want you can eat how much butter how much milk how much cherries how much brown rice you eat as you like so you're very free isn't it but the trouble is my patients always look at the other side hey what about the salmon what about the beer what about the tuna you see all right so it's a perceptual issue what the law is the law
00:39:39 tells you what you're free within your design the freedom to eat so in real life there's no neutral ground you know you're either free to live as God has designed you because the law is an image of God or your slave to sin which is a perception of freedom but actually there's no neutral ground now the word the law of Liberty if you go back and study James it actually is mentioned once before in James chapter 1: uh 25b I will read to you be as doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves but if I one anyone is a
00:40:16 hearer the word and not a doer he's like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror for he looks at himself and goes away and at once forget what he looks like but the one who looks at the perfect law the law of Liberty and pers perseveres being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts he will be blessed in what he's doing so here we have two people one who looks at the mirror and he walks away and doesn't do anything about it and the other one who looks at the perfect law and is
00:40:48 effective in changing his behavior now before you came here this morning put your hands up how many of you look in Mirror be honest please I I cannot see one woman who has never looked herself in the mirror this morning I know you're lying why do you look yourself in the mirror moisturizer ah why put moisturizer your skin dry UV sunlight UV sunlight okay so you look in your face because you see a big fat zit there you better press it out before you come or you put extra Foundation because you want see whatever
00:41:25 you see Alters what you do isn't it if you see you a huge long nose you got to chop it off before you come right that's why we all look at the mirror before we come to make sure you are presentable so the mirror what you see affects what you do imagine having a mirror whatever you see you totally ignore that's absolutely ridiculous and if you look at ancient mirrors at that time they they weren't made of glass with silver the back they were very poor Reflections and because they were poor Reflections you often didn't see
00:41:55 yourself accurately and even a Hu you know Mary's dry skin she wouldn't have seen an ancient mirror so she'll come here without moisturizer and then we'll say oh Mary where's your face all right so sorry I'm Mary I got to use Mary don't sit in front if you're rich person uh don't sit in front all right so so we we have a contrast you're an ancient mirror and it's like us we hear the word of God you know we we don't it doesn't really transform our lives important thing is to look at the perfect mirror this
00:42:31 perfect mirror gives a perfect picture of ourselves and that P perfect rendition of what we actually look like actually transform what we do we put on Foundation we put on moisturizer we cut our nose you do something if a eagle looks into the mirror he sees himself as he truly is imagine if you're a chicken and you look inside the mirror and you see an eagle that's the problem with us today we have got Eagles that look in the mirror and they see a chicken and chicken who sees in the mirror and he
00:43:03 thinks he's a eagle so the chicken wants to fly and the eagle wants to walk and that's our idea of freedom because it's what we do we're following our heart the law gives a true picture that we are radically sinful we deserve judgment and we're also tells us that we are radically exalted because we receive Mercy from our Lord Jesus Christ and if we actually look at God's law perfectly and it tells us where we are it will release us from self-reliance and pride and you can't be a better Christian by
00:43:44 trying harder you can become a better Christian by relying on Christ more because he's the one that gave you mercy so therefore you speak and act as those who are to be judged under the law La of Liberty because judgment is without Mercy to those who have shown No Mercy Mercy triumphs over judgment so we are people who should see ourselves in the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ who gave us mercy so when we look at a poor person how can we not treat them with Mercy because we are people who have
00:44:20 received Mercy we're enabled to love our neighbors because we're freed from the penalty of the sin we are free to obey the Royal law we are free to reflect our destiny as the image of God so how we treat the poor today is actually based on how we see ourselves if we see ourselves as having receive Mercy we will show love and mercy to others if we cannot see ourselves as receiving Mercy then we will try to give love in order to gain salvation or our own Glory see how Paul applies this Galatians 5 for you were
00:45:01 called to Freedom Brothers but don't use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh but through love serve one another for the whole law is fulfilled in one word you shall love your neighbor as yourself but if you bite and devour one another watch out that you are not consumed by one another the only way you can love your neighbor in such expansive manner which I described before before earlier in the sermon that impossible standard is that you are freed from slavery to sin then you can truly love your
00:45:38 neighbor without vested interest without a desire to gain brownie points with God in order to gain your salvation that is the only way that's how Paul applies it so we are able to serve each other in church because we are able to show Mercy because we' have been shown Mercy if you bite and devour each other and say bad things against each other and close your heart to the poor we show no mercy it tells us that the gospel isn't really operating inside our hearts we look at the Bible and your Bible is imperfect it gives you a funny
00:46:19 picture of yourself the real look at the pure law will tell you we are hopelessly sinful but we are saved by la Jesus Christ and we receive mercy and so therefore we actually show Mercy we have the freedom to show Mercy to others lastly our challenge is action matters words don't it's very clear isn't it what good is it my brothers if someone has Faith does not have Works can that Faith save him if a brother is poorly uh clothed and lacks daily clothing and one of you says to him go in in peace and be warm and be filled
00:46:59 without giving them the things that they needed for the body what good is that so Faith by itself does if it does not have works is actually dead you can talk all you like after this sermon you can you know go home say oh you know we had a great illustration blah blah blah I'm an eagle flying high but if you don't put into practice it is absolutely useless and the way you put in practice is to understand understand that your practice is responding knowing who you are enables you to believe to do
00:47:34 and Obey you know I was watching the YouTube about the war in Ukraine and I was it was a testimony by a British volunteer called Sali he was actually a soldier before and they ask you you know of all people you're sitting in the middle of London do having a great life why are you slumming it in is Ukraine and you know facing Danger every day he said I'm a trained soldier and I see the pain and suffering which they have gone through in Ukraine to me duty is not optional it's what I do because I've been trained and we are
00:48:13 a people of God just like that isn't it that our duty to the poor is not optional Jonathan Edward said it's it's not just a small duty but a great Duty Even Heaven and Hell lie in the balance on how we respond to the poor and that's very sobering words how we respond to a poor is a reflection of what he has done in our lives and what we perceive and believe and grasp in our lives it's a learning process Isaiah says learn to do good seek Justice correct oppression bring Justice to the fatherless plead the Widow's go it
00:48:53 doesn't happen overnight it may just happen with you befriending one the girls at first light maybe taking one of them or with a group of you out for a bit of a meal only one meal and after that when you actually peer into their faces listen to where they've come from and the pain they've gone through and you reflect on your own situation then you learn hey this is good this is what God's love is like then you do it again and again maybe you can offer tuition for The Zo people Pastor Kai is just doing that
00:49:33 alone maybe you could help out maybe one hour or a session or something learn it's a learning process you don't do it overnight let me end with a testimony from the early church verse 42 of chapter 2 act two they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship and the breaking of bread and prayers you know what the result of that is an all came upon every soul and many signs and wonders were done through the apostles you notice the sentence construction if you were in a charismatic church you would
00:50:17 put wonders and signs come first look at the sentence construction it says they were devoting themselves to Apostle teaching fellowship breaking a bread and and prayers and all came first then only you got signs and wonders and then only those who belied together and had all things in common they were selling their possessions and belongings Distributing the proceeds to all as any had need the only place where you are going to be so motivated to be able to give what you have for someone else is in
00:50:55 verse 43 when all all came upon every soul it comes from inside when you hear the word of God being preached and taught in life groups in discipleship groups when you have Fellowship together and you break bread together and you pray is what we have done today all will fill your soul and then you give if you hear this sermon and guilt fills your soul go home watch TV Netflix don't come you love other people because what Christ loves you we are so intoxicated by God the a Makes You release what is
00:51:36 in your hand that's authentic love and authentic Christianity because loving your neighbor is an impossible task nobody can do it the only people who can do it are those who are Spirit-filled you can speak in tongues all you like but if you don't touch the poor then I really doubt your spirit filled spirit filled people have open hands because there are people who have received Mercy Mercy triumphs over judgment so may the Lord so fill your heart today because you heard God's word God's unadulterated
00:52:20 word that it may fill your heart with awe and that you may Express not be a listener of the word but a doer for his glory sake let's pray father Lord we we are struck by Your Word because your word is very very very heavy it paints for us an impossible scene a a a dimension Beyond which we can actually imagine and we know we cannot love because we are by nature sinful people we are selfish people we are self-centered people we want rather we want than we want to give and father Lord we pray for every
00:53:08 single person here today that the Gospel of Jesus Christ the blood that you shed on the cross becomes real to us and as we leave this Hall awe and wonder will fill our hearts and then we will open up our hearts to one another we'll open up our hearts to our neighbor we open up our minds and when we see our neighbors they're not people of A different race they are people whom you love and they people who are our neighbors we ask this for Jesus sake amen thank you Dr Peter for the sharing uh let us all arise respond to our god
00:53:52 with this song at the cross [Music] there's a place where Mercy Reigns and Never [Music] Dies there's some where streams of rise deep and wide hold the all the love I ever found comes like the come slow me down at a cross at the cross at the cross I Surrender my life I'm in all of you I'm in all of you where your love R and my sin wash white I hold all to you I hold all to you Jesus this pleas [Music] there's a place where s and shame [Music] powerless where my heart has peace with God and forgivness
00:55:58 we all the love I ever found comes like a blood comes flowing down at the cross at the cross I Surrender my life I'm in all of you I'm in all of you where your love r r and my S was white I know all to you I know all to you here my hope is sp here on Holy Ground here I I bow down here I bow down here I'm open wide here you Sav my life here I B down here I bow down here my hope is found here on Holy Ground here I B bow down here I bow down here I'm open wide here you save my life here I bow down here I bow at the cross at the
00:57:47 cross I Surrender my life I'm in all of you I'm in all of you where your love R Great and my S was white I ow all to you I ow all to you at the cross at the cross I Surrender my life I'm in all of you I need all of you where your love R Great and my S wash white I know all to you I know all to you I know to you I know all to you Jesus [Music] please be [Music] seated let me share a short story yesterday in the afternoon uh Timothy La one of our boys brigaders contacted me and say an know uh me and my mom we met
00:59:13 a foreigner at a hypermarket he had been cheated he had no money he had no papers hey you don't disturb me on a Saturday you know my Saturday very important one you know now he sent me the detail his number being a lazy Elder I forwarded it all to the heaven Ministry I'm going to repent today after while Karen says who's this person I told them being a lazy Elder on my Saturday afternoon I say can you go and callau this guy and Karen blessed her soul he doesn't know this person caught him complete stranger you know my mind was
00:59:53 saying this you know this Foreigner are probably trying to cheat us like go to the EMB then Karen contacts Lazarus hey can we go and visit him and L say yes I was in awe this is Christianity and I had to repent you know Peter said something you know Christians tend to give out a guilt but when you sit at the foot of the cross and the spirit moves you you're in awe of what he has done to us and then hands open up and we don't care whether it's a prostitute inet or a refugee or your neighbor you don't
01:00:47 know you don't ask a million and one questions you go because that's what he did for us let us close in prayer Lord this morning you spoke to us and we need to repent we very often I like a thermometer we represent the weather out there we build ambulances we don't want to be like the tunnel remember Luther's word Martin Luther King's word it is left from Birmingham and let us be like that early church out here in subang many people suffer and we can respond out of guilt that's not what you want let us sit at the feet of the
01:01:54 Cross let us remember the Savior who died for us for our sins may his soul take us to all and the sign and wonder that follows is a heart of compassion for the poor not one by guilt but one by the power of the Holy Spirit and let us take baby steps to this and so we live this morning service with only one question Oh Lord who is our neighbor strike us in our hearts oh Lord depart us as we look in the mirror and let us not forget what we see and God's people say amen God bless you guys have a great bck ahead
