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Air conditioning and Jesus.

Air conditioning and Jesus.

NOVEMBER 18, 2020

/ Programs / Key Life / Air conditioning and Jesus.

Steve Brown:
Air conditioning and Jesus. Let’s talk about it on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
Key Life is a radio program for struggling believers, sick of phony religion and pious cliches. Our host and teacher is seminary professor Steve Brown. He teaches that radical freedom leads to infectious joy and surprising faithfulness.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. We’re looking at Paul’s exposition of the law of God in opposition to faith in Christ and imputed righteousness and total forgiveness. And we’ve seen a number of things, we’ve seen that the law is a curse, but it’s also a blessing. That the curse of the law restrains us, it reveals who we really are, it defines and then it points, Galatians 3:22.

But the Scripture consigned all things to sin, that what was promised to faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

Not too long ago, something happened to my air conditioning. Now, you say big deal. If you lived in Florida, you would know that’s as important as food. And I gave it to my mechanic and he kept my car for three days and I was going through the roof. And I really would have preferred that he not know that I was a Christian, because I can’t yell at him really loud, without hurting my witness. And so I’m nice when I do it, but I told him, look, how’s it going? He said, this is a problem I’ve never encountered before. And I can’t, I said, look, either fix it or tell me somebody who can fix it. And you know what he said? He said, you know, I got the right guy for you. He knows more about air conditioning than God. And I’m going to give you his number. You call him and he’ll fix it. And he did. Now, that’s what the law does. The law sends us to the one who can fix it. Who’s going to forgive me? Who’s going to love me when I’m unlovable? Who is going to understand who is going to be compassionate and kind? Who is the one who makes the difference? That would be Jesus. The law does what that mechanic did for me. The law says, I know somebody who can help. I know, in fact, just so you know, and I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this, that’s the one purpose of the law for the believer. You can’t be saved by it, because you’re not good enough. The one purpose of the law is to send you to Jesus. And once it’s done that, and you are standing before the throne of grace, the law did what it was supposed to do in your life. We’ve all tried to climb Mount Sinai, haven’t we? We tried to be good, to be pure, to be close to God. We know that was why we were created, and we were. And we want it desperately. When we get to the top of Mount Sinai, there is Moses sitting on the top of the tablets of stone and he says, what is your problem? And we say, in my climb up this mountain, I’ve discovered some horrible things about myself. I have realized my need. I have a desperate hunger that nothing can satisfy and Moses says, I’ve done all I can do. Let me give you a name and a phone number. Let me tell you about somebody else. Let me tell you about Jesus and another mountain. And that mountain is Calvary. Do you know what led me to Christ? Let me tell you, the law led me to Christ. It was only because of the law. And what it had done in my heart that I ever came to know Jesus and listen carefully, dear friend. The reason the Gospel is so often nothing but a power puff covering for the sickness of our time, the law has never presented the bad news without also pointing to the good news. And that’s important. Let me give you an amazing statement by Jesus, it’s in John 5:46-47.

If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe in my words?

Oh my, that’s what he’s talking about. That’s what Paul is talking about. I got a number of the man. I’ve got the place for you to go. I’ve got, I’ve got an answer for you, where the law has created the question. I have an answer for you. Somebody tells about a farmer who worked his son’s really hard. And his neighbors said you don’t want to have to work them that hard to raise crops. And the farmer said, listen, I’m not raising crops, I’m raising sons. It’s hard sometimes, isn’t it? When you try to be good and you can’t, when you’ve said things that are embarrassing and wish you hadn’t said them. When you’ve tried really, really hard and failed. When you feel marginalized when you’ve done everything you can do, and it’s not enough. When you feel that there’s gotta be a limit to God’s mercy, he’s forgiven you so many times, and that you’re finally reaching the end where he says, that’s it, I’ve had enough of you. That’s it. Have you ever felt that way? If you ever have winced, when that thought came to your mind. The law says, I’ve got a number for you to call it’s the number for Jesus. And he really can fix it. And so we’re under a curse. It’s the curse of the law, but it’s a beloved curse, because it’s the biggest blessing we’ve ever received. You think about that. Amen.

Well, it’s Wednesday. And sometimes if I have some extra time on a Wednesday, I spend a little bit of time answering one or two of the questions that you ask, and we get so many from you guys. And Pete comes in as you know, on Fridays and we devote the entire broadcast to your questions and we love your questions, and you. You can ask your question at anytime you want, you can call 1-800-KEY-LIFE. They’ll tell you which button to hit, and then you record your question, and sometimes we put your voice on the air. Or you can send your question to

Key Life Network
P.O. Box 5000
Maitland, Florida 32794

If you’re in Canada, it’s

Key Life Canada
P.O. Box 28060
Waterloo, Ontario N2L 6J8

Or you can email your question to [email protected]. And as I’ve said, we take you and your questions seriously, the only dumb ones, the one you don’t ask. And by the way, if you can help us financially, those are touch points where you can do that. And I would be so appreciative. This is a very expensive ministry and we pay the bills because some people are so generous and some people can’t, or don’t feel called to. And we understand that. But if you can help us, if you can’t do say a prayer for this ministry, and we’ll be as faithful with your gift as you were in giving it. Alright, let’s turn to one or two of these questions, since we’re not too far from Halloween, and we got Easter a good ways in advance, this person says, “How can Christians have a real problem with Halloween, ghosts, witches and all that, but never question where the name Easter came from? So, we looked up and it’s pretty scary. Easter is a pagan, is named after a pagan god, to whom child sacrifice was given, or some say it was a fertility god, where they did bad things on the alter of the god. And how can Christians, you know, the answer is simple because we won, that’s why. And every time, and I, listen, I’m not putting down. If you didn’t allow your kids to do a Halloween, or you had a thing at the church that was different, or COVID kept you from doing it, whatever, I’m not putting that down. But I want you to know, every time we do Halloween stuff, we’re saying to the world, Jesus won. We’re making fun and having a holiday to celebrate the fact that Jesus won. And when we celebrate Easter and call it Easter. We’re saying, it’s not about a pagan god, he’s dead. And we killed him off. It’s about Jesus. And so that’s why, I don’t know if you buy it, but that’s enough for me. Alright, this is another email question. “When do we receive the Holy Spirit?”. Well, that question comes from a problem that some Christians have, some Christians who are charismatic brothers and sisters say that there’s a work of grace where you’re baptized in the Holy Spirit and other Christians, who are not charismatic or Pentecostal say no, no, no, you’re baptized in the Holy Spirit, when you become a Christian. And I want you to know, I stand with my friends. They’re both right. When do you receive the Holy Spirit? The day you came to Christ, you receive the Holy Spirit. When do you receive the Holy Spirit, just then, yesterday and tomorrow. Because this is the comforter that was promised. And whether you go or the second working of grace or not, that’s okay by me. As long as there’s a third and a fourth and a fifth and a lifelong process of walking by the spirit of God. What is, this is an email too, and I have a quick answer. “What is your definition of religion?”. Religion is what we do to please God. Christianity is what God does for us. Christianity is a religion in one sense, but in a better sense, it’s the proclamation that Jesus did it all. I got to go. Key Life is a listener supported production of Key Life Network.

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