DON'T OBEY GOD WITHOUT GOD

Exodus19
James A. Borchert

In the third month, when the children ofIsrael were gone

forth out of the land ofEgypt, the same day came they into the
wilderness ofSinai ... and were come to the desert ofSinai, and had
pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the
mount. And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called unto him
out of the mountain, saying, "Thus shall you say to the house of
Jacob, and tell the children ofIsrael; You have seen what I have
done unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and
brought you unto Myself" Exodus 19 : 1-4

"You have seen how I brought you out of Satan's world and
how I have bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to Myself."
That's what God is saying to all of us: "You have seen how I have
brought you out of this world. You've seen how the world said,
'You'll never get out; you'll always be working for us, laboring
and sweating for us. You'll never get free and be happy, you'll
never have a party, you'll never have any fun, you're just going to
work. That's the way it is and there is nothing you can do about
it."' And God said, "You've seen how I thwarted the enemy's
plans.H

Today, if you single-handedly set yourself to change this

world you would find out how strong Egypt is, and yet God has
brought every one of us out of Egypt. Heb 2: 14"1s;cot. t:IJ Every one of
us has a testimony that once we were bound, once we were slaves
making bricks. Once we never had a holiday, we were working all
the time, running all the time, restless all the time, and we never
knew why we were doing what we were doing. And now we have
11 63 9
met the Lord and He's brought us out on eagles' wings. '· : And

God is reminding the children of Israel as He reminds us • because

out of Egypt have I called my Son - all of us have been called out
of Egypt. And God is saying, You have seen what I have done to
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the Egyptians. But God has not yet displayed His right arm. before
this world. He has done so in each of our lives, but He has yet a
greater work that has not yet been seen. Ephesians 3:9-tO; 4:12-13; Rom. 8:17-19

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 v.5 Now ifyou will obey (conditional) My voice and keep My
covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all
p~ople: for all the earth is Mine.

So He said, "I have everything, it's all mine. No one can

thwart me. But I'm looking for a people. I want someone for
Myself." Deut.I 4:2 That's why God has called you. He says, "I want
you for myself, I'm looking for a treasure all my own.Ps. 135 :4I've
created everything. I've got it all, but I don'tjust want to own it, I
want you to respond to Me. I'm looking for people that will
praise Me, not just be religious." Deut.9:6; 30:6; Isa.43:2I; 1Pet.2:9 The
Egyptians are religious, everybody is religious. He's not looking
for religion. Rom. 2:28"29 ; 9:31 -33 ; Heb.4: 10"13 But He wants those that will
really enter into a covenant, the one that He established, not with
Moses, but with Abraham, Romans 4:2-5 that eternal covenant which
is one-sided (unilateral); not what you will do-- not the
COndition .... but the "uncondition." Rom. 4:13-16; Galatians 3:17-18;
2 19
Tim. : The one-sided (unilateral) covenant which says, I will.
Gen. 12:1·3: Heb. 8:6• 13 ; 10 5- 10 That's the covenant He wants us to believe.
=

And if we believe that, then we will dq that. Ph'p 1:6 If you believe
that He will do what He said, then you will be able to do what

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He is asking you to do. John 15 :4; Ph'p 2:13 ; Eph. 2:10 So He's looking for a
peculiar people, and that's us. Titus 2:14 ; lPet. 2 :9

For all the earth is Mine. That's a very comforting statement.

Every nation on earth belongs to Jesus. There is no place on earth
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that is a closed door to Him. Ps. : There's no place He can't get in,
there's no one that can shut Him out. There is no one that is so
sophisticated, so strong, so retarded, so anything ... that God
cannot gain glory for Himself in that place. In fact, that's what
God wants to do in these last days to prove to the world, not to us,
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that He is indeed the God of all the earth. Ps. : And this is not
something that He has yet done. Everyone knows about Christians;
they know of the name. They've seen something ofHis power, but
they really haven't seen the Lord. And that's God's greatest desire
is to glorify Himself in us to all the earth. Isa. 61 :11 ; Eph. 3:9•11 Here it
is, this is the vision:

v. 6 And you shall be unto Me a kingdom ofpriests, and an

holy nation.
I'm a priest, you're a priest, we're all priests: a kingdom of
priests. Not Moses the priest or Aaron the high priest, God never
wanted that idea. He wanted a kingdom, a people, all the

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Covenant people to be a priesthood. Isa. 61 :6; 1 Peter 2:9 What is a priest?
A priest is someone who stands between God and man, and is able
to carry the concerns, the prayers, the burdens of the people to God.
He is able to express their gifts and to carry all that they have as an
intermediary to God. But a priest has another job. Not only does
he represent men to God, but he also represents God to men. So,
whatever the covenant is from God, whatever the gift is, whatever
the display is, whatever the glory is, whatever the manifestation is,
whatever the word is, whatever the promise is, whatever the
command is, the priest is to declare it, to bring it forth to the people.
Those are his two jobs. So a priest has two jobs. He stands in the
middle, he's an intermediary. God says, "I don't want any one
man to do that. I don't want a pope, I don't want a pastor, I don't
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want anyone to be called 'priest.' I want you all to be priests. Peter

259
: • I want you to priest one another~ I want you all to know that
you can speak for yourself. But I also want yqu to know you can
take your brother with you. If he has a concern, carry it to Me."

But you don't need to go to a pastor and say, "I know you're
a man of God, help me." Pastors can, in fact, help you. But the
way they help you is to help you get before God. They don't do it
for you, this is extremely important.

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 One of the problems of the Charismatic Movement was that
many times you had to send in your money to buy a prayer cloth
that somebody else had anointed so that you could get healed.
Now, that's not altogether wrong; but it's not altogether right. In
fact, there is a place for that. In fact, a man of God, for example,
might have some handkerchiefs cut up that he could send to you
and you could get healed by it. Praise God. But if one were led to
feel or think or understand that the man of God's prayers and his
handkerchiefs are magic that have something before God that you
couldn't get on your own, you totally misunderstood. Only God
knows the purpose of those handkerchiefs. I would never say it
wasn't of God. I'm only telling you that I know what is not of God
is for one to depend upon another as though one could not oneself
come before God. And the problem is to turn that into a
commercial venture at the expense of the fact that anyone could
just call on Jesus themselves. You don't need a handk~rchief; you
don't need to have any man's shadow fall on you. The only
purpose of the handkerchief was to encourage you. It wasn't to
say that you couldn't get healed until the handkerchief comes or
the shadow falls. In the book of Acts this very problem came
about so that people thought they had to go to the holy man and

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 3 12 5 12 15
touch him. Acts : ; : - No, Jesus Christ is with you, we don't need
a handkerchief from a minister. I want you to understand that I'm
not denigrating a ministry using the handkerchief. What I'm doing
is leading you beyond and telling you that what a minister
should've done is say, "Look, this handkerchief is anointed"- I
don't care about whether the handkerchief was anointed; if God
told him it was anointed, then it was - but you cannot lead people,
that's not God's method and never was, not even in the New
Testament. Though, in fact, God used that particular way one time,
it's not His standard way. His standard way is to encourage you
now. Now that you've been healed, now you can get that miracle
yourself. But instead, we set up prayer towels, we set up special
deals, we make certain men of God greater than others. This is not
God's way.Matt.20 :25 -27 This is setting up a new pope, a new special
sacred place. I Cor.3:3-7; I Tim.6:Is

Look, Jesus Christ is everywhere for His people. You are as

great as I am, the only difference is that we all have a different
function, and that function is to be respected. But the purpose of
my function is not to be great, but is to be a servant to help you get
before God so that you can know the Lord for yourself. Luke I2 :42 ;
1 22 2 24
Cor. : ; Cor.I: Not so that I can hear the Lord for you. I'll say that
again: the purpose of the eldership is not that we hear God for you;

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it's that when we declare, "This is the word of God," you can say,
"A-men, I've heard that myself," or "A-men, that only agrees with
what the Holy Spirit told me." lPet.S:l-4; 2 cor.4:s Not that we're
hearing something and you say, "I'm never hearing anything." If
that's the case, then there's something wrong. It might be alright
for you to hear it the first few times, and you say, "Wow, that was
wonderful," and then you come around. That's discipleship. But
when you're done with discipleship, when you've matured, then
you can hear for yourself. That's the elders' task. You understand?
Pastors that are discipling others is proper. John 2 l:lS·l 7i Acts 20 :28 ·

Pastors who are becoming great pyramid-leaders, big-shots and so

on, this is wrong. 1sa.s 6:ll;Titus t:ll; 2 Pet. 2:3 Now you understand? It's
not altogether wrong. It's only wrong if you don't lead people
later to know God for themselves. Moses got the Ten
Commandments, but it wasn't just for Moses or it didn't exempt
Moses. He brought that Ten Commandments down the mount for
everybody, including himself. Moses has to obey this too, and so
does everybody else equally.

So the Law is not for the elite or the Law is not exempting the
elite. The Law makes us all equal before the Cross. It makes us
all equal before Sinai. It makes us all equal because God alone

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will be exalted. So, I want you to understand that God does do
handkerchiefs and God does do shadows and other peculiar things;
He gives various ministries to people. Some people have a healing
ministry, but every Christian can pray for the sick at any time.
And indeed, if somebody has a special ministry, praise the Lord.
Sit down a11d be quiet, give glory to God. I would never denigrate
that because, for example, those little booklets, The Four Spiritual
Laws, people have been saved from them. You cannot say that the
Holy Spirit hasn't used it or won't use it. All you can say is that it
is not His only method. It's not the standard method even, but if
that ever robs you from the focus of God's dwelling place so that
all the power of God is not with you, I want you to know that
you've misunderstood God. God has come down- He's as much
in you as every other brother or sister. That's ~hat's exciting about
the New Covenant. Heb.S: I I; 1 John 2:27 That's the glory of God.

But, the glory of God is not the backside of God (God as

seen through Moses), Ex. 33 :20-23 the glory of God is to see the face
of Jesus, and that we have all seen. 2 cor. 3:IS; 4:6; James I: 25 We have
49
beheld Him. Ifyou've seen Me, you've seen the Father. John I :

He's not talking about physically seeing because Judas saw Him

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physically and everybody saw Him physically. It's talking about a
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spiritual seeing or knowing. Eph.1: "

Let's go on. And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom ofpriests

and an holy nation. In other words, "I want you all to be a priest.
I want you to be a kingdom, so I want you to be kings, royal. And
I want you to be priests." So God has combined then in the people
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both kings and priests. Rev. : Why does He do that? Why not have
both kings and priests separately? Because every other nation in
the world had both kings and priests. Either they were the same
person, but usually they were different people. There was a king
and there was a priest ,and they cooperated. Throne and altar
worked together, it's the essence of the Roman Church and the
Babylonian Church. It was the essence ofNimrod's kingdom,
that's how he built it. Nimrod built an incredible kingdom where
there was a king and a priest and they worked together. But Jesus
came along and said, "No! I alone am King and I alone am High
Priest." Heb. 3:l; Rev. 19:16 Now you all can be kings and priests
because I am in you.Rev.s: 1o; Titus 2:14 And therefore I couldn't call
you "not kings," and "not priests," because I'm in you. But I am
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the High Priest and I stand alone and am unique. Heb.4:l - There is
no human. Once Jesus has come after the order of Melchizedek,

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it's finished.Heb.s: 1o; 6:20 So, all the other priesthoods were shadows
and types that led us to Him. But now we don't need shadows and
types any longer. The perfect has come. Heb. 8:1-13; 9:7-15; 10:1-23; coi.2:17-23

v. 6 And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom ofpriests and an holy

nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the
children ofIsrael.

Of course Moses did speak to them and they did not understand.
It's not necessary to understand. God speaks many words which
we do not understand. Nevertheless these are the true words, and
if a man had meditated on them he would've been made free·
Deut.l1:18; Ps.l:2; 119:11; John 8:32

And Moses came and calledfor the elders ofthepeople, and laid
before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded them.
And all the people answered together and said, 'All that the Lord
has spoken we will do. '

That's a very foolish statement that we all by human

nature feel that we should do. When God tells us something we
feel like the next response should be "yes." But in truth we
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cannot. Rom.?:I 3-24 In truth we must say, "We cannot." Isa. 64 :6; Rom. 3:l0-
19 The more proper response is "Lord, have mercy." Luke 18 :11 -14
The more proper response is "Lord, we cannot do it, You must
do it." Exodus 33 :14"16: Ps. 127 :1 That's the real covenant: "Unless You
do it.... " Unless the Lord does it ..• Unless the zeal of the Lord
of hosts does it, we cannot do what He has asked us to do. Isa. 37 :32:
John 15 :4•5: 2 Cor.l 2:9- 10 If you do what He's asked you to do, you're
only going to do it legalistically. Gal. 3:1-3; Col.2:8-23 You cannot do it
from the heart.Matt.l 5:7-9; Jer.l?: 9-lO; Php. 3:2-3 You cannot do it in the
way that He intended.oal.2:2o; Col.t: 26"27 You'll never bring forth what
He intended, which was Christ in you. And from this point up to
Jesus you had about 1~500 years of Israel flubby~dubbing along,
never once making it, even under king David. Neh. 9:34 It's
impossible to keep this covenant. It's impossible to do all that
the Lord has spoken; and the self..righteousness of that
statement is that we could obey the imperative of God. Then
we would have no need of the Gospel. We'd have no need of
Jesus. But, in fact, we need Jesus. Unless the indicative of the
Gospel is stronger than the imperative of the Law, we will
never be able to rejoice. Rom.?:4-6 But God has already done it for
us, praise God! Rom. 6:4- 14 He's already accomplished this. We can

12'
do this because it's already been done for us in Jesus. Rom.s:t-4;
Eph.2:10; Ph'p 2:12-13; 4:13

And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord. And
the Lord said to Moses, Lo, I come to thee in a thick cloud ....

Now you might say, "Pastor, if God said it, didn't He mean it?"
Read Romans. Romans said that the purpose of the law was to
reveal sin.Rom.3 :19"20; s: 2o; 7: 8-9•13 It was not to get people to say "We
will do it." You see, that's very hard for us, but unless you get
over that, you are not rightly dividing the word of God. 2 Tim.2 :15
Romans tells us how to understand the law. The law was never
given that men would say, "yes." It was given so that men
would say, "Help!" Rom. 7:22"24 It was the most atrocious words out
of their mouth, yet it was fully understandable. But if you read the
story you will see that they never did fulfill it. Though they said,
"All the words of the Lord we will do," in other words, "what
we've heard we're ready to do it." But they never did. Daniel 9:13
And we've all said that. Every one of us when we met the Lord,
the first thing out of our mouths was, "Okay, I'm going to live for
Jesus!" But did you do it? You began, but youcouldn't finish.
And all who come by mock at you because you don't have the

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wherewithal to finish. Luke 14:28"30 You cannot live perfectly, and
God's law is nothing but, "Be perfect, be exactly like Jesus,"
because Jesus is the law.oeut.ls:s; IPeter l:ts- 16 Jesus is the end of the
law. Rom.10:4; Eph.2:15; Heb.8:13 He is what the law is all about. Matt.5:I7; John
4 34 10 20
: Heb. : That means to know the Lord intimately, not some

words "Do not do this," or "Do not dothat." John 1:16"17; 4:14; 17:3 And
then we say, "Oh, I didn't do that; I didn't kill anyone today." No,
no, no, you misunderstood. The purpose of the law then is to
cause us humility, not ability that we could do it-you see-
because then we wouldn't need Jesus. Rom. 3:10·19"20 Only.God is
good. Mark 10:18 I am able only in Him. Isa.40: 29 2 Cor.3:4-5 I am able
through Hi~. John 15 :4-5 I can do all things in Him. Ph'p 4:13 The
Lord is in me to will and to do. Ph'p 2:13 ; Eph. 3:16 The zeal of the Lord
ofhosts will do it. Isa. 9:7 You see that? That's how to rightly divide
the word. You must go to the New Testament in order to fully
understand the Old Testament. John 5:3940; 2 Tim.3: 14"17 You cannot
know from reading the Scripture what I just told you because it
seems like they did exactly the right thing. But you start reading
and you realize there are about fifteen hundred more years of
history and they weren't able to do it. It's telling us something
over and over and over again.Ps. 78 :10"11 In fact, God finally ends up
saying to this peculiar people, "I reject you as a people." Matthew 21

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Jesus said, "You are like a tree that is neutered. I came to find fruit
and what have I found? Nothing." And so He curses Israel. He
2 9 20
curses the fig tree and says, "I reject you as a nation. Matt. I:I -

I'm going to raise up a new nation," and that new nation is built
out of the stump of Jessie. It's built out of what's left over: Jesus.
Jesus is then the root and stump of Jessie. Isa.Il:t Everything else
has been cut down. John the Baptist said, Even now God has laid
3
an axe to the root of this tree, right down to the very base. Matt. :to

It's only good to be thrown into the fire and burned. Jesus is what
was left because God said "I will reject but not utterly." So there
was hope. Where was that hope? It all laid in Jesus. So when
we're in Jesus we are now able to fulfill the law because it's
Jesus Himself who does it.oal. 2:19-20; Eph.2:to And we are so one
with Him that you don't have to ask the question, "Is it me or is it
Him?" Give all the glory to God. It seems like it's you, but you
know it's Him. John 14:20; 17:23

And behold, the Lord said unto Moses, I come unto you in a thick
cloud.

Now God is showing something here by this thick cloud -

again this is a type -why doesn't He come in a thin cloud, or why

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doesn't He come in all His glory? It's because we are dealing with
the Law. We are going to see the backside ofGod.Ex.33 :20-23 We are
on Mt. Sinai, we're not on Mt. Calvary here. We're on Mt. Sinai
and there is thunder and thick plouds and God is hiding Himself.
1 26
Coi. : Why? Because, if He comes out in all His holiness, He'll
have to destroy everyone.Ex.33 :20 That's why He comes in the form
1 18 2 6
of Jesus so that He's hidden in Jesus. John : Cor.4: But He cannot
come forth in Moses, He cannot show his face to Moses. 1 Tim. 6:16
Moses even asked Him, "Lord, before we go on this journey you
need to go with me. What else makes us a peculiar people except
that You go with us? Ex. 33 :15- 16 Unless the presence of the Lord goes
up with us ... " So he says, "I'd like to see Your face. Just do me
this favor, sliow me Your face." Ex. 33 :18 And God says "No, I
cannot. Moses, you represent the law. A greater Prophet I will
raise up later. Listen to Him!" Deut. 18:15 Moses is not the last
prophet. Jesus said of Moses, "He wrote of Me. If you'd believed
Moses, you'd believe Me, because he wrote of Me." John 5:46 He
said that "the entire Bible bears witness of Me." John 5:39 That means
that everything in the Old Testament, if you don't understand
4 27 44
it in Jesus, then you don't understand it. Lukez : • That's why
we must read Jesus into this. It's not eisegesis, we're not reading
into it our own ideas. It's true exegesis. It's truly reading out of

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this passage that Jesus is here because Jesus said in John 5, Moses
5 46
wrote ofMe. John : And He said also, All Scripture bears witness
ofMe ... all, every verse, totally. 5 39 24 44
John : : Luke : So therefore, we
know that we've got to find Jesus here in these Scriptures and not
human pride (self-works). 1 cor.1: 30-31 Rom.3: 27

Lo, I come to thee in a thick cloud that the people may hear
when I speak with thee, and believe thee forever. And Moses told
the words of the people to the Lord.. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Go unto the people, sanctify them today and tomorrow, let them
wash their clothes.
Now if they get sanctified, which they will, and they wash
their clothes and they're ready against the third day, then surely
they'll be greater than any people that's ever been on the face of
the earth, right? Right. But will they actually be able to be
sanctified? What does it mean to be sanctified? The Hebrew word
for sanctification means to be set apart or separated unto God.
And truly in that sense they were separated unto God. But if they
had pride, then in their very setting themselves apart they set
themselves back. If they were humble and said "But it's all up
to You," then indeed they were sanctified in their
sanctification.2 cor.3: 5; 12:9- 10; 1Peter 5:6 Because it's not the
sanctification of the clothes or the outward or the not eating of

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meat or the washing of the cup, but it's the sanctification of the
heart. It's not the circumcision of the skin but the circumcision of
the heart, again, as the New Testament makes clear. Deut.IO:I 6; 30:6;
Rom. 2 :28-29; Col. 2 :11 -12 So Moses told the people to sanctify themselves.
What was he telling them? He didn't tell them to sanctify their
hearts. He could've, but it wouldn't have had any meaning, so he
said, "wash your clothes, clean your cups and put away sleeping
together for right now, and fast" ... so on and so forth. And they
did all these things, so· they were ready. But this is to show us -
and I want you to understand that this is to show us because it's the
same thing in your life - that no matter how hard you try to
serve the Lord, you fail.Rom. 7 :13 -24 ; Gai.S:l 7 Hello! And the beauty of
your life is that, praise God, Jesus forgives me. Eph.l: 7; 1John 1:9 And,
praise God, He not only forgives me but lives in me, Eph.J:20
therefore I am still able to follow Him; 1 John s:J-4 even though if I
did it myself and took my eyes off of Him for a moment I would
fail,Jas.I: 23 -25 which He would forgive, but I also can succeed- but,
if I look at myself, I immediately become proud again or
despairing. So you cannot take your eyes off the Lord even to .
measure that you're following the Lord. 2 cor.J:Is Are you following
me? It's such a subtle thing! That's how subtle the heart is. You
know when you're like a child and you're not sweatin' it, you're
18.
just falling in love with Jesus and ·worshiping and going forth
obeying Him; you're not worried about keeping the law, you know
what? You keep the law then. Gal.S:l 6Rom.S: 4-5 But the minute you
start looking and measuring: "I did better than I did last week" -
Ahh! You've lost it.Ja.1:23"25 ; Col.3:1-3; 2Cor.s: 7 That's where you have
to encourage one another. Haven't you noticed where you had
days where you feel more spiritual than others? And then the
temptation is to get proud. But remember it's by faith, people; that
even when I'm not feeling so spiritual it doesn't mean I'm not, and
even when I'm feeling very spiritual it doesn't mean I am. Feeling
does not tell me anything, it's Jesus. It's the Blood.Heb.9:14 You
must keep your eyes on Jesus. 2cor.4:ts; Heb.t 2:2 You see, He's trying
to get one lesson across to us: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Ph'p 1:6; 2:13 ;
Eph.2:9- 10 All glory to God. All glory to God. All glory to God.
He's not trying to say "keep the law, keep the law, keep the
law." Rom.7:6;lt:6; oat.4:1-9;Eph.2:14·15 You cannot! He's trying to say,
"I tell you I am holy and to keep the law so you'll fail, so you'll
turn to Jesus,Rom.s: 2o; 7:23 "25 ; s:t-6 so then you'll be forgiven; so then
when you're looking at the forgiveness you'll start doing it without
even knowing it and you won't start measuring yourself. Because
if you start measuring yourself you'll fall again under My holiness
which will be under My law, and then you'll need to be forgiven

19
again. Which again, I will forgive you and then again you will
rejoice, and you'll start to obey Me again; but then again, if you
look, you'll have to fail, and so on. Why? All the glory goes to
God.oal.6 13•14; ICor.I: 29"31 Do~ not help God without God. Don't
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obey God without God! Only God can obey God! oat.2:19-20 Only
God lives in you. cot.I: 27 He doesn't tell you to do something
outside of Himself. John 15 :4-5; Ph'p 2 :13 That's Israel. Israel was out
there and God was upstairs. God is on top of the mountain; Moses
walks up the mountain and meets God. God is over here, and
Moses is over there (separate from each other), and then He writes
on a stone. That's an external God. We don't have such a God.
John 1:14-17; 14:16-20,26 We. look into the very face of God.2 Cor.3:IS; 4:6
Moses saw the backside of God because he was over there and
God was over here, and God put His hand there and put him in the
cleft of the rock; and the Rock is Jesus. And He says, If you've
seen Me, you've seen the Father. Ex. 33 :20"23 ;John 14:9 We don't have
to look at the backside of God as Israel did. We can look right into
the very face ofGod. 2 cor.J:ts; 4 :6 Israel's rejection, the fact that she
said "I'll do it," and then failed, is our acceptance. Do you realize
that except Israel was rejected by.God we would not have been
accepted and grafted in? God used her very rejection to bring in
the Gospel.Rom.II:It He told Israel to be a light to the nations, but

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she wasn't, she kept the light for herself, which was darkness. Her
light was darkness. So she had the holy God, but, like the Dead
Sea, she kept it all; she.never let any of it out. She said, "You are
the Goyim. You are the unclean; you are non-kosher; you don't eat
kosher pickles. You're unclean, we're clean!" But God says "No,
10 18
no! Nobody's clean but God. Mark : I make clean and unclean.
I declare who is clean and unclean." John 13 :8; 15 :3; 17:17 Who? He who
believes. All you have to do is believe. Isn't this the joy of our
lives, that we're no longer under the bondage, the guilt, the
treadmill, the slavery, the brickmaking of Egypt? Rom.s:ts; Gal.4:S· 7

We've come out of Egypt. Nowthe minute they got out of Egypt
they proved that Egypt was still in them. They were still
Egyptians, because the minute God said, "Obey," they said,
"We will do it." They fell into the same foolishness that man
can do something, Rom.t0: 3-s; oat.s:t-6 that man can make a pyramid
or build a mountain or accomplish something. You can do nothing.
15 4 5
Apart from Me you can do nothing, John : - and this is what God
wants to bring across. What joy there is to be stripped of your
righteousness! Ph'p 3 :?-IO; Rev. 3: 17"18 This is our joy, people! That's
why we don't have to judge one another. That's why we don't
have to criticize, praise, lift up and magnify one another - keep our
eyes off ourselves. Only Jesus. We're here by the grace of God.

21
You're not here because you finally saw the light.. You're here
because of the grace ofGod. The grace of God is the only reason
we're here. It's God's grace that does everything. Grace!
Grace! Grace! John I:I 6;Rom.S:I 7; Eph.z:s-Io Now why? Because it
brings glory to God. There is nothing else in our mouths besides
glory to God. Glory to God. Glory to God. This is what God is
trying to show us. This trip, this trek, this mountain, this time with
God is an endless trip. E~h.Z: 7 ; 3:21 It's never finished, and if God
hadn't brought them into the land they never would've made
it.Ex. 33 :14 They'd still be walking around those mountains and
wandering in the desert. But thank you Jesus He brought us out of
all of that. He brought us not only out of Egypt but out of
religion, because religion is even more devastating than
Egypt.Rom. 7:4; Coi.Z:I 4-23 It's one thing to live in bondage to this
world, it's another thing to live in bondage to self-
righteousness.Matt.23:28 The greater sin? Hypocrisy.Luket 6:ts The
greatest sin in the Bible is not murder, it's not adultery, it's not
the Ten Commandments; the greatest sin is the effrontery to
stand before God and say "I am holy, I've done what You said.
I've obeyed. I'm clean. I am perfect." Luke 18 :9- 14 This is the
highest effrontery to God. Hypocrisy is named ten times more
than any other sin in the New Testament. Hypocrisy is the greatest

22
thing that came out of Jesus's mouth constantly: "You scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites .... '' Matt. 23 :23 "28 This is the greatest sin, not
murder, not theft, not robbers or adulterers, not any sins against the
Ten Commandments. It wasn't the Law that was the problem.
The problem was that people thought that they could keep the
Law. Rom.Io:J; Isa. 64:6 It wasn't the law· breakers that was the problem.
He said, "They go into the kingdom of God before you ... harlots
and tax collectors who are Goyim, outsiders, bad people, lepers ...
they go into the kingdom before the religious do because the
religious imagine in their lukewarmness that they have pleased
God.Matt. 21 :28-32 You cannot please God! He demands perfection!
GaL 3 10- 11 ; Ja. 2:IO-Il You have to be hot or cold, you cannot be
=

lukewarm·Rev. 3:Is-20 You cannot serve God and mammon; you serve
one or the other. And if you serve God it must be with absolute
perfection. Ja.2:Io Only Jesus can do that! Rom.s:I 9 Eph. 2:10 That's the
good news, that's the gospel. That's why we can make it. Ph'p 2:12•
13 4 13
; : That's why we aren't hard on ourselves or hard on others.
That's why we're not proud. Even when we're proud we're not
proud of being proud. We're not humble while we're being
humble. Because it's all a gift of God, people. 2 Cor.3:4•5; Ph'p 1:6;
1 Thess.s:24 I can't make myself humble, I just can't. The more
humble I try to make myself, the more proud I am that I made
23
myself humble. I can't do it. The more I try not to be angry, the
more angry I get that I'm angry. The more I try not to be afraid,
the more afraid I am that I'm afraid, and so on. You cannot break
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sin! Rom.?:D- But_Jesus has done it. Rom.s: 1-4 Don't try to do it,
15 3 5
it's been done. John : - Now relax in that, and as you do that,
and you're worshiping the Lord you 'II find that you do the
deeds of the Lord. You find they come without noticing it.
2 3 17 18
Cor. : • And then we give testimony, "Well praise the Lord!
Here's where I was ... but Jesus! Here's what I did ... but God!"
That's our testimony. It isn't how sensitive we are to God; it's
how great God is. It isn't how we've been improving; it's how
good God is. John 6 :28"29 Titus 3 :5-6 You see, to God be all the glory!
1 27 31
cor.I: " You'll never steal one ounce of glory from God.
11 36
Rom. = You cannot, God will not be mocked. You can't get it.
1
cor.4:? We would love to, we have to admit that. We would love to
steal some glory from God. But that's part of the joy is that He
knows that. He remembers our frame that we are but dust. And
He's already made provision for that, thank God, not only to
forgive me but actually to use me, which is amazing grace! Not
only does He expose. me, but He forgives me. And not only
does He forgive me, but He uses me. I cannot imagine such a
God! This is indeed a great and holy God. This is a God unlike

24
any other god. This is not just like Buddha or other religions today.
They say, "you have your religion" - this is America today.
America today wants to have many gods, many religions. No!
You cannot put Je~us on even the head of the team: "One of the
best religions we've ever had is Christianity." No, no! It's not one
of the best religions we've ever had. "Many wonderful things have
come to us through civilization." No, we are all or nothing. "You
guys are crazy. Why don't you just take your place even at the
head of the class. Alright, we'll give you the head of the class."
This is what Caesar has always been willing to do. If they can't
make you at the end of the class or the middle of the class, they'll
give you the head of the class if you'll only be one of the class.
But God says, "No; There is salvation in no one else. Acts 4:12 I
don't want to share with the homosexual. I don't want to share
with the Buddhist. I don't want to share with the Islamic. I don't
want to share with the Jew. I don't want to share with anyone."
Why? Because they're not telling the truth. This is as high as
Judaism comes: Man at his best state is altogether vanity. Ps. 39 :5
64 6
Even his righteousness is as .filthy rags. Isa. : What Jew has any
good news? None! Zero!

25
Don't take the time to measure yourself, how good or bad you're
doing. 2cor. 1o:s; Col.3:1-2 That puts you back under the Law. Gal. 3:1-3
You don't have time to do that. How can you do what God wants
you to do if you're always bogging down, thinking about how
great you are or how poor you are. You don't have the time to
think about that. He's already told us the truth and the truth shall
set you free. Johns: 32 You can ... you will. Apart from Me you can
do nothing; but in Me and through Me you can do all things. John
ts:s; Ph'p 4:13 Those are the two great teachings of the Bible: "Apart
from Me .•• nothing, but in Me ••• all things." Not only can you
through Him, but you must! You will not get to heaven unless
you do it all. 1cor. 6:9-11; Eph.5:27; Rev.I9:7-9 How? How can you do it?
Because He does it. Eph.3: 1 ~"20 ; Heb.l3: 20"21 Get your eyes on Him,
get into Him. 2cor.3:1s; Heb.I 2:2 Don't look to see how much you're
doing.Judei: 24 You could be the man on the Cross with Jesus who
had two seconds left and you do it all because you're in Him
who has done it all! 2cor.s: 17 Eph.I :3-4 Get yourself to Him. It's not
how far you go, it's who you're tied to, it's where your eyes are
fastened. Rom. 6:6-12; Col.3:1-3 I'm in love with Him who is my
Beloved. Ps.26 :3; 63 :I-S; 1John 4:16-19 And beholding Him I'm changed
from one degree ofglory to another. 2 Cor.3:18 Beholding as in a
glass the face of Jesus. I'm beholding Him, how wonderful He is.

26
He's the Holy One, the Mercifui One, the Powerful One. He's all
in all. He's everything, He's all 1 need. Ps.57:2; 138:8; Isa.26:12; 1 Thess.5:24

Prayer: "Father we thank you for the lives you have given to us.
We thank you for the truth of the Word. We thank you that the
word brings forth faith. We thank you for the preached word, the
taught word, the lived word, the experienced word. We have now
tasted of the tree of the knowledge of good as well as evil, because
Lord God You have become the tree of life, and now we can
experience what we believe. Ifyou believe, you will see. Oh Lord
God, thank you for setting us free at last! We don't have to search
for Eden; we have found Eden outside of Eden! We were
wandering in the wilderness and we found what we were looking
for. You met us in the very wrong place. You met us in the
place where we least expected, you met us in the place where it
was desert and dry, where we were at the end. We tried so
much not to get to the end, but when we got there, there were
33 27
the Everlasting Arm; Deut. : there was the face of God. At the
very end of our lives we came to find our lives! We lost our
9 24
lives •.• we found our lives! Luke : Lord, we're done with this
world. This world has passed away for us. A new age has begun,
even You, oh Lord. You are our life, our light, our joy, our peace,

27
our patience, our kindness, our goodness, our gentleness, our
everything! Because You are all in all. You are the Unique and
All-Sufficient One, there is no other. There is no other God. Lord
we worship You with our mouths, not with our feelings, not with
our thoughts, not with our will, but with our mouths, worshiping
His Holy Name from a free and willing heart, based on His
promises as Creator, Redeemer, and Perfector of us, His chosen
people called by His Name! We give you the praise of our lips.
You are a great and wondrous God! You have done it all!

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 Pastor Jim Borchert

You can hear messages by Pastor Jim at:

www.emmanueltx.com

6731 Bridge Street Box 221

Fort Worth, TX 76112

 Pastor Jim Borchert and wife, Peggy
B.A. Augustana College, B.D. Yale University, S.T.M. Yale University

Pastor Jim Borchert has served in the pastoral ministry continuously since 1968.
He holds his ordination as a Minister of the Gospel through World Ministry
Fellowship. "Pastor Jim" is a well-known pastor and teacher in the Dallas and
Fort Worth area, having held numerous teaching seminars and retreats over the
years. He taught at the Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University. He
has traveled and ministered throughout sub-Sahara Africa, including the
Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia, South Africa,
Nigeria, Burundi, and Uganda since 1984 in an apostolic capacity, training local
pastors and teachers. He has also preached and taught in Moldova, India,
Ukraine and Israel. He has given his testimony on the 700 Club and appeared on
TBN, sharing the work of Hope for Africa. He and his beloved wife, Peggy, have
been married for 51 years and have four grown children and ten grandchildren.

Pastor Jim's insights, through study and prayer, in the areas of theology,
discipleship, church government, law, property, trust and other fields are
welcomed by both the layman and the scholar. His personal library of over
20,000 volumes is a testimony of his dedication to the study of the Word of God
and understanding the wisdom of this world. The heart of Pastor Jim's ministry
is discipleship by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, speaking the truth in love, so
that the church may mature in Him, who is the head, even Christ.