Do you live in a I-get-to world or I-got-to world? Are you compelled by the love that Jesus has shown you or are you controlled by yourself, capital S self, which really means you're controlled by fear? Imagine how it would change your life if you could shift from I got to do these things To I get to do these things it'll change everything it has for me over these last few weeks now that we have talked about this and adapted this I'm Sam Hunter. I'm glad that you joined us. This is 721 Loud, the video arm of 721 Ministries. Thank you for joining us tonight. We have been working our way through John 14. You should go back and pick up the earlier videos or just hit that subscribe button right now, and then you'll get these videos as soon as they come out. But as Jesus is spending his last night with his disciples, he makes this statement, if you loved me, you would obey my commands. If you loved me, you would follow my teaching. Do we do that, and do we try to obey Jesus because we're afraid of Jesus, or we're trying to get rewards from Jesus? This is what I wanna jump in tonight, and it's gonna be under the idea of love, not fear, got to versus get to, free will versus not any free will controlled by self. Let's look at this first. Love, not fear. Compelled not controlled last week in Romans 8 We talked about we looked at how the Holy Spirit is telling us if you are controlled by self by the flesh Then that's life and death that is death. That isn't that is no way to live You cannot please God you don't have the ability to please God But if you are if you are controlled by the love of Jesus by the Holy Spirit And that is life and peace And that is the life that is truly life. So we made the observation that we really do not have free will until the Holy Spirit comes to indwell us. Until, in such an oxymoron, we do not, we're not free until we surrender. When we surrender our lives to Jesus and we are born again and the Holy Spirit indwells us, now for the first time, we actually have free will. And I want to show you that tonight as we look at some of these scriptures. Before we continue today, I want to make sure that we understand this is not a self-help program, because on that same night, Jesus tells the disciples all about the Holy Spirit who he's going to send, who will indwell them forever, and he has this to say. All this I have spoken while still with you, but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. There is no worse way to live than trying to handle everything by myself, by trying to control things by myself, in my own power. I got to, I got to, I got to, instead of I get to. If I can learn and if you can learn to lean on and lean into the power of the Holy Spirit, then the things we're going to talk about tonight, they will come more and more naturally. It is a process, but they will come more and more naturally. If you're still trying to do this in your own power, none of what we talk about is really going to mean anything. because you're operating under fear, not love. And I want you to show you this. Fear is a fence, love is a fuel. There's no free will when you live under fear. There is free will when you live under or compelled by love. Fear is a fence. You see, if you don't do wrong things, if you try to obey Jesus because you're afraid you'll get in trouble with him, You hope you'll get rewards. That's just a fence that you've erected that is a fence of fear and when the temptation Gets strong enough or the circumstances press on and on you enough. You'll get over that fence. You'll get through that fence But if you are compelled by love you are fueled by love then you are really living with the free will of the Holy Spirit and We're in South Carolina and I've got several friends who went to the military college the Citadel and one of the sayings is I went over the wall They're not allowed to go over the wall and and yet just about every cadet Grown up now even men in their 70s that I would think would never do that They at some point while they were at the Citadel They went over the wall at night to get out and to do something to be free. That wall was a wall of fence and but was of all a fear and they were going to get over that at some point. So, fear is a fence, love is a fuel. Are you controlled by fear or are you compelled by love? Jesus says in John 14 that same night, anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. And I added, or they will try to do so. They will try to do so because they got to, not they get to. And therefore, they will do it resentfully, trying to obey. There's no A plus life in that. or you will do it to perform out of fear or in hopes of rewards. There's no life in living out of fear or even trying to get rewards. There's no free will in that. There's no freedom in that. 1 John 4, 18, there is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. Now, could we have chosen Better passage than this. There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear because fear has to do with punishment. If you are trying to obey Jesus, obey the commandments, obey God because you are afraid of punishment, well, you've not made perfect in love yet. You're living under fear. Now, I want to pause and ask, perfect love drives out fear. What does that mean? Who's perfect love? Well, it's when we realize that Jesus loves us perfectly. When we realize that our Heavenly Father loves us perfectly. I was talking with a man today who's undergoing, where his children are undergoing some difficult situations, and he said, I remember about a year ago you said to me, Jesus loves your son way more than you do. He said that just gives me such such a sense of relief of comfort and it's true. I wasn't cheerleading him I was telling him the facts Perfect love drives out fear. So imagine that I've got this heart of fear, which I was controlled I'm sure even Unbeknownst to me before I was born again and even for a period after I was born again. I was controlled by fear I did fear of fear of failure fear of not being the best at things, fear that people might really be able to see inside me, fear that I wouldn't measure up, just whatever it was. But as I learned about Jesus's perfect love, my heavenly father's perfect love, it started to make inroads into that heart of fear. And as the process went on, day after day, year after year, all of that perfect love got, the fear got crowded out by the perfect love. Imagine a circle that's all fear, and we just keep making inroads as the days and the years go by with his perfect love, and at some point, it drives out all fear. That is the way to live or in hopes of rewards Matthew 7 22 The people who are getting ready to go to hell who dare not who Jesus is telling I don't know you away from me They give Jesus their resume. Wait a minute Jesus Did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles? Did we not? Perform well, we did it because we thought you would reward us. I Not because we love you. Jesus said, if you love me, you'll obey my commands. Not because we love you, but because either we're afraid of you or we want to get rewards. So here's our resume of all the good things we did. None of this is living with free will, with a free heart, with joy, with I get to instead of I got to. I want to try to, everything I'm talking about today is to get us thinking in terms of I get to, not I got to. I get to go see my aging mother who's in the nursing home, and not I got to. I get to drive up from Charleston to Columbia for my daughter's graduation from med school, which will be chaotic on the interstate, and it'll be chaotic at the graduation. No, I get to do that, not I got to do it. If you will just try this, it will change everything for you. And, again, I'm not cheerleading you. It is the truth. You get to do these things. Now, what I want to do is shift and get your focus and your perspective on it. When you read the commandments, when you read everything in the scripture, instead of thinking, I got to do this, Now I get to do this. Everything in the scripture, if you can read it in the sense of, no, I get to, not I got to, I don't got to keep the rules, bad grammar, but I don't got to keep the rules. I get to live the way he wants me to live. Which by the way, when I live the way Jesus wants me to live, I live a much better life, a much more elevated life. Let me just pause and I'll ask this question again in a few minutes. The pain and suffering in your life, the difficulty in your life, the challenges, the things that have really come against you, what percentage were your fault? Did you actually cause? Did you contribute to? Did you bring on yourself? Because when I ask men around the state, The typical answer is 95%. Sometimes it's 100%. Now, I know bad things happen. People die of cancer. People are killed in a drunk driving accident. I know bad things happen that we don't bring on ourselves. But if 90% plus are things we contributed to or we caused if we followed Jesus' teachings, we would avoid all of that. So let's just keep that in mind as we look. Now what I wanna do is start with the Ten Commandments, the Big Ten. And let's just look at them in the sense of I get to versus I got to. So we'll start the very first one. You shall, the commandment is you shall not, but this, the way we're saying it is, you shall get to have no other gods before me. You shall get to have no other gods before me. All my life, I've had other gods. If I examine myself, I probably still have other gods, little g gods. I know comfort is a god for me. I know that. What I'm hoping is as we talk about this, you will get a conviction from the Holy Spirit that says, yeah, yeah, that's still a god for you. and you have not been able to do anything about it because you've not been living with the freedom the free will of the holy spirit but if we shift it now we say instead of saying you shall have no other gods before me i get to for the first time in my life i actually get to have no other gods before me i get to because these gods have all failed me they've never brought me true life life with a capital l life that is truly life So I get to, for the first time, not have any other gods. I never could do that before, but now I can. Let's keep going, because with that, then, I get to not make for myself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth. I suddenly, because I now get to not have any gods, I get to not create these things. Now, we think in terms of idols from the Older Testament and things, but We have a lot of things that we have either created, we've made for ourselves in the image of what we love. If you're a man, just go look in your garage. If you're a woman, look around you. So I now get to not do this, and now, for the first time, I get to not bow down to them or to worship them. I could say this as, and now I have the free will not to bow down to them or to worship them. For the first time, I don't have to bow down. And I hope that you are thinking, that you are hearing in your heart about that little G God or that idol in your life, that you're hearing right now, you're bowing down to that. It takes precedent in your life. It is controlling you. I hope you're hearing that and you're realizing I don't have to live under that anymore. I get to actually live a free life. I can free myself from that. I get to, not I got to. As we look at these Ten Commandments and then we'll move on and look at the Beatitudes and then just a few others, it's all about I get to, not I got to. You tell me what percentage in your heart as you view commands and as you view the things that Jesus says, if you love me, you'll obey my commands, that you view as I got to. I got to. If I want to be a good Christian, if I want to get Jesus to smile on me, if I want to stay out of trouble, I got to do these things. Or in your own life, in your personal life. Well, I got to go. I got to take my children to this or I got to go help my father with this, right? I got to go. No, it's all about get to it's all about get to not got to You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God you you now have the chance to you get to not misuse the name of you remember the Sabbath now This is one I know I know that you listening to me today, when you hear honor the Sabbath, when you hear do no work on the Sabbath, when you hear set the Sabbath apart, there is no question in my mind it's a got to versus a get to. There's no question in my mind. We have a book that we've just put out that is all about honoring the Sabbath. Matter of fact, I have it right here, I'll show it to you. Lighten up, but tighten up. This is all about it. It's a short read. You can get it at our website. It is all about honoring the Sabbath in the way in which it was intended to be honored. Not I get to, but I get to. It's as if you had an employer who said, I want you to take the day off. Would you say, oh, I gotta take the day off? Or would you say, wow, I get to take the day off? We see these commandments, especially the Sabbath, and we say, I got to do that. I get to honor my father and mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God has given you. I know that many of you have aging parents. My parents are no longer living. But as they got older, it was a challenge. It was a challenge for me, but it was even more of a challenge for my sister who lived at home with them. It was a challenge for all of us. If you think in terms of all I've got to do that Then it takes all the joy out of it becomes such a chore such a labor But instead I get to let's just keep going with these ten commandments. You shall not murder I get to not be even be angry at people for the first time I have the free will through the Holy Spirit to not even be angry. You shall not commit adultery I get for the first time to not lust I You shall not steal, and we're not talking just about money and things like that. I get to not do that. You shall not give, oh, for the first time, I don't have to gossip about other people. I get to not gossip. I get to not covet what other people have or even care what they have. There's no competition. If we look at the Ten Commandments, we'll look at the Beatitudes now, but if we look at the Ten Commandments, and we start to look at them in the sense of, I get to do these things, not I got to, it will bring more energy and more joy into your life. And you will learn and you will start to obey out of the love, compelled by the love that Jesus has given you, compelled by the love that your Heavenly Father has shown you. The Beatitudes, the Beatitudes. Let's read these in terms of I get to, and then we'll see that in every one of these there is a for. There's a, I don't want to use a crass term, there's a payoff, but there is a reward, but every one of these there's a get to for. So let's start with the one which is the most important one, which all the others flow out of this first one. Blessed are those who get to be poor in spirit. who get to see your spiritual poverty, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." When we read, get to be poor in spirit, or see poor in spirit, it's spiritual poverty. I get to, for the first time, realize I am spiritually bankrupt without Jesus. And when I get to that realization, now the rest of the Beatitudes can flow from that. Now life can flow from that. I mean, if you read the book of Job, which is a hard read, I usually read the first two chapters where we see Job being put through the ringer. Then the next 30-something chapters, it's his friends coming. There's a whole lot of navel-gazing and talking. But when you get to the end, Job says, I thought I knew you. My ears had heard of you. But my eyes had not seen you. I didn't know you. And now that I know you, now that I actually can see you, realize my spiritual poverty, my bankrupt spiritual nature. Job says, I loathe myself. I loathe myself and I repent in dust and ashes. For the first time, he can actually see his spiritual poverty. And when we see our spiritual poverty, our bankrupt nature without Jesus, now we can really start to live. So we just go through the rest of the Beatitudes. Blessed are those who get to mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are those who get to be meek. I couldn't be meek without the Holy Spirit. I could never got to be meek. That's not in my nature. And I know many men who would say, I cannot follow Jesus because I am not going to be meek, milquetoast, walked over, doormat. That's not in my nature. I don't think many women really want to be that way either. But it is a real hang up for men. No, I get to be meek. For I will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who get to hunger and thirst for righteousness. I never hungered and thirsted for righteousness. I hungered and thirsted for what Sam wanted in life. For they will be filled. Blessed are those who get to be merciful, not giving people what they deserve, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are those who get to be pure in heart. I could never be pure in heart without the Holy Spirit. I could never get close. For they will see God. Blessed are those who get to be peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Let me pause there for a moment. They get to be peacemakers. In a few moments, we'll see Jesus say, turn the other cheek. You get to be a peacemaker. I have no doubt that most of you, many of you, have family members who are very difficult to be around. Practically impossible. Maybe you have dear friends. Whatever the situation is, maybe you've been at odds with someone and you don't even speak to them anymore. I get to be the peacemaker. And I don't do it for this reason. I do it because I'm compelled by the love that Jesus, the peacemaking he has done in my life, He stepped in and was a peacemaker between me and my Heavenly Father, my sinful old self and my perfectly loving Heavenly Father. He was the peacemaker. Now, I get to be a peacemaker. Not I got to, I get to. Now, we're gonna really crank it up. Blessed are those who get to be persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Now, you may have noticed that in all these Beatitudes, The majority of them said for theirs will be they will be comforted. There's will be the kingdom But this is is for theirs is the kingdom of heaven Blessed are those who get to be persecuted Have you ever been persecuted for righteousness? Have you ever been? insulted persecuted falsely accused of evil of all kinds of evil against you because of Jesus and Have you what an honor that would be That someone would actually persecute me would insult me would talk down or bad about me because I love Jesus What a what an honor that would be I get to that not that I want to avoid it I get to and Why because you get to rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven? when the disciples, during Acts, or the very beginning of Acts, John and Peter are arrested, and they are freed, but then all the disciples are arrested, and before they are freed, they are flogged. They're whipped. And when they're freed, they leave rejoicing that they were able to suffer in the same way and for Jesus. What a changed heart. What a different way to live. They get to, not they got to. Now what I want to do now is just run through a few statements, mostly in Matthew, where we can just shift it to I get to versus I got to, and then we'll be done. Matthew 5, 20-30. Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, you get to leave your gift. You get to go from the altar. You get to go and be reconciled to them. Then come and offer your gift. Not you got to, I get to. Matthew 5 27 you have heard that was said you shall not commit adultery but I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully or a man as a woman looks at a man lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart I get to not lust I get to not look now I don't know how many women that resonates with but I can promise you every man Hearing that and wondering if they could actually do that. I hear all the time always the way men are wired It's how God made us. No, no, no, no, no We don't have to lust We get to not lust This is a huge one Matthew 539, but I tell you do not resist an evil person If anyone slaps you on the right cheek turn to them the other cheek also now, let me just stop there for a moment How much of your trouble in your life could have been avoided if you had turned the other cheek? Let's just take it to home life, with your children, with your parents, as you were growing up yourself, with your spouse. Let's just stop there with your spouse. How much trouble could you have avoided if you had just turned the other cheek? Because now you get to. Because you live in the kingdom, and it's safe to turn the other. You don't have to worry about being a doormat. You don't have to worry about them walking over you. And remember, when you were insulted, it doesn't mean somebody tried to beat you up. It was an insult. Turn the other cheek. You couldn't do that before. If I had, and even today, even today, if I would learn to turn the other cheek and just let it go, I get to do that. I would avoid most of the trouble in my life, most of the consternation in my life. I just get to turn the other cheek. Let's keep going. Matthew 6.3. In Matthew 6.3, Matthew 6.5, and Matthew 6.16, he talks about giving to the needy, praying in public, fasting, all of these to be seen by other people. For the first time, we get to not care what other people think. We get to give without getting a big fanfare and other people patting us on the back. We get to pray and not try to show off. We get to fast and not show off. All these things really boil down to, I get to do things and not really be concerned about what other people think. That probably is one of your little G gods, what other people think. Especially the younger you are the more that is a little G God now I get to for the first time Matthew 619 I get to not store up treasures on earth, but instead treasures in heaven I get to do that Matthew 625 therefore I tell you do not worry about your life. I get to not worry what I get to not worry I Can't free from worry Imagine Jesus scolding us and saying do not worry and you think I got to not worry. How is that gonna work? That's never going to work. I got to not worry The next one is I got to not judge. How is that gonna work? It's not But if you think in terms of I get to I get to not worry, are you kidding me? Well the first time in my life and for the rest of my life I get to not worry I get to not judge and therefore I won't be judged I can never do that before I get to, not I got to. Matthew 16, 24, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. I wanna be his disciple, so I get to deny myself, which is part of turning the other cheek, it's part of being a peacemaker, and take up their cross. I get to do these things. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever lose, I get to lose my own life so that I can save it. How about Matthew 18? Truly, I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. I get to change and be like a child. I get to have a child's heart, a grown-up's head, but a child's heart. I get to do that because it's safe, because I live in the kingdom, and I am not controlled by self and fear. I am compelled by love. I get to. How about money? How about giving away money? I know that sounds a little crass, but let's just talk about it. How about giving away money? We read through the Holy Spirit, through Paul, that God loves a cheerful giver. I get to be a cheerful giver. I get to do, each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion. That sounds like I got to, doesn't it? Not reluctantly, I'm doing this because I feel like I got to, or under compulsion, I got to, for God loves a cheerful giver. I get to be a cheerful giver. I get to. Giving is living my friend The more generous you give more generously you give the more generous your heart feels The more your heart and your life just lighten up just the light of the Lord comes in I get to get be a cheerful giver I get to do that. I'm free from being stingy or being controlled by fear of not having enough I get to I'm gonna read one little quick story that really demonstrates get to versus got to Really demonstrates free will versus not free. Well, let's just Zacchaeus We picked this up in Luke 19. Jesus is coming into Jericho Zacchaeus is a little short man. He cannot see Jesus. He's a chief tax collector So he's stingy. He's little his God is money. His God is what people think about him He's an evil person, but something about this Jesus, so he climbs up in the tree. Jesus says I'm coming to your house To have a meal and here's what Zack Zakiya says, but Zakiya stood up and said to the Lord look Lord here And now I give half of my possessions to the poor and if I have cheated anybody out of anything I will pay back four times the amount Does that sound like I got to or I get to does that sound like free will is Jesus telling him he has to do that I No. He is compelled by Jesus' love. Look, Lord, here and now, I get to give half of my possessions to the poor. And if I've cheated anybody, I get to give them back. I get to pay them back. I get to. What joy do we see in Zacchaeus now? There's no got to. It's get to. Free will. not living controlled by his old self, by fear, but now compelled by Jesus' love. Jesus said to him, Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." Do you see? All of these are just ways that we can start to shift our perspective when we read the Scriptures. What I want for you what I want for me, is that when I pick up that Bible, I'm not thinking of a rule book. I'm not thinking of things I gotta do. I gotta read this for 10 minutes. I gotta try to memorize. I gotta try to do what I get to. My whole life shifts when I'm compelled by love, not controlled by fear. Fear is a fence. Love is a fuel. And finally, the ultimate gift, which is the scriptures, brings the ultimate gift, which is peace. Remember last week we read Psalm 119, and at verse 103, the writer, who maybe is David, says, your word is so sweet, it's sweeter than honey. Imagine if you thought about God's word that way. And in Psalm 119, 165, great peace have those who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble. Great peace have those who love your law. who love your law. Remember Jesus said if you love me you will keep my commands. The writer of Psalm 119, and you should go back and read it again, 176 verses, 171 of which mention the law, the commandments, the precepts, the statutes, and all of them, the writer, and if it's David, we don't know that for a fact, is saying that I love it. So Jesus says if you love me you'll obey my commands. The writer, David, says I love the commands. because they bring me peace and I don't stumble any longer. And we come back to that original question, what percentage of the difficulties in your life did you bring on yourself? And just about every man across the state in these various 721 meetings said 90, 95, 100%. Why would I have great peace and why would I not stumble if I love his law? I'll give you my three thoughts on this. No unforced errors. I won't bring anything on myself. I'll be living with joy power over willpower. Not how I gotta grind it out with willpower, although there's always some willpower. No, I'm living with joy power, and I'm living the love of the game clause. You remember Michael Jordan and his contract. He had a love of the game clause. He could play any time. Professional athletes always have a clause in their contract that says they cannot go out and play pickup ball. Michael Jordan, because he loved the game, had a clause that he could any time. He's living with joy power, not willpower. He had plenty of willpower, but it's joy power that won the day. It's a no one forced stare. It's this I get to versus I got to. Which explains how Jesus gets close to finishing John 14 when he says, peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. No, that's gonna be fleeting, that's gonna go away. No, when you live with me, your hearts will not be troubled. And you get to not be afraid. You get to not give into fear. Peace. Loving his word, loving his commandments because they bring such joy. Compelled by love, not controlled by fear. That is the life that is truly life. That is the life. We all want peace. That's what we're all searching for is peace. Peace in my soul. Soul rest. If we will learn to live a get to versus a got to, we will start living with that peace. Because there is so much more. You know it. You know there is. Come follow Jesus and find it.