PUTTING TWO THINGS TOGETHER

PUTTING TWO THINGS TOGETHER

                “But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. For some men, straying from these things, have turned aside to fruitless discussion, wanting to be teachers of the Law, even though they do not understand either what they are saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions. But we know that the Law       is good if one uses it lawfully, realizing the fact that the Law is not made for the righteous man, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and the profane…1 Tim. 1:5-9.

                From that text on, Paul goes on to list the kinds of sinners to which the law applies. But we are not speaking to them right now. We are speaking to those who serve the Lord and who are not breaking the Law… and Paul tells us that the Law was not written to us.

                There is a certain tension in the Body of Christ on the issue of law and grace. Some take their stand on the side of Law and some on the side of grace. On the side of the Law, people tend to be a bit legalistic and works oriented. But on the side of grace, there are others these days that have thrown out obedience, holiness and righteousness, living in the flesh and claiming that grace covers them.

                But there is another law that Paul introduces in Romans 8 that is the all-important element to which the church must now come.

                “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death, for what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh IN ORDER THAT THE LAW MIGHT BE FULFILLED IN US, WHO DO NOT WALK ACCORDING TO THE FLESH, BUT ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT.” Romans 8:11-4

                But in order for the Law to be fulfilled in us, Paul says in Romans 7:4: “Therefore my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law, through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God.”

                You see, what the law keepers don’t want to admit to, is the fact that in order to live by the Spirit, we have to die to the Law. Likewise, on the other hand, the grace people sometimes don’t want to admit that the Law will be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. So they go on living in the flesh.

                This strikes right at the heart of what being born again is all about and why some Law keeping Christians don’t like to talk about it. Being born again is that transition point where we die to the Law and we are made alive by the Spirit so that we begin to serve God in the power of the Spirit instead of the weakness of the Law. So the law becomes for many like the hand in the cookie jar. They don’t want to let go of the Law in order to live by the Spirit and so they are stuck between two worlds. (The" law in the cookie jar" world and the realm of the Holy Spirit.)

                Paul says elsewhere that in trying to keep the Law, we never arrive at the Law, but if we live by the Spirit, then the Law will be fulfilled in us. (See Romans 9:31-33) In other words, the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22, 23 and elsewhere fulfills the Law...

                But there are three things that we must overcome in this life and these three things we cannot even begin to do unless the Spirit of Christ dwells in us. The three things that we are to overcome are:

1.       The world            2.The flesh          3. The devil.

                And guess which of these the hardest one to overcome is? When I was born again I came out of the world and into Christ’s kingdom. Jesus kicked the devil out and then He took up residence in me. But as for my flesh, it still had a lot of stuff to unload. Like the Children of Israel. It took only a short time to get them out of Egypt, but it took a very long time to get Egypt out of them.

                When we are born again we find ourselves in the outer court of the temple. There we are saved by the blood of the Lamb, and washed in water and we are surrounded by the white curtains of Christ’s righteousness. We call this being saved and it corresponds to justification.

                But the outer court is where the vast majority of Christians remain. They love to talk about justification and how they are saved, even as they totally ignore or even despise the idea that there are two more compartments through which we must pass.

                The Holy Place in the tabernacle of Moses represents the arena of Pentecost. We receive the Holy Spirit, (as represented by the Menorah) we are filled and baptized in the Holy Spirit and so the Word of God (Represented by the table of showbread) is illuminated by the light of the Holy Spirit and our prayers upon the altar are mixed with the incense of the Holy Spirit as we pray in the Spirit.

                So, it was to the outer gate that the Lord first drew us. The law condemned us to death and so we received the Lamb’s death in our place. So we received salvation through the blood of the Lamb and we offered our bodies as a living sacrifice. We died to the Law in order that we might live unto Christ, but if we remain in the outer court and refuse to enter into the realm of the Spirit and sanctification, what is going to happen to us?

                Paul says in Hebrews 10:26-29: “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment and the Fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has insulted the Spirit of grace?”

                In other words, the Christian life is not a casual acquaintance with Jesus It is a matter of entering in to His death and being born again by the power of His resurrection. Life in the Spirit is not some kind of shortcut, in fact it is that place in Christ than many Christians fail to enter.

                Let me break this down for you. Paul is saying that under the Old Covenant one who breaks the Law was judged without mercy, eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. The Law has no mercy and it is completely impartial. IF you sin, you die… period!

                But now He tells us that the penalty is even worse if we “Get saved” by the blood of Jesus and then trample all over Him by refusing to enter the Holy Place of sanctification and obedience. In other words, outer court Christians that choose to remain in the outer court while refusing to enter into God’s process of sanctification leading to glorification, are insulting the Spirit of grace and as such there no longer remains a blood sacrifice for them.

                In other words, if you go around saying, “I got saved in 1972 and 50 years later you are still saying, “I am just an old sinner saved by grace, you may not be as saved as you think you are. We are called to sanctification, to obedience, to holiness and righteousness.  Salvation includes dying to the world, the flesh and the devil and the hardest of these is the matter of dying to self. (The flesh)

                Many people like to claim that they are free, when in fact they are slaves of self, of the flesh. They are not really bearing the fruit of the Spirit in their life and they can go around brandishing their doctrines as much as they want to but they are still living in the flesh and they are compensating for it by trying to show you how holy they are. They may beat you over the head with the Ten Commandments even as they remain filled with dead men’s bones, for it is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh profits nothing.( John 6:63.) And “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. (Rom. 8:14)

                But living by the Spirit is not some hinterland of borderless self-determinism. For the Law WILL be fulfilled in those who live not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. You don’t get there by keeping the Law in the flesh… you get there by dying to the flesh and living by the Spirit.

                Paul said in 2 Thess. 2: 13-14: But we should always give thanks of God for you brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for SALVATION THROUGH SANCTIFICATION BY THE SPIRIT AND FAITH IN THE TRUTH.  And it was for this He called you through our gospel that you may GAIN THE GLORY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.”

                Notice the elements that Paul includes in this statement, and this instruction is given within the context of the day of the Lord and the rise of the antichrist. The elements are:

1.       Salvation through sanctification: This is confirmed in Hebrews 10: 14 saying, “For by one offering He has perfect for all time those who are sanctified.” And Heb. 12:14 “Pursue peace with all men and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.”

2.       Spirit and Truth: we are sanctified by the Spirit and faith in the truth. (Which is God’s Word.) And notice how in the Holy Place of the tabernacle the Spirit (represented by the Menorah) and the Word, (represented by the table of showbread are both present as well as our fellowship with the Lord by prayers that are mingled with the incense of the Holy Spirit. “For we know not what we ought to pray, but the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. (Rom 8:26) (In other words we are to pray in the Spirit.  Jude 20)

3.       Gaining the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ: This too is confirmed throughout scripture.  Ephesians 4: 11-14 talks about  coming into maturity as that of attaining to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ and verse 15 mentions growing up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ. And Romans 8:29 tells us that we have been predestined to be conformed to the image of God’s Son.” And Romans 8:14 reminds us that all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.

       

        So, why am I harping on all of these things like a one stringed violin? The reason is, I think we are much closer to the end of life as we have known it on this planet than we realize… and whether the rapture comes first or the Tribulation comes first, we dare not ignore the deeper elements of the Gospel involving living by the Spirit and being sanctified by the Holy Spirit and the Word and overcoming by the blood of the Lamb.

        People take comfort that they are among the remnant people of God because they keep the commandments, but if we read Paul correctly, we realize that in trying to keep the commandments we never arrive at the commandments. To use the Commandments lawfully, we must die to the Law, through the death and resurrection of Christ, to be born again and to live by the Spirit, in order that the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. It is the fruit of the Spirit that fulfills the Law in us… and when we are living by His fruit rather than the fruit of our own flesh and works, then we will have entered into His Rest.

        And that takes us right back to the gates of Eden where Able sacrificed a lamb, while Cain brought forth the works of his own flesh as an offering to God. Isn’t it amazing the consistency of God throughout history? His desire has always been to dwell in us and His indwelling brings sanctification and His blood, His death and resurrection makes this possible as we enter into it.  

        Israel’s deliverance from Egypt is a physical picture of true salvation. They came out of Egypt (The World) They died to self in the Red Sea and were born again on the other side. They now entered into a desert land in which they had no possible chance of surviving unless God supplied their every need. They came to learn obedience and the definition of sin at Mt. Sinai, but the Law was not adequate to get them into the Promised Land. So it was at the borders of the Promised Land that Moses had to die in order that a new leader (Joshua/Jesus) could take them over. Joshua had to replace Moses in order to carry them into ultimate victory.

        Likewise, the Levitical priesthood was not adequate to save us, for its law had no power and its sacrifices were not enough. Therefore we had to have a change of priesthood from Levi to Jesus, our new High Priest after the order of Melchizedek. And Hebrews tells us that where there is a change of priesthood there is a change of law also. (Heb. 7:12) We trade in our law on stone, for the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Jer. 31:31-34, Romans 8:1-4.

        The kingpin of all scripture for us in these last days is Galatians 2: 20, 21.

        “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and delivered Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.” And as long as we keep our hand in the cookie jar, we cannot enter fully into the life of the Spirit by which we must now live. Selah.

        There is a whole lot to digest here. I write these things because I feel urgency from the Holy Spirit. And I write these things not as some saint speaking from a high tower, but as one of you, crying out to God. “Not by might nor by power, but by Thy Spirit.” Today I give You permission Lord to do what needs to be done in me. Thank you Lord for victory through Jesus Christ.

        “I know whom I have believed and I am persuaded that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.” 2 Tim. 1:12b

        It is time to enter into the fullness of this great salvation that Jesus has brought us.

        “Eye has not seen and ear has not heard neither has it entered into the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him. For to us, God revealed them through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things even the depths of God.” 1 Cor. 2:9-10