Sometimes we don’t really appreciate how free we are in
Christ. We especially fail to appreciate how free our
brethren are in Christ. Jesus said, “He whom the Son
sets free is free indeed”—free from coercion; free from the
consequences of sin; free from religion; free from the Law. This
doesn’t mean we’re free to sin, because we’re still beholden to
the Lord. But we are free from the dictates and the coercion of
men, and from what other people want us to be, and how they
want us to act in the religious sense.
There are plenty of religious people who want to control you
any way they can. You’ll find it everywhere. You’ll even find it
within the true Body of Christ where people expect you to do
certain things, act certain ways, and be a certain kind of person
in order to meet their approval. A lot of this stems from their
personal understanding of what God expects of them, and thus,
what they assume God wants of all other believers.
In the Book of Galatians Paul goes to great lengths to explain
to the brethren their freedom in Christ and how wrong it was
of them to want to put themselves back under the Law, even to
the point of demanding circumcision and keeping the whole
Law as a means of righteousness. And it wasn’t particularly in
all their minds to keep the Law for salvation’s sake, but for the
sake of righteousness itself. In other words, yes, we’re saved by
Christ—by His death on the cross and His resurrection—but in
order to be righteous we must keep the Law.
Sadly, this thinking has crept into many of the so-called
Messianic congregations today. They feel they must keep the Law
in order to be righteous. They don’t deny that Christ died for
their sins; they don’t deny that salvation is by grace. But in order
to live righteously they must keep the Law.
That’s what the Galatians were going through. So Paul went
to great lengths to explain to them what it means to be free in
Christ. He compares it to the position enjoyed by an heir of an
estate. As heirs to the Kingdom of God we have special rights,
privileges, and power that transcend the need for us to be slaves
to the Law.
He had just told the Galatians that there’s no difference
between a Jew and a Greek, a slave or a freeman, or a man or a
woman, in our standing before our heavenly Father. We are all
one in Christ, and we are all Abraham’s seed by faith. Then he
says:
Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does
not differ from a servant, though he is lord of all, but is
under tutors and governors until the time appointed by
the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in
bondage under the elements of the world. But when the
fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born
of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those under
the Law, so that we might receive the adoption as sons.
(Galatians 4:1-5)
We were redeemed from being under the Law. Particularly
at that time, it was the Jews who were under the Law. They were
bound to the Law of Moses for a time, until the fullness of time
came for God to send His Son to redeem them from under the
Law. The Galatians didn’t understand this; it had to be explained
to them lest they continue trying to keep the Law for righteousness’
sake.
Today, are not many in the churches under bondage to laws
in one form or another? There are religious rules that people are
expected to follow, and if they don’t follow those rules, at the
very least they are looked upon as less spiritual. In some cases
they are excommunicated or threatened with eternal damnation.
When I was a Catholic I really believed that if I missed going
to mass on Sunday and died before confessing that “sin” to a
priest, I’d go to “Hell.” I’d be eternally lost. If I committed certain
“mortal sins” and didn’t confess them to a priest, I was lost.
Now, we don’t see that so much in Protestant and other
non-Catholic churches—certainly not in Evangelical churches.
But in most religious circles there are certain rules by which
people are expected to live. If you don’t go to church regularly
you will certainly be accused of “forsaking the assembling of
ourselves together.” In some churches, if you don’t attend on
Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday evening, or just
about every time there is a service, you have forsaken the
assembling together of the brethren; there’s something wrong
in your spiritual life.
That puts people under bondage to man-made laws. Such
authoritarianism causes people to feel spiritually inferior to the
core group of faithful attendees.
Jesus set us free from such bondage to men. He says through
Paul, “because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his
Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’ Therefore you
are no longer a servant, but a son. And if a son, then an heir of
God through Christ (Galatians 4:6-7).
Can anyone legitimately lay any charge against someone who
is a joint heir with Christ to the Kingdom of God? Can anyone
judge us in matters outside the purview of God’s Word?
Who are you that judges another man’s servant? To
his own master he stands or falls. Yes, he shall be held
up, for God is able to make him stand. (Romans 14:4)
In this column we share a lesson we enjoyed within one of our
house assembly meetings. It has been written as a narrative, but
contains the thoughts of those who shared together. There is no
single teacher in our assembly. Therefore, there will be portions
that seem out of context, but they are the result of thoughts that
came to someone during the discourse. This writing is a compilation
of the thoughts expressed at one particular meeting, as well as
some additional thoughts I have added in producing it. AD
MEDIA SPOTLIGHT • VOL. 34 - NO. 3 FALL 2011 PAGE 7
These words were written in regard to observing certain days
above another, and to what one eats or doesn’t eat. They address
how believers are not to be judged beyond what the New
Covenant requires of us as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
are not under the Law of Moses or any law of man except as it
pertains to fulfilling all righteousness in the eyes of those outside
the Body of Christ, and that, only if the laws of man don’t
require us to break the Law of Love under which we live in Christ.
Yet there is one Law under which we live in Christ:
For, brethren, you have been called to liberty—only
not liberty for the flesh’s opportunity, but serve one
another in love. For all the Law is fulfilled in one word,
even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
But if you bite and devour one another, take heed
that you do not be consumed by one another.
This I say then: walk in the Spirit, and you will not
fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are
contrary to one another, so that you cannot do the things
that you would.
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the
Law. (Galatians 5:13-18)
The one Law for believers in Jesus is the Law of Love. Our
freedom in Christ transcends not only the Law of Moses, but
any laws of man—especially religious laws—that are not embodied
within the Law of Love: “You shall love God with all your heart,
mind, soul and strength, and you shall love your neighbor as you
love yourself” (Mark 12:30-31).
Most churches are not as oppressive in their laws as some,
but they still require certain things of their members that are
outside the purview of the New Covenant. And that is the crux
of the issue: the Old Covenant vs. the New Covenant.
Many believers cannot separate in their minds the demands
placed upon Israel in order to keep them faithful to the Old
Covenant of separation as opposed to the New Covenant of
adoption into the family of God.
This is what Jesus was alluding to in His parable of old wine
skins not being able to hold new wine. The old was done away;
the new has nothing to do with it.
And although separation from the laws of most churches may
not be as radical as separation from the Law of Moses, that
separation must occur if one is to fully experience their freedom
in Christ. Every time we place ourselves under the laws of men
we remove ourselves from God’s grace to some degree.
Now, our heavenly Father knows our hearts, and He is very
merciful toward us. We do not lose our salvation or our standing
as His sons. But we hinder the working of the Holy Spirit in our
lives in those areas we have allowed the laws of men to rule over
us. That’s what is meant by removing ourselves from God’s grace
to some degree. How can we experience God’s grace, say, in the
area of worship, if we confine our worship to the dictates of men?
Or how can we experience God’s grace in the areas of what we
eat or how we dress, or in any other behavior, if we confine our
behavior to the dictates of men?
In many, if not most, cases, we fail in these areas out of
ignorance or naïveté. It’s not done with purposeful intent to
remove ourselves from our freedom in Christ. It is the deception
of Satan who works through religious institutions to bring God’s
people under bondage so they are not fully productive for the
Kingdom of God. It’s important that we realize our own freedom
in Christ so that we may help other brethren realize their
freedom in Christ. That is what is meant by living in the Spirit.
Our purpose is not to flaunt our freedom in Christ or to lord
it over others. We are not to condemn those living under
religious bondage, but we should openly rejoice in our freedom
in Christ so they can understand it and recognize that they can
have that freedom as well.
Remember that Paul was speaking to the Gentiles in Galatia:
Notwithstanding then, when you did not know God
you served those who by nature are no gods. But now,
after you have known God (or rather are known by God),
how do you return to the impotent and impoverished
elements to which you again desire to be in bondage? You
observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am
afraid for you lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain.
(Galatians 4:8-11)
On one side, many Christians look at this and say, “Paul is
talking about the Jewish feasts.” On the other side are those who
say, “Those are the pagan holidays that Christians adopted; those
are the ones you’re to stay away from, but you are still obligated
to keep the Jewish feasts.”
So believers get torn one way or another. Someone is going
to put them under bondage to the Jewish feasts (which cannot
be kept without the temple), or someone is going to put them
under bondage to the Christian-pagan feasts. There is no end to
the people who want to put others under bondage to something
they think makes them more holy.
But it doesn’t really matter what Paul had in mind—whether
the Jewish feasts or the Christian-pagan feasts; he was trying to
make them see that they are not to be in bondage to any of these
things.
And who better could God use to convey this message than
one with Paul’s credentials in Judaism:
For we are the circumcision who worship God in the
spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence
in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence in the
flesh. If any other man thinks he may trust in the flesh,
I more: circumcised the eighth day, from the stock of
Israel, from the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the
Hebrews; as touching the Law, a Pharisee; concerning
zeal, persecuting the Called Out; touching the righteousness
which is in the Law, blameless. (Philippians 3:3-6)
If one such as Paul (whose zeal for the Law compelled him
to persecute the saints) would stand against bondage to the Law,
who are we to compel others to submit again to that bondage,
or to any other religious bondage?
PAGE 8 FALL 2011 MEDIA SPOTLIGHT • VOL. 34 - NO. 3
Yet there are plenty of religious leaders who desire to see
others brought into bondage to those religious leaders’ dictates—
to their holidays, to their religious festivals, to their “holy days,”
to their dietary laws. And the Messianic Jews are not the only
ones. There are plenty of Christian denominations and even
independent, autonomous gatherings that wish to bring their
people under bondage to the Jewish feasts, or who tell them what
they may or may not eat or drink.
This latter has less to do with health and nutrition than it
does with perceived righteousness. No one with any knowledge
of nutrition would deny that the Seventh-day Adventists’ diet is
among the healthiest, and from a pragmatic standpoint it is
probably wise for many to follow such a diet. But there are those
within that denomination that would attach validation of
righteousness to it. And that is where they intrude upon one’s
freedom in Christ.
Paul was afraid for those in Galatia who had put themselves
under bondage to the Law. He realized the precarious position
in which they were putting themselves, surrendering their
freedom in Christ. Paul was afraid for them because he was
beginning to doubt that they were hanging onto their freedom
in Christ, and that they were putting themselves back under the
Law, trusting in the Law to save them.
In Galatians 4, Paul makes a distinction between the present
Jerusalem, which is in bondage with her children, and the
heavenly Jerusalem which is free, and which is the mother of all
who believe in Christ Jesus.
In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul says that Christ has raised
us up together and has made us to sit together in heavenly places
(Ephesians 2:6). That’s the New Jerusalem—our mother country.
As citizens of New Jerusalem which is presently situated in
Heaven, we are free in Christ by His grace which saves us. As
such we are heirs with Christ to the Kingdom of God. That
inheritance is not available to those who are not in Christ.
This New Jerusalem, which will one day descend to rest upon
the New Earth (Revelation 21:2), is our home. If we will think
of ourselves as citizens of the New Jerusalem rather than citizens
of the United States of America, or of any earthly nation (all of
which are part of Satan’s domain for the present), we might
better grasp the spiritual reality of our freedom in Christ.
Romans 14:4 asks, “Who are you to judge another man’s
servant? We all stand or fall according to our Master who is able
to hold us up.”
We don’t judge the Lord’s servants, and neither should
anyone judge us for how we live our lives, other than in those
areas where our lives do not conform to the Word of God in
relation to the New Covenant.
We should exult in the realization of our freedom in Christ.
It is a cause for rejoicing, not for self-doubt. No man has a yoke
on us unless we allow him to place it there. We are joint-heirs
with Christ. We inherit the Kingdom through faith in Jesus
Christ. We have been given that honor through God’s mercy
and grace. He opened the way for us by providing His Son as
atonement for our sins. And if we put ourselves under any law
we are saying His grace is not sufficient; Christ’s sacrifice wasn’t
enough to set us free; we need to be under law. Any law. It may
be only one law. Because if we place ourselves under one law we
are obliged to keep all the Law (Galatians 5:3).
Christ has become ineffectual for you, whoever of you
are justified by the Law; you have fallen from grace.
(Galatians 5:4)
That’s serious stuff. To put ourselves under any law means
that we’ve fallen from God’s grace. Thus Paul encourages the
Galatians to come back to Christ.
You ran well. Who hindered you so that you would
not obey the truth? This persuasion does not come from
Him who calls you. (Galatians 5:7).
So we must be careful that not even we put ourselves on guilt
trips. If we sin, we are to confess our sins, and He is faithful and
just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1
John 1:9). We must not think we can do anything to pay for the
sin we just committed. We don’t have to do penance; Christ has
already paid the penalty.
It’s not only Roman Catholicism that puts the onus of
penance on people. Every religion puts this on people, some to
a greater degree than others. And by religion I don’t necessarily
mean an institution, but as well, a religious mind-set. We can
have our own religious mind-set and put ourselves under
bondage to that mind-set. It makes us feel good. It makes us feel
as if we’ve purged ourselves. It makes us feel pious.
This doesn’t mean we take a cavalier attitude about our sin.
It’s recognizing that there’s nothing we can do to make atonement
for that sin. It’s recognizing that it’s already been done for
us by Christ Jesus.
Now, if we injure somebody in some way, the Law of Love
requires that we make restitution. But restitution is to man, not
to God. Thus, restitution is not penance.
Paul says to us, “Therefore stand fast in the liberty with which
Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with the
yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1).
In other words, we are to be resolute in our freedom. Being
resolute means not letting anyone or anything—including
ourselves—rob us of our freedom.
So Paul acknowledges that there is a right way to live even
though we are under grace. That right way to live is by walking
by the Spirit of God. We have instructions under the New
Covenant in what it means to live by the Spirit of God as
opposed to living by our carnal nature.
It isn’t so much doing certain correct things, as it is being led
by the Holy Spirit in every aspect of our lives. The Holy Spirit
will not lead us into sin, but into righteousness.
Paul goes on to describe the works of the flesh as opposed to
the works of the Spirit. But why was it necessary for him to
delineate between the two? After all, if we are led by the Holy
Spirit we don’t have to be concerned about which works are
those of the flesh and which are those of the Spirit.
Well, because the Holy Spirit guides us through our knowledge
of God’s Word. Ignorance of God’s Word may easily result
MEDIA SPOTLIGHT • VOL. 34 - NO. 3 FALL 2011 PAGE 9
in our being deceived by others, and even by ourselves. “There
is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is death” (Proverbs
14:12; 16:25).
The Law of Love is directly tied to walking in the Spirit of
God. The two cannot be separated. And being led by the Spirit
is freedom in Christ.
Yet do we not sometimes stray from being led by the Holy
Spirit? Yes. But walking in the Spirit of God is not so much a
matter of perfection as it is a way of life. We may stray at times,
but the Holy Spirit will convict us and prompt us to repent and
return to walking in faith. And if our hearts remain fixed on
Christ Jesus we will respond positively to the prompting of the
Holy Spirit.
We must hold on to this truth: we were transferred from one
kingdom into another. We were transferred from the kingdom
of darkness into the Kingdom of the Son of God’s love. So yes,
we have freedom, but our freedom is in Christ. Those of us who
have come out of a sectarian group know what it means to be in
bondage. But we also know what it means to serve a Master, and
to have a living Lord to regulate our lives.
So although we say we are free, we also like the rod and the
staff that comfort us. We’re very fond of our Master, and when
we receive correction we know He is there.
In the Book of Isaiah there is a portion where the prophet is
speaking wonderful things for having been given visions by God.
In chapter eight there is a short section where God stops to give
personal instruction to Isaiah:
For YHWH said this to me with a strong hand, and
instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this
people, saying, “Do not say, ‘A conspiracy’ in regard to
all those to whom this people shall say, ‘A conspiracy.’
Do not fear what they fear, nor be afraid of it. Sanctify
YHWH of hosts Himself, and let Him be your fear, and
let him be your dread, and He shall be a refuge. (Isaiah
8:11-14)
What we have in Christ is a living Lord who will exercise His
authority over us—who will communicate His will to us as to how
we are to behave as His servants.
The Lord’s yoke is easy, and His burden is light. But there is
a yoke and a burden for us to bear. Colossians 3:23-25 says:
Whatever you do, do it heartily, as for the Lord, and
not for men, knowing that you shall receive the reward of
the inheritance from the Lord, for you serve the Lord Christ.
But he who does wrong shall receive for the wrong
that he has done, and there is no respect of persons.
Inheritance is not a given; it is the reward for our service in
obedience to Christ. And there are differences in the rewards.
Not all in a kingdom are rulers in that kingdom. This is why we
are warned that, although one may be saved by grace, one’s works
built of wood, hay and stubble, yet built on the foundation of
Jesus Christ, may be burned up, while only those who have built
on that same foundation of Christ with gold, silver and precious
stones will receive reward (1 Corinthians. 3:12).
Every day, by the impression He places on our hearts, He
instructs us on how we are to conduct ourselves. As we learn
from His Word, and are led by His Spirit, the Lord shows us
right from wrong in our walk with Him. We have the choice
whether or not to obey His instructions. And herein lies the rub:
Likewise, account yourselves also to be dead indeed
to sin, but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so
that you would obey it in its desires, nor yield your
members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin. But
yield yourselves to God, as those who are alive from the
dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness
to God. For sin shall not have power over you, for you
are not under the Law, but under grace.
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the
Law, but under grace? It cannot be! Do you not know that
to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, you are
his servants whom you obey—whether of sin unto death,
or of obedience unto righteousness?
But God be thanked that you the servants of sin,
but you have obeyed from the heart that form of instruction
that was delivered to you. Being then made free from
sin, you became the servants of righteousness. (Romans
6:11-17)
This is the seeming dichotomy: we are free Christ, but we
are slaves Christ. He is now our Master; sin is no longer our
master. Freedom in Christ requires that we recognize Him as
our Master, because that’s what makes us free.
Life in Christ is not anarchy. Anarchists think they are free
because they refuse to obey any laws (actually only certain laws).
But in truth they are enslaved to their own laws, and their
self-mastery is destructive of themselves and others. It is better
to be enslaved to a righteous master than to be enslaved to
ourselves. All creatures need boundaries in order to live safely
and productively. Christ’s mastery over us frees us from the
dictates of men, religion, government, and even ourselves.
Now, in order to fulfill righteousness we obey governments,
but we are free to disobey when the government requires us to
act contrary to the Word of God. We may suffer the consequences
at the hands of the government, but we will receive
reward at the hand of God. And there are other ways in which
we conform our behavior before others in order to maintain a
pure testimony, just as Paul was a Jew to the Jews and a Greek
to the Greeks (1 Corinthians 9:19-23).
It will be argued by those who wish to keep us under the Law
that it was not the law of man but of God. And this is true. Yet
in a sense, after Christ fulfilled the Law and opened the way for
freedom in Him, the Law of God became the law of man.
The truth is that God never expected man to be able to
completely obey the Law. But the Jews didn’t fully realize that.
They thought they could force themselves to keep the Law by
creating other laws as hedges against the Law. This merely
resulted in greater bondage. Ultimately the Law condemned us
and proved that we were slaves to sin.
PAGE 10 FALL 2011 MEDIA SPOTLIGHT • VOL. 34 - NO. 3
Now we must agree that the Law of God is righteous; it
illuminated man and some men embraced it. The righteous of
Israel said, “I love the Law.”
We can say today, “I love the Law; it’s beautiful.” But we
would hate to be under it. Because no matter how much we want
to do right by the Law of God, we will inevitably break the Law.
And if we offend in one law we are guilty of all the Law.
The Law was given by God out of His mercy and love.
Embodied within the Law of Moses was love for God and love
for man. This is why Jesus said that the Law is summed up in
these two: you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your mind, and with all your strength, and you shall love
your neighbor as yourself.
If the flesh were perfect enough to have kept the Law then
there would have been no need for Christ to die for us. We
would have been like Adam before he sinned. But the reality is
that no man is sinless. All have sinned and fallen short of the
glory of God (Romans 3:23).
Man cannot keep the Law, but man doesn’t believe that. Man
thinks he is inherently good; that the evil that man commits is
the result of outside forces causing him to act badly.
And that’s why even most Christians hold onto some form
of law. They won’t believe the verdict God has given against the
carnal nature of man. They don’t want to acknowledge that there
is nothing good in them.
Even when many say, “There’s nothing good in me,” deep
down they are saying, “I’m so good for stating this.”
The only way anyone can see this truth of man’s intrinsic sin
nature is by a head-on confrontation with Jesus Christ. Then we
see ourselves like Peter who came to the end of himself when he
said, “Depart from me because I am a sinful man, O Lord.” Or
like Paul who said, “There is no good thing in me.”
When one sees this truth it results in despair, humility, and
disgust with one’s self. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in
bringing us to repentance and trust in Jesus Christ as One who
saves us by His sacrifice on the cross.
This is contrary to today’s message that permeates the
Christian media—the message that we should put aside such
feelings and think of ourselves as glorious in Christ even while
we are living sinfully.
When we see ourselves in comparison to Jesus Christ, how
can we do anything but despair of anything within us being good?
It’s devastating to realize just how hopeless we are without Him.
The realization must come that in this life we are never going to
be good enough to stand before the living God. This should
crush us.
How many times in our lives have we sinned?
Just think. There are 365 days in a year. Multiply that by the
number of years you have lived, and then multiply the result by
how many times you merely think you sin per day. And anyone
would dare say they can stand justified before God without the
blood of Christ covering them?
Even as we despair over our sins we risk the danger of being
self-righteous. We think we should be righteous within ourselves
and we butt our heads against a wall wondering why we can’t
live sinlessly in sinful flesh.
The Lord does everything He can to help us see that we are
not righteous within ourselves. That’s why He died for us; that’s
why He had to save us more from our flesh than from the world
and the Devil.
And so by faith we come to the place where we are accepted
in the Beloved; we are accepted in Christ. We now have imputed
righteousness.
So we walk up to the Throne of Grace; we embrace God, and
we cry on His shoulder, because we are so simple. And we say,
“Father, how can I even come into Your house? I’m so unworthy,
but I can’t leave You!”
And He embraces us on the basis of Christ’s righteousness.
Our relationship with God is not based on our righteousness,
but on the realization of our own sinfulness. And we say with
the apostle Paul, “Christ came into the world to save sinners, of
whom I am chief” (1 Timothy 1:15).
So there we are in the throne room of God, embracing His
Son, fellowshipping with the Father over just how sinful we are.
But as long as we are there in the Spirit we are not committing
sin. It’s very difficult to sin in the Lord’s presence. As soon as
we find ourselves tempted it becomes a habitual thing in our
nature to cry out to our Father for help.
So we look at the Law and we realize how wonderful it is
simply because it reflects the holiness of God. But we are not
under it because, being sinful, we can never achieve the perfection
the Law demands. The Law says we have to be perfect in
our belief and behavior in order to have communion with God.
So in His mercy God pulled us out from under the Law and
established us in His grace.
While the Law reflects the holiness of God, it also reflects
His mercy just by His giving it for our instruction. So while the
Law proves we cannot live perfectly, it demonstrates our need
for God’s grace.
God’s grace says that because Christ has lived perfectly on
our behalf and has offered Himself as a perfect sacrifice for our
sins, never to be sacrificed over and over as Israel had to offer
their sacrifices under the Law, we are accepted when we believe.
The perfect nature of His sacrifice is graphically illustrated in
the Book of Hebrews:
For the Law, having a shadow of the good things to
come, not itself the very image of those things, can never
with those sacrifices that they continually offer year by
year make those who come to it perfect. For would they
then not have ceased to be offered because the worshippers,
once purged, would have had no more conscience
of sins?
But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again
made of sins every year because it is not possible that the
blood of bulls and of goats could take away sins.
Therefore, when He comes into the world He says,
“Sacrifice and offering you would not, but You have
prepared a body for Me. You have had no pleasure in
burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin. Then I said, ‘Look,
MEDIA SPOTLIGHT • VOL. 34 - NO. 3 FALL 2011 PAGE 11
I come to do Your will, O God (in the volume of the book
it is written of Me).’”
Above, when He said, “Sacrifice and offering, and
burnt offerings, and offering for sin You would not, nor
had pleasure in them that are offered by the Law,” then
He said, “Look, I come to do Your will, O God,” He takes
away the first so that He may establish the second, by
which will we are sanctified through the offering of the
body of Jesus Christ once for all.
And every priest stands daily, often ministering and
offering the same sacrifices that can never take away sins.
But this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins
forever, sat down on the right hand of God, from now
on expecting till His enemies be made His footstool. For
by one offering He has perfected forever those who are
sanctified, of which the Holy Spirit is also a witness to us.
(Hebrews 10:1-15)
To suggest that we can offer any sacrifice for our sins,
including our own good works, or even to suggest that Christ
Jesus Himself could be sacrificed again, is to deny the efficacy of
His perfect work on the cross of Calvary.
To try to live under the Law is to say, “I’m going to prove to
God and to the world how good I am.”
God will not accept us on that ground. It is only on the basis
of our admitting that we are sinners and that His Son paid the
price for our sins that He will accept us.
Jesus spoke this parable to some whom he perceived to be
self-righteous:
“Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one
a Pharisee, and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee
stood and prayed within himself thusly: ‘God, I thank
you that I am not as other men are, extortionists, unjust,
adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice in the
week, I give tithes of all that I possess.’
“And the tax collector, standing far off, would not so
much as lift up his eyes to Heaven, but struck upon his
breast, saying, ‘God be merciful to me, a sinner.’
“I tell you, this man went down to his house justified
rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself
shall be abased, and he who humbles himself shall be
lifted up.”
God is not in the business of perfecting our flesh; He’s done
away with our flesh. In Christ we are dead, having died with Him
on the cross through our faith in His atonement on our behalf
(Luke 15:10-14).
I can do nothing righteous. Therefore, any righteousness that
I perform I credit to Jesus Christ.
Now, we must be careful not to take our freedom in Christ
as license to sin. We cannot say, “Because God loves me, and
I’m His child, I don’t have to be concerned about how I live my
life. I can do anything I please. He’ll understand.”
That’s a very scary place to be. Because now that we belong
to Him—now that we are His property—He can discipline us. And
in this we have reason to fear. What child does not fear a father
who, though loving, is willing to mete out discipline in order to
bring correction? And our heavenly Father will discipline us:
For whom the Lord loves, He chastens, and scourges
every son whom He receives. (Hebrews 12:6)
So we are free in Christ, but we are also open to His
chastisement. Which is totally different from condemnation.
Trying to keep the Law condemns us. Our position in Christ
risks at the worst chastisement for our sins, but carries the benefit
of reward for our compliance to His chastising work.
This subject is very confusing to many believers—particularly
to those new in the faith. It is often presented in ways that
confuse people more than it helps them. They will not let go of
the Law, or of the idea that they can strive to keep the Law
perfectly. This is because so much teaching is an appeal to the
flesh to do “right.”
They say, “We’re delivered from the ceremonial law, but not
from the moral law.”
Well, is that good news? I can do the ceremonial law a lot
easier than I can do the moral law!
That is the basis for many of the dos and don’ts of religion—
even Christian religion. It still puts us back under the Law.
Confusion enters into the equation when we think that doing
away with the Law is the same as doing away with right and
wrong. It’s mistakenly thinking that once the Law is done away
there is no sin. Add to this that James tells us “sin is the
transgression of the Law.”
The problem is often that we tend to focus on one area of
Scripture rather than take the whole counsel of God. The Law
is summed up in the Law of Love. If we love God and man we
will not purposely live contrary to the leading of His Spirit. The
difference is that we are not under the system of the Law that
says we must do these things to attain unto God. We follow the
Spirit of God; we do not follow the Law of God which was meant
to keep in line those who did not have His Holy Spirit. Let me
say that again: we follow the Spirit of God, not the Law of God.
We still recognize sin, which we hate, and we still recognize
righteousness, which we love. It does not take that away; it just
takes us out from depending upon keeping the Law as a means
of righteousness and/or salvation. The Law, whether written on
paper or written on the hearts of men (Romans 2:15), is the
system by which the whole world will be judged, except for those
who are in Christ and, thus, are indwelt by His Holy Spirit.
It seems a contradiction to say this, but it is precisely because
we recognize we cannot keep the Law that we rely on the Holy
Spirit to guide us into all righteousness. It is His strength, not
the strength of our flesh that compels us to do according to the
will of the Father and not the will of our sinful flesh. If we live
according to the Law of Love by the power of the Holy Spirit in
compliance with God’s Word, we do not have to strive to keep
the Law. That’s what it means to live by faith and not by the
strength of the flesh.
If we fail on occasion, we need merely confess our sin to the
Father and be assured that He will lift us up as He has always
done.
By Al Dager
Media Spotlight
http://www.mediaspotlight.org/pdfs/Vol34-No%2003-Web.pdf
