The Mosaic Law. Why believers are not under the Law.
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Prepare yourself for learning the Word of God!
Before we begin, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ (that is; you have believed [trusted] in Him for His promised gift of eternal life), it is important to prepare yourself to learn God's Word so take a moment to name, cite or acknowledge (confess) your sins privately to God (i.e.; with your thoughts directed only to God the Father).
1 John 1:9 says: "If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins (known sins) and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness [unknown or forgotten sins]." NKJV (New King James Version) [italics added]
If you have never personally believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior (that is, believed in Him for eternal life), the issue for you is not to name your sins; the issue for you is to have faith alone in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life:
John 6:47 says: "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." NKJV [italics added]
Notice again what Jesus said in John 6:47: "…he who believes in Me (Jesus Christ) has everlasting life." It doesn't say, "will have"; it says, "has." Therefore, the very moment you believe in Jesus Christ for His promise of everlasting life, you have it (it's really just that simple; nothing more and nothing less), and it can never be taken away from you (John 10:28-29). Furthermore, the gift (Ephesians 2:8c) of everlasting life (also called eternal life in scripture) is available to every human being; there are absolutely no exceptions.
John 3:14-18 says: "14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." NKJV
Let us now bow our hearts and take a moment to prepare for worship and learning God's Word. If there is any known sin in your life, this is the time to just cite it privately to God the Father with your thoughts directed towards Him. With your head bowed and your eyes closed, you have total privacy in your mind and soul:
Study to show yourself approved to God!
Grace Bible Church
Robert R. McLaughlin Bible Ministries
The Tree of Life is a weekly teaching summary:
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God’s Word is Wednesday, Friday and Sunday mornings
STUDY TITLE:
The Mosaic Law. Why believers are not under the Law.
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Terms & Abbreviations used:
PPOG = Predesigned Plan of God
Human Good = Evil + Good Deeds while not in fellowship with God
OSN = Old Sin Nature
TLJC = The Lord Jesus Christ
SSE = Spiritual Self Esteem
PVTD = Positive Volition Towards Doctrine
+H - The Happiness of God
NVTD = Negative Volition Towards Doctrine
Doctrine = Bible Truth
Human Good = Evil + Good Deeds while not in fellowship with God
OSN = Old Sin Nature
TLJC = The Lord Jesus Christ
SSE = Spiritual Self Esteem
PVTD = Positive Volition Towards Doctrine
+H - The Happiness of God
NVTD = Negative Volition Towards Doctrine
Doctrine = Bible Truth
BEGIN BIBLE STUDY
Unless otherwise noted, all scripture quotes and references
are from the NASB – New American Standard Bible
We have been noting the Doctrine of the Mosaic Law and we have noted the following points so far:
1) Definition. 2) Who are the recipients of the Mosaic Law? 3) Limitations of the Mosaic Law.
Point 4 in our study is Legalism and the Mosaic Law. There are three basic categories of salvation by works: 1) Salvation by works alone. 2) Salvation by faith plus works which includes such things as faith plus commitment, lordship, repentance, baptism, emotion, or psychological activity. 3) Salvation by works without faith, such as inviting Christ into your heart, when JER 17:9 says, the heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out. Then there is inviting Christ into your life, you are spiritually dead; therefore that is inviting Christ into a tomb. In GAL 1:1-6, Paul is rebuking the Galatians for compromising with legalism when presenting the Gospel, Paul, an apostle (not sent from men, nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead), and all the brethren who are with me, to the churches of Galatia: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen. I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; He can't believe how easily they have turned on the One who called them by the grace of Christ! Remember that Galatians is the book that deals with legalism at Salvation, and in the Christian way of life. The Galatians had become legalistic, self-righteous, pious, and inflexible in their moral degeneracy. Satan and the kingdom of darkness know that the only thing that matters is the extent to which they can separate the believer from God. It does not matter how small the sins, or the distractions are, so long as the effect keeps the individual away from the Light. The surest road to carnality, and eventually reversionism is the gradual one, the gentle slope without signposts. In many cases, Satan will even use the Church itself as a weapon against the Christian faith. Today, all the average believer sees is the erection of a new building, or a place of programs and gimmicks instead of a consistent teaching of grace and truth. They see a nice choir, programs of human altruism and human good, feeding the homeless, clothing the naked, but without executing the spiritual life. A life without knowing 1PE 3:15 “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;”
Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to tell anyone who asks why you're living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Sadly, the average Christian today is full of hazy thoughts, many times actually disappointed in his own Christian walk. Add in a few negative thoughts about others, mix in some legalism from the Mosaic Law, and you have a defeated believer. One who does not fit into JOH 8:32 and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. You must learn to distinguish between the truth and the lie.
Point 5. The Principle of Precedence Related to the Mosaic Law.
The Christian way of life or the PPOG takes its precedence from the Lord Jesus Christ during the dispensation of the Hypostatic-union rather than from the Mosaic Law in the dispensation of Israel. This means that precedence for the PPOG is not taken from any of the commandments of the Mosaic Law, whether tithing, Sabbath observance, or learning the Ten Commandments. The PPOG is classified as mystery doctrine, defined as never being revealed to Old Testament writers. Not one word regarding the uniqueness of the Church-age is found in the Old Testament (ROM 16:25). All of our praise rises to the One who is strong enough to make you strong, exactly as preached in Jesus Christ, precisely as revealed in the mystery kept secret for so long.
Paul would say to the Ephesians in EPH 3:1-6, “For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you; that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. And by referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,” In COL 1:25-27, “of this church I was made a minister according to the dispensation from God bestowed on me for your benefit that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God, that is the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations; but has now been manifested to his saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the glorious riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the confidence of the glory.”
We are now under a new set of commands. The Mosaic Law has been completely fulfilled by our Lord, therefore it can, and has been abrogated (abolished, cancelled or terminated). Therefore, the lifestyle of the PPOG for the Church-age can never take its precedence from something that has been totally abrogated. No precedence for the Church-age is taken from Israel. This means that the Mosaic Law has nothing to do with the Christian way of life. God provided establishment principles for Gentiles long before He provided the Mosaic Law. God also provided establishment principles for the Church after He abrogated the Mosaic Law. But when it comes to spiritual life, the PPOG for the Church-age supersedes the ritual plan of God for Israel. Precedence for the PPOG is derived from the dispensation of the Hypostatic-union only. Most reformed denominations include the Mosaic Law as a part of the Christian way of life. The book of Romans and Galatians repudiate the Law as part of the Christian way of life. Neither Salvation or spirituality are related to keeping the Law. The substitutionary spiritual death of Christ on the Cross fulfilled in detail Codex Two of the Mosaic Law, which is the spiritual part found in the book of Leviticus in the animal sacrifices. However, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the basis for a New Spiritual Species, a Royal Family of God, and the PPOG. The PPOG and the Mosaic Law are mutually exclusive. All precedence for the PPOG is based on the power or the omnipotence that raised Christ from the dead. This excludes the Mosaic Law because it (the Law) cannot provide spirituality, and neither can it provide resurrection. All doctrine related to the way of life for the Church-age is classified as mystery doctrine which was hidden from the Old Testament writers. The sooner you get straight on this point, the sooner you start glorifying the Lord. God calls the human works done without the power of the Holy Spirit, filthy garments in ISA 64:6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf. You can work hard, but the disappointment or anticlimax which is certainly coming your way will wear you out. Desiring our freedom, God refuses to bless us when we perform human good. Any of the goals which God sets for us, He leaves us with a choice of doing it our way or with His help using the power of God (Acts 1:8; HEB 4:12). But, how can you use this power when you don't know a thing about it? How can you use this power when you think that the spiritual life is quitting sin rather than rebound, the filling of the Holy Spirit, and the PMA of Bible doctrine, all based upon the grace of God? Those who are under the influence of legalism and self-righteousness misunderstand the grace of God and sometimes even state that grace a license to sin. TIT 2:11-12 says, For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, There lies our opportunity, but also our danger, if we abuse the grace of God. Satan knows that once we understand these principles and get through the initial state of spiritual dryness successfully, we will become much less dependent on emotion, and therefore much harder to tempt. This is why he uses the Strategy of Diversion. He knows that if a believer can't be cured or diverted from his PVTD, the next best thing is to send him all over the place looking for a church that suits him. The reasons are obvious. In the first place, doctrinal churches will always be attacked, because being a place where truth concerning the spiritual life, is really taught it brings people of different classes together in the kind of unity that God desires. On the other hand, those churches involved with religion, following the Ten commandments and the Mosaic Law turn into a kind of club, and finally into a place for fellowship rather than doctrine. The search for a suitable church makes the believer a critic where God wants him to be a pupil. What God desires for believers in church is an attitude which may, indeed be critical in the sense of rejecting what is false, but which is wholly uncritical in the sense of judging the one who teaches. This is why you are to pray for them and support them (EPH 6:19-20).
Point 6. The Present Purpose of the Mosaic Law in the Church Age.
The Mosaic Law was abrogated as a total code for the Church-age, but there are some principles in the New Testament repeated from the Mosaic Law. So while the Jews of the Old Testament lived by the Mosaic Law, Church-age believers live by the PPOG. The dispensation of the Hypostatic-union stands as a permanent line of demarcation between Israel and the Church. Therefore, during the dispensation of the Hypostatic-union, Jesus Christ fulfilled the Mosaic Law on the one hand, and through life in the PPOG, established the precedence for the Church-age on the other. This is why the Lord said in MAT 5:17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.” In ROM 10:1-4, “Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” The Mosaic Law is a particular expression of God's eternal and Holy character (Exo 19). While the Law regulated the life of the Jews in the dispensation of Israel, its primary purpose was to anticipate the First Advent of Christ. After the Law was fulfilled by Christ, this code no longer governs any people or any nation. However, the abrogation of the Law does not leave either unbelievers or believers in a state of lawlessness, ROM 6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!
Point 7.Dr. Charles E. Feinberg's Seventeen Points on Why the Believer is not under the Law.
1) A believer under the Law makes Christ a minister of sin, GAL 2:17 “But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be!” It’s no great surprise that some of you noticed that we are not yet perfect. Are you ready to make the accusation that since people like you and I, who go through Christ in order to get things right with God, aren't perfectly virtuous, Christ must therefore be an accessory to sin? The accusation is silly, and as GAL 2:17 says May it never be! So a believer who puts himself under the Law makes the Lord Jesus Christ a partner with his guilt or as Paul says a minister of sin.
2) The believer has died to the Law, GAL 2:19 “For through the Law I died to the Law, that I might live to God.” Paul is saying that he tried keeping rules and working hard to please God, and it didn't work. So he quit being a law man so that he could be God's man. Under the operation of the curse of the Law, Paul died to the Law and all the Law's demands upon him.
3) A believer has received all the benefits of the Holy Spirit through faith. GAL 3:1 “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?” Paul is saying that something crazy has happened, for it's obvious that you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives. His sacrifice on the Cross was certainly set before you clearly enough. GAL 3:2 “This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?” Did you receive the [Holy] Spirit as the result of obeying the Law and doing its works, or was it by hearing [the message of the Gospel] and believing [it]? Was it from observing a law of rituals or from a message of faith? GAL 3:3 “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” Only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God. If you weren't smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it or make it any better than God did? You can see, the arrogance behind self-righteousness and legalism. GAL 3:4 “Did you suffer so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain?” Did you go through this whole painful learning process for nothing? GAL 3:5 “Does He then, who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?” Does the God who lavishly provides you with His own presence, His Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves, does he do these things because of your strenuous moral striving, or because you trust Him to do them in you? Well, I think you know the answer to that question by now.
4) The Law brings nothing but condemnation (GAL 3:10-14). All who depend on the Law, who are seeking to be justified by obedience to the Law of rituals are under a curse and doomed to disappointment and destruction. Anyone who tries to live by his own effort, independent of God, is doomed to failure. Scripture backs this up. The Scripture says in HAB 2:4 The man in right standing with God [the just, the righteous] shall live by and out of faith and he who through and by faith is declared righteous and in right standing with God shall live. The obvious impossibility of carrying out such a moral program should make it plain that no one can sustain a relationship with God that way. Doing things for God is the opposite of entering into what God does for you. Rule-keeping does not naturally evolve into living by faith, but only perpetuates itself in more rule-keeping. Christ purchased our freedom, redeeming us from the curse or doom of the Law and its condemnation by Himself becoming a curse for us. The Lord Jesus Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into Himself. That is what happened when Jesus was nailed to the Cross: He became a curse, and at the same time dissolved the curse. Through believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, the blessing promised to Abraham comes upon the Gentiles, so that through faith, we all might receive the realization of the promise of the Holy Spirit. We are all able to receive God's life, His Spirit, in and with us by believing, just the way Abraham received it.
5) God's promised blessings to Abraham, of which Abrahamic root all believers partake of, (Rom 11), preceded or came before the giving of the Law, therefore, the law cannot be a prior claim. GAL 3:15 “Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations: even though it is only a man's covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it.” If a man makes a last will and testament, no one sets it aside or makes it void or adds to it when once it has been drawn up and signed ratified, or confirmed. Once a person's will has been ratified, no one else can annul it or add to it. GAL 3:16 “Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, "And to seeds," as referring to many, but rather to one, "And to your seed," that is, Christ.” Observe that Scripture, in the careful language of a legal document, does not say “to descendants,” referring to everybody in general, but “to your descendant” (singular), referring to Christ. GAL 3:17 “What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.” The Law, which began 430 years after the covenant [concerning the coming Messiah], does not and cannot annul the covenant previously established (ratified) by God, so as to abolish the promise and make it void. 6) The Law has no power to give life or to sustain life, GAL 3:21 “Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law.” As we have noted in this doctrine, the laws purpose was to make obvious to everyone that we are, in ourselves, out of right relationship with God. Therefore, the Law was given to show us the futility of devising religious systems for getting by on our own efforts what we can only get by waiting in faith for God to complete His promise. If any rule-keeping had power to create life in us, we would certainly have gotten it by this time.
7) The Law is intended only for the immature, while positionally, believers are full-grown sons (GAL 3:23-4:7). Before the faith or doctrine came, the truth that set us free, we were perpetually guarded under the Law, kept in custody in preparation for the faith that was destined to be revealed unveiled, or disclosed. Until the time when we were mature enough to respond freely in faith to the living God, we were carefully surrounded and protected by the Mosaic law. The Law served to the Jews as their trainer, or guardian, or guide to Christ, to lead them until Christ came, that they might be justified (declared righteous, put in right standing with God) through faith. The Law was like those Greek tutors, with which the Galatians were familiar with, who escort children to school and protect them from danger or distraction, making sure the children will really get to the place they set out for. We are no longer under a trainer but now have arrived at the destination. Your baptism in Christ was not just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe, Christ's life, the fulfillment of God's original promise. In Christ's family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. We are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ. If you are in Him Who is Abraham's Seed, then you are Abraham's offspring and spiritual heirs according to promise. God sent His Son, born of a woman, born subject to the regulations of the Law, born under the conditions of the Law so that He might redeem those who had been kidnapped by the law (GAL 4:5). You are no longer a slave bond servant but a son; and if a son, then it follows that you are an heir by the aid of God, through Christ. Your privilege of being able to have an intimate conversation with God makes it plain that you are not a slave, but a child.
8) The Law is a bondage to the believer, GAL 4:9 “But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?” Now that you have come to be acquainted with and understand and know the true God, or rather to be understood and known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary things of self-righteousness and legalism and religion. How can you possibly subject yourselves again to those elementary principles of the law.
9) Law and grace are mutually exclusive principles; therefore, choose one or the other. GAL 4:21-31. GAL 4:21 “Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not listen to the law? Have you paid close attention to that law? GAL 4:22-23, “For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman. But the son by the bondwoman [Ishmael] was born according to the flesh [human plans and ingenuity], and the son by the free woman [Isaac] through the promise [of God or divine ingenuity or power].” The child of the slave woman, Hagar, was born according to the flesh and had an ordinary birth, the son of the free woman, Sarah, was born in fulfillment of the promise. GAL 4:24 “This is allegorically speaking: for these women are two covenants, one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar.” The two births represent two ways of being in relationship with God. One is from Mount Sinai in Arabia. These two women represent two covenants. One covenant originated from Mount Sinai, where the Law was given, and bears children destined for slavery; this is Hagar. GAL 4:25-26, “Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.”But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother.” The Jerusalem above refers to the Messianic kingdom of Christ. There is an invisible Jerusalem, a free Jerusalem, and she is our mother, this is the way of Sarah. GAL 4:27-29, For it is written, "Rejoice, barren woman who does not bear; Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor; For more are the children of the desolate Than of the one who has a husband. And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise. We are children, not by physical descent, as was Ishmael, but like Isaac, born in virtue of promise. But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also.” Just as at that time the child of ordinary birth (Ishmael), born according to the flesh despised and persecuted him who was born remarkably according to the promise and the working of the Holy Spirit, so it is now also. [GEN 21:9.] In the days of Hagar and Sarah, the child who came from faithless connivance (Ishmael) harassed the child who came empowered by the Spirit from the faithful promise (Isaac). So, the apostle Paul is saying to the Galatians: Isn't it clear that the harassment you are now experiencing from the Jerusalem heretics follows that old pattern? Those under legalism will never enjoy the inheritance that those under grace experience and enjoy.
10) The believer has an abiding freedom in Christ, GAL 5:1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. In this freedom Christ has made us free and completely liberated us. So, we are to stand fast then, and do not be hampered and held or ensnared and submit again to a yoke of slavery which you have once put off. Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.
11) The believer must keep all the law if he would attempt to keep even part of it, and that is an impossibility, GAL 5:2 “Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you.” Paul says that the moment any believer submits to any other rule-keeping system, Christ's hard won gift of freedom is wasted. GAL 5:3 “And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law.” The person who accepts the ways of the Law trades all the advantages of the free life in Christ for the obligations of the slave life of the law. GAL 5:4 “You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.” When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and programs, you are cut off from Christ and you fall out of grace. If you seek to be justified and declared righteous and to be given a right standing with God through the Law, you are brought to nothing and separated or severed from Christ. You have fallen away from grace or from God's gracious favor and unmerited blessing.
12) The persuasion to put the believer under the Law is not from God. GAL 5:8 “This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you.” It is a detour from Satan and the kingdom of darkness that doesn't come from the One who called you into the race in the first place.
13) Legalism of the believer does away with the offense of the Cross, GAL 5:11 “But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished.” If Paul still preached circumcision as some accuse him of doing, as necessary to salvation, why was he still suffering persecution? The rumor was that he continued to preach the ways of circumcision as he did in those pre-Damascus Road days. He says if I were preaching that old message, no one would be offended if I mentioned the Cross now and then, it would be so watered down it wouldn't matter. But he wasn't teaching circumcision or the Mosaic Law, he was teaching the grace of God.
14) All the Mosaic Law is fulfilled by the Holy Spirit (GAL 5:16-24). GAL 5:16 “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” If you walk and live habitually in the Holy Spirit, being responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit; then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh which is the human nature without God. Paul says my counsel is this: Live freely, motivated by God's Spirit and then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness. GAL 5:17 “For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.” The desires of the flesh are opposed to the Holy Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are opposed to the flesh, the godless human nature. These are antagonistic to each other, continually withstanding and in conflict with each other, so that you are not free but are prevented from doing what you desire to do. This is why you should never get shocked with mankind. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day. GAL 5:18 “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.” Why don't you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law dominated existence in the flesh? GAL 5:19 “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,” It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and vain grabs for happiness. GAL 5:20 “idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,” Factions are party spirits with their own self-righteous and legalistic opinions. GAL 5:21-22, “envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,” The fruit of the Holy Spirit is the work which His presence within accomplishes in our lives. What happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard, things like affection for others, and exuberance about life. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic dedication and devotion to the spiritual life permeates things and people. Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; in fact it only gets in the way. Those who belong to the Messiah have crucified the godless human nature with its passions and appetites and desires.
15) The life of the believer must be sustained on the same principle as his new birth or regeneration. GAL 5:25 “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” If by the Holy Spirit we have our life in God, let us go forward walking in line, our conduct controlled by the Spirit. Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives.
16) The believer's proneness to sin calls for his dealing with grace, not dealing according to the Law, GAL 6:1-5.
GAL 6:1 “Brethren, even if a man is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, lest you too be tempted.” If any person is overtaken in misconduct or sin of any sort, you who are spiritual, who are responsive to and controlled by the Spirit, should set him right and restore and reinstate him. You might be needing forgiveness before the day's out. GAL 6:2 “Bear one another's burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ.” Notice, you are to fulfill the Law of Christ. What is the Law of Christ? GAL 5:14 “For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the {statement}, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
GAL 6:3-4, “For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another.” Let every person carefully scrutinize and examine and test his own conduct and his own work. He can then have the personal satisfaction and joy of doing something commendable in itself alone without resorting to boastful comparison with his neighbor. Don't be impressed with yourself. Don't compare yourself with others. GAL 6:5 “For each one shall bear his own load. ” Every person will have to bear his own load of oppressive faults.
17) All who advocate the law for the believer cannot keep it themselves, and their intention is ultimate glory in the flesh. GAL 6:13 “For those who are circumcised do not even keep the Law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised, that they may boast in your flesh.” Even the circumcised Jews themselves did not really keep the Law, but they want to have others circumcised in order that they may glory in the flesh, their subjection to external rites. Paul says they only want you to be circumcised so they can boast of their success in recruiting you to their side. That is contemptible!
Point 8. The Basic Law the Church Age Believer Is under.
There are four laws in the Christian life when it comes to methods of procedure: a. The perfect law of liberty. You are free as a child of God. By now you know you are not under a the Law. You have been delivered from every aspect of the law. So the law of liberty is the law that all believers operate in when they are filled with the Holy Spirit. The law of liberty is a reference to the freedom we have to serve the Lord not the freedom we have to sin. There is no freedom in sin, rather there is just the guarantee of bondage and death. The law of liberty and freedom is the freedom to serve the Lord and the freedom to produce Divine good. It is a law based upon the filling of the Spirit. The law of liberty means that no one else has the right to tell you how to live your life. The word of God is your authority and under the word of God you are to live your life as unto the Lord, without any outside interference or harassing or intimidation from others. The word liberty is defined as the state of being exempt from the dominion of others or from restricting circumstances. It is freedom to do according to ones own preference and choice. Grace glories in true liberty and freedom. Grace is not a way of escaping obedience to God; it is the only way in which true obedience can be achieved.
b) The law of love. There comes a time when the law of love will take precedence over the law of liberty. The law of liberty is directed toward self, the law of love is directed toward others. This means that there are times when you will impose upon yourself certain standards that you don't normally observe. You refrain from certain things that are legitimate in order to be of help to other believers in their spiritual growth. The liberty and the freedom that believers have is revealed by the love that they have for others. The law of love allows the conscience of the weak to determine action. 1CO 8:8-13, But food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat. But take care lest this liberty of yours somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone sees you, who have knowledge, dining in an idol's temple, will not his conscience, if he is weak, be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols? For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died. And thus, by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, that I might not cause my brother to stumble.
c) The law of expediency. This law is directed toward unbelievers. The law of expediency says in effect that in order for the Gospel to be made clear, and that false issues do not come in and sidetrack the Gospel, it is expedient that certain types of procedure be followed. The law of expediency says make the issue the Gospel. 1CO 6:12 “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.” This law takes into consideration the danger to the believers own life in the matter of personal habits or trends and the responsibility to others in the matter of edification. When considering the law of expediency we do not ask what harm is there in this or that? But rather what is the good in that which I am doing? This is why EPH 5:15 teaches that in our liberty we are to walk accurately, Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise.
d) Then there is the law of supreme sacrifice. This is the law where the believer sets aside normal and legitimate functions of life to progress in the Plan of God. Paul in 1CO 9:12 illustrated this when he said he couldn't get married because of the nature of his ministry. 1CO 9:12 “If others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ.”
The following link is to a good news message describing how one can receive eternal life:
Ticket to Heaven, it was written for anyone not absolutely certain about their eternal future.
