No More Consciousness of Sins – Part 2

Every one that is not born again is under the conviction of the Holy Spirit for the SIN of not believing in Jesus Christ (John 16:8&9).

Once we are born again we should not be sin conscious because God doesn’t keep a record of our sins.

Romans 4:6-8 NKJV
Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God IMPUTES RIGHTEOUSNESS APART FROM WORKS: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; Blessed is the man to whom the Lord SHALL NOT IMPUTE SIN.”

God changed the law because we have a High Priest that serves under a different covenant to the one that Israel had with Him. Because priesthood changed, the law had to change. There is a new law in the place of the old one.

Hebrews 7:11-12 NKJV
11 Therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood (FOR UNDER IT THE PEOPLE RECEIVED THE LAW), what further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek, and not be called according to the order of Aaron? 12 FOR THE PRIESTHOOD BEING CHANGED, OF NECESSITY THERE IS ALSO A CHANGE OF THE LAW.

Romans 3:21-22 NKJV
21 But now the righteousness of God APART FROM THE LAW IS REVEALED, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD, THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST, to all and on all who believe.

John 13:34 NKJV
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

The old covenant commandment was to keep the Law, and then God would be pleased with you. In the new covenant we don’t do things to please God and become acceptable before Him. We do things for God and people out of love for God and people (I Corinthians 13:3 NKJV – And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.)

I John 3:23 NKJV
And this is His commandment: that we should BELIEVE ON THE NAME OF THE OF HIS SON Jesus Christ and LOVE ONE ANOTHER, as He gave us commandment.

Now that we are born-again our commandment is to 1. Believe what Jesus accomplished for us, 2. Walk in love toward other people.

Because we have the Holy Spirit prompting us to do right, we do not need the law to tell us what to do. The Bible tells us to completely dissociate ourselves from the law because it brings condemnation and death (2 Corinthians 3:7,9).

We have to grow in our relationship with the Holy Spirit because He has taken the place of the law in providing guidance for our conduct.

Romans 7:6 AMP
6 But now we are DISCHARGED from the Law and have TERMINATED ALL INTERCOURSE with it, having died to what once restrained and held us captive. So now we serve not under [obedience to] the old code of written regulations, but [UNDER OBEDIENCE TO THE PROMPTINGS] OF THE SPIRIT in newness [of life].

When the peace of God remains in our hearts after receiving a prompting, we can act on the prompting because it is from the Holy Spirit.

The promptings can come in many ways including: a thought, a word, a phrase, a picture/vision, an impression in your heart, compassion toward a person, etc.

We are no longer under the law of Moses. The law has been removed from our relationship with God. If we miss a mark we are not condemned by God. We will have to deal with the consequences of our actions or omissions where this life is concerned, but God does not count that sin against us because He has removed the law from His dealings with us.

Visit http://fountainofhisword.co.za for an audio recording of this message and other messages that were preached during our celebration services.

We No Longer Relate to God through the Law – Part 2

The new covenant is about having faith that Jesus has COMPLETELY RESTORED US BACK TO GOD and WALKING IN LOVE toward other people (1 John 3:23).

Galatians 3:10-11 & James 2:10-11 tell us the reason it is IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE GOD by living according to the Law. Even if you were to keep 99% of the Law you would still go to hell for breaking the Law because it is not flexible to accommodate mistakes. We clearly see this where a man was stoned to death for breaking the Law by picking up sticks on a Sabbath day (Numbers 15:32-36).

As Christians we have thought that keeping the Law of Moses would make people see that we are God’s children. That was true for Israel. Jesus did not teach this to His disciples but to those who claimed to live by the Law of Moses.

We must not confuse what Jesus taught His disciples with what He said to the Scribes, the Pharisees, and the young rich ruler who claimed to live according to the Law. In Matthew 22:37-40 and Matthew 19:16-30 Jesus was not giving a kingdom teaching to His disciples, He was showing people who claimed to live by the Law how impossible it is to keep the whole Law.

To correctly interpret the Word one must know WHO WAS TALKING, TO WHO, AND WHEN. In John 13:34&35 Jesus was talking to His disciples. 1 John 3:23 tells us that what Jesus said in John 13:34 is the commandment we should follow as Christians.

This is what John 13:34-35 NLT says, “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. YOUR LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER WILL PROVE TO THE WORLD THAT YOU ARE MY DISCIPLES.”

If you love your neighbour you will not steal from him, you will not tell lies about him, you will not kill him, you will not commit adultery with his wife, etc. AS YOU FOLLOW THE NEW COMMANDMENT YOU WOULD NOT BREAK THE OLD COMMANDMENT IF IT WAS STILL APPLICABLE.

Under the new covenant we do not try to impress God by showing how much we love Him and people, we get empowered to love both God and people. We do not have the demand Israel had when they lived by the Law of Moses (Matthew 22:37-40). His love for us empowers/enables us to love both God and people (1 John 4:10&19). As we receive/experience His love for us we will be able to love Him back and love other people. The first thing that His love does to us is to cast out all fear for punishment for our wrong (1 John 4:18).

A child of God correctly relates with God through faith in what Jesus Christ did for him or her. Our good deeds (acts of love) are the product of our relationship with Him; not that our relationship with Him is the product of our good deeds. God is not interested in our attempt to gain acceptance before Him by keeping the law He gave to Israel to follow while they were waiting for the Messiah.

Galatians 3:23-25 NLT
Before the way of faith in Christ was available to us, WE WERE PLACED UNDER GUARD BY THE LAW. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, UNTIL THE WAY OF FAITH WAS REVEALED. Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian UNTIL CHRIST CAME; it protected us until we could be made right with God through faith. And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian.

The Word of God says we must not mix faith in Jesus and the Law (Galatians 4:21-30). Verse 30 tells us to remove the Law from our relationship with God.

As you celebrate Christmas remember that the Law was given through Moses but GRACE and TRUTH came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17). Note that according to this verse the TRUTH is on the side of Grace; not the side of the Law.

Love Revealed – Part 4

As we look back in the beginning to see the love of God in how He dealt with people after they sinned we see that GOD’S LOVE FOR US KNOWS NO BOUNDS!

Sin has consequences; we saw Adam and Eve deal with the consequences for their sin. What is amazing to me is to see that God continued to love on them even when they were in their fallen state. He could do that because He already had a plan to rescue the human race. The fact that they had to deal with the consequences of their sin, that didn’t stop God from pouring His love on them (for more info see Love Revealed – Part 3 from our Facebook page).

Another story that tells of God’s unconditional love is how He protected Cain after he murdered his brother. Cain suffered the consequences for his sin but when he asked for God’s mercy that no-one kills him for what he did, God promised to punish seven times whoever would kill Cain because of what he did (Genesis 4:13-15). To me it is like God was saying “I have dealt with Cain for his sin, no-one else is supposed to judge him for this sin”.

We learn from this incident that we must not run away from God after we have fallen to sin, even though we suffer the consequences of our sin God will treat us with mercy (not according to our sins) and kindness because that is what He uses to turn us from our sins to His plan for our lives (Romans 2:4 & Romans 11:29).

After the flood that wiped out all people on earth except for Noah and his family, God went on to make an UNCONDITIONAL COVENANT with all flesh on the earth (Genesis 9:11-17). IN THIS COVENANT, God promised that He would never again curse the ground in response to man’s sin (Genesis 8:21-22).

Later on we will see that God introduced another covenant, Law Covenant, that was going to last only until God makes an EVERLASTING COVENANT with Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:20). The law covenant was harsh; it introduced punishment for every sin (a curse) and the blessing would only come as a result of good works. Today a lot of people still try to relate to God according to their works.

But before the introduction of the Law Covenant we see God making a covenant with Abram. In this covenant God promised to exceedingly multiply Abram if he, Abram, would 1. have a relationship with God, 2. be sincere before God, and 3. be circumcised as the sign for the covenant (Genesis 17:1-2,10).

We will later see that God kept His covenant with Abraham active even after He introduced the Law Covenant (Luke 13:16), because Abraham’s Covenant was also made to Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:16). When God introduced the New Covenant with Jesus Christ, God removed all the curses that were introduced by the Law and gave the believers in Christ access to the benefits of the covenant He made with Abraham (Galatians 3:10-14).

The Bible tells us that Abram became acceptable (righteous) before God by FAITH not by his GOOD WORKS (Genesis 15:5&6). This is exactly how those who believe in Jesus Christ become acceptable before God and receive His blessings; it is by FAITH not because they meet some standard of the law (Galatians 3:11 & Romans 4:13). GOD LOVES US UNCONDITIONALLY!

(To be continued…)