2004-06-18
Good Morning Fellow Believers,
It is a privilege to be able to write week after week to you about the faith that God, in His righteousness, has given me and about His wonderful plan crafted before the creation of the world. Because our world is as evil as it is, we all find it quite a trial to carry on our lives in the face of such temptation, titillation, disrespect for God, and cruelty. And yet, our loving Abba wants us to understand the power He has given us to fight off Satan’s arrows to victory in Christ’s name. He also wants us to understand His word, so that we can stretch toward His perspective on matters such as His laws.
Last week, I got to write about one of my favorite subjects, God’s grace. This week, I’m led to write about the truth that the limitations of the Law do not render it useless or evil. It is my hope that you can join me in being convinced that every word, punctuation mark, number, or name in the Scriptures is there for God’s reasons and has its own importance in leading us to spiritually mature understanding of Him and His will. We should be reminded that Law here (with the capital L) refers the “curse of the Law,” which came after the ancient Jewish rabbinical commentators in the Talmud ballooned the Ten Commandments to 613 laws which no one but our Lord Jesus Christ could obey all at the same time. When the words, “law or God’s laws,” are used, I refer to all of God’s teaching through the Holy Spirit. When Christ died on the cross, He got rid of the “curse of the law” in accordance with DT 21: 23 and GA 3: 13-14, which I hope you will review.
Let’s begin with the revelation of God’s purpose for us and the purpose of the law in RO 7: 6-7, “Now, however, we are free from the Law, because we died to that which once held us prisoners. No longer do we serve in the old way of the written law, but in the new way of the Spirit. Shall we say, then, that the Law itself is sinful? Of course not! But it was the Law that made me know what sin is. If the Law had not said, ‘Do not desire what belongs to someone else,’ I would not have known such a desire.” When the capital “L” was used in RO 7: 6 here, it refers to the original Ten Commandments, which came from God and can’t be evil, because our God has no evil in Him. The problem comes in when a human intermediary, in this case the ancient rabbinical commentators, put their spin on it. This and mankind’s inherent sinful nature, service to flesh over all, is what led to the legalistic approach to Judaism that has been taken since the Talmud was taught and is still taken even today by traditional Jews. Please don’t get the idea that I think only traditional Jews can be legalistic. Far from it! There are some so-called Christians that take this approach too. When the Holy Spirit enters a person’s spirit as described in RO 8: 16, that “inward transformation by the renewal of the mind” [RO 12: 2] takes place. This supernatural process is how hearts are transformed, and slavery to sin can end. This is the mystery of spiritual strength and maturity arising out of submission to God. This is the amazing transformation that can lead to the Lord renewing and refreshing our lives-enabling us to pass through the narrow gate and along the hard road to eternal life with Him [MT 7: 12-14]. PS 119: 93, “I will never forget Thy precepts: for with them Thou hast quickened me,” are the Psalmist’s words for us to remember. In PS 51: 2, 10, David prayed, “Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin…Create a clean heart in me, O Lord, and put a new and loyal spirit in me.”
This is why Paul could write in RO 7: 12, “So then, the Law itself is holy and the commandment is holy, right, and good.” The lesson that comes to us from all of this is “do not throw out the baby with the dirty bath water.” That’s a trite adage with some real value to us, because we still need to believe in and obey those Ten Commandments without being legalistic about them. How very important it is to realize that we have been called to that task while at the same time equipped to do it! God has never asked us to do anything without enabling us to do it. Now, He doesn’t promise us it will be easy. In fact, He may very well take us out of our comfort zones in one way or another, as we go about obeying His will and purpose for us. Look at what we find in the Scriptures to help us understand this. MICAH 6:8, “What does the Lord require of you? To act justly , to love mercy, and to walk humbly with Your God.” EPH 1: 18-20, “I ask that your minds may be opened to see His light, so that you will know what is the hope to which He has called you, how rich are the wonderful blessings He promises His people, and how very great is His power at work in us who believe. This power working in us is the same as the mighty strength which He used when He raised Christ from death and seated Him at His right side in the heavenly world.” RO 10: 12-13, “For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile-the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on Him, for ‘everyone who called on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” [The previous verse cites JL 2: 32]. HE 10: 35-36, “Do not lose your courage, then, because it brings with it a great reward. You need to be patient, in order to do the will of God and receive what He promises.” Hallelujah!
PRAYER: O Lord, it is difficult to understand certain lessons You have for us in the Scriptures. Sometimes that trouble comes from human intermediaries who wedge themselves between the believer and You. Spending daily time in the Scriptures is the best way to gain discernment in these matters. 1 COR 2: 14 also helps us to understand what is essential to have that discernment. “Whoever does not have the Spirit cannot receive the gifts that come from God’s Spirit. Such a person really does not understand them; they are foolishness to him, because their value can be judged only on a spiritual basis.” Dearest Abba, You are an awesome and loving God Who has given those who believe in Christ the gift of Your Spirit. You have claimed ownership of all believers and have given them faith in Your Son, the ability to discern the teachings of Your word, and an unlimited storehouse of blessings throughout their lives. The greatest gift of all was Your sacrifice of the Christ, Who suffered, died, and was brought to eternal life as “the first among many brothers” [DT 5: 10; JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25; RO 8: 29; EPH 1:13-14;HE 10: 10]. Both Your laws and Your grace extended to us are blessings that come out of Your utter righteousness, compassion, and love for us. We stand before Your throne as sinners, ready to confess that sin and expunge it from our lives. We are grateful to You eternally for the kind of Deity You are. We dedicate ourselves to having an eternal relationship with You and to making You the Leader of our lives. We also acknowledge that You have given us special talents to use in joining You in Your work. While You allow us to experience a certain amount of pain, suffering, and loss from Satan, You are in control the entire time this is in progress. This is Your way of teaching us what we must know to be prepared to answer the call of the last trumpet [shofar-ram’s horn] at the time of the rapture [1 THESS 4: 13-17]. You are to be praised and thanked for eternity, as that is what You so richly deserve. In Christ’s name, amen.
Next week, I am led to tackle the question: what makes it so hard for mankind to keep God’s laws? While we’ve discussed this before, we will look at it from the context of how God transforms hearts. Dear Ones, if I leave you with no other message today, it should be that God calls us to tasks which are very difficult for us, but always equips us to carry them out. Getting rid of sin in one’s life could certainly qualify. When I look over the sixty years of my own life, I stand amazed at what God has done with so sinful a person. I thought He didn’t have much to work with, but He saw things differently. He loves me enough to still be working on me, and I know I have a long way to go before He feels I’ve been perfected. I encourage each of you to look at your own lives and to see the amazing things He has already done with you. Remember, I’ve often said before that God has placed me among people who, because of Christ’s influence in their lives-their transformed hearts, are teaching me how to be a better person. That’s one way that God is enabling my own spiritual maturity to advance. Talk about blessings; that’s a huge blessing! I know in my heart that He can do the same thing for you, if He hasn’t already. Praise be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn