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Tuesday, January
8, 2008
Set Free
Romans 7:9-10 For I was alive without the
law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. (10) And
the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
(KJV)
Paul like many of the other disciples
found a new life in Christ through belief in Him and the completed work He
accomplished. But as we will see in his writings, and if you notice
especially with the early Church, something had been choking the life back
out of them; the freedom they found in a simple belief in Christ was
getting complicated by the old law and rituals that many were still hanging
onto at the time.
2 Corinthians 3:3-6 Forasmuch as ye are
manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written
not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of
stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. (4) And such trust have we
through Christ to God-ward: (5) Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to
think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; (6) Who
also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter,
but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
(KJV)
We should no longer be relying in
ourselves, in any works of the law, or in carnal ordinances we think will
draw us closer to God; rather our attention needs to be in the spiritual
realm if we want to experience this new life in Christ. God is a spirit, so
now the only way to worship Him, is in this realm of truth; only the Spirit
which gave you life and brought you back from the dead is able to sustain
this life and bring you to a mature perfect understanding of God through
Christ. Your ability to be an able effective minister can only be
accomplished by teaching others to walk in the Spirit and not the flesh.
Galatians 4:9-11 But now, after that ye
have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak
and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? (10) Ye
observe days, and months, and times, and years. (11) I am afraid of you,
lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. (KJV)
Once you have been set free and delivered
from the bondage of death, it is vital that in order to maintain a quality
life in Christ it can only be done in the Spirit, and not turning back and
trying to rebuild a foundation off dead vain works. Having watched the
world spend the last couple months caught up in worldly holidays where
people claim certain days are holy or special to the Lord, we can see that
there is nothing new under the sun, same devil and his cheap distractions, just
different disguises over the years. If you try and return to these weak and
beggarly things you will find yourself becoming weak also.
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
(23) Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (KJV)
You have been set free and are now
partakers of the divine nature in Christ. Having spent many years in the
past partaking of the forbidden fruit of this world, once you are able to
experience this new life in Christ and abundance of love, joy, as well as
the peace of God that goes beyond our understanding, don’t let it be stolen
from you again by falling from grace into a bunch of dead end vain
doctrines and works of man. There is no law, no boundaries anymore to those
in Christ. What once kept us bound and limited in the realm of the flesh is
done away and now we have access into this unlimited realm of peace and joy
which is unattainable by the works of the law. So stay away from these dead
end doctrines which claim we still need to do rituals in order to maintain
our walk with the Lord, or you will find this love you were once
experiencing growing cold.
Hebrews 9:8-12 The Holy Ghost this
signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest,
while as the first tabernacle was yet standing: (9) Which was a figure for
the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices,
that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the
conscience; (10) Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings,
and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation. (11)
But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater
and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of
this building; (12) Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his
own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal
redemption for us. (KJV)
If you take the time to read the book of
Hebrews you will see the writer gives us a good illustration of the
difference between the old law and the new. What we see here in verses 8-12
is quite similar to what I still see going on today. Mankind keeps seeking
perfection through the works of the law, continually doing things over and
over again thinking it will draw them closer to God. As you notice in verse
10, these ordinances were in place until the time of reformation, which was
accomplished for us when Christ Himself entered into the Holy place to
deliver the sacrifice for mankind which was accepted by our Father. So no
matter what disguise you put on these carnal ordinances and washings (water
baptism being a prime example), as long as you keep turning back to these
dead end works you will not be able to grow and mature in the Lord. Rather
than being set free you bring yourself back into bondage of weak and
beggarly elements again. So people, Church, either Jesus Christ did a
complete job on our behalf or He didn’t. And every time you try and walk a
spiritual path and incorporate the works of the law in it, you end up with
a little spiritual leaven in the bread of life which is unacceptable to
Father.
Hebrews 10:1-2 For the law having a
shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never
with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the
comers thereunto perfect. (2) For then would they not have ceased to be
offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more
conscience of sins. (KJV)
When you walk with the Lord and continue
in the liberty in Christ you find that there are no gray areas with Him, no
shadows of darkness; your path and the light within you gets brighter and
brighter, illuminating this path of life and any obstacles in its way. We
see again that the true worshippers were once purged, cleansed from sin,
because of their faith in Jesus Christ and what He accomplished on our
behalf and not by some unfinished works that they think they still need to
do.
Romans 8:1-4 There is therefore now no
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the
flesh, but after the Spirit. (2) For the law of the Spirit of life in
Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. (3) For what
the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending
his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in
the flesh: (4) That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (KJV)
You want freedom? Do you desire
righteousness? Do you wish to continue to be justified in the sight of our
Lord? Then you need to continue in the liberty in Christ and be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage; and this will only be
accomplished in the realm of the Spirit. Now that you have been set free,
stay set free indeed.
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