26/10/2024
"LIVING IN THE SPIRIT: THE FULFILLMENT OF GOD'S LAW THROUGH CHRIST 1"
Christ called us His disciples because He wanted us to be reminded that Christianity is more of a divine discipline than spiritism. The key word is discipline, which is interpreted as order or law-abiding. Through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, God avails us the Holy Spirit, whose primary duty is to teach and lead us into all truth (John 16:13). These truths represent the perfect will of God for humanity (Romans 12:2).
Many argue that we are not in the dispensation of law but of grace. The answer is that the opposite of law is not grace but lawlessness (Matthew 7:23). No wonder the so-called religious brand of Christianity called hyper grace gospel is often assocaited with lawlessness. Remember that the biblical word for lawlessness is iniquity; therefore, those who are lawless are called workers of iniquity (Matthew 7:23).
What about grace? Since God is a God of order, He created man in Adam and placed him in the garden with a law: to eat only from the tree of life and never touch the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16-17). God clearly spelled out the consequences of man's choice: disobedience to the Word caused death, which, in spiritual terms means separation from God (Romans 6:23). From creation, no man ever lived up to one day in the sight of God, for one day to God is a thousand years to man (2 Peter 3:8). Yet, man was supposed to live eternally, as he was enclosed with the life of God (Zoe) in his soul.
Man has never successfully kept any law, and sin is breaking God's word; thus, the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). In the time of Moses, more laws were given, yet all people died, for the blood of bulls, rams, and goats could not completely cleanse man (Hebrews 10:4). Therefore, the prophets began to speak about God's future plan for humanity. Man could not keep the law of God because he lost the life of God during the first transgression (Genesis 3:6-7). By the mystery of what happened in the garden, the spirit of disobedience was introduced into man, leading him to become one with sin (Romans 5:12). He lost the nature of God and could not be perfect again because he lost the supernatural ability to live above sin.
The coming of Christ is to restore that God nature through the Holy Spirit so that man could live according to God's perfect design (John 3:16). The prophets began prophesying about the future salvation for humanity, declaring how God would prepare a body for Himself and become the perfect sacrifice for our sins (Hebrews 10:5-10). To be the perfect sacrifice, He had to fulfill the entire requirements of the law, as it is written; therefore, He never broke any law, becoming the only fleshy manifestation of the fulfillment of God law, for in Him was no sin found (1 Peter 2:22).
He did not abolish the law; rather, He fulfilled its requirements on our behalf so that we could be restored back to divine fellowship with God thru Him (Matthew 5:17). He accomplished this because He is the fullness of God bodily (Colossians 2:9). After His death, He was glorified in the form of the Holy Spirit to live in us, which commenced the new covenant (John 14:17). What Christ did is called grace (Ephesians 2:8).
In the book of Hebrews, the Holy Spirit is described as the law of God written in our hearts (Hebrews 10:16). The same Spirit that helped Christ fulfill the law is now living in us, leading us down the same path (Romans 8:14). That is why we are the righteousness of God through Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). Christ is in us, doing everything, and that’s the reason He said, “Without Me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Christ in us is the fulfillment of Gods law. We have and are fulfilling the law, for the Spirit of God is in us, doing the perfect will of God.
It is practically impossible to live the life of Christ without the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). Christ is the fulfillment of the law that lives in us, fulfilling it today. The word of God is the law of God, and the law of God is the perfect will of God (Psalm 119:105). Where there is no law, disorder, confusion, and abomination abound (Proverbs 29:18). But God is not an author of confusion but of sound mind and peace (1 Corinthians 14:33). The Holy Spirit in us leads us daily in the path of God, fulfilling His desires and doing His will, resulting in peace, joy, and other supernatural characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).
Without the fulfillment of the will of God, there is no rapture (Matthew 7:21-23). Do not allow anyone to deceive you into thinking we are in the era of grace; we are actually in the church age, which is Christ in us, the hope of eternal life (Colossians 1:27). We are saved because He lives in us (1 John 5:11-12) but The church age is fast rounding up, and Gentiles days are numbered, so be swift to enter into the sheepfold that is proceeding to Zion, for time is no more (Luke 21:24).
Christ is the grace of God that helps us fulfill the word of God, which is the law of God and the perfect will of God (Titus 2:11-12). Therefore, He is the righteousness of God in flesh, and we are His righteousness by the indwelling of His Spirit (Romans 8:10). If we are truly saved, then where are the fruits of genuine salvation? For by their fruits, ye shall know them (Matthew 7:20). If you allow those who are not going to heaven to deceive you, then you have missed the point.
Come to Christ now and find peace for your soul (Matthew 11:28). We are saved by grace through faith, but not to continue in sin (Ephesians 2:8-9). True faith must produce fruits, which are works of righteousness (James 2:17).
Ptr. JEHU, Preacher of Conscience