Part 2 (1/2)

It is acknowledging what Jesus has done on the inside of you, experiencing the love of G.o.d, and a heart of grat.i.tude for what G.o.d has done for you that makes you effective. That's the New Testament way of doing it!

But the Old Testament Law made us self-conscious. It made us focus our attention on ourselves and our sin. We were so full of how guilty we were. We were condemned. We were under an administration of death, and it totally wiped us out spiritually and emotionally.

The Law and Faith .

You might be thinking, ”Who cares about the old covenant? I don't offer blood sacrifices. I don't kill goats and sheep. I'm not under the old covenant.” But I promise you, your theology, thinking, and att.i.tudes are probably influenced by the old covenant to some degree or another. You may not be offering sheep and goats, but you may be offering works of self-sacrifice and self-punishment to atone for your sin and guilt.

The religious att.i.tude of the Law will keep you from what you should do, from walking in intimacy with G.o.d. When you sin, the Law causes you to focus on your sin. And focusing on sin will keep you from entering into the Holy of Holies and calling on G.o.d ”Abba (Daddy) Father” - which is the only way you can get free of sin!

The Law keeps us from that kind of intimacy because we only see the wrath, the judgment, and the punishment of G.o.d upon our sin. When the Law reveals our sin, our unworthiness, and our guilt, we generally run from G.o.d instead of to G.o.d.

Now not everything from Genesis to Malachi is the Law. There is also a tremendous amount of faith in the Old Testament, but you've got to look for it. This is because the Old Testament was basically an administration of Law, and the Bible says, So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of G.o.d, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.And the law is not of faith.Galatians 3:9-12 I'm glad Paul said that instead of me! I would get in trouble with the religious crowd for saying the law is not of faith. the law is not of faith. Put that together with Romans 14:23, which says, Put that together with Romans 14:23, which says, Whatsoever is not of faith is sin, Whatsoever is not of faith is sin, and you can see that a New Testament believer trying to please G.o.d by living under Old Testament Law is not in faith and is actually in sin. and you can see that a New Testament believer trying to please G.o.d by living under Old Testament Law is not in faith and is actually in sin.

Did you know that trying to serve G.o.d the same way King David or Elisha did is sin for the New Testament believer? Whatsoever is not of faith is sin, Whatsoever is not of faith is sin, and the Old Testament Law and the Old Testament Law is not of faith! is not of faith!

There are four books of the New Testament that were written for the sole purpose of trying to renew our minds from serving G.o.d under the Old Testament Law: The entire books of Romans, Hebrews, and Galatians, and the majority of the book of Ephesians. In general, all of Paul's epistles are strong on this.

The book of Romans was written to renew people's minds from the Old Testament Law and works - justification by works and by effort. The book of Hebrews emphasizes strongly that we recognize Jesus has superseded everything in the Old Testament. Jesus is now our High Priest, and we aren't operating under blood sacrifices of bulls and goats, but are set free by the shedding of His sinless blood.

The Church has accepted the truth that we no longer sacrifice animals, but the Scriptures also go on to say that we are no longer operating under that same system of the Law, where our conscience should condemn us.

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.Romans 8:1The wors.h.i.+ppers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.Hebrews 10:2 The Bible says believers should have their conscience purged to have no more consciousness of sin. That means no more awareness of sin. There are probably quite a few people who would like to stone me for saying this. They are saying, ”Brother, how dare you! I believe we've got to keep the Ten Commandments; we've got to live under the Old Testament Law.”

A lot of people believe you must keep the Law, but most of them couldn't recite the Ten Commandments. Besides that, there are not just ten commandments, there are hundreds of commandments in the Old Testament Law. Most people don't know what they are, and yet they insist they've got to live under them! At best, that's just being inconsistent. A person who really believes that should know what the commandments are. There are many scriptures that bear this out.

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? G.o.d forbid.For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto G.o.d.I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of G.o.d, who loved me, and gave himself for me.I do not frustrate the grace of G.o.d: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.Galatians 2:16-21 Did you know that the death of Jesus Christ is of no effect if living under the Old Testament Law is the way to please G.o.d and be justified to Him? It makes the death of Christ in vain. You would frustrate the grace of G.o.d. Many of us have unconsciously frustrated G.o.d's grace, His goodness, His love, and His mercy extended towards us because we didn't understand Who G.o.d really is and what He is really like.

Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewithChrist hath made us free, and be not entangledagain with the yoke of bondage.Galatians 5:1 Do you know what He made us free from? Some people will say ”sin,” but what was the strength of sin? It was the Law. The whole book of Galatians shows us that Jesus Christ made us free from the bondage of the Old Testament Law which condemns us.

The Law Is for Children .

We have seen in 2 Corinthians 3:7-9 that the Old Testament Law was an administration of death and condemnation. Do those sound like things G.o.d wanted to do? Did G.o.d want to administer death to us? Did He want to make us feel condemned? That was never G.o.d's intention.

We saw in Romans 3:19,20 that by the Law we received the knowledge of sin that all the world could become guilty, and every mouth should be stopped before G.o.d. The Law gave us knowledge of our sin and it made us feel guilty before G.o.d. First Corinthians 15:56 says, The strength of sin is the law. The strength of sin is the law. The Law actually gave strength to sin. The Law actually gave strength to sin.

But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.Romans 7:8-11 Sin produced negative effects. The Law produced negative effects. The Law made us knowledgeable of our sin and it made us hopeless about how we could ever approach G.o.d. G.o.d didn't want to give the total knowledge of sin, but because He didn't reveal His wrath on sin, men justified their sin. They did not understand how deadly sin was, and therefore they were embracing it. They were just living a totally unrestrained life, and because of that Satan was dominating the human race.

Until Jesus came to earth, G.o.d had to put some temporary restraint upon sin to keep it from multiplying, dominating, and destroying the human race. He added the Old Testament Law because of the abundance of transgressions, but only as a temporary measure until Jesus could come. G.o.d didn't really want us to know how rotten we were, but He had to use the Law to restrain sin, because people had become deceived into thinking sin was all right.

Another bad effect of not having the Law in place was that G.o.d was not fully judging sin. Lightning wasn't striking people every time they committed sin. Because of what seemed to be a lack of seriousness toward sin, people were thinking, ”Well, I know I should be better, so I'm going to make a New Year's resolution. I'm not going to beat my wife anymore. I'm not going to drink anymore.” They would improve their life and start trusting in their own goodness, which would cause them to say, ”Well, I'm pretty good. I'm really very good now. I think I'm going to make it to heaven.” They didn't consider the seriousness of the sin they still had in their lives.

Today we hear the same thing. People are saying, ”How could a loving G.o.d send people to h.e.l.l? G.o.d's going to accept people whether they're Moslem, Hindu, Buddhist, or whatever; it doesn't matter. Just as long as they're doing the best they can, G.o.d's going to accept them.” That's not the truth. It's a deception.

Without the Law, mankind began to start thinking, ”Well, just do the best you can and G.o.d's going to accept you.” They didn't understand how deadly sin was because G.o.d hadn't punished it. So G.o.d began to reveal His true wrath on sin by giving the Law.

G.o.d's intention in giving us the Law is very similar to child training. You can't take a two-year-old child and get him to obey you by telling him, ”Look, Johnny, the reason you are not supposed to take a toy from your sister is because G.o.d says we should share. G.o.d says we should give and do unto others as you would have them do unto you. So every time you take a toy from your sister, you are really just stealing it from her. You're obeying the devil. And every time you obey the devil, you are giving him access to your life. You're learning the ways of the devil, and if you continue in his ways, when you're 20 years old, that's going to get you fired from your job and mess up your marriage. You're going to have all of these problems and you'll never amount to anything.”

If you start explaining something like that to a two-year-old, he's just going to stare at you. He doesn't understand all those complex thoughts. He doesn't understand G.o.d. He doesn't understand the devil. He doesn't understand resisting the devil. He doesn't understand demonic spirits. He doesn't understand any of it. So what do you do?

Some people just say, ”Well, I'm going to leave them alone until they're old enough to reason with.” Well, if you wait that long you're in trouble! G.o.d gave us a temporary measure for dealing with wrong behavior in young children. The Bible calls it the rod, but most people call it a spanking or getting swats.

You can successfully get a two-year-old to obey by saying, ”You may not know anything about G.o.d or the devil, but you do that again and you're going to get a spanking.” The child may not know who the devil is, but the next time the devil says, ”Steal that toy or hit that child,” they'll say, ”No!” They'll resist the devil. You can get them to resist sin and you can get them to conform to a holy standard out of fear of punishment. This is without them even knowing what sin is or who the devil is. You can get them to fear that rod and I guarantee you, it will get them to comply!

On a temporary basis the rod is good and useful. But in the long run, if that's the only motivation the person has to live a holy life, it is harmful. Fear of getting a spanking is not the proper motivation for adult living. It's a temporary measure we use until a child can reason.

When I was a kid, my mother used to tell me not to cross the street without looking both ways. If I didn't look both ways before I crossed the street, whether or not any cars were coming, I got a spanking. At that age, I could understand that I would get a spanking if I ran out in front of a car, but I didn't fear getting hit by a car, because I couldn't relate to that kind of consequence. What I feared was getting a spanking because I could relate to that! And this fear made me look both ways when I crossed the street.

Today I'm a grown adult. Can you imagine what it would be like if I started across the street and I realized, ”Oops, I haven't looked both ways.” When I got to the other side and didn't get run over, I just started trembling and said, ”Oh, please don't tell my mother. Don't anybody tell my mother what I did. If she finds out she's going to spank me.” You would think I was strange! You would look at me and say, ”Something's wrong with you. The real reason for looking both ways before you cross the street is not because your mother is going to spank you, but because you're going to get run over by a truck sooner or later if you don't do it.”

As an adult, I'm out from under my mother's dominion. My mother's not going to spank me if I don't look both ways. But it's still wisdom to look both ways because I want to preserve my life. However, until I had enough sense to reason, that physical rod was used as a restraint on me to keep me from doing the wrong things.

That's why G.o.d gave the Law. It was only a temporary measure which pointed to the permanent answer. Old Testament people weren't born again. They couldn't receive revelation knowledge as we do. First Corinthians 2:14 says, But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of G.o.d: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Old Testament people couldn't understand the things I'm talking about, so G.o.d gave them a physical restraint, something they could understand. They were thinking, ”Well, sin isn't really very bad.” So G.o.d said, ”You don't think so? You do this - you pick up sticks on a Sabbath day - and I'll have you stoned to death.” Suddenly, they began to realize G.o.d didn't like the way they had been living on the Sabbath day. Old Testament people couldn't understand the things I'm talking about, so G.o.d gave them a physical restraint, something they could understand. They were thinking, ”Well, sin isn't really very bad.” So G.o.d said, ”You don't think so? You do this - you pick up sticks on a Sabbath day - and I'll have you stoned to death.” Suddenly, they began to realize G.o.d didn't like the way they had been living on the Sabbath day.

G.o.d said, ”If you don't t.i.the, you're cursed with a curse.” Then people said, ”I think G.o.d wants me to t.i.the.” G.o.d said, ”You kill, and you shall be killed. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, hand for hand and foot for foot.” They got a new understanding of how serious sin was!

When G.o.d began to reveal His wrath upon sin, suddenly people began to realize what they had thought was right and wrong was totally off base. Their conscience had been defiled and deadened, so G.o.d had to help them realize what right and wrong really were. The Law revived their conscience.

Correct Use of the Law But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.Galatians 3:23 People had been trusting themselves for salvation thinking, ”Well, I'm really pretty good. I haven't done anything terribly wrong in a long time and surely I'm all right now.” After the Law was given, they began to realize, ”Even if I never sin again, I can't do anything to atone for my past sins.” They began to realize the hopelessness of their situation.

But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the unG.o.dly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,For wh.o.r.emongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine.1 Timothy 1:8-10 There is a right purpose and use of the Law. The correct purpose of the Law is to give revelation to a person who does not see his need for G.o.d. A person who does not understand he has transgressed against G.o.d has deceived themselves and the Law can be used to show that they are not going to heaven without salvation through Jesus.

I was ministering in Houston, Texas, when a man stood up in one of my services and started yelling at me. I tried to talk to him, but he wasn't even coherent. Finally I just rebuked him and told him to sit down, and he did. After the service was over, he came up to the front and sat down on the front row. He was totally s.p.a.ced out on drugs and could barely talk to me. I told him, ”G.o.d loves you, and G.o.d wants to change your life. He can set you free and take you out of the bondage you're under.”

The man said, ”I don't have any problem. I'm not under any bondage. Everything's cool with me. Everything's fine.” I could tell by looking at the guy that it wasn't, so I said, ”Look, G.o.d Himself can come live on the inside of you and set you free.”

He replied, ”I am G.o.d. G.o.d's in the ceiling. G.o.d's in the cement.” He regarded G.o.d as a force and a concept, not as a real person. He said, ”I don't have any sin. Sin is just relative.”

This man had actually hardened and deceived himself to the point where he didn't even understand G.o.d's perfect standard. I had started out ministering love, trying to use the goodness of G.o.d to lead him to repentance. But the man was so deceived that his conscience was disconnected. He couldn't recognize a true standard of right and wrong.

When I saw that, I started using the Law on him. I took the Word of G.o.d and I began to reveal his sin to him. I cut him from one side to the other. ”You sorry sc.u.m of the earth. You think you're all right, but you're not. You don't have any power. You don't have any joy.”

I began to reveal every rotten thing on the inside of him, l.u.s.t, greed, covetousness, and all the other sins G.o.d hates. I used the Word of G.o.d to whittle him down and show him that he needed a Savior, that he was headed straight for h.e.l.l unless G.o.d intervened in his life. And guess what? The Law cut through all his deception. The moment the Law comes, the conscience will snap back to a proper, G.o.dly standard.

I don't care how deceived a person has become or how much they think, ”Drugs are all right. Free s.e.x is all right. Sin is just relative.” You minister the Law to them in the right way, and I guarantee you they will see their sinfulness. The Lord will destroy all deception and cause their conscience to work properly.

Incorrect Use of the Law .

The purpose of the Law was to show us our need for G.o.d. But once we correctly recognize our need for G.o.d, the Law is totally incapable of producing the relations.h.i.+p with Him we realize we need. This is where many people have missed it.

After becoming convicted of their sins, they start trying to get a right relations.h.i.+p with G.o.d by trying to keep the Law! The Old Testament Law was full of ”Thou shalt nots.” People interpreted them to say, ”G.o.d is telling me what I've got to do to earn a relations.h.i.+p with Him. Now, if I'll just keep the Sabbath, if I'll honor my father and mother, if I won't murder, if I won't steal, if I won't bear false witness, and all of these things, then I'll be all right with G.o.d.”

No, that wasn't what G.o.d was teaching. G.o.d didn't give the Law so you could keep it and earn your way to heaven - because n.o.body can keep the whole Law. Romans 3:23 says, For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of G.o.d. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of G.o.d. No one has been capable of keeping the Law except Jesus. No one has been capable of keeping the Law except Jesus.

G.o.d didn't give the Law so that by keeping it you could earn your way to heaven. Rather, G.o.d gave the Law to show you how hopeless you were. It was to show you how sinful you were so you would quit trusting in yourself and look to Him for salvation.