commandments – Page 3

694. Delivered from Bondage (The Law of Commandments)

March 17, 2019 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Continuing with our short series on “The Law is Not of Faith.” In the book of Galatians, Paul uses the women of Abraham (Sarah and Hagar) as illustrations while comparing the two covenants - the Old and the New. One gave birth to a child of promise (Sarah) and the other came from Mt. Sinai and gave birth to bondage. We know this is where the Mosaic law was given birth - including the Ten Commandments. It was something the Jewish people were freed from because of the child of promise. Religious doctrines which encourage us to live by the old commandments from that covenant have missed the point… we can’t live by something that is unable to bring life or righteousness to us. There is no passage that states we should abide by certain laws while others have expired. There is no exhortation in Scripture that trying to keep the commandments from the previous covenant will improve morals, reduce sin, and bring sanctification. In fact, we find the opposite within new covenant writings. We have something better in Christ: It’s called faith (and the law is not based upon faith).

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669. Paul’s Testimony: I Stopped Trying to Keep the Law of Commandments

September 16, 2018 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

The title of this week’s program is an obvious paraphrase, but it isn’t far off from what Paul explained when it came to being freed and delivered from the Mosaic Law with its burdensome commandments. He found out that what he thought would give life had actually proven to bring death and despair, while causing sin to increase. Today many believers will get up in front of the church and talk about how they used to do bad things and now they work on doing good things. To be clear, pursuing sin will never be a profitable venture - less sin is a good thing. But this was not Paul’s testimony. He didn’t boast about how he used to murder and then stopped after he was saved. He emphasized that we’ve been made a new creation, and the value of getting to know Jesus and the power of His resurrection. God’s life in us, has caused us to pass from death into life in a New Covenant that isn’t based upon our ability to a meet certain standard of rules and regulations. Instead, we live by the righteousness of faith with the power of Jesus Christ abiding in us.

667. Why We Have No Relationship to the Law Which Came Through Moses

September 2, 2018 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

The Christian Church World has been duped into thinking the Law which was ushered in through Moses to the Jewish people under the Old Covenant was also meant for us to live under today (at least some of it). It is one of the greatest misunderstandings about God’s written Word, and it has kept many believers in a type of spiritual bondage that Jesus came to deliver people from experiencing. The inability to grasp this is because so many have made the assumption that certain commands and statutes from that first covenant were carried over into the New Covenant of Jesus Christ. Mixing portions of the 613 laws within the Law goes against the very Law itself. God declared nothing shall be taken away from the Law and nothing shall be added to it. But that is exactly what the church world has done. Either it had to completely come to an end and be replaced with something better or it ALL needs to remain intact. God redeemed Israel from that Law and provided all of us with a better Way.

658. The Golden Rule: A Spiritual Death Sentence

July 1, 2018 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12). The religious world refers to this as the golden rule. Yep, the gold standard by which all other rules should be compared. With one sentence, Jesus summarized the impossible standard of the entire law with its hundreds of commandments. It was the ministry of spiritual death. It was meant to bring hopelessness and despair. The good news is that Jesus Christ united us together in His death, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. Sin no longer has dominion over us in Christ… not because we’re able to keep rules perfectly or try to behave better, but because we have already died to sin through the death of Jesus. Now we’re led by the ministry of the Spirit of God under a New Covenant, where we are not under the law. It’s the ministry of life.

655. Dead to Sin, Alive to Righteousness

June 10, 2018 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Behavior is important. Avoiding sin is profitable. But these are not the components that represent who you are as a believer in Jesus Christ. Your spiritual identity is based purely on a work that God did in you by faith as a result of the finished work of Jesus at the cross. Many new believers are told to repent from sin, stop sinning, work at avoiding sin, etc. — and if they blow it, they should seek a renewed forgiveness from God, and work at trying harder to become more holy and sanctified. This ends up pulling people into the very thing they are trying to avoid. If we would start letting believers know they are truly declared to be the righteousness of God and have been forgiven by blood that was shed once and for all, they can begin to realize and experience God's unconditional love. This unlimited supply of eternal grace provides the ability for us to be empowered in a way that religious rules and commandments cannot.

645. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 16): Contradictions or Different Covenants?

April 1, 2018 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Why did Jesus sometimes tell Jewish people to keep the commandments and obey the law? How do we reconcile that with writings from the Apostle Paul and others who revealed in Scripture that all people have been freed from that very same law? The contrast is clear, yet it is seldom addressed head-on by Church Incorporated. Religious tradition has adopted most of what Jesus taught as a new Christian teaching, when instead He was frequently ministering the law to people from Israel who were under that law. Gentiles were never under the law of commandments which came through Moses, and in fact, we find in New Testament writings where they (we) were never to be considered under that former ministry. Jesus delivered people from it, and brought them into a New Covenant (Himself), to live within a new life by the ministry of God’s Spirit.

640. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 11): The Psalms: Beware of Old Covenant “Law Talk”

February 25, 2018 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

It’s common for Christians to seek comfort and direction when reading the Bible, and the Psalms and Proverbs are often one of the first places people will turn for guidance. However, it is frequently assumed that everything within the Psalms is pointing us towards precepts and principles that are not necessarily meant to be applied for us who are in Christ, living in a New Covenant. We’ll find all kinds of passages written from a very different perspective from those who were under the burden of the impossible law… something from which people have been delivered from since the cross.

639. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 10): The Law Was Never Meant to Be the Answer

February 18, 2018 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Wrapping up this portion of the Summarizing the Scripture series, we take a look at the some common misconceptions about the law of commandments, and contrast it with what God accomplished for us through a finished work in Christ. Christians will be told by the religious authorities that the world will be a better place if everyone would just try harder to keep the Ten Commandments, along with a few other hand-picked rules and statutes. Is this really true? We’ll address this with an answer that might surprise many.

638. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 9): What the Church Hasn’t Told You About the Law & Commandments

February 11, 2018 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

While scores of Christians throughout the centuries have been told to embrace the law which came through Moses, the Apostle Paul and other New Testament writers received a revelation that is quite different from that approach. While church teaching tells us some of the law has ended, while other parts are still in effect, the law itself declares nothing can be added or deleted. Approval was never given to alter it. While those who claim believers should strive harder to keep the commands, their hypocrisy is exposed by eliminating large, inconvenient chunks... and nobody can seem to agree on exactly what should remain on the list. Our program this week will provide vital information on the ministry of the Mosaic law, and why God replaced it with something far better.

637. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 8): The Law in A Nutshell – More Sin, Death and Condemnation

February 4, 2018 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Frequently we’ll find church doctrines and teachings encouraging believers to cling to a law of works, found within the commandments of the Old Covenant. The problem with this? New Covenant writings reveal why the law was given to Israel (and not to us who are Gentiles). Those commands within the law caused sin to increase (not decrease). It was a ministry that killed and condemned. The law demanded perfection but was powerless to provide the ability to attain it. It once had glory, but came to an end, where the glory faded, and now has no glory at all. Why? Because of the surpassing glory ministry of the Spirit of God, which replaced the requirements written on ink and on stone. We are now in the life of Christ, we’re empowered by the Spirit of Grace where new life flows and the fruit of the Spirit is produced, apart from the works of the law.

624. Christian Hypocrisy: Keeping Portions of the Law; Throwing Out the Rest

November 5, 2017 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

Chances are pretty good that your church denomination believes the “moral commands” found within the law of the Old Testament are meant to be considered a part of the Christian life. They will also declare other parts of the law have expired and do not apply today… such as animal sacrifices, various ceremonial laws, dietary laws, etc. The inconsistencies become very obvious when the old and new covenants are mixed together like this because the entire point of the entire law—all of it—was that nobody could live up to its perfect standard. Personal or moral improvement is a wonderful thing, but “trying your best” to follow a list of impossible commands will not improve your position with God. This is why all of the law was made to be abolished and obsolete… It’s all based upon God doing what the law could not do. Jesus fulfilled the law on our behalf and took the old law out of the way, freeing us from any and all condemnation.

623. Salvation Is Free! (But Watch out for the Fine Print)

October 29, 2017 by Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke

You may have heard sermons or Bible messages correctly explaining that salvation is a gift that is free and there is nothing that can be done on our part to earn it, but it is simply received by believing. Unfortunately, what will often follow is a type of legal addendum found in the fine print describing all of the things Christians must do in order to maintain acceptance, fellowship, blessings, and so on, and so forth. Although it varies depending on the denominational label, empty religion is often injected into Christianity by teaching that portions of the commands and statutes within the Mosaic law are still meant to be followed and kept within the New Covenant of Christ. They will declare that some of it came to an end and was discontinued, while other parts are meant to still apply. Exactly which of the 613 commands from the Old Covenant still apply and which were dropped? Therein lies the problem. The law was never meant to be changed or altered. In order to be able to say one was keeping it, one had to follow everything perfectly, without failure. This is why the good news should never be mixed with the bad.