When traditional church doctrine meets pure grace and God’s unconditional love, those who have been embedded with fragments of the Mosaic law that are wrongly mixed into the gospel, will instinctively react with a list of questions something like this:
“Are you saying people can go do whatever they want? Are you saying it’s okay for people to sin as much as they want? Commit adultery? Murder?” (Of course, that’s not what we’re saying).
They will proceed to warn the sheep about this radical doctrine of grace that is a dangerous, false teaching in the form of heresy, because of our proclamation that believers in Christ are not under the law that came through the Old Covenant. The law demanded that all of it be kept. Other than Jesus, nobody has ever accomplished this before. Therefore, He fulfilled it on our behalf. Just because we’re not trying to keep the law, doesn’t mean that we’re breaking it. The rule book can’t bring us life, righteousness, nor God’s approval. Jesus didn’t come with a new set of rules and statutes that would end up making us better, He came to give us His life and a new heart that has made us like Him.
622. “Are You Saying People Can Sin as Much as They Want?”
When traditional church doctrine meets pure grace and God’s unconditional love, those who have been embedded with fragments of the Mosaic law that are wrongly mixed into the gospel, will instinctively react with a list of questions something like this:
“Are you saying people can go do whatever they want? Are you saying it’s okay for people to sin as much as they want? Commit adultery? Murder?” (Of course, that’s not what we’re saying).
They will proceed to warn the sheep about this radical doctrine of grace that is a dangerous, false teaching in the form of heresy, because of our proclamation that believers in Christ are not under the law that came through the Old Covenant. The law demanded that all of it be kept. Other than Jesus, nobody has ever accomplished this before. Therefore, He fulfilled it on our behalf. Just because we’re not trying to keep the law, doesn’t mean that we’re breaking it. The rule book can’t bring us life, righteousness, nor God’s approval. Jesus didn’t come with a new set of rules and statutes that would end up making us better, He came to give us His life and a new heart that has made us like Him.
“Are you saying people can go do whatever they want? Are you saying it’s okay for people to sin as much as they want? Commit adultery? Murder?” (Of course, that’s not what we’re saying).
They will proceed to warn the sheep about this radical doctrine of grace that is a dangerous, false teaching in the form of heresy, because of our proclamation that believers in Christ are not under the law that came through the Old Covenant. The law demanded that all of it be kept. Other than Jesus, nobody has ever accomplished this before. Therefore, He fulfilled it on our behalf. Just because we’re not trying to keep the law, doesn’t mean that we’re breaking it. The rule book can’t bring us life, righteousness, nor God’s approval. Jesus didn’t come with a new set of rules and statutes that would end up making us better, He came to give us His life and a new heart that has made us like Him.
606. Faithfulness
As believers in Jesus Christ, it’s natural to have a desire to be faithful. But our ability to perform may not always be as consistent as we desire. Whereas the Old Covenant was centered on the faithfulness and obedience of the people and their (in)ability to abide by all the commandments and rules under the law, the focus of New Covenant is highlighted in the faithfulness of God. This faithfulness is centered on the obedience of Christ, which will never fail. He is the completion of our forgiveness, our hope, our life, righteousness, sanctification, and so much more. Even when our faithfulness towards Him waivers, His dedication and faithfulness towards us remains forever.
601. Clash of the Covenants: Kap Talks About His New Book
Joel interviews Mike about his new book now available on Amazon Kindle. It's like a Growing in Grace podcast in written form! The target audience is for anyone who has had exposure to Christian churches or doctrines, but may struggle with wondering where they stand with God. It's for those who wonder if God can really forgive them and whether they have truly been accepted. It will help to bring a greater understanding of what the finished work of Jesus Christ provided for them, and the book will help remove some of the confusion associated with many common teachings that have mistakenly jumbled the old and new covenants together. The book addresses issues such as why the old commandments and rules will never work; the ministry of Jesus and why He taught things that weren't always meant for future believers; sin confession; repentance and other hot-button topics that have caused many to live in religious bondage.
The new book is available on Amazon.com (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0713ZSKY7) under the title of Clash of the Covenants: Escaping Religious Bondage Through the Grace Guarantee, by Michael C. Kapler.
If you do not have a Kindle device, no problem, simply download the Kindle app for free to your smart phone, tablet or computer and then purchase through Amazon.
The new book is available on Amazon.com (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0713ZSKY7) under the title of Clash of the Covenants: Escaping Religious Bondage Through the Grace Guarantee, by Michael C. Kapler.
If you do not have a Kindle device, no problem, simply download the Kindle app for free to your smart phone, tablet or computer and then purchase through Amazon.
591. Separating True Sanctification from Behavioral Choices
Religion without life, will seek to pursue a right-standing with God through attempts of self-improvement, and a variety of other works-based methods. Even within Christianity, belief systems will try to make this all about our ability to make ourselves progressively more sanctified and acceptable before a perfect and holy God. The problem with this? We can’t attain a more righteous position than what God has already brought to us through His Son. The standard God demanded was perfection, but not by giving it our best effort to keep certain commandments or other moral codes that will always fall short. Jesus is alive, accepted, perfect, holy, sanctified, righteous, and sinless… And as believers in Christ, “as He is, so also are we in this world.”
575. How to Attain Perfection (the one-step plan)
God has a requirement for all of us: Be perfect as He is perfect. How do we go about this seemingly monumental task? It hardly sounds like a good news gospel if we're going to apply our own works and efforts, because we'll never meet that standard. However, there is another way for us to enter into a state of perfection - believe in the work of Jesus Christ. The Jewish people could not arrive at being perfect through trying to keep rules, commandments or offering repeated animal sacrifices; nor could they escape a sin consciousness that brought them more guilt. With one sacrifice of Himself, Jesus brought an eternal perfection… And it looks really good on you!
569. Are the 10 Commandments Written on Our Hearts?
In reference to the New Covenant, you may have been told that God would put his law, commandments and statutes in our minds and write them on our hearts. However, in the same passage, God declared the New Covenant would not be like the one made with Israel when they were delivered out of Egypt. Since the old law brought death, condemnation and increased sin, why would God choose to write it on our hearts, since it could not provide life or righteousness to us? There was a change of law with the new priesthood of Jesus Christ, and it brought a new heart to us with a new ministry that would far surpass the old way.
569. Are the 10 Commandments Written on Our Hearts?
In reference to the New Covenant, you may have been told that God would put his law, commandments and statutes in our minds and write them on our hearts. However, in the same passage, God declared the New Covenant would not be like the one made with Israel when they were delivered out of Egypt. Since the old law brought death, condemnation and increased sin, why would God choose to write it on our hearts, since it could not provide life or righteousness to us? There was a change of law with the new priesthood of Jesus Christ, and it brought a new heart to us with a new ministry that would far surpass the old way.
565. Not Revised and Improved – It’s a Brand New Covenant
This week we look further into the differences between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. The first one was established between God and Israel. It was an arrangement that never included Gentiles (non-Jews), not before the cross and certainly not after. The Old would become obsolete and be replace by the New, as a result of the superiority of the ministry of Jesus Christ. This covenant would bring Jew and Gentile together.
555. Why Jesus Taught Two Covenants (Part 12): “What Must I DO to Have Eternal Life?”
This week we provide a perspective on the story of The Rich Young Ruler. He asked Jesus what he needed to do to have eternal life. Interestingly, Jesus did not say what we Christians might have expected — He did not say, "believe in me." He answered the law-based question with a law-based answer by telling the young man to obey the commandments from the Mosaic law. Why? Jesus was trying to show him the impossible standard of perfection the law demanded without any provision to be able to accomplish it. Have you ever walked out of church feeling worse than when you went in? It was probably for the same reason as the young ruler... The good news was missing.
554. Why Jesus Taught Two Covenants (Part 11): Ministering First to Jews Under the Law
It is a dangerous doctrine to assume Jesus was usually ministering a message directed at future believers who would be under the New Covenant. Jesus came to proclaim a message for Israelites first, not to those of us who were born as (non-Jewish) Gentiles. He was born under the law to redeem those who were under the law. Righteousness was never meant to be attained by the commandments, but to be received freely as an heir. On this week's podcast, we look at a few more instances of Jesus ministering to these people who were under the first covenant.
545. Why Jesus Taught Two Covenants (Part 2): From Adam to Moses
Our second in the series of why Jesus taught two covenants lays a further foundation on why Adam fell and how the covenant began through Moses with the Jewish people. A covenant must be agreed upon by at least two parties, so the law within the first covenant was not forced upon Israel, but they agreed to do all of it as required. They declared with pride it would be righteousness for them. They would have been better off humbling themselves by saying they couldn't do it. They chose to trust in themselves and their ability.