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GRACE BLOGS COLLECTION

764. Inheriting Eternal Life: Jesus Said to Keep the Law?

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As believers in Christ, we are not under any of the law which was contained the Old Covenant. And yet, Jesus taught it frequently. When this occurred, who was Jesus speaking to and what was His purpose? Of course, it was ministered not to future believers—but to those (Jewish people) who were under the Mosaic law, and it was meant to bring them to the end of their pursuit of (self) righteousness by the works of that law.

So when someone would ask Jesus “what must they do” to inherit eternal life, He answered their law-based question with a law-based answer in order to bring them to the end of themselves. When looking forward to the New Covenant, He revealed life would be received by believing in Him.



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763. The Essence of Hypocrisy: Try to Keep the Law

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Church corporations have generally made it their mission to erroneously mix two very different covenants. One came to an end and the other Jesus established by replacing the Old one with a something New, established upon better promises.

Those who desire to keep one foot in the “land of the legal” have coached the sheep to do their best to follow the Ten Commandments and other selective parts of the law which came to Israel through Moses.  This is one of the most hypocritical and misunderstood pieces of legalistic legislation to ever hit the church. We point out just a few of the inconsistencies.



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724. Why Did Peter Cling to Law After it Ended with Jesus?

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Religious legalists will argue that Peter adhered to rules from the law of Moses for years after the resurrection of Jesus. They make the false assumption that because God moved through him in such miraculous ways—such as shadow healing—Peter must have had a perfect understanding of the gospel. But like the rest of us limited humans, Peter was “growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Through a vision, God began to show Peter the change of law that occurred within a New Covenant which is based upon faith instead of a law of works … and he began to repent (have a change of mind). Later in the book of Acts, he would even argue the case before former Pharisees that Gentiles who were being saved and never had the law, should not be burdened with the futile attempt of trying to keep what they and their fathers were unable bear.



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723. Did Paul Claim He Was Blameless by Keeping the Mosaic Law?

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During a recent podcast series about the dangers of mixing law and grace, someone challenged us with a comment that the Apostle Paul stated “he had never committed an offense against the Torah” (law). This is a great example of how context gets lost and contradictions begin to fly—when we zero-in on a single verse from the Bible.

Anyone can make Scripture apply to their own preconceived doctrinal assumptions. We address Paul’s statement about having been found righteous and blameless under the law as he seemingly bragged about his record. He’s actually saying the opposite in this passage (and many others).



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691. “The Law Is Not of Faith” (Galatians 3:12)

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We frequently find them blended into the doctrines and sermons of Church Incorporated… selected portions of commandments from the law which came by way of Moses. Not the entire law, mind you. Each religious brand will pick and choose what they think should be applied and what should be left off the list. The problem? There shouldn’t be a list. The entire written code of the letter from the Old Covenant was wiped out and came to an end. It was replaced with a better option that arrived when Jesus was manifested - it’s called faith. Paul was explaining to the Galatians they needed to make one of two choices… attempting to follow and live by the works of the law (the flesh) or to live by faith in Jesus Christ.

Before faith came, the Jews were held as prisoners under the law. The Mosaic law was a tutor or guardian which was meant to eventually lead them to the custody of Jesus Christ. When faith (Christ) came, there was no longer the need for the guardian because us who are in Christ Jesus became children of God by faith. The law and commandments are not based upon the faith that was provided for us within a new and better covenant.



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

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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.



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

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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.



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A New Race of People

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People Praying Bible Study Holding Hands Faithful - 900

Any sane Christian is both appalled at continual racism in our society and eager to uncover any residue of it in his or her own heart. It continues to be a problem, even in the community of believers, because we do not take seriously the new race into which we have been born.

In the famous text of Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus says this Jewish leader, "You (plural) must be born again." (See John 3.) In essence, he is saying: "Israel must be born again."

Old Testament Israel

The Israel of the Old Testament was a community created in the wake of the Exodus. God acted in mercy towards these descendants of Abraham and delivered them from bondage to be his people of witness on the earth. Those who identified with that story were members of that community. God gave them his Law as instructions on how to live as that special community of his people.

However, they misunderstood the full purpose of God. They used the Law as a barrier separating themselves (as elites) from other people, rather than seeing the Law as a gracious guide to living in relationship with a merciful God and reflecting him to others.

A New Community

A new community growing out of a new exodus story was brought about by the Spirit rather than the Law. Jesus came as the substance of all the shadows of Old Testament events and rituals. Jesus is the new Moses. He is the Messiah (Israel's representative). He fulfills the Torah as well as all the promises and prophecies made to old Israel.

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There is a new people on the earth. They are born of the Spirit, and he guides them in daily living. God has accepted them based on Jesus' righteousness in their stead. The same love that caused the Father to send his Son and the Son to sacrifice his life dwells in them. Their ethic is motivated and measured by this kind of love. They have no need of a Law to control them or to identify them.

The evidence of their inclusion in God's new race is their fidelity to Christ alone and their love for others. Conformity to sectarian norms is not the issue. Whatever other race-markers have been used in the past to identify and categorize people are eliminated in this new race.

Only Two Groups of Humans

In reality, there are only two groups of humans on earth. The first is composed of those chosen to be the instruments of blessing to the other group. The second is the group not yet born of the Spirit, but loved. Daily, many from the second group are becoming members of the first. There is no elitism in either.

The elect are aware they were chosen because of God's mercy, not their merit. The others are grateful for mercy shown to them through the vessels of mercy. Neither their color, their culture, nor their geography matters. When one fully identifies with the new exodus story by trusting Jesus alone, he or she is included in the new race. They are more than sons of Adam or sons of Abraham in the flesh. They are sons of God and children of the Resurrection.

We stand in need of renewing our minds to this reality. All around we hear the chatter from those who are still searching for some identity markers that will give them status.

How we feel or what others may say doesn't change reality. We are not just individuals trying to stay right with God so we can obtain his blessings and ultimately make it to his heaven. We are his people on earth now and in heaven. We are his family, community, and nation.

All our decisions should take our new identity into consideration.

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

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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.



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

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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.



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

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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.



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622. “Are You Saying People Can Sin as Much as They Want?”

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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.



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