The Dwelling Place of God

Man: The Dwelling Place of God
By A.W. Tozer

DEEP INSIDE EVERY MAN there is a private sanctum where dwells the mysterious essence of his being. This far-in reality is that in the man which is what it is of itself without reference to any other part of the man’s complex nature. It is the man’s “I Am,” a gift from the I AM who created him.

The deep-in human entity of which we speak is called in the Scriptures the spirit of man. “For what man knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God” (I Cor. 2:11). As God’s self-knowledge lies in the eternal Spirit, so man’s self-knowledge is by his own spirit, and his knowledge of God is by the direct impression of the Spirit of God upon the spirit of man.

The importance of all this cannot be overestimated as we think and study and pray. It reveals the essential spirituality of mankind. It denies that man is a creature having a spirit and declares that he is a spirit having a body. That which makes him a human being is not his body but his spirit, in which the image of God originally lay.

One of the most liberating declarations in the New Testament is this: “The true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23, 24). Here the nature of worship is shown to be wholly spiritual. True religion is removed from diet and days, from garments and ceremonies, and placed where it belongs – in the union of the spirit of man with the Spirit of God.

From man’s standpoint the most tragic loss suffered in the Fall was the vacating of this inner sanctum by the Spirit of God. Man by his sin forfeited this indescribable wonderful privilege. Christ, will enter only by the invitation of faith. “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me”. (Rev. 3:20).

By the mysterious operation of the Spirit in the new birth, that which is called by Peter “the divine nature” enters the deep-in core of the believer’s heart and establishes residence there. “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His” for “the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (Rom. 8:9,16). Such a one is a true Christian, and only such.

From: MAN the Dwelling Place of God

Law Giving verses Grace Giving

I heard someone say once that we should never judge a man’s harvest until we know the seed he has sown.. Did you know that there are wealthy men today who actually give more every year  than the house they are living in is worth ?  The owner of JC  Penny’s  had a goal to live  on 10% and give away 90 %  and he actually met that goal.. In fact his 10% became so much that he began to even give a part of that away as well..

Sometimes I think we limit God in our lives by over emphasizing 10% giving..
We need to take the limits off of God !.God wants us to learn to give freely , cheerfully and abundantly. God wants us to experience the joy of grace giving . I believe as we learn to give freely and joyfully without fear that God is then able to supply us with even more seed which enables us to give even more . I believe that God wants us to become His free unrestricted conduits for which His abundant blessings may flow not only to us but also through us and then out to others.

I believe that God wants us to become addicted to free will, joyful giving..

Now lets look at the true model for the New Testament way of giving .

2 Corinthians 9:6-11 NLT

Remember this— a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. As the Scriptures say, “They share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever.” For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. …

We need to understand that money is a tool.  We possess money but money  should never possess us .  The Bible does not say that  money is not the root of all evil but  it’s the love of money that’s the root of all evil.  Also we need to understand that money does not meet or needs God meets all our needs and the truth is that God really does want to prosper us to be a blessing and to establish His covenant in this earth.. Deut 8:18

What is our  covenant of God today ? It’s the new covenant of grace and His unconditional love for us. The new covenant is about God loving  us so much that He gave heavens best.. God gave His only begotten son . God is a giver.. And now He lives in us and God wants us to have his heart in giving. Now for us to say I just want enough to meet my needs and to pay my own bills may sound humble but it is really  a selfish self centered way to prayer.   The Bible teaches that not only does God want us to prosper so that our needs are fully met but God also wants us to prosper so that we would be able to have an over  abundance to meet the needs of others as well..

For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. …

There are great benefits to giving.. Giving is like sewing seed in the ground , seeds sewn will produce a crop and result in even  more seed to sew.The foolish thing would be to take the seed that we  and never plant it.. If we eat all the seed  we have and  never plant seed then pretty soon we will run out of seed and  find ourselves in lack..

Speaking of lack one of the wisest things that we could  ever do especially  if  we find ourselves in lack is not to hold on with a tight fist to what little seed we have but it’s  to sew what we do have in fertile ground. Did you know that you can actually give your way out of debt ?  If we want to untie Gods hands then we will take the little we do have and begin to plant it where God directs us to plant it.  Yes It’s takes faith to sew seed but in essence when you do this then you are saying I’m not putting my trust in my  seed or in my own resources but in God who abundantly  provides all my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

2 Cor 9:6-11   Says as we learn to give cheerfully then  God is able to generously provide all our needs with plenty left over to share with others.

Now let me just say this ” If you don’t tithe you will not be cursed with a curse” , those who preach law tithing are preaching contrary to the gospel. The Bible tells us that Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of the law.. Those who are in Christ are no longer under any curse of any law, including all the curses of Deuteronomy  28. so we shouldn’t  even go there!

Galatians 3:13

Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that  hangs on a tree:

Those who are in Christ  are no longer underneath any curse and no one should ever call cursed who God has blessed or call unclean who God has cleaned. Remember  God brought a vision to Peter to establish this truth .

Acts 11:5-10  What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. And this was done three times: and all were drawn up again into heaven. …

Those in Christ are not cursed if they don’t give , they may be unwise or even a little dumb but they are not cursed.. To call a believer cursed is saying Jesus is  also cursed in whom the believer has now been once and for all joined to.

1 Corinthians 6:17  But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

Giving is just as much  for  us then anyone else. Giving says that we trust God to take care of all our needs.. Giving frees us from greed , which is the fear of lack.. Did you know that you don’t have to have a lot of money to be greedy, the most greedy people in the world are people who have little money.  God wants us to be free to give whatever He asks us to give but He wants us to be able to give freely with a cheerful ,  joyful heart.

Remember the little boy with the 5 loaves and 2 Fish  Jesus asked for what he had and he gave all he had and after it was all said and done the boy  took home 12 baskets full of fish and loaves..  If we will open our hands in faith and freely give whatever Hod asks then God can take our little and feed thousands and when it’s all said and done  there will still be an abundance left over to meet every need we have and be ready to give out even more..

God really wants us to consider the miracle of the loaves and fish.. I believe that of all miracles this is the miracle that we are to pay very close attention to.

Gods way has never been the  law way of giving , that is give or else! god is our Father not the God Father ! .. God does not send his hinch men over to break our car or burn down our house if we don’t pay him protection  money.  god wants us to experience the joy of giving..

A perfect example of grace giving can actually be found in the Old Testament ! Did you say the Old Testament?  Yep one of the most incredible examples of grace giving is found in the Old Testament when the temple was being constructed in the wilderness

Exodus 36:3-6   And they received from Moses all the freewill offerings which the Israelites had brought for doing the work of the sanctuary, to prepare it for service. And they continued to bring him freewill offerings every morning.  And all the wise and able men who were doing the work on the sanctuary came, every man from the work he was doing, And they said to Moses, The people bring much more than enough for doing the work which the Lord commanded to do. So Moses commanded and it was proclaimed in all the camp, Let no man or woman do anything more for the sanctuary offering. So the people were restrained from bringing,

As Gods people began to give with a free and willing heart something strange began to happen.. The joy of giving took over to the point where Gods  people had to  actually be restrained from giving because they were giving to much! They became addicted to giving!

How often have you heard a preacher get up and plead with the congregation to stop giving because they were giving way too much ?

This is the result of grace giving.. We need to preach grace giving more and law giving  a lot less.. We are no longer under the law but we are under grace..

We are not to preach giving according to Malachi 3:8-9 , give or be cursed! To do so is to actually put Gods people  back under the curse of the law in who Christ died to deliver them from.

 

Galatians 3:10   For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them

We need to understand that the  law is an all or nothing deal.. If we introduce even a little law ( leaven ) back into the church then we are in essence telling them that they are obligated to keep the whole law which includes all 613 laws.. We should never preach law giving this is contrary to the gospel and the new covenant of grace.

Gods way has always been free will offering  not do it or else!

Now some say well what about Abraham? Didn’t He pay tithe? No he didn’t ! The Bible says that Abraham gave tithe , He diet pay tithe.. There is a difference between paying and giving.. One is something you owe like a bill and the other is an act of gratitude and worship..

No one is saying you shouldn’t give , but as we give it should  always be from a free willing, grateful heart and as you move in this  type of giving you will experience the incredible fruit of joy and abundance of giving that will abound to the glory of God.

One of the biggest reasons many leaders do not like grace giving is because of fear.. Let’s face it many church’s have big bills and it’s easier and safer to preach a law type of giving then a free will giving. If giving is more like a payment we owe or be cursed then many feel this is a better motivator to insure that the church bills are paid.. But fear of not having the bills paid is never a reason to turn from grace back to the law. We have to trust grace to work in the hearts and lives of people.. We should never use manipulation as a means of getting our needs met.. Leaders need to preach the grace way of giving and trust grace to work ..

 

 

Prophetic Dream for 911

In May of 2001 I had a dream and in the dream I heard the Lord  say 911 , now at the time I had no Idea about the  911 tragedy  that would come later on that year. So I asked the Lord in the dream what 911 ment and I felt like He reminded me that 911 was of course the number to call in case of emergencies but then I felt like God said that he was preparing the church now for incredibly hard times ahead and just like the 911 emergency responders are well-trained to remain calm to communicate to those in panic on the other end that  we also were going to have to know Gods great peace in order to be able to deal with a lot of panicked  people in the years to come. After I received the word about 911 I then heard an old familiar nursery rhyme ” humpty dumpty sat on a wall humpty dumpty had a great fall all the kings horses and all the kings men couldn’t put humpty back together again”. I then asked the Lord what this ment and I felt like he said that humpty dumpty was the economy that was getting ready to have a great fall and all the kings horses and  all the kings men represented the governments of the world that would try to put it back together again but no matter how hard they tried they would never be able to fix it..

Now on September 11,2001 I remember  sitting in a place ironically called Manhattan Bagel having coffee when someone came in and said something about a small plane hitting the world trade center and at that time I did not realize it was actually 9/11.  after hearing the report I drove home and turned the TV on and that’s when I saw another plane hit the second tower. Im not sure at what point I realized it but The Lord reminded me of the dream He had given me a few months before about 911 and Humpty Dumpty.. The Twin Towers actually sat near wall street and had a great fall. The fall of the twin towers was the beginning of the fall of our economy and all the governments have tried their best to put it back together again but to no avail. I believe we are living in a very different time now and as Christians we must know the seasons and times that we are living in. This is the time to know Gods peace as never before. There are very troubled times ahead and mens hearts will fail for fear of what they see coming on the earth. I also believe that the war on terror is the last war we will see before Christ returns.. God also give me Psalm 91:1  as a verse that every believer needs to know and embrace for  protection.

He that dwells in the secret place of the most high will abide under the shadow of the almighty.. verse 2 says I will say of the Lord He is my refuge  and my fortress and in Him will I trust.

Like the Ark in the days of Noah we need to understand that the only safe and secure place is to be in Christ..  Now as we read  the rest of Psalm 91 its almost like reading the daily news paper .

The Lord—the One We Trust

91 He who lives in the safe place of the Most High will be in the shadow of the All-powerful. ² I will say to the Lord, “You are my safe and strong place, my God, in Whom I trust.” ³ For it is He Who takes you away from the trap, and from the killing sickness. ⁴ He will cover you with His wings. And under His wings you will be safe. He is faithful like a safe-covering and a strong wall.

⁵ You will not be afraid of trouble at night, or of the arrow that flies by day. ⁶ You will not be afraid of the sickness that walks in darkness, or of the trouble that destroys at noon. ⁷ A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand. But it will not come near you. ⁸ You will only look on with your eyes, and see how the sinful are punished. ⁹ Because you have made the Lord your safe place, and the Most High the place where you live, ¹⁰ nothing will hurt you. No trouble will come near your tent.

¹¹ For He will tell His angels to care for you and keep you in all your ways. ¹² They will hold you up in their hands. So your foot will not hit against a stone. ¹³ You will walk upon the lion and the snake. You will crush under your feet the young lion and the snake.

¹⁴ Because he has loved Me, I will bring him out of trouble. I will set him in a safe place on high, because he has known My name. ¹⁵ He will call upon Me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will take him out of trouble and honor him. ¹⁶ I will please him with a long life. And I will show him My saving power.

Dead to the Law and Alive to God !

I am dead to the law that I may live unto God..

Galatians 2:19-21 NET

For through the law I died to the law so that I may live to God. I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside God’s grace, because if righteousness could come through the law, then Christ died for nothing!

First.. Paul says through the law , I died to the law that I might live to God.. Paul realized that the main purpose for the law was not to make him perfect or righteous before God but the law was given to  really bring him to the end of trying to achieve righteousness through his own self effort and to instead place his complete faith in Christ for righteousness. The  only way that anyone is  made righteous today is through is to die to self effort for righteousness and place their faith solely in Christ..

Hebrews 7:19 For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did ; by the which we draw nigh unto God.

The law could never make anyone perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did. This better hope was Christ . Christ not only made us righteous but made us perfect !

Today in Christ I am not only forgiven but I am perfect in Him ! and because I am perfect in Him I can now draw near to God at any time of the day or night. I can draw near to God in full confidence  when I’m doing good and I can draw  near to God in confidence when I’m not doing so good because my perfection and my confidence is not based on me keeping the law or on my performance  but it’s based on my faith in Christ.  Today I’m perfect because I’m now in the perfect one who is Christ.. All that Christ is I now am because I am in a Him.

1 John 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

 

1 Corinthians 1:30   But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

 

Today because I am in Christ Jesus God has made me wisdom,righteousness,sanctification,and redemption .

 

Our new relationship to the law is death , We are no longer to be alive to the law  but dead to the law so that we might live unto God , so that we may bear fruit unto God.. Romans 7:4

The only way we will ever bear fruit unto God is to be dead to the law and married to Christ

We cannot turn back to the law at all or mix the law with grace .. There is only one thing we are to do with the law.. We are to die to the law. The sooner we choose to do this the sooner that our struggle with condemnation will cease and our real life in Christ can be realized

Galatians 2:19-21  For through the law I died to the law so that I may live to God.

To live we have to die .. Die to what ? Die to all self effort of trying to become righteous before God and instead receive  Christ  who is our  righteousness .

2 Corinthians 5:21..  He who knew no sin became sin to make you righteous! We must quit sweating for righteousness and instead rest in His righteousness.

Galatians 3:10-13  For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continues 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 God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.  And the law is not of faith: but, The man that does them shall live in them. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree:

It’s our choice law or Christ but not both.. If you choose to go the law way , then you will need to keep all the law or be cursed. The law consists of 613 laws and it’s an all or nothing deal ! but If you choose Christ alone then you will be blessed..

In Deut 28  it lists all the blessings and the curses . Christ has redeemed us from the curse so that we would be blessed but there is one catch! We must believe it..

We are no longer under the law at all or the curse of the law . Today we are to be dead to the law and now see ourselves alive in Christ..

When Christ died something else died with Him and that something else was the law and our old self.

Colossians 2:8-17   For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.  When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision-the cutting away of your sinful nature. For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross. So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality. …

The was law nailed to the cross because Jesus fulfilled all the law and we are now  complete in Him.. Our old self was also nailed to the cross.. He who knew no sin became sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.. The Christian life is not about a changed life but it’s about an exchanged life! We gave Christ our sin and He gave us His righteousness! Wow.     Now often  those who preach grace are accused by those under the law of being law haters .. Or against the law but those who understand the covenant of grace are not against the law they are for the law for the reason the law was given..the law was never given to justify us  or make anyone righteous but the law was to bring us to  Christ who then makes us righteous… Once we place our full faith in Christ then we are no longer under a schoolmaster , the law  for we are now joined  to Christ and children of God.

Galatians 3:24-27  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. [For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

The law was given to bring us to Christ but now that we are in Christ there is no more need for the school master ..the schoolmaster was the law that revealed or  desperate need for Christ.

Does this mean I now live a lawless and reckless life because I’m no longer under the law ? No ! I’m married to Christ .. Christ is my new life and as I embrace Christ then fruit will follow my life because I am attached to Christ. .. Today I don’t live by the law of the letter but the law of the Spirit of life in Christ. I live by the promptings  of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 7:6   But now we are discharged from the Law and have terminated all intercourse with it, having died to what once restrained and held us captive. So now we serve not under obedience to the old code of written regulations, but under obedience to the promptings of the Spirit in newness of life.

From the Law Way to the Grace Way

The law is Holy and just but the law which included  the Big 10 could never make us righteous or Holy before God. The law had one weakness and that weakness was us !  Our weak flesh could not keep the law.

Romans 8:3-4 NET

For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

To live according to the flesh is to continue to strive and measure up and to God through self effort and self determination but to live according to the spirit means to rest in His righteousness     Which is righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus and the finished work of the cross. As we rest then we simply respond to the leadership of the Holy Spirit in out lives.. Again we are not led by rule books or how to books but by the spirit of grace that now abides in us.

Hebrews 7:19  For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did ; by the which we draw nigh unto God.

The law is perfect but the law could never make anyone perfect but the bringing in of a better hope did make us perfect and that better hope is Jesus!  Today we are not made perfect through our own self effort  but we are made perfect by the blood of Jesus. Today through the new birth God has made  us to be one with Christ so that everything He is we now have become and we are now complete in Him.            The devil knows why the law was given so the devils ultimate deception was to take the law which is  good , holy and perfect and use the law to keep much of the church bound in a vicious cycle of sin , self effort and condemnation.. He knows the only way for the church to be free from sin and condemnation is for the church  to become dead to the law and alive to Christ, so he has kept them instead alive to the law which in turn renders  Christ of no affect in their lives.

The law is good and the law is holy but the law was never , never , never given to justify us or make us righteous before God..

Today we need to understand that we are no longer under any of the old covenant law at all . Which includes the law written in stone that was  called the ministry of death and condemnation but we  are now under a brand new covenant established on better promises. In fact  today we are to see ourselves dead to the law and married only to Christ.

Romans 7:4 So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you could be joined to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, to bear fruit to God.

The fact is this , we will never bear real fruit unto God until we  see ourselves fully dead to the law and  joined to The Lord..

1 Corinthians 6:17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Today we are married to Christ and not the law.. To go back into a relationship with the law is to commit spiritual polygamy . We are not married to both the law and Christ . We are either married to one or the other but not both but to be married to Christ is far better then being married to the law. If we choose to go the law way then it is an all or nothing deal. We must keep all the law or be guilty of all the law

James 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.

Paul use to be a law man until he met Christ and then Paul became a grace man! I believe the message translation does a great job in the book of Galatians of expressing the  radical change that took place in the life of Paul when he finally came to all of His law ways and surrendered to grace .

Galatians 2:19-21  What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that. Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.

The Apostle basically said as far as the law goes, I’ve been there done that ! and I refuse to go back to the law . Paul was saying there is really only one way forward and it’s called grace.. To go back to the law of self achievement for righteousness is to fall from grace. To turn back to the law is to go in the wrong direction and will always lead to a dead end street.

The apostle Paul said that he had to let go of his ego and choose to rest in the finished work of Jesus.

 

This actually reminded me of a silly waffle commercial where someone has a tight bull dog grip on their waffle saying let go of my ego! Whether we admit it or not our own ego is one of the main reasons that we do not want to rest in the finished work of the cross for righteousness. Our flesh often wants to receive glory for doing something to earn  right standing with God, but it is very clear in scripture that  no flesh will ever glory for what Christ has already  accomplished for us and in us..

1 Corinthians 1:29-31  That no flesh should glory in his presence. [30] But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Religion often teaches that in order to be righteous and holy that we must dress a certain way, or do a certain amount of things in order to achieve holiness or righteousness before God but his is not what the scripture teaches. The Bible says that God made us to be wisdom, holy, righteous and redeemed through the cross and by baptizing us into Christ .. Again as we were joined to The Lord all that He is we became and this was an act of grace so that no flesh can ever glory or take credit for whatGod has accomplished for us in Christ..

When we get to heaven it will not be glory be to Jesus and me , it will only be glory be to the one who site on the throne! He alone is worthy of all praise!

We can never mix any of the law with grace.. This unholy mixture will always frustrate grace and make Christ of no affect in the life of the believer.. The Bible says that we are to be dead to the law and married to Christ.Romans 7:4. To mix law with grace will only frustrate grace from working in the heart and life of the believer.

 

Galatians 2:21 AMP

Therefore, I do not treat God’s gracious gift as something of minor importance and defeat its very purpose; I do not set aside and invalidate and frustrate and nullify the grace (unmerited favor) of God. For if justification (righteousness, acquittal from guilt) comes through observing the ritual of the Law, then Christ (the Messiah) died groundlessly and to no purpose and in vain. His death was then wholly superfluous.

 

Now today there are those who often say that those who preach grace are against the law but this is far from the truth . We who preach the new covenant of grace are not against the law but we are for the law for the reason the law was given.. The law was given to  bring is to an end of fleshly striving for justification and to point us to fully place our complete faith in Jesus Christ and the finished work of the cross.

 

Now because many do not understand grace and the function of grace they often bring the law back  in after salvation  by saying the law is not for salvation but the law is our moral compass. The law shows us how to live and what we are to do,  but again what they fail to see is that we do not need external laws or rules for a moral compass , we don’t even need the latest how to book for our moral compass or to show us how to live the Christian life.. Today we have a new way of living . This new way is called the grace way ! And grace is the spirit of Christ that now lives in us to change us and direct us from the inside out.. The new covenant is all about an inside out work . Those who are the sons of God  are led by the spirit of God. Gods spirit and not the law is the new way we are to be led and to be transformed..

 

2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

The law and following external rules actually stunts spiritual  growth..  This is why there is so much immaturity in the church today.. Many today are still trying to live the Christian life by the law of self effort instead of grace .