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Another lie that's been weaseling itself into the Christian church.
If that is really true then the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in you as you walk according to the Spirit rather than the flesh (Romans 8:4).
To keep it simple...the new covenant is not to the church, but to future national Israel that Jesus Christ will come back and save per Jer 31 and Zech 14 etc..I'll answer the last question first. Is the new Covenant better than the old? Absolutely. And here's why.
Covenants and testaments are based on promises and agreements between two or more parties, and the covenant is predicated on the faithfulness and relational integrity of each party. Should one party to the covenant fail his/her responsibilities, the covenant is broken, and the aggrieved party within his/her rights to annul the agreement. This is common law.
Our Creator God is a God of infinite, unfailing, unwavering, uncompromising love. It always has been and always will be that He would have His erring sinful proud and unbelieving creatures to know this love, and therefore, to know Him.
KJV Ephesians 3
Paul’s Prayer
14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
It has always been His heartfelt yearning that God and man should be on the most intimate of terms and that both may know the joy and peace that would come from a loving relationship with one another.
KJV Exodus 25
8 And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.
The entire Government of God, the Kingdom of Heaven, and the laws by which it is governed, is built upon this love. And everything God purposes to do, promises, accomplishes, says and does, has as its motivating principle God’s perfect love.
KJV Deuteronomy 7
7 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:
8 But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;
See also Isa. 63:7-9; 1 John 4:7-21; 1 John 5:1-4)
That is why, when Adam sinned, God still sought him out. (Gen. 3:9) Love was the motivating factor behind God’s promise (Genesis 3:15; Nahum 1:9) that the damage to the relationship caused by sin (Isa 59:2) would ultimately be undone ; that the power of Satan over our lives (John 8:34; Romans 6:16,20; 2 Peter 2:19) would be reversed and the power of death(Ezek. 18:4,20; Romans 5:12; Romans 6:23) would be overcome . How was God to accomplish all this while at the same time honoring justice, love and mercy? Through Jesus Christ.
The plan of redemption was not an afterthought, an emergency crisis plan developed after the fall of Adam. It was a “revelation of the mystery kept secret through times eternal” (Romans 16:25 RV) and the book of Revelation says…
KJV Revelation 13
8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
And also....
KJV 1 Peter 1
20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you…
Foreseeing the apostasy of Satan and his deception of Adam and Eve causing their fall, God had already prepared to meet the crisis. So great was His love for man that He covenanted to give “His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
This covenant was to be shown in types and symbols. The entire law, moral, ritual, civil, and even health, were a “lesson book” for the people of Israel (Gal. 3:24,25) and beginning from the very first sacrifice slain by God Himself to clothe Adam and Eve (Gen 3:21) the people of God, in the form of our ancient fathers, and later Israel were to learn (or should have learned) three vital lessons.
1. That sin results in death. (Genesis 2:19; 3:19; Ezekiel 18:20; 1 Cor. 6:9,10; Romans 5:12; Romans 6:23; James 1:15; ) for remission is only possible through the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22)
2. That the constant shedding of innocent blood was to teach man an abhorrence and hatred for sin and thus encourage the people to repent and turn away from not just sin, (Isa 1:11-20; Ezek. 18:21-23) but the incessant sacrifices that were necessitated because of sin. God had no pleasure in the rivers of blood that flowed from the altars in the temple every Passover when the whole nation gathered together in Jerusalem.
3. The symbols, sacrifices, and services of the sanctuary were a prophetic picture of a coming savior; they were a depiction of the gospel of grace. (Gen. 22:8; Isa 53:6,7)
And how were these promises, this covenant, to be appropriated by the individual personally? By faith. (Hebrews 11:6) Was Israel at any time justified or saved by works of the law? No. Not at all. A big error Israel did make however was to attempt to do just that. Making a promise that was…
a. Impossible, and
b. not required of them…
KJV Exodus 19
8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD….
They began to rely on their obedience and in their participation in these services and sacrifices etc rather than in the grace and mercy of God. (Rom. 10:3-9. This is what the apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians was all about.
What then, does all this mean for us living as we know in the “New Testament” times? What is this New Testament, or covenant? God’s love has not changed (Hebrews 13:8; James 1:17), nor His purpose in undoing all the works of Satan. (1 John 3:8) Therefore the new covenant must involve a new method by which He is to be able to fulfil His promises. Why? Because the old covenant was based on faulty promises. Were God’s promises faulty? Surely not, no, but rather the peoples promises. (Heb. 8:6,7) The people had misjudged the part they were to play in the covenant. In Exod. 19:5,6 God promised (again) that He would make of them a mighty nation and a holy people, and their response was in the form of a faulty promise. They answered, “all that the Lord hath spoken we will do”. (Exod. 19:8) Unfortunately they had little idea of what they promised. God said that He would perform and establish His covenant; rather than thanking Him and surrendering themselves in faith and acceptance to His promise, they said they would perform His promise. Just like Abram and Sarai when introducing Hagar into the transaction between God and Abram. In a sense they were introducing a mediator, much as has Rome done which is the spirit of Antichrist. This was not Abraham’s covenant to alter or amend. This was God’s covenant, and like all covenants or testaments, once blood is spilt that testament can never be changed. History reveals of course the abject failure of Israel’s promise, failure to such an extent that Israel didn’t even recognize the very God of the covenant when He visited…we are all well aware of what they did to their own Messiah.
Therefore God had to make a new covenant with the house of Israel, based on better promises (Heb. 8:9,10) Today, God’s promises remain. He still would bring us power and victory over Satan and sin, but the method by which He would accomplish this has changed. The just however must still live by faith.
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The Law is our judge. It is not our friend. It will condemn us, because it is still very much active and judging mankind today.
What is 'love your neighbor as yourself' a shadow of? What is 'do not steal' a shadow of?
Tong2020 said: ↑
I'd say most homosexuals were made that way by having participated in that activity and becoming enslaved by it. But I'm sure there are a few who have hormonal imbalances that cause them to desire the same sex. But either way, they are to put those desires to death by the Holy Spirit just like any other unholy desire.
The end of the law for the believer does not mean the end of 'love your neighbor as yourself', or the end of 'do not murder', or the end of 'do not steal'. It is the end of the law as far as the condemnation of the law, and the law making you sin, and the end of the need to observe the ceremonial cycle.
You don't understand that to love God is to NOT live as you please, but instead to restrain your harmful and thoughtless and selfish behavior in the interest of the safety and wellbeing of the people around you. I know, the church does not teach this. I know why you do not know this.
And they were given as a codified body of laws known as the Law of Moses, to the children of Israel and those within their gates, that would govern their life, until the Christ.
The law of Christ is what's left after you lay aside the observances that you don't have to keep anymore. See, Christ never needed those Mosaic observances. And so the law of Christ that we keep does not include the laws for atonement. In Christ we don't need them either.
The old covenant laws, known as the Mosaic Law, was given by God to Israel through Moses.
Tell us, do you consider yourself part of the church? Tell us, are you in a covenant with God? If so, what is that covenant?
