Law vs Grace Pt 2

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This week as I was in church we sang a wonderful song. We sang let the river flow. Through this song God Spoke to me. He reminded me of the scripture in John 7:37-39 when He talks about those who thrust will be filled and those who believe in Him will have rivers of living water flowing out of his heart. All through church this stayed on my mind. So I asked the Lord to teach me about this scripture. And oh let me tell you He did just that. I didn’t go home and dig into the Word right away. I thought about this I pondered it for a while. It was only at work after a long hard day of work that I finally looked this up in the bible. As I looked it up the Lord didn’t say anything. I thought that I had just heard my flesh during church. I thought that maybe I was just wanting to hear from the Lord and that I had fooled myself. Well I could not have been more wrong. The next day I went home and spent a wonderful day with my wife. We cleaned the house, went on a date, then ended the evening with a movie. Again all the while I couldn’t get John 7:37-39 out of my head. I knew that there had to be more to it. As God always works in mysterious ways He started working that night. Chantal after coming home from the movie told me that she was so very tired and that she just wanted to go to bed. So that is just where we went. I took my bible and sat in bed and started reading. I was intending to find scriptures that talk about homosexuality so that I could write a letter to the USAF regarding the “don’t ask, don’t tell” police. (as the day before I took a survey they sent out) I got my scriptures, but there just was no life in them. They were not speaking to me. I knew that God did not intend to speak to me about this issue that night. Although I knew that He did want to talk with me. So I asked Him what he wanted talk with me about. At that moment He flashed John 7:37-39 to me. And as I was still in 1 Corinthians looking at homosexual scriptures I decided to flip through a few pages to see what would POP out at me. When I got to 2 Corinthians the Lord started speaking. So let me just try and put into words what I heard my Father speak. (He spoke like He does most of the time. He took me through His scriptures and made them come alive to me. When I read the scriptures there was power in them. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that what I was getting was from God.)

2 Corinthians 3:4-11, 17-18
We are being told that they (Paul & the other Apostles) were sufficient ministers of the new covenant. Not a covenant written on stone (like the old law) but one that is written of the Spirit on the hearts of men. That this new covenant does not kill (like the old) but gives “life.” Then he goes on to say that the old law (in verse 7,9) a ministry of death, and condemnation. And though it (during its time) was glorious is a dull image compared to the new law (the law of liberty). Verse 17 says it best “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

These verses reminded me of the conversation I had with my mother several nights ago. She brought my attention to James. She said that she was reading along with a teaching she heard at church as she came across James 1:22-25. once she read this she knew that she must share it with me. As she knew that I was in search of scriptures walking me through “law vs grace.” So in James 1:22-24 we are told to be doers of the word and not hearers only. Then in verse 25 we are told “he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” I almost could not believe my eyes. I mean I was literally looking into the “perfect law of liberty.” As God was speaking to me about rivers of living water (the Holy Spirit), and how the Spirit of the Lord is liberty, and how this law if liberty sets me free from the old law. It is this new liberty that I must follow, and be a “doer” of. Well how do I start to live and be a “doer” of the law of liberty? It starts in the next chapter. James 2:12 “So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.” What a completely new way of thinking this is. I mean I know that I am not the only one who condemns myself when I know that I sin. So what makes me condemn myself? It is the old law. If I am to be a “doer” of the Word of God then I must walk as though I am not going to be judged my the old law but the new one of liberty. (may I just put in a side note. Romans 6:1-2a, 15, 7:7a “what shall we say then? Should we continue to sin that grace may abound? Certainly NOT!...” “what shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly NOT!” “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Certainly NOT!” and most importantly in Gal 5:13 “for you brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh” (sin). these few scriptures clearly tells us that we are not to use grace as a license to sin. As for those that do not obey these scriptures and use liberty for their flesh to abound; well we in Texas like to call them “greasy gracers.”)

Now as we know the old law is what puts me into condemnation. Well we see in Rom 8:1-2 that “there is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” We saw in 2 Corinthians 3:7 that the old law was called “death,” and we see latter in Romans 8 that sin is of the flesh. So when we add what we have so far we get this: that the Spirit of the Lord is liberty, and that He sets us from the old law as well as our own flesh. We are no longer slaves to sin and death. Romans 8:5 “for those who live according the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live (a “doer”) according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.” Once we are free to live in Christ Jesus we will have a new mind. The mind of Christ. Therefore we should no longer have the mind (or desire) to try and fulfill the old law, for we already know that it has been fulfilled (by Christ), and that one big hurdle that was keeping us from a personal intimate relationship with God is gone! This is the mind of Christ. Rom 8:14-15 It is those who live according to the Spirit of God that are called “sons of God” “for we did not receive the spirit of bondage again (old law) to fear, but we received the Spirit of adoption (freedom)…”

There is quite a bit more that our Father spoke to me. I will write those words down a little bit later. I just needed to put down on paper the solid word that I had so far. So it is here that I count my blessings: I thank God that I have been set free from everything in live so that I am able to love Him and only Him. I also thank Him that He is still a living God and that He still speaks to me.