Ps 130:3
If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins,
O Lord, who could stand?
1 Cor 13:5
(Love)... keeps no record of wrongs.
Col 2:13-14
And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
2 Cor 5:18-19
Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Grace Roots Blog
Showing posts with label against us. Show all posts
Showing posts with label against us. Show all posts
Friday, July 31, 2009
There is no record against you
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Ten specific examples of what was against us and contrary to us...
If the last post didn't step on any toes, I'm sure this one will. But let's at least look at what the Scriptures say. "Let us reason together." :)
First, a summary:
Scripture tells us that something was against us and contrary to us. It tells us that we were in bondage to something. It tells us that in Christ, this has now been taken out of the way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete. Isn't it quite astounding for God to go to such great lengths to take something out of the way, nail it to the cross and make it obsolete! So what is it that was against us, and contrary to us, and put us into bondage... and God then took out of the way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete?
Brace yourself, I'm here to lay it down.
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The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
We now have something so much better than all of this! All of the above is good and holy, but it was weak in that it could never do a thing to make us good and holy. All it did was to make us guilty before God. It was against us, contrary to us, and put us into nothing but bondage. But what the Law could not do, God did by sending His Son. We have now died to the above so that we could be joined with Christ, whose life in us will always lead us into what is good, holy and righteous. We are now free to serve righteousness, which is something we could never, ever find in the Law!
First, a summary:
Scripture tells us that something was against us and contrary to us. It tells us that we were in bondage to something. It tells us that in Christ, this has now been taken out of the way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete. Isn't it quite astounding for God to go to such great lengths to take something out of the way, nail it to the cross and make it obsolete! So what is it that was against us, and contrary to us, and put us into bondage... and God then took out of the way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete?
Gal 4:24 "For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage..."What came from Mount Sinai? God's LAW. What is the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us? God's LAW. What has been taken out of the way, nailed to the cross? God's LAW. What has been made obsolete? The Old Covenant, which was based upon man keeping God's LAW.
Col 2:13-14 "And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross."
Heb 8:13 In that He says, 'A new covenant,' He has made the first obsolete. Now what is obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away."
Brace yourself, I'm here to lay it down.
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The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"You shall have no other gods before Me."The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"You shall not make for yourself a carved image — any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments."The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain."The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you."The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"You shall not murder."The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"You shall not commit adultery."The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"You shall not steal."The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."The following was against us, contrary to us, a source of bondage to us, and is now taken out of our way, nailed to the cross and made obsolete:
"You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's."(All of the above: "The Ten Commandments," taken from Exodus 20:3-17)
We now have something so much better than all of this! All of the above is good and holy, but it was weak in that it could never do a thing to make us good and holy. All it did was to make us guilty before God. It was against us, contrary to us, and put us into nothing but bondage. But what the Law could not do, God did by sending His Son. We have now died to the above so that we could be joined with Christ, whose life in us will always lead us into what is good, holy and righteous. We are now free to serve righteousness, which is something we could never, ever find in the Law!
What was against us and contrary to us has been wiped out and made obsolete!
This post, and the post to follow, are not posts that are meant to turn your head a little. They're not simply "double-take" posts. These are absolute all-out in-your-face posts! I might even make some enemies with these posts, and I'm willing to take that risk. But my ultimate hope is that the words in these posts will be used to set people free.
For too long the Church of Jesus Christ has been involved in an atrocious, yet all too widely accepted, form of Christianity that continues to include within it various forms of the very thing that Christ came to set us free from! Actually, this has been going on for 2,000 years. Certain early Christians, such as the people in the churches of Galatia, were so involved in this atrocity that the Apostle Paul, in a strong rebuke, called them foolish and he asked them who had bewitched them that they would turn back to such things!
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free," Paul said (Galatians 5:1), but yet there are still many Christians living today who are in bondage to the very thing that Christ set us free from! It should not be this way! So what is this terrible, heinous form of slavery that Christians are involved in, through the preaching and teaching of it, and through the daily yoking of themselves together with it?
The LAW. God's Law. God's holy Law. I'll be specific: The Ten Commandments (and any and all other of God's 600+ laws and ordinances in the Bible). This is what Christians, to their detriment, are misguidedly teaching and preaching as the way of the Christian life. The paradox here is that God's good, holy law... is not good for us! It was against us and contrary to us (Colossians 2:14). It was bondage to us (Galatians 4:24). See, God's good and holy Law has this itsy bitsy little shortcoming when it comes to sinful man: It can make no one perfect or holy or good! (See Hebrews 7:18-19 and Romans 8:3). So what God did through Christ was not to enable us to live according to the standards of His Law, but rather He took the Law out of the way by nailing it to the cross with Christ! (See again Colossians 2:14). And so with the Law nailed to the cross and our sin taken away, we were freed from our bondage and made close to God by His grace. We now live, not by God's Law, but by the Life of Christ that has come to indwell us.
So why the obsession with the Law in Christianity??? Do we not get that it was against us and that we had to die to it in order to belong to Christ? (Galatians 2:19-20, Romans 7:4). Jesus
said He didn't come to destroy the Law. He came to fullfil it. And guess what? At the cross, all was fulfilled!!! When Jesus died, God's Last Will and Testament (the New Covenant) was executed. When all was fullfilled, and the New Covenant came to be, God made the first covenant "obsolete" (Hebrews 8:13)! We can't miss the fact that Jesus, "after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God" (Hebrews 10:12). Jesus sat down, signifying that the work was complete and sufficient and finished forever!!! What the Law could never have done, Christ did once and for all.
Thank GOD that what was against us and contrary to us (God's Law) has been wiped out and nailed to the cross and made obsolete! Because of this, we are truly FREE!
For too long the Church of Jesus Christ has been involved in an atrocious, yet all too widely accepted, form of Christianity that continues to include within it various forms of the very thing that Christ came to set us free from! Actually, this has been going on for 2,000 years. Certain early Christians, such as the people in the churches of Galatia, were so involved in this atrocity that the Apostle Paul, in a strong rebuke, called them foolish and he asked them who had bewitched them that they would turn back to such things!
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free," Paul said (Galatians 5:1), but yet there are still many Christians living today who are in bondage to the very thing that Christ set us free from! It should not be this way! So what is this terrible, heinous form of slavery that Christians are involved in, through the preaching and teaching of it, and through the daily yoking of themselves together with it?
The LAW. God's Law. God's holy Law. I'll be specific: The Ten Commandments (and any and all other of God's 600+ laws and ordinances in the Bible). This is what Christians, to their detriment, are misguidedly teaching and preaching as the way of the Christian life. The paradox here is that God's good, holy law... is not good for us! It was against us and contrary to us (Colossians 2:14). It was bondage to us (Galatians 4:24). See, God's good and holy Law has this itsy bitsy little shortcoming when it comes to sinful man: It can make no one perfect or holy or good! (See Hebrews 7:18-19 and Romans 8:3). So what God did through Christ was not to enable us to live according to the standards of His Law, but rather He took the Law out of the way by nailing it to the cross with Christ! (See again Colossians 2:14). And so with the Law nailed to the cross and our sin taken away, we were freed from our bondage and made close to God by His grace. We now live, not by God's Law, but by the Life of Christ that has come to indwell us.
So why the obsession with the Law in Christianity??? Do we not get that it was against us and that we had to die to it in order to belong to Christ? (Galatians 2:19-20, Romans 7:4). Jesus
said He didn't come to destroy the Law. He came to fullfil it. And guess what? At the cross, all was fulfilled!!! When Jesus died, God's Last Will and Testament (the New Covenant) was executed. When all was fullfilled, and the New Covenant came to be, God made the first covenant "obsolete" (Hebrews 8:13)! We can't miss the fact that Jesus, "after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God" (Hebrews 10:12). Jesus sat down, signifying that the work was complete and sufficient and finished forever!!! What the Law could never have done, Christ did once and for all.
Thank GOD that what was against us and contrary to us (God's Law) has been wiped out and nailed to the cross and made obsolete! Because of this, we are truly FREE!
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