It blows people's minds that the law is the ministry of death and condemnation!

It blew my mind when I first saw it and understood it, so I can understand why it blows the minds of others. Recently I've had interaction with others that drives home the point.

It's right there in the Bible. Loud and clear! And yet many people have never heard it or at least have never understood it - or simply not believed it. The Apostle Paul calls God's Law "the ministry of death" and "the ministry of condemnation" (see 2 Cor 3:7-9). I've written about this before, and I'm sure I'll write about it again, so I won't get into the full meaning of it right now. I just want to show how this essential gospel truth is hardly even known in the church!

A listener of our Growing in Grace program, who also became a Facebook friend of mine, recently wrote these words on his Facebook page:

This blow me away, what was engraved on letters of stone, the 10 commandments and Paul calls them the ministry of death, wow! and a ministry that condemns men. Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ, the truth is, the Law justifies no man.....sigh.....what a freakin relief.

On Facebook you can "like" someone's comment. (You can click a little link that says you "like" what the person has shared). So I "liked" his comment. He responded to me:

You should Joel, you did a podcast on it...man that was powerful....I never seen that before.

Nowadays I simply take it for granted that this is the truth - that the Law was the ministry of death and condemnation. And sometimes I forget that this is new news to so many people - even people who have been Christians for a long time!

"I never seen that before."

My friend and Growing in Grace cohost, Mike Kapler (Kap), was sharing with me yesterday about a conversation he'd had with some people at church recently. Long story short, he was sitting in on a certain class, and they began getting off of the particular topic of the class and began talking about our identity in Christ. Kap began sharing that Paul called the Law the ministry of death and condemnation. One of the women in the class spoke up and said, "I've never heard that before."

I don't know how long she's been in the church, but my point in all of this is that these are essential truths that should be known by anyone and everyone who has come to know Jesus (and has died to the Law in order to be married to Him - [see Rom 7:1-6 and Gal 2:19-20])! WHY is Law taught as part of the Christian life when the Bible says the exact opposite?!! WHY is today's church in such a state that stuff like this is so revolutionary when it should be the norm? Rhetorical questions. As I said at the start, I understand it. I get it. And that's why we need to keep on sharing the truth that breaks down all these falsehoods!

GIG 197 - Law: Bondage, Jesus: Freedom

Continuing on from last week's program in which we talked about being delivered from the Law, this week we talk a little bit more about the ministry of the Law, which is bondage, and the "better hope" that we have in Jesus, which is freedom!

The Apostle Paul uses very strong language when talking about the Law. Sometimes we glance over these things, but we've got to look at the reality of the Law's purpose and ministry so we can have a clearer understanding of the ministry of Jesus! Did you know that Paul refers to the Law as "the law of sin and death," "the ministry of death" and "the ministry of condemnation?" He brings up the Old Testament characters of Hagar and Sarah, saying they are symbols of the two covenants - one that gives birth to bondage and the other that brings freedom. Are we of the child that was born according to the flesh, or of the child that was born according to the promise!

gigcast.graceroots.org

Spiritual Bondage

What do you think of when you think of "spiritual bondage?" At one time in my life, I thought of spiritual bondage as all the sins that I was in "bondage" to. I thought of spiritual bondage as all the bad things I needed to overcome in order to maintain my right standing with God.

But if we look at what the Bible says about spiritual bondage, we get a completely different picture! While I was at work today, I randomly selected another message from my old pastor to listen to on my mp3 player, and again it was from 1995. I was amazed at how well this message really goes along perfectly with my post from the other day, "In order to be free, there's a certain thing you need to get out of your life...", along with the comments on that post.

This message gets into what bondage really is, as compared to true freedom in Christ. Again, we tend to think of bondage as "sin" and freedom as "living right." Of course, there are a lot of sinful things that we can be in bondage to. And it certainly wouldn't hurt if everybody would "live right." But again that's not what the Bible is talking about when it talks about bondage and freedom!

In Galatians 4, Paul says, "For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar — for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children — but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all."

What exactly came from Mount Sinai and gave birth to bondage? The Ten Commandments - that's what came from Mount Sinai and gave birth to bondage! The same Ten Commandments that Christians today think means freedom for them! But in fact, Paul not only called them bondage, but he also called them the ministry of death ("written and engraved on stones") and the ministry of condemnation (see 2 Cor 3:7-11).

True freedom comes when we STOP judging ourselves and condemning ourselves based upon rules and laws and how well we're performing in our Christian lives, and begin simply trusting in the truth that we are accepted in the Beloved by God's grace and nothing else!

Again I invite you to download and listen to this encouraging message. If you've got an sort of a religious mindset - I mean, even the tiniest inkling you may have that leans towards trying to live by law or judging yourself or others according to performance - then hold on tight and get ready for your foundation to be completely shaken and upheaved! And if you're searching for true freedom in Christ - really wanting to get out of religious bondage and have a wonderful, free relationship with Christ, based upon God's grace and upon His favor that is upon you due to nothing other than the finished work of Christ - then get ready to have your foundation in Christ strengthened and secured.

Revival

The church wants a revival... of sin. Well, at least that's how many in the church act! However, I think that many or most of those who are supporting a sin revival don't realize that that's what they're doing... and therefore I should try to be fair and say that I realize where they're coming from, because I once thought the same way.

What I'm talking about is the preaching of the Law in the Christian church. I've talked a lot on this blog about the purpose of the Law so I won't go into great detail right now, but I'll just give a brief overview of New Covenant revelation about the Law. When the Law came, several things happened: The Law became a curse for everyone who did not keep it (see Gal 3:10-14) - and no one has kept it; the world was confined under sin (Gal 3:21-23); the world was condemned (2 Cor 3:9); sin abounded (Rom 5:20); sin was made exceedingly sinful (Rom 7:13); sinful passions were aroused, bearing fruit to death (Rom 7:5); the Law aided in the revival of sin (Rom 7:9-11); the Law acted as a tutor that would show people the true depths of their sin and condemned state, leading them to the Savior, Jesus (Gal 3:24-25).

The New Covenant teaches us that all of these things (and more) are the true purpose of the Law.  The Law doesn't aid us in Christian living. In fact, it's just the opposite! The Law won't help a person who is indwelled by the Holy Spirit any more than the Law will help a person who doesn't have the Holy Spirit. That was never meant to be the Law's purpose. All of this said, remember that the Law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good! (Rom 7:12) I'm not putting down the Law. I'm not saying that the Law itself is not good. In fact, the Law is so holy and just and good that the only thing it can do in a relationship with sinful man is to condemn and to do all that the New Covenant reveals about it, as summarized in the above paragraph.

But yet the church continues to teach and preach the ministry of death and condemnation as valid ways to aid in holy Christian living. That makes no sense! New Covenant scripture has given us revelation and enlightenment about the true nature and purpose of the Law, and yet we seem to skim right over it, and make the absolutely-new-and-fresh New Covenant out to be nothing more than Old Covenant Part 2. And that's sad, because the Law can do the same thing in the mind and life of a person indwelled by the Spirit that it was meant to do only in the life of an unbeliever. It can bring about feelings condemnation and fear. It can still aid in the arousal and revival of sin. In Christ, there is no condemnation. Christ has set us free from sin. So why do we teach and preach the very thing that is meant to bring these things on?

You may think that since a Christian is indwelled by the Holy Spirit, then something as holy and just and good as the Law should be viewed as a gift from God that goes right along with His Spirit in us, helping us walk in all holiness and goodness. But it doesn't, and it won't! Any one of us who has been a Christian for any length of time knows that we still sin, right? So, as Christians who have the Holy Spirit living in us, we're still able to operate independently of the Holy Spirit, right? If we were co-operating with the Holy Spirit at all times, we would never sin, right? And so even though we're no longer "in the flesh," as Paul plainly states in Romans 8, we can still behave as if we were walking according to the flesh. We can still make choices that are not in accord with our true nature of righteousness and holiness.

So what brings this on? What leads us to sin? One obvious reason is that we're tempted by our own fleshly desires (our desires that we have apart from our union with God) and we don't put to death the deeds of the flesh by the Holy Spirit, as per Col 3:5. But one HUGE thing that gives rise to independent living - living as if we were still in the flesh, apart from God - would be the teaching and preaching of the Law! If we look at what the Law's purpose is (see again the second paragraph above), why would we EVER want to preach this to people who have come to know Christ and have escaped the fleshly lifestyle of living by the Law?

There is life in the Red Letters... Sometimes.

I was recently listening to some music from good ol' DC Talk. I've always loved their music. Even from the freaky hip hop days. :) By the way, are those guys ever gonna get back together? Their greatest hits CD, "Intermission," came out when? 2000??? That's quite an intermission! I know, I know, they've all gone on to other wonderful things, and I could really digress quite terribly here! So on with the point...

The chorus of their song "Red Letters," from the "Supernatural" CD goes like this:

There is love in the red letters
There is truth in the red letters
There is hope for the hopeless
Peace and forgiveness
There is life in the red letters
In the red letters

I want to go on record as saying I'm not trying to judge the writer's heart or intentions. A response to what I'm going to say here could go something like, "Come on, Joel! What are you bickering about now!" And it's true that I didn't even have to use this song to make my point. I actually had another title for this post, but this song popped into my head because I had just listened to it the other day. So it simply provided a starting point for what I'm saying.

The "red letters" in the song refers to the words of Jesus. Certain Bible publishers have published "Red Letter" versions, to highlight the words of Jesus in red.

So, first off... everything that is said in the chorus of this song can indeed be found in the "red letters" (in various words that Jesus spoke): Love, truth, hope, peace, forgiveness and life.

HOWEVER... There are times when the red letters do not speak love, truth, hope, peace, forgiveness and life. If you don't already know where I'm going with this, please stay with me give me a chance to make my point. There are times when the red letters speak death and condemnation. And it's not always at the most obvious times!

Let's back up a minute. In our modern day Bibles, we see a division between "Old Testament" (Genesis to Malachi) and "New Testament" (Matthew to Revelation). The New Testament (Covenant), we therefore perceive, begins with Matthew, Chapter 1. But hold on just a minute. Let's look at something Jesus said that's recorded in Matthew 26 and Luke 14. At the "Last Supper," Jesus takes the cup of wine and says "this cup is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins."

The New Testament (Covenant) did not come into effect until the shedding of Jesus' blood. Before His death on the Cross, Jesus ministered and taught under the Old Covenant. Jesus was "born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law." Many of the red letters were addressed to those who were "under the law." Many of the red letters were spoken to affirm, emphasize, accentuate and show the intensity and true meaning of the... Law!!!

Paul would later remind us that "whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and the world become guilty before God" (Rom 3:19). While Jesus HIMSELF "did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved" (John 3:17), He knew that the LAW was the means by which the world stood condemned and which silenced their self-justifying mouths, and which ultimately was the schoolmaster that would lead them to Him (Galatians 3:24,25).

Paul called the law "the ministry of death" and "the ministry of condemnation" (2 Cor 3:7, 9). And again, Jesus Himself did not come to bring death or condemnation. But in order to bring Life and Justification, He taught the fullness and the exactness and the definitiveness of the death and condemnation that was through the law. This "tutor" (schoolmaster) of the Law is what leads people to Jesus.

Many of the "red letters" were not actually meant AS life, but rather as the means of demonstrating the death and condemnation of those under the law... with the intention of ultimately leading a person to Life.

So... if I were a big Nashville lyricist (don't I wish!), and if I would have been part of the writing team for this song, perhaps I would have added another line or two to the chorus, or even another chorus!

There is law in the red letters
There is guilt the red letters
There is death and condemnation
End of self justification
Sin abounds... in the red letters
In the red letters

(See Romans 5:20-21 if you think that last line is utter foolishness)!

I realize I may have dropped half of my audience with this post. Either because someone thinks I'm dissing DC Talk or because I'm misrepresenting the Bible.

PLEASE don't think I'm dissing DC Talk! As for the Bible, don't take my word for it anyway!