Radio Broadcast Tuesday 02/01/2022

Classic Christianity – A Closer Look at The Reality of The Resurrection P28 (02-01-22)

We Are Identified by Being Under The New Covenant

It is so important to understand our identity in Christ Jesus and the New Covenant we are now identified as being under. And not understanding the difference between the old and new covenants leads to all types of errors in our thinking and susceptible to the lies of the devil, being pushed by pastors and teachers that don’t have a clue themselves of what being under the New Covenant is all about. It’s also important to note that just because someone is teaching in the pulpit, does not mean that that person is even saved. Lies and errors can be spread knowingly or unknowingly. We need the Spirit of God living in us to identify error, correct it, and have our minds renewed. Let’s continue as Bob teaches from lesson #8 of A Closer Look at The Reality of The Resurrection.

What shall we say then? Shall we increase in sin? God forbid. Do you not know we have been baptized into Christ Jesus and His death. We identify with Him in His death. For a new covenant could not go into affect until His death.

Hebrews 9:16,17
¹⁶ In the case of a will, it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, ¹⁷ because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living.

We have been baptized into His death. It’s through the law that we die to the law, so we could live in the newness of life.

Galatians 3:23-25
²³ Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. ²⁴ So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

Until you came to faith in Christ Jesus we have been freed from the law. Yet there are Christians that are still thinking in their own minds that they are still under the law.

No, we are led by the Holy Spirit of God. The law was put in place to lead us to Christ. The law was also put in place to show us our sinfulness. The law is like a mirror. It shows you how dirty you are. Babies need the law until faith in Him comes and faith in the new covenant.

There was the old covenant that had the day of Atonement where sin was covered and it was ongoing, but it could never be taken away. Now when we are in Christ Jesus we are never under the penalty of the law again. For He fulfilled the old covenant completely and His perfect life was how He fulfilled the law for us, so that He could come and live us, and live through us. And we through faith in Him could become the righteousness of God.

So there was more than a purpose to get your sins forgiven. Under the law the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is life. And that life came after His death.

He fulfilled the law not based on what he didn’t do, but on what He did do. Love is the fulfillment of the law. And He fulfilled it with perfect love for us.

There was ever only one person that was ever capable of taking the sins of the world upon Himself and forgiving the sins of the world, and that was God Himself. And Jesus became flesh and came down here on earth and took away the sins of the world.

And so we are not saved by our own works, but we are justified by faith in Him. Legalists still have a hard time understanding this because they still think they are under the law.

Jesus forgave the sins of the whole world. But as marvelous as that gift of forgiveness is, there is something that people overlook, and that is His resurrected life. When we accept by faith for what Jesus did for us on the cross, then the Holy Spirit is given to us for eternal life. He brings us the gift of righteousness and places us into Him.

As a child of God, we are under the grace of God. And therefor we are under the New Covenant, not held by supervision to the law.

Released From the Law, Bound to Christ

Romans 7:1-3a
¹ Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? ² For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him. ³ So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress.

Now he gives an example of marriage under the law. And this is an example of marriage under law. Under the law it was the case for this in regards to marriage. Romans 7 continues:

Roman 7:3b-5
³ But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man. ⁴ So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. ⁵ For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death.

The Law caused death. Why? Because the Law stirs up all the sinful passions in the flesh, and so we die. Under the law, you are bearing fruit to death. It is the law that continues the flesh to behave. The Spirit knows your flesh can’t behave. The Spirit of God knows you can’t do it. The Spirit is saying, let me do it. It is the Spirit that allows us to walk in the newness of life. We need to abide in Jesus, who is alive living in us. He wants us to walk in the newness of life.

Romans 7:6 goes on to explain this:

Romans 7:6
⁶ But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

The law bound us. But now we serve in a new way in the Spirit! Jesus fulfilled the law for us. We all died in Adam to begin with. So we have to die to what Christ Jesus died to, the law. And we ourselves have to die to the law in our own minds.

There is a lot of talk about to dying to self. They are using the law to try and die to the law, yet the law is stirring up the desires in our flesh. And if you are still married to the law, then you haven’t been married to another (Christ Jesus). You are still under the law. You haven’t come to accept what Jesus did for you on the cross. You have to die to the law, and come to be married to Christ Jesus.

There is no in between. You can’t be under law and be married to Jesus at the same time. You can’t have your identity in the world and also have your identity in Christ Jesus. It’s impossible. There is no “independent” – either your dependent on Christ or be dependent on something else. There is no such thing as independence for a person. Human beings weren’t made to be independent. There is no such thing to not be under the law to begin with, until you die to it, and become what you were called to be in the newness of life.

Galatians 2:19 explains that through the law, we die to the law so that we might live for God!

Galatians 2:19
¹⁹ “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.

And when I died, I live for Christ! Under the law we can’t live for God. Oh, you hear people say, “oh, he’s a legalist, but he sure loves God.” No he doesn’t! It is impossible for a legalist to love God. A legalist doesn’t understand God’s love for him, so how is he going to love God? You love God because He first loved you. How are you going to love God, if you don’t understand the love of God for you? How are you going to walk with God in perfect Love under the law? Under the law, you walk in fear. But the scriptures say, perfect love casts away all fear, and fear has to do with punishment. So under the law, how are you going to be made perfect in love? You are living in fear. And if you think you are not living in fear by being perfect, you are dead.

1 John 4:18
¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

Look at the people that were living under the law and teaching the law during Jesus walking down here on earth. What did they do? They hung God on a cross and viciously shouted out crucify him, crucify him! No way did they have love in their hearts.