Oct 16
8
The Law of Sinai and The Law in Zion
The difference between the law at Sinai and the law of God written on the heart of Christ’s witness is this: the law at Sinai centers the doing on man, saying, “Do this and live”; the law of God written on the heart centers the doing on Christ saying, “Christ has finished it!” This is the message that makes Christs people willing to believe and testify of Him (Heb 10:9, 10; 14-18.)
The law is doing just what it is supposed to do when it makes me to see that what I want to do, I don’t do.
The law is doing just what it is supposed to do when it makes me see that the sin which I hate is the very thing I do. The law was not given to make me do good. It was not given to use as ruler to measure a pretense of goodness in me. God gave the law to shut my mouth (Romans 3: 19.) Thanks be unto God, by faith in Christ Jesus I have established the law, am not under it but am led by the Spirit of God (Romans 3: 31; 6: 14; Galatians 5: 18.) I consent unto the law that it is good. Clay Curtis.
“Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts.” Zechariah 13:7
Would we see, feel, and realize the exceeding sinfulness of sin, it is not by viewing the lightning’s and hearing the thunders of Sinai’s fiery top, but in seeing the agony and bloody sweat, and hearing the groans and cries of the suffering Son of God, as made sin for us, in the garden and upon the cross….To see, by the eye of faith, as revealed to the soul by the power of God, the darling Son of God bound, scourged, buffeted, spit upon, mocked, and then, as the climax of cruel scorn and infernal cruelty, crucified between two thieves,—this believing sight, this fellowship of the sufferings of Christ, will melt the hardest heart into contrition and compunction….For as all the sins of his people were put upon him, the wrath of God due to them fell upon him, separation from God, under a sense of his terrible displeasure, and that on account of sin, that abominable thing which his holy soul hates,—is not this hell? This, then, was the hell experienced by the suffering Redeemer when the Lord laid on him the iniquities of us all (Isaiah 53:6).
JC Philpot
THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT IS . . . PEACE
Galatians 5:22
The will of the Father is peace, having purposed and ordained that we should be reconciled unto Himself and the way in which it would be accomplished. The work of the Son is peace, having wrought it by the blood of His cross. The fruit of the Spirit, bearing witness of the Father’s will, the Son’s work and our interest, by faith, in these and having quickened us and indwelt us, is peace.
Though by nature I am like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. (Isaiah 57:20), by His grace and working I am His little lamb, eating the tender grass and drinking the still waters of His precious Person and work.
I have peace in my conscience, though my sin is ever before me, knowing that all my guilt and its penalty have been borne by my blessed Substitute.
I have peace in my mind, though the weight of the world bear upon it, for all my “demons” have been cast out and all storms of doubt and fear calmed by the Master, Who careth for me.
I have peace in my heart, being fully satisfied and delighted with Him Who is satisfied and delighted with me, having washed me from my sin in His own blood and clothed me with that robe of purest white.
I shall depart this life in peace having seen the One Simeon saw (Luke 2:29, 30), the Salvation of God. I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety. Psalm 4:8
Chris Cunningham.
HIS YOKE
Matt. 11:29
The yoke of self sufficiency, self righteousness, and self worth always reveals a man’s spiritual bondage. This yoke is prominently exposed when a man futilely attempts to establish his own righteousness before God. Men attempt to convince both themselves and others of the freedom of heart, but there is no true peace or freedom. There is nothing more than religious activity, and that is born out of slavish obligation to the Law of God. Their righteousness is nothing more than a burden hopelessly strapped to their souls. Attempting to “live a Christian life” without Christ in the heart is a yoke that one can bear.
Christ, by His Spirit, speaks to His elect with these blessed words of comfort: “You that are laboring and are heavy laden …”(with the burden of sin …the guilt and power of it). “Take my yoke upon you …” God’s sheep are delivered from the bondage of their former state, and are bound to Christ by His grace and power. Being yoked to Him, they are most free …not free to sin without conscience, but free to love, free to come to Christ, free to obey, and free to serve Him with gladness of heart. Those that have been made sensitive to the awfulness of the yoke of soul-damning sin and bondage without Christ gladly embrace His yoke, for here they truly find rest for their soul. Marvin Stalnaker.
“WHERE THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS, THERE IS LIBERTY”
Of all bondage and slavery in the world, there is none more horrible than the bondage of sin. Tell me of Israel in Egypt preparing their tale of bricks unsuppled with straw; tell me of the slave beneath the lash of his cruel task-master, and I confess it is a bondage fearful to be borne; but there is one far worse — the bondage of a convinced sinner when he is brought to feel the burden of his guilt; the bondage of a man when once his sins are baying him, like hounds about a weary stag; the bondage of a man when the burden of his sin is on his shoulder — a burden too heavy for his soul to bear — a burden which will sink him forever in the depths of everlasting torment, unless he doth escape from it.
Methinks I see such a person. He hath ne’er a smile upon his face; dark clouds hath gathered on his brow; his songs are groans; his smiles are tears; and when he seems most happy, hot drops of grief roll in burning shower, scalding furrows on his cheek. Ask him what he is, and he tells you he is “a wretch undone.” Ask him how he is, and he confesses that he is “misery incarnate.” Ask him what he shall be, and he says, “he shall be lost in flames forever, and there is no hope.” Behold him alone in his retirement: when he lays his head on his pillow, up he starts again: at night he dreams of torment, and by day he almost feels that of which he dreamed. Such is the poor convinced sinner under bondage. I speak to those who understand it. You have passed through that gloomy Slough of Despond; you have gone through that dark vale of penitence: you have been made to drink the bitter cup of repentance: and I know you will say, “Amen” when I declare that of all bondage this is the most painful — the bondage of the law, the bondage of corruption. “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me” from it? But the Christain is free; he can smile now, though he wept before; he can rejoice now, whereas he lamented. “There is,” he says “no sin upon my conscience now; there is no crime upon my breast; I need not walk through the earth fearful of every shadow, and afraid of every man I meet, for sin is washed away; my spirit is no more guilty; it is pure, it is holy; there no longer resteth the frown of God upon me; but my Father smiles: I see his eyes — they are glancing love: I hear his voice — it is full of sweetness. I am forgiven, I am forgiven, I am forgiven! All hail, thou breaker of fetters! Glorious Jesus! … “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is libery” from the bondage of sin.
Charles H. Spurgeon
freedom and Liberty in Christ
Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty 2 Cor. 3:17.
Paul encourages all believers to stand fast in the liberty and freedom we enjoy in the Lord Jesus Christ. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” (Gal. 5:1).
Consider these brief thoughts on the believer’s freedom in Christ…
1). Where Christ in the gospel is the Spirit of illumination in our heart, there is freedom from darkness. “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (John 8:12). “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son” (Col. 1:13).
2). Where Christ in the gospel is the Spirit of regeneration in our heart, there is freedom from the bondage of sin. “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed (John 8:32,36).
3). Where Christ in the gospel is the Spirit of redemption in our heart; there is freedom from the curse and penalty of sin. “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree (Gal. 3:13).
4). Where Christ in the gospel is the Spirit of Comfort in our heart, there is freedom from fear and wrath; “But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine” (Isa. 43:1).
5). Where Christ in the gospel is the Spirit of adoption in our heart, there is the freedom of a child to come unto his loving Father. “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16).
6). Where Christ in the gospel is the Spirit of love shed aboard in our heart (Rom. 5:5), there is freedom to serve Him not out of fear of punishment, or threat of the Law, but with a generous spirit of thanksgiving; (Psalm 103:1) “The love of Christ constraineth us” (2 Cor. 5:14). Tom Harding.
THE NEW BIRTH
There are many old houses in our little town. At one time it became very popular for people to buy those old houses and restore them. Often people would remove walls to make bigger, nicer rooms. They would replace all of the windows and doors. They would put a fresh coat of paint inside and out. Do you know what they had when they were finished? They had an 80 year old house with fresh paint and new windows and doors.
Most people think that the new birth is the same as remodeling an old house. They could not be more wrong. The new birth is not the remodeling or rejuvenating of the old nature. Adam’s nature that we are born with is ruined. It is beyond repair and cannot be remodeled. We must be made new. We must be born again (John 3:7).
When God the Holy Spirit moves in power, He does not remodel the old man, He causes God’s elect to be born again. The new birth is the birth of a new man who never existed before. The new man bears the image of our heavenly Father just as the old man bears the image of our earthly father Adam. The old man is born from Adam’s sinful seed, so he is sinful just like his father Adam. The new man is born from new seed – the incorruptible Word of God, so the new man that is born in a believer is holy and righteous just like our heavenly Father. The old man has eyes that only see earthly things. The new man has new eyes that see and understand spiritual things. The old man has ears that can only hear earthly tones. The new man has ears that hear God speak through His Word. The old man has hands and feet that are swift to do evil (Roman 3:15). The new man has hands and feet that are swift to serve and follow Christ. The old man has a dead, corrupt heart that is not capable of believing or loving Christ. The new man has a new heart that is only capable of believing and loving Christ.
Remodeling may be good for an old house, but the old house of my flesh is beyond repair and is only good to be buried under ground. I need a new man, born from above, who believes and loves Christ, who is “made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” (Colossians 1:12). –Pastor Frank Tate