From the April 2018 issue of "The Evangelist" by Loren Larson, this isn't the whole article, but it's simple, spot on and well written.
"The scripture declares that the first covenant with the Old Testament laws have been deemed obsolete. One cannot enter into a new agreement until an old agreement has been rendered inactive or is no longer applicable. Therefore, the old covenant and the Old Testament law was rendered obsolete when Christ nailed them to his cross, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us. A new covenant - a better covenant with better promises - is now what we live under, and we are to be held responsible to. Ours is not a mixture of old covenant law with new covenant promise. Ours is a brand-new covenant that does not rely upon the old covenant in any way. Both old and new covenants reveal God to the human race. But the old covenant was transitory in nature while the new covenant is referred to as the everlasting covenant."
Now continuing on from yesterday I was sleepy, I wasn't on the computer and on my phone, so I will say a bit and then give you the rest of the article, yesterdays paragraph from the article finished of with the question.
"So what should be our relationship to old covenant law as a new covenant believer?"
You know I believe there are a lot of Christians that are too legalistic around these days and I think there are a lot of Christians around that are too worldly, that they forget all about what the new covenant is really about, and they end up dry to the point where they won't let the Holy Spirit do anything, and that's when they seem all powerless to the world, because they loose the main focus of the new covenant, it's about Jesus, it's not about law, Jesus came to fulfill the law and already has, so it's about Jesus, which is faith, grace, love, it's relying on Jesus to live a righteous life, because through him dying on the cross as the ultimate sacrifice, shedding his blood for us and rising up we are made righteous through Christ, Jesus and what he did on Calvary, is the New Covenant, it doesn't need to be complicated, like what a lot of people like to do, and I'm probably complicating it too now just typing about it, and it doesn't need to be, it's simple.
It was all about Jesus too in the old covenant, the whole Bible points toward Jesus, even parts where some of the Biblical people sinned big in life, it shows us why cleanliness and righteousness is important, why we should not fall into the temptations of the world, the whole Bible points to Jesus, and points to why it's so important to be close to Him, have a relationship with Him and stay away from false gods and only worship Jesus, but in the old covenant Israel was bound by the Law. The differences in the new covenant, is we through Christ are no longer bound by the Law, but in the new covenant Righteousness is through Christ by faith, repentance and God's grace through Christ, and not through human works, the new covenant is made a lot easier than the old covenant, you don't have to offer sacrifices, because Jesus has done it on the cross for us, you don't have to go to a certain man of God for everything, for example you don't have to go to prophets, priests, you don't have to go to Elijah, Aaron or Moses, because every born again Christian was promised and has been given the Holy Spirit, after Jesus's death and resurrection. We no longer have to be circumcised in the flesh, because those who are born again have been circumcised in the Spirit, we have been separated from the carnal world by Jesus, we have been re-born in Christ, we have been made a new man through Christ. So when Jesus died on the cross and resurrection, the New Covenant was sealed, His sacrifice on that Cross, made life a lot easier for His followers. And it's stuff we can just go on and on and on about, His sacrifice, was truly Amazing, he not only cleansed us, but made life a whole lot easier for us, he fulfilled the Law, he nailed it to the cross, that we no longer need to live under that painful condition of the Law, Wonderful, He even defeated death on the Cross, and Jesus had power over the grave, he gave Satan a boot to the head, chopped of Satan's arms and legs in the supernatural, just like Adam saw him as a snake in the Garden of Eden, he now became in the supernatural too, now Satan only got a mouth, and it wasn't just Jesus that was going to resurrected, but because we were all made in God's image, and Jesus resurrected, everyone who followed Jesus will now resurrect too, and have an ascension into Heaven! And that victory on Calvary blew Satan a part! Satan hated that moment! We still gotta fight the good fight of Faith though, because Satan still has a mouth, and we fight it by FAITH IN JESUS THROUGH JESUS!!! Those who keep watch and endure in Christ WIN!. Amen.
So yes I have drifted away from the topic in this thread a bit, but no, because i talked about the differences between the Old and New, and how that Death and resurrection of Jesus was a sealer of the Old and into the New Covenant and how the law was fulfilled and made life a whole lot easier for us.
Now people are probably gonna get all wrapped up, all offended by what I said, because it sounds too simple, too easy, not enough long complicated words it, I'm using only basic English, don't have a big vocab to impress ya all, it doesn't win a grade A in theology. And even though the OP might be getting a little annoyed with my responses, I think people around here want me to respond with all the above with some awesome skills of an author and I don't really care about that, but the main thing is Jesus, the Christianity is all about Jesus, and Jesus, Jesus, Jesus is the message we need to share and what he has done for us, it doesn't need to be complicated.
So now we shall say.
YAYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!! Thank You Jesus! :)
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So here's the whole thing, article, or whatever you wanna mcmcmcmcmacallit, of "What Shall We Do With The Law - Part III," oh boy some people might not like this either, because it may be too simple for their liking, but here it is. I love the simple message of Jesus Christ, don't ya? ;)
What Shall We Do With The Law - Part III by Loren Larson
April 2018
“But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”—Romans 7:6
In the last two issues of The Evangelist we have attempted to deal with the subject regarding the proper relationship that is to exist between the new covenant believer and the Old Testament law. The Scripture declares that the first covenant with the Old Testament laws have been deemed obsolete. One cannot enter into a new agreement until an old agreement has been rendered inactive or is no longer applicable. Therefore, the old covenant and the Old Testament law was rendered obsolete when Christ nailed them to His cross, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us. A new covenant—a better covenant with better promises—is now what we live under, and we are to be held responsible to. Ours is not a mixture of old covenant law with new covenant promise. Ours is a brand-new covenant that does not rely upon the old covenant in any way. Both old and new covenants reveal God to the human race. But the old covenant was transitory in nature while the new covenant is referred to as the everlasting covenant. So what should be our relationship to old covenant law as a new covenant believer?
Accountability To Righteousness Under Grace
There seems to be two false directions that bring confusion to this issue. The first argument was heard first in the days of the apostle Paul. Opponents to the message of grace that Paul taught believed and preached that unless a person kept the old covenant law, he could not be saved. Those who believed this felt that it was impossible for mankind to live a holy and righteous life outside of a personal effort to keep the law, in addition to accepting Christ. They felt that any approach toward holiness that didn’t depend upon the individual’s zealousness and commitment to God could not produce the righteous life that God desires of His people. They believed the righteous living could only be obtained by religious labor, disciplines, and rules, as prescribed by the old covenant law. In addition, there were some who listened to Paul’s message of grace and came to the mistaken conclusion that it didn’t matter whether the believer lived righteously or not. If God’s grace was applied as a result of faith alone, then, in their minds, the actions or attitudes of the individual was not important. Since God’s grace covered sin, it really didn’t matter whether a believer sinned or not. Men seem to either be too liberal with the application of grace or would deny grace and faith as the means to righteousness in favor of laws and works. Therefore, both views—one of license, the other of law—are incorrect.
Continued on the next post.... ;)
