John 1:17 (Amplified) says, "For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing, and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
Psalm 85:10-11 (Amplified) says, "Mercy and Loving kindness, and Truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring up from the earth, and righteousness shall look down from Heaven."
Many have become educated and familiar with the scriptures, but have no discernment or revelation of Truth from them. After reading Romans 7:14-25, I am convinced that the struggle Paul found himself in, was with the flesh that had been trained by the Law, the traditions of the senses, and the rituals of the Law. These things fought constantly against the Grace that Jesus taught and revealed to him. Paul had received a revelation about the new creation being and relationship with Jesus. He knew that it would be sin, if he returned to the Law, instead of walking in Grace.
Paul knew that in his flesh (his body) wished to return to that which it was familiar, but his spirit wished to walk in faith and Grace. Thus Paul writes in Verses 24- 25, "Who will deliver me from this body of death? O thank God! He will! through Jesus Christ (the Anointed One, our Lord!) So then indeed I, of myself with the mind and heart, serve the Law of God, but with the flesh the Law of sin." Paul goes on in Romans 8:1-2 (Amplified), "Therefore, there is now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus (for those who live and walk not after the dictates of the flesh), but after the dictates of the Spirit. For the Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus, the Law of our new being, has freed me from the Law of Sin and of Death."
Following the Law of Moses or the religious laws of carnal man are both sin in God's eyes, because they are of works and not of faith and Grace. When speaking of "sin" here, I'm not talking about not being saved, but I'm talking about our not being in a place where we're trusting God's Grace and His Truth to make us in right standing with Him. We're still drawn by our flesh, to perform by the traditions we've been taught. Many of these traditions minister to the soul and appease the flesh, but have no real meaning to God, in His plan of salvation. I believe this is the dilemma Paul faved, in his own walk with the Lord.
When we don't have Revelation, we end up in religion. We feel like we need to do certain works, in order to feel like we deserve God's Goodness. This is opposition to faith and Grace. This leads to our trying again to make it on our own and results in our being frustrated in our walk with God. We know "He can," but we don't know why "He doesn't." When we try to deserve His Blessing by works, we frustrate God's Grace to the point where He can't. This leaves us falling back on the old religious confession of "It must not be His will."
If we read Hebrew 10 and continue onto the next chapter, then we get a fuller picture of how faith and Grace work together in our walk. In Hebrew 10 Paul speaks about the sacrifices and offerings made under the Law and how these things couldn't do away with the guilt and shame of sin. The people's sin needed to be covered again and again by sacrifices, which could never set them free. The old priesthood and rituals had to continually be covered by the blood of animals, in order to prevent the destruction of the people.
Chapters 10 and 11 are parts of the same, continuous letter Paul was writing, but man separated them into two chapters, which disrupts the flow of the Holy Spirit. Paul was telling the people, that it was no longer sacrifices of animals or the carnal priesthood of sinners or rituals and traditions of the Law which kept them. He said that the new covenant was based on faith in the assurance, the confirmation, the title deed of the things we hoped for. In other words, our new covenant is based on Now faith in what God has provided through Jesus. Jesus' Sacrifice has accomplished everything that sacrifice of bulls and goats, rituals, and traditions could never accomplish. Jesus' Sacrifice has provided the thing in which we hoped for, which is right standing with God without sin to separate us any longer. It is Grace and faith.
It seems like we see a Promise God made to us, then we set about a way of obtaining it by our own works. We've failed to see that God has already provided it and it is obtained the same way our new birth was," by Grace you are saved by faith." By Grace, you are healed through faith. By Grace, you are Blessed through faith. "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for." It's not by works, not by traditions, not by sacrifice, not by deserving it, but by faith and Grace that both come from Jesus, through God's Love.
There have been so many Christians who started out in faith and Grace, but returned under the bondage of man's religions and gave up on faith altogether. Paul writes about this very thing in Galatians 3:1-3 (Amplified) saying, "O you poor and silly and thoughtless and unreflecting and senseless Galatians! Who has fascinated or bewitched you or cast a spell over you, unto whom, right before your very eyes-Jesus Christ (the Messiah) was openly and graphically set forth and portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you this one question; Did you receive the Holy Spirit as a result of obeying the Law and doing its works, or was it by hearing the Message of faith? Are you so foolish and so senseless and so silly? Having begun your new life Spiritually with the Holy Spirit, are you now reaching perfection by dependence on the flesh?"
This happens so gradually and subtly, that we sometimes don't see it. We go from seeking God by faith, to trying to please Him by works. We go from hearing from God from "now faith" and return to laws and rituals again. It's so subtle, that we don't realize we've changed. It's one thing to do good works from a position of righteousness by faith, than to do good works from a position of the flesh, in order to become righteous. They sound like the same thing, don't they?
Man determines what he thinks is God's will, when it doesn't work for him. If someone doesn't receive the Holy Spirit and the speaking of tongues, then he determines, "It must not be for everyone." This is religion overriding Revelation and is used as an excuse by those who don't believe in faith and Grace for mankind. We should be wise enough to know, that if something isn't working, then we're the ones who missed it and not God Who missed it. We shouldn't excuse it and let it go, but we should "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and all these things will be given to you besides," like Jesus directed in Matthew 6:33 (Amplified). God has a way of doing and being right. If we do it any other way, then we've missed it. Grace by faith, is God's will.
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