John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and favor upon favor and even Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth came through Jesus Christ."
Under the old Mosaic covenant, the people needed to keep the Law, in order to qualify for God's Blessings and Promises. When the people transgressed the Law, God withheld the Promises. Under our new covenant, Jesus has Perfectly fulfilled the entire Law and made provision for us. Even though we've been set free from the Law and are no longer under obligation to it, we strive to fulfill it by out own strength, works, and ability.
God's will for His children has always been Grace and Truth. He never intended for us to have to do everything for ourselves, like most parents today. We don't just give life to our children and then expect them to know or do without our provision. There comes a time in their lives, where they will be expected to live on their own, relying on the things they've been taught. Even when they're adults, we still give them advice, wisdom and other things.
We've entered into a relationship with the Father, where we're supposed to know and understand that He intends to meet our every need, by simply trusting Him. What we consider to be adulthood in this natural realm, is far less than understanding adulthood in God's realm. Understanding Spiritual Laws and how to walk in them, is far different than natural laws.
The Spiritual Blessings that we now have through Jesus, aren't things we can achieve by our natural man, but must be received by faith, into our spirit man. The Spiritual Blessing of righteousness, isn't something we can achieve on our own. We must receive it by faith in His Grace and accept it Grace. Grace is unearned and undeserved favor. It is a Gift from God and must be received as a Gift, but we still struggle to be good enough to deserve it, which is impossible. Only Jesus can give us righteousness and make us righteous before God, through His righteousness.
There's no way that mankind can heal or walk in Divine health, except by Grace and Truth in God's Word. We've conflated Law and Grace, so that neither is working for us. Law only works by Law, while Grace works only by faith in God's Promises to us, through Jesus.
We've been redeemed from the Curse of the Law in Jesus, but we put ourselves back under it when we try walking the Law out on our own. The Curse is still here, but Jesus has taken it upon Himself, so that we don't have to suffer under it. The Law of Sowing and Reaping is in place and even believers reap what they sow. Galatians 6:7-8 (Amplified) says, "Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained, or mocked), by mere pretensions or professions, or by His precepts being set aside. He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God. For whatever a man sows, that and only that is what he will reap. For he who sows to his own flesh (lower-nature, sensuality), will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap Eternal Life."
"Sowing to the flesh," is doing things our own way, instead of the way of the Spirit. If a Christian sows corn and a non-Christian sows corn, then both will reap a harvest of corn. It doesn't matter who sows it, the "seed produces after kind," according to Genesis 1:11-12 (Amplified) which says, "And God said, Let the earth put forth tender vegetation, plants yielding seed and fruit trees yielding fruit whose seed is in itself (each according to its kind), upon the earth. And so it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to its own kind and trees bearing fruit in which was their seed, according to its kind. And God saw that it was Good (suitable, admirable), And He approved it."
One might think that these "seeds," only refer to vegetation and trees, but that isn't true. The entire Kingdom of God is still in Seed Principle. Jesus relates "The Parable of the Sower," in Mark 4 saying that "Words are seeds." Galatians 3:16-17 tells us that Jesus was (and is) The Seed from which all of us (as Christians) have been born from. We are seeds of Abraham and are seeds for bringing a greater harvest of believers into God's Kingdom. Jesus refers to Himself as being "The Seed" in John 12:24 (Amplified) saying, "I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, Unless a gain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just one grain, it never becomes more but lives by itself alone. But if it dies, it produces many others and yields a rich harvest."
Our words and actions are directed by the Seed Principle. This is what Paul writes about in Galatians 6:7-8 when he says, "God's Word is not be deluded, by man's teaching of doing our own thing." Doing our own thing is sowing to the flesh and can only produce what the flesh can do. We might be sowing to the flesh, in order to become righteous, but that can only bring forth flesh and decay. We must sow to the Spirit and apply God's Word of Grace, allowing The Seed of Righteousness Jesus, bring forth the fruit of righteousness in our lives.
Whatever you sow, that and that alone is what you will reap. We've never truly understood the covenant of Grace and Truth and we've never learned to to simply trust God's Word for our needs. I'm not suggesting that we sit back and do nothing in the world, but I'm saying when we try making God's Word work by our own methods, we're deluding ourselves and will reap to the flesh, what only the flesh can supply. We've tried to figure out "what we must do, to make God's Word work in our lives," and have lost sight of Grace. Then, we become discouraged by our own failures.
Jesus was teaching to a group of people, who had the very same questions we have today, in John 6:28-29 (Amplified) which tells us, "They then said, What are we to do, that we may habitually be working the works of God? What are we to do to carry out what God requires?" Jesus' answer in Verse 29 probably stunned the people (just like it might stun many today). Thus, He said, "This is the work (service) that God asks of you; That you believe in the One Whom He has sent (that you cleave to, rely on, and have faith in His Messenger)." There's no other way to "do His work," other than by faith in God's Messenger Jesus.. We can't heal the sick, cast out devils, live in peace, lead others to Christ or walk in God's Promises on our own. We must believe in the One Whom God has sent.
The Spiritual Blessings are exactly that, Spiritual and they must be received into our spirit by faith, not by our carnal way of doing things. In John 6:63 (Amplified) Jesus said, "It is the Spirit Who gives Life (He is the Life Giver), the flesh conveys no benefit whatever (there is no profit in it). The Words (Truths),that I have been speaking to you are Spirit and Life." The religious works people do in order to become what we think it right, has no bearing on what God says "makes us right." The works of the flesh profit nothing and performing rituals, laws and traditions set us up without the Spirit and profit nothing. Only faith and trust in God's Grace supplied through Jesus' Sacrifice will profit us. This is the "rest" God Promises in His Word. We must simply believe in the One Whom He has sent and have faith in His Messenger to receive His rest.
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