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 even favor upon favor and 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."
God didn't only forgive our sin, but through Jesus, He changed our entire sin nature, according to 2Corinthians 5:17 (Amplified), which says, "Therefore, if any person is ingrafted in Christ (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old (previous moral and spiritual condition) has passed away. Behold, the new and fresh has come."
Adam's sin in the Garden of Eden, caused mankind to be separated from God. Adam's sin caused a wall or barrier to be built between God and man. This wall separated God and prevented His ability to communicate Life into the spirit of man. God could no longer give His Spiritual Life into man. Isaiah 59:1-2,20-21 (Amplified) says, "Behold, The Lord's hand is not shortened at all, that it cannot save, nor His ear dull with deafness, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear you." Verses 20-21 go on, "He shall come as a Redeemer to Zion and to those in Jacob (Israel) who turn from the Lord. As for Me, this is My covenant or league with them, says the Lord. My Spirit, Who is upon you, and Who writes the Law of God inwardly on the heart, and My Words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouths of your true spiritual children, or out of the mouths of your children's children, says the Lord, from hence forth and forever."
Sin and the Law of Sin and Death have been removed from our lives, through Jesus our Redeemer. We now live under a new creation relationship covenant with our God and Father. Adam's transgression caused man to be cut off from God, which allowed death to come into his spirit. The Word tells us that, "The wages of sin is death," so when sin entered into Adam, death came as a result. The death wasn't only a physical thing, but it did bring physical death. Adam's sin caused separation from God, which resulted in a spiritual death, because the Spirit of God is Life.
Many in today's Church don't understand why "The wages of sin is death." Jesus stated in John 10:10 (Amplified), "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy Life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows)." Those listening to Him must have believed, "He is crazy, because we're all alive." Some probably asked themselves, "Does Jesus think He is the only One alive?" Today's Church minister the Living Word of God, in order to bring Life into the dead spirits of those who are without Jesus.
The Law that came through Moses for the people, was based upon their doing certain things, in order that God would do certain things. When they failed to comply with the terms of their covenant, God couldn't comply with His part of it either. It was based on man's good works, in order to keep them in a place where God could still get His Blessing on them. In Deuteronomy 28:14-68 (Amplified) God says, "If you keep all My commands, these Blessings will come upon you." Verses 15-68 list the results or curses that would befall the people, in they failed to keep their part of the covenant.
Many teachings in today's Church are based on the "Laws of Conditions Between God and Believers." We're still trying to receive His Blessings, by our works. James 2:10-11 (Amplified) says, "For whoever keeps the Law as a whole but stumbles and offends in one single instance has become guilty of breaking all of it. For He Who said, You shall not commit adultery, also said you shall not kill. If you do not commit adultery but do kill, you have become guilty of transgressing the whole Law."
No person, Jesus being the Exception, has ever or could ever fulfill the Perfect Law and do it in perfection. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17 (Amplified), "Do not think that I have come to do away with or undo the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to do away with or undo but to complete and fulfill them." Once "a man" had completed and fulfilled the Law of Moses, God was able to fulfill the Blessing that were to come upon man for his fulfillment.
We were ingrafted into Jesus at our new birth, so that in Christ, God now sees us as having fulfilled the Law and there's nothing required for us to fulfill. Under the Law, God would do certain things, if the people did certain things. Our fulfilling our part of the agreement (covenant), depended on what God would do.
Many today, still preach that we must do certain things, in order for God to do certain things, resulting in our being sin conscious. If we didn't receive our healing, answered prayer or have peace in our hearts, then we were taught that we weren't doing our part. John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "The Law was given through Moses, but Grace and Truth and Spiritual Blessings came through Christ Jesus."
We're living in a covenant of Grace, by faith in Jesus Christ. Man could never uphold his part of the covenant and his failure to do so, resulted in the Curse or penalty for that failure came upon him. Many have been taught that this is still true for the believer of Christ and we're still taught this principal in today's Church. Man's disobedience and his inability to keep the Law, left God without another choice, but to make a new covenant by and with Himself through Jesus. God couldn't break it and Jesus wouldn't break it. We now have a new covenant of Grace, which only requires our having faith in what Jesus has done for us to walk in the fullness of His Blessing.
John 6:28-29 (Amplified) says, "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 replied, This is the work (service) that God asks of you; that you believe in the One Whom He has sent, that you cleave to, trust, rely on, and have faith in His Messenger." Our entire covenant of Grace, is based on our faith in God's Messenger, Jesus Christ His Son.
It's difficult to teach people about this covenant of Grace, when we've been taught throughout our Christian walk that "we're failures, because we cannot fulfill the Law." We've been taught that our sickness, weakness, poverty and lack of fellowship with the Father, come from our failure to do the Law. If you allow yourself to get placed under the Law by works, then you have put yourself in a position where Grace is ineffective in your natural life.
Galatians 5:4-6 (Amplified) says, "If you seek to be justified and declared righteous and to be given a right standing with God through the Law, you are brought to nothing and so separated (severed from) Christ. You have fallen away from Grace (from God's Gracious favor and unmerited Blessing). For we, not relying on the Law but through the Holy Spirit's help, by faith, anticipate and wait for the Blessing and Good for which which our righteousness and right standing with God (our conformity to His will in purpose, thought and action) causes us to hope For if we are in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through Love."
The works we've been taught about throughout our Christian walk, has resulted in man-made laws that determine God's Goodness in our lives. These laws determine how we must dress, what day we worship, in order for God's Blessing to work in our lives. Some religions mandate their members go door-to-door witnessing about God, in order to maintain good standing with God. I'm not degrading door-to-door witnessing about Christ, but we don't do these works, in order to gain God's favor. This is man's doing works, in order to receive God's Blessings. It's not believing in God's Plan to Bless us, by our faith in Christ Jesus.
Even born-again believers can actually place themselves under the Curse of the Law, when we do things as part of the Law. Galatians 6:7-8 (Amplified) says, "Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at, scorned 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 (works, 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."
Man-made laws established to gain access to God and His righteousness, will only end in destruction and ruin. Only the things of the Spirit will endure. One is Law and religion, while the other is by Grace and faith in Christ Jesus.
The sin barrier has been removed and the new creation family of God has been born. We function through faith in God's Grace, in order to keep us in righteousness in Jesus. Grace only works by faith and Love in our lives. When we try to "get God to perform by our good deeds," as though we've earned or deserved it, we have fallen from Grace and back under self-imposed laws of tradition.
Through faith in His Grace, we now have access into God's Throne of Grace by the Door, Who is Jesus. Our entire walk with the Father, is based on our faith that Jesus accomplished and fulfilled everything that was needed to be done. Jesus accomplished what man could never do under the Law. Righteousness, healing, Spiritual Blessing, peace, rest, fellowship, son ship, liberty, the Holy Spirit, Wisdom, counsel, citizenship in Heaven, ability to pray for and minister to others, and whatever we need from the Father, is our's by Grace and faith in that Grace.
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