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."
The Spiritual Blessings that we've now received through Jesus, weren't available to those under the Law and the old covenant. Through our new creation birth in Christ and as God's family, we've received these Spiritual Blessings. Even those under the old covenant had access to some of the things of God, but were obliged to fulfill and comply with the Law, in order to qualify for them. No One except Jesus Himself, had or has ever, fulfilled all of the Law, so Only Jesus could qualify for all the Promise.
We are looked upon as having fulfilled all the Law and are qualified for the Promises, because we are joint heir with Jesus. 2Corinthians 1:19-20 (Amplified) says, "For the Son of God (Christ Jesus, the Messiah), Who has been preached among you by us (by myself, Silvanus and Timothy), was not yes and no; but in Him it is always the Divine Yes. For as many as are the Promises of God, they all find their Yes answer in Him (Christ), For this reason we also utter the Amen (So be it), To God through Him, in His Person and by His Agency, to the Glory of God."
Every Promise in God's Word is now "To and through Jesus." We're in Him and have now qualified for all of God's Promises. Many of these Promises were conditional to those in the old covenant. They needed to qualify for the Promises, by their works and sacrifices. We, though, are in the "One Who went before us and He fulfilled all the Law and the prophets for us." The only qualification for us to receive the Promises, is that we are in Him. Jesus said in Matthew 5:17 (Amplified), "Do not think that I have come to do away with or undo the Law and the Prophets; I have come not to do away with or undo, but to complete and fulfill them."
The people of the old covenant were held back from receiving all the Promises, because they lived under the old sin nature and were dead to God in their spirits. Fallen man couldn't fulfill the Law or keep it, because it was Perfect. Man couldn't be perfect, so the Law was beyond their reach. The Law was so Perfect that natural man couldn't keep or fulfill it, in themselves. God received their sacrifices of bulls and goats, covering their lack of not being able to walk it out. God could still at least Bless them, to a degree. God could not though, bring all of His Promises to pass in them.
Every Promise God made to man was fulfilled in One Man, the Man Christ Jesus. The world and religious teachings have taught us to believe we still must qualify and fulfill the Law by our works, even though we're now born-again. We've been taught that God's Promises don't work for us like God's Word says, because we "missed the mark and are not right with God." We've failed to see how the Father intended to do and to treat us, the same way He did and treated Jesus.
We still try making the Sabbath Holy, by not working on that day. The word, "Sabbath," simply means "rest." Our Sabbath is Jesus, Who completed all the work for us and we rest in Him and keep this rest holy. We're not resting in Him as the Fulfillment of our labor, when we continue to do works. The only labor we're required to do, in order to be righteous and holy, is labor to enter into the rest.
Hebrews 4:9-11 (Amplified) says, "So then, there is still awaiting and complete Sabbath-rest reserved for the true people of God. For he who has once entered God's rest also has ceased from the weariness and pain of human labors; Just as God rested those labors peculiarly His Own. Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter the rest of God, to know and experience it for ourselves, that no one may fall or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience into which those in the wilderness fell."
The Israelites in the Wilderness refused to believe that their God would and could deliver and provide for them, by Himself. They murmured and complained and strove to do it themselves, to the point of wanting to go back into the bondage and slavery of Pharaoh. Those of us in the Body of Christ, still try to be perfect, but Jesus could and has fulfilled these Promises on our behalf. There are certain laws that have been handed down for centuries, that we've been told we "must complete and fulfill to qualify." This is the very thing that prevented the Israelites from entering into His rest. We're simply called to believe and receive by faith, that Jesus did everything that was ever needed and then rest in Him. In Him, we're already now qualified for all of God's Promises and we don't have to labor and do works to qualify.
As the Body of Christ and God's family, God only requires the Church to accept by faith, what His Grace has already provided. This includes all of God's Promises that are "Yes and Amen to the Glory of God." We're instructed to listen to the Voice of the Holy Spirit and received instructions by God's Word, so that we can live our lives in the completed work of Jesus. We're to rest in His Perfection and not our own.
The new creation family of God is required to use God's Word, to change from the inside and bring dominion over the outer-man (the carnal flesh). It's not by our works, but faith and heeding the Holy Spirit's leading. If you're still a babe or infant in Christ, then the milk of God's Word will nurse you into your mature and adult life with God. None of the rituals that we've tried, are trying to change ourselves from the outside-in. Believing God's Word and listening to God's Spirit will chnge the outer-man for us.
There has been so much controversy among the Church, about Grace and faith. Some of the teachings are Truth, but it's not much. We've exchanged the Truth of God's Word, for external performance, believing that our good works would change us, but this left the outer-man in control still.
Remember, there's still a Law of Sowing and Reaping that is at work in both the believer and unbeliever's lives. Galatians 6:5-8 (Amplified) says, "For every person will have to bear, be equal to understand and calmly receive his own little load of oppressive faults. Let him who receives instruction in the Word of God share all good things with his Teacher contributing to his support. 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 will he reap. For he who sows to his own flesh (the 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."
Much of our preaching and teaching over the years, have sown to our flesh and have brought ruin and destruction into our lives. We've been told that "God gives you diseases, in order to teach, correct and punish us." This isn't only sowing to the flesh, but has brought the fruits of ruin, destruction and physical death to many in God's family. We have the choice to sow either to the Spirit or to the flesh and we will sow what we reap. This doesn't include only sin, but the seeds of deception that the enemy sows. Jesus taught "The Parable of the Sower," in Mark 4:13-25 (Amplified), where He said that our words are seeds and then He showed the effects they have in our lives. Jesus talks about the responsibility of the hearer, as well as the sower in Verse 24 saying, "Be careful what you are hearing; the measure of thought and study you give to the Truth you hear, will be the measure of virtue and knowledge that comes back to you, and more besides will be given to you who hear."
God will only measure back to you, the Truth you hear. The enemy will also measure back to you, the untruth and deception you receive in your heart. What we allow to be sown in us, is what we will reap. We will reap either destruction or Truth, but both will not grow from the same seed. Are you careful about what seeds (words) you allow into your heart? Have you fallen into the enemy's trap and accept all seeds, to the point you can no longer distinguish between good seed and bad seed? The harvest is inevitable.
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