But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you. (Luke 11:20)
When we come to the Lord Jesus and give ourselves to Him, He forgives our sins. Christ forgives our sins with the intention of delivering us from our sins.
The Kingdom of God comes to us as Christ enters us and the devil is removed from us. We have entered fully into the Kingdom of God when Satan can find nothing of himself in us, and everything in us has been born of Christ and is in union with Christ.
The moment the Lord Jesus receives us to Himself in the initial act of salvation, He gives us of His Spirit. He begins to feed us with His flesh and His blood.
He knows our sinful state. Christ causes His Life to be born in us and then assists us with various gifts and ministries, those given to us and those ministered to us by others, so His wisdom and virtue can be imparted to us. He begins to create His Life in us.
Because it is difficult for us to see the Lord or to hear His voice, He has provided the New Testament writings as a guide for us. The New Testament writings are not the new covenant. The new covenant is the Lord Jesus Christ.
The New Testament writings serve as a guide that controls our behavior until the Day when the Lord has arisen in our heart to such an extent we can observe Him and hear Him. For it is Christ Himself who is our Law. Christ is the Law of God made altogether glorious and wonderful (Isaiah 42:21; Romans 10:4).
Paul discusses the relationship between Moses and Jesus, in the second chapter of the Book of Galatians, verses 16-20. Paul states we are justified (declared righteous) by faith in Jesus apart from the works of the Law.
Then Paul adds, if we continue in sin we are implying that Christ is the "minister of sin." For us to continue to sin, to build again the structure of sinful behavior that was destroyed when we received Jesus, is to make ourselves transgressors of God's righteous and holy ways.
We are dead to the Law of Moses, not so we may trespass against the eternal moral laws of God but so we may live unto God in actual righteousness of behavior.
What is God's provision for our unrighteous nature? It is to crucify us with Christ so Christ, who is the New Covenant, may express His love of righteousness in us and through us.
To interpret the new covenant as a covering of us while we continue to walk in our adamic nature is to destroy all God desires to accomplish by the giving of His Son. Under the new covenant, Adam is to be crucified, not saved.
There are numerous pitfalls along the way of coming to know Christ as our Law (Lord). The New Testament writings serve as our infallible guide and law until the Day of the Lord dawns within us and the Day Star, Christ, arises within us and guides us from the throne of our personality (II Peter 1:19).
As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. (John 6:57)
We are dead to the Law of Moses so we may be married to the Lord Jesus Christ. The term marriagemeans just what the word implies. Our life is to be joined to Jesus in a real, living experience of abiding.
Jesus is alive today. He is ready to join Himself to us as we walk in the way of righteousness. But we must turn our eyes toward Him and pray often. The true saint loves to pray because he loves Jesus. He is married to Jesus. He is the Body of Christ. Christ bears full responsibility for all the true saint is and does.
If the saint stumbles and falls the Lord Jesus picks him up. Jesus forgives His fallen saint. Then the Lord Jesus chastens him severely and thoroughly. The Lord is our Savior and our Judge at the same time.
. . . and I will give unto every one of you [Christians] according to your works. (Revelation 2:23)
We have in our day a number of "believers" who are members of the spiritual "singles" group. They have little faith in the Law of Moses or in any other law. They picture the Christian salvation as the removal of the laws of conduct. They think of themselves as being "free" in Christ.
The truth is, they are not free at all. They are the slaves of sin and of their own self-rule and self-love. They are the most miserable of mankind because they have a form of the truth but are not living in the truth.
They are the spiritual "singles" group and are of no use to God or man.
The Christian salvation is the receiving of the Lord Jesus. He alone has the authority to declare us righteous. He corrects us when we are wrong, and sends many blessings, many teachings, and many fires for our transformation into His image.
The task of the saint is to look only and steadily to the Lord Jesus. Our righteousness comes only from Him. Christ is our Lord, our Savior, our Judge, our Shepherd, our Priest, and our Teacher. We live to please Him, and He alone determines if we are acceptable to God.
A Christian can encounter serious spiritual trouble by not walking closely to Christ. We are righteous only as we are "married" to Christ. The moment we choose to live our own life, not seeking the Lord, not doing His will, we become a candidate for Divine judgment.
As long as we abide in Christ we have no fear of Divine judgment. The only judgment that comes upon us is that which is designed to transform us into the image of Christ.
Should we decide to "eat our own bread" and "wear our own clothes," not being careful to live and walk in Jesus, the Law of Moses condemns us to spiritual death because of our lusts and rebellion.
The Christian redemption is marriage to Jesus. It is not a plan to gain entrance to Paradise by accepting the theological facts concerning the atoning death and triumphant resurrection of Christ. Having the name of Christ apart from the Presence of Christ is not salvation.
To be continued.
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