Some good fundamentals of New Covenant Theology (NCT) and what it means for you.
Fulfilling the Law for Me, Christ Abolished the Law's Power Over Me"
Ephesians 2:11-22
Turn to Ephesians 2:11-22 this morning. Our text under study in our verse to verse learning journey through Ephesians, starts in 2:11. Please read the section of God's Holy word with me at this time,
"Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so-called "Circumcision," which is performed in the flesh by human hands--12 remember that you were at that time separate from Messiah, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Messiah Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Messiah. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He would make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, 16 and would reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; 18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the set apart ones, and are of God's household, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a set apart temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.
Frederic Bastiat, the famous Christian economists from France, starts out his famous treatise of 1850, called The Law, with the question,
"What is Law?"
He then answers it by beginning with this definition:
"It is the collective organization of the individual right to lawful defense."--Bastiat
Bastiat defined law from a defensive rights-orientation. Bastiat was an economic, and political theorist, so his philosophy of the Law had more to do with what benefitted the populace in respect to governments where the people govern through a law system such as ours, also called a Republic. Bastiat, though a Christian, was not immediately thinking in terms of the Law of God, where God benefits Himself according to His will. This is the way it is when people set out to define the Law from a predominantly human oriented perspective. Many definitions of the law are presented that are based upon personal or collective philosophies of the world. I was reading a research project brief from a University that had to do with the subject of the Law. Under the section titled Definition of the law, it states,
"The 'law' can be defined as a body of rules of conduct that can be enforced in court."
Obviously, this definition is just as philosophically oriented as Bastiat's definition. This definition assumes a court of arbitration, and further, it assumes that such a court enforces said law. The part about the Law being a body of rules of conduct seems to be something along the line of the overarching definition that most folks think of when thinking of the Law.
Webster's dictionary gives this definition;
1. In general, a rule of being or of conduct, established by an authority able to enforce its will; a controlling regulation; the mode or order according to which an agent or a power acts.
This is law. It is a set of rules that someone, particularly an authority, lays down to be obeyed. Now, among Christians, when we think of the Law in a theological sense, we generally think of God's law. God's law is His precepts and decrees that are set forth as a rule of being or conduct established upon His determination, of which God is able to enforce. It seems easy enough. God commands that we are supposed to do something, or He commands that we are not supposed to do something, and so it is His rule that He gives to us. It is His law. But, when it comes to the biblical terminology, the Law, things are not so simple among Christians. Various biblical definitions of the Law can be just as varied and confusing as those given from the philosophies of the world. The main problem has to do with category distinctions in the Bible. For example, the Old Covenant Law was something that had the label "the Law." Subsequently, a lot of good Christians are confused about the Old Covenant Law. They think we are still under the Old Covenant "Law of commandments contained in ordinances," as Paul calls it in our text under study this morning. The problem is that because of certain church traditions that are theory based fictions, Christians today are not educated in the true covenant distinctions that the scriptures describe, and history records. Consequently, far too many Christians do not clearly recognize that the Old Covenant Law is actually a covenant. It is a covenant that has been replaced by the New Covenant, which the writer of Hebrews calls the "eternal covenant" through Christ's blood in Hebrews 13:20. The writer of Hebrews also says that the Old Covenant Law is "obsolete," Hebrews 8:13. It is obsolete, which means it is not eternal. It has been replaced with what the writer of Hebrews calls a "better covenant" in Hebrews 7:22 and 8:6. The better covenant is the New Covenant. Now what we need to understand, is that there are also various law statutes in the New Covenant. There is what is called the Law of love, which is the Law of Christ of His new covenant kingdom, 1 Corinthians 9:21, Galatians 6:22. There is what is called the Law of faith, Romans 3:27. These are important distinctions from the Old Covenant Law, because to be under the Old Covenant Law is to be under an extinct system. It is to be under a curse,
"10 For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law, to perform them.' 11 Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, 'The righteous man shall live by faith.' 12 However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, 'He who practices them shall live by them.' 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us--for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree'" Galatians 3:10-13
You don't want to be there in the curse of the Law of the Old Covenant; and in Christ and His New Covenant, you are not there. This morning we are going to look at the demise of the obsolete Old Covenant, particularly in respect to you and me. Please prepare your mind for the sacred preaching of God's word in this sermon titled,
Fulfilling the Law for Me, Christ Abolished the Law's Power Over Me [prayer]
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The first thing we must look at concerning the demise of the Old covenant, where Christ fulfilled the Law for me, and abolished the Law's power over me is where I lived once in respect to my standing, and my history, as a lost person. I am talking about all of us here. We were all lost, and we all have a history. Paul starts out with the history lesson,
"Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so-called "Circumcision," which is performed in the flesh by human hands--" Ephesians 2:11
Paul is making the point concerning genetic non-Israelites, in contrast to Gentiles (which is anyone who is not a descendant of Israel according to promise). In Paul's day, the Gentiles were referred to by a slur term that was given to them by Jews. They were called the uncircumcised. To be uncircumcised meant that you were not marked out as one of God's people according to the various covenants of promise. Paul's immediate point has to do with more than one covenant, but as Paul develops his overall point in our passage, we will see that his primary concern is with the Mosaic Law covenant. In this sermon this morning, called, "Fulfilling the Law for Me, Christ Abolished the Law's Power Over Me," I am preaching on the Mosaic Law Covenant. The Gentiles were not circumcised according to the commandment that God gave to Abraham, in which the descendants of Abraham through Isaac were to cut away the foreskin from the males. Further, the Gentiles did not practice the circumcision rite according to obedience to another covenant. What I mean is that Gentiles were not circumcised according to The Abrahamic covenant, and further, they were not circumcised according to the Old Covenant of Moses, which was the covenant that came 430 years later after the Abrahamic covenant. The Mosaic Law covenant has a specific importance in that it was given to God's elect people as ethnic descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (who is Israel), which Paul associates with the terminology of "the commonwealth of Israel." Gentiles, according to both covenants, (whether the covenant promise made to Abraham, or the Old Covenant Law of commandments in ordinances), were in a state of war before God, and toward God. Paul's point is that even though the Old Covenant was from God, it was not like the New and better Covenant, in that the circumcision requirement under the Old system, had to be made by human hands. Paul is making an intentional point here about the fact that human works in respect to cutting away the foreskin of the male is what had to be used to accomplish both the command to Abraham and the Mosaic Law statute.
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Which leads to the next point concerning the demise of the Old covenant, where Christ fulfilled the Law for us, and abolished the Law's power over us in respect to our standing, and our history as lost people. Paul says,
"12 remember that you were at that time separate from Messiah, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world." Ephesians 2:12
This is something that we all need to remember. You need to recognize that you were separate from the ancient elect ones of God according to God's Old covenants that He made with the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. Back in the days before the cross and resurrection, when God's elect people were a remnant from the race of Israel, all other nations were not elect. They were overlooked. All other nations outside the commonwealth of Israel were doomed, having no hope and without God in the world. They were strangers; they were outsiders to the covenants of promise. Notice the plural form of covenant that Paul is talking about here. Notice that Paul says that Gentiles are strangers to the "covenants." Paul is speaking of various ancient covenants in respect to the commonwealth of Israel. But we also need to notice that Paul is speaking in respect to being separate from Messiah. What Paul is doing, is alluding to another covenant that existed along with the Abrahamic covenant, and the Old Covenant Mosaic Law. Paul is talking about the covenant that God made with David concerning the future coming Messiah king. So, there are three major old covenants that are mentioned by God's New Testament apostles, and prophets, who were moved by His Spirit to write His Bible. There is:
1) The Abrahamic Covenant through Isaac,
2) There is the Mosaic Law Covenant
3) There is the Davidic Covenant of the promised Messiah-king.
It is a sobering thought to consider that we were all separate from the first two covenants, but it is just as sobering to recognize that we were, as an ethnic identity, separated from Israel's promised Messiah-king according to the covenant made with David. Messiah was promised to Israel. When Jesus came, He said that He had come to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He came to fulfill the promise. But, there is something that is of vital importance for all of us to understand, you and I are not an after thought in God's eternal plan. We were, and always have been, part of the mysterious plan that was unfolding, and given by God to His apostles, and prophets as revelation progressed within that first generation. You are not an after thought, but You certainly were immersed in sin according to the curse of Adam, which means you were "far off," when it comes to being lost and without hope in saving yourself.
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This leads us to the next point, which is the fulfillment of the most important covenant of promise of all, and that was the coming of the promised Messiah who established the New and better covenant;
"13 But now in Messiah Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Messiah. 14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, 15 by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He would make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace," Ephesians 2:13-15
Paul talks about "peace" in four places in our section under study. Here, in verses 13-15, Paul mentions "peace" in two places. Christ is our peace, and in Himself, as Christ, He establishes peace as the one new man of the body of Christ. Without the Christ Covenant, there was no peace with God for Gentiles. Gentiles did not have the Old Covenant Law, with the prescribed priesthood mediating the sacrifices. Gentiles did not have all the statutes and commandments describing God's will in covenant with His elect. In fact, as a covenant with elect Israel, God's Old Covenant Law was at war against the nations of the world. This is one way that Gentiles were in battle against God. The other way is closely related to it. The other way has to do with our natural sinfulness. Since all humans inherit the sin nature from Adam, all are living transgressors of God's Law, whether God's Old Covenant Law, or Christ's Law of the New Covenant. It is the natural instinct of all humanity to be Law breakers when it comes to God's precepts, decrees, and declarations of what is right, and what is wrong. All people are born as transgressors of God's law, whether Old Covenant or New, and the reason is, because all people are born with the Law written in their hearts. This is an important point, because though we were born with God's law written in our hearts, we all transgress it and fall short of God's glory. So, again, we recognize that we are at war with God. The battle cry is sin. The arsenal of weapons that we use, are lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The strategy is selfishness, where all of us have the instinct of true warriors, where we transgress Loving God with all of our might, and we transgress loving our brothers and sisters. The battle cry is sin, even when we don't say that it is. It is sin, even when we try to stop it in our own feeble, sin tainted natures. Even when we think we hate the sin that we are, and that we do, we demonstrate that our nature really loves it, in that we can not, and will not stop sinning. The point is that though we were born with God's law written in our hearts, we all transgress it, and we all fall short of God's glory. This is what Paul says in Romans 2,
"9 There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, [meaning Gentile] 10 but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek [Gentile]. 11 For there is no partiality with God. 12 For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law;" Romans 2:9-11
Paul is talking about the Mosaic Law codes at this point. His point is that whether you were an Israelite under the Law, or a Gentile without the Law covenant, everyone sins, and since everyone sins, Gentiles outside the Mosaic Law covenant were doomed to perish; even Israelites under that covenant were destined to be judged by the Law that they could not keep. All are guilty. Paul goes on,
"13 for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified. 14 For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, 15 in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, 16 on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus."
But Paul says later concerning Israelites who were under the Old Covenant of Moses, and of Gentiles who "show the work of the Law written in their hearts";
"we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written: 'None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God. 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. 13 Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. 14 Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 in their paths are ruin and misery, 17 and the way of peace they have not known. 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.' 19 Now we know that whatever the Law says it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be stopped,
[notice what Paul says next]
and the whole world may be held accountable to God.
[What that means is that everyone--whether you claim to be an Israelite, or you are a pure Gentile, you are under sin, and you are accountable. Paul goes on, verse 20,]
20 For by works of the Law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the Law comes knowledge of sin."
Even though being born outside the Old Covenant according to Israel, and born outside the New Covenant as lost people, all Gentiles, and all who claim to be Jews today, are born with the Law of God written in their inner being--on their hearts. Further, they are--you are--and your children are--born under sin. In Adam, (who came before ethnic Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob), comes the state of sin of any and every descendant of his throughout all history. This is the sin nature aspect that puts everyone at war with God. The other aspect, is that through the Law of God in any respect, whether Old Covenant statutes, New Covenant Law of Christ, or the Law written on hearts, comes the knowledge of sin, where the whole world is "held accountable to God." Contextually, in 16-20, Paul is referencing the Mosaic Law Covenant. Paul says in magnifying his point,
"23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," Romans 3:23
We absolutely must recognize that this is the problem of the human condition. It is the problem for the Gentile, but it is the same problem for the Jew. We can trace it to Adam, but you can not put all the blame on Adam, because God says that we are all accountable to Him. It is the problem of the "one blood" of Adam, Acts 17:26, which, in a sense, is the universal body of Adam we are all reproduced into. In sin, we are lost and separated from God.
But there is the blessing of the last Adam. It is the beautiful and glorious blessing. We read in 1 Corinthians 15:44 about the mystery revealed to us concerning the fact that Jesus Christ is the last Adam; the first man of the super race called Christians. He is the glorious blessing. This is important, because God elects people from among the Gentiles to be saved in Christ. In Himself, as the great writer of the Law, and the great fulfiller of the Law, the enmity of the Law is abolished. He is the great mediator who stops the war between us and God. He is the one who brings the peace because we can't. We can not bring peace through works of the law. We can not bring peace through making our own treaty. We can not bring peace by generating anything out of ourselves, which includes faith. God does it in Christ as a miracle. This is how we fulfill the law of faith, Romans 3:27. We do it according to God's enabling power that resides in, and is working in us, Ephesians 3:20. All of this is miracle action that God accomplishes. The miracle is that all who are saved, are in the body of Christ as the one new man. This is the only way that salvation could be accomplished. There is no other way. God had to come, and be manifested in created flesh. He had to be the glorious blessing. It was in this state, that in Himself as Father, Son, Holy Spirit, that God made the two--Gentile and Jew--into one new man. All is summed in Christ who is our all in all, and in whom we as His body are the fullness of Him, as we read in Ephesians 1:23
"1:23 Now the church is his body, the fullness of him who fills all [of us] in all [of us]"
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which leads to the next point--
"16 and would reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. 17 And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; 18 for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father."
Remember, without the New covenant in Christ, there was no peace with God for Gentiles, but there was also no peace with God for Israelites, even though they had the older covenants, and were genetically of Israel. Even if a Jew kept every single statute of the Mosaic Law Covenant perfectly, there still remained that lack of access in one Spirit to the Father--the war was still there. Paul says that God reconciled Israelites and Greeks both. Simply being a decedent of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had no merit when it comes to God's electing purpose in His New Covenant. It was through the one body that is the positional identification of the one new man, that all enmity against God, whether by Jews or Gentiles is put to death. Through Him, we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. This is the mystery of Messiah, of which the cross was foreordained to happen for Israel, and yet as even further mystery was revealed, it was inaugurated for Gentiles too. Messiah was,
"23 ... delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God,..." Acts 2:23
It was all according to God's plan concerning what God knew was the great necessity. Jesus said that no one takes His life but He lays it down on His own initiative. For Jews and Gentiles to be reconciled to God, they need to have access to the Father, and the only way to do this is in the perfect, sinless Son. The perfect sinless Son is both High priest, and sacrifice. He is both the sacrifice and the resurrection. He is both the resurrection of Himself, and He is the resurrection life of all of us whom He elects to eternal spiritual salvation. This is the peace that God requires. It is the peace that you need. It is the peace that you have in Christ, that you must understand that you have in your relationship to your Father. The writer of Hebrews calls it, entering into the rest of God in Hebrews 4. So, in addition to speaking of the one new man in verse 15, and the one body in verse 16, Paul speaks of the "one Spirit" in verse 18 The one Spirit is the Person of the energizing lifeblood, so to speak, of the "one new Man" of the "one body." This gift of Messiah, in the mystery of Messiah revealed, is how we all, (both Jews and Gentiles) are saved, and those of us who are His elect remnant out of the genetic pools of the world, are brothers and sisters in Christ. Christ is the one body that was the great sacrifice and resurrected super being. We, as the elect remnant from every tongue tribe and nation, are His body, called the "body of Christ." We are in Him positionally and in our identification with Him, Paul's says that we are seated in the heavenlies in Him at the right hand of the Father; all together as the "one new man,"
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which leads to the next and final point, concerning the demise of the Old covenant, where Christ fulfilled the Law for me, and abolished the Law's power over me, and that is that God has brought Gentiles into life in Christ, along with select remnant Jews, to be a temple in which His Holy Spirit dwells forever, as Paul says,
"19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the set apart ones, and are of God's household, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a set apart temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit."
What is particularly beautiful about this is that Paul is making points in this statement that he has been making all along, but explaining it in different terms, and adding new revelation. Paul is making a point about the indwelling Spirit that seals us that he talked about earlier. He is making a point about the body of Christ, which he has been talking about throughout this whole epistle. He is making a point about your great privilege of being saved for His own pleasure, personal reasons, and self exaltation. What God is showing us through His word is that through Christ, we are all part of one big family household where God is your Father, builder, property owner, and craftsman of your existence. Whereas Christ came in revelation at the beginning of His ministry only to the Lost sheep of the house of Israel, now Christ has been crucified and resurrected for the elect of the lost house of Adam, to create the fullness of the household of God. By taking the metaphor of being in Christ, and Christ being in us as the one new man, and the one body, and the one Spirit, and expressing the metaphor now as a temple, we are able to see more of the reality of the miraculous spiritual nature of our salvation.
The Ephesians were more than familiar with the importance of a famous temple that loomed in the city of Ephesus. It was the temple of Diana. It was huge, and in the heart of that great temple, was a statue of Diana that was said to have dropped from heaven. Diana, the false, demonic fertility God, was said to dwell there. This is something that all the Asian Gentile Christians of that region were more than familiar with. Many of them were also familiar with the temple of the Jews. All the Jewish converts were familiar with the temple system of the Jews. When we look at the temples that men built according to God's prescribed methods in the Older covenant periods of Israel, we see that God's glory would fill the Holy of Holies within the temple, 2 Chronicles 7:1. You would enter into the gates, into the outer court. From there, the priests would enter into the Holy Place area inside the temple building. From there, at the back, was the Holy of Holies, which was the room area where Jehovah made Himself manifest in a special presence, as the glory of God; it was the place that only the High Priest was allowed to enter into.
Now, follow me on this; just as circumcision was something that had to be accomplished by human hands in removing what God designed to be part of the human male to begin with, the temples throughout Israel's history had to be built by human hands. But, (and this is so important,) there was coming a day when the glory of God, in the respect of the Holy Spirit, would no longer dwell in temples made with hands. God knew this was what He wanted to happen, and so God perplexed for it to happen. He perplexed it to happen in His Son. This is why Jesus said,
"19 ... 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.' 20 The Jews then said, 'It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?' 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body." John 2:19-21
Folks, Christ is God. Yet, God can not be destroyed. But the body of Christ was beaten, torn, crushed, and bloodied to a pulp. The human aspect of Christ the Son as eternal God, was killed on a cross. The eternal Son, in all the fullness of deity in the triune Godhead, dwelt in bodily form to accomplish this task, Colossians 2:9. Now, Christ is our all in all, Ephesians 1:23. He is the chief cornerstone, Ephesians 2:20. We, His church, as the body of Christ, Colossians 1:24, are the fullness of Him, Ephesians 1:23. So now you and I have this beautiful relationship, where in His resurrection life, He elects and saves people among the nations and generations to be His temple. You, me, and all Christians are literally the temple of God. When Jesus rose from the dead and established His New Covenant, and His church through the seal of the Holy Spirit, the glory of God had departed from the Old Covenant priestly system, and the temple. First the veil was torn in half, then, it was only a matter of one generation, at the end of God's apostolic evangelism thrust of that age, that in AD 70, God would wipe it all away so that there would never be confusion about where the glory of God dwells according to the New Covenant. So, Paul asks,
"Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" 1 Corinthians 3:16
It is a real question folks, and you need to ask yourself;
"Do I not know that I am actually a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in me?"
Right now, here where you sit; tomorrow, at work, or at school; tonight in bed when you are asleep--you are built upon that great Rock, Who is Christ. You are the living temple, and here is the big point, you find your identity in the resurrected temple. You have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer you who lives, but what? But it is Christ who lives in you. And what? And the life you now live in the flesh, you live be faith is the Son of God--Galatians 2:20. This is the discussion verse that my kids and I have been going over for over two weeks now in our daily devotional together. This is the kind of peace that nobody under any Old Covenant had while on earth, but you and I have it. We have entered God's sabbath rest, because Christ came to fulfill the Law, for us Matthew 5:17, and He now lives in us as our hope of glory, Colossians 1:27. In Him, we live as ones who have the fulfillment of the Law appropriated to us;
"On the cross, God nailed all the decrees and statutes of the Law that were against us in our war with God, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; 11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision [females too] made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, [its all God's work] in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; [think war] and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross." Colossians 2:10-14
Through the cross and resurrection of One man, through One eternal Spirit, in One body, you are free, free, free. This is the theme for this morning,
"Fulfilling the Law for Me, Christ Abolished the Law's Power Over Me"
I urge you to recognize that the power of sin is the Law, and that the Law has no power over you. You have been redeemed by the Lord of glory, so now, as His New Covenant child, you obey the Lord in His New Covenant precepts, and decrees, but you are not under the Mosaic Law. You are under the Law of Christ. You and I are not outcasts, groping around trying to figure out how to please God. God pleased Himself in His Son, and through His Son, in making us by His own handiwork into people who are His temple in pleasing Himself. When you obey God, it is according to a higher standard than the Old Covenant Law. It is according to the whole New Testament Scripture, which gives you no license to sin whatsoever.
I ask you, are you condemned this morning? I mean, are you condemning yourself. God does not condemn His New Covenant temple. He declares it to be a place of peace where there is no war going on with Him. There is only love, and guidance, and sanctification by His Spirit, through His New Covenant word, and obedience, and when you fail--complete forgiveness, and molding, and continued forgiveness, and life--life right now, and life forever. In a moment we are going to share in the communion experience, where we worship Christ for the New Covenant in His blood.
