What is Faith and what is the Law

Messages for January 2019: Our Month of Unlimited Grace

Message for Sunday 6^th January, 2019

Theme: Faith versus the works of the Law in our relationship with God

Topic: What is Faith and what is the Law

Introduction: As the world approaches the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, it has become absolutely necessary for the Church of Jesus Christ to begin to show the body of Christ the gospel of the Kingdom of God. if we flash back to the time when the Lord was prophesying of His second coming in the book of Matthew 24, He told His disciples that as a sign of the nearness of His return, this gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the nations of the earth and then the end would come. This means until the gospel of the kingdom is preached in all the nations of the earth, he would not return.

The signs of the times are clearly evident in the fulfilment of scriptures with current events in Israel and other nations of the earth so we know that this time, we cannot compromise the preaching of the gospel of the Kingdom. This is therefore the beginning of our series on the gospel of the Kingdom like never before.

What faith is:

What the Lord Jesus Christ taught: When the Lord walked the sands of time, this is what He said among other things from which we can draw our definition of faith:

1.     What we believe and keep saying over and over again without doubts in our hearts, is faith when we get what we say. This was His general definition of faith. Mark 11:23 and Rm.10:6-11

2.     Secondly, in relation to the faith for answers to prayers, He taught that when we stand praying, we should forgive if we have anything in our hearts against anyone so that we would be forgiven by our heavenly father to have our prayers answered. Why? God does not answer the prayer of sinners except they are in repentance. For a saint, they have to get rid of sin to have access because God is holy and one sin they must deal with is the sin of Unforgiveness. See Mk.11:24-26kjv, Lk.17:1-6 and Prov.15:8.

3.     Faith is based on what you hear. The Lord taught about qualitative and quantitative hearing. He puts it this way, take heed “what ye hear” Lk.8:18 qualitative hearing. Then take heed “how ye hear”- quantitative hearing. Mk.4:24

4.     Faith according to Apostle Paul comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. In other words, faith comes by the quantity of the word of God you hear. The more of the word of God you hear, the more faith you will have. Now the extent to which the faith will deliver to you has to do with the quality of the word of God you hear. Rm.10:17

5.     Quality comes when the truth is rightly divided. The fruit of truth rightly divided is measured by the love walk of the one serving the truth or by the one receiving the truth. If you serve the truth while walking in love, it is more easily convicting. If you receive the truth walking in love, you can more easily do it. See 2Tim.2:15; Mt.7:15-20; 12:33-35 and Jas.1:22-25. It is the doer of the word that is blessed by it.

What the Law is:

The Law is the means by which men used to relate with God prior to when the Lord paid the price for man’s redemption from sin on the Cross of Calvary where He said it is finished. When He said this, He meant the continuous plight of man as a result of sin was now over. This is the dispensation of grace. Jn.19:30; Deu.28:1-15.

·        Under the law, man was to cleanse with the blood of animals and ashes of a heifer. Heb.9:13

·        The commandments he had to obey to benefit from his covenant with God were carnal and his fleshly nature could not meet the demand as God wanted. This was clearly brought out by Apostle Paul in Rom.7:18-25. He could not be delivered from dead works to serve the living God in the flesh and by fleshly ordinances. Heb.9:14

·        The cleansing of man sanctified his flesh but could do nothing about his dead spirit or his perverted soul. This is the reason why God promised in the Old Testament a new day when He was going to give man a new spirit that he would write his laws in and lead man from. See Ezek.36:26-27; Heb.9:13-14 and 10:15-23.

Jesus Christ came to fulfil the law in Himself: Salvation grants us access to fulfilment in life. When we are saved by receiving Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Lord, we become one spirit with Him and His nature is imparted to us as we grow in our knowledge of Him so that we can live on earth exactly as he did when He lived in time. This is promise in Ezekiel 36:26-27 kept. Mt.5:17; Heb.9:11-28; 1Cor.6:17 and Jas 2:8.

Why were the laws and prophets replaced by the Kingdom of God? They were imperfect according to the Father’s standard because of sin. So He sent His Son to perfect it by introducing His own law which is the law of love also known as the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. This law knocked off the law of sin and death under which man came as a result of the sin of Adam until it was taken away by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary. See Rm.8:1; Heb.9:14 and Heb.8:7-13.

God’s Original plan restored with the Kingdom: In God’s Kingdom, we are to operate as spiritual people and not as carnal.

·        Spiritual people are spirit ruled while carnal people are flesh ruled.

·        Spirit ruled people can walk in love while flesh ruled people cannot walk in love because they are too selfish to. See Jn.13:34-35; 15:12-15 and Gal.5:22

·        Spiritual people are crucified with Christ and live by the faith of the Son of God. Carnal people are not submitted to the Crucified life. As a result they cannot yield to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. See Rm.12:1; Gal.2:20

·        The reason spirit ruled people are spiritual is that they yield to their hearts which are already influenced by the Holy Spirit through their spirits, to God. Rm.6:13-19

We look forward to the Millennium: This is a time God has promised that Christ will come to rule on earth for a thousand years. After this time, Satan would be allowed to come and deceive again for an undisclosed period of time before the final end when God will finally judge at the white throne judgement. This is the most dreadful day for God’s archenemy - Satan. See Rev.20:11-15 

Someone reading this blog now may be wondering if they could have their names written in the Lamb’s book of life and be sure. My answer to you is in the affirmative if you will say the following prayer out loud to begin your journey into newness of life in Christ Jesus:

Heavenly Father,

Have mercy on me a sinner. Today, I believe that Jesus died for me and you raised Him from the dead for my Justification. I therefore declare that Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord and from today, I renounce the fatherhood of Satan and embrace Jesus Christ as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for this father in Jesus’ name! Amen.

Congratulations! For more information and resources that would help you grow in this new life, please visit our website at www.kingdomheirsministries.org and our blogs at www.flourishinggirl.blogspot.com and follow us on twitter at alero_nanna and on face book on www.facebook.com/flourishinggirl www.facebook.com/khmii2015; www.facebook.com/thewellbeingcenter. Or www.facebook.com/kingdomjointheirsfamily email:  jointheirsfamily@gmail.com.