Sunday, December 21, 2014

From Stone to Spirit


    The Word undoubtedly explains in many places how absolutely impossible it is to walk out the law of Moses. The purpose of the Law was and is to show you that you cannot do it. Romans 3:20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. (ESV)  The purpose of the old covenant law was to show you your sin, and how you need a Lord and Savior.
    This foundational truth is conveyed over and over again in the New Covenant. Romans 8: 3 The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit. (NLT) This is the heart of the Good News friends. In all your efforts it is impossible for you to earn right standing with God, impossible!
    Yet the glorious Good News is that the entire law of Moses has been fulfilled and is alive in you! Christ fulfilled it on our behalf and paid for our perfection so He could live in us. Matthew 5:17 "Don't misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.” (NLT) The commands of God are not to make your life boring and unfulfilled, rather the exact opposite. God’s commands are the path to a life so outrageously abundant that your normal countenance becomes “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” Jesus took your sin, guilt, shame, pain, etc… and gave you His joy, freedom, mind, power, resources, and this list could continue. The divine exchange, He took what we deserved so we could live in ‘on earth as it is in heaven’.
    2 Corinthians 3: 6  He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit produces life. (HCSB) ‘He has made us competent,” HE! Jesus single handedly qualified you to be a heavenly diplomat, 2 Corinthians 5: 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (NASB) When the Father paid off your ransom through His Son on the Cross He paid it in full. Jesus paid for everything! Complete and absolute righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17) is your never ending portion. Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. (ESV)
    We can stop dwelling on your sin. God has not only handled the sin issue once and for all, after He single handedly paid for it all He then equip you to walk sinless. No it’s not farfetched and heretical, it’s the Gospel. 2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, (ESV).
    Your sin nature has been removed from your being, all of Romans 6, and now you’ve been set free to walk in the Spirit, all of Romans 8. Romans 8: 1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. (NLT) God sealed the deal on the cross for your purity and worthiness. Our minds and hearts are what need to get on page with Him and what He has already done!
    This topic is the very heart of the Good News and it will be unveiled with more and more clarity and glory from now until eternity. 2 Corinthians 5: 19 That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed the message of reconciliation to us. (HCSB) Creation is groaning for you to understand your responsibility of walking out your inheritance in the Christ, and you have been given all ability to walk the exact same way the King did.
    One thing I've learned about Holy Spirit is that He can and does reveal multiple layers of Truth through one passage of scripture. As I have already written one blog on John 2, you can find it in my archives titled ‘John 2 Party Time!’, I am going to show you another amazing parallel of the New Covenant’s dominance over the old covenant’s. So let’s start by you reading John 2:1-12 on your own...
    John 2: 1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. (NKJV) Let's explore some things here. The third day is symbolic of the resurrection and transformation. On the third day the fulfillment of all things arose victorious over all things. Now something that needs to be understood about this context, in Eastern culture the groom is more significant than the bride. In western culture the bride enters for all to see, in eastern culture the groom enters for all to see. This is an amazing prophetic picture of the groom (Jesus) entering for His bride (us, The Bride of Christ).
    Verse 2- Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. (NKJV) When you invite Him into the celebration life, your life becomes the party of heaven on earth. Where all things are possible, ALL things!
    Verse 3 and 4 explains how they run out of wine and His mother brings it to His attention. The wine is representative of the presence of God, the infilling of the Holy Spirit, Eph. 5:18 Paul uses the analogy of being drunk to being filled with the Spirit. We don't "do filled," that sounds funny. Paul said, "be filled," be who He says you are. Christ paid the bill for us to dwell with the infilling of the Spirit that inebriates us with the Love of God. The pleasures and promises of walking out the old covenant, found in Leviticus 26:1-13, are all fulfilled and are alive in and through your life. Christ did it, “It is finished."
    Verse 5 His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” 6 Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. (NKJV) The voice of wisdom is a female voice and spirit, Proverbs 8. Wisdom says to obey God so you can live in the never-ending blessings He has for you.
    It's important to catch this part.. The law was written on stone, the jars are made of stone. After Christ was resurrected He went into the tomb, and the stone (the law) was rolled away on the third day. Wisdom declares that the substance that went into the jars of stone must come out different, and forever transformed. Christ went into the stone, the law, which produces death, and fulfilled it and came out alive. “for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” The letter, the Law written on stone. The Spirit, the wine of heaven, Romans 8:2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. (NLT)
    Verse 7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it. (NKJV) Again, in the eastern culture the groom is more significant than the bride. When the substance went into the stone jars (made for ‘the manner of purification of the Jews’), it represented Christ fulfilling the law and defeating death and rising from the tomb after the stone was rolled away, the substance came forth as a new substance… a brand new creation never before seen by the world, that's you and I. Christ walked out the law to such perfection that He ‘filled it to the brim’, therefore He fulfilled the entirety of the law for all. You live in the fulfillment of all things, and He lives in you. You are sanctified and filled with all things, “the Kingdom is within you.” You are spotless, Hebrews 10:14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. (NASB) We are not in the process of sanctification, we are growing in the understanding that we are fully sanctified now.
    Verse 9 When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. 10 And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!” (NKJV) You are a new creation never before seen. You are from another realm, the realm of never-ending goodness, grace, power, and love. When people taste of the living water that flows from your belly, they will ask “what is this… where did it come from… who are you?” You are the substance of Truth that is being poured out to a world that is hooked on a substance of deception. Everything the world is looking for is alive inside those that believe.


For more resources 

Erikfrederickson.com 

Erikfrederickson.wordpress.com 

No comments:

Post a Comment