Paul wrote to Titus
who was in Crete, about those who say they know God but whose works were
denying Christ in them:.Titus
1:16..Luke
9:23 "And he said to them all; If any man will come after me, let him
deny.(original,
'to separate', 'to deny',
'to forget one's self', 'lose sight of one's self and one's own interests').himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.(become
as He is, and He is His nature, and His nature is love)."
Paul tells Titus to hold
fast the truth.(Titus
1:9).as
there were some dominant individuals who were trying to gain a following
for money.(of
course, telling those whom God had called that adherence
to certain Old Testament practices should be observed, especially tithing,
right!)..In
Titus
1:9-11, Paul tells Titus to rebuke
those so swayed by these deceivers that were turning some from the truth
and makin' a few bucks besides:.also
verses Titus 1:13,14.
Some churches today play
around with some of the things that were in the ancient Mosaic Law by mixing
those things with New Testament grace?
If you do not.perfectly.keep
all the ancient Mosaic Law.(and
with its sacrifices for when you fail),
you have placed yourself under a curse:.Galatians
3:10.(note
'all things which are written in the
book of the law'). Why, unless
you were out to control others for your selfish advantage, would you patch
together an old cloth to a new garment?.Matthew
9:16,17. Galatians
2:21 "I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come
by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." Galatians
5:4 "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified
by the law, you are fallen
from grace."
One cannot separate any part
of this ancient Mosaic Law thinking that keeping a debased.concoction
of it, as the Pharisees in Christ's time on Earth in the physical did,
puts a person in good stead
with God. What this does is simply place oneself under a now useless shadow
of an old dead covenant.(as
far as God is now concerned).and
under a curse if every part of this old covenant Mosaic Law fails to be
kept:.Deuteronomy
17:19; 27:1-3; Deuteronomy
27:26 "Cursed be he that confirms not all the words of this law to
do them...".Deuteronomy
32:46.
The Mosaic Law did
include
provision
for forgiveness when one failed keeping it, which everybody back then in
the time of this onerous
law probably did.
The Mosaic Law was a whole
law for a people who needed wholeness, but having no heart for such things,
it didn't do any good for them:.Deuteronomy
5:29. Why? Because it's purpose was to point to He who would do good
for them, Christ. And Christ was about a change of heart for people as
a gift. That's why the old law didn't do any good:.Hebrews
9:9.
Today we need not keep any
law to get and keep righteous with God, because it's the gift of grace
that does that:.Romans
3:24 "Being justified f r e e l y by his grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Emmanuel." Romans 8:2
"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Emmanuel has made me free
from the law of sin and death."
This curse for obedience
to any part of the abolished
Mosaic Law is so that one will eventually come to see how frustrating
trying to do this is and instead hopefully
come to fully live within the gift of grace which is freely chosen by deciding
to follow the example of our Savior who had such a close relationship with
the Father, the Great Infinite One:.John
11:42 "And I knew that you hear me always.....".So
if you are keeping a part of the law, the ancient now done away Mosaic
Law.(say,
the commandments).in
your relationship with Creator-God, you had better be keeping
all of
it, all the
ancient
feasts and you had better be circumcising,
you had better be sacrificing animals, using ablutions
when necessary and keeping all the rest of the ancient rigmarole
that Paul called a ministration of death and condemnation:
2Corinthians 3:7-11.
That law was only for a time
and for a people who needed it in order to see a better way was needed.
They at least saw that, even though they had no intention of applying it
to their lives, but it was fear of retribution
and fear of peer
pressure for not following it, so they just did it. Like people today who
just go along with laws they completely dislike and so their heart was
not in it:.Deuteronomy
5:29.
Paul really
understood Old Testament law:.Philippians
3:5,6; Acts 26:4,5.
In Hebrews Paul says these
were regulations for the physical:.Hebrews
9:8-15 ".....the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest,
while as the first tabernacle was yet standing, which was a figure for
the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices,.that
could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience.(what
makes us perfect?). Which stood
only in meats and drinks and divers washings and.carnal
ordinances.(note
it says carnal,
not spiritual), imposed
on them.(imposed
on them because it was not
of their heart to be so; back then they generally
did not have the nature of a higher consciousness; and all those rules,
regulations and sacrifices were
mostly for a history lesson).until.the.time
of reformation. But.Christ
being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater
and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands...How much more shall
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living
God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by
means of death.(Emmanuel's
death), for the redemption of the
transgressions that were under the first testament.(what
about any transgressions in the time of the New Testament?),
they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance."
Romans
7:5 "For when we were in the flesh.(before
God called you to focus on the spiritual things of love, kindness, etc.),
the motions of sins, which were.(illuminated).by
the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.".Romans
3:20 ".....for by the law is the knowledge of sin.".And
now, since Christ took sin away, it
is a very different story than that which was in Old Testament times.
Those who today espouse
Old Testament laws as if they are necessary to be and remain in a spiritual
relationship with the Infinite One, are, in essence,
keeping out of their lives, all that Christ came to Earth to do. What teachings
such as this do is make people think that they should emphasize,
as near as humanly possible, a sinless life if they are to expect freedom
from those things which caused them to believe that they were sinners in
the first place. It's a witchcraft teaching in opposition to the freedom
Christ made possible:.2Corinthians
3:17 "Now the Lord is that Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty."
The commandments, along
with the rest of the law was for the
ancient physical nation of Israel, not for the Gentiles
or for spiritual
Israel.(us).
And Paul.throughly
understood
the new covenant.(Acts
9:22), even rebuking the Apostle
Peter:.Galatians
2:11. Paul was uncompromising in what he believed, both before and
after God called him.
The way of God.(Acts
18:26), is the way of Christ now.(John
14:6).and
no longer the way of the Old Testament law,.any.part
of it.
The entire book of Hebrews
shows how
much
greater Christ was than anything regarding Old Testament law –
again, Hebrews 7:19; Galatians
3:24,25.
The law.made
nothing perfect.and
only showed the necessity of a better hope which was Christ's nature becoming
our nature. Why would anyone want to keep that which could not produce
perfection, when there exists a way that would?
In
Christ, God now calls you perfect!
The law was so people could see that, in a relationship with God, something
more than the "carnal ordinances" of
do's and don'ts, rules and regulations, was needed.
In the Old
Testament, most people lacked the heart, the attitude.(again,
Deuteronomy
5:29).necessary
to have the kind of intimate relationship God dearly wants to have with
us:.John
17:12 and verses 21-26 there.
We are now to worship:.(original
is 'give attention to').this
Great Infinite One in the spirit, in our hearts.(what
is you deep down in there as directed by your mind).and
get away from having confidence that any part of any
law you may feel that you should keep will give you confidence that
God is pleased with you:.Philippians
3:3,4.
Keeping a law binds you to
duty.
The things of the spirit free one to progress. To get to the 'spirit',
one must take time in the quiet
to focus the mind on what love is, because love
is what best describes the nature of the Infinite One, a nature that we
can align with.
Paul had more reason than
anyone.(Philippians
3:5,6,9).to
have a twisted confidence, a confidence that makes one feel superior as
he measures himself by some set of rules that when kept, provides presumption
that he is ok with God.
Paul shows in Philippians
2 that it is the care and concern for others that is important; this
is love. Paul came to see that the righteousness of faith.(Philippians
3:9).enables
one to focus on the importance of the nature of love Christ came to reveal
to humanity:.verse
10.
