From: allan-sv@algonet.se   
      
                 God's Law and God's Gospel   
      
   Some people think that we Christians must keep the Sabbath, and   
   it is urgent that they receive instruction about the justification   
   through faith. They do not understand that Jesus has redeemed us   
   from the Law. It is not through the Law that we are saved, but   
   through God's promise to Abraham. Genesis 12:7, 15:5-6,   
   17:1-7, 22:11-18. This promise is credited also us who have   
   Abraham's faith. Rom. 4:16-25. Gal. 3: 16.   
      
   This promise is 430 years older than the Law. "And this I say, that   
   the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law,   
   which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that   
   it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be   
   of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by   
   promise. Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of   
   transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise   
   was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator."   
   Gal. 3:17-19. The Law was intended to be valid until the Seed   
   (Jesus) should come.   
      
   When Jesus died by the cross for our sins, then he redeemed us at   
   the same time from the law, and abolished the law's regulations.   
   Eph. 2:13-14. "Christ that redeemed us from the curse of the law,   
   being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one   
   that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come   
   on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the   
   promise of the Spirit through faith." Gal. 3:13-14.   
      
   "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,   
   being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness   
   of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them   
   that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and   
   come short of the glory of God ... Rom. 3:21-26.   
      
   "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one   
   that believeth." Rom. 10:4. The Law was intended to be valid   
   until Jesus Christ should come, and when we have received   
   Jesus Christ as our Saviour, then we are redeemed from the   
   Law. We are not under the Law, but under grace. Rom. 6:14.   
   For those who do not believe in Jesus, the Law be valid right   
   up to they meet him as the Judge. Accordingly, the Law be   
   valid for us until we meet Jesus, either as the Saviour or as   
   the Judge.   
      
   "Think not that I am come to destroy the Law, or the prophets:   
   I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you,   
   Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise   
   pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Matt. 5:17-18.   
      
   But those who won't believe in Jesus and do not receive him as   
   the Saviour, for them the Law be valid right until the last day, then   
   they meet him as the Judge. Then the heaven and the earth have   
   disappeared. "And I saw a great white throne, and he that sat on   
   it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there   
   was found no place for them." Rev. 20:11-15.   
      
   Many people think that if they will believe in God and be saved,   
   then almost everything is forbidden, but it is just on the contrary.   
   It is for the ungodly that the Law is valid. The ungodly are in duty   
   bound to fulfil what the Law demands. Jesus says, "But I say unto   
   you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give   
   account thereof in the day of judgment." Matt. 12:36.   
      
   "Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but   
   for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for   
   unholy and profane, for murderers ..." 1 Tim. 1:9-10. "Now we   
   know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who   
   are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the   
   world may become guilty before God." Rom. 3:19. If people   
   comprehend the Bible as an exacting law book, it is because   
   they are under the law.   
      
   "Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in   
   the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live   
   peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves,   
   but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance   
   is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." says the Lord.   
   Rom. 12:17-19.   
      
   Those who do not want to turn to Jesus and believe in him, they   
   have rejected God's grace and come to get full revenge for their   
   deeds. "For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all   
   judgment unto the Son." John 5:22. We don't need to repay   
   those who are against us. Lord Jesus does it for us. "Seeing it is   
   a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that   
   trouble you; And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the   
   Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,   
   In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and   
   that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." 2 Thess. 1:6-8.   
      
   We who believe in Jesus are not under the Law, but under the   
   grace. Rom. 6:14. "But if ye be led of the Spirit, you are not   
   under the law." Gal. 5:18. "And you, being dead in your sins and   
   the uncircumcision of your flesh, that he quickened together with   
   him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the   
   handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary   
   to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross; And having   
   spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly,   
   triumphing over them in it." Col. 2:13-14. "But now we are   
   delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that   
   we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the   
   letter." Rom. 7:6.   
      
   Yet, it is written in Rom. 2:13, "For not the hearers of the law are   
   just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified." Jesus   
   says in Matt. 7:21, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord,   
   shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will   
   of my Father which is in heaven." How to explain that?   
      
   Please, read Rom. 8:3-4. "For what the law was powerless to do   
   in that it was weakened by our sinful nature, God did by sending   
   his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And   
   so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous   
   requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not   
   live according to our sinful nature but according to the Spirit."   
      
   When we serve Jesus in the new way of the Spirit, then we fulfil   
   the Law, though we are not under the Law, but under the grace.   
   We do what the Law demands, yet, the deeds we then do are not   
   "law-deeds", but "faith-deeds", such deeds that we do by faith.   
   Without such deeds the faith is dead. James 2:14, 26.   
      
   Jesus says in John 14:15, "If you love me, keep my commandments."   
   And in John 15:10, "If you keep my commandments, you shall   
   abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments   
   and abide in his love." "For this is the love of God, that we keep   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)