Infinite Fellowship Ministries

Living In The Divine Element Of The Law – Part 4: Sermon By Apostle Gobanga

Are we starting to commend ourselves again? Or we do not, like some [false teachers], need written credentials or letters of recommendation to you or from you, [do we]? [No] you yourselves are our letter of recommendation (our credentials), written in your hearts, to be known (perceived, recognized) and read by everybody. You show and make obvious that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, not written with ink but with [the] Spirit of [the] living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such is the reliance and confidence that we have through Christ toward and with reference to God. Not that we are fit (qualified and sufficient in ability) of ourselves to form personal judgments or to claim or count anything as coming from us, but our power and ability and sufficiency are from God. [It is He] Who has qualified us [making us to be fit and worthy and sufficient] as ministers and dispensers of a new covenant [of salvation through Christ], not [ministers] of the letter (of legally written code) but of the Spirit; for the code [of the Law] kills, but the [Holy] Spirit makes alive.

Now if the dispensation of death engraved in letters on stone [the ministration of the Law], was inaugurated with such glory and splendor that the Israelites were not able to look steadily at the face of Moses because of its brilliance, [a glory] that was to fade and pass away, Why should not the dispensation of the Spirit [this spiritual ministry whose task it is to cause men to obtain and be governed by the Holy Spirit] be attended with much greater and more splendid glory? For if the service that condemns [the ministration of doom] had glory, how infinitely more abounding in splendor and glory must be the service that makes righteous [the ministry that produces and fosters righteous living and right standing with God]!

Indeed, in view of this fact, what once had splendor [the glory of the Law in the face of Moses] has come to have no splendor at all, because of the overwhelming glory that exceeds and excels it [the glory of the Gospel in the face of Jesus Christ]. For if that which was but passing and fading away came with splendor, how much more must that which remains and is permanent abide in glory and splendor! Since we have such [glorious] hope (such joyful and confident expectation), we speak very freely and openly and fearlessly. Nor [do we act] like Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze upon the finish of the vanishing [splendor which had been upon it].

In fact, their minds were grown hard and calloused [they had become dull and had lost the power of understanding]; for until this present day, when the Old Testament (the old covenant) is being read, that same veil still lies [on their hearts], not being lifted [to reveal] that in Christ it is made void and done away. Yes, down to this [very] day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies upon their minds and hearts. But whenever a person turns [in repentance] to the Lord, the veil is stripped off and taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom). And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3 (AMPC)

The glory of Moses law is surpassed by that of Christ. The glory of Moses represents the law and leads unto death while that of Christ leads to life.

Sin is a nature that gives rise to actions.

If there is no death to sin, there will be habitual sin which will contaminate your spirit man and hinder your apprehension of the witness of the truth.

The prophetic purpose of Christ was to destroy the works of the devil which is sin. The letter of the law causes us to be more sinful. It stirs up curiosity to sin.

Mankind was born with a nature that leads him to sin. This nature was inculcated by Lucifer in Eden when they disobeyed God and ate of the fruit. The Adamic nature operates on the virtue of sin and death.

So I find it to be a law (rule of action of my being) that when I want to do what is right and good, evil is ever present with me and I am subject to its insistent demands. For I endorse and delight in the Law of God in my inmost self [with my new nature]. But I discern in my bodily members [in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh] a different law (rule of action) at war against the law of my mind (my reason) and making me a prisoner to the law of sin that dwells in my bodily organs [in the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh]. 

Romans 7:21-23 (AMPC)

There is a constant of sin that will hinder you unless Christ delivers you. This is when God is Lord over your life. When you submit unto the Lordship of Christ you become regenerated and hear the voice of the Father and walk in obedience. The coming of Christ will bring light and the manifestation of glory.

Whenever our hearts in [tormenting] self-accusation make us feel guilty and condemn us. [For we are in God’s hands.] For He is above and greater than our consciences (our hearts), and He knows (perceives and understands) everything [nothing is hidden from Him]. And, beloved, if our consciences (our hearts) do not accuse us [if they do not make us feel guilty and condemn us], we have confidence (complete assurance and boldness) before God, And we receive from Him whatever we ask, because we [watchfully] obey His orders [observe His suggestions and injunctions, follow His plan for us] and [habitually] practice what is pleasing to Him. 

1 John 3:20-22 (AMPC)

What [business] of mine is it and what right have I to judge outsiders? Is it not those inside [the church] upon whom you are to pass disciplinary judgment [passing censuring sentence on them as the facts require]?

1 Corinthians 5:12 (AMPC)

Judgment is in present tense not future. There is an adversary who must be brought to judgment. The adversary here is the Adamic nature that sins. Adam and Eves fall affected creation. Anything that is in material form is judged into corruption because of Adam’s sin. Spiritual occurrences have impact on the physical world.

And God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it [using all its vast resources in the service of God and man]; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves upon the earth.

Genesis 1:28 (AMPC)

We were created for dominion in the second heavens. It is not limited to a geographical place. We can influence places we do not live in for example we can pray and cause influence in nations that we do not live in.

Adam and Eve lost this dominion to Lucifer. This led to perdition.

In Christ, we regain this dominion and are seated in heavenly realms as co-heirs.

By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones), And [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength, Which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His [own] right hand in the heavenly [places], Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and in this world, but also in the age and the world which are to come.

Ephesians 1:18-21 (AMPC)

The word is an expression of the very nature of the divine. The word of God has the capability of sanctifying and changing people. He is the living word that aligns us to purpose and brings life. All things were created by Him and for Him.

God is Spirit and He manifests Himself in various forms. What is created is a manifestation of the word of God. It is not the word of God. We are not to confuse the substance from the manifestation. We are not to build doctrine from the manifestation.

Jesus did not repeat modes of miracles. For example, at one point He used spit mud and another time He said ‘arise and walk’.

You cannot limit God to a manifestation. We should not rely on patterns to show the manifestation of God.

The wind blows (breathes) where it wills; and though you hear its sound, yet you neither know where it comes from nor where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

John 3:8 (AMPC)

When we receive Christ we are receiving the son of God, the word of God and life. Anything contrary to that is of the flesh and is sin. We all have an idea of God but when God starts to minister to us anything that is out of the scope of this idea we resist and adulterate it as was the case with the Sadducees and Pharisees.

God is misrepresented to us as a God that is not caring and impersonal. This is what Jesus came to redefine.

When you receive the Word of God in your life, it will change your perception of God, of Scripture and of ourselves. We cannot be led by Scripture but by the Spirit who inspires Scripture. It is the Spirit of God that will lead you to all truth and make it alive to you. The Holy Spirit is the most important relationship you can have.

The law of Moses and the message of Christ have never been opposed to each other. Christ did not come to do away with the Law but to fulfill it by addressing the nature of the fallen man that cannot keep the law. The sinful nature causes us to create structure when it finds itself unable to uphold the law. Structure has no use if we do not know why it is there in the first place.

The human heart is the issue. The constitution of our country cannot address sin. The Law of Moses could not deliver the children of Israel from sin. The priest had desecrated the temple.

The Law of Moses was written on tablets of stone. It was given at a time when there was debauchery in the camp. This is what caused Moses to break the tablets. The second giving of the law ensured that the tablets were not broken. The second giving of the law, by Jesus, a type of Moses, sets you free from the law of sin and death. The law therein is spiritual and cannot be broken or changed. It is in the Ark of the Covenant – the presence of God. The Tabernacle typified the son of God.

Moses prophesied about Jesus and referred to Him as a prophet that was to come.

The law of Moses required that anyone that committed an abominable sin was to be stoned. This stoning was to be symbolic of the penalty of sin as per the law. The Israelites did not understand this and the stoning was abused by corrupt minds and hearts.

The purpose for it was a type of the death beyond the physical and signified the separation from God. Jesus fulfilled the ultimate penalty of the curse of sin through death on the Cross.

And all who depend on the Law [who are seeking to be justified by obedience to the Law of rituals] are under a curse and doomed to disappointment and destruction, for it is written in the Scriptures, Cursed (accursed, devoted to destruction, doomed to eternal punishment) be everyone who does not continue to abide (live and remain) by all the precepts and commands written in the Book of the Law and to practice them.

Galatians 3:10 (AMPC)

Another set of law was to be founded on better promises. It was to set you free from sin and death.

You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who so much as looks at a woman with evil desire for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Matthew 5:27-28 (AMPC)

You have heard that it was said to the men of old, You shall not kill, and whoever kills shall be liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the court.But I say to you that everyone who continues to be angry with his brother or harbors malice (enmity of heart) against him shall be liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the court; and whoever speaks contemptuously and insultingly to his brother shall be liable to and unable to escape the punishment imposed by the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, You cursed fool! [You empty-headed idiot!] shall be liable to and unable to escape the hell (Gehenna) of fire. 

Matthew 5:21-22 (AMPC)

The issue here is not the action but the heart!

What proceeds the action is the nature. For example, Christ told the Sadducees that murder comes from malice and anger, and sexual sin comes from lust. The Spirit enables us to fulfill the righteous demands that the law gives.

Religion fights the idea that the work of the Cross was finished. It comes up with systems and structures to validate that work. The only system we need is the Spirit of Christ.

A time has come where God has to separate the true ministers from the false ones. True ministers do not operate in manifestation. We need to check the character of the people involved in ministry.

The Adamic man cannot be able to interpret Scripture. Having a wrong perception of God is idolatry. Our God is diverse and we are not to major on one manifestation and make a doctrine out of it. This leads to idolatry.

God has distributed Himself in each of us. No one has the fullness of Christ, no church entity has it.