Living In The Divine Element Of The Law – Part 7: Sermon By Apostle Gobanga
Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:17-20 (NKJV)
And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven.
1 Corinthians 15:45-47 (NKJV)
Throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, there is a contrast between that which is physical and that which is spiritual. That which is physical is preceded by that which is spiritual.
The Old Testament is typified by typology and allegory.
Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”
Exodus 20:18-19 (NKJV)
The Israelites got afraid of the manifestation of God’s power. Moses acted as a mediator (between God and the Nation of Israel) and a law giver. The set of laws he gave were in physical form as opposed to the New Testament.
In the Old Testament, Jesus was prefigured in various forms and types. Moses’ mediation foreshadowed the coming of Jesus in the New Testament where Jesus is now the only mediator between God and man and the law is written in the hearts of men.
When you read throughout the Old Testament, you realize that the coming of the Messiah was foretold. The plan of the Messiah was not a second thought but it was promulgated in eternity long before man and the world was ever created.
And the Lord said to me: ‘What they have spoken is good. I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him.
Deuteronomy 18:17-19 (NKJV)
God was telling Moses of a coming prophet – Jesus Christ – that the eternal Father would reveal in the New Testament.
We will not be judged on the basis of the Ten commandments given to Moses. However, the laws shouldn’t be rubbished. Christ came to fulfill the law and not abolish it.
Jesus speaks words transmitted by the eternal Father. On Judgment Day, we will be judged on the basis of the words we have received from the Father. When you reject the words of Jesus, you have rejected words from the Father.
And if anyone hears My words and does not believe,I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.
John 12:47-49 (NKJV)
The words Jesus speaks will stand as a witness against us on Judgment Day.
We need to capture God’s heart and mind when He speaks His word. Otherwise, you will resist the letter (of the word). When you take the word literally, you miss out on God’s heart and mind.
The word of God should reveal God’s eternal purpose. The word of God is void without God’s purpose. Once you capture God’s purpose, then you are able to know what it is that God wants and you are able to align to that word.
When we use the word of God in deliverance, devils do not listen to the verbs and nouns but the nature of God in the word of God. It is this nature that causes the devils to run away. Jesus is the Living Word and in His time on that whenever He encountered demons they knew that Jesus had checked in and that their time was up.
Jesus did not come to abolish the law. If anything, He spoke very well of Moses.
The Angel of the Lord in the burning bush is the pre-incarnate Christ. Christ came to culminate everything the law and prophets talked about in the Old Testament.
When Christ came to the earth, He came to deliver the children of God that were imputed by reason of violation of the Mosaic Law.
The purpose of the Old covenant was to lead people to death to self from sin. When Jesus died, He ended the Old Covenant. He promulgated a New Covenant. God is interested in us obeying the Spirit of the law.
The Old Covenant laid emphasis on the letter that made people think they were righteous. The Old Covenant was concerned more about performance. God is more concerned about our intentions and attitudes more than anything.
The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake; He will exalt the law and make it honorable.
Isaiah 42:21 (NKJV)
There is a magnification of God’s law beyond the veil of visibility that causes one to introspect beyond the memorization of Scripture and works.
In the New Covenant, God expects us to go beyond the letter to capture the Spirit of the law. The Spirit of the law checks our intent behind the act. A person who is jealous and malicious is worse than one who commits murder.
The New Testament gives us an opportunity to check our motives. The issue is not about the manifestation but the motive. Jesus comes to give the full meaning of the law of God beyond works.
The Body of Christ is characterized by people who are focused on externalities. Jesus is concerned about motives. He did not like the way of the Sadducees and Pharisees because they did works for exhibition. For example, in the case of the adulterous woman, Jesus challenged the righteous standing of her accusers.
Jesus is concerned about our hearts even in how we pray. We may be charismatic but weak when it comes to the Cross.
You are only saved when you understand His purpose, and grace in light of His purpose that will deliver you.
Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.
1 John 3:4 (NKJV)
Sin is the nature acquired from Adam. When that nature is present, you will live defeated. God requires obedience to His law in light of His purpose. You only obey what you understand. That which you do not understand, God will not judge you based on it. At personal level, God speaks according to your lingo.
“To whom much is given much is required”, means that that which is understood and captured, is that to which God will hold you accountable. We need to pray for the Spirit of understanding, wisdom and revelation.
You cannot lead a life of sanctification and yet you have no understanding of it. God wants us to understand His purpose, times and seasons so that we can know what to do.
Jesus did not come to abolish the law. If He did so, He would be contradicting Himself and His nature.
To fulfill in Greek means:
- To make full, to fill, to fill up.
- To show forth in true spiritual meaning.
- To bring out the full expression.
To fulfill the law means to amplify its meaning and application in your life.
In the Old Testament, there was no fullness of expression. Every sacrifice and feast foreshadowed the perfect sacrifice, which Christ would offer on the cross.
Jesus wants us to capture the full culmination of the law which is at work in one’s heart and mind. You cannot walk in the full expression of the law of God without partnering with the Holy Spirit.
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
Romans 8:1-2 (NKJV)
The Holy Spirit ushers us to a place where we die daily i.e. sanctification. Jesus expects us to walk in partnership with the Holy Spirit for us to walk in the fullness and expression of God’s Word so that the full meaning of the Word is made manifest through one’s life.
The application of God’s Word gives the fullness and expression of God’s Word.
God wants us to commune and fellowship with the Holy Spirit.
Being led to all truth by the Spirit is being led to the heart and mind of God and His purpose.
There are instances when we may misinterpret God’s word when we do not look at what God said preceding and proceeding that particular verse. For example, King Uzziah (Isaiah 6:1) has been portrayed as an evil man by some preachers of the Gospel. Yet if you take time and research on him, you’ll find that he was a righteous man.
When you misunderstand God’s word, you will say anything.
Prosperity is a principle in the Bible beyond money. Sowing seed can also be expressed in terms of love and mercy. You cannot sow each and every time. There is also a time for harvesting.
Jesus is taking us to a place where we understand His heart and mind. As you understand His heart and mind, you also can then understand yourself. The state of your heart also matters. Your heart must be in a state where you are able to hear and receive from God. You can’t walk in the full expression of God’s law if you do not understand yourself.
If the laws of God were not binding today, there can be no law nor the redemption we speak of in the New Testament.
The sinful nature resident in man will cause the law to be ever present because of the presence of sin. That is why we need a Saviour. Jesus took the penalty for sin; that which man had transgressed.
Jesus died on the Cross to show that the law is binding. Jesus was submitted to the law to the point that He bore humanity’s sin.
Jesus expects obedience that comes from the heart not the mouth. You can be standing up before men in God’s presence yet you are sitting in your heart. God is interested in what’s in your heart. God is keen on the transactions of your heart. The state of your heart needs to match your external display of worship. When the Law of God is magnified in our lives, then it becomes much more honourable.
Therefore the Lord said: “Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men.
Isaiah 29:13 (NKJV)
That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Romans 10:9-10 (NKJV)
Jesus was categorical about every law pronounced by Moses in the wilderness and elucidated on them. For example, murder, which is a matter that emanates from the heart. The root of murder is hatred.
A person operating in anger and bitterness needs only an opportunity for that anger and bitterness to be expressed in actual murder.
Lust needs an opportunity. Virginity has been misunderstood as being physical and about whether one has slept around and yet it is an issue of the heart. Virginity is spiritual. When you are a new creation, God restores virginity spiritually by faith.
We need to know what God is saying not what we think. He wants to impart His heart and mind in us. When you walk in condemnation, you in essence have refused to believe God’s work in forgiving you.
In His time on the earth, anyone that encountered Christ understood who they were.
People may be hard on the outside because they have married condemnation and yet all they need is to be delivered. Jesus never condemned Zacchaeus; He wanted to fellowship with him. Jesus wants to have fellowship and not for us to be engrossed with our issues.
The counselling of the Holy Spirit is in the context of fellowship.
Abraham was an idolater. When God appeared to him, He gave him instruction for to leave his land and spoke about his purpose. The Lord did not talk about what Abraham had done.
After the wilderness experience, Moses was commissioned and the Lord did not mention that he murdered an Egyptian. Moses gave excuses, but the Lord mentioned that Aaron would assist him, to cover his stammering. Some people have married their issues and covenanted with their issues.
The Lord has a way of allowing your mess to reveal your assignment.
When you are forgiven much, you will love much.
The ministry of Christ is restorative; to bring people back to His purpose. God will speak in the midst of you being in issues and in a state of confusion. God means business when He wants to use you.
Fellowship with God is not all about getting Rhema words. Above various forms of ministration by words of knowledge and Rhema, fellowship can come spontaneously through a spiritual song, word of encouragement and prophesy in part, etc.
God wants us to be sincere with Him in our fellowship with Him and He also wants us to learn to be patient.
Process is important for us to prepare us in light of the promises God has spoken.
Walking in the divine element of law means one needs to exercise patience and walking by faith to enable us to walk into the land of promise.
The word of God is progressive for us to develop stamina and attain to maturity.
The Lord requires us to forgive people who hurt us in the past as they will need you in the future. For instance, Joseph’s situation with his brothers.
When you are acquainted with His ways and not just His works, God will enable you to access your inheritance.
Once you are done with the steps of process you will find yourself at the place of inheritance. It is demonstrated by wisdom to rule and reign. #SELAH
God does not take offence when we ask questions.
There is another spiritual standard to exercise the spiritual intent of His law.
Prayer:
That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Ephesians 1:17-23 (NKJV)
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