BREAKING
THE LAW OF FAITH
Bible
Study
Thursday, August 28, 1997
MF Blume
Levi 25:4-7 But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the
land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor
prune thy vineyard. That which groweth of its
own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the
grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto
the land. And the sabbath of the land shall be meat
for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy
hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with
thee, And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy
land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.
Levi 26:14 But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all
these commandments;
Levi 26:32-35 And I will bring the land into desolation: and your
enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I will
scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword
after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste. Then
shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and
ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the
land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths. As long as it lieth desolate it
shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt
upon it.
ISRAEL HAD TO LET THE LAND REST EVERY SEVEN YEARS.
- THIS LAW HAD TO BE OBEYED OR ELSE ISRAEL WOULD BE REMOVED
FROM THAT LAND AND THE LAND WOULD REST IN GOOD SHAPE.
ROMANS SPEAKS OF THE LAW OF FAITH
Roma 3:27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of
works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
THERE IS A LAW OF FAITH WE MUST LIVE BY OR WE WILL NOT SEE THIS THING
WORK.
To introduce this topic, let me illustrate the Point of this message
with Abraham.
Abraham was told to walk through the land of Promise.
Genesis 13:17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in
the
breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.
We have a spiritual version of this today:
Ephesians 3:17-18 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that
ye,
being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all
saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
Abraham owned the land, but he did not know about all that was in it.
It was unrealized.
- Until he walk through it, he
would never know what he had.
- We need to comprehend all
our inheritance, too.
- Ephesians. says we must
comprehend and allow Christ to dwell in us by faith.
- Being rooted in faith is
being able to comprehend all the inheritance we have.
- We are not aware of it all
until we venture out in faith.
- We walk by faith.
This is a land of PROMISE
- What is the first thing that
comes to you when you receive a promise?
- You either believe it or not.
- Receiving a
promise demands you exert FAITH.
- This is a land of promise.
- All that is there is only
obtained by faith.
- But a barrier holds you back
from entering this domain.
JORDAN RIVER
There was a RED SEA to see opened up at the beginning of the Exodus
- Now there is a second
barrier to open
Red Sea depicts water baptism, and water baptism is circumcision...
Colossians 2:11-12 In whom also ye are
circumcised with the circumcision made
without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the
circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism,...
So what does JORDAN RIVER signify?
-A SECOND CIRCUMCISION
There is a second circumcision for the believer to experience.
- It is not for salvation,
because the Red Sea did that.
- Water baptism is part of the
salvation.
- This is a second
circumcision.
- Just because you are saved
and out of Egypt, does not mean you are in the land of Promise.
- You must exert MORE faith
now.
We must cast off the fear and doubt which holds us back from crossing
into the promises.
- This is long after we are
saved.
- This is JORDAN.
Israel had older doubtful people and children who began to be born and
grow after they left Egypt.
- These little ones did not
know the evil of Egypt like the older ones.
- The older ones brought some
of Egypt along.
Israel doubted God at the first when the older generation were afraid
to walk into the land
- They saw giants and were
afraid.
- People are afraid of walking
by faith.
- They do not think it will
work.
- They fear failure.
- That part that fears is what
needs to be circumcised away.
Joshua was told to circumcise the Israelites a second time.
- He meant that the younger
generation had never been circumcised yet.
- The older ones had been, but
they died.
- And after they died the
newer ones were circumcised.
- Then God said he rolled away
the reproach of Egypt.
- The older generation who
doubted was removed when the children were circumcised.
- It was as though the older
represented the carnality that we all have when we are first in the
church.
- We are saved, but yet are so
carnal.
- This needs to be removed so
we can enter the PROMISES.
- The part of us that FEARS to
trust God is a reproach. It must go.
Israel had to begin believing. This shows us the need for believers to
see that carnality is in them and must go. They must learn to trust
God. Some never learn.
God told Israel:
Joshua 24:13 And I have given you a
land for which ye did not labour, and
cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards and
oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat.
This stresses a wonderful thought - GRACE.
- When God says He gives to us
things we need, which we did not work to have, we see the thought of
GRACE.
- But these things are only
achieved by FAITH, for we cannot work for them
- They're in the land of
Promise.
- And that means we must
BELIEVE in order to have them.
- GRACE and FAITH go together.
- You BELIEVE God will give
you blessings without working for them.
God dug a well for us when Jesus died.
- God planted a vineyard for
us when Jesus died.
- God built houses for us when
Jesus died.
- These represent spiritual
things.
But there is a message for those who WERE THERE ONCE, but left and lost
something.
After being in the land, years later we read...
Israel was in this land and had the blessings.
- But they broke God's Law and
were bound captive.
2 Chronicles 36:15-21 And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by
his messengers, rising up betimes, and sending; because he had
compassion on his people, and on his dwelling place:
But they mocked the messengers of God,
and despised his words, and
misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his
people, till there was no remedy. Therefore he brought upon them
the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men
with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion
upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he
gave them all into his hand. And all the vessels of the house of
God,
great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the
treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to
Babylon. And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of
Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed
all the goodly vessels thereof. And them that had escaped from the
sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and
his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: To fulfil the word
of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her
sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to
fulfil
threescore and ten years.
Israel LOST their blessings due to unbelief.
Jeremiah 25:8 Therefore thus saith the
LORD of hosts; Because ye have not
heard my words,
Jeremiah 25:11 And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an
astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy
years.
Jeremiah 29:10 For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be
accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word
toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
Every 7th year was a sabbath year for the land to rest.
- They could not work the land.
- Leviticus 26 warned them
that if they did not keep this Law they would be bound captive.
- This did occur.
- Israel's land enjoyed 70
years of rest with no harvest or pruning of vineyards.
This speaks of our promised land.
- It is a place in faith where
our needs are met.
- We live by a LAW.
While in Babylon, Ezekiel prophesied much about the NEW COVENANT.
Ezekiel 36:26-30 A new heart also will
I give you, and a new spirit will I
put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh,
and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within
you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my
judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave
to
your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. I will
also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the
corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you. And I will
multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye
shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.
SO WE CAN SEE THAT BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY REPRESENTS LIFE WITHOUT
OBEDIENCE TO THE LAW OF FAITH
God gave it a good rest by letting it be freed from the Israelites who
were carried off into Babylon.
At the end of the captivity in Babylon, Zechariah saw a vision
Zechariah 1:12-13 Then the angel of the
LORD answered and said, O LORD of
hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities
of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and
ten years? And the LORD answered the angel that talked with
me with
good words and comfortable words.
Spirit ministry is the heart of the Land of Promise.
- From Jerusalem
went forth the Law of the Spirit.
- Jerusalem is the
Church.
- A group of
believers is what God works through - never an individual.
- Body ministry.
- Jerusalem is the
mother from above which bears children of promise.
Galatians 4:22-23 For it is written,
that Abraham had two sons, the one
by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the
bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by
promise.
Galatians 4:26 But Jerusalem which is
above is free, which is the
mother of us all.
She was barren but now has many sons.
- SARAH represented Jerusalem
Above.
- The children of promise.
Galatians 4:28 Now we, brethren, as
Isaac was, are the children of
promise.
Land of Promises and children of Promise in Jerusalem - our mother.
- We belong in the land of
promise.
- In the Great City of Promise
where the Law went forth.
- Children of Jerusalem.
- Free born.
The Law of the Spirit of Life is our law.
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now
no condemnation to them which are in
Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For
the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from
the law of sin and death.
We are blessed because of His name.
- Jerusalem was the
city that Had God's name.
- The temple represented the
name.
- We have God's blessings
because of God's grace.
- When we forget dependence
upon Jesus' name for anything we get from God then we lose our
blessings.
Keep your faith in the cross for your needs to be met
- Because of His love for you
in dying for you, you have all your needs.
Romans 8:32 He that spared not his own
Son, but delivered him up for us
all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Look back at the love God had for you in saving you.
- And use that to encourage
yourself that He will freely give you all things you have need of.
ABIDE IN ME
Depending on the cross alone for our entire success is what Jesus meant
when He said abide in me.
John 15:4-7 Abide in me, and I in you.
As the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide
in me. I am the
vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him,
the same bringeth forth
much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me,
he is cast
forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and
cast them into the fire,
and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye
shall ask what ye
will, and it shall be done unto you.
Abiding in Him is relying upon him
- Tthen we can ask what we will and we will have it!
- If we do not rely upon Him, then we are cast as a withered
branch.
- Those who dry up are those who never use faith.
- Too worried about what someone did to them to enjoy God.
Keep your faith in Jesus.
- Your only link to God is the
death of Jesus on the cross in your place.
- Lose that connection and you
lose the blessings.
Moses' law was a schoolmaster.
- It helped teach us of the
NEW LAW.
- The bondage of Israel due to
not obeying the Law of Moses foreshadows the spiritual bondage of not
obeying the SPIRITUAL LAW.
- The spiritual law is trust
in Jesus.
- Stand on the fact He died
for YOU to have your needs met.
- This is a law we must live
by!
FAITH HAS A LAW
- Whether it looks
impossible or not, we must understand that God will give us what we
need.
- Break that law and
you lose blessings.
- No answers to
prayer result from unbelief.
- You must believe what you
pray for will come to pass.
- You are bound as a sinner
who has no faith.
MINISTRY OF SPIRIT is spiritual work accomplished in our hearts.
2 Corinthians 3:6 Who also hath
made us able ministers of the
new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter
killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
2 Corinthians 3:8 How shall not the ministration of the
spirit be rather glorious?
- BUT WE MUST REST IN HIS
WORKS.
- Do not think your good works
give you blessings.
- Never!
- God is concerned with more
than good works.
- He wants your HEART to be
right with Him.
- To love Him and trust Him.
- To break the law of life is
to live by works. AND NOT BELIEVE.
We REST in time of need, because we seek God in faith, rather than
wildly try to solve our problems ourselves, and expect the need to be
met. WE REST
Jerusalem means CITY OF PEACE.
- Live in peace and rest.
- No worry.
- People who cannot believe
cannot REST.
- Lack of faith carries you
into bondage of Babylon - CONFUSION.
- This is exactly what a
person who cannot believe feels like - CONFUSED.
Paul said the LAW OF SIN AND DEATH rules us - government of Babylon -
when WE try to do everything on our own
Romans 7:21 I find then a law, that,
when I would do good, evil is
present with me.
But when we cease this folly and TRUST HIM instead...
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now
no condemnation to them which are
in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free
from the law of sin and death.
Jerusalem's law of peace frees us from law of Confusion.
Confused believers are bound in confusion and kept from the blessings
of God.
Paul was in captivity.
Romans 7:24 O wretched man that I am!
who shall deliver me from the
body of this death?
ANSWER:
Romans 7:25 I thank God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. ...
UNBELIEF surrounds the heart like a SHELL
- The heart turned to God in
faith will be circumcised of that veil.
- Delivered from it all.
- Faith allows MINISTRY OF
SPIRIT to work.
- God's ministry is much
better than OUR human ministries.
If one is confused, ask them if they stepped out in faith and refused
to worry and did not worry.
START BELIEVING AGAIN AND RETURN TO THE LIBERTY LAND
All our requests go to God's throne.
- Those with the seal of
JESUS' NAME, are answered
- Those without this seal are
ignored.
- The seal of His name MEANS
that we know that only due to Jesus' death can we have anything from
God.
- Jesus said that no man comes
to Father but by Him.
DO NOT REASON AND DOUBT
- DO NOT LET CIRCUMSTANCES
DISCOURAGE YOU.
- DO NOT WORRY AFTER YOU PRAY
FOR A NEED.
- DON'T LET THE LAND OF
PROMISE REST AS YOU SUFFER CAPTIVITY OF BONDAGE.
LEARN TO EXERT FAITH.
- STRIVE TO BELIEVE AGAINST
ALL ODDS.
- FIND REST TO YOUR SOUL.
- DWELL IN JERUSALEM - CITY OF
PEACE.