Grace Bible Fellowship

Thank you for your faithfulness to Christ and His bride. May the Lord continue to bless this church and be glorified.

It was the "Light & Momentary Affliction" that caught my attention. This is an encouraging reminder about all our "2020" moments that we have faced, are facing, and will face until we die or the Lord returns. Thank you, Bro. Jeff, for being a teacher that is giving his fellow believers a message of hope that doesn't deny the reality of afflictions or the pain they cause but encourages us to refocus our attention on what the Word of the Lord says about said afflictions.

This is one of the very best on this Topic. I wish I had known this doctrine earlier in my Christian life. Maybe I had heard it, but not with ears of faith? I had no idea that my old man was dead and that I was no longer a slave to sin. I spent many years toiling under the lies propagated by my old, dead, usurping, yet powerless nature! I am glad that Jesus’ death and resurrection have freed me in both justification and continuing sanctification. I still struggle with the old man’s taunts but praise the LORD that in Him, I can and do have faith in His precious victories. Very helpful teaching that changes everything!

As already stated, we are not 'under the law' for salvation. Please consider reading more carefully the points being made concerning the law, salvation and the true purpose of God's law. Do you keep all the commandments perfectly each day? Remember, if you stumble at just one you are guilty of breaking all of them. What happens when you fail to keep the law perfectly? Christ has kept the law perfectly, it is His righteousness that we have imputed to us, not our own. Does your righteousness exceed the Pharisees? Thoughts to ponder IF you will humble yourself as the bible states. There is no attempt to put the law on hold, as you claim. There is every attempt to RIGHTLY UNDERSTAND the purpose of the law for the elect of God. May He grant you that understanding. Then you will truly know the 'liberty' God's true elect have.

The law of God, as God himself, is alive for ever and for all, because it is part of His very essence. We are free in Christ from the *penalty* of the law, and this is what it means we are not 'under the law'. The believer, however, is made alive unto good works that coincide with this perfect law reflecting God's good will for man. The constant attempt to put the law on hold for the believer, often is an manoeuvre neoevangelicals and neocalvinists sustain to get around the fourth commandment, which by love to God's good will holds as any of the others. Other times it reflects a tendency towards free will regarding sanctification, under the slogan of being free in Christ, or of Christian *liberty*, so called .

Legalists attempt to put us back under the law. This is what the Pharisees did and modern day legalists continue to do. No one can keep the law of God, which is why no sinner will be saved as a result of attempting to keep it. The 'works' God gives His elect do not equate to His law, there isn't a verse in all of the bible that states that. It is the new birth that brings understanding concerning the law, and the power over sin. God's elect do not kill, not because they are attempting to keep His law, but because they have been born again by God and understand the command not to kill. The changed heart no longer desires to kill, hate, lie, etc. Outward religionists will never understand that.

The law of God is ever living as God himself is, and is never put to rest or 'death', as to be annulled, beacuse it is part of God's very nature. What is obliterated in Christ's death on our behalf is the *penalty* of that law upon us. This is why is said we 'are not under the law'. By the justification in Christ we are delivered unto good works, which presicely coincide with his eternal law. Often, neo-evangelicals are interested in puting the law of God on hold because they wish to get around the fourth command. Yet the love of God should motivate any in Christ to remember it out of love as they might do with any of the other commandments. Often the use of the same terms with different meanings lead into twisted misrepresentations.

Legalists want to enforce a bondage to the law, but what does Paul say? 'for by the law is the knowledge of sin' - Romans 3:20 Praise God for faithful men who rightly divide His truth and seek to NOT bring us under the yoke of bondage to the letter, for the letter kills. Albert Barnes' commentary on 2 Cor. 3 is worth reading. Salvation is of grace, not of keeping the law. We walk in obedience to His truth because we already are saved. No one can keep God's law, we must trust in the righteousness of Christ and never seek to work out our own 'righteousness'. Praise God for those who do have a right understanding of the law and its purpose!

We are meant to be his followers

Wonderful!! Thank you for preaching this message. There are those in the church who are going back to celebrating feasts, Sabbath (on Saturday) etc. Instead of keeping these things between God and themselves, they are trying to draw others in to this "truth". I see danger in this and believe the church needs to be warned and ready to address and/or confront.

Hi Bert, there are certainly things to take literally and allegorically in both of those books; you have to take each in context; for example many of Jesus' parables would be taken allegorically, not literally (i.e. in the sermon on the mount; don't take the 'cutting off of the right hand' literally!) and in the same way Revelation has things to take literally (i.e. there's no indication that the scene in heaven of the great multitude around the throne of God is allegorical; I have great hope we will literally see that one day!) and things to take allegorically i.e. I doubt we will see a literal multi-headed dragon arise in the land; hope that helps clarify a bit!

what confuses me about the bible is that why are some books meant to be taken literally and others are not meant to be taken literally? Why do we take Matthew literally and dont take Revelation literally?

Awesome message!...God Bless You Bro.