Destined to Reign (15 page)

Moses represents the law, the Ten Commandments. He represents the ministry of death and condemnation. While the law, the ministry of condemnation, had glory, the Bible declares that “the ministry of righteousness exceeds
much more
in glory”. Praise be to God that you and I are under the new covenant, the covenant of grace and righteousness!

How is the covenant of grace more glorious than the covenant of law?

The law
demands
righteousness from sinful man, whereas grace
imparts
righteousness to sinful man. Let me illustrate what I mean. The law says to a man who is balding, “Thou shall not be bald!” The poor guy grabs what little hair he has left on his scalp and says, “I can’t help it! It keeps falling off!” Grace, on the other hand, says, “Receive the hair!” and the guy gets new hair!

You see, the law
demands perfection, but will not lift a finger to help
. And, as shown in the case of the balding chap, man has no ability in himself, no matter how hard he tries, to fulfill the law’s demand, and is thus cursed for breaking the law. Grace, on the other hand,
imparts perfection and does everything for man
through Jesus Christ, and all that man needs to do is to believe. Which do you think is more glorious? The ministry of death which demands or the ministry of grace which imparts?

The Ten Commandments Kill

When God gave the law on Mount Sinai, it was on the first Pentecost, exactly 50 days from the Passover when the Lord delivered the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt. Do you know what happened when the Ten Commandments were given? At the foot of Mount Sinai, 3,000 people died
3
. Now, let’s compare this with the New Testament. When the Day of Pentecost had come, God poured out His Holy Spirit upon all flesh and what was the result? Peter stood up to preach the gospel and 3,000 people were saved that day
4
.

The power for the church to overcome sin is actually found in being under grace and not in reinforcing the law.

Even today, when you go to Israel, the Jewish people celebrate the Day of Pentecost as the day that God gave the Ten Commandments. For us, we celebrate the Day of Pentecost as the birthday of the church and the day God gave us the Holy Spirit. Unfortunately, there are some believers who are still celebrating the Ten Commandments instead of rejoicing in the Spirit of the new covenant, not realizing that the law kills, while the Spirit gives life!

Now that you know that the Ten Commandments is the ministry of death, think with me: What do you think happens when the church remains bound by the law? What happens when we preach a series of sermons on the Ten Commandments? Can you see why the body of Christ is sick and depressed today, or why believers don’t have the power to overcome sin?

For generations, the church has believed that by preaching the Ten Commandments, we will produce holiness. When we see sin on the increase, we start to preach more of the law. But the Word of God actually says that “the strength of sin is the law”
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. It also says that “sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace”
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. So the power for the church to overcome sin is actually found in being under
grace
and not in reinforcing the law. Preaching more of the law to counteract sin is like adding wood to fire!

So who has hoodwinked us all this time and sold us a lie? Why is the body of Christ so wary of preachers of grace when grace is the antidote to sin? Come on, church, it is time to see that it is the devil who benefits from all this. The devil is the one using the law to bring about death and condemnation, and to put believers under oppression!

Am I An Antinomian?

I know that I have stepped on a few toes because of what I have just said. But please understand that it is not Joseph Prince who is finding fault with the old covenant of law. The Word of God says, “For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.”
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God Himself found fault with the old covenant of law and the Ten Commandments. He sent Jesus Christ as our Mediator of “a better covenant, which was established on better promises”
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. And indeed, the new covenant of grace is established on better promises and is more glorious than the ministry of death, for it is no longer dependent on us, but is completely dependent on Jesus, who CANNOT FAIL! By cutting a new covenant of grace, God “has made the first obsolete”
9
. In other words, with the advent of the new covenant of grace,
the Ten Commandments have been made obsolete.
We are no longer under the ministry of death, but under the ministry of Jesus which brings life!

Over the years, I have developed a better understanding of why Apostle Paul declared, “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation”
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. I used to wonder why Paul had to announce that he was not ashamed of the gospel. Why should anyone be ashamed of the good news? But I now realize that not everybody is willing to accept how good the good news truly is. Because I preach the gospel of Jesus and teach that we are no longer under law, my name has been dragged through the mud. Today, people don’t throw stones, they shoot poison emails.

One of the things which I have been accused of is being an antinomian (someone who is against the law of Moses). The truth is that I have the
highest regard for the law
. And it is precisely because I have the highest regard for the law that I know that no man can keep the law. We have to depend totally on God’s grace! Those who accuse me and other grace preachers of being antinomian are the same ones who pick and choose the laws that are convenient for them to keep. They claim that they have a high regard for the law, but they are actually lowering the standard of God’s law to a place where man thinks that he can actually keep the law. So they choose the laws which are convenient for their personalities or which are in line with their denominations. Come on, it is us grace preachers who have the highest regard for the law! We recognize that it is impossible for man to keep the law perfectly.

You cannot pick and choose which laws you want to keep. The Bible says that if you want to keep the law, you have to keep all of it, and if you break one law, you break them all
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. The law is a composite whole. God does not grade on the curve. Also, you cannot just keep the law outwardly. You have to keep it inwardly as well. Do you know anyone (other than God Himself ) who can keep God’s laws perfectly all the time? 

Let me say this explicitly so that there is no misunderstanding:

I am for the law, for the purpose for which God gave the law
(and you can quote me on this). You see, God did not give the law for us to keep. He gave the law to bring man to the end of himself, so that he would see his need for a Savior. There is nothing inherently wrong with the law. The law is holy, just and good. But it is time to realize that while the law is holy, just and good, it has no power to make you holy. It has no power to make you just and it definitely has no power to make you good.

God gave the law to bring man to the end of himself, so that he would see his need for a Savior.

Do you remember the analogy I used earlier about the law being like a mirror that exposes your flaws? My friend, if you look in the mirror and see someone ugly, don’t blame the mirror. Don’t get mad and punch the mirror! It’s not the mirror’s fault. The purpose of the mirror is simply to expose your flaws. In the same way, the law is not at fault. Its rightful purpose is to expose your sins. It was not designed to take away your sins! In fact, the Bible states that the law was given to magnify your sins — “the law entered that the offense might abound”
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.

Without a mirror, you would have no knowledge of your flaws. Similarly, the Word of God says that “by the law is the knowledge of sin”
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. It also tells us what the role of the law is: “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”
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What do all these verses tell you, my friend? They tell you that the law was designed to lead you to the end of yourself, and cause you to despair in your own efforts to achieve God’s standards, so that you will see for yourself that you need a savior!

The law justified no one and condemned the best of us, but grace saves even the worst of us. Yet, there are still people today trying to use the Ten Commandments to remove their sins. That is like rubbing the mirror on their faces to remove their pimples. It just doesn’t work! My friend, only the blood of Jesus can remove sins. His blood was shed on Calvary so that your sins can be forgiven. Start believing the good news today!

The Knowledge Of Good And Evil

There are two trees in the garden of Eden that you need to be familiar with. The first is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This is the tree that Adam and Eve were forbidden to eat from. Have you noticed that this tree was not called the tree of the knowledge of
evil
? It was called the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil
. This is because the tree is a picture of God’s law or the Ten Commandments. The law is the knowledge of
good
and
evil
.
God did not want man to partake of the law. He wanted man to partake of the tree of life, which is a picture of our Savior Jesus Christ. Whoever partakes of this tree will have eternal life
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.

“But Pastor Prince, what’s so wrong with knowing good and evil? What is wrong with knowing the law?”

The danger is this: You can know the law inside out, and yet be miles and miles away from God. Under the law, all you will have is
religion
, not a
relationship
with God. But God is after a relationship with us, one that is dependent on His goodness and His goodness alone. When man partakes of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he becomes dependent on his self-efforts to do good and keep away from evil. And when man is depending on his own efforts, he is bound to fail. On the other hand, when man partakes of the tree of life, he is completely dependent on Jesus and Jesus alone.

God is after a relationship with us, one that is dependent on His goodness and His goodness alone.

Now, who planted the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden? The serpent? No, it was God. In fact, when God had created everything in the garden of Eden, He saw everything that He had made and said that it was good. This included the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was from the Lord. But while the tree was good in itself, it was not good for man to partake of it.

Likewise, while God’s law is holy, just and good, it was not meant for man to keep. Man has no ability to keep it. Also, man cannot pick and choose which laws to keep — if he fails in one, he fails in all. God does not grade on the curve. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death. Therefore, once man fails in one facet of the law, he is condemned to die and can no longer partake of the tree of life, which would give him eternal life. This is why when Adam and Eve sinned, God had to drive them out of the garden, and place cherubim and a “flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life”
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.

What’s the significance of all this? Well, there is a principle in Bible interpretation known as the “law of first mention”, which says that every time a word is mentioned for the first time in the Bible, the meaning of the word in that instance has special significance for how we are to understand that word throughout the Bible. In this instance, it is the first time the word “sword” is mentioned in the Bible. In the context of this verse, we see the sword here as God’s judgment. It is a restless sword turning every way so that there is no way that sinful man, having disobeyed God, can ever return to Him.

Now, let’s look at the last mention of the word “sword” in the Old Testament. It is found in Zechariah chapter 13:

Zechariah 13:7

“Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, against the Man who is My Companion… Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered…”

The Shepherd mentioned in the verse refers to Jesus, our good Shepherd, and how all His disciples fled when He was struck on the cross. It shows us that the restless sword of judgment, which for so many generations had barred sinful men from a holy God, was finally sheathed in the bosom of our Lord Jesus when the full judgment and vengeance of God for all our sins came upon Him on the cross. Jesus was smitten on the cross for our sins.

By sacrificing Himself and absorbing the full brunt of the judgment that was meant for you and me, Jesus stopped the sword of judgment that prevents us from partaking of the tree of life. He sacrificed His own body to open the way to the tree of life. God will never condemn us because His only begotten Son has already been condemned on our behalf. The cross at Calvary has become the tree of life for us in the new covenant. We can freely partake of His righteousness and live each day without guilt, condemnation and shame. Hallelujah!

There is no more judgment for you when God looks at you.

What does this mean, my friend? This means that there is no more judgment for you when God looks at you. Stop depending on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for your justification. Jesus has redeemed you from the ministry of death by dying on the cross. Enjoy what He has purchased for you today and partake of the finished work of Jesus, our tree of life.

You are no longer under the ministry of death.

Jesus came that you may have life, and have it more abundantly
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!