Roger  Himes, The Gospel Coach

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THE BENEFITS

of Living Life in the New Testament Gospel

vs.

THE DETRIMENTS

of Living Life in the Old Testament Law+

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Sometimes We Do Not See What God Has Done

Satan blinds our minds to the glorious gospel of Christ (II Cor 4:4). He does this in any number of ways, but he begins by blinding us to the fact that God took the Old Covenant religious system away (in law this is called repealing it), and he replaced it with the New Covenant gospel. I teach on this a lot, but two major passages are in Hebrews 9:9-10 and Hebrews 10:9. These basically say exactly this: God took one system (the Old) and set it aside, and established the New system in its place.

Not seeing this, the tendency is for us human beings to COMBINE the two systems. I call this a 1 + 1 = 2 theology: the Old Covenant law plus the New Covenant gospel equals what we should live in today.

This is a lie straight out of the pits of hell.

 

If A Law Is Repealed, Then It Goes Away

When I started law practice, the state of Colorado USA was what was called ‘a fault divorce state.’ This means that, in order to get a divorce, you had to prove that your spouse committed some fault (sin) that
allowed you to get a divorce. It might be abandonment, or adultery, or physical or mental cruelty, or something of the like, but you had to prove that you were ENTITLED to a divorce.

About a year after I began practicing law, the state repealed this old ‘fault’ system. In other words, they set it aside – abolished it – and threw it away. They enacted or established a new law regarding divorce, and Colorado became what is called ‘a NO-fault divorce state.’ Under this law, you did not have to prove any fault of your spouse – any fault or sin. You merely had to allege that, in your humble opinion, your marriage was ‘irretrievably broken.’ If you tried to allege and prove adultery, mental cruelty, etc., the court would not let you do so. This system was ABOLISHED. All you could allege and prove was that, in your opinion, your marriage was ‘irretrievably broken.’

The Old law was repealed, and the New law was enacted and established in its place.

To try to COMBINE the two laws together was illegal. The later one superseded the former one. The first one was thrown in the trash can, and the second one was the ONLY law that could be used. It was like the Old law never existed – except for the purpose of comparing it to the New law. It became ILLEGAL to try to use the Old law for divorce cases.

 

The Constitution of the United States of America

We have a similar example with the Constitution of the United States of America. When this country began its existence, and war with Britain occurred, we did not have our Constitution. Instead, our country was governed by what was called The Articles of Confederation. This governing document was only meant to be temporary, NOT permanent. It was only meant to exist – until our founding fathers had time to draft The Constitution.

Sure enough, about 10-12 years later, they had time to draft it, and The Constitution of the United States of America was drafted and submitted to the states for approval. After the states approved it, then The
Articles of Confederation were rescinded, repealed and abolished. It was like they never even existed.

To try to abide by, live by, or enforce the old Articles was declared to be ILLEGAL. The only governing document we had was The Constitution of the United States of America.

To use the words of Hebrews 10:9, the first, Old law (the Articles)
was set aside and abandoned, and the second, New law
(the Constitution) was established.

This Is What God Did With the Old and New Covenants

God set aside the first, Old Covenant law, and established the second, New Covenant gospel in its place. This is exactly what Hebrews 10:9 says. Hebrews 9:9-10 says the same thing in a lot more words, and calls this ‘THE REFORMATION.’ It was when God ‘reformed’ or changed everything. Colossians 2 says the Old system was ‘nailed to the cross.’ In other words it was killed – put to death with Jesus. Ephesians 2 says it was slain and abolished, and it goes on to say that the enmity with God (our alienation and separation from him) was also abolished at the same time. We became reconciled to God (II Cor 5:18).

 

The First, Old Covenant Was Only Meant To Be Temporary

You can read about this in Galatians 3. It tells us that the Old Covenant law came in after the promise of God to Abraham and others, and it was only meant to be temporary, not permanent. It was only meant to exist until the ‘seed’ should come, which was Jesus (vs. 16). The law (the tutor or schoolmaster, depending on the translation) was meant to drive us to faith in Christ. Why? “Because the law is not of faith” (vs. 12). The law is what voids our faith and makes this promise of Christ of no effect (Rom 4:14).

This is not just information. This is one of
the most important things to understand!

If we don’t see the reality of what this is saying,
Satan blinds our minds to the gospel!

 

And, it is estimated by pollsters that understand this issue that somewhere over 90% of all Christians live their lives in the law – or some combination of mixing Old Covenant law and New Covenant grace. They totally disregard the reality of what the gospel is saying, and mix the Old and New systems together. They try to live by BOTH the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution of the United States.

I call this mixing the blood of animals with the blood of Jesus.

It can also be seen as taking an axe to the cross of Christ.

“The promise (which is Christ) is made of NO effect.”

 

The Old Covenant Law Is Not For Gentiles

All of this is extremely interesting in light of the fact that Paul says the Old Covenant law was not meant for us Gentiles (Rom 2:14). You see, before the cross, Gentiles were not part of God’s people as things
existed then. They were excluded.

It wasn’t until the ministry of Jesus, and specifically the cross, that God’s Kingdom was made for ALL people. Jesus brought God’s Kingdom and established it in his ministry (Mark 1:14-15). It wasn’t until the New Testament, — and again, specifically the finished work of the cross, — that Gentiles became part of God’s Kingdom (Gal 3:28).

 

What does this mean? It means that Gentiles who live by the law
actually do so illegally. They take something that doesn’t belong to them
and appropriate it for themselves.

Gentiles go back to a time before they were allowed into
God’s Kingdom and take something that no longer exists.
Why? Because the law was crucified on the cross of Jesus,
as we’ve seen (Col 2:14, Eph 2:15).

 

Spiritually speaking, these Gentiles in effect try to breathe new life into a dead corpse.

 

Returning To the Earlier Divorce Example

As I said, Colorado changed laws with regard to divorce. When I first started practice we had a ‘fault’ divorce system where you had to allege and prove some fault of sin on the part of your spouse in order to get a divorce. After the law changed to a ‘no-fault’ system, you couldn’t allege any wrongdoing, and you simply asked for a divorce based on irreconcilable differences. As you can imagine, this change in the law actually made getting a divorce much EASIER.

Many people liked the new law because they could get divorced easily, and didn’t even have to have a reason. But many people didn’t like the new law. They didn’t want a divorce, and especially didn’t want it to be so EASY as Colorado now made it.

I had many clients who couldn’t understand how their spouse could get a divorce from them so easily. They hadn’t done anything wrong. They hadn’t committed adultery or anything. But it didn’t matter. Many clients wanted to go back under the OLD law to make it harder to get a divorce.

But it didn’t matter. The NEW law controlled, and they were stuck with it.

In effect, the OLD law had been put to death (like the OLD law was nailed to Christ’s cross). They could not go back and breathe new life into it – resurrect it. It was history. It was gone.

This is what God did with regard to the two covenants, and the book of Hebrews especially talks about this reality in many different ways. But bottom line, the Old was done away with and the New was established in its place.

 

It is imperative that we see this.
Not living this keeps us in bondage our whole lives.

 

This Only Applies To the Way We Live

Does this mean we should tear the pages of the Old Testament out of the Bible?  Nooooooo!

There are MANY good things in the Old Testament. It is the history of God’s people, and God dealing with the human race. The Psalms of David are irreplaceable, and the Proverbs give ideas of many very profitable ways to live in this world. The Prophets have a lot to say about (1) the people living wrong and doing things wrong, and (2) the coming King and his coming Kingdom. These are all things we should know and understand.

Plus, even the law of God is GOOD, even though Paul says it is not made for a righteous man (I Tim 1:9). But he is speaking with regard to living it in our relationship with God. We can no longer live by it in the way we relate to God!

But I personally live by all the law of God I can. I know it’s good for me. It has great dietary truth. It has great truth as to how to live life. If we live by it, it can keep us from getting divorced, and it can keep us out of jail and prison. It shows how we should relate to each other.

Granted, there are lots of things about it that were only intended for a past time. But the law generally is very good to live by. Just don’t live by it with regard to your relationship with God!

The Old Covenant also shows us how much BETTER things are in the New (Heb 11:39-40). It allows us to see how HARD and how IMPOSSIBLE the Old was to live by. NO one could do it (Rom 3:10, Acts 15:10). Jesus was the FIRST and ONLY person to do it!

I think God sees it as HUMAN PRIDE when we try to live by the Old Covenant law today. NO one else could ever do it. If we succeeded, we would be the first and only one to succeed, except for Jesus. And as we’ve seen, this would make Jesus of ‘no effect.’

 

Being Lukewarm vs. Being Hot or Cold

Most of us are familiar with the verse in Revelation 3, where Jesus says God wants us to be either HOT, or COLD in our spiritual lives – and if we are LUKEWARM he spits us out of his mouth. Have you ever thought about this verse? Have you ever wondered why God would rather have us cold than he would lukewarm? Isn’t being lukewarm better than being cold? Being ‘hot’ can be seen as really being on fire for God and really trucking. Being ‘cold’ is being way out in the desert at night in the cold, and far away from any contact with God’s camp – his people or his Kingdom.

But if you’re lukewarm, aren’t you closer to God? Aren’t you closer to the fire, and to his Kingdom, where you’re not so far out alone all by yourself?

I see these three as what I’ve already been talking about.
(1) Being hot is living the abundant life of Christ in the gospel that Jesus came to bring us.
(2) Being cold is living life in the Old law that he came to disannul, set aside, repeal and abolish.
(3) Being lukewarm is when we try to mix 1 and 2, and live by both covenants – mixing law and grace – mixing unrighteousness with God’s righteousness.

In  this way of thinking, being COLD is better than being LUKEWARM.

If someone is cold, and only living in the Old Covenant law, they are going to burn out and hit bottom. They are going to become so discouraged, frustrated, disillusioned and depressed that they are going to bomb out. This will drive them to Jesus, as Galatians 3 says it is meant to do.

But when someone is lukewarm, they are comfortable with where they are at. Mixing hot and cold water – law and grace, or the gospel and human religion – gives a nice balance to things. You’re not too extreme one way or the other. You’re just happy to stay where you are and not rock the boat. This life condition is not going to lead you anywhere. It’s going to maintain the status quo. It becomes a habit. It’s becoming boxed-in and complacent.

 

We are told God vomits this type of Christian out of his mouth!

If we are not HOT in the gospel, then God wants us COLD: living by a law that brings total failure.
He does not want us lukewarm and complacent and comfortable.

 

The Benefits and the Detriments of How We Live Life

Now let’s look at the benefits for living life in the GOSPEL, and the detriments of living in the Law. Hopefully, the next four pages will open your eyes to some things you’ve never seen before. They are mysteries of the scripture that are available to all of us, but we can’t see them if Satan has blinded our eyes to the glorious gospel.

“He who has eyes to see let him see.” “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

And for the purpose of this comparison, being lukewarm is the same as living life in the detriments of the law. If you are not living life exclusively in the gospel, but mix it with Old Covenant law, then you are
lukewarm. If you are lukewarm, the DETRIMENTS of living life in the law apply to you – not the BENEFITS of living life trusting only in the gospel of Christ’s finished work.

In the eyes of God, there are NOT three categories: cold, hot and lukewarm. There are only TWO categories: the gospel vs. the law. The mixing of them, and becoming lukewarm, is a human condition based on human deductive reasoning and theology – it is not in any way founded in God’s truth. This is why God spits this way of living out of his mouth.

 

 

The Benefits

of Living Life In the Gospel

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We have peace with God (Rom 5:1)

We have total access into God’s grace (Rom 5:2)

We have right standing with God: righteousness (II Cor 5:21)

We have the peace of God, not just peace with God  (Phil 4:7)

We have the joy of Jesus in our hearts (John 15:11)

We have God’s quietness and assurance forever (Isa 32:15)

We have God himself as our righteousness (Isa 54:17)

We have unity with Christ (John 17:21-23, and the book of Ephesians)

We have presence of Jesus living in us (Gal 2:20)

We have the faith of Christ to live by (Gal 2:16, 20 KJV)

We have been given prosperity (3 John 2)

We have been given health, and not just healing (3 John 2)

We have been given freedom from the liability of sin (Rom 6:18, 22)

We have ears to hear God’s gospel revelation (Rom 1:16-17)

We have insight into the mysteries of God (Matt 13:11)

We live in the constant love of God (I John 3:1, 4:16, Eph 3:16)

We have the honor of God because we believe and love (John 12:26)

We have contentment and sufficiency, even in bad times (Phil 4:19)

We have been given all good things (Rom 8:32, I Cor 3:21-22)

We have all the blessings of God (Eph 1:3)

We have all the promises of God (II Cor 1:20)

We have sanctification by the blood of Jesus once and for all (Heb 10:10)

We have constant washing, and regeneration (Titus 3:5)

We have no more sin consciousness (Heb 10:2)

We have the entire Kingdom of God (Lk 12:32)

We have joint equality as heirs with Jesus (Rom 8:17)

We have the gospel to fulfill the word of God in us (Eph 3:2, Col 1:25)

We have been given God’s throne to jointly share (Eph 2:6)

We have been made spiritual equals to Jesus himself (I John 4:17)

 

 

 The Detriments

of Living Life In the Law

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We have no faith if we live in the law (Rom 4:14)

We have the wrath and anger of God (Rom 4:15)

We have the strength of sin governing us (I Cor 15:56)

We have spiritually deception working in us (Rom 7:11)

We have seducing spirits commanding and forbidding (I Tim 4:1-3)

We have the promises of God voided in our life (Rom 4:14)

We have weaknesses and unprofitable lives (Heb 7:18, Rom 8:3)

We have the mercies of God excluded from us (Heb 10:8)

We have the ministry of condemnation and guilt in us (II Cor 3:6)

We have the ministry of death working in us (II Cor 3:9)

We have a contrary nature working in us (Col 2:14)

We have enmity with God inside of us (Eph 2:15)

We have minds that lie to us and say we are enemies of God (Col 1:21)

We have evil forces working against us (Col 2:14)

We have to confess our sins, thus highlighting them (I John 1:9)

We have sickness and premature death working in us (I Cor 11:30)

We have to constantly perform, wondering what we lack (Matt 19:20)

We have double-mindedness and mental instability (Jam 1:8)

We have bitterness, resentment and unforgiveness (Heb 12:15)

We have built-in contentions with others (I Cor 1:11)

We have undesired strivings in us that can’t be quenched (Titus 3:9)

We have deceptive ways about us (Titus 1:10)

We have the desire to gain, get a better life (‘gainsayers’) (Titus 1:10)

We have minds and consciences that are defiled (Titus 1:15)

We have no love of God in us (John 5:42, I John 2:15-16)

We have sin reigning in us and causing us problems (Rom 7:5)

We have self righteousness, not God’s (Phil 3:9, Rom 10:2)

We have a war going on in us that keeps us captive to sin (Rom 6:23)

We have a curse — this is the only New Testament curse (Gal 3:10)

 

 

This Is Why I Am Such A Voice For Living A Gospel Life

We have Christians who constantly complain about a lack of prosperity, and about not having the good things of life that God promises.

We have Christians who wrestle in their marriage and family relationships, and struggle with trying to make things right  – but lack the relationships they strive for.

We have Christians who constantly have aches and pains and need healing – when God says that we should have health and not need healing.

We have Christians who don’t live an abundant life in Christ, but settle for a secondary ‘lukewarm’ experience of life.

We have Christians who can’t seem to hold a job, or make enough money, or get promoted as they think they should be.

We have Christians who even struggle with simply knowing the will of God for their lives.

We even have Christians who are insecure, and not assured of their salvation in Christ, because it depends too much on them (under law), and not enough on the gospel of Christ’s finished work.

 

 

“As A Man Thinks In His Heart, So Is He” (Proverbs 23:7)

We are inside-out creations. We are (1) spirit, (2) soul, and (3) body, as Paul says in I Thessalonians.

Too many of us try to live life outside-in. We deal with the externals (the circumstances and situations of life) and then try to make sense out of the internal spiritual dimension. It doesn’t work! In I Corinthians, Paul talks about comparing spiritual things to spiritual things – not natural things (the externals) to spiritual things.

What we believe inside controls how we live outside. This is why Paul says in both Romans and Galatians that if we live by LAW, we live by ROTE. The spiritual life is not personal to us – but precept based and thus problematic. The more human flesh is involved, the more problematic life is.

It is the gospel that produces good things from us – not we ourselves (Col 1:5-6). All we have to do is to RECEIVE. The New Testament says this many times— twice in one chapter: Romans 5:11, 17. It’s hard for us to receive things for free, but it is the way of God. God is a giving God, beginning with his Son. It’s the ONLY way he can get his power into us, — so that he can reveal his power to others out of us.

Paul says we should fellowship in the gospel (Phil 1:5), and separate ourselves to the gospel (Rom 1:1). This is when we come to live in the grace and truth that came by Jesus Christ (John 1:17). Life becomes an experience of the reality of God and his Kingdom. The gospel is THE
power of God (Rom 1:17).

 

Our Prognosis In Life

If we live in the gospel the way God directs, then the prognosis of our life becomes totally changed, and everything in life begins working out for good – or at least for the better (Rom 8:28). We live in greater health, prosperity, love, peace and joy, knowing we are the righteousness of Christ in God.

As long as we dogmatically cling to humanistic wisdom and theology, we are doomed to living life in the DETRIMENT of the law, rather than in the BENEFITS of the gospel, and a life in God. Paul says to live unto God we must deny the law and see ourselves as dead to it (Gal 2:19). We must see ourselves free from the law of sin and death to experience life in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:2).

 

Our Purpose In Life

Our purpose in life becomes simply to experience life in God to the fullest, and to be impacted by all of his blessings. We have a God who blesses us beyond all human reason. Paul says his love is beyond our
comprehension.

But he does this for a reason. He wants us to not only experience his goodness and love and grace, but to let others know it exists. He wants us to experience his blessings, favor, promises, presence and power,
and then share them with others. That’s what I try to do as The Gospel Coach, — both in the things I write and share, and also on missions trips that my wife Eileen and I take most years, and just in every way I relate to people – whether informally, in Bible study or small group, or in counseling. I often bring the subject around to what God is doing in MY life, and that he can do more in YOURS.

It can take the form of a serious in-depth conversation, or a light-hearted encouragement or word of comfort. It often happens on the telephone. If someone asks me to pray for something, I often just stop and say, “Let’s pray for that right now.” It’s nothing that is difficult. It is just letting what is inside of me come out. I view it as me first (1) RECEIVING, and then (2) RELEASING the gospel. And it’s something I can do in my own kitchen or study, — or on a trip to India or China, as we did recently. It also happens in Twitter Tweets, articles, and these E-books. I get a lot of comments from people that say something like, “I really look forward to your Tweets.” What could be more simple or easy once you do it some? Some people forward the Tweets on to their friends instead of doing something themselves.

God wants us all to participate with him in his desire to reach the hearts of people. We don’t have to be formal evangelists, and go out preaching to people we don’t know. I don’t do that. One GOSPEL TIP was on doing the work of an evangelist – but in very simple, non-conventional ways. The key is just to tell people what you’ve experienced in God in the power of his gospel truth. This is serving others in a spiritual way. Without the spirit, life is very incomplete.

 

So here it is in a nutshell: God wants to bless US, so that we will bless OTHERS.

God wants us to love him, and then also love others. But we can’t give away what we ain’t got. We have to experience it first, before we can help others experience it. This has been God’s way ever since Genesis
12:1-3. The Jews of the Old Testament never fully saw the purpose of God. They couldn’t see that God wanted to bless them – SO THAT they could be a blessing to others. They only thought they were so special that God wanted to bless them – PERIOD. It stopped with them, it didn’t continue through them. Jesus set the record straight when he came. We are blessed to be a blessing to others.

Comedian Woody Allen says, “Service to others is the rent I pay for my space here on earth.” That’s good coming from a comedian. God wants us to receive, so that we can release – give it away.

As the Bible might say, “Go thou and do likewise.” If nothing else, the next time you get one of my Tweets, simply share it with friends. “Starting is half done.” It’s really not all that hard. And just remember that it’s not US that does anything much at all. It’s the power of the gospel working in us that does the work (Col 1:5-6, revisited). The gospel is the process of God in us – his presence and power working in us. The gospel empowers us to live life better by accident than we ever could on purpose.

 

Roger Himes, The Gospel Coach