God, I just can't do it.

Originally posted by Rajk999
Pauls words are simple
Gal 3 and Heb 9.

There is no law of Moses for the follower of Christ.
There is only the Doctrine of Christ.

More from The Life Study of Exodus by Witness Lee. Msg. 64,

http://www.ministrybooks.org/books.cfm?cid=17AA

God gave the law with the intention that it would result in life. However, the majority of the children of Israel did not come to God and receive Him as life. Instead, they tried in themselves to keep the law. As the history recorded in the Old Testament indicates, the result was a great failure. Eventually, in the books of Jeremiah and Ezekiel God came in to speak about establishing another covenant, a new covenant. In this covenant God would give the people a new heart and a new spirit. Furthermore, He would even give them His Spirit. The new heart, the new spirit, and the Spirit of God would enable them to keep all of God’s commandments. This is the New Testament.

When many read Ezekiel 36:26 and 27, they have the impression that these verses teach exactly the same thing as the New Testament concerning a new heart, a new spirit, and the Spirit of God. We must admit that this is true. In these verses we see the reconstitution of our inner being. To have a new heart and a new spirit involves regeneration, reconstitution, and a rearrangement of our being. Furthermore, God’s Spirit comes into us to join us with Him. Surely this is identical with Paul’s word in 1 Corinthians 6:17: “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” If we do not separate ourselves from God but remain one with Him according to the new covenant, we shall automatically have the ability, strength, and power to carry out God’s commandments.

When Moses was on the mountaintop experiencing a divine infusion, did he receive a new heart and a new spirit? Did he receive the Spirit of God? I have no doubt that Moses received a new heart and a new spirit and that God’s Spirit was given to him. Does this mean, then, that Moses was regenerated? It is difficult to answer this question. The point here is that the principle is the same both in the Old Testament and in the New. After man’s fall, God’s intention is to change our heart and our spirit, and then to put Himself as the life-giving Spirit into us. Then we shall have a life with the ability to fulfill God’s requirements, and we shall be able to live in a way that corresponds to what God is. I do not presume to say whether Moses was regenerated or not. But I do know from the Scriptures that God’s economy is to work Himself into us, to reconstitute us by changing our heart and spirit, and to come into us as the life-giving Spirit that we may live Him.

VI. THE CASE OF THE GALATIANS

At this point, we need to look into the case of the Galatians. Their case differs from that of the Judaizers. In contrast to the Judaizers, the Galatians had received the Lord and had entered into the sphere of grace. However, they were distracted from Christ to the law. They took in the concept that since the law is good, they should try to keep it. But in striving to keep the law, they cut themselves off from Christ and fell from grace. This was the reason Paul said to them, “If you are circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing” (Gal. 5:2). He went on to tell them, “You have been brought to nought from Christ, you who are justified by law; you have fallen from grace” (v. 4). By turning to the law, the Galatian believers had cut themselves off from the enjoyment of Christ and from the profit of being in Christ. The case of the Galatians shows that whenever believers neglect their union with Christ and turn to the law and strive to keep it, they cut themselves off from Christ and from grace.

VII. FAITH NEEDED
FOR AN ORGANIC UNION WITH THE LIVING GOD
THAT WE MAY BE THE NEW CREATION

In dealing with the situation among the believers in Galatia, Paul found it necessary to point out that what was needed is faith for an organic union with the living God, the source of life, that we may be the new creation. Galatians 5:6 says, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision, but faith operating through love.” It seems as if Paul was saying, “Don’t go back to the law and separate yourselves from God. Instead, exercise your faith to maintain the organic union with Christ. If you preserve this union, you will enjoy life.” Then in Galatians 6:15 Paul says, “For neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” The new creation consists of human beings who have been constituted of the Triune God in order to live Him. To stay in the new creation is to stay in this constitution. If we exercise faith to enjoy the organic union with the living God that we may live the new creation, it will not be necessary for us to keep the law. Spontaneously we shall live a life that fulfills the requirements of the law and even surpasses them.

Originally posted by sonship
I think we could have a good and fair talk together on the Christian attitude towards the law. I may be a fool but somehow I often think you really have a heart for Jesus Christ. You just got some bad advice along the way.

Though some of your posts towards me have been kind of rude I think we could get through some things if you would be a little open to fellowship.

What do you think Rajk999?

Originally posted by Rajk999
I believe in Jesus Christ and I follow His teachings. Is there something you want to discuss with me about that? I would not be interested in anything else.

Wonderful, Wonderful Wonderful, Wonderful
Isn't Jesus our Lord Wonderful?
Eyes have seen. Ears have heard.
It's recorded in God's word.
Isn't Jesus our Lord Wonderful?

"He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit." (1 Cor. 6:17)

Originally posted by sonship
Isn't He the most wonderful Lord and Savior one could ever know ?
I just love the Lord Jesus.

I know a song that goes like this -

Wonderful, Wonderful Wonderful, Wonderful
Isn't Jesus our Lord Wonderful?
Eyes have seen. Ears have heard.
It's recorded in God's word.
Isn't Jesus our Lord Wonderful?

Do you like that ?
...[text shortened]... e] [b] "He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit." (1 Cor. 6:17) [/quote]

Am I right?[/b]

Originally posted by Rajk999
Yes, the song is nice and Yes Christ lives in me and I take His commandments very seriously. I hope do too.

"And be found in Him, not having my on righteousness which is out of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is out of God and based on faith." (Phil 3:9)

"To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, If perhaps I may attain to the out-resurrection from the dead. " (v.10,11)

Rajk9999,

Do you ask God to help you be good ?
I use the pray a lot like that. I don't do that anymore.

I pray "Lord Jesus live through me."

I use to pray "Lord Jesus help me to do this, help me to do that."
Now sometimes I just call "O Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus I love you."

Spontaneously He lives through me when I touch Him - "To know Him ..."

Do you know what I mean?

Originally posted by sonship
I take Jesus Himself seriously and joyfully. Like Paul I want to be always found in Him.

[b]"And be found in Him, not having my on righteousness which is out of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is out of God and based on faith." (Phil 3:9)

I want people to always find me in Christ, wi ...[text shortened]... I love Him.
I want to be found in Him.
I want to know Him.

Do you too want to know Him?[/b]

Originally posted by sonship
Rajk9999,

Do you ask God to help you be good ?
I use the pray a lot like that. I don't do that anymore.

I pray "Lord Jesus live through me."

I use to pray "Lord Jesus help me to do this, help me to do that."
Now sometimes I just call "O Lord Jesus. Lord Jesus I love you."

Spontaneously He lives through me when I touch Him - [b]"To know Him ..."

Do you know what I mean?[/b]

Originally posted by Rajk999
I think Christians vary in how they interpret [b]'knowing Christ'. I take my definition from the Bible. Here it is:

[i]And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God per ...[text shortened]... ents.
To abide in Christ is to walk as He walked.

What is your definition of knowing Christ?[/b]

Originally posted by sonship
I have no problem with your definition there.

Have you ever read the story in [b]John 5 about the man who was 38 years beside the pool and could not be healed ? Only the strong could get down and be miraculously healed.

Some religions are like that. The strong can survive. The weak are out of luck and go away condemned as failures. Even if an an ...[text shortened]... e who are taught how to touch the Lord Jesus Himself every time, always, and in every situation.[/b]

Originally posted by Rajk999

" Through which He has granted to us precious and exceedingly great promises that through these you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world through lust." ( 1:4)

"Beware of dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the concision.

For we are the circumcision, the ones who serve by the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh." (Phil. 3:2,3)

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us." (2 Cor. 4:7)

"And He has said to me. My grace is sufficient for you, For My power is perfected in weakness.

Most gladly therefore I will rather boast in my weaknesses that the power of Christ might tabernacle over me.

Therefore I am well pleased in weakness, in insults, in necessities, in persecutions and distresses, on behalf of Christ; for when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Cor. 12:9,10)

Originally posted by josephw
Produce names and quotes proving that there are any Christians in this forum that say grace is a license to sin and I will confront them.

In the mean time I'll just have to be content to confront you on your duplicity.

From Life Study of John by Witness Lee, Msg. 32, Sections 3-4
http://www.ministrybooks.org/books.cfm?p

D. The Believer Loving the Son, Keeping His Commandments, Being Loved by the Father and the Son, and Having the Son’s Manifestation

If we love the Lord, we will keep His commandments (14:15, 21, 23). In 14:21 the Lord said, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me; and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.” If we keep the Lord’s commandments, we shall be loved by the Father and the Son, and the Son will manifest Himself to us. Tell me, according to your experience, when the Lord spoke the word “no” to you and you obeyed Him, what was the result? You found yourself immediately in the presence of the Lord. But if we do not care for that little word “no,” we shall lose His presence. Whenever we listen to His speaking and keep His commandments, His presence is immediately intensified and becomes so sweet, precious, watering, strengthening, enlightening, and nourishing. This is the manifestation of the indwelling Christ.

Does it sound illogical to say that the indwelling Christ will be manifested? You may ask, “Since He indwells me, He is already here. Why do you say that He will manifest Himself?” Because the indwelling Christ quite often disappears. Although He indwells you, whether or not He appears or disappears from your inner sense depends on whether or not you listen to His words. All of the brothers and sisters, whether they are young or old, have some experience of this. Once when I was feeling a little lonely, I said to myself, “I would like to go to see Brother John and talk to him.” But the indwelling Christ said no. Then I said, “How about if I go to see Brother Francis?” When the indwelling One again said no, I asked, “What shall I do?” The Lord said, “Stay with Me.” Who is this “Me”? He is the indwelling Christ. If at such a time I say, “Amen, Lord,” the presence of the indwelling Lord will shine and be so sweet and strengthening. He will bring in a great deal of light. But, if when I heard Him say no, I did not care for His word and I still went to see the brothers, His presence would disappear, the darkness within me would be prevailing, I would lose my direction, and there would be no peace.

We all must learn one thing, that obeying the Lord’s commandments depends upon our love toward Him. If you love the Lord, you will say amen when He says no. If you mean business in saying amen, you will have His manifestation. The Lord will manifest Himself to whoever loves Him and keeps His commandments. This does not mean that before the Lord manifests Himself to us He is in the third heaven. No, He is within us, but because of our disobedience His presence disappears, light becomes darkness, strength becomes weakness, and life becomes death.

In the whole Gospel of John there are only two requirements: the first is to believe in Him, and the second is to love Him. To believe in Him is to receive Him, and to love Him is to enjoy Him. We all have believed in Him. This means that we all have received Him. But the problem today is whether or not we love Him. Although you have received the Lord Jesus and He is now within you, you may not love Him. We need to be a lover of the Lord Jesus all day long. This is why the most significant aspect of the miniature of the church life in chapter twelve is the love that poured the ointment upon the Lord. We all must love Him. His presence is always related to our love toward Him. The more we love Him, the more we enjoy His presence. What is His presence? It is simply the enjoyment of Himself. As long as we have His presence, we enjoy Him. The more we love Him, the more we shall have His presence. The more we are in His presence, the more we shall enjoy all that He is to us. We need only to love Him. Knowing means nothing; only loving counts. How we all need to love Him! I have been loving Him for fifty years, and today I feel that He is more lovable than ever. No one is as lovely as He is. Song of Songs says that He is altogether lovely (5:16). The Lord’s recovery is a recovery of loving the Lord Jesus. If we do not love Him, we are finished with His recovery.

E. The Father and the Son as the Spirit Coming to the Believer

The Father and the Son as the Spirit come to the believer. You may ask, “Are They not here already?” Yes, They are here but They are not appearing. Their coming is Their appearing. When the Lord says that the Father and Son will come to the believer, this does not mean that They are far away from the lover of Jesus. They are here with the lover of Jesus, but They have not appeared. Their coming is Their appearing.

F. The Triune God Making a Mutual Abode with the Believer

The Triune God makes a mutual abode with the believer. In verse 23 the Lord Jesus does not say, “The Father and I will abide with him,” but He says, “We will come to him and make an abode with him.” There is a difference between the two expressions abide with and make an abode with. The difference is more than mere idiom in language. To say, “The Father and I will come to abide with him,” is correct as far as language is concerned. But to say, “The Father and I will come to him and make an abode with him,” is more meaningful. In what way is it more meaningful? In the way that the Father and the Son will take the lover of Jesus as Their abode and that the believer will be an abode to Them. The Lord seemed to be saying, “We shall make an abode with him that he and We may have an abiding place. He will be Our abode, and We shall be his abode.”

This verse is the basis of 15:4-5—“Abide in Me and I in you.” Most Christians do not realize that the basis of 15:4-5 is 14:23, where we have the mutual abode made by the appearing of the Father and the Son as the Spirit to the believer who loves Him. In other words, this abode is prepared by the visitation of the Triune God. When the Triune God grants you a visit, His visitation makes you His abode and it makes Him your abode. Eventually, you and He, He and you, become a mutual abode. You will abide in Him, and He will abide in you. This is marvelous. He will not only be the One who abides in you, but He will also be your abode. Although it is wonderful to have Him abide in us, I would rather have Him as my abode. We can abide in Him, and He can abide in us. In such a situation there is no place for sin, the world, Satan, the old man, or the flesh. All such things have been chased away.

I ask you to be honest and to consider your past experience. Have you not had this experience in the past? Deep within you there was a sweet appreciation toward the Lord Jesus and you said, “Lord, I love You.” Then the Lord said, “Since you love Me, My commandment is that you do not do this and that.” You said, “Amen, Lord Jesus.” Perhaps you said amen with tears in your eyes. Immediately you had the sense of His manifestation within you. You were so much in His presence. At that time you had the sense that He was filling you up with Himself and that you were being drawn into Him. You were abiding in Him, and He was abiding in you. You were His abode, and He was yours. I believe that we all have had this kind of experience, either in a deep way or in a shallow way, either for a long time or for just a few minutes. We need to have this experience all day long.”

Life-Study of 1, 2, & 3 John, Jude by Witness Lee, Msg. 29, Section 4
http://www.ministrybooks.org/books.cfm?n

KEEPING HIS COMMANDMENTS AND PRACTICING THE THINGS THAT ARE PLEASING IN HIS SIGHT

In verse 22 John goes on to say, “And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and practice the things which are pleasing in His sight.” Offenses in the conscience of a condemning heart are obstacles to our prayer. A conscience void of offense in a tranquil heart straightens and clears the way for our petition to God.

In verse 22 the keeping of the commandments is not the keeping of the commandments of the Mosaic law by our own endeavor and strength. It is rather a part of the believers’ living as the issue of the divine life that abides in them. This is the habitual keeping of the Lord’s New Testament commandments through the inner operation of the power of the divine life. This accompanies the practicing, the habitual doing, of the things which are pleasing in His sight. This is a prerequisite to God’s answering our prayers, and it constitutes a condition of the life that abides in the Lord (v. 24).

In verse 22 John speaks of “the things which are pleasing in His sight.” No doubt, these things are the living of a life of righteousness and love. Literally, the Greek word rendered “sight” means seeing into. This does not refer to objective sight. On the contrary, it refers to the Lord’s watching over us and seeing into our situation. This indicates that the relationship between us and God is very personal.

THE COMMANDMENTS TO BELIEVE AND LOVE

In verse 23 John goes on to say, “And this is His commandment, that we should believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, even as He gave a commandment to us.” This is a summary of the commandments in the preceding and following verses. All the commandments are summarized in two: one is to believe in the name of God’s Son Jesus Christ, and the other is to love one another. The first is concerning faith; the second, love. To have faith is to receive the divine life in our relationship with the Lord; to love is to live the divine life in our relationship with the brothers. Faith touches the source of the divine life; love expresses the essence of the divine life. Both are needed for the believers to live a life that abides in the Lord.

According to the Gospel of John, faith and love are the two requirements for us to enjoy God. In order to receive God and enjoy Him, we need to believe in the Lord Jesus. We also need to love Him and love one another.

ABIDING IN HIM BY LIVING IN THE DIVINE REALITY

In verse 24 John concludes, “And he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And in this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He gave to us.” This verse is the conclusion of this section, which begins in 2:28, on our abiding in the Lord according to the teaching of the divine anointing, as unfolded in the preceding section (2:20-27). This section reveals that abiding in the Lord is the living of the children of God by His eternal life as the divine seed, which grows in practicing the righteousness of their begetting God (2:29; 3:7, 10) and the love of their begetting Father (3:10-11, 14-23). Such an abiding and its bases—the divine birth and the divine life as the divine seed—are mysterious yet real in the Spirit.

To keep His commandments is to live a life according to the divine reality. This is what it means to keep the Lord’s commandments according to this Epistle. This means that keeping His commandments is not the keeping of the Mosaic law. To keep the commandments of the Lord is to have a life according to the divine reality.

If we keep the Lord’s commandments by living in the divine reality, we shall abide in Him, and He in us. We abide in the Lord; then He abides in us. Our abiding in Him is a condition for His abiding in us (John 15:4). We enjoy His abiding in us by our abiding in Him.