Love, Forgiveness and The Law (The Ten Commandments)

From The Volumes of Truth

9/30/06 A Letter from Timothy, Inspired by the Spirit - To My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, and For All Those Who Have Ears to Hear

YahuShua, who is called Jesus, said, “If you obey My teaching, then you are really My disciples.”

You are YahuShua’s disciples, as I am His disciple. I now teach you according to the understanding, received from Him who we follow, by the power of His Spirit. This makes me His apostle. You also become His teachers when you teach another of His love, by your testimony of His own Spirit working in you.

Understanding is a gift. The fruit and gifts of the Spirit are not for a few, but the whole of the body of The Messiah. Each of us has received of The Lord’s gifts, each lesser or greater according to His will for each part of His body, so we can all work together for His single purpose in the salvation of others.

So then, God has told me He has given Me, at present, a double portion of understanding according to my knowledge and intake of His Word, so I might grow quickly in His Word, for His own purpose in the edification of many.

To my brother, He will also give double, for he is now commanded to partake of the Word at every opportunity, and his understanding shall grow accordingly.

If then, all of you both listen and read God’s Word more often, to a greater degree you also shall receive understanding. God does not withhold His gifts, but bestows them abundantly upon all those who willingly and openly accept them... “Seek and you shall find; eat and you shall be filled.”

As your understanding grows, so then must your level of obedience grow. To everyone, who has knowledge of what is sin, to them it is sin. To disobey God is to sin. This is why we must keep the Law, not because by keeping it we are saved... By grace are we saved, by faith and repentance through YahuShua The Messiah, not of ourselves... It is a gift from God. We only need accept our salvation and be humbled by it.

If then, by the Law, we were once condemned by transgression of the Law, and now we are saved from the penalty of transgression of the Law (sin), which is death, having been freed from the Law and condemnation, has then the Law (Ten Commandments) passed away?... No! God forbid. Rather, only the laws found in ordinances have passed away, having been nailed to the cross with The Messiah, as the apostle, Paul, taught us. The Law of the Ten Commandments has become established, because of the freedom we now have from the Law by Messiah, who is also our Helper, giving us the strength and enabling us to keep the Law by the power of His Spirit. In our salvation and love has the Law now been written on our hearts, because of faith in God, who gave us the Law, and in our love for Him who fulfills the Law, YahuShua, being the same One who taught us the Law anew with greater meaning and understanding, opening our eyes to God’s wisdom and love.

To the Jews, the Law was given as a rod by which to govern themselves and obey... The old covenant of outward obedience, which led them into sin because of man’s tendency to break the Law, continually stumbling over its foundation, proving man could not be saved of himself, but is in need of a Savior that only God could provide. We, as Followers of The Way, have entered into a better and greater covenant, no longer bound by the old covenant, which was outward obedience and manifest in the flesh by circumcision. We have entered into an inward spiritual covenant, the circumcision in our hearts, a freedom from sin by forgiveness, an everlasting atonement in the blood of The Messiah.

So then, if The Messiah has come to live in us, He being the only One to keep the Law perfectly, also being the fulfillment of the Law, then the Law has also come to live in us, whereby we should now take joy in keeping it, establishing our love and gratitude for our freedom by obedience, no longer keeping it out of fear in the hopes of eternal life by works, but rather by works done in faith, being already established in life by YahuShua. Brothers and sisters, rejoice! We are no longer under the Law... We live under grace.

Are we now, also, free to break the Law out of convenience, because we have freedom from it?... God forbid! Rather, YahuShua has forgiven us for our transgression, and shows us by His example with the adulteress, saying, “You are forgiven. Now go and sin no more”. Was He only speaking to her? Every word, spoken by The Messiah, has entered into the ears of those who believe in Him and will receive the Word.

God can not contradict Himself, so if He proclaims the Law stands forever, then forever it stands... Without any shadow of turning. YahuShua confirmed this so we would not misunderstand, though many remain confused, listening only to themselves and the devil instead of listening to the Master. YahuShua said, “It is easier for the heavens and the earth to pass away than one letter of the Law to fail.”

He has also given us an easy way to always fulfill the Law, saying, “Love your God with all your heart and all your mind and all your strength”, and, “Love your neighbor as yourself”. If we do this, we have brought the true meaning of the Law into our hearts, and will no longer stumble over the Law’s foundations, but have now built these foundations in ourselves.

The purpose of the Law is love, and to keep us from pain and to keep us from causing others pain... A strengthening of our relationship with God and with others with whom we share this world.

So we are freed from the penalty of our sins... They have been atoned for. Are we yet freed from sin and all that leads us into sin?... No, not yet. But The Lord comes quickly to completely set us free, so we may enter into His rest... On the seventh day.

Satan is the source, or cause, of sin. Can we defeat him?... No. Although we are made lower than the angels, even those fallen, we can resist the devil and defeat his power to overcome us inwardly, even though he now seems to rule the world outwardly. For greater is He, who lives in us, than he, who is in the world. For The Lord YahuShua overcame the world from the beginning, being the same One through which even all these worlds were made. YahuShua broke sin’s power, and thereby satan’s, on the cross; and put death, the penalty of sin, under His feet at His resurrection, where also He trampled on all the plans of the devil. Satan is a defeated foe, who now only waits for his destruction. Therefore, faith is more powerful than the devil, if we would just believe. Our faith in YahuShua has established us in life, abiding in the Light. Any and all those who wish to destroy the Light shall be consumed by it and cut asunder, being destroyed by that which they sought to destroy, extinguished by that which they tried to put out and cover, blotted out by that which the world would not embrace.

God is the Light of life...

And all, that He has decreed for us to follow,

Is a lamp for our feet so we do not stumble.

God is indeed love and mercy...

And the mercy and love He sent to us is fulfilled in YahuShua The Messiah,

Who, if we follow and obey God’s love, shall be established in us,

And we shall live in His joy, in His presence, in His Kingdom,

Which He had prepared for us from the beginning...

HalleluYah!

Amen.