Covenanted Reformed Presbyterian Church

When one tries to live by law, one will continue to give "reasons" to boast in their flesh which is very common even in Christian circles. Paul writes, "For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation." When one boasts that they "don't do this or don't do that", they are boasting in their flesh which is not pleasing to GOD. (Rom. 3:27-28; 8:8) But the just shall live by faith and the law is not of faith and whatever is not of faith is sin.

Thank you for this response brother.

"So crucifixion of Christ not only implies death to the jurisdiction of the Mosaic Law, but also death to the jurisdiction of one's own ego. You die to self, you die to the world." (Not watching football one day a week or watching football is NOTHING, but a NEW CREATION!) AMEN! The faith of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, Rahab among others were never under any law of any kind since it has nothing to do with the Christian faith and nothing to do with God's righteousness. No law will produce the peaceable fruit of righteousness as God's law demands. "But the fruit of the SPIRIT is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law." Only the Spirit gives life (and godliness). The flesh is of no value at all. The just shall live by faith, not law. The letter kills the Spirit gives life!

Those led by the Spirit are sons of God, but those under the law are not sons of Abraham or of God (Rom. 8:8). And it does not make any sense to say we are to be guided by what we have been delivered from and are now dead to. (Rom. 7:6; Gal. 2:19) The law was established to prove that there is no one righteous, no not one. (Gal. 3:11; Rom. 3:9-20; 1 Tim. 1:9)

Superb. A message from over 20 years ago that will always be relevant.

While the good news is not salvation itself, Paul proclaims that the Gospel of Christ is the power of God TO or FOR salvation and is given to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also the Gentile. 1 Tim. 2:3-6: "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time." (But beware, a little leaven leavens the whole lump. And I think Satan knows this fairly well. He will use anything to keep you from believing the truth. Even Peter and our own selves at times. The war is in our mind.)

The Gospel has never changed. Adam was given a law of sin and death since he had life already in Gen. 2:7 which the doctrines of men totally ignore. And when one ignores that Adam had the free gift of the Spirit breathed into him making him in God’s image this way, they then create a false works righteousness that is found nowhere in the Scriptures. Adam was never his own messiah! The law of faith has always been the perpetual rule of righteousness, not works! Works got them killed! But could a law of “Do not eat” keep them alive? No, because the law is weak through the flesh. Christ had to propitiate the sins of the world, or he would never have been able to offer life to the world which is the Spirit of life to dwell within us once again. Rom.8:3-4 “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did... And Gal. 3:2. ...Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?..." Paul says emphatically, "It's not both!"

See Genesis 2:16-17 God did not want humanity to die spiritually thus losing the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit that had been breathed into them (Gen 2:7) making them in God’s image in this way and not by any law which was never given for life. (Gal. 3:21-25) Christ came to restore the Spirit of life after his death and resurrection which was the promise given to Abraham. (Gal. 3:13-14) The law of the Spirit of life has set us free from the law of sin and death. (Rom. 8:2) 1 Corinthians 15:45-49 “And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.

Paul writes, “Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more." AND "For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.” AND “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” AND "Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God." Christ is our righteousness by faith in him. We are not our own saviors and are not debtors to the flesh.

Christ is the propitiation for all of man's sins in order to offer life to the world. (John 6:51) And this is good news considering the "atoning" sacrifices were the "remembering" or "covering" or "preserving" of our sins by the blood of bulls and goats which can't take away sins. God also uses the idiomatic expressing of "writing his law on our hearts and minds" which simply means he will give us a new heart and new spirit unlike the law itself which was established to "stir up sins" and not reduce them in any way. As Paul says, "Consider yourself dead to the law" and "Apart from the law sin lies dead." The sin issue thanks to Christ is over AMEN!! Unfortunately, we like to keep it alive most of the time. We don't burn our pets on fire; we just offer our apologies. Truth is, “Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.” 1 John 1:9 is an answer to verse 8 and verse 10 is answering verse 9. But 1 Jn 2:2 sums it all up. WOW, what a Savior!!!!

Paul says the Gospel is SIN-DEATH (spiritual)-FORGIVENESS-LIFE restored. When Adam and Eve tried to lay a claim to a righteousness apart from faith in God, that is why they ate from the wrong tree thus resulting in the Spirit of life departing from within them. The absence of life is death. God never promised life to them since they already had life and godliness, but Satan said that they needed more and that is a righteousness that does not exist at all, that is a righteousness through the knowledge of good and evil or the law and not after Christ. Did God ordain the death of Adam after giving him life in Gen. 2:7? Of course not, Satan murdered our first parents by lying to them. Satan is the father of lies and the murderer. As in Adam all die, so in Christ all shall be made alive. Christ was foreordained from the beginning to be the savior of the world. 1 Peter 1:20. God wants all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2:1-7. And Paul expounds on this more in 1 Cor 15:45, etc.

I could listen to this guy for hours.

I really appreciate Pastor Schwertley's preaching and was especially blessed as he explained Christ's Kingdom in this teaching. I look forward to hearing more of this series of the Book of Acts.

Pastor Schwertley is a thorough and Biblical teacher. IMO, you can't go wrong listening to his sermons. :)

In part of this message Rev. Schwertley discusses the historic postmillennialism of American Covenanters in the 1800s. Historic postmillennialists have tended to interpret the millennium as a future semi-golden age when the nations are converted to Christ, peace reigns throughout the earth, and the Antichrist (i.e., the pope) has been definitively defeated. The paradigm for Covenanter postmillennialism until 1866 was Alexander McLeod's book, 'Lectures Upon the Principal Prophecies of the Revelation' published in 1814. This book was widely-read and influential. Revelation speaks of 42 months or 1260 days and the common interpretation was that the 1260 days refer to prophetic years. The millennium would begin after a 1260 year period. The key question is, when did the 1260 years begin? Some, like McLeod, believed it began in 606 and therefore the millennium would begin in 1866. Obviously, this was an error.