WHOSE COMMANDMENTS DO WE KEEP

“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,  has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds.” It is contextually correct to interpret Hebrews 1:1-2 as directly referencing the Old Testament and New Testament respectively, since the broad context of the whole book of Hebrews is the comparison of these two covenants and the replacement of the lesser, the Old Testament Mosaic Covenant of the Law, with the greater, the New Testament Covenant of Grace.

The New Testament is God speaking forth the revelation of His Son.  The prophets spoke as mere mouthpieces, but when the Son spoke it was God Himself speaking, and in a sense it is God being revealed By His Son in and through the Son’s life, the Son’s message, the Son’s redemptive work, and the Son’s  return to establish His (i.e., God’s) eternal Kingdom. The New Testament reveals to mankind God’s redemptive plan established before the foundations of the world with the foreordained sacrifice of the Son of His love, that we, the “us” of Hebrews 1:2, might be partakers of salvation and know eternal fellowship with God through His Covenant of Grace –indescribable grace.

“If you love Me, keep My commandments … He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” (Jn. 14:15, 21, 15:10)

Notice Jesus specifically said to keep “My” commandments in these three passages; scripture repeats this command thirteen times. “His commandments” are the commandments flowing forth out of the life, words, and redemptive work of Christ recorded in the New Testament. There are 1050 New Testament commandments, which reduces to about 800 when redundancies are removed. These commandments cover every phase of man’s relationship to God and his fellowmen, now and hereafter. If obeyed they will bring rich rewards now and forever. These should not be confused with the Old Testament Ten Commandments which are part of the Law of Moses applicable to the Old Covenant. The New Covenant of Grace abolishes the Law of Moses including the Ten Commandments. The fourth commandment is the only commandment of the Ten Commandments that is not specifically reintroduced as a New Testament commandment (some in modified form), so nine of the Ten Commandments are still in force in the New Covenant as New Covenant commandments. Keeping the Sabbath holy, the fourth commandment, is no longer applicable so we are free to set aside Saturday or any other day as a special day devoted to God. To make keeping the Old Testament Sabbath a New Covenant commandment would be paramount to dragging the Law into Grace. We cannot do that…

“Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments … And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments … Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him.” (Jn. 2:3, 3:22, 24)

Now these are serious thoughts from a serious God. Since God the Holy Spirit wrote the commandments of God the Son down for us we can be sure God the Father is serious about how we conduct ourselves.  “Be holy, for I am holy … Pursue … holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” It is in obedience that we “pursue holiness.” For a list of New Testament commandments with scripture references see Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible, pages 544-548 or visit Christian Assemblies International at https://www.cai.org/bible-studies/1050-new-testament-commands

(1 peter 1:16; Heb. 12:44)

“KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS”

SHINE ON ME

God’s glory is radiant light: He “covers Himself with light as with a garment”, “dwelling in unapproachable light.” God reveals bits of Himself, His nature, to us; we only know God through these self manifestations. The importance of glory as a manifestation of God is attested to by 430 scriptures. God’s radiant brilliance -- His unchanging essence, the inner reality that makes God who He is -- may be a physical manifestation of His nature. “God is love.”  Perhaps the deep passion of His agape love for us is expressed and released as brilliant, glorious light. Perhaps love is the intrinsic glory of God, His covering and His dwelling place. And perhaps the fullness of His love in us will likewise express itself as glorious light... a beacon of light to a world in darkness. Or, said another way, perhaps we are reflectors of His glory as His agape love flows through us.

Endnote: Let’s go deeper. Moses desired to see God’s glory, the inner reality which makes God who He is: “And he (Moses) said, “Please, show me Your glory.” Then He (God) said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you.” God clearly equated His glory with His goodness in this passage. So, perhaps His glory is a physical manifestation of His goodness… perhaps goodness is the intrinsic glory of God. Perhaps God’s unchanging essence – the inner reality that makes God who He is -- is His goodness. And, He loves because He is good, not the other way around, love springing forth naturally out of a good heart. I may need to ponder this a few million years…

(Exodus 33:18-19)

Come shine on me Father, shine on me! Let Your goodness and love be my intrinsic glory as I reflect Your goodness and love on others. 

REPENTANCE

The New Testament concept of repentance is derived from the marriage of the Greek meta – a change of place or condition – with noeo – to exercise the mind, think, comprehend -- forming metanoeo, to repent, change the mind. We must distinguish between the classical Greek usage of metanoeo, which had no moral content, and the scriptural usage where the context is typically moral/sin. Theologically, metanoeo involves regret and/or sorrow accompanied by a true change of heart toward God. We see Jesus in Matt. 11:20-24 condemning the cities that had seen His great works and had not repented, tying repentance to “sackcloth and ashes”, remorse, and a lack of repentance to eternal judgment, the penalty for sin, etc.  In repentance there has to be a turning from and a turning to, just as when one changes their mind it has to change from something to something, or it’s not really changed but just something is added with nothing replaced. This is seen most clearly in scripture where repent is coupled with “convert”, the Greek epistrepho, which means “to turn to.”  Acts 3:19: “Repent and be converted…” Acts 26:20: “Repent, turn to God…”, where “turn to” translates epistrepho. Notice that repentance comes first in these passages: We must first change our mind about the world and our sinful nature before we can truly turn to God.

The O.T. Hebrew verb nacham is translated to repent, to comfort, and to relent, taking its meaning from the context. In a majority of the verses where nacham is translated repent, it is God who is the one who repents. So, repentance is more of a Grace thing than a Law thing. 

True repentance without tears is a rare thing, not impossible, but highly improbable. And, if I turn to God without turning from sin, I fall headlong into First John where habitual sin will choke/smother God’s word working in my life. Thankfully, repentance is a process: Many of the usages of repent are in the present imperative active, a command involving continuous action into the future, Matt. 4:17 for example, and God is very patient. But we should remember the Sower Parable, in particular the thorn bushes, where the desire for riches and the pleasures of this life “choked” (Luke’s term for drowning) the word of God. Repentance must be maintained, the turning away and turning to steadfast to overcome the temptations of the world.

I love the thought of turning toward God for this is where righteousness comes into play.  God makes us “the righteousness of God in Him” (Jesus). Isn’t that awesome! Sinless in God’s eyes, not perfect, not spiritually mature yet, still in reality filthy rags, but sinless in His eyes. This is so He can work in us, “willing and doing of His good pleasure in us”, maybe getting rid of our old nature bit by bit, so He doesn’t kill us in the process. God is good.

“REPENT THEREFORE AND BE CONVERTED,

THAT YOUR SINS MAY BE BLOTTED OUT,

SO THAT TIMES OF REFRESHING MAY COME

FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD”

KNOW: THE PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP CONNECTION

In many places in the New Testament the word “know” is used to carry a relationship connection between God/Jesus and man.  The Greek word the Holy Spirit consistently chose in these passages is “ginosko” which means intimate relationship gained through experience, and carries the sense of personal fellowship with God, Christ, or the Holy Spirit in many passages.  Here are a few examples from the Apostle John’s writings:

* The good shepherd knows His sheep and is known by them (Jn. 10:14).

* My Father (God) knows me (Jesus) and even so I (Jesus) know the Father (Jn. 10:15).

* But you know Him (The Holy Spirit), for He dwells with you and shall be in you (Jn.14:17).

* At that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you (Jn.14:20).

* And this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (Jn. 17:3).

* Now we know that we know Him if we keep His commandments.  If we say that we   know Him and do not keep His commands, we are a liar.  But if we keep His word, His love is perfected in us.  By this we know that we are in Him (1 Jn. 2:3-5).

* By this we know love because He laid down His life for us (1 Jn. 3:16).

* By this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us (1 Jn. 3:24).

* Beloved let us love one another for God is of love; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God (1 Jn. 4:7).

“I never knew you” (Matt. 7:23).  Jesus will say this on the Day of Judgment to many who do works in His name but lack relationship with Him.  It is oh so important to recognize this relational dynamic the Bible clearly teaches. 

“AND YOU SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH”…

“IF YOU LOVE ME, KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS”

There are 1050 commands (total count with some repetition noted) in the New Testament for Christians to follow. They cover every phase of man’s life in his relationship to God and his fellowmen, both now and hereafter. These commandments, if obeyed, will greatly enrich our earth-life, producing godliness while preparing us for forever with our Lord. They are not to be confused with the Ten Commandments nor the Law of Moses which were abolished in the New Covenant/New Testament, although it should be noted nine of the Ten Commandments were reintroduced in the New Testament as New Covenant commandments (Keeping the Sabbath day holy is the exception).  Following are some of the commandments found in the epistle of 1 John:

*Walk in the Light *Confess sin *Keep His commandments *Keep His words *Walk as He walked *Do not love the world *Do not sin *Practice righteousness *Love in deed and truth *Keep His commandments *Love God more than the world *Love one another *Spread the word throughout the world.

This is some of the “meaty stuff” we often gloss over. And, we must not forget the First and Second “Great Commandments” to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love our neighbor as we love our Self. When the New Testament speaks of keeping commandments, it is talking about these New Covenant commandments. Jesus said “If you love Me, keep My commandments (John 14:15), establishing obedience as the truest measurement of our love for our Lord… the First and Greatest Commandment. Notice obedience is directly commanded three times in 1 John (Keep His commandments 2x, Keep His words). Stating the obvious, we must first know His commandments before we can obey them!

OBEDIENCE… 
THE TRUEST MEASUREMENT OF OUR LOVE

KILLING COWS

I find it both obvious and scriptural that Christians are not immune to nor exempt from the adversities of life, be it physical, financial, relational, or emotional. Trouble, difficulty, hardship and affliction are as prevalent among the saints as among non-Christian populations. Saints have no entitlement to escape what is clearly part of the curse from the fall of mankind – God’s judgment on mankind for disobedience -- any more than we can escape death, the curse’s ultimate penalty. Now it is true under Old Testament Law God’s covenant people, the Jews, were exempt from much of life’s adversity as long as they remained obedient to the Law. But this entitlement is covenant and people specific and was done away with by the Cross of Christ.

Adversity knows everyone’s address as Jesus clearly stated: “Narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life.” The Greek word translated “difficult” here is likewise translated trouble, adversity, affliction, hardship and other “Bad” words. Yes, our way home to eternal life will be fraught with difficulties.

Many saints believe God wants believers to have their best life now – health and wealth -- and that He is no respecter of persons, implying an entitlement. When adversity strikes and things don’t work out they use cobbled up half-truths about the role of faith and sin to protect their sacred cow “beliefs.” Well... It’s time to kill some cows: The seven passages describing God as “no respecter of persons” deal, contextually, with Salvation, Judgment, and Rewards: It is in these and only these areas that God is no respecter of persons. And our “best life now” is the life that brings about our greatest degree of transformation -- conformation into the likeness of Christ -- regardless of the circumstances.  This transformation is the rich and glorious mystery of the New Covenant, “Which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” 

IT’S ALL ABOUT TRANSFORMATION

                                          

A FAVORITE PASSAGE OF SCRIPTURE FROM THE AMPLIFIED BIBLE: PHILIPPIANS 3:7-15

But whatever former things I had that might have been gains to me, I have come to consider as one combined loss for Christ’s sake. Yes, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege, the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him -- of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish, refuse and dregs, in order that I may win (gain) Christ The Anointed One.

And that I may actually be found and known as in Him, not having any self-achieved righteousness that can be called my own based on my obedience to the Law’s demands -- ritualistic uprightness and supposed right standing with God thus acquired -- but possessing that genuine righteousness which comes through faith in Christ The Anointed One, the truly right standing with God which comes from God by saving faith.

For my determined purpose is that I may know Him, that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly, and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection, which it exerts over believers, and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed in spirit into His likeness even to His death. In the hope that if possible I may attain to the spiritual and moral resurrection that lifts me out from among the dead even while in the body.

Not that I have now attained this ideal, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to lay hold of (grasp) and make my own, that for which Christ Jesus The Messiah has laid hold of me and made me His own. I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own yet; but one thing I do, it is my one aspiration: Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the supreme and heavenly prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.

So let those of us who are spiritually mature and full-grown have this mind and hold these convictions; and if in any respect you have a different attitude of mind, God will make that clear to you also.

The Apostle Paul is describing the cost and rewards of deep intimate relationship with Christ, a relationship based on the priceless privilege of the indwelling Christ-Life. We must be found and known as in Him, and determined to really know Him. In intimate relationship we come to perceive, recognize and understand the wonders of His person, and come to know and experience the power outflowing from His resurrection. It is likewise in intimate relationship that we learn to share Christ’s sufferings -- submitting to His Lordship over our life and crucifying Self – that in submission and death we might be continually transformed into His likeness… His nature. Recognizing our imperfection we press on to lay hold of and make our own that for which Christ has laid hold of us and made us His own. Saints, we all must forget what lies behind and press on toward the goal, the supreme and heavenly prize into which God has called us… Christlikeness! This is really an astonishing passage give it was written by the Apostle Paul thirty plus years into his ministry while captive in a Roman prison.

CHURCH… AN ORGANIC BODY

Much of the twenty-first century church community is a man made mess, blind to its true reality, offering up Ishmael offerings to God as a form of Godliness. With more wrong than right the church is beyond the tipping point, and ill prepared for the great confrontations with the powers of darkness that lie ahead. We need to scrap the denominational protocols – man’s way of gathering together -- and search the New Covenant scriptures to learn how to become an organic body of believers living life as a real spiritual family here on planet earth. Church should be about:

*Equipping one another for the work of ministry… in the enemy’s camp, the world.

*Building the body of Christ… one stone at a time.

*Embracing the Lordship of Christ and the death of Self… releasing our Savior’s nature within.

*Embracing the suffering of our Lord… learning obedience God’s way.

*Learning corporate fellowship… Worship in Spirit and in truth.

*And, above all, loving one another.

These church elements are the mile-markers of every saint’s journey into Christlikeness, the number one thing on God’s heart. Having predestined us as His “sons” He must make us fit for “Sonship.” Scripture commands we “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ” – clothe our Self in Him – “and make no provisions for the flesh”:  To do so we must submit to His Lordship and will the death of Self. Our Savior’s heart, in lock-step with the Father’s will, is defined by Love, Obedience, Passion, Sacrifice and Humility. These should be the stand out virtues of our heart, the ever increasing experience of those who have allowed Christ to take up residence in them. The degree we are truly His is the degree we have submitted to His Lordship in all things, the degree we have put Self to death on His Cross, the degree we think, speak and act like Jesus… the degree we have allowed His life to flow through our life as our life. This is a great and glorious mystery, which is Christ in me, my only hope of eternal glory.

LIVING LIFE AS A REAL SPIRITUAL FAMILY

MILK VERSES SOLID FOOD

“For though by this time you ought to be teachers … you have come to need milk and not solid food … For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness … But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.”

The unrenewed mind in conformance to the world’s ways evaluates “Good” and “Bad” using the world’s yardstick. But God is sovereign in all things, allowing in His wisdom what He could easily prevent in His power, engaging our will through adversity and affliction – the pot holes and detours of life -- ever moving us Godward down the narrow-gated difficult Way into Christlikeness. With God’s Kingdom yardstick all earthly “Bad” endured by His children is worked together into God’s purposeful “Good”, as the Holy Spirit wills and works in us in accordance with God’s good pleasure.  The truth of the matter: We are a stubborn and stiff necked pleasure seeking people who must willfully crucify our Self-Nature in submission to the Lordship of Christ if we are ever to walk in Christlikeness in this life. Becoming like Jesus, displaying His nature and attributes, is the mystery of Godliness: His life flowing forth from our life as our life, until we no longer live but Christ lives in and through us. “For we have become partakers of Christ … partakers of the divine nature”, having predestined us as His “sons” He must make us fit for “Sonship.”

God knows what it takes... individually, to move each of His chosen ones toward the cross of death, and He allows it for our own Good, that in our death to Self the implanted DNA of Christ’s nature might be resurrected in us... might sprout roots and blossom forth. It takes death of Self: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me … 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.” This is the rich and glorious mystery God willed to make known to us, “which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Said literally: Christ in me, is my only hope of eternal glory (ditto everyone). Saints, we should “pray always that our God would count us worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power.” There’s a lot of solid food here for those who are “full of age” and weaned of milk.

“FOR EVERYONE WHO PARTAKES ONLY OF MILK

IS UNSKILLED IN THE WORD OF RIGHTEOUSNESS”

(Heb. 5:12-14; Rom. 8:28; Phil. 2:13; Eph. 1:5; 2 Thess. 1:11; Col. 1:27; Gal. 2:20, 6:14; Heb. 3:14; 2 Peter 1:4; Heb. 5:13)