word of the day

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO SAMSON

Introduction

The gospel according to Samson?

Some may find this title rather strange and may quickly flick through the New Testament to see if there is a gospel of Samson which they may have overlooked. Some may even consider this title as heresy or blasphemy – a tampering with the word of God- a declaring of another gospel apart from the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. For this reason I feel a brief explanation of this title is required.

To begin let us consider the word “gospel”. The word ‘gospel’ comes from the Greek word ‘euaggelion’ which means ‘the story concerning God’. In the New Testament this word is translated as ‘good news”. The writings which contain the recordings of Jesus’ life, miracles, death, resurrection, and doctrine, are called ‘GOSPELS’, because they refer to the ‘good news’ that was revealed through Christ. This term ‘GOSPELS’ was only afterwards applied to each of the four histories of Jesus’ life, referring primarily to the good news contained within these books. The word gospel has since then taken on a particular use and is used primarily to refer to the message which was preached- the good news of salvation.

Through general usage then the word can relate to the historical record of the life and times of Jesus or to the message he proclaimed- salvation through the grace of God. Any attempt to create a distinction between the life of Jesus and his message is clearly artificial as the person Jesus and the message he proclaimed are one and cannot be separated. Jesus was ‘the message’ the ‘good news’ from God.

In Matthew 11:27 Jesus declares: “all things are delivered to me of the father”. Jesus declares himself as a messenger bringing the good news of God. But Jesus was not only the messenger he was ‘the message’. Jesus declared himself to be the perfect reflection of God, his nature, his attributes, his being. In John 14:9 he declares:

“Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father? Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.”

Jesus declared that when you see him you see the Father and when you hear him you hear the Father. Jesus came not only declaring a message – he was the message.

The gospel then has many facets and dimensions and is so much more than the simple historical recording of the life of the man Jesus. It encompasses the fullness of his nature as well as all the facets of the message of salvation. Within the bible we find reference to "the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24), "the gospel of the kingdom" (Matt. 4:23), "the gospel of Christ" (Rom. 1:16), "the gospel of peace (Eph. 6:15), "the glorious gospel," "the everlasting gospel," "the gospel of salvation" (Eph. 1:13). The ‘gospel’ the ‘good news’ is the living word of God, touching and affecting every area of our lives- it is our bread of life and our living water. Every word of the bible is manna from God – food for our spirits, sustenance for daily living.

So the title “The gospel according to Samson” is therefore a challenge – a challenge to open our minds to look at things in a fresh way, to not be conformed to old thought patterns, to not look at things in one dimension or to be restricted by beliefs or thought patterns which are not from God but hinder our understanding and withhold from us the many treasures in the word of God. We need to be open to the freshness of the Spirit, to allow him to lead us into all truth.

The beginning of our journey with Samson is to understand that although the bible is divided into separate books, into the Old and New Testament, into the gospels and the epistles, the word of God itself is not divided. The gospel- the ‘good news’ is declared consistently from the beginning to the end, from Genesis to Revelations, in the New Testament ,in the Old Testament and in every book of the bible.

In 2 Timothy 3:14 Paul declares to Timothy -

“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

In verse 14 Paul refers to the ‘holy scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation’. These holy scriptures he refers to are the Old Testament (the law, the prophets and the writings). Paul declares these scriptures are all God breathed and useful for teaching. In Matthew 5:17 Jesus himself declares:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets (Old Testament); I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them”.

Many Christians have a tendency to remain focused in the New Testament and delve very little into the Old Testament. In doing so they are robbed of so much of the flavour of the gospel. This is largely the fault of wrong teaching, many new Christians being encouraged to stay away from the Old Testament lest they become confused. The Old Testament is often portrayed as dry and dead, drudgery in comparison to the vibrant and exciting books of the New Testament. This is unfortunate considering the riches, the treasures that await those who delve into the Old Testament.

It is important to understand therefore that the good news of the gospel is declared consistently throughout the bible from Genesis to Revelations. Many people have no problem identifying the good news as it is declared in all its fullness in the New Testament, but battle to see or identify the good news declared in the Old Testament. This is because the good news is openly and clearly declared in the New Testament but in the Old Testament we encounter shadows and pictures of the reality that was to come- the promises that found fulfilment in Christ. In many ways the Old Testament was like a picture book in which many spiritual truths were concealed – but are now revealed in Christ – the fulfilment of all the promises made to the men of faith. As has been said “in the old the new is concealed, in the new the old is revealed”. The bible is almost like a puzzle book where you have a section with pictures and a section with captions, and when you are able to match the right picture (Old Testament) with the right caption (New Testament) you are better able to fully comprehend and understand the truths revealed.

With this in mind we will seek the New Testament truths hidden in this Old Testament book. We will seek out the hidden treasures as the Spirit of God reveals truth and leads us into all understanding. We will approach the Gospel of Samson with the intention of discovering the good news declared through his life and find its application for us today, for surely he speaks to us today as clearly as he spoke to the people of his day- ‘he who has ears let him hear’.

Romans 15:4 -

“For everything that was written in the past (Old Testament) was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”

Armed with the Spirit of truth let us journey forth into the gospel of Samson and let us be encouraged and strengthened as we learn from this man declared by God to be a man of faith.

Hebrews 11:32 –

“and what shall I more say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of the prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions. “

As we move through the gospel of Samson we will find many spiritual truths revealed through his life- he talks to us today, testifying concerning the amazing grace of God, victory over condemnation, the pulling down of strongholds and Gods power being perfected in the weakness of man. We will approach his gospel from the perspective of Two places, Two jawbones, Two pillars and Two Sabbaths.

The gospel of Samson is contained in Judges chapter 13, 14, 15 and 16 and it is advised that you read through these chapters before proceeding so that you have a basic understanding of the scriptures.

TWO PLACES

Judges 13:25 reveals that the spirit of the lord began to move Samson at times in the camp of Dan between ‘Zorah’ and ‘Eshtaol’.

Judges 13:25 -

25 The LORD’s spirit began to control him in Mahaneh Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Here we find that Samson was between two places – much like many Christians today. The Christian life is a journey- and for this reason we are always between two places: moving from the now to the not yet. We are not what we were but not yet all that we will be. The Christian life is both a journey and a destination. From the moment we commit our lives to God our journey begins; we embark on a relationship with the living God – a relationship that changes and evolves as we ourselves are changed and evolved through our relationship with God. As we grow in our knowledge of Him and the work of the cross we ourselves are changed from glory to glory.

2 Corinthians 3:18 declares:

“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit”.

We are on a journey being transformed from glory to glory as we grow in our Christian faith. I can recall one day driving past a residence where there was obviously a religious ceremony underway, there was a line of people walking in a tight circle while chanting, with the front person carrying a candle. As I watched them walking round and round in a circle I remember the Lord saying to me that religion is circular in nature – like these partakers walking in a circle – the repetition of ceremonies day after day and year after year, and lifestyles that are circular –repeating the same mistakes and going through the same motions day after day and year after year. The Christian life, in contrast to this, is linear – a moving forward, a growing and changing from glory to glory as we grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and a full understanding of the work of the cross.

So In his journey we find Samson to be between two places-called ‘Zorah’ and ‘Eshtaol’.

“Zorah” is translated ‘leprosy;scab;hornet’. Leprosy is a skin disease where the flesh literally rots off, and so ‘Zorah’ is a place where the flesh dies.

‘Eshtaol’ is translated “a strong woman” -a place where the flesh is strong.

And so we find Samson camped between these two places - a place of faith where the flesh dies and a place of self reliance where the flesh-human effort-is relied upon. This is a place where many Christians find themselves today- between faith and the flesh.

In the growth and development of babies there are particular ‘milestones’ which are important stages in their development which indicate that they are growing and developing properly. This movement from operating in the flesh to operating in faith is one of the most important milestones in a Christian’s development. It is a key indicator that a Christian is reaching maturity. Babies are by nature dependent upon others to feed them and care for them, but as they grow and develop they begin to feed and care for themselves. Many Christians never reach this stage of caring for themselves and are always looking to be fed and cared for when they should be at the stage of looking after and caring for others. This is often the fault of the church where the Christian fellowships, as many churches are designed around keeping church members at this baby stage so that they will be forever dependant on the provision of needs by the church and its leaders. We need to guard against this and ensure that we fellowship at a church where we are held responsible and accountable for our own growth and development as Christians. We need to press on to full maturity in Christ being fully equipped to perform every good work.

2Timothy 3:16 –

16 Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work.

The word ‘flesh’ in the bible is also translated ‘sinful nature’ and refers to man’s fallen nature – being born into sin and having a natural inclination towards sin. It is important to understand that these are two opposing forces – faith and flesh-they are opposed to each other in every way and are totally incompatible.Galations 5:16-18 confirms this:

“So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law”.

So we find two opposing forces- the flesh at war with the Spirit. In this passage Paul contrasts these two lifestyles – living according to the flesh and living according to the Spirit. At the end of this passage Paul brings in a third factor and states “but if you are led by the Spirit you are not under law”. In doing this Paul equates the “law” with the “flesh”, and the logical conclusion of this statement is that if you are living by the flesh then you are under law. The contrast suggested here is that if you are led by the Spirit then you are not under law, but if you are led by the flesh then you are under law. So then there is a lifestyle which places you under the law and a lifestyle which sets you free from the law.

And so we find this question of the law is central to this conflict between flesh and faith, and more specifically what our relationship to the law is or should be. If you have been a Christian for some time and have always presumed that you are and should be under law then this discussion may come as a bit of a surprise to you. Surely every Christian should be under the law, living according to the commandments and having an ethical lifestyle? Surely the law was instituted by God when He gave the commandments to Moses? Surely if God gave the commandments then He expects us to live according to them?

The biblical answer to this question I believe is yes and no. Yes our lives should fulfil the requirements of the law but no we should not be trying to fulfil the requirements of the law. This may seem a bit confusing at first glance but further explanation will clarify the issue. The difference is this – if you are setting out with the intention of trying to fulfilling the law (clearly by your own efforts) you will fail. However, if you accept that you have been set free from the law and no longer have to live by the requirements of the law and live rather according to the Spirit you will find that you are no longer inclined towards doing the wrong thing (sin) but will naturally do the right thing. So what we have here is essentially an agreement on the fact that our lives should fulfil the requirements of the law and reflect the holiness of God, but disagreement on how this objective is or should be achieved.

In the time of Jesus the religious system of the day was based on the law, and all the Jewish people were required to fulfil the many requirements of the law. This is where a relationship with God is maintained through a system of compliance to rules and regulations, these being maintained through human effort- man in essence saving himself. This is a system based on flesh – human effort and the good works of man. Faith on the other hand is salvation through the Grace of God- apart from any works or efforts on the part of man- God reaching down and saving man. These two approaches to salvation are incompatible – you are either under law or under grace, either relying on your own efforts or through faith relying on God’s grace.

(Where do you stand in this regard, are you trying to earn salvation through your own efforts of complying with the law or are you saved by the grace of God apart from any effort of your own? I will leave you to mull over this question for a while as we continue through the gospel of Samson to see what he discovered in this regard.)

Samson as a man of great human strength found himself in a situation where he could very easily rely on his own immense strength rather than rely on God; unfortunately for a large part of his life he chose the former. As a result of this Samson’s great strength became his greatest weakness. This is much like us today, in those areas of our lives where we are successful we often rely on ourselves and only turn to God for assistance in those areas of our lives where we fail, and in this way our greatest strengths or abilities become our greatest liabilities within our relationship with God. Sometimes God has to turn our strengths into weakness so that in our weakness we can find the strength of God.

In 2 Corinthians 12:10 Paul declares:

“That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong”.

Paul found this truth in operation in his life, and delighted in his weaknesses! This makes no sense to the carnal mind- it is foolishness! 1 Corinthians 1:25 puts it this way –

“For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength”.

To the wise, the strong, and the proud the message of the cross is foolishness. Paul sums it up in 1 Corinthians 1:18:

‘For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.’

Question: Are you living under the law – relying on yourself and your own efforts to attain salvation, or are you living under grace – by faith believing that Jesus has done it all and salvation is freely yours in Christ apart from any effort on your part?

Take a few minutes to answer this question honestly to yourself, and then proceed onto the story of Two Jawbones.

TWO JAWBONES

In the gospel of Samson we find the story of two jawbones. The first jawbone we find in judges 14:5,6–

“5 Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. 6 The Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done”.

Judges 14:1 tells us that the reason why Samson was on his way down to Timnah was that he had seen a young philistine woman who he decided to take as his wife. This decision did not find favour with Samson’s parents primarily because the Law of Moses decreed that the Israelites were not to intermarry with other nations. In Deuteronomy 7:3 Moses declares concerning the other nations:

“Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 4 for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, and the LORD's anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you.”

Timnah is translated as ‘forbidding’. So we find Samson going down to ‘Timnah’ to do that which is ‘forbidden’ by taking a wife from among the ‘uncircumcised philistines’. As he goes down to commit this sin against the law, what should he encounter but a lion roaring towards him?

1 peter 5:8 declares:

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

When you go to do wrong there is an accuser who waits to devour you- the accuser of the brethren - satan.

When living under the law and trying to fulfil all of its expectations in the strength of your own flesh you are destined for failure, and the resultant condemnation and accusation is never far away because satan prowls around waiting for you to fail or do something you are not supposed to do so that he can accuse you.

If your answer to the question posed after the first chapter was that you are living under law and trying to attain salvation through your own efforts then you will know this condemnation well. Every time you set out to behave in a certain way or to achieve a certain standard through your own efforts you find that failure is never far away, and following closely on that are feelings of inadequacy, inferiority and condemnation. This is followed by a period of mourning (self pity) during which you grovel before God and beg forgiveness before resolving to try again – and so the cycle is repeated time after time. As stated previously this circular approach to your relationship with God is not what God intended – this is religion, the circular repetition of failure, condemnation, confession and then a renewed attempt to live an ‘ethical’ life. No one loves this approach more than satan who prowls, waiting for your inevitable failure, then pounces and devours you with guilt and condemnation.

Whilst living under the law you will constantly be consumed by guilt and condemnation and you will never truly experience the fullness of joy, freedom and victory that is yours already in Christ, just waiting for you to reach out in faith and take hold of it. The joy filled victorious life you seek is not found in your efforts to live a holy life or through complying with standards of behaviour, it is found in the Grace of God.

Ephesians 2:8 –

“it is by Grace you have been saved..”

The question you may have on your mind is this – if I am not meant to be living under law or trying to attain to the standards set out in the law then what is the purpose of the law? Paul addresses this question in the book of Romans.

In Romans 7:7 he states:

“I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet."

So the first purpose of the law was to expose sin. The law develops our knowledge of sin and tells us right from wrong.

Another purpose of the law is revealed in Romans 5:20;

“law was added so that the trespass might increase.”

So here we find another purpose for the law – to INCREASE sin. You may find this rather startling so go and read it for yourself!

The law was meant to increase sin! If you are trying to live under the law you are actually increasing sin in your life.

Further to this Galatians 3:10 tells us that:

“All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law."

So when you choose to live under the law you are actually choosing to live under a curse, because you are relying on your own ability to fulfil all of the requirements of the law – which you cannot do – and when you break one of the laws all of the curses of God come upon you. Still keen to live under the law? Still keen to try and fulfil all of the requirements of the law? In case you are let us look into what these curses are that were to come on anyone who did not keep all of the commands.

Deuteronomy 28: 15-31 states the following:

“However, if you do not obey the LORD your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you: 16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. 17 Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed. 18 The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. 19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.
20 The LORD will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him. 21 The LORD will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess. 22 The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish.23 The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron.24 The LORD will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.
25 The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth. 26 Your carcasses will be food for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away. 27 The LORD will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured.28 The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. 29 At midday you will grope about like a blind man in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you. 30 You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and ravish her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit. 31 Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them.”

Let us stop there! - There are still a couple of chapters more of curses but I think you get the idea!

Still keen to live under the law! If you can comply with every one of the laws in the Law of Moses you will receive blessings – but if you break even one of the laws all of these curses are yours!

The question you should now be asking is this – is there any other way we can receive the blessings of God and avoid the curses without trying to fulfil all the requirements of the law? Praise God there is good news! Jesus is the ‘good news’. He made a way for us to have a relationship with God apart from the law. He made a way for us to be declared righteous apart from the law. Do you understand now why the Gospel is called good news! To those who have laboured under the law trying to fulfil its unending expectations day after day , year after year – in constant fear of breaking the law and having curses come upon them- to them this was unbelievably good news!

So the purpose of the law was firstly to reveal sin and secondly to increase sin. The law was meant to reveal sin – to bring it out so that it could be dealt with. Through the law I realise my sinfulness, and having realised my sinfulness I turn to Christ to set me free from sin.

When you live and work among a group of people who are smoking, drinking, swearing and living generally debauch lifestyles you may tend to think of yourself as quite holy and upright. However when the perfect law of God is brought to bear on you, you quickly realise how short you fall of Gods holy and righteous requirements. God’s law removes all of the pretence we may have concerning how “good” we are and places all of mankind squarely in the same box. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Having exposed all of our sin the law points us to Christ – from whence our salvation comes!

And so the ultimate purpose of the law is this – to lead us to Christ!

Galatians 3:23-25 puts it like this:

“Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. 24 So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.25 Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.”

Verse 24 tells us that the law was put in charge of us to lead us to Christ – that was the purpose of the law - and once we have come to Christ we are no longer under the supervision of the law. If you have come to know Christ and them gone back to the law to be held as a prisoner again you have nullified the cross!

Galatians 2:21 affirms this as follows :

“I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!"

Paul tells us here that if it were possible for you to fulfil all of the requirements of the law and thereby be declared righteous by God then Christ died for nothing! The purpose of Jesus’ death on the cross was to remove your sins and set you free from the law! If, once you are saved, you place yourself back under law by trying to fulfil its requirements you have nullified the work of Christ on the cross. You have placed yourself back under the condemnation that Christ died to set you free from. Christ’s death set you free from the law and from condemnation. Romans 8:1-4 declares this freedom from the law in the following way:

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man,4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.”

Here God unveils a new and living way – through the Spirit. He declares that we have been set free from the law of sin and death ie the law which condemns to death anyone who breaks a commandment. We have been set free by the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus –we have been declared righteous by Christ and received the Holy Spirit who leads us into all righteousness. Jesus fulfilled all the righteous requirements of the law on our behalf – and having fulfilled the law he did away with it – nailing it to the cross!

Colossians 2:13b-14:

” He forgave us all our sins, 14 having cancelled the written code(law), with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.”

This is the good news! This was the gospel that revolutionised the lives of the disciples. This was the gospel they were prepared to die for! Are we declaring this gospel of freedom that is worth dying for or are we declaring a gospel that sets you free for a moment only to place again all the weight of rules and regulations on your back? Many Christians experience the wonderful salvation of Christ only to have the full weight of the law placed back on them by well meaning but errant Christians, pastors and teachers. This labouring under the law will slowly rob you of all the joy that should characterise the Christian walk and cause you to feel defeated, when the truth is that the devil is defeated and we are victorious in Christ!

This is summed up perfectly in Galatians 2:15 –

“We who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' 16 know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.”

No one will be justified by observing the law! Our walk is now a walk of faith – trusting in Him who justifies us – Jesus Christ! When you move from trying to become justified by complying with the law to believing in faith that you are already justified by Christ you are suddenly set free – the weight of the law is removed and the joy of the Lord floods your being. Words cannot express the total joy and freedom that you experience when the weight of years of struggle, condemnation, defeats, frustration and feelings of unworthiness are lifted from your shoulders. This is the gospel of grace! Salvation through the work of Christ apart from any effort of my own. I could not restore my relationship with God but Jesus restored our relationship through the cross. I could not earn forgiveness for my sins but Jesus bore my sins on the cross so that I could freely receive forgiveness. I could never fulfil all the requirements of the law but Jesus fulfilled the law on my behalf. Everything has been accomplished at the cross. As Jesus died on the cross his final words were “it is finished!” Everything that needed to be accomplished was accomplished on the cross! There is nothing left for us to do but to appropriate all that he has already accomplished on our behalf. This is salvation through grace apart from any work or effort on our part.

Ephesians 2:8 says it this way-

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9 not by works , so that no one can boast”.

So we see that that we are no longer under law but under grace. Jesus took the punishment for our sins upon himself and bore the wrath and judgement of God. Jesus was condemned so that we would never have to be condemned. Jesus was forsaken so that God would never have to forsake us. All the punishment that was due to us was placed on Jesus. Our sins have been judged and we have received forgiveness. We are now the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! We are adopted as sons and daughters of the most high God, the favour of God is upon us and all the promises and blessings of God are ours in Christ.

The word of God declares that we are forgiven of our sins and we are adopted as sons and daughters of God.

Galatians 4:6 –

6 And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, who calls “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if you are a son, then you are also an heir through God.

God’s word declares that the Holy Spirit is a guarantee of our inheritance in Christ.

Ephesians 1:13 - 14

13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of his glory.

So we see that when we are saved God deposits the Holy Spirit in us as a guarantee of our salvation and our inheritance in Christ. How is this a guarantee? When the Spirit cries “Abba, Father” from our hearts we know that we are sons and daughters of the most high God. And if we are sons and daughters we are guaranteed an inheritance – we do not have to work to earn our inheritance, it is ours through sonship. It is wonderful to know that God does not seek slaves or servants – he desires sons and daughters. He desires an intimate relationship with his children.

The word ‘Abba’ has been translated as ‘Daddy’. This reflects the intimate relationship that God desires with us much better than the term ‘Father’. When we pray saying ‘Father’ it reflects a relationship, when we pray saying ‘Daddy’ it reflects intimacy. When praying to God it may be easy to refer to Him as ‘Father’ but the use of the term ‘Daddy’ requires a much deeper intimacy. This is why it is the Holy Spirit who cries out ‘Daddy’ from our hearts – because we require the Holy Spirit to teach us and to reveal to us this deeper level of intimacy that God desires. Our natural minds do not understand this intimacy and so we rely on the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the depth of God’s love for us and His ultimate purpose for us – our adoption as sons and daughters.

It is only by the Holy Spirit that we can call God ‘Daddy’ the religious spirit does not understand this – to call God ‘daddy’ is an affront to the religious spirit. The religious spirit recoils at the mention of God as ‘Daddy’ – it does not know this level of intimacy, it knows only a stern father who demands compliance to all the rules and regulations in order to earn His favour. If you are unsure if the Church you worship at is grounded in the knowledge of God’s Grace it is easy to find out – just refer to God as your ‘daddy’ and see what reaction you get!

It is for this reason I believe that in Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus say’s that not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven – only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22 On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and do many powerful deeds?’ 23 Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!’

The term ‘Lord’ used here is ‘Kurios’ which means supreme authority or master. This reflects a knowledge of God in terms of His supreme power but does not necessarily reflect any intimacy or personal relationship with God. This is reflected in verse 23 where Jesus says ‘I never KNEW you’. The word ‘knew’ is ‘ginosko’ which means to know completely – which reflects an intimacy and an intimate knowledge. When we cry “daddy, daddy” we know our God and He knows us completely for a child knows their daddy, and a daddy knows his child. This is our confidence before God – knowing that we are his children and we have an intimate and personal relationship with Him.

But let us return to Samson….

In Samson we see this prophetic action take place - as Samson goes down to take a wife from the ‘uncircumcised’ philistines he is attacked by the accuser (the roaring lion). The spirit of God comes upon him and he tears the lion in two. Judges 14:6 ;

“The Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power so that he tore the lion apart with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat”.

He breaks the jaw of the accuser! This verse paints a wonderful picture of the cross as Samson tears the accuser in two starting with his arms together and then extending them full stretch in the shape of the cross as he tears the lion in two - a picture of the cross where Jesus silenced the accuser forever! Satan can no longer accuse you of your sins, they are forgiven – removed as far as the east is from the west, never to be recalled or remembered again. This is the victory of the cross; the sin that separated us from God has been removed.

Colossians 2:13 :

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins”.

Satan has been silenced forever, his jaw broken at the cross! There is no more condemnation for those who are in Christ! Why? Because all our sins have been forgiven! If you are living in condemnation and guilt you have not yet received this truth – God forgave you all your sins! All your sins – past, present and future have been forgiven. But there is more good news – Colossians 2:13 is only half the story, in Colossians 2:14 we find Christ also removed the source of condemnation, the law –

“14 having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.”

Jesus cancelled the written code, the law. When we come to Christ our sins are forgiven and we are set free from the law – this is the freedom we receive through Christ. Jesus died to set us free and yet so many Christians are still living under slavery to the law which Jesus died to set us free from! Read it again!

Col 2:13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.”

What was the result of Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf – Jesus broke the jaw of the accuser. With our sins forgiven and the requirements of the law removed satan has been disarmed. Condemnation and accusation were his weapons but now that the law is removed he has nothing with which to condemn us. Colossians 2:15 puts it this way:

“15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

These are powerful truths, these are liberating verses! Meditate on these verses until you receive a full revelation of this truth. In Christ there is no more condemnation, we have been set free from condemnation. Condemnation is the weapon satan uses to keep you feeling defeated, but when you realise that you have been forgiven this weapon can no longer have any power over you. Instead you experience the power of the cross – forgiveness of sins and the removal of the law. These verses are life changing and powerful. If you are ever to have victory over satan it can only be through these truths and the application of these truths to your life. Do not labour another day under the weight of sin and condemnation – appropriate these truths in your life through faith. Choose to believe the word of God and not your feelings.

Judges 14:8 states the following concerning Samson:

“Sometime later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion's carcass. In it was a swarm of bees and some honey, 9 which he scooped out with his hands and ate as he went along.”

When the jaw of the accuser is broken then In the place of law and condemnation we find the sweet honey of the Grace of God. Forgiveness, wholeness and blessing are yours! Put the condemner to death! Break his jaw! Do it now! Declare the victory of Christ on your behalf and your freedom in Christ. You can never experience the freedom that Christ has for you until you deal with the condemner- and there is only one way to deal with him- tear him in two- break his jaw! Silence him forever!

Where Judges 14:6 declares that Samson “tore” the lion in two, it is the same word used in Matthew 27:51 which states that as Jesus died on the cross the curtain of the temple was “torn” in two.

Matt 27:51 - “at that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two..”.

The curtain referred to here was the curtain which hung in the temple of God separating the Holy place from the Holy of Holies. It signified the separation of man from God because of sin. Sinful man could not enter into the presence of a holy God and live. Only the high priest could enter into the Holy of Holies (the presence of God) and he could only do this once a year, and then only after the completion of a rigorous cleansing ceremony to atone for his sins, and then even after this when he entered the Holy of Holies, behind the curtain, a piece of rope was tied to his ankle so that his body could be dragged out in case he was struck down because of his sin. It was no small thing to enter behind this curtain!

Hebrews 9:7-

“But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance”.

But Matthew 27:51 declares that as Jesus breathed his last and died on the cross – at that moment the curtain in the temple was torn in two- from top to bottom. This was an act of God. God tore the curtain of separation in two. The death of Jesus on the cross removed the separation between man and God - sin! With the death of Jesus sin was atoned for, Jesus bore the sins of the world in his body and paid the price for sins. He bore the punishment for our sins so that we no longer have to be punished. We are no longer separated from God by our sins (the curtain). We can enter into Gods presence not only once a year, but anytime we want to. We no longer have to go through a rigorous cleansing ceremony to enter into Gods presence because our sins have been removed! We no longer enter in fear and trepidation but we enter in boldly!

Hebrews 10:19 :

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence (boldness) to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”

The accuser who separated us from God with accusation and condemnation concerning our sin has been torn in two. When the accuser comes we remind him of the blood of Jesus which has cleansed us from all sin. We are no longer subject to the accusations of the accuser; he can no longer separate us from God! God has removed the barrier (our sin).

Hebrews 8:12 –

“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

How do you appropriate the victory of Christ on your behalf? By declaring the truth of God’s word-declare to satan that you are forgiven, that Christ has paid the price for all of your sins and there is no more judgement awaiting you. Declare that the law has been done away with and you are no longer under law but under grace. The victory of Christ is appropriated in your life by your believing and declaring the truth. The only work required from you is this – to believe what Christ has done on your behalf.

John 6:28 –

28 Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"
29 Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent

This leads us to the story of another jawbone.

In the gospel of Samson we find mention of another jawbone- in Judges 15 vs 9-17 we see that the Philistines went up to Judah to take revenge on Samson. The men of Judah go up to where Samson is, bind his hands and take him to hand him over to the philistines.

Judges 15: 11-13

“Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, "Don't you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us? What have you done to us?" He answered, "I merely did to them what they did to me."
12 They said to him, "We've come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines." Samson said, "Swear to me that you won't kill me yourselves." 13 Agreed, they answered. "We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not kill you." So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock.

It is interesting to note that it is Samson’s own people – the men of Judah who go to bind him up and hand him over to the philistines. We find a lot of similarities between this story and the story of Jesus’ betrayal. Jesus was betrayed by his own people into the hands of the Romans to be crucified.

Matthew 27:1 –

”Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people came to the decision to put Jesus to death. 2 They bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate, the governor.”

When the jaw of the accuser has been broken and you discover the freedom that flows from the grace of God you can expect a back-lash from satan. This back-lash often comes in the form of a religious spirit. Those in the grip of the law, labouring under the weight of rules and regulations do not understand the freedom, Joy and peace that permeates your being, the sweet scent of the grace of God , the love for your saviour that oozes from every pore in your body. This is foreign to them as they still labour under a harsh task master who demands their compliance in every area of their lives and metes out punishment to all those that fail to comply. The religious spirit in them rises up against the grace of God at work in you and they will attempt to bind you up again to hand you over to the philistines.

This religious spirit is the greatest enemy of God’s grace – the religious spirit is devious and sly, masquerading as the truth but founded on lies and the traditions of men. They portray a form of godliness (human effort at holiness achieved through compliance to human rules and regulations) but deny the power of Christ (the complete work of Christ on the cross which has made us holy and righteous apart from human effort or the works of man).

2 Timothy 3:5 -

“having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them”.

The difference between religion and grace is this – religion is something you are prepared to kill for – grace is something you are prepared to die for. When you discover the grace of God you discover good news – the gospel that sets you free from slavery to sin, condemnation and the flesh. Religion holds onto a form of godliness but denies the power thereof. Religion holds on to and maintains the traditions of men when the Spirit of God is no longer in them. The power comes from the Spirit. When the Spirit of God moves in a particular way and there are great signs and wonders it can become very easy to try to replicate the move of God or create formulas to understand why and how the Spirit moves. It is very easy to believe that if we can recreate the same procedures or use the same formula then the spirit will move again. But the spirit moves on and man remains behind with their traditions and understandings gleaned from a particular move of the Spirit rather than asking – what is the Spirit doing today? When the Spirit moves on and you remain behind you are no longer operating in the Spirit but in the flesh, you are trying to “complete in the flesh what God began in the Spirit”. God does not work by formulas so that we cannot rely on our own understanding – but we have to rely on the Spirit each and every day.

In Mark 7:7 Jesus when speaking of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said the following:

7 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.' 8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."

The Israelites were fed with manna in the dessert but it only lasted for one day - any manna that was saved for the next day went off. You cannot use yesterday’s manna for today. The traditions of men are yesterday’s manna. So beware the religious spirit and teachings which bring you back under the weight of the law – they will kill you spiritually and slowly steal your peace and joy in the Lord. How can you protect yourself against this religious spirit? Ground yourself in your understanding of God’s grace, surround yourself with grace people and make sure you are sitting under the teaching of grace at your local church. Filter everything through your ‘grace’ glasses and learn to live from the foot of the cross because this is where grace flows from- the river of God’s grace flows from the cross. Eat, drink and sleep the cross – glean all the truths of the cross – there is only one gospel, Christ, and Him crucified!

So Samson is bound up by his brothers and led to the Philistines, but as they approach him the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him again –the cords that bind him are broken, he finds a jawbone of a donkey and strikes down 1000 men.

Judges 15:14 -

“As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. 15 Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men. 16 Then Samson said, "With a donkey's jawbone I have made donkeys of them. With a donkey's jawbone I have killed a thousand men." 17 When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi.”

Here scripture paints this picture of Samson being loosed from the cords that bind him and striking down the philistines (powers and principalities) that come against him. It is the Spirit that breaks the cords that bind. A reading of the various translations reveals that Samson did not break the cords that bound him- they were loosed by the Spirit - there was no effort on his part – it was not his great strength but the power of God that loosed him. Once again we see that “it is not by might or power but by my Spirit says the Lord”. Freedom comes by the Spirit and not the efforts of man. Having been set free he picks up a jawbone of an ass and strikes down the philistines.

As discussed in the last chapter while we were under the law we were bound and held captive by the law, silent under the accusation and condemnation of the devil - but when Jesus broke satan’s jawbone on the cross we were set free. Now that satan’s jawbone has been broken -our jawbones are elevated to their greatest purpose – declaring the victory of Christ. Verse 17 tells us that after Samson slew the philistines with the jawbone of a donkey this place came to be called ‘Ramath lehi’. ‘Ramath’ means height or elevation and ‘lehi’ means jawbone. So this place is “the elevation of the jawbone”.

We were silent before the accuser but now that Jesus has removed our sin and dealt with the condemner our jawbones are now elevated to their true purpose! Now that the jawbone of the accuser has been broken our jawbones have been elevated to declaring Jesus’ victory on the cross. Now that the power of satan having been broken Gods Spirit seeks jawbones to declare his finished work and strike down the powers and principalities, to destroy the works of the evil one!

2 Corinthians 10:3 –

“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

Take captive every thought you may have of guilt, every feeling of condemnation, every thought of your unworthiness before God and demolish these thoughts by the truth of the gospel! Your sin has been paid for in full; you are forgiven – set free from sin and condemnation. Satan’s jawbone has been broken and he can no longer condemn you. Your jawbone has been elevated to its greatest purpose – declaring the goodness of God, His amazing grace displayed in the finished work of the cross! He has declared us righteous and holy.

1 Peter 2:9 –

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

So we find that satan’s weapon, his jaw which condemned us, has been broken and our jaws which were silent have now become a weapon. Satan has been disarmed and we have been armed. Through Christ we have been handed the victory. With our mouths we simply remind satan that he is defeated. The battle was won on the cross. We appropriate this victory for ourselves through faith, believing Gods word that the battle is already won, and declaring the victory in our lives with our jawbones.

In judges 15:15 it says that Samson found a fresh jawbone to use. Do not think you are too young in the Lord to be used by God; God is not looking for “old” jaw bones to use to declare His glory- He is looking for fresh jawbones. You do not have to be eloquent in speech or learned in Christian principles you just have to be available for Him to use. If you make your jawbone available to Him to use He will give you the words to speak and will use your words to achieve the purposes He intends. God uses the foolish things to confound the wise and the weak things to confound the strong. God didn’t need a lions jaw or an elephants jaw, just the jaw of an ass. The power does not lie in the jaw but in the one who wields it. If you try to wield your jaw in your own strength you will probably make an ass of yourself, but if you allow the Spirit of God to wield your jaw He will use it to achieve His purposes.

Satan’s jawbone is broken and your jawbone is elevated. Your jawbone is now a weapon – declaring the word of God is the greatest weapon you have. The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit – your weapon for fighting the good fight.

Ephesians 6:17 –

“Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

Your Jawbone is Gods weapon of choice- declaring the finished work of the cross.

2 Corinthians 10:3 -

“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

In these verses we see reflected this reversal of positions –where we were once on the defensive and silent before the accuser we are now on the offensive – we demolish arguments and take captive thoughts. Now our jaws are elevated we can go on the attack – we destroy the strongholds of satan and establish the kingdom of God. How do we do this – through declaration. We declare the truth of the cross and bring the light of these truths to bear on the works of the evil one.

In the book of Genesis – the record of creation – we find this recurring statement… “and God said…..and there was”. God said “let there be light, and there was light”. “And God said… and there was...” is the recurring account of creation. From this we find first of all that God is a creative being. It is within God to create – to bring forth life and light. We are created in Gods image and we receive this creative gene from Him. It is in us to create, to bring forth, to establish.

The second thing we find is the manner in which God creates –He declares first and establishes second. Declaration is part of the creative process. God declares what He is creating and then it comes into being. This is the power of declaration – it is a creative force. The power of the spoken word is immense; we often do not conceive the power that rests in our jaws. The power to create and destroy lies in our jaw – the power of life and death. For many of us there are things that are established in our lives – good and bad – which we can trace back to words that were spoken over us many years previously. This is why God calls on us to be careful of what comes out of our mouths. By the words of our mouths we create the relationships in our lives, we create our fears, and we determine the direction of our lives and set limits on what we can achieve.

Proverbs 15:4 “The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit”.

In the book of James we are warned concerning the tongue. The tongue is likened to a small rudder that steers a large ship. We are warned concerning the power of the tongue and its potential to cause harm.

James 3:3 -

3 When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. 4 Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. 5 Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark.6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, 8 but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness.10 Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. 11 Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? 12 My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

It is clear from these verses how powerful the tongue is and its potential for harm, but our focus as born again believers is the tongues potential for good – the tongues ability to bring forth life. This ability to bring forth life springs from the Holy Spirit, as we yield our tongues to Him and declare the truths of the cross we bring forth life. It was not for nothing that the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is likened to tongues of fire descending on the believers – and the first manifestation of the Spirit is their talking in tongues – prophesying – declaring the good news of the cross. We are filled with a creative force – the Holy Spirit. When we yield our tongues to the Holy Spirit we are able to speak life – to bring forth life – declaring the truth of God. We need to declare the kingdom of God everywhere we go – we establish the Kingdom of God through declaration – our elevated jaws declaring the truth of the gospel. This is what Jesus taught his disciples in Matthew 6:10 concerning how they should pray.

Matthew 6:10 –

10 may your kingdom come,
may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Jesus teaches his disciples to declare Gods will – His purpose - here on earth, so that his kingdom – His rule - may be established here on earth. When we declare the truth into people’s lives we are able to demolish the strongholds of satan and establish the rule of God – His kingdom – in their lives.

The power of creation is in our jaws.

After Samson destroys the philistines with the jaw-bone the scripture declares that Samson was thirsty so God opened the hollow place in the jaw (lehi) and water came forth.

Judges 15:19 But God split the hollow place that is in Lehi, and water came out of it. When he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: therefore its name was called En Hakkore, which is in Lehi, to this day.

The Hebrew word Enhakkore means “the fountain of One calling”. Water - we find throughout the bible- is a picture of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the “living water” which comes from Jesus. When Samson is thirsty he cries out to God and God brings forth living water-and when Samson drank of this living water he was revived. The word revived is the Hebrew word “chayah” which means to revive or be made alive again. In the New Testament we find that Jesus is “Enhakkore” – the fountain of One calling. He is calling out to us today – “come and drink of me and you will never thirst again!”

John 7:37 Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! 38 He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus wasn’t yet glorified.

Jesus is calling out to us today as loudly as He did two thousand years ago. He is calling us to come to Him and drink of the Holy Spirit so that living waters can flow forth from within us. Verse 39 tells us that when Jesus said this he was talking about the Holy Spirit which those who believed in Him were to receive. Who are those who were to receive the Holy Spirit? All those who believe in Jesus – you and me – every Christian. The receiving of the Holy Spirit is for every believer – every person who puts their faith and trust in Jesus.

And so we see that the bringing forth of water at Enhakkore is a picture of Pentecost where the Holy Spirit was poured forth onto all the believers in the upper room.

Acts 2:1 Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 Suddenly there came from the sky a sound like the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat on each of them. 4 They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak.

The significance of these events cannot be lost on us. These disciples of Jesus walked with him, talked with him and were taught by him through all the years of his ministry on earth. They were witnesses of his death, his resurrection and his ascension. But up until the day of Pentecost, up until the moment the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them they were ill equipped to proclaim the gospel of salvation-ill equipped to live the life to which they were called. This is why Jesus proclaimed to them “Don’t depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from me. 5 For John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

What is the significance then of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer? The short answer is – everything! Without the Holy Spirit the disciples were commanded to remain in Jerusalem – to do nothing. If the very apostles of Christ could do nothing without the Holy Spirit – who are we? We too can do nothing without the Holy Spirit. It is a sad truth that in many churches today there are those who believe – and even some who teach – that the baptism in the Holy Spirit was a once off occurrence and that it is not meant for every believer today. The scripture is clear on this – the baptism in the Holy Spirit is for every believer in Christ.

In Matthew 3:11 before the ministry of Jesus began, John the Baptist spoke concerning Jesus and stated that Jesus would baptise with the Holy Spirit.

11 I indeed baptise you in water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to carry. He will baptise you in the Holy Spirit.

During his ministry Jesus in John 7:37 declared that he would pour out his living water on all those who would believe in him-

“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! 38 He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water.” 39 But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus wasn’t yet glorified.

After the completion of His earthly ministry and before ascending into heaven Jesus declares to his disciples that he will baptise them in the Holy Spirit-

“Don’t depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from me. 5 For John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

At Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the disciples Peter stood up and declared concerning the outpouring of the Holy Spirit -

Acts2:16 But this is what has been spoken through the prophet Joel:

17 ‘It will be in the last days, says God,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.

When the Jews heard the message of peter they repented and put their trust in Jesus. Peter declared that they too would receive the Holy Spirit –

Acts 2:38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

When the gospel reached Samaria and many there turned to Christ the apostles went there and finding that they had not yet been baptised in the Spirit they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.

Acts 8:14 Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, 15 who, when they had come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit; 16 for as yet he had fallen on none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of Christ Jesus. 17 Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

Through this progression of scripture it is clear that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is essential for all believers. In scripture the baptism in the Holy Spirit is seen as part of the natural progression of salvation. The challenge to every believer is this;

– have you been through Pentecost?

After the cross – salvation and the removal of all our sins – comes Pentecost- the baptism in the Holy Spirit. The baptism in the Holy Spirit is an important milestone in every believer’s life. The baptism in the Holy Spirit – like the moment of salvation and the moment of baptism in water – is a clear and defined moment in the life of the believer. Just as there can be no doubt concerning the moment when you were baptised in water there can be no doubt concerning when you have received the Holy Spirit. Doubt is the breeding ground of confusion – and our God is not a God of confusion! God desires every believer to know that they have received the Holy Spirit – that they are indwelt by the Spirit of God – that they have been born again of the Spirit of God – that they have received the Spirit of sonship - that they are sons and daughters of the most high God!

To attempt to live the Christian life believing that you have to do it on your own – in your own strength – without the power of the Spirit – is to attempt the impossible. Many Christians are led to salvation – are told that their sins are forgiven and that they are new creations in Christ – but are not empowered through Holy Spirit baptism to live the new creation life. This leads ultimately to frustration and defeat. It is for this reason that Jesus’ instruction to us was not to simply go out and evangelise the nations but to make disciples of the nations- to teach every believer and equip them for ministry :

Matthew 28:19”Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

To live the new creation life, to be fruitful, to be disciples, requires the power of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 1:8 reveals to us the importance of the Holy Spirit –

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts¹ of the earth.”

The word ‘power’ in this verse is “dunamis” which means force or miraculous power. It is by the power of the cross that we are saved and made new, and it is by this same power that we are enabled to live our new creation lives- the power of the Holy Spirit. It is by his indwelling power that we are able to preach, to do miracles, to pray, to speak in tongues, to live the supernatural life we are called to live.

And so - just as God provided water for Samson when he was thirsty – so God provides living water for those who are thirsty for the things of God. The living water which revives our soul – the Holy Spirit!

I hope by this stage you have become convinced of this truth – all your sins are forgiven. I also hope that you have come to see that you are no longer under law and no longer have to comply with any legal requirements to be saved. We are saved totally and completely by the grace of God – the undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour of God. We are not saved by any works or effort on our part but solely by faith, believing that Christ has done it all on our behalf. When our sins are forgiven and the law removed then the jaw of the accuser is broken! Satan can no more accuse us regarding sin and regarding the law as these have both been removed at the cross.

Once the jaw of the accuser is broken our jaws are elevated. We are now able to declare our righteousness through the cross of Christ. When we get to the place where we are able to understand what Christ has done on the cross – that he has made us holy and righteous – then we are able to declare this truth over our own lives. When we are at the place where we are able to declare this truth over our lives then we are able to experience the truth of it in our lives. As we declare it, it becomes established in our lives. When we declare it the creative power of God is released and it becomes a reality in our lives.

If you are at this stage then you are at the door, about to enter a secret place –a place of rest, were only a few enter.

Psalms 91:1 –

1 He that rests in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

But before we enter this place of rest we must journey with Samson between the two pillars and obtain victory over the flesh.

TWO PILLARS

Throughout his life we find Samson battling with the flesh. In judges 16 we find Samson going to Gaza where he lies with a prostitute. A while later he falls in love with another philistine woman and she is ultimately his downfall as he tells her of the source of his strength and she betrays him to the philistines.

Judges 16:19 -

“Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him. 20 Then she called, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his sleep and thought, "I'll go out as before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the LORD had left him. 21 Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding in the prison.”

Despite all his great victories and great feats of strength Samson had one weakness - the flesh. Throughout his life we find Samson battling many battles and defeating all who came against him – but the one battle he could not win was against himself, against the flesh. He found his greatest enemy came not from without but from within, his own desires and passions which raged within him. It was the flesh which eventually enslaved him and not the philistines.

To begin with we need to understand what the bible is referring to when it talks of “the flesh”. Although there is no concise definition in the bible we are able to understand the meaning of ‘the flesh’ from the contexts in which it is used. The word is used throughout the bible to refer to the human body, to weakness, to the substance of which the bodies of men and animals are comprised and to mankind as a race. But in the New Testament we find the word “flesh” used in a more particular sense. It is used to refer to the bodily appetites, propensities, and passions, which draw people away from yielding themselves to the Lord and the things of the Spirit. Although the word flesh is not that clearly defined what is clearly stated in the bible is the fruits or manifestations of the flesh.

Galatians 5:19 -

19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, depravity, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions, 21 envying, murder, drunkenness, carousing, and similar things. I am warning you, as I had warned you before: Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God!

These manifestations of the flesh are consistently spoken of as being in opposition to or opposed to the fruits or manifestations of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22,23.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,23 gentleness and self- control.

So we see that these manifestations of the flesh are seen as being opposed to or opposite to the manifestations of the Spirit. What is contrasted then is the flesh and the Spirit - two distinct and diametrically opposed lifestyles – one in which the believer is walking after the flesh (manifesting the fruits of the flesh) and the other where he is walking after the spirit (manifesting the fruits of the spirit). The viewpoint expressed by the apostles was clearly that the born again believer should be walking after the spirit and manifesting the fruits of the spirit and not the fruits of the flesh.

Romans 8:12 –

12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh 13 (for if you live according to the flesh, you will die), but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live.

This contrast or conflict between the flesh and the spirit is spoken of in very strong language. There is reference to “the conflict between” the spirit and the flesh, the flesh being “in opposition to” the spirit, the flesh “battling” against the spirit and even the flesh “waging war” against the spirit. The clear indication then is that we are involved in this “war” or “battle” between these two opposing forces which are battling for control over us. This war is clearly then one which every believer will have to engage in at some stage or another.

The first important thing to recognize is that there is a war. Some believers get saved and then believe that the battle is over –all their problems are solved and they are going to live happily ever after. This is however not the reality and it is important for every believer to know that getting saved is only the start of their new life in Christ and there is a lot of battles they will have to fight and a lot of issues that will have to be dealt with. Nowhere is this battle between the flesh and the spirit more clearly espoused than in the book of Romans where Paul talks about this war which wages in his body between the Spirit and the passions of the flesh, the same war which no doubt raged within Samson’s body-and rages in the body of every believer at some stage or other.

Romans 7:15 –

15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.
24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

I have no doubt you can relate to this struggle that Paul is talking about, I certainly can! Many times we know very well what the right thing to do is but we find that we are not able to do what is right because there are strong desires and passions in our flesh which pull us in the opposite direction. We find that knowing what is right does not equal doing what is right. There is an intervening power, the flesh, which pulls us in the direction that it wants, so that we do not do that which we know is right – but we do that which we know is wrong. I love the way Paul ends this discourse with these words “what a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?”

You can hear the desperation and frustration in his voice. This same frustration is echoed today in the lives of every Christian who is battling with the flesh – battling to overcome the desires and passions at work within our bodies which war against the things of the Spirit. If you find yourself in this same predicament I can once again proclaim that there is ‘good news’, the cross of Jesus brought ‘good news’ and freedom – freedom from condemnation, freedom from the law and freedom from the flesh.

This good news is found in the story of “two natures”.

TWO NATURES

As stated earlier the term ‘flesh’ refers to man’s natural inclination towards sin-particularly those carnal sins or sins of the flesh which flow from man’s earthly or carnal nature. But inside of man there is also a spiritual nature. Man consists not only of flesh and blood but he also has a spirit. Man has two natures – he has an earthly (flesh) nature deriving from Adam, and he has a spirit nature deriving from God. When Adam was created by God he was created in Gods image.

Genesis 1:26-

Then God said,”Let us make man in our image, in our likeness..”

What was this image in which we were created? -

John 4:24 –

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

The bible reveals that God is a spirit, and this spirit nature was breathed into us at creation.

Gen 2:7
7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

So we see that God is a spirit and when we were created in Gods image we were created as spirits. This is a difficult concept for some to grasp as you cannot see your spiritual nature – you can only see your physical body. In Genesis 2:7 we see that God formed man from the dust of the ground (physical body), but only when God breathed his Spirit into him did he become a living soul.

The Spirit is our eternal nature and our physical body is our temporary nature. It may help to think of it in the following manner – I am a spirit, I live in a body and I have a soul. We are spirit and the body is the physical house in which we live. The interaction between our spirit and our physical body creates the soul – the mind, the will and the emotions. The soul is the gateway between the spirit and the physical world – the soul results from the interaction between the spirit and the body – the way in which the spirit expresses itself through the body.

At creation Adam lived from this spiritual nature which he inherited from God. God is a spirit and Adam received this spiritual nature from God. Adam and Eve lived from their spiritual nature, communing with God. However at the fall man’s earthly nature (flesh) superseded the spiritual nature, and man started to live from this earthly nature rather than his spiritual nature. When Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil the bible says in Genesis 3: 7 –

“Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realized they were naked.”

Their eyes were opened and they became aware of their earthly nature together with its passions and desires and began to live from this earthly nature. Our earthly (flesh) nature is now derived or inherited from Adam. We are no longer born into Gods image (led by the spirit) but we are born into Adams image (led by the flesh).

Genesis 5:3-

“When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness in his own image”.

Adam was created in Gods image and likeness- the sons of Adam were created in Adam’s image and likeness. His fallen nature is inherited by us. By Adam’s act of disobedience sin entered the world, and through sin – death.

Romans 5:12 –

“Therefore just as sin entered the world through one man (Adam), and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned..”

So we see that mankind lost this spiritual nature and became dominated by the fleshly nature. Through this fleshly nature we are led into sin. But there is good news – what was lost in Adam is restored in Christ! Christ came to restore our spiritual nature. We were born in the image of Adam (flesh) but we can be ‘born again’ in the image of God (spirit)!

In John 3:3 Jesus declares:

” I tell you the truth; no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again”.

In vs 5 he clarifies his statement as follows –

“no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the spirit gives birth to spirit”.

In Adam we lost this spirit nature but it is restored in Christ.

Romans 5:17 -

“For if ,by the trespass of the one man(Adam), death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive Gods abundant provision of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ”.

Spirit begets spirit and flesh begets flesh. This is why in John 3:3 Jesus declares you must be ‘born again’. When you receive Jesus as your Lord and Saviour God breathes his spirit into you – the same Spirit that was breathed into Adam at creation – you are restored to your original position in creation – created in the image of God!

Our spirits which were dead to God are made alive in Christ. Through Christ’s death on the cross our sins are removed and we receive the gift of righteousness – we are made right with God. Having been made right with God we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit- Gods Spirit indwells our spirit and we are born again of the Spirit of God.

Galatians 4:6 –

Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his son into our hearts. The Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.”

We are restored as children of God, our spirits being made alive in Christ. As we put off the old nature (flesh) and live according to the spirit we are transformed more and more into the image of God.

Colossians 3:9 –

“Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its creator.”

So we see that we have received the Spirit of God – the Holy Spirit – who indwells us and restores our spiritual nature. This spiritual nature now supersedes the fleshly nature – I am no longer subject to the fleshly nature but to the spirit nature. I am no longer a slave to doing that which is wrong but I am a slave to doing that which is right. I am now a slave to righteousness!

It is these two natures then which are opposed to each other and war against each other. In the life of Samson we find that he continually succumbed to the fleshly nature and was eventually enslaved by his flesh.

Romans 6:16 –

“Don’t you know then when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?”

Samson continued to follow after the desires of his flesh and was eventually led into captivity. Living according to the flesh leads to death. The challenge for every believer then is to realise that we have received a new nature and are no longer slaves to the flesh and the desires of the flesh. We are called to put the flesh to death by walking in the Spirit. We find that breaking the jaw of the accuser is not the complete gospel; there is another event which needs to become a reality to us in order for us to enjoy a full salvation and to attain victory in our Christian walk. This further event is victory over our flesh. We need to obtain victory over our ‘old self’.

This victory over my old self is found in Christ – in his death and resurrection. We find all we need at the foot of the cross. Jesus did a complete work at the cross – our victory flows from him. He worked a complete salvation for us – at the cross he removed our sins, at the cross he removed the law and at the cross he removed our flesh. We were circumcised at the cross!

Colossians 2:11 –

“In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the flesh, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ”

Circumcision - as with all of the religious ceremonies and practises of the Jews - were just shadows of the realities that were to come in Christ and did not have any eternal value in and of themselves.

Colossians 2:16,17 -

“Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

So we see that circumcision was a picture of the cutting off or the removal of the flesh (sinful nature) by Christ. How did Christ deal with the flesh- he cut it off! The victory is found in death. We are called to put to death the old self that was crucified with Christ and put on the new self that is being recreated in the image of God.

Romans 6:6 -

“For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-- 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.”

We find that our freedom comes through death. We need to realise (come to terms with and believe) that our old self was crucified with Christ on the cross and we have been raised with Christ to a new life, the life in the Spirit.

Romans 7:5,6 -

“For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. 6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.’

We are freed from the flesh by death!

Samson persisted in his sin and his fleshly pursuits and eventually became a slave to sin. In a dark dungeon, bound, with his eyes gouged out and his strength gone he came to the end of himself. He experienced what is sometimes referred to as ‘the long night of the soul’. Coming face to face with yourself and realising how weak and useless your flesh is. Realising that no good things resides in the flesh, in your fleshly self-seeking nature. Realising that without God you can do nothing. This is an important milestone in the life of every Christian, if you do not pass through this valley at some point in your Christian walk you will be all the poorer for it. You need to be confronted with the absolute sinfulness of sin and the weakness of your own flesh. You have to realize that within you (your flesh) resides no good thing at all. When you get to this place God is able to work in you and transform you. It is in this dark dungeon that you learn to die to self – the selfish desires of the flesh- and birth the desire to live by the spirit – by the new nature that we receive in Christ.

It was in this place that Samson finally realised that his own strength was not enough to sustain him – he needed the strength of God. He came to know the grace of God. He learnt to die to self, to trust in the strength of God and not his own strength, to walk by faith and not by sight. In that lonely prison cell he died to self and received the life of Christ. For the first time in his life he asked for God to strengthen him.

Judges 16:28 -

Then Samson prayed to the LORD, "O Sovereign LORD, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes."

In all his previous feats of strength Samson had always relied on his own strength. There is no other record in the book of Judges of him calling upon the Lord to give him strength other than this one occasion. Samson could no longer rely on his flesh – his own strength and abilities. In that lonely prison cell Samson came face to face with his weaknesses, his failures, and his inability to live for God in his own strength. There was a shift in the spiritual realm, in his perception -he moved from the realm of the flesh to the realm of faith. With his physical eyes gouged out and unable to rely on walking by sight, he had to rely on the Spirit and walk by faith.

And so we find that the Christian life is a life of faith from beginning to end. A life of walking by faith and not by sight – walking not according to what we see in the physical realm but by what we believe in the spiritual realm. Through faith we respond to the amazing grace of God and we find that salvation which we could not attain in our own strength is a free gift from God, and receiving salvation we realize that the new life we have entered into can also not be lived in our own strength. The life we lived in the flesh has passed away and we have entered into life in the Spirit, we are born again of the Spirit. In this we are set free from our slavery to the flesh – as we walk in the Spirit.

It is for this reason that Paul in the book of Romans when referring to Christians continuing in their sin asks ‘how can you be a slave again to sin when you have been crucified with Christ – unified with him in his death and resurrection’. He is saying that you (your flesh) has died (with Christ) and the life you now live you live according to the spirit. How do you deal with sin- by dying. By walking in the realization that you have died and you no longer live but Christ lives in you. This is foreign to the flesh- it is a totally new life, attained through faith believing that you have died and been born again of the Spirit of God. Every time you fall, struggle or are faced with the resurgence of a particular sin in your life you are challenged afresh to decide whether nothing has changed in you or whether everything has changed. This requires faith and believing on the word of God. Many Christians struggle with sin and when faced with this contradiction between what they believe has changed in them and the daily failures and struggles which say that nothing has changed – choose to believe that nothing has really changed in them. For this reason many Christians settle for second best, believing that the Christian life is a hereafter life and not a here and now life.

Death to self is victory over sin. We need to die that Christ may live. It is in this that the victory comes, that sin falls off. When you hold onto the flesh you will die spiritually and will never attain the fullness of what Christ has for you. We are no longer under law struggling with the flesh. We are under grace, walking in the spirit- walking in faith. This is a new life, a new way, an adventure with God- learning to walk and live in the spirit – in essence practising to live the life that will be ours when he returns in his fullness and reveals everything to us – that time when we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. We are called to live that life now – not later. The old has gone the new has come.

Not alone

But in this walk we are not alone. In Judges 16:26 Samson said to the servant who held his hand,

"Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them."

Samson was not alone. As his eyes were gouged out and he had no physical sight Samson had a servant to lead and guide him. In our spiritual walk we too have a helper to lead and guide us- the Holy Spirit.

John 14:16 -

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you for ever; 17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, neither knows him: but you know him; for he dwells with you, and shall be in you.

Jesus promises a Comforter that will not only be with us but in us. And he will teach us and reveal truth to us. What truth? The truth concerning Jesus and all that he has done on our behalf on the cross.

John 14:26 -

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I have said to you.

And so Samson asks the servant to lead him to where the two central pillars are supporting the temple.

Judges 16:29-“Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood”.

THE TEMPLE OF FLESH

In Judges 16 we find that the reason the philistines had gathered in the temple was to worship their god – dagon.

Judges 16:24 -

The rulers of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate.

So we find that this temple was a stronghold for satan and that it had two supporting pillars.

What are these two supporting pillars that support satan’s stronghold? Satan as we know is not creative and is a copy cat- he replicates the things of God and creates counterfeits to confuse the people of God. So we find that where Christianity has the two supporting pillars of Grace and Faith -satan has two opposing pillars supporting his stronghold – the law and the flesh. To counter the pillar of Grace satan uses the Law to neutralise the Grace of God. To counter the pillar of Faith satan uses the flesh to keep the people of God from experiencing victory in their walk, and entering into the things of the Spirit.

These are the two pillars of the Christian faith- Grace and Faith. These two pillars have to be established and certain in the lives of every Christian, and they have to be grounded on the foundation which is Christ. We know that it is by grace we are saved through faith apart from any works on our part. Our salvation flows entirely from the Grace of God, and this amazing salvation is received by faith.

Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.

Once again I need to reiterate the importance of Grace – it is one of the pillars of our salvation. Satan knows that when the children of God come into a full understanding of the amazing grace of God and the fact that they have been set free from the constraints of the law he will have lost the battle. The only way satan can win the battle is by getting God’s people to believe that they are still under the law – by keeping them in slavery to the law, believing that they have to comply with endless rules and regulations in order to please God and to receive his blessings. This is not true!

Grace accomplishes what the law could never accomplish. The bible tells us that what the law could not do in that it was weakened by the flesh God did by sending his son to die for us. What was the law powerless to do? – the law could not forgive us and it could not make us righteous. Law can only judge, punish and bring curses. Jesus died that we might receive forgiveness, receive grace! Grace to grow in him from glory to glory as we make mistakes and learn.

To help our understanding of Grace, allow me to relate the experience of God’s Grace to learning to ride a bicycle. While we were lost and walking in the wrong direction, Jesus died for us, that we could receive forgiveness and salvation. He turned us around and faced us in the right direction, and then gave us a bicycle that we would no longer have to walk and grow weary. But we had never ridden a bicycle before so we had to learn how to ride from scratch.

When we are saved we receive a new life, we are new creations in Christ, but we have to learn to live out this new life. Under the law this is not possible – that is why the law was done away with. Under the law learning to ride your new bike would go something like this – “my child I have given you this new bike - to help you to ride it I have given you a book of instructions (the law) on how to ride the bike. Read it and then ride the bike. However if you should fall over at any time whilst learning to ride you have failed to abide by the instructions and I will have to take the bike away! You only have one chance. Good luck!”

Under the law there is no forgiveness no leniency no second chances. The law tells us that if you break even one of the commands you have broken them all! Thank God for his grace and forgiveness!

When you are under the grace of God it goes something like this – “my child I have given you this new bike- to help you ride it I have given you a helper (the Holy Spirit) who will teach you to ride this new bike. If you fall over a few times don’t worry I will pick you up, dust you off and help you back on. Don’t be discouraged by failure my child – you will get the hang of it, and will soon be zooting around doing tricks and showing off to all your friends!”

No prize for guessing which approach will yield results. The amazing thing is that some Christians actually choose to try and do it under the law – which allows no grace for failure. Christ died to set us free from the law! Why? Because it will kill you! Condemnation will kill you spiritually and you will never learn to ride your new bike. You will only stare at those who are cycling up and down squealing in joy at the wonderful new experience they are having and wonder what is missing in your experience. What is missing is your experience of the wonderful grace of God!

Some people are too scared to ride the bike in case they fall off and God takes it away from them. This spirit of fear keeps many from entering in. You cannot live by fear, fear cripples you, it binds you and keeps you from moving forward into all that God has for you. Fear is overcome by faith in the grace and forgiveness of God. Grace and forgiveness gives you space for failure whilst you are learning. It is a safety net for you. God does not expect you to fail- but He has created an environment in which even if you do fail He is there to catch you. This releases you from fear and gives you grace to stand up and move on even after you fall. If God’s grace and love was towards you even while you were a sinner and far from Him – how much more now will God’s grace abound to you now that you are his child and have a heart that seeks to please him!

Rom 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! 10 For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

Leave the rules and regulations of the law behind and live in the freedom of the spirit. Live the life of faith, believing that Christ died for you, paying the price for your sins. Believing that the righteousness of Christ has been credited to you and you are holy and righteous in the sight of God.

The amazing thing is that when you are no longer living under the law but walking in the Spirit you will be fulfilling all of Gods law and more. Your life will surpass all of the requirements of the law. Not just in the things that you don’t do but in the things that you do. Christ came to give us life! Life does not consist in the things that you don’t do but in the things that you do. The law says that you must do no work on the Sabbath- but Jesus healed the blind man on the Sabbath. When he did this he was saying to the teachers of the law and his people “open your eyes! The new wine, the life of the Spirit, cannot be contained within the old wineskin of the law”. Jesus declared “I have come that you may have life and have it more abundantly”.

This abundant life is not found in trying to live your life in compliance to rules and regulations, this is dead religion – a life lived in your own strength and religious fervour. No, he has called us to life more abundant – living in the Spirit, growing from glory to glory as we learn to live from the foot of the cross, living the life he purposed for us. Christ died for you! He has a life and a purpose for you – good works prepared in advance for you to do. It all starts at the foot of the cross – realising all that he has done on your behalf on the cross. Realising that the law with all its rules and regulations was nailed to the cross – done away with. He has removed our babysitter, the law, and given us his Spirit to lead and guide us into all truth. This was the glory of Pentecost. The waiting on God in the upper room. Waiting for what? The gift of the Holy Spirit! The law was done away with on the cross and there was a vacuum. This was filled by the Holy Spirit! We are now called to live by the Spirit. To be dependent on him and led by him. This is why the new life is a walk of faith. You can no longer depend on your own strength, knowledge and ability – but you have to trust in Him who you cannot see.

This is why the church is crucial to your spiritual life. God has made you not only to function as an individual but as part of a greater body – the church. In the church we are nurtured and grow. We receive ministry through the gifts of God – and the ministry of pastors, prophets evangelists and teachers. If you are languishing in a church were the law is preached, or a mixture of law and grace, your growth will be stunted. You will labour under the weight of law and loose the joy of your salvation. You need to find a church were the complete gospel of grace is preached so that you can be released from the shackles of the law (and sin) and experience freedom.

Do not be misled, this fight between law and grace is not a fight over doctrine it is a fight for your freedom!

Christ died to set you free! Free from the law, free from sin and free from the flesh. “It is for freedom that Christ has set you free”. Why does Christ desire to set us free? So that we can choose. Those who are not free cannot choose. If you are a slave to sin, God needs to set you free so that you can choose whether to sin or not. If you are a slave to the flesh God needs to set you free so that you can choose whether or not you are going to live by the flesh. The greatest threat to freedom is law. Law restricts freedom. Yes there is a place for law, but life supersedes law. God’s word states “the law of the Spirit of life has set me free from the law of sin and death”. When Jesus healed the blind man on the Sabbath he experienced the life of God. He experienced a life giving God who loved and cared about him. The law of the spirit of life superseded the law of sin and death. The teachers of the law and elders were angry that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, but the blind man received life! If Jesus had complied with the law the blind man would still have been blind, but he chose instead to reveal his Grace. The eyes of the blind man were opened but the teachers of the law remained blind! They despised the grace of God. They could not accept this grace of God that was being poured out on the sinners and the sick and chose to cling instead to their self-righteousness under the law.

If you are living under the law, trying to live the Christian life in your own strength, living by the rules and regulations of man – choose life! Allow God to open your eyes – to remove your spiritual blindness and reveal His amazing grace to you –the same grace he revealed to Samson all those years ago. You need to do what Samson did – reach out in faith and place your hands against each pillar. One hand on the pillar of the law and one hand on the pillar of the flesh. Then trust God for the strength to push them over.

Judges 16:29-

29 Samson took hold of the two middle pillars that supported the temple and he leaned against them, with his right hand on one and his left hand on the other. 30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He pushed hard and the temple collapsed on the rulers and all the people in it.

Once again we have this wonderful picture of the cross – as Samson stands between the pillars and stretches out each arm full length in the shape of a cross as he pushes against the pillars. Through the cross of Jesus the pillars of the law and the flesh were destroyed. What remains is for each Christian to come to the place of realising that the law and flesh have been dealt with at the cross. In faith you need to stretch out each arm and place your hands against these two pillars and push against them with the truth of the gospel, in faith believing on the finished work of the cross.

I have laid out the scriptural basis for these assertions – it is up to you to take hold of the truth by faith and apply them to your life. You need to place one hand on the pillar of the law in your life and push against it with the truth of God’s word – you are no longer under law you are under grace. You need to place your other hand on the pillar of the flesh and push against that with the truth that you are no longer subject to the flesh, the flesh has been removed – circumcised- and you are now subject to the Spirit of God – walking according to the Spirit. You have died to the law and to the flesh; neither can have any power over you any longer.

The bible tells us that when Samson pushed against these two pillars the temple collapsed killing all of the rulers and the philistines. When you push against these two pillars in your life satans stronghold will be broken in your life. God’s word declares that the truth will set you free. Allow these truths to be established in your life – right believing is right living. The bible declares ‘as a man thinks in his heart, so is he’. What you believe determines what you become.

If you are struggling with the flesh and particular sins in your life then these concepts of Grace and Faith may sound very spiritual and ‘pie in the sky’ – but this is not the case. The concepts of Grace and Faith are very practical and relevant to your struggle with the flesh, and it may be helpful for me to explain the practical outworking of these concepts in the following way : the flesh consists of two components – the first component is what is referred to as “the old man” our old thought patterns and beliefs which were developed over the years- basically our old character or personality which was formed in us before we came to Christ. This is also sometimes referred to as the “old nature” the person we were before we came to Christ and were born again of the spirit. This old nature was formed by our being dominated by our selfish fleshly nature rather than by the spirit within us. This old nature is done away with at the cross – we die to the old nature – no longer being subject to its selfish and fleshly desires but now finding ourselves subject to the new nature – our spirits being inhabited by the Holy Spirit and freeing us from slavery to the old self. Our spirits are now empowered and the new man comes into being – learning to walk by the spirit rather than by the flesh. This victory was attained at the cross – Christ dying for us, removing our sins and making us righteous before God so that we could become the temple of God, being indwelt by the Spirit of God and empowered to start living a new life. This is an accomplished act of God and is therefore attained or worked out through faith – believing that our sins have been forgiven, that we are righteous before God and have been indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Through faith we believe that our old nature has died and no longer has power over us – and through faith we believe that we have been born again, we have received a new nature – a nature which makes us now slaves to righteousness. As we live and walk in this truth through faith we find ourselves being transformed more and more into the image of Christ as we outwork this new nature which is inside us. This “old nature” is then dealt with through Faith.

The second component of the flesh is those sins or habits to which we have become enslaved. When you persist in sin you become enslaved by sin. Here we are talking about those sins which we no longer commit out of choice but we commit out of slavery or addiction to those sins. This could be addiction to alcohol, drugs, pornography, sexual sins etc. Those things which have a hold over you and you cannot overcome in your own strength. Victory over this component of the flesh comes through GRACE. Grace has the power to overcome sin. Romans 5:20 tells us that where sin abounds grace abounds all the more.

Romans 5:20 The law came in besides, that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly; 21 that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Greek word translated here as “abound” is pleonazo and means to increase ie through the law sin increased. However the Greek word translated as “abounded more exceedingly” is huperperisseuo which means to super-abound. So we see that wherever sin abounds God’s grace super-abounds. The first good news then is that sin can never be greater or more powerful than God’s grace – because this scripture tells us that wherever sin increases God’s grace increases all the more. So even that big sin you were thinking about-yes that one!-is covered by the grace of God. To paraphrase if I may – what this scripture declares is this- you cannot out-sin God’s grace!

When we come to understand the true grace of God we are set free from these sins. Sin loses its power when we walk under grace. What is this grace? – It is the undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour of God towards us. It is the realisation of the truth of this fact – in Christ all your sins are forgiven. All your sins. Past sins, present sins, future sins - all covered by the precious blood of the lamb. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. We don’t understand it -it makes no sense to the human mind. We think we are unworthy, we think we don’t deserve it – but that is why it is by grace. It is by God’s grace because we don’t deserve it. This is where the takkie meets the tarmac!

Can we accept this amazing, unbelievable, undeserved grace of God? It is all of God and nothing of me. I deserved punishment, I deserved judgement, but instead I found the God of all love lavishing his grace, his forgiveness, on me. Everything in us cries out- this can’t be true! How can God forgive such sin, how can God keep lavishing his grace and forgiveness upon me while I continue to sin against him? But there is a strange and wonderful thing that happens when I come to the place of accepting God’s grace, when I come to the place of realisation that God indeed has forgiven my sin, and continues to forgive me and lavish his amazing grace upon me even while I am in my sin. The amazing thing is this – as I come to accept the grace of God, as I come to accept that I am forgiven even in the midst of my sin – sin loses its power over me!

In truth it can no longer have power over me because I am forgiven. The God of judgement has declared me innocent. Sin starts to lose its grip on me and falls off. I find that I was enslaved by my shame and guilt – but when God’s grace set me free from shame and guilt sin no longer had a hold on me. Shame and guilt, my feelings of unworthiness and self- condemnation were the claws with which my sin held onto me. But when the forgiveness of God came, the claws of guilt and shame were removed. When He declared me righteous the claws of unworthiness and self- condemnation were removed. With the claws of sin removed, sin falls off- it can no longer hold onto me. And not only that -my desire to sin is removed by the grace of God!

The bottom line is this - your sin can never be more powerful than God’s grace! If sin was more powerful than the grace of God we would still be lost – enslaved by our sin – and without hope in the world. But we have hope – we have the amazing grace of God toward us!

Sin has lost its power and grace has triumphed!

1 corinth 15:55“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

The power of sin was the law – but Christ has removed the law and replaced it with his grace. The pillar of the law was destroyed by grace. The stronghold of satan has been destroyed in my life and the supporting pillar of Grace has been established in my life! We are established in Grace and supported by Grace. I have become the temple of God – indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, established and supported by the pillars of Grace and Faith. When these pillars are rooted and established in me then I am rooted and established in Christ – immovable! Allow Christ to bring you to this place. Put your trust and faith in him and all that he has accomplished for you on the cross. It is all freely yours in Christ. He has done it all! All you need to do is believe in all he has done for you – nothing more, nothing less. This is the work God desires – that you believe in him. Listen to the words of Christ himself when he was asked this question – what must we do to please God?

John 6:28 So then they said to him, “What must we do to accomplish the deeds God requires?” 29 Jesus replied, “This is the deed God requires – to believe in the one whom he sent.”

Christ on the cross was God’s hand of grace extended to a lost world. The mighty God of all creation came not with a sword of judgement but with the open hand of grace. This has been a stumbling block for many, many have not understood what Christ came to accomplish on the cross.

Romans 9:30 What shall we say then? – that the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness obtained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith, 31 but Israel even though pursuing a law of righteousness did not attain it. 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but (as if it were possible) by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 just as it is written,

“Look, I am laying in Zion a stone that will cause people to stumble
and a rock that will make them fall,
yet the one who believes in him will not be put to shame.”

Do not let Christ become a stumbling stone for you – do not pursue righteousness through the law – trying to earn the grace and forgiveness of Christ. It is attained only through faith – faith in Christ and all he has accomplished for you. He has declared you forgiven through the cross. He has declared you righteous through the cross. He has set you free from sin through the cross. He has set you free from the flesh through the cross. Put your faith and trust in him now! Accept all he has done for you now! Thank him that salvation is all of him and nothing of you! Thank him that that your salvation rests not on your faithfulness but on his faithfulness!

When you can do this you have found salvation through the grace of God. All of God and nothing of me. If it were possible to save myself through my own effort then Christ died for nothing! But thank God that he met me in my weakness, and his hand of grace has lifted me up – he has declared me righteous, he has clothed me with the robe of righteousness and seated me in heavenly places in Christ!

THE DEATH OF SAMSON

There is a wonderful and powerful verse in Judges 16:31 which summarises all of Samson’s life – his trials and tribulations and ultimate victory. It is a very short verse which almost appears as if it was added as an afterthought by the author, but it is the most powerful verse in the book of Judges. It is not a verse I have ever heard anyone preach on. I have heard many people preach from the life of Samson and reference is almost always made to judges 16:20 as one of the saddest scriptures in the bible –where the Spirit of God left Samson but he did not even realise that God had left him.

Judges 16:20 -

20 She said, “The Philistines are here, Samson!” He woke up and thought, “I will do as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not realize that the LORD had left him.

For many this is the main lesson from the life of Samson – many have preached on this verse and put fear into people that if they continue to ignore God the Spirit of God will leave them. But thanks to the grace of God the story of Samson did not end there. The most powerful verse in the book of Samson – I believe – is Judges 16:31b –

“And He killed many more philistines when he died than when he lived.”

In all of his life and in all of his great victories Samson killed many philistines – he killed 1000 philistines with the jawbone of a donkey, he went to Ashkelon and killed thirty men. He had many great victories – but the word of God declares that he killed more philistines when he died than when he lived.

When Samson came to the end of himself, when he died to himself – to the flesh, he killed more philistines than he ever did in his own strength. When we die to ourselves and allow the Spirit of God to lead us we will be more effective in one moment than we have ever been in our whole life of living for ourselves. We can achieve more in one moment of yielding to the Spirit than we can in a lifetime lived in our own strength. The world has yet to see what can be achieved by a life completely yielded to Christ. Every believer that desires victory in Christ must die at the cross. We (our flesh) must be crucified at the cross. Then we can declare with Paul the apostle – I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live – but Christ lives in me.

But this is not the end of the story – Samson has one more story to tell, and this is the story of two Sabbaths.

TWO SABBATHS

JUDGES 16:31 His brothers and all his family went down and brought him back. They buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led Israel for twenty years.

Samson was placed in the tomb of Manoah his father. Manoah is from a Hebrew word which means “rest”. And so Samson’s life journey ends in a place of rest. This place of rest which Samson enters is the same destination that awaits every believer. There is a place of rest that God has created for every believer – a Sabbath rest. Samson entered this place when he died – and we too can enter this place when we die to ourselves, our flesh, and our own efforts to please God in our own strength. This place of rest is not a place that God has created for us to enter into one day when we die physically – this is a place that God has called us to enter now. All of the realities that we receive in Christ are for the here and now – not for an eternal life hereafter. Our eternal life starts when we are born again of the spirit.

When we are born again we are transformed – becoming new creations in Christ. We die to the old self and rise to the new. Having died already we will not die again. Our earthly bodies (flesh) may well perish but we are spirit and will never perish. Eternity is in us. As our eternal life has already begun so all that we have received from Christ is ours NOW.

The forgiveness of sins that we have received is for now. I am not going to be forgiven one day - I have been forgiven all of my sins now. If all of my sins are not forgiven now they will never be forgiven because Christ has already died and he is not coming back to die again. We have been declared righteous by God now –if I am not righteous now I will never be righteous because there is nothing I can do to obtain righteousness once I die. I have victory over the flesh now, I walk after the Spirit now, I am freed from the law now, and I enter the rest of God now. All of the spiritual blessings of Christ’s are ours – now.

Ephesians 1:3 -

3 Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ.

The tense used here is passed tense – Christ “has already blessed us”. Through the life of Samson we have learned of some of the wonderful spiritual blessings that are ours in Christ. The blessings are ours for now – they are ours to claim – to experience the wonderful riches of Christ in our lives now. We are called to live victorious lives now. Do not put off for tomorrow the blessings that are yours in Christ for today – claim them through faith. Commit yourself to studying the word of God and finding out all of the treasures that are yours in Christ.

Finding rest

This final blessing we find in Samson’s life is the blessing of “rest”. To understand the context of this rest we need to return to the beginning – to the account of creation in the book of genesis.

Genesis 2:1 –

1 The heavens and the earth were completed with everything that was in them. 2 By the seventh day God finished the work that he had been doing, and he ceased on the seventh day all the work that he had been doing. 3 God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he ceased all the work that he had been doing in creation.

The bible tells us that God created the heavens and the earth in six days – then on the seventh day he had finished all his work and so he rested on the seventh day. This is the first account of resting in the bible – and from this account we find that this “rest” of God has two components. God rested because His work was “complete” and because it was “finished”. Verse one tells us that the work of God was “complete”. This speaks of perfection. Everything that he had done was perfect. There was no need to add another stripe to the zebra or another tooth to the shark. Everything was perfect. Perfection is then the first component – the need to no longer do anything because that which has been done is perfect.

The second component is stated in verse two which tells us that the work of God was ‘finished’. Not only had God made everything perfect but there was nothing else to do, his act of creation was “finished”. The work of God was complete and it was perfect.

And so we find that rest is the result of work that is complete and perfect.

God then commands His people to set the seventh day apart as holy and not to do any work on this day. Exodus 20:8 –

“Remember the Sabbath day to set it apart as holy. 9 For six days you may labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or the resident foreigner who is in your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

This day on which they were not to do any work was referred to as the “Sabbath” from the root word ‘shabhath’ which means “to desist”, “cease” or “rest”. This was a day that was meant to be set aside to celebrate the perfect and complete work of God. This Sabbath day became a very important part of Jewish culture but was practised more out of religious fervour than out of a heart of love for God. We find in fact that by the time of Jesus’ ministry that the Jews had developed a long list of laws pertaining to what you could and could not do on the Sabbath. By the time of Jesus the Sabbath had lost all of its true meaning and become more of a burden to the people than a blessing because of all the rules and regulations around what could and could not be done and what constituted work and what did not. The Sabbath was intended to be a blessing – a time of celebration and rest, but the teachers of the law and the religious leaders created so many laws around what could and could not be done that all the joy and celebration was lost.

Once again we see the that living under the law removes your joy, it slowly squeezes all the joy out of you by creating more and more regulations for you to comply with until that which is meant to be a celebration becomes a burden. This was why the law was done away with – the letter kills but the Spirit gives life.

2 corinth 3:6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant--not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

So this first Sabbath rest was a holy day, a day set aside for the Jews to rest from their work.

However there is another Sabbath rest that is revealed in the bible. As we have stated before all of the religious festivals and celebrations instituted by God were not an end in themselves but were a shadow of realities that were to come , realities that were revealed in Christ. This applies also to the Sabbath day celebration – it was a picture of a reality that was yet to come - but is now revealed in Christ.

Colossians 2:16,17 -

“Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

So once again we see that the Sabbath day was not an end in itself – but was a picture of a reality that was to come– a reality that was revealed in Christ. Hebrews 4 tells us about this reality which has now come – this Sabbath rest that is found in Christ. Through Hebrews 3 and 4 we see that this Sabbath rest that God desires for us is not a day of rest but a place of rest. It is not God’s plan that we rest on one day – He desires us to rest every day – to enter His place of rest.

Hebrews 3:16Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? 18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed?19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.

The writer of Hebrews states that the Israelites under Moses could not enter His rest. What was this place that they could not enter into under Moses – it was the Promised Land. The people of God under Moses did not enter into the Promised Land but died in the desert. Are we this present generation of Gods people going to enter His rest – His promised land - or are we too going to perish in the desert of unbelief?

Hebrews 3:19 tells us what disqualified God’s people from entering this rest – it was their unbelief. Some interpretations of the bible suggest that Gods people did not enter in because of their disobedience. The word used here is the Greek apistia which is interpreted as faithlessness or disbelief. There is a big difference between disobedience and disbelief.

Disobedience centres on us and what we have done – disbelief centres on God and what He has done.

As stated earlier our disobedience – our sin – has been dealt with on the cross. Our sins have been forgiven. Our sins no longer disqualify us from the blessings of God. What does disqualify us is our unbelief – not believing in Christ and all He has accomplished on our behalf on the cross. If I do not believe my sins are forgiven then Christ died for nothing. If I do not believe that I am now the righteousness of God in Christ - it is of no effect for me. Whatever Christ has accomplished for me on the cross is of no effect to me if I do not believe it. We are saved by grace through faith. God’s grace - as powerful as it is - is of no effect until I activate it through faith.

What is faith? – faith is simply this: believing God. Many people have gone to great lengths to overcomplicate a very simple word and create long definitions and theologies around what faith is. The good news is that it is not complicated and you do not need a theological degree to understand faith – faith is believing God. How then do we enter this Sabbath rest of God? By faith. By believing.

Hebrews 4:3 For we who have believed enter that rest

What is it that we are to believe in order to enter this rest? To answer this question we must return again to the book of Genesis – the book of beginnings. As stated earlier Gods act of creation was complete and it was perfect. But that all changed in the garden of Eden – through Adam and Eve’s act of disbelieving – not believing God when He said that when you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you will surely die.

Genesis 2:16 –

16 Then the LORD God commanded the man, “You may freely eat fruit from every tree of the orchard, 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die.”

But they sought a second opinion from the serpent who informed them that they would surely not die.

Gen 3: 4 You will not surely die, the serpent said to the woman.5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

They chose to disbelieve God and believe rather in what the serpent had said – and they ate of the fruit. They chose to disbelieve that God is a good God who desires good things for his children. As a result of their disbelieving, sin entered Gods perfect creation, and all of creation was subjected to sin. In Genesis 3:17 we find some of the results of sin – the ground was cursed and painful toil (work) lay ahead for Adam.

Gen 3:17 -

17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."

And so one of the curses we find is ‘painful toil all the days of your life’. There is no mention here of a day of rest – a Sabbath day – only painful toil all the days of your life. This is the result of unbelief – when we choose not to believe in what God has done and not to believe in the goodness of God. When we choose to reject God’s plan of salvation through grace and try rather to earn salvation through our own efforts- our own good works - then only painful toil lies ahead of us, and no day of rest.

But this was not God’s plan for man – his creation that he loved. These words of Genesis 3 have hardly left Gods lips and we find that He has already set in motion a plan of redemption, a plan to restore man and all of His creation to its original perfection. Genesis 3:21 –

21 The LORD God made garments from skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.

God set in motion his plan to clothe Adam and Eve – to cover their sin until He could ultimately remove their sin and restore all of creation. This plan of salvation was slowly revealed through all of Gods dealings with the Israelites until it culminated in the coming of Christ – the Lamb of God whose sacrifice would remove the sins of the world and restore all things.

Collosians 1:19 -

19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Through the work of Christ on the cross all things were restored that were lost at the fall. Christ performed an act of creation – restoring us to our original position of communion with God.

2 Corinthians 5:17 -

17 So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away – look, what is new has come! 18 And all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and who has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

The bible records this culmination of our restoration through Christ at the cross in John 19:28 -

28 Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty."29 A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

This act of restoration on the cross is a mirror of the original act of creation that we looked at in Genesis 2:1-3 :

Gen 2:1 The heavens and the earth were completed with everything that was in them. 2 By the seventh day God finished the work that he had been doing, and he ceased on the seventh day all the work that he had been doing. 3 God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he ceased all the work that he had been doing in creation.

In the Genesis account we noted that on the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing. This became the first Sabbath rest. In John 19:30 we see that as Jesus gave up his life on the cross he declared “it is finished”. This became the second Sabbath – the Sabbath rest that is spoken of in Hebrews 4 – the place of rest that all believers are called to enter. The place of resting from our works and efforts in regard to our relationship with God. Jesus restored our relationship with God through the cross and there is now nothing left for us to do other than believe. We no longer have to perform religious ceremonies, try to live morally or abide by laws and regulations in order to maintain a relationship with God or earn His favour. It has all been achieved by Christ on the cross.

To try to earn Gods favour by our own efforts or religious acts is an affront to the cross; it is saying that the work of Jesus on the cross was not enough. That is why Gods word declares in Isaiah 64:6 that all our righteousness or moral deeds are like filthy rags – because nothing we do can compare to the perfect sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

Isaiah 64:6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

We no longer have to try and find favour with God because Jesus found favour with God. Jesus accomplished everything on our behalf and everything we now need is found in Christ. We do not have to work or labour for these things any longer they are already ours ‘in Christ’, through faith.

As we stated earlier concerning the original creation account of Genesis, this ‘rest’ from God results from work that that has two components. Rest results from work that is ‘complete’ and ‘finished’. In verse 28 it states that Jesus knew all things were now ‘completed’ and he then declared ‘it is finished’. The work of Jesus on the cross was complete – it was perfect in every way, He was the perfect Lamb of God which took away the sin of the world. He then also declared this perfect work ‘finished’. There was nothing else to do; everything that needed to be done was done at the cross. We are now called to rest in this truth, to believe God when He declares the work of the cross perfect and complete. This is the rest we are called to enter, the true Sabbath ordained by God, not a day of resting from manual labour but a lifestyle of resting in the truth that we are holy and righteous in the sight of God, cleansed from all our sins by the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ!

This was the gospel – the good news - that the apostles declared. Freedom from the law and our own self righteous acts – freedom to serve God from a holy heart cleansed by the blood of Christ.

And this is the gospel that I declare to you – the same gospel Samson declared – the same gospel the apostles declared – the same gospel that is declared today. The gospel - the good news – is this: through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross your sins have been forgiven. All of your sins. Past sins, present sins, future sins – sins of thought, sins of deed - all your sins!

The law has been done away with at the cross – all the rules and regulations removed. Nailed to the cross – cancelled!

The jaw of the accuser was broken at the cross; satan can no longer accuse you as your sins are forgiven and the law done away with.

When the accusers jaw was broken at the cross then at that same moment your jaw was elevated at the cross. Your jaw was elevated to its ultimate purpose – declaring the goodness of God.

Your flesh was circumcised at the cross – removed – you are no longer a slave to your fleshly desires and passions, but are set free – free to live by the Spirit. Free to walk by the Spirit and enjoy the abundant life.

When we embrace all of these truths – when we choose to believe God – then we enter His rest, His Sabbath rest, our promised land!

My prayer is that you would choose to believe God and would embark on life’s greatest journey – discovering all the riches of the Grace of God that flow to us from the cross.

Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.

Saturday 26 September 2015