ARE YOU A FRUIT TREE OR A CHRISTMAS TREE?

Under the Old Covenant it was IF you DO right God will bless you, IF you DO wrong you are under a curse. You had to EARN God's blessings. It was about what you can DO for God to react. If you draw close to God, He draws close to you. It was a master-slave relationship. It was a work based relationship. People were motivated by FEAR to live right. Human effort and performance was at the forefront. People were actors and the law was the script (you strive not to lie, steal, cheat, fornicate, etc, because the Law said so; righteous living was not an internal overflow but an outward discipline). Righteous living was all artificial; like hanging fruits on a Christmas tree. It was an "IF" relationship. Sadly a lot of Christians still live under this obsolete realm.

Under the New Covenant it is a complete opposite. It is no longer IF you DO this God will DO that; it is God has DONE this so BELIEVE and you will do that. Under the Old Covenant it was you Do for God to Do; but under the New Covenant God has Done, just Believe so you can do. Unlike the Old Testament, here God initiates the process. It is no longer give so that God Will bless you; it is God Has blessed you, so you give. You're now into a Father-son relationship. You don't do things for your Heavenly Father to bless you because all He has is yours. You're no more working for God; you're working with Him. It is no longer God will bless you; it is God has blessed you. And that blessing is not based on your performance but on the finished work of Jesus Christ. Here God does not react, He proacts. Under the New Covenant, believers are motivated by love and gratitude of all God has done to live right. Righteous living is now and outward flow of the inner life of Christ. You don't steal, lie, cheat, fornicate, etc because the written Law says don't; you don't do those things because the nature you now have in Christ does not have those tendencies. You're not guided by external rules and regulations, but you're now led by the inner working of the Spirit (you're not under law but under grace). The Law set a standard you could never keep, but grace brings you up to the standard Christ has kept. Under the New Covenant you're no longer a Christmas tree with its artificial fruits (dead works), but a fruitful tree bearing the fruit of the Spirit (good works). The New Testamennt is a covenant of Grace (you're no longer keeping the commandments of God in order to be righteous, rather you have received a righteous nature that's why you do the commandments). Under the Old Testament righteous living was foreign to you, so you struggle to meet the demands, but under the New Testament righteousness is your nature, so you live right naturally. As a believer with an understanding of this truth, sinning becomes an uphill task for you.

If as a believer you struggle with one sin or the other, it is not because you have a sin problem, it is rather because you don't Know that you no longer have a sin problem. Sanctification is not the process of taking away sin from your life; it is the process of acquiring knowledge that sin has been taken away from your life. Yes, you no longer have a sin problem; you have an ignorance problem. Stop trying to die to the "self" that was nailed to the cross; start living the new life that was delivered to you at the resurrection of Christ.

Your greatest prayer should be, "God, give me understanding of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ." The gospel (good news) is the truth that makes free. That gospel is not taught; it is caught. You can never search and find it; it searches and finds you.

D. Tambah

WHERE IS YOUR JOY OF SALVATION?
Everyone that is genuinely born again experiences the joy of salvation. You feel such relief in your heart; such weight lifted from your soul. Songs of joy spring up. Heaven becomes more real to you than earth. Fellowship with Jesus preoccupies you. Revelation dreams fill your nights. Sinful habits break lose without you breaking a sweat. No one reminds you to read your Bible, pray or share your faith with others. It all flows from a heart of gratitude to God for saving you. (Some might call this experience "young convert zeal".) But before you know it, this joy of salvation seems to varnish. A shade of gloom takes over. Instead of songs of thanksgiving you start hearing prayers like, "O Lord, restore to me the joy of my salvation!" Sinful habits that were put to rest now show their ugly heads. Prayer becomes an uphill task. God seems so far away, a million miles or more. But what went wrong? Apostle Paul addressed this in the Book of Galatians:

Galatians 3:1-3 KJV
[1]O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
[2]This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
[3]Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?

Galatians 3:1-3 GNB
[1] You foolish Galatians! Who put a spell on you? Before your very eyes you had a clear description of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross!
[2] Tell me this one thing: did you receive God's Spirit by doing what the Law requires or by hearing the gospel and believing it?
[3] How can you be so foolish! You began by God's Spirit; do you now want to finish by your own power?

You see, you became born again when you heard the gospel (good news) of what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross (when He died and rose again) and BELIEVED. You were saved by grace (God's effort) through faith (by believing what He has done for you). That very moment God came to live in you by His Spirit. You were regenerated (fellowship between your spirit and God was restored). So, your new life in Christ began by faith (believing what Christ did for you). But along the way religion stepped in. The life that should have started by faith and continued by faith was interrupted by the traditions of men. Instead of relating with God entirely on the basis of what Jesus has done (on the cross), you were taught to keep this law or that law in order to please God (but you can only please God by faith Heb 11:6). You took your eyes off what Jesus has done (the cross) and focused on what you can do. Instead of relating with God based on the merit of Christ, you relied rather on your human effort (self-righteousness). The life line of grace which you started off with was cut off by dead works, so the lights went off.

You're saved by grace through faith and you live your new life in Christ by faith, which will naturally result in good works (obeying the commands of Christ). It is because you've been made righteous in Christ that you obey His commands; it is NOT because you obey his commands that you become righteous. Righteousness is a gift from God and not something you earn. As children of God, we believe to see; we don't see to believe. The life of the believer is a life of faith from start to finish. And that life runs on the wheels of what Jesus Christ has done (Heb 12:2).

Romans 1:16-17 KJV
[16]For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
[17]For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

D. Tambah