Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law

"Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free" (Gal. 4:21-31). Now to top off this powerful passage let me add one more verse from the previous chapter of the same book: "So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham" (Gal. 3:9). This really sums up the whole fulfillment of the law issue, showing that the old and new covenants do not and cannot coexist: "In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away" (Heb. 8:13). That is what the revelation of the fulfillment of the law that God gave the apostle Paul was all about (Gal. 1:11,12). It is this simple my friend: There is absolutely NOTHING that can justify anyone in the sight of God except for pure, unadulterated FAITH in his Son Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:20-22; Rom. 5:1; Gal. 2:16). Repentance from sin and faith in Jesus produces the baptism of the holy Ghost from Jesus, the ONLY new testament baptizer who is acceptable to God (Mk. 1:7,8; I Cor. 12:13; Eph. 4:5). And once we have been baptized with the Spirit with the accompanying sign of speaking with other tongues, our calling and duty is to WALK in the Spirit and be led continually thereby into holiness (Acts 2:4; Gal. 5:16; Rom. 8:14; Eph. 4:24). And again, the ONLY way we can do this is by persevering FAITH in Jesus, drawing more of the power of the Spirit from him into us (Jn. 15:4,5). If we do these things, and die to sin through the power of the holy Ghost, we will bear the fruit of the Spirit and thereby bare witness of Jesus in truth (Rom. 6:6; Rom. 8:13; Jn. 15:5; Gal. 5:22-24; I Pet. 4:1,2). The totality of the gospel, as well as the law and the prophets, is to "love thy neighbor as thyself" (Mat. 7:12; Rom. 13:10; I Tim. 1:5). We simply cannot do better than that. We cannot add anything to that simplicity of truth, and that simplicity of truth can only be achieved by seriously honest and humble faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Period. The holy Ghost itself IS THE LAW written in our hearts and minds if we have received it (Heb. 10:15,16; II Cor. 3:3). The Spirit IS the will of God, which 'will' could not be empowered until the death of the testator (Heb. 9:16,17). And regarding the fruit of the Spirit, which first and foremost is the love of God; the scripture says "against such there is NO LAW" (Gal. 5:23).

Continuing to recognize and practice carnal, symbolic ceremonies that only pointed to spiritual realities to come, has worked greatly to quench the Spirit of God among God's people (Heb. 10:1; Gal. 3:2,3). Reason being that we MUST go backward from the Spirit in order to keep the ceremonial law of the old covenant, because those ceremonies served only to point to and lead to Christ (Gal. 5:18; Gal. 3:24).). That was the "great conflict" that the apostle Paul dealt with in his ministry to the Gentile believers (Col. 2:1). Jewish men who were in the body of Christ, and claimed to be apostles, went behind Paul and tried to convince the Gentiles that he established in Christ that they had to also keep the ceremonies of the law. It is throughout his writings, and in fact he went on to explain the same in Colossians 2 which I have referenced just above. He speaks of the result of what Jesus accomplished, and how that it had nothing to do with the ceremonies of the law, and that in fact they simply were done away with in Christ: "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross" (Col. 2:14). And that is why he went on to say to the Colossians: "Let NO man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a SHADOW of things to come; but the body is of Christ" (Col. 2:16,17). In other words he was saying to not allow anyone to tell you that you need to keep ceremonial ordinances in order to be fully right with God. In fact he told the same believers in the same chapter that they were indeed "COMPLETE IN HIM" (Col. 2:10). Trying to keep the letter of the law makes one INCOMPLETE because we cannot add to the faith and love of Christ by the law, but rather we can only TAKE AWAY from it by TRYING to add to it. Therein is the following saying of Jesus fulfilled: "No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse" (Mat. 9:16). My friend, anyone and everyone who would have you believe that you need to be water baptized, or keep the so called "communion" ceremony, or observe the Sabbath, or any other carnal commandment; is speaking lies and seeking to drain you of the very life that Jesus suffered, died, and rose again for you to have; and that life is the holy Ghost, which is all the law you will ever need (Jn. 10:10; Rom. 8:2; II Cor. 3:3; Rom. 5:5). But rather heed the words of Jesus, who told us plainly: "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him" (Jn. 4:23). And the apostle Paul told us the same with equal clarity: "For we ARE the circumcision [keepers of the law], which worship God IN THE SPIRIT, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in [regard for] the flesh [carnal ordinances]" (Philip. 3:3). Amen.