By Nassa Ouakoubo1
Romans 10:4: "For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone what believes"
Did you know that the Law of Moses is a ghost that is haunting the Church? Did you know that the Law died at Christ's cross, but it is back in the pulpit in the Church?
Men of God, come out of that; you do not sit in the pulpit of Moses (Matthew 23:2), but in that of the Gospel of grace (Acts 20:24). Don't you know that the preaching of the Law is not given to you, because the Bible clearly says that those who become attached to the obedience to the Law are under the curse?
Galatians 3:10 says: "For as many as are of the works of the Law are under the curse..."
Are you overcome by sin and anxiety? Know simply that these things are part of curse which comes into the life of those who become attached to the works of the Law.
Don't you know that the Law was nailed to the cross and that it does not concern you?
Hebrew 8:7 says: "For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second."
Another reason not to preach the Law is because it demands from the man a total obedience without failing. Here is how James 2:10 express it:
"For whosoever shall keep the whole Law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all"
I Corinthians 15:56 says: "...and the strength of sin is the Law..."
And Rom 5:20 confirms in these terms: "Moreover the Law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound."
Do you understand this? The Law is the power of sin and it favors our separation from God. On the other hand, the power of grace is superior to that of the Law so it maintains us in God's love. That is why the Bible says in Romans 8:38: "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come , nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Don't you know that the Law is the effort of man for himself and by himself, but that grace is what God does for man? Do you want to base your blessings on your own capacities or on those of God through Christ? It is up to you to choose! There is no condemnation for you unless you impose it upon yourself!
Certain ministers say: "we preach the tithe because Abraham gave a tithe of his booty before the existence of the Law."
But frankly, I want the preacher of the Law to tell me if the church practices all which was before the Law! And where are the sacrifices or the altars which Abraham made? Why don't the followers of the Law practice these very things? Did anybody ask Abraham to give the tithe of his booty? Did Abraham give to be blessed in return or by way of gratitude to this mysterious King and Priest called Melchizedek who is the secret Author of his victory? A perfect type of Jesus Christ!
Since the end of the Law on the cross, no epistle to the churches invites the Church to observe the Law of Moses. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 9:7 how we should give today: "Every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give." This means you can tithe if this is what gives you joy in recognition of what God has done for you or given to you, and not in a legalistic way to deserve God's blessings! The only person who deserves God's blessings is Christ, and in Him we have all things by our faith obedience. And Christ will perform good works through us. What we call our good works are His.
My brothers and my sisters, we are free from the Law and praiseworthy works. We thus have to chase away this ghost by a Christian life at 100 percent grace that is to let Christ himself live this life through us.
Galatians 2:20: "I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not I, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
It is by the preaching and teaching of the message of grace that we communicate the secrets of how Christ can live His life through us. Come to hear what a privileged generation you are!
1 Nassa is a part of the Bold Grace Church Planting Initiative and leads several churches in Ivory Coast (that's where the green dot in Africa on this map is).