Title: Gaze Upon Christ, Not the Law
Meta: It is absolutely faulty if we have this idea that once we come to Christ, that's all the more we need of the Cross; now we need to move on to other things in the Christian life. No. No. No.  - Tim Conway
Tags: Christ,peace,law,commandments,bible,god,believer,Jesus

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It is absolutely faulty if we have this idea that once we come to Christ,

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that's all the more we need of the Cross;

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now we need to move on to other things in the Christian life. No. No. No. (P)

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What the Cross is it's the greatest demonstration of love of all.

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And as we are brought back to that demonstration of love again and again,

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and we behold Christ, and we behold what He did,

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and we behold His sacrifice, we behold Him suffering the wrath of God,

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we behold Him enduring what nobody else ever endured,

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we behold such depths such heights such expanses of love,

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and we behold this and we gaze upon this, and we take this in,

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Paul realizes this... Yes the Spirit of God is the One

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who bears this fruit in our lives, but it is as we abide in Christ. (P)

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How do we abide in Christ?

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By faith, we keep looking; we are beholding.

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The image is worked by the Spirit into the fabric of our beings as we are gazing on Him. (P)

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Again, husbands, love your wives, no period there,

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as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.

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Brethren, how many zealous new Christians work themselves practically to exhaustion

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trying to keep the commandments, trying to keep the rules,

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trying to do this, trying to keep going, trying to gut it out,

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trying to grit their teeth, trying... (P)

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And do you realize what is said?

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The idea is, we behold the Lord.

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Did you realize that that text in 2 Corinthians 3:18 isn't even a text

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that is telling us so much how to become lovers of men,

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it basically is telling us how to become image-bearers of Christ.

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And it says, "Behold Him." (P)

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Brethren, have you ever been in a place where you have beheld Christ

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and you have been so moved by a view of Him;

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you have been so overcome by His love for you;

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it has swept you off your feet,

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it has caused you to go to your knees on the floor,

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it has caused the tears to flow, where you've just bowed your head;

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do you ever tell Christ that you love Him? Or do you feel His love?

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Have you ever had experiences much like the Song of Solomon,

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where you just feel Christ is coming to you, and He is loving you,

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and He is visiting you, and He is putting His arms around you,

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and He is kissing you with the kisses of His love,

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and you have a feeling and a sense of Him dying for you,

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have you ever been there brethren?

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I mean, I go there almost every week in our singing at church.

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I feel that when we are singing those songs. (P)

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Brethren, in spite of all your failings and shortcomings,

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cultivate a love relationship with Him.

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The way of holiness is not law of any kind,

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but a love relationship with Christ empowered by the Holy Spirit. (P)

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Brethren, this isn't any exhortation to ease.

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I mean, what he is NOT saying there is, "Stop striving to be like Him altogether."

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He says, "Sometimes we need to just stop striving and behold Him."

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And when he says, "Stop striving," he doesn't mean that if we get to that place

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where we bask in the glow of Christ like that,

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that suddenly the Christian life becomes easy.

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"Through much tribulation, we must enter the Kingdom." (Acts 14:22).

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"Follow Me," He said, "Follow Me."

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What does that mean? Imitate Me.

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We do need to strive to follow Him;

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but brethren, the way the power is going to come to us

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is as we behold Him and our following of Him.

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But as we behold Him and follow Him, we must carry our Cross and deny ourself. (P)

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It doesn't mean it's always going to be easy.

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It is a hard path.

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But let me ask you this: Who is it throughout history,

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what men and what women have most made the greatest sacrifices of love

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for the sake of Christ?

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It has been those who have been most enamored with His glory;

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who have most beheld that Shekinah glow as it comes from Christ;

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they have most beheld Him in His glory, in His beauty;

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they have most communed with Him, walked with Him. (P)

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Brethren, what is it that pumps the power of the living God into the life of a human being

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whereby they can love in ways that are absolutely unknown to this world,

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and are the chief indicators that we are disciples of the living Christ.

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Brethren, the people that can go hard after God like that,

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and make the sacrifices - the ones that can lay their lives down,

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the ones that can take the costly path of discipleship,

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they are the ones that feed on this flow of power from God

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through the beholding of Christ. (P)

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You can go nail your Ten Commandments over your door.

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And I've been in churches like that.

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They pound Law, Law, Law, Law.

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It's a Christless pounding of the Ten Commandments,

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and it drives it home - legalism -

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it becomes a place that it stale and full of the scent of death.

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Brethren, when you set your eyes on Christ,

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it's not saying there are no laws in God's Word to be kept. There are.

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But when my faith...you know, Christ says that we are to eat of Him.

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When you lay your teeth into Him, such nutrients come from that.

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That is a picture of faith, when we look at Him and we believe Him,

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we trust Him, we gaze upon Him. (P)

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How do you gaze on His glory?

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Again, we don't have any inner sanctum to walk into, any holy of holies,

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where we find the Shekinah today.

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You find that glow in the Word of God.

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You find it in His Word, you find it on your knees in prayer as you commune with Him.

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You find as you pray, and you meditate, and you memorize Scripture,

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and you find that the Scripture becomes real,

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and the Spirit of God makes it alive,

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and you can see in your mind's eye what Christ is like.

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You see Him: "If You will, You can make me clean."

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"I will. Be clean."

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You see that, and, can you imagine being one of the disciples?

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Brethren, by faith we can walk those dusty roads with Christ

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where He loved men and women;

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where He loved some old, formerly demon-possessed woman,

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probably prostitute like Mary Magdalene.

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O brethren you know the stories. (P)

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Mature, brethren, mature.

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Where is the path? Because this is what we want.

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We want something tangible that we can go out of this place and set ourselves to.

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And what is that? It's gazing on Christ.

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You gaze on Christ, you feed on Christ, then you set your love on people.

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That is saying it in a nutshell.

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But brethren, that's where it is.

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You need a power outside yourself to mature in love the way you are told.

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It comes by the Spirit as you behold Christ.

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And in that way, from one degree to another you are transformed into His glory.

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You see that progression? That's maturity.

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From one degree of glory to another degree of glory -

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that is from one lesser degree to a greater degree.

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That is maturing.

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You become more like Christ as you gaze at Christ, that is the maturing process.

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Brethren, there is no shortcuts.

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You try it any other way, it's not going to work. (P)

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There is no substitute for time spent with Christ.

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No substitute. None.

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You must walk with Him, you must cultivate a relationship with Him,

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You must come to know Him,

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you must come to know the secret place of prayer and fasting,

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the Word, you must be intimate with Christ.

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Only those intimate with Christ will know how to love men.

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Yes, there needs to be acts of the will of setting your love.

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Yes, you need to be out there in the nursing homes and the prisons,

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in the places where the widow and the orphan dwells,

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where they sit in darkness; yes, you need to be there.

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But brethren, unless you go in the power of your God, it is an utter waste of time. (P)

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You need power. Outside of yourself power.

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This is where it comes from.

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Mature, brethren, mature.

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Make your progress known to all. Amen.