Mark 12:30-31(NKJV) And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
The Old Testament is all about doing, because the law was a schoolmaster to educate mankind about sin. It was in the dispensation of the law. However, the law can never make man righteous because we are all slaves to sin due to the fallen nature in us. Therefore, men will fail miserably in the eyes of the law thus driving them in search of the grace of God. The dispensation of grace came through Jesus who took our sin on the cross and became a curse for us so that we can have His righteousness imputed on us the moment we believe in His salvation.
Jesus’ finished work on the cross brought about a significant change and ushered us into a new dispensation—the dispensation of the church age, where there is a new way of living through faith in Jesus Christ, which is not burdensome but easy and light through faith in Jesus’ work of redemption. There is no more need for the offering of sacrifices because Jesus was the perfect sacrifice that dealt with the sin issue once and for all. As a result, we are blessed with all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places, we can rest from dead works, and are seen as blameless, righteous, and holy because we are hidden in Christ. These are positional truths given to us despite our imperfection.
As such, the New Testament is about living out the being in Christ because we can never do anything to earn our salvation—that’s grace. However, it doesn’t mean that we should live in lawlessness just because salvation is by grace. In fact, we need to learn to live through our being and from the inside out. The indwelling and empowerment of the Holy Spirit make it possible us to overcome sin and temptation, live in the law of the Spirit, and walk in the Spirit. Since the flesh is constantly waging war against the Spirit, it is a conscious and daily decision to deny the flesh and abide in Christ, and as we do that, we are being molded into His likeness.
In the New Testament, we are commanded to love the Lord and our neighbour as ourselves because we have been enabled to do so, and when we love God, we won’t want to violate the law or sin against Him. When we choose to live out this new life in Christ, we are prospering in our soul and growing spiritually, and we will choose to consecrate our lives to God and walk in His calling for our lives as an expression of our love for Him.
Sermon Series: Work on Your Well-Being (Part 2)
不单靠行为 而是要活出生命
马可福音12:30-31你要尽心，尽性，尽意，尽力，爱主你的神。 31其次，就是说，要爱人如己。再没有比这两条诫命更大的了。
旧约全是关于行为的，因为律法是一位教育我们认识罪的老师。它在律法之下。然而，律法不能使人成为义人，因我们里面堕落的本性，我们都是罪的奴隶。因此，世人将 在律法面前惨败，从而驱使他们寻求 神的恩典。恩典是通过耶稣而来的，祂在十字架上担当了我们的罪，为我们成为诅咒，好教我们就可以在相信 神的救恩的那一刻就拥有祂的公义。
耶稣在十字架上的已竟之工引发了重大变化，并引导我们进入了一个新的豁免–教会时代的豁免。于是就有了一种新的生活方式，就是凭着对耶稣基督的信心而活。它不再是沉重的负担，而是因为相信耶稣基督救赎的工作而变得轻松。不再需要献祭，因为耶稣就是那完美的献祭，彻底解决了罪的问题。于是，我们被赐予天上所有属灵的恩赐。我们可以停止徒劳的工作。我们被视为无可指摘、公义和圣洁，因为我们隐藏在基督里。尽管我们不完美，但这些都是赐与我们的位份的真理。
总之，新约是关于活出基督里的生命，因为我们永远无法做任何事情来赚取我们的救赎——那是恩典。然而，这并不意味着因为救赎是靠恩典，我们就可以 恣意妄为。实际上，我们要学着全身心地活出里面的新生命。圣灵的内住和赋能使我们能够克服罪和试探，活在的圣灵的律中，并在圣灵中行走。因为肉体不断地与圣 灵争战，所以每天都要刻意地拒绝肉体并住在基督里，而当我们这样做的时 候，我们 就会越来越有祂的样式。
在新约中，我们被命令要像爱自己一样爱主和我们的邻居，因为我们被赐予了这样做的能力，当我们爱 神，我们就不愿意触犯律法或得罪祂。当我们选择活出这 个在基督里的新生命时，我们的灵魂就兴盛，灵命也在成长，我们将 选择把我们的 生命奉献给 神，行在祂对我们生命的呼召中，以此表达我们对祂 的爱。
讲章系列：为你的幸福而努力（第二部分）