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The Law Of The Spirit
Episode #235
With Martha Kilpatrick and hosted by John Enslow
(M) You know John, what we know, we know about Christ, there is no end to the continuing to know it. What He has done; what He has given; what He accomplished and given us, is so vast that you know it on one level, and ever He is revealing it in more, in deeper, in wider spheres. So, there’s something He’s done that He’s made fresh for me. I think I’ve doe tapes on it. Of course, on things I thought I knew. Uhmm, right now I can’t think of what the situation was, but I was saying ok Lord, what are You doing Lord? (Martha laughs.) What is this about? Obviously the situation wasn’t as fascinating as what He answered to my question.
(J) Hmhmm.
(M) He said, “I’m taking care of the subtle laws you’ve tried to obey.
(J) Hmm.
(M) And it was really delightful once I got into it, because it was, I called it the ought’s and should’s, and I did a tape of the month called “The Ought’s And Should’s”
(J) Which was extremely powerful.
(M) Really?
(J) Oh, absolutely.
(M) Well, I felt like when I finished it, that I had not said it completely; it’s so huge. But it’s ‘I ought’, and ‘you should’.
(J) Hmhmm.
(M) Its laws I make for me and for you.
(J) Hmhmm.
(M) If I think you should do so and so, I’ve made a law for you.
(J) Yes.
(M) And this morning I was thinking about, one reason you have to leave your parents and come to the parenthood of God, is so that you can leave the laws of your parents.
(J) Hmm.
(M) I think it’s pretty well known in our group, the law of my mother was manners. She was very earthy but a very cultured woman. And her emphasis and training to me was kindness. Always be, don’t make anybody embarrassed, don’t ah…
(J) Don’t confront.
(M) Don’t confront, yes, oh yes. Be kind and gracious. And she, her motive was not to look good but to be, to be kind and respectful to people. She taught me that deeply. So I remember encountering Jesus early in the scriptures, thinking how rude He was, because He violated my mother’s law. (John and Martha laugh.) And so many times the Lord has had to confront… And I didn’t even realize that her standard was actually a law. (Martha laughs.) And so I’ve had to overcome the southern manners that were instilled in me. And some would say I’ve done it too well, (Martha laughs) but never the less… And the law of my father was, he could have anger, but no one else could. So for Jesus to be angry was shocking to me. And express it was shocking to me. So He didn’t fit into the laws that I had been reared on.
(J) He didn’t fall in line with, with your parents, no.
(M) So I’m… But the Lord has specifically, deliberately, directly called me to leave my parents’ laws that don’t fit with His way. And so on the tape I was going from this verse in Gal.2:20, and I said those who know the exchanged life, it’s our ‘mantra’ almost. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I now live by faith in the Son of God Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” But I didn’t connect it with the verse before that and the verse after.
(J) Hmmm.
(M) This is Galatians, which is about the law. “For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ.” Verse following says, “I do not nullify the grace of God. For if righteousness came through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”
(J) So the Law was sandwiched between grace.
(M) Exactly, exactly. It, the, the freedom is in “we are crucified with Christ”, and that means to the law.
(J) Hmm.
(M) We’re not under the Law. The law has been fulfilled. Now what Paul is addressing here is that some of the saved Christian Jews wanted to go back, because the Law is very flattering to our ego and pride. It makes us think we can do good, and we can accomplish and we can perform; it’s very flattering. And He even says, “who bewitched you?’
(J) Hmhmm.
(M) There is a ‘bewitching’ to, power in the law, when it comes against Christians. And apparently they call the Judaizer’s came into the church, the first century church, and wanted to add some of the laws to it. And Paul was completely confrontive and adamant about it.
(J) Which was amazing, because he was the chief of all Jews.
(M) Exactly.
(J) The one that did the law better than any.
(M) Yes! And he said he did. (Martha laughs.)
(J) And he would know. (John and Martha laugh.)
(M) Right. But he so understood that the law was over.
(J) Hmhmm.
(M) And he understood that you can’t mix law and grace. And that’s what they were doing. That’s why the scripture says, “I do not nullify the grace of God.” You nullify the grace of God when you apply a law in your Christianity, in your walk.
(J) He had to be blinded on the road to Damascus, to his law, ah, so that he could see grace, so.
(M) Wow, that’s good.
(J) The light blinded him that, that day, and it blinded him to his law. He was the chief of, of Jews. I mean he was ‘top dog’, yeah, (John laughs) of keeping it.
(M) He could do it.
(J) Hmhmm.
(M) And you know we’ve heard that phrase, I’ve heard it from childhood, “fall from grace.”
(J) Hmhmm.
(M) And we think that means go into sin, and then you, you fall from grace, no! In Galatians you fall from grace when you go to the Law. And there’s such a movement now to incorporate Jewish law, keeping the Sabbath, keeping the festivals, keeping all of that. That, that is going back to the Law, and it makes you ‘fall from grace’, and leave Christ. It actually Paul that says, “you’ve left Him.” You’ve left Him. So, anyway, once I was into the ought’s and the should’s I realized that the Lord is working in a number of us in that way, in the same way, taking out where we have subtle or habitual belief’s that were actually laws. And of course the law, there’s only one law. And I was speaking to a man one time and he was very legalistic. I can’t remember who it is at the moment, but ah, I said, “yes, but there is one law.” And he said, “yes, yes, the law of the Spirit.” It’s Ro.8:1, and 2, “For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.” But that means the law of the Spirit is the only law.
(J) Hmhmm.
(M) So to follow the Spirit, you will keep the law of God. That’s, that’s what scripture promises. So, but it was interesting that I did get some phenomenal feedback from this tape, because it appears that the law is very, very, ah, ‘in us’, and very subtle, and very ingrained.
(J) Hmhmmm.
(M) And you have to really listen to the Lord to know that’s what He’s really after, because He wants us to be free in the Spirit, free of the law. And that’s what it says, “we died to the law so that we could live to God.” We don’t understand fully, the Christian community at large doesn’t understand fully that Jesus fulfilled the law, and ended the law, and brought in a newer, higher, actually higher law, the law of the Spirit.
(J) Umhmm, umhmm.
(M) And in the Spirit you can perfectly satisfy God’s demands because the Spirit performs it. So what do you think?
(J) Well, He brought it to me one morning. I mean, it appears that each of us got this kind of apart from one another. And then we kind of brought it together and it all became ‘a stew’. We each brought our own part of the stew. But He came to me one morning and said, “I’m about overthrowing your government.” And I said oooo, what does that mean? (John and Martha laugh.) It’s sounds violent. And I was thinking, ok, are You talking about the U. S. government? Are You talking about, you know, the state government? What government are You talking about, (John laughs) because You obviously wouldn’t be talking about my government. But He was talking about my government. He was saying that I have a government, established with a constitution. It has a full declaration of independence. (Martha and John laugh.) It has its own laws and precepts, and dictates and mandates, and I adhere to them as well as I think I should, but always fail, completely. I can never do it; I’ve never been able to do it. You know, God bless those poor little people that can, that can do their little laws; I have never been able to do it. I’ve tried all my life, since I was a little boy, to do my law, and I, I fall flat on my face. And maybe that’s God’s grace on me, because if I could do it I would.
(M) No John, everybody falls. We just, some of us deny it. (Martha laughs.)
(J) So I was, you know, I was thinking ok, well what are You about doing? And He’s just showing me, ok, this is something that you hold yourself to. And I don’t, I don’t come in line with that. Yes, that is how I want you to live, but I won’t come under your law to make you live that way. I will live that way through you. But I will not adhere to your law on yourself, because there’s no grace in that, and there’s not faith in that. If I can do it, ‘da-gummit’, I don’t need God. And so, I’ve fallen on my face and turn up and have a bucket full of manure and saying, wow, here I go again. There it is again. And He, He’s just, He’s faithful. And right now He’s showing me where the law is, and what my laws are for myself. And right now it’s mostly focused on me and how I lock myself into the law and demand of myself to live according to my legal…
(M) But you mentioned expectations in all this, of others. What’d you learn about that?
(J) Well, that’s where it did cross into to other people. And that was definitely part of it. He, you know, it’s like He’s been going back and forth between me and, you know, my responses outwardly. But I realized that everywhere that I expect someone to do something, and to be a certain way, I’m putting the law on them, and that I’m basically binding them so that they can’t do it. I’m literally assuring they’re failure. And, you know, really, I would…. The other day, this is kind of funny. He said, “do you think that any president is going to do it according to your…” (John laughs.) And I went, no, because they’re all men, right? He said, “Exactly.” It doesn’t matter who’s in there, that as long as they’re men, they’re going to fall, they’re going to fail, they’re going to… And it’s not going to be done in your estimation.
(M) You can’t run the government of the United States?
(J) I can’t. I’ve tried. And I’ve told them how to do it, and I’ve written them, (John and Martha are laughing) and told them how they can do it better, and what they should do, and they don’t do it. And then I realize, you know, I am exhausting myself with this, and worrying and fretting. And I’m like going, you know, if we had the perfect man in there, do we think that he would do any better? Man will not ever suffice, and only, only the King. And I, the good thing is, that in the overthrowing of my government, He is establishing His government, which is exciting because that reigns and rules forever.
(M) Hmmm.
