Page 102 - Laying Down the Law

required.

Romans 8:9
But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

This is what is truly important. Have you been born of the Spirit? Are you a
partaker of the Spirit of Christ? Do you hear the voice of the Father and understand
what He is speaking to you? Have you received a new heart that longs to do that
which is pleasing to Yahweh? Has God placed His Spirit, His own divine nature,
within you? These are the things that avail much!
Nicodemus, like many men before and since, believed that devotion to the Law
would satisfy the Father. He did not understand that the sons Yahweh sought were
those who had His nature. Many men believe they are born with the nature of God.
They believe if they simply apply themselves to good works that they can produce
something God will find acceptable. This was the error of the Jews. It is an error as
old as Cain.
Cain brought to Yahweh an offering from the fruit of the ground. This is
symbolic of man bringing forth an offering to God from his flesh nature. Man’s flesh
was formed of the dust of the earth. I am convinced that the offering Cain brought to
Yahweh was magnificent to behold. It would put the best produce of a farmer’s
market to shame. Yahweh had no regard for Cain’s offering, not because it was
inferior as some suppose, being a half-hearted offering to the Father, but because of
what it represented.
The very best that the natural man can produce is of no value in God’s sight. This
is what provoked Cain. He had labored to bring to God an offering that was the very
best he could produce. Cain was persuaded that the offering was worthy of God, that
it should elicit Yahweh’s praise and approval. When God showed no regard for it, Cain
was angry.
Many men and women today look at the Law as a means to offer to God an
offering acceptable unto Him. They believe if they manifest a devotion to it, making
their lives align with it as far as they are able, even going to great lengths and
sacrifice, then surely God will look upon what they are offering with satisfaction and
praise. The truth is, Yahweh has no regard for what they offer to Him, for it is an
offering that arises from the flesh of man. It is man giving something he has produced
through the sweat of his own labor to God.
Men react violently, and with great anger, when they are told that their very best
efforts are despised by God. Nevertheless, the testimony of God is that only what His
Spirit accomplishes is satisfying.

John 6:63
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.

From the body of Christ’s beginning, there have been men who begin in the