Blessed Hope Bible-Presbyterian Church
500 Upper Bukit Timah Rd, Singapore 678106
The Apostle Paul tells us the benefits of being spiritually minded is life and peace while the curse of carnal mindedness is death. He instructs us to live for the things that are eternal not the things that are temporal. He is teaching us a heavenly value system that is very different from the temporal gratification that the flesh offers us in this world. True peace is a life without regrets.
The redeemed man, therefore, is holy in the sight of God in that he is made holy by the merits of Jesus Christ. This is the meaning of the phrase “that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us”. When we repent of our sins and received Jesus Christ into our hearts, believing that He died and rose from the dead the third day, we are saved. By the indwelling Holy Spirit, we have the divinely-endowed strength to reject the way of sin and walk after God in holiness. Hallelujah, what a Saviour!
Through Jesus Christ, the believer is made free from the bondage of sin and continues to be made holy by the law of the Spirit of Christ indwelling him. It is called a law because it predicts a certain outcome. God will mould His people through life to confirm in His image.
Matthew 26:57-68 And they that had laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled. 58 But Peter followed him afar off unto the high priest’s palace, and went in, and sat with the servants, to see the end.
The Elements of Worship – Psalm 96
The worship of our Creator is the highest point of Man’s existence. God has not left us without a guide as to how we are to approach Him. Truly, we are to worship Him in the “Beauty of Holiness” (v10). There is a reverential awe and fearful disposition associated with our worship when the attribute of God’s holiness is emphasised.
When the mind is yielded to God, it brings forth spiritual fruit in the believer’s life. What is the Spirit’s fruit? In Galatians 5:22-23, the Apostle Paul tells us, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” When the believer is blessed with the fruit of the Spirit, the is no law to condemn or judge such a one! The fruit of the Spirit is the manifestation of the character of God in our lives. When God endows us with such spiritual blessing, we are a blessing to the people around us.
With a sound mind, the Christian serve the law of God. Such a mind is led by the influence of the Holy Spirit undergirded by God’s Word. Such a mind is disciplined, taught, trained to do good, serve God. The Apostle Paul took time to cultivate such a godly mind! He testified spending time with God in imbibing the truth of God into his very heart after his conversion.
The Apostle Paul understood well the first law of Christ’s kingdom! (Matt. 5:3) This, I believe, is the testimony of a child of God who realized his unworthiness before God. He cries out to God for mercy. If God will not intervene to grant him deliverance, he will fail miserably! Therefore, we dare not live far from His presence but seek to experience His sanctifying presence by a poverty of spirit. Amen.
The indwelling Holy Spirit coupled with the indwelling Word strengthening the mind is the secret of victorious Christian living. The Christian is able to see sin for what it is at all times. He is able to see the spiritual warfare within him and take precaution to protect himself from being brought into captivity to the law of sin which is in his members.
2 Kings 2:1-14 And it came to pass, when the LORD would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal. 2 And Elijah said unto Elisha, Tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath sent me to Bethel. And Elisha said unto him, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. So they went down to Bethel. 3 And the sons of the prophets that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the LORD will take away thy master from thy head to day? And he said, Yea, I know it; hold ye your peace.