And He (Jesus) said, “Woe to you also, lawyers! For you load men with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers” (Luke 11:46). “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:29-30). Jesus came to be our salvation and our righteousness. Why do we search to find law to accuse our brothers and sisters and to increase our burdens? Because Jesus said, “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32), some teach that fear is a sin. There are some that say drinking wine is a sin because 1 Corinthians 6:10 states that drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of God. Some say that we must obey everything that was ever spoken to anyone by God because,”It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).

Did Jesus not also say, “And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him! “Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Luke 12:4-7). Have you not read the Jesus cried out to God in Gethsemane, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me” (Matthew 26:39). Jesus did not stop there but also said, “nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” Fear coming on us is not sin. Faith is trusting God through the fear or loving God more than the issues of our life. Faith is believing God will get us through.

The passage referenced earlier in Corinthians reads, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). If we accept that drinking wine is a sin then we must also except that sex of any kind is a sin and that handling any type of money or property is a sin. Four of the unrighteous acts have to do with improper sex (fornicators, adulterers, homosexuals and sodomites) and two with improper handling of money or property ( thieves and extortioners). Only one has to do with improper drinking of wine, beer or strong drink (drunkards). If we are to apply the premise as it has been to strong drink equally then we must conclude that proper or improper use of anything in that list is sin.

Have you not read, “Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs of the first year, day by day continually. One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight. With the one lamb shall be one-tenth of an ephah of flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of pressed oil, and one-fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering. And the other lamb you shall offer at twilight; and you shall offer with it the grain offering and the drink offering, as in the morning, for a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD. This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the LORD, where I will meet you to speak with you” (Exodus 29:38-42). It is also written, “And Abraham said, ‘My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.’ So the two of them went together” (Genesis 22:8). Abraham prophesied the coming of God as the offering. Of Himself Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17). Just as Jesus fulfilled the offering and we no longer offer animals to God, Jesus fulfilled the Law and the Prophets. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17). In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away” (Hebrews 8:13).

Jesus did not come to increase sin and divide us from God more than Adam had already done. Jesus came to redeem us to God by washing away our sins so we could turn back to God (repent) sinless. Jesus gave us the answer to all the Law and the Prophets, love. Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40). Jesus’ doctrine (teaching) was love. The comforter that God sends to us brings to us love. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Have you ever noticed that the attributes of love are the fruit of the Spirit? “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7). Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God (1 John 4:7).

© 2004 Tim D. Coulter Sr.