How important is the Holy Spirit in obeying God’s command to obey His Law (Genesis to Revelation), which he condensed into the Ten Commandments? Without the Spirit, obedience unto holiness, which is necessary for salvation, is impossible. Jesus Christ died in our stead so that we could receive the Holy Spirit, thereby enabling us to obey God by serving righteousness instead of sin. “For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through (because of) man’s  flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk after (in obedience to) the flesh, but after (in obedience to) the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 8:3,4). Notice that God did not abolish the Law. Rather, He commands that His Law be fulfilled in us, resulting in our righteousness. Therefore He gives true God seekers His Spirit so that we can obey Him, thereby creating the righteousness that is necessary for salvation. We need the Holy Spirit because man is incapable of overcoming Satan (sin) on his own. And why is this?

“Because the carnal (fleshy) mind (of man) is enmity (at war) against God; for it is not subject to the Law of God, NEITHER INDEED CAN BE (Rom. 8:7). And why is man’s mind hostile toward God’s Law? Because it is not subject to (rejects) God’s Law. MAN CANNOT, ON HIS OWN POWER, OBEY GOD’S LAW. Jesus shed His blood to effect forgiveness of man’s breaking of God’s Law. He then died so that the Holy Spirit could be sent into the minds (“hearts”) of His Holy saints. Without the Holy Spirit, man is no match for Satan. To those who repent and accept the blood of Jesus, then are baptized, God freely offers His Holy Spirit by grace. At this point one is converted and the growth process leading to salvation officially begins. The first step in the conversion process is repentance. The following steps leading to salvation involve obedience to God’s Law. Contrary to popular opinion, there is no other way into the Kingdom of God.

To repent of sin not only means that we regret our sins, it means that we determine, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to stop sinning. By the power of the Holy Spirit, following conversion a Christian is able to “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18). Grace involves much more than having our past sins forgiven upon true repentance. Living “under grace” involves eradicating all sin from our lives. This is a growing process that is impossible without the power of the Holy Spirit. ERADICATION OF SIN IS ESSENTIAL FOR SALVATION TO TAKE PLACE AT THE RETURN OF JESUS CHRIST. THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS ESSENTIAL FOR THE ERADICATION OF SIN. As God’s servant Herbert Armstrong so eloquently said, in order to live with God forever in His kingdom, we must “quit sin utterly.” He also stressed that this is impossible without the Holy Spirit.

The reason the Institutional Church does not obey God is that she does not view the Holy Bible–the Law–as His Truth. She is not subject to His Law, and, because of her attitude toward it, is incapable of even considering it. The Law, according to those entrapped within Catholicism and Protestantism, was “nailed to the cross” and therefore plays no part in their lives. In this way professing Christendom has written her own death warrant. Because of their rejection of God’s definition of sin–the breaking of the Law–the church has not repented of sin, but rather of not obeying church doctrine which has nothing to do with God. For this reason religious man has unknowingly rejected God’s grace and has embraced Satan’s version of grace. Religious scholars say that grace is the permanent condition of those in the church, that it is similar to being “saved” and “born again.” Forgetting that grace enables one to leave past sins behind and to obey God’s Law unto holiness, the church claims that His grace did away with the Law, thereby allowing man to create his own version of sin, then to excuse himself of committing it. This in spite of literally dozens of verses in which God commands that we obey His Law.

Jesus said: “If you will enter into (eternal) life, KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS (Mat. 19:17). In Romans 7:12 the Apostle Paul calls the Law “holy” and “good.” In verse 25 he stated that he himself obeyed the Law. The Apostle James wrote that if we break one of the Ten Commandments we break them all (2:10). The Apostle John warned the church that if we say we know God but do not keep His commandments we are liars (1 Jn. 2:3,4). All liars, we are told by John, will burn in hell. Note that these verses were written long after Jesus established the New Covenant Church. L.J.