It’s the Law!

“Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.” – Romans 7:12

 

We are surrounded by laws. Laws serve a very important societal purpose; they maintain order and are the basis of convicting and controlling criminals. But some people would have us disregard law. They are anarchists or antinomian at heart. It is true that when we try to micromanage life with laws it can clutter our world and overly restrict our freedoms. When our focus is exclusively on the Law, we sometimes miss the heart of our problems.

There are many ways in our own country that people have tried to live by laws and the results have been interesting to say the least. Here are a few laws (thanks to Neil and the Facty staff) on the books of local municipalities in the United States^[1]:

• It’s illegal to get drunk in a bar in Alaska. In Alaska it’s also illegal to view moose from an airplane, pushing moose out of an airplane, waking a sleeping bear to take a photo of it, and bringing flamingoes into a barbershop.
• It’s illegal to mispronounce the name “Arkansas” in the State of Arkansas. The state name must be pronounced with all three syllables. It’s also illegal in Arkansas to keep alligators in your bathtub, getting a raise as a teacher after bobbing your hair, killing any living creature whatsoever, and honking your horn at a sandwich shop after 9 pm.
• In Connecticut a pickle isn’t a pickle unless it bounces when dropped. This law was enacted to counter the selling of substandard pickles. It’s also illegal in Connecticut to keep town records where liquor is sold, biking over 65 miles per hour, walking backward after sunset, crossing the street while walking on your hands, educating dogs, or for a beautician to sing, hum, or whistle while attending to a customer.
• In Gainesville, Georgia it’s illegal to eat chicken with anything but your fingers. In 2009 a tourist was arrested for using a fork on their chicken. Also illegal in Georgia is carrying an ice cream in your rear pocket on Sundays, using profanity in front of a corpse at a funeral home, and it’s illegal to keep donkeys in bathtubs.
• In Fresh Lick Springs, Indiana, black cats are required to wear bells on their collars on Friday the 13^th. It’s also illegal to receive money for holding a puppet show, catching a fish with your bare hands, standing in a bar if you are a man, and carrying cocktails from bar to table.
• In Maine it is illegal to advertise on tombstones. It’s also illegal to step out of a flying plane, having Christmas decorations up after January 14^th, walking down the street playing a violin, or selling mercury thermometers.
• In Maryland it’s illegal to curse while you drive. Those caught cursing and driving face a $100 fine. It’s also illegal in Maryland to grow thistles in your yard, taking a lion to the movies, and wearing a sleeveless shirt in a public park.
• In Minnesota since 1971, it is illegal to grease a pig. (Pig greasing is apparently a big problem in Minnesota.) It’s also illegal in Minnesota to sleep naked, enter the state wearing a chicken or duck head, and it’s illegal to stand around a public building without having a reason to stand there.
• In New York uncut bagels are tax-exempt, but if the bagel has been “altered” in any way, such as toasted, or has cream cheese put on it, then it becomes taxable and increased in value by eight cents. It’s also illegal in New York to talk or look at anyone while in an elevator, wearing slippers after 10 pm, greeting someone by putting your thumb to your nose and wiggling your fingers, selling raw hamburgers, and eating while swimming in the ocean.
• In Wyoming it’s illegal to buy junk or scrap metal from someone under the influence of alcohol. It’s also illegal in Wyoming to be drunk in a mine, to take photos of a rabbit between January and April, shooting fish, failing to close a fence, and for women standing within five feet of a bar while drinking.

There’s humor in such laws. These are examples of laws running wild or the limits of the law.

The Law is Good, IF, You Use It Lawfully

Should we do away with the law? Should we de-fund the law? Should we live without any law (be an antinomian)? No, there is a place for law. The Bible states:

• 1 Timothy 1:8 (NKJV) – But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully,

The word “lawfully” here (Greek nomimos – adverb) means legitimately, properly, agreeable to law, agreeable to the rules. If we use the law the way God the Lawgiver originally intended the law to be used, then it is “good” (Greek kalos) or beautiful, good, valuable, virtuous, excellent, useful, precious, commendable, admirable.

What are the right applications of the law?

First, the law is used by God to maintain order societally.  The Bible states of God:

• 1 Corinthians 14:33 (NKJV) – ³³ For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
• 1 Corinthians 14:40 (NKJV) – ⁴⁰ Let all things be done decently and in order.

God created the universe and all things in an orderly manner (e.g. Genesis 1-2). God ordered the seasons (Genesis 1:14-18; Psalm 104:19). God gave us the Law, the Ten Commandments, in a very orderly way (cf. Exodus 20ff.; Leviticus). The Law is a tool used by God to maintain order in society.

There are laws put in place by God to govern behavior in society. God designed society to be an orderly and safe environment for people to live in. Therefore He gave laws prohibiting parental abuse, murder, adultery, stealing, bearing false witness, and coveting what others own. These laws serve as safeguards and guardrails to keep society in order and safe. Government was later put in place by God to help with enforcing His Laws of societal order (Romans 13). The Law serves a very important purpose to maintain order in the world.

Second, the law is used ceremonially. God instructed Moses to build a tabernacle where He would meet with the Moses and the people (Exodus 25:8). Then God instructed Moses giving him laws to follow regarding how the tabernacle would be used. This use of the Law is ceremonial. The ceremonial uses of the Law do not only prescribe a certain way use the tabernacle or approach God, but they also paint a picture of God’s holiness and the sacrifice of Jesus (e.g. Leviticus 1-7; 23; John 1:29; 1 Peter 1:18-19). This is a proper use of the Law.

Third, the law tells us we should love. There is a place for the law in society. Disregarding the law can lead to a very detrimental effect. Jesus pointed this out when He said about the last days:

• Matthew 24:12 (NKJV) – ¹² And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.

When God’s law is set aside and disregarded it leads to disorder and the proliferation of sin. When we disregard, for instance, the two greatest laws:

• Matthew 22:36–40 (NKJV) – ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” ³⁷ Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

When we disregard such law, Jesus said it leads to lovelessness. When we fail or refuse to love God and our neighbor, it leads to a much colder, heartless, hopeless, harsh world.

The Law of God and its many aspects is a tool He provides to help us govern our ways. Like any other tool, for it to be effective and useful, you must use it the way it was designed to be used. Let me illustrate.

When you wake up each day and prepare to go out, you attend to your body to make yourself presentable. The tools you use to prepare determine how well you are prepared to leave the house. What do I mean?

• You wouldn’t use a steel brush to brush your teeth, you’d use a toothbrush.
• You wouldn’t use Gorilla-glue to brush your teeth, you’d use toothpaste.
• You wouldn’t use a pair of pliers to pull out unwanted hairs, you’d use tweezers.
• You wouldn’t use a hatchet to hack off or trim your toenails, you’d use nail clippers.
• You wouldn’t use a saws-all to trim your nose hairs, you’d use a nose hair trimmer.

Are you getting the picture? For a tool to be useful, it must be matched to its intended use. Otherwise it does more harm than good.

There is a place for law, but it’s important we use the law the way God intended it to be used. God is orderly (1 Cor. 14:33 and 40). Order is maintained by way of Law (Romans 13). But when laws and keeping them become a means to pleasing God, it’s no laughing situation.

The False Teaching of Legalism

Acts 15:1-2 – “And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”2 Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question.”

One of the greatest threats to the church is legalism, or requiring something, especially laws, in addition to faith alone in Christ alone to be saved (15:1). Here those from a religious Jewish background sought to impose Mosaic customs on Gentile believers. To make circumcision a requirement for salvation would have greatly hindered the spread of the gospel as well as adopted a gospel that is based on works rather than grace. Such a “gospel” is a false gospel, a teaching that is really no gospel at all (See Matthew 5:20; Galatians; Titus 3:3-8). Works do play an important part in the life of the disciple. But works follow salvation; they are by no means necessary to precede salvation (Ephesians 2:1-9 and 10). Just like Paul and Barnabus, we should oppose all attempts to add requirements to the gospel of grace, i.e. legalism (15:2; Jude).

The Legalistic Mindset

The Jews had been taught and believed that keeping the law obediently saved a person. They believed that if a person tries hard enough, they could keep the law. This is the attitude of the legalist. What is legalism? Legalism is thinking, “I CAN BE RIGHTEOUS BY KEEPING LAWS/RULES IF I JUST TRY HARD ENOUGH; RIGHTEOUSNESS/HOLINESS DEPENDS ON WHAT I DO.” This, as we will see, is a very flawed and frustrating way of seeking God that is also doomed to failure.

Here are some examples of a Legalistic mindset:

• Sabbath Rules – 7^th Day Adventists and some church denominations contend that Saturday is the only acceptable Sabbath. They contend that worshipping on Sunday is the work of the devil and is the mark of the beast. But Jesus said He was (and is still) Lord of the Sabbath, meaning you can worship the Lord on any day, and hopefully every day! (Mark 2:23-28)

 

• Holiness by Rule Keeping – Some try to bring the church under law by measuring righteousness by a set of rules, e.g. no dancing; no movies; no coffee; no smoking; etc. They gauge holiness by a rigid set of rules and standards. Holiness is viewed as something people do. But the Bible says any righteousness sought by people in their own strength is as a filthy rag to God and what He requires (Isaiah 64:6). The only righteousness we can have is something we receive by God’s grace through faith in Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21).

 

• Righteous by Cause – Some inside the church copy the mentality of the unchurched by trying to attain righteousness by means of involvement in causes. When the Church discards biblical principles and truth forsaking them for worldly trends and causes, it has not overcome the world, it has not even partnered with the world, it has been defeated by the world. When communists try to live by the Communist Manifesto, when people become self-proclaimed social justice warriors taking up the causes of people groups that have been presented as “oppressed,” when reality, facts, and evidence are purposely ignored and even ostracized and replaced by fantasy, absurdity, and falsehoods, all of this is an ill-conceived attempt to attain meaning and righteousness through legalistic means. This is especially true for a world that is increasingly anthropocentric or centered on self, on fallen humanity. Unfortunately, much of the Church is focused on self not the Spirit. No matter how “righteous” the cause or “holy” we perceive the Law to be, when we try to attain righteousness or satisfaction by doing we will  always   end up dissatisfied, depressed, and despairing. This reality should not lead us to nihilism or hopelessness, it should lead us to Jesus and God’s grace. Humanity in their own strength, both inside and outside of the Church, will always “fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). On our own, we always “fall short of the grace of God” (Hebrews 12:15). On our own, we don’t measure up and we will always have a gnawing sense of something missing, emptiness.

Legalism, such as the examples above, gets the focus off of God and onto the individual. That is like taking the plug from your computer out of the wall socket and putting it in your mouth as a source of electrical power. You just don’t have what it takes to power the life of Christ; only the Spirit has that power (as we have seen in our study of Acts thus far – Acts 1:8). When we try to live righteously in our own strength by our rules, (or even good rules we take out of the Bible) we are depending on a very limited and impotent source of power that is doomed to lead us to frustration and failure in our walk with the Lord and life in general.

The Light of God in the Law

Before we look at the flaws of trying to keep laws, we should first understand the purpose God gave the Law, the light He intended to shine by way of the Law. There are seven things we need to know about the Law of God if we are to receive the light He intended the Law to bring.

First, understand that the Law of God is holy, just and good. The Law of God has the light of life in it. When God gave the Ten Commandments, His intent was to point His people toward the way of abundant life. The Flaw that developed was not the fault of the Law; it was the fault of those who began to worship the Law instead of God the Lawgiver. In Romans Paul says:

• Romans 7:12 – “Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.”

The flaw of the Law is not in the Law; it is in the misuse of the Law.

Second, the Law is used by God to expose our sinfulness and need of a Savior. IN Romans again Paul is inspired to write:

• Romans 7:7 – “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.”

God created human beings with a conscience that enables them to discern right from wrong (Romans 2:12-16). But so that sin might be clearly and unmistakably exposed and revealed God gave the Law as His holy standard by which all humanity would be impartially judged (Romans 2:11). We know without a doubt that coveting is a sin because God’s Law prohibits it (Exodus 20:17). If we look at the Ten Commandments we also know that God alone is to be our God (Exodus 20:1-3); that no image, carving, statue, or idol of God or anything in heaven or on earth is to be used by those who call themselves followers of God (Exodus 20:4-6; the Roman Catholic catechism has removed this stipulation from the Ten Commandments); God’s name is not to be misused (Exodus 20:7); the Sabbath of rest unto the Lord is to be kept (Exodus 20:8-11); Parents are to be honored (Exodus 20:12); you are not to murder others (Exodus 20:13); you are not to commit adultery (Exodus 20:14); you are not to steal (Exodus 20:15); you are not to bear false witness (Exodus 20:16); and you are not to covet (Exodus 20:17). The Law exposes humanities’ utter sinfulness.

Third, the Law of God brings guilt. The Law of God in exposing our utter sinfulness brings guilt to our conscience and shows us that we are lost, we are guilty before a Holy God who will judge all justly by His Law one day. Paul puts this well when he is inspired to write:

• Romans 3:9-20 – “What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.10 As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”13 “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”;14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;16 Destruction and misery are in their ways;17 And the way of peace they have not known.”18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”

The Law reveals to us that we are without excuse before God and stand condemned of breaking His Law.

Fourth, those who try to gain heaven by keeping the Law are required by God to keep all the Law. The Law is like a chain with links anchored in heaven with us on the other end. Break one link or Law, and you will plummet to the depths. If you are going to try to be righteous before God by keeping the Law; if when you are asked how you will get to heaven you respond by saying, “I will try to keep the Ten Commandments,” then you must do so flawlessly, perfectly. The Bible says this clearly in the following verses:

• Galatians 3:10-12 – “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.”12 Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.”
• James 2:10 – “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.”

This truth is what the Holy Spirit convicts the world about in His efforts to lead people to Christ (John 16:8-11).

Fifth, no one can be saved from his or her sin by keeping the Law of God. Paul writes in Galatians:

• Galatians 2:16 – “knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.”

Keeping the Law was never meant by God to be the means of being saved from sin; faith in God is the means to be saved from sin (Genesis 15:6; Romans 4).

Sixth, trying to keep the Law leads to bondage. The only thing that results from trying to live by Law is bondage. In his letter to the Galatians Paul rebukes those who are trying to be law-keepers, or legalists telling them that it only leads to bondage. He states:

• Galatians 4:9-11 – “But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage?10 You observe days and months and seasons and years.11 I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.”

When you try to live by keeping laws you end up relying on your own very limited resources and that leads to a type of bondage of futility.

Seventh, the Law of God teaches us the futility and hopelessness of trying to be righteous by keeping the Law and leads us to Christ as our means of righteousness and fulfillment. Paul writes in Romans:

• Romans 7:13–25 (NKJV) – ¹³ Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. ¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. ¹⁵ For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. ¹⁶ If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. ¹⁷ But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. ¹⁸ For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. ¹⁹ For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. ²⁰ Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

²¹ I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. ²² For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. ²³ But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. ²⁴ O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵ I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

The outcome of seeking righteousness in our own strength by the Law is wretchedness. The word “wretched” (Greek talaiporos) means miserable, toilsome, afflicted, overwhelmed by troubles. Trying to keep the Law or do things to be righteous only leads to hard labor and will never fulfill.

Paul writes in Galatians:

• Galatians 3:22-24 – “But the Scripture [i.e. the Law of God as a part of the Scripture] has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”

By exposing our weakness and inability to keep the Law perfectly according to God’s standards our mouths are shut, and we stand guilty before God forced to search outside of ourselves for a way to be saved from our sins.

Eight, those who are legalists or law-keepers are under the curse of God; Jesus provides the only redemption from that curse. The Bible says:

• Galatians 3:10-13 – “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.”12 Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.”13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),”

Jesus died on the cross as a substitutionary atonement for the sins of the world (1 John 2:1-2). Jesus died in our place on the cross to pay our debt of sin and make a way for us to become righteous before God through our relationship with Him (2 Corinthians 5:21).  God provides that righteousness, that forgiveness of our sin, that salvation from our sins by His grace through faith in Jesus (Ephesians 2:1-9; Titus 3:4-6). We don’t become righteous before God by working to keep the Law of God, but by acknowledging our sinfulness under God’s Law and putting our trust in Jesus as our Sin-bearer and Savior (John 1:12; 3:16; 5:24).

The FAITH that saved is a total and complete trust in Jesus as God’s sufficient means to atone for sin. Jesus did not pay for 99.9% of our sin and then we have to work off the final .1%. Jesus paid it all; He said on the cross, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). We can define saving faith with the following acronym: Forsaking – All – I – Trust – Him. Legalism is adding to the work of Jesus. We can only be righteous based on the work of Jesus, not our works. We see this in the following inspired words of Paul who said:

• 2 Corinthians 5:21 – “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

When we trust in Jesus, we are freed from the bondage of the Law.

Ninth, when a person is saved by receiving Jesus as their Savior by faith, they are filled with the Holy Spirit who gives them spiritual life and love that fulfills the Law of God. The Bible says that when a person is saved from their sin through faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit enters them. Without the Holy Spirit within, a person is not saved from their sin. We see this in the following verses:

• John 3:3,5-7 – “Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” . . . 5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.7 “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’”
• Romans 8:9b – “Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”
• 1 Corinthians 2:12 – “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”
• 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 – “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
• 1 John 4:13 – “By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.”

When a person receives Jesus as their Savior, they begin a new life in the Spirit.

When the Spirit comes to reside in a person at salvation, He pours out love into their hearts. This is what the Bible tells us in the following words:

• Romans 5:5 – “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

When the Spirit pours out this love into our hearts it completely changes the way we look at others and live.

Living in the love of the Spirit leads to the fulfilling of the Law of God in and through us. The Bible tells us:

• Romans 13:10 – “Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.”
• Galatians 5:14 – “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Here we see God’s enabling power that brings about the fulfillment of the Law in us. When the love of the Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 13 and Galatians 5:22-25) fills us and we walk in the Spirit of that love, we first love the Lord with all our heart soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30). Then His love compels us in all that we do so that we no longer live for our self, but for Him who died for us (2 Corinthians 5:14-15). This affects us in every facet of our lives. When you love in the power of the Spirit God becomes your Lord, your master passion, you not only have no other gods before Him, but you do not allow anything else to challenge His place in your heart and life (Exodus 20:1-3). When the love of the Spirit is working in and through you, you will sense the presence of Jesus in you and won’t need to make images or idols not only because God has told you not to, but because you won’t need to (Exodus 20:4-6). When the love of the Spirit is in you, Jesus will be Lord of the Sabbath to you, and you can live and walk in His presence worshipping Him all the time (Exodus 20:8-11; Matthew 8:20; Mark 2:28). With the love of the Spirit in you, you will have a greater appreciation and love for your parents and a desire to see them come to the Lord as Savior too (Exodus 20:12). With the love of the Spirit in you, you won’t murder, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness or covet other’s things because to do so would be to contradict the love of the Spirit that is in you. Do you see how the love of the Spirit fulfills the Law in your life? Just remember, it is the Lord who is working in you to bring this to pass, rely on His strength not your own (Philippians 1:66; 2:13).

Tenth, law-keeping or legalism is contrary to life in the Spirit. Paul rebuked the Galatians for reverting to trying to live by keeping the law. Paul tells them to be a law-keeper is to be foolish. And in light of all we’ve seen about the law we can certainly understand that. He says:

• Galatians 3:1-3 – “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?”

We aren’t saved by keeping the Law because to try to keep the law in our own strength is futile; we are just not capable of doing it. Indeed, Paul writes to the Romans that when we come to Christ as our Savior, we die to the Law in that we stop trying to be righteous by keeping the Law and now depend on Christ in a new way to make us righteous before God. He says:

• Romans 7:6 – “But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.”

Legalism and law-keeping is contrary to the new life in the Spirit provided by God’s grace through faith in Jesus.

Eleventh, those who reject Christ will be judged by God on the basis of His Law. The Bible states:

• 1 Timothy 1:8-11 – “But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully,9 knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,10 for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine,11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.”

The only way out from under the weight of God’s holy and just Law is through, “the glorious gospel of the blessed God” which the Bible reveals to us from God.

If you’ve been laboring under the Law, I encourage you to turn from your sins to God. Admit your sin, confess them to God, and ask His forgiveness not because of any good work you’ve done, but on the basis of the competed work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Trust in Jesus as your Savior and receive by faith God’s promised forgiveness. Do that, and God will give you a new life. The Holy Spirit will fill you with His love and help you to fulfill the Law. The Bible says it like this:

• Romans 8:1–2 (NKJV) – There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. ² For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

Now that’s a “law” we can live with.

Labor under the weight and guilt-producing Law or forsake your sins and surrender to Jesus. The choice is yours. I pray you are liberated from the bondage of the Law and find the love of Christ that compels you in life.  Jesus is ready to set you free! It’s the Law!

 

[1] Insane US Laws You Won’t Believe Exist by Neil, Facty Staff, April 21, 2020 – https://facty.com/network/answers/culture/insane-us-laws-you-wont-believe-exist/3/