Under the Law

I have heard this said, “Laws show us our flaws.”  Laws don’t change us on the inside, but they reveal to us what is on the inside.  Laws are the revealer of the sin nature that resides in every person, without the law we would not know what sin was.  The laws were given for a purpose; they weren’t to hinder the people but to help them live more fulfilled lives and to keep some kind of order. Without the law there would be nothing but anarchy, with everyone being a law unto themselves, with no political power in place to regulate how people should exist.  

Read what the Bible says about this in Romans 3:20, “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”

It also says this about sin and the law in Romans 5:20, “Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more..”

I am going to add some more verses in here about the law, relating to sin to try to keep anyone from becoming confused about what the law does.  They are found in Romans 7:7-13, “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.’ But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. 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.”

When I talk about a sin nature I mean we are prone to sin, in fact it is impossible to go through life and never sin.  The only one that lived and was sinless was Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son!!  The Bible says all have sinned and fell short of the glory of God.  Read Romans 5:12, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—”

As far as the law goes, none of us have kept the whole law.  It says this in James 2:10, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.”

Praise the Lord, believers don’t live by the law, we live by grace, but that does not give us an excuse to sin and we need to take responsibility for our sin.  We will never be able to thank the Lord enough for His amazing grace.  But for the non-believer, they are not taking advantage of God’s amazing grace, to their own peril.  God is not willing that any be lost but that all come to repentance.  Jesus didn’t come to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.  There are many people that are trying to keep the law, trying to get right with the Lord, but they will never be able to.

Read what Galatians 3:10-14, “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.’ But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for ‘the just shall live by faith.’ Yet the law is not of faith, but ‘the man who does them shall live by them.’ 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’), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

One of the reasons Jesus came, was to do what the law was unable to do which was to redeem us from the bondage of sin that we were enslaved to and to set the captive free which could be done only through the shedding of His blood, the perfect sacrifice, the precious Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  God’s Word says without the shedding of blood there is no remittance of sins, in other words there can be no forgiveness of sins.  Jesus became our kinsmen redeemer, like it talks about in the book of Ruth and Leviticus and is related to all throughout the Bible.  His purpose was that we might have life and have it more abundantly.  God’s Word says that the righteous shall live by faith, so if you are trying to please God by keeping the law or by your good works, read what Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

Now realize, it is not what you can accomplish, it is what He has already done.  Ask Him to reveal Himself to you and, if you are sincere, I believe He will, then admit that you are a sinner in need of His amazing grace, turn from your sins and start living to please the only one that can forgive you and start growing in your new found faith.  PS don’t forget to share what you have done with others and may the good Lord bless you and yours!!