"Free from the Law, O Happy Condition"
"The law is the light that reveals how dirty the room is, not the broom that sweeps it clean" (Dr. Phil Williams, DTS, 1976).
As our church studies the book of Romans on Sunday mornings (Romans 7:1-6 this Sunday), the thought arises: many professing Christians have a fundamental misunderstanding about the nature of the Old Testament law (think the first 5 books of the Bible) and the relationship the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17 NKJV). The keeping/obedience of the law was not meant to be an agent of our salvation - a means of our cleanliness before a holy God. As the saying goes, "the law is a mirror; it was meant to reveal how dirty our faces are. But we don't rub our faces in the mirror to get clean!"
Galatians chapter 3 perfectly clarifies the intention of the law and how it leads us to Christ:
"What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe" (Galatians 3:19-22 NKJV).
The law shows the heart of God, our need for obedience, and our utter failure to perform the things written in it (Gal. 3:10). That is why it perfectly sets us up for the redemption we have in Jesus Christ:
"But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:21-24 NKJV).
In whom is your trust: you, by your law-keeping, or Christ, by His perfect obedience, death and resurrection?
"Now we are free, there's no condemnation,
Jesus provides a perfect salvation;
'Come unto Me,' O hear His sweet call,
Come, and He saves us once for all" (Phillip P. Bliss).
