Jas 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
Do you feel more freedom when you have laws or less freedom?
Children often cannot wait to escape the laws their parents have set for them because in their youth they believe the laws are in place to restrict their freedom. People living under unfair laws feel the same way. But people living under laws designed for their protection feel incredibly more free than if those laws never existed. How free would you feel if you lived where it was the law that you could kill anyone you wanted to kill? How free would you feel if you lived where it was perfectly fine, in fact, the law to take things that didn't belong to you? Would you feel a sense of freedom in your marriage if it were the law to have martial relations with anyone you desired and not just your spouse? Living in the supposed land of the free we have many, many laws we follow- we agree to follow those laws by living here. If all those laws were gone what takes their place? We've heard of living in the lawless west- in a time before the western part of the United States was civilized. The lawless west where you could go and take your chances on finding cheap land and build a homestead, but in truth you knew that once you set out for that land you were facing a lot of danger and fear. Living where there are no laws is scary, very scary. Living in parts of the world where the laws differ from your own laws can be scary too. Living in a place where you are NOT guaranteed a speedy trial can have you in perfect innocence sitting behind bars for years and years before you can even present your case for innocence. Living in a place with unfamiliar laws you run the risk of breaking those laws until you learn what they are. It's a wise decision when visiting any other country to learn their laws- at least in a general manner, because you could find yourself in jail for something that is perfectly fine to do in your own country. Laws are designed for many reasons, but if we really stop and think about it, a lot of our laws are designed to protect our freedom, not hinder it and keep us from things we've agreed are acceptable.
A law of liberty.
A law of freedom.
This law is NOT a law that takes away all other laws so you are free to break those old laws at will.
Jesus kept ALL the laws.
Joh 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
Mat 22:36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
The great commandment- Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with ALL thy heart, and with ALL thy soul and with ALL thy mind.
The second greatest commandment- Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself.
Did Jesus tell the man that asked which is the great commandment that there was a NEW commandment and all the old commandments are gone? No.
People will argue that Jesus said we have to follow HIS commandments as He followed His Father's- meaning we don't have to follow the Father's commandments. Yet how do those people account for this--
Luk 16:17 And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.
And this--
Mat 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
Mat 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Till heaven and earth pass- perish, go away- till heaven and earth disappear not one dot of an I or cross of a t will be taken away from the law.
Has heaven and earth perished? No. Obviously, no.
Jesus fulfilled the law- Jesus kept the law perfectly!
Just because one person fulfills the requirements of something doesn't make those requirements disappear for everyone else! Everyone has to fulfill the SAME requirements. Think of all the tests and such that people have to take and how everyone who passes the test must meet the requirements of passing. Just because the smart person in the class passed the test doesn't mean he passed it for everyone. Just because my great great grandmother passed a test years and years ago doesn't mean she passed it for me and everyone else. Every person who takes the bar exam has to pass it for himself, not for anyone else.
Jesus passed the test- Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the law perfectly and that is something WE cannot do. Jesus didn't pass the test then throw the test out- He passed the test and then told us that THROUGH Him we can pass the test too. It is through Him we are able to fulfill the same law, the same commandments that He fulfilled- His Father's commandments. How we do this is by LOVING. Jesus wanted us to realize that the commandments He fulfilled were fulfilled by LOVE and the commandment He gives to us is to LOVE, and out of that love we will be able to fulfill all the law.
Love God.
Love our fellow man as if we were loving ourselves- how we want to be loved.
Jesus said PLAINLY He did NOT come to destroy the law. He had to say it plainly because so many believe that's exactly what He did. He wiped the Ten Commandments off the face of the earth and replaced them with the love commandments.
Don't you see, sin is the breaking of the law.
Jesus didn't sin.
Jesus didn't break the law.
Jesus was able to live His entire life fulfilling the law, meeting the requirements of the law, something we have never been able to do and never can do without Him, it is through Him we are able to keep the law- through HIS righteousness.
Jas 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
Jas 2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
Jas 2:9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
Jas 2:10 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
Jas 2:11 For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
Jas 2:12 So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.
Jas 2:13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
The perfect law of liberty is loving as Jesus loved, showing mercy to all. If we show no mercy we receive no mercy. Remember the Lord teaching the apostles how to pray… in that prayer guideline we find this--
Mat 6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And this…
Mat 6:14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
Mat 6:15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
This was sorely lacking in the keepers of the law before our Savior came, in some cases completely lacking. They'd kept the law but destroyed the love that belonged in that law. All too often people will be steadfast in their beliefs, so steadfast that they forget that without love all their beliefs mean NOTHING. They can keep all ten great commandments perfectly and without love they've broken every single one. The law was a law of liberty- a law that brings us freedom in life- all through LOVE. God gave the ten commandments originally out of love and that's NEVER changed! God did NOT free the Hebrews from the Egyptians only to want to put them back into a form of bondage to Him! God wanted to give them a freedom they'd never known before. And man so degraded by sin turned God's perfect law into something loveless. By the time Jesus came the Hebrews were so entrenched in their loveless law keeping they felt threatened by the true revelation of the law being fulfilled in Jesus Christ through love.
Jesus didn't come to destroy the law but He came to keep the law in perfect love and this perfect law of love brings a liberty unlike anything offered elsewhere.
Jas 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
We look into the perfect law of liberty and know it's a perfect law of love. Jesus' command that we love revealed His love in the law.
We are free in the law knowing how love penetrates each and every word of the law from the first to the last. If we tell people they are still accountable to keep the laws of God and forget to tell them of the love found in those laws we are missing the most important aspect of those laws. People do not want to be bound to loveless laws, they need to see the richness of the love deeply embedded in God's commandments to us. They want to understand that it is out of a pure love unlike anything we possess that we should keep God's laws. There are scores and scores of people who keep laws to the letter and yet have broken them all by stripping the love from those laws. Jesus commands we love for without love no law can be kept, not a single one!
By His grace, through HIS amazing LOVE may we love His law!
All through Him!
Amen.
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