The Cost of Discipleship pt 51 The Law, the Truth!

Chapter 8 The Righteousness of Christ

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.

Mat 5:19  Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Mat 5:20  For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Bonhoeffer-  But Jesus says" "You must not imagine that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets…"  And so saying he vindicates the authority of the law of the old covenant. "

"The law Jesus refers to is the law of the old covenant, not a new law, but the same law which he quoted to the rich young man and the lawyer when they wanted to know the revealed will of God. It becomes a new law only because it is Christ who binds his followers to it. For Christians, therefore, the law is not a "better law" than that of the Pharisees, but one and the same; every letter of it, every jot and tittle, must remain in force and be observed until the end of the world.'

My thoughts-

So many people believe that the old covenant law was done away with. They confuse the ceremonial law and the moral law. They want to believe the moral law was done away with and they have no obligation to it whatsoever, therefore they can break it because it doesn't exist any longer. 

HOW can anyone believe the same GOD with GOD in beginning, who lowered Himself and took on human flesh would ever desire to do away with the moral law that HE with His Father- God with God- created?  They are in complete agreement, they agree as ONE. Just as we can agree as one with others when we both agree on the exact same thing.  They agree as ONE.  They always have and always will- there is NEVER any derision between Jesus and His Father. So how can this MORAL law ever be done away with? How?

Remember there is no sin without the law because sin is the transgression of the law. So unless you believe there is no more sin, you have to believe there is a law, God's law, the moral law.

Bonhoeffer said- "It becomes a new law only because it is Christ who binds his followers to it."

Christ reaffirmed the power of the law through His very life and His disciples must use Jesus as an example of their own lives.

Bonhoeffer also said- "For Christians, therefore, the law is NOT a "better law" than that of the Pharisees, but ONE and the SAME; every letter of it, every jot and tittle, must remain in force and be observed until the END of the WORLD."

My thoughts-  STRONG words! But they need to be strong!  It's too easy for us to make excuses!

We love to makes excuses for our sins so we can keep on sinning without feeling guilty.

The law points to our sins. The law tells us that lying is wrong. The law tells us that coveting is wrong. The law tells us stealing is wrong. The law tells us these things are SINS!  They aren't things we can overlook. Sin is never something that can be overlooked. Sin is evil, at its core it is pure evil. We have trained ourselves to think it's nothing at all, let alone evil. Nothing. The very thing that separates us from God completely, and we say it means nothing.

Bonhoeffer says - 'Every jot and tittle, MUST REMAIN IN FORCE and be OBSERVED UNTIL THE END of the WORLD.'

This man is speaking truth, because it's BIBLICAL TRUTH, it's CHRIST'S TRUTH!

And if it is Christ's truth it is OUR truth if we are truly His disciples!

Please Lord, help us to realize all Your truth. Please Lord, don't let Satan deceive us to the point that we are allowed to be blind to Your truth.  Don't let him deceive us at all!  Help us Lord, only by  Your grace and mercy do we live at all!

All glory to YOU GOD! All glory to YOU!