Do you need to keep the law of God, today? Yes? No? Maybe?
What is your immediate response to that question? Was it, yes? If so, can you explain why you should keep God's law? If your answer was no, then the same question- can you explain why? The answer, maybe, clearly indicates you're not sure, so you really don't need to explain that one.
Tell me, how could Christ say this--
Mat 19:16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
Mat 19:17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
Mat 19:18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
Mat 19:19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 19:20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
Mat 19:21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
How could Jesus say- '...if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.' If He didn't mean it?
Clearly the one asking the question received an answer on 'WHICH' commandment- Jesus quoted from the MORAL LAW- the Ten Commandments. The man replied that he's kept ALL those laws from his YOUTH till now. So, if he was already doing what Jesus said- keeping the commandments- then he should have been all set, right? But He didn't rejoice in that knowledge did he? No, he didn't. He asked another question- 'What lack I?' Something was missing. What was missing? JESUS. Jesus was missing. The need the man had was- Christ Himself! And to reveal His belief in Jesus, that real knowledgeable belief that would show to one and all that He believed Jesus to be the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE, would be to follow Jesus. A personal invitation was given to the man, but Jesus knew the man didn't truly want to follow Him, he wanted eternal life but he wanted it on his own terms, by his own hand, not Jesus'. If the man would give up EVERYTHING- all his riches and follow Christ, then He would have eternal life. The man had to MAKE AN ADDITION to his keeping of the commandments. The man had to realize that Christ is the way to eternal life, and Christ telling him to keep the commandments was great, but the commandments alone could NEVER save that man. Jesus didn't take that opportunity to say to the man- 'Don't keep those commandments any longer, just follow me.' He did NOT remove the moral law, but expounded upon it to INCLUDE Christ in the law.
We really should know where we stand on this issue. Either we believe that our Savior wants us to keep His moral law, or we don't. If we aren't sure it's easy to realize that uncertainty will most likely result in not believing. We need to be sure. We need to study God's word, we need to pray, we need to yearn for ALL the truth- not just bits and pieces of it that we like to hear. We can't wrest a single scripture here and another scripture over there and piece them together so we hear the words we want to hear. We MUST examine the entire word of God for the truth. We MUST be willing to abandon the untruths when the truth is revealed to us. To holdfast to things that aren't true just because it is easier, it keeps us in line with those we care about, or because it 'works' for us, it to holdfast to the deception of Satan. Your master really is the evil one and you will discover that when Christ looks at you and tells you to get away from Him, that He never knew you. You'll be SHOCKED. You'll want to explain, you'll say… 'But, but I love you! I followed your word, I listened to you. I prayed! I did so many wonderful things because of you, YOU worked, and lived in me Christ! You have to know me! You have to! And He still won't know you, all your pleading for Him to understand won't change His mind. You were too busy following the path of least resistance, the path of feel good religion, the path of the multitude, the path of only partial truth, the path you liked and made work for you.
We must know where we stand on the issue of God's Moral Ten Commandments, because Christ Himself told that man that the way to eternal life was through keeping those laws AS WELL AS following Him, His Savior! And in truth, we can ONLY keep the law as we are meant to keep it when we have Christ in our lives, a living, breathing reality of Christ in us!
Read the following article by E.G. Waggoner, it sheds light on this subject.
By the grace and mercy of our Lord, may we always seek His truth, and follow His truth when He reveals it to us and NOT turn back as that man did. Please, Lord, be our righteousness, be the end - be the all- of the Moral Law You designed for us.
In YOUR amazing LOVE always!
*******
'CHRIST THE END OF THE LAW--by E. J. Waggoner.--
In Rom. 10:4 we read as follows:
"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."
Before showing what this text means, it may be well to briefly show what it does not mean. It does not mean that Christ has put an end to the law, because (1) Christ Himself said concerning the law, "I am not come to destroy." Matt. 5:17. (2) The prophet said that instead of destroying it, the Lord would "Magnify the law and make it honorable." Isa. 42:21. (3) The law was in Christ's own heart: "Then said I, Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart." Ps. 40:7, 8. And (4) since the law is the righteousness of God, the foundation of His government, it could not by any possibility be abolished. See Luke 16:17.
(((Luk 16:17 And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail. ))))
The reader must know that the word "end" does not necessarily mean "termination." It is often used in the sense of design, object, or purpose. In 1 Tim. 1:5 the same writer says, "Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith
unfeigned." the word here rendered "charity" is often rendered "love," and is so rendered in this place in the New Version.
In 1 John 5:3 we read, "This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments," and Paul himself says that "love is the fulfilling of the law." Rom. 13:10. In both these texts the same word (agape) is used that occurs in 1 Tim. 1:5. Therefore we say that this text means, Now the design of the commandment (or law) is that it should be kept. Everybody will recognize this as a self-evident fact.
But this is not the ultimate design of the law. In the verse following the one under consideration, Paul quotes Moses as saying of the law that "the man that doeth those things shall live by them." Christ said to the young man, "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." Matt. 19:17.
Now since the design of the law was that it should be kept, or, in other words, that it should produce righteous characters, and the promise is that those who are obedient shall live, we may say that the ultimate design of the law was to give life. And in harmony with this thought are the words of Paul, that the law "was ordained to life." Rom. 7:10.
But "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God," and "the wages of sin is death." Thus it is impossible for the law to accomplish its design in making perfect characters and consequently giving life. WHEN A MAN HAS ONCE BROKEN THE LAW, NO SUBSEQUENT OBEDIENCE CAN EVER MAKE HIS CHARACTER PERFECT. And therefore the law which was ordained unto life is found to be unto death. Rom. 7:10.
If we were to stop right here with the law unable to accomplish its purpose, we should leave all the world under condemnation and sentence of death.
Now we shall see that Christ enables man to secure both righteousness and life. We read that we are "justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Rom. 3:24. "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Rom. 5:1. More than this, He enables us to keep the law. "For he [God] hath made him [Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2 Cor. 5:21.
In Christ, therefore, IT IS POSSIBLE for us to be made perfect--the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD--and that is just what we would have been by constant and unvarying obedience to the law.
Again we read, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. . . . For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; THAT THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE LAW MIGHT BE FULFILLED IN US, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit." Rom. 8:1-4.
What could not the law do? It could not free a single guilty soul from condemnation. Why not? Because it was "weak through the flesh."
There is no element of weakness in the law; THE WEAKNESS IS IN THE FLESH. It is not the fault of a good tool that it cannot make a sound pillar out of a rotten stick.
The law could not cleanse a man's past record and make him sinless; and poor, fallen man had no strength resting in his flesh to enable him to keep the law. And so God imputes to believers the righteousness of Christ, who was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, so that "the righteousness of the law" might be fulfilled in their lives. And thus CHRIST IS THE END OF THE LAW.
To conclude, then, we have found that THE DESIGN OF THE LAW WAS THAT IT SHOULD GIVE LIFE BECAUSE OF OBEDIENCE.
All men have sinned and been sentenced to death.
But Christ took upon Himself man's nature and WILL IMPART OF HIS OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS TO THOSE WHO ACCEPT HIS SACRIFICE, and finally when they stand, through Him, as doers of the law, He will fulfill to them its ultimate object, by crowning them with eternal life.
And so we repeat, what we cannot too fully appreciate, that Christ is made unto us "wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption."
*******
What is your immediate response to that question? Was it, yes? If so, can you explain why you should keep God's law? If your answer was no, then the same question- can you explain why? The answer, maybe, clearly indicates you're not sure, so you really don't need to explain that one.
Tell me, how could Christ say this--
Mat 19:16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
Mat 19:17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
Mat 19:18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
Mat 19:19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 19:20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
Mat 19:21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.
How could Jesus say- '...if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.' If He didn't mean it?
Clearly the one asking the question received an answer on 'WHICH' commandment- Jesus quoted from the MORAL LAW- the Ten Commandments. The man replied that he's kept ALL those laws from his YOUTH till now. So, if he was already doing what Jesus said- keeping the commandments- then he should have been all set, right? But He didn't rejoice in that knowledge did he? No, he didn't. He asked another question- 'What lack I?' Something was missing. What was missing? JESUS. Jesus was missing. The need the man had was- Christ Himself! And to reveal His belief in Jesus, that real knowledgeable belief that would show to one and all that He believed Jesus to be the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE, would be to follow Jesus. A personal invitation was given to the man, but Jesus knew the man didn't truly want to follow Him, he wanted eternal life but he wanted it on his own terms, by his own hand, not Jesus'. If the man would give up EVERYTHING- all his riches and follow Christ, then He would have eternal life. The man had to MAKE AN ADDITION to his keeping of the commandments. The man had to realize that Christ is the way to eternal life, and Christ telling him to keep the commandments was great, but the commandments alone could NEVER save that man. Jesus didn't take that opportunity to say to the man- 'Don't keep those commandments any longer, just follow me.' He did NOT remove the moral law, but expounded upon it to INCLUDE Christ in the law.
We really should know where we stand on this issue. Either we believe that our Savior wants us to keep His moral law, or we don't. If we aren't sure it's easy to realize that uncertainty will most likely result in not believing. We need to be sure. We need to study God's word, we need to pray, we need to yearn for ALL the truth- not just bits and pieces of it that we like to hear. We can't wrest a single scripture here and another scripture over there and piece them together so we hear the words we want to hear. We MUST examine the entire word of God for the truth. We MUST be willing to abandon the untruths when the truth is revealed to us. To holdfast to things that aren't true just because it is easier, it keeps us in line with those we care about, or because it 'works' for us, it to holdfast to the deception of Satan. Your master really is the evil one and you will discover that when Christ looks at you and tells you to get away from Him, that He never knew you. You'll be SHOCKED. You'll want to explain, you'll say… 'But, but I love you! I followed your word, I listened to you. I prayed! I did so many wonderful things because of you, YOU worked, and lived in me Christ! You have to know me! You have to! And He still won't know you, all your pleading for Him to understand won't change His mind. You were too busy following the path of least resistance, the path of feel good religion, the path of the multitude, the path of only partial truth, the path you liked and made work for you.
We must know where we stand on the issue of God's Moral Ten Commandments, because Christ Himself told that man that the way to eternal life was through keeping those laws AS WELL AS following Him, His Savior! And in truth, we can ONLY keep the law as we are meant to keep it when we have Christ in our lives, a living, breathing reality of Christ in us!
Read the following article by E.G. Waggoner, it sheds light on this subject.
By the grace and mercy of our Lord, may we always seek His truth, and follow His truth when He reveals it to us and NOT turn back as that man did. Please, Lord, be our righteousness, be the end - be the all- of the Moral Law You designed for us.
In YOUR amazing LOVE always!
*******
'CHRIST THE END OF THE LAW--by E. J. Waggoner.--
In Rom. 10:4 we read as follows:
"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."
Before showing what this text means, it may be well to briefly show what it does not mean. It does not mean that Christ has put an end to the law, because (1) Christ Himself said concerning the law, "I am not come to destroy." Matt. 5:17. (2) The prophet said that instead of destroying it, the Lord would "Magnify the law and make it honorable." Isa. 42:21. (3) The law was in Christ's own heart: "Then said I, Lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart." Ps. 40:7, 8. And (4) since the law is the righteousness of God, the foundation of His government, it could not by any possibility be abolished. See Luke 16:17.
(((Luk 16:17 And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail. ))))
The reader must know that the word "end" does not necessarily mean "termination." It is often used in the sense of design, object, or purpose. In 1 Tim. 1:5 the same writer says, "Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith
unfeigned." the word here rendered "charity" is often rendered "love," and is so rendered in this place in the New Version.
In 1 John 5:3 we read, "This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments," and Paul himself says that "love is the fulfilling of the law." Rom. 13:10. In both these texts the same word (agape) is used that occurs in 1 Tim. 1:5. Therefore we say that this text means, Now the design of the commandment (or law) is that it should be kept. Everybody will recognize this as a self-evident fact.
But this is not the ultimate design of the law. In the verse following the one under consideration, Paul quotes Moses as saying of the law that "the man that doeth those things shall live by them." Christ said to the young man, "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." Matt. 19:17.
Now since the design of the law was that it should be kept, or, in other words, that it should produce righteous characters, and the promise is that those who are obedient shall live, we may say that the ultimate design of the law was to give life. And in harmony with this thought are the words of Paul, that the law "was ordained to life." Rom. 7:10.
But "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God," and "the wages of sin is death." Thus it is impossible for the law to accomplish its design in making perfect characters and consequently giving life. WHEN A MAN HAS ONCE BROKEN THE LAW, NO SUBSEQUENT OBEDIENCE CAN EVER MAKE HIS CHARACTER PERFECT. And therefore the law which was ordained unto life is found to be unto death. Rom. 7:10.
If we were to stop right here with the law unable to accomplish its purpose, we should leave all the world under condemnation and sentence of death.
Now we shall see that Christ enables man to secure both righteousness and life. We read that we are "justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Rom. 3:24. "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Rom. 5:1. More than this, He enables us to keep the law. "For he [God] hath made him [Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 2 Cor. 5:21.
In Christ, therefore, IT IS POSSIBLE for us to be made perfect--the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD--and that is just what we would have been by constant and unvarying obedience to the law.
Again we read, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. . . . For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; THAT THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE LAW MIGHT BE FULFILLED IN US, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit." Rom. 8:1-4.
What could not the law do? It could not free a single guilty soul from condemnation. Why not? Because it was "weak through the flesh."
There is no element of weakness in the law; THE WEAKNESS IS IN THE FLESH. It is not the fault of a good tool that it cannot make a sound pillar out of a rotten stick.
The law could not cleanse a man's past record and make him sinless; and poor, fallen man had no strength resting in his flesh to enable him to keep the law. And so God imputes to believers the righteousness of Christ, who was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, so that "the righteousness of the law" might be fulfilled in their lives. And thus CHRIST IS THE END OF THE LAW.
To conclude, then, we have found that THE DESIGN OF THE LAW WAS THAT IT SHOULD GIVE LIFE BECAUSE OF OBEDIENCE.
All men have sinned and been sentenced to death.
But Christ took upon Himself man's nature and WILL IMPART OF HIS OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS TO THOSE WHO ACCEPT HIS SACRIFICE, and finally when they stand, through Him, as doers of the law, He will fulfill to them its ultimate object, by crowning them with eternal life.
And so we repeat, what we cannot too fully appreciate, that Christ is made unto us "wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption."
*******
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