Saturday, October 17, 2020

The Law - Christ's Righteousness

 


Christ Jesus our savior lived a sinless life. Another way to put that is- Christ Jesus our savior kept the ten commandments- the royal law, perfectly.


Christ Jesus could do no less than keep the law perfectly- He gave the law.


We hear the word law and we immediately think of strictures placed upon a person's actions. When a government enacts a law we like to imagine it is for the good of all people, a law all people can agree upon. The stricture placed upon a person for their own good and the good of all mankind. Not all laws mankind enacts are done so for this purpose. Opinions on what is good for all mankind begin to vary and the variances have to be dealt with. As soon as a majority opinion rules over another- and the law is enacted, it becomes a law not agreed upon by all mankind, but a law of popular opinion.


God's law, the royal law, the ten commandments that He held to be so vital above all other civil laws and such, that He had them placed in the ark of the covenant and put in the most holy place of His sanctuary- no other law occupied that position- not one.


The royal law embodied all that Christ stands for, all that He is, the truth. Every single law kept unbroken by the lawgiver is a law we are to keep- through Him. He died to offer us His righteousness, His ability to keep the royal law perfectly, and we must keep HIM in our lives because only then through Him in us are we keeping the law perfectly.  


Read more on this from E.J. Waggoner's excerpt-- May God help us to ever have Christ in us, Christ and His righteousness.


Excerpt - E.J. Waggoner- 


We will now take up a few of the different lines of doctrine that we preach and see how we may preach them and at the same time preach only Christ and Him crucified.


And first, as to the doctrine of the Bible. The Bible is all doctrine. "If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself." John 7:17. 


The word doctrine means "teaching." Sometimes we get afraid of doctrine. We talk of doctrinal and practical sermons. But doctrine means teaching, and if any man do the will of God, he shall know the teaching. But teaching must be practical, or it is useless; then, brethren, the teaching of the Bible is all practical.


Now if we do not know the doctrine of the Bible, we do not know how to practice what it teaches. If a thing is not practical, it is impractical. But we will not say the teaching of the Bible is impractical, something that cannot be practiced. So perhaps we can throw aside that distinction of doctrinal and practical sermons. A servant of God ought never to preach anything but practical sermons; but as all the teaching or doctrine of the Bible is practical, it is evident that in preaching really practical sermons, we must preach nothing but doctrine, and that doctrine must be the doctrine of Christ.

 

 

The Law


Now as to the specific lines of doctrine in Christ. We will first consider the law. I have only to call your attention to the fact that Christ is in the law and the law is in Christ and that you cannot separate one from the other to prove that the two go together and that preaching the law without Christ in it will have no power or effect on the hearts of men. Our study of the book of Romans has brought this plainly before your minds. We do not make void the law by faith, but it is only by faith in Christ that we establish the law in our hearts.


The law condemns the sinner and therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight. 


But it is by the obedience of one that many shall be made righteous, and that obedience can be made ours by faith in the word of God and by making Christ ours. 


To make Christ ours is to bring Him into our lives and to have Him in our lives is to have life eternal. Christ is the truth, and the law is in Him in its perfection, and if we keep Christ in our hearts day by day, we have the law in our hearts in its perfection, so long as we do not waver.


If we have Christ, He is our salvation, but we must have Him every moment of our lives. One act of faith will not suffice for all time; "the just shall live by faith." But we can live only one moment at a time; and since faith is our salvation, it is evident that we are saved moment by moment. 


There is no power in the law apart from Christ, and the preaching of the law without Christ in it is simply preaching damnation to men and not hope. 


But Christ has sent men as His ambassadors to proclaim liberty to the captives, to tell them that they are prisoners of hope. Then we are preaching the preaching of Christ; are we carrying out His commission, if we preach the law, which only condemns, without Christ? No. We are to preach "hope."


While the law is held over the sinner with all the terrors of Sinai, he is to have his mind directed to, not simply the law, but to the giver of the law, who has grace as well as truth in Himself. Truth and grace are in His hand, and when that truth condemns men, the grace that is held out by the same hand converts from sin.


When men have Christ, they have His righteousness, which is the righteousness which the law demands. But the righteousness of Christ carries everything else with it, for He has said, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Matthew 6:33. That is the one thing needful, and if we have it, we have the whole gospel, for it is Christ and His righteousness, and He is our righteousness, our salvation, and our life, both here and hereafter.

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