For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for

everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written,

"The just shall live by faith." (NKJV)

We are saved by, and live by the faith in the free gift of righteousness. In Colossians 2:6 Paul also said that we are to walk in Him, as we have received Him. We received Him by faith and so also walk in faith. If you are thinking, “Where does the law fit in? Is the law against the promises of God? How can obedience to moral law be wrong? Isn’t it a good thing if I try to obey the law?” look at what Paul answered.

Gal 3:21-22 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. 22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. (NKJV)

Basically what it comes down to is that the law is not bad in and of itself. Romans 7:12 says the law is holy and righteous. It is trying to relate to God through it, that is the problem. Paul says there is NO law that can give life. The purpose of the law is to show you the only option you have is faith. Since all the promises of God come by faith, the law is actually in support of the promises, when it points you to faith and not when you use it to gain self-righteousness by trying to obey it! Galatians 3:12 tells us the law is not of faith. Only faith gives life to the promises made, even the ones in the law. There is nothing wrong with doing right and moral things, but we shouldn’t base our relationship with God on doing them. Let us look at it from another view. Imagine you have to choose between two kinds of blessings. The first kind you can only receive if you perfectly fulfill the requirements needed to receive it. The second also has requirements, but somebody else already met them, and chose to share the reward equally with you. Which would you choose? The second one sounds like a much better option to me.

The conditional blessing has rules and regulations you have to follow in order to receive and keep it, otherwise known as the Law.

The unconditional blessing is given freely because all the rules and regulations were already perfectly kept by Jesus, otherwise known as Grace. As the righteousness of God in Christ, Jesus automatically meets every condition, rule, regulation or law there ever was or ever could be perfectly on your behalf. So what is this righteousness we keep hearing about? Righteousness, according to the dictionary, is the state of being right, attained by acting in accordance with divine or moral law. God has perfect righteousness because He always acts right according to divine and moral law. Now I am not saying God is under law, I am just saying that righteousness is the ability to act right. All the righteousness Jesus has from always doing right, has been imputed to us. But a thing to realize is that you don’t HAVE righteousness. You ARE righteousness. You are the righteousness of God in Christ. It doesn’t say ‘you have the righteousness of God’ it says you have BECOME righteousness.

To the same degree that you believe this, to that same degree you will relate to God. If you don’t believe this, you will always try to relate to God by trying to get your own righteousness by also acting in accordance with divine and moral law. That is called self-righteousness. Since righteousness is the basis through which to relate to God, it is easy to think we have to work and perform to obey the law to prove to God that we have righteousness. But no matter how hard we try to keep the law, we will always just end up having righteousness, we will never become righteousness. If we try to relate to God by gaining our own righteousness, we have placed ourselves back under law and then we have fallen from grace. That’s right, sinning doesn’t make us fall from grace, trying to be made righteous by the law does!

Gal 5:2-4 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. 3 And I testify again to every man who becomes

circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. 4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. (NKJV)

When Paul wrote to the believers in Galatia, he told them sternly that they are foolish, having been bewitched to go back to try and live under the law (Gal 3:1-2). By doing that, you do the exact opposite of what you are trying to achieve, which is to relate to God.

Verse 4 above tells us that by trying to live under law, we become estranged from Christ. The word ‘estranged’ means to be removed from a place of love, affection and friendliness, to a place of mutual enmity, hatred and indifference. If you live estranged from Christ, He profits you nothing. He might be your savior, but you might also live estranged from Him at the same time. The love, affection and friendliness you have in grace, is of no profit in that case. Just remember that even if believers go back and live under law, it doesn’t mean they’ve lost their salvation, it just means they might only get to know God when they die. So instead of getting to know God now, they keep blaming Him for their condemning religious existence on earth, not aware that He will welcome them back into His loving arms without making them feel guilty or ashamed.

Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

(NKJV)

Condemnation is what you feel when you try to become righteous through the law. It is the negative emotions that are left over after you failed to keep it perfectly. Even if you keep the law 99%

right, the 1% that you didn’t do right will still cause condemnation. It’s almost like rat poison. It’s made out of 99% good rat food, and 1%

poison. That 1% is enough to kill the rat. The purpose of the law is to

show you how utterly impossible it is to become righteous through observing it. The law only serves to expose sin (Romans 7:13). That is why Jesus said lusting in your heart is the same as adultery and hatred is the same as murder. He wasn’t giving us more rules to live by, but instead He was showing us how impossible it is to keep them perfectly.

The more you try to keep the law better, the more it will show you how miserably you fail at it.

2 Cor 3:7-9 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.

(NKJV)

These verses talk about two different ministries. The first one is the ministry of death and condemnation, which is the law and the old covenant, or the old way of relating to God. What else was engraved on tablets of stone? When you live under the law, death and condemnation is exactly what gets ministered to you. I wouldn’t want to line up at that altar call. Then there is the second ministry, the ministry of the Spirit and righteousness, which is the Grace Covenant.

Grace is Jesus Christ and His righteousness freely imputed to us, the fullness of the blessing, God’s unmerited favour, the new way of relating to God. One ministry is based on your ability to try and become righteous; the other is based on you being created in righteousness and true holiness (Eph 4:24) based on Christ’s perfect obedience, without you having to obey one law! Now why would anybody in his or her right mind choose the first one? Grace is the means by which God accepted you no matter how big your sin was, and it’s the same grace that never stops accepting you no matter how big it gets in the

future. There is no depth that Christ refused to descend to in order to be able to save you. The height and length and breadth and depth of the love of Christ far exceed the height and length and breadth and depth to which sin separated you from Him. For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son. Since Jesus’ sacrifice was enough for the entire world’s sin throughout all of history and the future, your teeny tiny amount in comparison is not enough to even put a dent in grace. Find your identity in Him. Be established in His righteousness. Never doubt His love and acceptance. Anything that tries to diminish His love for, and acceptance of you is totally demonic and antichrist. Have nothing to do with it, except telling others to get free from it!

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