Daily Friendship with God Law#26 Law
Moreover the law entered that the offensive sin might increase (and abound). But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:20-21)
When someone tells you not to think of a rose the first thing you do is think of a rose. Thinking about a rose is not bad, but if there was a law that states it is a crime to think about a rose, then once you think about a rose you know you have done wrong and you have broken the law and you are guilty. If the punishment for braking the “thinking about a rose law” was the death sentence, then justice would be you must die. As we learned in the last Daily Friendship with God about sin, we have all sinned (done things wrong by braking the Law of God and of our own conscience) and we all are sentenced to death by our actions. This brings us back to the Gospel which is Jesus died for our sins was buried and that He rose from the dead. He did this all on our behalf and by faith we believe God gives us Jesus life which is eternal based on remaining in relationship with Him (John 17:3).
As we read below before we have the spiritual life of Christ living in us, it is the Law that leads us into sin by telling us what we should and should not do.
For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment(of the Law), produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. (Romans 7:5-8)
The stinger that brings death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law (1 Corinthians 15:56)
The next verse is paramount in understanding one of the key reasons why God created the law.
Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. (Galatians 3:24)
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. (Jesus said) I did not come to destroy but to fulfill (the Law). (Matthew 5:17)
God is love (1 John 4:7-8)
love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:10)
in Him (Jesus) there is no sin (1 John 3:5), for he faced all of the same testings’ we do, yet He (Jesus) did not sin (Hebrews 4:15)
Jesus as the Son of God is the only person who has ever lived on the planet that fulfilled the law by never sinning or in any way breaking any of the law. This is why we put our faith and trust in Him and His grace to set us free from the power of sin and the law.
For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! (Romans 6:14-15)
Jesus laid down His life willingly to set us free from being under the law.
“No one takes it (my Life) from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. (John 10:18)
There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for his friends (John 15:13)
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” (Galatians 3:13 )
Jesus hung on a cross over 2000 years ago to take away the curse of the law that condemned us all to death.
As always with Daily Friendship with God this is only the tip of the ice burg concerning the Law. Read Galatians chapter three and ask God to speak to you and teach you about His heart concerning the Law and all He has accomplish to set you free from the law of sin and death.