For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. (Hebrews 4:10, NKJV)

O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face. (Daniel 9:7, NKJV)

Righteousness Belongs to the Lord 

Human nature denies the very idea that anything is beyond its power to perform. One modern day sage boasted, "What the human mind can conceive, it can also achieve." Such arrogant confidence in human potential is to be expected from the world, but it is painfully clear that this can-do spirit is equally present and welcome in what is called "the Christian Church."

Nothing could be more attractive to fallen man than the idea of recovering rightness and closing the breach between himself and God by his own moral efforts. He wants to be right by his own merit and force his version of righteousness on others. Sound familiar? It should, because this characterizes most of the activities of religious man for the last six thousand years. Ever since the serpent beguiled Eve with the promise that she could be "like God" if she would just disobey God and take things into her own hands, man's every action is proof that he does not know that true righteousness belongs to the Lord, nor does he know why it must be that way. In his quest for his own righteousness, religious man is blinded to true righteousness that comes only as a gift and can never be derived from any goodness in himself. It must be received as an unmerited gift from Him who alone is righteous (see Romans 5:17).  

We do not become righteous through our own merits.  Righteousness comes from a Source totally apart from man. The prevalent mentality that right doing equals righteousness is the hardest thing for religious man to give up because his every thought, motive and practice is predicated on it. Nothing so effectively blocks the flow of God's grace.

Before you can come to God in true repentance, you must first accept His judgment on all flesh. God's pronouncement upon everyone is, "There is none righteous, no not one." If we hold the misguided belief that there is anything good in us that would commend us to God, we fall into sharp disagreement with Him. Our very lives become a lie. Anyone who has not accepted God's judgment has not truly repented and his life becomes an ongoing effort to prove God wrong.

In its truest sense, repentance is coming into agreement with God. John wrote, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9 WEB). The compound Greek word translated confess in this passage is homologeo. Homo means one and the same, and logeo, to say. Together they mean to say with. To confess something is to say the same thing as another is saying, agreeing totally with his assessment. This was God's judgment against Israel when He spoke through Amos and said, "Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?"

Here is the rub. Before man can truly repent, he must first say with. He must come into agreement with God about his sin/sins. It is much easier for man to admit to an occasional act of sin than it is for him to acknowledge his utter sinfulness. To admit that you have done wrong is less humiliating than admitting that you are wrong--skewed in your very being.  A man is not a sinner because he sins. He sins because he is a sinner. He can do nothing else but live out his true inner condition. God wants to lay the ax to the root, not beat at the leaves. To deal with this externally by resisting external acts of sin is like fighting the mythological hydra. You cut off one head and two take its place. It is a losing battle. Paul made it clear that this "touch not, taste not, handle not" righteousness is profitless when it comes to restraining sinful passions (see Colossians 2). More is required. This kind of will worship might make you a prude, but it cannot make you a saint.

Believing that you must act righteously to become righteous is like believing that you can turn base metals into gold through alchemy. Man is corrupt through and through. Scripture bears this out conclusively. There is none good. What do you find when you assay man's flesh? FLESH! Didn't Jesus tell his disciples, "The flesh profits nothing"? Nothing? The Oxford Dictionary defines nothing as the state of having "no prospect of success or agreement." Nothing eternal or spiritual can come out of our fallen natures. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. There is no goodness anywhere in man. The philanthropist and the hedonist are both on the same footing. Man's debauchery and his goodness come from the same source, his flesh. Isaiah did well prophesy, "We are all infected and impure with sin. When we proudly display our righteous deeds, we find they are but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall. And our sins, like the wind, sweep us away" (Isaiah 64:6, NLT). God's first order of business in redeeming man is to dispel the myth of his goodness.

The Myth of Man's Goodness

In Luke 18:18-19, a certain ruler asked Jesus, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? Nobody is good except for one, even God."  If there is only one good, then this young man could do nothing to inherit eternal life. All his actions would profit nothing. The secret of true righteousness is contained in these few words "Nobody is good except One." When we finally come to believe these words, then we will stop our vain activities and receive the true righteousness of God.

Religious man's favorite question, "What must I do...?" presupposes that he can do something good enough to merit God's favor and blessing. Christ's answer pronounces judgment on all the supposed goodness in man, "There is only one good." Before man can experience true repentance and know the righteousness that comes from Him who alone is good, he must first agree with God's judgment on his flesh. Paul put it succinctly, "In me, that is in my flesh dwells no good thing."

This is the ground of controversy. The whole religious world labors to prove Jesus wrong. They erect good buildings in which good Christians gather to learn how to be better Christians with the aid of good programs and good doctrines, taught by good men. Everything is said and done to perfect the goodness in man that Jesus pronounced nonexistent. The notion that you can become good through practice is the delusion that keeps man on the religious treadmill, always trying harder to be good and always building towers unto the heavens. We must come into agreement with God and see that His judgment is as heavy upon our best efforts as it was on Nimrod's tower to heaven (see Genesis 11). We must repent of such dead works and come into agreement with Jesus' words, "There is only one good."

Most people learn this lesson after years of struggle and defeat. How would God teach man that there is nothing he can do to recover the rightness he once had before the fall? How would He show decadent humanity its utter lack of goodness?

After eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve stood, divided in their very beings, astonished and confused about what had just happened to them. Their eyes were opened, and they could see many things, but not their true condition. They fell from something wonderful on a higher plain of existence to a lower plain beneath the dignity and purpose God created them for. The goodness God spoke of when He said, "It is good" was lost. How would God show man how far he had fallen? How would He teach man of his deep inner infection and impurity?  How would God show mankind that their righteous deeds are nothing but filthy rags? How would He show them their utter depravity and powerlessness in doing what once was as natural as breathing to Adam before the fall? How indeed!

Enter the Law

God chose a Pharisee who once stood proudly in what he called, "...my own righteousness, which is of the law" as the champion of an entirely different kind of righteous, the righteousness of God. God had to stop this Pharisee dead in his tracks and convince him that man's goodness is like dung, fecal matter, in His sight.  Paul learned this lesson very well. He saw the depravity of his own murderous heart in a divine encounter on the Damascus Road, where the risen Christ said to him, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting." Paul had been so sure of his righteousness in imprisoning and killing the saints of God. His righteousness blinded him to the truth that is only found in Jesus Christ.

After fourteen years of obscurity and wilderness, Paul wrote the following to the Philippian church. "I count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith" (Philippians 3:8-9 WEB).

Throughout his epistles, Paul contrasts the righteousness that comes from God to man's law-based righteousness. To the Galatians he wrote,

...yet we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. We, too, have believed in Christ Jesus so that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law, for no human being will be justified by the works of the law. (Galatians 2:16 ISV)

If righteousness comes only by believing in Jesus Christ, and we are justified by our faith in Him alone, then what purpose did the law serve? Why was it given?

God gave the law as a tutor to teach that there is only ONE who is good. The law does not teach this through rote performance but through failure to perform. It demands a perfection or goodness from man that belongs only to God. Whoever tries to keep the law is destined for failure after failure until he becomes wretched and weary and, like the Romans chapter seven man, cry out, "Who will deliver me from the body of this death?" Only then can we accept the righteousness that comes from God by faith.  Only then can we understand these words, "But by Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption" (1Corinthians 1:30 ALT, emphasis ours). Here we see that this gift of righteousness is not a thing, but a Person. He is our righteousness! Righteousness comes in the form of God's gift of Himself to man and with that gift comes a new nature with new desires. All things become new. We are righteous when He lives out His righteousness through us.

Paul made this foundational truth clear to the Roman believers when he wrote:

Now we know that whatever the law says applies to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.  Therefore, no human being will be justified in God's sight by means of the works prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the full knowledge of sin. But now, apart from the law, God's righteousness is revealed and is attested by the Law and the Prophets- God's righteousness through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and continue to fall short of God's glory.  By his grace they are justified freely through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God offered as a place where atonement by Christ's blood could occur through faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because he had waited patiently to deal with sins committed in the past. He wanted to demonstrate at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the person who has the faithfulness of Jesus.  What, then, is there to boast about? That has been eliminated. On what principle? On that of works? No, but on the principle of faith. For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works prescribed by the law... (Romans 3:19-28 ISV, emphasis ours).

First, Paul points out that "Whatever the law says applies to those who are under the law."  This is an extremely important point that we shall discuss at length momentarily. For now, it is enough to say that we who believe and have received the righteousness of God through faith in His Son are not under the law and what the law says doesn't apply to us.

The point is that God gave the law to stop every self-righteous mouth and show man that there is no goodness in him, so that the entire world would stand silent and guilty before Him. God gave the law to prove that no mortal could keep it. "But the scripture (law) hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe" (Galatians 3:22).

No one can become righteous through law-keeping. The more you know about the law, the more convinced of your sinfulness you become. The law brought the knowledge of sin, not the remedy for sin. Paul described it this way, "I was alive apart from the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died" (Romans 7:9 WEB). The law brought no remedy for sin but heightened the sense of it, leaving the sinner fully convinced of his ever-present body of death. "The law entered, that the offence might abound" (Romans 5:20) and "bring forth fruit unto death" (Romans 7:5). This is its only purpose.  "I had not known lust, except the law had said, you shall not covet," said Paul (see Romans 7:7). "The strength of sin is the law" (1 Corinthians 15:56). The law brought the knowledge of sin but no life (Galatians 3:21). "For the Law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by which we draw near to God" (Hebrews 7:19 MKJV, emphasis ours).

 Difficult Questions about the Law

Any time we dare to bring up the fact that we are no longer under the Old Testament law, the hue and cry of those who have placed their identity in law keeping rises into a deafening din. They are quick to quote Jesus' words to the Jews,

Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:17-19, NKJV) 

Let us look at the two Greek words translated fulfill and fulfilled.

Fulfill - pleroo pleroo {play-ro'-o}

1) to make full, to fill up, i.e. to fill to the full

2) to render full, i.e. to complete

  2a) to fill to the top: so that nothing shall be wanting to

      full measure, fill to the brim

  2b) to consummate

      2b1) to make complete in every particular, to render perfect

      2b2) to carry through to the end, to accomplish, carry out,

           (some undertaking)

  2c) to carry into effect, bring to realisation, realise

 

Fulfilled - ginomai ginomai {ghin'-om-ahee}

1) to become, i.e. to come into existence, begin to be, receive being

4) to be made, finished

Now with these definitions in mind, let's look at what Jesus is really saying here.

"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fill up to the brim and consummate the law. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all of it is finished." 

How were the righteous requirements of the law filled up? How was the law consummated? Jesus, the perfect Son of God who gave the Law to Moses, came to fill-up the just requirements of the law in One Life for all--in one perfect offering of a spotless Lamb, the Lamb of God.

Look at these words He spoke in regard to John the Baptist,

And He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it. And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail." (Luke 16:15-17, NKJV).

"The law and the prophets were until John." John the Baptist came announcing the One who was to fill-up the purpose of the law in His own righteous life. The law and the prophets not only pointed to a higher order of righteousness, but they also pointed to the One who would fulfill all righteousness, Jesus Christ. Jesus first filled-up and then terminated the need of the law in His perfect conception, birth, life, death and finally His perfect resurrection that once for all tore down the wall of separation between man and God. As Jesus hung on the cross He cried out, "It is finished." It was then that the veil of the Holy of Holies was torn from top to bottom, opening the way into the holiness of God for all men. First, by faith in the Son alone we enter in by the sprinkling of the blood of the Lamb and secondly, being made holy by His holiness abiding within us. In the past only the high priest could enter in, but now everyone that believes in the One High Priest of God, Jesus Christ, has equal access to the righteousness and presence of Him who alone is good.

Jesus cried out, "It is finished!" What was finished? The same "finished" in the passage in John quoted above. "I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled [finished]."

Contrast this with what Jesus said to the Pharisees and all law keepers, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God." Is the law an abomination? No way! The heart of man that thinks that he can do what only the Son of God could do is the abomination before God. It is an affront to His holiness.

Note John's opening words in his gospel speaking of John the Baptist,

John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.'" And of His fullness [filled up--"It is finished"] we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (John 1:15-17, NKJV).

Another difficult passage that seems to promote law keeping but does not is Romans 3:31.

Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law. (Romans 3:31 KJV).

Does this passage imply that we should keep the law? Is establishing the law the same as keeping it? We must take these words in context. The Greek word translated establish in the above scripture means "to stand by...to set or place in a balance...to weigh: money to one (because in very early times before the introduction of coinage, the metals used to be weighed)" (Thayer). Among other things, Paul was implying that the view of righteousness held by Judaism at that time was far afield from God's view. He claimed to hold the law in proper perspective.

Paul stood by the law by showing how the law itself gives record of the righteousness of faith, without the works of the law. He asked, "What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather, has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not toward God. For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.' Now to him who works, the reward is not counted as grace, but as debt. But to him who doesn't work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness" (Romans 4:1-5 WEB).

Paul went on to show how Abraham was pronounced righteous before he was circumcised. Therefore, circumcision does not make you righteous. He concluded that an uncircumcised person who believes in Christ is of the "faith of our father Abraham, which he had in uncircumcision" (4:12). What is Paul's point here? He is establishing the law! He is standing by what the scriptures say and showing, by them, the righteousness of faith without the works of the law. Paul stood by the law as it pointed to faith and grace. This is why he could write, "I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God" (Galatians 2:19). The law itself gives irrefutable testimony of our freedom from it. Paul was not promoting law keeping. The whole of his argument is against it. Remember that the law had not been given when God reckoned Abraham righteous. Therefore the faith of Abraham has nothing to do with the letter.

The Conflict between Two Sons

So the law, which brings forth fruit unto death, failed the main criterion for righteousness--life. "If a Law had been given which could have conferred Life, righteousness would certainly have come by the Law" (Galatians 3:21 WNT). The law cannot confer life. This is its chief failing. It cannot impart grace and truth. If it could, "...then Christ is dead in vain" (Galatians 2:21). In stark contrast, John wrote of Jesus, "In HIM was life and the life was the light of men."

God's righteousness comes through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, inherent in His very life, apart from the law. This righteousness is never something inherently our own. For Jew and Gentile alike have sinned and continue to fall short of God's glory. None are righteous, no not one.  Everyone is justified by the grace that comes through the redemption that is forever in Christ Jesus.  Only He is full of grace and truth. In this, God demonstrates His righteousness. He demonstrates that He is just in justifying those who believe in His Son through faith alone.

The legalists of Paul's day viewed this as an unlawful act, because the law demanded circumcision before you could be reckoned righteous and accepted into the commonwealth of God's chosen people. If God were to justify the Gentiles through faith alone, He would break His own law, or so it seemed to the Judaizers in the Jerusalem church. So they set out to harmonize the two and developed a more balanced doctrine. "Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: 'Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved'" (Act 15:1 NIV).

Jesus warned the disciples to beware of the leavening of the Pharisees. After His resurrection, the Jewish establishment and enforcers of the law made inroads into the infant church in the city that killed Him (see Acts 6:7 and 21:20). In Acts we read that a little leaven began to leaven the whole lump. Even Peter was caught-up in it and later repented. These legalists became Paul's greatest persecutors and opponents of the gospel of grace.

He explained this phenomenon to the Galatian Church:

Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar--for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children-- but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written: "Rejoice, O barren, You who do not bear! Break forth and shout, You who are not in labor! For the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband." Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman." So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free. Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. (Galatians 4:21-5:1, NKJV, emphasis ours).

Even so it is NOW. He who is born according to the flesh persecutes he who is born according to the Spirit. Could this explain the divisions that exist among those calling themselves Christian today? Those of you who have found Jesus as your sufficiency in all things have also found yourselves targets of those who continue in the works of the Judaizers. No, today they do not demand circumcision as the proof of righteousness but they do glory in flesh by attempting to deal with the impurities of the flesh by a power no greater than the human will. Paul wrote,

If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations--"Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch" (referring to things that all perish as they are used)--according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.  (Colossians 2:20-3:4, ESV).

Wherever Christ's liberty is found, legalists soon come in and seek to impose some form of self-made and self-powered religion. Paul even found this to be true in the Jerusalem church, of which he wrote,  

And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage), to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. (Galatians 2:4, 5, NKJV).

Stand fast in your liberty, dear saints. Stand fast!

Now let us answer the claim that for God to fulfill the righteous demands of the law solely through the faithfulness of Christ was to break His own law.

God, the Law, and Grace

God fulfilled the righteous demands of the law through the sacrifice of Christ. It did not stop there. By that same sacrifice, He also freed those who were shut up under the law. Isn't that illegal? How could God do that and remain just? Paul referred to the law as the law of sin and death - you sin, you die! All have sinned in the past and still come short of the glory of God in the present. Then ALL, everyone, without exceptions, must die. You and I must die. That's the law.

How could God, who is rich in mercy, show kindness to those whom He loves, who sin and fall short, and yet fulfill the righteous demands of the law? Love found a way. God loved the world so much that He sent His only Son to die that whosoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life (see John 3:16). Through Christ's sacrifice, the demands of the law are fulfilled or finished. Through His death we are accounted righteous. The only way God could free us from the curse of the law was through death. "Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the Law" (1 Corinthians 15:54-56 MKJV).

You sin - you die! The law demands it. God would be unjust not to execute its demands to the letter. How will mercy triumph over judgment? How is death swallowed up in victory? How can God remain just and yet show His mercy to sinful humanity? How will He justify the sinner who is incapable of keeping His law? How will He justify the Gentiles through faith alone and remain righteous? We must answer these questions and trust in the answer if we are ever to have the righteousness that comes from God.

We find the answer in Paul's second letter to the Corinthians.

For the love of Christ constrains us; because we judge thus, that one died for all, therefore all died. He died for all, that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who for their sakes died and rose again.  (2 Corinthians 5:14-15 WEB)

Paul wrote of the impact of this death in his own life,

I have been put to death on the cross with Christ; still I am living; no longer I, but Christ is living in me; and that life which I now am living in the flesh I am living by faith, the faith of the Son of God, who in love for me, gave himself up for me. (Galatians 2:20 BBE)

What strange language is this? One died for ALL...His death is their death...all died. I am crucified with Christ, yet I live...yet not I but Christ lives. What in the world is Paul talking about here? How can I be dead and live at the same time?  

Through our co-death with Jesus on the cross the penalty demanded by the law is paid in full and God is right to account us righteous. God is just in justifying everyone who lives by the faith of Christ. This consists of more than living by mere tenets of faith but Christ living through us. "Yet not I, but Christ..." Because of this death, God reckons us dead to the law and its curse. As we read earlier, the requirements of the law are demanded of those who are under the law. The person who has been crucified with Christ is not only justified but is also dead to the law, meaning, he is no longer alive to its demands. Paul explains,

Or don't you know, brothers (for I speak to men who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man for as long as he lives? For the woman that has a husband is bound by law to the husband while he lives, but if the husband dies, she is discharged from the law of the husband. So then if, while the husband lives, she is joined to another man, she would be called an adulteress. But if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is no adulteress, though she is joined to another man. Therefore, my brothers, you also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you would be joined to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit to God. For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were through the law, worked in our members to bring forth fruit to death. But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that in which we were held; so that we serve in newness of the spirit, and not in oldness of the letter. (Romans 7:1-6)

We can only conclude that anyone professing undying love to Christ while bound to the old husband (the law) is an adulteress, married to one man while professing to love another. They cannot be joined to Christ and bring forth offspring to God as long as they live. Only those reckoned dead through their death with Christ are beyond the reach of the old husband. Only these are free from the demands of the law. Divorce from the law is not enough, for in divorce we remain law breakers. Only death can free us from it. We pass beyond the realm of the law through the cross, baptism-burial and resurrection life. Just as Jesus was raised in newness of life and now sits in heavenly places, far above all principalities and powers, so we are raised to sit in a realm far above the elementary principles of law, sin and death. If we are crucified with Christ we are no longer under the law, and as we read earlier, "Whatever the law says applies to those who are under the law." Now let us further examine this condition of not being under the law.

The Two Covenants

It is impossible to understand the law without first recognizing that it is a Covenant made with one nation only. Paul wrote, "And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law" (1Corinthians 9:20 KJV).

The first thing we learn from this verse is that Paul was addressing two groups of people, the Jews under the law and the Gentiles nations that were never under the Law of Moses. God gave the Law to Israel as a Covenant between Himself and them alone. God said to Moses, "Write you these words: for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel" (Exodus. 34:27). The Law was God's covenant with Moses and Israel, not with the Gentile nations.

The Gentiles did not pass through the Red Sea nor stand at the foot of Mount Sinai when Moses came down with the law inscribed on tablets of stone. Neither did they follow Joshua through the parted-waters of the Jordan River into the land of promise. The Mosaic Covenant was purely between Moses, Israel and God. Although the Gentiles were not under the Law of Moses, they were included in a covenant made with Abraham four hundred and thirty years prior.

Paul also referred to the law as a covenant with the natural Jerusalem. "These things contain an allegory, for these are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to bondage, which is Hagar. For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to the Jerusalem that exists now, for she is in bondage with her children. (Galatians 4:24-25 WEB) Some people dissect the law of Moses and the traditions of the Jewish fathers and say that we are under one part as Christians, but not the other. This is so much double talk. As we see above, Paul makes it plain that all that has come down from Sinai (the law of Moses) and all that is of Jerusalem (the traditions of the fathers) are one. To adhere to any part of it is to be in bondage to it all.

What about this other Covenant? There are only two covenants. Today we call them "the Old Covenant" and "the New Covenant," but these distinctions are not completely accurate. Paul endeavored to show the Galatians that the New Covenant was really an old, old Covenant--the covenant confirmed beforehand by God in Christ. When? "Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He doesn't say, 'To seeds,' as of many, but as of one, 'To your seed,' which is Christ. Now I say this. A covenant confirmed beforehand by God in Christ--the law which came four hundred and thirty years after, does not annul, so as to make the promise of no effect" (Galatians 3:16-17 WEB). Consider the timeline on the following page.

The entire white portion of the timeline on the next page represents a single covenant--"the covenant, confirmed beforehand by God in Christ." This covenant was made with Abraham and His Seed (Christ) four hundred and thirty years before the law was given. We see then, that the gospel was first preached to Abraham (Galatians.3:8). The covenant that God made with Abraham and his Seed (Christ) was to bless all nations. This Covenant was wider in scope than the Mosaic covenant because it included everyone, not just Israel. 

God's Covenant with Abraham has never been interrupted or added to. Paul wrote regarding this, "Brothers, I speak like men. Though it is only a man's covenant, yet when it has been confirmed, no one makes it void, or adds to it" (Galatians 3:15 WEB). Therefore, the law, represented by the gray portion of our timeline, is not a postscript to the covenant that God made with Abraham, but was added parenthetically only for a short season to bring a people to Christ, the Seed to whom the promise was made. The law-covenant stands totally separate from the faith of Abraham in which those who trust in Christ, as he did, now stand.

 

The Covenant that all believers share today is really the old covenant that was in effect four hundred and thirty years before the law. It was only new to the Jews who were under the law when they accepted Christ as their Messiah. Paul concludes that those who are Christ's are Abraham's seed and heirs according to promise (see Galatians 3:29). As we mentioned before, Jesus told the Pharisees, "Abraham saw my day and he rejoiced." Paul brings this truth home even more profoundly by including all believers with Isaac in the lineage of Abraham. "Now we, brothers, as Isaac was, are children of promise" (Galatians 4:28). Isaac was born an heir. He did nothing to inherit. Everything came as an unmerited gift from his father. So it is with us who are, as Isaac was, children of the promise. We are heirs of the promise through faith in Christ. Regarding this birth and inheritance, Paul wrote, "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God" (Romans 2:28, 29, NKJV). We who are in Christ and have the faith of Christ are the seed of Abraham, not the seed of Moses. The Covenant that we are under in Christ predates and postdates the law.

The law that came four hundred and thirty years after cannot annul or aid the Promise. The Promise is for both Jew and Gentile--all men and women in Christ. Simeon prophesied with the Christ child in his arms, "Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, According to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared before the face of all peoples, A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of your people Israel" (Luke 2:29-32, NKJV, emphasis added).

Is the law against the promises? No. Can the law fulfill the promise then? Same answer: no. Righteousness could not come by the law because the law could not give life and because it cannot give life, it cannot deliver the blessing. Righteousness and life are interconnected. We cannot have one without the other. The gift of Divine life is the gift of righteousness. Remember, only God is good and when His Spirit is imparted to the believer His goodness is given as well. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith..." (Galatians 5:22 KJV). Against such there is no law.

The blessing of Abraham that came upon all nations was not the law. Paul wrote, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith" (Galatians 3:13-14). The blessing of Abraham is the Spirit that is now poured out upon all flesh (see Acts 2). God gave the Blessing of Abraham to all flesh, not the curse of the Law.  

The Church at Antioch vs. the Jerusalem Church

The Church at Antioch was the first indication that God's Covenant with Abraham had come to fruition. We find clear evidence of this in the Book of Acts. No one knew how it happened, but a glorious expression of Christ's church sprang up at Antioch. The Antioch Church was a truly free Gentile church, led purely by the Spirit. They were not governed by law but by the Spirit (the blessing of Abraham). This anomaly became the talk of the Jerusalem Church. According to James and all the elders, the Jerusalem Church was comprised of thousands of believing Jews that were "all zealous for the law" (see Act 21:20).

The stark difference between these two churches caused a gathering in Jerusalem to discuss this matter. The focus was on whether the law would be placed on the Gentile believers. Thank God for Peter, who piped up just in time! "Brothers, you know that a good while ago God made choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. God, who knows the heart, testified about them, giving them the Holy Spirit [the blessing of Abraham] just like he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. Now therefore why do you tempt God, that you should put a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they are" (Act 15:7-11 WEB).

According to Peter, putting the yoke of the law on God's people is tempting God and being guilty of the very thing Jesus accused the Pharisees of, i.e., shutting up the kingdom of heaven against men. "For you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in . . . you bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but you yourselves will not move them with one of your fingers" (Matthew 23:13&4, NKJV). Today, anyone who encourages any of God's children to keep the law is putting a yoke of bondage on them that no one has ever been able to bear, consigning them to a life of wretchedness and failure. Is this the blessing that God promised the descendants of Abraham?

This Antioch Church had received the blessing of Abraham without the trappings of law. "The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, 'In you all the nations will be blessed'" (Galatians 3:8 WEB). Israel's great conflict was that they took such pride in their distinctness, as God's chosen people, that they could not or would not embrace the full scope and intention of the Abrahamic Covenant. Instead, their exaggerated position often put them in direct opposition to the Abrahamic Covenant and caused them to scorn those God wants to include. They found their identity in the Mosaic Covenant, which made them the unique custodians of the oracles of God, elevating them above the cursed Gentiles. Israel became a divine powerbroker with the keys to lock out or admit proselytes into the commonwealth. Their instrument of power was the law and they found a sense of safety and pride in their knowledge of it. They despised and cursed those who didn't know the law (John 7:49). Why would they want to trade such power for equality with the Gentiles? But this was exactly what the gospel that was preached beforehand to Abraham demanded because it proclaimed blessing to all nations. Yes, even the gospel is not new. It also predates the law since it was preached to Abraham beforehand.

If we are honest with ourselves we must admit that a similar kind of elitism shuts up the kingdom of heaven today by taking those whom God has joined, in glorious equality, and separating them into classes, divided by badges and banners. On one street corner you will find the Baptist nation, on another the Lutheran nation and on yet another, some other nation.

Christ and all true believers are one Spirit. In the terminology of Adam, they are "bone of His bone, and flesh of His flesh." The two shall become one and as man and wife become one flesh. "The person who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him (1Corinthians 6:16-17).

The words Jesus used to describe the horror of doing anything to separate a husband and wife apply to Him and His bride the church. "What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder" (Mark 10:9 RSV).

Law or Grace

What comes to mind when you hear these words, "Under the law"? The word under (hupo [5259]) means beneath, underneath or below, an inferior position or condition. Paul wrote of this inferior condition. "But before faith came, we were kept under the law,  shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed" (Galatians 3:23 KJV). What is over us has usually mastered us. The law was given to master, NOT be mastered. Those who are under it are held in its power. Elsewhere Paul wrote:

Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God. (Romans 3:19 WEB)

But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, shut up to the faith which should afterwards be revealed. So that the law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith is come, we are no longer under a tutor. (Galatians 3:23-25 WEB)

For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.  (Romans 6:14 WEB)

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. (Galatians 5:18 WEB)

Romans chapter seven is an extremely telling passage that graphically reveals the true condition of the man under the law.

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? May it never be! However, I wouldn't have known sin, except through the law. For I wouldn't have known coveting, unless the law had said, "You shall not covet." But sin, finding occasion through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of coveting. For apart from the law, sin is dead. I was alive apart from the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. The commandment, which was for life, this I found to be for death; for sin, finding occasion through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me. Therefore the law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good. Did then that which is good become death to me? May it never be! But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, by working death to me through that which is good; that through the commandment sin might become exceeding sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am fleshly, sold under sin. For I don't know what I am doing. For I don't practice what I desire to do; but what I hate, that I do. But if what I don't desire, that I do, I consent to the law that it is good. So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For desire is present with me, but I don't find it doing that which is good. For the good which I desire, I don't do; but the evil which I don't desire, that I practice. But if what I don't desire, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the law, that, to me, while I desire to do good, evil is present. For I delight in God's law after the inward man, but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! So then with the mind, I myself serve God's law, but with the flesh, the sin's law. (Romans 7:1-25 WEB)

Why was this dear brother so frustrated? He was living in death rather than resurrection life.

Although this may sound like a sad tale it is really a tale of victory. It is in this school of defeat and failure that those misguided souls who try to keep the law learn the most valuable lessons of their lives. The man of Romans chapter seven learned such a lesson. "For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For desire is present with me, but I don't find it doing that which is good" (Romans 7:18 WEB).

Perhaps you identify with this man, after years of dolefully observing the letter and trying to jump through the hoops (expectations) held out by well-meaning religious leaders. Your inability to perform up to the group-consensus is crushing you. What to do? Frustrated and defeated, the cry wells up from within you, "O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Death? Yes. Death is the problem here. This is an interesting word to use in connection with law-keeping, don't you think? Throughout the scriptures, death (Greek thanatos) is separation. It is used to describe the separation of the spirit from the body, after which the body ceases to function. Death is not nonexistence but separation from the life of God. It is trying to perfect holiness without the Holy Spirit. God is Spirit and in his eyes, living without spiritual life is death. The result of Adam and Eve's sin was spiritual death, which was followed by physical death. We were dead in our trespasses and sins before God redeemed us. Paul wrote "But she who gives herself to pleasure is dead while she lives" (1Timothy 5:6 WEB).

 W.E. Vine wrote, "As spiritual life is 'conscious existence in communion with God,' so spiritual 'death' is 'conscious existence in separation from God.'" Though the Romans 7 man delighted in the law of God, he lacked the one thing required to keep it--the life of God. He set about to keep the law in his own energy, all to no avail. The law of sin, taking advantage due to the lack of divine life, sweeps everything before it like the onrush of a mighty stream.

Paul answered the question of who would deliver him from this death by declaring, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don't walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death" (Romans 8:1-2 WEB). Human toil and effort cannot affect salvation or sanctification. "It is not of him who wills, (decides to do a thing) nor of him who runs, (puts forth the effort) but of God who has mercy" (Romans 9:16). Christ in you is the hope of glory! The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus transforms and enlivens us, setting us free from the law of sin and death. Only life can displace death!

How sad that man will not accept God's judgment on his flesh until he has exhausted every last ounce of his human energy. God allows this struggle in order for man to see his flesh as his Creator sees it. Bankrupt! Only then will he agree with God's assessment and cry out for help. Only then can he say from the heart, "In me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing." Only then will he seek God's deliverance and righteousness.

The only thing that will raise us up above the law of sin and death is another law, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Remember Paul's words, "if a Law had been given which could have conferred Life, righteousness would certainly have come by the Law" (see Galatians 3:21 WNT).

Satan's chief tactic is to alienate believers from the life of Christ by enticing them to keep the law and fall to the lower plain of the graceless treadmill of religion. He knows that in doing this he has effectively cut them off from Christ. Paul wrote, "Those of you who are trying to be justified by the law have been cut off from Christ. You have fallen away from grace" (Galatians 5:4 ISV). You cannot add anything to what Christ has already accomplished and filled-up in His own righteous life and death on the cross. If you do, you set aside the grace of God and make Christ's death of no effect, "For if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain" (Galatians 2:21).

Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. (Galatians 5:2, NKJV).

But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. (Romans 9:31, 32, NKJV).

For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. (Romans 10:3, 4, NKJV).

I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:6-9, NKJV).

Notice all the personal pronouns in Romans seven: I wouldn't, I was, I found, I am, I hate, I will, I do, I desire, I practice, I do not, and so forth. His only hope is found in I, Me, My. He has no power outside himself. Such is the state of the man under the law. He is left with an overwhelming sense of his impotence. Hope disappears, as his sin looms larger and larger.  

In chapter seven the pronoun I is used thirty-two times, six times in verse fifteen alone. It is only used twice in chapter eight. Paul found that it was no longer I but Christ. In chapter eight he referenced God, Jesus and His Spirit sixty-one times! Paul found Christ as his sufficiency and so must we. This is the difference between the man in defeat and the man in total victory.

The miserable lives of those who have been deluded into thinking that they can become righteous by their own works are a constant warning to anyone who will heed it. It all started with Eve, who thought that if she just could eat of that forbidden tree, she could be like God. Sadly, the greatest consequence is not just the misery of these poor misled souls but the loss of the vital presence and blessing of the Lord in their lives.  

Rome imprinted its values on the early church, bringing forth Roman Catholicism, and this same mindset carried forward into the Protestant reformation. Catholicism boasts of its great learned church fathers such as Ignatius, Augustine, Aquinas, Sir Thomas More and so on. Protestantism has Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Spurgeon, Moody, all educated in the ways of worldly wisdom. Many spent their entire lives in universities. Having only a form of godliness, this apostate bride always denies access to the true source of power, preferring the tree of knowledge over the Spirit of God. What qualifies a man to serve behind a pulpit? A proper Christian education from a recognized university, of course! By this standard, not one of the leaders of the infant church was qualified to lead the body of Christ, except possibly Paul, and he counted his education under the best of Jerusalem as mere dung.  

For the next few moments we will consider what we have chosen to call Calvin's Contribution to Covenant Confusion.

Calvin's contributed to our captivity by encouraging a mixture of law and grace. His contribution to the current condition of bondage among God's people cannot be overstated. He handed it down to us in the form of something called "Covenant theology." Out of this came the Reform Movement and many verities of Reform Churches. Calvin wrote:

"If it is true, that a perfect righteousness is set before us in the Law, it follows, that the complete observance of it is perfect righteousness in the sight of God; that is, a righteousness by which a man may be deemed and pronounced righteous at the divine tribunal."

This covenant confusion, which teaches that righteousness comes through keeping the law, has since surfaced in the teachings of many prominent Christian leaders, who faithfully handed it down to us. Here are some quotations from a few confounded converts to Calvin's covenant confusion.

"It is self-evident that the entire obedience to God's law is possible on the grounds of natural ability. To deny this, is to deny that man is able to do as well as he can." (Charles G. Finny, Lectures on Systematic Theology, pg.407)

"Genuine sanctification will show itself in habitual respect for God's law, and habitual effort to live in obedience to it as a rule of life." (J.C.Ryle, Holiness, pg. 27)

"Christ was made under the law (Galatians 4:4) and lived in perfect submission thereto, and has left us an example that we should "follow His steps" (1 Peter 2:21). Only by loving, fearing, and obeying the law, shall we be kept from sinning....

"There is an unceasing warfare between the flesh and the Spirit, each bring forth after its own kind, so that groans ever mingle with the Christian's songs. The believer finds himself alternating between thanking God for deliverance from temptation and contritely confessing his deplorable yielding to temptation. Often he is made to cry, "O wretched man that I am!" (Rom. 7:24) Such has been for upwards of twenty-five years the experience of the writer, and it is still so." (Arthur Pink The Doctrine of Sanctification pp. 81,83)

Consider this question: Is this the abundant life of which Jesus spoke? These same men had thousands of devout followers. So did the blind Pharisees of 2000 years ago.  As long as man glories in human potential, thinking that doing as well as he can is enough,  there will always be blind guides leading the blind.

 "Grace, grace to it!"

The Old Testament priest and prophet, Zechariah, saw this great truth that man is totally bankrupt when it comes to godliness and doing the work of the Father.

Now the angel who talked with me came back and wakened me, as a man who is wakened out of his sleep. And he said to me, "What do you see?" So I said, "I am looking, and there is a lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps. "Two olive trees are by it, one at the right of the bowl and the other at its left." So I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, "What are these, my lord?" Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, "Do you not know what these are?" And I said, "No, my lord." So he answered and said to me: "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' Says the LORD of hosts. 'Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone With shouts of "Grace, grace to it!"'" (Zechariah 4:1-7, NKJV).

First, it is interesting that the meaning of the name Zerubbabel is born in or seed of Babylon. Imagine for a moment if you will what it must have been like for the "children of the captivity" who had been totally affected by the Babylonian ways and made artisans for its kings during this time (see Daniel 1-4). These people were sent to Zion to build a temple for God by one of these heathen kings! Certainly, they came somewhat cock-sure of their craftsmanship and ability to accomplish the task. They had done it and seen it done many times in Babylon. So what was the first thing that the children of the captivity had to learn? They had to learn that this work would not be accomplished by the means that built the hanging gardens, erected the Ishtar gate and raised the many monuments to Babylon's kings. Remember Nebuchadnezzar's boast that reflects the heart and attitude of Babylon, "Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling-place, by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?" (Daniel 4:30 WEB).

No! This work would not be accomplished by the might and power of man. Babylon the Great depicts the fallen church that knows no other way but the might and power of carnal men.

In his vision, Zechariah saw olive trees, the golden bowl, the seven pipes and seven lamps on a common lampstand." What do these symbols mean? In Revelation chapters two and three, the seven lamps are symbols of the seven churches and their seven spirits among whom Jesus is seen walking and pronouncing judgments. In this vision of Zechariah, we see the church as it should be, under the authority of Christ. Seven is the number of completion or perfection.

Each of the seven "churches" is fed by way of the one Golden Bowl from the source, the Two Olive Trees. Two is the number of witness and these two trees depict the work of Jesus in establishing the church on earth and the work of the Holy Spirit who continues to guide her. "These are the two anointed ones, who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth." (Zechariah 4:14). The source of light and energy is the oil that flows from the two Olive Trees into the golden bowl and out from there to the seven oil lamps, the church in perfection. This explains the angel's interpretation of the vision which the prophet saw, "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord."

Today we have a church that has abandoned its source of oil. We have foolish virgins following in the steps of the churches in Revelation chapters two and three, falling away from the simplicity of Christ. These same sins are often looked upon in the churches as virtues! What sins? In Revelation 2 and 3 we read of false apostles, leaving our First Love and our first works. We also read about false prophets like Baalam, those of the Nicolaitan spirit ruling over God's people, the seducing influence of the Jezebel spirit with its false teachers and seducing spirits, boasting of real life, but actually spiritually dead, and churches that entertain false Jews of the synagogue of Satan. Last but not least, we see the vast sea of mediocrity called lukewarm Christianity that boasts in its wealth and prosperity, wanting only enough of Jesus to be "saved," but not enough to become sons of God. To these Jesus says, "Repent least your lamp shall be removed."

Like the foolish virgins, today's average church member does not seem to know where to go for oil. When trouble comes, they do what they have always done, run to other virgins for oil.

In stark contrast to all this, we have the wise virgins who get their oil from the Source. They wait on the Lord. Their lamps are fed with that constant flow that is not dependent on today's temple priests and pulpit ministers. Their oil comes down into their lamps from Jesus and His Spirit alone. They are plumbed into the Head, the golden bowl above the lamps. Lamps that depend on the priest or minister to come around and fill them soon run out of oil when the hour of darkness comes. Only the wise virgins will make it through the dark night of trial coming upon the whole earth to see the coming of their Bridegroom.

The temple of God is not built of stones and mortar by the skill and ingenuity of men who study church growth. It is a temple built of living stones by the Spirit of the living God. Jesus said, "I will build my church." It is THIS church and no other that will stand against the gates of hell. Our passage continues, "Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of "Grace, grace to it!" The uninterrupted flow of this divine oil from the two olive trees is accompanied by their calls of "Grace, grace unto it."

We must learn that our best efforts are not good enough and never will be in the eyes of God. The oil we need as wise virgins does not come from our own efforts nor from the efforts of other virgins. It comes from the Word of the Lord, and the Spirit of Truth. It is not by our might, not by our power, but by the Spirit of God. Our "righteous deeds" may heap up unto heaven as a great mountain before God, but they will all be cast down as nothing before the feet of Jesus, Who in the end will say to us, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!" Only those who know Jesus' covering, who know Him alone as their Cap Stone can appreciate Him and cry out, "Grace! Marvelous Grace!"

 The Son, Not the Law

 What is our part? Surely we must contribute something? Let's first consider what our role is not. We find several clues in the following verses.

From the place of His dwelling He looks on all the inhabitants of the earth; He fashions their hearts individually; He considers all their works. No king is saved by the multitude of an army; A mighty man is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a vain hope for safety; Neither shall it deliver any by its great strength. Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, On those who hope in His mercy. Psalms 33:14-18, NKJV.

So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy. (Romans 9:16 WEB)

We have nothing to boast about, because all righteousness is His! Only ONE is good. Only ONE possesses the power to save to the uttermost. He is our sanctification. God has made Him our Redemption, Wisdom, Sanctification and Righteousness. Even the life we now live, we live by His faith. Jesus living in and through us is our only hope of glory.

Both Paul and Peter agreed that no one can keep the Law of Moses. Considering this, we find some rather strange language in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. He seemed to be raising the bar of righteousness. He increased the burden of those who were deceived into thinking that they were meeting the requirements of the law by their own efforts. He said, "For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, there is no way you will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven"  (Matthew 5:20 WEB). How would this new righteousness exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees? Elsewhere, Jesus said to them, "Woe unto you...hypocrites! For you make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess" (Matthew 23:25). Christ makes it plain that our righteousness must go beyond a mere outside righteousness to an inside righteousness.

Jesus went on to change the law regarding murder. "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.' But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. 

Jesus went on to say, "You have heard...'You shall not commit adultery' but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart" (Mathew 5:27-28). It gets worse!

"It has been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement: But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, except for the cause of fornication, causes her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced commits adultery.

You have heard that it has been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That you resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue you at the law, and take away your coat, let him have your cloak also. And whosoever shall compel you to go a mile, go with him two. Give to him that asks you, and from him that would borrow of you don't turn him away.

You have heard that it has been said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love them which love you, what reward have you? Do not even the publicans the same? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more than others? Do not even the publicans so? Be therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. (Matt. 5:38-47)

Let us see if we can comprehend what Jesus just did. Jesus is showing us that we can keep the letter of the law and still fall short of the perfection of God. Keeping the law does not effect who you are in your innermost being. You may never have had intercourse with your neighbor's wife and even feel somewhat proud of your faithfulness, but what of your thoughts? Has anything changed inside? More than a mere dutiful keeping of the law is needed. Jesus is saying that outer compliance to a standard is not enough. What better way to do this than to raise the bar of righteousness so high that only God can keep it?

"Be therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." Jesus had indeed raised the bar of the law, to reveal that outer conformity to a standard does not satisfy the righteous demands of God. The rich young ruler went away sad after assuring Jesus that he had kept the law perfectly from his youth, to which Jesus added, "If you would be perfect, sell all you have." Jesus always went right for the throat of man's self-righteousness. Our righteousness must go beyond a mere external righteousness or we will in nowise enter the kingdom of God.

God is not looking for good people who keep the law. He wants an entirely new creation, birthed of the last Adam, living by the breath of His Spirit, who stand in that goodness that comes from Him alone. The first Adam would never have dared to stand before God and claim any goodness of his own, and we creatures of the last Adam can no more boast than Adam could. We are God's workmanship, created for good works in Christ. We are new creatures with new desires. "For in Christ Jesus neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation" (Galatians 6:15 WEB). In dramatic style, Jesus was saying that nothing short of this new creation could stand in the perfection of God.

True righteousness must come from the heart. The one who has never touched his neighbor's wife may have already committed adultery with her, lusting in his innermost being. Moreover, if he truly loved his neighbor he could not even think of such a thing.

The Law of Moses demanded justice, "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth," but the law of Christ tells us to turn the other cheek when we are struck, and give up our inalienable legal right to justice. Even Stephen the first martyr, like his Master, knew the power of such a life when he prayed for his murderers, "Father forgive them, they know not what they do."

The Pharisee could think of himself as loving his neighbor--but  his enemy, now that was a different story. Man in his own energy can no more be perfect as God is perfect than a cow can fly. The standard that Jesus presented was more unattainable than the Law of Moses. There must be a radical change of heart and administration within. Even the prophets foretold this need. Ezekiel prophesied, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them" (Ezekiel 36:26, 27, NKJV).

If no man can keep the law, then no man can truly love his neighbor as the law defines that love. If we cannot truly love our neighbor, then how shall we love our enemies? The truth is we can do nothing, and that is exactly the point! God was making it evident by giving the law and Jesus came to drive that point home. He gave the words of the prophet real meaning, and those who did not get it were totally frustrated with His teachings.

What Father requires is a total transformation, a new nature, having new desires and the grace from God to live it out. Christ had not died yet; therefore His hearers had not experienced His redemptive grace and power to live above sin and the law--the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The dispensation of the law was a time wherein God required His perfection but gave no grace to perform it. It was a time of teaching by a strict and heartless schoolmaster. The lesson to be learned was that we are all sinners and fall short of the perfection and glory of God. There is none righteous, not even one.

Christ died to lift us above the struggle for righteousness. He died to give us a new nature just like His so that we respond as He would. It is no longer, "What would Jesus do?", but, "Look what Jesus is doing in me!" If we walk in the Holy Spirit, we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh, so those who walk in the Spirit are not under the law. We must never fall for the deception that we can win God's favor by keeping the law. Paul wrote,

Such confidence we have through Christ toward God; not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God; who also made us sufficient as servants of a new covenant; not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the service of death, written engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadfastly on the face of Moses for the glory of his face; which was passing away: won't service of the Spirit be with much more glory? For if the service of condemnation has glory, the service of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For most assuredly that which has been made glorious has not been made glorious in this respect, by reason of the glory that surpasses. (2 Co 3:4-10 WEB)

The knowledge that there is nothing good in us that would commend us to God is where brokenness begins. No one cries for help like a drowning man. When we have struggled with all our might only to be going down for the third time, we seek the intervention of another. Then we are ready to receive the help that God extends. We must understand that no one is righteous in God's sight, and that God gave the law, and allowed the struggle to keep it, to prove this very point. "For God has shut up all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all" (Romans 11:32). How did God do this? We find the answer in Galatians, chapter three. "But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed" (Galatians 3:23 KJV). Praise God, a Savior has delivered us from this kind of death. This is the triumphant call of Romans, chapter eight.

"So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. For the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you through Christ Jesus from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses could not save us, because of our sinful nature. But God put into effect a different plan to save us. He sent his own Son in a human body like ours, except that ours are sinful. God destroyed sin's control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the requirement of the law would be fully accomplished for us who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit. Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. If your sinful nature controls your mind, there is death. But if the Holy Spirit controls your mind, there is life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God's laws, and it never will. That's why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God. But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them are not Christians at all.) Since Christ lives within you, even though your body will die because of sin, your spirit is alive because you have been made right with God. The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as he raised Christ from the dead, he will give life to your mortal body by this same Spirit living within you. So, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation whatsoever to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you keep on following it, you will perish. But if through the power of the Holy Spirit you turn from it and its evil deeds, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you should not be like cowering, fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God's very own children, adopted into his family--calling him "Father, dear Father." For his Holy Spirit speaks to us deep in our hearts and tells us that we are God's children. And since we are his children, we will share his treasures--for everything God gives to his Son, Christ, is ours, too. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. (Romans 8:1-17 NLT)

There is now no condemnation [an adverse sentence] for those believers who belong to Christ Jesus. The word condemnation is a legal term, appropriately used to describe a legal dilemma. It speaks of the condition and impairment placed upon all who set out to be justified by compliance to a law of any kind. It is a reference to the curse of the law. But "the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you through Christ Jesus from the power of sin that leads to death. God put into effect a different plan to save us." God's plan is to destroy the dominion of sin over us. He did that by the sacrifice of His Son. Jesus fully bore the penalties for our sins, which met all the requirements of the law. The law said, "If you sin you must die." Jesus met our legal requirements by dying our death. God reckons Christ's death to be ours, and accordingly this is the legal basis on which we are declared innocent and free.

In England not long ago, a rich man could hire a boy to take the beating for an offence that the courts judged him worthy of. These young men became known as "whipping boys." This is exactly what Jesus did for us. He became our whipping boy so that we would be free, not so that we could do the same crime over again with impunity, but rather that we might live free of that sin in newness of life. It is one thing to be free of the consequences of our sin, but a whole other thing to have the grace of God working in us, freeing us from the bondage of our sin natures. This is resurrection life! This is life in the Spirit.

Those who attempt to come to God by way of law are still under the control of their sinful nature, without hope. They are frustrated and confused. They might be able to overcome many outwardly forbidden sins, but for each one of these they overcome, a new form will rise up within them. Where before they murdered, now they hate and wish people were dead. Before they slept with women that were not their wives, now they burn inside with lust.  The real evil of such a life is because they no longer do these things outwardly, they now judge those who do, again showing themselves guilty of the same thing (see Romans 2:1). God does not look on the outward when He sees a man, but He looks on the heart.  In judging one another, the real harm comes, for we cut off God's compassion for the sinner from flowing through us, judging them without seeing into their hearts. We can be white-washed sepulchres or we can obey the upward call and becomelife-giving sons of God.

Those who are led by the Spirit, in whom Christ lives by faith, will soar with wings of eagles and defy the downward pull of sin. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus makes them free from the law of sin and death. Christ lives within them through the Spirit of God, the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. And in the same way that He raised Christ from the dead, God will elevate us above the legal and moral dilemma of law-keeping and sin. We are not obligated any longer to the urgings of the sinful nature, nor the rules of men that try to keep it in its place.

The only way to freedom from the sinful nature and the law is through the power of the Holy Spirit. "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God." We are not cowering, fearful slaves, but God's adopted children. He has sent forth His Spirit into our hearts crying "Abba Father" or "Father, dear Father."

Paul wrote,

"Pay all your debts, except the debt of love for others. You can never finish paying that! If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill all the requirements of God's law. For the commandments against adultery and murder and stealing and coveting--and any other commandment --are all summed up in this one commandment: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no wrong to anyone, so love satisfies all of God's requirements" (Romans 13:8-10 NLT).

Love is the fulfillment of the law. The law of love is the higher law. If I love my neighbor because of the new heart within, given me by God, I will not covet his wife, nor will I covet any of his possessions. If we truly love people, we desire the best for them. We will put their well-being before our own. We will never steal from them or hurt them in any way. So love satisfies the debt and obligation of all God's requirements.

How important is it that we contend for our freedom from the Law? Very important! For no one will ever be saved by obeying the law. If we attempt to go back under the law, we make ourselves guilty by rebuilding the old system of merits that God has already discarded. As Paul wrote, "Christ IS our righteousness. Nay, I even reckon all things as pure loss because of the priceless privilege of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. And for His sake I have suffered the loss of everything, and reckon it all as mere refuse, in order that I may win Christ and be found in union with Him, not having a righteousness of my own, derived from the Law, but that which arises from faith in Christ--the righteousness which comes from God through faith" (Philippians 3:8-9 WNT).

We have died to the law, our old husband, by being crucified with Christ. And if we have done so, it is no longer us who lives, but Christ who lives in us. We must be careful to honor Christ's sacrifice by receiving His grace daily. We must not treat the grace of God as though it were meaningless. If you are attempting to be saved by keeping the law, you are acting as if there was no need for Christ to die. You are behaving as if you can do quite well by yourself. At Antioch, Peter was not living in accordance with the truth of the good news by refusing to eat with the Gentile believers, nor is anyone else who practices will worship and legalistic forms of "Christianity."

 Freedom in Christ

Paul wrote:

So, Christ has really set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law. Listen! I, Paul, tell you this: If you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then Christ cannot help you. I'll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey all of the regulations in the whole law of Moses. For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace... (Galatians 5:1-4, NLT)

For you have been called to live in freedom--not freedom to satisfy your sinful nature, but freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Galatians. 5:13-15 NLT).

May God free us all from death producing, grace inhibiting, appeasement-oriented religion. May we also be found in Christ, not having our own righteousness but that righteousness that comes from God through faith! No one can brag in God's presence. Christ "was made to us righteousness...so that even as it has been written, 'He that glories, let him glory in the Lord'" (Jeremiah 9:24, 1 Corinthians 1:31).

John wrote,

Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:4-10, NKJV).

The true Christian life needs no outward law. It is powered by an inward Life--the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. God desires truth in the inward parts, Christ in you.

God has reserved the rule of law, external governance, for those who will not be led by His Spirit. "But if you be led of the Spirit, you are not under the law" (Galatians 5:18). We will either live by the inward Truth of God, or be under the straight jacket of the law.

The Galatian assembly began in the Spirit--dependent on the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. The champions of the law, known as Judaizers, had bewitched them into trading that freedom for the bondage of the letter. Paul, who had lived in the body of that death in his early years as a Pharisee, could clearly see that same death working in them. They had begun in the Spirit, but now they were attempting to reach perfection by the energies of the flesh (See Galatians 3:3). Paul's appeal to them is critical, for it is foundational to true faith. With this in mind, let us carefully consider the following question. "Therefore He who supplies [present tense] the Spirit to you and works miracles [continually] among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Just as Abraham "believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness" (Galatians 3:5-6).

The faith of Abraham was based on the hearing of faith. We tend to believe, due to years of evangelical conditioning, that the hearing of faith comes through reading the Bible. For years Christians have sat passively in church pews listening to Bible-preachers say, "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God." Reading the Bible is wonderful, but this is not the hearing of faith because Abraham had no Bible. So what is it then? The answer is found in the passage above. The hearing of faith comes through union with Him who supplies the Spirit and works among you. When Abraham believed God he was not reading his Bible but listening to God through the Spirit. He believed what he heard and that was accounted to him for righteousness, not through works but through faith. Religious men struggle to complete by their own efforts what was begun by God. It was to such that He took the oath, "I swear in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest."

Entering God's Rest

Adam had an established relationship with God and had been doing some marvelous, superhuman things with Him before Eve was created. He had named all the animals, considered each of them as a possible helper, and tended a garden the size of today's Iraq! Adam did all these things while abiding in the Father's rest because none of it was done from his own flesh. Adam lived fully in the rest and provision of God. He rested in the completed works of God that were "finished from the foundation of the world" (Hebrews 4:3).  It was after some time (as we know it) that he was put into a deep sleep by God, then from his own body God brought forth for him a helper worthy of him, a bride for Adam whom he named Eve.

God gave them a warning, which if not heeded would subject mankind to a process of aging, decay and death. Here in Genesis we read:

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." Genesis 2:16, 17, NKJV.

Of this verse Adam Clarke writes:

Thou shalt surely die. twmt twm moth tamuth; Literally, a death thou shalt die; or, dying thou shalt die.  Thou shalt not only die spiritually, by losing the life of God, but from that moment thou shalt become mortal, and shalt continue in a dying state till thou die.

Dying you shall die--literally, "you shall begin to die until you die." The clock began to tick when Eve took the first bite of the forbidden fruit. How long do you suppose that Adam had lived free of sickness, pain and death before he disobeyed God's warning? We read this as if God made Adam and Eve on one day, and the next day, they were walking through the garden and came across this tree with a talking snake in it. They were convinced that the way of the snake was better than the life that God had given them and were cast out of the garden.

Have you ever contemplated how God can be all places at the same time? Could it be that for Him there is no such thing as time? If He is outside of and not subject to time, for it is part of his creation, then it would be a small thing for Him to be everywhere at the same time. Could this be why, when asked by Moses for His name, He called Himself I Am? Why, I Am, why not I Will Be or I Was? God dwells in the eternal NOW!  Could this be the very nature of God with which Adam and Eve were created in perfection, of which God said, "It is good"? They were never in conflict with the flow of the purposes of God. They were never running ahead or falling behind; they were one with Him and that was good in the eyes of God.

As far as Adam and Eve were concerned, before the fall there was no time--no aging. They were in a constant state of spiritual rest and well being. They did not toil or spin. They never knew anxiety or want. Their entire existence was filled with life and light. There were no worries about what they would eat or what they would wear. They lived in the constant provision of their Creator. He was their covering. The Garden of Eden was filled with food bearing trees. They lived in and were sustained by "the works that were finished from the foundation of the world." Theirs was a life of faith in their loving Father. But after they gave in to the enticements of the one who was a liar and murderer from the beginning, a series of events took place that put all of creation in chaos, groaning in anticipation of a day of deliverance. Paul wrote:

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned-- (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. (Romans 5:12-14, NKJV).

In his book Sit, Walk, Stand, Watchman Nee wrote,

Adam, we are told, was created on the sixth day. Clearly, then, he had no part in those first six days of work, for he came into being only at their end. God's seventh day was, in fact, Adam's first. Whereas God worked six days and then enjoyed His sabbath rest, Adam began his life with the sabbath; for God works before He rests, while man must first enter into God's rest, and then alone can he work. Moreover it was because God's work of creation was truly complete that Adam's life could begin with rest. And here is the gospel: that God has gone one stage further and has completed also the work of redemption, and that we need do nothing whatever to merit it, but can enter by faith directly into the values of His finished work.

In Christ, God was once again working and creating anew. Just as Jesus was the Prime Mover of the first creation, so is He the progenitor of the new humanity, many sons unto glory. "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made" (John 1:3). Jesus, the Last Adam, was sent to work and restore man unto his former state, a new creation in the Father. In Christ's ministry on the earth we see a parallel to the six days of creation, the bringing forth of a new humanity that is once again in tune with the life flow of His Father. "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17 WEB). "For in Christ Jesus neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation" (Galatians 6:15 WEB). Like Adam, we who believe are a new humanity, a new race, born into the Sabbath-rest of the Father. We are not speaking of the Sabbath as a literal "day" but as a timeless reality, which we are called to live in for eternity.

Man cannot live that Life that God created him for without the abiding presence of his Creator any more than a fish can live out of water. He will struggle and flop on the bank, vulnerable and gasping to live in this foreign environment of time and finally, beaten by time and gravity, go back to the earth from which he came. Man was not made to live in time, ruled by the clock and calendar. Ever since the fall, he has been trying to beat the effect of time and defeat the sickness and aging brought about by sin through his own self efforts. With each "cure" comes more side-effects, and each invention further prohibits his return to Eden and ends up being used as someone's new weapon of death or instrument of bondage. He even goes so far as to abort healthy full-term babies as they are being born so he can steal the matter in their brain stems in an effort to defeat the curse of aging and sickness. For the sake of saving his own self-centered life, he brings death to a new level, the holocaust of the unborn. How could we be so blind to our fallen and decadent state and not be repulsed by such sin and repent? It would seem that the soul of man, the self-centered one, knows no bounds in its downward spiral.