Many of us who have been believers for a long, long time, still don’t actually know if we are supposed to live by the law or if we have been freed from the law.
It is a very valid question! And one that Terry Virgo, from the New Frontiers Church, explained so wonderfully in ‘Common Ground’ church a few weeks back.
The whole book of Galatians is about how the early Christians were turning away from freedom in Christ and back to the bondage of the law.
But this was never God’s plan for us. The Lords will is that we reign in life. That we are more than conquerors.
Lets go right back to the very beginning.
All sin originated from one man.
And all … sin was forgiven by one man.
Romans 5:17 New International Version (NIV)
17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!
When we get tied up in legalism, we are in fact turning away from the grace that we have been given.
By adding ‘works’ into our faith mix, we are actually undermining the gospel.
In Christ, the gospel is complete. We don’t need to do this or do that to become more saved. We are saved the day we acknowledge God as our savior. The rest of the journey is about getting to know him more.
We make ourselves feel guilty if we don’t go to all the prayer meetings or join a home group or even just stay focused during our prayer time – but these are all expectations that we place on ourselves. Just like the Jews of old, who had a whole long string of things that they had to do in order to be in favor with God.
If we are justified by ‘law keeping’, then we have fallen away from Grace.
Christ is the end of law for everyone who believes.
I am going to give a short explanation of how this is below, and then I encourage you to read Romans 5 to 7. I am sure that you will understand it in a new light.
Before Christ, believers were married to the law. They had to obey the law in order to be faithful, but Christ came to set us free from the law. When we are born-again, we die to our old self (the one that tried to live by the law) and we are born again in Christ. We have a new husband. One that loves us unconditionally. One that is full of grace and mercy. We can’t keep going back to our old husband (the law) when we mess up, thinking that if we just stick to the law, we will make things right and be set free from guilt. Quite the contrary. The law just lumps guilt on guilt.
Christ is our redeemer.
We have been justified in Christ. We can’t be unjustified.
Justification means that we have been made right with God.
Here is what Wikipedia says;
In Christian theology, justification is God’s act of removing the guilt and penalty of sin while at the same time making a sinner righteous through Christ’s atoning sacrifice.
That means ‘It is done!’ for now and forever.
But does it mean that we can just go ahead and sin endlessly because we have been justified?
NO! We need to live in the Spirit, trusting Gods spirit to lead and direct us.
Romans 7:6
6 But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.
So you can see that we have been released from the law.
But we have an enemy. Even though we are saved, Satan remains to be our accuser. He accuses us day and night. He does not give up.
There is a very bright side.
There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.
We have been justified by Christ.
We are saved because of what Jesus did. Not because of what we do.
Live in your freedom.
Live in the Spirit