Jesus said He didn't come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them. And this is exactly what He did. He taught the law. He directed the people who were under the law (the Jews) to follow the law. His law ministry was directed to people who were under the law. Why did He do this? Jesus was showing those who thought they were following the law that they really fell far short of it.
If you're going to try to justify yourself before God by attempting to follow the standards of His laws, Jesus will show you, as He did various people whom He came across, just how lofty a standard the law really is! We can then either go away sad (like the rich young ruler did) or we can come to the realization that since it's such an unattainable standard, what we really need is the gift of God's righteousness, apart from any of our own attempts at living up to God's lawful standards.
The gospel is not about us establishing righteousness through what we do. But rather it's about God establishing it for us. This is what Jesus attempted to reveal as He spoke to these people prior to the New Covenant.
Jesus Taught the Law to Show How Impossible It Is (14 Min, 9.6 MB)
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NO COMMENTS i AM SURPRISED, no one sees the differance between Law and grace, or do we think we can obey it perfectly? or do we think because we are forgiven it is okay to break the law and be forgiven and stand up and try to obey it again, and then fail again, has nopt anyone come to the end of their own flesh seeing it is impossible as Christ said to his disciples after the rich man walked away. Do we think it differant today because oif thw cross wqew somehow now can?
ReplyDeleteYep indeed, Howard. The cross didn't make it possible for us to keep the law, but rather took the law out of the equation. Jesus first showed how impossible it was to try to keep it, and the hope is that people will see how futile and impossible it is, and then turn to God in faith.
ReplyDeleteyep, and this society is so bent on doing good or we won't be blessed instead of God just love you, and so therefore in response to this amazing gift, we by God do what is right, by trust in the living God
ReplyDeletethe world teaches to be initiators instead of responders and most have learnt to be initiators that they just can't see the forest through the trees, and then when one does: the next thing is to take it for granted. Man the enemy (s) of the cross strip its power any way it can, which makes it hard to grow in simple Faith, because the enemy back in Paul's day strapped on circumcision and today has strapped on many self works masquerading it as God works. And God has gone completely out God's way to save us, out of Mercy and mankind just can't see this a lot of times becasue of bad experiences, thereofore I am glad for Brothers like you, since I am at war continuously over at www.christianchat.com. yet there are others that see this amazing gift and some coming to understand it and others fighting toothe and nail adding to the Gospel not discerniong that it is God's work through Christ to the one that beleives that does the good works since God is the only one good anyways thanks Joel for being you ib christ
In the past, I've spent many, many hours in Christian chat rooms, discussing all of this stuff with other believers. Many of them were quite against what I was saying, but from time to time I befriended a few people who agreed with me, and some who started off disagreeing but then the lights came on. I also had many who wouldn't participate in the discussions, but were "lurking" in the background, and they would send me a message saying that it was helpful to them. So, while many people refuse to accept the pure grace of God, there are those who truly are being freed by it!
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