|
"Grace in the Law" published by Pauline Holmes in 2001. Find out the truth about the Old Testament and faith in Christ. Download the entire book in a PDF file by clicking on the title:
Grace in the Law>>
Did you know that all religions address the same desperate need, but only one offers a viable remedy? All religions in some way say 1. God is pure, holy and undefiled; 2. humans are impure, unholy, and defiled; 3. thsi impurity makes it impossible for humans to bridge the gap separation them from the deity; and 4. this separation has a terrible consequence, an eternal one. In other words, the price or penalty for imperfection (another word for “sin”), is death, spiritual death ending in outer darkness. Humans are born impure, lost, unattached to God, doomed, dead.
That is the bad news. What's more, the bad news is written on our hearts, hard-wired into the human psyche. We try to bury our heads in the sand using self-deceit and denial, but the problem does not go away. Subconscious knowledge of our dread destiny has a powerful undertow. It drives us into the trap of compulsive perfectionism, into religions that offer the false hope of self-cleansing. When those efforts fail, we will slip ever so slowly into a life filled with guilt, fear, anger and, worst of all, hopelessness. That is, until our eyes are opened to the truth that sets us free.
The good news: The good news (or Gospel) is that the God of the Bible has given us a way to connect with Him and avoid eternal darkness despite our impurity. When the God of the Bible says "given" he means as in unearned, undeserved, requiring no effort on our part. Given...as in grace. He did it because He loves us. The quote from Leviticus 17:11 above tells it like it is. In the law God gave to Moses, He establishes that the death of a substitute, one that He, Himself, defines and provides, is what He requires to acquit the sinner. In the fillness of time, He sent Jesus to be this substitute. God has given us the ultimate substitute, His own son, the one He chose, the one He appointed. God has given us the blood of Jesus as payment for all our sins. There is nothing we have to do other than claim that blood payment. He has given us the sinless blood of Jesus to pay for all our sin. There's nothing we have to do other than claim that blood payment. How can anyone pass this up?
We're saved by imputed (or borrowed, ordained) perfection. Covered by the blood of the son of God, unrighteous humans qualify as holy, pure and undefiled in the eyes of God. This gift proves that God loves us despite our human depravity. His mercy reaches to the uttermost.
Can legalism be good? Legalism has a bad connotation these days. However, in a court of Law there are two main individuals beside the judge, and these are the counsel for the prosecution and the counsel for the defense. Our ministry acts as counsel for the defense, not for the prosecution. Jesus tells us to feed the sheep, not flog them. It so happens that there is one Law, just one, that defends humans from the deadly consequence of their inability to attain moral perfection. God's Law, i.e., the one found in the Bible, the one He gave to Moses. The Law is the only source of mercy. The only source, period. In His Law God gives humans the blood payment that bails us out of eternal separation from Him. Christ's blood alone is the legal tender that frees us. Take it and escape the lake of fire. Refuse it, sneer at it, spurn it and you are in big trouble. I should know about the sneering. I did it long enough, thinking I was very clever. I studied all the other “-isms” and found them wanting. But God reached me before it was too late.
|
