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"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 although all religions address the same desperate need, only one offers a viable remedy? Yes, in some way all religions say 1. God is pure, holy and undefiled; 2. humans are impure, unholy, and defiled; 3. imperfection separates humans from the deity; and 4. this separation has a terrible eternal consequence. In other words, the price or penalty for sin (another word for “imperfection”), is death, spiritual death ending in outer darkness. Humans are born impure, lost, unattached to God, doomed, dead. What's more, this 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 that does not solve the problem. 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, and into a life filled with guilt, fear, anger and 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. Given...as in unearned and undeserved. Given...as in grace. He did it because He loves us. The quote from Leviticus above tells it like it is. In the law God gave to Moses, He commits Himself to accepting the death of a substitute to pay the penalty for humans. What's more, in sending Jesus to be this substitute, God has even given us the “coin.” 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. Why pass it up?
We're saved by imputed (or borrowed) perfection. Covered by the blood of the son of God, unrighteous humans become holy, pure and undefiled in the eyes of God. This gift proves that God loves us despite our human depravity. His mercy is to the uttermost.
Can legalism be good? Legalism has a bad connotation these days. However, laws can defend as well as indict. Our ministry acts as counsel for the defense, not counsel for the prosecution. It 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, 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.
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