Nov 15
10
IF RIGHTEOUSNESS COME BY THE LAW
Galatians 2:21 “If righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in
vain.”
The ultimate transgression is at stake when a man turns to the law for
righteousness. For when you turn to the law for righteousness then you
frustrate the grace of God and deny Christ and all that Christ
accomplished. Not only is that so, but when you seek righteousness by
the law you violate the very law you claim to keep. Paul said to the
churches at Galatia, “Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye
not hear the law?”
The law says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”-Yet, if you
seek justification by law then you make law your god.
The law says, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.”-But,
when you seek justification by law then you make law your idol.
The law says, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.”–
When you seek justification by law, calling yourself a Christian, you
take Christ’s name in vain.
The law says, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.”-But you who
seek justification by law break the sabbath, rejecting Christ who is the
believer’s Sabbath, refusing to rest in him.
The law says, “Honor thy father and thy mother.”-But when you seek
justification by law, you willfully disobey your heavenly Father,
refusing him the honor and glory due unto his holy name.
The law says, “Thou shalt not kill.”-But all who seek justification by
law cry out against Christ, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”
The law says, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”-But he who goes to the
law for righteousness plays the harlot and goes whoring after another god.
The law says, “Thou shalt not steal.”-Yet, all that go to the law for
justification would rob God of his glory.
The law says, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy
neighbor.”-But when you boast of your obedience to the law you call God
a liar. He declares, “There is none righteous. No, not one. There is
none that doeth good.”
The law says, “Thou shalt not covet thou thy neighbors house, thou shalt
not covet thy neighbors wife nor anything that is thy neighbor’s.”-But
when you go to the law for righteousness you seek for yourself the honor
that belongs to God alone. When you teach others to do so, you seek to
steal God’s bride (his church), and would have her be married to another.
Galatians 3:21 “IS the law then against the promises of God? God forbid:
for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily
righteousness should have been by the law. Wherefore then serveth the
law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come
to whom the promise was made.” Christ is that seed. Christ fulfilled the
law. All those trusting in Him are free from the law, holy and without
blame. Clay Curtis
Free grace no more makes a person want to sin than health makes a person
want to get sick again. The notion of sovereign grace giving people a
license to sin is the foolish excuse of Pharisees who are not willing to
give up their own righteousness.
Paul Mahan
The law is lawfully used as a means of conviction of sin: for this
purpose it was promulgated (established) at Sinai. The law entered, that
sin might abound: not to make men more wicked, though occasionally and
by abuse it has that effect, but to make them sensible how wicked they
are. Having God’s law in our hands, we are no longer to form our
judgments by the maxims and customs of the world, where evil is called
good, and good evil; but are to try every principle, temper, and
practice, by this standard. Could men be prevailed upon to do this, they
would soon listen to the Gospel with attention. On some the Spirit of
God does thus prevail: then they earnestly make the jailer’s inquiry,
“What must I do to be saved?” Here the work of grace begins; and the
sinner, condemned in his own conscience, is brought to Jesus for life.
When we use the law as a glass to behold the glory of God, we use it
lawfully. His glory is eminently revealed in Christ; but much of it is
with a special reference to the law, and cannot be otherwise discerned.
We see the perfection and excellence of the law in his life. God was
glorified by his obedience as a man. What a perfect character did he
exhibit! Yet it is no other than a transcript of the law. Such would
have been the character of Adam and all his race, had the law been duly
obeyed. It appears therefore a wise and holy institution, fully capable
of displaying that perfection of conduct by which man would have
answered the end of his creation. And we see the inviolable strictness
of the law in his death, There the glory of God in the law is
manifested. Though he was the beloved Son, and had yielded personal
obedience in the utmost perfection, yet, when he stood in our place to
make atonement for sin, he was not spared. From what he endured in
Gethsemane and upon the cross, we learn the meaning of that awful
sentence, “The soul that sinneth shall die.”
John Newton
THE TRUE CHARACTER OF UNBELIEF
In all unbelief there are two things — a good opinion of one’s self and
a bad opinion of God. Man’s good opinion of himself makes him think it
quite possible to win God’s favor by his own religious performances; and
his bad opinion of God makes him unwilling and afraid to put his case
wholly into His hands. The object of the Holy Spirit’s work (in
convincing of sin) is to reduce his estimate of his own character that
he shall think of himself as God does, and so cease to suppose it
possible that he can be justified by any excellency of his own. The
Spirit then alters his evil opinion of God, so as to make him see that
the God with whom he has to do is really the God of all grace!
Horatio Bonar
GET THEE OUT OF THY COUNTRY
Genesis 12: 1 “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy
country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land
that I will shew thee:”
Within scripture we find one of two things happening to the Lord’s
people. One, the Lord God sends them his faithful messenger to reside
with them and feed his sheep with the word of the risen Lord Jesus
Christ right where they are, or two, the Lord gives them a heart to
depart from the place where they reside to the place where they will be
edified and God will be honored. In this text we find the Lord directing
Abram [Abraham] to do the latter.
This country was Abraham’s country. This kindred was Abraham’s kindred.
This house was the house of Abraham’s father. The Lord told Abraham, I
will make of thee a great nation—when in fact, his wife Sara was barren
and Abraham had no children. From the viewpoint of the natural heart,
Abraham had every reason to stay right where he was.
The natural heart looks at the sentimental—this is my country, my
kindred, my father’s house—this place has been passed down for
generations. The natural heart looks at what seems impossible—where will
I live? How will I make a living? What will become of my family? The
natural heart looks at past failures and future difficulties, the steep
mountain ahead and the green pastures behind. The natural heart looks to
its own wisdom—anyone with common sense would have told Abraham he was a
fool. Remember this: Whether it is concerning salvation by the free
grace of God in Christ or it is concerning God’s sovereignty or any
other thing which is godly—the enemy of righteousness always says the
opposite of what God says, hence the serpent beguiled Eve with—Ye shall
not surely die! The natural heart says to the one in whom it resides, to
you, and to anyone who will listen–“I can’t” but it is really saying,
“I won’t!”
However, by the Spirit of God, true faith trusts God to do what he says
he will do. Thus sincere faith obeys God. The spiritual heart looks to
Christ. Even against all natural reasoning, the spiritual heart believes
God. Thus Abraham departed, as the Lord had spoken to him. And through
God’s promise to Abraham came the seed of promise—Christ Jesus the Lord.
A man made wise by God, once gave me a word of encouragement set forth
in scripture, I will pass it on to you. Though the believer is faced
with many daily trials in life, God gives the true believer only a few,
weighty trials by which he proves the sincerity of our faith. As you
face the trial of your faith, in whom will you trust to deliver you?
Abraham believed God.
Clay Curtis
SALVATION
It is most refreshing to hear a sinner confess his need of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Knowing that salvation is only by grace through faith,
God’s sheep rejoices in that effectual calling by the Holy Spirit.
The religion of this world preaches that salvation is man’s response to
an offer by God. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Salvation is
not walking an aisle, giving the preacher my hand, repeating the
sinner’s prayer, and then being baptized. Man by nature does not have
the freedom of will to do anything. He is dead spiritually and can not
respond to anything that is spiritual.
Salvation is a person. Salvation is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is by Him
and totally to His glory. Salvation has been from beginning to end, a
work of God Almighty. Faith to believe that which God, for Christ’s
sake, has done is the gift of God. What He has done is secured salvation
by satisfying all the demands that the holy law would ever claim against
a sinner. Having satisfied the law, a royal righteousness has been
charged (imputed) to every sinner that Christ came to save.
The carnal heart will always try to give itself the honor, glory, and
praise for accepting the offer when others refused … but one truly
born from above will have this one confession, “Salvation is of the
Lord.” Marvin Stalnaker.