Part (II) The Law is our teacher to show us our need of Christ

To say what I was saying last day in a slightly different way, good rules are like fences on a cliff. They are there to stop us falling off. Bad choices have consequences, and so the Lord gives us laws, rules if you like which, if we obey them will protect us. David could write “Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105). He would also declare that because he meditates on God’s Laws and decrees, that he has more wisdom that his teachers (Psalm 119:99). So not only do His Laws protect us, they bring us into life in all its fullness.

But the Law is there for another reason too, and that is the main thing that this quote from Galatians 3:24 is saying. The Lord has always wanted relationship over rules. But when God was giving Moses the Law, and there was smoke and fire on the mountain, the Israelites were afraid. What they said to Moses was “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die” (Exodus 20:19). In other words, “We choose rules over relationship.” In many churches even today, it’s the same thing, trying to find favour with God by obeying rules! Good luck with that!

A large part of the Old Testament is the history of God’s people trying to obey His Laws, His rules, and utterly failing. The Scriptures tell us that all our own righteousness is like being clothed with filthy rags (Isaiah 64 6). So which do you want first, the good news or the bad news? Well the bad news is that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23a), that is the just punishment for what we did is spiritual death, eternal separation from God. The bad news is that “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The good news however is that “the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23b). The point is, that we cannot really understand the good news until we understand the bad. So essentially then the Law shows us the bad news, and it does it “in order that we might be justified by faith” (the last part of Galatians 3:24).

Father, when we come to you, you take our filthy rags, and clothe us with robes of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10). Our own righteousness will never be enough to fit us for heaven, but we have this hope Lord that “When we see Him (Jesus), we will be like Him” (1 John 3:2). I’m not there yet Lord, but I know that You who have begun a good work in me will keep right on working in me until that day, and I give You honour and glory and praise in Jesus Name Amen