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OR, whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
(James 2:10)
You may relax for I am not suggesting by any means we are saved by our works of the Law; but we most certainly are saved by our Lord’s work under the terms of the Law. He was the only One qualified to do so. The Law demands the condemnation of all who offend even in one point of the Law. Unless the reader is a very unusual breed of humanity, he has offended in more than one point of the Law as have all of us.
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:23) The term ALL presumably includes you and me, right? Since any under the curse of the Law cannot enter into the Kingdom of God, how shall we be justified by the Council of Heaven? For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23) these two verses summarize the essence of the Law versus grace.
When Adam partook of the forbidden tree in the Garden, he died in his spirit immediately. His body began to experience the inevitable march toward the grave. Christ gave Adam a preview of a means of salvation by two subtle references in Genesis:
1. I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:16)
a. This is the first veiled promise of the Redeemer;
2. Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them. (Genesis 3:21)
a. This symbolized, in type, the covering of sin by the shedding of innocent blood.
b. The animal whose skin was used to cover the nakedness (sin) of Adam and Eve in Eden foreshadowed an even greater sacrifice some millennia hence when the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, would be sacrificed to purchase a covering for the sins of those who were the called and chosen of the Lord.
Since death is the sentence for the sinner, a qualified substitute must be provided who has no sin to His account to suffer death in the stead of the sinner. That substitute is our Lord Jesus Christ. Like the innocent animal in Eden (the first death on earth), Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God without blemish who died on the cross in our place just as He did in the case of Barabbas. Barabbas was given a temporary reprieve since we have no evidence of his repentance; but you and I, if we have answered the beckoning of the Holy Spirit, have been reprieved and justified eternally from the guilt of our sins. That is not a license to freely sin – to the contrary. We are bound by a more stringent obedience to God, having His Law written in the soft sinews of our hearts, than the ancients of Israel who were held to the obedience of God’s Law written on Tables of Stone. The difference is that we are bound by love to obey God. Love is the measure of our faith and our obedience. Wrong-doing, performed out of love and not evil intent, is not a violation of Law.
The Law demanded the death penalty for even one sin. Another thief, guilty of theft, cannot serve the term for the same crime of another; neither could a sinner bear the sins of others on the cross to remove their guilt. The debt must be paid for those who have received Christ as Savior, and that debt was paid in full.
We are justified from our guilt and sin by the blood of the Lamb slain without blemish from the foundation of the world.
The Christian is presumed to reflect the image of God. He cannot do so as a lost sinner. His heart must belong to Christ and reflect that same love of Christ to others. His heart should be an over-flowing fountain of love whose Source is God Himself:
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ND we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also. (1 John 4:16-21)
The Source of our Love is Jesus Christ – it is His Love and His works that motivate the Christian.
