Did Christ's Sacrifice Do Away With The Law
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Let’s face it. You probably won’t wind up on the Jerry Springer show,
screaming your head off in agony, if you’re a law keeper. It dawned on
me that if the people on these programs kept God’s law, they wouldn’t be
experiencing such severe anguish and pain! As the Bible
says, “There is
no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” Isaiah 57:21
This is not to say that a righteous person never has any problems. They
do, and plenty of them at times. The Bible
says, “Many are the
afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them
all.” Psalms 34:19
The point is that God’s law has a good purpose and is meant to produce a
peaceful life. Some mistakenly believe that the law is “done away with.”
Why would God do away with something that produces peace? Can you
imagine God saying, “I can’t oppress these poor people anymore with this
burdensome law, so from this day forward they can murder with impunity,
and adultery and stealing will be encouraged! I just can‘t oppress them
with this awful law another day!”
No I can’t really see Him saying that, can you? The law does not oppress
us, it protects us from all manner of harm. In fact, there seems to be a
powerful connection between righteousness, keeping the law and peace!
“Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them
(cause them to sin).” Psalms 119:165
Proverbs 3:1-2 says, “My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart
keep my commandments: For length of days, and long life, and peace,
shall they add to thee.”
Isaiah 32:17 also makes the connection when it says, “And the work of
righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness
and assurance for ever.”
Righteousness is what brings peace to the human mind. If we repent of
the evil things we do, we begin to understand the very mind of God,
which is pure and truly good. God wants us to become like Him. 1 Peter
1:15 says, “but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all
your conduct”
We can’t do that if our minds are full of evil thoughts and our hands
full of evil deeds. This is why Peter admonished all, “Repent, and be
baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission
of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Acts 2:38.
If you repent of sin, in other words if you turn away from your sins,
God will give you the gift of the Holy Spirit which is the very mind and
power of God! You will be connected to Him in a way that others are not.
God’s mind is peaceful and free of sin and evil. Satan’s mind is full of
sin and evil. In the end, we will all have to make the choice to become
like God or to become like Satan, who is the actual father of sin. We
all have the same choice to make that Adam and Eve had. Will we give our
ultimate allegiance to God by obeying Him or to Satan, by conforming to
his evil ways?
Satan has become evil beyond redemption. He has gone too far. If we
develop the mind of Satan by purposeful sinning, we go down a slippery
slope, and we can go too far as well. We can fully become like Satan and
commit what is called the unpardonable sin.
The unpardonable sin is committed by those who know God yet with a
rebellious heart they reject Him, His law and all that He stands for. It
is unpardonable sin because with full knowledge of the truth, the person
refuses to repent and actually sins willfully and purposefully.
Sin that is committed on purpose is unpardonable. The Bible
says that
deliberate sinning removes Christ's sacrifice from us! Hebrews 10:26-27
says, "If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the
knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a
fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the
enemies of God." In the end, the ultimate product of sin and Satan’s way
is not peace but fearful expectation and utter agony.
How can we know if we’ve committed the unpardonable sin?
It’s easy to know. God is very merciful and He knows that we all slip up
and sin. There is absolutely no need to ever worry that you have
committed the unpardonable sin, unless in your heart, you hate God with
your whole being and you absolutely know the full truth, but have chosen
to side with Satan. Very few will be so foolish.
Some may not sin purposefully, as much as they sin ignorantly, arguing
that Christ’s death does away with the law under the “New Covenant.”
What then is the New Covenant? Hebrews 8:10 says, “This is the covenant
I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will
be their God, and they will be my people.”
If the Old Covenant wrote the 10 commandments on tablets of stone, the
New Covenant writes the law onto the heart of a man! The New Covenant
actually magnified and internalized the law. Hebrews 12:24 says that
Jesus Christ was the mediator of the New Covenant. Did He come to
magnify the Law?
Isaiah 42:1-4, 21 says, “Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect,
in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall
bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor
cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not
break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: He shall bring forth
judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till He have
set judgment in the earth... vs 21 says,
“...HE WILL MAGNIFY THE LAW...”
Under the Old Covenant, you had to actually commit the sin to be held
accountable for it, but under the New Covenant, committing the sin in
your heart brings a terrible spiritual penalty. Read the following
sobering words and see if it sounds like Christ has done away with the
law....or magnified it greatly.
“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not
commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman
to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
And if thy right eye offend thee, (cause you to sin) pluck it out, and
cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members
should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.”
Matthew 5:27-29 According to Christ, we can be cast into hell for
unrestrained sinning!
None of us wants to be cast into hell, SO, IF CHRIST TOLD ONE SIMPLE
THING YOU COULD DO THAT WOULD ENSURE YOUR ETERNAL LIFE...WOULD YOU DO IT
?
Matt 19:16-19 says, "And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good
Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he
said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one,
that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments."
Christ also said in Matthew 5:19, “Whosoever therefore shall break one
of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called
the least (last) in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and
teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
All those who teach that the law is done away with will be least in the
kingdom, won’t they?
Amazingly the Bible
says that the law applies to sinners only. Look at
it this way, if you’ve never committed a murder, the laws on the books
that apply to murderers do not apply to you at all. 1Timothy 1:9-10
says, “Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but
for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for
unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers,
for manslayers, For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with
mankind, for men stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there
be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine.” Can anyone truly
claim to “know the Lord” who commit such evil acts as these listed
above? This is why we should keep the law. Paul said, "Know
ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?"
1 Corinthians 6:9
1 John 2:4 says, “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his
commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” The commandments
reveal the very mind and character of God. Those who reject the
commandments reject God, thus how can they say they know Him at all.
If we love God, we will do what He asks us to do. 1 John 5:3 says, "For
this is the love of God (how we love God) that we keep his commandments
and his commandments are not grievous."
God’s law is not grievous or oppressive at all. Sin is oppressive and
causes such agony. If everyone kept the law, what a peaceful world it
would be for everyone. It would be the utopia that all men have dreamed
of and longed for. Maybe mankind longs for the coming kingdom of God,
and they just don’t know it yet...