Why is There Law?

There are some simple things that people just seem to miss entirely. The most important of these is the PURPOSE of the Law. Why is there Law?

1. It was a tutor to keep us until faith came through the Holy Spirit.

But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to  bring  us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
Ga 3:23‭-‬25 NKJV

2. It is to condemn ALL flesh as guilty before God, SHUTTING every mouth.

Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
Ro 3:19 NKJV

3. Law is NOT for the righteous, but the unrighteous and the like.

But we know that the law is  good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust.
1Ti 1:8‭-‬11 NKJV

The Law is a set of boundaries and parameters that are a preventive measure. Love is the fulfillment of the law, and is proactive. Where the law says "do not kill", we are laying down or lives. Where the law says "do not commit adultery", we are loving our wife as Jesus loves the church.

Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Ro 13:10 NKJV

Jesus nailed the ordinances of the Law to the cross, defeating ONCE AND FOR ALL the demonic powers.

... having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
Col 2:14‭-‬15 NKJV

We, those of us born again by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, have been set free of the law that is for the unrighteous (that which you wish to be enslaved to). We are now under the law of liberty and love, by the grace of the Holy Spirit and under the new covenant.

But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in  it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
Jas 1:25 NKJV

In that He says, “A new covenant ,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
Heb 8:13 NKJV

Who Are the Dogs?

Who are the "dogs"? Those who put their confidence in the flesh are "dogs", for CURSED is he whose confidence is in the flesh. Confidence in the flesh is simply doing ANY amount of works for credit or gain.

Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.  For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.  Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:  Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;  Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.  But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Philippians 3:2-7 KJV

Salvation

In 2011 I was sitting in ICC, the Idaho private prison, and a year into my genuine search of knowing God. I didn't have anyone to hold my hand and tell me what to believe. I had God and the Bible.

I had just tried to read Isaiah, but found the book was still concealed to me. I was at a place where I was searching out my salvation with fear and trembling. Was my salvation something I could lose, or was it secure? When God was with me in the past, did He then leave me when I had turned my back on Him? I had been baptized with the Holy Spirit before all of the drugs, sex, and guns, so had God withdrew His Spirit from me when I was in rebellion after that?

Since I couldn't understand Isaiah, I went to Jeremiah, still seeking the answers to my questions. What is the truth about my salvation? It was through the book of Jeremiah that God profoundly answered the questions I so desperately needed.

He showed me that I had always been His. He had created me to come to Him, and for this purpose I was born.

Jeremiah 1:5 NKJV

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”

John 3:34 NKJV

For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.

John 18:37 NKJV

Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”

Jeremiah 1:9-10 NKJV

Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, To root out and to pull down, To destroy and to throw down, To build and to plant.”

It was at this time that the faith given to me, that which is commonly called Calvinism, became solidified in my heart. God had created me for Him, and I had always been His. I was nothing more than His chosen vessel brought forth by Him and for Him, and He has pursued me with an everlasting love.

Ephesians 2:10 NKJV

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Jeremiah 1:11-12 NKJV

Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see a branch of an almond tree.” Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am ready to perform My word.”

Jeremiah 31:3 NKJV

The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you."

From this point forward no man would ever move me from these truths, and God has only continued to build on them. It was with this understanding that I came to know who I am in Christ. After this God opened up the book of Isaiah to me, and I was able understand everything I read.

Romans 9:6-8 NKJV

But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are  they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.

Divine Providence

When I was 16 years old I was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues. There were many times around that same time of my life that I knew what it was to have a heart of worship.

After I graduated high school I started drinking, doing drugs, sleeping around, and all kinds of other things that went with that lifestyle.

Within two short years I was on a retained jurisdiction program with two felony convictions and over 21 misdemeanor convictions. I had gotten 3 formal disciplinary actions taken against me when I ended up getting a forth. A out that same time I received paperwork that four more felonies were being filed against me.

The main thing the courts wanted to see during this six month retained jurisdiction was that I was rehabilitative. All of my crimes were drug related, I was an I.V. drug user of meth, and so they wanted me to complete a 30 day inpatient class offered while I was incarcerated. I had to attend every class to pass.

My forth disciplinary write up landed me in the hole for 3 days. I went in on a Saturday, and wasn't supposed to get out until Tuesday. The substance abuse class started that Monday. I was going to miss two days of class. I was going to prison if I missed class.

The hole was right next to the Chapel, and I remember hearing the church service that night. I was 20 years old with no kids, no job, no plans, and nothing to lose. I had four new felonies I was facing, and I was about to fail my retained jurisdiction program. I was going to go to prison. I remember I started to sing with the service. I lifted my heart in surrender before my God, and I worshiped Him in complete submission. (I remember that surrendered feeling 11 years later when God determined it was time to reveal His Son in me.)

I went to sleep that night with tears of comfort and peace on my face. I knew God had me. I woke up at 7:30 the next morning to the sergeant opening the cell door. He looked at me and said "Better hurry up McDonald or you are going to be late for class". I looked at him in wonder.

I finished that class, came home and plead guilty to two of the four new felonies, and then was granted probation by all four of the district court judges even though I had four serious disciplinary write ups. Act of God.

UNFAIR!

I was just thinking about how crazy it is to truly trust God. I feel like I am cheating the system, and that it shouldn't be so easy. Don't I have to be burdened by all of my past regrets, and bear the burden of making sure I am doing what I am supposed to be doing today to make my life what I want it to be? Those are rhetorical questions, but they are the reason why I feel like I am cheating the system. What about all of the weight, fear, and doubt?? Don't I have to have those things in my life??.

I was thinking how unfair it is that I can truly be free from all of that. You know how God answered me? "It is unfair. It is called unmerited favor Osa. I have loved you with an everlasting love, and I pour my grace over you like water just because it pleases me to do so. Rest in that. Find your peace in me, and quit striving."

Over all of my life I see God's divine providence. His hand there, and there, and there, over and over again. Not ever because I was doing anything necessarily "good". In fact, most of my life has been lived in complete rebellion, but He was always there none-the-less. When I needed correction and redirection, He was no less showing His love and mercy then too.

My life is not my own. However, I am not cheating the system by trusting God, for the punishment for all of the wrongs I have done is indeed due and God would be unjust to simply turn a blind eye. Another bore the judgment due me, and because of His sacrifice I have been put into a place of unfair grace and mercy. All of my sins have been forgiven and forgotten, FOREVER. I am justified, made right, ONLY because of my faith.

God has called me, and He has a plan for me that is beyond anything I can imagine. If He so freely gave His own Son to pay the ransom for my life and soul so that I could be free, why would He withhold any good thing from me? He wouldn't. In His love I rest. In His love I live. I am truly free and alive, and God will be glorified in me for that is His good pleasure. What an amazing gift God has given to us who put our trust in the name of Jesus. So simple, yet so beyond us.

TRY NOT TO TRY

The reality of the Gospel goes against everything we know. AFTER we have tried our hardest, AFTER we have done our best, maybe then we will find the proper humility before the God who holds the universe in the palm of His hand. God will not give us the impossible because we have done anything to obtain it, but rather HE will do the impossible because we have nothing to do with it.

We want to strive, to fight, and to hit the mark, but the more we try the more we realize that we can never hit that mark. We are ALL sinners though, and we will NEVER hit that mark. It seems we must each come to the end of our self before we finally accept that only God can do what we cannot. Even under the banner of the Lord we still foolishly strive, placing confidence in our own abilities.

God is God, and His will stands forever. Our ONLY focus should be to humble ourselves before Him and man through faith. Everything was created for His glory.

Romans 11:36

For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

Colossians 1:16

For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.

Since everything was created by Him, for Him, through Him, and to Him, is it any surprise that God will not share His glory with another? God will resist our futile efforts until we come to a place of humble surrender.

Isaiah 42:8-9 NKJV

"I am the Lord , that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, Nor My praise to carved images. Behold, the former things have come to pass, And new things I declare; Before they spring forth I tell you of them.”

Isaiah 48:11

"For My own sake, for My own sake, I will do it;
For how should My name be profaned?
And I will not give My glory to another."
This is the very glorious truth of the Gospel!! God in us, moving according to His good pleasure, to perform His will in our lives. Let us do our part and humble ourselves before the Lord, and let Him do His part and glorify His great Name by lifting us up! Try not to try.

Romans 1:16-17

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

2 Corinthians 3:18

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Are We Saved By Our Works?

I know many who believe we must add "works" in order to secure our salvation. This is a lie. Of course our works are an outward showing of what is in our hearts, so they are the proof of a repentant heart, but they add NOTHING to what Jesus did on the cross. When He died He said it was finished. The accounting term literally means "all accounts paid in full". I caution you if you believe your actions add anything to the FINISHED work of Christ.

You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
- Galations 5:4

So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.
- John 19:30

Grace

You call yourself a "Christian", and you live a life where your faith costs you nothing? You have been led astray my friend, and you do not have what you think you have. Apparently someone unfamiliar with Jesus has duped you into believing a lie. True grace does have a cost. Read the four gospels, the first four books of the New Testament, and then let us reason together. If your being a "Christian" has cost you nothing, I would challenge you to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Food for thought.

“Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession.... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

“Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock. Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: 'Ye were bought at a price', and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.”

― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship