8.46 Works of the law is a system that results in failure
Works of the law is a system that focuses on what you have to do in order to attain. For Christians, the law could refer to the Mosaic Law or any demand, rules, rituals, or obligations that must be kept IN ORDER TO ATTAIN TO RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND TO RECEIVE HIS BLESSINGS.
To be under the system of law means that our standing with God and our blessings are subject to works. It could even be our church attendance, our Bible study, our witnessing, our service to God, our faithfulness, church programs, church activities, our dressing, our works, etc. It is not that these are not important. But good as they are, doing these things cannot earn our righteousness or blessings. They come through the finished work of Jesus.
We have to get the cause-and-effect relationship right. Good works comes as a result of Jesus working within the believer who has received the gift of righteousness. It is a fruit of salvation which we have received. Good works can never earn our salvation or righteousness. Otherwise Jesus would have died in vain.
As long as you have to earn for it, you are under the system of law. Rom 4:4 puts it this way, “Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. The man who works earns his wages.”
For Israel, it was a harsh and difficult system, because the people had to score full marks. No one fully succeeded in attaining to righteousness. They had to cover their sins by the blood of animals until Christ came. Today, we are in Christ and we are no longer under the system of works of the law. We are under a better system called the system of FAITH.
Many Christians are still walking under the system of works of the law. Their sense of righteousness and expectations of blessings is based on their performance. A Christian who approaches God under the works of the law will certainly fail in being justified. When they fail, they feel unworthy of God. God says that Israel pursued the righteousness of the law through works but did not attain to it.
(Rom 9:30-32)
…Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, HAS NOT ATTAINED to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by FAITH, but as it were, by the WORKS OF THE LAW.
Was it because they did not try enough? Absolutely not! Rom 10:2 says that they had a zeal for God. They started learning the law from a young age and tried very hard to keep it. They failed because they did not seek it by FAITH. God wants us to walk in FAITH instead.
To be under the system of law means that our standing with God and our blessings are subject to works. It could even be our church attendance, our Bible study, our witnessing, our service to God, our faithfulness, church programs, church activities, our dressing, our works, etc. It is not that these are not important. But good as they are, doing these things cannot earn our righteousness or blessings. They come through the finished work of Jesus.
We have to get the cause-and-effect relationship right. Good works comes as a result of Jesus working within the believer who has received the gift of righteousness. It is a fruit of salvation which we have received. Good works can never earn our salvation or righteousness. Otherwise Jesus would have died in vain.
As long as you have to earn for it, you are under the system of law. Rom 4:4 puts it this way, “Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. The man who works earns his wages.”
For Israel, it was a harsh and difficult system, because the people had to score full marks. No one fully succeeded in attaining to righteousness. They had to cover their sins by the blood of animals until Christ came. Today, we are in Christ and we are no longer under the system of works of the law. We are under a better system called the system of FAITH.
Many Christians are still walking under the system of works of the law. Their sense of righteousness and expectations of blessings is based on their performance. A Christian who approaches God under the works of the law will certainly fail in being justified. When they fail, they feel unworthy of God. God says that Israel pursued the righteousness of the law through works but did not attain to it.
(Rom 9:30-32)
…Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, HAS NOT ATTAINED to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by FAITH, but as it were, by the WORKS OF THE LAW.
Was it because they did not try enough? Absolutely not! Rom 10:2 says that they had a zeal for God. They started learning the law from a young age and tried very hard to keep it. They failed because they did not seek it by FAITH. God wants us to walk in FAITH instead.
posted by Joshua Lye @ 12:43 AM
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