daily java

Daily Java: All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law." Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith." (Galatians 3:10-11)

Law never saved anybody. The only thing law can do is point out what is wrong.

When trolling for speeders on the highway, the police no option for releasing you from their tickets if you have been speeding. All they do is punish. All the law can do is punish. That is not because the law is bad. We need law. It is just because that is the way all law is built.

That’s because there is no mercy built into law, only the pointing out of what is wrong. Law tells us that this is wrong, or that is wrong, or this other is wrong. The only way to be redeemed under any kind of law is to never do anything wrong in the first place. Under law, you cannot be good by doing stuff, if you have broken a law. It is impossible.

Yet we have all done wrong things. Someone says, Well, I’m a good person. I’m a lot better than the guy next to me. But so what? A policeman gives a ticket to the guy going 10 miles an hour over the speed limit just like he does to the guy going 30 miles an hour over the speed limit. Both are lawbreakers. The fine may vary by the speed but both get a ticket.

We all stand before God as lawbreakers. If you have ever told a lie, any lie, no matter how small or well-meaning, you are a lawbreaker. John 8 says that the devil is the father of all lies. Revelation 20 says that those who go into the lake with fire and brimstone will be accompanied by all liars.

If you have ever lied you are a lawbreaker and your chance of being saved by being a good person is nil, zip, zero, nada – none.

If you have ever stolen anything, the same is true, even if it is a grape in the grocery store. If you have ever broken a law – even a minute one like speeding or lying on your income taxes even a little bit, adding some stuff to your resume,  anything – you are guilty. 1 John 3:4 even goes so far as to say, Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. Law is law, no matter how small the infraction. We all have done bad things. Some big, some small, but all have sinned.

So there’s a problem. If we cannot be good, what do we do? The apostle Paul, writing here, says the righteous will live by faith

Faith saves us. We can’t do enough to be good. But we can accept goodness when God gives it to us.

God makes us perfect and gives us grace. He never meant for us to try to keep some system of rules. He knew we couldn’t. After all, he gave Adam and Eve one thing not to do and they couldn’t do it fast enough, even though it meant losing everything they had.

God knows we are weak and he knows there is no way we could keep rules long enough to live our lives. And he wanted us to be with him. So he sent Jesus to be good for us. We are good through Jesus and in that way get to be with God.

As he says in another passage, Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!