Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster” Gal.3:24,25.
What was the purpose and design of the law? To bring us to Christ. Again, it was to bring us to Christ!Actually, that function of the law as a schoolmaster is fulfilled, once we have been brought to Christ and experience justification through and by the person of Christ. I say, that function. The same law that revealed our total impotence in keeping the law is still there lest as a believer we would think that we can bare any righteousness apart from the Lord Jesus! “But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:” I Cor. 1:30.
“Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.”
To whom was Paul referring? This may stun some of you, but the Law was initially given to Israel - for the exact same purpose - to bring them to Christ! We look back to the cross; they looked forward. The Old Testament scriptures taught them of a coming Savior: they just could not identify Him - but they saw him with the eye of Faith!
Law and Grace - working together. Let us not think unkindly of or have a resentful attitude toward the law. We are now under grace because the law brought us to grace! Thanks be to God for that law thatbrought us to Christ! But then we reason that God, in His multitude of mercies and in grace, did give us the law. That law made known the righteousness and perfections of our Lord, while revealing the awful depravity of our hearts and our inability to observe and keep his statutes. Further, may we say that the law did not condemn us, neither did Christ come to condemn us. Is it not our hearts, being confronted by the Truth, by His righteousness, and by our sinfulness, that convicted and condemned us? And that being invoked by the effectual working of the Holy Spirit of God? It is the grace of God in giving the law, that the law might bring us to Christ that we might be the recipients of Grace!
Now that we are brought to Christ, is the law to be rendered as outdated and without value? God forbid! It continues to be God’s standard of righteousness ( it should be ours as well.) But we still can’t keep it can we? Neither could the children of Israel. (Well, the Pharisees thought they could!) No, but it should be a constant reminder of the One who did keep it without any infraction whatsoever: who fulfilled it and paid the debt for our transgressions. Our righteousness is not our own but rather the imputed righteousness of Christ; and that, totally dependent on the merits of His having kept the law, of the sacrifice of Himself; of His death and resurrection. “Not of works lest any man should boast.” Consider this: we as transgressors of the law were under the law of sin and death; being subject to its penalty. Now as believers are we still under the law: better - may we venture to say that the law is under us! The scriptures themselves well portray this truth. In the Genesis account of the flood, God established His covenant with Noah. Only those who would enter the Ark would be saved. The Ark, we know, is a picture of Christ. They entered into the Ark through the Door: there was only One. They went in and “the Lord shut him in.” The rains came, the waters rose. Man, being exceedingly wicked, refusing to respond to the gospel, reaped the wrath and the penalty of the Law of Sin and Death. The flood waters brought his untimely death. Noah and his family had entered the “Ark of the Covenant.” The flood waters came up under the Ark and bore it heavenward. The Ark was safe; likewise all who were in it [Him]. In this respect, the law of righteousness and of Life, undergirds us; lifts us heavenward, even into the Presence of God. “ For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. . .That the Righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. . .” Romans 8:1,4. Again, on the merits of Christ alone, righteousness is imputed unto us. We have been accounted righteous by the court of heaven; lawfully, judicially. May we say that our righteous standing before God is notmaintained by our “good works:” it is still solely based on the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ! In light of all this we are admonished to “run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” Heb. 12:2.
Many years ago when I was singing with the Gethsemane Quartet, we were invited to come to Corpus Christi, Texas by Brother Lester Roloff. He was having a dedication for the newly completed People’s Church. One of his planes was a twin-engine Cessna on which he was receiving instruction on instrument flying. His flight instructor picked us up at the Greensboro airport. I sat in the co-pilot’s seat on the trip. About half way there, he asked me if I’d like to take the controls; he needed to look at some charts and Brother Roloff’s auto-pilot was not functioning! I received some basic instruction: the wheel (stick) and rudder pedals, etc. We were flying IFR, receiving a constant radio signal to confirm our course. “See that instrument with the needle in the middle? Just keep it centered and we’ll stay on course” he said. I took the controls. I watched that instrument, trying to keep it centered. The wings dipped, the needle wandered from side to side, as I struggled to keep it in place. “You don’t need to look at the needle: look out on the horizon where the earth and sky meet. Focus on a point directly in front of you.” I did and the aircraft leveled out. Once in a while I would glance down at the indicator. Sure enough, it was centered!
Oh my dear friend! The law brought us to Christ. Where then should be our focus? Shall we look at the law as our standard (though, of course, it is.) Shall we attempt to keep the law, to keep the “needle centered“? Let us look to the horizon where man is met with and reconciled to God in Christ Jesus! Let us fix our eyes on Him. We shall not certainly be able to keep the letter of the law, but our focus must be on the One who did! It is still “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” Heb. 12:2. Listen! The law that brought us Christ continues to direct our attention to Him!
“I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle. . .” Psalm 32:8,9.
The law for the believer ought not be a “bit and bridle.” A small child may hear a “NO, NO!” many times in his young life. Hopefully somewhere down the line he will look into the face of Mom or Dad: look into their eyes; for a look of approval: or may be not! If we are “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,“ shall we not then be constrained to seek his face? I Chronicles 16:10 rightly tutors us: “Seek the Lord and his strength, seek his face continually.” There is a blessed intimacy inferred here. “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the Way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.”
Have you noticed? This subject matter is in direct proximity with “finding the will of God.” And just how may we find the will of God? And we must say, “First, find the God of the will!” This also: “Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;” Eph. 5:17,18. Here is understanding: he who is drunk with wine isunwise; while he who is filled with the Spirit should understand what the will of the Lord is!
Let’s not forget Faith!
O.K. The law is God’s standard of righteousness made known unto us. But we are to walk by faith, and that faith is to, along with the written Truth, find its focus in the Living Truth, the person of Christ. Exactly where does faith originate? Is it to be found deep within the dark abyss of the unregenerate heart? Can a dead battery produce power from within itself? No. And the deadened heart of fallen man must needs have a Re-generator if anything Godward be brought forth. Faith is of great value, not of itself, but because it originates from the source that is its object! Faith in itself does not save the believer, rather the object of that faith - the Lord Jesus Christ. Are we saved by the act of believing, or does redemption come from the One in whom faith finds its lodging? Is faith a “work” to be performed in order to be saved, or is it even as the Law: a vehicle to bring us to Christ, that His cross-work may be appropriated?
The raising of Lazarus from the dead well portrays the preceding statements. Lazarus had been dead for four days; but Jesus had come to resurrect him. “Lord, by this time he stinketh” said Martha. But in I Corinthians 15:42-44 we read: “So is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.” “He [Jesus] cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes. . .”John 14:43-44. How could a dead man hear a call; how can he respond if he could hear? Is there some hidden inner strength, lying dormant within the corpse? No, he is even as the dead battery. There must first be a Re-generating power to quicken him: to restore his mental capacity; his ability to think, to reason; to give him hearing ears. We are in agreement that one cannot come to Christ without being drawn of the Spirit. Even the Holy Spirit cannot draw the dead; not until He first quickens him to life. Even then, he who is quickened, he who hears the call, is unable to “come to Christ.” He is yet “bound hand and foot.” He can do no work with his hands, nor can he take even one step. It is through the vehicle of faith that he comes forth, and that, by the person in whom his faith has found lodging - the Lord Jesus! But why the remaining grave clothes; why did the Lord not allow him to walk out? Could it be that our Lord would have us to realize that “passing from death unto life” is all of God; that faith is in no wise a contrivance of men? “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” John 1:13. The Lord Jesus literally drew Lazarus out of the tomb and unto Himself!
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” Heb. 11:1. The Spirit of Christ Re-generates our lifeless heart; Faith, a “fruit of the Spirit” is made manifest. It is God-given faith (By grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God . . “ Eph. 2:8.)
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” In light of this we continue the same chapter, verse 13: “These all died in faith [Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham. . . Old Testament believers] not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and werepersuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” But what of the New Testament believers?
We were saved when we were quickened by the Spirit of Christ: we saw Christ, were persuaded that he is both Lord and Savior, we embraced Him in faith, and of course, we confessed Him!
Through faith we saw the promises; we were persuaded of them; we embraced them; we confessedthat we were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. What promises? Of a Savior; One who would redeem us from the curse of the Law of Sin and Death. Of a promised inheritance: “. . .and [the Old Testament saints] confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare that they seek a country. . .But now they seek a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for He hath prepared for them a city” Heb. 11:14,16. “For he [Abraham] looked for a city whose builder and maker is God” Heb. 11:10. Well, so do we! Old Testament and New Testament saints alike: looking for the New Jerusalem! Fitting indeed, for we are told that the city has twelve gates “and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.” “And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb” Rev. 21:12,14.
“For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us. . .that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross. . ”Ephesians 2:14,16.
trust that we have a little better understanding of Law and Grace. They are not opposites as some would imagine. They do not work against one another. They are indeed, to be found in Unity, working together along with faith, fulfilling God’s Divine purpose.
May our focus be upon and remain upon the person of Christ Jesus: looking unto Him; looking for His glorious appearing. May the written Word of God, [not excluding the law of God] being made known by the Spirit of God, cause our focus to be upon the Person of God in Christ Jesus. Amen and Amen!
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