Today I want to share from Andrew Womack's devotional!
The Law Is Not Of Faith
Mark 7:2 'And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread
with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault.'
Man looks on the outward appearance (this is what the
scribes and Pharisees were concerned with), but the Lord looks on the heart (1
Samuel 16:7). Jesus looked on men's hearts. The Old Testament laws concerning
washing served a secondary purpose of hygiene, but as stated in Colossians
2:16-17 and Hebrews 9:1, 9-10, their real purpose was to shadow or illustrate
spiritual truth.
Defiled food may hurt our bodies, but it cannot reach our
spirits (John 3:6).
The scribes and Pharisees missed the principle of spiritual
purity taught by the Old Testament ordinances and became obsessed with strict
adherence to their rituals. While they relentlessly enforced the laws dealing
with the physical realm, they had become completely corrupt in the spiritual
realm.
'The law is not of faith.' When combined with Romans 14:23
which says, '...whatsoever is not of faith is sin' this statement must have
been near blasphemy to the legalistic Jews, just as it is to legalistic
Christians today. It is sin for the New Testament believer to try to relate to
God by attempting to keep the Old Testament law. The law itself is not sin
(Romans 7:7). But it is sin to try to use the law for justification with God.
This was never the purpose of the law.
Under the law a person got what he deserved. Under faith,
the New Testament believer receives grace because of what Jesus did for him.
Any departure from faith, especially a departure back to the Old Testament law,
voids the work of Christ (Galatians 2:21) and is the worst sin of all. Only faith in
Jesus Christ has the key that unlocks the door to the law's harsh imprisonment
of guilt and condemnation. With a great price He has purchased your freedom.
Walk in it today and enjoy His Life.
AMEN! I have had a few discussions over the years with believers who think that we are to still keep the law! This thinking stems from a complete lack of understanding of: 1) Our New and BETTER Covenant (Hebrews 8:6) and 2) All that JESUS accomplished through His death, burial and RESURRECTION! JESUS completely FULFILLED the Law FOR US, so to continue to try to KEEP the law is actually a complete lack of faith in what JESUS has done! HE said: "IT IS FINISHED" (John 19:30), meaning the entirety of the LAW was fulfilled IN HIM! Let's ALWAYS agree with GOD and HIS WORD! We can't ever go wrong with that! AMEN! Here is Sarah Hart Pearsons with one of my favorite healing songs: "It Is Finished":Shalom in Him!
