Sunday after Sunday, you hear the Word preached, and maybe you leave, thinking, “One more thing to check off the list; I’ve got to do this now.” Now if you come to church all 52 Sundays of the year, are you going to get 52 new things every year that you’ve got to do?
Some of you have been coming to church for 10 years or more. That’s over 500 things you’d better be doing, and you’d better be doing them right! You’d better be doing them well, or the pastor will preach on them again. Next time, he’ll preach harder and get madder at you too. Who wants to go to a church like that? Who wants to live faith like that?
It’s enough to make someone think, “Isn’t there something that’s beyond a pastor or a friend constantly saying, ‘Don’t do that, and start doing this. Do a little less of that. Start doing a bit more of that. Here’s the rules. Here are more regulations.’”
When we read scripture, it’s not divided into the Old Testament’s law and the New Testament’s gospel. Within scripture from Genesis to Revelation there is both law and gospel. The call of a Christian’s life as we are reading the Word of the Lord is for us to ask the Holy Spirit to give us discernment. Is what we’re reading the law, or is it the gospel?
The law is good. Did you know that? The Bible says that the law is good. There is a place in the New Testament Covenant with God for the law to function in our life.
So what is the law? It is the command of God. ‘You should do this.’
It’s easy to get overwhelmed with this sense of ‘It’s impossible, it’s impossible, it’s impossible,’ and then Jesus comes along and says good! You are finally coming into a revelation of your own inability, your own brokenness, your own lack of self-ability, your own lack of righteousness that could accomplish any of these good things that the law calls us to do!
Peace and authority in our Christian walk will not come from committing ourselves to obey and keep the law; it is committing ourselves to Jesus Christ, and that commitment causes his power to work righteousness in our hearts.