The Law and The Gospel – Devotional for December 1, 2010

There is a strong tendency for Christians to seek to revert to a life under the law. It’s pride.  we are to understand and honor both Gospel and Law. Somehow we can’t get over the idea that we can satisfy the law, that we can be “good” by our own effort. Yet the law demands that we be absolutely moral, an impossible task. But the Gospel provides the answer: Jesus. When Christ works a change in us and we leave behind some sin or sins, we compare ourselves with others and swell up with pride that somehow we are responsible. But if we are living the spirit-filled life, as we leave some sin behind, He will point us to some other way in which we are falling short of perfect compliance with the law. 

This is not to say that we should abandon yielding ourselves to Christ for His molding and changing. All we need to abandon is the pride that comes with change for which we can claim no credit.  I, a guilty sinner, can never work to get right with God— it is impossible. There is only one way by which I can get right with God, and that is through the death of Jesus Christ. I must get rid of the underlying idea that I can ever be right with God because of my obedience. Who of us could ever obey God to absolute perfection!

We only begin to realize the power of the moral law once we see that it comes with a condition and a promise. But God never coerces us. Sometimes we wish He would make us be obedient, and at other times we wish He would leave us alone. Whenever God’s will is in complete control, He removes all pressure. And when we deliberately choose to obey Him, He will reach to the remotest star and to the ends of the earth to assist us with all of His almighty power.

Scripture includes both the Law and the Gospel which must be properly “dispensed.” It is NOT properly dispensed when the Gospel is preached before the Law, when sanctification is preached before justification; when faith is preached before repentance; when good works are preached before Grace; when anything is preached before Jesus and Him crucified.

Nick