THE LAW for the righteous or unrighteous?

“This is why the devil has brought in the teaching that Gods law is done away with or Gods law has been nailed to the cross. Or Gods law has been abolished. Let me tell you tonight, 99% of the churches this city teach, the laws done away with, the laws not binding, the law has been nailed to the cross.” (Leo Schreven Christ exposes the Anti-Christs greatest deception affecting you lesson #10)

Every time Nomiasts (Sabbatarians, law keepers etc.) see the word law mentioned throughout the New Testament they say it is the 10 commandments. Every time a law is no longer valid it is the ceremonial law, (Moses) fully aware that if they agree it is the 10 commandments they no longer justified to keep them. They would then lose their ability to correct others of their waywardness. The problem is having consistency. Lets look at some examples. Rom.3:19-21 “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets.”

The law reveals sin making everyone guilty. But along comes a righteousness not by the law (operating through works), but by Christ, of which the prophets and the law itself bears witness too.

The question is: are these the moral or ceremonial laws that are making people guilty and having the knowledge of sin?

1 Tim 1:7-8: “desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm. But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully.” We need to be careful how we make one know they are guilty before God or we become lawbreakers.

Paul said in 1 Tim.1:9-11: “We also know that law is made not for good men but for law breakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy unholy and irreligious (unrighteous): for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers for adulterers and perverts for slave traders and liars and perjurers --and for whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.” Paul uses the word law and the Sabbatarian says this is the law which is not done away (the book of the law or ordinances are). No one is going to say that this is ceremonial, because it is done away with.

Look at what Paul is quoting: that law is made not for good men but for law breakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious.” Is this not the law that states all have fallen short of the glory of God. Good men would be those who follow Christ, in contrast to those who do deeds to be accepted by obeying the law .

2. for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers - Is this not the commandment thou shall not kill. To be guilty as a murderer one needs to be convicted of moral laws.

3. adulterers and perverts- this too is a commandment found in the 10 and in the law of Moses

4. liars and perjurers- this too is part of the 10 commandments, so which law is Paul speaking of ?

Lets look at how Paul uses the word law to the Jews. Rom. 2:20-24: “an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law. You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? You who say, “Do not commit adultery,” do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? For “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” as it is written. For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.” Here Paul calls stealing, adultery, and Idolatry the law and combines it with the command of circumcision that is outside the tablets (the ceremonial), calling it all the law. This is certifying the principle that if one breaks one part of the law he is guilty of another (of all).

The Bible says “all have sinned and fall short of Gods glory.” Rom. 3:19: “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” Yet Paul says to believers in Rom.6:14: “ For you are not under law, but under grace.” (Those who are not in Christ are under the law because its purpose is to bring one to Christ, Gal.3). So they are under the law being condemned until they have faith in Christ and are no longer condemned. Paul uses the same word for law about our being guilty of sin and then tells us the believer is no longer under this law.

What law keepers are saying is that people today are convicted of sin by the law. We agree, although the law is not the only way one is convicted. The Holy Spirit was sent into the world to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment.

We will specifically look at the term righteousness since 1 Tim.1:9 says the law is for the unrighteous.

Look at how Paul contrasts the works of the flesh with the work of the Spirit and grace with the law.

Gal 5:18-25: “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissension's, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Notice Paul combines some of the 10 commandments and the others from the law of Moses calling it all the law. Gal 5:22: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” If you walk in the Spirit there is no law to be under because He leads you to fulfill all that God requires.

Eph. 4:24: “and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.” When we walk in the newness of the Spirit we fulfill what God has for us.

Rom.8:2-3: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. V.4: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

The law as Paul says in 1 Tim.1:9 is for the unrighteous, irreligious, not for those who have Christ. If we have Christ's love we are not under the Old Testament law, we operate with a higher standard.

Rom. 13:8-10: “love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” The love of Christ by faith is obeying God.

How do we do this? Rom. 6:14-15: “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? The law is consistently used as all 613 not the 10 alone. Paul clearly says something has changed, it is where we receive our instruction.

Rom. 7:6-12: “But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” Here Paul emphatically refers to the 10 commandments, it is this that Paul calls the law all through his epistles. “But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

Paul defines the commandments as the 10 which are the law. But does he tell us to keep the law?

Gal 3:19: “What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made.”

Gal 3:24-25: “Therefore the law was our tutor (teacher) to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith (the righteousness apart from the law). But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.”

The law =a tutor; after faith in Christ = we are no longer under Old Testament law (or covenant)

Some of the things the law did and did not do

Heb 7:19: “for the law made nothing perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God.”

Heb 9:22: “And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.”

Heb 10:1: “For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.”

Rom.3:20: “for through the Law {comes} the knowledge of sin.” This is the same law Paul speaks about that condemns and makes one guilty it is the commandments and anything else contrary to God. ”

Rom.7 “For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were {aroused} by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter”…“I would not have known sin except through the law.”

Galatians 3:10 “For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERY ONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM. ”

The principle in the Bible is the righteous go to heaven, the unrighteous go to hell. We have Christ's righteousness given to us if we believe and walk by faith, so keeping the law has no benefit for ones spiritual life. It does not help us grow nor does it save us from the penalty of sin. If we are trying to have righteousness from the law we’ve missed all that Paul said and meant, and we are saying we are unrighteous being in Christ. We are then unbelieving because Christ says we have his righteousness .We then live under the old covenant trying to be obedient by our works.

I Jn. 2:29: “If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.” One needs a new birth cleansed by the blood of Christ to practice Christ who is our righteousness.

Heb 7:19: “For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.”

Phil. 3:9: “And be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. “ Paul contrasts that to keep the law made one self righteous , it was our work, but to believe in Christ means we trust in his perfect work. That is the Gospel we need to stand in, anything else is accepting another gospel.

The law is now for the unrighteous, Paul writes in 1 Tim.1:9, going back to Rom.3: 21:“ But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed.”

Rom. 4:3-6:…“Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; (meaning those who broke the law) vs.13 the promise was not through the law, “but through the righteousness of faith.”

Rom. 9:30-32: “What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone.” When Christ was offered to Israel they rejected him and in so doing rejected Gods gift of righteousness.

Rom. 10:3-5: “For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”

By trusting in Christ's work the law is fulfilled perfectly, he gives us his righteousness.” For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.” Two different righteousness are contrasted.

2 Cor. 5:21: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” God says we are righteous not by what we have done by what Christ has done! If you are in Christ you are positionally righteous. The law is now for the unrighteous just as it was in the Old Testament. What changed is that we have a new covenant the believer is under. Before this we had no way to be righteous except by our own works which was an unreachable possibility. That is why Christ was sent. Under the new relationship he gives it freely, it is a gift, it is by grace not by law.

Rom. 5:17: “Those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. vs.21 , even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Amen!

Rom.6:14 We are either under law or grace.

Which gospel do you preach? 

The one that only points out our sin or saves us from our sins?