worthy to become our substitute in paying the penalty of the broken law on Calvary (Gal. 3:13; 4:4). This is a grand picture. Look at that cross, Jesus dying in agony. See a document with nails piercing i t : that is the law of God that He is blotting out for the sinner. Mercy of mercy for there could be no other plan for salvation! Then some will say, “Why was the law given?” There were sin and law in the world before Sinai’s thunder shook the camp (Exo. 20). Death reigned during this age from Adam to Moses (Rom. 5:14). The moral law of God was as necessary to His character as oxygen was to life of Adam (Rom. 2:12-15). It was sin in similitude to Adam’s disobedience. The law was added because of transgressions (Gal. 3:19). It was not given to cause them to sin, but to reveal the nature of their transgressions, and make it personal guilt (Rom. 3:23). The sin was there, but the law re vived it (Rom. 7:9), and made it exceedingly sinful (Rom. 7 :13). This brought one conclusion, “all are un der sin” (Gal. 3 :22). The law became the sinner’s pedagogue (teacher) to drive him to Christ that he might be saved by faith (Gal. 3:23-26). Paul wrote two great books, Galatians and Romans, to prove that man cannot be justified by law, but by faith in Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:26; Gal. 3:26). “For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did” (Heb. 7:19). “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ” (Gal. 2:16). Half of the Christian world depends on the keep ing of the law in some form or other for their salvation. It is tragic, de plorable, that such misleading doc trine was ever let loose. It is not God honoring; it is derogatory to the sacrifice of Christ (Gal. 2:21). God took it out of the sinner’s way, nail ing it to the cross that he might come by faith to Jesus Christ. The glory of this transaction can- 30
their ornate rituals that were based upon these Mosiac codes. They seem to be so far from the original Mosiac laws that Paul doesn’t elaborate about them as he did to the Gala tians. It would not be difficult to be lieve that these were only vain rit uals of the Gnostics if it were not what Paul says God did with them. Though polluted, evidently they were based on the Mosiac code. Paul says God Cproselosas) “having nailed” them to the cross brought complete freedom to the believer. When Jesus was crucified, God nailed the law to His cross. As a mode of salvation it is out; it is through. The fires of Sinai cannot blaze forth against the sinner who has believed in Jesus. Did this destroy the law of God as a moral force in the universe? Never! It only brought to man a cancellation of the bond that was written against Him. Jesus, in His life time kept the law perfectly as a religious duty. He said, “I came not to destroy the law, but to fill it full” (Matt. 5:17). He, alone of all people on this earth, did keep it. So, He became judicially
Mr. Norman Nelson, singing missionary am bas ador for Overseas Crusades, will be featured at the Biola Family Bible Conferences this August 6 to 12 at MountHermon, Calif., near Santa Cruz, and August 20 to 27 at The Firs in Belingham,Washington.
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