Many today are confused about the purpose of the Law given to Moses for Israel. They may have been taught that a person in the Old Testament times was declared to be right in God's sight by keeping the Law. God, they believe, has a giant cosmic scale on which he weighs works, and if the good outweighs the bad, then one is saved, but if the bad outweighs the good, one is lost. But is this how a person was saved in the Old Testament and how we are declared just in God's sight today. We've already seen that Abraham, the patriarch of Judaism, was declared to be right in God's sight on the basis of his faith! Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. So, if salvation is not by keeping the law, then why did God give it? Why is salvation not by keeping the law but solely by faith? Three reasons surface from our text. First, the law condemns rather than justifies. God demanded perfect obedience, and only one person kept the law perfectly--Jesus Christ. Everyone else falls short, and thus is under God's curse, His condemnation. Secondly, Scripture never declares that salvation is by keeping the law. Whether one looks at the experience of Abraham or the OT prophet Habakkuk, the truth is that the 'just shall live by faith'. It has always been that way. And thirdly, the law operates under a different system than grace. The law emphasizes doing; Grace emphasizes believing. And the two cannot mix. You can't be saved by both. Works do not work, but faith does when it comes to our eternal salvation!
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