The Difference Maker

05/22/1022 Human Observations

Galatians 3:21 …: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.   ²²But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. ²³But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. ²⁴Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. ²⁶For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁷For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. ²⁸There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Because I did not know God, He introduced Himself to me.  I did not grow up in a household that professed to be justified unto God by Jesus Christ, nor was I schooled in the scriptures of the Law of God.  So God called me to Him, neither by a religious atmosphere nor by participation in religious ritual, but by the Word of God.  He did not attempt to appeal to my intellect, but rather revealed to me, His Son Jesus as my only scripturally authorized way to be reconciled with God; removing the sin that had previously separated me from being able to receive His gift of life, and all that therein is.  First came the law that convicted me of my sin.  My acknowledgment of both that law and my sin left me as a defendant, accused by the District Attorney.  My confession of guilt confirms my acceptance of the law and the authority of the judge.  What I deserve thereafter is what the law prescribes for those who break the law: death.  However, my Messiah died in my place, promising clemency to me if I do as He prescribes:
Mark 16:16
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
So the law drove me directly to my deserved end, but my Messiah delivered me out of what I deserved; and then He, not the law, provided me with something that I could never earn by “the works of my hands”: a quality of life with Him … forever.  So He is God, not the law that He created.