In the last verse of today's text the Apostle Paul speaks about the "glorious Gospel." Here we discover a critical point of distinction between the purpose of the Old Testament law and the message of the New Testament Gospel. The former identifies the lawbreaker; the later sets the lawbreaker free from his captivity.
Today, even among Christians, the Old Testament is used in a variety of ways: guiding what we eat, determining on what day we worship, and helping us achieve a more righteous lifestyle. It also gives us the hope of what we can be, if we truly dedicate ourselves, if we will truly exert the discipline required to get closer to God and be more acceptable to His holy standards.
On the surface all these goals seem noble and worthwhile, but in reality they lead us into a pathway that deceives us into believing that we have a potential for a righteousness that died before we were ever born and cannot be revived no matter how spartan our efforts to resuscitate it. In fact to even believe that we can reach God by keeping the law is an effort in utter impossibility.
In this message we will see the determination of Paul through Timothy to preserve the very substance of grace -- that the only righteousness that we have as Christians is in Jesus Christ and the only way to gain that righteousness is by faith in His life, sacrificial death, and resurrection.
Click to play, right-click to download:
January 29, 2012 | John Bayles | The Definition of Law and Grace (1 Timothy 1:3-11)
No comments:
Post a Comment