God has a purpose in all things,
but that purpose is not always readily apparent. There is always
a way which seems right to man, but that way is never the right
way, and is that which leads to death when pursued. This is
demonstrated quite clearly in the manner in which men approach
the law of God and the purpose for which they think it was given.
The natural man looks at the law as a catalogue of requirements
which God has set forth to give men a guideline as to how they
should live their lives. There is no doubt that this law
does set forth some very stringent guidelines, but the purpose of
them is not to give men a simple rule to follow, but rather to
reveal to them the depravity of their own hearts. as they
see the enmity of their mind against such rules, and to teach
them of their utter inability to keep the law. The rich young
ruler asked the Lord for a rule whereby he might inherit eternal
life. The Lord simply said, Thou knowest
the commandments. Do not commit adultery. Do not
kill. Do not steal. Do not bear false
witness. Honor thy father and thy mother.
Then he ignorantly and self-righteously replied, All these have I kept
from my youth up. He was quite satisfied with his
performance, as many are who claim that they keep the commandments
of the Lord, all the while shaking their heads in disgust at those
who they consider to be lawbreakers. Yet when the Lord revealed to
this young ruler what the true nature of the law was, he went
away sorrowing. What he thought the purpose of
the law was, and what the Lord showed him it was, were two different
things. The Lord used the law to teach
him of the hardness of his heart. By this revelation he manifested
to him how far short of keeping the law that he actually was,
and therefore how far he was from inheriting eternal life
by his own effort. It is a demonstration of God's
mercy when a man is slain by the law. As long as a man thinks
that he can and does keep the law of God, that man will go
about to establish his own righteousness before God, and being unable
to see himself for what he is, shall perish in his own righteousness,
being void of that one and only true righteousness which is found
in Christ alone. When the Lord in sovereign mercy
acquaints a man with his own innate depravity and secret rebellion
against the law of God, contrasted against the backdrop of the utter
immutability and holiness of that law, then that man will
fall down and confess of a truth that he is a sinner without any
hope of being found righteous before the Lord by his own obedience. There are many who would confess
that they are true believers in Christ, who continue on with
the notion that since they are now believers, they are somehow
able to perform deeds of righteousness. It is no less a principle of
legalism for those who claim to be saved by grace to look
at the exhortations of the New Testament as a list of requirements
which they faithfully work on keeping as obedient sons of God
than it was for the Jews to think that they could keep the law
of Moses and be justified thereby. The exhortations of the New Testament
must not be neglected in any wise, yet for a man to consider
that he is able to perform them in his own power is the same
error which the Jews were destroyed by. The reason that we are exhorted
to perform acts of obedience which we gladly confess are beneficial
and good is to drive us to Christ as our performer. The purpose
of these exhortations is threefold. Number one, to teach us that
perfect law or principle of liberty to which the sons of God are
called. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath
made me free from the law of sin and death. Number two, to
remind us of our continual weakness in the flesh. There is none good,
though not one, but most importantly these exhortations are given
to us, thirdly, to acquaint us with the character of Christ
as that perfect man who did no sin, neither was guile found
in his mouth. All of those things we are exhorted
to perform he has already demonstrated a complete obedience to. This
is that peaceable fruit of righteousness. When we see Christ as our all
in all, working all things for our good according to His pleasure,
may He thus exercise us.