The strength of sin is the Law...

Believers, the Law tell us what is good from what is evil. Romans 3:20 says "...for by the law is the knowledge of sin." By it we have the knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil...and they died. They didn't just eat the evil part of the tree. They ate the good too. This tree is a picture of the Law, where the good things done by people who live by it can kill just as fast as the evil. "The letter kills." The devil knows it and uses people’s obedience to the Law to steal, kill and destroy, even believers! 

But how can doing a good thing like keeping the Ten Commandments be deadly? It is because the Law condemns everyone who tries to be made righteous by it. Romans 3:20 says "For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are." Those who try to keep the Law to get right with God reject the gift of righteousness that is given to us by "one Man’s obedience," Christ's (Romans 5:19.) They are cut off from Christ according to Galatians 5:4: "For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace."

Under Law, cut off from Christ and condemned by the very law that they try to keep, even with good intentions, the Accuser's accusations (weapons formed and tongues that rise against even believers in judgment) can prosper. But for the believer whose righteousness is found in Christ, the devil has been disarmed by God. Let's see how this "disarm" took place.

Colossians 2:13-15 says "And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it."

God's handwriting of requirements that was against us is the Law. The devil in and of himself has no power. He accuses people of breaking the law and tries to get them to condemn themselves so judgment - death preceded by its symptoms in the form of all the curses in Deuteronomy 28 - can follow. 

Christ disarmed (took away the power of) the devil and his agents by fulfilling the righteous demands of the Law for us when He died for all of our sins. He destroyed the arrest warrants that the devil had for us (through our inability to keep the whole law)  by fulfilling the law for us with His death. He died for us and as us. The Law cannot punish a dead person and in Christ, we are dead to the Law. In Him, there is no condemnation; we are alive as a New Creation, not under Law but under Grace. 

But thanks to the preaching of "the doctrine of the Pharisees" by some preachers, many believers still think that there remains  a handwriting of requirements that is against them; that God will punish them for sins that have already been punished in the body of our Lord Jesus; that God still remembers their sins when He Himself says the opposite in Hebrews 8:12! So they go back to doing their "best" to keep the Ten Commandments in order to get right with God and receive from Him who gives us all things freely with Christ! 

Beloved of God, even your best efforts at attaining righteousness from doing works of the law is an abomination to God; filthy rags according to Isaiah. Under Law, just one tiny speck of sin is what it takes to undo an entire lifetime of righteousness acquired from doing works of the Law. These ones are putting themselves under the Law again and thus re-arming the devil and his agents that Christ has already disarmed for all believers! These beloved of God even forget that all it takes to be guilty of breaking the whole Law is to stumble at one point. God hates sin that much.

So how does this re-arming of the devil and his agents take place? How do they steal, kill and destroy, even believers? It is believers by going back to the works of the Law (keeping the Ten Commandments in order to be a “righteous Christian”) when Christ has already pronounced you righteous apart from works of the Law!

The devil levels accusations (fiery darts of the wicked one) at all in a bid to condemn all for their inability to keep the Law 100% (which no one can.) And because all have sinned, these accusations stick to believers who think that they still have to keep the Ten Commandments in order to be really righteous or “maintain their salvation!”

But as the righteousness of God in Christ, knowing that it is by “one Man’s obedience” that we are made righteous (Romans 5:19) and not by our law-keeping prowess, the accusations can never stick! Our warfare is won this way, by "bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ," aka our righteousness in Him! Remember "For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous." Romans 5:19.

This is why the devil goes about seeking whom to devour.  He can't devour just anyone that catches his fancy. He can do some shakara by roaring (accuse you of what you just did by throwing fiery darts/condemning thoughts your way and reminding you of the coming judgment) but with the knowledge of Christ as your righteousness 24/7, he can do nothing to you. 

But with those who believe that it is their ability to keep the Ten Commandments that makes them "good Christians," this is not so. Because they present their law-keeping as evidences of their own righteousness and thus reject God's gift of righteousness through Christ, these ones are auto-condemned because only the righteousness of faith in Christ cuts it with God the righteous Judge.  And the Law must exact judgment – including all the curses of Deuteronomy 28! No wonder many believers are still experiencing symptoms of the curse! 

Yet many pastors today are preaching "Yes, you are saved by grace through faith but you still need to keep the Ten Commandments in order to be holy/get right with God and be really saved!" Believers, holiness is a fruit of right believing! The Law cannot but minister condemnation to all who try to attain righteousness by it because it is righteous, unbending and impartial - and "all have sinned." 

Whether under Law or under Grace, God's word will not return to Him void. And His word says there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. No judgment!  But those who fight to keep the Law get to suffer the curse!

Only the blood of Jesus can cut it with the Righteous Judge (God) and His gift of righteousness is free for all who believe in Christ! Only through the righteousness of faith, not works, can the devil’s fiery darts be quenched in our lives. Ephesians 6:16 says "above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one." The Law is not of faith.

Hebrews 11:1 says “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Even though you don’t have it all together right now and your life as you and other people see it is far from being righteous, believe with your heart that you are the righteousness of God in Christ because in Christ, God says you are. Confess your righteousness in Christ with your mouth and see it manifest, as it is written in Romans 10:10 - “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” YOU WILL NOT CONTINUE TO SIN.

Salvation here encompasses deliverance from the molestation of enemies and redemption from all earthly ills. It is being saved from the penalty, power, presence and pleasure of sin! The word used in the original Greek translation of the New Testament is Swthria (pronounced soteria) and it encompasses all these meanings. That is our Lord Jesus (Yeshua =Salvation)!

 When you speak out your righteousness in Christ, every single blessing that is for the righteous in the bible becomes yours! The fiery darts (evil thoughts and accusations from people who tell you that you are not really saved because you sinned) which are the weapons of the enemy to get you to condemn yourself and face judgment will fail in your life because – Isaiah 54:17:

“No weapon formed against you shall prosper,

And every tongue which rises against you in judgment

You shall condemn.

This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,

And their righteousness is from Me,”

Says the LORD."

Notice that this blessing is not earned by fasting and prayer or any work. It is an inheritance (heritage) for those whose righteousness is from the Lord, not their efforts at keeping the law or pleasing Him. Believe. Confess it and see it! Faith works will follow without you putting in your own efforts.

Believers, by God’s grace, discard your own righteousnesses from law-keeping and receive that which Christ gave His life for us to have – righteousness by faith. This is the way to reign in life – reign over the power, pleasure and penalty of sin and every worldly ill, as it is written in Romans 5:17 – “For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)”

1 Corinthians 15:56 says "...the strength of sin is the Law." The very Law that many believers try to keep strengthens the grip of sin over their lives. 

In Christ, we get to will live right yet not by the Law, but Christ in us! This is God’s undeserved, unmerited favour. This is Grace!

Pretty long, I know:)

Believe Right and you will Live Right!