The purpose of the law

When you look in a mirror, who do you see? Yourself of course. The clearer the mirror is, the clearer the image that you see. The mirror is designed to show us who we are of ourselves. A good mirror cannot lie to you. It cannot make you look more beautiful or improve you. It will show you up for who you really are. The good mirror here is a picture of the law of Moses which, according to Romans 3:19-20, was designed to point out our guilt before God and to shows us how sinful we are -

"19 Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses, and to show that the entire world is guilty before God. 20 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."

Law-keeping cannot make anyone right with God. The more one looks to law-keeping as a means of attaining some right-standing with God, the more the flaws that will come to light, and the more guilty one will feel. This is what the law was designed to do.

Many people have mirrors that make them look slimmer or more attractive. This is akin to watering down the law of Moses from its pristine condition to a standard where it is keepable. See the law in its pristine condition in the words of Christ in Matthew 5:

27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away...."

Funny how those who preach that only when we keep the Ten Commandments or do our best to live right by self-will and determination are we saved and do we enjoy God's blessings are still going about in the church with eyes and limbs intact! Such deny the finished work of Christ in making the sinner who believes righteous. This is the spirit of the anti-Christ. This spirit does not deny God or His law. It denies Christ's work of justifying us "from all the things from which we could not be justified by the law of Moses." (Acts 13:39.)

The anti-Christ is STRONGLY for the law and keeping the Ten Commandments in order for one to be righteous because it knows this is how to cut people off from Christ (Galatians 5:4) and kill people that Christ died to save: "The letter kills..." Believers, let's not be found here.

There is a new and living Way to attain right-standing before God and it has got nothing to do with human effort at living right or obeying the Ten Commandments: see this Way the same Romans 3:

"21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with Him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in His sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed His life, shedding His blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when He held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26 for He was looking ahead and including them in what He would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate His righteousness, for He Himself is fair and just, and He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus.

27 Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 28 So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law."

Believing the above is to behold the glory of the Lord "as in a mirror." When you look in the mirror of your life and see not your sins and your flaws but who Christ says you are (RIGHTEOUS) because you believe Him, you life begins to be transformed and align to His purpose for you; not by your own human effort but by His Spirit, as it is written in 2 Corinthians 3:18-

"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord."

With Christ, we don't HAVE TO live right in order to be saved; we GET TO live right BECAUSE we are saved. Our law-keeping and good works don't make us righteous. We are made righteous apart from works when we believe in Jesus. Only this way do we GET TO do the good things that God planned for us long ago. See Ephesians 2:8-10-

"God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago."

The Holy Spirit will teach you all things.

Believe Right and you will Live Right.