End of an era(2) week 21, 2012

“So what you are saying is that people used to be saved in the past by law, but now there is another way?” Never! For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight Rom 3:20(ESV). You see the law was an interim measure, a shadow of the real thing. What is the use of the Law? It was given later to show that we sin. But it was only supposed to last until the coming of that descendant who was given the promise Gal 3:19(CEV). Jesus Christ is the real thing Col 2:17. The very reason Jesus died was that there was no other way any human being could be saved. His death would have been completely unnecessary if anyone could have been saved by trying to keep the law. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose Gal 2:21(ESV). In fact those who tried to be saved through keeping the law were under God’s curse! Gal 3:10(GNB): Those who depend on obeying the Law live under a curse. For the scripture says, "Whoever does not always obey everything that is written in the book of the Law is under God's curse!"
“If what you are saying is real then we need no longer obey the Ten Commandments or even read the Old Testament at all.” No: we must read the Old Testament, but with the light and insight Jesus only gives. Jesus then explained everything written about himself in the Scriptures, beginning with the Law of Moses and the Books of the Prophets Lk 24:27(CEV). As for the commandments, we obey God not so as to earn salvation, but because we have received it. The one who believes in the Lord Jesus is freed from sin’s dominating power to walk in love. Whoever walks in love fulfills the whole command of God: For the whole law is summarized in a single statement: "You must love your neighbor as yourself."Gal 5:14 (ISV). We could never be able to obey God fully if Jesus never died for us. What the Law could not do, because human nature was weak, God did. He condemned sin in human nature by sending his own Son, who came with a nature like our sinful nature, to do away with sin. God did this so that the righteous demands of the Law might be fully satisfied in us …Rom 8:3-4(GNB). God always intended that we obey Him from a willing heart; only in those who are saved really do that. Unto this purpose are we born again. For we are his masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared long ago to be our way of life Eph 2:10(ISV).