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Good Morning! How was everyones week? All good? Great.

Lets start with a question. What is the only context that we can measure righteousness?
The law, it is the perfect standard of righteousness by which the deeds of men are
evaluated.
This week well look at the attitude of Christs apostles concerning the law, because
surely if it were to have been nullified or modified after Christs death, the apostles
would have known something about it.

Lets check out Pauls writings. Now Paul wrote almost half of the New Testament, the
reason why hes the most cited author. And usually our Protestant friends use Pauls
writings to claim the we are save by faith alone. Lets take a look at a couple of verses,
first in isolation, and then well put them in their context, Romans 3:28 says For we
maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Read in
isolation, this text definitely gives the impression that the law is no longer relevant.
However this verse belongs to a broader context, Apparently Paul realized that these
statements could lead to a mistaken idea that faith abolishes the principle of law. Paul
raises a rhetorical question in verse 31Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? And he
answers it with denial: Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
Another example, Romans 6:14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are
not under the law, but under grace. But if you want to know the whole context, lets read
the next verse, verse 15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but
under grace? By no means!
Pauls point is that Christians are not under law as a way of salvation, but under grace.
Paul is saying that as long as a man is under law he remains also under the dominion of
sin, for law cannot save one from either the condemnation or the power of sin. But those
who are under grace receive not only release from condemnation but also power to
overcome thus sin no longer will have dominion over them.
May we indulge ourselves in sin once in a while now that we are not under
the law but under grace? It was mans violation of Gods law in the first place that
caused God in His love to offer grace to the sinner. By the grace of God man is released
from sins rule. So how can anyone deliberately place himself back in the old bondage of
sin? To continue in the indulgence of sin after accepting the pardoning and
transforming grace of God is to deny the very purpose of that grace.

Now lets go to one of Jesus closest apostles, Peter. He was present at many of the major
events in the ministry of Jesus. If the law had been changed in any way, Peter would
have known. Lets read 2 Peter 2:20-21 If they have escaped the corruption of the world
by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are
overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21 It would have
been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known
it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. //What
is the way of righteousness? Peter was referring to the body of instruction given to
Christians to guide them in the way of righteousness that is the way that leads to salvation.
Now lets go to John, he was second to Paul in the number of books contributed to the
New Testament. How can our life be a living witness of Gods grace?
In 1 John 2:3-6 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his
commands. Whoever says, I know him, but does not do what he commands is a liar, and
the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made
complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must
live as Jesus did. A life conformed to the will of God is the only sure evidence that a person
knows God.
Is righteousness just the absence of sin or is it something more?
1 John 1:7-9

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one
another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all
[a]
sin.
8
If we claim to be
without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
9
If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Holiness is something we should never brag about. If we claim to be without sin, its a
form of exaltation to self, an act of pride which is a self-contradictory claim that is made
by one who is self-deceived.
Christ alone could claim to be without sin. Jesus came to take away sins. We usually
think that refers to forgiving sins, and it does. But John says he also intended to take
away sins in the sense of getting us to stop sinning. We are forgiven so we can be in
relationship with God so he can help us, through the Spirit, stop sinning. Forgiveness
leads to transformation.
When John, the beloved disciple, reminds Christians of their obligation to God, he
uses the same language of love and unity that Jesus does in the Gospel. John
understood that love has always been the essence of the law (for example, 2 John 1:6).
And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from
the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. John defines love as walking after
Gods commandments. That love does not only consist of a kind feeling towards
someone but it should be the observance of a right conduct as directed in Gods
commandments. Can someone tell an experience between the connection of law and
love?

Now lets go to an apostle who has only one book attributed to him in the new
testamentJames. Can faith exist without work? Faith that does not result in good
works is worthless.
James 2:14
14
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has
no deeds? Can such faith save them?
15
Suppose a brother or a sister is without
clothes and daily food.
16
If one of you says to them, Go in peace; keep warm and
well fed, but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?
17
In the
same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
Something more than faith alone is needed to clothe the shivering body and
remove hunger. Faith without works is merely an intellectual conviction that certain
doctrines are true. The mind is convinced because of the overwhelming evidence
from Gods word but the heart remains cold and unconverted. Basically, faith
cannot be proved genuine without works.
Jude is one of the shortest books in the New Testament. Many people believe that the
book of Jude was written by another brother of Jesus. Jude does not speak anything
about the law or commandments. But his entire letter is about faithfulness to God and
the results of breaking Gods law. Like in the time when God delivered the Israelites
from Egypt, God already demonstrated to them His power and given them His law, but
when the people became unfaithful, they faced terrible consequences that came from
being separated from Him.
Jude 4
For certain individuals who were marked out for condemnation long ago have secretly
slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a
license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. Now Jude
is saying that if the men are proclaiming the grace of God, they obviously are believers.
Yet Jude says they are denying the Lord. How does the denial of the law or even of one
of the commandments play into Satans hands as he seeks to overthrow the law of God?

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