The Law Doesn’t Stop You From Sinning
In America, we have thousands on top of thousands of laws. Some countries have even stricter laws than America, such as the first offense death penalty for drinking and driving. Nonetheless with all the rules and extreme punishment for breaking the law we still find people continuing to knowingly violate them.
Here’s my point:
You cannot legislate morality or love.
The answer to all evil is found in Jesus. More laws will never fix our problem. Rules lack any value in making people do the right thing. It’s against the law to murder, rape, and hold up stores at gunpoint, but if those laws were to disappear most of us would not go out and do those things. In other words, the law is not what’s keeping you from doing things. If you don’t do them it’s because it’s not who you are. Conversely, there are others who would violate the laws and innocent people with every evil breath they take.
The only thing laws/rules do is define the penalty you will get for breaking them.
This is what God is trying to show us about the law. The law has no ability to keep you from sin. The law kills. God even called the 10 Commandments “Ministry of death” (2 Cor 3:7). Rules have the appearance of wisdom, but in fact, lack any value in restraining you from sin. For this reason, God wants you totally separated from the law and instead guided by Him. God is screaming from a mountaintop that the only way to avoid sin is by trusting a different source to guide you day by day, moment by moment. That source is Jesus Christ, and he lives inside of us. He’s not forcing believers to live godly. He’s not slamming a bunch of rules down your throat. He’s certainly not threatening us. We actually live godly because it’s our new identity. He will never lead us to sin. He personally leads us away from Sin. You don’t need a little bit of Moses and a little bit of Jesus to keep you from sinning. All you need is Jesus.
In Col 2:21-23 God himself tells us the law and man-made rules may have the “appearance ” of wisdom and self-made religion, but in reality, have absolutely no value against fleshly indulgence.
So if the law is not the answer then what is? Could it be the grace God found in Jesus? What if receiving grace and kindness was the key to living a godly life?
[Titus 2:11-12] For the GRACE of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age
[Romans 2:4] Or do you show contempt for the riches of his KINDNESS, FORBEARANCE, and PATIENCE, not realizing that God’s KINDNESS is intended to lead you to repentance?
Author: Mike Cynar
Mike Cynar grew up in church and observed that countless people would go to church and then just stop. The church always referred to them as ‘fake Christians’ or ‘backsliders’ but Mike discovered the problem was deeper. The problem was the church message. The message was 90% behavior improvement and how bad you are, with a pinch of who you are in Christ, It was like every sermon was being preached to the church of Corinth. It’s in the Baptist church, Catholic, Pentecost, and most every other church. After discovering the true gospel message and how we are made right with God because of what ‘Jesus did’ (not what ‘we do’) Mike set out to free believers from behavior improvement programs and bring them back to Jesus. The Result – Jesus Without Religion was launched.
