The message of the Law is thus: Be as holy as God if you want to relate to Him-be as holy as God if, by your best effort, you wish to measure up to His commands and standards. The message of the Law of God is that if one wants to relate to a perfect God through His performance before His standards and Laws, then there is one thing that person must be: PERFECT.

Galatians 4:22-For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a free woman.

Galatians 4:21-tell me, that ye desire to be under the Law, do ye not hear the law?

The Inability of the Law of God: Hebrews 7:18-19-Speaks to us from God Himself concerning the inabilities of the law of God. *There is a better hope. It is called the grace of God. And it is by which that we do draw near to God. Hebrews 7:18-19-For there is verily a disannuling of the commandment going before the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. for the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.

Galatians 2:16-Emphasizes that the law cannot in the same area of justification -as well as sanctification-the law cannot provide what is needed before a holy God and perfect. Justification (the beginning of our new life with God)and sanctification(growing and maturing with God): these are experiences foreign to the work of the law. The law makes nothing perfect, neitherin the area of justification.

Justification-Being declared innocent, not guilty-and that the one declaring it is the holy, perfect, righteous judge. We are justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law. So the law cannot save us. It cannot give us a perfect standing before a holy, righteous, and perfect God. The Law cannot justify. We have been justified by faith in Jesus Christ. No one can be a Christian unless they understand it is not by works of the law, but only through faith in Jesus Christ that men are saved.

Galatians 3:2-This only would I learn of you;Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or bythe hearing of faith.

Galatians 3:3-Are you so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye made perfect by the flesh?

Romans 3:19-20-Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

First: the law is able to silence every mouth. Second: The entire world is accountable to God because all have violated His standard. Third: The law gives us knowledge of sin. The law does have ability and we want to let the law do its works.

Galatians 3:24-Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: The greatest ability and greatest purpose of the law os God is to tutor us, teach us, train us, and instruct us of our absolute and total need for the Lord Jesus Christ. **Because of the measure of the law, we,recognize we need something better than the law. We recognize our need for Christ. The law says,”Be perfect”, [holy”]. And we can only respond, “Perfect? But I am far from Perfect”. Yes, you need Christ. This is the message of the law; it leads us to Jesus Christ.

First Timothy 1:8-But we know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully; **If we use it for the reasons God sent. The law has still more interesting work that it can accomplish in the life of a Christian-even once we have found Christ. The law deals with rebelliousness and carnality.

First Timothy 1:9-Knowing this, that the Law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners for unholy and profain, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,

First Timothy 1:10- For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers,for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;

Galatians 5:18-But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. **When led by the Spirit, God’s children are not under the law. If we are being led, day by day, by the Holy Spirit, Walking in the Spirit, depending on the Spirit, then we are not under the law.

Rather, we are relating to God by the Spirit’s work in and through and with us. But if we are walking in self-sufficiency, walking according to the flesh, we throw ourselves in the midst of our rebellion back under the law. So then, the law can have a work in our lives as Christian. The law can minister rebuke from a loving, heavenly Father. It can minister to our need for humbling in light of rebelliousness and self-suffiency in our lives. It speaks to our redeemed hearts, reminding us that we need to return to God; dependence on Christ and His Holy Spirit. We need to flee back to grace.

*In the message of the law is that we must be holy and be perfect. But the inability of the law is this: it cannot make us perfect, neither in justification nor sanctification. So then, its ability thus: its power to reveal God’s character, His standard, and His will; its power to hold us accountable to God; its power to strip men of every defense before God; and most importantly, its power to reveal the truth and depth of our sin and thereby tutor us to Jesus Christ.

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. “Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

What kind of light are we? Are we dull, or dim? Are we so bright that we are seen is a dark world, or are we so dim that we blend in with the darkness of a dark world? Jesus said that we are the salt of the earth. We are seasoned with the Word of God, but how may we be seasoned if we are not studying it every day? We should be seasoned in and out of season with the Word of God; so that when we are asked what is the hope of our salvation, we will be ready to give an answer. We are like a city that is set on a hill, we cannot be hidden in a dark world, we stand out even in the darkness. Because we have Jesus living inside of us, He is seen in us, and His light is shown all around. His light breaks the darkness and brightens the way in this dark world that we live in. When we are doing the work of the Lord, people will see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.

If a basket has cracks or holes in it, and a light is put under it, the light beams comes out in all directions, it does not just shine in one place. Just like us, we cannot just stay in one place; the word of God must be spread to all of the ends of the earth, and when that happens I believe Jesus will be ready to return. Our nation is going through so many things, and our nation has gone through a lot since 9/11. We need Jesus to look on this nation from heaven and smile on us, but that will take a miracle. The world is a beautiful place, but because of sin, it became a very sinful place. We need the light of Jesus Christ to permeate this world, to make things right.

We need His love to lead and guide us when our hearts are hurting because of sin. We need Him to comfort us when we see all of the devastation that is going on all over the world. We need His love to be in out hearts when everything is tumbling down around us, and we just don’t have a place to turn, or to run to when all hell is breaking wide open. We need His strength when we are weak in our spirit, because of the warring that is going on with our spirit and our flesh. We need His peace when the enemy has beat us down with our past mistakes and failures. We need Him when our children are rebelling to do their own things, and turn from God. We need Him to hold us when we are falling apart. We need Him like we need our next breath, our next everything.

When we pray, let us not forget to ask Jesus to shine in us, through us, for us, and all around us. Most importantly of all, PLEASE DON’T FORGET TO ASK HIM TO COME INTO YOUR HEART AND BE YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR. Amen.