".... our faith in Jesus, the son of God will save us,..."
Ok....you have faith in Jesus. Do you continue to sin? Do you continue to do the action that caused you to need a saviour?
'...the disobedient child will be punished and the obedient child will be forgiven. the truth of your actions and intentions are known to God, for God was with us the entire time. if you revel in disobedience you will be punished. if you struggle to be obedient you will be forgiven....
Readers...listen to what this person is saying. Your "actions and intentions" are known to God. And how will God judge ALL of us; Christians AND sinners? On our actions and our intentions. Consider this....
If we murder someone that is sin. If we continue to kill, lie, steal or break any of God's laws it is sin and if we die in them we will be punished. Now if we THINK of murdering someone it TOO is sin. And if we continue to THINK of murdering, lying, stealing and any of God's laws it is sin and if we continue in this act..if our intentions of breaking God's laws continue and we die in them we will be punished. Is this not true?
Above you say,
"... if you revel in disobedience you will be punished."
Now who is doing this? Sinners! Now let's read what you say next;
"... if you struggle to be obedient you will be forgiven...."
Now WHO is struggling to be obedient? IS it sinners? NO! It is those that have decided to follow the true and living God that are trying to be obedient! And what is being obedient? Being obedient is trying to do what God tells us. God tells us to be righteous! God tells us to be like Him; Holy! And what does it take to be righteous and holy? Keeping His laws and commandments.
You asked why did we need Jesus. Well.....it is true....Man sinned, thus bringing upon ALL of mankind a death sentence. This death sentence could ONLY be removed by the shedding of blood. Now either man would have to die for the sins that he committed or something else. Either way, some blood would have to be shed.
Well....did God now want ALL of His creation to die? Of course not. So for a time being God set up a set of laws that would allow mankind to be spared having to give up his own life for his sins. God gave us the laws of Levitical Priest. Now this law was only to be around for a little while. This law allowed the Priest to tell the people what type of sacrifice to bring according to their sins and their possessions. This law allowed the shedding of the blood of animals instead of the shedding of the blood of the sinner.
This law could not make those that gave their animals for sacrifice perfect. The shedding of animals blood could not redeem mankind of his sins. But God allowed it because He knew that there was one coming that would shed His blood for all. His blood would be perfect. His blood would remove the death sentence man was under. If you had faith that His blood now removed ALL of your sins you would be forgiven.
But once the one whose blood would remove ALL sins would come...the laws of the Levites and the Priesthood would no longer be needed.
"Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator."
God ADDED the law of the Levites so that all of His creation would not have to shed their own blood for their sins. This law was added because of transgressions. And what does it mean to transgress? It means to break God's laws. That is why God had to ADD the laws of the Levitical Priesthood and animal sacrifice. ANd how long was this law that was added to be around? "...till the seed should come to whom the promise was made" This law was only to spear man and give hope that one day there would be one that came and His blood would take care of ALL sins committed once and for all.
"But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed."
And what was the law that they were kept under? The law that was ADDED to God's other laws. And what was the law that God ADDED? The laws for the Levitical Priest and their job of killing animals for the forgiveness of sins.
"Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith."
So now....what law was it that was our schoolmaster? Was it ALL of God's other laws? NO! It was just the law that was ADDED because man continued to transgress God's other laws.
"But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster."
Now let's read this....
"What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid."
Now which law are we no longer under? Take note of what Paul says above. He ask the question, "SHALL WE SIN?" Now if there are laws that we are no longer under...how would it be possible to commit sins?
So...which law are we no longer under? The law that was our schoolmaster. The law that ended when faith arrived.
And now that faith, which is faith that the blood of Jesus has covered our sins, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. And what was the schoolmaster? The law! Which law? The law that was ADDED because of transgressions.
So when did this law end? When did the law that we are no longer under cease? When did the job of the Levites and the sacrificing of animals end?
"And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;" Matt.27:51
"And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom." Mark 15:28
"And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst." Luke 23:45
And what happened when Jesus died?
"Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;" Col.2:14
When Jesus died, the ordinances that were against us were nailed to His cross. The laws that were contrary to us were nailed ti His cross. The laws that were ADDED and were our schoolmaster was taken out of the way.
ALL of the rest of God's laws must be kept to the best of our abilities.
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