By Major W. Ian Thomas
True Godliness will not come from our human efforts to fulfill God’s law any more than it will come from our attempts to imitate God. Both are impossible! “For if a law had been given that could impart life {God’s Kingdom-Life of Divine Love}, then Righteousness would certainly have come by the law.” (Gal. 3:21) But law cannot impart life. The children of God need to be filled with the indwelling Life of the Son before they will have the power to fulfill all the righteous requirements of the law and display True godliness.
Therefore, the law was our tutor {serving as a harsh and unrelenting schoolmaster, in that there was NO forgiveness of err} to bring us to Christ {to receive His Divine Life by faith}... (Gal. 3:24)
For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son…that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh {by human effort} but according to the Spirit. (Rom. 8:3-4){The Spirit of an endless Life received by way of receptivity and faith in Christ Jesus. Emphasis added}
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the New Covenant, not of the letter {of the law} but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life {the Kingdom-Life}. (2 Cor. 3:5-6 Emphasis added)
Because the law “made nothing perfect,” it should be a great relief when you discover that God expects you to fail in your attempts to fulfill the righteous requirements of the law. It was designed to kill the pride that led you to think you had the power to conform to His laws in the first place.
Nothing that has shocked you about yourself has ever shocked God; it grieves Him, but it never shocks Him. His laws were given to make you aware of your wretchedness and total bankruptcy.
Even as a Christian, you will resist this death to the flesh-life until you realize two things: First, that God requires His children to fulfill all the righteous requirements found in His laws, including the teachings in the Sermon on the Mount. And second, that you are powerless to fulfill His requirements while living by the strength of your flesh, your own self sufficiency. You will need to come to a place where your only hope of being saved from your fallen nature is by passing through this death to the flesh-life and entering into the Lord’s Kingdom-Life. “Whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matt. 16:25)
After being reconciled to God through Christ’s shed blood, you will find yourself being led to a place where you acknowledge that not only what you have done is wrong, but your very nature is wrong. You must come to the point where you realize that even your best human efforts are still sinful in nature. Not only do they not come from faith {and everything “not from faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23)}, but they will naturally come from selfish motives.
There are many Christians who are still trying to make themselves better. They are continually frustrated with their efforts, but they still seem to think they can do something to improve themselves. And like the Pharisees of old, as long as they have some hope in this self-produced form of righteousness, they will avoid taking Christ’s Way of the cross.
It is time for every Christian to recognize the “nature of the beast.” Stop being deceived into thinking your fleshly nature can be changed or fixed over time. Its roots are too deeply sunk into the life of the devil for you to change yourself on the inside. The only way to be delivered from this old Adam-life is by passing through “death” into “life.”
Compare your daily walk with Christ’s teachings in His Sermon on the Mount. Notice how selfish you are compared to the Sacrificial life He requires of His followers. Even the most loving acts you perform for the Lord and your family will still have a self-centered bias, even if it’s only the desire to be recognized or acknowledged for what you have done. If you have been trying to be righteous through your own efforts, your mouth will be stopped and your sin exposed when you Truly begin to see the High calling we are called to in Christ.
Whether you try to obey Christ’s teachings or try to imitate Him, either method will naturally bring a deep awareness of your sinful nature. And whether you truly compare your life to Christ’s teachings or compare yourself to the Word made manifest through His life, both standards will show how far you have come short of the Glory of God.
A plumb-line may show how crooked something is, but it does nothing to put it straight. If the Son did nothing more than set a standard by which we are to live, we are left with nothing to do but wallow in the squalor of our own inadequacy. In fact, we could say the “good news” of the Gospel is really a message of despair. It mocks us with its words without providing the spiritual life that it requires from us.
But the Son of God offers “much more” than forgiveness for our sins and a standard to live by. Jesus came to do “much more” than reconcile us to God. He has come to save (Redeem) us from our fallen nature. He has both the power and the Authority to enable us to share with Him in the same victorious life that enabled Him to conquer sin {living in one’s own sufficiency and willfulness}.
Here is the “much more” of your Salvation! “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, MUCH MORE, having been reconciled {a past event}, we shall be saved (Redeemed) by His life.” (Rom. 5:10 Emphasis added) You need something much more than being reconciled to God. And glory be to God, you now have an opportunity to receive an abundantly full measure of Christ’s Spiritual Life. (John 10:10) His indwelling Life is even more powerful than the fallen nature that was first received from Adam. (Rom. 5:17) The Son of God has come to establish His Kingdom-Life of Love within your heart so you may walk in True Holiness and Righteousness before Him all the days of your life. (Luke 1:74-75)
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