Courtney Gilmore “I looked & behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God. You made for yourselves a molded calf! You turned aside quickly from the way which the Lord had commanded you.” Then Moses took the two tablets & threw them out of his two hands & broke them before their eyes.
Deuteronomy 9:16-17
Not only was Moses angry, but he was trying to demonstrate that by breaking the first three commandments, they had broken the entire covenant. We like to measure ourselves against others & say “Yeah I may not be perfect but I haven’t done anything really wrong, like kill anyone.” This may be true &that is certainly good, but it doesn’t change the fact that we have all done many other things that are against God’s law. So, why is that such a big deal? Why am I not distinguished from the murderer in God’s eyes?
This is what James’s answer was to that question.
If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you do well. But if you show partiality, you commit sin & are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever shall keep the whole law & yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak & do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
James 2:8-13
Think about it like this. When you sign your name to a contract, you are agreeing to all that is written in it. You know that you have broken the entire contract if you do not follow every part of it. You can’t go to the other party & say, “But I kept most of my contract. I did 7 of the 10 things I agreed to.” No! Once any part of the contract is broken, the entire thing is useless & the consequences of breaking it must be imposed.
But, Moses begged the Lord for mercy. He even volunteered to pay the price for their sin. But he wasn’t qualified. He was their leader, but he could not be their savior. We too can lead others in the ways of God, but we can’t save them. We can’t force them to follow our lead or to follow Jesus.
God did relent from destroying the entire nation, but there were still consequences imposed. Each man was responsible for his own actions. The sad truth is, that the people were never able to keep all of God’s laws. That is why He sent Jesus. He came to bring us mercy. Only Jesus could pay the price for our sin because only He lived a sinless life Himself.
He made Him who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21
By Him, everyone who believes is justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.
Acts 13:39
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law. That every mouth may be stopped & all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed. Being witnessed by the Law & the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all on all who believe. For there is no difference. For all have sinned & fall short of the glory of God. Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness. Because in His forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time, His righteousness. That He might be just & the justifier, of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Romans 3:19-26
Without Him we would be bound under a law that condemns instead of the law of mercy that saves. Acknowledge that you will never measure up. You, like every other person in the world, are a sinner in need of a Savior. Thankfully, God loved us enough to send One.
For God so loved the world, that He sent His only Son, that whosoever believes in Him, will not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
Place your faith in Him today!
Excerpt from Episode 66 “Lawbreakers” on Podcast and YouTube
