WHAT JESUS DID TO THE LAW AT THE CROSS

Col. 2:14

Morning Meditation 3/1/15

Verse 14 says, "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."

Jesus died on the cross to give every living soul an opportunity of salvation. It is our responsibility to get that message out. What a joy it is to give others the gospel that has done so much for you. It is not just a dead message containing certain facts. It is a message that has changed one's own life and destiny. This is the reason Jesus said in Acts 1:8, "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and YE SHALL BE WITNESSES UNTO ME both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth" (Caps mine for emphasis). A witness is one who has personal knowledge in some way of a happening. We were there when it happened. We are witnesses that the gospel works!

This verse deals with a barrier that is a giant obstacle that makes the way to God impassable. Jesus dealt with it and came away victorious, and when He did, He won the victory for everyone who believes in Him as Lord and Saviour. Lets look at . . .

THE BARRIER OF THE LAW

This will be a shock to those reading this who believe that the Ten Commandments are the way to God. The Ten Commandments tell you what you would have to do to be holy and acceptable to God if you were able to meet this standard of righteousness. The fact is, you can't keep the Ten Commandments. You can try. Your experience will be failure, and remember, when you fail to keep them, there is a penalty. And you are not going to like the penalty of breaking them! How's death for the penalty?

There are two things I want you to be aware of:

1. The Commandments were never given to give life. Galatians 3:19-25 says, " 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. Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. BUT AFTER THAT FAITH IS COME, WE ARE NO LONGER UNDER A SCHOOLMASTER" (Caps mine for emphasis). If right standing before God could have been obtained by the law, that is the way God would have done it. Galatians 3:21 says, "Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: FOR IF THERE HAD BEEN A LAW GIVEN WHICH COULD HAVE GIVEN LIFE, VERILY RIGHTEOUSNESS SHOULD HAVE BEEN BY THE LAW" (Caps mine for emphasis). Pretty clear isn't it? The law produces self-righteousness (Phil. 3:9).

2. The reason that righteousness (right standing before God) cannot be obtained by keeping the law is clearly stated in Romans 8:3: "For what the law could not do, IN THAT IT WAS WEAK THROUGH THE FLESH, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh" (Caps mine for emphasis). We are sinners by nature and by choice and are by that very nature unable to rise to keep God's standards. If we can't, His holiness and justice demands condemnation.

Ezekiel 18:20 says, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him."

The true spirit of the law is brought out in the event mentioned in Numbers 15:32-36: "And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day. And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation. And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses." Those who think that you can get to heaven by keeping the Ten Commandments better a close look at what happens to the lawbreaker.

The law was actually a barrier blocking the way to heaven for any who attempted to go that way.. Our text says, "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances" and tells us what Jesus did with the Commandments. The words "Blotting out" translate "exaleipho" and mean, "to wipe off, wipe away, to obliterate, erase, wipe out, blot out." It is an aorist active participle. The aorist tense refers to a point of time, i.e., His death on the cross. The active voice means He (the subject) did it. I am not as a preacher removing the commandments. Paul says Jesus did it.

The words "the handwriting of ordinances" is referring to the Law of Moses. I will let you read the context that follows in Colossians to see that the context demands this. The word "handwriting" translates "cheirographon" and means, "a handwriting", that one has written by his own hand. We get our word "chiropractic" from this Greek word. The chiropractic doctor works on the body with his HANDS. God gave the Ten Commandments with His Own Hand. God's Word, in whatever form it comes to us, is His.

The word "ordinances" translates "dogma" and means, "doctrine, decree, ordinance, is used to refer to public decrees. So this word takes us beyond the Ten Commandments and includes all 613 of them. The words "that was against us" have as a verb the imperfect tense which means a continuous action in the past without any thought of its end, i.e., the handwriting of ordinances were continually against us. The words "which was contrary" translate "hupenantios" and mean, "opposed to, contrary to, an adversary." The holy law of God had to oppose the adamic nature that is sinful from birth (Job 5:7; Psa. 58:3).

The words "took it out of the way" translate "airo" (took) and mean, "to raise up, elevate, lift up, to bear away what has been raised." This is a perfect active indicative verb. The perfect tense is by definition completed action in the past, that completed action having present results. This means in this statement that Christ lifted the law from off the necks (Acts 15:10) of those to whom it was given (Lev. 27:34; Rom. 3:1-2). It is not the way of holiness today. We are under the Ruler (Jesus) and not the rules. Grace is the teacher (Titus 2:11-13). There is a proper use of the law today. Read about it in 1 Tim. 1:8-11.

I must give personal testimony here. I began my ministry beating saved sinners and unsaved sinners over the head from the pulpit with the rules of Scripture, and using everything I considered to be a legitimate Bible verse to whip people in line with how I thought they ought to live. Every disciple that I made with this method was self-righteous and always attempted to help me straighten everyone else out that didn't agree with us! I began to see that there was something very wrong with this. I could not live by the rules I preached to others without resultant bondage. I did my best. But I discovered that my best was not good enough. Then I was introduced to grace. I already knew the grace of God in salvation. But I knew nothing about the Lordship of Christ and the rule of grace. My first real introduction to this was through the book Calvary Road by Roy Hession, and The Saving Life of Christ by Major Ian Thomas. You are rich if you possess these two books. You are still poor if you do not. I began to operate in my on life under the Lordship of Christ with Grace as the teacher. I had real difficulties. I would operate with complete joy for a time, and then I would slip back into the old system that would bring me into bondage. This went on for a long time. A few years ago I finally entered into a life that is Christ. I am not going to tell you that I have no difficulties. But it is easier to recognize when I revert back to the system of rules and to come back before His Throne of Grace to find help in time of need (Heb. 4:16). I have discovered what Bro. Roy Hession used to say, "Brother, you can't be more right with God than the blood of Christ makes you." I wish I could write it with the English accent that he put on that phrase. And that is right. If we walk in openness and are willing to bring our sins to the Lord immediately as they come up, He cleanses us on the spot. It may be some small sin unnoticed by others. But we know He is not pleased with something we said or did. And instead of justifying it, we bring it immediately to Him and say, "Lord, you are right. That was wrong. Please forgive me." He does immediately and we walk on in victory. You see the rules do not even deal with things like this but the Ruler does. I hallow and praise His holy Name. I want to live so close to Him that He won't even have to say anything to me. I will just watch the expression change on His blessed face, and I will say, "Lord, you don't have to say a thing. I'm sorry. Lord please forgive me."

The next great difficulty that I had as a preacher was to TRUST GRACE TO PRODUCE RIGHTEOUSNESS in the people who heard me. It is one thing to trust Him with your own life, and it is another to trust Him to take what you preach and work in other peoples lives. When the preacher preaches and there are no apparent results, the next step is to take measures to get something going. You see, under the Lordship of Christ, Grace is the PRODUCER not the preacher. I felt I had to PRODUCE a holy people through the preaching of His Word, and how could I do this without screaming constantly "don't do that!" I finally came to surrender to this truth and trust the Lord to do the work in the lives of those who heard. That was the day of my liberation as a pastor.

Don't misunderstand. Grace did not set me free to break the law. I couldn't do that, it wouldn't please my heavenly Bridegroom whom I love with all my heart. I live to please Him. Frankly I don't miss what I have given up of the pleasures of this world. I have found unspeakable peace and pleasure waiting before Him: Psalm 16:11 says, "Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." I can't explain what happens when I am in His presence at times. It is not that way every time. There are times when things keep the joy at a reasonable level. But I really do like it when it is unreasonable!!!

Another freedom I enjoy is that I am free from judging others. I discovered that is not my job. I lived with a disturbed mind, where battles took place over what was wrong with that other person, and what I could do to straighten that situation out. I praise the Lord for John 3:17 where Jesus said, "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." It dawned on me that if Jesus did not come to judge, He didn't send me to judge (John 20:21).

Then I discovered Luke 9: 51-56: "And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village."

All the preachers I ran with were preaching that we were to be like Elijah. And I must confess that is what I was praying for and attempting to help God by acting out the part. Jesus said to the sons of thunder, "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of." We in the New Testament are not of the spirit of the law which is condemnation. We are of the Spirit of Christ which is the Spirit of grace.

Let me illustrate. In John's gospel chapter 8 when Jesus was in the temple, the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman taken in adultery. They said to Him, "Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?" (Vs 5). Were these people right? Yes, they were. Moses did say that. But they didn't bring this poor fallen, embarrassed, condemned woman to Moses. They brought her to GRACE! Grace turned her loose and went to the cross and died in her place. That way, the sinner goes free, and God does not compromise His holiness and justice in the process. Grace does not take sin lightly. But it does set people free who want to be. The Bible orientation of grace changed my attitude in the pulpit. I ceased to treat the people before me as adversaries. Instead of the kids saying to their parents after service, "Mom, who was the preacher mad at today?" They began to make other kinds of comments. Now, I'm not recommending myself to anyone. I continue to stay in need of grace myself. Pray for me. But I do enjoy His forgiveness on a daily basis. I used to climb to try to reach Him. Then I discovered when I fell, He was down where I was on ground level. Please read Isaiah 57:15.

I praise the Lord that I am not under the legal system but under grace. The reason is that Jesus nailed it to His cross. It is not the way we serve the Lord as Christians today.

May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.

In Christ,

Bro. Bro. White