“Because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”
—Romans 3:20

Reflection

Beloved, God’s Law and God’s grace really do go hand in hand.

God intended all along that the Law would draw people to Him. Remember, His desire has always been for relationship with His people. In His sovereign wisdom, God knew that it would take the Law for His people to experience Him more, even when they disobeyed.

How is that possible? How could people experience God more through trying to obey commandments they could not keep?

The Law itself calls people to grace!

The Law causes us to recognize that we cannot live up to God’s holy call upon our lives in our own strength. Through the Law we recognize our own weakness and are confronted with our desperate need for grace and mercy.

The Pharisees and religious leaders of Jesus’ time were living proof that as soon as we think we are experts at following God’s Law, pride can creep in and defile our hearts. The Law humbles us and forces us to recognize our inability to fulfill it on our own.

In the same way, the Law also brings to light those things we often would prefer to hide. Through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

The apostle Paul explained that he would not have known what coveting was if the Law had not said not to covet. Yet he also declared that the Law is holy, righteous, and good (Romans 7:7, 12).

The problem, then, isn’t the Law. It is the sinful nature in us that causes us to do the very things we do not want to do, the very things we despise.

Paul describes this struggle in Romans 7. Although he desires to do good and delights in God’s Law, he recognizes another law at work within him, waging war against his mind and making him a prisoner of sin.

Finally, he cries out for deliverance and declares that God rescues him through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 7:24–25).

The only One who can rescue us from our sinful nature is Yeshua, and the fact that He longs to rescue us is pure grace.

We do not deserve to be saved. We all stand guilty before the Lord as violators of His holy Law. And yet rather than receiving the punishment of death, we have received eternal life through Jesus Christ.

That is grace in the form of a person!

When we appeal to God for salvation, we open the gates of our lives to allow Jesus to come in and flood us with grace.

Without Him, without His grace, we would not have a chance. Yet because God’s grace was expressed in the perfect form of His Son dying on the cross for us, we now can live through Him.

In this beautiful way, not only does the Law call us to grace, but it calls us to the very person who is grace: Yeshua HaMashiach.

Application

• Examine your heart for areas where you are relying on your own strength or becoming prideful in your obedience. Recognize your need for God’s grace and mercy.
• Thank Father that the Law reveals your need for salvation and that Yeshua has made a way for you to receive eternal life through Him.

Prayer

Father God, thank You for Your holy Law, which reveals my sin and shows me how desperately I need Your grace. Forgive me for the times I have relied on my own strength or allowed pride to enter my heart. I recognize that I cannot make myself righteous through my own efforts. Thank You for sending Yeshua to rescue me from sin and give me eternal life. Fill my heart with humility and gratitude as I live through the grace You have given me in Messiah. In Yeshua’s name, amen.