Fulfilling God's Law

“In order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:4).

If the Holy Spirit resides within us, we will be able to fulfill the demands of God’s law.

Augustine once said, “Grace was given, in order that the law might be fulfilled.” When God saves us He, by His Spirit, creates within us the ability to obey His perfect law. Because we now live “according to the Spirit”—walking by the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit—we are able to do the righteous things God’s law requires.

Isn’t it wonderful that the Lord no longer expects His law to be lived out only by means of an external code of ethics? Now holiness, righteousness, and obedience to the law are internal, the products of the indwelling Holy Spirit (see Ezek. 11:19-20).

God’s salvation is more than a spiritual transaction by which He imputed Christ’s righteousness to us. It is more than a forensic action by which He judicially declared us righteous. As great and vital as those doctrines are, they were not applied to us apart from God’s planting His Spirit within our hearts and enabling our lives to manifest the Spirit’s fruit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23).

We need to remind ourselves regularly that God’s purpose for us after He redeemed us was that we might live a holy life filled with good works (Eph. 2:10; Titus 2:14). Whenever you are disobedient to God’s will and purpose, you are quenching the Holy Spirit and fighting against yourself and what you know is right. Such disobedience makes about as much sense as the person who holds his breath for no reason and therefore makes his lungs resist their natural function. The believer who disobeys, especially one who persists in a sin, prevents the Spirit from naturally leading him along the path of holiness.

We are not perfect after our salvation—that won’t happen until glorification (1 John 3:2-3)—but the Holy Spirit will empower us to live in ways pleasing to God, which is the kind of righteousness that fulfills His law.

Thank the Lord that you don’t have to meet the demands of the law solely by your own strength.

What happened to your old self at the time of your conversion? How must that affect the way you live?

Isn’t it wonderful that the Lord no longer expects His law to be lived out only by means of an external code of ethics? Now holiness, righteousness, and obedience to the law are internal, the products of the indwelling Holy Spirit (see Ezek. 11:19-20).

Only? This was never the case. The Law is fulfilled when people just do it, through the two commandments upon which hang all the Law and Prophets. Always internal, but then one shows up to demonstrate in person how it is done that way. Sure beats straight book learning.

Desiring to please God is desiring to please God. He can't possibly explain every reason He wants things just so, but the heart inclined toward Him is a heart inclined toward pleasing Him. Then all the good things happen that make the world function properly. The teacher with the teachable student will open the books for the eager student, but for the student who arrives already "knowing everything" and thinking he is there to teach the teacher, the books will remain sealed.

There is a fantastic living parable to be experienced in the process of building a custom home. The owner/designer has reasons for this wall to be here, or this doorway to be there and at a certain height, or for this much space to be behind an open door. If the owner stopped to explain every reason for every detail (because they are all meaningful in their own way), the builder would drowned in a vast sea of details. Then who knows what instructions would be lost in all those words, or how much aggravation would be generated. Enough already, gotta get the house finished.

A successful outcome, then, is based upon how much the builder elects to pay attention to the plain instructions he is given, without knowing the reasons for every little thing. This also means that if the builder happens upon something unusual, he will ask the designer about it, not just assume it is an error and change it any old way. After all, maybe there is something he hadn't considered. Or, if the non-professional owner/designer didn't know better, the builder would have the proper sense to point it out and discuss the need for change.

Those qualified to build the Temple, be it a spiritual or physical temple, will be the ones who desire to get it right, who will communicate questions and concerns with the designer, and will not take rogue liberties with the design. The qualified one wants to do a proper job because it is in his heart to do so, because that is the right thing to do. This requires whole-hearted sincerity. He wouldn't make a big show of paying great attention to a superficial element, only to do whatever he wants when the owner is not present.

If the carpenter doesn't get a few trim alignments just right because he is dog tired, hey that happens. If he sees his mistakes after he's rested up, to fix them without waiting for someone to notice is evidence of a pure heart. In fact, he'd make it a point to go back and scrutinize his own work. But if he's in a habit of working carelessly and not paying attention to detail, then he won't be hired to build the temple, no matter how many projects he has in his portfolio.

External codes? They've always been internal. The spirit within is what determines the results. Some just get to work and put their whole hearts into it. Others make excuses for why they don't need to do this or that, or that they shouldn't have to do this or that. If they really cared, they'd have a different perspective entirely. The works verses faith argument is exposed for the absurdity that it is, because love is self-motivating. Love God. Love your neighbor as yourself. Then everybody would be doing soooo much, and it would be no work at all.

Genesis 29:20 And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her.

2 Peter 3

8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

The Redeemer... he has a lot of patients, er patience. That's some long hours there. Especially when he has to listen to complaints from know-it-alls that he's ignorant of the rules, the doctrines. He doesn't do things the way people expect so many are compelled to correct him, or put him on ignore. Little do they know that the rest of humanity can only exist by his methods and plans. He got the plans from his father David, who had it in his heart to build the Temple of the Lord. David got them from the Lord (all that time with the sheep) and passed them down to his rightful heir, the son who desires to continue in the family business.

Jesus "got lost" in the Temple when he was twelve, before external codes about following the commandments even came to effect (age 13). He was about his father's business there because the Temple was in his heart. Where else would he have wanted to be at that age? Love that kid. Can you imagine the questions, and all the details he was observing and pointing out? The adults marveled at his knowledge. In today's world he'd be thought weird, overly fixated. And "everybody knows" that can't be healthy...

Meanwhile, God looks upon the heart and sees that there's nothing wrong with him at all. He's... perfect.

"Anoint him, because *this* is he."

Beautiful words.

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