Where Rules Fall Short

Before we even get in to what we can and cannot do (if there are such parameters), I want to take a look at what the law itself cannot do. Often, in my mind it has seemed that as I walk in Christ, my duty is to be conformed more and more in line with God’s moral standards. There is a lot of bad teaching in that mindset, even though on the outside, our sanctification may have the apprearance of being gradually conformed to a standard of moral excellence, but that really isn’t the case.

If we really were able to read His list of do’s and don’ts and conform to them, it really wouldn’t hold much value in our relationship to our heavenly Father.
“The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature.” Romans 8:3

The law CANNOT save us. There is absolutely no way in heaven or on earth that we can ever reach a level of moral perfection that could possibly impress Almighty God. Have you ever tried to impress someone who is smarter than you with your knowledge? Or think about the place where you work or go to school.

Over and over I hear my friends and coworkers say things like this, “People are so stupid.” I’m assuming that you have been privy to converesations like that. In fact, I have heard many of you share similar sentiments yourselves. Do ‘stupid people’ impress you? Do you think favourably on them? There is even a song on the radio that I hear right now which says, “God is great, beer is good, people are crazy.”

Smart people rarely, if ever, admire stupid people. So if any of us ever manage to jump up a few notches on the morality meter, what are the chances that a perfect God would be all that impressed with us? If we stop drinking, God isn’t impressed. If we stop lying, God isn’t impressed. If we give more to the poor, He isn’t pleasantly surprised.

The law cannot save us, even if it were possible to obey it all. Rather than leading us into any form of authentic purity, appart from Christ, it has the opposite effect.

“When we were in the flesh, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death” Romans 7:5

In fact, without Christ, as we walk in the flesh, the law arouses evil desires. It seems to work against the very thing that it should accomplish. A few years ago, my wife and I took our youth group to the Belmont Corn maze. At the entrance to the maze were posted several rules that visitors were expected to adhere to. I forget many of them, but this one comes to mind,

“No alcohol or drugs permitted.”

I remember vividly the response from one young man in particular. If he ever finds this post, I wonder if he will remember the day himself. After having read the rule, he responded by saying, “I never thought of getting drunk or doing drugs here, but now that I’ve read the rules, I feel like doing it.”

When we are told not to do something, there is this nudge that wants to push back in the opposite direction. For some reason, the law tends to arouse the very behaviour for which it speaks against.

In short - The law cannot save us or sanctify us.