We sometimes hear well-meaning voices attempting to motivate us to good works via law and guilt. The underlying idea seems to be that Christians are much like the Israelites under Moses. We are untrustworthy people whose hearts are "desperately wicked." The laws of God are grievous and abrasive to us and we must therefore be driven out to do the will of our Father much against our will. This logic dictates that one must hold up standards (law) to the Christian to tell him how far short he falls; that if he is ever to be the person God expects him to be he's going to have to be forced to do so a la the Israelites.

But, hey, we Christians are "not under law, but under grace!" Jesus Christ is "the end of the law" for those who are saved. Gang, that's both for salvation and for post salvation living! The Lord has raised up a new people with His law (of love) "written on their hearts and minds." We intensely desire to life out this love to others and to God. It is our deepest inner motive. We are now motivated by love. Consider this:

It has been my observation that oftentimes the person who erects the stiffest standards for himself and others often winds up falling into deep sin. This is a fulfillment of God's Word for "the power of sin is the law" (1 Cor. 15:56). Law is the gasoline which fuels sin's flame in any Believer!

The following are some integrated selected verses on law. This had been helpful to me in understanding law's relationship to the power of sin in the Believer's flesh.

"Apart from the law sin was dead" (Rom. 7:8) and "I was alive" (Rom. 7:9). (I was too young to be accountable. I was unaware I was a born rebel against Christ's authority over me.) "But when the law came" (when I matured to the point of awareness of my rebelliousness against His authority) "sin became alive and I died." (I became lost. Rom. 7:9). "The power of sin is the law" (1 Cor. 15:56). (The power of sin must have law to feed upon. Law is its life source. The more law the Believer comes under, the greater the strength the power of sin will exert within him to exercise control over him.

But, now I have been released from law by (my) death (Rom. 7:1). When Christ died as God's payment to law's demands, I, too, died in His body (Rom. 7:4). My death in Him freed me from the prison of trying to measure up to law.

Now, as a resurrected new man, I am not under obligation to the law, but I am under God's grace. (Rom. 6:14) I have the law of love (as summed up by Jesus) written on my mind and heart (Heb. 10:16). This love is the dynamic (heart) of my very being. I love God and people. Not only do I not need law as a motivation, but law is actually counter-productive to my ability to produce righteous works. I am no longer to be motivated by the guilt of failure to measure up to standards, but by my inner drive to live a life of love for Christ and others. This comes from my inner desire (heart), not from the outward pressure of law (you ought, you should, you must).

If I could be put back under law, I would die (again) (Rom. 7:9). This would create a double jeopardy in which Jesus would have to pay the death penalty a second time for the one crime, my law breaking. This is impossible (Heb. 6:1-6).

God's moral law will never change. This is the law He has "written on the heart and mind" of every new man in Christ (Ezek. 36:26-27). But His judicial, ceremonial law has been satisfied to "the last jot and tittle" through Jesus' sacrificial death and has been eliminated (Eph. 2:15). We Christians are motivated by our love, not by law. We do not have to gather regularly for worship, celebration and praise with the saints; we desire, indeed we long for this. We don't have to tithe; we desire to give more than 10%! We don't have to read God's Word; we hunger for Him and His Word! These are the vital signs that we are now partakers of the new covenant. Appropriation of an understanding of grace is essential for not only salvation, but also for a walk of victory and freedom in Christ.