For a moment let us suppose that you and a few handful of other people have been stranded on a desolate island, completely devoid of any supplies, tools, weapons, etc. You have nothing edible to eat. No fruits or vegetables, no water or meat. Absolutely nothing at all, with the exception of a grove of bushes and trees. But then, after a little while of searching, you discover another island just a few hundred yards from yours, and this one appears to be filled with many different types of fruits and small creatures to eat, as well as a small boat that you could use to hopefully find rescue. The only problem: between the island that you are on and the other one are what appears to be several large sharks patrolling the coastline. You decide that the only chance at survival is if one of you can make it over to the other island safely and row the boat back for the others. With no food, you will surely did eventually, so time of not on your side. Whether or not you make it across the water safely determines whether you live or die. Yet all of the people who had tried to cross that water all died before reaching the other side. Many tried to swim that distance, but none could.
You could try to use some of the rocks on the island to cut down some of the trees around you and try to make a raft to float across to the other island, and with no other apparent option you decide to give it a try. However, just as you begin to try to chip away at the first tree, someone runs up and says that one of the others had swam across, gotten the boat and brought it back for everyone to use. Unfortunately, they did suffer a severe injury from a shark attack on the way across, and they died shortly after returning back with the boat. Now the choice is yours to make: are you going to continue to try to make your own raft, and save yourself, or are you going to use the boat that was given to you? Are you going to let the death of the other person be in vain?
Galatians 2:16-21 “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.
For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.”
We are all currently on that island. It is called Earth. This Earth contains nearly 8 billion people, and each and every one of us is separated from the Kingdom of Heaven, or, “the other island.” Just like the story that I wrote, the island that we are on is completely devoid of salvation, because we will all eventually die. We will all die because of one thing, our sins. However, again, just as in my story, there is another island (Heaven) where we can be saved. We are just separated because of our sin. This is where the Old Testament Law comes in.
Thousands of years ago, the Lord God instituted the Judaic Law, which contained many different rules, commands, and instructions that the Jews were commanded to follow. But years upon years went by…and no one could keep it perfectly. Not one person, out of all the millions upon millions of people who tried, no one could keep it without failing at least once.
How then could anyone hope to attain the Kingdom of Heaven someday when they died, if no one could keep the Law? The sacrifices that were offered couldn’t actually take away the sins of the people, as they were only there to cover them. So how could one be saved if salvation wasn’t through the keeping of the Law? How could someone reach the other island to get to safety? Although many tried, they all failed to complete the Law. They needed Someone who could….
That Someone was (and is) Jesus. Where everyone else failed, He succeeded. Where the others fell short, He overachieved. He saw the need that everyone had, and He filled it. But to do it, He had to do something incredible. To take away the sins of the entire world, Jesus became the perfect sacrifice, and He did this by His death on the cross.
We couldn’t save ourselves through trying to keep the Law. We tried, but failed each time. It was only when Someone (Jesus) made it across that water and gave His life for our own that we had the chance to get in that boat to be saved. And this is the decision that needs to be made: Are you going to get in that boat or not? It has already been proven time and time again that you cannot save yourself by trying to keep the Law of the Old Testament. It cannot be done. Your only chance at salvation lies in what Jesus offers you.
If salvation came through what we could do on our own, then why did Jesus die? What purpose did Jesus’ death serve if we could be saved through the keeping of the Law? The entire Bible is the Word of God, both the Old and New Testaments. But it is the New Testament that contains our current commands from the Lord. The Old Testament laws of abstaining from the eating of unclean animals, the observation of special days, all of those hard to remember, hard to keep laws, Jesus took away. He took them away and left us something far simpler to understand and remember.
Matthew 22:37-40 “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
Salvation doesn’t come through the keeping of the Old Testament Law. It doesn’t come by anything that we can do ourselves. Just as Paul wrote, if you could attain righteousness and get to Heaven through the keeping of the Law, then Jesus died in vain. We are saved through what Jesus did.
So what kind of a person are you? Are you the kind of a person who will try to save yourself by the things that you can do, or will you make certain that Christ’s death wasn’t in vain, and use the salvation that He has provided? Will you get into the boat?
In Christ,
Andrew
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 