Looking at Jesus

When we look at Jesus, we see One who came as a Man and battled His way through the temptations without giving up (He.12:2). We see Him not only as our Saviour who died in our place to satisfy the requirements of the Law for justice against us, but He was also as an Example for us to follow and become like. When we struggle against sin and tend to get discouraged, this example encourages us, telling us that His grace will be sufficient to lead us also to victory (Ro.6:14).

But the sad thing is that many people are taking this in an entirely wrong way, saying that since Jesus has accomplished everything for us and done everything in our place, there is now no requirement for us to follow the law. They call it legalistic when anyone talks about living according to the law. This is a false spirit which leads to lawlessness.

Jesus met the requirement of the law for justice against us by paying our redemption price. The law demanded our punishment, but He took it on our behalf. He also fulfilled all the requirement of the law in His own life so that He could transfer His righteousness to our account after removing our sins from our account. Once He removed the gap that existed between God and us, He has now made it possible for us to walk according to the law of the Spirit of God (Ro.8:2-4). The law written on the tablets of stone has now been replaced with the law of God being written into our heart by the Holy Spirit. Earlier the law used to stand as our judge, telling us where we were going wrong. But now the Holy Spirit leads us to the laws of God and helps us to live according to it.

Being legalistic refers to man's attempt to become acceptable to God by keeping the standard of the law. But now that God has already accepted us on the basis of Jesus substituting for us, we are to walk according to the Spirit. This means fulfilling the desire of God for us by living how He wants us to live.

As we turn away from the temptations that come our way from our own flesh, the world and Satan, and seek to do the will of God, the Holy Spirit will transform us little by little into the character of God (2Pe.1:3,4).

On the other hand, if we imagine that Jesus has accomplished our entire salvation for us and we, in effect, carry on with our usual life, pleasing ourselves and assuming that there is forgiveness freely available for us, we deceive ourselves. God will not transform our life against our own choices which we make every day! Sin will continue to rule over us, and we will keep on wondering why God's promises are not being fulfilled in us. We imagine we are following Jesus, while we are not denying ourselves (Lk.9:23). We think we will become like Christ even without purifying ourselves now (1Jn.3:3).

All this shows that we have not understood what salvation is about. It is to save us from sin, its punishment, guilt and power over us (Mt.1:21). It is to lead us from a sinful life to one overcoming sin and becoming like Jesus.