Exodus 18:7-8 So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the Lord commanded him. Then all the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” So Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord.
God has led Israel up to Mt. Sinai to give them a choice … grace or law. Up to this point they had operated under the grace of God and despite their grumbling and their complaining God had always shown them grace. The law wasn’t how God had dealt with Adam and it wasn’t how God dealt with any of the Patriarchs down the line. Prior to this God’s dealings with His people had been through grace. Now He is offering them a conditional covenant … one that they could have responded to by saying, “we are but sinful people and we cannot do this on our own.” Yet they pridefully chose the law over grace and despite saying they could keep the law, the next 1500 years of their history will prove otherwise.
God did not give the law as a means of salvation. There is nobody, past, present or future who has been saved by the law … there is nobody who can say, “I keep the law.” And if anyone says they can, then they are guilty of breaking it by bearing false witness. There are people today that think they can please God through works alone. They say, of course I’m going to heaven, I’m basically a good person. Yet the law is very demanding. If you are going to count on your ability to keep the law, you better keep every part of the law.
James 2:10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
You see, the Law was not given because we are able to keep it, but because we cannot keep it. So, we cannot depend on our own merit for our salvation. Instead, we have to depend on the grace which God so freely grants to those who call on the Name of Jesus.
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