Have you not heard it said, “Enough is enough?” And for certain, we have heard, “Stop!”And, I know everyone has often heard, “The guilty party did not obey the rules and incurred a stiff penalty.” Social standards are in place for the simple purpose of keeping order.

In the same way, God has also given us humans certain standards that He expects everyone to follow, but if not His justice will be applied. 

Jesus has given every person a very high standard by which to live in a dark and sinful world, but no one will be able to follow. Matthew recorded a conversation between Jesus and a very wealthy young man who claimed to have followed the entire Law of God. However Jesus pointed out that he had done okay, but he must do something he could not accomplish in order to be His disciple. He could not and walked away from Christ, grieving.

“And Jesus said to His disciples, “Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, “Then who can be saved?” And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:23-26 NASB.

Jesus presented a difficult question that the rich man could not answer when He required the man to sell all, give the proceeds to the poor and “Follow Me.” In the old covenant, the law with its requirements is the powerful reminder of God’s presence which Jesus sets before the rich man. The obedience to the Law is God’s commandment and requirement,and Paul writes,  “This he could not do because, “For I don’t understand what I am doing. For I do not do what I want—instead, I do what I hate. But if I do what I don’t want, I agree that the law is good. But now it is no longer me doing it, but sin that lives in me. For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want! Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me. So, I find the law that when I want to do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God in my inner being. But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members.” Romans 7:15-23. 

Until we read the Damascus Road event when Saul meets Jesus in a vision, the Apostle, before he became an Apostle, wrestles with the problem of battling with sin living in his body because of the Law. 

The rich man could not follow the command of Christ because he absolutely hated doing what the Law had already required of him. He discovered just how wretched of a person he was. Paul describes himself in the same way and asks and answers, “Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” Romans 7:24b-25. Paul speaks of his unredeemed state and understands his only answer is found in Jesus Christ the crucified and risen Son of God. Before being redeemed, Saul was a Pharisee and quite loyal to the Sanhedrin as one who was actively persecuting the Way. He was obedient to the Law and the instructions given by the Jewish leaders. His actions caused him a great deal of headache because he obviously was in conflict with the Holy Spirit convicting him of sin, judgment and righteousness.

He was redeemed by Jesus before He arrived in Damascus and his written account in Romans chapters 4-6 clearly explains the transition of faith in the Risen Christ. The conflict he describes in chapter 7 should help to see the results from God’s justice, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:1-4.

Jesus is Lord.