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    A constant theme of the Old Testament is that God does not tolerate sin, neither the sin of the world at large nor the sin of His own people. The law God hands to the Israelites is a direct acknowledgement of that intolerance, because by that law all people can judge that they cannot fulfill God’s requirements for righteousness.
    Because of our inability to overcome God’s intolerance of sin, God Himself sent us a Savior from that sin, Jesus Christ. In Jesus, the intolerant requirements of the law were fulfilled by His perfect life, death on the cross, and resurrection. By faith in Jesus’ work, we are set free from the consequences of the intolerance of the law, which is death and eternal separation from God.
    Such salvation, however, is not a license. In fact, in our salvation, we become new creatures. While we are no longer condemned under the law, we are now bound to the cause of righteousness. We know that we will continue to sin because we are still bound to the flesh of sin, but our goal as believers is to seek the righteousness that is God’s, setting aside the world and the flesh in favor of our faithful preparation for the Kingdom of Heave.
    Is this righteousness a new law? No, because the commands of righteousness cannot ever gain us salvation, which is only attained through Jesus Christ. Instead, this righteousness is a guide by which we can continue to grow in our faith, constantly putting out the fruits of that faith for the furtherance of the Kingdom. It is by those fruits that faith is both know and grows. To do otherwise is to risk the death of that very saving faith.
DLH
