The strange thing is that man takes the law, which is there to prove his sin, to try to prove that he is righteous. He turns the law around. God wants us to know through the law that we have sinned, but we want to prove through the law that we are righteous. God wants to show us through the law that we are perishing, but we want to prove through the law that we are saved. Man does not see himself. His thoughts are full of the law. He does not see that he is corrupt inside and cannot keep the law. Man's flesh cannot keep God's law. It will not submit to God's law. However, man still wants to seek out righteousness from the law and earn life through it. God uses the law to show man that he is helpless and that he needs to receive salvation. But when man sees the ordinances, he tries to earn a little righteousness through them and be saved. Romans 3:19 says, "Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may fall under the judgment of God." Here it says that the law was given for the purpose of stopping every mouth, so that no one can say anything, and so that everyone can be subject to the judgment of God. Following this, there is a verdict concerning us: "Because out of the works of the law no flesh shall be justified before Him; for through the law is the clear knowledge of sin" (v. 20). One can see that the original intention of the law was to expose sin; it was not to justify man. It is so clear that the purpose of God's law was to expose sin rather than to establish our own righteousness.

In the Old Testament, not only did God give man the law, He gave man the types as well. These were the ceremonial laws. They explained how to offer up sacrifices and how to pay the money for atonement. These matters typify the Lord Jesus' accomplishment of redemption and its subsequent salvation for us in the New Testament. This is what God has shown us. It is so strange that man would try to establish his own righteousness not only through the law, but also through these types. He tries to establish his righteousness through these ordinances. We even find a Pharisee praying that he fasted twice a week and that he offered to God one tenth of what he had (Luke 18:11-12). He thought that these were his righteousnesses and that through them he could be saved. Man does not see the purpose for which God established the law. He misunderstands God's purpose. Man doubts if it is that easy to be saved. He thinks that it is true that man is indeed saved through believing in the Lord Jesus. We who are Christians all the more acknowledge the need to believe. It is right to believe, but many say that we should also keep the law. What man is saying today is not whether one can be saved through the law or not. What he is saying is that those who believe in Jesus should also keep the law before they can be saved. Faith in Jesus is an undisputed doctrine in the Bible. But Christians say that one should add to that the keeping of the law. Man does not see that to believe in Jesus and to keep the law are two absolutely contradictory things. They can never be joined together. The difference between faith in Jesus and work in the law is the difference between heaven and hell. As heaven is vastly different from hell, so faith in Jesus is vastly different from the work of the law.