Here Comes The Law!

"For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.  For he who said 'Dot notcommit adultry,'' also said, 'Do not commit murder.'  Now if you do not commit adultry, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law"
James 2:10-11 NKJV

Alot has been said and written these days about "old" and "new" covenants in the bible.  Basicaly, the "old" is that which was given by God to Moses and the Isrealites, Gods chosen people.  For me, it was fuzzy where the "New" covenant began, but through the assistance of a few faithful men, I believe that the new covenant begins with Christs death at the cross.  A portion of Christs teachings, therefore, were in the context of speaking to those who were still under the old law of Moses, but that is another discussion entirely.  The old law laid out commandments, instructions of "what not to do."  We've all read the ten commandments and its echo of "Thou Shalt Not."  Well, this was the old law.  I'm wondering if Charlton Heston knew the difference?  So, basically, the law given by God to Moses was a list of instructions to the Jewish people.  The old law pointed out mans sin, but did nothing to wipe away that sin.  It  wasn't until Christs death on the cross that the atonement came.  See, under the law given by God to Moses, mans sin REQUIRED a blood sacrafice, which is what was achieved at Calvary.  In fact, to this day, devout Jews worldwide adhere to the old law given by God to Moses!  If we, as citizens, take a piece of candy from a store without paying for it, we are stealing.  Yes, it was only a small item, but stealing is stealing under our legal system!  See any resemblence to James 2:10 there?  Break ANY part of the law, and you're BREAKING THE LAW!  So, how can a system of laws save man who's sin is always in front of him?  We have a sinful nature, and a system of laws given to point out sins DOES NOT bring about freedom from sin.  Now, what if God used the Old Law to set up the new covenant?  The Old Law, given by God, stipulated that sin required a blood sacrafice.  Centuries later, through his son at the cross, that sacrafice was satisfied.  Jesus was that final sacrafice for mankinds sins.