No, the Law does not save. It never has and never will.
The Law points us to our need for Christ, that the atonement and forgiveness that is freely given to us who break the Law will be credited to our account when we throw ourselves on the mercy of the court and simply believe what God told us and trust Him to do it.
No, the Law does not save. It never has and never will.
???
John 14
6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
Matthew 7:12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
Matthew 22
35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
The Messiah is full of love. It's the very nature of his being. Love is his heart and soul. He IS the Law.
Now if some folks refuse to leave their comfy jail cells because they prefer bondage, what more can he do?
If they stay put, then they can say he did nothing for them, so no need to be grateful, and certainly no need to love him or to love others as he loved them. They'd feel... obligated.
As I have noted previously, the dead doctrines of demons are killing people, because these doctrines prevent people from being healed.
The Messiah is the Law, which is love love and more love. It spills right out all over the place! A lot of people don't want that kind of attention though - they'd feel on the hook to reciprocate. Of course, for the downtrodden, it's life from the dead. What sense of obligation? Whatever he says to do they'd do joyfully, for the love they have for him in return.
Not complicated, but the experts have so succeeded in jamming their sticks into the wheels, that the riders are convinced that the problem is with the bicycle.
The Law is for those who do not have the Holy Spirit in them, that they may see the errors in the way they are living. The "wages of sin" IS death. Grace is the power the righteous receive from the act of living righteously, not because they claim to have 'faith', something totally misrepresented/understood today.
For those counting on throwing themselfs at the "mercy of the court", in the end, Luke 12:58 comes to mind:
"When you are on the way to court with your accuser, try to settle the matter before you get there. Otherwise, your accuser may drag you before the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, who will throw you into prison."
And James 2:17:
...faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.
That last verse pretty much describes where Christian Churches are headed today, and as a result, the coming downfall of western civilization.