Rules Taught By Men

Jesus once told the Jewish leaders of His day that the Prophet Isaiah was right about them. Nearly 700 years earlier, the Lord have given Isaiah these words to write:

These people come near me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught my men.
-Isaiah 29:13
Now, it would be quite an honor to find Jesus quoting something you wrote, and telling others that it was accurate! But of course, Isaiah was writing the inspired word of God, so this should not surprise us. But there is another thing mentioned in this passage that was inspired by God. The Law was given to the Jews by God! These are the “rules taught by men” Isaiah wrote about.
The curiosity here is that God clearly states that He did not like the result. Throughout several thousand years of Old Testament history as “God’s chosen people,” the vast majority of Jews never truly believed in Him or worshipped Him. Most of them just went through the motions, following various commands and offering the required sacrifices for particular sins, but never loving God and His law. This means that for most Jews the law was a burden. Therefore, God was also a burden. It is not difficult to see why so many of them were easily swayed into idolatry by pagan nations.
As I have written before, God knew His law could never change the hearts of the Jews. This truth is revealed in vivid detail, generation after generation. God’s purpose in giving the law is to show that mankind, left to his own ways, strength, and determination, cannot love God. He cannot set himself free from bondage to selfishness—the root of all sin. And the law cannot help him. Rather, it just emphasizes and multiplies his sin.
The truth is, obedience does not lead to love; love leads to obedience. Obeying the law could never lead to love for God. Paul stressed this fact in Romans 8:3.
For was the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature [of man], God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man, to become a sin offering. And so He condemned sin in sinful man…
In a contest between the sinful nature and God’s law, the sinful nature wins every time! God clearly states that! Therefore, we needed a Savior. We needed God to do ALL the work. For man, salvation was impossible. Thankfully, nothing is impossible with God. Therefore, John wrote, “We love because He first loved us.” 1 Jn 4:19.
I write these things to you because God has changed your heart. What the law was powerless to do for you, God did through the gift of faith in His Son and baptism into His death and resurrection. He gave you a new heart the loves Him (Eze 36:26). You have been born again.
As Christians, we must recognize that this is our only true identity in Christ, and cling to it. The love of God has given us new birth into His Kingdom. Likewise, He has given us His Spirit so that we may participate in His thoughts and His ways. We must know that love never ceases to move and act. He loved us first so that we could love others with His love. Discord, anger, and hatred cannot possibly come from our true, born-again identity. It was once impossible for us to love with our hearts. Now it is impossible to hate with our hearts. So, when these things arise, we must acknowledge that they come from the flesh, and the influence of Satan’s world. We resist them in the same way we resist the devil. Being born again means that this is ALWAYS a winnable battle. Through the Spirit, we have already been raised up to live a new life.