Welcome back to Day 2 of our year-end ‘review’. You might first read yesterday’s post if you missed it. Today, a look at the relevance of ‘The Law’. When I speak of the ‘law’, I am referring to the law that God set in place some 430 years after He established a covenant with Abraham. We are told the law was ‘added because of transgression/sin’. (Gal. 3:17,19). I also need to point out that the law we are looking at today is not referring to animal sacrifices and rituals nor the dietary restrictions and the 600+ miscellaneous ‘laws’ that were added. For now, just think in terms of the Ten Commandments which Jesus then sums up rather nicely for us in Matt. 22:34-40. ALL of the law and Prophets are hinged on the two most important ones that center around with ‘loving God with all our heart, and loving others as ourselves (or as Christ loved us).

So what is the purpose of the ‘law’, and what role, if any, does it have today? Not a trick question here, I promise. Think about the state, city, or country you live in today- why do we have laws? I’m talking about civil, criminal, and yes, even traffic laws. What do you suppose would happen if at the stroke of midnight, every single law that was ‘on the books’ was rescinded and we no longer had any laws to ‘govern’ us? How long do you think we would function as a society in a decent and respectful manner? I think you know the answer to that. People would begin to do as they pleased, and we know how ugly human nature can be at times, yes? Oh, and let’s not forget that if there are no laws to enforce, then people can pretty much get away with anything they want to do without any repercussions, correct?

God’s laws were not given to ‘make us righteous’. No man will be declared ‘righteous’ because he keeps or obeys a list of laws. As I have said before, if you drive from one city to the next , when you arrive at your destination, you are not rewarded with some ‘key to the city’ because you obeyed all the traffic laws on your way. But had you broken any traffic laws, laws that were in place so as not to endanger yourself or other drivers, then there were have been law enforcement officers on the scene to ‘reprimand’ you, most likely in the form of a citation or costly traffic ticket. With more serious violations, you might lose your privilege to drive a car and yes, even be sent to jail. This should make perfect sense to you, yes?

So what about God’s law? Take a look at what Paul wrote in 1 Tim. 1:8-10. He in no way suggest the law has been done away with or is irrelevant today. He actually says the law is good’ reminding the reader that the law is not made for a ‘righteous person’. In Romans 7:12, he affirms that the law is ‘holy and the commandment is holy and just and good’. Oh, and who exactly is a ‘righteous’ person? (1 John 2: 29; 3:7)

But back to 1 Timothy. Who does he go on to explain who the law is for? Feel free to read that list aloud; why you may even want to write them out. Now take a look at Romans 4:15 and make note as to what the ‘law brings’. So flip back to Romans 1 now and read vs. 18 where Paul explains what is now being ‘revealed’ from heaven today. And where exactly is this ‘wrath’ being administered to or poured out on? Does your Bible say “ALL ungodliness and unrighteousness of men”?

Now let’s finish up with this very important detail that gets lost on us at times. Do you know what ‘sin’ is? Sin, is defined in our Bible as ‘lawlessness’.(1 John 3:4) Lawlessness is ‘breaking the law’. Therefore ‘sin is breaking the commandments of God’. So when believers openly admit and confess that they ‘sin every day’, they are acknowledging that God indeed has a law and they continue to break it every day, and usually explain why...because they are ‘sinners’. They continue to ‘practice sin’ which makes them a ‘slave to sin’ and not a ‘son’.(John 8:34-35) Would you please now turn to Matt. 7:23 and see why Jesus will turn away ‘many’ people in ‘that day’, despite all the wonderful things they did for Him in His name? What did they continue to practice according to vs. 23?   Meet me here tomorrow if you care to know more.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog