A Devotion on the Law
There are two things about a devotional; it is more for the heart than the head, and it is brief in its content. Though it should be doctrinally correct, it is not meant to be exhaustive in the subject matter dealt with. This devotional is on the Law of God, basically the Ten Commandments.
The Law’s Purpose
I do not take the position of those who see the Law for Israel only. God used Israel to get it into the world, but the Law is the schoolmaster that brings all, Jew or Gentile, to Christ. Sin entered (Romans 5:12) and then the law entered (Romans 5:20) after sin did. It was to show us how bad sin is and how wicked we are in willfully practicing it.
Romans 7:9, “… but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.”
The Law reveals our hopeless condition, but does not cure it. It is given to cause desperation, to kill all hope in our lives as we try to keep it … such a desperation that we look away from our good worksfor another way for justification. That is, of course, by faith in the work of Jesus on the cross … which makes the Gospel good news.
I think Jesus had a two-fold work in relationship to the Law. He kept it as our representative, our new Adam, and paid our debt for sins committed as the Lamb of God. Do not think we are saved because He kept the Law; but His keeping of the Law qualified Him to be our sacrifice as the spotless Lamb of God.
The Law and the Good News
The problem is that we have taken “law preaching” out of our soul winning presentations and out of our preaching. In so doing, we have robbed the Gospel of being good news by offering a product without showing the need for it. The Gospel is not good news until I see the bad news of my willful sin and my inability for self-delivery, plus the flames of eternal hell in my future. In summary, the Law makes the Gospel good news.
Think this statement through:
“God’s mercy is the sovereign going forth of His heart to us sinful wretched creatures; His grace follows, in His pardoning our guilt; and His loving-kindness is His proceeding with us in abundant goodness thereafter.” W.R. Newell.