Loving The Law

The Law of GodI hear many Christians say that we are no longer under the Law of the Old Testament. Many “churches” reject the Old Testament outright and claim they are “New Testament Only Churches.” If that is true, then might I lighten your load on Sunday and suggest you rip out the first 39 books in your Bible? Or perhaps you can purchase a New Testament all by itself. However, if you do that you’ll miss the poetic beauty of the Psalms and the eternal wisdom of Proverbs. King Solomon left us this little nugget:

    “Keep my commands and live, and my law as the apple of your eye.” (Proverbs 7:2)

Whenever there is “controversy” surrounding the church, I always like to find out what Jesus had to say about the topic because I consider Him a Biblical authority, if you will. In the Gospel of Luke we read in chapter 11 of a woman who yelled out from the crowd to Jesus and said, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!” Jesus’ response is very telling:

    “But He said, ‘More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!’” (Luke 11:28)

When was the New Testament written? After Jesus’ death is what I’ve always been taught. If that is true, then to what was Jesus referring when He spoke of “the word of God?” He was speaking of what we call today the Old Testament.

Beloved, without the Law, primarily the Ten Commandments, we would be ignorant of our need of a Savior. It is true we cannot be saved by keeping the Law; our sinful nature makes that impossible. When we sin, we break the Law, and we sin because we are sinners by nature. Nevertheless we must understand the Biblical importance of the law:

    “Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.” (Romans 7:12)

Whenever I ask Christians who say they are no longer under the Law why was the Law given to us, I get a plethora of answers. Here’s a question for all of us concerning the Law: what is the greatest benefit of the Law? Some will say that it is our schoolmaster and teaches us our need for a Savior. Yes, I agree with that. However, the Bible gives us the greatest benefit:

    “The Lord gave the word; great was the company of those who proclaimed it.” (Psalm 68:11)

The Law is a gift from God. The whole Bible is a blessing to us inspired by the Holy Spirit to give us “basic instructions before leaving earth.” It instructs us on how to live holy lives pleasing unto the Lord. I recommend you read all of Psalm 119 because it is a love letter to God’s Law. In Psalm 119 we learn that God’s Word is where we find truth:

    “Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Your law is truth.” (Psalm 119:142)

Righteousness should be the goal of every Christian. We must strive to live our lives for the glory of God. We read in Psalm 119 that we can find this righteousness in God’s commandments:

    “My tongue shall speak of Your word, for all Your commandments are righteousness.” (Psalm 119:172)

The world in which we live is one of darkness and so often it is hard to discern the steps we should take. We turn to every authority under the sun to figure out how to proceed in life, when the Word of God will light the way for us if we will just turn to it:

    “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105”

If you are a Christian patriot and are wondering the best way for revival to begin in our nation, then you can find the answer in the Old Testament. The reason our nation is in decline is because we have rejected God’s authority over our lives. This is nothing new for mankind, nevertheless no less destructive:

    “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.” (Hosea 4:6)

God blessed America because we were founded as a nation of laws inspired by the holy scriptures. Noah Webster is known for the dictionary after his name. He is less known for being largely responsible for writing Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution that outlines the law-making powers of Congress. I leave you with a quote of his:

    “God’s Word, contained in the Bible, has furnished all necessary rules to direct our conduct.”

In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4

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    Copyright © 2014 David Jeffers

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