God’s Law

The law of the Lord is Perfect, converting the soul Psalm 19:7

How does today�s liberated society look upon the Law of God? Has God�s moral law, His Ten Commandments, been done away with? Are they as binding today as when they thundered forth from Mt. Sinai centuries ago? Do we actually look upon The Decalogue as the eternal law by which all will be judged? Ecclesiastes 12:13,14. Today, as moral values seem to be spiraling out of control, where do we place God and His Law in our life?

Many feel today that �the law� has been nailed to the cross, that it is no longer binding upon mankind, that we are now under Grace, free from any accountability to the law. But Romans 8:1,2 says: What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead in sin, live any longer therin? What is grace, how do we define sin and what law is spoken of in Colossians 2:14 as being nailed to the cross?

Grace....we hear much about grace today, but what is it. God�s grace, His marvelous grace, extends to mankind the unmerited favor that they in their sin do not deserve. We are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God Romans 3:23. The penalty of the broken law is upon each of us, but through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus we are justified and set free from the curse of the law (Vs 24). By this grace, this unmerited favor, we are saved. And that through faith in what Jesus Christ has done for us. There is nothing that we of ourselves can do to merit this grace. It is a gift of God to all who believe in the ultimate sacrifice of a crucified Savior. Ephesians 2:8.

Sin......how we do we define sin. Sin is pride, sin is lust, sin is love of self, sin is disobedience, sin is anything that steps between you and God. 1 John 3:4 states that �Whosoever committeth sin trangresseth the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. But if the law is no longer binding then how do we know sin, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Romans 3:20. Paul states in Romans 7:7: �I had not know sin, except by the law�. Therefore, do we continue in sin that God�s grace may abound. God Forbid! We cannot use God�s abundant grace as a shield for our sinful nature. Christ died to save us �in� our sins, but He also died to save us �from� its power in our life. The law does not save, no matter how hard we try, we cannot gain the victory over the power of sin through the keeping of the law. It is only through faith in Jesus Christ and His victory over sin and Satan that the battle will be won. It is what He did at Calvary and what He does now through the power of the Holy Spirit that we can defeat the powers of darkness. Sin only has power in our life as we allow it to have its way, that we surrender to its working in our life. Sin is love, love of self, desire to exalt ourselves above what God has planned for us. The law mirrors the character of God, His love, His sacrifice, His care for His children and is in total contrast to the selfishness of sin. Hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 1 John 3:3.

What law then was nailed to the cross? What law was done away with? Was it the everlasting, eternal, moral law written by the mighty hand of God on Mt Sinai, or was it the ceremonial laws that foreshadowed the sacrifice of the Lamb of God? The ceremonial laws of types and shadows which pointed forward to the death of Christ, had no meaning after the cross. The rent veil in the temple at the death of Christ - Matthew 27:51 - indicated the end of the animal sacrifice system. These annual feasts, no longer necessary, were nailed to the cross, but the law of God, the law of liberty, of happiness and peace, which sets us free from the bondage of sin and Satan remains The first four show our relationship to our creator and the last six our relationship to our fellowman. We must obey the law in all points, for he who offends in one point, is guilty of all. James 2:10. Those who say we are not under the law but under grace do err, for Christ Himself stated that He came not to destroy the law but to fulfill. Matthew 5:17. By His own obedience to the law, Christ testified to its immutable character and proved that through His grace it could be perfectly obeyed by every son and daughter of Adam. So long as heaven and earth exist, the holy principles of God�s law will remain as a blessing to all who chose to hear and obey out of love for Him. Thus the Scripture says, �This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. Instead of releasing man from obedience, it is faith, and faith only, that makes us partakers of the grace of Christ, which enables us to render obedience.

The condition of eternal life is now just what is always had been�just what it was in Paradise before the fall of man�perfect obedience to the law of God.