Welcome back to our lessons on living as a Christian, especially now as we focus on ourselves and how we relate to what God commands for us. These next three lessons we'll be studying the Law God reveals to us and what each of those entails. The lessons will be split up by tablet which will be further explained below. This lesson, however will be concentrating on the reason we were given the Law.
We just studied last time what was in our Bible as far as content, but really the Bible can be broken down into two types of content. The Gospel, meaning "Good News," in that it tells of Christs coming, Christ's arrival and His coming again and through this how we have received salvation and the benefits of children of God. The other content is the Law. Do's and do nots. What damns us, what gives us a healthy lifestyle, and emphasis on why we need a savior.
God gives us His Law in two ways. If you go way back to the first lesson we talk about the Natural and Revealed Knowledge of God. The Law is very much the same. The first way God wrote His Law was on our(mankind's) hearts at Creation. This is the Law that all people have, not just Christians. The Holy Spirit through the apostle Paul reveals this to us in Romans chapter 2, "14(Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.)" Gentiles were people outside of the Jews, many without knowledge of the scriptures. Translated today, what Paul is writing is that think about how atheists have a set of principles and moral values. They feel bad when they hurt, steal or cheat someone just like you do.
The second way God wrote His Law is in that He physically wrote it down on the stone tablets and gave them to Moses. Unfortunately due to the sin not only of the Jews, but also of Moses, God had to do this twice. The tablets that the Jews carried around were received in Deuteronomy 10:4, "The LORD wrote on these tablets what he had written before, the Ten Commandments he had proclaimed to you on the mountain, out of the fire, on the day of the assembly. And the LORD gave them to me."
The Law serves a couple of purposes, the first is that it shows us our sin and our need for a Savior. Think of the Law like a mirror or an x-ray. A mirror will show you that ketchup all over your face after a particularly messy hamburger. Using that mirror, you can help clean the ketchup from your face. Or like an x-ray, it can look inside you and find something broken that needs fixing or something that's dangerous and ought to be removed. These examples actually pale in comparison however because it puts the focus on us. In earlier lessons we learned about our need for a savior as on our own, there is nothing we can do. The x-ray may be the more adequate example in that we need a doctor to fix what's ailing us as most of us wouldn't have the medical know how or physical ability to operate on ourselves. But sin is more of a mirror showing you a bad stain, you can try to scrub but sometimes the damage is done. That's why we have Jesus though, because we have someone who can fix the dangerous condition inside us, we have someone who can remove the stain of us sin and make us good as new. Going back to Romans, chapter 3, we read, "19Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin."
The other reason we have the Law is because as you can see we described sin as a dangerous physical ailment, we described sin as a disgusting stain on our face and a soiling of our clothes. These are things we avoid. We get checkups to make sure we aren't sick, we cover our laps with a napkin and wash our hands to avoid getting dirty. Much in the same way, we use the Law as a guide that helps instruct us to please God as an outward show of affection in response to our new life given to us by the Son. Think of it this way, you’re at the grocery store picking up the thing you need, that's the purpose of the trip, but you notice that treat your wife enjoys and so you add it onto the order, not because you or your wife needed it, but because you love her and it's a quick way to let her know. Not committing sin isn't something we do as a favor, but the problem is we cannot be sinless, but when tempted, the Law can serve as a way to tell yourself and whatever is tempting you that you love God and He loves you therefore you cannot offend Him in this way. The thing about constantly living under the Law is not that we become sin free, it's that when we sin, we have a quick, knowledgeable reflection of what has just happened and it urges repentance.
Galatians 3 tells us about how we are certainly not justified before God on our own, nor that by obeying the Law, do we earn forgiveness. However, out of Love for God, who as 1 John, 4:19 puts it, "Loved us first." Paul writes, "19Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin." Willing obedience is the Christian’s response of thankfulness to the love and mercy given by God.
God gives many commands throughout the Bible, however some commands were given to the Jews of the time, some were instructions for soldiers for a particular battle, some are to those in churches being persecuted by the Roman Empire. So with all of these laws, how do we know which ones apply to us. The easiest answer goes back to the Law being written on our hearts. If something should make your conscience speak up, then we ought not to go against it. Paul writes again and again, "everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial." Here's the thing with those laws, some are very context based, that said, you would find no lapse in morality by following anything written to those people as they come from God Himself who is perfect.
That said, the Bible is not vague in how the Law applies to us which is what we'll be looking at in the next two lessons. But again and again, the Old Testament believers, Jesus and the apostles all went back to the Ten Commandments which is the official Law of God. Exodus 20 tells us in full the Law given to Moses:
"1And God spoke all these words: 2"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3"You shall have no other gods before me. 4"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7"You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. 8"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 12"Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you. 13"You shall not murder. 14"You shall not commit adultery. 15"You shall not steal. 16"You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. 17"You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.""
If you take a look at the Law in full it's easily summarized in two ways with one major theme. That theme is love. Jesus emphasizes this in Mark chapter 12, "28One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" 29"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' 31The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these.""
Jesus uses the word love to command His people rather than do not. Think of anytime you have asked for rules, perhaps you're watching a house and the owner says, “do not go in my bedroom.” Notice, he doesn't say, love me or love my bedroom by distancing yourself. Out of love for that person, you'll respect their wishes, but as the commandments go, love adequately seems to cover the idea. You see the law depicted with the imagery of the two stone tablets handed to Moses and you see three laws and seven on the next. Do you wonder why they're not five and five? That's because the law, written about above Moses is elaborated on by Jesus, the first three commands say, "Love God." The rest of the commands say, "Love your neighbor."
As stated before, we'll take those law by law and look at what exactly each one says and how they apply to our lives as much as they did to Moses. However, a quick overview shows us what they teach us. First, they teach us to love as we've just seen. The next is that they reflect our sin back at us, showing us our imperfections. This reminds us of our need for a Savior. Romans 3 goes on to say, "21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-- 26he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.27Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. 28For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law."
We need to be justified for redemption, but the law shows us that we cannot justify ourselves because we have sinned. That's why are saved by Jesus, who perfectly lived the Law in our place. This is why we want to be sanctified. God has perfect standards. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:48, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." We know we can't be perfect, we need Jesus salvation but God still maintains a high standard of us through our imperfections, not to earn favor with Him, we cannot do this on our own and have already found favor through the Son regardless, but rather, we rely on God to work joyful obedience within us.
Next time we'll look at the first tablet, the "Love God" tablet and how we do that in out of love for Christ and how it reflects how we have fallen short and hopefully lead us to repentance. Before we go, I'd like to leave you with an encouragement given to the church in Philippi, found from the epistle in chapter 2, "12Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose."
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