Third, therefore the law did not call for meritorious works, but for the obedience which flows from faith. The point is this: to whatever degree we achieve this divine love for each other, it will be owing to faith in the liberating promises of God. I could site some examples, but many should be obvious. I feel like the future is taken care of. For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law" . Make good use of God’s law as you live your life coram Deo. Their first king was Saul, and the second was David, who wrote many of the Psalms. On the contrary, we uphold the law.". How might the vision’s setting on a high mountain have moved people to godly shame? Israel has arrived in the wilderness of Sinai three months after the exodus from Egypt. Only in Jesus Christ can these things be gained, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4 ESV). Paul, in no uncertain terms, tells us what he thinks of the law. Scripture knows what it is. Fourth, therefore, the Mosaic covenant is not fundamentally different from the Abrahamic and New Covenants, for we should obey the commandments of all three from the very same motive—not to win God's favor, but because we already depend on his free grace and trust that his commands will lead to full and lasting joy. . Moses had said to them when they first approached the promised land, "Do not be in dread or afraid of them. Fifth, we should delight in God's law, meditate on it day and night, and sing of its value unto all generations. He had the authority of Jesus for doing so. My guess is that there is a good deal of confusion in our minds when we read on the one hand in Romans 6:14, "You are no longer under law but under grace," but on the other hand in Romans 3:31, "Do we then overthrow the law by faith? So the first point in our theology of the law was that love fulfills the law. If it feels like God has withheld good from you, remember that your Father knows your needs even better than you do. God knows the future and can tell Abraham what will happen. It's a huge topic, but sometimes if we press things together into a nut-size outline, we can plant it in the corner of our mind until it grows into a big tree of insight. The law is a description of the obedience of faith; it is not a job description for how to earn the wages of God's blessings. Certainly not! . God is spirit (John 4:24 John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.American King James Version ×), existing in a different realm from that of humans, who are flesh.Our understanding and perception of God, therefore, are based on God's revelation to us through His … THE PROMISE TO DAVID In the Psalms David says that God had made a special promise to him. I want to try to vindicate Moses from this misunderstanding by giving you a biblical theology of the law in a nutshell. Rather, the law was designed to show the way for redeemed people to please God. God’s law is important to us today for several reasons. Unlike us, God never changes in his person or his purposes. God is the Sovereign of the universe, existing supremely above all else. But God doesn’t decide to do something then a thousand years later realize it was a bad decision. Jesus Christ has made this possible through His sacrifice on the cross that is sufficient to pay for our sins once and for all (Hebrews 9:11-12). The answer is that love is not in the world. But under the Mosaic covenant salvation (or God's blessing) is not offered freely to faith, but instead is offered as a reward for the works of the law. This is very nearly the definition of coram Deo—to live before the face of God, under His authority and unto His glory. . We will see in a few moments how many in Israel twisted the Mosaic law into legalism. Paul said now that the new covenant has come, we are no longer under the law’s supervision. Paul was not taking a big risk when he boiled the whole law down into one command. The Old Testament Law is concerned with the life of the people of Israel, who were living at a particular stage of salvation history. God never promises to keep us from the storms of life, nor to take us around them or to take us above them but He does promise to go with us through them. . The Importance and Power In Our Words. (Deuteronomy 26:12-15) God viewed withholding the tithe as stealing from him.—Malachi 3:8, 9. The mistake of Israel was not in pursuing the law, but in pursuing it by works instead of by faith. People during the time of the old covenant could obviously memorize the law of God, and many did. What then was the law’s purpose? The proper function of the law is to put before us the right way of living before God. We may change our minds as we age, or our situation changes or we get more information. Psalms 40:8, “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.” King David said he mediated in God's Word day and night (Psalm 1:2). There are three significant decisions we will probably make by the end of January: whether to buy the house next door for future expansion or parking, whether to amend the church covenant, and whether to call an assistant pastor for educational and young adult ministries and a children's worker in September 1982. The fourth point follows naturally, namely: we must therefore obey (or fulfill) the OT commandments the same way we must obey the NT commandments—not to win God's favor, but because we already depend on his free grace and trust that his commands will lead to full and lasting joy. What will love look like between those of us who disagree over the next three months, and where will it come from? Or to put it another way, many Bible teachers will argue that the Mosaic covenant (made with Israel at Mount Sinai) is fundamentally different from the covenant with Abraham (made earlier) and the New Covenant (established at Calvary) under which we live. The law itself is against "the works of the law." There are many people laboring for God and neighbor who are not doing it out of love. Tithing was a moral obligation. In 1 Timothy 1:5 Paul puts it like this, "The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith." The Law “was added because of transgressions” (Gal. Since only perfect works could merit salvation from a perfectly holy God and nobody can achieve that, the law simply makes us aware of our sin and misery and pronounces our condemnation. Thus Paul teaches that we should not leave the law behind, not reject the law for something else, but fulfill the law in the power of the Holy Spirit through faith which works itself out in love. Here's what I will do: I'll mention the five points I want to make, then go back and give their biblical basis, and then sum them up again. It can refer to the whole Old Testament, as in Romans 3:19 (where the preceding quotations come from the psalms and prophets). Most of us know the Ten Commandments, but what about the other laws? well, because sometimes it isn't as obvious as it should be. Therefore, love is the fruit of the Spirit and the outworking of faith. The importance of these verses is crucial because it explains that while our calling to salvation is gifted from God himself, by having knowledge of him, it is the exceeding great and precious promises that enable us to partake of the divine nature (eternal life). 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