SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/26/2020 8:59 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “The Clarification
of the Law”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 5:19
Message of the verse: “19 "Whoever
then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do
the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and
teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
I
want to begin this SD with another quote from the pen of John MacArthur: “There is even a sense in which God’s moral
law is no longer binding on believers.
Paul speaks of our not being under the law but under grace (Rom.
6:14). But just before that he had said,
‘Do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts’ (v.
12), and immediately after verse 14 he says, ‘What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law
but under grace? May it never be!’ (v.
15). Those in Christ are no longer under
the ultimate penalty of the law, but are far more free of its requirements of
righteousness
“To
the Romans Paul said, ‘For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to
everyone who believes’ (Rom 10:4), and to the Galatians he wrote, ‘But if you
are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law’ (Gal. 5:18). Be he had just made it clear that Christians
are not in the least free from God’s moral standards. ‘For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit,
and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another,
so that you may not do the things that you please’ (v. 17). The law that was once ‘our tutor to lead us
to Christ’ (Gal. 3:24) now leads us as “sons of God through Christ Jesus’ to be
clothed with Christ (vv. 26-27), and His clothing is the clothing of practical righteousness. If Christ’s own righteousness never
diminished or disobeyed God’s moral law, how can His disciple be free to do so?”
Paul
goes on to state in 1 Cor. 9:21 “to those who are
without law, as without law, though
not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I
might win those who are without law.”
Since we are in Christ we are anything but lawless. Why?
Because Christ’s law is totally different from the Jewish judicial and
ceremonial law, and it is also different from the Old Testament moral law,
which has its penalties and curses for disobedience, however it is not different in the slightest from
the holy, righteous standards that the Old Testament law taught.
Let
us look at Romans 7:7 to see that the OT law is still a moral guide, as in
revealing sin “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the
contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would
not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, "YOU SHALL NOT
COVET.’” Now we have seen the words “may
it never be” a couple of times today and
that means that this is the strongest form of the Greek language stating that
it will never happen. “Even when it
provokes sin (v. 8), ‘But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment,
produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is
dead,’ it helps us see the wickedness of our own flesh and our helplessness
apart from Christ. And even when we see
the condemnation of the law (vv. 9-11), it should remind us that our Savior
took that condemnation upon Himself on the cross (5:18; 8:1; 1 Peter 2:24;
etc). Whenever a Christian looks at God’s
moral law with humility, meekness, and a sincere desire for righteousness, the
law will invariably point him to Christ—as it was always intended to do. And for believers to live by it is for them
to become like Christ. I could not
possibly be otherwise, because it is God’s
law, and it reflects God’s character. ‘So
then,’ Paul is careful to remind us, ‘the Law is holy, and the commandment is
holy and righteousness and good’ (v. 12).”
Let
us now look and see how Paul closes Romans seven by looking at verse 25 “Thanks
be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with
my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of
sin.” “The penalty of the law has been
paid for us by Jesus Christ, but also in Him the righteousness of the law is ‘fruitful
in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit’
(Rom. 8:4; cf. Gal. 5:13-24).”
7/26/2020 9:30 AM
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