The True Nature of God’s Law

It is a great privilege to speak To you all about whats on my heart, and what I have learned while doing this study on God's law. As usual, I have prayed while preparing, and also this morning that God would allow me to only express His truth and His wisdom, as I speak to you. I would like to start with Noah, Webster's definition of law from the 1828 dictionary. Just a couple of facts about Noah Webster: He spoke and could write 28 languages, That's pretty good. I think he must have done his homework in writing the 1828 dictionary, which took him about 20 years to complete. It's said that he traced all of those 28 languages back to the tower of babel so I consider his dictionary an impeccable source. Now his definition of the word law is, A noun: A law is that which is laid, set or fixed like a statute, constitution from the Latin word Statuto, a rule, particularly an established or permanent rule, prescribed By the supreme power of the state to its subjects, or regulating their actions, particularly their social actions. Laws are imperative, or mandatory, commanding what shall be done, prohibitory, restraining from what is to be forbidden, or permissive, declaring what may be done without incurring a penalty. The laws which enjoin the duties of piety and morality, are prescribed by God and found in the Scriptures. Then he goes on to describe different types of God's law, like moral law, physical law, law of nature, the revealed law, and so on. To attempt to study scripture without studying its law, is to deny it . To attempt to understand Western civilization apart from the impact of biblical law within it, and upon it is to seek a fictitious history, and to reject 20 centuries, and their progress. The law asserts principles and develops the implications of those principles with its purpose and direction being the restitution of God's order. So you see God's law is absolutely imperative to our lives even today. There is a very serious heresy within the church today. It's preached to say we are not under law we are under grace. Within this heresy is the desire to nullify God's law, and to say the law has been abolished, and that we are not required to live under God's law. Well people who believe this must live on another planet, because absolutely everything God created, lives under the rule of law. Let's look at 1 Tim. 1:5-11, To first determine the purpose of God's law. "Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart from a good conscience, and from sincere faith from which some having strayed have turned aside to idle talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say, nor the things which they affirm, but we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, knowing this that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the Lawless and insubordinate, or the ungodly, And for sinners, or the unholy and profane , for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, or fornicators, or sodomites, or kidnappers, or liars or perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust."Here we get a clear picture of the purpose of the law. 1.) Living with a pure heart motivated toward love. 2.) To restrain the Lawless. 3.) To apply sanctions to those who break the law. Let's just take a look at these three items. Right away, in verse five it says the purpose of the law is to motivate us to love with a pure heart,from a good conscience with sincere faith. If we practice these things, we are less likely to be a lawbreaker or one who violates the law. To restrain the lawless well, if sanctions are in place penalties for breaking the law, than normal people may be restrained. Crazy people and evil corrupt career criminals will likely forge ahead in breaking the law. So the law points the way, and the consequences ought to restrain us from breaking the law. So, in other words, the law direct the flow of conduct and defines what is right, and restrains sinful conduct through sanctiones. The one thing the law was never designed to do was redeem, we need to understand that right away. God's design was for us to operate under the rule of law His law not man's law. Under God's law comes love and liberty. Under man's law people get hurt. There is a little love and lots of sin. Under man's law, we are subject to the emotions, feelings, and whims of whoever is ruling at any given time. We can see through history how well that works. Through man's rule, we have had men such as Pharaoh ,Hitler, Stalin, Lennen Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge, and Obama, and Biden just to name a few. So you see when man rules there is very little love, and lots of sin and sin always leads to death, both in this life and eternity. Without the law, there would be no definition for love, and no restraint to sin. If any society, home, church, or any group of people do not operate under the rule of law, there will be little love and lots of sin, because when God's law operates, its purpose, is to bring us to a motive of love. The whole law is fulfilled in that you love God and your neighbor as yourself. I know it sounds like I am repeating myself a bit, but it's important for us to understand that operating under God's law is very important for us because we live in a lawless society. In Matt.19:18,19 Jesus says "You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery you shall not steal you shall not bear false witness ,honor your father and mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself." In James 2:8 "If you really fulfill the royal law, according to scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself." So you can see when we operate under God's law it motivates us to love. But again, we must know that God's law was never intended to save or provide salvation. That being said, without God's law, we could never realize just how sinful we are. We could have never figured it out on our own. We needed God to reveal his law. Without God's law, we would make some very bad choices, and sometimes we do anyway. So let's take a look at different types of God's law. We're going to look at Gen.1,2 and 3. In Gen.1:14-16 it says,"Then God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens, to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years, and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens, to give light on the Earth, and it was so then God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day and lesser to rule the night. He made the stars also." If you look at the sun, the moon and the stars, you see that creation law is there. Think about it, the earth is just the right distance so we don't freeze and we don't burn up. You have the law of gravitational pull that keeps us from just floating off into space the gravitational pull between the earth and moon is connected to the tides of the ocean. All the stars perform according to God's law. This is the hidden law that can be discerned by observation. Gen.1:24 says,"Then God said, let the earth bring forth the living creatures, according to its kind cattle, and creeping things and beast of the earth, each, according to its kind." According to its own kind . Each and every species of life that God created has God's law implanted within it. Let me give you a couple of examples. Take the salmon, not only does it reproduce after its own kind with the passing on of its DNA, but how does it know to swim upstream for miles to return to the pool where it was spawned? Traditionally, it's known as the law of nature let's call it by its correct name because nature did not create anything it is correctly called God's law in nature. Another example is the monarch butterfly. How does it know to travel 2000 miles or more to return to the same trees in Mexico and Central America? These massive trees where so many butterflies gather that you can hardly see the trees. The salmon and the monarch butterflies are not smart enough to figure these things out. It's God's law implanted in them. Most scientist like to call it instinct but it's God's law. If you look at any of the creation of God, you will fine that they all have things common to their kind it's God's law in them. In Gen.2:2,3 God Institutes the first revealed law. "And on the seventh day, God ended his work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day, from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, because in it, He rested from all His work which God had created, and made."In verses two and three, we see that God made the Sabbath day and declared it a day of rest he would later further develop this law but still we see the first revealed law. In Gen.2:16,17 We see God's next revealed law. "And the Lord God commanded, the man saying of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, or in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. " This is God's second revealed law. He needed to reveal this law to Adam and Eve, because they would have never known without this revelation , they could not have figured it out on their own. You see without God's revealed law it becomes easy for us to sin, we need very clear definition between right and wrong, because within men's reasoning, we would most times make the wrong choices. Even with God's law, we still make bad decisions? Gen.3:2-6 "And the woman said to the serpent we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden. God has said you shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, Lest you die. Then the serpent said to the woman you will not surely die, for God, knows that, in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of it and ate she also gave to her husband with her, and he ate." There in lies mankinds problem. God revealed a law and set forth consequences, but Eve in rebellion violated God's law. Now we can't lay it all on her. Adam playing the role of the passive man was right there, and did nothing to intervene. But also another form of law shows up here in Gen 3. The law of sin. Satan and his merry band of demons operate under the rule of law. Satan and demons can't just do whatever they want. Satan doesn't like it, but he has to operate under the rule of law. In Job1:6-12 We see that Satan can only go so far , of course we think he has already gone to far but even he has to operate under law. Of course, we know the law of sin and death. Death always follows, sin. The law doesn't play favorites. If you don't operate under the rule of law, the law will operate on you. The law of sin constantly works to undermine the law of God. Obviously, it won't win, but it will continue to wreak havoc on the world. But let's remember God's law equals liberty by setting the parameters and sanctions God's law frees us. For example, Exodus 20 ,15 says You shall not steal that is a liberating commandment. God, in effect has said I can have all the property and goods I want as long as I can work and pay for it. I just can't steal someone else's stuff. So you can see God's law gives us liberty which brings the subject home to us. If we circle back to the beginning of this study, we can clearly see that we should prefer God's law and God's rule over man's law and man's rule. In America today, we live under man's rule. America has lost consciousness of its own Christian heritage. Government has taken power, not expressly given to it by our Constitution, which was based on the Hebrew republic set forth by Moses. In doing so, they have decreased our liberty and freedom granted to us by Almighty God Himself . They are effectively inhibiting our ability to worship and serve our God. But it's all because we as a nation don't want to be ruled by God's law we have preferred man's rule of law for at least 150 years maybe longer. The conclusion of it all is we must always prefer God's law and Gods rule. And in closing, let's look at Ecc 12:13,14 "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter, fear God, and keep his commands for this is man's duty, for God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil." 1 John 5:3 "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. " The whole duty of man is to fear God, love God, and keep his commandments. May God bless you all and keep you safe. May we pray that God will open our hearts and minds to receive His word.