"God's Law of Love"

Questions friends have asked concerning God’s Law…

âAre the 10 Commandments still important for Christians today?

âI have accepted Jesus as my Savior and I don’t want to be a legalist, so how should I relate to the Law of God?

âHow can we keep God’s Commandments and be saved by grace?

âWhy does God judge us by our works and yet we are saved by faith?

âI understand what you say about the tabernacle being a shadow of Jesus as God’s Lamb and as our High Priest. But how do the Ten Commandments fit into this idea of shadows?

âUnder the new covenant has God given us permission to break any of the Ten Commandments? Did Jesus break any of them?

Why God gave His Law?

Ex 20.2+ - esp. v. 2…He redeemed, then He gave rules for living

Deut 9.9-10…God’s Law is the basis of the covenant (In the Old Covenant God wrote His Law on stone, in the New, He writes His Law on our hearts and minds àsee Hebrews 8.8-12; 10.15-17)

How we are to relate to them in the NT:

¨Jesus:

Matt 5.17-18…I didn’t come to abolish, but to fill full of meaning

Matt 7.21-23…Only those who DO His will can enter the KOG

Matt 19.17…Obedience is necessary to enter eternal life

Matt 22.37-38…Love is at the core of our living for God

John 14.15…If you love Me, you will obey Me

John 15.10…Obedience keeps us in His love

¨Paul:

Rom 3.20,31…God’s righteousness comes, but not through keeping the Law

Gal 3.24…The Law leads us to put our faith in Christ – not our works

Eph 2.8…we are saved by God’s gift of grace – we don’t deserve it

¨James:

1.23-25…God’s perfect law gives us freedom

2.8…Keeping God’s royal law is doing right – loving your neighbor

¨Peter:

1 Peter 1.13-16…be self-controlled, obedient, and holy

¨John:

1 John 2.3…We know Him – if we obey His commands

1 John 3.4…sin is defined as breaking God’s Law

Some Functions of God’s Law…

¨Points out sin

James 1.23-25…it gives us freedom – we can know right from wrong

Rom 3.20…through the Law we become conscience of sin

1 John 3.4…sin is breaking the Law

Rom 7.7,13…it helps us know what sin is

¨An agent in conversion

Ps. 19.7…The Law of the Lord is perfect – converting the soul

Gal 3.24…the Law leads us to Christ

¨It provides true freedom

John 8.34…Anyone who sins is a slave to sin

Psalm 119.45…Freedom comes from knowing and living God’s laws

James 2.8… Keeping God’s royal law is doing right

James 1.25… God’s perfect law gives us freedom

2 Cor 3.17…Where the Holy Spirit is there is true freedom

¨It restrains evil & brings blessings

Proverbs 14.34…Righteousness exalts, but sin is a disgrace to anybody

Psalm 89.31-32…God will punish sin

The Law and the Gospel

Eph 2.8…salvation is a gift

Rom 3.31…our faith establishes the Law

John 15.4,5…those who abide – bear fruit

Gal 2.20…Not I, but Christ in me

Heb 8.10…New Covenant is the new heart with God’s Law within

Rom 2.13…Those who obey the law are declared righteous – not an external obedience only – but an inward obedience that comes from a genuine heart change.

Phil 2.12-13…we work out what God works in – He initiates, we respond.

Our obedience develops Christian character and produces a sense of well-being, causing us to grow up and become transformed into Christ’s image (1 Peter 2.2; 2 Cor 3.18). This transformation from practicing sinner to God’s child witnesses effectively to Christ’s power to transform fallen sinners into holy children of God.

Rev 12.17…two key characteristics of those Satan hates

Rev 14.12… another two-pronged description of God’s faithful followers

Rev 22.12…We are judged by our outward expression of inward faith.

Appeal: 1 Peter 1.15-16…It is possible to be holy – like God in character…but only through faith in Jesus as our Savior, High Priest, and Intercessor. The Holy Spirit transforms those who put their active faith in Jesus.