62. The Purpose Of The Law Series

IN HIS IMAGE 62 - THE PURPOSE OF THE LAW

This message is part of a series of 90 sermons based on the title, “In God’s Image – God’s Purpose for humanity.” This series of free sermons or the equivalent free book format is designed to take the reader through an amazing process beginning with God in prehistory and finishing with humanity joining God in eternity as His loving sons and daughters. It is at times, a painful yet fascinating story, not only for humanity, but also for God. As the sermons follow a chronological view of the story of salvation, it is highly recommend they be presented in numerical order rather than jumping to the more “interesting” or “controversial” subjects as the material builds on what is presented earlier. We also recommend reading the introduction prior to using the material. The free book version along with any graphics or figures mentioned in this series can be downloaded at www.ingodsimage.site - Gary Regazzoli

Last time we looked at the amazing resource God has made available to His newly adopted children so they can develop the same holy nature and characteristics of God Himself.

• Through the Holy Spirit, Christ comes to us and gives us His mind, the “mind of Christ.”

• Under the New Covenant, the “mind of Christ” is the resource given to God’s children to replace the external law of the Old Covenant, which failed to produce the righteousness of God in the people (Hebrews 8:10).

• The failure was not because the law was a failure, but because of the people’s unwillingness and inability to obey it (Hebrews 8:8).

Today we are going to look at the subject of the purpose of the law.

• To understand this whole question of the law in relation to humanity, we need to go back to God Himself.

• As mentioned earlier, we need to understand the law or commands of God are a reflection of God’s holy nature and character.

• He is a God of love, full of righteousness, justice, grace and mercy.

• Before the fall, there was no need for a law as Adam and Eve could witness for themselves this God of love.

• The two parties could relate to each other, face to face, purely on the basis of a loving relationship.

• This intimate relationship between Creator and created was shattered when Adam and Eve sinned.

• Man’s sin, because of its affront to the holiness of God necessitated a change in the way God and mankind were to relate to one another.

• Sin had distorted their humanity; consequently fellowship with God was no longer possible.

• This distorted humanity is also the reason humans have had such a difficult time relating to one another ever since.

This rift did not in any way lessen God’s love for His creation, but it was now impossible for a holy God to relate personally to sinful mankind, as they would simply be consumed by His divine majesty.

• So if God was to continue to relate to mankind without consuming them, the relationship had to be established on a totally different basis.

• This new relationship had to take into account the vast difference between the nature of a holy God and the nature of sinful man.

• But it also had to provide the means by which the two parties could be reconciled to again relate personally face to face.

• The divine solution to resolve this problem was the introduction of “the law.”

• The law not only revealed the vast gulf between a holy God and sinful mankind, but it also provided the means by which the parties would eventually be reconciled.

• But until then, the relationship between the parties would have to be conducted purely on a legal basis.

• It is under this legal system that all fallen mankind stands accountable and under which we all are judged and condemned because it points out the vast difference between God’s holiness and mankind’s sinfulness.

• Romans 3:19 Now 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.

• And this legal arrangement came into existence the moment Adam and Eve sinned, long before any written code was given to anyone.

• So when we speak of the “law” we need to regard it in a more encompassing way than just a set of regulations such as the Ten Commandments.

• We need to regard it as more of a system or structure God instituted to govern the relationship between a holy God and a sinful humanity.

• We will see this more clearly shortly when we contrast this legal age of the “law” with the age of “faith.”