THE SUM OF THE LAW

If we are creatures saved by grace, perhaps you may wonder why we would schedule a whole year's preaching (Questions 39 to 84) on the very Law of God? The world wouldn't give our subject ten minutes notion! Neither in fact will much or Christ's Church give much more than lip service to the grand vision of law laid out before us over the next eleven months or more! In one of my new books, Pastor Ernest C. Reisinger shares six reasons why the law as well as grace are important and even essential. Hear his argument briefly before we focus on the summation of the law in the life of Christ and hear the challenge of His summation.

The first reason why the law and the gospel are essential is that the whole Bible is either one or the other. They are the principle parts of the divine revelation. One cannot be separated from the other. On one edge of my property there is a fence row in which any number of trees have entwined themselves. If I ever decide to improve that fence row, both trees and wire must be taken out at the same time, because they have become inseparable. The trees uphold the wire and if the wire were ripped away, the trees would probably die. On a much grandeur scale the law and the gospel of grace must stand or fall together. Some churches may endeavor to live the law and spurn the gospel of grace. Other congregations may accept the gospel of grace and deny the law of God. In neither case do we have a particular church of the Living God!

The second reason that Reisinger gives for the importance of law and grace is the fact that since the Law is one of three great truths of the Bible without which we have no reason to meet. These three essentials include:

1. The law of God.
2. The cross of Christ.
3. The righteous judgment of our Almighty God.

Third, there is a very special importance of the subject of law before grace may be offered. In short, sinners must realize their sin before they can appreciate the free offer of grace given in Christ. Thus we see, that the law is important for the process of evangelism. By this I mean that in order to be saved, a person must know that there is something that they must be saved from! Unfortunately in too many places the law is preached as a practical means toward holiness. This certainly is not the case, the law must be used to show our need for grace and only have grace is understood may the fruits of the Spirit lead us on to practice the holiness that indwells our hearts.

Fourth, in this sequence is the two things that we can know by hearing the law and the gospel. First in this regard, we may learn to know God, then second we may learn who we are. Do not put too much importance to my ordering here. Very many people learn about themselves before they learn about God. But eventually, we must wrestle with the proper relationship between man and God. When we see His laws and learn of the need for the gospel, then we know even as we are known. Then we learn that the righteous holiness defined by the law makes it necessary for the gift of the gospel.

Fifth, the law does indeed provide a standard to direct us toward the practice of holiness, provided we do not lean to heavily on the accomplishments that we are allowed by God's Spirit.

Last and sixth, is the fact that spiritually, the law and the gospel are inseparable in our living the life of faith. In our daily living it is indeed the New Heart filled with His Spirit who leads us on in living a life worth living for the glory of His Gospel.

With all of that said, let us turn our attention to our New Covenant revelation where Jesus comments upon the greatest commandment. In this scene The Pharisees decided to test Jesus with a question on the Law of God.

"Teacher", he was asked, "Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." (Deuteronomy 6: 4-5)

"Love your neighbor as yourself."

How little does the world realize the futility of teaching the second great law apart from the first and greater obligation? In the Reformation, the pursuit of the love of God and obedience to Him brought countless blessings to the world. By contrast in our time the worldly village of the damned would build a darker age by trying to uplift the second without the first. How little respect the world has may be noted in a recent controversy involving a particular copyrighted translation of the Old and New Covenants. As I understand a final email report, the company in question has agreed not to tamper with the text because their translation "belongs to the people". Unfortunately, there is a great gap of understanding in that last phrase. The text does not belong to the people but to God.

The publishers had gotten into trouble because they had decided that their translation should be less traumatic to the feminists who have long objected to any and all God talk in the masculine. I have no doubt that they were sincere in their interest in selling Bibles to the feminists, and no doubt there are very many feminists who are more lost than any of them would care to admit. But the very act of putting the second commandment before the first is unlawful. We must love the Lord our God above and beyond anything and everything else. If He reveals Himself as Father, sends us His Son, and speaks to us in words and phrases that He put into the hearts and mouths of the prophets, then the Word is His and belongs to Him.

We can take this even further, lately I have been reading of sinners who believe that their afflictions are genetically based. Therefore, they have come to the conclusion that God is the final cause of their sin. And as the reasoning goes, if God has created them flawed, then they may glory in thief flaws instead of learning to repent of their great sins. Of course, along with that process, there has been a process to decriminalize any and every sin possible by throwing out the laws. "No law, no sin" is their reasoning, and the world grunts its approval. Do you see what happens when the two commandments are separated? Those who would build a worldly paradise upon the principles of the second great commandment here must also accept the greater commandment to love the Lord with all their heart and with all their soul and with all their mind.