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1 Timothy 1:8-11
We invite you to join us for worship each Sunday morning at 9:30. You can download our service on iTunes or tune in for “The Good Word” each day on AM 1230 WSAL or on Hoosier Country 103.7 FM just after 8am. One of the words that causes the hair on our necks to bristle, at least a little, is “law!” There is a negative connotation to it, perhaps because it reminds us of our sinful state before God. When many people hear or think of the Law of God, they automatically think of the 10 Commandments. Even some Christians think just the 10 Commandments are too restrictive and demanding. Paul’s warning against the false teachers in Ephesus was a commentary and further explanation of the rebuke Jesus gave the Pharisees and Sadducees when He told them they misunderstood and mishandled the law when He said they were whitewashed sepulchers, looking clean on the outside, but empty on the inside. Jesus would still condemn legalism if He were here today. What is it that makes God’s laws, commands, statutes, and decrees so good? And if they are so good, why don’t more people follow them and find joy, peace, and all the other benefits Scripture associates with a life of obedience to God’s laws? One writer suggests 2 ideas that help us understand the principle of the law. From a Biblical perspective “law” is the principle of making legal demands. Paul was taking into account all of God’s laws. Wherever law is discussed in Scripture it is always good, noble, and honorable. The law is not the problem. Sinful man knowing how to rightly interpret and follow those demands is the problem. So, naturally that begs the question what is the right use of the Law? Theologians have summarized 4 purposes of the Law as it is presented in Scripture.
- Serves to Restrain. Read Ps. 19:12, and 13; Rom. 7:7-12. Paul is telling us the Law of God teaches us how to avoid trespassing into wrong territory! Most of us probably learned the real meaning of “hot” the hard way, didn’t we! Perhaps many of us received that little smack on the hand as a warning. That little smack was the law, the restraint to keep us from trespassing into hot territory. Those false teachers Paul told Timothy to warn, either didn’t know, or didn’t care that they needed restraint from teaching or handing out information contrary to God’s Word. We are no different. Sin has no restraints, because it can’t be satisfied. It never ceases to lure its victims further and further into destruction; all the while blinding them to the real danger they are bringing on themselves. There is nothing in all of creation that can satisfy, no matter how much you have. So the question is: Do you find delight or delusion in the restraints of God’s Law? Does your heart tell you it restrains you from peace, comfort, fulfillment and joy in your life? Or is God’s law in fact, all those things to you. Your attitude toward God and His Law will give you the answer. The Law is good because it also:
- Serves to Reveal. Read Rom. 3:19-26, and Gal. 3:21-29. Notice in v. 24 the law was a guardian. It protected, or restrained us until Christ came. Until Christ came to earth only A/E knew what life looked like as God intended before the Fall. As sinful men watched the Son of God live and move in front of them every day, they began to see what true righteousness and holiness is, as Christ displayed it to them in His life and lifestyle. If you look closely as you study the OT law and sacrificial system, you will see it always points a person to the coming Christ for salvation. Finally the Law:
- Serves as a Rule. Read Rom. 13:8-10. If a person does not love God, Who is lovely, they can’t love those who are unlovely! All of us would be unlovely if God did not recreate us in Christ Jesus and fill our hearts with His own love. The simple sentence in this passage is this: We know the law is good if one uses it lawfully, in accordance with “the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.” One author makes this observation suggesting Paul is using a metaphor here to express his conviction that a morally disordered life is diseased and stand in need or treatment by the law; while a life based on the teaching of the gospel is clean and healthy. Listen to how one expositor summarizes this section: Paul presented three facts about the gospel. First, the gospel concerns the glory of the blessed God. Second, this gospel comes from “the blessed God.” Third, this gospel was entrusted to Paul. The malicious perversions of truth Paul cited in vv. 9–10 did not proceed from the God of glory, and Paul wanted such heretical teaching to cease. Here is the fourth fact about the gospel – This gospel has been entrusted to us! We are now responsible for keeping it pure as we pass it to those who will serve after us. Solomon expresses that last statement by saying “No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can avail against the Lord.” In Ps. 1:3, David says the blessed man finds his delight in the law of the Lord and on His law he meditates day and night. Does that definition of “blessed” apply to you? To you, is the law good? You know, don’t you! If we can help you with your spiritual questions, call us at 574-643-9419.
