The Law: Alive and Well.

The “Law” is alive and well. I doubt if anyone truly would have it any other way. Does anyone really want to live in a society without law? Do we not want stealing to be against the law? Do we not want false witness to be against the law? Do we not want murder to be against the law? The other commandments, that is “Laws” may not be so dramatically obvious but they are just as true and necessary for a civil society. And these are just laws of morality. How about the so-called Natural Laws or Physical Laws?

They are certainly alive and well. Who would want to live in a world where these laws were subject to change? One day you drop something and it falls down the next day it falls up. One day fire warms your home and the next day it makes it cold. One day friction and traction stop your car but the next day they don’t. Could we count on breathing air or even seeing through it? I world like that is difficult to imagine! What kind of god would make a world like that? The answer is only a devil would make such a world. Our god is a God of design and order not a god of chaos.

(Isa 45:18-19 RSV) For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it a chaos, he formed it to be inhabited!): "I am the LORD, and there is no other. {19} I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness; I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, 'Seek me in chaos.' I the LORD speak the truth, I declare what is right.

(Num 23:19 NIV) God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?

So if something was morally wrong at one time it remains morally wrong forever. We intuitively know the same is true in the physical world.

Lawlessness is sinfulness. As long as we see sin we know the law is still alive and well. If there is no law how can there be sin?

(1 John 3:4 NIV) Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.

So with a little thought we realize that the “Law” is a necessity for a civil people and especially for a Godly people. Not only is it a necessity it is actually good!

(Rom 7:12 NIV) So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.

(Rom 7:16 NIV) And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.

(1 Tim 1:8-11 NIV) We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. {9} We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, {10} for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers--and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine {11} that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.

But doesn’t the Bible say we are not under the law? Well yes it does, but that doesn’t mean what many people think it means. It certainly doesn’t meant there is no, “Law.” It certainly doesn’t mean God has changed his mind on moral law any more than He has changed His mind on physical law. I have never heard anyone claim that now murder is OK or stealing is OK or having gods before our God is OK. So implicitly they acknowledge that the, “Law” still has standing. It is alive and well! But what does it mean then to say we are not under the law? Let’s look at a few of those scriptures.

(Rom 3:19 NIV) 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.

(Rom 6:14-15 NIV) For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

“Under” in this verse has the connotation of being subject to the law. Paul continues in verse 15.

{15} What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!

We are not subject to law and the penalty of its transgression because we have become subjected to grace. That is to say we have been redeemed. Did you catch the full impact of what Paul said? “Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Paul is stating very clearly that we could continue to sin and thus the law must still be alive and well.

Not being under the law does not mean we can disregard the law.

(Gal 5:18-25 NIV) But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. {19} The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; {20} idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions {21} and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. {22} But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, {23} gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. {24} Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. {25} Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

There will be a time when sin will cease to exist, but that time has not yet come. Sin will cease to exist not because the “Law” will cease to exist but because men will no longer be law breakers.

(Heb 10:13-18 NIV) Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, {14} because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. {15} The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: {16} "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds." {17} Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more." {18} And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.

(2 Th 2:3-9 NIV) Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. {4} He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God. {5} Don't you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? {6} And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. {7} For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. {8} And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. {9} The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders,

Do you really want to be identified with the, “Lawless one?”

(Luke 16:17-18 NIV) It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law. {18} "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery, and the man who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

(Mat 5:18 NIV) I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

The moral law is just as valid today as the physical law. All of the “Laws” of God are alive and well!” Do not be deceived or you could fall back, “Under” the “Law.”