Free to Be Clean – The Law of Liberty (26)

Free to Be Clean

The Law of Liberty (26)

Readers will gain a better perspective on the main teaching of this series by reading The Ground for Christian Ethics, by T. M. Go to www.MyParuchia.com, click Publications, then click Waxed Tablet, and scroll down until you see this little volume.

…the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever… Psalm 19:9

It’s curious that David would insert an observation concerning the fear of the Lord into the midst of this meditation on the Law of God. Quite probably “fear” is another way of referring to the Law, since, keeping the Law issues from love for and fear of God (Deut. 10:12). When we fear the Lord we turn to His Law in order to discover how we may please Him. The same is true as we love the Lord. Our relationship with God is suspended on the cusp of genuine love and proper fear of God, and each of these comes to expression in the form of obedience to God’s Law.

Of course, we do not keep the Law perfectly (1 John 1:8). Nor can we keep it in our own power. We must have the Spirit of God at work within us to make us willing and able to do God’s good pleasure (Phil. 2:12, 13). But, as He does, as He teaches us the Law and empowers us to obey it (Ezek. 36:26, 27), we are able to walk in the pathway of cleanness before the Lord. The Law–the fear of God–is clean, and, under the tutelage and power of the Holy Spirit, it makes us clean as well.

The devil will certainly try to convince us otherwise. He’s good at reminding us of all our shortcomings and past failings. But we don’t walk that path anymore, not since we have come to know Jesus (Eph. 4:17-24). Now, loving God and fearing Him, we look to His Word and Law to guide us in the proper way of showing gratitude and growing in grace. We leave the filth of our past behind and, clothed in the clean garments of Jesus righteousness, we seek the cleansing of God’s Spirit to lead us on the path of cleanness before the Lord.

You cannot be clean before the Lord apart from the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And you cannot stay clean without the work of His Spirit, sanctifying you in the Word of Truth (John 17:17). The more you make daily meditation in God’s Law a part of your regular discipline, the more you will know the power of its cleanness at work with you in all things.

Daily meditation in the Law of God helps us along the path of holiness, righteousness, and goodness (Rom. 7:12). Order your copy of The Law of God, a compilation of the Mosaic Law for contemporary believers, and The Ground for Christian Ethics, by T. M. Go to www.MyParuchia.com, click Publications, then click Waxed Tablet, and scroll down until you see these companion volumes.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore.

T.M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.