A Constant Guide – Law Matters: The Law and Sin (7)

A Constant Guide

Law Matters: The Law and Sin (7)

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:9-11

In order for the Church to make proper use of the Law of God as the defining standard of right and wrong, good and evil, it must first demonstrate the value of that Law in its own demeanor. We must be prepared to show that Kingdom living is a far superior manner of being-in-the-world than any of the worn-out worldviews of unbelief.

We must recover our sense of the usefulness of God’s Law. The Law defines sin, but it does much, much more besides, as we shall see. If the Church would show a pure, true, righteous, peaceable, and joyous way of life to the watching world, then we must recover the importance of reading, meditating in, studying, teaching, and obeying the Law of God.

Only as we lodge the Law squarely in our hearts will we be able to guard against whatever the spirit of the age or the spirits of wickedness might bring against us to cause us to betray our faith in Christ. Pastors, church leaders, and church members alike—must all unite in making the Law of God a kind of “core curriculum” for Christian discipleship.

The Law of God is useful for defining sin, and we will not demonstrate repentance from sin and a way of life that restores men from the destruction of sin until we begin to hide the Law of God in our hearts, where it can serve as a constant guide in all matters of faith and morality.

For a practical guide to the role of God’s Law in the life of faith, get The Ground for Christian Ethics by going to www.ailbe.org and click on our Book Store.

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