Even When They Don’t Want To! – The Kingdom Curriculum III (3)

Even When They Don’t Want To!

“Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways! I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes. Those who hate the LORD would cringe toward him, and their fate would last forever.” Psalm 81:13-15

We have seen that the nations of the world find in the Law of God, whether or not they acknowledge it as such, a standard of justice and goodness that has much to commend itself to them for their own civil codes. God is pleased to bless the nations by His common grace to the extent that His Law is honored among them – not unto salvation, but only unto a measure of the temporal and temporary blessings of His common grace. This ongoing goodness of God is meant to entice the nations to seek out, not just the wisdom and blessings of God, but God Himself (Acts 14:17; 17:26, 27).

It stands to reason, therefore, that the people of God, eager to see their unsaved neighbors come to a saving knowledge of the Lord, would devote themselves to doing everything in their power to bring the witness of the Lord to their contemporaries, even though in doing so they may encounter obstacles, objections, opposition, or even oppression.

The NASB translates verse 15, “Those who hate the LORD would feign obedience” to Him. The promise of this passages is that, when God’s people listen to Him and are faithful in keeping His Law, and thus know the blessings of obedience and manifest the life of love for God and neighbor for which they have been redeemed (Eph. 2:8-10), God does something really interesting among their enemies. Those who hate God, and hate His people, find that they are better off obeying the Law of God than rebelling against it. And while their hearts may remain in complete rebellion against God, on the outside, at least, they are obeying God’s Law because they recognize it is in their own best interest to do so.

This is at least a partial explanation for the continuation of so much of God’s Law in the laws of our own nation today. Whereas increasing numbers of Americans have turned away from God and faith in Jesus Christ, few of those who have are advocating removal of laws against stealing, murder, perjury, and so forth. They will argue until they’re blue in the face that the source of these laws is common sense or anything other than the Law of God, but it’s just not so. They may hate God, but the presence of His people, still, in our day, somewhat faithful to Him, means that God continues to honor His Law, and even to bless those who merely feign obedience to it. They who refuse to repent will find that their eternal destiny remains unchanged; they are under the wrath of God and will be so forever (Ps. 81:15b). Yet for now, God intends to bless sinners even while they rebel against Him (Ps. 52:1), and He uses His Law, and the faithful obedience of His people, for this purpose.

Thus, not only for our own sakes as the people of God, but for the sake of God’s witness to and blessing of our neighbors, we must be a people zealous for good works as explained in the Law of God and taught by Jesus and the Apostles (Titus 2:11-14). The Kingdom curriculum which has as its core course the Law of God is an indispensable component of the Church’s witness to Jesus Christ (cf. Mic. 4:1-5).

Order your copy of The Law of God today. Go to www.MyParuchia.com, click Publications, Waxed Tablet, to place your order and take up the Kingdom curriculum of our Lord.

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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.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.