No More Excuses – The Purpose of the Law

No More Excuses

Acts 17:20

“The times of ignorance god overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

“All” means, well, “all.”

God is calling all men everywhere to repent of their foolish, law-unto-themselves ways and to seek out the righteousness which pleases Him, which they can only attain through Jesus. Crucial to the proclamation of the Gospel are three things: First, all have sinned. They may not have understood this in the past, and God was gracious in bearing with them up to now. But now, in the light of God’s Law, they are without excuse, and they need to face up to their sin and repent. Second, they need to accept what Jesus has done for them and, in gratitude, embrace Him as Lord and Christ. Finally, they must begin to follow in the way that Jesus indicated, the way of obedience to God’s Law (1 Jn. 2.1-6). Who is this for? All people. Everyone needs to know the Law – to know it as that which convicts them of sin, to know it as that which Jesus fulfilled on their behalf, and to know it as the standard of holiness, righteousness, and goodness that God now commands all people in all places to follow.

Pray

Lord, I’m afraid to start talking about Your Law with the people around me. I simply scared of what they might think. But I believe Your Law is for everyone, so help me to overcome my fears and to begin living more consistently by Your Law and talking about it more boldly.

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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.