Three Uses Of God's Law

Date: 17 June 2007
Speaker: Pastor Kong
Venue: City Harvest Church

Matthew 5:17-20
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

In Exodus 19, God gave Israel "The Law", which is also commonly known as the "law of Moses". The One who gave the law is God, Moses was merely the messenger.

First use: The law as a restrainer (to prevent people from hurting one another).

1 Timothy 1:9-10
knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine,

Second use: The law as a mirror.

Purposes: To reveal to us God's righteousness. To reveal to us our sins.

As good as the human conscience is, it has 2 weaknesses: The conscience can be weakened, defiled and seared. The conscience can be subjectively influenced by our upbringing, education and experience.

The law was given to human Man, to convince him of his guilt and through that process, bring us to Christ. The law has no power to save us when we sin. Due to the wickedness and rebellion of the human heart, the presence of the law sometimes actually inflames us to sin even more.

The knowledge of the law has the purpose of moving us to seek grace from Christ.

The law does not just have an evangelistic purpose of bringing the unsaved to Christ. Even the believers need the law. That is why even when a person becomes a believer, the Holy Spirit still wants the law engraved in his heart.

Hebrews 8:10
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

The law in our hearts has 2 benefits: The law counsels and instructs the believer to make daily progress in doing the will of God. The law encourages the believer to live a life of obedience.

Psalm 119:105
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Psalm 1:2-3
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

Third use: The law as a teacher to guide believers in their new obedience to the Lord.