Reaping the Benefits of the Law
Here is yet another R.C. Sproul devotion for you to ponder upon as you consider the law of God.
Reaping the Benefits of the Law
by R.C. Sproul
Let’s continue the experiment we began in the previous meditation. Study the excerpts from the apostle Paul that accompany this reading. Does this sound like a man who believed the law of God has no place in the Christian life? Read Paul’s writings carefully and you will find a man whose heart longed for the law of God as much as David’s.
The law drives us to the gospel. The gospel saves us from the curse of the law, but in turn directs us back to the law to search its spirit. The law of God is still a lamp to our feet. Without it we stumble and trip and grope in darkness.
For the Christian, the greatest benefit of the law of God is its revelatory character. The law reveals to us the Lawgiver. It teaches us what is pleasing in His sight. We need to seek the law of God–to pant after it–and to delight in it. Anything less is an offense against the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Coram Deo: Pray this prayer: “Thank You for Your law, which is a lamp to my feet. Give me a heart that longs for and delights in Your law.”
Romans 7:8: “But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead.”
Romans 7:12: “Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.”
Romans 7:22: “For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.”
Tags: Christianity, Conviction, culture, law, Pondering, worship Posted in Christianity, Conviction, Pondering, worship
September 7th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Thanks for your comment on the BET post. It is very true. Many people confuse living according to the Laws of God with legalism. Though that is surely possible and does happen, I have not found that to be true with those I know who have a personal relationship with Messiah.
This is a very good point that many people balk against and miss out on. Grace is given as a result of our sins transgressing the Laws of Yehovah. In return for that grace, we are to repent, turn from our sins, and turn to love His Laws, as King David so beautifully wrote of in Psalm 119.
I read it this morning in the Complete Jewish Bible version. It is SO BEAUTIFUL! I could not believe how many times he spoke of Torah and grace! It is truly inspiring!
The only reference I disagree with, that I would encourage you to look into is the phrase “the curse of the law”. If that references the man-made laws put onto Yehovah’s people by the pharisees, then it is right on, but it cannot reference the OT Laws, as Yeshua walked in them and Paul himself said they are a blessing, and not a curse.
Bless you and thanks for these tidbits of devotionals.
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