God’s Promises--The promises of God provide the incentive for obeying God’s Law.

The Rule of Law: Government of the Mind (2)

“Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over to possess it, that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. Hear, therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.”

God’s redemption of His people is grounded in the covenant He declared to Abraham (Ex. 2.24, 25). The promises to Abraham (Abram) were “precious and very great” (2 Pet. 1.4). They included being blessed by God and being a blessing to the peoples of the world, and may be summarized by the phrase, “I will be your God, and You will be My people” (Gen. 12.1-3).

The land of Canaan was intended as the preliminary staging-ground for the unfolding drama of God’s blessing His people. Thus, the Law of God continually points the people of Israel forward to their occupation of that land with hints and glimpses of the fulfillment of all that God has promised them. In the land, Israel was to understand, it would go well with them, they would live long and be protected from enemies, and the blessings of God would abound in everything to which they put their hands.

Thus, in addition to the knowledge of God as Lord, Redeemer, and Sovereign, the Law also keeps the promises of God before the minds of His people as the reward they can expect to enjoy for obedience.

But the promises are merely a token of Israel’s true reward: God Himself is Israel’s great reward, as He had promised to Abram (Gen 15.1). As they enjoyed the blessings that came from obedience, Israel would know the even greater joy of the presence of God in their midst (Ps. 16.11). By their obedience they could claim the promises and thus “partake of God” Himself in a unique and wonderful way (2 Pet. 1.4).

These promises, like the Law God gave for their attaining, also point to our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the fulfillment of all the hopes and desires of the people of God, the perfect embodiment of all His precious and very great promises (2 Cor. 1.20).

Thus the Law of God intends to fill the minds of God’s people with a vision of God and reminders of His promises – each of these fully realized in Jesus Christ – so that, with their minds, they might instruct their hearts to fear and love this gracious and generous God supremely.

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.

Know the Lord--The Law of God teaches us to know the Lord.

Study to be like Jesus.

The Kingdom of God makes progress on many fronts.

Look around you right now, right where you are.

The devil is powerful, mostly because he's subtle.

Immigration is back on the table again.

We become what we look at.

God knows the way to a life of grateful devotion, obedience, and blessing.

Always Vigilant--The heart, as we have seen, is deceitful and desperately wicked. Yet we must love God with all our heart, and to aid us in this calling He has provided His Law.

The Rule of Law: Government of the Heart (7)

We must keep a close watch on our hearts.

“Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do.” Deuteronomy 12.32

The heart, as we have seen, is deceitful and desperately wicked. Yet we must love God with all our heart, and to aid us in this calling He has provided His Law. But we must “be careful” with respect to what the Law teaches, so that we allow it to exercise its full power to shape our hearts in the way of love for God and our neighbors. And, since on our own we have no heart for God or His Law, we must rely on the indwelling Spirit of Christ to help us in carrying out this call to vigilance.

The Law of God anticipates the day when God would “circumcise” the hearts of His people so that they would understand and obey His Law (Deut. 30.1-10). That day, as we have previously explained, dawns upon us with the coming of the Spirit of God to dwell within us. He will teach us the Law of God, and all the Word of God, but we must “show up for class” if we would benefit from His instruction. And we must also cultivate the ability to listen for the convicting voice of the Spirit as He searches our hearts and minds against the presence of any evil there (Jn. 16.8-11; Ps. 139.23, 24).

The more we learn how to be filled with the Spirit of God and to walk in Him, the more we will strengthen our hearts to bring forth the fruit of His presence and to realize the promises of God in our lives. We must be careful not to quench the Spirit by failing to submit to His curriculum. And we must not grieve the Spirit by not seeking to fulfill the purposes for which He has been given to us (1 Thess. 5.19; Eph.4.30).

The Spirit of God is the Guardian and Teacher of God’s Law. When He is also the Guardian and Teacher of our hearts, then we will grow in love for God and neighbor from this deepest and most important recess of our souls.

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.

A Guide to Proper Self-love--Hate and lust are only two of the many forms into which a healthy self-love can degenerate.

The Rule of Law: Government of the Heart (6)

Self-love is appropriate, within the framework of God’s Law.

“You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.” Leviticus 19.18

Hate and lust are only two of the many forms into which a healthy self-love can degenerate. The believer is called to love himself (Matt. 22.34-40). We are made in the image of God and redeemed for His glory. He loves us and commands our neighbors too as well. If we did not love ourselves we would not reflect either the character of God or His purpose for us on earth.

At the same time, self-love can become degraded and corrupt until, at its worst, it manifests in such forms as hate or lust. There are degrees of corruption prior to these, however, and the Law of God provides a valuable hedge against the tendency of our affections drift from pure and holy love and to begin the slide into corruption.

For example, the Law of God guards our hearts against indifference to the needs and wellbeing of our neighbors. We must show concern for the poor and needy, the stranger and sojourner, and those whose wellbeing depends upon our being good stewards of our possessions (cf. Ex. 21.33, 34; 22.5, 6; Deut. 15.7, 8, 11; 22.1-4; 24.17, 18; etc.). It instructs us in the proper ways of showing respect to others (cf. Ex.22.28; Lev. 19.32; Deut. 5.16; etc.). And it counsels us against taking advantage of our neighbor when we might be in a position to do so (e.g., Deut. 24.13-13).

All these are various affections of our hearts, and each suggests an opposite affection to be nurtured or suppressed: compassion rather than indifference, respect rather than neglect or scorn, forbearing rather than taking advantage. The Law does not present a complete catalogue of the various affections of the heart. Instead, it addresses the most potent of them and points to the others in order to suggest ways that we must seek to take to heart all the words of God’s Law. Thus we may learn to love Him and our neighbors from the depths of our souls, from this most important component of our being.

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.

A Check on Lust--We must not desire anything but what God desires.

The Rule of Law: Government of the Heart (5)

The Law teaches us to control our fleshly desires.

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.” Exodus 20.17

We must not desire anything but what God desires. By learning to fear and love Him, according to the teaching of His Law, we learn the proper way to love our neighbors and to hate that which rebels against or would thwart the purposes, pleasure, and plan of God. But, in spite of being redeemed, our hearts remain prone to deceitfulness and wickedness (Jer. 17.9). In our hearts it is possible to sin against God without that sin ever coming to expression in words or deeds.

This is the sin of covetousness, or, especially with respect to our fleshly desires, the sin of lust.

Lust is simply inordinate desire, typically, directed in a way that would violate the Law of God or the wisdom of the divine order, could the affection of lust be realized in practice. Sinful human beings are apparently rather easily provoked to lust. We may experience covetousness because of the possessions or privileges others enjoy, some place they hold in the eyes of our peers, or even their physical appearance. Lust begins to arise in our hearts as we linger in thought over the advantage, possession, or features of another, so that that thought begins to bring forth desire in our hearts – the desire, or merely the idea of possessing, the contemplated thing.

Lust can thus poison the soul, overriding sound reason, setting aside established values and priorities, and leading to actions contrary to the revealed Word of God. Because of this, we must be ever aware of when lust is beginning to rise within us, and, through confession, repentance, and thanksgiving, be done with it before it takes root and begins to grow to fruition.

We are taking the Law of God to heart when we submit to its counsel concerning what we must and what we must not desire in our hearts. The Law, as Paul noted, can help us to recognize and resist all forms of covetousness (Rom. 7.7).

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.