·
- But that it proceeded from His incomprehensible wisdom, His ineffable goodness, and the unfathomable depth of His mercies?
“For what the Law could not do, in that it was weak through the
flesh, God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,
condemned in the flesh. That the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in
us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:3, 4.
But there are some things which the Law cannot do.
· It
cannot produce a new heart in a sinner. It cannot save a lost soul.
· It cannot justify a guilty person.
· It cannot draw a wanderer back to God.
The Law, as originally given to Adam, a
perfect man, had he carried it out, would have glorified God and would have
produced in him a perfect life. But we are not in the same position towards God
as Adam was and we are not free from the stain of evil as he was.
We have fallen and
there is now in our nature that which Paul calls, “the flesh,” which lusts to
envy, and turns aside from God. This has made the Law weak for the
accomplishment of God’s purpose of justification or salvation.
The laws we have
today, where it is true and good, protects honest men and deters many from
committing crime—but it is practically powerless in the case of some habitual
criminals who seem to have inherited the tendency to criminality. Daily 1000 break the law. The law is good but
powerless to enforce the law.The defect is not in the law, but in the person
with whom it has to deal.
So the Law of God becomes weak through our weakness.
There are some who cling to the Law and expect to be saved by their own doings,
but they are leaning on a broken reed! To free from guilt and condemnation is
what the Law cannot do, not on account of any fault in itself, but
because it is weak through our flesh.
What, then, is the purpose and limit of the Law?
· The Law sets before us a
straight path. Right
up the mountain side I see the way to the summit. But I have fallen into an
abyss. I am bruised and broken—I cannot stir an inch.
o
What
is the use of a straight road to me?
§
Here I must lie, at the bottom of the ravine, and perish unless
something more than a straight road is shown to me.
§
The way is before me, but I am weak and cannot stir.
·
The Law of God tells us
what we ought to do, but that does not enable us to do it! Still, it is useful
to know the way in which we should go, for that will show us how far we have
fallen, cause us to be discontented with our present state and prepare us to
accept help, if help should come. The Law can do that.
· The Law is also very useful because it
shows us our deflections and stains.
o
It is like the mirror which you might look
into to see your face, and to see if there is any dirt on her face. But you cannot
wash your face with the mirror! When the mirror has done its utmost, there are
the stains, all the same. It cannot take away a single spot—it can only show
where it is.
·
And
the Law, though it reveals our sins, our shortcomings, our transgressions—it
cannot remove the sin or the transgression.
·
It
is weak for that purpose because it was never intended to accomplish such an
end.
·
The
Law also serves another purpose—it reprimands us for our sin.
§
Did
you ever feel its ten- multitude lash coming upon the back of your conscience?
What furrows these plowers make! “Condemn him,” says whole ten-throated Law of
God!
§
The
First Commandment says, “Condemn him—he has broken me.” And the Second Command
says, “Condemn him—he has broken me.” And the Third says, “Condemn him—he has
broken me.” Not one of them is silent! All scream for their due and if you
truly know your own heart, you confess that not one charges you falsely, seeing
that hate is murder and the thought of folly, sin! When conscience is really
awake, what pain, what anguish the Law will bring to the spirit!
§
But
it cannot heal you. It cannot speak peace to you. It cannot forgive you. To
convince and to condemn is all the Law can do. It is too weak to save even one
poor sinner!
· Again, the Law can tell you what you
ought to do, but it gives no inclination to do
the right.
o
On the contrary, without any blame to the Law,
it often creates inclination to do otherwise. Paul says, “I was alive without
the Law once: but when the Commandment came, sin revived, and I died.”
o
There are some things men would not
think of doing if they were not forbidden—but the very forbidding of them makes
some desire to do them!
o
Many a thing which is commanded, we
might have freely done if it had been left to our own choice—but such is the stubborn
unreasonableness behavior of our nature that, being commanded to do it, by
direct route we refuse!
o
We kick against the Commandments.
o
The Law does not sweetly incline us
to holiness, but, through the weakness, or, rather, wickedness of our flesh, it often stirs up the obstinate and
rebellious tendency to demonstrate just how bad we really are, and which are in our nature.
o
Certainly the Law does not bring
round us to righteousness, but, “sin, taking occasion by the Commandment,”
works in us all manner of evil
The Law is weak in another way.
· It
does not lend us any aid towards the fulfillment of its Commands.
