The Law: We Have All Broken It!!

    Excerpts from the book: "God has a wonderful plan for your life." (The Myth of the Modern Message)

   Again, we can see the work of God's Law illustrated in civil law. Watch what often happens on a freeway when there is no visible sign of law enforcement. See how motorists exceed the speed limit. It would seem that each speeder thinks to himself that the law has forgotten to patrol his part of the freeway. He is transgressing the law by only fifteen miles an hour-and besides, he isn't the only one doing it.
   Notice, however, what happens when the law enters the fast lane with red lights flashing. The speeder's heart misses a beat. He is no longer secure in the fact that other motorists are also speeding. He knows that he is personally guilty, and he could be the one the officer pulls over. Suddenly, his "mere" fifteen-mile-per-hour transgression doesn't seem such a small thing after all. It seems to abound.
  Look at the freeway of sin. The whole world naturally goes with the flow. Who hasn't had a lustful thought at one time or another? Who in today's society doesn't tell the occasinal "white" lie? Who hasn't taken something that belongs to someone else, even if it's just a "white collar" crime? They know they are doing wrong, but their security lies in the fact that so many others are just as guilty, if not more so. It seems that God has forgotten all about sin and the Ten Commandments. The sinner "has said in his heart, 'God has forgotten; He hides His face; He will never see"(Psalm 10:11).
  Now watch the Law enter with red lights flashing. The sinner's heart skips a beat. He examines the speedometer of his conscience. Suddenly, it shows him the measure of his guilt in a new light-the light of the Law. His sense of security in the fact that there are multitudes doing the same thing becomes irrelevant, because every man will give an account of himself to God (see Romans 14:12). Sin not only becomes personal, it seems to "abound." The Law shows him that his mere lust becomes adultery of the heart (see Matthew 5:27,28); his white lie becomes false witness; his own way becomes rebellion and a violation of the First Commandment; his hatred becomes murder in God's sight ( see 1 John 3:15); his "sticky" fingers make him a thief. "Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound." Without the entrance of the Law, sin is neither personal, nor is it a threat: "For without the Law sin is dead (the sense of it is inactive and a lifeless thing)" (Romans 7:8).
   It is the Commandment that shows sin in its true light, that it is "exceedingly sinful" (Romans 7:13). The guilty sinner places his hand on his mouth, with nothing to say in his defense. As he understands the seriousness of his sins in God's eyes, he now see his need for the Savior. In Galatians 3:24 we read that "the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith." God's Law serves as a schoolmaster, or tutor, to bring us to Jesus Christ so we can be justified through faith in His blood. (pg 58-59)
   This is why it is essential to expound the Law with a sinner, and to make him feel his personal guilt. The sinner has sinned against God by violating His Law a multitude of times, and is an enemy of God in his mind through wicked works (see Colossians 1:21). The reality is that "God is angry with the wicked every day" (Psalm 7:11) and that God's wrath abides on them (see John 3:36). With each transgression, sinner's are "treasuring up for (themselves) wrath in the day of wrath" (Romans 2:5).
    Perhaps you are tempted to say that we should never condemn sinners by using the Law. However, Scripture tells us that they are already condemned:"He who does not believe is condemned already" (John 3:18). All the Law does is show them their true state. If you dust a table in your living room and think it is dust-free, try pulling back the curtains and letting in the early morning sunlight. You will more than likely see dust still sitting on the table. The sunlight didn't create the dust; it merely exposed it. When we take the time to draw back the high and heavy curtains of the Holy of Holies and let the light of God's Law shine upon the sinner's heart, the Law merely shows him his true state before God. Proverbs 6:23 tells us, "The commandment is a lamp, and the law a light." (pg. 64-65)

By Ray Comfort

(If God has convicted you of your inability to keep His Law and you see your guilty standing before Him, see the solution here: http://rippster4christ.blogspot.com/2011/06/gospel-good-news-and-how-to-be-saved.html)