Why The Law Is So Strictly Preached

Minister:
Date: AM
Text: Psalm 119:129ff, 161ff; Lord's Day 44
Psalters: 259, 321, 143, 42
  1. To learn our sin.
    1. The right knowledge of my sin is essential to a healthy Christian experience.
      1. All men are aware of sin, but by nature they all deny it, its seriousness, and its horribly ugly nature.
      2. We must know our sins or we will not know our need for Jesus nor appreciate what He has done for us.
    2. The law of God is the only instrument which accurately defines and describes sin.
      1. This is one of the uses of the law (Q. 3).
      2. The law reveals God, and the more we know Him, the more we learn the real nature of our sins.
    3. And the law?s revelation of God shows us that we have only a small beginning of the obedience God requires. ?
  2. Thus the law makes us fly for refuge to Christ crucified (Canons V - 2).
    1. The awareness of our sins and sinfulness is humbling, but it does not lead to despair.
      1. Faith takes the awareness of our sin to be the means to embrace the Savior.
      2. Thus the law brings us away from ourselves to the only One Who has kept the law for us.
    2. There will be a tension (an inner battle) in every believer as long as we live on the earth.
    3. So instead of being frustrated at our inability to be perfect, we keep seeing that we are always forgiven.
      1. The result is that we love God and Jesus more, and seek Him more.
      2. And we strive more and more to live in increasing closer fellowship with Him. ?
  3. And we press forward to the goal of perfection til we are brought to reign with the Lamb of God in heaven (Canons V-2)
    1. God uses the law to guide us as to how we are to express correctly our gratitude for redemption in Christ.
    2. Also it stirs up within us a sincere resolution to do our Savior?s will.
    3. This is the way God assures us that we are His.