THE RELATION OF THE BELIEVER TO THE LAW OF GOD
By M. L. Leach
The servants of God have had the same character and experiences in all ages of the world. Enoch of old, who walked with God, and was not, for God took him, came into his relation of nearness to God by the same path by which the sinner comes to God to-day—the path of repentance, faith, regeneration, and consecration. The law of God, in its essence and in its application to man, is the same as the gospel; the gospel, in its essence and in its application to man, is the same as the law. The gospel is in the law, and the law is in the gospel. The relation of the Christian to God under the gospel, is exactly the same as was that of the ancient servant of God under the law. You and I, my brother, shall be judged by the same rule that Enoch, and Moses, and the Israelites were judged by. The gospel does not give us liberty to do any act prohibited by the law; it does not release us from the obligation to do every act commanded by the law. Let there be no misapprehension of what the law is. It is not the law of Moses, given for the regulation of the civil affairs of the Israelites, nor the ceremonial law, given for the regulation of the tabernacle worship, but the law of God as formulated in the Ten Commandments. It is called by different names,—law, commandments, testimonies, precepts, word, judgments, statutes, and ordinances. All these names are used by David in the one hundred and nineteenth psalm. The Ten Commandments are as binding upon Christians to-day as they were upon the Israelites in the days of Moses and of David. They are as binding upon Christians as are the commandments and precepts of Christ. Christians can keep them as perfectly as could the patriarchs of old; they can not keep them any more perfectly than could the patriarchs. In his fallen state, no man can keep them perfectly. No man ever did keep them perfectly, except He of whom it is recorded that He magnified the law and made it honorable. Hence there is no salvation by the works of the law. Paul says, “Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight.” Rom. 3:20. But here comes in the great fact of salvation through faith. Paul further says, “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.” Does the way seem hard, my brother? Yet you sincerely desire to live a true life in the sight of God. What yearning there is in your heart for the perfection of the life that was manifested in Christ! Yet you are painfully conscious of coming short of the standard which your judgment and conscience approve. Look up, my brother. The robe of the imputed righteousness of Christ shall cover you as a garment. Patient continuance in well-doing shall bring eternal life. Dwell not on your mistakes and your failures. The great question is, Is your spirit right? David says, “Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.” Ps. 32:2. Is your spirit without guile? Is it true that deep down in your heart you desire and intend, above all things else, to live a holy life before God? Then upon you is the blessing that David pronounces upon the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, “in whose spirit there is no guile;” and “the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ,” is unto you and upon you as one who believes. He who enters upon the Christian way expecting to tread all the way a flowery path, where there are no obstacles to be overcome, no unpleasant sights and sounds, and odors to be endured, no burdens to be borne, where there is no toil nor weariness nor longing for rest, will meet disappointment. Happy will he be if he ceases not to press forward. There is no standing still in this journey. One must either go forward or go backward. It is like rowing a boat up a rapid and turbulent stream. Unremitting toil at the oars carries one slowly upward. There can be no rest, except with the certainty of being carried downward, slowly, it may be, at first, but later with ever-increasing and dangerous velocity. It is the duty of every Christian to keep the commandments of God, as it has been the duty of all men to keep them, everywhere and all the time. Let no one draw the dangerous inference that because the imputed righteousness of Christ covers the faults and failures of the sincere and earnest disciple, in whose spirit there is no guile, therefore he can with impunity neglect to square his life by the requirements of God’s law. Antinomianism, or the doctrine that the moral law is no longer binding upon men, is one of the worst delusions of Satan. The carnal heart desires it to be so, hence men are easily persuaded by the arch-deceiver that it is so. The most astonishing thing about it is that ministers of the gospel, having a reputable standing in Christian churches, teach it, when it suits their convenience to do so. It usually suits their convenience when the Fourth Commandment is under consideration. Urge the binding force of the First Commandment, and they have no dissent to offer. Quote the second, and you have their unqualified approval. Present the third, and they will join you in earnest exhortation to the profane swearer to leave off his habitual violation of the law of God. You come to the fourth, and read, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God,” and they fly the track at once, and bluntly tell you that we are not under the law, but under grace. The law of God, they say, has been repealed, abrogated, and done away. It is not necessary and would not be profitable at this time to enter into an argument on the law of the Sabbath. You, brethren and sisters, are content to take the commandment as it reads, “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” One thought more in this connection. John, in his vision of the threefold message, saw a peculiar company of believers, separate from all the rest, whose patience, and faith, and regard for God’s law lifted them above their unholy and turbulent surroundings; and of them he wrote: “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14:12. We are living amid the scenes that John saw. We have heard the cry of the message. Do we see that peculiar company that drew his special attention? Are we among those patient ones who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus? It is not enough that we keep the faith of Jesus only, as those profess to do who say the law of God has been done away. His children are required to keep His commandments also.