Laying Down the Law

From where do you know your misery?

     From the Law of God1.

What does the Law of God require of us?

     Christ teaches us in sum, Matthew 22: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength2. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself3. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."4

Can you keep all this perfectly?

     No5, for I am prone by nature to hate God and my neighbor.6

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1

Romans 3:20 (NLT) — 20 For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.

Romans 7:7 (NLT) — 7 Well then, am I suggesting that the law of God is sinful? Of course not! In fact, it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.”

2

Deuteronomy 6:5 (NLT) — 5 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.

3

Leviticus 19:18 (NLT) — 18 “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

Galatians 5:14 (NLT) — 14 For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

4

Luke 10:27 (NLT) — 27 The man answered, “ ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

5

Romans 3:10–12 (NLT) — 10 As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous— not even one. 11 No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. 12 All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.”

1 John 1:8 (NLT) — 8 If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.

1 John 1:10 (NLT) — 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.

6

Genesis 6:5 (NLT) — 5 The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.

Genesis 8:21 (NLT) — 21 And the Lord was pleased with the aroma of the sacrifice and said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of the human race, even though everything they think or imagine is bent toward evil from childhood. I will never again destroy all living things.

Jeremiah 17:9 (NLT) — 9 “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?

Romans 7:23 (NLT) — 23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.

Romans 8:7 (NLT) — 7 For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will.

Ephesians 2:3 (NLT) — 3 All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.

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Heidelberg Catechism