We regularly sing a hymn during Sabbath services which is based on wording found in Psalm 119. The title is, “O How Love I Thy Law!”
Unfortunately, that title doesn’t describe how most people feel about God’s laws. For the broad majority of nominal Christians, the law of God is neither loved nor kept. Rather, many forcefully (and sometimes viciously) proclaim that the law of God is “done away!”
Doing away with the law of God makes it literally impossible to be a Christian! Because Jesus kept the law of God, He never sinned and sin is the breaking of God’s laws (1 John 3:4; Authorized Version). If Jesus loved and kept the laws of God, then so must we:
“Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked” (1 John 2:3-6).
It is ironic that religious types will often proselyte others asking them, “Brother, do you know the Lord?” The “Lord” they are promoting is certainly not the Son of God revealed in the Bible, because Jesus Himself said:
“‘Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven’” (Matthew 5:17-19).
The Worldwide English (New Testament) presents Matthew 5:17 this way:
“‘Do not think that I have come to take away the law and the writings of the prophets. No, I have not come to take them away. But I have come to do what they say must be done.’”
What Jesus is explaining is very plain, very simple! First, that He had come to keep the law of God without sinning (Hebrews 4:15); and, second, that He would fulfill all the prophecies about Himself (Luke 24:44).
Jesus loved and kept the law of God. It is exactly what Christians must also do:
“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3).
One reason people reject the law of God is that it is hard to keep—in fact, it is absolutely impossible on our own to obey God perfectly. Paul wrote of this, saying, “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin” (Romans 7:14).
Still, we are commanded to love and keep the law of God. We can do so by turning to God in heartfelt sincerity, asking Him for His help in our lives to become converted, as Peter taught:
“Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’” (Acts 2:38).
Very, very few people are responding to God in our generation. The world is descending ever more rapidly into inextricable chaos and only the very few will break free from the stranglehold Satan now exercises as “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4). Those who do will be those who have loved and kept the laws of God.
Does that describe us?
