8/15/19 

Romans 3:20

²⁰ For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Psalm 1:2

but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and on his law he meditates day and night.

Psalm 119:97

Oh how I love your law!
    It is my meditation all the day.

What does the Law of God mean to you?  It plainly is the way God administers salvation.  It is just as plainly a ministration of judgment.  But it must be something else.

It is the constant meditation of the saint as both references in the Psalms inform us.  It is both their love and their source of fruitfulness.  It is a fact of Scripture that for the believer peace, fruitfulness, and growth in grace will not come without love for and a commitment to God’s Law.

To love God is to obey with affection the first 4 commandments.  In the same way to love our neighbor is to love commandments 5-10.

When Paul; in Romans 3:20 says through the law comes the knowledge of sin, he puts all man’s deeds under the oversight of the Law.  Sin is defined by the Law.  If not for the Law we would not know sin.

I found that credit was a great tool but a terrible master.  So the Law comes to us as an all- encompassing aid to grace in sanctification, or a terrible taskmaster to seek for salvation, cf Ephesians 2:8-9.

⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast.