Coming Back to the Point of Departure

# 15 Today's Prime Time Devo comes from: 1Ti 1:5-8, “Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith, 6 from which some, having strayed, have turned aside to idle talk, 7 desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm. 8 But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, (1 Tim 1:5-8) Today, I want to spend some time on the third use of the Law. (the dos and don'ts of God's Word.) By way of review, the first use is the restraint of evil in this world, The second use is to show all of us our sinfulness and thereby drive us to Christ. The third use is to show us how to live God-pleasing lives. This use is for the converted soul that desires to show love to God because of the great love that He has shown to us. “We love Him because He first loved us. (1 Jn 4:19) So how do we show our love to the Father? We do it by loving His Son, because As Jesus said, they are one and the same: Joh 10:30 "I and My Father are one." How do we show our love to Jesus? He told us in Joh 14:15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments.” The word “keep” in Scripture almost always means “to treasure something.” If you love Jesus you will treasure the dos and don'ts of His Word. Oh how wonderful is the Law of God. Ps 19:7 says, “ The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul;” And the word “converting means, “ moving back to the point of departure.” You don't need to customize it to your audience, you just need to proclaim it trusting that God will apply it to the hearts as necessary. Some will hear it and evil will be restrained. Some will hear it and be driven to the cross, and others (believers) will hear it and learn how to express love to the Father! Three sets of ears hear the Law when it is preached. The unconverted, the about to be converted, and the converted. It is vital for the sake of the about to be converted that the gospel is also proclaimed. When cut to the heart for their sins they need to hear those precious words of Peter in the first presentation of Law and Gospel in the early New Testament church: Ac 2:37 Now when they heard this, (the Law, “Thou shalt not kill) they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" 38 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. Receive the Law and the Gospel, and be brought back to your point of departure.