The Second Use of the Law

# 14 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) Last time we began talking about the three uses of the Law (the dos and don'ts of God's Word.) The first use being the restraint of evil in this world even amongst the unbelievers. The second us is to show all of us our sinfulness and thereby drive us to Christ. In Ro 7:7, we read, “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet." Is the Law bad? Are the dos and don'ts of God's Word bad? No Paul says! When God's Law comes to us externally through our hearing or reading of God's Word. It strikes a chord of confirmation with the Law that God has put in the heart of every man and woman He ever created. It affirms what we really know deep down inside. And awakens an opportunity for godly sorrow over our sins. Without the reminder for instance that it is wrong to covet, Paul and others would continue in the sin of covetousness, oblivious to it, because it had been buried....forgotten, under layers of a hardened heart. But the Law smashes through those layers and awakens our awareness of sin, it prepares the previously hardened heart for the sweet message of forgiveness through faith in Jesus. Ho 10:12 says, “Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, (plow your heart with the Law! Allow the Law to do it's work!) For it is time to seek the LORD, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.” Say the Law! Display the Law! Proclaim the dos and don'ts of Scripture! Preach it! Some need to hear it in order for the fallow ground to be prepared for the seed of the Gospel! True, some may already be aware, but even they need to hear it for the purpose of the third use of the Law, which we will get to next time.