As God prepared Israel for its occupation of the land of Canaan – the land He had promised them – He firmly reminded them of the centrality of His law to their existence. He told them that His commandments were near to them – in their hearts (Deuteronomy 30:11-14).
God’s law set two clear and distinct ways of life before them. On the one hand was life and good, while on the other was death and evil. The law defined these two ways, so they were clearly discernable.
The assault on God’s law has been relentless and highly focused. Satan’s hatred of God’s law has been infused into the mind of man. What we need to note is how Satan has been so effective in eliminating God’s law from human awareness. It has not been a full-frontal attack, but rather a strategy of infiltrate and erode from the inside.
Operating from “inside” religion, Satan has been able to use religious authority to convince many that the law was once valid, but in Christ, it has been done away. The religious cover for his hateful work has been very effective. Every religion that teaches that God’s law has been done away is unknowingly doing the work of the devil. How diabolically clever is that?
Today, the two ways of life God clearly defined for Israel to choose between have become so blurred that they have lost their distinction. Western religions blend popular humanistic morality with a “love” gospel to appeal to the masses. We are to the point that cultural influences far outweigh any authoritative truth. Compromise and consensus rule religion. God represents neither!
So, where do we stand? Have cultural influences unwittingly affected our view of God’s law? We are to stand on the law of God — the same law He reinforced with Israel. It is God’s law that clearly defines two ways of life. For His people there is to be no blurring of the distinctions. Death and evil are defined by God’s law. Man is incapable of determining for himself what is right and what is wrong. “O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jeremiah 10:23).
We need – indeed must have – the law to direct our steps. The law reveals the will of God and acts as a light to show us how to cut through all the deceitful chatter that Satan influences in the world of man. “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). There is no such light in this world today other than the law of God. As we see the decaying moral world around us and the pressure for compromise mounts, we must remember where the light is and where it is not.
The prophet Jeremiah reiterates God’s instruction to Israel for our benefit. “…Thus says the Lord: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death” (Jeremiah 21:8). Without light, those two ways are not discernable, thanks to Satan’s influence. We need the light of the law. “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isaiah 8:20).
God admonished Israel to “… choose life, that both you and your descendants may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19). Choose life!
The same admonition is given to us. “…Let your heart retain my words; keep my commands and live” (Proverbs 4:4). The cultural flow is against the law of God. Let us not be influenced by that flow and be tempted to compromise on the only way that offers life.
Bible Study: Law-Based Morality
Brian Orchard
