{"id":11522,"date":"2016-08-17T01:29:03","date_gmt":"2016-08-17T06:29:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/the-christian-and-the-law\/"},"modified":"2016-08-17T01:29:03","modified_gmt":"2016-08-17T06:29:03","slug":"the-christian-and-the-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/the-christian-and-the-law\/","title":{"rendered":"THE CHRISTIAN AND THE LAW"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'><b>JAMES 1<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'><i>Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'><i>(James 1:22\u201323)<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>God\u2019s law is like a mirror: it reflects things. The first thing the law of God reflects is the righteousness of God. The law is not given in abstraction, but it reflects the character, values, and concerns of the Lawgiver. As God Himself is righteous, His righteousness is reflected in His law.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>The second thing that the mirror of God\u2019s law reflects to us is ourselves. It shows our sinfulness. How many people do you know who look at themselves in a mirror all the time? We say such a person has a \u201cnarcissus\u201d complex. If we look into the mirror long enough, we will begin to see our blemishes and faults. If a man looks in the mirror, it is usually to make sure that he has removed all the stubble from his face. When a woman looks in a mirror, it is usually to make sure she has covered up or highlighted everything she wants to change by means of makeup. A mirror shows us our \u201cfaults.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>If a person looks into the mirror of God\u2019s holy law, he will surely see many faults. Only if a person makes himself the standard of judgment can he view himself as faultless. In order to evade a sense of sinfulness, people must stop measuring themselves by the mirror of God\u2019s law and start measuring themselves against other people\u2019s faults.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>As a mirror, the law shows our need for salvation, not just once but every day. It continually drives us back to Christ, our Savior and Guide. It humbles us and shows what we need to do to please God.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 18.0pt;line-height:normal'>The Bible teaches that when we actually obey God\u2019s commands, He will bless us and we will be happy. That point is made in James 1:22\u201325. If we listen to the law, but don\u2019t obey it, we are like people who forget everything we see in a mirror. The law has shown us our blemishes, but we don\u2019t do anything about them. If we obey, however, we shall find that the law \u201cgives freedom\u201d (v. 25). The man who looks into the mirror and then takes steps to change his ways, \u201cwill be blessed in what he does\u201d (v. 25). In this way, the mirror transforms us \u201cwith ever-increasing glory\u201d (2 Corinthians 3:13\u201318).<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;   text-align:center;line-height:normal'><b>CORAM DEO<\/b><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;   text-align:center;line-height:normal'>Psalms 103\u2013104<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;   text-align:center;line-height:normal'>Romans 14<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:   18.0pt;line-height:normal'>A mirror that projects a distorted image is   discarded as useless. Likewise many Christians have discarded the   Scriptures\u2014and the Law\u2014because they believe it is errant in what it teaches.   They think it, rather than they, is distorted. Be careful to continually   submit yourself to the Scriptures\u2019 authoritative reflection of Truth.<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:   normal'><i>For   further study: John 8:31; 14:21; 15:7 \u2022 2 Timothy 3:16\u201317<\/i><\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'>friday<\/p>\n<p class=MsoNormal align=center style='margin-bottom:0cm;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal'>august<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>JAMES 1 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like (James 1:22\u201323). God\u2019s law is like a mirror: it reflects things. The first thing &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/the-christian-and-the-law\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;THE CHRISTIAN AND THE LAW&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11522\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}