Matt chandler on Gal series part 4: the law for the believer does
not condemn but it becomes honey to our souls- ps 19; it's honey
because it shows the path of true joy
The law begins to bear weight on my rebellion. The law reveals
that I am a liar – I don’t just lie, I’m a liar: that’s why I
lie – that I’m a thief; that I tend to covet; that I have a
tendency to love other things more than I love God; that I am in
stark rebellion against the God of the universe. The diagnostic of
the law reveals that’s who I am. It’s not what I do, it’s who I
am. I do those things because that’s what is inside of me.
And then the offer is that, in Christ, I’ll be given the
righteousness of Christ, and the wrath due me because of that
rebellion is put on Christ on the cross. So now, when God sees me, He
sees me as perfect, spotless and righteous in His sight. So when God
looks upon me in Heaven, He sees me as blameless.
And then after that moment of justification that had nothing to do
with me and had everything to do with Jesus Christ, the law now
serves the purpose of a light unto my feet, a light unto my path, and
God begins to woo me into how He created the universe to work, for
the fullness of my joy and the display of His glory.
Now, when men see this, the law becomes a delight. David, who saw
this coming – and you learn that in Hebrews 11 – you go read
Hebrews 11 – and men in the Old Testament saw this coming and put
their faith in it – and David sings about the law, loves the law
and talks so strangely about the law that it’s hard for us to get
our mind on it. He said the law is like honey on his lips. He would
lay in bed and just meditate on it, like lustfully. When is the last
time you were just in your bed going, “Oh, don’t covet. Don’t
do it,” and started licking your fingers as if they were covered in
honey?
We don’t do that, and it’s a fundamental misunderstanding.
Because “Don’t covet” for me in Christ is not a condemning
command, but it’s a wooing command into joy. So the law does not
crush me any longer but leads me into ever-expanding joy.
So when the law says, “This is how you look at your wife,”
when the law says, “This is how you are to approach children,”
when the law says, “Don’t do this. Do this,” I don’t stand
condemned under that law: I’m spotless and blameless. So instead,
I’m being invited into the fullness of life now and ever-expanding
joy into eternity.
So the law of the Lord
becomes like honey to the saints, because it has lost its ability to
tell us we’re terminal. Instead, it reminds us of God’s love for
us.
