Its Office
The law of God gives knowledge of the righteousness of its great Author.
"Hearken unto Me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law." Isa. 51:7.
It marks every departure from righteousness as sin.
"Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4.
It is not a code merely for the regulation of outward conduct. It is the moral law—the primal standard of righteousness established by the Creator for His creatures. There is not an impulse of the inmost soul that is not reached by it. It is the word which, living and powerful, is "sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." Heb. 4:12.
Face to face with this holy law, we hear in it the voice of God saying, "Be ye holy; for I am holy." Every soul must confess its guilt before the searching power of God's law. All things are naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. "Guilty!" we confess. Left alone with our guilt, there could be no ray of hope.
"The threatenings of the broken law
Impress the soul with dread;
If God His sword of vengeance draw,
It strikes the spirit dead."
Thank God, we are not left alone; help is laid upon One mighty to save.
"But Thine illustrious sacrifice
Hath answered these demands,
And peace and pardon from the skies
Are offered by Thy hands."