Our response to teaching on the Ten Commandments reveals our biblical and reformed orthodoxy

This last week at our midweek meeting at Sheffield Presbyterian Church, we looked at some of the Ten Commandments. We did so by looking at the Westminster Shorter Catechism. We studied the seventh to the tenth of the commandments. It was a joy to hear people's comments, questions and their delight at the discussion of such a topic. This sparked off in my mind how that teaching on the Ten Commandments is a good tester of biblical and reformed orthodoxy.

The Law of God summarised in the Ten Commandments has so many blessings and benefits for the church, when it is rightly understood. For those who rightly understand the law of God, there is a realisation that the Decalogue reveals our sin which is always needed and this provides a spiritually healthy antidote to sin. The law restrains us in our propensity to hypocrisy, sin, latent darkness and unrighteousness. The law reveals God's attributes and of course Jesus Christ who perfectly fulfilled the law in our place and the Lord expects us to use the law as our code of living in this sinful world. God's love is revealed in the law of God and much more.

How we then respond to the law of God, often reveals much. How do you respond to teaching on the law of God? Is it a "yes, but ..." which leads to a seeking to minimise the law's demands? Is it a "yes, but ..." which then falsely asserts that the law is not needed in the church? Instead, a biblical response is found by the author of Psalm 119 and Paul the apostle in the Book of Romans. How do these men respond to the revelation of God's holy law?

Psalm 119:77 "Let your mercy come to me, that I may live; for your law is my delight".
Psalm 119:97 "Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day".
Romans 7:22 "For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being".

These verses express what should be the response of the mature, righteous and godly man or woman. How do you respond? If there is a genuine lack of delight in God's Ten Commandments, why not pray about this and ask the Lord for help? Maybe you have wrongly understood the Lord's teaching on the law, maybe you have adopted some teaching on the law of God which gives you what your natural desire is, which is to be free from God's law. And yet, such an attitude is an unbiblical position. Let us walk humbly to follow the Lord, knowing that it is by grace that we follow the Lord, but His grace points out the law of God to us, to be a light for our path and a guide for our feet.