THE STRENGTH OF SIN IS THE LAW

1 Cor. 15:56

Morning Meditation 7/17/16

Verse 56 says, “The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.”

Paul is speaking here about the resurrection. In the light of the saving power of the gospel and the hope it gives of the resurrection, Paul speaks here of “The sting of death.” To most of the world, including Christians, death is much more than a sting. They look at it as the end. There is a lot being said today about “near death experiences” in which people enter a tunnel and see a brilliant light and have a great feeling then re-enter their bodies. When they regain consciousness they say they no longer dread death. There are others who contact the dead or have the dead contact them. Some of these who have died were not Christians and they do not seem to be in a place of suffering at all. First of all, contact with the dead is forbidden in the Word of God. Second, the Bible teaches that when an unsaved man dies he goes to hell (Luke 16) and does not linger around to talk to the living. We either believe the Bible or we don’t. I take my stand on the Word of God and declare any contact with the dead is demonic and condemned in the Scripture. There is no GOD GIVEN COMFORT given to anyone who experiences contact with a dead loved one. It is just Satan setting a snare to trap uninformed or disobedient Christians into putting stock in a work of Satan and thinking it is coming from the Lord. Satan is an imitator. Satan wants people to think that death is no big deal and that there is no hell.

The word “sting” (kentron) means “a sting, as that of bees, scorpions, locusts. Since animals wound by their sting and even cause death, Paul attributes death, personified as a sting, i.e. a deadly weapon.” Paul could have used a lot of words. But he used the word “sting.” A sting can hurt. It can even cause death. But here death is the cause not the result of the sting. The word “death” is the word that is used of the death of the body. Death is never pleasant even for the mature Christian who knows where he is going. Paul says, “the sting of death is sin.” Is any without sin? I have an article that I am keeping where the oldest known woman in the world died in France at the age of 122. The article said she took fencing lessons at the age of 85. But death came knocking at her door. It is coming to every door. Death is more than a sting to the unsaved. It is simply an unpleasant sting for those of us who are saved.

Next Paul says, “and the strength of sin is the law.” The word “strength” is “dunamis” and is the word from which we get our word dynamite. It means, “inherent power, power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature, or which a person or thing exerts and puts forth.” This means that sin has inherent power. It is dynamite power. It can destroy the spirit, soul and body in hell. Men use the blasphemous words “God damn” you to someone they are upset with. First of all, you can’t order God to damn anyone. Second, one does not understand damnation or he would not want his worst enemy to suffer damnation. Third, he commits a sin when he uses these blasphemous words and the sin he commits will through the law do to him what he is asking God to do the other person. Now, if the strength of sin is the law, lets take a look at a summary of the doctrine of the law.

1. The law is God’s standard of righteousness. This means that when God gave the law, he gave a set of standards that demanded of man what he as Creator expects of his creatures. God can tell you what he expects of you. And he has done this in the law. When man violated God’s law in the Garden of Eden, he did what God calls sin. Sin resulted in death because God had said, “In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 3:17). Adam died spiritually that day but lived physically for 930 years. Spiritual death brought with it an old sin nature that introduced lust, hatred, murder and a long list of other things into man as a potential. This old sin nature is unexposed apart from the law. This is the reason Paul said, “The strength of sin is the law.” The law is God’s standard of righteousness. Man has a problem with that standard.

2. The next thing about the law is that it was not given to a righteous man. Paul says in 1 Tim. 1:9-10: “Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine;” You see the law was not make for a righteous man. It was made for people described in this list. I do not believe people who claim to get to heaven by keeping the law have ever read these verses.

3. Then our text says, “The strength of sin is the law.” Paul said in Romans 7:7-9: “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.” Paul says, “for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. . .” The law is God’s plumb line. When you stretch a plumb line down beside a crooked wall its crookedness becomes very obvious. Does the plumb line make the crooked wall crooked. No. It just makes it obvious. Sin has a hay day when you attempt to keep God’s standards. What you thought was a peace of cake becomes a mouthful of horrible mush that you can’t get rid of.

4. The law diagnosis’ your case and drops you off at Dr. Grace’s office. There are doctors who do nothing but diagnose. Then they send you on to the specialists. Galatians 3:24 says, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” A schoolmaster teaches and guides the student. In this case he teaches the student that he is a sinner and has broken God’s law big time. When the one he is teaching finally accepts the diagnoses and asks for a cure the schoolmaster has to give him the bad news that he cannot help him (Rom. 3:19-20) but he will recommend him to a doctor who specializes in the cure for sin. The good news is that though you have a terminal illness, Dr. Grace has never lost a case. The only reason one dies from the “AIDS OF SIN” is that he refuses the cure of Dr. Grace. He is not on the approved list of the doctors listed in the World Medical Association! But let me assure you he can cure sin and has never lost a case.

5. Then the strength of GRACE is that HE removes the LAW so that it no longer applies to the life of the believer. Paul says, and the Holy Spirit says, “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” Paul makes this statement to those who knew what it was to be under law. He is assuring them that they are no longer under law. And the way the law is removed is through the death of Christ (Rom. 6:6) and they are to consider themselves dead also (Rom. 6:11). We are alive in Christ in a new life. Not the old life made over. It is a new creation: 2 Cor. 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

We in Christ will experience a sting when death comes. But it will not be an atomic blast. It will hurt but it will not be fatal. Because to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

The law is not my enemy. It is my friend. It diagnosed my case perfectly and led me to Dr. Grace’s door and Dr. Grace did a permanent cure on me. Glory to God, someone hold my mules!

May the Lord bless you.

In Christ

Bro. White