The Law is Still Important?
The Bible says in Psalm 19:7, “The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul.” Scripture makes it very clear that it is the Law that actually converts the soul. To illustrate the function of God’s Law, let’s look for a moment at civil law. Imagine if I said to you, “I’ve got some good news for you: someone has just paid a $25,000 speeding fine on your behalf.” You’d probably react by saying, “What are you talking about? That’s not good news—it doesn’t make sense. I don’t have a $25,000 speeding fine.” My good news wouldn’t be good news to you; it would seem foolishness. But more than that, it would be offensive to you, because I’m insinuating you’ve broken the law when you don’t think you have.
However, if I put it this way, it may make more sense: “While you were out today, the law clocked you going 55 miles an hour through an area set aside for a blind children’s convention. There were ten clear warning signs stating that fifteen miles an hour was the maximum speed, but you went straight through at 55 miles an hour. What you did was extremely dangerous; there’s a $25,000 fine. The law was about to take its course, when someone you don’t even know stepped in and paid the fine for you. You are very fortunate.”
Can you see that telling you precisely what you’ve done wrong first actually enables the good news to make sense? If I don’t clearly bring understanding that you’ve violated the law, then the good news will seem foolishness and offensive. But once you understand that you’ve broken the law, then that good news will become good news indeed.
In the same way, if I approach an impenitent sinner and say, “Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins,” it will be foolishness and offensive to him. It will be foolishness because it won’t make sense. The Bible says that “the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness” (1 Corinthians 1:18). And it will be offensive because I’m insinuating he’s a sinner when he doesn’t think he is. As far as he’s concerned, there are a lot of people far worse than him. But if I take the time to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, it may make more sense. If I open up the divine Law, the Ten Commandments, and show the sinner precisely what he’s done wrong—that he has offended God by violating His Law—then when he becomes “convinced of the law as a transgressor” (James 2:9), the good news of the fine being paid will not be foolishness. It will not be offensive. It will be “the power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16).
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Cameron, Kirk ; Comfort, Ray: The School of Biblical Evangelism : 101 Lessons : How to Share Your Faith Simply, Effectively, Biblically-- the Way Jesus Did. Gainesville, Fla. : Bridge-Logos Publishers, 2004, S. 13