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    CHAPTER 5
    OUR BROKEN BACKBONE
    T here are two reasons why the Church would seem to be full of people whose lives don’t live up to what they should. As we have seen, the modem gospel has degenerated into a means of happiness, rather than one of righteousness. Second, we have failed to show the sinner that he is a lawbreaker, that he has violated the Law of a holy God.
    When I speak of using the Law in evangelism, I am not speaking of a mere casual reference to it, but as the backbone of the gospel presentation, because its func-tion is to prepare the heart for grace. Martin Luther said of the Law, “In its true and proper work and purpose it humbles a man and prepares him—if he uses the Law correctly—to yearn and seek for grace.” The Law is the rod and staff of the shepherd to guide the sheep to himself. It is the net of the fisherman, and the hoe of the farmer. It is the ten golden trumpets that prepare the way for the king. The Law makes the sinner thirst for righteousness, that he might live. Its holy light reveals the dust of sin on the table of the human heart, so that the gospel in the hand of the Spirit can wipe it perfectly clean.
    The Law should be esteemed by the Church because of its wonderful preparatory work in preparing a sinner’s heart for grace. In Joshua 3:14-17, God opened the Jordan River when the feet of the priests, who were carrying the ark of the covenant , touched its waters. Do you remember what the ark contained? It was the two tablets of God’s Law. Do you think that God would have opened the waters for the priests if they had complained that the two stone tablets were too heavy, and tipped them into the dirt to make their load lighter? Yet that is what many in the contemporary Church have done. The Law is the embodiment of this gospel we carry, but many have “neglected the weightier matters of the Law” and counted them as worthless. They have emptied the ark of the gospel, stripping it of its power.
    J. C. Ryle said of God’s Law, “But never, never let us despise it. It is the symptom of an ignorant ministry, and unhealthy state of religion, when the Law is reckoned unimportant. The true Christian delights in God’s Law (Romans 7:22).”
    The Ten Commandments are like the ten camels that carried Abraham’s servant in search of a bride for his only begotten son, Isaac (Genesis 24:10-20). When he arrived at the city of Nahor , he had his ten camels kneel down outside the city before the well at the time the women go out to draw water. The servant prayed that the bride-to-be would be evidenced by the fact that she would have consideration for the camels. When
    Rebekah saw the camels, she ran to the well to get water for them.
    God the Father sent His Servant the Holy Spirit to search for a bride for His only begotten Son. He has chosen the Ten Commandments to carry this special message from His Lord.
    While we may not be able to clearly distinguish the Bride of Christ from the rest of this world, the Holy Spirit knows that the primary reason she draws water from the Well of Salvation is to satisfy the ten thirsting camels of a holy and just Law. The true convert comes to the Savior simply to satisfy the demands of a holy Law.
    “It is the symptom of an ignorant ministry, and unhealthy state of religion, when the Law is reckoned unimportant.”
    The espoused virgin has respect for the Commandments of God. She is not a worker of lawlessness. Like Paul, she delights in the Law, and says with the psalmist, “I will run in the way of Your commandments”
    (Psalm 119:32).
    The Law is like Aaron’s rod that budded (Numbers 17). It looks like hard and dead wood, but from it issues the life of the gospel. If you are not sure if the use of the Law is right, incorporate it into your tabernacle of witness and see if it buds.
    When fiery serpents were sent among Israel, they caused the Israelites to admit they had sinned. The serpents also caused them to look up to a bronze