Against the Law

Thirty five miles an hour in a thirty mile per hour zone! The evidence apparently was there, on film, in the possession of the South Wales Constabulary. And so I found myself, one Friday afternoon a few weeks back, on a Speed Awareness Course at the YMCA in Newport. Four hours of watching videos, group exercises and listening to the professionals, rather than three points on my license and a hefty fine. But I don’t need to say much more, because quite a few of you reading this have been on a course like this too, haven’t you? Some of you have even admitted to it!

I wasn’t on my own that afternoon. There were almost thirty others, from a seventeen year old to a chap in his seventies. They were male and female, of all shapes and sizes. The only thing we had in common was that we were all in the wrong. Our driving had broken the law. We were guilty. I was reminded of what the Bible says about our lives on a far greater scale. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

The afternoon started with us giving a list of reasons why we might occasionally (!) break the speed limit. They ranged from the understandable – to get someone to the doctors because they were ill, to the farcical – ‘I needed to get to the petrol station before I ran out of petrol’, but our instructor reminded us that there was no good reason to break the law and that the consequences of speeding and illegal driving were serious. Sometimes it leads even to death, either of the driver or of another motorist or a pedestrian. I thought again of sin and how we can always think of an excuse to justify our breaking of God’s law, but there is no excuse. What is more, “the wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23).

By this point in the article, I know what you are beginning to wonder. Did he learn anything about driving, or did he spend the whole afternoon jotting down sermon illustrations? Well, yes, I hope I did learn a few things. Apparently wherever you are driving you are never more than 20 yards away from a clue to the speed limit on that road, particularly if you keep an eye on the lamp-posts. If they’re in a regular pattern, you should expect it to be thirty miles an hour. Otherwise there will be plate size signs on them declaring what the speed limit is. We are without excuse. But again I found myself thinking of spiritual realities. All around us; in creation, in our conscience, in the Bible, and ultimately through Jesus, God has spoken to us about our sin, and our need of His forgiveness. How good God is! How without excuse we are!

The best part of the afternoon was right at the end. The instructor told us that because we had completed the course, he could press a button on his laptop and send our details back to the office. That meant the slate was wiped clean. Our speeding transgression had been dealt with. No more punishment. No fine, no penalty points. Gone! Your sins and mine can be forgiven, dealt with in an instant too, but not by our doing a course, but by Jesus dying in our place, and giving us his righteousness. Are you still guilty … or forgiven?

Floods Because of Sin?

It is not often that the words of a local councillor makes the news headlines, but David Silvester, a UKIP councillor in Henley-on-Thames managed just that last month, but has now been suspended as a result of it.  He faced a barrage of mockery and criticism, after stating that the country had been ‘beset by storms’ since the passing of the gay marriage legislation last year.  He had, apparently, previously warned the Prime Minister that if the government went ahead with the bill, God would punish the country.  The recent flooding, especially in the South of England, has, he claimed proved him right.  Despite the abuse and loss he has suffered, Mr Silvester has stuck to his guns!

    I wonder what you thought of his views.  Maybe somebody, knowing that you go to church, asked you what you thought.  What did you say?  How do you approach the issue biblically?  Because if we believe the Bible is the Word of God and profitable for every area of our lives and every question that life throws up, that is what we should do.  That appears to be what the councillor in question has done, and we should thank God for those in public office who do so, and pray for more like them.

    The Bible teaches the reality of God and his consistent opposition to sin.  It teaches that God reserves the right to punish sin in this world, and will certainly do so when this world is over.  It teaches that societies that reject God, his Word and His law, must expect to experience his judgement.  It teaches too that the weather is under the control of the sovereign God, and sometimes is used by God to punish wrongdoers.  The Bible in both Old and New Testament shows us that marriage is exclusively between a man and a woman, and all sexual activity outside of biblical marriage is wrong. Mr Silvester is absolutely right in his statement of such truths.

    Where we are always on less safe ground is when we try to go further.  God’s ways ultimately are beyond our knowing.  Is the bad weather due to the Marriage Act?  We can’t say for sure one way or the other.  If the floods are a punishment for sin, there are a thousand other sins that God could be dealing with in the UK at the moment.  As a nation we have rejected His Word, His law, the day that he has given us to worship Him, and ultimately and worst of all, His Son Jesus Christ.  Though God is angered by sexual sin, it is not the unforgiveable sin.  There will be men and women in heaven one day who were guilty of such sin (1 Corinthians 6:9-11), but there will be nobody in heaven who has consistently rejected the Lord Jesus. 

    Which is where we have to stop thinking about others and focus on ourselves!  Never mind the sin of others, what about mine?  Do my sins call to God for punishment, or do I know they have been forgiven because I have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ and his death on the cross? If so, my sins are cast not into a flood, but in the depths of the sea itself (Micah 7:19).