The law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. Galatians 3:24-25
If you take God’s law seriously, it will convince you that you are a sinner. That doesn’t come easily. Our instinct is to think that we are deserving, and that God owes us.
But God uses the law to wake us up to the reality that He owes us nothing, and that what we deserve is hell. When this happens in a person’s life, that person is using the law properly.
Paul speaks of his own experience of being awakened by the law: “I would not have known what sin was except through the law” (Rom. 7:7). Then he tells us how it happened. The tenth commandment got him: “I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, ‘Do not covet.’ But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire” (7:7-8). In other words, Paul is saying, “I thought that I was a righteous person, but then I discovered that I was all about myself.”
When the law convinces you of sin, remember that God is using this to bring you to Christ. The law was “put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.” It was literally a teacher or coach, to get you to Christ. That is God’s purpose when the law convinces you of sin.
You need to know this because when the law does its work in you, Satan sees an opportunity. “You see that you are a sinner,” he says. “You’re right. And there’s no hope for you.” The devil uses the law to bring you to destruction, but God uses it so that you would be blessed and live.
The proper use of the law is to lead you to Christ. Will you let the law lead you to Christ today, perhaps for the first time?