"Preaching the Law of God" by Walter Chantry

"Preaching the Law of God" by Walter Chantry: "by Walter Chantry

Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsover thou hast, and give to the poor. [Mark 10:19-21a]

First nine commandments
The more closely we analyse our Lord’s message to the rich sinner, the more striking becomes the contrast with modern evangelism. After mentioning the holiness of God, Jesus spent most of the remainder of the interview talking about God’s holy law,1 especially as summarized in the Ten Commandments.
In a sense His first remark to the young man was related to the perfect Law of God. The moral law reveals the character of God. A distorted knowledge of God had kept the inquirer from adequately worshipping according to the first four commandments. He seemed to be more ready to praise men than God. Jesus’ rebuke should have convicted the ruler of breaking the ‘first table of the law.’
Our Lord went on with an explicit quotation of the next five commandments, although not in their exact order. Doesn’t this seem to be an odd answer to ‘What shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ Surely Jesus didn’t imagine that this fellow could have eternal life by keeping the law. ‘A man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ ... for by the works of the law shall NO flesh be justified’ [Galatians 2:16]. Why didn’t Jesus speak of the free gift offered to all? That’s it! Why not offer Himself as a ‘personal Saviour?�"