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All right, you can turn in your 
Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 5. We're in a bit of a precarious 
situation. I was going to do some introductory stuff last 
week, did not get through all of it. So we're going to just 
pick up that last bit tonight. So it probably isn't going to 
be a long study because I didn't want to try and shoehorn in the 
first commandment. I want to give attention to each 
of the commandments, but I do want to read the section beginning 
in Deuteronomy chapter five. Remember the people of Israel 
are in the plains of Moab or on the plains of Moab. getting 
ready to enter into the promised land. And the book of Deuteronomy 
is a series of exhortations by Moses to prepare that second 
generation for going into the promised land. And then, of course, 
they conquer the land under Joshua. We see compromise at the time 
of the judges, and then we see the monarchy instituted in 1 
and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and then nothing but decline, 
ultimately resulting in the collapse of the Northern Kingdom in 722, 
and the Southern Kingdom in 586. So, basically what we find in 
the book of Deuteronomy, in terms of the exhortations given by 
Moses, falls on deaf ears. Rather, it falls on sinful ears, 
and what the people of Israel do is they go into the land of 
Canaan, and they ape the conduct of the Canaanites, and ultimately 
reap the judgment of God. But as we will see as we move 
through Deuteronomy, there are promises concerning the New Covenant. It's not mentioned per se, New 
Covenant, but in Deuteronomy 30, for instance, it's certainly 
transcending what's going to happen in Old Covenant Israel, 
and I think it speaks concerning the time of Christ. So God in 
Deuteronomy knew that the children of Israel were not going to be 
faithful in the land. Nevertheless, he commands them, 
and so chapters 5 to 28 is the largest of the exhortations, 
and basically it's an exhortation to pursue covenant loyalty. So 
beginning in Deuteronomy 5, 1, And Moses called all Israel and 
said to them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which 
I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be 
careful to observe them. "'The Lord our God made a covenant 
with us in Horeb. "'The Lord did not make this 
covenant with our fathers, "'but with us, those who are here today, 
"'all of us who are alive. "'The Lord talked with you face 
to face on the mountain "'from the midst of the fire. I stood 
between the Lord and you at that time to declare to you the word 
of the Lord, for you were afraid because of the fire and you did 
not go up the mountain. He said, I am the Lord your God 
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of 
bondage. You shall have no other gods 
before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, 
any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is 
in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. 
You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord 
your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon 
the children to the third and fourth generations of those who 
hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love 
me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of 
the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless 
who takes his name in vain. "'Observe the Sabbath day to 
keep it holy, "'as the Lord your God commanded you. "'Six days 
you shall labor and do all your work, "'but the seventh day is 
the Sabbath of the Lord your God. "'In it you shall do no 
work, you nor your son, "'nor your daughter, nor your male 
servant, "'nor your female servant, nor your ox, "'nor your donkey, 
nor any of your cattle, "'nor your stranger who is within your 
gates, "'that your male servant and that your female servant 
"'may rest as well as you. And remember that you were a 
slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you 
out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm. Therefore, 
the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. Honor 
your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded 
you, that your days may be long and that it may be well with 
you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. You shall 
not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, 
you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, you shall 
not covet your neighbor's wife, and you shall not desire your 
neighbor's house, his field, his male servant, his female 
servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's. 
These words, the Lord spoke to all your assembly in the mountain 
from the midst of the fire, the cloud and the thick darkness 
with a loud voice. And he added no more. And he 
wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. Amen. Well, last week we looked at 
the command to obey the law. And basically that's what you 
have there in verses one to five. I should explain again. Verse 
three, the Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers. 
He did. according to Exodus chapters 
20 to 24, but I think he means alone. In other words, that covenant 
made or ratified in Exodus 24 was for this generation and subsequent 
generations going forward. So the Lord did not make this 
covenant with our fathers only or alone, but with us. So the 
emphasis is on that covenant fidelity that was sworn at the 
base of Sinai that the first generation reneged on and ultimately 
found judgment from on high. Notice as well, God shows the 
personal nature of his relation to Israel. Verse four, the Lord 
talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst 
of the fire. Remember that our religion is not a visual one. 
It's not about pictures. It's not about images, but it's 
about the revealed word of the living God. And that's also reiterated 
in chapter four. Notice in verse 15 in chapter 
four, take careful heed to yourselves for you saw no form when the 
Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire. Lest 
you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in 
the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness 
of any animal that is on the earth, or the likeness of any 
winged bird that flies in the air." The idea being is that 
we cannot picture God. God is not like the created order. God is not Creature, God is creator, 
he is infinite, he is not finite, so to try to picture him or to 
try to make an image to embody him or capture him in some way 
is inevitably wrong and it is inevitably idolatrous, and this 
is the basis for the second commandment. Notice in verse eight, you shall 
not make for yourself a carved image, any likeness of anything 
that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath. Ours 
is not a visual religion. It is a religion of revelation. God declares, God speaks, and 
the people receive that word and act upon it. So we looked 
at that command to obey the law. Then we noticed the preface to 
the Deca-Log, or the Ten Commandments. Remember, Deca simply means ten, 
Log means words. So Deca-Log means the Ten Words, 
or the Ten Commandments. So the preface is found in verse 
6. We see that it provides a context of grace. In other words, I am 
the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 
out of the house of bondage. So it's because of what God had 
done in redeeming them and in bringing them out of that bondage 
state in Egypt, then comes the commandments. So their response 
in terms of gratitude is to God's redemption. There's similarity 
in the New Covenant, guilt, grace, gratitude. We respond to God's 
grace in gratitude and obedience to God's law. Now, it's a bit 
different in terms of Old Covenant and New Covenant, but there's 
a similar pattern or trajectory that you see in the New Covenant 
epistles. And then we consider, next, the 
uniqueness of the Decalogue. Can we ask questions and talk? Or does it get picked up on there? 
Because it's a good time to review. Yeah? OK. So when we look at 
the uniqueness of the Decalogue, how do we know that the Ten Commandments 
are unique? It's a broad question we're going 
to hone in in a moment. Because they're written on two 
tables of stone. Very good. In fact, if you look 
specifically at chapter 5, it mentions that in verse 22. And he wrote them on two tablets 
of stone and gave them to me. So notice that text, though. The tablets of stone are significant, 
but the first part of that section is significant as well. And He 
wrote them on two tablets of stone. In other words, when we 
come to the Ten Commandments, we see there is this specific 
reference that God Himself wrote these laws. on these tablets 
of stone. Now, when we look further at 
the uniqueness of the moral law, and we'll come back to that point 
in a moment, how do we know that the Ten Commandments is unique 
versus, say, some of the laws concerning sacrifice? What are 
those laws concerning sacrifice called? Does anybody remember? 
Ceremonial law. And then when it comes to the 
uniqueness of the Ten Commandments, how are they unique over and 
against, say, a law in Exodus 21 to 23 that regulates the day-to-day 
life in Old Covenant Israel? What do we call that law? judicial 
law, so we got three divisions in the law of God you got moral 
law, which is Deuteronomy 5 and Exodus 20, it's the Ten Commandments 
then you have the ceremonial law, that's law that was temporary 
for the old covenant situation of the people of Israel that 
governed them in terms of worship, it governed them in terms of 
sacrifice, in terms of priesthood, tabernacle, temple It functioned 
to set forth to them in types and shadows and prefigurements 
the Christ that was going to come to save them from their 
sins. So ceremonial law regulated basically, 
there were some moral aspects, but it regulated basically the 
religious life of Old Covenant Israel. Judicial law did regulate 
life in the body politic. What happens when we have an 
altercation with two men who are fighting on the street? What 
happens when we have an altercation with two men who are fighting 
on a street, and in the midst of it, one of them strikes a 
woman who is pregnant? Well, that's judicial law that 
regulates the life of Israel in that Old Covenant setting. 
So when we come to this statement though, and he wrote them, talking 
about the Ten Commandments on two tablets of stone, and gave 
them to me. We don't have that with reference 
to judicial or ceremonial law. Now I should be very clear that 
God gave ceremonial and judicial law. Moses didn't develop that. Moses didn't sit under a tree 
one day and figure out, hey, we should have a tabernacle and 
then a temple, we should have a priesthood, we should have 
sacrifice, we should do sacrifice. He didn't think this up. This 
was God revealing it to Moses to inscripturate for the children 
of Israel in that old covenant setting. But when it comes to 
the moral law, we have this statement that he wrote them on two tablets 
of stone and gave them to me. And this isn't the only place 
where we see that reference to the Ten Commandments. So the 
Ten Commandments we call moral law. It's a reflection or a revelation 
of who God is, basically. It's similar to what Adam had 
in the Garden of Eden. Basically what you get at Sinai 
and here at the plains of Moab is a summary statement or a codification 
of what some in the history of the church have called natural 
law. God made man in his image and 
he hardwired man with certain abilities to discover things 
around him and with certain knowledge within him that he knew it was 
wrong to do certain things. God built man that way. So what 
you have at Sinai and here on the plains of Moab is the summary 
statement of basically what God gave to Adam in the garden. So 
it's natural law, moral law, and one of the things that we 
need to observe about this moral law is that it carries over into 
the New Testament. So ceremonial doesn't. Ceremonial, 
prefigured, typified, pointed forward, and foreshadowed Jesus 
Christ. So when Jesus Christ, the Lamb 
of God who takes away the sin of the world, comes and does 
what he does, there's no longer a need for tabernacle, or for 
temple, or for priesthood, or for sacrifice. There's no longer 
a need for incense. Christ has fulfilled that. When 
it comes to the judicial laws, our confession says it expired 
with the Commonwealth of Israel, that old covenant people that 
utilized that judicial law while they lived in the land. But there 
is a general equity that's binding. In other words, there are things 
that we can learn from judicial law that help us in society today. But there's not a strict one-for-one 
carryover into the New Covenant situation. But there is for moral 
law. So all Ten Commandments are abiding 
on all creatures everywhere. It's not just a Jewish thing. 
It's not just a Gentile thing. It's all men everywhere are subject 
to God's moral law. In fact, if you look at the Apostle 
Paul in Romans chapter 3, he makes that point when he is introducing 
his subject in the Book of Romans. Romans chapter one, Paul tells 
us what the book is going to be about. The thesis statement 
is in verses 16 and 17. He says, for I am not ashamed 
of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation 
for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the 
Greek, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith 
to faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. So 
he's gonna write about justification by faith. He's gonna write about 
the gospel, which is the power of God for salvation. Well, before 
he gets to the gospel, which simply means good news, the good 
news that Christ came to save sinners from their sins, he's 
got to deal with the bad news. There's no good news if we don't 
first have bad news, right? It's just the nature of news. 
Without bad news, there's not good news. Without good news, 
there's not bad news. So notice the bad news begins 
in verse 18. So now Paul's going to make his 
case. Gentiles are guilty. They have sinned against God. They may not have received the 
Ten Commandments the way that the Jews did, but the revelation 
of those commandments in the created order are enough to indict 
the Gentile and make them liable to God's just judgment. He then 
moves direction in Chapter 2 to indict the Jew. So he says, therefore, you are 
inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in whatever 
you judge another, you condemn yourself, for you who judge practice 
the same thing. So here he is speaking specifically. Notice in verse 17, indeed, you 
are called a Jew and rest on the law and make your boast in 
God and know his will and approve the things that are excellent, 
being instructed out of the law and are confident that you yourself 
are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 
an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, But basically, 
you're doing the same thing that the Gentiles have done. So in 
chapter 3, he then summarizes this condemnation of both Jew 
and Gentile. He appeals to the Old Testament 
to make his case in verses 9 to 18. But then notice in verse 
19, now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those 
who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all 
the world may become guilty before God. So you can't say, well, 
you know, it was written to the Jews in the Ten Commandments. 
That's not really for me. No, the law of God, the moral 
law, is the revelation of God's will. It is who God is, and therefore 
we are all subject to it. When God rained hell out of heaven 
on Sodom and Gomorrah, it wasn't an arbitrary law that he was 
using. It was his law. And when you 
look at the Old Testament, pagans are judged according to the violation 
of God's law. When Israel is supposed to go 
into the Promised Land and drive out those Canaanites because 
they were wicked and vile, the judgment for which God indicts 
them for being wicked and vile is His law. So the moral law 
transcends covenant. We are all under the Ten Commandments. And in a moment we're going to 
explain how we can use those commandments profitably. But 
before that, turn to 1 Corinthians just to show you this New Testament 
sort of distinction or division in the law. Now, there are many 
passages, both the Old and New Testaments, that we could go 
to, but remember how big of a thing circumcision was in the Old Testament. I mean, you had to be circumcised. 
Genesis 17, it was a mandate. You got to be circumcised. But 
note in the New Covenant, 1 Corinthians 7, specifically at verse 19, 
circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments 
of God is what matters. The only way that text makes 
sense is with the threefold division of the law. You've got ceremonial 
law that's now fulfilled as a result of Christ and His cross work, 
and you've got moral law that still is in play, that it's necessary 
to obey. So something as significant as 
circumcision was in the Old Testament is not significant in the New 
Testament. Why? Because it was ceremonial 
law. It was positive law given for 
a time in a specific covenant for a specific purpose. Notice 
in Galatians chapter 6, similar emphasis by Paul in a passage 
that is really riddled with You know, circumcision overtones. That was the issue in Galatia, 
or in the churches in southern Galatia. Judaizers were coming 
in and saying, it's good to believe on Jesus as Messiah, but you 
also need to be circumcised in order to be saved. So Paul rejects 
and repudiates and resists and attacks that notion. And in 615 
he says, for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision 
avails anything but a new creation. You see this distinction in the 
Old Testament as well. When Israel is sinning against 
God and God sends prophets to prosecute the case, it's usually 
moral law categories. Isaiah doesn't let them have 
it because they ate shrimp. No, he lets them have it because 
they went into their neighbor's wife. He lets them have it because 
they violated the second commandment and engaged in idolatry. He lets 
them have it because they were murderers. Again, not that it 
was okay to eat shrimp in that old covenant situation, but you 
see these distinctions within the law itself. In Hosea 6, God 
says, I desire mercy rather than sacrifice. 1 Samuel chapter 15 
after that failed attempt by Saul to deal with Agag and the 
Amalekites, what does God say? Behold, to obey is better than 
to sacrifice. He's not saying never sacrifice, 
but he's saying in terms of emphasis, obedience to the moral law is 
what is absolutely requisite. So this isn't a division imposed 
upon the Bible by, you know, Reformed exegetes, but it is 
rather something that the Bible itself demonstrates and shows, 
and I think Exodus, the flow there in terms of law, moral 
law, chapter 20, judicial, 21 to 23, And then ceremonial, 25 
to 40. It's pretty clear that there 
is a division amongst the law of God and that the moral law 
has that feature of having been written by the finger of God 
that points to its abiding validity even in the New Covenant. So 
that brings us then to the threefold use of the Ten Commandments. 
How do we use the commandments? If you turn to 1 Timothy chapter 
1, 1 Timothy 1, a necessary emphasis that we need to recognize at 
the outset. 1 Timothy 1, notice what Paul 
says in verse 8, we know that the law is good if one uses it 
lawfully. What does that mean? That means 
that there are unlawful ways that one can use the law. Right? We know the law is good, but 
we know that if one uses it lawfully. So what are some unlawful ways 
to use the law? One is to teach justification 
by law, to tell a sinner that, yeah, just obey, just do everything 
God says, and you'll go to heaven. Well, brethren, we know that 
they cannot do that. That's the whole predicate for 
the new covenant. That's the whole predicate for 
the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to seek and to 
save that which was lost. So as Christians, speaking to 
Christians, the law is a help for us in certain ways, but if 
you meet an unbeliever and you say, the way to heaven is through 
perfect obedience, and if you don't obey, you're gonna go to 
hell. Now, brethren, I would suggest there is a way you can 
do that. just make sure you tell them the gospel too, right? It's either your efforts, it's 
either your attempt, it's either your perfect law-keeping, your 
exact, entire, perpetual law-keeping, or it's the Lord Jesus Christ. But if you don't back it up with 
gospel or you don't tell people about the glory of Jesus as the 
obedient son to the Father who functioned as a substitute and 
a sacrifice on the cross and was raised again the third day 
for the justification of sinners, if you just preach to sinners, 
do what God says, obey that law perfectly, and you'll be saved. 
Again, it's right. But you know they can't. They 
haven't. They're in Adam. They're already 
sinners. So even if from the moment you 
say obey perfectly, they were to obey perfectly, they've still 
got a bunch of sin up to that point that needs to be atoned 
for, and you must preach Christ to them. So this is an unlawful 
way to use the law, preaching justification by law. Paul's 
not celebrating justification by law in Romans or Galatians. He's celebrating justification 
by faith. So when Paul says, we know that 
the law is good if one uses it lawfully, we need to understand 
there are unlawful ways to use that law. There are wrong ways 
to use that law. Now, in this context, we see 
one of the first proper uses of the law. Notice, he goes on 
to say, knowing this, he's not saying everything about the law 
that can be said. I think people read Paul that 
way. Anytime they see him refer to 
law, he must be saying everything that could possibly be said about 
law. No. He's not. This is a particular 
context where he's making a specific point, and he's utilizing this 
appeal to the law in a specific reason. And the use here is in 
verse 9, knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous 
person. What does that mean? Well, we 
know that the law is made for righteous persons in Romans 13, 
8. Because when Paul says, how do 
I love my neighbor? I don't murder him. I don't commit 
adultery with his wife. I don't steal from him. That's 
law made for a righteous in Christ person. So he's not saying everything 
that can possibly be said. He is speaking of a specific 
use of the law that we'll call the civil use, or even if we 
dare, political use. So notice, knowing this, that 
the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and 
insubordinate. And I'll explain in just a moment. 
But look at what he's doing here, lawless and insubordinate, for 
the ungodly and for sinners. for the unholy and profane, for 
murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers. You 
should be following the order here because it's the Ten Commandments. 
This is exactly and precisely the Ten Commandments. Murderers 
of fathers and mothers, manslayers, fornicators, sodomites, kidnappers, 
liars, or perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary 
to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the 
blessed God, which was committed to my trust. He appeals to the 
dialog, and he says that there is a righteous use, or rather, 
knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous person. 
So by the political or civil use, it is that which serves 
the Commonwealth. In other words, it's kind of 
like when you're driving on the freeway and there's a fence or 
a guardrail on the side of the freeway. That's very handy for 
you so you don't fly off the road, right? We had a little 
altercation driving to Boise, Idaho a few years ago when Micah 
was stationed there and hit some ice and just started to free 
flow and headed, well, first hit the center divide and then 
started going over there. And there was no little brick 
wall or anything, and there was a ditch. Thankfully, we were 
able to stop the car and not end up in the bottom of a ditch. 
And even more thankfully, you know how they say your life passes 
before your eyes? Mine didn't. The first thing 
that I thought when I started to go into this slide was, this 
ain't going to be cheap. And thankfully, it was. We found 
a good guy in Boise. He fixed us right up. Anyways, 
the point is, we need those guardrails. And the law, generally speaking, 
in this civil use, functions in that capacity. So if you notice 
in verse 9, knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous 
person. Why? Because the righteous person 
is doing it. He's already complying, whether 
he's a believer or an unbeliever, in terms of the civil or political 
use of the law. The law defines proper behavior 
and rebukes those not in conformity to it. It is not for the righteous 
person, for the righteous person is already doing it. And the 
illustration I always use with this is counterfeiting laws. 
I don't need counterfeiting laws. I got my issues, but counterfeiting 
money? That's just not in my wheelhouse. That's not something that entices 
me whatsoever. So that law, prohibiting counterfeit 
money, is not made for me. It's probably not made for anybody 
in here. Probably, maybe you have a remaining 
corruption to want to go out and make fake money, but the 
bottom line is that this is one of the uses of the law. The civil 
or political use as a force for the restraint of sin. This is 
the most general thing. It's the guardrail that hedges 
men in such that we don't experience hell on earth. God's law functions 
in that way. Secondly, it's the pedagogical. And this means child tutor. Pedagogy 
is teaching. Pedagogy is how to teach, how 
to instruct. Moeller defines it this way. 
The elenctical or pedagogical use, the use of the law for the 
confrontation and refutation of sin and for the purpose of 
pointing the way to Christ. So we preach the law, like the 
Heidelberg Catechism says, how do you know you're sin and misery? 
Because of the law of God. We tell sinners their violation 
or transgression of the law. We point them to the reality 
that they are justly condemned under God's law. and then we 
point them to the Lord Jesus. Augustine said, through the law, 
God opens man's eyes so that he sees his helplessness and 
by faith takes refuge to his mercy and is healed. This is 
a very vital aspect of preaching and one that absolutely, positively 
cannot be lost. If we are not telling sinners 
the law of God and their violation of it, we run the risk of preaching 
Jesus as an add-on to an already decent life. If we are not preaching 
the just liability of all men everywhere, under God for their 
violation and transgression of the law? If men don't see their 
sin before a holy God, they're not going to see the glory of 
Jesus as Savior for sinners. Bunyan said, the man who does 
not know the nature of the law cannot know the nature of sin, 
and he who does not know the nature of sin cannot know the 
nature of the Savior. So those churches that don't 
preach the law of God, or those pulpits that don't preach the 
law of God, and the problem of man, do run the risk of, you 
know, Jesus will help you. Whatever your little emotional 
issues are, Jesus will help you. Well, yeah, he does, but that's 
tertiary. Jesus saves you from the wrath 
and fury and judgment of God most high. Turn to the book of 
Matthew, Matthew chapter 19. We see this use of the law in 
the hand of the Savior. Matthew chapter 19, specifically 
at verse 16. Now behold, one came and said 
to him, good teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have 
eternal life? So he said to him, why do you 
call me good? No one is good but one, that is God. But if 
you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. This is 
what I was alluding to earlier. You can do it this way, right? You can press the sinner with 
the reality that you can't keep the law perfectly, entirely, 
perpetually, and exactly. And that's what Jesus is doing 
here. He's not saying, you know, covenant of works, just obey 
me and follow me, and off you go into eternal life. He's pressing 
him with the law to show him his sin and his need for the 
Savior. So notice, if you want to enter into life, keep the 
commandments. I can envision a thing where we do that, but 
always following up with the gospel. So he said to him, which 
ones? Jesus said, you shall not murder, 
you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall 
not bear false witness, honor your father and your mother, 
and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. The young man said 
to him, all these things I have kept from my youth, what do I 
still lack? Which is probably a pretty proud 
and arrogant statement. Really? You kept all those from 
your youth? That's a pretty bold statement. 
Whatever the young man's problem was, it was certainly a Tenth 
Commandment issue. If you back up, notice, you shall 
not murder, six. You shall not commit adultery, 
seven. You shall not steal, eight. You shall not bear false witness, 
nine. Honor your father and your mother, five. You shall love 
your neighbor as yourself. Sort of a summary statement of 
the entire second table. Nothing about covetousness. So 
the young man says, all these I've kept from my youth, what 
do I lack? Well, go sell everything you have, give it to the poor, 
and follow me. Ha. It was the 10th commandment. 
It was that that rendered him sorrowful, for he had great possessions. And this is Paul's experience 
in Romans chapter 7. Romans chapter 7, same sort of 
an emphasis. In fact, some think Paul is the 
rich young ruler. I don't think it's completely 
outlandish if you look at Paul's experience. In Romans chapter 
7 at verse 7, what shall we say? Then is the law sin? Certainly 
not. On the contrary, I would not 
have known sin except through the law. For I would not have 
known covetousness unless the law had said, you shall not covet. So he's sharing his own experience. 
Apart from the law of God, I wouldn't know my sin. And apart from the 
law of God, I wouldn't know my own covetousness, my own lust, 
the heart that is not good in the sight of a holy God. So this 
is a crucial element in preaching. Notice back in Romans 3. I read 
the verse 19, but I didn't read verse 20. Here's the pedagogical 
use of the law. Therefore, by the deeds of the 
law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. Remember I said 
you can't preach justification by words or by law. Therefore, 
by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, 
for by the law is the knowledge of sin. That is a crucial aspect 
in terms of paving the way to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ 
the Lord. And then the third use is called 
normative. And normative sounds just like 
it sounds, normal, normative. It's the use for the believer 
in the life of sanctification. Moeller again says, pertains 
to believers in Christ who have been saved through faith apart 
from works. In the regenerate life, the law 
no longer functions to condemn, since it no longer stands over 
against man as the unreachable basis for salvation, but acts 
as a norm of conduct, freely accepted by those in whom the 
grace of God works the good. In other words, we get saved, 
or the law of God shows us our sin and shows us our need for 
the cross. We, by the grace of God, flee 
to the cross, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we're saved, 
and then Jesus fills us with the Spirit and sends us to the 
law, not for salvation or justification, but as a pattern for our lives 
of holiness, for our sanctification. It's a beautiful thing. Augustine 
says the law was given in order that we might seek grace. Grace 
was given in order that we might fulfill the law. Turretin similarly, 
before it, law was an instrument of the spirit of bondage to throw 
down and bruise man. But afterwards, it becomes the 
instrument of the spirit of adoption to promote sanctification. Thus, 
the law leads to Christ and Christ leads us back to the law. It 
leads to Christ as the Redeemer and Christ leads to the law as 
the leader and director of life. It's a beautiful thing. So you've 
got the civil use, or political use, where it just restrains 
the sinfulness and wretchedness of man. You've got the pedagogical, 
where God, through the law, shows sinners their need for the Lord 
Jesus Christ. And then the normative use, and 
the New Testament is filled with that. As I mentioned, Romans 
13, 8-10, how do I know I love my brother? I don't commit violations 
of God's law against him. Ephesians 6, verses 1-3, children, 
obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right. Honor your 
father and your mother, which is the first commandment with 
promise, written to Gentiles, little Gentiles in Ephesus. So 
the universality of God's commandments and the proper usefulness of 
those commandments are crucial for the people of God living 
and navigating in this New Covenant situation. Now, finally, as we 
look back at the Decalogue of the Ten Commandments, I just 
want to end with four principles for interpreting those commands 
specifically. And this comes from Westminster, 
Larger Catechism 99, also Calvin, Fisher, Turretin, Hodge, Brockle, 
all of these guys deal with this to some degree or other. The 
law first is perfect and binds everyone to full conformity. 
That is the demand. Perpetual, exact, entire, personal 
obedience to the law. It is perpetual, or perfect rather, 
and binds everyone to full conformity. So it is good and profitable 
to preach it, but make sure you follow it up with that gospel 
of Jesus Christ. Secondly, the law is spiritual 
and reaches the understanding, will, affections, and all other 
powers of the soul. Jesus makes this clear in the 
Sermon on the Mount. You've heard that it was said, 
but I say to you, the problem isn't Moses versus Jesus, the 
problem is Jesus versus the Pharisaic misinterpretation that only thought 
in terms of the external effect of the law. In other words, if 
you didn't stop your brother's heart from beating, you were 
okay with the sixth commandment. No, Jesus says if you hate him 
in your heart, or you assassinate his character, or you're vicious 
to him in some other way, you violated the commandment. The 
Pharisees taught that as long as you didn't go into your neighbor's 
wife, then you were off the hook. Jesus says, if you lust after 
her in your heart. Now, Jesus isn't making this 
up. He's not strengthening. It was always there in the Old 
Testament. This principle is good. The law 
is spiritual and reaches the understanding, will, affections, 
and all other powers of the soul. The third principle from Westminster 
Larger Catechism, where a duty is commanded, the contrary sin 
is forbidden. And where a sin is forbidden, 
the contrary duty is commanded. So for instance, we read, you 
shall not murder. Well, that also speaks positively 
to you shall promote life. You shall take care of yourself. 
You shall defend the weak and the helpless and the needy. You 
shall do all that you can to not only not murder, but also 
to promote life. Paul uses this sort of analogy 
in Ephesians chapter four, let him who stole, steal no longer. but rather let him labor and 
labor to such a degree that he has enough money to give to others 
who are downtrodden and poor. So where something is prohibited, 
the positive aspect is to be explored. Where there's something 
positively laid down, there's a prohibition that we need to 
make sure we reckon with as well. And then finally, that under 
one sin or duty, all of the same kind are forbidden or commanded. When you comb through Old Testament 
legislation on sexuality, for instance, and you see condemnation 
of homosexuality, or you see condemnation of transvestitism, 
or you see those things, we connect that to the seventh commandment. 
In other words, murder, the sixth commandment. When you start looking 
at the goring ox, Or you look at those two guys that are fighting 
and they strike a woman who is pregnant. What's the underlying 
principle or moral law that you find there? It's the Sixth Commandment. 
And so I think these are some good helps and some good rules 
as we move through the Ten Commandments so that we don't go off the road 
in terms of our use of the law, but off the road in terms of 
our interpretation of the specific commandments. All right, well, 
I will close in prayer, and if there's any questions, we can 
deal with those. Father in heaven, thank You for 
Your Word. Thank You for this book of Deuteronomy and for what 
You emphasize on these plains of Moab. We pray that You would 
give us ears to hear and learn from Old Covenant Israel. We 
know these things are written for our admonition, they're written 
for our encouragement. We pray for the grace of the 
Spirit to guide and help us to live in a manner that is consistent 
with the Holy Gospel that we have been called to, or called 
in. We pray now for your blessing upon us in Jesus' name. Amen. Any questions or comments? So, do you think it's a good 
practice to read the law in worship service? Yeah, I think it is. 
I do think it is. I think that if that's done, 
though, there needs to be a conspicuous gospel element as well. If law 
is read and no gospel is preached, then I would not recommend that. 
It seems imbalanced and imprudent to me. If you're not going to 
make the way of escape known, I mean, yeah, we should still 
let sinners have it, but I think that the spirit of the New Testament 
is let them have truth as it is in Jesus as well. Yeah. Yeah, it actually, you know, 
the book that I recommended last week by Philip Ross called From 
the Finger of God, the subtitle is The Threefold Division of 
the Law, and he does some historical work. So basically, the report 
today is that the Reformed, you know, pushed this view on the 
Bible. He goes back in the history, 
it's been a few years since I've read the book, I know he goes 
to the 13th century, because he says Aquinas held it, and 
I think he goes further back in the patristics. But I think 
those passages in the scripture, where you see that division, 
where you see that, behold, to obey is better than to sacrifice, 
you know, in an old covenant setting, where sacrifice was 
pretty important. But in terms of comparatively, 
obedience to the moral law is crucial and sacrifice. And then those statements concerning 
circumcision. And then Jesus' approach to ceremonial 
law in the New Testament. But it's a good book if you're 
interested in the subject. And I think all of us should 
be. I really, I mean, maybe not Philip Ross, much, but as much 
as that book, for instance, but to really not be able to answer 
basic questions about, I mentioned last week, you know, the Old 
Testament, it condemns certain things, and Christians need to 
condemn those things along with those Old Testament scriptures, 
but we need to have a hermeneutic that can justify and produce 
that kind of interpretation. It's, you know, you've probably 
been in discussions where you have to kind of tell people what 
they believe as you're schooling them. I mean, you've met somebody, 
and you might be a Jehovah's Witness, and you know where they're 
coming from, but they don't know where you're coming from. And 
so you kind of jump ahead and say, I know that you're going 
to say this, Well, it's kind of like that when it comes to 
the law. There's a lack, you know, under dispensationalism, 
Ten Commandments aren't binding today. There's no place for the 
Ten Commandments in a Gentile church in the New Covenant. Well, 
that's simply outlandish. You know, that's just bad at 
a whole bunch of levels, and so patently so, and yet a lot 
of people hold that position. You know, practically, if you 
think Fourth Commandment and why churches aren't Sabbatarian, 
it's usually under the influence of dispensationalism. Now, that's 
not saying they have bad Lord's Day ethics. I think John MacArthur 
probably has a great Lord's Day ethic. But in terms of the commandment, 
the fourth commandment, it's just not the issue. So I think 
we need to have a hermeneutical approach. And this isn't everything, 
obviously. But I think the way to use the 
law and the uniqueness of the moral law, I think, should at 
least get us in the ballpark and be able to to give a rationale 
for why we do what we do. All right. Yes, yes. We just happened to 
be reading 2 Kings 20 this morning. And Hezekiah, his prayer, he 
turns his face to the wall and he basically says to God, to 
put a good boy in and capture him while I've done all these 
things. Yeah, and God gives him a reprieve. So the rich young 
ruler, maybe it's sort of in those times of law violence as 
well. What's that? The rich young ruler, 
is he going to see a culture kind of that Yeah, it's tough 
to know, but the way that Jesus deals with him seems to indicate 
it's different than the Hezekiah thing. I think that, I think 
it's a textbook illustration of how to use the law to show 
somebody their sin. The fact that he goes away sorrowful, 
and you know, we don't have any more than that. You know, what 
happened? Did he get on his knees and pray that Jesus, what's that? 
Might have been Paul. I remember reading that years 
ago and thinking, oh, that's weird. But the more I compare 
it with Romans 7 and Paul's experience, it's not as weird as I once thought. 
But that Hezekiah one is interesting. God does give him a reprieve. All right.