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Okay, you can turn to Matthew 
chapter 22. We'll look at the Decalogue as 
referred to by our Lord Jesus in a sort of a summary fashion. So I want to read beginning in 
verse 15 in Matthew 22, and we'll read to the end of the chapter, 
but our focus will be 34 to 40. So beginning in 2215, then the Pharisees 
went and plotted how they might entangle him in his talk. And 
they sent to him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Teacher, 
we know that you are true and teach the way of God in truth. 
Nor do you care about anyone, for you do not regard the person 
of men. Tell us, therefore, what do you think? Is it lawful to 
pay taxes to Caesar or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness 
and said, Why do you test me, you hypocrites? Show me the tax 
money. So they brought him a denarius. 
And he said to them, Whose image and inscription is this? They 
said to him, Caesar's. And he said to them, Render therefore 
to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things 
that are God's. When they had heard these words, 
they marveled and left him and went their way. The same day, 
the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him 
and asked him, saying, Teacher, Moses said that if a man dies 
having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise 
up offspring for his brother. Now there were with us seven 
brothers. The first died after he had married, 
and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother. Likewise, 
the second also, and the third, even to the seventh. Last of 
all, the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, 
whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her. 
Jesus answered and said to them, you are mistaken, not knowing 
the scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection, 
they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the 
angels of God in heaven. But concerning the resurrection 
of the dead, Have you not read what was spoken to you by God, 
saying, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God 
of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. 
And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at 
his teaching. When the Pharisees heard that 
he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then 
one of them, a lawyer, asking him a question, testing him, 
and saying, Teacher, which is the great commandment in the 
law? Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all 
your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This 
is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it. You 
shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang 
all the law and the prophets. While the Pharisees were gathered 
together, Jesus asked them, saying, What do you think about the Christ? 
Whose son is he? They said to him, The son of 
David. He said to them, How then does David in the Spirit call 
him Lord? Saying, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand 
till I make your enemies your footstool. If David then calls 
him Lord, how is he his son? And no one was able to answer 
him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question him 
any more. Amen. Well, this particular setting 
is in the Passion Week. And what we find in this particular 
section is confrontation with the religious authorities. If 
you go back to chapter 21, verses 23 to 27, you'll notice that 
they challenge him in terms of his authority. Now when he came 
into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people 
confronted him as he was teaching and said, by what authority are 
you doing these things and who gave you this authority? So it's 
a question concerning Christ's authority and this sets off, 
as I said, multiple confrontations with the religious leaders. Notice, 
subsequent to that event, there are three parables. The parable 
of the two sons, the parable of the wicked vinedressers, and 
then the parable of the wedding feast. And each of those are 
calculated to expose the wickedness of Israel generally, and the 
religious leadership in particular. And then there is these four 
exchanges. They ask three questions of the 
Savior. And then the final sort of confrontation 
is Jesus asking them a question in verse 41. Or verse 42, what 
do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he? So in verse 
15, the Pharisees come and ask him a political question. Is 
it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar? In verse 20, the Sadducees come 
with an eschatological question. What's going to happen in the 
age to come? Now the Sadducees denied the age to come. They 
were liberals, theological liberals, so they had no sort of idea of 
a future state, but they want to nevertheless try to trip up 
the Lord Jesus Christ. And in the section that we're 
dealing with, we have a lawyer of the Pharisees that had come 
specifically to trip Jesus up by asking Him this question concerning 
the great commandment in the law. So we'll look first at the 
question posed by the lawyer in verses 34 to 36, and then 
secondly, the answer provided by the lawgiver. The Lord Christ 
does respond very effectively to that. So notice in terms of 
the setting, verse 34, when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced 
the Sadducees, they gathered together. So again, this wasn't 
a religious dialogue where they're looking for information, they're 
exchanging ideas, they're trying to to grow and to learn and to 
exhort one another. No, they are trying to trip him 
up. This is confrontation. As I said, it's the Passion Week. 
It's the Tuesday. Later on that week, he would 
be crucified because of the sins of these particular people. So 
the Pharisees and the Herodians had asked Jesus about paying 
taxes in verses 15 to 22. The Pharisees had witnessed Jesus' 
response to the Sadducees concerning the resurrection. Now notice, 
the Pharisees would agree with Jesus about the resurrection. The Pharisees would disagree 
with the Sadducees, but nevertheless, they're all on the same side 
in their opposition against the Lord Jesus. There is certainly 
an allusion to Psalm 2 too, and the rulers take counsel together. 
That's strengthened by what we see later on in this particular 
section. What do you think about the Christ? 
Whose son is he? In verse 42. So you have a wonderful 
illustration of this mutiny against Yahweh and against His Christ 
in the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus. Now, in terms of 
the question, the questioner was, one of them, a lawyer. Now, 
the lawyer is a scribe or an expert in the law, a man learned 
in the law of Moses, that is, a scribe belonging to the Pharisaic 
party. So he wasn't a dummy, he wasn't 
a moron, he wasn't an ignorant person. He was a learned man. 
He understood the contours of the law. He certainly had interpreted 
it. He certainly had applied it. 
He was certainly probably one that persons had come to on many 
occasions asking similar questions. So he asks Jesus which is the 
greatest of the commandments. Now, the motivation for the question 
is given to us in verse 35. One of them, a lawyer, asked 
him a question, testing him. If you look at chapter 22, verse 
18, Jesus perceived their wickedness and said, Why do you test me, 
you hypocrites? Show me the tax money. Turn back 
to chapter 16 in Matthew's Gospel, specifically at verse 1. Then 
the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing him, asked that he 
would show them a sign from heaven. We're seeing that in our study 
in John's Gospel, where we're at just closing chapter 6 down, 
we see this rising opposition to the Lord of Glory. He came 
to his own, his own did not receive him, and his own turned against 
him. And we see again, the religious 
leadership turn against him in such a way that they're trying 
to expose him as a fraud, as a charlatan, and as one that 
was contrary to the law of Moses. Turn over to chapter 19, verse 
three, the Pharisees also came to him, testing him and saying 
to him, is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for just 
any reason? So again, the motivation behind 
the question here in our passage in chapter 22 indicates that 
the man is not looking for a legitimate discussion and debate and an 
attempt to grow. They want to expose Jesus, they 
want to show him to be a fraud, they want to pit him against 
Moses so that they can take him down. This has got a diabolical 
motive written all over it. Now in terms of the question, 
so the one previous was about eschatology, and the one previous 
to that was politics. Should we pay taxes to Caesar? This one is nomological. Nomological 
means having to do with the law. Namas is the Greek word for law. You've heard of antinomian, you've 
heard of neonomian. So this was a nomological question. The lawyer, the Pharisaic lawyer, 
asks him about the law. And the question was in fact 
debated by rabbis under discussions of light and heavy or small and 
great. If you turn over to 23. Chapter 
23, specifically at verse 23, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, 
hypocrites, for you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin and 
have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and 
mercy and faith, these you ought to have done without leaving 
the others undone. So there were weightier matters 
of the law, not negating or not mitigating or not suggesting 
that all of the law is not important, but in terms of the law itself 
as a code, there were weightier matters. There were light and 
heavy matters. There were small and great matters. There were 613 laws in the Old 
Testament. You have 248 commands and 365 prohibitions. And so this was a question that 
was discussed among rabbis, which is the Great Commandment. But 
with reference to this, the question was designed to cast Jesus in 
a negative light. He doesn't ask this question 
so that he can be amazed by the answer. Rather, he wants to expose 
Jesus, as I said, as a fake, as a fraud, and perhaps anti-Moses 
in terms of his orientation. RT France says, any answer must 
risk pleasing some at the expense of alienating others. And therein, 
perhaps, is the element of test from an unsympathetic dialogue 
partner, particularly in view of the suspicion already noted 
in 517 that Jesus had come to abolish the law. If he differed 
radically from mainstream Jewish orthodoxy, this question ought 
to reveal it. So go back to Matthew chapter 
5. where France notes that Jesus has already set down his commitment 
to the law of Moses. Remember the Sermon on the Mount? 
His popularity is spreading, it's growing. Persons are coming 
to hear what he has to say. And certainly it would be in 
everybody's mind, what does he think of the Old Testament? They 
wouldn't have called it the Old Testament, but that's what we 
call it. What would he think of Moses? So he wants to assure 
them that he's not anti-Moses, he's not anti-law, he's not come 
to abolish, but he's come to fulfill. So in 517, do not think 
that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come 
to destroy, but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, 
till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by 
no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore 
breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men 
so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever 
does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom 
of heaven. For I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds 
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no 
means enter the kingdom of heaven. So he's already had to deal with 
questions concerning the law. And so in this series of confrontation 
with these religious leaders, this one goes right for the throat 
in terms of which is the great commandment in the law. So that 
brings us to the answer provided by the lawgiver. In the first 
place, the first great commandment is the Shema. Notice in verse 
37, Jesus said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all 
your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. So he 
quotes from Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 5. Now the Shema technically is 
Deuteronomy 6 and verse 4. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our 
God, the Lord is one. So that was the central confession 
of Israel's faith, and then the response to that was in verse 
5. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, 
mind, and strength. In the parallel passage in Mark, 
he includes the Shema. So you have that statement, Hear, 
O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Now here we have 
a bit of a stylistic change in verse 37. You shall love the 
Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with 
all your mind. It's mind instead of strength 
that you have in Deuteronomy. Calvin says we know also that 
under the word heart, the Hebrews sometimes include the mind, particularly 
when it is joined to the word soul. Now, with reference to 
the great commandment, this should have gone without any difficulty 
whatsoever. In other words, Christ answers 
the question properly. He doesn't need me to sort of 
affirm that. But this is, in fact, the great 
commandment in the law. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our 
God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your 
God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Now, in terms 
of that particular confession, it is first and foremost a theological 
confession. Yahweh is the true and living 
God. He is unique and incomparable. 
I think John Gill explains it well. He says, "...the doctrine 
of which is that the Lord, who was the covenant God and Father 
of His people Israel, is but one Jehovah." He is Jehovah, 
the being of beings. A self-existent being, eternal 
and immutable, and he is but one in nature and essence. This 
appears from the perfections of his nature, his eternity, 
omnipotence, omnipresence, infinity, goodness, self-sufficiency, and 
perfection. For there can be but one eternal, 
one omnipotent, one omnipresent, one infinite, one that is originally 
and of himself good, one self and all-sufficient and perfect 
being, and which also may be concluded from his being the 
first cause of all things, which can be but one, and from his 
relations to his creatures as their king, ruler, governor, 
and lawgiver." So the greatest commandment, first and foremost, 
has to do with God. We acknowledge who he is in terms 
of a theological confession, and then we respond to that in 
terms of a heart commitment. This is also a personal confession. The Lord our God, it's a personal 
pronoun confession. He is the Lord our God. Paul 
says, with reference to Jesus in Galatians 2, he loved me and 
he gave himself for me. When Thomas lays eyes on the 
risen Christ, he says, my Lord and my God. So with reference 
to Israel, it wasn't just cognitive. It wasn't just sort of in their 
minds, but rather it was a heart approach. to the true and living 
God. It was a practical confession. 
It describes our response to God, to love Him with every fiber 
of our being. Intriguingly, as Jesus responds, 
you notice, In other words, everything in you is to be directed to God. When it comes to loving neighbor, 
you love your neighbor as yourself. You love your neighbor as yourself. Not with the same abandonment 
that you do with God Most High. You give God everything. You 
give God more than you give to yourself. That's the standard 
upon which we love our neighbor. But with reference to the living 
and true God, it's all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. 
Every fiber of our being is directed to the true and the living God. 
And then in terms of that confession, it's a logical confession. Based 
on what God has done for His people, this necessarily follows. That He is who He says He is, 
that He relates to us in the manner in which He does, that 
we are able to call Him our God, then that evokes from the heart 
of the worshiper that love, that devotion, that adoration with 
heart, soul, mind, and strength. So the Lord Jesus answers the 
question very specifically, which is the great commandment in the 
law. It is to love God above all things. But he doesn't stop 
there. He goes on to detail not just 
the first table or summarize not just the first table, but 
also the second table of the law. Notice he says in verse 
38, this is the first and great commandment, and the second is 
like it. You shall love your neighbor 
as yourself. So here he's quoting not from 
Deuteronomy 6, but from Leviticus 19. Leviticus chapter 19. In fact, you can turn there because 
this is foundational to the summary statement concerning the Decalogue. 
And in short, the argument is going to be if Jesus summarizes 
the Decalogue, then that summary of the Decalogue is binding. But also the Decalogue which 
it summarizes is binding as well. In other words, Jesus wouldn't 
highlight this or point to this if it was abrogated, if it was 
abolished, if there was no Ten Commandments for the lives of 
God's people in this New Covenant era. Notice in Leviticus 19, 
18, you shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the 
children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor 
as yourself. I am the Lord. And then turn 
over to verse 35. You shall do no injustice in 
judgment, in measurement of length, weight, or volume. You shall 
have honest scales, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest 
hymn. I am the Lord your God who brought 
you out of the land of Egypt. Where is it though? It's right 
around here. He also repeats, love your neighbor 
as yourself. I'm sorry. Verse 34. Yeah. You shall love your neighbor, 
love him as yourself for you were strangers in the land of 
Egypt. So this is the summary statement of the second table 
of the law, so Christ presses that upon them. And as well, 
the Lord indicates that both are crucial. Notice the language. He says, and the second is like 
it. You shall love your neighbor 
as yourself. So there is priority. This is 
the great commandment with reference to God, but that does not minimize 
or mitigate our responsibility toward man. The two commandments, 
the two sort of summary statements, belong together. The two commandments 
belong together practically. The former leads to the latter, 
and the latter gives evidence of the former. If we don't love 
God the way that we're supposed to do, we're not going to love 
one another the way that we're supposed to. All you have to 
do is read through the prophets and you will see when the prophets 
come to upbraid the nation of Israel, they typically do so 
in light of the Decalogue. They highlight first table transgressions 
and then second table. The idea is clear. If you reject 
God, if you despise God, if you loathe God, if you don't love 
God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, you're not 
going to love your neighbor. If you look around at society, 
it's pretty easy why things are such a mess. Because men don't 
fear God. Men don't love God. Men don't 
worship and honor God. When you look at Romans chapter 
1, it's first and foremost what we believe concerning God that 
leads to the vice list that follows. So, they knew God exists, but 
they neither glorified Him as God, nor were their hearts thankful. So they reject the true and living 
God, and then they turn into all manner of wickedness and 
evil. So these two commandments go together. The first table 
leads to the latter. The latter gives evidence of 
the former. If we're not loving men the way that we're called 
to love men, then there's no evidence that we love God. See, 
those things work hand in hand, and that's what Jesus is emphasizing 
in this section. The standard involved is consistent 
with creaturely love. We love our neighbor as we love 
ourselves. We're to love God with a love 
that far surpasses our love for self or neighbor. We're not to 
love the Lord our God the way that we love ourselves. We're 
to love the Lord our God far more than we love ourselves. 
We love our neighbor the way that we love ourselves. And that 
doesn't mean we fawn over ourselves. We look in the mirror and we 
just delight in our beauty and all that. It just means we don't 
ingest poison. We don't walk in front of trains. 
We try to engage in self-preservation. We try to eat nutritious meals. 
We try to exercise. We try to live in a particular 
way so that we don't keel over. So that's the kind of love that 
we have for ourselves. That's the kind of love that 
we're supposed to express toward our fellows. But the love for 
God is to be above that. It is to be with heart, soul, 
mind, and strength. If a man loves himself with heart, 
soul, mind, and strength, he is an idolater. He's in sin. 
He has rejected the first and great commandment. And then the 
rest of the New Testament highlights the importance of this command. 
Turn over to Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter 13. So the two 
summary statements summarize the entirety of the Decalogue 
So you've got the first four commandments our duty toward 
God and then you've got the last six Commandments our duty toward 
man and you see how the New Testament authors enter Engage these commandments 
in the life of God's people Christ's blood-bought children are supposed 
to keep the law not in order to be saved But as the reflex 
or as the response of having been saved Notice in Romans 13, 
8. Now brethren, this is a very 
helpful portion of Scripture because he not only tells us 
to love, but he describes or defines for us what love looks 
like. Imagine if he just said, okay, 
in the church I want you to love each other. Well, what does that 
mean? Does that mean we bring each other flowers? Does that 
mean we bring each other coffee? Does that mean we take each other 
out for tacos? What does it mean to express 
love? Well, love is obedience in terms 
of God's commands. That's what love is. Love isn't 
nebulous. It's not subjective. It's not 
in the eye of the beholder. It is God-defined. Keeping God's 
law toward another human being is to love that human being, 
and that's what Paul says. So, oh no one anything except 
to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the 
law. For the commandments, you shall not commit adultery, you 
shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false 
witness, you shall not covet, and if there is any other commandment 
are all summed up in this saying, namely, you shall love your neighbor 
as yourself. Love does no harm to a neighbor. 
Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. Do you mean we're 
loving one another when we're not committing adultery with 
each other's wives and husbands? Yeah. We love each other when 
we're not murdering each other? Yeah. According to Paul, we love 
each other when we're not stealing from one another? Yep. Do we 
love each other when we're not bearing false witness or covenant? 
Yeah. It's concrete. It's tangible. It's objective. 
You're not left to wonder, what is it to love my brother or my 
sister? Don't sin against them. Don't 
steal their stuff. Don't steal their spouse. Don't 
covet after their stuff. Just be faithful in terms of 
your commitment as a brother to him. Turn over to Galatians 
5. Again, you see this emphasis in these New Covenant epistles 
where practicality is in the apostles' mind. Chapter 5, verse 
13. For you, brethren, have been 
called to liberty. Only do not use liberty as an 
opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 
For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, you 
shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one 
another, beware, lest you be consumed by one another. And 
then in James 2, he refers to what he calls the royal law. 
And in James 2.8, he says, if you really fulfill the royal 
law according to the Scripture, you shall love your neighbor 
as yourself, you do well. But if you show partiality, you 
commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 
For whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point, 
he is guilty of all. For he who said, do not commit 
adultery, also said, do not murder. Now, if you do not commit adultery, 
but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So 
speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of 
liberty. For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown 
no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. So you go back to Matthew's 
gospel. Jesus is asked, which is the 
greatest commandment in the law? So he goes to the Shema to underscore 
that our love for God is primary. But that love for God is a summary 
statement of the first four commandments. You shall not commit adultery, 
you shall not make idols, you shall not blaspheme, and you 
shall not remember rather to keep the Sabbath day holy. And 
then this other statement, you shall love your neighbor as yourself, 
summarizes the second table of the law. So that brings us to 
some implications. In the first place, the two commandments 
summarize the entirety of the Decalogue. So what we've studied 
in Exodus chapter 20, as far as Jesus is concerned, these 
are the two that the Law and the Prophets hang on. The entirety 
of God's Word hangs on or depends upon the Decalogue. Notice in 
verse 40, on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. 
And he means by that, these are summary statements. These are 
great, all-encompassing statements relative to our duty toward man 
and our duty toward God. Jesus does not reject the law, 
but fulfills it. And when we consider this particular 
passage, it really underscores what our confession of faith 
says in chapter 19 when it deals with the law of God. It says, 
neither are the aforementioned uses of the law contrary to the 
grace of the gospel, but do sweetly comply with it. So it's not that 
the law mitigates the gospel. It's not that the gospel obliterates 
the law. The law has its place and the 
gospel has its place. If we understand the place of 
the law and the place of the gospel, I think it was Spurgeon 
who said, then we have the whole system of divinity figured out. 
If we mess up law and gospel, we mess up the entirety of God's 
Word. Now, obviously, there's sweet 
inconsistencies. We might get some things right. 
But with reference to the law and the gospel, Jesus does not 
mitigate, abolish, abrogate, or get rid of the law in this 
New Covenant era. And we wouldn't expect Him to 
do so. Because we have the prophetic announcement in Jeremiah 31 that 
God will write his law upon the hearts of New Covenant believers. 
And so New Covenant believers aren't getting a brand new law. 
They're getting the Decalogue. They're getting that revelation 
of God's will, not only of who he is, but what he demands in 
terms of his creatures. Love to God and love to man. 
And it's not love to God and love to man undefined or ill-defined 
or subjective or left up to the person to sort of eke it out 
and figure it out. No, we love God when we're not 
engaged in idolatry. We love God when we don't blaspheme 
Him. We love God when we call the Sabbath day a delight and 
we keep it. We love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and 
strength when we have devotion to Him above all other things. And we love our neighbors as 
ourselves when we do them no harm, but when we engage in law-keeping 
relative to the people around us. And then the Lord Jesus answers 
perfectly and silences the Pharisees. Notice, on the heels of this, 
there's no statement. Back in verse 33, with reference 
to the Sadducees, it says, And when the multitudes heard this, 
they were astonished at his teaching. Same thing in verse 22. When 
they had heard these words, they marveled and left him and went 
their way. On the heels of this statement, with reference to, 
on these two commandments, hang all the law and the prophets, 
it says, while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus 
then asked them. So Jesus turns the gun against 
them and asks them about Psalm 110. What Lord, or whose son 
is the Christ? But then notice how this interchange 
ends. Verse 46. and no one was able 
to answer him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question 
him anymore." So after this series of debates or confrontations, 
Christ silenced them. He shut their mouths. He shut 
this Pharisaic lawyer by answering properly concerning the weighty 
matters of the law. He shut the mouths of the Sadducees 
by rejecting their presupposition that there is no supernatural. 
Notice how he responds to that. Verse 32, I am the God of Abraham, 
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God is not the God 
of the dead, but of the living. Well, they would never have affirmed 
that. Jesus assumes that and answers 
them in most glorious ways. And of course, we know how he 
answers the question concerning paying the taxes. Whose picture 
is on there? Well, then go ahead and give 
that to Caesar. But make sure you render to gods what is God's. 
So everything that they threw at him, he was able to effectively 
answer, he was able to effectively counter, and he ultimately shut 
their mouths by a superior understanding of the law and the gospel, and 
he presses them with it. Now in terms of some application. 
In the first place, this context is of confrontation. This is a great example of not 
losing your mind under fire. Christ answers in a most excellent 
way in each of these instances. And brethren, as I've suggested, 
we live in an increasingly God-hating generation. We're going to be 
called upon to give answers. We're going to be called upon 
to give a rationale, to give reason. Many of us may end up 
in court for the things that we believe and the things that 
we hold to, So we better be able to reasonably and rationally 
and biblically answer those who would oppose us. As well, with 
reference to the law, the Lord confirms the abiding validity 
of the moral law. He doesn't do away with it. He 
doesn't abolish it. I think I've told you that new 
covenant dispensational theology and even new covenant theology 
don't have a place in new covenant Christianity for the Decalogue. Now, the New Covenant guys are 
a bit closer. They're all of the commandments 
except for one of them, the Sabbath. And of course, dispensationalists 
say, oh no, the Ten Commandments are not for us at all as the 
Gentile Church. The Ten Commandments will be 
again for the Jews in the Millennial Kingdom. That's not what Paul 
says. That's not what Jesus says. That's 
not what the apostles say whatsoever. They press the law of God. as 
it is applicable for the New Covenant people of God. So the 
Lord confirms the abiding validity of the moral law. He summarizes 
the Decalogue with Deuteronomy 6.5 and Leviticus 19.18. He therefore 
confirms the abiding validity, and if the summary abides, that 
which it summarizes certainly abides as well. So if you say, 
oh well, yeah, these are the two commandments upon which all 
the Law and the Prophets hang. Absolutely positively. The first 
four hang on the first one, and the last six hang on the second 
one. So the Ten Commandments, as a 
unit, is binding for the people of God. Now, there is a lawful 
way to use it, and there is an unlawful way. It is unlawful 
to try to take the commandments and keep them in order to be 
justified by God. Because we're sinful, we're not 
going to be able to do it. It's an impossibility for us 
as dead sinners in Christ. So if we try to use the law as 
a means of justification, we're using it unlawfully. But if we 
use the law to show sinners their need for Christ, that's a lawful 
use. Or if we use the law as blood 
bought, spirit filled believers who seek to have a pattern for 
sanctification. That's a proper way to use the 
law. And that's what we call normative. And that's the way 
the New Testament people of God should approach that law. The 
Lord demonstrates here. Excuse me. that he is neither an antinomian 
or a neonomian. As I said, namas means law. Antinomians 
are against the law. They're against it either doctrinally 
or practically. Now, I realize all of us have 
remaining antinomianism in us. Anytime we sin, that's our antinomian 
self rearing its ugly head. God says, don't do this, and 
we do it. That's antinomianism. That's 
anti-law-ism. But I'm talking about doctrinal 
antinomians. Typically, hyper-Calvinists are 
antinomians. That's just an interesting sort 
of connection that you find in hyper-Calvinism. But as well, 
there's others that see all that Christ has done is for all that 
we stand in need of. And while I'm certainly sympathetic 
to that movement, I am not sympathetic to, you know, we jettison the 
law. Jesus will later say in John 
14, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. 1 John 4 tells 
us that the commandments are not burdensome, they're not grievous. 
The Apostle Paul, as we've seen there in Romans 13, 8 to 10, 
says this is the way you're supposed to love one another. So the New 
Testament does not uphold an antinomian reading. It just does 
not legitimize a getting rid of the law. But neither is Jesus 
a neonomian. And neonomian is more of a legalist, 
a new lawist, somebody that adds a few twists here and there to 
the law. And honestly, brethren, as we 
look at the church context today, I think most people would say 
antinomianism is the biggest problem. I disagree. I think 
neonomianism is the biggest problem. I think people are always trying 
to add something to the gospel. I think that people want to throw 
a little faith or little works in there, they want to throw 
a little faithfulness in there, and they want to twist things 
in a way that is not conducive to God's holy word. But be that 
as it may, whatever our prevailing tendencies are, whether antinomian 
or neonomian, Jesus was neither. He was a gnomian. He held to 
the law in a biblically balanced and proper way. And then the 
Lord defends the abiding validity of the moral law in a most sublime 
manner. He just answers the question 
and he answers it beautifully. Ryle says, how simple are these 
two rules and yet how comprehensive, how soon the words are repeated 
and yet how much they contain. how humbling and condemning they 
are, how much they prove our daily need of mercy and the precious 
blood of atonement. Happy would it be for the world 
if these rules were more known and more practiced." I think 
that's a great sort of an approach to that. We need the law. It's 
a blessed thing. The world needs the law. It's 
a blessed thing. But he also acknowledges that 
that law shows us constantly our need for the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us never forget that pedagogical 
use where it's a child tutor that shows us our need for Christ. 
That's not just for the pagan that we want to show him his 
sin so that he'll come to the Savior. It's for us too, brethren. Whenever we come to these law 
passages, we should be exceedingly thankful for the Lord Jesus Christ. Go back a little bit to the Sermon 
on the Mount, Matthew 5-7. Some people treat Matthew 5-7 
as gospel. Brethren, it's law. It is law. When Jesus is commanding in the 
Sermon on the Mount, He is definitely encouraging and exhorting His 
disciples, those washed in His blood, those believing on Him, 
on how they ought to live in terms of the normative views. 
But He's also showing sinners their need for salvation. He's showing sinners their need 
for Jesus. And when we look at this, it 
ought to be apparent. Lloyd-Jones makes this observation 
concerning the Sermon on the Mount. Remember, Lloyd-Jones 
lived, preached, ministered in the early part of the 20th century, 
not long after neo-orthodoxy or liberalism sort of made its 
arrival. Neo-Orthodoxy from Germany, liberalism, 
theological liberalism, sort of was co-opted in the United 
States. And liberals got to the point 
where they were just looking at the Sermon on the Mount as 
the model for ethics. Read the Sermon on the Mount 
and just go be like Jesus. Well, brethren, that sounds good, 
but if you know yourself even that much, you'll read the Sermon 
on the Mount and say, I'm not going to go be like Jesus because 
I'm nothing like Jesus. This is law. I've got big problems. I've got sin in my heart. So 
Lloyd-Jones made the proper observation. There is nothing that so utterly 
condemns us as the Sermon on the Mount. There is nothing so 
utterly impossible, so terrifying, and so full of doctrine. Indeed, 
I do not hesitate to say that were it not that I knew of the 
doctrine of justification by faith only, I would never look 
at the Sermon on the Mount, because it is a sermon before which we 
all stand completely naked and altogether without hope. Well, J. Gresham Machen said 
similar things concerning the Sermon on the Mount. I thought 
I had it written down in here. I don't. Oh yeah, I do. The Sermon 
on the Mount, rightly interpreted then, listen to what he says. 
Brethren, this is rampant. Not neo-orthodox German liberals 
in our day are espousing this, but evangelicals and reformed 
people think that the Sermon on the Mount is gospel. Now, 
again, when you take commands that say, do this, live like 
this, that's law. And I'm not saying law is bad. 
I'm not saying the Sermon on the Mount is bad. But I'm saying 
if you don't appreciate that second use of the law, that pedagogical 
function, you're going to be crushed by the Sermon on the 
Mount. So he says, Machen says, the Sermon on the Mount, rightly 
interpreted then, makes man a seeker after some divine means of salvation 
by which entrance into the kingdom can be obtained. The Sermon on 
the Mount, like all the rest of the New Testament, really 
leads a man straight to the foot of the cross. That is absolutely 
true. If you don't, I mean, if you 
read the Sermon on the Mount and you come out the end of chapter 
seven and say, yeah, I got this. Man, good on ya. I hope you've got it, because 
it's a tough one. But with reference to the law, 
we ought not to ever forget that even as God's people, as blood-bought 
children of God, we can rejoice in the reality that Christ has 
paid our debt, that Christ has cleansed us from our sin, that 
Christ has stood in the gap, that Christ has fulfilled for 
us what God demanded, because we never did. We never will, 
and we never would. So we ought to praise God. In 
terms of the commandments and the believer, the believer must 
love God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength. Again, 
if that does not throw you at the foot of the cross, I don't 
know what will. We need to love God with all 
our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Praise God for our Lord Jesus 
Christ. The Lord is the sole object of 
such love, worship, and adoration. And the Lord in His grace, having 
saved us, has given us the Holy Spirit by whom now we can love 
God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Of course, 
there's struggles and difficulties to be sure. Spurgeon says, who 
can render to God this perfect love? None of our fallen race. 
Salvation by the works of the law is clearly an impossibility 
for we cannot obey even the first commandment. There is one who 
has obeyed it and the obedience of Christ is reckoned as the 
obedience of all who trust him. Being free from legal condemnation, 
they seek ever after to obey this great and first commandment 
by the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells within them. See, 
that's the proper trajectory with reference to obedience, 
when we appreciate justification by faith alone. When we acknowledge 
salvation by grace through faith, when we rejoice in that precious 
blood of the Lamb who washed us and who cleansed us from all 
sin, and by virtue of that redemption He has given us the Holy Spirit 
as the seal, as the guarantee, as that on-board resident. So 
now we can see God. We can love God. We can worship 
God. We can express devotion to God. So the believer must love God 
with all his heart, soul, and mind. And the believer must love 
his neighbor as himself. Turn to 1 John 2. 1 John 2, again, 
the emphasis on love for our fellows is highlighted several 
times in the New Testament. 1 John 2, verses 9 to 11. 1 John 2, 9, whoever has been born 
of God does not sin, for his seed remains in him, and he cannot 
sin, because he has been born of God. Now, the best interpreters 
explain as practice, not that we don't have remaining corruption, 
not that Wesleyan perfectionism is true, but we don't have it 
as a practice, a reigning power of sin in our lives. Verse 10, 
in this, the children of God and the children of the devil 
are manifest. Whoever does not practice righteousness 
is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. For 
this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that 
we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of the wicked 
one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because 
his works were evil and his brothers righteous. Do not marvel, my 
brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed 
from death to life because we love the brethren. We know that 
Cain did not love his brethren because he took some sort of 
probably blunt force trauma and inflicted that on his brother. 
You don't do that when you love your brother. You don't hit him 
on the head and stop him from breathing. So we know that we 
have passed from death to life because we love the brethren. 
He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates 
his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has 
eternal life abiding in him. He's likening that person who 
professes faith in Christ but has no love for the brethren 
like Cain. Just like Cain was a vile, murderous 
wretch who operated with hatred in his heart and malice aforethought 
toward his brother, so is that professing Christian that does 
not have love for his brethren. Look at chapter 3, verses 13 
to 15. I'm sorry, yeah. Oh yeah, that was the passage. 
Look back in chapter 2, I'm sorry. Chapter 2, verses 9 to 11. He 
who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in darkness 
until now. He who loves his brother abides 
in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But 
he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness 
and does not know where he is going because the darkness has 
blinded his eyes. So love to God, love to man. 
That's the summary of the Decalogue. We spent several weeks going 
through Exodus chapter 20. Jesus makes it a whole lot easier 
in terms of summary statements. Love God, love your neighbor. 
Ryle again says, we cannot have fruits and flowers without roots. We cannot have love to God and 
man without faith in Christ. And without regeneration, the 
way to spread true love in the world is to teach the atonement 
of Christ and the work of the Holy Ghost. Man, that is great 
wisdom. See, we look at behavior modification. We find out somebody is a fornicator, 
and we tell them, you should stop fornicating. We should tell 
them to believe the Gospel. We should tell them to come to 
the Savior. We should preach the atonement. 
and the work of the Holy Ghost. Now, when by grace they believe 
that gospel, then we tell them, stop living in sin. Now, there's 
a time and a place to tell people not to fornicate. I'm not suggesting 
otherwise. But we oftentimes deal with things 
in terms of behavior modification and not getting at it with the 
heart. And then finally, the commandment in the unbeliever. 
I think Heidelberg Catechism 3 to 5 is most excellent here. How do you come to know your 
misery? The law of God tells me. What does God's law require 
of us? Christ teaches us this in summary 
in Matthew 22. Can you live up to all this perfectly? 
No. I have a natural tendency to 
hate God and my neighbor. That is our natural tendency, 
to hate God and to hate our neighbor. That's what we are in Adam. So 
you see, when it comes to evangelism, it is most helpful to point the 
sinner first to the law, to tell the sinner what God demands, 
what God requires, what God calls people unto. Jesus said, I didn't 
come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. The law 
of God is a great way to show to people their sin against God 
and then to point them to Christ as the one who is altogether 
lovely and chief among 10,000. Well, let us pray, and if there's 
any questions, we can take those. Our Father in heaven, we thank 
you for this summary statement concerning the law, and we thank 
you for your law. We know, God, it's good if we 
use it lawfully, so help us and hedge us in and cause us to use 
it in a manner that's consistent with what we find in Scripture. 
And we pray that this word would be proclaimed throughout the 
earth, that sinners would see themselves before a holy God 
undone. And they would hear of a Christ 
who has come to save his people from their sins. And Lord, we 
pray for revival in your churches. We pray for awakening among those 
who are dead in their trespasses and sins. And certainly in our 
country, there is great wickedness. and rebellion against you. So 
we pray that these things would go forth powerfully through the 
Christian pulpit, by the presence and the ministry of the Holy 
Spirit applying these truths. And we ask this in the name and 
for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.