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19. Sorry, forgive me. 19. I get those mixed up sometimes. 
Forgive me. I want to work on that more and 
more. Chapter 19 of the Law of God. Specifically today, we're 
going to look at God's moral law. We're going to look at the 
moral law of God that's expounded for us and summarized for us. Paragraphs 1, 2, 5, and 6. Let's begin Chapter 19, Paragraph 
9. God gave to Adam a law of universal 
obedience written in his heart and a particular precept of not 
eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, 
by which he bound him in all his posterity to personal, entire, 
exact, and perpetual obedience. promised life upon the fulfilling, 
and threatened death upon the breach of it, and endued him 
the power and ability to keep it. The same law that was written 
in the heart of man continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness 
after the fall, and was delivered by God upon Mount Sinai in 10 
commandments, and written in two tables, the four containing 
our duty towards God, and the other six our duty to man. The moral law doth forever bind 
all, as well as justified persons, as others, to the obedience thereof, 
and that not only in regard of the matter contained in it, but 
also in respect of the authority of God, the Creator, who gave 
it. Neither doth Christ and the Gospel in any way dissolve, but 
much strengthen this obligation. Although true believers be not 
under the law as a covenant of works, to be thereby justified 
or condemned, yet it is of great use to them as well as to others, 
and that as a rule of life, informing them of the will of God and their 
duty, it directs and binds them to walk accordingly, discovering 
also the sinful pollutions of their natures, hearts, and lives, 
so as examining themselves thereby, they may come to further conviction 
of, humiliation for, and hatred against sin. Together with a 
clearer sight of the need they have of Christ, and the perfection 
of His obedience, it is likewise of use to the regenerate to restrain 
their corruptions, and that it forbids sin, and the threatenings 
of it serve to show what even their sin deserved, and what 
afflictions in this life they may expect for them, although 
free from the curse and unallayed rigor thereof. The promises of 
it likewise show them God's approbation of obedience, and what blessings 
they may expect upon the performance thereof, though not as due to 
them by the law as a covenant works, so as man is doing good 
and refraining from evil, because the law encourageth to the one 
a deterrence from the other, is no evidence of his being under 
the law We thank you for your law. We 
thank you that you revealed to us your holy standard, Lord God. 
We thank you that because of this law you've shown many of 
us our sin, many of us our failure and our shortness compared to 
your law, Lord God. perfection and died as that perfect 
sacrifice, God. And God, we thank you for this 
law that is still now a rule for believers as a way that we 
know your will and how we are supposed to live in this life. 
We thank you that it continually shows us our sin and also restrains 
our sin as well. We thank you for your goodness 
with it. Help us to delight in it. Help 
us to hear these truths. help us to have these ideas cemented 
in our heart that we might be able to rightly teach the law, 
explain the law to our fellow brothers and sisters and those 
who do not understand it well, but also that we might have cemented 
in our heart as well that we might delight in your law, love 
your law, and live your law by the aid of your spirit. Father 
God, we pray for your strength. We pray for your strength. Now, 
Lord God, I need your help. I need your aid. You're the one 
who teaches. You're the one who preaches. Lord, you do it through 
this people. Help people to be edified by this, and you might 
be glorified ultimately, Lord God. Amen. And so what we have here is almost 
verbatim identical to the Westminster Confession and the Savoy Declaration 
as well. So we see that our Baptist forefathers 
didn't deviate from the Presbyterians and the Congregationalists as 
well. So this is very similar to the Westminster Confession 
of Faith. So paragraph one, I think, at Mount Sinai in the Ten Commandments. Paragraph three then talks about 
what's called the ceremonial law, that is those laws that 
prefigure and point to Christ, point to his actions, his sufferings, 
his dying as a perfect sacrifice. We have paragraph four, which 
is the judicial law, the laws given specifically to Israel 
as a nation, But now that has been abrogated, 
but we can still get general equity and have the general equity 
for our modern use as well. Then paragraph five talks about 
the abiding validity of the moral law, how it is perpetual, how 
it is forever, how it is continual, even after the fall, even after 
the old covenant. Then we have paragraph six, which 
talks about the three uses of the law. And then paragraph seven 
talks about the laws So that's the outline of the 
chapter, but today we're just going to look at paragraphs 1, 
2, 5, and 6. Specifically, the moral law. Now, we can talk about the law 
in two sets of three. We have the threefold division 
of the law and the three uses of the law. We have the threefold 
division of the law. We have the moral law, summarized 
in the Ten Commandments. We have the ceremonial laws, 
which we just chatted about. Then we have the judicial law 
as well, which we also just talked about. perpetually binding. And so we 
see that the moral law in itself is continually binding, specifically 
even for the people in the church today. There's also another set 
of three, which is the three uses of the law, which we'll 
talk about in paragraph six. the first use, which is the simple, 
secondly we have the pedagogical, and thirdly we have the normative 
use of the law as well, which we'll talk about in paragraph 
three. So what we're talking about here 
when we talk about this moral law, we get to see God's revealed 
will to us. And theologians distinguish between 
what is the decorative will of God or the decreed will of God, 
that is things He decrees things to come to pass. He executes 
those things in creation and providence. So in that sense, 
we are always in the will of God. But there's also the revealed 
or perceptive will of God. That is what we must do in our 
day-to-day living, how we must live. So there is some sense 
that we may not be in the will of God in that way. But sometimes 
I've heard evangelicals talk about being in the will of God 
and not in the will of God. I'm just giving you these categories 
to help distinguish. do. So today we are looking at 
the revealed law of God, what we should be doing, how we should 
be living in accordance with God's law. And so today, as I 
said, we're looking at the moral law of God. And this moral law 
is found in the Decalogue, and it is an abiding authority, and 
it restrains evil, teaches us sin, and patterns our living. So it is this abiding authority, 
it's teacher and a regulator as well. And even those three uses can 
be helpful for not only the unbeliever but for the believer as well. 
And we will look at this moral law under four headings today. We're going to look at the law 
on man's heart, the law in writing, So as I said, we're going to 
look at the law in man's heart, the law in writing, the law God and Adam. It's a conditional 
covenant. And just because the word covenant 
isn't found in the primary text, which is Genesis chapter 2, it 
doesn't mean that the ideas of covenant are not there, because 
they are still there. you shall not eat from the tree 
of knowledge of good and evil. And we also have sanctions, or 
blessings and curses. Things are a blessing that you 
will receive upon fulfillment of it, or punishment you will 
receive based on the breach of it. So this is a good summary 
of that covenant of works made between God and man. So we see, 
if you read with me in Genesis And the Lord God commanded the 
man to say, you may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 
but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not 
eat. For in the day that you eat, you shall surely die. So 
we definitely see the parties here, God and man. We see the 
stipulation, you shall not eat. And we also see the blessings 
and curses. But notice who the divine lawgiver 
is. It's God who gave. I think A. A. Hodge summarized this idea 
of God being a lawgiver very well. He says, this section, 
paragraph one, teaches the following proposition, and it is this, 
that God, as the supreme moral governor of the universe, introduced 
the human race into existence as an order of moral creatures, 
under inalienable and perpetual subjugation which in all the elements thereof 
binds man's conscience and requires perfect obedience. So we see 
that God gives us his moral law, God gives us his standard of 
holiness, even in this covenant of works, and as we'll see in 
a moment, he writes it on man's heart. So that man is what? We're 
without excuse when it comes to God's standard or moral law, 
because it is written on the heart of mankind. And so we see 
this lawgiver, we know that it is God's standard, God's holiness, 
God is the governor of the world, and God gives us his law, his 
standard, the thing that we are to follow. And so then he gives, 
it's actually, when you think about this covenant of works, 
God gives Adam one precept, one thing he must do. He doesn't 
even necessarily write out these 10 commandments for him, certainly 
they're on his heart, but he gives him one precept, and it's 
what's called positive law versus the moral law. moral law is binding for all 
time. The positive law is binding for 
a time. The moral law is binding for 
all time. That is, specifically, you and 
I can eat fruit. We're not forbidden to eat a 
certain fruit. We can certainly eat from it. 
But God, in the covenant of works, gave Adam a specific positive 
law that was only binding for that time. That is, he shall 
not eat from the street of knowledge of good and evil. So that's the 
difference the moral law is perpetually 
binding. And so we see these stipulations, 
we see what he must do, you shall eat of it. Sorry, paragraph one. He gave to Adam a law of universal 
obedience written in his heart in a particular precept of not 
eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, 
by which he bound him in all his posterity, personal, entire, But notice what he says here. We see the promise. Promise life 
upon fulfillment and threaten death upon the breach of it. 
But notice he says, he endued him with the power and the ability 
to keep it. He endued him with the power 
and the ability to keep it. Man is created in the image of 
God. And we know from Ephesians chapter four, verse 24, of true holiness, knowledge, 
and righteousness. We have the understanding of 
God's standard, we have the understanding of what righteousness is, and 
the holiness of God himself upon the heart of man at creation. 
So man was created with the ability to choose between what is good 
and what is evil. Or it can be summed up this way, 
he was either able to sin or able not to sin. able to sin. We are only able 
to sin. And when we get to glory, we 
will not be able to sin. Because Christ was not able to 
sin. So you see those three distinctions. 
Pre-fall, He was able to sin, not to sin. We're in a fallen 
state now. We are only able to sin. But 
when we get to glory, because Christ was not be able to sin 
as well. And even chapter 4 of creation, 
paragraph 2, talks about the same idea. The law of God being 
written on the heart of Adam, and he was given the power to 
fulfill it. Of course, he didn't fulfill 
it because he was either able to sin or not to sin, and he 
did end up sinning. But notice, so we see this idea, 
this covenant of works between God and Adam, and I want to highlight 
again this idea of this universal law written on the heart. The 
primary passage that our confession uses is from Romans chapter 2. You can turn there if you'd like, 
just to see this. Romans chapter 2, how it is written 
on the heart even of Gentiles, I'll read verses For it is not the hearers of 
the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law 
who will be justified. For when Gentiles who do not 
have the law, by nature, do what the law requires, they are a 
law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They 
show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, but 
their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts 
accuse or even excuse them on that day, when according to my 
gospel, God judges the secrets on this passage says, thus by 
asserting that Gentiles are in possession of the law, Paul teaches 
that a substantial the Ten Commandments and the law of God written by 
creation in the heart of Adam and all his descendants. So there 
is this understanding of what the law is because it is written 
on a heart. That's the natural law written 
there. We also have this idea of this revealed law as well. 
So we have this covenant made with Adam where the law of perpetual 
obedience is written on Adam's heart. And then we also have 
our second heading, the moral law in writing or its codification The same law that was written 
in the heart of man continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness 
after the fall. How do we know what sin is? What's 
a good passage that teaches us what sin is? Does anybody know? 
1 John 3.4. The Apostle John says 
there that sin is lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. And so God's 
standard, even after the fall, doesn't change being God's standard 
of holiness. God is immutable, right? God 
is impassable. God does not change his law. 
It is his standard. It still remains authoritative 
and perpetual and continual even after the fall of Adam. And also, it binds man's conscience. Remember Romans chapter 1 verses 
18-32, the people worshiped and served the creature rather than 
the creator. All the wrath of God has been revealed against 
all ungodliness and unrighteousness, who by their unrighteousness 
suppress the truth. For what can be known about God 
is plain to them because God has shown it to them. Now this 
is talking about his individual or his attributes. take a gun to someone and point 
it at their head and blow their brains out, they're probably 
going to say you shouldn't do that. Why? Even in our day and 
age, they're not going to do that because there is some sense 
of the moral law on someone's heart. pick and choose what they take 
as standard and whatnot. And I'll get to that in just 
a second. But notice we see that this law that was written on 
the heart, thankfully God codified it and wrote it for us on Sinai. 
And it's summarized primarily in the Ten Commandments. And 
our confession talks about how it's written in two tables. The 
first concerning our duty towards God, and the other six, our duty 
towards man. That is, the first four talk 
about our horizontal relationship Asian Primary, Exodus chapter 
20, and Deuteronomy chapter 5. And notice how the Reformed Baptists 
and the Presbyterians and Confucianists split up the Ten Commandments. 
There's four and six. Does anybody know how the Roman 
Catholics divvy up the Ten Commandments? They divvy up between three and 
seven. So what they do is they take 
what we would call Commandments one them into one commandment, 
and they separate the tenth commandment into two. So that is, you shall 
not covet your neighbor's wife is one commandment, and you shall 
not covet your neighbor's goods as the tenth commandment. So 
we see that they collapse one and two and separate the tenth 
commandment. And probably what they're doing 
there is they're trying to put the idea of images, this idea 
of proper and right worship, they're collapsing it and making 
it about idolatry. So they can include images in 
their service. can include certain icons as 
well in their services. So they seem to separate that. 
Whereas we talk about the first commandment as referring to our 
object of worship, that is who we are supposed to worship. And 
our second commandment talks about the manner or how we're 
supposed to worship God. And you can see that in the book 
of Exodus of the golden calf. Who are they praising? They're 
praising Yahweh through the vehicle of this calf. Or even Jeroboam. He sets up, remember the King 
Jeroboam set up two worship places in Israel because he didn't want 
the northern tribe worshiping in the southern tribe. He set 
up two different worship sites where he set up bulls and calves. 
He said, this is the Lord your God who brought you up out of 
the land of Egypt. So that's very much a second-in-commandment 
type of issue going on, where they're worshipping God in a 
false way. They're pretending this calf 
is Yahweh Almighty, and that's not right. So it's important 
for us It is the Ten Commandments. It is summarily comprehended 
in the Ten Commandments. We know it. It's clear. It's 
concise. There's tandem. It's actually 
very, yeah, it's great that God is as goodness and kindness as 
revealed to us so we know it in a more full sense. This brings 
us to an application we can take away both from the law being 
written on our heart and codified as well. We live in the time 
of what's called post or late modernity. And what that meant 
to talk about is, there seems, there's no authority in this 
area, in this time. Authority, what's that? There 
was Christian antiquity, which went from about the Ascension 
to 1650. And the authority was more, or 
what we asked about God was, what has God said? Our authority 
came from without. Then we have another period called 
modernity, from 1650 to about 1914, World War I. And that changed the focus or 
the authority from what's outside from within, our mind, senses, 
our feelings. But now we live in an age which 
is called late or post-modernity. Again, starting about 1914 to 
about now. Where it is authority, what's 
that? That is, what's true for you 
is true for you, and what's true for me is true for me. And so the moral standard becomes 
prominent, right? We no longer have this binding 
perpetual truth. When we affirm that God is holy, 
we do not mean that He makes right to be right by simply willing 
it, but that He wills it because it is right. You see, there's 
a relationship between what is actually right and actually making 
something right. Did you get, did you track with 
me? We see, unfortunately, this thing going on with this dude 
who's dressing up like a lady, and you see that there's, a man or a girl and what that 
term actually signifies, being a man or a woman. Now, it's arbitrary. You can change from being a, 
it's just whatever subjective experience you wanna have. It 
changes. There's a break between what 
something signifies, if you're tracking with me. And in reality, 
we all are practically this way when we think about money. Money, 
intrinsically, is what? But then, we have this standard 
that's been assigned to it, this value that's been assigned to 
it, and what it represents. And unfortunately, we don't even 
have the gold standard anymore, so that money can just be regulated 
and changed, right? There is no standard, because 
there is nothing intrinsically valuable about paper, right? That's just an example of kind 
of what's going on. There's no relationship between 
something Right? And fortunately, we live 
in this day and age where that happens. But let's be honest. If we were to take a gun, using 
the gun language, I don't know why, take a gun, point it at 
someone's head, and say, you know, I was kind of born as a 
murderer. You know what? And I really enjoy 
killing people. It's a lot of fun for me. And 
so I'm going to blow your head off right now because it makes 
me happy inside. And you know what? They're going to fight 
back. And they're going to say, no, you can't do that. Because 
they know the truth. They know the truth. They know 
God's standard. They know God's law. They're 
picking and choosing. And even then, even in this idea 
of coming from a dude to a woman, he knows what's wrong. He knows 
what's wrong. He knows the truth. He just suppresses 
it. in on righteousness. The moral 
law is perpetual, it is binding, it is written on the heart of 
men, and people do think or seem to have this standard and push 
cops to shove. You see my logic with the murdering 
thing, right? I'm born that way and it makes 
me happy. And there are legitimately people that get a kick out of 
it. I remember watching on the news a year or so ago this girl 
who mutilated animals, who wrote down in her diary or whatever, 
if you will, that she gets pleasure out of it and would like to kill 
a person. Thankfully, she's in prison, and she's been on the 
news more lately about how they might let her out, which is silly. But you get what I'm saying, 
right? We live in a fallen and sinful world where people do 
sinful things. And so there is this standard, 
this is God's holiness, And towards the end, I'm going to summarize 
what Shaw said regarding how the law is used for both the 
unregenerate and the regenerate as well, which will draw these 
things out. So we live in a world where there is no standard, there 
is no truth. Truth is really arbitrary. It's 
true for you, it's true for you, it's true for me, it's true for 
me. We know that's not true because we have God's standard, we have 
God's holiness, and it's revealed to us in the Word of God. So 
we've seen this revelation of God's law on the heart of man, 
and codified by God at the heart of man. Now let us look now at 
the law's timelessness. The law's timelessness. This 
is found in paragraph 5. not only in regard of the matter 
contained, but also in respect of the authority of God, the 
Creator, who gave it. And Christ, in the Gospel, does 
not dissolve but strengthen it. I think perhaps the primary go-to 
passage is Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. About how the law is continually binding. 
Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount, this is probably the thesis of 
the Sermon on the Mount, chapter 5, verses 17 through 20. He says 
right off the bat, do not think that I have come to abolish the 
law of the prophets. Now this do not here is a prohibition. He's trying to say, do not even 
consider the fact that I came, to what? To abolish the law of 
the prophets. Do not even let that enter your 
mind. that Christ has come to abolish 
the law and the prophets. He says, I have not come to abolish, 
but to fulfill. Now the word abolish and fulfill 
need to go together in this verse. The idea of abolish is to abrogate 
or take away. Christ is saying, I'm not taking 
it away, but I am fulfilling it. I'm fulfilling what the law 
requires, and therefore I am the true law giver, the true 
teacher of it. And then he goes on in chapter 
five to explain the right interpretation Notice 5.18 For truly I say to 
you, until heaven and earth pass away, not Niodah, not Adok, will 
pass from the law until all is accomplished. He goes on in chapter five to 
explain how the Pharisees have got the law wrong. When Jesus 
typically interprets the Old Testament, what does he usually 
preface it with? What does he usually say? Well, yeah, he says, have you 
not heard? Yeah, but he says it is written, right? That's 
how he typically prefaces the introduction to quoting the Old 
Testament. But you're right, here he says, 
in chapter 5, he says, you have heard it said. or the law, and he's making sure 
that he brings out the actual meaning of the law. He's not 
abrogating the law, but fulfilling the law, right? He's the one 
who fulfilled it in perfection and therefore gives us the right 
interpretation of it over and against those Pharisees. So we 
should not even think or consider that this law is gone. It's still binding, it's still 
perpetual, it's forever remained the law of God and his holy standard, 
even for believers. But notice in paragraph five, 
he says it's for justified persons as well. But we'll get to this 
in a second. It is a pattern of living for 
us. We have God's revealed will for 
us of what we must do in our daily living. Thankfully, he's 
told us, you know, what's God's will for my life, that we should, 
you know, fulfill his, like, seek to live out his law by the 
hand of the Spirit. Thankfully, he's revealed that 
to us, and it is binding not just to us, but others as well, 
for the obedience of it. It's supposed to be obeyed, it's 
supposed to be followed, it's supposed to be... No, it's God's 
goodness and God's law and His standard that we must follow. 
But notice what it says. It says, not in regard of the 
matter contained in it, but because in respect of the one who gave 
it. It's not only something we need to obey just because of 
the manner that it specifies. We must remember who it is that 
gave us that law. It is the unchangeable God. It 
is the impassable God. It is the one who has this holy 
standard. He is the holy God. This is his holy standard that 
is binding for all people all the time. And as the Christ does not dissolve it, 
but strengthens it. And we'll talk about more and 
more how this functions, both for unbelievers and believers, 
even today in paragraph 6 in just a second. What this does 
is it's combating the idea of antinomianism, or anti-law. We chatted a bit about this when 
we did justification, but I'm just bringing us back to this 
understanding of what antinomian is. What this teaches is that 
believers are free from the moral law because they are justified 
in Christ. That is, they no longer are bound 
by the law in any sense of the word. In any sense of the law 
is Christ. a pattern of living. And some 
of the characteristics of antinomianism, I'm going to draw out a few of 
them again, is that a sinner cannot prepare for salvation 
by his works. A sinner cannot prepare for salvation 
by his work that is prepared for that final day. But Ryle, 
in his book on holiness, when he's distinguishing between justification, 
that is being pardoned, having our sin pardoned and accepted 
as righteous, and sanctification, that process by which we are 
made holy, He said that sanctification makes us fit for heaven. It makes 
us ready and prepared for heaven. How do we know that we must be 
fit and ready for heaven? How should we live on this life? 
By following God's law. Not into perfection, but still 
seek and strive by the spirit to do what God has required of 
us in his holy law. But another characteristic of 
antinomianism is that Christ does not merely renew, but he 
completely overtakes a person. That is, only God looks at us 
through Christ. But we saw in the chapter on 
good works, that God does accept our works through the lens of 
Christ. God does accept our works. Again, 
not for salvation, but because we haven't saved, but He does 
accept those things. And the third characteristic 
of antinomianism is that the law of God is not necessary for 
one's conversion or for the life after conversion. Now, I heartily 
disagree. And we'll get to this in a second. 
But remember that the law is meant to teach us of our wretchedness 
and our need for Christ. And after that, we see what Christ 
has done and strive more and more to live a holy life. Strive 
more and more to live a holy life. So we've seen the law written 
on man's heart. We've seen the law as it's codified. 
We've seen that it is perpetual, it is binding. Now let's look 
at the law's three uses. And as I said, the other things 
are pre-made uses. The civil, the pedagogical, and 
the normative. But we're going to follow the 
flow of the paragraph after paragraph. Although true believers be not 
under the law, as a covenant of works, to be thereby justified 
before condemnment. Now this is important to get. 
We are not under the covenant of works to gain acceptance with 
God. It is a rule for our life. It 
is not based on works, but it is a rule for our life. That's 
really important to understand. So when I speak of the law, when 
I talk of the law, I'm not speaking who seek to be justified by his 
works, one who seeks salvation by works. That's not what I'm 
talking about here when we speak of the law of God. The law of 
God is a rule for believers even now. And notice it says, it is 
of great use to them as well as to others. And this is where 
we get into the normative use of the law. In that as a rule 
of life, informing them of the will of God and their duty, it 
directs That is, it is a pattern for living for us. Vesco says, 
it shows the Christian what type of conduct pleases God. It shows 
the Christian what type of conduct pleases our God. So we see this 
normative use, how we're supposed to live in response to the gospel, 
in response to salvation, and the law is part of our sanctification. And even Christ summarizes this 
in Mark Chapter 12. He says that the summary of the 
Ten Commandments are found in love. We have love towards God, 
that's the greatest commandment, and our love towards man. That 
first table of law is our love towards God, and the second, 
our love towards mankind. But even in First Corinthians, in truth. We see people in the 
world commenting or praising this person who transformed from 
a dude to a woman, saying that we need to love him regardless. 
Well that's not true according to 1 Corinthians 13. Love does 
not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in truth. And we know what iniquity is, 
that sin is lawlessness. So it is our love to And so we've seen that normative 
use, now let's look at the pedagogical use. Discovering also the sinful pollutions 
of their natures, hearts, and lives, so as examining themselves, 
thereby they may come to further conviction of humiliation for 
and hatred against sin, together with a clearer sight of the need 
they have Now, notice this seems to be 
functioning here for believers here. But the law is meant also 
for unbelievers as well. That is, prior to conversion, 
the law teaches us concerning our sin. Romans 3, chapter 3, 
verse 20. He says, He says, for by the works of 
the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since 
through the law comes that knowledge of sin. The Apostle Paul in Romans 
chapter 7 verse 7 also indicates this use of the law. What then 
shall we say? That the law is sin by no means. Yet if it had not been for the 
law, I would not have known sin, for I would not have known what 
it is to covet if the law had not said, For this law, for belief 
for unbelievers, that's why we need to preach the law, teach 
the law, that people see their sin and their need for Christ 
prior to their conversion, prior to their belief. That's why it's 
important to preach and teach the law of God. Obviously, in 
conjunction with the gospel, as Christ is the only one who 
fulfills that law, and as that law shows them, as the confession 
says, their need for their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It's a further conviction of 
humiliation for and hatred of sin. And it shows us a clearer 
need for Christ. I admit this was true in my own 
life before coming to Free Grace, that the law something that was not impressed 
on my heart prior to coming here. And as I've come here, I've learned 
more and more the importance of the Sabbath day, that it is 
the love of God. And will I keep it perfectly all day? Definitely 
not. For it is set apart for the people 
of God to come, to worship God, to have rest, to be in the presence 
of the Lord God Almost High. It is a serious, sacred thing 
that is something that is still binding for believers today. 
It is still binding even for unbelievers today, because it 
is God's holy standard. And so it is important, and it 
helps us continually seek our sinfulness and our need for Christ, 
even as believers now. And then the first use of the 
law is what's called the civil use of the law. Now again, here 
it's talking about how it's used for believers, but it's also 
for the regenerate, for the unregenerate. The Confession says, about the 
middle of the paragraph, paragraph six, and that it forbids sin. And 
the threatenings of it serve to show what even their sins 
deserve and what affliction in this life they may expect for 
them, although free from the curse and the rigor thereof. 
And so what the civil use of the law does is it restrains 
the evil of both the regenerate and the undergenerate. In 1 Timothy 
chapter 1, Paul says I'll be talking about the people 
who, in a human sense, who fail to keep that civil standard, 
to fail to keep that law, like the laws we have in place in 
our government shall not murder. Thankfully, that restrains people, 
not all the time, restrains people from murdering other people. 
The law is meant to restrain people from being as bad as we 
can possibly be. Remember, total poverty doesn't 
teach that we're as bad as we can possibly be. But from my 
head to my toes, from my fingertip to fingertip, I am completely 
and totally sinful. But the law does restrain us 
from being as bad as we can possibly be, even for the undergenerate 
as well. perfectly, even in a civil sense, 
to restrain the evil and the wickedness of mankind. Unfortunately, 
those laws are being softened a little bit. Nonetheless, it's 
still used to restrain the evil. So we've seen those three uses. 
But at the end of the paragraph, it talks about the motives for 
keeping the law, the motives for it. He said, paragraph six 
says, towards the end, the promises of it likewise show them God's 
approval of obedience and what blessings they may expect upon 
the performance thereof, not as due to them by the law as 
a covenant of works. So as man's doing good and refraining 
from evil because the law encourages it to the one and deter it from 
the other, is no evidence of his being under the law and not 
under grace. that it is not wrong to obey 
the law out of fear of consequences of disobedience on the one hand, 
or out of desire for the reward of obedience on the other. There 
are many different motives for keeping the law of God, and I'll 
summarize just four, I think, right here. One, Because we have been saved, because 
we've seen Christ work, because we've seen Him fulfill that law, 
we've been purchased, we've been redeemed, and responding out 
of gratitude for that salvation. That's another motive. And as 
Walton summarized motives three and four that I have here, motive 
three, fear of consequences. We can fall under God's following 
displeasure. We can grieve the Holy Spirit, 
even on a human level, It's embarrassing sometimes to feel the rebuke 
of people even in a public setting. That's meant to restrain us and 
keep us from not sinning. So when there are fear of consequences 
for those things, even for a believer who's fallen into sin, there 
still can be a punishment that the Lord gives to us, which is 
a good thing, that God chastises us and treats us like His children, 
like any father would. And fourthly, a fourth motive 
for following the law is blessings for obedience. That's a legitimate 
thing. And as we saw in Acts 1 Matthew 
chapter five passage, verse 19 seems to indicate there's some 
gradation in heaven. We're all still in heaven. Some 
might be a bellboy, others might be CEOs, if you will. But either way, we're still in 
heaven. Do you know what I'm trying to say? There are blessings 
and rewards that we can receive. And the rewards and blessings 
that we receive in heaven far outweigh the blessings and the 
rewards that we get in a more temporal sense here. So there 
are legitimate motives for keeping the law of God. Especially as 
we understand as a rule of sanctification, a rule in our daily life, but 
not to earn salvation. But there are legitimate motives 
for keeping this law. But it is an imperfect, and I 
want to highlight one more thing, which is that it's an imperfect 
ability that we have. But we still have an ability 
with the Spirit. That's what paragraph 7 summarizes. The spirit of Christ subduing 
and enabling the will of man to do that freely and cheerfully, 
which the will of God revealed in the law requires to be done. Remember what's regeneration. 
We receive a new heart. Ephesians chapter 36, excuse 
me, He will give them the spirit, 
and they shall love. He will give them a heart, take that 
heart of stone, give them a heart of flesh, and they will have 
the law of God on their hearts and obey his statutes. Right? 
We have a new heart. We have a new heart to do what 
we are required, not perfectly, but by the strength and the will 
of the spirit. Think about it. Self-control. Self. I don't know why it took 
me a while until Dr. Renahan said that in class. It's 
self-control. by the work of the Spirit. So 
we have the ability, because of the Spirit, thankfully of 
Christ to fulfill that. He sent His Spirit to give us 
strength and aid to do that. Will we fail? Yes, we will. Paragraph 
two of chapter 13 of sanctification. This sanctification is through 
a whole man, yet imperfect, aimless, a continual and irreconcilable 
war. The flesh lusting against the 
spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. We have the ability, 
but that doesn't mean it won't be a battle. It won't be a fight. 
It won't be hard or difficult, but thankfully we have that spirit 
to give us strength and aid, imperfectly, to do what God has 
required of us. I think Robert Shaw, he summarizes He says this, For the regenerate 
is meant to restrain from much sin. It is also meant to convince 
them of their sinfulness and misery, to discover to them their 
absolute need of Christ and drive them to Him as their all-sufficient 
Savior, and to render them inexcusable if they continue in their sins 
and finally reject the only of their Christ. Now it's used 
for the regenerate. It's meant to render Christ more 
precious to them and excite their gratitude to him who so loved 
them as to obey his precepts and suffer his penalty that he 
might deliver them from it as a covenant. It also is to them 
the will of God and it regulates their conduct. The law also serves in order to discover the pollutions 
of their hearts and lives, to lead them to constant dependence 
on Christ, and to excite them to a progressive advancement 
in holiness, and fourthly, to serve as a test of their sincerity, 
that they may assure their hearts that they are of the truth. that 
they delight in the law of God after the inward man, notwithstanding 
their manifold defects in duty." So we've seen the revelation 
of the law, we've seen its timelessness, and the uses of that moral law. 
So in conclusion, we must remember that this Decalogue is We saw how it's summarized on 
Sinai, it was written in the heart of man, we have ten commandments, 
one table towards God, and the other table towards man. We know 
that it's continually binding, and we know it has three uses, 
to restrain, teach, and as a pattern for living as well. And so I'll 
close with three simple applications. One, we need to avoid the improper for us, but not unto salvation. The law is binding for us, not 
unto justification or acceptance with God. Secondly, it's a pretty 
clear application, obey the law of God. Obey the law of God. because of his goodness, because 
of his kindness, out of fear for him, out of the blessing 
he'll receive from him, and also because it is God's law. And 
he is the standard. He is the holy one. He has set 
forth what is the moral standard. But we must remember, though, 
I think there's sometimes a tendency in the reformed circles to not 
distinguish between what's God's law and what's man's law, that 
is, what's that we're not binding someone's 
conscience improperly. And it's easy to do for us. It 
really is easy to do. We have our preferences. We have 
our likes. We have the things that we think should happen. 
But we must make sure before we impose those things that we 
know it's God's law or man's law. For example, drinking alcohol 
is not a sin. Drunkenness is a sin. Now, if you and your family decide 
you don't want any alcohol, that's fine. You shouldn't impose that 
on others, saying you should never have any alcohol. That's 
just one example I've thought of. I'm sure there are many more. 
The takeaway is we must be careful. We understand God's love. Thirdly, we need to delight in 
the law of God. We need to delight in the law 
of God. Psalm 1, blessed is the man who 
delights in the law of the Lord, and meditates on it day and night. We see Christ, who is the true 
one who meditated on it day and night, who actually fulfilled 
it, who is blessed by it, who delights in it. And we must follow 
our Savior, delight in the law of the Lord. We must teach it 
and preach it, because it draws people, shows them their sin 
and their need for Christ. I'll close with this one little 
quote that I liked. I can't remember the guy who 
said it, but he said this, Till sin be bitter, Christ will not 
be sweet. Till sin be bitter, Christ will 
not be sweet. We pray that God uses the law 
to make sin bitter to the unrepentant, and even to make sin bitter even 
for the believers as well, that we might see Christ, who is sweet. Amen. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly 
Father, we thank you for your grace to us. We thank you for 
your law. We thank you, Lord, for Christ, 
who fulfilled the law. We pray, Lord, that we would 
delight in it. We would seek, as believers, to live it according 
to Your truth, by Your Spirit, Lord God. For You have given 
us the ability, by Your grace and goodness and by Your Spirit. 
We know that we will sin, Lord God, and when we sin, we thank 
You that we can cast our sins, our worries and our fears onto 
Christ, our Savior, the One who was that One who fulfilled Your 
perpetual law. Father God, I pray for the a new understanding of your law, 
and how it's supposed to function, and how it's supposed to be used. We know God. Your law is written 
in the hearts of God. And we know that they know your 
standard, but they suppress it. We pray, Lord, that there may 
be reformation concerning this law, but also revival in the 
practice of it. Father God, we thank you that 
you are good and gracious to us. We pray that you would bless 
the preaching today. We pray that you would be saved. 
We pray that you would bless our brother, give him strength, 
give him a helping hand, strengthen the spirit within him. Help him 
to be caught up in the truth of the world. We pray for the 
others who preach this truth today. Again, help them to be 
caught up in it, caught up in the truth by your spirit. From 
the God we pray that you would forgive us of our sins. Forgive 
us for not completing our love, for not fulfilling our God. We 
thank you for this. And may you be glorified in all 
things.