Christ and the Law - Part IV

Christ and the Law - Part IV

Well, this morning we complete a four-part series we began several weeks ago, as we've taken this sort of topical detour, beginning in Matthew 5, 17 and 18, where Jesus says, "'Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.

I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill.'". So we've been talking about Christ and the Law, and we began by considering that important contrast between the Gospel and the Law, something we'll continually return to as we work our way through Chapter 5.

And within that contrast between Gospel and Law, we contrasted legal obedience, or obeying the Law, as if we can actually merit or earn favor with God, or standing with God, as opposed to evangelical obedience, which is a response to the grace of God, to His acceptance through Christ, and therefore not only the prompt, but the power to obey Him in light of the Gospel.

The Covenant of Works and Christ's Fulfillment

And then we also considered the following week the covenant of works in the Law. We talked about how Adam, created there in the Garden of Eden, was given this covenant that accorded with the Law that God had written on His heart, as indeed every single human being, every single person sitting in this room, has the Law written upon their heart.

The Law being a reflection of who God is, human beings being a reflection of God, His image bearers, and so God put Adam with the Law on his heart in this Garden of Eden and gave him this covenant, and he had to obey the Law in order to receive the reward of the covenant.

And of course he broke the Law, but the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ came, born under the Law, and actually obeyed to the very jot and tittle everything the Law required, and was obedient to the point of death, and yet still died, so that those he died for might receive his inheritance, his reward, might receive his life and his righteousness, he taking their sin, their guilt upon him upon the cross.

And so we said the Gospel turns on the covenant of works, we established that in the second.

Week.

And then last week, we talked about the Law in terms of its three-fold division, really when we approach the Law in the Bible, there's three general divisions, three general categories in which we're to understand the Law.

There's the moral Law, the civil Law, and the ceremonial Law, and so though the Law is one, we can distinguish these different aspects of the Law, the moral being that which is written on man's heart, that which reflects God as man's creator, reflects all the character and attributes of God, His holiness, His perfections.

And then the civil Law, that which was given by Israel to govern them as a nation for their life in the land of Canaan, the various case laws, the elaboration of the moral Law in terms of their civic life, and we said that that Law does extend to every nation as a standard of righteousness, but what was unique to their life and the conditions of their life in Canaan, only the general equity of that carries over to other nations, and as we said, the confessions say, you go and figure out how to do that.

And then the ceremonial Law, those aspects in the Law that especially point to the sacrificial system, knowing that Christ is the yes and amen of all that was foretold through them, that all the ceremonies were but shadows that had to give way to the substance who is Christ.

Jesus the Lord.

The Three Uses of the Law: Introduction

That's Paul's argument in Colossians 2. So all of this is background for our passage, and this morning we conclude with our last part of Christ and the Law, our intro to verses 17 and following, and we're going to consider the threefold use of the Law.

How do we use the Law? In other words, how are we going to apply the Law? And generally, writers, this isn't just unique to the Reformation, this goes far back earlier, although in the Reformation this was especially clear, and this was taught and embraced.

In fact, it's probably traceable to Philip Melanchthon, who was Luther's right-hand man there in Wittenberg, and Luther elaborated upon it, Calvin elaborated upon it. So you have three uses, and I'm going to call them first the restraint, the restraint, secondly the reflection, the reflection, and then lastly the rule, the rule.

The Law as Restraint

So the Law as a restraint, the Law as a reflection, and the Law as a rule, okay? So let's consider the restraint first. One use of God's Law, and you'll find in Reformed writers, including in our confession in chapter 19, they sort of bounce around how they order these things.

So the typical order of the threefold division, moral, civil, ceremonial, it depends on who you read, how they divide out these three uses, but they all divide out these three general uses. It's not to say this is exhaustive, but these are generally the three biggest categories of how we apply the Law to our lives.

So the one use of God's Law that we'll begin with is the restraint. In other words, the Law of God is able to bind or restrain evil. That's one of the reasons God sets forth His Law. One of the points that Paul makes is we know that the Law is only for those who transgress.

You don't need a law for those who are abiding in righteousness, you need a law for those who are going to transgress it. That's why you give a law, and so that's part of the point here for this use. God's Law is to restrain evil.

In other words, the Law declares and then exposes what is sinful, and because the Law, the moral Law of God, is written in man's heart, it accords with man's conscience, and the Law of God will often thunder in someone's conscience.

That is, in fact, what restrains sin or puts it in bounds. Now the Law, in and of itself, cannot change a human heart. It can torment a conscience, it can restrain or curb sinful desire, but it can't create a holy desire, it can't actually give anything positive to the human heart.

The Law does not have that kind of power, but it is a good and holy use of the Law to not only restrain sin, but to declare and even promote righteousness. It can't empower righteousness, but it can promote it, it can expose the lack of it, it can restrain acts against it.

And in this way, God uses His Law to restrain evil for His purposes in the world. We often call this the common grace of God. In other words, as Reformed believers, we believe that man is truly and utterly sinful.

All that fallen man can do is stained with sin, is abject in its rebellion against God. This is part of what we believe, part of the horror of discovering what you're really like when finally the light begins to shine in the darkness of your life, and you begin to agree and amen with God.

It's true as you say, it's true what we sang in that second hymn based on Psalm 51,.

I'm evil.

You desire truth within. You find out that truth when God begins to thunder in your conscience the requirements of His Law. And of course, this works in His purposes to common grace in the world. We're evil and yet we're all restrained by God's Law to a certain extent.

No one is as evil as they could be. Praise God for the restraints upon His evil. We often lament how wicked, we read headlines, we see the world in shambles around us, we see our society eclipsed with all sorts of abominable depravity, and we often lament how evil the days are.

Well, in your midst, let's also thank God that men are not as evil as they could be. There's a restraint of the Law. Sometimes I wonder if technology has had to keep up with our depravity. Can you imagine the kind of forensic CSI equipment that they use to solve crime, CCTV camera footage, things like that?

And those things are necessary now to be able to track down the evil acts of men and women. Well, for most of human history, you didn't have CSI technology, you didn't have CCTV cameras. It was very hard to trace evil acts.

Can't you see the restraint of God upon human society? That's common grace. He won't allow the evil of men to overthrow His purpose in the world. We sang this in the last hymn we sang, this wonderful hymn.

So glad Kenny chose this. Matthias Loy wrote these words, and he's really talking about the restraint of the Law, this use of the Law as a restraint. To those who scornfully disdain, God's Law shall then in sin remain.

In terror, its terror in their ear resounds and keeps their wickedness in bounds.

You see?

That's a restraining use of the Law. To those who disdain God's Law, their sin remains, but the terror is in their conscience because God is keeping their wickedness in bounds. Calvin says, all who have remained for some time in ignorance of God's will confess, even by their own experience, that the Law had the effect of keeping them in some degree in the fear and reverence of God.

Paul says this, Romans 3, 19 and 20, now we know that whatever the Law says, it says to those who are under the Law so that every mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty before God. That's essentially what's behind the restraining use of the Law.

We know that whatever the Law says, it says so that mouths may be muzzled and the whole world appears guilty before God. There's a restraining effect when that takes place. Therefore, by the deeds of the Law, no flesh will be justified in its sight, for by the Law is the knowledge of sin, that knowledge of sin resounding in man's conscience.

Romans 7, 7, I would not have known sin except through the Law. So where the Law of God is proclaimed and promoted, by the way, this is why we need to be proclaiming the Law. This is why the Law needs to be established, taught, heralded.

That's why the magistrates must rule according to the Law of God so that the Law may have this restraining effect in our midst. It doesn't presuppose that hearts are going to be transformed. That's the work of the Gospel.

But the magistrate must uphold God's Law so that evil may be restrained and righteousness may be promoted. Wherever the Law of God is proclaimed and promoted, it will tend to restrain the majority of people, the majority, not all, but all in some way, and most in profound ways.

You think of this with children, children that are not necessarily saved, not necessarily born again by the Lord, but they grow up in a home where there's rules. There's of course love, there's nurture, there's teaching, but there's rules.

There's certain household rules. There's curfews, there's chores to be done, there's certain things that they're taught what to do and what not to do, and there's consequences for what they do willfully and rebelliously.

And these rules, even if the child despises these rules, it does what? It restrains their behavior. It keeps them in bounds. They may be gritting their teeth saying, I can't believe, none of my friends have to go through this.

I can't believe how my parents are raising me. Then they get older and they start going, thanks mom and dad, I know you really love.

Me.

All those other kids that I was so jealous of, they went off the deep end. I'm really glad that you were a lot more strict in my life. So the rules, in other words, the law, even within a household, has a certain restraining.

Effect.

And where the rules are entirely rejected and rebellion, there's still often the lingering sting of conscience. There's no real peace in transgressing against the rules, is there? Did anyone ever do one of these?

I only did it, I think, once as a child where, you know, you're just buckling under all the chores and, you know, you feel like you're being kind of pursued and you're thinking, that's it. I'm going to teach my parents a lesson.

I'm going to run away.

And you go and you open up your neon backpack and you throw your three favorite toys and a pack of M &Ms. And I went outside and just stood on my front step and then was, this isn't going to work. I'm glad I didn't make it too far.

I knew they're not going to come running after me. I better go back inside. There's that lingering sting of conscience. Paul speaks of the way this knowledge of the law accords with our conscience. He says, even though that law of God is written on the heart, man suppresses it, suppresses the truth of God in unrighteousness.

So there's a way that we try to suppress that thundering of the law in our conscience, what we know to be right, haunting us, what we've done that is so wrong, disturbing us. And we try to suppress that.

In fact, people have to get quite creative with how they suppress that. They have to numb themselves. They have to somehow make themselves completely distracted. They have to somehow chase away the voice of their conscience, the way that it resounds with the thunder of God's law.

I was, I came across just the other day an article from May of last year, and it was a man who, you see the body cam footage with the police camera, and he comes up and there's just a man, he's sitting next to a man, and he says, are you the guy that called?

He said, yes. He had borrowed his friend's cell phone. Made a 911 call, and he said, officer, 15 years ago, I committed a murder, and I want to show you, I want to show you the evidence, I want to take you to where I buried this.

Man.

Of course, they're thinking, is this guy just out of his mind? Do you have some dream, and what kind of state is he in? And as you watch, and they have some of the footage there, as well as when they've taken them back for an interview, and he simply begins to describe, he's absolutely exhausted with living under the guilt, he just can't take it anymore.

He says, I confess, I don't want to live my life anymore without confessing, and throughout the whole interview, you see him, there's times where it's just like he takes this deep breath, if I could call it an existential breath.

Oh, the burden now, it's out now. And the officers are trying to warn him, listen, this, I have to kind of do my work here, like this is not going to go well, I'm glad that you're relieved. And he goes, no, it's okay, put me in prison for the rest of my life.

In his mind, it was better to be freed from the terror of his conscience and the weight of the guilt, than to even be bound for the rest of his life behind bars. And so there's this great relief, there's times where he's actually smiling, and then he begins to break down sobbing.

And the officers press him, why did you do it? And he says, it was so long ago, and I was under the influence, and I really don't have anything to say. A lot of people have excuses, officer, I don't have an excuse.

Just a full confession, I'm ready to answer, I want to be free from the guilt. That is the restraint of God's law, resounding in the conscience of man. By means of its fearful proclamation of God's holiness, and therefore of God's wrath against sin, the law curbs the actions of those who have no regard for righteousness or justice.

The Law as Reflection

So the first use, the law is a restraint. Second use, the law as a reflection, the law as a reflection. The reformers spoke of the law as being a mirror, not just a reflection of who God is, as we've established weeks ago, but more importantly, a mirror for us to see ourselves.

It's a mirror that's truly the mirror mirror on the wall. It tells you everything about yourself. Another use of the law is this reflection, this mirror. It not only reflects the perfect righteousness of God's character, again, presenting us as moral creatures, made in the image of our moral creator, but the mirror, which is God's Word entire, but specifically the law contained within the Word, shows us our stains, our wrinkles, our disfiguring sins.

Do you know what it's like? Maybe you go somewhere, it's like, I think we just have bad lighting in our house, in our bathroom mirrors. Isn't it interesting that they call the bathroom mirror the vanity, isn't that interesting?

You go look vainly at your vanity mirror, we just have poor lighting, I'm going, all right, that looks pretty good, and then I go somewhere else where it's actually properly lit and it's like, I'm hideous, oh no.

That's the law. The law is a reflection of what we really are like. Again, I would not have known sin except through the law. I wouldn't have seen the stains and how dark the corners and recesses of my capacity really is if it wasn't for the law of God, if it wasn't for this faithful and true mirror that is unlike the coaching and wisdom of the world.

This tells it as it really is. Worldly counselors don't tell it how it really is. Media, entertainment, amusement, they don't tell you how it really is. The word of God is going to tell you how it really is with you and with your soul.

Most people would want to hear years of everything else but what the Bible has to say about their.

Condition.

One of the ways we actually begin to believe that the Lord is at work in someone's life is they're gravitating more to what the word has to say about them than what anyone or anything else has to say about them.

It's a sign that the reflection is doing its work. The mirror is causing them to see their lost estate. Listen again to what we sang, Matthias Loy. Its light of holiness imparts the knowledge of our sinful hearts.

I couldn't know sin without the law. I couldn't see myself without the mirror. The light of its holiness imparts the knowledge of our sinful hearts that we may see our lost estate and turn from sin before too late.

Do you see?

So what you're looking at the mirror of the word, if you're going to a place or approaching the law in a way that's flattering to you, may I suggest that you haven't even approached the law at all. There's churches that present God's standard of righteousness in ways that actually flatter.

People. No.

Its light of holiness imparts the knowledge of our sinful hearts. That's true not only in the context of the hymn, even in your lost estate, but even afterward. We go to the mirror and we say, though I am a bride beloved by the bridegroom, look at all the wrinkles and blemishes that are still yet to be purged.

And in humility and repentance, as we'll talk about in a moment, in gratitude, we turn to the one who cleanses and purifies his bride. But the mirror is always doing the work of reflecting the reality of our condition before our holy God.

The law as a mirror reveals our inability. It shows us how weak we really are. Sometimes you're sitting, perhaps some of you are sitting in this room and you're looking to the left and looking to the right and you're going,.

I wish I could be as strong as so and.

So.

I wish I had the faith and the courage of so and so. I wish I had the patience of so and so. And they're sitting going, I wish I had the faith, I wish I had the patience.

We're all doing that.

The law shows us how weak we really are. But it does it in such a way that it draws us to Christ. In other words, this mirror is very faithful. It's not just going to show us our weakness or our stains and wrinkles in order to discourage and immobilize us.

Rather, the whole point is for the mirror to draw us to Christ, to lead us to the strength and the purity that is found in Christ alone. Listen to how Augustine put it, the law orders, the law commands, the law orders and we, after attempting to do what is ordered and so feeling our weakness under the law, learn to beg of.

God for grace.

The Law as Schoolmaster to Christ

Do you see what the mirror is doing there? You see it as you really are and then you're led to the Lord for grace. Now, these two uses, the restraint and the reflection, okay, the muzzle and the mirror.

These two uses are both rightly understood as schoolmasters or tutors that lead us to Christ. In fact, when John Calvin is writing about these three uses of the law, he makes this point very clear and it's a point that's often lost.

The mirror use of the law may lead, and this is really important, the mirror use of the law may lead the legalist, in other words, the one who's trusting, I know what God requires and I think I can pretty much do it.

I've tried really hard to obey the commandment, Lord, from my youth I've kept all your commandment. For the one who thinks somehow they can earn God's favor, somehow they can appear before God by their own efforts, the legalist who's trusting in the law to be a righteousness.

To them.

The mirror use of the law calls them to see their state, their condition as it really is and therefore abandon their own righteousness and seek the righteousness of Christ alone. Really important that we understand this.

And that way the mirror is a schoolmaster, a tutor that brings us to Christ. So let me say that again. The mirror use of the law may lead the legalist to abandon trusting in their own righteousness and rather trust in Christ alone for righteousness, okay?

However, the restraint use of the law, that also is a schoolmaster or a tutor. The restraint use of the law may lead the lawless one, so not the legalist, not someone who's trying to work their way to God, but someone who says, oh, I know that God forgives me, I know that God loves me, it's fine.

Isn't it great to know that sinners can be saved? Isn't it wonderful? And we're going, well, amen, that's true, but boy, it seems like your life is off the deep end here. Like there has to be something that has been disconnected.

And the restraint use of the law works in this way. The restraint use of the law leads the lawless one to feel the terror of unavoidable judgment for rebellion against Christ. And what does that do? It causes them to flee to Christ and say, have mercy upon me, you see?

So both of these uses are tutors, teachers. They bring us to Christ, but they bring us to Christ in different ways. For the legalist, they look in the mirror and they say, truly, I have no righteousness.

Truly, I can't work my way to God. For the lawless one, they see this muzzle, this restraint thundering in their conscience and they begin to say, maybe I won't be saved at the last. There's a lot of warnings about presumption given to Christian.

We're going to come up to one of the main ones in the Sermon on the Mount. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord. Both of these function, again, as tutors. This is drawing on from the language of Galatians 3.

This is Paul writing in verses 23 and 24. Before faith came, he's talking particularly about the dawning and fullness of the new covenant. Before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith, which would afterward be revealed.

Therefore, he reasons, the law was our tutor, our schoolmaster, to bring us to Christ so that we might be justified by faith, you see? Paul understands both the law as a restraint and the law as a reflection to be the means that draw us to faith in Christ.

The Law as Rule of Life

You abandon your own righteousness. You don't buckle under the terror of your conscience. You go to the only place that your conscience can be cleansed, which is the fountain filled with blood. Now, the third use, and this is the last use here.

The third use is different than the first two. And in fact, early on in the Reformation, the Lutherans would fully expound the first two uses. And there was a lot of mixed baggage about the third use.

Luther certainly seemed to hold it, perhaps inconsistently. Melanchthon developed it. But later on, Lutheran heirs really began to press against this idea of what's called simply the third use of the law.

In fact, to such a degree that it became sort of a badge of the Reformed that they embraced the third use of the law. The third use of the law we call the rule, the rule of life. In other words, it's a standard.

You heard Tony during his prayer mention the idea of a walking stick. This is the way, the path. This is not the power. This is not the means by which we're accepted with the Lord. But having been accepted by the Lord, this is how we move forward with him.

This is how we commune with him. This is how we seek to please him. It's a rule, a standard, a measure for our life. Listen to our confession. This is just an excerpt from paragraph six. Although true believers be not under the law as a covenant of works.

We established that two weeks ago. Christ came under the covenant of works. That's why he bore the curse of the law. Believers are not under the law as a covenant of works. Praise God. Yet it is of great use to them as well as to others in that it's a rule of life.

This is the third use of the law. Notice that this third use, this rule of life is for believers only. You can't be an unbeliever. You can't be unsaved by the Lord Jesus Christ and have this third use.

It just doesn't work that way. There's no walking stick, there's no path. You're in bondage, you're in darkness, right? So there's no third use for an unbeliever. Calvin makes this clear. The third use of the law has respect to those in whose hearts the Spirit of God already flourishes and reigns.

The third use depends upon the work of the Spirit. For believers, this use of God's law reminds them of all that God requires and all that God promises to bless. It also reminds them of all that God warns against.

It leads them, therefore, in their life of repentance and faith. It shows them what they ought to repent for and how they ought to express faith in the One who's tread the way before them, how they can seek to please Him and do His good work.

What are, in Ephesians 2, the good works prepared beforehand? The rule of life applied by you. And so they draw us to see and desire what's pleasing to God as born-again children of God, the law now becoming light to our path.

We now know how to love the Lord our God. We know now how to love our neighbor. It's in accordance with this rule for life. Listen to, again, the hymn that we sang, Matthias Lloyd. To those who help in Christ have found.

He gets it. This is only for Christians. To those who already help in Christ have found and would in works of love abound. All right, Lord, I'm yours. You saved me.

Now I want to follow you.

Now I want to serve you. I want to show you my love for you. All right, you want to abound in that?

It shows what deeds are His delight.

And should be done as good and right. That's a third use of the law. Herman Bovink, the great Dutch theologian who I've mentioned in times past. Listen to this. This is very, very helpful. He says the former uses of the law, right?

We talked about the mirror, the restraint. He says the former uses of the law have only become necessary because of sin. And as we've said, the law of God written on Adam's heart, that wasn't a result of sin.

Adam was made without sin. As an image of God, he was reflecting God's perfection. So these first two uses of the law don't apply. There's no need to restrain when there's not sin. There's no need to show you an ugly reflection when there's not sin.

So Bovink is saying, listen, these first two uses of the law, they only became necessary because of the fall. Even when these earlier uses cease, you know, one day, those who have rejected Christ and rejected the gospel will be under the wrath of the law.

Those who have embraced Christ and the salvation he freely gives will be with him without sin as a result of his word. And in that time, these uses will, these first two uses will pass away. There'll no longer be a need for a muzzle or a restraint.

Wrath will be fully poured out and salvation will have been fully accomplished. There's no longer a need for a muzzle. You won't need to look at the mirror and say, how am I doing? How am I looking? Those uses pass away.

But the rule of life remains.

This is Bovink.

Even when these earlier uses cease, the most important one, he calls it the deductive or normative use. He's simply talking about the rule of life remains. Listen, listen to his reasoning. The law after all is an expression of God's very being.

It's what we've established. As a human being, Christ was naturally subject to the law. He's the express image of God. Before the fall, the law was inscribed on Adam's heart. Now listen, in the case of the believer, it is again engraved on the tables of his heart by the Holy Spirit and in heaven, all its inhabitants will conduct themselves in accordance with the law of the Lord.

The law is everlasting and precisely that which is restored by the gospel. The law is everlasting and precisely that which is restored by the gospel so that you may reflect God in holiness and righteousness and be fit to dwell with him forever.

Do you see?

Remember my favorite dictum, someone get me a coffee mug with it. Grace restores nature. So application here. It's an application. We've established now the three uses of the law. Let's get some application as we come to a close.

Application: Law and Gospel in the Justified

Well, especially coming off the cusp of celebrating the reformation, we have to always maintain the moral law as our confession states, the moral law is binding even on the justified. Again, this is what the gospel's meant to bring us to the fullness of, all that the law requires.

That's what Christ has purchased for his people by his blood. If we are being conformed by degree to his image, we will one day be as he is with all of the righteousness of the law. The moral law reflected in the 10 commandments is forever binding even to the justified, but we must maintain, Luther rolling if we don't, that the believer's obedience to the law is never the means by which they are justified.

It's not the fact that we obey the law. It's not the fact that we walk with the law as a rule of life that gives us standing with God. God forbid, our standing with God, our approval, our acceptance, our reconciliation with God is by the work of Christ alone.

We talked about this yesterday afternoon. Solus Christus, Christ alone, by his grace through faith. And so we maintain this sharp division between the law and the gospel. Listen to how Bavinck puts this.

The law demands that humans work out their own righteousness. That's what the law demands. The law demands that be righteous. Curse it or you if you don't do everything that this law contains. The law demands that humans work out their own righteousness.

And we have a sharp contrast of the gospel. What does the gospel do? The gospel doesn't command. What does the gospel do? In this sense, this is Bavinck, the gospel invites. Now there is an obedience of faith.

The gospel does go forth as a command, repent and believe. But listen to what's being said here.

The law demands.

Humans work out their own righteousness. The gospel invites them. Renounce your self-righteousness and accept the righteousness of Christ. It invites us to renounce, to look in the mirror and own, woe am I, and then embrace with empty hands as those who are poor in spirit, weeping over our sin, hungry and thirsty for righteousness to embrace Christ.

So the cross announces our work's righteousness. Perhaps the best picture of the hopelessness of the law. You, and this is Paul's whole argument in Galatians, you who would hope for righteousness from the law.

Paul says to the Galatians, who's bewitched you? You started out so well. You began with the power of the spirit. You began in grace. Now you're going to try to finish by law? The gospel is not something initiatory.

It spans the whole of the Christian life. We're saved by the gospel, not by the works of the law. Paul blew in his face trying to convey this.

To all of the churches.

That are being infected with the Judaizers. And he puts it very bluntly. If righteousness could come through the law, Christ died for nothing. Christ was the only one who could keep the law. That's why he had to die.

And if you live your life in a way that somehow presents or pretends that you can have a righteous standing by your obedience, then Christ came for no reason. Christ died for no reason. You could do it on your own.

May it never be. There's a hopelessness in you who seek the law as a means of justification, a means of standing with God. You think your obedience counts for anything in terms of your justification?

No.