A Primer on Law/Gospel

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry, Michael E. Ebendroth here, Duplex Stratia Radio. I just looked up on the wall here in the posh No Compromise studio. Oh, it's so posh, it's the same studio setup that we've had 15 years ago, except we've got the new RODECaster Pro 2 instead of the old technology.

Is this the 14th year, something like that? But on my wall, I have a gift from my friend Dave Jeffries, who just became an elder, by the way. He serves along with Tom Pennington, somewhere in Texas. I don't know if it's Dallas, Fort Worth, who knows where.

But anyway, he gave me part of a transcript, an original transcript of one of Spurgeon's sermons that he preached September 7th, which is pretty close to now, 1890, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London, and it says, eighth page as amended by him.

So if memory serves, I think five, 10 people took notes of Spurgeon's sermons, and then they were kind of collated. They were all put together, compared, and then they were given to Spurgeon. He would make a few more notes on them, and then they were published.

So a few of the words on this manuscript are from Spurgeon himself, and this is the sermon that he preached on that Lord's Day. It was entitled, And Why Not Me? So I'm not going to read the sermon. I'm just going to read you the first paragraph of the sermon, because that's printed here on this two foot by three foot framed Spurgeon deal, and then there's a picture of Spurgeon as well.

Here's what Spurgeon said. This is not really my theme of the show, but I just looked up and saw it, and we just do ADD radio. That's just the way it goes. First then, and this is the main point of this morning's discourse, Jesus came of himself.

Read in scripture concerning the miracles of Christ, and you will be struck with the way in which many were led to him. A friendly hand conducted the blind, or conducted the little children. Some were brought bodily to Christ.

We read of a paralyzed man who was born of four, carried by four, and they led him down by ropes to the ceiling, to the place where Christ stood. Others could not come or be brought, but the Lord went of them where they were, on their beds or waiting at the pool.

But here is a case of a man who came by himself on his own account. This is the leper, and I want you to note this, because I'm persuaded that we have around us those who have nobody to lend them to Christ, nobody to pray for them, nobody to persuade, exhort, or entreat them, but these may come through the direct operations of the Spirit upon their souls.

Those are left outside of the pail, dwelling on the other side of the line of Christian effort, but they are not beyond the grace of God. This leper did not come of himself, though no one called him. He plucked up courage, and it is written as a wonder, Behold, there came a leper and worshipped him.

Note very well that this man knew in himself that his case was a terrible one. I do not intend to describe the dreadful disease of leprosy we have on other occasions, viewed it as God's appointed picture of sin.

It was a living death, a source of misery, a center of defilement, oops, and such is sin. Well, that's very, very interesting. By the way, I don't know why my microphone has kind of a little pop to it.

I don't know what my volumes are, but that's just the way life goes. A sermon delivered on the Lord's Day from Matthew 8, 2 and 3, Behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou can makes me clean.

I will be thou clean. Today on No Compromise Radio, after that four-minute introduction, I have a test for you, especially you math people, you polytech institute people, you engineers. I think we have some people here at the church that actually teach it, you know, math works and things like that.

What do all these numbers have in common? Are you ready? 97, 89, 83, 79, 73, any guesses? 71, 67, 61, 59, 53, 47, 43, 41, 37, I see that hand, 31, 29, 23, 19, 17, 13, 11, any guesses? Now it'll be really easy.

What do all these numbers have in common? 7, 5, 3, and 2. Well, I think you know what is the answer, and the answer is they're all what? Prime numbers. Yes. 2, 3, 5, and 7 is easy, but the larger ones, and they're all prime numbers between 1 and 100, technically 2 and 100 because you can't use 1 as a prime number.

Of course, you know prime numbers are numbers, whole numbers that are greater than 1, divisible by only 1 and itself, prime numbers. I'm not talking about prime time, Deion Sanders, Coach Prime, although we could.

Speaking of which, if we add an R to the word prime, how do you pronounce that? So prime and add an R. So first math question, now a spelling and pronunciation question. We have the word prime and we add an R, and how do you pronounce it?

Well, most people say primer, and of course that would be true, right? You have a primer when it comes to percussion powder and older guns. You have a primer when you put a prime coat on something with paint.

You have a primer that I read was a molecule whose presence is required for formation of another molecule. Those are all primers. But you can also pronounce it as primer, primer. And a primer is a small book for teaching children to read, or it's a book that introduces something.

It's a book that teaches, and it was a part of every person's education when they were little. And you probably know, back in the 1690s here in New England, we had the first printed primer in North America called the New England Primer.

And when I see the word primer, I have to force myself to say primer because I'd always say primer in the past. And of course, it taught the children lessons. Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. And it's got the alphabet that you know, we've talked about here at No Compromise Radio, to teach you lessons and how to spell and cue. Queen Esther comes in royal state to save the Jews from dismal fate.

So today though, I want to have a primer on the two words of scripture, important words, words that summarize the Bible and our approach to hermeneutics. And you know those because you listen to No Compromise Radio regularly in the Pactam and other shows, that it's law and gospel.

So in this show, a primer on Christianity using the two simple words, law and gospel, to just remind you to keep thinking this way. I've done shows on American Gospel Television on law and gospel. And we understand that it's important, but we keep teaching things that are important over and over and over.

That's what we do. That's why we keep talking about who Jesus is. To show you how important they are, let me ask you three kind of test questions that I'm not going to answer until we're done with the primer.

And then we'll answer those questions. Question one, if somebody said to you, why are you a Christian? Are you a Christian? How do you know you're a Christian? What would you say? Number two, if somebody asked you, what is the essence of Christianity?

What would be your response? Or one word that would define Christianity? Question three, what's the best way to have assurance of your salvation? Somebody calls you and said, you've been going to church with them for five years, and they say, I'm struggling with my salvation.

Am I a Christian? What would you say? And I think if we understand very simply, in a primer type fashion, the two words law and gospel, you're going to be answering those questions properly and more. And you've heard me say regularly that Luther said, if you understand these two words, you will be a doctor in theology.

Doctor, doctor, doctor. Beza, we divide the Bible into two principal parts or kinds. The one is called the law and the other is called the gospel. For all the rest can be gathered under the one or other of these two headings.

Martin Luther, that the entire scripture of God is divided into two parts, commands and promises, law and gospel. Melanchthon, all of scripture is either law or gospel. Two simple words, sometimes overlooked, sometimes blended into gospel, important for interpretation, and maybe the most important concept for understanding scripture, law and gospel.

My outline for today's show is simple. First, we'll talk about the law. Then we'll talk about the gospel. And then we'll answer the questions that I first ask. So here we go. For Bodie Music, I think it was 1978.

I was in Omaha and first saw that show. It was pretty amazing. And now it's just turned into what? De-evolution. First, law. Now, remember, you've heard me say this before, but the law is not abstract.

It's not floating around in the ether, in the netherworld and such. The law is a reflection of who God is. God is good. The law is good. God is holy. His law is holy. It's a reflection of his character.

His nature, his essence. And you can look at Romans chapter 7. You can look at 1 Timothy chapter 1. And you will understand the connection between God and his law. Probably the best way to remember that is when you think of the law, you should think of God's law.

So God has laws for us to do. Reflects his justice and righteousness. And when you think of law, the easiest thing to think of is do. The law requires you to do something, to follow something. It commands you.

It's an imperative. You must obey. Law is do. Matthew 22, for instance, verse 34 and following. But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer.

Don't think of our lawyers. Think of someone skilled and an expertise in God's law. A lawyer asked him a question to test him. Always a bad idea to test Jesus. Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?

And he said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. Something to do. Law is do. Law is a command.

Law is an imperative. And Jesus said, and a second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets. And so sometimes people don't realize this, but love is law.

Husbands, love your wives. That's law. Love your neighbor. That's law. Love God. That's law. Love enemies. That's law. I don't know why sometimes people confuse love with something else. If you want to talk about God's love for us, that's certainly the gospel category.

But I digress. Law is to do. Think 10 commandments. Thou shall not. Right? Law. Do. Casper, the friendly Olivianus, said the law is what it is we are and are not to do. Namely, obey him perfectly, both inwardly and outwardly.

He promises eternal life on the condition that I keep the law perfectly my whole life long. On the other hand, he threatens eternal damnation if I do not keep every provision of the law my whole life long, but violate it in one or more of its parts, as God says in Deuteronomy 27 and Galatians 3.

Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things that are written in the book of the law and to do them. And as you know, the Westminster Confession and the London Baptist, a second perfect, entire, exact, perpetual obedience.

And so for the unbeliever, the law condemns. The law is like a mirror, and it exposes. And when I shave in the morning, it seems like I've got a clean shave. And I always go over to the mirror that's got the 10X, and I look again, and I see the spots that I've missed because I'm so blind.

And so the mirror helps me see myself as I really am. And the law of God shows the unbeliever who he or she is as a sinner and as a child of wrath, and its purpose is to make them understand that they need a savior as law breakers.

And so the law condemns as a mirror to the unbeliever. Well, the believer has a different relationship to God. And instead of judge, like the unbeliever has, the believer has a relationship to God as father.

And so there's no judgment for the son or daughter because Jesus has satisfied God's wrath. We call that propitiation. And therefore, God's law, while unchanging, we have a different relationship to him.

And so instead of a mirror, God's law is a mirror that condemns, God's law guides, and God's law helps us to know what to do as sons and daughters with God, our father, with Jesus Christ, our brother, savior, redeemer, mediator, advocate, spirit of God dwelling in us.

Now we say, oh, God tells us to live holy lives. God tells us to flee from sexual immorality. God tells us to serve other people. God tells us to pray. And therefore, those are guides. But if we don't do those things perfectly, or if we stumble in some of the areas, we're not condemned because Jesus has been condemned for us.

And there's no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. That's kind of the end times judgment jammed into Romans 8 up front for every believer. The law says do. Now in our primer, what does the gospel say?

The gospel says it's been done. It's an announcement. Who God is and what he has done. It's a declaration of God and his works. It's a promise of God. And maybe the most well-known verses in the Bible about gospel or 1 Corinthians 15, 3 to 5, for I deliver to you as a first importance, what I also received that Christ died not for his sins, but for our sins in accordance with the scriptures that he was buried.

It's a real death that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures that he appeared to Cephas, then to the 12. While law is written on our hearts and think about our consciences, the gospel is not written on our hearts and therefore it must be proclaimed.

It must be announced. And you can think of Romans chapter 10. How are they going to hear without a preacher? And so when you read things like Romans chapter 1 about the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son, who has descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the son of God in power, according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ, our Lord, you are reading things and they are in the gospel category.

What has God done? So law is due. Gospel is done. I think of a Spurgeon that said, uh, the gospel is not do, do, do the gospel is done, done, because the Lord Jesus on earth merited our righteousness by his law keeping by perfectly, entirely, exactly, perpetually obeying Jesus did do, do, do.

And that is essentially, he was under a covenant of works doing what we were supposed to do, obviously, as a representative. And we get credit for his righteousness received by the non-meritorious instrument of faith and faith alone.

So to summarize Heidelberg disputation, the law says, do this. And it's never done. Grace says, believe in this and everything is already done. So do and done super simple. And therefore, when we talk to people, we have the law gospel in our minds.

So we talked to an unbeliever. We preached the law to them. Think Romans chapter three, especially verse 19. And we preached a lot of them until they are shutting their mouths because they have nothing to say.

In other words, they should respond with, if you're right, I have no excuse. My excuses of I'm better than other people. I'm reforming. I stopped doing certain things. Their mouths are shut and they realize they're a sinner and they need a savior.

So we preach the law to them. And of course, we preach the gospel to them and talk about Jesus, a friend of sinners who dies on the cross and is raised from the dead and who seeks and saves those that are lost, who comes as a rescuer and savior, a merciful, great prophet, priest, and king that can be received by faith.

That's what we say to the unbeliever. And of course, to the believer, we also talk law gospel. And this is something that probably is most misunderstood. If you go to most churches, they'll say, how do you evangelize people?

Well, talk about sin and talk about the savior, talk about law, talk about the gospel. They might not use the words, but they understand that. And then you go to church and the gospels assume, the gospels in the statement of faith, the gospels for altar calls, but it's never serving as a motivation for holy living for the Christian.

The guilt, grace, gratitude paradigm doesn't seem to be working. And we need to remember that the motivation, ultimately, the animating power is not found in the law. It is found in the gospel. So we want to make sure when we're preaching to Christians that we remind them who the Lord is, what he's done, including, and very importantly, that the son has given us the spirit, the seal of promise, his spirit.

The Holy Spirit is dwelling in us. So we can say yes to righteousness. We can say no to sin. And therefore we need on a regular basis to hear about Jesus. And that's, you hear my refrain all the time, a dear pastor, do you think you could talk about Jesus for at least 10 minutes in your sermon?

Can you talk about gospel truths and promises? Like 1 John 2 .25, this is the promise that he made to us, eternal life. Can you talk about who Jesus is? John 6 .32, my father gives you the true bread from heaven.

We don't want to blend these two law gospel things because then basically you get saved if you cooperate with grace and you obey God and follow him properly. We don't want to do that. That would be an ignorance of the distinction between law and gospel.

That basis is one of the principal sources of abuses which corrupted and still corrupt Christianity. All right, back to the original three questions. If someone said, how do you know you're a Christian?

Now we've had our primer on law gospel. How do you know you're a Christian? With the law gospel understanding and knowing the differences, I don't think we should say, I don't think you should say, I don't think I should say, I think I'm a Christian because I read the Bible, I pray, evangelize.

When I get convicted of sin, I ask for forgiveness and repent, try to love my enemies, try to think about eternal truths, go to worship service on Sunday, have a ministry, give sacrificially my time and resources and money.

I think all that's great. Yes and amen. But that's not why you're a Christian. That's the fruit of your Christianity. That's the evidence of your Christianity. Those are the consequences of the work of Christ.

That's law. That's in the faithfulness category. The just shall live by faithfulness. No, the just shall live by faith. Shorthand, the just shall live by faith in the risen Savior, Jesus Christ. Would you, instead of giving law answers, faithfulness category answers, when someone asks you why you're a Christian, why don't you say, because Jesus died for my sins, lived for my righteousness, He rose victorious from the grave, and He promises that if I just trust Him, believe in Him, I have eternal life.

And I'm trusting in those promises. That's the right way to answer in the gospel category when someone says, are you a Christian? Why? How do you know that you are? That's the answer. Second, what's the essence of Christianity?

What words would define Christianity? And for most of the time, if we don't have the law gospel distinctions, or even if we do and just we flip ourselves down into the law category, then we say the essence of Christianity is love.

And we don't really mean God's love for us, because that would be true. But we mean our love to God and our love for neighbor. You see churches all the time, we're known for loving God and loving neighbor.

And I just say, law, they might be good churches, but they're just ill-equipped when it comes to this. Is that what the church is known for? If I come to your sermons and listen to you preach, how much gospel am I going to get?

People use Micah 6, 8 all the time. He has told you, oh man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly before your God? Law or gospel.

That's not the essence of Christianity. And in our CRT, DEI, social justice, all this wackadoodle stuff, we, you know, especially younger people probably have been more influenced than some old geezers like me.

We're like, yeah, that's Christianity, doing justice. No, no. Those things are the fruit. Let's make sure we understand justice versus social justice. That's another show, but that's law. That's fruit and evidence again.

What's the church known for? If I sit in your church service, I hope I walk out after the sermon going, this church is all about Jesus. Question three, what's the best way to have assurance? Now, knowing the primer on law gospel, if it's, do I pray enough?

Do I evangelize enough? Do I read my Bible enough? Do I love my wife enough? Am I self-sacrificial enough? I'm not going to get much assurance. I think subjective assurance, our obedience, 2 Peter 1, our holy living, our conduct, I think that's good.

We realize the Spirit of God is working in us and we're different people. That's not to be neglected, but that's not priority number one. Priority number one when it comes to assurance is gospel categories, not law categories.

Therefore, how do you know you're a Christian? Because it's related to question one, is how do I have assurance? Because I believe what Jesus said. I'm banking my eternal life on what Jesus said. I regularly say to myself, if I have a doubt or something like that, is this all true?

Because I'm 64 now, bad health many times, aortic aneurysm and leukemia and the COVID thing and prostate cancer, and the list goes on and on and on. What's going to happen to me when I die? I am forced again.

There's all kinds of policemen and police motorcycles flying down the street. There's like 20. You hear the motorcycles? Wow, what are we doing here? I want to be in that group. I just thought about getting a motorcycle today.

Because when you're old, what do you do? I can't ride the bicycle as fast or as far. But objective assurance is found in the Lord Jesus. How do you have assurance? I think it was Spurgeon who said, because we started the show with Spurgeon, we wrap up the show with Spurgeon, and that is when you try to grab the dove of assurance, it flies away.

But when you focus on the Lord Jesus Christ, the dove of assurance settles down on your shoulder. And so here comes more motorcycles. Wow, this is amazing. I think that's time to wrap up the show. We've got to have some background stuff so you can't hear all that.

Can you live the gospel? Law, gospel categories will help you understand. You can't live the gospel. It must be proclaimed. Friendship evangelism. What's going on with friendship evangelism? You've got to proclaim the gospel.

Your life will not reflect the proclamation that Jesus is the risen Savior. Finally, those guys, they've driven past. My name is Mike Abendroth. This is No Compromise Radio Ministry. A primer on law, gospel.