1689 London Baptist Confession (part 41)

We praise you we think of your goodness your kindness your grace father how you delivered us from the Righteous judgments, which we deserved. Lord we would pray as we Look to your word what it says about the law.

What the confession of faith says about the law? Lord, I pray that you would teach us not only to Fear you greatly, but also to love your law and To think of it rightly. Lord, I pray that you would bless each one here and we pray for this in Jesus name.

Amen. Well again, we started talking about the law last week and RC kind of rambles and wanders and does different things. Some of the things I've cut out because he wanders a little bit too much but We talked about you know a few lightweight Topics last week abortion marriage.

In fact we were talking about marriage when we ended last week just talking about how Living together without marriage has become so commonplace and Even Christians, you know, have you ever heard anybody try to?

Rationalize this as a Christian. Why are they living together before marriage? Save money. I've even heard my favorite one though. They were saving money for their marriage. I Can't even you know, we're saving for that.

We we have to save money. So we're Living and I'm just like I can't even I have no response to that. But it's interesting how and and part of what he's doing here is he's talking about how The church has begun and really this is only increased.

Looking more and more like the world. Where we are called to be separate from the world to be different from the world. To cause people to say what is wrong with those people and instead we just look like everybody else.

I say we generically the church and we closed on this that. This is RC saying he says when I say that we are all in a covenant relationship with God. You may assume that I'm talking about a wonderful loving relationship, right?

I'm in covenant relationship with God however, a covenant relationships can be either positive or negative in biblical language people can either be covenant keepers or covenant breakers and His point is that whether we want to or not every single person is in a covenant relationship with God because we are either in Adam and Therefore under the covenant of works or we are in Christ and in the covenant of grace the new covenants.

Sproul is clear that he does not want to establish Christian law or the Ten Commandments as the law of the land and we'll talk more about theonomy as the. Maybe either this week or next week, but he wished the church had more influence.

And he says it has been a long time since Christian influence has prevailed. Then he said we cannot use the sword to turn America back into a Christian nation. So Christians need to be very careful about how they use their elective electoral power.

We must not try to use the ballot to enforce the distinctives of the Christian community. And I'm like to turn America back into a Christian nation. When was it a Christian nation exactly? Without Delving too deeply into this if you if you look at most of the founders they were what?

Deists and for those of you not familiar with the term a deist is someone who believes there's a God. Larry he wound it up and let it go. You know that the the classic picture is that of a cosmic watchmaker and he creates this lovely Wonderful watch which we call the universe and all of existence and then he just observes it.

He's just watching it he doesn't get involved in the details and The problem with that of course is if you read the Bible. That's not the God of the Bible. That's nothing like the God of the Bible. And so what certain deists did including Jefferson, you know, uh, Pastor Mike will sometimes talk about the Jefferson Bible.

He has in his office and thankfully that's not the one he uses a study. Because the Jefferson Bible is unique in what sense? No miracles. Somebody else. It's a little smaller what so what he did because Jefferson was a deist and his idea was God doesn't get involved in you know, the the intricacies of life.

And so therefore anytime we would see God intervening in the time-space continuum to do what only God can do which is what a miracle is he would just take his scissors and Cut it out. So if you have a Jefferson Bible you know, you'll be reading along and all of a sudden Jesus is going to heal somebody or something of that nature and It's gone, you know on to the next thing Moses is gonna part the Red Sea Gone, you know, I mean whatever whatever doesn't fit in that paradigm of Miracles cannot happen.

He just removes. And if you talk to people today and they say that they are spiritual a Lot of times basically what they're saying is I'm a deist. I believe that there is somebody out there. Something out there.

There's something greater than me. I don't know what it is. I don't really care and I don't think that God Cares, I don't think he's involved in the details. Well, he certainly loves me. Because you know, how can he not love and I don't mean me me I just mean this is the generic spiritual person.

God loves me and has Angels surrounding me, but I don't really know how the rest of it works and they don't care but everybody is in some kind of covenant relationship with God whether they want to be or not and people who call themselves spiritual or deists or Whatever they call themselves.

Ultimately, they worship one thing and that is a god of their own imaginings and they are ultimately idolaters. Okay, so let's talk about the covenant of works. Covenant of works. Sproul says this God's laws are given to us in the context of a covenants and What is a covenants?

I? Think you can give a one-word answer or you can expound a little bit. What is a covenant? Contract is the one-word answer. What's a little bit? Well, what is a contract then? When you enter into a contract, you know, could your bank say we want you to sign this Covenant with us.

So there would be that I mean imagine. Imagine the bank says, you know what? We used to call these contracts. We want to call them covenants nine. You go that's fine. Same same and Then they said by the way, if you miss a payment, we're going to kill you.

You probably went like that very much we're going to do undo you what we've done to these animals, you know. No, I'm not signing that. I'll live in an apartment. Thank you. With that it sounds like the Bank of America.

Yeah, I've had some dealings with them. They're on my banned list. So Another comment, okay. At creation God sets before the human race a blessing and a curse and the terms are spelled out where in Genesis, of course, let's look at Genesis 2 verses 15 and 17.

Genesis chapter 2 verses 15 and 17. You have to breathe anyway, yes mark so we see the conditions of the covenant there are promises there are blessings and. Then for disobedience there is what a curse and it's not like a little fine added on to your mortgage.

This is why you you know, yeah, we're doing covenants now at Bank of America. Probably wouldn't be the best the promise of blessing and then the promise or the curse and actually the it's the promise of Damnation it's even stronger than just death because this is the idea of Separation from God.

The Death Penalty Before Sinai and the Sanctity of Human Life

Now, let's talk. Let's develop some more about the law and the early law. When is the death penalty first come into being when was it first commanded what's it? When Noah got off the ark. Okay, let's look at that Genesis 9 verse 6.

Part of the Noahic Covenant, this is before it keep in mind. Because we we all know, you know The Ten Commandments comes in Exodus, so we're in Genesis. This is before the Ten Commandments and it's against the law to kill someone even before the Ten Commandments.

Genesis 9 verse 6. Somebody read that please go ahead. Thank You Anthony. And RC says the heinousness of the sin of murder is rooted in the sanctity of human life. Which is tied to the image of God born by humans alone, and we talked about that.

There is no other being in creation. That is an image bearer ultimately an attack on the image bearer of God is an attack on God himself and the penalty for that is death. Now do you ever think about it that way that in killing another person.

It's ultimately an attack on God murdering shouldn't say killing is Ultimately an attack on God himself and notice also that it's not optional. Whoever sheds the blood of man by man. Shall his blood be shed.

Not may but shall. So, what are we to think about governments that will not impose the death penalty, I mean, I I think there's a pretty While there may be cases of misjustice in most cases of murder.

In my mind there ought to be you know, I say a trial on You know Monday an appeal on Wednesday hanging on Friday and a burial on Saturday and it's just done done done. Why because that's? What God says and that's justice.

So if a government won't do that It's not executing its mandate. It's not performing its mandate from God. It is not Conforming to what God empowers governments to do and therefore it is in rebellion against God.

Can you think of any place that won't execute people. Hmm. RC says capital punishment is a creation ordinance that Christians should support and should tell their state governments to uphold. That is not asking the state to be Christian, but asking the state to be the state.

Let's look at Romans 13 verses 3 and 4. Romans 13 verses 3 and 4. I mean we we think in our minds we think well I don't know how many of us think that the death penalty is a bad thing. But I think if we consider What it represents and ultimately not just that The punished person is going to lose their life, but what they have done to to earn that so to speak I Mean we're not talking about speeding tickets here Romans 13 verses 3 and 4 would somebody read that please as we've said before the idea of bearing the sword is Ultimately that he the government has the power of life and death.

It's not talking about going and fighting wars but actually enforcing the law even up and to death an Avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoers. How the ESV ends there and again, I think sometimes we think boy, that's It's harsh, but it's really not and you know I sit on the other side of things where I've You know spoken with a lot of people who've done a lot of bad things, and I think it's interesting that You know most of them don't they don't fear much of anything.

Why would they? Right. Why would criminals fear governments that I? I mean, it's not as bad as I a gen and I watched the 60 minutes piece here. Anybody see this like it was a couple months ago where they did a thing on the prison system in Germany and they're talking to a guy who was a hitman and He's sitting out by a lake or a river or something like that on a little bench.

And they go he's in prison right now, and I'm like Really then they go back to his room, and it's probably About twice the size of the stage here. You know it's nicely appointed. He's got his own bathroom, and his TV, and he's got internet and all these things and I'm like It looks like a pretty nice college dorm room.

You know just like. And he he got out of prison. He was a hitman and They're like well. You know the point of German prison isn't to punish, but to reform. That's what I did. I laughed because I just go yeah, I Have a funny feeling that this wouldn't quite work in the United States, so then they go to of course to the United States.

I think it was to Pennsylvania, and they talked to a prison official and they're trying to implement This kind of system in Pennsylvania. Don't let the people in California see this because it's gonna get really really ugly.

Hitmen you know getting released after I I don't remember how much he was old he was sentenced to 20 years. But he got released earlier than that. Okay, I take money, and I go kill somebody I don't know and I and I do a period of time you know in a dorm room.

And then I'm released into society. I don't know but that is definitely not what The Bible calls government to do and it's definitely you know it's another way of Saying. I don't believe that human beings are image bearers.

I don't believe that there's anything special about people. I mean I find I don't know if you see this on your Facebook feed too, but I find that people are more outraged By what happens to a stray dog in some place that they've never been to before.

Than by what happens to other human beings. They want you know people who mistreat animals to be put to death. But not so much people, but as I said all people are under the covenant of works. The confession of faith says this 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 and all his posterity to personal entire exact and perpetual obedience.

Well the power and ability to keep God's law was Kept or lost by Adam. He do a good job or a bad job. He did a very bad job, but here's the problem. His failure does not release us from the obligation of obeying God's law.

The fact that Adam struck out so to speak. It doesn't mean that we don't have to go up to the plate and obey we have to obey perfectly. The obligation to keep the law was never set aside and All law finds its origin in God it finds its validity in its conformity to the character of God.

What does that mean? It means that the law of God is not merely a Matter of arbitrary societal convention. Means that it's not a consensus and that that's the law of God. Well, let's put it this way if there is no God if the atheist dream were true.

Then what does that mean about the law of God? It's null and void, right? So if there is no Law of God if there are no restraints on what we should and shouldn't do then we can do whatever we want. Without God everything is permissible.

Why not and if you talk to an atheist and you say well, why can't I kill somebody? What do they say? It's wrong. Well, why why is it wrong? Because it yeah altruism. Let's just put it this way that it We don't want to do anything that would take away from the universal Welfare, you know that the what would be good for all people because if we do that, then other people might do it and then we might wind up in a downward spiral pastor Bob.

Yeah, pastor Bob points out. The problem is what is the definition of negative? Because the definition of negative what is negative? What is a net minus to society gets redefined? You know, there was a time in our society where divorce was a net negative.

Now it's Tuesday. You know, there was a time when abortion was abhorrent and not something one Would ever confess to and now it's you know, they take out advertisements on TV to brag about their abortion so the idea that there's some sort of Universal good or something or a transcendent norm is Really defied by the idea if there is no God there can be no transcendent norm.

There can be no absolute right or wrong. Oh, the only way there can be an absolute right or wrong is if there's an absolute Arbiter an absolute lawgiver an absolute monarch we could say who determines what is right and wrong.

RC says it this way. There is no transcendent norm or standard or lawgiver if there is no then laws are merely an expression of the will of whatever individual or group is in power and that's the way we're Heading right now, right?

We see the de evolution of society. We see it spiraling downward as pastor Bob was saying. The confession goes on to say this the same law that was first 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 Ten Commandments and Written in two tables the first four containing our duty toward God and the other six our duty toward man.

So let me ask you this. Do you love the law of God? Do you think about it that way? I love the law. Will's nodding his head. Now he's laughing in embarrassment. Do you love the law of God? And you say well, I don't love the law of God because it's the standard by which I measure myself and I fail all the time.

I Prefer grace. Thank you very much. So let's look at Psalm 119 for a moment. See what the psalmist under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit says Psalm 119 and we're gonna read a few verses here starting in verse 97.

So I'm gonna ask somebody to read verse 97. Somebody else to read verse 113 and Then the third person can read 163 and 165 so it's 97 113 and then 163 and 165 so Verse 97. Oh how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day that sounds Like something we should focus on right under the inspiration of Holy Spirit 113.

Okay, and 163 and 165 I Mean the law sounds like a pretty good thing. Let's look at 1st Timothy chapter 1 verse 8. Thank you. Now if you walk up to your standard person on the street. Which is fun to do if you walk up to your standard person on the street and you say do you love the law of?

God what kind of response are you gonna get? Surprise, what's the law of God? Right? I have no idea what that even means. Most people are probably gonna say no. I mean if they're honest that are gonna say no and If we look at our society, what would we?

How would we interpret the way our society acts towards the law of God. We'd probably expect it to be more like this. Oh how I hate your law. But I hate your law. Great peace have those who hate your law.

Now we know the law is bad if one ignores it or if one employs it or whatever. They don't like the law of God the standards of God are hateful to them. And it's interesting RC notes that he frames it this way.

He says even within the church. Think if this is true or not people today will speak in an affectionate way of the Word of God but not the law of God. I Love the Word of God. I love the word. Love to hear the word taught but what about the law in the Old Testament people equated the word with the law of God because whatever God said became a duty, but now we kind of in Many churches we have the idea that the law of God is Not good and that we really should just avoid that and focus on the grace and the love of God, right?

There's this contrast between the law of God and the love of God, but what's wrong with that? That's a great illustration another way of saying it. Would be this now. We know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully.

Right, it's good. It gives us a framework right it gives us boundaries it tells us What is good and not good and it also informs our conscience and helps us in that sense. Yeah, Charlie. Yeah, I like what you said there.

I mean the the law of God is the engine by which we are freed from the law of God. Because Christ fulfilled it for us right. So that's exactly right. When God gave the Mosaic Law on Mount Sinai, it was not the first time the law to exist as we said before Adam and Eve knew the law of God.

Let's look at and this is important. Let's look at Romans 5 verses 12 to 14. We've read this a few times. So I'll read it. And Romans 5 verses 12 to 14 therefore just as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin and.

So death spread to all men because all sinned. Everybody in is in Adam and all sinned even though we weren't even born yet. For sin indeed was in the world Before the law was given but sin is not counted where there is no law.

Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses even over those who sinning was not like the Transgression of Adam who was a type of the one who was to come now we read that a lot. What exactly does it mean? RC says this he says Death implies when it says yet death reigned from Adam to Moses.

Well, let's think about it for a minute. We just said Moses is when we got the law at Mount Sinai. But even before that from Adam from the time when Adam fell until Moses Death reigned death was the ruler and he says death implies the presence of law because without the law There is no sin and without sin.

There is no death. In other words Adam would never have died. Were it not for his sin. But he did sin and so then from the time of his sin until the time of Moses Death reigned because sin brings death.

Adam dragged us all into sin and as a result of that every single person from Adam onward died. That's just what they did except for the guy who was caught from you know caught up in heaven whose name escapes me at the.

But anyway Paul inferred That God's law was enforced from Adam to Moses. Otherwise, he would not have said death reigned between those two men now in the Old Testament. There are two different kinds or there are different kinds of law.

Sorry not to there are multiple kinds. And I think it's interesting because he talks about Proverbs. Into when we think about Proverbs we don't normally think about Laws, but there are a lot of rules, right?

But there are rules of wisdom and when we read the rules of wisdom, we have to apply wisdom and I love the example. He gives here Proverbs 26 verses 4 and 5 you don't have to turn there. Just listen as I read because you'll be familiar with these.

Answer not a fool according to his folly lest you be like him yourself. The next verse answer a fool according to his folly lest he be wise in his own eyes. So, which is it? Don't answer a fool or answer a fool.

RC says it is foolish to continue investing time and energy in a discussion if the other person is obstinate and has no interest in learning that's Answer not a fool according to his folly. Lest you be like in other words if you're trying to argue with somebody somebody tells you God doesn't exist and you say yes, he does exist and let me show you all the places in the Bible where it says he exists.

And he says well, I reject the Bible. What do you do then? I mean you could walk away. You could say well, why do you reject the Bible and you know, you could go down that road but ultimately where you're going to find out is he wants to Argue with you from his atheistic worldview, right?

Step into my phone booth and I will beat you about the head and shoulders. Now you could do that if you want but be prepared to get beaten up by the head about the head and shoulders. And that's what the point is here.

There's a there's a point in which you have to say I'm gonna get nowhere if I go down this road. This is not gonna benefit him and it's just gonna frustrate me. So why am I gonna do that? Now answer a fool according to his folly.

You know, there are many. He can make false claims about the Bible and so then you can refute those and you know. Continue witnessing him or you could say, you know, there's no such thing. He could he could say a lot of silly things and if you answer from Scripture and he says well, what about well what about you can keep going for a while and it could be that you get the opportunity to present the gospel, which should always be the the the point you want to get to.

You know, I don't believe in sin. Okay. Well, do you believe that you do things that are wrong? Yes. You know and so you have to you have to reason with people and ultimately you want to get into Scripture.

But at any point where it's no longer profitable just cut it off RC or RC even gives the example of When Jesus is sending out the twelve, this is long before his death or anything else. He says and if anyone will not receive you or listen to your word shake off the dust from your feet.

When you leave that house or town and I think there's a sense in which when we're Discussing Think about it this way if you're discussing eternal things with people have no desire to learn eternal things.

Then at some point you have to shake the dust off your feet so. But in addition to Proverbs the rules of wisdom there is case law case law in the Old Testament. Now what is case law how many of you ever heard of Brown versus the Board of Education.

I Mean there there are things the Dred Scott case there are things that we learn in school right separate but equal, you know that well, I won't go through the whole Marshall thing and all that stuff, but case law is a Precedent upon which future decisions are based and you say well, how's our case law in the Old Testament?

Okay, well, let's think about it we would see things like this if your ox tramples and RC gets a little fence full here. He says if your ox tramples your neighbors roses, then here's the penalty. Well, are there examples like that in the Old Testament?

You know where if this happens to a pregnant woman, here's the penalty if this is that well, why and here's here's the question he says do these Examples do these case laws cover every conceivable situation that could happen among people?

No. Because if it did if God gave us rules for every single situation. How big would the Bible be? You know, then it would have to expand with technology and everything else if your neighbor hacks in your internet, you know, what's the penalty?

But here's this point. He says in other words God gives a few concrete examples for real-life situations so that those who must judge Can use them as guidelines to apply principles of justice. That's what a case law is, right?

And then he's gonna move on and talk about ethics morality and values when we're talking about law. These things matter and these things ethics moral morality and values tend to be used interchangeably in our culture.

RC differentiates and we'll talk a little a little bit about that. Let's talk about Not values but value the value that we place on objects. Is it true that Different people will value things differently and he gives the example of this.

Let's say that a couple married couple have a $1 ,000 of disposable Income that they haven't budgeted for anything. They just have a random thousand dollars and I'm sure this happens to you all the time.

You know, you have a random thousand dollars that you can as a couple you can do anything with. The husband wants to of course wisely Invested in golf clubs and the wife foolishly wants a new kitchen appliance.

And RC says they're often running for marriage counseling. Because they value things differently and what value a person of science to an item is not an ethical issue. But one of taste or preference however, indirectly it becomes an issue of ethics for Christians because we want to establish a Value system that does what?

That matches God so we would say well does God want a kitchen appliance more or golf clubs? No, we'd know what's. But ultimately what we want is our values our thinking we want that to be conformed into the image of God's law of what God values why what would we call that?

Having our minds conformed Into the image of Christ, what would we call that? There's a word we call that sanctification, right is sanctification. Learning to love what God loves and to hate what he hates.

So ultimately we want our values to be shaped like that ethics. He defines as being about oughtness Oddness what ought to happen or what we ought to want to do and morality defines isness in other words.

What actually happens? Here's what ought to happen. Here's what actually happens. One is theory and one is what is practiced. Well, here's the ethical standard. Let's look at Ephesians 5 3 for a moment.

Excuse me, and if somebody would read Ephesians 5 3 Okay, thank you and notice the last part there as is proper among Saints well, what does that tell us that's what's. That's what ought to happen, right?

This is the standard and the standard is sexual immorality impurity covetousness. Those things should not even be named to let alone practiced among us. Now it's interesting he says in the middle of the second century the apologist Justin Martyr Wrote to Antonin you knew the idea of you knew me that guy.

Anyway, I can't say his name, but the Emperor of Rome whatever his name was pious Emperor pious. Actually was his name the Emperor of Rome to defend the truth of Christianity. Martyr informed the Emperor that if he wanted to know how Christians back up their creed in other words How they actually live out what they profess he should examine the chastity of the Christian people.

That was in the second century. Now would that work today? Maybe not so much. Now this book. I'm reading is a little bit dated, but he says he talks about the Kinsey reports Report that came out when it was a 60s or 70s something like that anyway.

It was on human sexuality. Claimed that normal sexual behavior was what people do in other words once. You know there was a certain tipping point reached. And he said you know the report said that 51 of women who got married.

Were not virgins therefore that was normal. RC says and I like this example he goes let's say 90 of students have cheated in school. Therefore is statistically normal for students to cheat on their examinations.

If it is statistically normal, then it is good and We should encourage students to not be abnormal, but to be normal and cheat. We should even encourage students to become more proficient at their cheating.

Well. That's the logic there, right? Here's the ethical standard don't cheat. Learn study. Master the subject. And then there's the morality that most people practice which is cheat. So he says all the morality studies in the world.

In other words like the Kinsey report only show how fallen people are behaving. You know when this is 73 of all couples live together before marriage or whatever the percentages are. That doesn't set the standard that just shows what people are doing.

That just shows how you know like my wife likes to say How sinful people are sinning. You know how unbelievers are acting like unbelievers. God's law is not based on the norms of sinful mankind, but on his character, which is not fallen.

He says Christians are to look to the imperative or what we ought to be doing. Not the indicative what we are doing. Imperative indicative. Dichotomy there, we don't look to. What everybody else around us is doing.

You know it's like the old story, you know, it's Mother's Day. Mom used to say things like you know if everybody. Everybody's running off a cliff would you run too and sometimes I had to scratch my chin and think about it.

It gives another example of familiar one in 1970. Most people that if you ran a poll most people thought it was immoral or at least they'd say it was immoral to have an abortion. However if you look at polls now, I mean they go they've come back a little bit, but it's pretty close.

You know whether it's moral or immoral whether it should be abortion should be illegal or not, but here's the ultimate point. So what changes in civil law or Morality you know what people think is okay.

Do not change the character of God. Just because everybody's doing something doesn't make it okay. God sets the standard people don't and on Judgment Day. Everyone else was doing it is not an excuse. It's not an acceptable excuse.

It's not one that will suffice is Ultimately the law of God. So the law of God as Was said earlier it sets the fence it sets the parameter. It is good. It reminds us of what perfection is it teaches us that we can't reach perfection.

It teaches us that we need a Savior and it also ought to comfort us as we think Jesus perfectly obeyed this in my place. Jesus did everything that the law commands and by being in Christ on Judgment Day I stand Righteous.

I Stand perfect not because of what I've done. But because of what he did and because of the faith that God has given me to believe and to trust in him. So we need to close but more next week father. We thank you for your law.

We thank you for the moral perfection of it. We thank you for the standard of we thank you even for the protection that we see in it. How you gave us this law not to? Restrict. Not to be a cosmic killjoy, but to protect your children.

To lovingly show us what was good and right and acceptable. Father teach us to love your law to appreciate it. To meditate upon it to chew on it. To turn to it to rely upon it and to not ever be moved.

By the morality by the practices of even those who would profess Christ around us as we see the dilution of what it means to Be a Christian of what it means to love you, but neither let us fall into Some form of crass legalism because therein lies the path of pride and Self-righteousness.

By your word remind us that we are each sinful fallen. No better than anyone else. Lord also use your law your perfect law to save those Here today who don't know you. Our children our grandchildren our neighbors those who need to know about Christ.

Let us always start by setting out your standard and then showing how Christ perfectly fulfilled it. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.