Law and Gospel

A few questions to ask you this morning. Question one, how do you parent? How do you parent? Sit down, say thank you, look me in the eye, shake your hand firmly, open the door for your mother. Is that good parenting?

Is there something more to that? Question two, how do you preach the gospel? Repent, turn, flee, believe, receive. Is that a good way to preach the gospel? Is it a good thing to say? Or is there something more?

Question three, someone comes to you and says, I am struggling with assurance. What do you say? Read your Bible, pray, have an accountability partner. Are those good things to say? Or is there something more?

Obviously, everything I said about parenting, about preaching, and about assurance is good, but it's not complete. What's missing? And so today we're going to answer and ask that question, what is needed when it comes to preaching, evangelism, parenting, and living the Christian life?

The answer is law and gospel. When you have a book like this, with 66 books, you have to ask yourself the question, how do I interpret such a book? It is a book, but it's not like every other book, because not only are there human authors, but there's one divine author, a triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit.

And so we learn things like this to interpret the Bible, context, right? Most important part about real estate, location, location, location. When it comes to Bible reading, context, context, context.

We have other things that we're doing, and I'm sure Pastor Steve brought it up in the book of Acts. Just because something is described in the book of Acts, it doesn't mean it's prescribed for us. In other words, it tells us what happened.

It's not telling us what to do. And if you understand context, and you understand how to read the Bible when it comes to prescription, description, it will help you. And understanding law, gospel, is another one of these hermeneutical issues.

In other words, how to interpret the Bible and how to interpret it well. You've probably heard me quote Luther before, and he said, if you can get law, gospel right, you should be called doctor. So after today's sermon, and maybe next week, I want to look at you, and I want you to say, not, oh, did you enjoy Luke's wedding?

I want you to say, doctor, did you enjoy Luke's wedding? And then I'll say, doctor, yes, I did. Luther is just saying this, it's so important to get this right. You're going to just take baby steps your whole life unless you can read the scripture and say, oh, I see that, that's law.

Oh, I see that, that's gospel. And is there a blending, or do they need to stay separate? On a personal note, I think this idea of not just context, not description, prescription, but even law, gospel, has really changed the way I preach, it changes the way I evangelize, the way I parent, and the way I live my life.

So the plan for today is we're going to look at two definitions and several passages. I know we're in the book of Luke, but we'll get to that soon enough. I want to talk about law and gospel with two definitions and several passages.

And you say, pastor, we've heard you talk about law, gospel a lot. Well, amen, doctor. Did you know, this is kind of sad to think about, you only remember 10 of what the pastor says. I mean, after all this work, Steve, we do, and they only remember 10%.

What in the world is going on? I only remember 10%. So if you want to stress something so people remember it, and they get it, and they grasp it, what do you do? Whether you're parenting or whether you're preaching, you keep talking about the most important things over and over and over, right?

So you think, oh, I understand law, gospel. I get it. Good. Well, I want to just reinforce that today. What is law? And why is it important for unbelievers to know? And believers. And what is gospel for unbelievers?

And strangely enough, is the gospel for believers. Two definitions, several passages, and we'll be back into Luke soon enough. Definition number one. Any guesses? What is the law? What is law? I know you want to get to a passage quickly.

We're going to get there soon. What is the law? Laws are commands, as you know. They are imperatives. They tell us what to do. God is a creator, and he tells his creatures what to do. He demands certain things of them.

That's law. He convicts with the law. He exposes with the law. The law tells us to do something. And not just externally doing it, but also what? Internally. The law tells us to obey. To do what is right.

To not do the wrong things. Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. That's both Deuteronomy 27 and Galatians 3. The law says, do. I have a friend, and he teaches youth groups junior high, and every time he says law, the children shout out, do.

Because they're supposed to do something. It's a law. It comes from God, and therefore it's good. And we must not think about God and law separate, like the law is somehow floating around, detached from God.

No, the law reveals his character. The law shows us how right he is, how righteous he is, how holy he is. It is a reflection of God's nature, character, and essence. And what does the law require? The law requires obedience.

Perfect obedience, as you've heard. Entire obedience. Exact obedience. Perpetual obedience. The law says, do. First Timothy 1, it says we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. And of course, many times we'll say the law for the unbeliever is like a mirror.

And so you take a mirror, and you kind of look, in your mind, you think, I don't look too bad this morning when I wake up. And then I wake up, and I turn the light on, and you have one of those mirrors that have the light around it, and then you've got a little thing to the left, it says 10x.

And you turn that light on, you look at your face, I can't believe I look like that. Praise the Lord. I'm married, and my wife is faithful to her wedding vows. It shows you what you are. That's what the law does.

It's unbending. It says, this is what you need to do, and I realize I'm not doing it. The law says, do. Definition number two. What is? Any guesses? The gospel. The law says do, and the gospel says done.

Gospel means good news. While law is written on our heart, the gospel has to be proclaimed. Remember Romans 10. How do they hear without a preacher? The gospel says, God loves you. God forgives you. God is merciful toward you.

He redeems. He justifies. He's reconciled. All in the person work of the son Jesus that he sent. The law is a proclamation. Jesus Christ has come into the world to save sinners. No demands of the gospel.

Only offers. It doesn't say you get forgiveness if you do this. If you keep the law, you get forgiveness. It says full and free blessing. It's an announcement. So the law says do, and the gospel says, what's another word that starts with D?

Done. There you go. You're well educated. Good job, Steve. Do and done. Do and done. The law says do, the gospel says done. And by the way, when you realize how strict the law is, the gospel gets sweeter.

When you realize that God just doesn't say, well, you know what? I'm just not that holy. I'm not that righteous. Therefore, my law isn't that holy. My law isn't that righteous. And it's now somehow achievable on our own.

Then the gospel really isn't the good news. But if the law is exacting and requires perfect obedience, then you're thinking the creator of the universe wants me to perfectly obey. Be perfect as I'm perfect.

Matthew chapter 548. How could we ever do that? Then when you hear the good news, oh, it's so much better. And so if I were to ask you this, dear congregation, here's a little quiz. Is this law or gospel?

There's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Gospel. Good. Cursed be everyone who does not do all things written in the book of the law and to do them. Law. So we have Romans 8, gospel. We have Galatians 3.

Law. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Law or gospel? Law. Did I say law? I think I just did. Luke married a young lady named Hannah. And I said probably 15 times Hannah when I was there.

And I wasn't trying to be joking. I thought, what is going on? I tried so hard. When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those who are under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Law or gospel? So, very good. Do is the law and done is the gospel. Spurgeon said, there's no place on which men make greater mistakes than on the relation which exists between law and gospel. And Charles Bridges said, you're not a good minister.

You're not a true minister unless you understand the Bible has two parts, law and gospel. Two definitions. Now, let's look at some passages. Passage number one, please turn your Bibles to Matthew 19. Law and gospel.

And law is for unbelievers and believers. We're going to learn about that. And gospel is for unbelievers and for believers. Now, you might not think this is a sequential exposition. Although it is exposition, it's textual.

It's going through passages to make sure we understand this topic correctly. Law and gospel. Law says do. Gospel says done. Law is good. Gospel is good. Matthew chapter 19. Of course, Matthew is the book of the King and everything about this book shows Jesus's royalty.

And Matthew 19, you know the passage. And here's a wonderful passage we can think about law or gospel. And many people make mistakes here. And behold, Matthew 19 .16. Kind of jarring. And behold, a man came up to Him.

Another gospel account says, he ran up to Him. Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life? Law or gospel? What good deed? Right. By the way, when I drive past churches and they say, we love God and we love neighbor.

You know what I always think? Law. It's good. That's why our bulletins say Him we proclaim. You want to know what Bethlehem Bible Church is about? We're proclaiming Christ Jesus. Yes, the law too, but preeminently Jesus.

Here's the law question. What good deed must I do? What do I have to obey? What must deed must I do to have eternal life? This man's not walking up. The other text says, not sauntering up, sprinting up, running up.

Look at the context. Maybe a lot of children around. And not only that, Mark says he knelt at his feet. Here's a man kneeling at Jesus' feet. And by the way, this is going to be easy pickings for Jesus, right?

Because he's the greatest evangelist ever and this man's rich and he could provide some of the funds. Or is that the case? This rich young ruler runs up and what must I do to inherit eternal life? By the way, that's the right question.

If anyone's sitting here today and you don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that's the question that you should be asking. With all the busyness of the world and as I watch other people, and of course, I do things that are wrong as well.

And everybody's just plugged into their earbud. I don't even know what they're called. Earbuds, iPods, things in their ear, listening, distracted. There's no silence. There's no contemplation. There's no sauntering around wall and pond thinking, who am I?

Why do I exist? What's the purpose of my life? And where do I go when I die? Is this it? What about eternal life? If someone did this to you, when you're down at the common with BBC evangelism or elsewhere, and they ran up to you and got down on their knees and said, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

What would you tell them? Well, just come to church. Pray the sinner's prayer. Let me give you four spiritual laws. Let's go get baptized. Why don't you watch my life a little bit? And I'll show you more about the gospel as you watch me live.

He's running. He's begging. This is the right question. Verse 17. And Jesus said to him, why do you ask me about what is good? There's only one who's good. And by the way, it's not you. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.

Law or gospel? Because what the law does for the unbeliever, it's like that mirror and it shows you who you really are. So you think I need to flee to the savior. That's why when we're evangelizing, it's good to preach the law.

It's good to talk about, have you loved God perfectly? Have you loved neighbor perfectly, entirely, exactly, perpetually? If you want to enter life, keep the commandments. By the way, why would God exclude you from eternal life if you did keep the commandments?

Well, there's no sin to judge. Of course, it's only theoretical because of Adam's sin. But if you could perfectly obey, why would he keep you out of heaven? If you want to inherit eternal life, keep the commandments.

And by the way, only God is good. And that means you're not good. He's trying to show the young man that he needs a savior. There's only one who's good. Oh, give thanks to the Lord for he is good. Only God is good.

We live in a world where we want to judge ourselves based on other people. You know, at least the Jerry Springer crowd is worse than I am. It's like that old story that James Montgomery Boyce tells, a famous pastor from Philadelphia.

There was a classroom with fifth graders and the teacher said like, everyone to draw the straightest line you can. And then she left the room and they were all drawing lines. And then they got together because the teacher didn't come back right away.

And they started comparing their lines. Mine's straighter than yours. Mine's straighter. No, mine's the straightest. And the teacher comes back with a ruler and then uses the ruler to make a perfect line and said, this is the standard.

Compare your lines freehand to this line that I drew. And in the same way, when we compare ourselves to one another, we might think we're good. But before God, we realize we're not good. If you want to enter eternal life, keep the commandments.

If you're not a Christian here, if you want to get to heaven, that's how you do it. Just perfectly obey, never sin. Verse 18, he said to him, which ones? Now we use the second half of the law. These are things that are geared toward how we deal with other people.

First half of the law is how we deal with God. You shall not murder, shall not commit adultery, shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, honor your father and mother and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

See, he's not getting that he is, he, the rich young ruler, is sinful and in need of a Savior. How can you say that, Pastor Mike? Verse 20, and the young man said to him, maybe standing up by now, maybe still on his knees, all these I have kept, what do I still lack?

Can you believe that? Probably five times in my life I've met people when I talk to them about sin, they've said they've never sinned in their entire life. And I just think, well, you just sinned by telling me that very statement.

You've never sinned, let me talk to your wife, come on. Our husband, equal opportunity conviction today. What does the law require? Obey with all your heart, soul, mind and strength from when you were conceived.

And the ruler says, I can, I did, I am. Heidelberg Catechism, can you keep the law perfectly? Answer, in no wise, I'm prone by nature to hate God and my neighbor. Jesus said to him, verse 21, if you would be perfect, go sell what you possess and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven.

Come, follow me. And when the young man heard this, he repented and trusted in the Lord. He said to himself, I've heard you are merciful to other people. I've heard the stories that are going around the city and Capernaum and other places like wildfire.

You not only heal people, you forgive them. Please forgive me. I'm already on my knees. Please forgive me. But he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions. Verse 23, Jesus said to his disciples, truly I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven.

Again, I tell you, it's easier for a literal camel to go through the literal eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished saying, who then can be saved?

But Jesus looked at them and said, with man, this is impossible. You can't perfectly obey. But with God, all things are possible. The law is like a preparation for the unbeliever so that they can see their own sin.

It's the mirror. So they say, oh, I need a savior. Remember John the Baptist, and we'll learn more about him in the book of Luke. He goes out as a forerunner and he's preaching essentially the law so everybody's getting ready for the good news of Jesus who comes gospel incarnate.

What must I do to inherit eternal life? Perfectly obey the law. And so by the way, dear Christian, when you're evangelizing and when you're with Jonathan Ferrer and others and you're evangelizing, you need to preach the law.

You need to tell people how holy God is and therefore how holy his law is. How righteous God is and how righteous therefore his law is. How just God is and therefore how just his law is. And how God never changes.

I mean, one of the things that I think we've missed in evangelicalism is the doctrine of immutability. I mean, God doesn't change. And therefore, if God never changes, I mean, if he could change for the better, he's not good now.

If he could change for the worse, he's going to get worse. He wouldn't be God either way. God is unchangeable though. I'm the Lord, I don't change, Malachi says. And therefore, his law doesn't change.

His law doesn't change now and when we're dealing with people and they say, well, I'm not really a sinner. I have a syndrome. I have a disease. I have an illness. I have something else. You might have all those things, but at the root, at the essence of everything, it's sin.

The wages of sin is death and we have to say, yes, I am a sinner. Remember Luke 18. Have mercy upon me, the sinner. Adam owed God perfect obedience. He owed God perfect obedience in the garden. We owe God perfect obedience.

Therefore, when we realize we can't do it, we say, well, then we need a savior. Passage number two, 1 Corinthians chapter 15. So we've talked about a law passage for unbelievers and we preach the law.

We love the law and we tell people the law. But also, there's the gospel. We need to tell them something else. 1 Corinthians 15. You know the passage well, but it's so important we're going to be reminded of that very fact today.

And this is one of those passages, reminds me of what Charles Spurgeon used to say. As a pastor and maybe your Bible teacher and your mom teaching your children, there's some passages in the Bible you're looking at and they just kind of shout out, preach me, preach me.

Spurgeon said, don't preach 2 Corinthians, preach 1 Corinthians 15. That's kind of what I get in the feel like now. 1 Corinthians 15. Law, we looked at that in Matthew 19 for the unbeliever. Well, what's the good news we tell people?

What really is the gospel? God helps those that helps themselves do better than the other person. 1 Corinthians 15. This whole book is written to these Corinthians who were really simultaneously justified and sinful and they needed some hope of the resurrection.

And so he's going to talk about the resurrection in this whole chapter, but he starts off with the resurrection of who Jesus is. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 1. Now, I want to remind you brothers of the gospel.

That just means good news done. God, the triune God doing all the work, the gospel I preached to you, which you received and what you stand and by which the gospel that is the good news of Christ Jesus's salvation.

You are being saved if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. 4 verse 3. I delivered to you language of importance, language of I'm delivering a legal document, the weight of that as of first importance.

By the way, is everything in the Bible important? I mean, even lamentations? Of course, but some things are more important. Some things the most important and the most important truth in the Bible is the good news of Christ Jesus called the gospel of first importance.

But I also received that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. Paul says, I just got this message and I passed it on.

But you notice Paul's not in the message of the gospel. Is Paul part of the gospel? Am I part of the gospel? Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and Mike, just watch my life. It's the only gospel you might ever read.

That'd be pretty bad, especially for those of you who've known me longer than just a few days. The gospel is all about Jesus. Christ even here, Messiah died for our sins. He's buried, he's raised, he appears.

By the way, could you give your testimony, your personal testimony without saying the word I? Somebody said, are you a Christian? Yes, I am. Tell me why you're a Christian. Well, and you think, well, I can't use the word I.

Pastor Mike won't let me. It's kind of like saying potluck around here. You can't say that. You can't say good luck. What can we say? Well, you can say things about who Jesus is. Of course, if you say I was enslaved to sin and somebody came and preached the gospel.

Okay, I get it. But the point, the bigger point is the gospel has nothing to do with us. It's outside of us. It's about what Jesus has done. It's an eternal gospel that even before the world began in Genesis 1 .1, there's good news.

There's the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. And they've got a plan, an eternal plan, an eternal covenant to go rescue sinners. And so when we're talking about the law, we say do. And then we start talking to the unbeliever when they see their sin about who Jesus is.

In my discipleship classes, many of you have been there, I say to the men, unannounced, you have one minute to give your testimony. Click. And they're like, look around, what? 55 seconds to go, and I say.

And then I'll say with about 10 seconds to go, 10 seconds. And for 50 seconds, they've been saying, I grew up in this kind of family. I thought I was a Christian. My parents were a Christian. But I ran off to college.

I did this, I did that. And it's I, I, I, I, I. And then I say 10 seconds. And the smart ones say, and Jesus lived, died, was raised from the dead, and he's coming back soon. Yes, at least you got that in there.

P .S. The gospel is called good news, by the way, dear Christian. Not only because Jesus died, but because Jesus perfectly obeyed the law. Jesus perfectly obeyed the law. Jesus, the eternal son, doesn't say, well, you know what?

I'm gonna, I'm gonna assume angelic nature, and then go die for the angels that sinned. I mean, some people say that would have been a better choice, because at least angels are glorious. We're just made out of dust.

But no, in the plan of God, in the wisdom of God, in the mercy of God, he has his son sent and assumes human nature so that he might obey the law in our place. And do you know if you could take a spotlight or a magnifying glass and look at Jesus's life, you wouldn't see one sin ever.

Not one sin ever. I mean, I was sitting there last night and thinking an hour and a half to get my bags. Everybody else is flipping out, and so am I. And I'm probably one of the only Christians there.

What am I doing? This is just like a good test. It's okay. Can you imagine never losing your temper, never being anxious, never being downcast, never saying something you're not supposed to say, never having a bad attitude, never looking at a person with lust, never, never, never, never, never doing the wrong thing and always doing the right thing.

Always thinking, oh, that person I'm supposed to love, I want what's best for them at my own sacrifice. I will always do that. I will forever do that. And it's just not a pledge. It's not a vow. It really happened.

The Lord Jesus perfectly obeys the law. And of course, the father accepts the son's perfect obedience because he's been raised from the dead. If Jesus did sin, he's still in the grave. But if he didn't sin, the father has accepted his sacrifice.

Too often we tell people that the gospel is something about, well, you can have a better marriage. You can have better purpose in your life. You can have your best life now. Just decide for Jesus. What would Jesus do?

By the way, what would Jesus do? Law or gospel? Anybody have a wristband? What would Jesus do? I like the law. But what did Jesus do? That's another good one. WWJD, we'll change that.

What would Jesus do? Well, he'd perfectly obey.

Strictly speaking, the law is in good news. But Jesus is good news. And you see how Paul just loves to talk about the Lord Jesus here in this passage. There are no commands in here. There's no exhortations.

Machen said, do you have any good news? That's the question I ask of you. I don't need an exhortation, first of all, but a gospel. This is what God has done in Christ Jesus. And Paul just talks about that.

It's of first importance. Dear congregation, and we'll get to this later today or next time. I wonder if I sat in on your Sunday schools, if I sat in at your dinner table, if I sat in at your daily quiet time, if I sat in your car when you listen to the scriptures, when you're driving to work, if you're teaching Sunday school, teaching VBS, I wonder if I would sit and think the dominant theme of that person's message is Christ Jesus, the risen savior.

That's what we're after. I'm wondering if the people you listen to online, and you say, my favorite person to listen to online is Sinclair Ferguson. Is the dominant message that he has about Christ Jesus?

That's why it's so important. And the answer for Sinclair Ferguson is yes. It's such good news. It has to be gospel. Do you see in chapter 15? What's he say in verse one? The gospel I preached to you, literally the gospel I gospel to you.

Didn't you know the gospel is such good news that it's good news in content. Jesus died for sinners and was raised from the dead. Free salvation offered. And it's good news in delivery. It's good news in delivery.

It's the kind of news that you stand on your toes and you think, okay. I mean, I got to spend a lot of time with Amos this summer, and he's really growing up. Funny things, you know, what kids do. I'm trying to get him to laugh and you kind of tickle him and he'll laugh.

But if you tickle him too much, the laugh turns into crying. You know how that goes. Grandpa. And we went out for pizza. And so I took a little bite of the pizza and I just gave it to Amos. Spicy jalapeno, but it didn't really matter.

He took a bite of it like pizza. So I would say, do you want some pizza? And just the way I would say it would always make him laugh. Do you want some pizza? And when I would say it, because I'm trying to get him to laugh, I wouldn't do this.

Do you want some pizza? You want pizza. Pizza. Do you want some pizza?

Because I've got good news. I've got pizza for you. And I'm going to deliver it with good news face. Do you want some pizza? Just yesterday, I said to him on FaceTime. Do you want some pizza? He smiled.

And by the way, I go through all the animals. What's a monkey say? What's a horse say? And when I get to a cow, he always cries. What's a cow say? And off he goes crying. I still do it every time. You need to grow up, young man.

World's a difficult place. This is the kind of news gospel that Luther said you should dance and sing and be happy about. I have good news. Presbyterians can even smile when they hear this news. The gospel is about who Jesus is.

And you say, well, you talk a lot about Jesus. God is triune. Of course, every time I say Jesus, you should be thinking, yes, the Father is the one who sent him. And every time I say Jesus, you should say, well, we learn about Jesus because of the illumination of the Holy Spirit.

I'm not discounting the Father because he sent the Son. I'm not discounting the Spirit. Paul says, you want to know what the gospel is? It's about the Son of God. It's about the Son of Man. Jesus, the one who does the saving.

And if we can't save ourselves, and we can't, then it's good news that someone can. And that's why we tell people week in and week out about the gospel. Look again at verse 3. Christ died for our sins.

Verse 4. That he was buried. Verse 4. He was raised. Verse 4. Verse 5. He appeared. If you say, I got saved, you're saying that the triune God saved you. And it's an announcement of God's work at Calvary.

God's work in the garden tomb. Not just what happened to you when you said yes to Jesus, but as one commentator said, the announcement of God's triumph. You can't live the gospel. I can't live the gospel.

I can't be the gospel. The gospel's outside of me. The gospel's about Jesus. Every time you hear the word gospel, I hope you think, Jesus incarnate. Jesus incarnate. You say, yeah, but my life is different.

Can't I tell people that? Of course you can, but that's not the dominant theme. I'm glad your life is different. When God saves you, you're different. But the focus is on the Lord Jesus. The object of our faith.

Faith takes its character, quality from the object of its faith. Jesus dies. You see that again, verse 3. That's substitutionary atonement. That's, there's a penalty, a death penalty, and Jesus paid it.

He died for our sins. Did you know that God shows His love for us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us? Was He really dead? Yes. The text says He was buried. And was He raised from the dead?

Yes, He was raised from the dead. People don't like this resurrection talk because they realize, oh, I'm going to get a resurrection body. By the way, did you know that? Every person here, including myself and everybody listening, one day when you die, in the future for you is going to be a resurrection body.

Not only was Jesus's body raised from the dead, but your body is going to be resurrected. And God is going to fit you with a body for heaven, a glorified body that can enjoy the pleasures of heaven forevermore in a resurrected, glorified body.

That's coming for you one day. People want to argue about end times all the time. This is real end times. The end time where your body is going to be resurrected. If you die now, your body goes to the ground.

You go, your spirit goes up into heaven. And one day on that great day, you're going to get a new body. And if you're not a Christian, sadly, you're going to get a body that will endure the torments of hell forever.

You're going to be resurrected. And people hate that because they don't want to talk about resurrection body. And they don't want to talk about somehow God's so wrathful against sin that He'd even kill His own son.