FBC Adult Bible Study

Good morning church Hopefully you picked up a handout for what we're going to be talking about today

This is ongoing in the series on holiness that pastors been teaching us for quite a few weeks now in The title this is based upon the book by doctors

Barrett and Beaky The title that we have is making use of the law and gospel

Now there's an unknown person an unnamed person in our Congregation who has been involved in the in a ministry known as law and grace is the gospel a gospel of grace

Yes, so whether we call it making use of the law and gospel We could also call it making use of law and grace and since Jim's been doing that for how many years?

30 years, why don't you just come on up and teach? I'm just kidding.

Okay, you couldn't read my scribbles. Anyhow, they're Sanskrit or hieroglyphics or something

So you do have a handout and I'm gonna follow I think a little bit of the trajectory of what pastor does the the difficulty sometimes in preaching or teaching is you have so much that you need to cover and If you run out of time

Then you either speed up or you just let it hang. So you do have printed notes

We're gonna get as far as we get and you can finish reading it during the sermon

No, just finish reading it at home. So we'll go so We have to have an introduction right and the more

I thought about this I had to have an introduction to the introduction so we might not even get to the notes.

Join me, please in Galatians I want to look very very quickly at three or four passages in Galatians Galatians chapter 3

So I think you can appreciate that the gospel

Which is a gospel of grace and law if we don't get them in balance.

Can we have issues? Yes, if we go too much grace, there's a problem if we go too much law

There's a problem. So they have to be carefully balanced So this is the introduction to the introduction to the

Sunday school class in Galatians chapter 3 look at verses 2 and 3

Paul asks Let me ask you only this did you receive the spirit by works of the law?

Or by hearing with faith, do you see the tension already beginning there? Are you so foolish having begun by the spirit?

Are you now being perfected by the flesh in other words the law and works?

Jump down to verse 10 for those who Rely on the works of the law are under a curse for it is written

Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them

Paul's not saying that the law is bad. He's saying if we rely on them for salvation, that's bad and Then let's go over to chapter 5.

Please in verse 16 chapter 5 in verse 16 and This is perhaps the most key verse on this whole subject

Paul says but I say walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh

So the true way to a sanctified life is encapsulated right here in this verse

We need to walk by the spirit Paul is and he argues this if we took the time to really spend more time in Galatians He's saying that the law or Legalism can never restrain the flesh.

Would we agree with that? It can't restrain the flesh and we would define flesh as the unredeemed human fallenness

But let's go down to verse 18 And then we'll get to the introduction since we're finished the introduction to the introduction verse 18

But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law

If you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law What Paul means by that is if you're being led by the

Spirit You're not depending upon the law to save you because of the gospel of grace

That verse verse 18 doesn't mean that we never sin But it does mean that we don't always

Sin Do you see that before we were

Christians did we always sin? Yes, even if we did good stuff

Right stuff. We were doing it for the wrong reason and if it's a wrong motivation, that's sin

So again, this verse doesn't mean that we never sin it just means we don't always sin because currently we are in this process of Sanctification So the

Holy Spirit trains us with the word so that we sin less and obey more

Okay, this may come as a shock, but the world's a mess, isn't it? If you if you've if you've read if you've listened, it's a mess so that's been true of some countries for centuries other countries for decades and Obviously we can look at our own country and we can see that there's a progressively increasing downhill spiral

So this morning's topic making use of the law in gospel or making use of the law in grace

Should hopefully offer some insight into our current crisis it is ironic that we have a society that is constantly wringing its hands and saying we

Really we have this lack of ethical behavior We have all of these problems the murder rates are up and this and that and all these other things we've got all this absence of ethical behavior and yet by and large

Individuals and society as a whole will continue to reject fixed standards

So there's an irony in that We live in a day that Everyone what does judges say?

Everyone does what is right in their own eyes and this leads to turmoil and even moral anarchy

So what's the solution for this? The lament of our nation and around the world

Well, I think we could all agree that we need a set of standards, don't we? But the problem then is whose set of standards

Will currently the politicians are fighting it over because when they're passing laws

They are passing some level or not of morality and ethical standards

If we're going to have a set of standards those standards have to have two requirements number one those standards must be absolute and number two those standards need to be external

What do I mean by that? Well, I could sit down with Roger and I could sit down with Jim and the three of us could desert

Determine. Okay. Here's what we're gonna do We're gonna set up a set of standards for the whole world.

Now, that would be really really scary Actually, it wouldn't be I think these would be two good guys to work with as many of you would be

But the problem is if we have our own set of standards do our own

Standards over a period of time tend to change Yes Now the more mature we become as believers those standards are going to change less and less as we become more

Christlike But since we're finite our standards can change

Which means standards that we establish today might not be nearly as good as they will be six months from now

So what we need is we need a set of standards that are absolute and external

Beyond us and of course, we've got to go to God for that right God and his revealed law

Because God is immutable He knows the beginning from the end and when he sets a standard it's as relevant as good back then currently and going forward

Because he is perfect absolute and unchanging. We need of course to look to his standards and We would say amen to that But the problem is most unbelievers and even a lot of Christians will tend to regard

God's Standards as either outmoded or strange, you know

Ecclesiastes says there is nothing new under the Sun there may be variations.

They didn't have LSD and ecstasy back then But the principles will still apply

They had different drugs. So there is really nothing new under the Sun. We need to look at God's standards

I find it interesting on occasion when people are talking about ethical situations

I'll sit down and I'll say okay Let's do a quick comparative of the various religions and if we were to take all the major talking points of each of the major religions

Which of those talking points would be best for society?

And what I'll do is I'll simply take them to the Ten Commandments or the two commandments, right?

Love the Lord your God with all your heart your mind soul, right? and love your neighbor as yourself if we were just to fulfill those two commandments as the entire country

Would that get rid of ninety nine point nine percent of the problems they just clear right up.

Absolutely so why Do people why are they're not willing to do that?

Romans 1 18 says people suppress the truth because of their unrighteousness So we've got some issues.

You already know that We're now done with the introduction We're ready for the notes.

So if you've got those in front of you, let's go ahead and start right there With the first of these bullet points now as we go through the notes

There's going to be four of these little arrow bullet points If I die before I get to the end of the

Sunday school class Make sure you get those four arrow bullet points. Just drag me out throw me in the car

You know and then we'll wait for Pastor Ron for church or you guys can wait for him

But these are the four bullet points that you really want to think about and assimilate

So let's look at the first of these Christians should live daily within the parameters set by God's absolutes

This is because there is an inseparable link between the directives of God's laws and the grace of the gospel

Now this should be more clear as we move along and again part of the reason I like detailed handouts for you folks

Is I know that in my own situation? if I'm listening to a

Sunday school class or hearing a sermon and The pastors will say some really phenomenal things.

I can't keep up with them So the stuff that's in print I didn't write

I Stole it from the book Okay from doctors be key and Barrett and I just want to share that with you.

So that's the first bullet point Bullet point two it is only when the works of the law are

Elevated above the gospel of grace or when the works of the law become a prerequisite to the gospel of grace that problems ensue

That is really critical is the law important Absolutely Wasn't Paul Hammering the law.

No, he was saying if you take the law out of context and Elevate it there's a problem and that's what there's first is saying if we just go with Gospel slash grace and forget the law.

There's a problem if we just go with the law. There's a problem So these authors would argue and I agree just along with Paul They're both important keep them in balance and they will reinforce each other

So the purpose of the law and there's three sections ABC as we coast through these notes right thinking about the gospel

Will produce right and this is where you get involved fill in the little blank

Will produce right conduct so right thinking will produce right conduct our purpose in life

First Corinthians 1031 I've given you the reference but it simply says our main purpose in life is to glorify

God Psalm 73 26 our second major purpose in life is to enjoy

God forever You've heard that phrase. I Mean if we didn't have forever, could we really fully enjoy

God? No, it's gonna take forever to enjoy him in the third purpose in our life according to Romans 829 is that we need to be progressively

Conformed to Christ conformed to Christ So if the believer is to be

Christlike He must live according to the precepts of the law because during his earthly life

Christ conformed Perfectly to the law Would you agree with that statement?

Did Christ fulfill the law perfectly? Yes, if it was good enough for him then it should be good enough for us

But we don't follow the law for salvation. We do it out of obedience to him

That's the difference. So being like Christ Glorifying and enjoying

God are not vague directions God has made the means to the end very very clear so it's not just that Paul and the other writers of the

Bible said here's a stack of 3 ,000 laws or 2 ,000 laws or however many they just didn't say okay best of luck folks

Do the best that you can No, he gave us help first.

He has given us his word in God's Word is the only rule for faith in practice and you've heard this before God's Word is sufficient for faith and a

Spiritual life, isn't it? God's Word is entirely sufficient for that So one of the first benefits of the law is that we have the word

To give us everything we need for salvation and our spiritual walk

Number two in addition to having given us the word He also gives us his law

Which serves to help the believer to fulfill the goal of becoming

Christlike ie ongoing sanctification So the word the law and then finally he's given us his spirit to guide and to help us in a very real sense

Conformity to Christ is measurable by obedience to the law Remember, that's not a works for salvation.

It's a works Because of salvation we desire to do that because what

Christ has done for us In this next statement in your notes, we'll spend just a little bit of time unpacking it because it is so important the liberty of the gospel

Involves freedom from the law as a means of gaining divine favor number two freedom from laws penalty and guilt and And I really love this the freedom to be holy

So is it important for us to have favor with God I would think so I Got two heads going up and down on that one

Okay We need to have favor with God and that is achieved of course in one of two ways by works ie the law that doesn't cut it or Because of favor with God through Christ again when

Christ when God looks at us each of us that are believers He doesn't see dirty old

Roger there He sees a fully glorified

Fully sanctified Roger because he's looking at Roger and all the rest of us through Christ.

We know that right? So that's the first thing favor with God through Christ not by following the law and then when it comes to Freedom from the laws penalty and guilt.

What do we have? We have eternal life through Christ and Then lastly we do have the freedom to be holy

Before we were Christians we could only choose We might choose good things but again for the wrong reason then they were bad choices

Now as Christians we do have the freedom to choose We can choose to sin or we can choose to do what's right?

So there's a lot in that last statement God's law defines the sphere of pleasing behavior.

Think about that for a minute God's law defines the sphere of pleasing behavior

We now have an arena that we know that we can walk in and if we know that we're walking in that Sphere as unto the

Lord it is pleasing to God So we endeavor to keep the law not to gain divine

Salvation or favor, which is legalism But because we have a received divine grace that is the gospel for sanctification

So we want to make sure we get the cart before the horse. We don't work to get favor

It's because of the favor of what Christ has done for us. We desire to follow the laws that are applicable to us

This is the next statement in your notes from my perspective. This is probably the most

Important thing that we can dwell on So you got the bullet and it's bold and it's underlined.

I Was gonna put it in Greek, but I didn't know how to do that and I couldn't read it Anyhow, so this is as good as we're gonna get those in Christ are free from the law as a means of life as a means of life but they are not free from the law as a

Way of does that make sense?

I hope it does So think of the law as kind of a map that we've been given to help us to help lead the way

The law and the gospel were partners and our partners in defining and enabling the pursuit of holiness

Join me over in Galatians 324 Galatians 324, hopefully you're still there

Down through the years In my own little mind as I've struggled with the balance between law and grace or law in the gospel

I really was trying to get my head around. Why the law why the law why the law?

Because as an immature Christian you can look at the law, especially Old Testament. They really messed up They couldn't follow it.

It was a disaster and not just the Ten Commandments But hundreds of laws beyond that which we'll shortly get into So I'm thinking can somebody concisely define for me?

What was the purpose of the law and here we have it. I really like this verse 324

This is what we read. So then the law was our guardian or tutor

Until Christ came in order that we may be justified by faith That verse says a lot and if you've ever struggled with this idea of law and grace or law and gospel you need to spend some time looking at this verse a

Guardian back in the day was basically a person that was hired

Generally a very very trusted slave hired by the head of the house To go ahead and keep an eye on the kids because the parents weren't overly involved in their kids life so the guardian was really

Responsible to take that young person and get him to adulthood where now they would be responsible citizens so what was the law it was a

Guardian it was a tutor to direct us toward Christ All of us as we have at some point in time

Become a little legalistic in our lives and we thought I have to do this. I have to do this

I have to do this and we fail and we say We throw up our hands.

I can't do this on my own. That's an important point to arrive at Because we can't fulfill the law on our own

We really have to throw up our hands and say who do I need? I need

Jesus So the law directs us to Christ. It's a tutor. It's a garden guardian

That's the heavy stuff folks, so if you got through that Hang for the lighter stuff.

So let's look at the categories and I hope that was helpful and not confusing We want to look at the three categories.

These include moral Ceremonial and then the civil and or the political.

So first of all under moral These are well delineated in the decalogue

They are equally valid For the Christian faith

So even though they're Old Testament, do they still apply to us today?

Yes, if we were to go to and we won't read this entire path. We won't read this passage I'm sure you are well acquainted with it

If we were to look at Matthew 5 17 through 37, that's a portion as you know of the

Sermon on the Mount This is where we see those little phrases where Jesus would say you have heard it said but I say

So what would he do? He would say something like you have heard it said it's wrong to murder

And we're going Dodge the bullet on that one. I've never killed anybody wanted to kill a few people, but I never killed anybody

But then he drops the hammer What does he say? But I say if you have had

Anger in your heart towards someone you are guilty of murder Boy, did he raise the bar?

I Don't want to try to figure out how many people I have murdered and then he goes on and we'll just do one more

You have heard it said if you commit adultery But what does Christ do?

But I say if you have had Lust in your heart Did Christ really raise the bar

I Mean in the Old Testament, it was bad enough, but he really raised the bar

Because now what he's it and it really applied back then they just didn't get it.

It's not so much the actions it's the heart and Their actions were just showing the heart and Christ said the heart is really where it's at Because your heart can be wrong.

You may not commit it Physically, but if we've thought it it shows that it's a heart that still needs work by the

Lord So again, these moral laws of the Old Testament are equally valid for our

Christian faith and then the passage in Matthew 19 16 through 20

That was the rich young ruler And of course the point that Christ is getting there is if you break the law in any of the components

Then you are guilty So Christ in this we want to look at please join me in Matthew chapter 22

Matthew chapter 22 Christ summarized the Ten Commandments and we just alluded to this

Briefly a few minutes ago in Matthew chapter 22 verses 36 through 40

Let me go ahead and read this familiar passage Matthew 22 36 through 40

So the Pharisees as we know who are always trying to trick up Christ You would have think they would have figured it out pretty quickly they couldn't do it but Pride got in their way teacher, which is the greatest commandment of the law and he said to them

You shall love the Lord to God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind This is the great and first commandment and a second is like it.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself on these two Commandments depend all the law and the prophet

So there in Christ's exceedingly distilled concise statement

We have an encapsulation of man's duty both to fellow man and to God It is in these laws that God clearly reveals to man in Particularly to his people the conduct that is pleasing to him they

Define the sphere of ethical behavior So again, how nice would the world be?

If the entire world just followed these two commandments for a day Phenomenal, is that simple?

Yes, but it's simply impossible Because we can't do that apart from Christ So continuing please enter notes

The moral commandments were not given not given as the condition for Israel's deliverance from bondage

But as the means for their living as a redeemed people so grace

Existed before the law, didn't it? Was God showing lots of grace before he got to the law at Sinai lots of grace in fact remember in the garden after they sin and he provide a covering for Adam and Eve Wasn't that covering a forerunner of the atonement

To cover our sins to take care of them. It's just full of it We don't have the time to go there.

So grace existed before the law Israel's redemption and our redemption

Creates an attitude toward the Lord that makes obedience both necessary and pleasurable

So let me say that a different way It's not follow the law to gain the favor in salvation it's because of what

Christ has done for us that our response to him is a willingness and a happiness

To follow what he says and the law is there as a guideline for the ethical paper ethical

Behavior that we need between each other and in relationship to God So that is the moral law

Then we get to the ceremonial lots and lots and lots of ceremonial laws

These are the ones that when if somebody's teaching or preaching on these things boy

You can be asleep in a second, right? Because it just doesn't seem to apply and it really doesn't to us anymore

But notice what it says the ceremonial laws were picture prophecies of Christ And they declared timeless gospel truths

And we don't have the time to get into it But I think that's a great summary statement from the authors of the book as they put the ceremonial laws in perspective

And then we have the civil political laws Let me read this and then hopefully explain it in the

Old Testament there were specific applications of the moral law that were given to Israel as a visible and political entity

In other words, here's the idea you have the Ten Commandments If people had the right heart attitude toward those

Ten Commandments Then you wouldn't need all the civil and political laws

Let me explain Do we have speeding limits speeding laws?

Yes well, if you're in a subdivision and it's it and you think you know

If you're really thinking correctly, and if you're really a respective of your neighbors and the little kids, are you gonna drive slow through there?

Yes, that's putting That's loving others as your Self, but because people are selfish now

We have to have speeding laws to make those folks slow down because they're not putting the needs and concerns of others

So, do you understand how many civil and political how many civil laws do we have in this country?

gazillions Why do we have to have so many civil laws? Because we're not willing to look at those two commandments that Christ gave right if people were really putting

God first Loving others as themselves. We could get rid of all of the civil laws

Think about that our politicians would be out of a job think about that Don't worry, it's not going to happen folks

Okay, so let's look at the Ten Commandments if you want to flip back to Exodus 20 you can in this

We're just gonna do a quick flyover. We have 12 minutes to do Ten Commandments. We just might get it done

So Exodus 20 literally 10 words, that's what the Ten Commandments means in the

Hebrew They are a summary of the moral standards and requirements of God Commandments 1 through 4 talk about our duty to God Commandments 5 through 10 talk about man's duty to fellow man

So we'll just look at this ever so briefly First one verse 3

You shall have no other gods before me. So the first commandment talks about the object of worship this commandment demands exclusive allegiance to Jehovah as The only true and living

God and as the God of the covenant grace and mercy The Lord will not tolerate divided worship the inclusiveness of this command should guard against any and all offensive behavior and motivate pleasing conduct outwardly and Meditation inwardly you say all of that out of that little itty -bitty commandment.

It's all in there folks. It's all in there Literally the

Hebrew on there means when it says before me it literally means to my face

So you've all had the occasion where somebody comes up and they get into your face, right? God is saying hey, this is in my face kind of stuff

So make sure you're doing it, right anything that distracts from or competes with absolute devotion to God is a defiant insult to the

God who made us and graciously saved us So this first commandment

Identifies the object of worship Commandments 2 through 4 talk about the way to worship.

So let's go ahead and look at verses 4 through 6 And this is the second commandment

You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above Or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water underneath You shall not bow down to them or serve them for I the

Lord your God am a jealous God Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me

But showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandment So this second commandment eliminates all possible physical representations of God it demands observing and Keeping pure all that God has ordered for true worship

You know, it's really impossible To represent the infinite God by our finite notions, right?

I mean just the idea and you we can all we've all laughed at this where somebody would cut a tree make a log

Carve a thing set it out and say that's God Wait a minute. Didn't I just make that?

Aren't I smarter than that hopefully and now I'm going to worship so that's uncommon.

Yeah, I mean uncommon sense. It's foolishness But we have some more subtle gods that we all incorporate in our own lives on occasion, right?

The vehicle of worship often becomes the object of worship. Now, we're gonna step on toes here folks

Can music? Can a church building?

Can denominational? Distinctives become a god Yes, they can

So that other stuff I don't think two of us too many of us have carved stuff sitting around the house.

We're too sophisticated But some of this other stuff Satan can get a little sneaky with us

Let's look at the third one verse 7 You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain for the

Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain The third commandment prohibits the misuse and the abuse of the divine name

It demands that in speech thought and action His person be regarded with holy reverence and honor

So we must not manipulate God for private purposes In the ancient world there was this thing called name magic name magic and What people would do is they would invoke the name of their

God to? Encourage their deity to do what they wanted to have done.

Do you catch that? So Oh God, you know and they just invoked the name and you're kind of putting

God over a barrel so to speak Too often the world mentions

God to sanction or promote some activity Have you ever heard the phrase

God bless America? Now we can say that I don't like to say that anymore

I like to say God if you would change the hearts so that truly they could be blessed but for a person to Casually or for people to say

God bless America They're invoking name magic. They're kind of like saying okay

God. I mentioned your name. So now you owe us stuff That violates the third commandment

Fourth commandment verses 8 through 11 Remember the Sabbath day to keep it. Holy six days.

You shall labor and do all your work But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God on it

You shall do you shall not do any work you or your son your daughter your male servant your female servant your livestock or the sojourner who is within your gates for In six days the

Lord made heaven and earth the sea and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day Therefore the

Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy That's pretty clear

Pastor has spent a lot of time talking about this in the past. So I'll just go with this paragraph that we have in your notes

Although the Sabbath principle existed from creation This is the first command to basically make it holy or to keep it

Holy the word Sabbath as you know comes from the root that means to cease

The basic idea signifies separation or withdrawal

Regardless of the day of the week so designated it is a day of rest and remembrance

We can get legalistic if we say, okay It's got to be this day

Because some people might have to work on sand Sunday the first day of the week, right? And we know all the theology behind that the idea is as the

Lord rested on that in that case the seventh day We need to have a day set aside.

And so for the average Christian whose schedule work schedule doesn't conflict with it We go with the first day of the week

Do we really set aside the day brothers and sisters the way that we should it's important If it was good enough for God to cease to rest.

It's good enough for us The fifth commandment verse 12 honor your father and your mother

That in your days that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you so verse or the fifth commandment is the requiring of the

Honoring of parents it sets forth the family as the primary social unit

Have we lost that unit Have we lost society it just trickles down and Establish the principle that submission to all

Divinely ordained authority is necessary The word honor involves both an internal attitude and an external expression so those cute little kids that are

Sitting down on the inside but standing are sitting down on the outside but standing up on the inside.

Remember that This covers it all And then

Deuteronomy 440 in Ephesians 6 1 through 3 Extend the promise of life and prosperity to the children of those who obey.

Did you know that? For those of you that have kids you might want to run those passages by him and say, you know

God has established a certain number of years in the appropriate context not in the middle of an argument

But God has established a certain number of years And if you're a disobedient child and you don't get over that and you're just ongoing and ongoing

It says in Ephesians 6 God may take a few years off your life commandment number 6 verse 13

You shall not murder this prohibits the illegal Taking of life.

It does not refer to killing in war or the act of capital punishment different Hebrew words

Don't have time to dig into that Verse 14 Commandment number 7 you shall not commit adultery this prohibits all sexual impurity

Strictly speaking this refers to the violation of the marriage bond Obedience to this commandment demands purity and body mind affections communication and behavior

Well That's a pretty broad stroke of the brush. They're pretty broad

Commandment number 8 we see that in verse 15. You shall not steal