Grace and Law IX: Approaching the Second Table

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Welcome to the Whole Council podcast. I'm John Snyder and with me again is Steve Crampton and we're looking at the theme of the law and the gospel and the interchange of these great biblical realities in the life of a

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Christian in particular. How do we understand them? How do we understand the way they affect each other?

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And, you know, what are some of the problems that come when we get them out of balance? And we're going to be talking about that in coming episodes, you know, practical applications, evangelism, sanctification.

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We have been looking at the moral law prior to the

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Ten Commandments and then in the Ten Commandments and our last episode we looked at how to approach the

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Ten Commandments. We gave four basic principles for getting a right interpretation of the

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Ten Commandments or, you know, a biblical hermeneutic, a biblical way of approaching a text so that with all the things, all the tools that God gives us, we have the most accurate understanding of a text that we can get, one true interpretation, one accurate interpretation, and many wonderful applications.

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So we looked at four of those principles and today we're going to pick up and look at six more.

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We're going to look at, because we have ten all together. So, Steve, why don't you jump in with the fifth principle?

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And if I may, let me, just for the sake of those that weren't able to be with us last time, recite what the first four were.

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First, context is king. Second, it is a progressive revelation.

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Third, these commands demand both an outward and an inward obedience. Fourth, these commands are summaries of God's moral demands on humanity.

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So now we pick up with number five. Number five, where a sin is forbidden and by implication a positive act of obedience is commanded.

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So, in other words, you've got the negative. We talked about this to some extent last time.

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Whenever there is, and almost all of them are phrased in the negative, there is implied that positive side.

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Now, there's another part to this. When you have that positive side implied, it also requires that those things which lead to the sin that is forbidden are also forbidden.

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So, you can't get on the train that takes you to the sin. Conversely, those things which lead to doing the positive side of the commandment are required.

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So, one of the examples Risinger gives is when you've got a contagious disease and we're here in a quasi post -COVID world, you take steps to quarantine those that are infected so that it is not spread.

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And in the same way, we take steps to quarantine, as it were, our temptation toward a sin that is forbidden.

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So, years ago I did a fair amount of criminal law and I had one client who was a very nice guy until he started doing some drugs and then he got sticky fingers.

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He wanted to steal all the time. In fact, it was so bad he stole from his grandmother.

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I mean, he went to his grandmother's house. Just for the sake of stealing. So, knowing that taking drugs is going to create the conditions that give rise to his desire, almost obsession, with thievery, what do you do?

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You stop taking the drugs and you protect against that. And so, again, on the positive side, where there are things that will advance that nearness to God, for example, we talk about the necessity of getting alone with God, taking a quiet time and getting with the

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Word in order to draw near to Him. So, there's a very logical connection here.

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But the question arises, I mean, John, in the Ten Commandments, as they've been called,

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Ten Words, it seems so simple and you can kind of just list them in a very quick fashion.

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Many of us memorized them years ago and you think, okay, I can check all those boxes.

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Well, here we're now talking about this implied positive side. And it doesn't even stop there.

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It's like this pyramidal form that's growing and growing in its breadth of reach and requirements for us.

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Now we're talking about, wait a minute, you mean also we've got to deal with those things that lead us to either the sin or that bring us to what we have to do positively?

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Aren't we sort of creating here a legalistic morass of difficulty for the believer?

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Yeah, I think, you know, one problem with the term legalism, when we think of the law, we tend to think of legalism as a matter of degree.

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So, if someone comes along and tells me, as a Christian, you know, you ought to keep the moral law 75 % of the time.

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We might say, I think that's pretty fair, you know. I mean, I'm going to fail sometimes, but I am a

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Christian. I do want to honor the Lord. So 75%. But if the next guy comes through and says, if you're a

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Christian, you're going to keep the law 96%. You think, whoa, legalist.

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Now, what if another guy comes through and says, well, actually, because you're saved by grace, you should keep the law maybe 20%.

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You think, oh, liberal. So that's a completely wrong view.

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Legalism is having a wrong, you know, in a sense, getting the law by the wrong end of the stick.

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You just have a completely wrong view of the law. It's not, and we'll talk about this in a minute, it's not a path of happiness laid by a perfect King that will bring not only joy to our life, but honor to Him.

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It's a burden we carry, you know, and we try to do better and better.

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And like you said, now that we've talked about these views of how to approach the

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Ten Commandments, now we don't just have Ten Commandments. We have hundreds and hundreds of commandments, and I wasn't doing well with ten, and now

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I'm really in trouble, you know. So we don't want you to view it that way. Think again of love. Love to the

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King. Well, let's be more, let's just kind of more down -to -earth. A love to a wife. We know that there are certain things that could really hurt our spouse, and we know that those things should be avoided.

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But we also know that things that lead us, that have in the past kind of brought us close to that, those things also are to be avoided.

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And if your spouse sees you doing things that have led you to hurt her deeply in the past, and she's forgiven you, and but she sees you while you're not doing the thing itself, but you're doing the same things you did years ago that led to that, she sees that as a lack of love.

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Why would you risk it? When we think of our children, love to the child.

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We want to do things for them that are good. And so, you know, raising a child, so we have a lifelong kind of commitment.

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So we begin, even when they're young, to set in motion a number of decisions.

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We begin to do things that we hope, not today, but one day, will be so beneficial for our children.

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And we cannot see that benefit for them if we don't make choices between now and then.

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There are a lot of things we need to do to reach that. So again, it's love. Love for God and love for our fellow man makes avoiding things that lead to hurt and embracing things that lead to good.

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It makes it a joy and not legalism. The next principle that he gives is that whatever is forbidden or by implication commanded of us, we are bound according to our position and opportunity to discourage the wrong or encourage the right in other people.

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Again, not something I've ever thought of before, but we do this naturally when our walk with the

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Lord is careful and, you know, and our conscience is tender. Whether it's in the home, whether it's with friends, whether it's at school, at church, or even at work, you know, with co -workers, as you have your position, if you're a boss and you see things being done in the office that are wrong, maybe there's some cruelty, there's selfishness, there's backbiting, you know, you kind of call the people aside and say, this is not right.

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And you use your influence for good. Careful, you know, obviously we don't abuse power, but we use it for good.

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You see in your home things that aren't being done in the life of a child that would be good for them and you say,

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I want to encourage you to do this as your parent. Now, we're not always, in every situation, we're not the leader.

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We're not the authority. So that's why Reisinger mentions that it is according to your opportunity and to your position.

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If you have no opportunity to exert a good influence, do this or don't do this, then you're not held accountable.

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It's only as you have opportunity. And I think that he, you know, we could say in one way, this really fits into what

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Christ said about the nature of a Christian. We are, not just what we do, what we are, is salt and light in our culture.

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And this one principle, I think, really helps us know, well, how would you be salt and light?

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Actually, Reisinger gives a number of specifics. You want to read those for us? Yeah, yeah. In particular, he's looking at five ways, at least, in which we can be an accessory to or partakers in the sins of others.

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So first is by issuing unrighteous decrees, thereby ordering other people to do unrighteous deeds.

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So you talked about the situation where you're an authority, a boss in whatever capacity. To the extent you yourself don't undertake the deeds, but you order others to do it.

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I mean, the glaring example in Scripture is David ordering Joab to put

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Uriah out there and basically have him killed. And what Nathan, God, through Nathan, accuses him, you have killed

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Uriah the Hittite with the sword. So you're culpable, right? Another is by not hindering others from sin when it is within your power, ability, or sphere of authority.

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And, John, we, in America, we're so individualistic. We pride ourselves on autonomy, don't want to get into a neighbor's business.

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There's a, I guess, the rule of thumb would be you don't lift a hand to help others or to direct others.

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It's kind of viewed as being a busybody. And yet, ultimately, doesn't Scripture teach us? We are our brother's keeper.

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And it is a sin not to take those steps when it's within our power to help our brother by not allowing him to fall into sin.

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Third, by counseling or provoking others to sin. So, Ephesians 6, fathers do not provoke your children to wrath.

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You can see how that applies. Fourth, by consenting to another sin.

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Again, this is a pretty radical concept, but you think of Paul holding the robes of those who are stoning

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Stephen to death in Acts 8, right? We are an accessory, as the law would call it.

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We share in that guilt. We're called to a higher standard. Fifth, and this one was kind of shocking to me, by setting a bad example.

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So, in our own thoughtless ways, we may go about our business and not realize with our children, with our neighbors, with our fellow believers, what we're doing is being watched.

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And they might, in fact, follow in our footsteps for evil and not for good.

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And thereby, we are sinning against them. Yeah, really helpful things.

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Again, not to add burdens to ourselves or to others that God hasn't put, but just really fleshing out what all is really included in obeying a holy

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God as He has summed up His morality in the

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Ten Commandments. Seventh principle, you want to hit that? Sure.

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There is a priority that is revealed in the order of the Ten Commandments.

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We are all, I hope, familiar with the two tablets, the two tables. The first four being our duties vertically to God, and the last six are duties horizontally to man.

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All of our undertaking to keep the law, those duties that we owe to one another, ought to be undertaken with an eye to honoring the first four, right?

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That's the priority. God first. Seek first the kingdom of God. Never the other way around.

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And I think we've touched on, you just alluded to legalism, and I think, again, it's so easy to become fixated on the rule.

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I need to be a better Christian. I need to be kind. So my whole focus is now on A, myself, and B, opportunities to be kind to others without thinking of I'm doing it for love of God.

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God first. That informs, and really, I hope, is the motivation, the fuel for undertaking all of our other duties under the law and makes it, as you say, not a burden but a delight, an act of love for the one that we ought to be loving above all others.

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I think that that's one key distinctive between Christian service and what we might call a very noble humanitarianism.

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Humanitarianism, by definition, would be a person really giving of themselves their time to help fellow man because fellow man is worth it, and we would agree with that.

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But there is a higher motivation. Without ignoring that, there is a much higher motivation, and that is a motivation that the

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Christian alone has, and that is for love of the creator of that man. I express my love of God in the way

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I treat others. There's no disconnect there. And John talks about this in his first letter.

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You know, we say we love God. Well, that's great. It's a great statement, but if you can't love the person that's sitting right next to you, how can you love

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God? You've never seen God, and you make these big boasts, but here's a person you see, and you can't even love him.

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So again, it's not an either or. It's a first then. Love to God moves us to love our fellow man, and it doesn't work in the reverse.

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The eighth principle. These laws are actually for our good, and there are so many uses of the moral law, whether it's leading us to Christ to show us the need of a doctor, like an

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MRI, like an exam does, or whether it is a guide for how to live, how to do good to other people, whether it's an expression of God's own moral perfection, whether it's a life that honors the

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Lord that we say we love, but one of the great realities is that while the law does does honor

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God, it honors God in such a wonderfully gracious way.

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It honors God in that it makes our feet to be set on a path that leads to the happiest of lives, and the happiness of God's children, as the unbeliever views a

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Christian, living a totally different kind of life. Why do you make your decisions that way? Why is your marriage different than my marriage?

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I mean, the principles are different. Why do you raise your kids differently? Why do you love to get together with other

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Christians? Why don't you just cut some corners? Nobody would know, and so all those questions are there.

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If they look and see a distinct difference in the way that we live and the way that they live, then they look at us.

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Now, if we are happy living with Him, for Him, by Him, then something of the greatness of our parent, our heavenly

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Father, is reflected in our lives. So, you know, Steve, you have seven children.

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Seven. All right, and so we have four. I remember when you guys showed up to church, you had a

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Suburban, and we were so happy because we were really low on numbers, and a Suburban showed up, and I thought, oh great, another

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American Suburban. That means, you know, mom, dad, 1 .2 children, and all these kids poured out.

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I thought, that's great. Later, we had a Suburban show up with another family that had 10 kids, and I said, oh, that's terrible.

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Well, I don't know. We'll have to stack them. We didn't have any more seats. Yeah. When we look at a person, and let's say a person with a full family, and if the kids march into church like little ducklings, very well behaved, towing the line in every way, but they look unhappy, we're not impressed.

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We think, that doesn't look like a very healthy Christian home. It looks like a home where rules have first place, but love?

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But if you find a family that, okay, the kids aren't perfect, but you can see in their choices that they are guided by a desire to do what their parents have asked them to do.

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So, for example, a child acts one way when the parent's in the room, the parent leaves, and the child doesn't change his behavior, because he wants to honor what his parents' wishes are.

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I want to do what they ask me to do, even though they're not here, and if they're happy, well -rounded kids, we think that's really unique.

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You know, that's quite a picture, and Steve, really, I think, I didn't mean to use you as an example, but I think that has been the picture of your family, and even for homeschoolers.

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You know, like you are our picture of homeschool kids don't have to be too strange, all right?

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When you first described that, I think that's the world's image of the homeschool family, right? Yeah, they're in rigid lockstep, but they're not happy.

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You know, let the parents step away and watch what happens to these guys, right? Yeah. The hidden camera catching them.

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Yeah, so, okay, other than Steve, is there any other reason to think that? Well, yes, there is.

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Listen to Psalm 119, the opening verses, and we've talked about this in preparation for looking at the law, that it's talking about the law of God, and it opens amazingly when the lawmaker writes the longest portion, longest single

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Psalm, longest single portion in Scripture on his law, and he writes it, and it will be read, everyone except for the

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Lord Jesus Christ, who reads it, will be a lawbreaker. What does he say about his law to millions of lawbreakers?

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Where does he start? Does he start by saying, you have ignored the fact that I am a true king, or you have no idea of the danger that you've put yourself in, or do you realize how lightly you're taking my authority?

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Instead, he starts with statements of these enviably happy lives. So, here's the first three verses of Psalm 119.

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How blessed, and that picture is, you know, kind of an enviably happy life, a life that has everything that you need to be really satisfied and complete.

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So, how enviably happy, how complete are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the

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Lord. How blessed, how enviably happy and complete are those who observe his testimonies, who seek him with all their heart.

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They also do no unrighteousness. They walk in his ways. And then, you know, and then two verses down, we find the most natural response of anybody that believes that.

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In verse five, it says, oh, that my ways may be established to keep your statute. So, while the law does lead us in a life that will honor our king, it is also amazing that he gets honor when his children are obeying him.

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And they are so deeply happy that the world cannot understand why do you love the parts of the

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Bible that have commands? Why not just promises? You know, why commands? And our answer is, if you knew our king the way we know him, you would know that he is so extraordinarily perfect that even his commands are happiness.

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So, beautiful. So, Steve, next. Number nine. What is forbidden is never to be done.

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But what is implied or required is to be done as you have opportunity.

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So, one of the things that jumps out here, and I think this is explicitly clear in all the

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Ten Commandments is, there is no such thing as situational ethics with God.

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There aren't exceptions to the commandment. Thou shalt not, right? But it is important,

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I think, on the flip side to recognize that when we're talking about the positive side, the implied requirement to do positive good, we must be wise and we do it as we have opportunity.

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So, we were talking before we began filming here, this episode, where you've got, for instance, the

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Old Testament talks about on your roof, you must erect a parapet, a protective ring wall so that the folks that are on your roof, which they did frequently, right, in the old days, will not accidentally fall off and hurt themselves.

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You take steps, affirmative steps, to protect your neighbor. Well, that's all well and good.

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If you don't have the house, you don't have a roof, you don't have to build the parapet. And I think we can get ourselves in trouble by running off, as they say, half cocked, looking for, you know, well,

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God's commanded me to protect life or something, and you're running into a hospital and just kind of making yourself a nuisance rather than actually doing positive good.

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So, it does call for some discernment, some wisdom in applying that side to it.

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Yeah, and I would say that particularly for a young believer or for a person with a zealous personality, which usually would be a younger believer, you know, you might have a false sense of guilt that, okay,

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I am not to do this by implication. I am to do this.

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I'm to promote good. Well, in our principles, we mentioned that Reisinger said, as you have, as your position and opportunity allows.

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So, let's say you work for a company that is not a very godly company, but, you know, no big corporation is particularly godly, and we live in a world that's ungodly, and to work for an enormous corporation that didn't have sinners, you'd have to go off the planet.

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So, how you work there is important. You know, you obey Christ, but the fact that your boss's boss doesn't love

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Jesus, you know, you don't go home every night with a sense of guilt like, I should have said something.

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I should have gone to corporate headquarters today and told them what I think about them. Well, maybe the

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Lord would give you an opportunity like that. We have friends who, even now, because of some of the moral or immoral stands their corporation is taking, they have written a letter to their boss's boss, and in a humble but clear way, they're trying to give a witness, and that's really appropriate, but we don't want to have a sense of false guilt that we didn't fix the world today, if the

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Lord hasn't given you opportunity. But, as you said, there is never an excuse for doing what is forbidden.

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You don't always have the opportunity to do what you would like to do, but you always are required to avoid what is forbidden.

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And the final of the ten principles that we wanted to give for approaching the Ten Commandments is this, the sum of all the law is love, and we read that in the

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New Testament course. I think that that's helpful to remember for two reasons.

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One is motivation. It is easy when we live in a day that neglects the moral law, and we say, you know, as Christians, I think we ought to take those things pretty seriously.

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They reflect the perfection of our King. Jesus loved the moral law. I want to love the moral law, and I want to love it and do it and take it seriously.

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And then the enemy comes, and he gives you a nudge, and you become an extremist. You somehow end up in a wrong position.

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Again, just the opposite. So love as a guide is so helpful because you can check your motivation.

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Do I do the things I'm doing, and do I avoid the things I'm avoiding for love of my

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God, for love of my neighbor, or is it so I can use God to make a better me, you know, so I can show everybody how serious

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I am? And may I interject? Sure. A book that we're very fond of,

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I think you've mentioned in previous programs, Because We Love Him by Clyde Cranford, points out, and this one really just kind of hit me between the eyes, we sin because we don't love

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God. So the flip side of living according to his perfect moral law, by love and showing our love in that way, is when we don't do that, we are showing that we don't love him.

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We might pay lip service to it, but our actions speak very loudly about our lack of love.

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So if we remember that the sum of all the law is love, it helps to just kind of double check my motivation.

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Another thing is that there are times in the Christian life where, you know, we're faced with a moral situation, and we're not really sure what choice to make.

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We kind of, you know, you would kind of scan our memories for, is there anything in scripture that speaks to this?

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And maybe there isn't. Maybe we're ignorant, but maybe there just isn't something that speaks to a very specific thing we're facing.

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And so we say, I'm just not sure. It feels like it's a gray area, but I know that there are choices that would honor the

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Lord, and there are choices that would dishonor the Lord, and I need wisdom. And one of the things that helps us in a time like that is to remember that the goal of obedience is love.

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So, and love defined by the Bible, not by culture, what would be the most loving thing?

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How could I love God best? How could I love my neighbor best in this situation?

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And as far as I can see, that's the course, so that's the one

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I'll choose. So, really helpful to be reminded. By the way, while we're going to finish up the podcast for today with our

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Ten Principles for Approaching the Ten Commandments, there is a great book, if you don't have it, if you haven't read it, by Thomas Watson, the

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Puritan, on the Ten Commandments, and Banner of Truth publishes that, and I hope it's still in print, and you can look that up, and Teddy will give that in the show notes, as well as the

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Keech's Catechism and the questions that deal specifically with the Ten Commandments to show how did the

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Puritans approach the Ten Commandments? Thank you for joining us. We hope that that helps you as you look back again at a portion of Scripture that is probably very familiar to you.