The Sabbath in the NT - The Moral Law #2

In this part of the sermon: Martin expounds 1 Timothy 1, showing that Paul instructs Timothy to correct false teachers who misuse the law. He argues that the law is good when used lawfully, serving as a…

The example of Jewish rabbis allegorizing the law and genealogies is used to illustrate how false teachers at Ephesus were misusing the law, leading to moral laxity rather than true holiness.

In fulfillment of Paul's prophecy, if you'll remember in Acts 20, as Paul is saying farewell to the Ephesian elders, he warned them about perverse men that would arise from within seeking to lead away disciples after themselves. Well, apparently, in fulfillment, of that prophecy, some indeed did present themselves at Ephesus as teachers of the law. Men who spoke with great confidence, but Paul says who were in fact ignorant of the law's proper use, ignorant of the law's true purpose. And apparently, following the custom of the Jewish rabbis of the day, these men allegorized the law. They used ...

6:33 - 8:00 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin expounds 1 Timothy 1, showing that Paul instructs Timothy to correct false teachers who misuse the law. He argues that the law is good when used lawfully, serving as a…

An unnamed 'old writer' is quoted to emphasize that all doctrines and ordinances are beneficial only insofar as they produce love, a good conscience, and unfeigned faith, contrasting with the false teachers' ineffective methods.

He says, All doctrines and ordinances and forms are just so far beneficial to us, as they are useful in producing this effect in our hearts and lives. That is, the things that are preached to us, the things that are taught to us, how the scriptures are presented to us, are just so far useful to us as they have the effect of bringing us to the repentance of our sins, bringing us to Christ that we might believe on Him, bringing us to the state indeed where there is love out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned. Now, you see, the use which these teachers were making of God's ...

9:53 - 10:45 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin revisits Romans 7, acknowledging Paul's description of his struggle with indwelling sin as a Christian. He clarifies that Paul is depicting the experience of a regenerate…

Paul's strong language in Romans 7, describing his struggle with sin, is said to 'ring true' in the experience of Christians who confront the vigor of their remaining sins, affirming his regenerate state.

As Shadd observes, he says, he looks into himself as he now is. That is, as a converted man, as a Christian, as a new covenant Israelite, he looks into himself as he now is, and finds in the mixed experience of holiness and sin, a striking contrast to the unmixed holiness of the law. The law, he says, is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. And the language that Paul uses in this text is so strong that some have argued that he really can't, in the end, be describing his experience as a Christian man. He can't, in the end, be describing his experience as a truly converted man. And yet, w...

28:35 - 29:51 Read in full sermon

Driving home: When he comes under conviction of sin he doesn't say well the law is too strict. The law is too broad. The law is too narrow. No he says the problem is not the law the problem is me.

Charles Hodge is quoted to explain that when a Christian disapproves of their own sin, they are implicitly assenting to the excellence and goodness of the law, confirming its standard.

And Charles Hodge trying to express in more in words more expressive to our way of thinking he says what he did he disapproved. But to disapprove and condemn what the law forbids is to assent to the excellence of the law. In other words to agree with the law to approve of the condemnation of the law against oneself is to approve of the law. When Paul comes under conviction for his sins there is a constant feeling of self disapprobation or self disapproval and a sense of the excellence of the law in the Christian's mind.

38:20 - 39:02 Read in full sermon

Driving home: No, he says I delight in the law of God. That's an expression of where his heart was at. And he did not do so in a surface external way.

Paul's struggle with sin is likened to winning a war but 'coming out with blood, his blood all over himself,' illustrating the frustration and cost of the battle with remaining sin, even for a victorious Christian.

He was frustrated with his remaining sin. In the warfare he did not emerge always victorious in every individual battle. He won the war by the grace of God but he came out with blood, his blood all over himself. He understood the frustration but notwithstanding all of the struggle all of the battle, all of the warring all of the frustration that he experienced in his warfare with his remaining sin, he tells us I delighted in the law of God. When I called to the law of God, I did not merely think of it in theoretical terms. Oh, it is holy. It is righteous. It is good.

42:01 - 42:42 Read in full sermon

Driving home: No, he says I delight in the law of God. That's an expression of where his heart was at. And he did not do so in a surface external way.

Paul's delight in the law is compared to the psalmist's expressions in Psalm 119, emphasizing a deep, heartfelt love for God's commandments beyond mere intellectual assent.

That law of God that he regarded as spiritual and good which he regarded as the rule by which he was to live as a Christian which he regarded as the standard by which his conscience was to judge him and to hold court over his actions. That law is not, he says, a rule that he accepts grudgingly. It is not a rule that he resents. It is instead the delight of his heart. Here he echoes something of the psalmist in Psalm 119. I love thy commandments above gold, yea, above fine gold. That is not a casual surface relationship to the law of God. I love your commandments, God, above the greatest treasu...

43:09 - 43:59 Read in full sermon

Driving home: With my mind, he says, with the consent of who I am most deeply and centrally as a new creature in Christ, I serve the law of God.

Remaining sin is described as a 'seed form' in the heart that, with the 'right fertilizing, the right amount of sun and water,' will 'break forth,' illustrating the ever-present potential for sin.

He acknowledges in essence that the root of every sin is still there in seed form in his heart and all it needs is the right fertilizing, the right amount of sun and water and sin will break forth.

46:39 - 46:53 Read in full sermon

The point: Pray that you would not be tempted by the devil to disregard the Fourth Commandment.

The issue of the Sabbath is described as having 'more trap doors and more secret passages and more ways of escape' constructed by the devil than any other issue, highlighting the difficulty and importance of thorough biblical exposition on the topic.

That is why on an issue where the devil has constructed more trap doors and more secret passages and more ways of escape than on any other issue that I am presently aware of, more ways for people to slip out from under the plain implication of the Word of God, that's why I've been determined from the very first message now 11 messages ago to leave no passage in this Word unturned that had relevance to the issue. I don't want to leave myself. I do not want to leave you with any door unguarded that the devil could tempt you and say, well, yes, but you really in the end of the day don't have to w...

61:31 - 62:17 Read in full sermon