Principles for Understanding the Law (2)

1 Timothy 1:8-11 Moral Law of God

Pastor Albert N. Martin continues his series on understanding the Ten Commandments, focusing on the third principle: when a sin is forbidden or a duty commanded, all sins and duties in that category are included. He expounds 1 Timothy 1:8-11 and Colossians 3:5-6 to demonstrate this principle, showing how the Decalogue's specific prohibitions encompass broader categories of sin, such as covetousness being idolatry. Martin applies this truth to both the unconverted, urging them to recognize the depth of their sin and flee to Christ, and to believers, encouraging deeper self-examination, greater love for God's law, and a profound appreciation for Christ's sinlessness and vicarious atonement.

2 illustrations in this sermon

Review of First Two Principles for Understanding the Law

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Pharisees' Truncated Law

The point: Deal with your wandering mind as a violation of the First Commandment.

The Pharisees' externalized understanding of 'You shall not kill' and 'You shall not commit adultery' is used as a negative example to highlight how Jesus expanded the commandments to include internal dispositions and desires.

The commandments do not merely touch what we do with our hands or where we go with our feet, but they touch and extend to every faculty of our humanity. And we examined two portions from the Sermon on the Mount. The Mount in which the Lord Jesus himself, dealing with the commandment, you shall not kill, in Matthew 5, 21 and 22, and with the command, you shall not commit adultery, Matthew 5, 27 and 28, clearly demonstrates that these commandments extend to every faculty of our humanity. The Pharisees who had externalized and truncated the significance of the Ten Commandments. The significance o...

6:12 - 7:34 Read in full sermon

Application to the Unconverted: The Danger of Your Sin

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Cracked Church Foundation

The point: Ask yourself why you remain impenitent and unbelieving, considering if it's because you don't truly believe your condition is as bad as God says.

A hypothetical scenario where a structural engineer warns of an imminent church collapse due to a widening crack illustrates how people would react to a credible warning of danger, contrasting it with the indifference of the unconverted to spiritual danger.

You really don't believe your state and condition is as bad and as dangerous as God says it is? I'm trying to illustrate this. This may seem like a crude illustration but perhaps God will use it. Suppose three minutes from now those rear doors should burst open and a man should speak in a very strident but dignified demeanor so we knew he wasn't demented.

35:58 - 36:28 Read in full sermon

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