The Enunciation of God's Changeless Standard #1

The Church's Constitution and Corporate Standards

0:02 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday evening, January 21st, 2001, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now, as I've already indicated in the earlier part of the service, I'm sure that most of us gathered here to worship God tonight are aware that yesterday was Inauguration Day. And many of us watched as the medium of television brought into our homes the image of President-elect George W. Bush taking his oath of office, thus constituting him the 43rd President of the United States.

0:45 And in that oath, Mr. Bush solemnly swore that with the help of God, he would seek to preserve and to protect. The Constitution of the United States of America. Now, do you know why this matter of the Constitution is so central in the oath of office and so central to our life as a nation?

1:13 Well, I trust without being simplistic, let me answer simply and say that the Constitution is that document which defines the manner in which we will regulate, our life together as one nation under God. Not as a democracy as we hear ad nauseum, but as a representative republic, a representative republic operating within a system of checks and balances with the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branches of government. Now, without...

1:57 Without such a document as our Constitution, which the citizens, elected officials, and the courts embrace as defining how we will function, it would be said of us as was said of Israel in the days of the judges, there was no king in Israel, every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Now, I know some of you well enough to anticipate that you would love to have me, now, launch into a critique of the way in which this Constitution, which is to regulate our life at every level, from the highest elected and appointed officials to the newest citizen who has just gotten his citizenship papers, you'd love to have me launch into a critique in the ways in which the Constitution has suffered at the hands of social manipulators, moral rafters, and the people of Israel, and the people of Israel, and the people of Israel, and the people of Israel, and the people of Israel. Relativists and pompous political liberals who think they know how we can best order our lives down to what toothbrush we will choose to buy. However, though such a critique is in my heart and mind,

3:15 I never prostitute this pulpit by using it to express my own political concerns. And so, for those of you that would love to have me launch into that critique, I will disappoint you. And I have made reference to our national, our Constitution of the United States in order to underscore the place of a Constitution in corporate life. But what is true of our life as a nation is also true of our life as the people of God gathered as a church.

3:52 Our Confession of Faith states that there are certain things concerning our life that are not true. Our Confession of Faith states that there are certain things concerning our life that are not true. There are certain things concerning our life that are not true. There are certain things concerning our life that are not true.

3:59 There are certain things concerning the government and worship of God's people that are not explicitly addressed in Scripture. There are certain things concerning the government and worship of God's people that are not explicitly addressed in Scripture. There are certain things concerning the government and worship of God's people that are not explicitly addressed in Scripture. There are certain things concerning the government and worship of God's people that are not explicitly addressed in Scripture.

4:03 There are certain things concerning the government and worship of God's people that are not explicitly addressed in Scripture. But we look to the general principles and laws which govern human societies, But we look to the general principles and laws which govern human societies, But we look to the general principles and laws which govern human societies, But we look to the general principles and laws which govern human societies, But we look to the general principles and laws which govern human societies, human societies, and we see things that are beneficial, and in submission to the principles of the word, we adopt them. Well, this is what a church constitution is. You will search your Bible from Genesis to Revelation and not find any text which says the church under the new covenant must construct a constitution. That is a document that spells out how those members of that spiritual society will conduct their life together. However, we do believe that as a confession of faith is a helpful standard to express what we believe the Bible teaches about itself, about God, about man, about sin, about salvation, about the church, so our constitution is a human effort to codify in some orderly manner what we believe. believe the Bible teaches about what a church is. Who should be a member of the church? What should

5:12 be expected of those members? How should the members deal with one another? How should they relate to one another as this society established by God? And both our confession of faith and our constitution are what theologians would call secondary standards or subordinate standards.

5:37 We claim no infallibility for them. The Bible itself and the Bible alone is the absolute standard of truth, both with respect to what we believe and how we will conduct our life together, so that confessions of faith can be altered and adjusted with further interpretation. The understanding of the word of God. Likewise, constitutions can be amended and changed as the church gains further light with respect to the things that are pleasing to God. Well, we have stated in our constitution that one of the expectations of church members, including its officers, is commitment to our corporate standards, that is our confession of faith and our constitution. When you become a member of this church, you are a member of the church, and you are a member of the church. When you become a member of this church, you are a member of the church. church. You are asked publicly before the gathered people of God, do you confess our confession of

6:34 faith as your faith? Do you believe it represents teaching of the word of God as you understand it? Then we ask, are you prepared to walk among us in submission to our constitution, that human document that expresses how we expect to conduct our lives together under the lordship of Christ and in the light of holy scripture? And one of the things that is in the section on conduct expected of members is godly churchmanship, and in that matter of godly churchmanship, as I've already indicated, there is an expectation that there will be an adherence to our corporate standards. And to pursue that, we state in our constitution, it is desirable that every member read through at least once a year the confession of faith, and that every member read through at least once a year the confession of faith, and that every member read through at least once a year the confession of faith, and that every member faith in the Constitution, but then it states that every five years from the adoption of the Constitution, the morning service and the adult class must be so structured that a minimum of 15 weeks is given to preaching the biblical basis of those central truths in our confession and the biblical basis of those matters addressed in our Constitution. Now, in pursuit of that

The Purpose of the Church and Necessary Commitments

7:53 mandate that rests upon the elders, that the elders should so plan the ministries of the Word, we have been engaged for ten Lord's Days in a study entitled Living Together in the Father's House. And in this series, I'm fulfilling this directive of the Constitution by expounding the scriptural basis for various aspects of our agreed standard of church life. And we're We're presently examining what, in my judgment, is probably the most important issue in our Constitution, namely, the purpose of the Church. If this issue is understood by the members of the Church, if this issue regulates the expectations and the conduct of the members, almost all else in our Church life will fall into place. But if we deviate from our biblical norms concerning the purpose of the Church, we'll be like a ship that has lost its rudder and an airplane without a compass or a gyroscope. Disaster lies ahead. So thus far we have taken up, first of all, this statement of our purpose, looking at what I have called the supreme and all-encompassing,

9:19 the purpose of the Church. And what is it? Here's the language of our Constitution. The purpose of this Church is to glorify the God of the Scriptures.

9:31 That is the supreme and all-encompassing purpose of the Church. Then we have been looking at what I have called the biblically mandated activities by which we are to pursue that purpose. God not only defines the purpose, but he tells us in his word the activities by which we pursue that purpose. And there are six of them listed in participial form in our Constitution, and I've chosen to organize them under the imagery of the big circle with the arrows.

10:08 The upward arrow is the promotion of the worship of God. The inward arrows are edification and manifestation of the love of God in practical benevolence. The inward arrows are edification and manifestation of the love of God in practical benevolence. And the outward arrows are evangelizing sinners, the planting and the strengthening of churches.

10:28 Now we come tonight to the next significant statement in our Constitution, and it reads as follows. We are committed to the proclamation of God's perfect law and the glorious gospel of his grace through all the world and to the defense of the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. Now as I pondered these words and their relationship to what has gone before and what follows, it's my judgment that what is being underscored in this language, we are committed to the proclamation of the law and the gospel and the defense of the faith. There is being underscored for us those commitments that are vital if we're going to continue to pursue that divinely identified purpose, glorifying God, and engage wholeheartedly in those activities by which that purpose is to be pursued. And so, having looked at the supreme and all-encompassing purpose, secondly, the biblically mandated activities by which we are to pursue that purpose, Roman numeral III, Roman numeral III, in seeking to break down this statement on the purpose of the church,

11:55 the commitments needed if we are to continue to pursue our God-given purpose. The commitments needed if we are to pursue our God-given purpose. And the key word in this is we are committed. Now you know what commitment is.

12:16 When you're committed to something or someone, there is serious, there is serious engagement. There is serious involvement. It's the opposite of half-hearted or temporary interest. You dabble in something, you're not committed to it.

12:32 I'm trying to think of an illustration. I thought of a man who likes to skydive. And he may write poetry about his favorite parachute. And he may wax eloquent about the wonderful experience of floating down to earth in a parachute.

12:47 He may point to his parachute. He may strap it on his lap. He may put it on his back. But it may all be a lot of talk until that plane is up at 8,000 feet.

12:57 And the door is opened. And it's time to jump out. Now the test comes, am I really committed to this thing on my back? You see, if he jumps out, he's now committed himself to that parachute.

13:12 Well, that's the difference, you see, between something short of commitment. The things that you're prepared to treat like the parachute. State your life of commitment. Life upon it.

Commitment to the Enunciation of God's Changeless Standard: The Law Defined

13:23 It is those things that are identified in our Constitution as commitment to the proclamation of God's perfect law and his glorious gospel and the defense of the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Now in handling this matter and opening up some of the relevant portions of the Word of God, I will eventually do so under three headings. Let me announce them. And then we're just going to focus on the first.

13:51 And then we're just going to focus on the first. We are committed to the enunciation of God's changeless standard of right and wrong. We are committed to the enunciation of God's changeless standard of right and wrong. We are committed to the enunciation of God's changeless standard of right and wrong.

13:55 Secondly, we are committed to the proclamation of God's changeless method of making sinners right with God. Secondly, we are committed to the proclamation of God's changeless method of making sinners right with God. And thirdly, we are committed to the preservation of God's changeless body of revealed truth. And thirdly, we are committed to the preservation of God's changeless body of revealed truth.

14:01 Committed to the enunciation of God's changeless standard of right and wrong. And thirdly, we are committed to the preservation of God's changeless body of revealed truth. Committed to the enunciation of God's changeless standard of right and wrong. method of making sinners right with God. And thirdly, we are committed to the preservation of God's changeless body of revealed truth, committed to the enunciation of God's changeless standard of right and wrong, His perfect law, committed to the proclamation of God's changeless method of making sinners right with Him, His glorious gospel, and committed to the preservation of God's changeless body of revealed truth, the faith, once for all, delivered to the saints. So tonight, we're going to park on that first heading. We are committed

14:48 to the enunciation of God's changeless standard of right and wrong. The Bible makes it abundantly clear. From its opening pages, that you and I as human beings were created in the image of God. We were created with accountability to God. And furthermore, the Bible makes it clear beginning in Genesis chapter 3 all the way through to the book of the Revelation, we human beings created in the image of God, created with accountability to God, are creatures who are created in the image of God. And we are created in the image of God. And we are created in the image of God. And unless you hold on, we're created in Jesus. And we are created outside of this image of God. So it seems to me that we are created in this world as sinners from the riches of Christ. The Holy Spirit is true subject of Paul, and it is true subject of our father in Christ, the son of the Holy Spirit. Let us be blessed in the name of Jesus Christ, the great holy, and we'll be happy with Him.

15:58 We were created as sinners inllastes before highNothingness, Me and all the world. Before inner walls of the heart of Adam and Eve, to which God added some other specific commandments that constituted God's law for them. And according to Romans 2.14, that standard that was inscribed on the walls of the heart of Adam and Eve has not been totally eradicated from the hearts of God's creatures, even though they are conceived and born in sin. The human heart still has some of that inscription upon its walls. Romans 2.14-15 make this explicit and clear. However, because of our fallen nature that has caused us to be such as is described in John 3.16, this is the condemnation,

16:56 that light has come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light. Because of our love of darkness, because of our love of sin, we must bring our judgment about ourselves, what is right and what is wrong, to the light of God's objective, verbally revealed standard of right and wrong. And if we are to do this, we must bring our judgment about ourselves, what is right and what is wrong, and if we are to do this, we must bring our judgment about ourselves, what is right and what is wrong, If we don't do that, we'll end up doing what the men and women of Isaiah's day did, which the prophet condemned in Isaiah chapter 5, verses 20 and 21. Isaiah chapter 5.

17:41 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil. That put darkness for light, and light for darkness. That put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. For woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight.

18:05 God says there is a woe pronounced upon those who set up their own standard of what is right and what is wrong. And we are affirming in our constitution, our conviction, that the Bible mandates that we as the people of God be committed to the enunciation of God's, changeless standard of right and of wrong. Now, where do we find an objective, timeless, universally applicable standard of right and wrong? It's right in the jungles of the Balim Valley in West Irian.

18:46 It would be right in the metropolis of the most advanced Western society. It would be right for a two-year-old, right for a hundred-year-old, wrong no matter where you go. Where do we find an objective, timeless, universally applicable standard of right and wrong? I answer, we find it in the law of God.

19:15 That law codified in the 10 words inscribed on stone by the very finger of God. That changeless, timeless, universally applicable standard of right and wrong is found in the law of God, that law codified in the ten words inscribed by the finger of God. Further, it is the law of God as summarized in the distilled essence of love to God and love to one's neighbor. You remember when our Lord was asked by one of these experts in the law in Matthew chapter 22, what is the first and the great commandment in the law?

20:00 Our Lord answers using the very language that is found in the Old Testament. He was not giving something new. Matthew 22 and verse 36, Teacher, what is the great commandment in the law? And he said unto him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

20:21 This is the great and first commandment, and the second, like unto it is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments, the whole law hangs and the prophets. So where do we find this timeless, changeless, universally binding standard of right and wrong? In the law of God as distilled into the ten words of Moses.

20:50 In the law of God as summarized. In this law. Love to God and love to neighbor. Thirdly, it's the law of God as understood in all its heart-searching, motive-revealing, thought-exposing length and breadth as expounded by our Lord.

21:13 And not one of those words is excess verbiage. It's God's law embodied in the ten commandments, yes. God's law in its distilled essence. Love to God, love to neighbor, yes.

21:26 But it is God's law as understood in all its heart-searching, motive-revealing, thought-exposing length and breadth as expounded by our Lord. Remember Matthew chapter 5? You have heard that it was said, and the doctors of the law, the experts in the law and the religious leaders said, well, when God says you shall do no murder, if you do not take the knife and plunge it into the breast of your enemy, you have kept that commandment. If you don't take out your magnum 357 and Clint Eastwood style, say, make my day, pow!

22:11 If you don't do that, you've kept the law. But Jesus said, no, the law was never intended to merely touch what you do with your hand. It touches the thoughts and the motives, and the disposition of the heart. Matthew 5, 21.

22:29 You have heard that it was said to them of old time, you shall not kill, and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say unto you, that law which says you shall not kill, one of the ten words of Moses, is meant to expose sinful anger in the heart. But I say unto you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment, it is meant to expose harmful, cutting, sarcastic, demeaning words. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raha, stupid idiot, not saying, dummy, in the gracious way that I said my heavenly father says to me at times. He says, my son, you're being foolish and slow of heart. The Lord uses that language. Hey, dummy.

23:23 But when you say, dummy, dummy, stupid, fool, you're breaking the commandment that says you shall do no murder. Whosoever shall say, thou fool, shall be in danger of the hell of fire. You see, that changeless, universally applicable standard of right and wrong is the law as codified in the ten words, as distilled into the two commandments, love to God, love to neighbor, but it is not the law. But it is the law.

23:55 But it is the law. But it is the law. It is that law, understood in all its heart-searching, motive-revealing, thought-exposing length and breadth. The Lord does the same thing with the seventh commandment.

24:08 Verse 27 of this chapter. You have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery. And so they taught, if you do not actually have physical intercourse with someone other than your wife, you've kept the commandment. Jesus said, no.

24:22 That commandment was meant to protect the scientists, the scientists, from building up the entity of sex down to the deep chambers of the thought and of the fantasy life of all of God's creature. Whosoever looks with an intent to lust has already committed adultery in his heart. So when we say that we're committed to the enunciation of God's changeless standard of right and wrong, this is what we're speaking about. God's law, words. God's law distilled. You say, Pastor, you repeat. Yes. And if you can't give me those four heads coming out the door, I'm going to say I need to repeat it some more.

25:08 All right? Don't get weary with me. Have you got them now? God's law found where? In the ten words. God's law distilled into what? Into love to God, love to man. God's law has understood touching thought and motive and attitude of the heart, not simply external deeds. And fourthly, it is the law of God understood as a unitary standard in relation to God. Now, don't be afraid of the words. I'm going to turn to a key text and explain them. It's God's law understood as a unitary standard in relationship to the God who gave it. Turn to James chapter 2. James chapter 2. James is writing to brethren. Chapter 2

25:57 verse 1. My brethren, hold not the faith of the Lord. The faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. And he says to those who hold to the faith, who are brethren, that if you show respect of persons among other things, you know what you're doing? You're breaking God's law. Verse 8. How be it? If you fulfill the royal law according to the scriptures, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You do well. But if you have respect of persons, you commit sin. And how do you know it? Being convicted by the law as transgressive. Blessers, James is using the ten words of Moses, one of them in particular, and the distilled essence of those words, to tell these believers, when you show respect of persons, the law exposes that as sinful. Now notice what he says. For, verse 10, whosoever

26:51 shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one, he hath become guilty of all. What does he say? He's saying this. That when you break one of God's commandments, you must understand that God's law is a unitary expression of the will of God for man, his creature, saved or unsaved. And when you break one, you break all. In this sense, the authority of God stands above and behind and over and permeates His law. And therefore, you cannot think in terms of, well, I just broke one of them. Whose law is it?

27:31 It is the law of God. It is the law of God. It is the law of God. It is the law of God.

27:31 It is the law of God. It is the law of God. It is the law of God. It is the law of God. It is the God who speaks with all the authority of deity, with all the authority that is His as creator and sovereign over us. And therefore, we must understand the law not only in terms of its thought-rehealing, motive-exposing length and breadth, but as a unitary revelation of the mind and will of the God who gave it. One recent commentator writes, James now explains why the law is an indivisible unity. As Johnson puts it, critical to the argument is that the commandment is not just a text, but it is someone speaking. It's not

28:16 just a text, you shall do no murder, love your neighbor as yourself. Not just a text, but it's someone speaking. If we view the law as a series of individual commandments, we could assume that disobedience of a particular commandment, incurred guilt for that commandment only. But in fact, the individual commandments are part and parcel of one indivisible whole, because they reflect the will of one lawgiver. To violate a commandment is to disobey God Himself and to render a person guilty before Him. That's the essence of what James is saying. So now, we come back to where we're going in this study tonight. Our Constitution states that in pursuit of this all-encompassing, all-embracing, supreme purpose of glorifying God, we will engage in the activities of promoting His worship, edification, practical manifestation of the love of God to one another in benevolence, evangelizing sinners, planting churches, strengthening churches. What kind of commitment

29:29 will that demand of us if that purpose is not to glorify God? If that purpose is going to be continually pursued, and those activities vigorously promoted among us, there must be a commitment to the proclamation of God's perfect law. And what is that law? It is that law, and I've given you four subheads, and I hope you get hold of them.

29:53 Put them in your own words, but get hold of them. What law? That law codified in the ten words. That law.

30:02 That law summarized and distilled to its essence love to God, love to neighbor. That law understood in its heart-searching, motive-revealing, thought-exposing length and breadth as expounded by our Lord. And that law understood as a unitary standard in relationship to the God who gave it. Now, the next question is, why? Why must we be committed to the continuous enunciation of that law? I answer, because of the three timeless functions of the law. There are three timeless functions of this law. This law that we've identified in this four-fold way. And what are those

Function 1: The Law Convicts of Sin and Need for Christ

30:48 functions? Number one, because of the use of the law convincing us of our need of salvation in Christ. Because of the use of the law in convincing us of our need for salvation in need of the salvation of Christ. According to our Bibles, the salvation procured by the work of Christ and offered to all without distinction in the gospel, the salvation procured by Christ and offered in the name of Christ sincerely to all who hear the gospel is fundamentally a salvation from sin. I hope you're convinced of that. You remember, after Mary conceives and Joseph yet has to discover how she conceived and he's troubled in his mind, Matthew 1, the angel speaks to Joseph and says, Fear not to take unto you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit, and she shall bring forth a son. You shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his life.

32:01 People from what? Political oppression by the Romans? Not a word about it. Save them from what? You shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.

32:20 His salvation has to do with salvation from sins. One of those five holy clichés that were bandied about in the apostolic church, the five faithful sayings of the pastor, the pastor, the pastor, the pastor, the pastor, the pastor, the pastor, the pastor, the pastor, the apostle, epistles. What is the first one? Faithful is the same. Worthy of all acceptance.

32:42 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Whenever Pastor Smith quotes it, he quotes it in terms of the emphasis of the original. Sinners to save. Now, he hasn't gotten mixed up and didn't memorize his Bible right. He somewhere heard a sermon on that text where the emphasis was on sinners to save. That's why he came. He came to save sinners. He came into the world. When you think Jesus, you've got to think sin. Now there's a movement abroad to say think Jesus and think anything but sin. The plastic grin man who carries on in his crystal cathedral has the nerve to say Jesus nowhere ever called anyone a sinner. That would bruise your self-esteem. My Bible says that apart from the knowledge and the consideration of sin, we have no understanding of the mission of Christ. According to the

33:42 scriptures, salvation procured by Christ and offered in the gospel is salvation from sin. However, until men and women, boys and girls, know themselves to be sinners and the frightening danger they are in as sinners, they will neither feel their need of Christ or be willing to come to Christ. Why do some of you sit here tonight with a cosmos of distance between your heart and Christ? You may as well be sitting in a chair or a pew out on a star in another galaxy in terms of where you are in relation to Christ. And why is there such a distance between you and Christ? Is it because Christ has not been brought to you in the gospel? No. It is because

34:39 Christ hasn't been brought to you in any of the church攻ings or ministies. Would someone say he's��, Christ has not been brought to you in any of the church bombs? Can you say he'ssay he has been brought to you in every Weiwibwe ministry? Also, for some of you, he has been brought to you … times without number. But your heart is bristened from him. Your affections are bristed to him. Why? Because you've never felt your need of him and it is precisely here that God has assigned to the law that changeless standard of right and wrong. It is precisely here that God has assigned to his law that 수 made by with that righteousness certain здрав having stand and can be Commerce in your life in the future … this is a warning to the world that Jesus was not a sin. There was a time and world literallyituation in his life when he was a sinner. law, our unique function in enabling us to see how desperate and dangerous our state really is, and how utterly hopeless, apart from that which is to be found in Jesus Christ. And there are many passages that teach this. I refer you to one of the most critical passages,

35:37 Romans chapter 7. The Apostle Paul has stated that in union with Christ, there is one sense in which he has died to the law, the law with its condemning power, the law with its sin-provoking influence upon his unregenerate heart. He said, in Christ, I died to the law. In union with Christ, I've been raised to new life, and I now serve in Christ.

36:08 The Spirit, and no longer in the letter. Now, he said some things that would cause some people to say, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute, Paul. If you say, in union with Christ, you've died to the law, and you're speaking in a disparaging way about the law, well, is the law then something sinful or useless, and something to be done away with? Look at verse 7. What should we say then?

36:30 Is the law sin? May it never be. God forbid. How be it? Now, he's going to tell us.

36:38 What was the function of the law? I had not known sin except through the law. Now, what does he mean there? Does he mean the word sin was never in his ears? The concept of sin was never present to his mind?

36:52 Of course not. He was a Pharisee. He was all the time washing himself and going through ceremonies to be cleansed from, quote, his sin. But he said, I didn't know sin. I had a very surface, external notion of sin. So, in that sense, he said, I didn't really know what sin was. I had not known sin except through the law. For I had not known coveting except the law said, you shall not covet but sin.

37:24 Finding occasion wrought in me through the commandment all manner of coveting. For apart from the law, sin is dead. Now, that's why some of you are still dead in your sins, because sin is a dead issue to you. You don't lose any sleep.

37:39 You don't have any trouble of conscience. You can slide through a day and a week and a month and a year. Once in a while, a little bit of a spiritual burp and a little bit of spiritual heartburn and discomfort. But then it's business as usual. Why? Because you are alive in your own eyes.

38:02 Like Paul, he said, I was alive apart from the law. But now, verse 9, I was alive apart from the law. Once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment which was unto life, this I found to be unto death.

38:19 For sin finding occasion through the commandment beguiled me and through it slew me. So the law is holy and the commandment holy and righteous and good. Did then that which is good become death to me? God forbid, but sin, that it might be shown to be sin.

38:40 Sin, that it might be shown to be what it really is. High-handed treason against the God of heaven. Foul departure from the all-lovely, all-holy, all-worthy God. Sin is an ugly, venomous, hell-deserving, Christ-crucifying, moral monster.

39:04 And it's in your heart to die. Sin's not something you laugh at in the banal sitcoms. It's glut, the TV waves. Sin is not the thing so rightly dismissed by ex-president Clinton.

39:25 I made some bad judgments. It's the soul-destroying, Christ-crucifying monster that is in your breast and mine by nature.

39:43 The function of the law is that it might show sin to be exceedingly sinful. Verse 13. Did then that which is good become death to me? God forbid, but sin, that it might be shown to be sin.

40:01 By working death to me through that which is good, that through the commandment, sin might become exceedingly sinful. The commandment doesn't make sin more sinful than it is. It helps us to see how sinful it is. That's one of the unique functions of God.

Pastoral Application: Proclaiming the Law to a Sin-Denying Generation

40:26 So we come around full circle and ask the question, why?

40:32 Why must we as a church, why must those of us who publicly teach and preach, why must those of us who seek to shepherd others, why must you, in seeking to witness to your children and your neighbors, and opportunities to communicate the gospel, why must we be committed to the enunciation of God's changeless standard of right and wrong? Well, the answer is obvious.

41:00 If we love the souls of men, we must. Because they're sick with a mortal disease. And they think they're healthy. And Jesus said, they that are healthy have no need of a doctor, but they that are sick.

41:13 I didn't come to call healthy people, but sick people, sinners, those who know themselves to be what they are. I've come to call them to repentance. And I say by way of application, brethren, the last thing this generation needs, is for the church to mute the clarion voice of the law. In a day when the prevailing moral climate is distinguished by a fanatical tenacity to the dictum of different strokes for different folks, we must dare to affirm that God's law is indeed a changeless standard of right and wrong.

41:53 What it commands is virtuous. What it condemns is vice. God commands. God commands.

41:59 God commands. God commands the unashamed attachment to Christ. It is not evil to say Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Him.

42:10 That's considered the crassest evil. That sounds like you believe you have a niche on the truth. Don't you know this is the age of pluralism? This is the age when we understand that your truth is your truth, and if it works for you, fine, but don't impose it on me.

42:28 Your standard. Your standard of right and wrong may be fine for you, but don't impose it upon me. And over and above all of this, Almighty God stands and says, Thou shalt, and thou shalt not. The wages of sin is death.

42:41 The soul that sinneth, it shall die.

42:47 And when a day such as ours, when the prevailing climate is one that holds with equal tenacity to the idea no religious belief has a corner on the truth, we've got to affirm, and affirm that God has said what He has said. I say to you who are unconverted, let me ask you, if I could just sidle up next to you in the pew and say, are you a Christian? No, I'm not. And I could ask you, why aren't you a Christian?

43:15 You might give all kinds of reasons, but really, if you're honest, isn't this the reason? You don't feel your desperate need of becoming a Christian. If you did, every waking moment that you were not legitimately occupied in some other environment, whatever, to keep yourself alive and to keep yourself decently clothed and washed, what would you be doing? You'd be on your face crying to God for mercy.

43:44 If you really believed that you are what God says you are, you've broken His law, and the righteous judgment of Almighty God hangs over your head, and only a heartbeat keeps you from dropping into the hands of the living God, and finding out if you're in your experience that our God is a consuming fire.

44:14 My unconverted friend, oh, that I could take you by the hand and bring you back with me to stand at the foot of Sinai when God is coming down in what they call the theophany, a visible manifestation of His presence, and fire and thunder and lightning play off the cragged creaks of the... the crags of...

44:38 of Sinai. And amidst the thunder and the fire and the ground shaking, Almighty God speaks and writes and says, Thou shalt, thou shalt not.

44:54 And that God is the God you're going to have to deal with in judgment. And when His law is laid to your life,

45:04 demanding love to Him with all the heart, mind, soul, and strength, a love to Him evidenced by having no other gods before Him, by worshiping Him as He requires, by hallowing His name and cherishing His day, and He reveals the thoughts and the intents and the motives of your heart against that standard. What will you say when He brings your life to that standard of showing respect for every instituted structure of God-ordained authority? Honor your father and your mother.

45:45 You shall not kill, commit adultery, sin, steal, bear false witness, covet. And God shows how in ways innumerable your heart and your life have been a blatant defiance of His law. What will you say? You see, conviction of sin in a very real sense is the judgment day brought into the now.

46:09 And what will happen to sinners in the judgment day? They don't have time to say, Time out, I want to have a beer. Time out, I want to play my video games. Time out, I want to read today's newspapers.

46:21 The Scripture says they'll cry for the rocks and the mountains saying, Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him that sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. That's serious business, folks. That's the God with whom you're going to have to do. Not this overstuffed, nearsighted, ubiquitous glob of love who wouldn't hurt a flea, but the God of Sinai and who says the soul that sins, it shall die.

47:01 I'd be your friend if under God I could take you to Sinai. But my friend, you're not going to go to Sinai. The God of Sinai is here. And His controversy with you is here in this room.

47:14 And He calls you to face the true state of your soul. Dear people, brothers and sisters, if we would be friends to sinners, we must labor at seeking to help them to see their true condition. This means, in the language of our Constance, we will be committed to proclaiming the perfect law of God through all the world. Why?

Function 2: The Law Instructs on the Nature of Christ's Salvation

47:39 Reason number one, because of the use of the law in convincing us of our need of the salvation of Christ. But now there's a second reason, and it's this.

47:53 Because of the use of the law in instructing us concerning the true nature of the salvation of Christ. Because of the use of the law in instructing us in instructing us in instructing us in instructing us in instructing us in instructing us concerning the true nature of the salvation of Christ. I'll be bold to assert that if we rip away the law of God from the cross of Christ, that is, if we attempt to understand Mount Calvary without the shadow of Mount Sinai upon it, the cross becomes at best an unexplainable enigma, or at worst, a cruel joke.

48:43 You hear me?

48:46 Divorce the law from the cross, and at best, that cross is an unexplainable enigma, or at worst, a cruel joke. According to the Scriptures, what was there in the divine nature that demanded the brutality, the shame, the shameless treatment of the only perfect man that ever lived? What was it? Where in the moral government of God did he, as it were, tie his hands and let the hands of his mere creatures grab him in the garden, bind him, drag him to the high priest, off to Pilate, and up to Herod, and back to Pilate, and strike him with blows, and spit upon him, and mock him, and put a reed in his... Where is God in all of this?

49:41 And letting his creatures do this? What is God doing when that same one is in the garden, and he staggers, and he falls like a drunken man, and he gets up and staggers again, and falls to the earth, and he's praying so intently that blood mingles with his sweat? Oh, my God. Is it possible, my Father, to take this cup?

50:16 If it cannot pass except I drink, what's all of this? It's hanging on the cross. They continue to taunt him, continue to mock him, and then the heavens suddenly become midnight at midday, and darkness is over the whole land from the sixth to the ninth hour, high noon to three in the afternoon, and toward the end of that time, the silence is pierced with a cry that reverberates through the ether to this day. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

50:49 I ask you, my friend, how do you explain all of that? You take away the shadow of Mount Sinai, and it's an unexplainable enigma, or at worst, it's a cruel joke. But thank God the Bible does explain it as much as it can explain it. And I want you to look at several texts with me, 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 21, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 21.

51:23 Back up to verse 20, Paul speaking of himself, and his fellow laborers, we are ambassadors therefore on the behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us. We beseech you on the behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. How can I be brought back to God? I'm a sinner.

51:45 I've broken the law. Sinai thunders and demands my punishment and my damnation. Paul says, we urge you, we entreat you, predicated on this great reality, accomplished in space-time history. Him who knew no sin, that is Jesus.

52:07 He, God the Father, made to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. He made him to be not a sinner, but sin. In what sense did he make him to be sin? Sin, that we might be accounted righteous before him and in him.

52:33 We'll turn to Galatians 3, where the answer is given with unmistakable clarity. Galatians chapter 3, verse 11. Now that no man is justified by the law, the law never was meant to be a ten-runged ladder by which men would climb into heaven, and when they get there, they pat themselves on the back that they did a good job climbing the ladder. No, no man is justified by the law before God is evident, for the righteous shall live by faith, and the law is not of faith, but he that doeth them shall live in them.

53:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, how? Having become a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree, That upon the Gentiles might come the blessing of Abraham in Christ Jesus. That we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

53:36 Christ redeemed us from the curse. How? Having become a curse for us. God's law said this do and thou shalt live.

53:47 This hell to do and you are cursed. You shall be damned. The wages of sin is death. Why must we be committed to the enunciation of God's changeless standard of right and wrong?

54:03 Because of the use of the law in instructing us concerning the true nature of the salvation of Christ. It was nothing less than vicarious curse bearing. The language of Isaiah 53.6 familiar to many of us.

54:20 All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one of us to his own way. And the Lord hath laid made to light or made to strike upon him. Some Hebraists insist that's the proper rendering.

54:34 And he hath made to strike upon him the iniquity of us all. You see, when you take away the ominous shadow of Sinai. Casting its shape and contours over Golgotha. It becomes an unexplainable mystery, enigma.

54:57 Or a cruelty. Or a joke. But when we see Calvary in the light of Sinai. We are overcome that he who knew no sin was willing to expose his holy breast to the full fury of the wrath that should come upon you and should come upon me.

55:22 While it is true that when we read our Bibles. A thousand rays of preparatory light flow onwards in the direction. In. Of Calvary.

55:36 And while it is true that a thousand rays of light shine outward from Calvary. The heart of what transpired there upon the cross is vicarious sin bearing. And it is the law that helps us to understand the true significance of the work of Christ.

56:04 You see, it's not without reason that we live in a day. When Christ is almost everything to his professed followers. But what the Bible says he is to his true followers. Christ is their super psychologist.

56:18 Christ is their comforter. Who gives them a sense of I'm not going into the Super Bowl alone. Well meaning. Behamus.

56:29 Will kneel on the field. Violating the fourth commandment. And encouraging half the population of our nation. To violate the fourth commandment.

56:38 commandment, next life, and I'll help them. And are they hypocrites? No. Many of them are sincere. Whether they're in a state of grace, only God knows. But this much I know that the Jesus of my Bible did not die that men might willfully, wantonly break the law of God. And we've had 50 years of denigrating and soft-peddling God's law so that the gospel is not being embraced for what it really is. And the cross is seen as having something in some tangential way to do with fixing me up, but it's not seen as the focal point of all the holiness and righteousness and justice of God.

Function 3: The Law Guides Believers in Pleasing God

57:39 My sin! My sin! Oh, the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin! Not in part, but the whole is nailed to the cross. You see, you can't help but love a Jesus that takes the place of vicarious sin-bearing. And the cross and salvation by Christ have significance when seen in the light of the law. And then thirdly, and I'll just touch on this. I don't have time to open it up. Not only is the law given to be used by the Spirit of God to show us our need for the salvation of Christ, and to show us the significance of that salvation itself, but the law is given to be a guide to the people of God that they might know how to please the Christ whom they love. One of the old Puritans said, The law is love's obligation. The law is love's eyes. And without it, love is blind. Jesus said, If you love me, you'll

58:51 keep my commandments. And among them were the commandments that he expounded in Matthew chapter 5. He gave what he called the new commandment, that we love one another as he loved us. And he said to the apostles, You are to make disciples, teaching them to observe whatsoever I commanded you. But there's nothing in the ministry of Jesus that says, When I die and rise from the dead, the ten words of my life shall be the last words of my life. The ten words of my life shall be the last words of my life. The ten words of my life shall be the last words of my life. The ten words of my life shall be the last words of my life. The ten words of my life shall be the last words of my life. The ten words of my life shall be the last words of my life. The ten words of my life shall be the last words of my life. The ten words of my life shall be the last words of my life. The ten words of my life shall be the last words of my life. The ten words of my life shall be the last words of my life. The ten words of my life shall be the last words of my life. The ten words of my life shall be the last words of my life. The ten words of my life shall be the last words of my life. The ten words of my life shall be the last words of my life.

59:23 The ten words of my life shall be the last words of my life. The ten words of my life shall be the last words of my life. The ten words of my life shall be the last words of my life. the epistles that God has ordained should be the richest distillation of exposition of the nature and the benefits and the glory of salvation in Christ and see how much the law is used to help Christians who have that salvation to know how to please God.

59:43 The book of Romans, it opens up salvation by grace, justification, sanctification, glorification. When the apostle comes to instruct believers, in chapter 13, verses 9 through 12, he uses the law of God to sensitize their conscience as to their responsibilities one to another. We find in the book of Ephesians that rich book that takes us into the heavenlies and shows us chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. And what does he do when he comes to guide the consciences of God's people?

60:21 He uses the law of God. Chapter 6, verses 1 and 2. In the book of Galatians, that great defense of justification by faith. Chapter 5, verses 13 to 15.

60:33 He brings the law of God to bear upon the consciences of believers. And right into the book of the Revelation, the people of God are described in two places as those who keep the commandments of God. So you see, dear people, we don't outgrow our need for the law understood as I've tried to describe it from the scriptures. Summarized in the ten words.

60:54 Distilled into love to God, love to neighbor. Understood in all of its heart-searching, motive-exposing length and breadth. Understood as a unitary standard that comes from the one God to us, his creatures. And we as his people need that law.

Concluding Exhortations: To Unsaved and Saved

61:14 That we might have our consciences kept sensitive. That we might understand with ever-increasing measures of understanding what it is to please God. To serve him out of love and in the way of faith. I bring this to a conclusion by asking you who are unsaved.

61:35 Sitting here tonight, your conscience pressures you to take seriously your accountability to God. I know that. See, that's one of the thrills of preaching. When you know who you're preaching to.

61:47 I'm preaching to image-bearers of God and you have a conscience. That stubborn little fellow inside you, you wish you could stuff his mouth and shut him up. And you manage to do it much of the time, but you can't kill him. And I know when I preach to you about your accountability to God, I got an amen corner in your own heart.

62:06 You know you're accountable to God. And you know in that framework of accountability, you haven't loved God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. You've been self-centered and willful. You've not loved your neighbor as yourself.

62:19 Your deeds of kindness have been very measured and calculated when you have done feeding your own appetites and desires. And pursuing your own ambitions, there's been something for others to try to just stifle the voice of conscience a little bit. My dear unconverted person, I beg you tonight, don't stifle the voice of conscience. The things you've heard tonight that have made conscience up his volume a little in your soul.

62:47 Say, oh God, I know that the volume of conscience will be turned to maps when I die and face you in judgment. Oh God. Oh God. Turn it up to max now.

63:01 That I might know my true state and then you'll go to Christ, the one who says, look, I welcome you. Come, all you that labor and are heavy laden. What greater laboring, what greater burden than that of an accusing conscience that brings the day of judgment into the now. Christ says, come, I'll give you rest.

63:25 All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven, the sons of man. Amen. Amen. You need what only Christ can give.

63:32 Go to Him to get it, now. And you, the people of God, I urge you as I urge myself, to periodic personal self-examination. Take the Shorter Catechism. We have it in that lovely edition produced by David Simpson.

63:52 Shorter Catechism, the Baptist version. Read the sections. Take it as part of your devotions on the ten commandments. What does this commandment forbid?

64:00 What does it command? And ask God to search you to the depths of your being. In your domestic instruction, use the children's catechism with its excellent section on the Ten Commandments. And as they get older, use that catechism that you've used for yourself.

64:19 Hold the conscience of those for whom you have a spiritual responsibility. In your witness to the unsaved, use good booklets and tracts that give due place to the law of God, such as John Blanchard's Ultimate Questions and some of Bishop Ryle's. Don't hand people pablum that seek to bypass the place of the law in the ordinary method of God dealing with sinners. And then I appeal to you, I appeal to you, as I have throughout this series, with reference to the few...

64:54 And I speak to you, younger men and women, plead with God that you'll never be satisfied with a ministry that does not promote due place to the law of God. It's becoming increasingly unpopular. In a user-friendly climate of church light, you don't make people happy by ripping their hearts open with God's law. But until they are ripped open by the law, they won't be healed by the gospel.

65:27 And if you love souls, you want to see them ripped, that they might be healed. You don't want the indictment of the prophet Jeremiah. They have healed, slightly, the hurt of the daughter of my people, saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace.

65:46 I know, instant communication, instant potatoes, instant everything.

65:53 God's not going to conform to it. And it may take a while to take the average, 6th century, 21st century, if I'm going to be politically correct, sinner in the area of Montville and Pinebrook and Pequannock and Pompton Plains and see them brought to the place where with the jailer they tremble and cry, sirs, what must I do to be saved? But don't heal their wound quickly. Let God wound them that He might heal them.

66:23 God says, I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. And when God intends to heal with the gospel, He most often wounds with the law.

66:37 And may God grant that until Jesus comes, this pulpit will be unashamedly committed to the proclamation of God's perfect law. We've identified that law. I've given you three basic biblical reasons as to why we must be committed to that in the Bible. The enunciation of God's changeless standard of right and wrong.

67:05 May God help us to embrace the word of exhortation and to be committed by His grace. Let's pray.

67:19 Our Father, how we thank You that in Your love and pity for poor, self-deceived, stumbling, fallen sons and daughters of Adam, that You chose to thunder with Your own voice and write with Your own finger that law which You gave not to be a ladder by which we climb into Your presence, but that mirror which would show us what we are. That means by which You would declare Your own holiness and Your righteous standards for man, the creature. O Lord, may we be able to say with the psalmist, O how love I Your law. It is my meditation, and all the day. We thank You that in the new covenant You write that law upon the heart, taking away our native hatred of You and of Your law, giving us a love for it, that when we read it in its objective revelation in the scriptures, our hearts say, Yes, Lord, by Your grace I will run in the way of Your commandments. Help us, our Father, to have well-grounded, clear, biblical views of the place of worship, the law in relation to the gospel.

68:41 Establish us all, we pray, and dismiss us with Your blessing resting upon us. We plead in Jesus' name. Amen.