The Sabbath in the NT - The Moral Law #1

Introduction: The Christian Sabbath and the New Testament

0:04 The following message was preached Sunday, September 13, 1998, to Emanuel Reformed Baptist Church of Sea-Tac, Washington. The speaker is Pastor Robert Martin. This message is the tenth in a series of twenty-four titled, The Christian Sabbath. ...simplicity of expression that really, I think, is ruined by too much elaboration.

0:28 Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. That encompasses so much of the Christian faith, doesn't it, brethren? May God enable us to do what we see.

0:50 Please turn with me in your Bibles to the fifth chapter of Matthew's Gospel.

1:10 Some weeks ago, we began a brief series with the title, The Christian Sabbath. And our concern when we began this series, still our concern, is to answer the question, is there a Christian Sabbath?

1:28 To ask the question another way, does God require us to keep Sabbath one day in seven under the new covenant established by our Lord Jesus Christ?

1:43 In trying to answer that question, the method that has been chosen is to look first at the Sabbath at creation,

1:56 then to turn to the Sabbath under the old covenant, then to the Sabbath under the new covenant, then to the Sabbath under the new covenant, then to the Sabbath under the new covenant, then to the Sabbath under the new covenant, and finally, to take up practical suggestions on the proper observance of the Sabbath day.

2:13 Now, thus far, we've examined the creation of the Sabbath as recorded in Genesis 2, verses 1 through 3. We've seen clear evidence that the Sabbath was known before Sinai. We then considered the Sabbath under the law of Moses.

2:34 And just before I left the church, left for Australia, we took up the subject of the Sabbath in the Old Testament prophets. And we saw that the prophets looked both backward and forward. On the one hand, they looked backward. They looked back on the disobedience of the Israelites, their disobedience to the fourth commandment, and the judgments that followed.

3:00 And then they looked forward to the Sabbath in the Messianic age, that is, the age of the new covenant. And so far, what we've seen is indeed the Sabbath from the beginning.

3:16 We saw it at the creation. We saw it before Sinai. We saw it made part of the law of Moses. We saw the prophets looking forward to speak of it in the Messianic age, in the age of the new covenant.

3:34 We saw that the duty to keep the Sabbath certainly transcends the ceremonial law of the Old Testament. We saw that the duty to keep the Sabbath We saw that it wasn't tied to ceremonies, it wasn't tied to place, that it might be observed even without the temple, without the priesthood, without the sacrifices, even in a pagan land.

3:59 Now today, we're going to begin to see what the New Testament has to teach us about God's day.

4:08 We come, as it were, to a watershed in our study.

4:13 We're done now looking with what the Old Testament has to teach us. Now we come to the New Covenant. Now we come to the New Testament.

4:24 Yet surely, from what we've seen already,

4:28 is there not a presumption in favor of the Sabbath's perpetuity under the New Covenant?

4:38 Those of you who have been here for the previous nine messages, think back. In all that we've seen, as we make this transition coming from Old Testament, to New Testament, is there not, at least at this point, a presumption in favor of the perpetuity of the Sabbath day? Does not the evidence so far favor the premise that it is yet God's will for His New Covenant people, as with His people in every preceding age, that we should remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy? Have we seen anything, in all that we saw, in the Old Testament,

5:22 to prepare us to think anything differently?

5:26 Well, I believe that we must answer that indeed all that we have seen ought to dispose us. It ought to cause us to assume that unless we see something dramatically different, unless we see clear evidence that the fourth commandment has been set aside, that indeed there is a Christian Sabbath.

5:49 But now today, we're going to simply seek to begin to understand what does the New Covenant say? What does the New Covenant say? What does the New Covenant say? What does the New Covenant say?

5:54 What does the New Covenant say? What does the New Covenant say? What does the New Covenant say? What does the New Testament have to say on the subject?

5:57 We say we are New Testament Christians. We say that we live under the New Covenant established by our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, what does the New Testament have to say on the subject? What does the New Covenant have to teach us on the subject of God's day or the Sabbath day?

6:16 Now, in the preceding nine messages, I have had one goal in focus. And that is to instruct you, to instruct your minds as to what the Scripture has to say.

6:34 My purpose, however, has not been just to reach your mind.

6:40 My purpose has been that through a well-instructed mind, your heart might be reached.

6:47 That the things that you see in the Scripture, the things that will lodge in your mind, would find a welcome reception in the heart and in the conscience. And that ultimately, with your minds equipped with truth, with your hearts cleaving to the truth that your will would choose to keep the Sabbath day holy.

7:11 That's been my goal. That is still my goal today.

7:15 To instruct the mind. That is where the work of the Gospel, that is where the work of Scripture always begins. It does not bypass the mind.

7:27 But it is not to stop there. I will honestly tell you, I'm aiming at your heart. And ultimately, at your will.

Plan for Studying the Sabbath in the New Covenant

7:37 But now as we begin, as we come to the subject of the Sabbath under the new covenant established by our Lord Jesus Christ. As I've tried to think how best to treat this portion of our subject. I've settled on this plan. First of all, we will begin, I believe, at a very crucial point.

7:59 And that is what the New Testament says about the moral law of God generally. Not just about the fourth commandment, but about the ten commandments.

8:12 And then to ask the question, What did Jesus say? What did Jesus do? With respect to the fourth commandment specifically. And then third, we will ask the question, How did Jesus' disciples respond?

8:30 How did they react to what He said and what He did? Is there some instruction in their behavior? We claim to, Follow the apostolic example. Well, what is the apostolic example?

8:45 And then fourth, we will examine the two key texts found in the letters of the New Testament. Colossians 2, 16 and Hebrews 4 and verse 9. And then fifth and finally, before coming to that segment of concentrated application at the end of the series. We'll consider the change of the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day of the week.

9:10 Now, that's the plan. And the purpose is, again, as we did with the Old Testament, to treat the New Testament materials comprehensively. I never cease to be amazed at how many ways the devil has devised for folk to slip out from under the teaching of the Bible on this subject. And therefore, I am determined, in opening it up, we're not going to leave any stone unturned.

9:36 It is my hope, it is my prayer, that if indeed the devil is able to, I will convince you there is no Christian Sabbath. It won't be because I failed here to point out what the Scripture says at the places where it speaks most clearly. Alright, that's the plan. But now today, what does the New Testament say about the moral law of God as a whole?

10:03 And in taking up this question, I'm assuming that whatever the New Testament has to say generally about the moral law, generally about the Ten Commandments viewed as a whole, my assumption is that what the Bible has to say about the Ten Commandments as a whole applies equally to the Fourth Commandment.

10:28 Nothing we've seen thus far in this series indicates that we are to regard the Fourth Commandment differently from the other nine commandments that make up the moral law. We've not seen a thing to indicate we are to regard it in any way different. Now, our question today is, does the New Testament witness concerning the moral law, concerning the Ten Commandments, leave us with the same impression? That is, that the law is a unity.

10:58 That the Ten Commandments stand and fall together.

11:03 That there are not, under the New Covenant now, nine commandments, but still ten. Now, that's the issue. That's the question. And only after trying to sort that out will we come next Lord's Day to ask the question, what did Jesus have?

11:17 And what does he have to say about the Fourth Commandment specifically? Because what he says about the Fourth Commandment needs to be understood in terms of what he said about all the commandments of God. Alright? Do you see where we're headed then?

Jesus and the Moral Law: Matthew 5:17-20

11:30 Alright, let's begin then with what Jesus himself says on our subject in a key statement found in the Sermon on the Mount. And here I have asked that you turn to Matthew chapter 5, and I'll read verses 17 through 20. Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5, verses 17 through 20.

11:54 Jesus says, Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I came not to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say to you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle, that is the smallest marks that made up Hebrew letters, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle, shall in no way, shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

12:36 But whosoever shall do and teach them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom, the kingdom of heaven.

12:55 Now there is much in this statement which upon first reading will appear very strange to us. There is much that will appear very enigmatic, very difficult, very cloudy, very fuzzy, hard to lay hold of. But let's try to understand it in the context in which Jesus makes this statement.

13:15 Jesus' adversaries apparently have been accusing him of setting aside the teachings of the Old Testament Scriptures. And substituting his own doctrines in their place. They've been accusing him of not adhering to the Scriptures. Of setting aside the teaching of the Scriptures, the Old Testament Scriptures, and substituting his doctrines in their place.

13:47 What he was saying, what he said when he went about preaching the Gospel, was so different from what the scribes and the Pharisees and the Sadducees said the Scripture taught. From the traditions of the elders, from their distinctive doctrines, what he said was so different that they accused him of setting aside the Scriptures and putting in their place his own distinctive doctrines. And one of the things that Jesus does in the Sermon on the Mount is to respond to that accusation. He responds to their misunderstanding of what he has done.

14:27 And the first thing that he says, in the passage we've read, is this. Think not. Here's a wrong conclusion. Think not that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.

14:40 I came not to destroy, but to fulfill.

14:45 Now, the Law here refers to the five books of Moses. Genesis through Deuteronomy. The Prophets refer to the other inspired writings of the Old Testament. And therefore, the phrase, the Law or Prophets, refers to the entirety of the Old Testament Scriptures.

15:07 But Jesus is referring to the Old Testament Scriptures in terms of the two segments of the Old Testament which were debated and degraded respectively by the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And let me explain what I mean. The Pharisees acknowledged the authority of all the Old Testament. The five books of Moses and what Jesus here terms the Prophets.

15:32 And yet, they explained away many of the Law's precepts. As Jesus said, they made void God's commandments by their traditions.

15:46 So on the one hand, while doing lip service to the Scriptures, they explained away many of the commandments of the Law and indeed they trivialized many of the portions of the Prophets. Turning them into allegories that had no relationship to what, what was said in the context. Well, that is how they treated the Scripture while at the same time doing lip service to the authority of the Old Testament. They acknowledged the authority of the Old Testament but they explained away many of the clear statements of the Law making void God's commandments by their traditions.

16:26 Now, the Sadducees, on the other hand, they acknowledged only the authority of the five books of Moses.

16:34 And they denied the inspiration of the Prophets. That is, of the rest of the Old Testament.

16:42 One group of Jesus' critics, the Pharisees, destroyed the Law.

16:48 The other group, the Sadducees, destroyed the Prophets.

16:54 Jesus says He came, quote, not to destroy the Law or the Prophets. That is, He did not come, His method, His purpose, was not to repudiate or to disregard the Old Testament Scriptures in any part.

17:13 Instead, He says He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. Now, do you understand now why He is saying this? Why this was so relevant to the people that He was addressing? He was being accused, in essence, of what they did.

17:31 And Jesus' answer is to deny. I did not come to destroy the Law and the Prophets. I came to fulfill. Now, when we understand His words in a way consistent with the Old Testament, in a way consistent with the Old Testament, in a way consistent with what the rest of the New Testament teaches us, what does He mean when He says that He came not to destroy, but to fulfill the Law and the Prophets?

17:52 Well, it seems to me that what He means is that He came to obey perfectly the commandments of the moral law, thereby securing a perfect, saving righteousness. He came to suffer the curse of the Law that was due to the sins of His people so that our sins could be forgiven. He came to obey perfectly He came in that sense to fulfill the moral law. He came also to fulfill all the types of the ceremonial law.

18:24 And when He had done that, He set aside the temple. He set aside the Levitical priesthood. He set aside the sacrifices. He came to fulfill the ceremonial law.

18:35 And He came to establish the kingdom to which the civil law had pointed. He came to establish the kingdom of God. And when He did so, when He reconstituted Israel, He set aside that civil law. And He came to fulfill all the predictions in the Prophets concerning Himself.

18:59 Now, it seems to me that's what He means when He said, I came not to destroy, but to fulfill. And from verse 18 on to the end of the chapter, Jesus then ceases to speak about the Prophets or the Scriptures generally and refers only to the Prophets. Only to the law. And you can verify that in your reading of chapter 5.

19:20 From this point onward, having mentioned the law or the Prophets, from this point onward, He never mentions the Prophets again. He now focuses very specifically on the law. In verse 18, for example, He says that far from being irrelevant, even the smallest part of the law requiring fulfillment will be fulfilled. Verse 18, Verily I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law till all things be accomplished.

19:55 Far from having the attitude that the law is irrelevant, Jesus says it is most relevant. It will not pass away till all is fulfilled. And then in verse 19, He denounces even the smallest infraction of the law. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments shall teach men to do so shall be called least in the kingdom of God.

20:18 But whosoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. It doesn't sound like a man who is playing fast and loose with God's law, does it? And then in verse 20, He warns His hearers that their righteousness, their personal ethical relationship to the law of God must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees who viewed the law only in terms of external conformity. And even that, in ways that accorded with their traditional interpretations of the law, not in accord with the spirit of the law.

Jesus Corrects Misconceptions of the Moral Law (Matthew 5:21-44)

20:59 Everything Jesus says so far would predispose us to think that He has a positive attitude towards the law of God. Now here's our question. In all that Jesus says on this occasion,

21:15 is there any thought in His mind of the Ten Commandments? In all that He says about the law on this occasion, is there any thought in His mind about the Ten Commandments? Is there any thought of the moral law which formed the heart, the core, the center of the law of Moses? And the answer is an emphatic yes.

21:42 And the reason it must be an emphatic yes is because beginning in verse 21, in the very next verse, Jesus begins to correct the people's misconceptions about the proper interpretation of the moral law, speaking first of the scribes' distortion of the Sixth Commandment, then moving to the Seventh and to the Ninth Commandments. Look at verse 21. You have heard that it was said to them of old time, You shall not kill. There's the Sixth Commandment.

22:16 And whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment. Whosoever shall say to his brother, Raka, shall be in danger of the counsel. Whosoever shall say, You fool, shall be in danger of the hell of fire.

22:34 What does Jesus do? He takes up the Sixth Commandment as relevant, and He restores it to the purity with which it was given at Sinai.

22:46 As condemning not merely the external act of murder, but hatred in the heart.

22:53 The moral law of God is very relevant. He moves on in verse 27 to the Seventh Commandment. You have heard that it was said, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone that looks on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

23:11 The Pharisees would restrict the Seventh Commandment merely to the external act. Jesus says, No, you've missed the spirit of the law. He does not say, Well, now the law is irrelevant.

23:21 No, He says, You've missed the spirit of the law. It condemns not merely the outward action. It condemns the inward lust of the heart. When we come to verse 33, He deals with the Ninth Commandment.

23:35 Again, you have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but thou shalt perform unto the Lord thy oaths. But I say to you, Swear not at all, neither by the heaven, for it is the throne of God, nor by earth, etc. What does Jesus do? He takes up the Ninth Commandment against false swearing, against false witness.

23:56 He says, You've misunderstood. You've got all of these little tricks that will excuse you from keeping your word. He says, None of it washes away. None of it washes away.

24:02 None of it washes. Let your yea be yea, and your nay nay. Whatsoever is more than this is from the evil one.

24:12 It seems to me that the plain implication of these verses is that the moral law, the Ten Commandments, has relevance in Christ's kingdom.

24:21 He doesn't come to destroy it.

24:24 He doesn't come to condone the breaking of it. He comes to urge men to have a righteousness that exceeds the superficial surface righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees. And then He begins to address the moral law of God. At the very points where the Pharisees had missed the mark.

24:42 It seems to me that the plain implication of these verses is that the moral law, the Ten Commandments, has great relevance in Christ's kingdom. Relevance that is as originally given, as correctly interpreted and applied, not as misinterpreted and misapplied by the scribes and Pharisees.

25:02 Now it's true, brethren. I will admit it. On this occasion, Jesus does not mention the Fourth Commandment specifically. He doesn't say a word about it.

25:14 He's going to do so on other occasions. Next Lord's Day, we'll see those occasions where He speaks to the issue of the Fourth Commandment. And does more than speak. But by His own example, shows us how that we are to regard that commandment, especially that it does leave room for works of mercy and necessity.

25:36 It's true, on this occasion, He makes no reference to the Fourth Commandment. But shall we imagine, shall we be so foolish as to imagine that in speaking so highly of the law generally that He intends to exclude the Fourth Commandment? Would we even ask such a question if the question was about the First Commandment, or the Second Commandment, or the Third Commandment, the Fifth Commandment, the Eighth Commandment, the Tenth Commandment, also commandments not mentioned specifically on this occasion?

26:12 Would we even hint for a moment that it is okay to steal because Jesus on this occasion does not say thou shalt not steal? That it's okay to worship some other god because He does not on this occasion repeat the commandment of the law, thou shalt have no other gods before me? That it's okay, Jesus is getting us to leave because He doesn't mention it? It's okay to dishonor mother and father because He does not say honor your mother and father?

26:41 To ask the question is to answer it, isn't it, brethren?

26:45 He speaks of the law generally. He addresses, on this occasion, simply some of those things, some of those points on which He had controversy with the scribes and the Pharisees. But the general statement stands.

26:59 Jesus here speaks in the highest terms of the moral law and nothing that He says on this occasion even suggests the idea that the Fourth Commandment or any other commandment of the Decalogue is now set aside in the ethical code by which His new covenant people are to live. There's not a law there's not a word there's not a whisper there's not a hint that Jesus had any such thought in His mind.

Jesus and the Moral Law: Mark 10:17-22 (The Rich Young Ruler)

27:29 We'll turn next to Mark chapter 10.

27:33 Again, we're simply trying to understand general statements that are found in the New Testament relevant to the question is the moral law yet binding on God's people? Mark chapter 10 verses 17 through 22.

27:53 And as Jesus was going forth into the way there ran one to Him and kneeled to Him and asked Him Good Teacher what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said to Him why do you call me good? None is good except one even God.

28:18 You know the commandments do not kill do not commit adultery do not steal do not bear false witness do not defraud honor your father and mother.

28:31 And He said to Him Teacher all these things are good these things have I observed from my youth.

28:37 And Jesus looking upon Him loved Him and said to Him one thing you lack go sell whatsoever you have and give to the poor and you shall have treasure in heaven and come follow Me. But His countenance felt it the same and He went away sorrowful for He was one that had great possessions.

29:09 On this occasion Mark records and indeed the other gospel writers record the same event he records it as Jesus was going forth into the way that a rich man Matthew and Luke identify Him as a young ruler a rich young ruler comes to Jesus kneels down before Him asks Him good teacher what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Or as Matthew records it what good thing shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? Now none of the gospels tells us what prompted the question or Paul do agree that this was just after Jesus exhorted the people that whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child

29:54 he shall in no wise enter in. Again a very strange enigmatic statement. And perhaps that statement had troubled the young man who up to that point never doubted that he had everything he needed to go to heaven. Never questioned whether he was a rightful heir to the kingdom of God.

30:14 To the heavenly kingdom.

30:17 Now Jesus responds to him in love. In compassion. And the first thing He says to him verse 18 Why do you call me good? None is good except one even God.

30:33 Now let's not misunderstand what Jesus is saying here. He's not disclaiming His own personal goodness. Or His own sinless perfection. He's not disclaiming that He indeed is God.

30:46 He's not disclaiming His deity. That would be to misunderstand Him completely. Instead Jesus is directing this man's thinking to that conception of goodness that He needs to appreciate the rest of what He's going to say to him.

31:06 This man must think of righteousness. He must think of goodness in terms of perfection. He must think of saving righteousness. He must think of a saving goodness in terms of that perfect goodness.

31:24 That perfect righteousness displayed in God's own character. You see no other goodness will do. No other righteousness but a perfect righteousness will fit men to enter into the kingdom of heaven. This man has too low a view of what real goodness is.

31:42 He has too low a view of what a saving righteousness is. So Jesus directs him immediately to that standard which is God's own character. But then Jesus directs this man to God's moral law. He directs him to God's moral law as the standard by which a saving righteousness is to be measured.

32:05 Where do we find the measure of the character of God? Where do we find the ruler of the yardstick to use? It's the law of God. That's the transcript of God's character.

32:19 That's the revelation of His own integrity. And so Jesus here directs him to the law. Look at verse 19. After saying to him there is none good except one even God he says you know the commandments.

32:36 You want to know what good thing you must do what good you must do to inherit eternal life? You know the commandments. And then he cites from what is traditionally called the second table of the law that those commandments that have to do with man's relationship to his fellow man. You know the commandments do not kill do not commit adultery do not steal do not bear false witness do not defraud honor your father and mother.

33:05 Now why does Jesus direct him to the commandments?

33:09 Why does he point there? Is Jesus trying to urge this man to pursue a saving righteousness by keeping the law?

33:19 Is he saying you're on the right track? You're on the right track young man. Follow after the law. Pursue the law.

33:28 Seek to conform to the law. Try to save yourself by securing a perfect righteousness. Is that what Jesus is saying? That's a misunderstanding.

33:40 Jesus wants him to follow him. Jesus wants him to lay hold on him. Jesus wants him to trust him. That's finally what Jesus comes to him and says verse 22 he says go sell what you have give to the poor come and follow me.

33:56 So what is Jesus doing?

33:59 He's trying to show this man a very valuable necessary lesson. He's trying to show him how far he falls short of God's standard of saving righteousness and indeed how far he falls short of the righteousness that he thinks he already possesses. That's what he's trying to do. He's trying to show him in the mirror of the law how short he is.

34:27 So he points him to the law. He points him to the moral law and after citing several commandments from the moral law this young man with that superficial view of God's law that superficial view of his own goodness which so often characterizes youth blurts out teacher all these things I have observed from my youth.

34:52 You know it could be that externally that was true. I've often reading this passage wondered if this wasn't just more brag than fact.

35:00 But you know externally it could have been true of him. Do you remember what Paul said of himself in Philippians 3 and verse 6? Touching the law blameless.

35:14 There was a time in Paul's life when as a Pharisee he regarded himself externally as a blameless man and it wasn't until the law came in the 10th commandment and touched his heart and showed him the sin of coveting in the heart that he saw that there was more to the law than merely externals.

35:35 This young man may indeed have believed what he said. Perhaps by the outward accounting of the Pharisees it was true he had kept all these from his youth up.

35:48 But Jesus knew that the requirement of the moral law didn't stop with external conformity. Jesus knew that it extended to the thoughts to the intents yea brethren to the devotion of the heart.

36:04 What this man lacked as one of the old writers has said what he lacked was that supreme devotion and entire submission to the will of God which will dispose men to abandon anything for God's sake. That's what he lacked. And indeed brethren that's what the moral law really requires isn't it?

36:30 It requires of us that we abandon what we want for Christ's sake.

36:36 It requires of us a willingness to sacrifice out of devotion to Christ out of submission to God. It requires us to be disposed to abandon anything which would take us out of the path of obedience to him externally or internally. That's what the law requires.

36:56 And in order to show this man where his real lack was Jesus called him to abandon his wealth that which had become his God his idol.

37:11 You say you keep the law he says abandon your idol and I'll believe you keep the first commandment.

37:19 Abandon your God I'll believe that there is no other God before him.

37:24 And that the young man would not do.

The Moral Law as the Standard of Righteousness (Mark 10 continued)

37:29 Now to our purpose brethren what does this text teach us?

37:34 Notice that Jesus directs this young man to the standard by which saving righteousness is measured.

37:43 He directs him to the standard to the measure by which saving righteousness is measured. He directs him to the ten commandments.

37:54 You see those commandments have lost none of their validity as the measure of righteousness.

38:01 They've lost none of their validity as the revealer of sin.

38:06 What they were when God wrote them on man's heart at creation. What they were when he engraved them on tablets of stone at Sinai. That role they retain in the teaching of Jesus.

38:20 There's still the standard by which a saving righteousness is to be measured.

38:25 Indeed it is that very standard that Jesus kept to secure a saving righteousness for us. And if the law were not valid then he did not secure a saving righteousness for us.

38:38 More of that later.

38:42 It's true. Not a word on this occasion about the fourth commandment.

38:49 Indeed, Jesus cites only commandments from the second table of the law which have to do with man's relationship or his duty to his fellow men. But now there's a reason for that. There's a very clear reason for that. It wasn't necessary to cite the commandments of the first table that have to do with our duty to God.

39:08 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

39:19 There was no reason to cite those commandments. You see, failure, failure to obey the commandments of the second table in terms of honoring your neighbor's property and honoring truth and honoring his marriage and honoring one's parents. Failure to obey that table of the law implies a failure to obey the first commandments of the law.

39:43 You see, the whole of the moral law is summed up in these words. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment Jesus says. And the second is likened to it.

39:57 Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments the whole law hangs, Jesus says.

40:06 The whole of the law is an expression of one or the other of these duties, either to love God or to love our neighbor.

40:15 But the man who does not love his neighbor in the way that the law requires does not love God in the way that the law requires. No matter what he possesses or professes rather. As John says, he that loves not his brother whom he hath seen cannot love God whom he hath not seen.

40:35 And Jesus therefore cites the second table of the moral law. He does not ignore the first table. He rather assumes it,

40:43 including the fourth commandment.

40:47 I cannot imagine that this young man would have said, well, you know, I have no concern for the first table of the law.

40:54 This was a young man who was not an idolater when it came to externals. He did not have any images of wood or stone. He was probably very scrupulous in the use of his tongue not to take God's name in vain. He very likely kept the Sabbath day with all the scrupulosity that was true of the Pharisees.

41:16 All these things I have kept from my youth, he said. And Jesus did not say to him, well, the rest of them are kind of irrelevant.

41:27 God's law now only deals on the horizontal, but not on the vertical. No, no, that's to misunderstand our Lord.

The Apostles and the Moral Law: Defining Sin in the New Covenant

41:39 Now, at this point, brethren, let's turn to the epistles.

41:44 Let's turn to several key statements found there concerning the ongoing role of the moral law under the New Covenant. We've seen these two key incidents in the ministry of Jesus, two key central statements.

42:01 Now, the first question when we come to the letters of the New Testament, when we come to the writings of the apostles, the first question I want to ask is this. Under the terms of the New Covenant, under the terms of the Covenant in which we live, how shall we define what is sinful?

42:20 Now, that's a very relevant question, isn't it? How shall we define what is sinful? Certainly, we want to know what is sinful, don't we?

42:33 We want to obey God. We want to have a good conscience before God. We want to walk with God. We want to trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.

42:45 Well, what is sin?

42:48 Certainly, we want to know whether it is sin to break the Fourth Commandment, to break the Sabbath. to profane the Sabbath. That's the purpose of this whole series. Simply to ask, is it sin to violate the Fourth Commandment?

43:03 Well, what is the standard by which we are to determine what transgression is? Is the New Testament silent on that point? Of course it isn't. And I want to direct you to three statements found in Paul's letter to the Romans and then one statement found in John's first letter.

43:23 Turn at first to Romans chapter three.

43:30 Now, are you with me so far?

43:34 All right. Romans chapter three. I'll begin reading in verse 19.

43:43 Paul has already said back in verse nine that we before laid to the charge both of Jews and Greeks, here he sums all of humanity together, that they are all under sin. And what he means by that is that all men are sinners. There is none righteous, no not one, none that understands, none that seeks after God, etc. There is no fear of God before their eyes.

44:06 On that point, there is no difference, there is no discrimination to be made between men.

44:12 Verse 19. Now we know that what things soever the law says, it speaks to them that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.

44:29 Whether it is the law written on man's conscience at creation that Paul describes there in verses 14 and 15 of chapter 2, whether it is the law inscribed upon tables of stone at Sinai, it is the same moral law. Paul says, we know that whatsoever the law says, it speaks to them that are under the law that every mouth may be stopped, all the world may be brought under the judgment of God. Because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. The law was not given to that end.

45:03 It was not given that we might save ourselves.

45:07 But now notice what Paul does say about the law at the end of verse 20. Through the law comes or is the knowledge of sin.

45:18 Through the law is the knowledge of sin. Paul, how do we know what sin is? We know by looking to the law.

45:30 Alright? Chapter 4, verse 15.

45:37 Again, Paul is trying to establish that we cannot save ourselves by keeping the law, that our feeble efforts only bring us under the law's wrath.

45:48 Verse 15, for the law works wrath, but where there is no law, neither is there transgression.

45:57 Do you mean, Paul, that if there is no law, whether it be in precept or in principle, that condemns a certain activity that it is not transgression? That's exactly what he means.

46:09 If the law does not condemn it, if God's law does not condemn it, it is not wrong. God determines what is right and wrong. He has revealed what is right and wrong in His law. Where there is no law, neither is there transgression.

46:24 Now, chapter 7 and verse 7.

46:28 Paul is describing his own relationship to the moral law in his conversion.

46:38 Romans 7 and verse 7. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? The reason he asks that question is because of what he says earlier in the verses ahead.

46:50 He says, for when we were in the flesh, verse 5, the sinful passions which were , through the law, wrought in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. Our sinful lust, confronted with the law, wanted what God said we couldn't have.

47:07 And it became the occasion, the law, not because there was anything defective in the law, but defect was in us. But through the law being there, we saw it, said, I want it, and our sinful lust carried us beyond it. Now, Paul says, what should we say to this? Is the law sin?

47:24 Is the law sinful? God forbid. That's because, to the worst conclusion possible. But now notice what he says in the rest of the verse.

47:32 How be it? I had not known sin except through the law.

47:39 For I had not known coveting except the law had said, thou shalt not covet.

47:46 The tenth commandment came home to Paul's conscience. The moral law of God defined for him a sin that he never suspected was true of himself. I would not have known sin except through the law. It was the law that defined what sin was.

48:10 It was the law coming home to his conscience, applied by the spirit that opened his mind to say, I am a covetous man.

48:20 If the law had not said, thou shalt not covet, it would not have been a sin.

48:27 And Paul's conscience would have been improperly burdened had he thought it was.

48:36 It was the law that defined sin. Then one last passage, 1 John 3, and verse 4.

48:47 Everyone that practices sin practices lawlessness also.

48:53 And sin is lawlessness.

48:58 Now what does he mean by that? What he means is that sin is the reflection of lawless behavior. A behavior that comes out from under the restraining influence of God's law. God's law says, do this and die.

49:17 Sin comes out from under that. Takes a lawless position, a rebellious position. But now the issue is the same, isn't it? What is it that defines sin?

49:30 It's the law.

The Moral Law as the Standard for Sin (Romans & 1 John)

49:33 Without the law, the concept of sin has no meaning. Well, what is the standard by which we determine what is sin under the terms of the new covenant? We have no problem answering that question in the old covenant. We look to Sinai.

49:47 But under the terms of the new covenant, what is the standard? Well, it's still God's law. It's true. It's not the ceremonial law.

49:56 Christ has set that law aside. It's not the civil law of Israel. Our confession states in this rightly that expired along with the state of that people.

50:09 These texts have in mind the moral law. They have in mind the Ten Commandments. As Paul shows us in Romans 7, it was the Tenth Commandment that condemned his covetousness as sin. Now, shall we not say that the Ten Commandments as we look at these passages look at the very clear statements through the law is the knowledge of sin?

50:33 Sin is transgression of the law. I would not have known sin except the law said. When we look at these texts, shall we not say that the Ten Commandments is still the standard by which we define what is sinful under the old covenant?

50:51 If we decide to become idolaters and to worship some pagan God, is that sin? Of course it is. The First Commandment says you shall have no other gods before me.

51:06 If we decide to take these flowers away and next Lord's Day morning put up a carved image of the Lord Jesus Christ,

51:15 shall we say it is not sin?

51:19 We are commanded thou shalt have no graven image.

51:24 If we decide to use God's name in such a way as to treat it as a common place and to treat it as vain and empty and worthless and meaningless, shall we not be guilty of sin? Then thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

51:45 Shall we strike mother, curse mother or father and think it's no sin to us?

51:54 Honor your father and your mother the law says. Shall we take a man's life and murder him and think it's no sin to us? Thou shalt not murder the law says.

52:10 Will you fill in the rest of the commandment yourself?

52:14 Shall we break the seventh commandment, the eighth commandment, the ninth commandment? Shall we break the tenth commandment as Paul did and say it's no sin to us?

52:29 Brethren, shall we break the fourth commandment and say it is no sin to us?

52:36 The same law that denounces, that condemns the other nine sins that are articulated in that law condemns profaning the Sabbath day.

52:47 We can't take it and separate it out and say, well, yes, Paul, when you said that it is through the law that we have the knowledge of sin, you were mentioning every other sin, but you certainly didn't have the Lord's day in mind.

53:00 Where do we get an idea like that? Not out of the Bible. Well, President, not out of the Bible.

Conclusion: The Enduring Validity of the Fourth Commandment

53:13 Brethren, our time is gone. When we come back tonight, I want to give you the text. I want you to look at them this afternoon. 1 Timothy 1, verses 3-11.

53:27 Paul there speaks to the issue of the purpose of the law.

53:33 Galatians 3, and verse 13. I want you to think about this text very, very carefully. Galatians 3, and verse 13. Let me simply read the verse to you.

53:46 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. Now, you think about that verse. What does it say to us about the continuing validity of the moral law of God under the new covenant?

54:05 And then finally, Romans 7, Romans 7, verses 14-25.

54:13 Paul, Paul says, with the mind I serve the law of God.

54:20 Let's come tonight and look at those passages. But now I ask you again, as I began this hour,

54:29 have we seen anything in what Jesus has said? In what the apostles Paul or John have said? Have we seen anything yet that would cause us to treat the fourth commandment any differently than the other nine that make up the Decalogue, the ten commandments?

54:51 Does not the evidence still favor the premise that it is yet God's will that His new covenant people should keep holy one day in seven as a Sabbath day?

55:03 Is that premise yet not solidly established? Has it been shaken by anything we see?

55:12 We've seen nothing to cause us to turn away from that assumption. Indeed, we've seen everything to confirm the truth. There is a Christian Sabbath. It is our duty to keep it holy.

55:33 Our Father, as we draw near again, we ask that you would look mercifully upon us and grant Father that our thinking might be clear,

55:44 that our minds would be furnished only with truth, that we would cast out every error, and oh Lord, take that truth from the mind to the heart, and cause us to love the truth, to embrace it, to submit to it, to bow to it,

56:00 and then oh Lord, give us the will to obey.

56:05 We thank you for your law, oh Lord. We thank you for the boundaries that it sets. We thank you for your character that it reveals,

56:16 for it shows us that you are indeed a holy God.

56:21 Do grant, oh Lord, in the midst of all of our weakness and all of our imperfection, Lord, grant grace and forgiveness and your spirit, that we might more and more walk in the fear of God and perfect holiness before you. For it is in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, in the name of He who is our righteousness, that we ask this mercy.