Presence of Moral Law in the New Testament (1)

Introduction: The Enduring Importance of God's Law

0:03 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, November 26, 1995, at the Trinity Baptist Church of Montville, New Jersey. Now may I encourage you to follow with me in your own Bibles as I read two portions of the Word of God in your hearing. Matthew chapter 5 is the first portion, is found in Matthew chapter 5, verses 17 through 20. In the midst of this section of Matthew's Gospel, commonly identified as the Sermon on the Mount, our Lord Jesus is speaking to the disciples and to the multitudes gathered with them, and he says in verse 17, Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I came not to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all the earth pass away. Till all things be accomplished.

1:28 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, that except your righteousness, shall exist, and exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. And now in Paul's masterful epistle to the Roman church, the book of Romans chapter 7, and I begin reading at verse 7, and read through to verse 14. Romans chapter 7, beginning with verse 7.

2:34 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Howbeit I had not known sin except through the law.

2:49 For I had not known coveting except the law had said, you shall not covet. But sin, finding occasion, wrought in me through the commandment all manner of coveting. For apart from the law, sin is dead. And I was alive apart from the law once.

3:12 But when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment which was unto life, this I found to be unto death. For sin, finding occasion through the commandment, beguiled me, and through it slew me. So that the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and righteous, and good.

3:43 Did that which is good become death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might be shown to be sin, by working death to me through that which is good, that through the commandment sin might become exceedingly sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual.

4:15 Now let us again seek God's face in prayer, asking Him to help us. As you now no doubt know, I have had to pray for His help after receiving the news on Friday morning, that you received a few moments ago. But I do believe God would be honored if we pressed on with our ordinary course of study in our present series, and let us look to Him for grace, that preacher and people alike may be assisted by the Holy Spirit. Let us pray.

4:51 Our Father, we again come in our own felt humanity, in our own felt weakness, and we look up to You, the God of whom we have heard this morning, who delights to do exceedingly, abundantly above all we could even ask or think, according to the power that is at work in us. And we therefore pray that the present ministry of the Holy Spirit will be a blessed reality, and preacher and listener alike, that we may be shut in with You, and with Your voice speaking to us through the Scriptures. Hear us and meet with us, we plead, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Now we come this morning to the fifth message, in which I have been seeking to construct a biblical foundation for a subsequent series of studies in the Ten Commandments.

6:06 John Newton, that figure in church history known as the former slave trader, and perhaps best known by his hymn, Amazing Grace, on one occasion wrote to a friend of his and said that ignorance of the nature and design of the law is at the bottom of most of our religious mistakes. Ignorance of the nature and design of the law is at the bottom of most of our religious mistakes. Ignorance of the nature and design of the law is at the bottom of most of our religious mistakes. And what was true in Newton's day is even more true in our day of abounding lawlessness and abysmal ignorance of the Ten Commandments. And therefore I am determined to lay the kind of foundation in these introductory lectures and introductory studies that will enable us responsibly to grasp the nature and the design of the law as well as its content that you and I may be preserved from soul-damning and life-crippling errors as we confront the moral law of God.

Review: Man's Obligation to God's Law and the Decalogue's Uniqueness

7:32 We began these introductory studies by establishing from the Scriptures first and foremost of all this fundamental fact that man as created by God is under an inescapable obligation to render perfect obedience to God. A fundamental, simple, straightforward fact clearly established in the Scriptures. The ground of that inescapable obligation is the Creator, creature, relationship. The standard of that obligation has always been from Eden onward the revealed will of God and the ultimate validation of that obligation is the work of Christ and the day of judgment. Then last week we began to take up a second fundamental statement and it was this that the obedience which God has given us which God requires of man is comprehensively summarized in the Ten Commandments. The obedience which God requires of man is comprehensively summarized in the Ten Commandments also called the Decalogue

8:59 or frequently referred to as the Moral Law. And we had time last Lord's Day to examine two of three categories of Biblical evidence that support that assertion. Namely that the obedience God requires of us is summarily comprehended in the Ten Commandments. And we looked first of all at the unquestionable evidence of the influence of the Ten Commandments upon all men by nature.

9:37 And we examined carefully Romans 1 verse 32 and Romans chapter 2 verses 14 and 15. And then we considered secondly the unusual circumstances surrounding the giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai. In that setting where God was giving carloads of revelation to His covenant people. The greatest concentrated deposit of revelatory knowledge and revelatory data from the time of creation and prior to the coming of the Son of God in the flesh was concentrated there at Sinai.

10:20 Unless the Ten Commandments somehow be considered as just another part of that whole body of mosaic legislation God made it stand out in bold relief that this body of revelation was utterly unique. And we looked at six lines of evidence found particularly in the book of Exodus and the book of Deuteronomy in which God is clearly saved from speaking the words by His own mouth etching them in stone with His own finger and then through Moses making a categorical distinction between the words that He spoke and the statutes and the ordinances that He gave to Moses that Moses in turn wrote down and gave to the people. God is saying in the very setting of giving the Ten Commandments these are unique among all of the things that I am revealing to my people. Now God helping us this morning and this evening we take up the third and final category of the biblical evidence that points to the fact that the obedience that God requires of man is comprehensively summarized in the Ten Commandments.

The Presence of the Ten Commandments in the New Testament

11:45 We add to the unquestionable evidence of the influence of the Ten Commandments upon all men the unusual circumstances surrounding the actual giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai this third category the obvious presence of the Ten Commandments in the New Testament as an unchanging and binding standard of righteousness. The obvious presence of the Ten Commandments in the New Testament as an unchanging and binding standard of righteousness. The same New Testament that makes it plain that the dietary laws are now done away in Christ the same New Testament that makes it plain that all of the sacrifices and the rituals of the Levitical system are fulfilled in Christ and are not to be reenacted by His people this same New Testament oozes with abundant indications that the Ten Commandments the Decalogue the moral law

13:11 is at the coming and subsequent to the coming of Christ His death His resurrection the descent of the Spirit the ministry of the Apostles that it remains as an unchanging and binding standard of righteousness. And in my effort to lay out the Biblical materials we're going to consider two of the most pivotal passages in the New Testament one from the lips of our Lord Jesus one from the pen of the Apostle Paul and then God willing tonight take a much more cursory look at another five or six key passages only a specimen of the many others that could be brought forward. Turn then to Matthew chapter 5 as we seek to see to demonstrate the obvious presence of the Ten Commandments in the New Testament as an unchanging and binding standard of righteousness.

Christ's Affirmation of the Law in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:17-20)

14:22 Those of you familiar with the basic structure of the Sermon on the Mount will remember that after the Lord Jesus goes up into the mountain His disciples come to Him and the multitudes are gathered with them He begins in verse 2 verses 3 through 12 with what we commonly call the Beatitudes these blessed in which the Lord Jesus is setting forth what we might call a portrait of the members of His kingdom. What do the members of the kingdom of Christ look like spiritually? What are their spiritual features? If we could materialize materialize and say that this is their spiritual nose and ears and eyes what are the contours? What is the shape? What are the colors that will mark the character traits of the true sons and daughters of the kingdom? That that's what our Lord is doing is clear from verse 3 blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

15:35 The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as I am describing. Now Jesus is not telling us the way into the kingdom in the Beatitudes. He is telling us what people who've entered the kingdom look like. And He gives the character traits of the members of the kingdom of grace that He has come to establish.

16:00 Then in verses 13 through 16 He describes the influence of such people upon a sinful world. They have been called out of the world into the fellowship of Himself and under His gracious rule their character traits stand in marked contrast to those of the world and therefore as they live out their lives in the world Jesus says they will have this two-fold influence. You are the salt of the earth. Verse 14 You are the light of the world.

16:37 They will function as salt. They will check the putrefaction that is in society because of sin. And our Lord says you are not and it's not a commandment seek to be salt. He simply says being what you are in terms of what I've made you as it is described in the Beatitudes you are in virtue of simply being what my grace has made you you are salt in the earth.

17:08 You will check the putrefaction. But then He says you are light of the world. You both illuminate and attract to me and to my kingdom. Therefore He closes with the exhortation in verse 16 even so let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

17:36 Now follow the train of thought of the Lord. Our Lord has given a portrait of the members of His kingdom in the Beatitudes. He has then described the influence of the members of His kingdom upon the world at large. They are salt and they are light.

17:53 Now in verse 17 He takes up what would be a very crucial subject and in the light of what He had just said apparently questions are already arising in the minds of many of His listeners. In the light of what Jesus has said in describing the members of His kingdom and their influence upon the world He now addresses the whole subject of the relationship of His kingdom to the law of God. You see up till now He has spoken things that would have been in stark contrast to what the scribes and the Pharisees would be teaching. About the nature of the kingdom and about the subjects of the kingdom. Unless some mistake His mission He says first of all in verses 17 and 18 don't mistake my mission as it relates to the whole Old Testament. That is either the law or the prophets. Do not think He is correcting the possibility of misconception.

19:09 Do not think that I came to destroy to abrogate to set aside to cancel the law notice He doesn't say and but the law or the prophets. Now when you find the terminology law and prophets it is a comprehensive statement referring to the entire Old Testament. But our Lord to underscore a distinction that He will amplify doesn't say law and prophets but the law but He says think not that I came to destroy the law anything pertaining to that which was given and revealed through Moses or the prophets. Do not think that I came to cancel to abrogate any of the righteous demands of the law that I came to set aside any of the expectations of the law nor have I come to set aside to abrogate or cancel the words of the prophets. Then He gives the positive affirmation I came not to destroy but to fulfill to complete to consummate everything that the law said pointing forward to Christ everything that the prophets declared He says I am

20:39 I have come not to abrogate but to fulfill. Then in verse 18 with the amen of solemn pronouncement Amen verily I say unto you till heaven and earth pass away one jot smallest letter one tittle the smallest stroke shall in no wise pass from the law till all things be accomplished. Here is our Lord's added buttressing of the previous statement that His mission must never be construed in terms of abrogating either the law or the prophets. In fact He says while the present order remains until the new heavens and the new earth are ushered in the smallest letter and the smallest stroke in anything God revealed in the law or the prophets shall not fail of its fulfillment shall in no wise pass away from the law till all things be accomplished. We would say the crossing of the T and the dotting of an I shall not pass away. So in verses 17 and 18 Jesus is saying don't mistake my mission as it relates to

22:08 the whole of the Old Testament. Now in verses 19 and 20 He says don't mistake my mission as it relates to the unchangeable standard of righteousness contained in the commandments of God.

The Law's Enduring Standard for Kingdom Standing and Entrance (Matthew 5:19-20)

22:28 Don't mistake my mission as it relates to the unchangeable standard of righteousness contained in the commandments of God. In verse 19 He states that one's standing in the kingdom will be directly related to one's relationship to the specifics of the commandments of God. And in verse 20 He says one's entrance or exclusion in the kingdom will be determined by one's relationship to the standard of righteousness that is in the law. Now let's look at that and see it.

23:13 Verse 19 Whosoever therefore in the light of what I have said about my mission whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven but whosoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Now unlike the Pharisees who had a whole bunch of artificial distinctions that God never intended within His own revealed law Jesus does indicate that there are least or lesser commandments and greater commandments. You remember on one occasion a text we'll have occasion to study in a future exposition when He was asked by a lawyer a doctor of the law one whose life was given over to studying God's law what is the great commandment Jesus answered the first and great commandment is so in this passage our Lord is saying the person who breaks one of the least commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. Gradation of position in the kingdom is related to how one person personally obeys

24:40 and personally influences others to obey even the least of God's commandments. You see that in the words of Jesus?

24:52 Conversely whosoever shall do shall have his conscience bound and his life regulated by and teach them have a positive influence to bring others into a place of peace. to bring others into a place of peace. into a meticulous conformity even to the so-called least of God's commandments such a one shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. And you see that runs right into the face of the whole mindset of this generation.

25:29 You find a man or woman a boy or girl who is making conscience about the least of God's commandments and what is he called?

25:41 Tell me. Not a rhetorical question. What's he called? He's a legalist.

25:48 He's so persnickety so concerned that in every little detail of life he's obeying the commandments of God. Poor fellow.

26:00 You see that runs counter to what Jesus is saying. He said in my kingdom greatness is measured when someone who is pictured in those beatitudes who has no sense of a righteousness that he's going to spin upon the loom of his own works. He has been brought to poverty of spirit seeing he has nothing can do nothing but sin left to himself. He has mourned his wretched state and gone out of himself to lay hold of the righteousness of another.

26:39 But in the possession of the blessings of the grace that is brought in Jesus Christ loving him he desires to obey him and the more his love burns hot the more his desire to obey him universally and meticulously burns within his breast. Such a person who does who keeps and then seeks to seek to help others to keep shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. He's not to be pitied as a pathetic legalist in bondage to an over scrupulous conscience. He is to be called great so long as the standard is the commandments whatever they are so long as the standard is God's commandments whatever they may be. Then in verse 20 he says that entrance into the kingdom will necessitate a relationship to the righteous demands of the law and the law that is radically different from that of the scribes and Pharisees for I say unto you that except your righteousness the righteousness of your relationship to the law of God to the commandments of God except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees

28:07 you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. What is he saying? He's saying if your relationship to the righteous standards demanded by the law is not of a radically different nature from that of the scribes and Pharisees you'll never enter the kingdom. You have not even gone to the kindergarten of understanding the nature of the kingdom of heaven.

28:35 The nature of God's claims in the law except your righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees the so called great law kingdom. So you see our Lord here very early in the Sermon on the Mount is concerned that none should mistake the nature of his mission as it relates to the whole Old Testament revelation in general but his mission in relationship to the commandments of God in particular.

Jesus Restores the Law's Pristine Meaning: The Rembrandt Analogy

29:16 And then to demonstrate what law he's talking about notice verse 21. You have heard that it was said now he's going from stating principles to specific application like any good preacher will do. You have heard that it was said to them of old time better rendered it was said by them of old time you shall not kill and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. The Lord Jesus is not quoting the sixth commandment as it was given by his own mouth inscribed with his own finger. He is quoting what the official teachers with all of their rabbinical traditions were saying and the meaning that they were giving to that commandment. You will not find that. You will not find in Exodus 20 or in Deuteronomy 5 whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment.

30:25 You have in the law itself you shall do no murder. They added and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment. And then they gave a significance to that commandment that was totally removed from its true God-given intention. Now what law in what law is that particular commandment found?

30:53 It is found in the Decalogue. And our Lord begins to show them as we shall again have occasion to see in future studies that that law goes far beyond the mere act of raising the knife and plunging it into the breast of an enemy in a context other than war. He is telling them that that command is broken. By a disposition of heart that manifests itself in unrighteous anger in derisive and demeaning debasing speech who is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment.

31:36 Whosoever shall say to his brother Raha a term of derision you stupid egghead you numbskull you lame-ass lame-brained jerk he says the disposition that causes words to come out that are a dagger in the soul of those whom they strike and whosoever shall say thou fool shall be in danger of the hell of fire then he goes on to show the positive requirement of that commandment. It is not only enough that we be kept in our hearts by the grace of God's and the power of the spirit from unrighteous anger and the manifestations of unjust anger in demeaning derisive speech but that we do everything to maintain the most amicable though relationship with men that is possible by the grace of God to maintain. If therefore you're offering your gift at the altar and there remember your brother has ought against you leave your he has not moved from the situation of the sixth commandment he is expounding the significance of the sixth commandment as an application of his own statement don't mistake my mission I am the king of grace I've come all the way

33:05 from heaven on a mission to obey the law perfectly in the room and stand with my people as the representative of my people I take upon myself the responsibility. The responsibility. To render a perfect record in the court of heaven on their behalf and in due course I will go all the way to the cross and there I will bear all that the curse of a broken law demands on behalf of my people I will swallow up their judgment in my own soul I will expose my breast to the fiery wrath of my righteous father but don't mistake my coming as the king of grace as the king of mercy as the representative head of my people whom I will save on the ground of my obedience not theirs my suffering unto death not theirs but in my kingdom though it is a kingdom of grace and all who enter enter on the grounds of what I have done and my performance for them not their own performance on behalf of themselves don't mistake that as establishing a kingdom in which law is not binding and in which the ten commandments in the full length and breadth of their meaning

34:34 are not the abiding changeless standard of righteousness and then he goes on to deal in verse 27 in following with the seventh commandment in the same way you have heard that it was said you shall not commit adultery and they so interpreted that that if you did not actually have illicit sexual intercourse with another man's wife you had kept the commandment and the Lord says no the commandment touches the look of the eye and the desire of the heart the commandment touches the commitment to the fidelity of one's marital vows and he takes up the subject of putting away one's wife here demonstrating that as the king in his kingdom he is abrogating even some aspects of the mosaic legislation relative to the permission of divorce a matter that he deals with more thoroughly in Matthew chapter 19 but what's the fundamental point well the fundamental point is this and that's all I want you to see this morning and that's why I've not gone into a detailed exposition but just to point you to the thread of thought and how it terminates on these two principles that are taken right out of the decalogue Jesus is making it clear that in the kingdom

36:02 he came to establish the ten commandments will be an unchanging and binding or obligatory whatever word you want to use a binding standard of righteousness Jesus does not indicate the replacement of a moral law with a new law of his own rather he restores the words of God from Sinai to their original searching awesome splendor let me try to illustrate it this way some of you have seen and greatly appreciated at least you've seen reproductions of the artistry of Rembrandt the Dutch painter who lived in the 1600s and for some of us who know very little of art we know that we know that we found ourselves captivated the first time we saw a reproduction of anything by Rembrandt because of his unusual ability to work with light and shade and color to have light coming in through a certain window and highlighting the cheek of one person and the hand of another and an object upon the table well imagine with me that for some reason or another an original Rembrandt had been lost and it ended up in the attic of some of the old hermit and there it lay for years gathering dust and soot and perhaps even

37:31 some of the smoke and greasy air that was vented up from downstairs settled on it until there lying in this man's attic is an original Rembrandt but covered with cracked old varnish and on top of the varnish soot and dust mingled with grease and the old hermitage and as the authorities are seeking responsibly to dispose of his estate they come up into the attic and someone finds this framed work of art and the moment they bring it out into the light all they can see are several dominant features of the shape of a person's head and over here a hand and over here the edge of the table that's all they can see but they have to be careful and be a little careful that their heads do not hit the wall and that their heads do not get damaged and that they can't go down over the wall or over the table or over the bed and the ceiling and of course they are able to hang in the sand and the floor and there's nothing to do with the

38:46 the floor and the floor on the door and the floor on the floor and the floor just like the floor and that's not up there there's no room to go up here through the wall and by the way you could have it in that form, what did they see? Did they see what Rembrandt sought to reproduce on the canvas with that genius of light and highlight and side light and color? No. All they saw was a couple of dominant forms of what Rembrandt actually put on the canvas. So what they do is they find one of these responsible companies that is given to the restoration of great works of art. And they have perfected the science. This is true. Up till now this has been let's make believe, let's pretend. But it is true. There are such men and companies

39:39 given to this very thing. And they know how, first of all, to remove the dust and remove the soot. And then they even know how to dissolve and remove. All of the old, darkened, cracked varnish. And what are they doing this for? Not to change Rembrandt. Not to alter Rembrandt. But to bring that painting back as close as possible to the way it looked when Rembrandt stood back after he put the last stroke of his brush on it and put his signature on that painting. That's what they're in business to do.

40:24 So that when anyone would look upon the painting, they would see those unique, artistic fingerprints of Rembrandt all over it. The unusual, breathtaking use of light and shadow and sidelight. So that Rembrandt's work would be seen in all of its pristine Rembrandt glory.

40:48 Now that's what Jesus is doing here with the sixth and seventh commandment. He doesn't say, though the voice of God spoke the words, thou shalt not kill. Though the voice of God spoke the words, thou shalt not commit adultery. I'm here to smash Rembrandt. He's out of date. And on the canvas, I will paint a new standard of righteousness for my kingdom. No! Our Lord meticulously and with consummate spiritual artistry. He lifts away the dust, scrapes away the varnish, and he says, here's Rembrandt! Here's what

41:37 my father meant, and I meant when these words were spoken. Thou shalt do no murder. And in my kingdom, I and my father are determined that our standard of righteousness will be embraced from the heart by all within the kingdom, for it is that very standard that will be written upon their heart, giving them a disposition to love it and obey it, and will stand before them objectively in the ten words spoken from Sinai. For as the one wise old Puritan said, the law is love's eyes. Without it, love is blind. And when the love of Christ constrains us and puts an impulse into our feet to desire to walk in the ways of God, and we ask, where are those ways to be found? Jesus is saying, as from

42:49 Sinai, so now in my kingdom, they are summarily comprehended, as the old catechism says. They are comprehensively summarized in the Decalogue, in the Ten Commandments. And that's what Jesus did, very interestingly, when people say, oh, the New Testament never repeats the Fourth Commandment. What a bunch of hogwash.

43:18 Jesus spent more time in his earthly ministry doing restorative work for the Fourth Commandment than with any other commandment. Now, you think he did all that? Restorative work, just to say, well, when the Holy Ghost comes on the day of Pentecost, and the church is filled with the Spirit, we're now going to smash that part of Rembrandt, the Fourth Commandment? It's ludicrous. Absolutely ludicrous. What Jesus does here in a single incident with the Sixth Commandment, and with the Seventh Commandment, he did repeatedly with the Fourth, correcting all of the dust and all of the dust. All of the dirt and all of the grime and all of the grit and all of the grease with which the Pharisees had overlaid the Fourth Commandment, that he might restore it in its pristine beauty and sanctity, and then clothe it with all the dignity and glory of his resurrection life and power, and change the day from the Seventh to the First, that the Lord's Day Sabbath might be radiant with the glories of an accomplished redemption.

44:31 in Christ, and the triumph of his resurrection, and the descent of the Holy Spirit. Oh, dear people, Jesus says, don't mistake my mission. I came not to destroy, but to fulfill. I didn't come to abolish. And in my kingdom, station in my kingdom will be determined by meticulous concern, both to do and to seek to induce others to do the least of my work. commandments. And you'll never even be in the kingdom if you don't get beyond living like the Pharisees did. When they wanted to know what was right and wrong, what did they look at? Not Rembrandt on his easel? No! They looked at Rembrandt buried in the attic. And because the law does forbid the wanton taking of a life of another by plunging the knife into the breast, shooting a bullet into the brains, they said, that's all it requires. And if I don't act

45:35 actually take the life of another and charge with capital offense and murder, I've kept the commandment. And the Lord Jesus said, no, you haven't. And if your righteousness, that is, your relationship to the demands of the law does not go beyond that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you'll never enter the kingdom of heaven. Well, we come now much more briefly to Romans chapter 7. In fact, I'm going to stop with where I am.

Application: Self-Examination on Obedience and Righteousness

46:08 Because this is too crucial to skip over. And for those of you that don't have to struggle with what it is to try to responsibly preach, just be patient with me, will you? I'm coming down this road for the first time. And after 40 plus years of preaching, I still can't accurately estimate at times what it will take to get through a given passage. But these are such foundational issues that we dare not treat them in a light.

46:44 And in the surface manner. So may I then attempt to bring together what we've considered this morning and bring home an application to your heart and to your conscience. Where are you graded in Christ's kingdom? Look at the passage. Are you one who breaks commandments because you say, oh, that's just a little commandment. I regard that as one of the lesser commandments or a commandment of lesser importance.

47:16 And by so doing, at least by your example, you teach others, your children, your wife, your husband, your neighbors, that that commandment of God can be treated with lightness and with indifference. God says you should be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But for those of you who find yourselves constrained by the love of Christ to desire with the psalmist to say, I esteem all of thy precepts concerning all things. To be right. And I hate every false way. While you may be looked upon as a hopelessly bound legalist, the joy, you know, in the path of a meticulous obedience that grows out, not of a silly notion, yearning brown points with God, but out of the constraint of the love of Christ. You so love the Christ who perfectly kept the law for you and died under the curse of the law.

48:17 In your room instead that you say, I can't do enough for such a savior. The least I can do is to make conscience of all of his precepts and all of his commandments. Listen to what the Lord Jesus says to you.

48:48 If they profess the name of Christ, though men may call you a pathetically crippled, bound legalist, God calls you by another name. He says you will be great in the kingdom. But now look again at verse 20. And this is where I fear some of you may be. And I say unto you, accept your righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. There's some of you who profess the name of Christ.

49:19 And surely you would not. You would not live a lifestyle that was in blatant, flagrant violation of the major contours of God's law. Oh, no. You would not set up some object in your living room and bow down to it.

49:37 That would be breaking the first commandment. Thou shall have no other gods before me. And the second, thou make images and bow down to them. You would not stand in a cavalier way, swear in the name of the God of heaven and take the name of anyone.

49:52 Of the persons of the Trinity or the name of God generically in a light and frivolous way. No, you would not do that. Nor would you be found totally disregarding the Lord's day and treating it like any other day. Nor would you be found cursing your father or your mother.

50:10 Nor would you be found plunging the knife in another, bedding down with someone other than your own wife. You would not be found with someone else's goods in your possession wrongfully taken. You would not be found in the posture of open, vicious slander of another. But you see, you think that's all God's law requires.

50:35 And in your heart, you have a hundred idols.

50:40 Your name, your reputation, how you look to others, that's your God. And it governs all you do and say and think.

50:51 Your God may be money, position, influence.

50:55 Covetousness is called. Idolatry in Colossians chapter 3. Your God may be things and friends and people and standing. Except your righteousness goes beyond that of the scribes and Pharisees.

51:08 You'll never enter until you see that God's law touches the disposition and the attitudes of the heart. And it is there that you must have dealings with God. First of all, in His forgiving grace and mercy. In His ongoing pardoning and cleansing immediately.

51:27 Glorial work and advocacy at the right hand of the Father. And by the power of the Spirit, seek to render an obedience from the heart that gets down to the place where you are as broken before God when in a fit of anger you say to someone, you stupid jerk, you're as broken as if you had stuck a knife in their gut. Is that the way you live?

51:54 Do you?

51:56 Do you? When your eyes look, the thought of lust is, and you know that that look has led to desire. It hasn't gone to touching. It hasn't gone to extensive fantasies.

52:14 But you know you cross the line. Are you as broken before God? Knowing that left to yourself, that thought would issue in the deed where the circumstance is right. Are you broken?

52:28 Do you cry to God for cleansing and purging of the blood of His Son? Or just, just say, well, I'm a man, God knows. That's the way the Pharisees regarded the law. And accept your righteousness in relationship to the standard of the law.

52:46 Exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. You're never going to enter the kingdom of heaven, my friend. Because you've never seen that true religion is heart religion.

52:58 You've never seen it. You're in the land of the blind. You're a formalist.

The Law's Role in Awakening Sinners and Driving to Christ

53:06 You have the word of Jesus. You'll never enter. The kingdom until you see God's law touches your heart. And as we'll see, God willing, when we start with the Romans 7 passage tonight, Paul said that was the issue that God taught him through the Spirit's powerful application of the 10th commandment.

53:31 It was the instrument of God to take him from being a slumbering, self-deceived sinner to being an awakened, self-conscious sinner. I was alive once. Not in reality, he was dead. But in his death, he was utterly dead to his death.

53:52 So he says, I was alive in my own eyes. But when that commandment came and I saw it went beyond. Rembrandt covered with soot and with dust and with dark cracked varnish and with grease. And I saw that God's law touched the whole world.

54:14 Touched the whole inner springs of my being. And I was undone. And when God undoes you that way. And you're driven to seek a refuge outside of yourself.

54:29 You find in the Lord Jesus one who from the deepest springs of his heart. Through every moment of every day of his 33 plus years life. Fully, totally, meticulously, blamelessly. Kept the law of God.

54:48 That we might have that record put to our account. And then went to the cross and bore our sins in his own body to the tree. When the wonder and the amazement of what he did in relationship to the law. In all the full extent of its demands breaks in upon us by the spirit of God.

55:10 We are bound in love to Christ. And from the hand of Christ. Our gracious mediator we receive that same law. That thundered and shook with the lightning and the darkness from Sinai.

55:27 And made us tremble. We now receive as a gracious standard from the hand of a mediator. That we might in the power of the spirit out of love to him. Seek to walk in the way of his commandments.

55:46 My friend. That I described to you. If not. You are not in the kingdom.

Exhortation and Prayer: Embrace Heart-Level Obedience

55:55 Face the words of Jesus. Cry to God to have mercy upon you. And pray that in these days you who can say yes. By the grace of God.

56:06 I am one whom you have described. In whom the law has done its proper work. And out of love to Christ desires to keep. Not just some simple.

56:19 Broad outline. Of a code of ethics. But who seeks to have heart conformity. To the law of God.

56:28 Not to gain brownie points. But to show my love for the savior. Will you not cry to God. That our consciences will be sensitized at a new level.

56:38 And that God will have mercy upon those. Who are treating lightly. Their true spiritual state. And that God will bring them to see.

56:48 What they really are. That they might become what only sinners can become. In union with the Lord Jesus. Let us pray together.

57:05 Our father. We are again conscious. That we are dealing with matters of eternal importance. And we pray that you would bind the powers of darkness.

57:19 That would seek to pluck up. Pluck up the seed of the word sown. Oh father. May the words of our Lord Jesus.

57:28 Which we have considered this morning. Be written upon our hearts. By your power. And we pray that you would deal in mercy.

57:38 With those whose righteousness. Is that of the scribes and the Pharisees. A mere external wooden. Keeping of the broad strokes of your law.

57:50 With no mourning over heart sin. No poverty of spirit. Over the state of the inner man or woman. Oh God.

58:02 Deal with them in mercy. Don't let them drift through another Sunday. To be hardened more fully in their sins. And for your dear people.

58:12 Whose righteousness does exceed. That of the scribes and the Pharisees. Who deal with you in terms of the law. In a totally different universe.

58:22 Than did the scribes and the Pharisees. Strengthen and encourage them. In their holy resolution. To be joyful evangelical.

58:33 Christ loving keepers of the law. Even the least of your commandments. Seal then your word to our hearts. To these ends we pray.

58:43 In Jesus name. Amen.