Sermon Tone Analysis

! 1         Introduction

Exodus 20: 1 - 26

 “He who knows how to distinguish Gospel from Law should thank God and know that he is a theologian.”

This statement from Martin Luther makes me wonder at times how effective a theologian I really am.

Few things are more difficult to master than the biblical teaching about the law in its relationship to the gospel.

My prayer for this morning is that we will all gain clearer insight into both what God demands in his law and gives in his gospel.

Good teaching on the law and the gospel has never been more needed than it is today.

We are living in lawless times, when disrespect for authority has led to widespread disdain for God’s commandments.

People are behaving badly, even in church.

Part of the problem is that most people don’t know what God requires.

Even among Christians there is an appalling lack of familiarity with the perfect standard of God’s law, and of course the situation is worse in the culture at large and I am sure I do not need to convince you of that.

What I am going to be doing this morning is to wrap up François’ teaching on being bound to Religious Tradition.

Religious tradition, by definition, is the rules and regulations that exist, and that we so often embrace, to bring us to God and earn His favour – man’s definition of God’s law.

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The law today

François pointed out that being liberated from the law does not mean that we are free to lead irresponsible lives.

The Law sends us to the gospel that we may be justified; and the gospel sends us to the law to inquire what the duty is of those who are justified – this we refer to as *sanctification*.*

*In other words, being free *of *God’s Law is not the same as been liberated from God’s law.

I will be the first to admit that the understanding of the law in the NT can be confusing at times.

What law is the writer referring to?

The Mosaic Law, The Torah, The Law, Writings and Prophets (OT) or God’s Moral Law?

A low view of God’s Law always brings legalism into Christianity – a high view of God’s Law make us seekers of God’s grace.

After all, if we have a narrow understanding of God’s Law, we might imagine that we did not have many sins for Jesus to die for.

\\ What the law can still do is teach us how to live.

As the Puritan Thomas Watson explained, “Though a Christian is not under the *condemning* power of the law, yet he is under its *commanding* power.”

To that end, part of Christ’s mediatory work is to teach us God’s law all over again.

He does not teach us the ceremonial law, which he fulfilled in his life and through his sacrificial death.

Nor does he teach us the civil law, which was especially for the Old Testament nation of Israel.

But Jesus does teach us the requirements of the moral law—the eternal standard of God’s righteousness.

Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished” (Matt.

5:17–18).

To teach on correct relationship of the law in the life of the 21st Century Christian is indeed a challenge.

Without some clear understanding of the law and its purpose we can never understand the Old Testament.

If we cannot understand the Old Testament we will never really understand the New Testament.

!!! Objectives

* I will start off by showing how the law progressed from before the Fall to where we are today.

* I will then focus briefly on the Ten Commandments and how they related to the Mosaic Law and to us today who live under the Law of Christ.

* I will then close off with an extract from the “Torah and the Spirit”.

!

2         The Three Laws

!! 2.1        Continuity and Discontinuity

There is this argument amongst theologians on Continuity verse Discontinuity, or Covenant Theology versus Dispensationalism.

Covenant Theology say that there is a continuous flow from the Old Testament through the New Testament into today’s time.

Dispensationalism says that God divided the ages into specific time periods (or dispensations) – the most well known being the Dispensation of the Law and the Dispensation of Grace.

When I study the various arguments for and against I wonder what the problem really is – I find that both make sense to me and, in my opinion, definitely do nor work against each other.

I sometimes wonder if certain theologians make up arguments just to keep in business.

The best way to understand the flow from OT to NT is with the illustration below:

One of the dangers I see that come from these arguments when taken too far is that the Law is set against Grace.

These are seen as two opposing systems, each excluding the other and contrary to it.

If this were the case, it would mean that God has taken opposing and contradictory attitudes towards men in these two different ages.

We all know that God is the same yesterday, today and forever.

So far from being opposing systems, *law and grace as revealed in Scripture are parts of one harmonious and progressive plan.*

The present dispensation is spoken of as the age of grace, not because grace belongs to it exclusively, but because in it grace has been fully manifested.

When John declared that ‘the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ’  (John 1:17), he was contrasting law and grace, not as two contrary and irreconcilable systems, but as two related parts of one system.

The law was the shadow, Christ was the substance.

The law was the pattern, Christ was the reality.

Grace was as much as part of the giving of the Law at Mt Sinai as it was in fulfilling the Law in the Gospels as it is in revealing the Law today.

As we shall see a bit later, the law was given to Israel not that they might be redeemed, but because they had been redeemed.

!! 2.2        The Law Unfolds

Let’s have a look at how the Law unfolds:

 [See Illustration]

!! 2.3        The Three Laws

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The “Law of God”

Expresses the mind of the Creator, and is binding upon all rational creatures.

It is God’s unchanging moral standard for regulating the conduct of all men.

In some places “the Law of God” may refer to the whole revealed will of God, but in the majority it has reference to the Ten Commandments; This Law was impressed on man’s moral nature from the beginning, and though now fallen, he still shows the work of it written in his heart.

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The “Law of Moses”

Is the entire system of legislation, judicial and ceremonial, that Jehovah gave to Israel at Mt Sinai.

The Law of Moses, as such, is binding upon none but Israelites.

It is not binding on the Gentiles as the Decalogue:

1.      Ex.

20 opens: “And God (*אֱלֹהִים* [’elohiym]) spoke all these words.”

This is the more noticeable because in the very next verse He says, “I am the Lord \\ ( יהוה [YHWH]) thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt”, cf.

Deut 5.

2.      The Ten Commandments and they alone, of all the laws Jehovah gave to Israel, were promulgated by the finger of God, amid the most solemn manifestations and tokens of the Divine presence and majesty.

3.      The Ten Commandments were written directly by the finger of God, written upon tables of stone; and written thus to denote their lasting and imperishable nature.

4.      The Ten Commandments alone were laid up in the ark.

A tabernacle was prepared by the special direction of God, and within it an ark was placed, in which the two tables of the Law were deposited.

The moral Law was the basis of all His governmental dealings with the nation of Israel.

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The “Law of Christ”

Is God’s moral Law, but in the hands of the Mediator.

The “Law of God” is now termed “the Law of Christ” (Gal.

6:2) as it relates to Christians.

As creatures we are under bonds to “serve the Law of God” (Rom.

7:25).

As redeemed sinners we are “the bondslaves of Christ” (Eph.

6:6), and as such we are under bonds to “serve the Lord Christ” (Col.

3:24).

The relation between “the law of God” and “the Law of Christ” is clearly implied in 1 Cor.

9:21:

/To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but n////under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law./

The whole “Law of Christ” is summarised in Mark 12:28-34 (ESV):

/28 //And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 //Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

30 //And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

31 //The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

There is no other commandment greater than these.”

32 //And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher.

You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him.

33 //And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

34 //And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God./

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3         The Ten Commandments

!! 3.1         The Purpose of the Law

The law was not a covenant of works in the sense that Israel’s salvation depended upon obedience to it.

It was still the covenant of promise given to Abraham (Gal 3:17).

The devout Israelite was saved by faith in the promise of God, (cf.