This passage and the teaching of Scripture comes to you and puts its finger on your lips and says, Shhh, don't talk that way. The law is designed to quiet you in your boasting about your moral goodness.
Teaching God's people God's Word, this is the Truth Pulpit with Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Hi, I'm Bill Wright, and today as Don wraps up his series called God's Forgotten Law, he'll show us that although Christ came to set us free from the penalty of the law, he did not free us from our responsibility to adhere to the moral aspect of the law. Open your Bible now to Exodus chapter 20 as we get started with Don's second half of a message called Why the Law is Difficult on the Truth Pulpit. We're making the point that the moral law is not what we use to earn salvation. It's not how we get our justification in the presence of God. Turn to the book of Galatians chapter 2 verse 16.
It requires a perfect righteousness to be in the presence of God. And you and I cannot do that. We've already failed.
If you lived perfectly from now until the time of your death, it wouldn't be enough. And you can't do that and you won't do it. The law condemns us. The law breaks us. The law exposes our sin rather than giving us a standard that we obey in order to earn salvation. Galatians 2 verse 16. Nevertheless, knowing that, a man is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus.
Even we have believed in Christ Jesus so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, since by the works of the law no flesh will be justified. You know how you can identify if you have that spirit of self-righteousness in your heart? You know how you can realize that you have misunderstood the purpose of the moral law? Is that if your approach, if your thought about yourself in the presence of God is, I'm basically a pretty good person, a person who thinks like that, a person who talks like that is a person who has not understand what the moral law is for. The moral law convicts you of sin. It does not congratulate you on your righteousness. You have broken God's law, therefore it cannot possibly be the means by which you earn righteousness.
Look over at the familiar passage in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not as a result of work so that no one could boast. You see, God's means of salvation, God's plan of salvation by definition excludes people from boasting about it.
By definition, salvation is a gift of grace, undeserved favor from God to man. And because it is undeserved, therefore we have nothing to boast about if we have been saved. We can't boast in our righteousness because we had none that contributed to our justification. We boast instead in Christ. We boast in what he has done on our behalf. We understand that his righteousness is the basis of our standing before God, and we receive that not through anything that we have done, but simply by receiving him by faith, by believing in him, by trusting in him.
That's not a meritorious work. That's a gift from God. And one more in Romans chapter 3 verses 19 and 20. Romans chapter 3 verses 19 and 20. We're making the point that the moral law is not what we use to earn salvation.
It's not how we get our justification in the presence of God. Romans chapter 3 verses 19 and 20. Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God, because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. For those of you that think you're good enough, for those of you that have a proud estimation of your moral excellence, this passage and the teaching of scripture comes to you and puts its finger on your lips and says, Shh, don't talk that way. The law is designed to quiet you in your boasting about your moral goodness. It's meant to take that away from you because it exposes your sin. It convicts you of guilt. It shows you that you are not worthy of the presence of God in your own righteousness.
And as a result of that, it brings a holy hush on us all so that we're not boasting about our goodness in the presence of God. And because that is the case, we understand that the moral law is not used to earn our justification. We do not obey it in order to earn forgiveness. We don't obey it.
Watch this. We don't earn it to keep God's favor. Christ has obtained the favor of God for us through his person and work. God is favorably disposed to his people because he is favorably disposed to his Son. And if we are in Christ, God is favorably disposed to us on the basis of Christ, not on the basis of our own righteousness.
And this is so important because it teaches us, and I belabor the point, I know, and I don't apologize for it. The law comes to show you your unworthiness. Christ comes to deliver you from your unworthiness and clothe you in his robes of righteousness. And on that basis, on the basis of Christ, we boast in him and not in ourselves so that we do not claim goodness in our own being. We realize that if there is anything good about us, if there is anything righteous about us, it is something external to us that we have been given as a gift. And so the moral law is not for justification.
Now, secondly, this is a wonderful aspect of it. Secondly, you need to understand this about the moral law. The moral law does not threaten to punish true Christians. The moral law does not threaten to punish true Christians. This is really important to understand, and for those of you that have grown up in legalistic homes, you know, you've always been threatened by the law of God if you disobey your parents or whatever, and you've just had that weight laid upon you. I understand that's really hard to get your mind around and to be relieved from the terrible burden of those kinds of illegitimate threats for those who are in Christ.
Understand this, my Christian brother, my Christian sister. We do not obey the moral law out of fear that we will be punished if we fall short. We are not afraid of the punishment of God any longer as true Christians.
And you must understand this. This is central to what it means to be a believer. The whole point of Christ being on the cross was that he was there as our substitute. The whole point was that he bore our sins.
He bore the wrath of God against our sins in his body on the cross. He did that so that we wouldn't have to bear that punishment ourselves. We could not bear that punishment ourselves. It would destroy us. It would ruin us.
We could never recover from it. And so the whole reason that Christ came for your soul, my beloved Christian friend, was in love. He wanted to deliver you from that punishment and deliver you from fear of that punishment. Let me show you a few scriptures. You're in Romans. Let's go to Romans chapter 8. We're speaking now to those who are in Christ, true believers. This is what Christ has accomplished for you. Romans chapter 8 verse 1. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation, no punishment. Christ bore that on our behalf. We're set free.
We're not afraid of the judgment of God because we understand based on the testimony of scripture that Christ took that punishment for us. He suffered it in our place. It was a penal substitutionary atonement that he made for us. Verse 29, those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren. And these whom he predestined, he also called. And these whom he called, he also justified. And these whom he justified, he also glorified. If you have been justified in Christ, you will be glorified in Christ.
No one drops out. There is no break in that golden link of salvation, that golden chain of those things, called, justified, glorified. Verse 31, what then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own son but delivered him over for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? If God is the one who justifies, who is the one who condemns?
And on it goes. So that he says in verse 38, I'm convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Because of what Christ has done, we do not fear the eternal punishment of God any longer because Christ has delivered us from that.
He endured it on our behalf. Look at Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3.
In fact, you can see both of these points in this quick passage. The moral law is not for justification. The moral law does not threaten to punish Christians.
Verse 11. Now that no one is justified by the law before God is evident, for the righteous man shall live by faith. However, the law is not of faith.
On the contrary, who practices them shall live by them. In other words, if you want to try to attain righteousness by obeying the law, that's what you're left with and you're going to fail. But verse 13, for those of us in Christ, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. The law of God condemns us, brings a curse upon us, and Christ redeems us from that curse by the work that he has done on our behalf at the cross. And as a result of that, we do not fear the judgment of God. Look at Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14. Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death he might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. The fear of death, the fear of punishment waiting for us when we come to death, that's all been removed from us in Christ. This is how great his love, how great his sacrifice on our behalf was, so that the Apostle John could say this in chapter 4, verse 17.
You don't need to turn there. 1 John 4, 17. By this, love is perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves punishment and the one who fears is not perfected in love.
Do you see it? The moral law does not come to us to threaten us with punishment. The punishment has been paid. There's no fear in anticipating standing before God and being ultimately cast into hell if you are in Christ. All of that's been taken away. This is blessedly liberating news for those who grew up in a legalistic environment, who had rule upon rule upon rule laid upon them, most of which in some places can't be found anywhere in Scripture. What a blessed liberation it is to be set free from that and to realize that the purpose of Scripture is to point us to Christ, who loves us and has saved us and keeps us. That's blessed. That's blessed truth. Christ paid the penalty at the cross. The law does not threaten us. If you are in Christ, you have objective peace with God.
He is satisfied with his Son. And if you are in his Son, he is satisfied with you for the sake of Christ. Now, with those things said, there's a third use of the law that we need to understand and was the subject matter of our study. The moral law is not for our justification. The moral law does not threaten to punish us if we disobey in Christ.
However, the moral law, number three, the moral law is the Christian's rule of life. It does instruct us on how we are to live. It instructs us on the holiness of God. It instructs us on what pleases him. It brings promises to us of his blessing, and it threatens us, and it shows us his displeasure through its threatenings. The moral law teaches us the proper way to love God and to love men. It teaches us the will of God. It exposes sin in our lives. Thus, it humbles us and teaches us our need for Christ.
And so the New Testament uses the moral law to instruct us in those ways. Think about it this way. Here I am now. I am in Christ now.
How shall I live? The moral law lays that before you in multifaceted splendor. So we see why is it difficult to understand the law? Well, there's the definition of law. There's the types of law, the three types of law.
The use of the moral law makes it difficult. There's one more. I nearly didn't include this one.
I'm really glad I did. The fourth one is the most personal and in some ways the most difficult to come to grips with. You know what makes it difficult to study the law of God? Point number four, it's the sinfulness of our own hearts. It's the sinfulness of our own hearts.
The writer of Hebrews, speaking on a different issue, said this. He said, it's hard for you to understand what I'm writing. It's hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing. You're dull of hearing. And I'm not going to expound this in detail here.
I just want to lay out what the challenge for you is going to be going forward. You see, my friend, and I'm in this same sad boat as you, your heart is not naturally receptive to the law of God. There are still remnants of sin which resist the law of God.
God has written it on your heart, but there's a conflict between the flesh and the spirit, and there are still remnants of our flesh that are resistant to these things. Let's look at it from the perspective of an unsaved man to simplify the point. You know what's true of sinners?
You know what's true of unregenerate men? They love the world more than they love Christ, so the law is not appealing to them. Sinners love their sin more than they love obedience, and so the law is a threat to them.
They don't want to come to the light because they don't want to give up their sin. Sinners do not want anyone to tell them what to do. They want to be their own boss. That's why children rebel against their parents, why workers rebel against authority, why people resist legitimate government authority as expressed in legitimate police actions. People are rebels. Sinners rebel. They do not want anyone to tell them to do. The Jews said, we will not have this man reign over us.
That's a problem. When God comes in his law and says, this you shall do and this you shall not do, there is a natural rebellion against it. Sinners, when it comes to spiritual teaching, want their ears tickled far more than they want to be truly instructed out of Scripture.
And you know what else? Sinners are often just downright lazy. That was the condition of all of us before God saved us. And when he saved us, he gave us a perfect standing, but the new life in Christ has not yet made us perfect.
And there's a hangover. There are remnants of that kind of sin in us that we have to overcome, that we have to subdue, that we have to ask for the help of the Holy Spirit to overcome and to put away so that we're in a position to receive the word of God about his moral law with obedience and receptivity. Because, my friends, if you have allowed those kinds of sins to grow up in your Christian life, if those kinds of weeds have taken root, let me tell you, the word of God is not going to take root in you in that kind of rocky soil. Unspiritual men will not understand the spiritual law.
Pride and rebellion will quench the word. And so our study of the Ten Commandments, there's a potential throttle on it based on the condition of your own heart. Our study of the Ten Commandments requires us to come in a spirit of repentance, a spirit of teachability, of receptivity, of a tender heart, of the prayer of the psalmist in Psalm 119. Lord, give me understanding that I may know thy testimonies.
Give me understanding that I may keep your law. There's a condition of the heart that is exposed as we come to this, and this lays its umbrella over all of us. This is the surgical scalpel of the word of God coming and exposing what's in our hearts as we see these things.
And so what are we to do? We'll turn to the book of James, and with this I'll close. We need to take honest stock of our spiritual lives. We need to humble ourselves before a holy God and his holy word and then rely on his promises to help us. His spirit indwells us in order to help us. James 4, verse 6. But he gives a greater grace.
Therefore, it says, God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. Submit, therefore, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep.
Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord and he will exalt you. Beloved, look at that last verse again as we approach these things. The law of God is going to humble us. It humbles our intellect by showing us there's so much that we don't understand. And it humbles us in our souls by realizing that even now our obedience is imperfect.
It's flawed. It humbles us even more by recognizing how much we were dependent upon Christ to save us and how he gets all of the glory and we get none of it. And so we humble ourselves in light of all of these things. And yet we look at the promise in verse 6 that God gives grace to the humble. So it's all laid out here before us, my friends.
It's all laid out before us. There is a promise of the blessing of God as we embark on this study. There's a promise of the blessing of God if we will simply humble ourselves in his presence before his word. The ones who will do that will be greatly blessed by the Spirit of God in their lives. The ones who don't, those of you who are resistant inside even if you're outwardly compliant, it says God's opposed to you.
The God of Heaven's opposed to the proud. But he gives grace to the humble. So my prayer as we set off from shore, set off on this journey is this, is that the Lord would help us turn to Christ as we come under the authority of his matchless word. And with that, Don Green brings our series called God's Forgotten Law to a powerful close. We're glad you were with us today and for the entire series, and we hope you've been blessed and encouraged in your walk with God. If you'd like to listen again or maybe like to share more about this ministry with a friend or loved one, go ahead and click on TheTruthPulpit.com.
That's TheTruthPulpit.com. Well, Don, the magnitude of what Christ accomplished on Calvary's cross is impossible to fully comprehend, isn't it? In fact, he quite literally turned the definition of the term freedom on its head. Well, my friend, Jesus Christ has set his people free from so much. In Christ, you are free from condemnation. In Christ, you are free from the domination of the devil. And in Christ, you are free to love God with a sincere heart. Those are wonderful spiritual blessings that the Lord has attained for us at the cross of Calvary. I trust that you know him, and if you have any doubts about the state of your soul, turn to God's Word. Read through the Gospel of John and ask Christ to make himself known to you through the pages of his written Word. Thanks, Don. And friend, join us next time as Don Green continues teaching God's people God's Word here on The Truth Pulpit.
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