God’s Intention For ‘The Law’

Transcript

GR 1252
10/5/2003
God's Intention for the Law
1 Timothy 1:8-11
Gil Rugh

Turn in your Bibles to the book of 1 Timothy, Paul's first letter to Timothy. When we think of God we think of His great love and it is an overwhelming love, a love that knows no measure, a love that goes beyond description, a love that would endure for eternity. There's another dimension or aspect of God's character that needs strong emphasis as well and that is His holiness. Remember in Isaiah 6 when Isaiah was given that great vision of the throne room of heaven and the courts of heaven before the throne of God. The seraphim were declaring and crying, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty." It is to be expected that the God who is holy, when He calls a people to Himself to become partakers of His own nature, will themselves become holy and a reflection of His work in their lives to produce His character.

When Peter wrote his first letter in chapter 1 he encouraged the people, the believers he was writing to, "You shall be holy for I am holy,” says the Lord. He's quoting from the book of Leviticus. Because whether it was God's people Israel in the Old Testament or God's people the church in the present day, God's demand and requirement is that God's people be holy as He is holy. That is possible because of the great work of redemption that He has done in our lives.

From the beginning of the church, God emphasized very strongly that the church is to be a reflection of His holiness. Leave a marker in 1 Timothy and come back to the book of Acts with me if you would. We are going to be looking at a number of passages this morning, perhaps moving around a little more than normal. In Acts 5 we are in the early period of the church's history. The church began in Acts 2 and now in Acts 5 we have an event that occurs that emphasizes very dramatically the importance of holiness among God's people. It's the account of the discipline by death of Ananias and his wife,
Sapphira. The end of chapter 4 of Acts Barnabas has sold a piece of land and brought the money and given it to the church while Ananias and Sapphira saw something of the respect and honor given to Barnabas for such an act of sacrifice. So they had some property they sold and they brought and gave the money to the church but they held back some of it for themselves. Now it’s clearly emphasized here it was their land. They didn't have to sell it and give the money to the church. The sin in what they did was they sold it, then they acted like they were giving all the proceeds to the church. But they were really keeping some for themselves What they want is the glory and honor that would come from giving it all.

Peter addressed Ananias, "Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?" At the end of verse 4, "You have not lied to men, but to God. And immediately Ananias falls down at the feet of Peter dead. Shortly his wife comes in and she tells the same story as her husband and concurs with the story her husband has told. In verse 9 Peter says to her, "Why is that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test?" You note they haven't sinned against the church. They haven't lied to the church.

They have lied to God. They have put the Spirit of the Lord to the test. And immediately she drops dead and great fear comes on everyone.
What does God declare? "You shall be holy for I am holy." And he not only expects but he requires His church to manifest the holiness of His character. Verse 11 tells us, "Great fear fell over the whole church and over all who heard these things.” And verse 13 tells us, "And none of the rest dared to associate with them.” Now that is a reverse growth process. You know what happened? Not only were believers in awe that this happened, but word spread throughout the city and you know what that meant. Unbelievers said, “We're not going there, we're not going there.” That didn't keep the church from growing. Look at the next verse, "And all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number.” You note the distinction. It was not God's intention to fill the Church with ungenerate people who had no fear of Him, no concern for His holiness. So the fact that some people thought that's not a church I would go to does not keep God from doing His work. Because when the Spirit does a work in the heart and it’s transformed, then people desire to come worship God in the beauty of His holiness.

So at the very beginning of the church's life, God has given by a dramatic incident an emphasis on the importance of holiness.
Turn over to the book of Revelation 2. Some 50 years or so after that event in Acts chapter 5 Jesus addressed a letter to a church in Thyatira. Thyatira was a city in Asia Minor where Ephesus is also located. We will talk about Ephesus in a moment where Timothy was when Paul wrote the letter of 1 Timothy to him. And in Revelation 2 Jesus addresses the church in Thyatira and in verse 19 He says, "I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first." Here's a church that's doing well in many ways. A church characterized by love, faith, service, perseverance, and you know what? They are becoming more diligent with the passing of time. "Your works of late are greater than the first.” They are not easing off in their service for the Lord and work for Him, but it's increasing.

Then you read verse 20, "But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel." She's a false prophetess, teaching and leading the servants of Christ away. You note that word tolerate. It was a serious sin in the church of Thyatira that was an offense to Jesus Christ. They tolerated a false teacher. The result was the influence of this teacher and her teaching was luring some of the believers away from faithfulness to Christ. So Christ speaks severely of coming judgment upon this prophetess and discipline upon the church if it's not dealt with. Now in-between these two accounts - the account of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 and this one letter to Thyatira - would be the end of the recorded early history of the church because with the book of Revelation, the written revelation from heaven comes to a conclusion And this fifty-or-so period of years between these two events, there are other letters that comprise our New Testament written. And we are reminded that it is an ongoing battle and struggle to maintain the purity and the holy character, holy character of the church and the people of God.

Back up just before the book of Revelation to the book of Jude, just before Revelation. And Jude wrote a letter to believers. He's writing “to those who are the called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Christ Jesus." Then he says in the middle of verse 3, "I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints." That's referring to the truth of God that's been passed on. Paul would tell Timothy that the truth he passed on to Timothy is to be passed on to faithful men who will teach others also. But Jude’s concern is that believers be contending earnestly for this truth. Why? "For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation." These are ungodly, unregenerate people. "Ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ." Amazing at this early stage of the church's history, some have professed faith in Christ and infiltrated the church. And now by their teaching and their lifestyle are undermining, attempting to dilute the truth of God and they are turning grace into licentiousness.
We will be talking about the law in a little bit. There are two opposite extremes.

There are those called the Judaizers that want to impose the Law upon the Church because that will help keep the church on track. There are those who teach that grace means you have no restraints or restrictions imposed upon you. You are free to do as you please. Both are a perversion that come from false teachers. Here Jude addresses the false teachers who would turn grace into licentiousness. I am free to do as I please because I am without restraint. We ought to note that they crept in unnoticed. Somehow they just made their way into the body, they began to teach and nobody really noticed that these were ungodly people. a few pages through the epistles of John to 2 Peter 2. Second Peter 2:1. This is Peter's last letter written in the shadow of his imminent death as he said in chapter 1. And look at chapter 2, verse 1, "But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies.” They “will secretly introduce destructive heresies” from within, from inside the church. "Even denying the Master who bought." Their teaching will go so far even to deny the person and work of Jesus Christ. We say, well, nobody will listen. Well, look at verse 2, "Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned." Two things happen: many are deceived and deluded by these false teachers and as a result of their corrupting the truth, the genuine presentation of the Gospel is maligned and spoken against. "In their greed they will exploit you with false words." He's writing to believers. He's writing to those, according to how he opens the letter, "those who have received the faith of the same kind as ours." Then he says, “they will exploit you with false words.” Repeated warnings of the danger to the church, that it's holiness and purity of devotion to Christ will be compromised. We must be careful.

One other passage before we come to 1 Timothy. Acts 20. As you are aware, Acts 20 bears directly on the situation in Ephesus. Timothy is at Ephesus to deal with false teachers and the impact of that false teaching on the Church. Many years, or a number of years at least, before Paul wrote the first letter to Timothy he had a personal meeting with the elders from the church at Ephesus and that's recorded in Acts 20. And in Acts 20, verse 26, "Therefore I testify to you this day, that I am innocent of the blood of all men.” I am free from any guilt of responsibility for what happens in the church at Ephesus. Why? "For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God." Verse 31, he says he spent three years, day and night, at Ephesus teaching them the whole counsel of God. He said I am free from guilt and responsibility. If you do not function as God says you must, it is your responsibility, not mine.

He goes on. "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood." This is a precious entity, the church. It was purchased with the tremendous cost of the death of the Son of God.
"I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be on the alert." Note what he says in verse 30,
"From among your own selves men will arise." Who's he talking to? He's talking to the elders from the church at Ephesus. I believe what Paul says here has come about as he writes to 1 Timothy. Not only in the church but even among the elders who lead the church at Ephesus false teachers had arisen. Men who had come to be placed in the position of elders in the church and now are corrupting the truth of God.

"Be on the alert." The sad testimony is they did not take this seriously. It's like you tell your children something and they are listening. “I know.” “OK.” And they didn't take it seriously enough and they get in trouble. When Paul writes 1 Timothy the church is in trouble. You know why? From among their own selves men have arisen. This is probably why Paul spent so much time talking about the character and conduct of elders and what it is required of a man to be an elder in that first letter to Timothy. You lower the standard, you begin to tolerate certain things in the church as the church at Thyatira did and soon it becomes very difficult to stem the drift, the influence, stop the corruption, stop the spread of the gangrene of false doctrine and ungodly living.

Come back to 1 Timothy. In verse 32 of Acts 20 Paul had said, "I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up.” Do what I have done. Stay faithful to the truth. I've taught you the whole counsel of God. “Now I commend you to the word of His grace that's able to build you up." But yet in the opening of the letter to Timothy in verse 3 Paul has to say, "I urged you upon my departure from Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct” - or command, charge - “certain men not to teach strange doctrine." “Strange” is “another kind,” different doctrines, different teachings, those teachings that are different than what I taught you. Those teachings that are different than the word of His grace. Those teachings that are different than the whole counsel of God that I unfolded to you. What they present as great, added insight and additions are nothing but corruptions.

You are not to allow these men to teach and you are to instruct the believers at Ephesus not to listen to such garbage. Verse 4, "nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies." Why would I tell you this? The goal of this kind of instruction is love, verse 5. It comes out of a transformed life, cleansed heart, a good conscience, unhypocritical faith. When you don't do this, when you turn aside to other things, you only end up with empty talk. Nothing is accomplished. You are mired down in futility.
These teachers wanted to be teachers of the Law, verse 7, "wanting to be teachers of the Law.” The trouble is they don't have any idea what they're talking about. They make confident assertions. Oh, they speak as though they really know what they are talking about but they are speaking in ignorance. The problem here are individuals who want to be teachers of the Mosaic Law, none of these teachers want to bring the Mosaic Law into the church and wed the message of Moses in an improper way to the message of Christ. So salvation and sanctification involves faith in Christ and adherence to the Law. So Paul takes a digression in verses 8 to 11 to just give a simple clarification of how these teachers don't know what they are talking about. He just selects one area, so verses 8 to 11 talk about how the Law was to be used.

"But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully." Now Paul doesn't go into an instruction here so say that the church ought to be used of the Law. He doesn't say that. He talks about how the Law was intended and what the purpose of the Law is and was. When it's all said and done we'll find out it won't be the church at all. Now Paul doesn't go into an elaboration here. He just picks out one point. The Law is good. Don't misunderstand, I'm not attacking the Scripture, I'm not saying there's something wrong with the Law. The Law is good. It has to be. The Law is a revelation of God's character and God's will. It's part of inspired Scripture and all Scripture is God-breathed and profitable. Paul addressed this same issue in Romans 7 and several times in Romans 7 he makes this statement, the Law is good. There's nothing wrong with the Law itself. It's the misuse of the Law that is a problem. The Law is good but you must use it lawfully.

In other words, you must use it the way it was intended to be used.

I want to expand and go to some other scriptures with you as a little bit of review because Paul has explained important things about the Law in other parts of our New Testament and I want you to have this as your background. I'm sure Paul explained this when he was three years at Ephesus. There's misunderstanding regarding the Law. I'm impressed by this with a number of commentaries that I read in connection with the study of 1 Timothy here. And a number of them are trying to take this and twist it to show how the church has to use the Law today. In fact some of them make the statement that people cannot be saved if they are not first taught the Law, the Mosaic Law. It seems to me that it's by some convoluted reasoning we have come around to be guilty of the very thing that Paul is correcting.
Now let me just give you several points that you must know about the Law and that will lead us to the point that Paul deals with here in 1 Timothy 1. The number one thing you must know about the Law and this is the most important of all: if can categorize them. The Law was given to govern the life and conduct of the nation Israel. The Law was given to govern the life and conduct of the nation Israel. The Law was never given to the Gentiles. It was given to the Jews. In Exodus 19:6 where God is giving the Law to
Moses and the subsequent chapters will be an unfolding of the details of the Law given to Moses on Mount Sinai. God says to Moses, "These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.” He did not say these are the words you shall speak to the world. “These are the words you shall speak to the sons of Israel.”
Let me select a specific example, the Sabbath day, one of the Ten Commandments. “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” Many Christians are confused on this.
They think Sunday is the Christian Sabbath and we need to keep Sunday because the Ten Commandments tells us to “remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” You understand “Sabbath” is “seventh.” This is “first.” You know what happened to a Jew who didn't keep the seventh day but decided to keep the first day? Remember the man who picked up sticks on the Sabbath? He couldn't say, well, I'll observe Sunday. He got stoned to death. Sunday is not the Christian Sabbath.

In Exodus 31 listen to what God say to Moses regarding the Sabbath day. This is verses 16 and 17 of Exodus 31, "So the sons of Israel shall observe the Sabbath, to celebrate the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel." The Sabbath day was a sign of God's covenant relationship with Israel. Particularly the Mosaic Covenant which instituted the Sabbath for them. Ezekiel, the prophet, writing hundreds of years after Moses. Moses would have written that around 1400 years before Christ. Ezekiel would be roughly about 500 years before Christ. So 900 years in Israel's history goes by and Ezekiel writes in Ezekiel 20, verses 10 to 12, God speaking, “So I took them” - Israel - “out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. I gave them my statutes, informed them of my ordinances. . . I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them.” So the Law was not given to the world. The Mosaic Law was not given to any of the Gentiles. The Mosaic Law was given to govern the life and conduct of one specific nation, the nation Israel.

Paul deals with this Romans. Go to Romans 2. Romans 2. He's drawing a contrast between the Jews who have the Mosaic Law and the Gentiles who do not have the Mosaic Law. Something he'll talk about in Romans 10 where he says the advantage the Jews have, is to them is given the covenants and the Law, not to Gentiles. In Romans 2 look at verse 14, "For when the Gentiles who do not have the Law." Because the Law wasn't given to the Gentiles. So “when the Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves."

In that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience, bearing witness in their thoughts, ultimately accusing or else defending them. We talked about the conscience in the early verses of 1 Timothy, a good conscience. Here he says the Gentiles don't have the Mosaic Law but they often do the things that the Mosaic Law demanded of Israel. Why? Now remember we talked about that we were made in the image of God. When God created Adam and Eve He made them in the image of God. And something of the moral character of God is stamped on our conscience. And so even people never exposed not only to the Mosaic Law but any of Scripture, we find out what? They have a standard of right and wrong, good and evil. One universal trait they find in all people, whoever they found, there was laws against incest. Where did that come from? Well, God has stamped His nature on those created in His image and even though sin has corrupted and marred that conscience, it still functions to one degree or another.
So everybody recognizes there's right and wrong. Even today when we want to remove all boundaries - personal freedom rules - there's something that everyone knows is wrong. But you know, we keep trying to stretch those boundaries.

But the Gentiles do instinctively because they have written on their hearts. And so you have people that never walked through a door of a church, never open a Bible, say that was wrong, that ought to be punished. They're right but why? How do they know that? They say everybody knows that. And they're right there. Everybody does. How does everybody know that? They can't tell you. But they know that any thinking person would agree. Now, again, I have a conscience and it's not absolute because the conscience gets corrupted. And people agree to things but even when they are agreeing they often know they are wrong. They have a guilty conscience in it. They keep doing it and doing it and doing it. Because if I do it enough, pretty soon my conscience won't speak so loudly and making me feel guilty. Paul's point here, that it's not being possessor of the Law that brings righteousness to a person, it's a person who has his life transformed and thus lives according as God would appoint. What we want to know is that the Gentiles didn't have the Law.

Go over to the book of Galatians. And you may want to leave a marker in Galatians because if we leave here, we may come back. The whole book of Galatians was to deal with the issue of the Law and the believer. You know these false teachers that infiltrated among believers in the early days of the church could be convincing. Because the Judaizers, they were Jews who now professed to become followers of Christ. You have the church made up of Jew and Gentile who have been made one in the Body of Christ. Now you have Jews who come in who haven't genuinely been converted but they profess to be followers of Christ. And they obviously have a thorough knowledge of the Old Testament that these Gentiles who come from know Old Testament background have. So now you have these false teachers coming and they are going to enlighten the church on the real meaning of the Law and how the Law plays a vital part in our lives. And we can't be what God wants us to be apart from the Law. And they are able to speak convincingly and use the Law in such ways that it makes sense. And pretty soon the church is being corrupted by a mixture of grace and law.

In Galatians 3 we are told that not only was the Law given to the nation Israel, it was given to the nation Israel for a set duration of time. Look in Galatians 3:19. "Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions." And we will pick this up as a separate point in a little bit. But remember that. It was added because of transgressions. "Having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator." Now note this, "Until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made." The Law was given until the coming of the Messiah. God entered covenant with Abraham about 2000 years before Christ. Six hundred years later around 1400 B.C. He gives the Mosaic Law through Moses. The Law was added a long time after God entered into covenant relationship with Abraham and his descendants. So the Law was added later and it would only be in force “until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made,” referring to the Messiah. Verse 24, "Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ." You note "to lead us" is in italics to try to make the English read a little better. The Law has become our tutor to Christ, our schoolmaster, our overseer to Christ. The Law was given to keep Israel on track until the Messiah came. With the coming of the Messiah the Mosaic Law had fulfilled its purpose. It was no longer in force for the nation Israel either. So the Law was never given to anyone but the Jews and it was only given to the Jews to govern their conduct and their life for a specific period of time, the time from Moses until the Messiah came.

I want to mention something here in verse 24. And I can't tell you the number of commentators that misuse this verse. "The Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ." They say this is the valid use of the Law. If you don't preach the Law, people can't come to Christ. Because that's what the Law does, it brings people to Christ so first you preach the Law. In fact, I read a couple of commentaries usually from a Reformed perspective, Covenant theologian, who say you can't preach the gospel if you don't preach the Law, referring to the Mosaic Law. That's a misunderstanding of the context. Verse 19 told us the Law was added, it was a later addition. They had the Abrahamic Covenant until the seed would come. It had a specific time limit. So the Law acted as a schoolmaster, an overseer, something to govern the conduct of Israel and keep them on track until the Messiah would come. Like you might do, not so much today, I guess kids don't walk as far to school. But you know, you want your child to be able to safely walk perhaps. You tell them, now, I don't want you going down that road. You know, there's a ball field over there. I don't want you getting off the sidewalk and going to the ball field. I don't want you crossing the street except at this point. Would add laws to keep them on the track so they would arrive at the appointed destination.

Now in saying this I'm not saying, well, then we write off the Law. You know Reformed theologians say Dispensationalists, of which I am one, are antinomian. The Greek word for “law” is “nomos,” law, antinomas, antinomian, “against law.” So they say, oh, those who don't believe we are under the Mosaic Law are antinomian. They believe we live without laws, without regulation. We can do whatever we want. I can't believe it but they keep emphasizing that, repeating that. No, we are not under the Mosaic Law.

It's common today to divide the Mosaic Law into three parts: the moral law, the civil law and the ceremonial law or the moral, civil and ceremonial aspects of the Law. I don't have any problem with seeing those kinds of emphases in the Law but you have to understand the Jews never made such distinctions in the Mosaic Law. For them the Law was the Law was the Law. James wrote under the inspiration of the Spirit. If anyone breaks one area or one point of the Law, he is guilty of breaking the whole Law. You cannot divide the Law up as far as what you must obey and not obey. You obey it all or you are guilty of all. There is no breaking the Law. I say this because people say we are not under the civil law which governs the political life of Israel or the ceremonial law which governs things like animal sacrifices. But we are under the moral law.

We are not under the Mosaic Law at all, in any way. The Law has served its purpose, the Mosaic Law. Well, they say you are just going to tear that out of your Bible, huh? No. Nobody that I know of is offering sacrifices today. Well, of course we are not under the ceremonial law. Oh, so you just take that out of your Bible? So all those passages on animal sacrifices have no relevance, no purpose, nothing to teach us? There are not part of what Paul wrote to the Romans in chapter 15 to tell us that what was written in the Old Testament was for our instruction? Not part of what he's going to write to Timothy when he says all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable? Of course it is. I get up and preach to you a sermon on the sacrifices of the Old Testament. I could preach a whole series on the sacrifices. I could preach a series and we could . . . we talk about the different sacrifices and their purposes. Oh, I thought we aren't under the ceremonial aspect of the Law. No, we're not, but that doesn't mean there aren't things we can learn from it. We learn with the animal sacrifices. For example the sin offering. What? There is a penalty for sin. We are under the judgment of a righteous God. We need a substitute, someone or something to take our place, to bear our penalty, to die on our behalf. Of course there are things that the Law teaches us in all aspects and all parts. But I understand that teaches me that I need a Savior. I need the Lamb of God because the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin.

We when we are not under the moral aspect of the Mosaic Law any more than the ceremonial aspect of the Mosaic Law, I'm not saying there are not things to learn from the Mosaic Law. It is a revelation of God's character, of His will. But we do not live under the Mosaic Law and none of us do. This idea, well, we are under the Mosaic Law under this point. That's why we've gotten into the paradox and worse of calling Sunday the Sabbath because we want to keep all Ten Commandments. And we have to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Sunday has become the Sabbath. Says who? Then you have the Seventh Day Adventists and some of that kind who put us in a box because they can show we are not honoring the Sabbath. If we say we keep the Ten Commandments, we don't keep one of the most important ones. So we are guilty before God. And they're right if the Mosaic Law is in force. The problem is they are wrong because the Mosaic Law is not in force. Long introduction.

The most important thing for you to know about the Mosaic Law is it was given to Israel and Israel only. It had a set duration until the Messiah came. Number two, the Law could never save a person. No one was ever saved through the Mosaic Law. It was never intended to be a means of salvation. If you are still in Galations, look at chapter 2, verse 15. Paul contrasts the Jews and the Gentiles again. "We are Jews by nature, not sinners from among the Gentiles." “Jews by nature.” The Jews saw themselves as clean, the Gentiles as unclean. That's why they didn't eat with Gentiles. "Nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we Jews” - who are not sinners like the Gentiles - "even we Jews have believed in Christ Jesus so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the Law." Note this last statement, "Since by the works of the Law, no flesh will be justified." No Jew. No Gentile. So even though the Jews had the Law, and it was a great revelation from God and a great honor and blessing - that Law given to govern their life and their conduct - you understand, no Jews were ever saved by keeping the Law.
Look in chapter 3, verse 11, "Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident for, ‘The righteous man shall live by faith,’” and that's a quote from the book of Habakkuk in the Old Testament. In fact in verse 21 of chapter 2 Paul says, "I do not nullify the grace of God for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly." Isn't it a tragedy today that there are many people that think they are going to heaven because they keep the Law. You'll ask good, righteous people and you say, do you know if you die tonight, you'll go to heaven? They say, yes I do. Well, if you did die tonight and you were standing before God and He said why should I let you into heaven. Well, I try to keep the Ten Commandments. You try to keep the Ten Commandments? You know what the Ten Commandments are? They are a summary of the Mosaic Law. Go back and read Exodus 19. You understand that if you could be saved by keeping the Law, the Ten Commandments, Christ died needlessly? God made the greatest mistake ever made in time or eternity. He had His own Son die and it wasn't necessary, there was no point to it, there was no need for it. Of course, that's not a possibility.

How sad! People think they are going to go to heaven because they try to keep the Ten Commandments. And if you can't be saved by doing the works required by the Mosaic Law, you can forget all the other works you might try to do. Because the best works you could try to do would be the works God revealed from heaven, He demanded. And nobody can get to heaven by doing them. How are you going to get to heaven by doing the ones you've made up or your church has made up?

So no one is ever saved by the Mosaic Law. No one ever was saved by the Mosaic Law. The sad point. My first point was the Law was intended for Israel alone. Second was it never was a way of salvation. Third, the Law is not a means of sanctification. You're in chapter 3 of Galatians, look at verse 2. “The only thing I want to find out from you is this: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of faith?" He's writing to those who are believers, maybe some unbelievers mixed in, but generally, they are believers in Galatia. He led them to the Lord. How did you get the Holy Spirit? By keeping the Law? No, you received the Holy Spirit when you believed in Jesus Christ. "Are you so stupid? Having begun by the Spirit are you now being perfected by the flesh?" What makes you think that God cleansed you from your sin, gave you His Spirit by faith and now you are going to be sanctified, you are going to grow and become more the person He wants you to be, by keeping the Law? You understand your initial salvation is by faith, your ongoing salvation, sanctification, is by faith. “The righteous man shall live by faith.” That is not only his initial salvation, that is the whole package of salvation: justification, sanctification, glorification. The life of God comes by faith.

Now stop and think here. Salvation is not by keeping the Mosaic Law. Sanctification is not by keeping the Mosaic Law, not necessary for sanctification. Just why are teachers finding a hearing in the church? Because they want to elaborate on the importance of the Mosaic Law for the church? Well, how do believers get confused about things there is no reason for them to be confused? You know why? We don't know the Word of God well enough to know that the Word of God is being corrupted. It's being misused. It's being distorted. So we have to be very careful.

Point four: the Law reveals sin. Romans 3:20 says that "through the Law comes the knowledge of sin." Romans 5:13 and 20 and Romans 7:7 say basically the same thing. The Law does reveal sin. Here God spoke. These are things that He approves. These are things that He disapproves. These are things He condemns as sin. We learn that. You say, therefore you are saying we are under the Law. No. I'm saying the entire Scripture is a revelation from God, it reveals His character, it reveals His will. I do not live under the authority of the Mosaic Law, as the Law over my life, but I learn from the Mosaic Law. Just as I used the example. I learn from the ceremonial parts of the Law. I learn from the animal sacrifices how necessary it is to have a substitute. I'm reminded as I see those sacrifices repeated again and again and again that the penalty for sin is death. I learn from those sacrifices that you cannot come before a holy and living God without an acceptable sacrifice. I learned that only the approved one can come into His presence.

So I learn and I see all that fulfilled in Christ. So, of course, I learn from the Mosaic Law. That's different than saying I live under its authority. If I lived under its authority, we'd have to be having animal sacrifices today. The problem is we couldn't do it here and then I couldn't do it because I'm not a Jew. And not all Jews could do it because you had to be of the right priestly line and so on. But, of course, we learn. And, of course, there are commandments given by God to the church. Cause we don't believe we aren't under the Mosaic Law doesn't mean we are antinomian. The Bible is full, the New Testament is full, of commands given to the church that we are required to do.

The Law does reveal sin. Lastly, and then we have to move on. We'll spend the next hour studying 1 Timothy. The Law is to restrain sin. In Galatians 3:19, “Why the Law then? It was added because of transgression.” Why, hundreds of years after He entered into covenant with Abraham and his descendants, did God give the Mosaic Law? To govern and restrain the conduct of Israel, to clearly define this sin, don't cross the line. That's why it was a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ.
This is the point that Paul picks up. And I just want to make a couple of observations back in 1 Timothy 1. This is the point that Paul makes. The Law does reveal and restrain sin, the last two points that we made. We learn from the Law. Of course we do. But you know Laws aren't intended for righteous people. So Paul goes on, "The Law is good if one uses it lawfully,” the way God intended it to be used. Realizing the fact the Law is not made for a righteous person. You don't make laws for good people. Listen to what Paul said in Galatians 5:22, 23. (Could have had you read it before we left.) “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” That's the fruit of the Spirit. Now listen to this, "Against such things there is no law." I mean, here's the beauty of the character of God shining forth. The Mosaic Law wasn't given to restrict that kind of conduct or behavior over a life. So the character of God is to be revealed in the people of God. There's no law against a righteous life.

We don't have laws today to restrict righteous people, do we? I mean we wouldn't have to have laws on the books regarding murder if people never murdered. In fact, our laws keep multiplying. Why? We keep trying to restrain and define, more finely and minutely, conduct. Common sense doesn't fit. It's just the Law, the Law, the Law, the Law. And now we are in the Mounties way trying to govern conduct by laws.

Everything that comes up. Why do we have speed limits out here? Not for people like me. I would never drive faster than conditions, that are safe for conditions. You think I go 50 mph in a school zone? Of course not, I'm a righteous person, but there are people who would. And you know what happens when I see someone going 50 in a school zone? If they go 50, I can go 50. You know what happens when I see someone going 80 on the interstate, I want to get on it.
So we need laws. So the law was made for unrighteous people. So the law is made for unrighteous people. So the Law served a purpose for Israel. I used to live in states on the east coast. When I lived there I lived under their laws. When I'm in Nebraska and I get stopped now I say, "Ah, in Pennsylvania we do this and in New Jersey we do that." You know what? You're not there now, you are governed by this.

So the Mosaic Law governed Israel's conduct. And it was intended to restrain unrighteousness in the nation. All laws are. That's true of the Mosaic Law but it's a general rule of law. There are laws to restrain the conduct of unrighteous people who would do the wrong things and the fear of the punishment law carries with it hopefully restrains their conduct. We see what happens in parts of the world where the rule of law breaks down. People get killed, people laying in the street, people going around killing each other. There's no laws, in reality. There may be laws on the book but no laws that are in force.

The Law is not intended for a righteous person. It's intended for the unrighteous. So why would you want to impose the Law on a believer. A believer is one who had his heart washed, with a good conscience and unhypocritical faith. He doesn't need the Law for his sanctification.

You have a list now of 13 things that are almost self-explanation. Thirteen specific sinful groups are mentioned. The first eight are in sets. If you are at verse 9, "For those who are lawless and rebellious, for those ungodly and sinners." You see two joined together closely. The last five are individual things: “and immoral man, and homosexuals and kidnappers.” So you have eight pairs and five individual items. Some commentaries, and a number of them do this, they have aligned these to the Ten Commandments. And Paul may well be addressing the very issues that these false teachers are doing in dealing with the Law. But showing that the Law was intended to deal with violators of the Ten Commandments. We don't have time to draw the parallels in the list. But one example at the end of verse 9 is for those who kill fathers and mothers. What's one of the Ten Commandments? Honor your father and mother. It's intended for those who don't honor them and would even dishonor them to the point of killing them for their inheritance or whatever.

These kinds of lists Paul has repeated, spread throughout his letters and they are not the same lists because they is trying to specify if you know these 14 sins, 14 things or 20 things or ten things, you'll have covered it. They give you a sample of the kind of conduct, the kind of behavior, the kind of character that is being taught. It is pretty well self-explanatory. You find out these are things that people do chaff against.

Immorality, Israel had a problem with morality. God had to specify and clarify His requirements for their moral conduct sexually. Sex outside of marriage was sinful. Homosexual relationships . . . sinful. The word homosxual is a compound word and sets a big discussion today. It's the word for “men” and the word for “bed,” “men being in bed together.” Romans 1 deals with that violation.

So these kinds of things are revealed to be contrary to the will of God. Even though we don't live under the Mosaic Law, we learn from what is revealed in the Mosaic Law something of the moral character of God and what is offensive to Him. And those things are also unfolded in the New Testament. And this is not complete because the end of verse 10 says whatever else is contrary to sound teaching. Sound teaching - the word "sound" we get the word hygiene, hygienic from it. When I was in school you had hygiene class and you had to do, learn what you had to do for good health. The word means “healthy.” In contrast to something that’s sickly or diseased. Anything contrary to healthy teaching, the teaching that is necessary to develop health in the body because it is good teaching itself.

"According to the glorious gospel of a blessed God with which I have been entrusted.” You'll note the things of verses 9 and 10 which have to do with conduct, things are contrary to healthy teaching. You don't talk about . . And over the years I've it many times. You know I wish our teaching less doctrinal and more practical. I never know what to make of that. You know, practical self-help teaching has become the rage.

People go to church and they are told six ways to be more successful in your job, four ways to have a happy, healthy marriage, 1347 points on raising teenagers. You know, some things are more difficult than others. For the Bible is what? Healthy teaching and these things are contrary to healthy teaching. Because healthy teaching, sound doctrine, works in a life because, 2 Corinthians 3:18, "we are beholding in the mirror of the Word, the glory of the Lord." We are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. " So they are inseparable. The Bible knows no such difference.

And so Paul said, you know, I have fulfilled my responsibility. I am clean from the blood of all men. I've taught you the whole counsel of God. You cannot make me do what God says. He cannot make me submit to the truth that he has taught. But that is to be what will happen in the Word when one responds by the work of the Spirit.
Verse 11, "According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted." The things he has said in verse 8 and ten are in line with the gospel that he preaches. They accord with the gospel. One point to note - the glorious gospel - that would be better . . . Greek - sometimes, you know, you have a struggle because their word order is different than English but I think the word order is better, "According to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God.” It's the gospel that brings glory to the blessed God. It's a message of His holiness. It's a message of His love and mercy and grace. So these are the things that are in accord to the gospel that brings glory to God and that's the gospel for which I've been entrusted. Paul says, and so you have to preach that Gospel in its purity.

Let me conclude by reading you a few verses from Corinthians. First Corinthians 6:9-11, "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God." Don't be deceived. There's a lot of teaching that’s around that excuses it, to make allowances for it. God has spoken through the apostle Paul. Those who practice these things will not be saved. But the glorious hope is what he then says, "Such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”

What a mighty God we have! The vileness of sinners, the most polluted of people, they are washed, they are sanctified, set apart for God to Himself. They are declared righteous “in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of God.” We don't need the Mosaic Law to be imposed upon people. You can't be saved by your best efforts in trying to keep it. But it's by God's grace you can be forgiven as the vilist offender when you come to believe in Christ.

Thank you, Lord, for Your marvelous grace, the greatness of Your person, the might of Your power, the wonder of Your grace that You the Holy God, undefiled in any way by sin that made us possible for us who are defiled in every way by our sin to experience forgiveness and cleansing, to be declared righteous in Your sight. Lord, I pray for those perhaps who are here today, perhaps they are regular attendants, who think they can be saved by their works. People who try their best to keep the Ten Commandments. Lord may they see the futility of their own self-efforts, cast themselves upon Your infinite mercy and grace, believe in Your Son alone as their Savior and experience the cleansing that only you can bring. We pray in Christ's name, amen.