The following sermon was delivered on Sunday evening, December 11, 2011, at Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Please take your Bibles once again this evening and turn to 1 Timothy 1. And I'll read the text I read this morning, 1 Timothy 1, verses 8-11. But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, And if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust. Amen. Let's once again look to God and ask for his help as we come to his word this evening. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you once again for your word and acknowledge that it is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Make it that this night by enlightening our minds through the work of your Holy Spirit and help us to walk in the path that Your Word marks out for us, strengthen us by the power of Your Spirit, first to understand, and then to believe, and then to obey. And we ask this all in the name of Your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. The subject I've been addressing in the last half dozen messages that I've preached has been the subject of the law and the gospel. We're trying to notice how these things fit together. Paul asserts that they do here in this text when he tells us that the law is good if we use it lawfully. That is, if you will, according to verse 11, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust. There were people like the Jews who did not try to use the law according to God's gospel. They tried to use it to justify themselves. They were improperly using God's law. But there is a way to use it that is according to the gospel. The law and the gospel do work together in certain ways. And we've been considering those ways that the law and the gospel operate together. And I gave several observations, and the final one that we're focusing on today, we began this morning, is that the moral law is a help and blessing to believers in the Christian life. It is good if we use it lawfully. So we're considering today, what are those lawful ways? What are the ways in which the law is a blessing for us as Christians? I said in the first place, it is a rule of life for believers. We considered that this morning. And then we went on to the second thing, that the law shows believers their sins. I made the point that the law identifies sin. As Christians, we are still concerned with what sin is, and the Bible hasn't given us, not in the New Testament, something different from God's law to tell us what sin is. Just like the law tells us what good works are, what righteousness is, the law also identifies sin. And I said also under that heading of the law shows us our sins, that it then provokes us to repent. 1 John 1 verse 9, if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And then under this same heading of the law showing us our sins, I said that the law gives us also a clearer sight I said the law gives us some things. The first thing it gives us is greater conviction of sin, humiliation over our sin, and hatred for sin. And then the point at which I ended was this. The law gives us a clearer sight of our need for Jesus Christ. That's what the law does for us. It gives us a clearer sight of our need for Christ. In other words, as we Look at the law as we seek to apply the law of God to our lives in a righteous way, as the scripture says here in 1 Timothy 1. As we do that, we will see more and more how we need Jesus Christ for forgiveness of our many sins. And we will see more and more how we need the perfection of His obedience. And we especially focused on that, I mentioned last Sunday evening. And we'll also see how we need Jesus Christ for power to obey His law. So let me just give you five subheadings to open up this point then. First of all, in terms of having a clearer sight of the need we have of Christ by looking at the law of God, or if you will, by letting it look at us and expose us, expose our hearts. First of all, by doing that, we will realize all the ways we fail to keep God's holy and perfect law. It is many, many ways, and yes, it can be discouraging, and it can be disheartening to see how sinful we are. But when we see how sinful we are, when we see how much we fail to keep Christ's perfect law, and how at point after point after point we fail, doesn't it show us how perfect Christ's obedience is. That's one of the things I focused on last week as well. And that should lead us then, brethren, to fall down and to worship and adore Jesus Christ. Because He is the one who is holy and harmless and undefiled. He is without any sin whatsoever. And we stop and think about the fact that when He came into this world, He came into this world and lived that perfect life for our sakes, for the salvation of our souls. So we see the way we fail, but it shows us how perfect Christ's obedience is. We fail at so many different points. And the longer we live, and the more we study the Word of God, that's one of the effects of the Word of God in our hearts, is we don't think, as time goes on in the Christian life, that we are better and better and better people. That's not what happens for a true Christian. He sees himself, in many ways, as worse and worse and worse. But you see, at the same time then, he's gaining a greater and greater appreciation for Jesus Christ, who He is, and all He has done for us. Or another thing under this heading of seeing our need of Christ. We realize, as we look at God's law, that we could not be forgiven and that we could not stand before God without His sacrifice and His blood. And when we realize that, once again, that's the whole reason that, to use a scriptural expression, we put the hand over our mouth, isn't it? We have nothing to commend ourselves for. We look at God's law, and when we think of what great people we are, what good people we are, how much we are better than our neighbors, and all those things, those thoughts that flit through your mind from time to time. Hopefully they just flit. We don't stop and dwell on them too much. roll them over under our tongues and things like that and chew on them and puff ourselves up more and more. When we realize that we could never stand before God because of what His law says about our sins, we end up putting our hand over our mouth. Let's go back to that text that we ended with this morning, Ezekiel 16, verses 60 to 63. You see how the Lord expresses it through the prophet Ezekiel here. Looking forward to the New Covenant, beginning at verse 60, The Lord says through the prophet, nevertheless, I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed. See the point? It's so different from what some people say that, well, shame was for the old covenant. But this says, when we come to that new time of the everlasting covenant, then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your older and your younger sisters. For I will give them to you for daughters, but not because of My covenant with you. And I will establish My covenant with you. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, that you may remember and be ashamed and never open your mouth anymore. Because of your shame, when I provide you an atonement for all you have done, says the Lord God." Well, when do we put our hands over our mouths and stand ashamed like that? When we realize how sinful we are. And we realize how sinful we are when we realize how we have broken God's law. We put our hand over our mouth. If you say, well, I've never really known that phenomenon. Well, may God teach you that phenomenon in your experience. And this is one of the ways you learn it. By looking at the law of God and letting it show you what you are, what is in your heart. and what God's estimation of it is. And then thirdly, under this heading about a clearer sight of our need of Christ, we realize by looking at God's law how much we are indebted to Christ for His fulfilling it in our place and for enduring its curse in our place. Again, that was something that came before us last week. Galatians 3.13 He became a curse for us. And we realize by looking at the law why He had to become a curse for us. And then fourth, in that way, when we consider that He became a curse for us, when we consider how we stand condemned by God's law, in that way, once again, it provokes us to thanksgiving. Look at that text again at the end of Romans 7. In Romans chapter 7, remember some of the things we've seen. Paul spoke in the first part of the chapter about his own conversion, verses 7 to 9. He talked about how the commandment came, the law of God came with unusual force. pierced through to his heart. It showed him his sins of covetousness. He had not realized before how he was such a sinner. God used the law, the tenth commandment, you shall not covet, to bring him to see his sins, to undo him in a sense spiritually. He used it to bring him to the end of himself. He says, sin revived and I died at the end of verse 9. And then he goes on to say in verse 12, the law is holy and the commandment is holy and just and good. But when he considers his own life, even as a Christian, In the light of God's law, He doesn't measure up to the perfection it demands. And so there's this constant battle going on, and then He comes to the end of the chapter, and He concludes, verse 24, "'O wretched man that I am!' who will deliver me from this body of death?" It's almost the point we ended at this morning. He looks at himself in the light of God's law. It does humble him. It does lay him low. It slays him, in a sense. He says, what a wretched man I am. Some people look at that and say, oh, that's perverted introspection. That's apostolic Christianity is what that is. As long as it ends where Paul ends, which is not in verse 24, it's in verse 25, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. So by humbling us and bringing us to see ourselves for who and what we are, that way it ends up provoking us to thanksgiving. And then fifth, it then, the law does in God's hands, it then motivates us to express our thankfulness by obeying it. We reason this way, God loved me, Christ died for me, how then can I show my appreciation to God for all He's done for me in Jesus Christ? How can I show my appreciation to the Lord Jesus for all He has done in saving my soul? And the answer comes from the Lord Jesus Himself. Back in John 14, verse 15, If you love Me, keep My commandments. So when we see our need of Christ, and we see how much Christ has done for us, we give thanks to God, we give thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ. How does He want us to express that thanksgiving? By writing little notes to Him? And tucking them under our pillow? By talking about how much we love Jesus? Well, that's part of it. But the main way is this, if you love me, keep my commandments. And then a final point here under this heading of the law, giving us a clear sight of our need for Christ. It impresses us that we are utterly incapable of giving that obedience to Christ in our own strength. Let's say you're fighting against a particular sin. And so you say, I want to really learn how to overcome this sin. I want to know what God thinks about this sin. What the different areas of sin are that are related to this main root of sin that I see in my heart. What are the areas of obedience in which I need to walk. And so you say, I'm going to meditate on the law of God. So you're fighting against this sin, you meditate on God's law. What's one of the great effects it's going to have on you? Well, first it's going to make you realize how badly you have disobeyed and broken God's law, how greatly you've offended God, and then how utterly unable you are to keep His commandment in your own strength. Now ask the question like I did this morning once again. Is that bad? Some people think it is. But it most definitely is not. Not if it leads you to plead for grace and for power. Grace for God to forgive you of your sin and the power of the Holy Spirit to do His will. And be honest. Do you plead as earnestly as you ought to plead when you don't realize how sinful you are? You don't cry out. You don't miss a meal and say, I need to have dealings with God when you think, I'm not that bad a person. You pray like the Pharisee then. I'm not like this tax collector here. But it's the one who realizes who and what he really is that's over in the corner in the shadows, beating His breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. If I'm going to obey Your command, Lord, You need to do it in my life. I need Your Holy Spirit. Think of Jesus' words in John 15. In fact, let's just turn there. John 15. This is a text that especially goes along with this point that the law of God does show us, brethren, how much we are utterly unable to keep God's law. I should say the law of God does show us how much we are utterly unable to keep it. And it impresses us with the need that we must abide in Christ. I am the true vine, Jesus says, and my Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that bears fruit He prunes that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me." I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him bears much fruit, for without Me you can do nothing." We need to abide in Christ. And the point is not just figure out what it is to abide in Christ. It's looking to Him by faith, believing His promises, trusting in His Word, reading the Scriptures, communing with God, praying and all those things. All of that is involved in abiding in Christ. But isn't there a much deeper message underlying this whole passage as well? And that is, you need Christ. As much as a branch does to put forth fruit every season to be connected to the main vine, and it has to have sap flowing through it, you need to be connected to Christ because you're utterly unable to bear that fruit by yourself. Apart from me, he says, you can do nothing. So let me quote the Westminster Confession again at this point. Same wording is followed in our Baptist Confession as well as they go through. And a lot of my headings in this message I've just borrowed or reworded from some of the confessional statements because they're so good and they're so scriptural. But here's what the Confession says at this point. It says, neither are the aforementioned uses of the law, the things we've been considering, contrary to the grace of the Gospel, but do sweetly comply with it. The Spirit of Christ subduing and enabling the will of man to do that freely and cheerfully which the will of God revealed in the law requires to be done. And there's one of the great answers about how the law and the gospel work together. The law in and of itself doesn't work that way. But God takes it, and He uses it, and makes it comply sweetly with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And as they said, it's only by the Spirit subduing our wills and strengthening us that we can do the will of God and obey His law. That's our only hope, brethren. But isn't that exactly what was promised in the Old Covenant about the New Covenant? Let's look back at another one of those promises of the New Covenant back in the Old Testament. Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31 verses 31 to 33. See, one of the reasons I think a lot of people think that if you even mention the law or talk about the law, you're being legalistic is because they don't stop and think about the fact that the Bible teaches us we need to obey God's law, but that we can only keep God's law by the power of the Holy Spirit. That's the only way we can. In fact, that's the only way they could in the Old Testament either. But the Spirit has been poured out in a much greater way in the New Covenant, and so we have a statement like this, beginning at Jeremiah 31, verse 31. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." Now we've already come across the idea that the law is written on the heart of every man in some way when he comes into the world. So just don't focus on that for a second. But here, the promise of the new covenant has these two things, that God will write his law on our hearts, he'll put his law on our minds, that's one, and then they will be my people and I will be their God. Let's focus on that matter of the law written on our hearts. What is that saying? Is that saying that people will now have a clue about what's right and wrong, who never did before? Well, maybe to some degree, but I think what it's saying is this. When it says He will write His law in their hearts, it means they will have a greater understanding of what God commands men to do. They will also be given a determination to obey it, a greater determination to obey God's Law, and they will be given love for God's Law. That's the point. That's the blessing of the New Covenant, that God's Law is written on your heart if you're a Christian. And then turn over to another promise of the New Covenant, Ezekiel 36. Ezekiel 36, 27. Remember the wording of the confession there that the Spirit of Christ subdues and enables the will of man to freely and cheerfully do what God tells us in the law that we should do. We'll look at Ezekiel 36, and we'll just look at verse 27. It's looking ahead to that new covenant. If you read the context, he says, I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them. By giving us his spirit, he's saying we will have power to obey the will of God that we frankly do not have without God's Holy Spirit. We do not have that power. So that was a lengthy point and it wandered hither and yon in a way, but the law shows believers their sins. So it's a rule of life for believers. That's one of the helps that the law is in the Christian life. Second, it shows us our sins. Third, the law helps to keep believers from sin. It helps to keep us from sin. It's another statement of the confession. It is likewise of use, it says, to the regenerate, to Christians. to restrain their corruptions. Now, we saw how in Romans 7 it says the law has the effect of aggravating our corruptions. The law came, Paul says, and sin revived in me. Tell someone not to do something, what does he do? If he doesn't do it, he's at least greatly agitated to the point that he desires to do it. So the law does aggravate, but it also does restrain us from sin. Look over at Psalm 119, verse 104. See, this is part of the problem again, isn't it? We can't be too simplistic in our thinking about the law. That's why when I started out, I pointed out some of the different definitions of the word law in the Bible. If you only look at the law as one thing, you can make all negative statements about it, but that's not how the Scripture looks at it. Psalm 119, verse 104. Through your precepts, And he's talking there about God's commandments. Through your precepts, His law that tells us what to do, I get understanding. Therefore, I hate every false way. Where does the psalmist say he got this hatred for every false way, his hatred for sin? Well, he says, through your precepts, through the law of God, through the commandments of God. Now, that is not the entirety of the Bible's answer to this question in the first part of the verse. Where do you get that understanding from the law of God? Where do you get the hatred for sin, for every false way? The entirety of the Bible's answer is not through God's precepts. In fact, that's not even the main answer, really. The main answer to that is through Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit. That's the main answer to that question. But through God's precepts is clearly part of the Bible's answer to that question, isn't it? You should gain hatred for sin from God's law, from His precepts. And to the extent that you deny that, and neglect that and refuse to do that, you're denying God's truth, and you are neglecting the means God has given you, part of them, to gain hatred for sin, and you're refusing to believe in God's Word and to submit to God. Because the Bible says, through your precepts I gain understanding, therefore I hate every false way. It may be the reason, one of the reasons, because I think the best of Christians say, I don't hate sin the way I should. But if you don't like the idea of using God's law in the Christian life, then maybe this is one of the first and easy answers as to why you don't hate sin the way you should. Because you don't like to look at it in the light of God's holy law. I hope, however, that if someone comes to you and tells you that the law of God has no place in your life as a Christian, You will have a righteous indignation against him if he tries to teach you that. And I hope you will resist him if he tries to convince you of such a thing. And then a fourth thing. A fourth way that the moral law is a help and a blessing to believers in the Christian life is this, the law shows believers what their sins deserve. It shows believers what their sins deserve. It says in Romans 6.23, the wages of sin is death. That's the pronouncement of the law of God. The soul that sins shall die. So the law tells us what our sins deserve. So let me give you a couple of questions. Are you a Christian? I'm assuming you answered yes. Those of you who are Christians. All right. What do your sins deserve? What do your sins deserve? I did not say, if you're a Christian, what will your sins receive? I said, what do they deserve? Should you reason, well, I'm a Christian. My sins are forgiven. It doesn't matter if I sin. That's twisted, isn't it? That is twisted thinking. And that is not a reflection of a great grasp of the doctrine of grace. It is not. A Christian should look at it this way. That is what my sins deserve. My sins deserve death, as the law tells me. And if I am careless This is how we should think. If I am careless, calling myself a Christian, if I'm careless, that is what my sins will get. Turn with me to Galatians 5. Galatians 5 verses 17 to 21. This is one of the reasons that antinomianism is so dangerous because it teaches people to think in the opposite way of the Bible about the most significant matters of the Christian life. Galatians 5 17 and following for the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these are Contrary to one another so that you do not do the things that you wish But if you are led by the spirit you are not under the law Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like. which you can identify most of them by having a commandment immediately jump out at you. Adultery, fornication, 7th commandment, outbursts of wrath, murders, etc., 6th commandment, and so on. These are all the works of the flesh. Of which, Paul says, I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. What's he doing there? He's warning his readers, people he regards as Christians, not to live in these ways. And he gives them the reason. Because if you live in this way, you will not inherit the kingdom of God. So the point is, as a Christian, it's helpful for me, it's healthy for me to look at God's law and see what my sins deserve. That is, if I keep going down that path, even if I call myself a Christian, that means that's what my sins are going to get. And even if I am a Christian, a healthy Christian with a good and proper sense of assurance, the law still tells me what every one of my sins deserves. what every one of my sins deserves in itself. And part of the reason for that is this, because my sins as a Christian are in some ways far worse than any unbelievers. Outwardly, they do not look as ugly. I will grant you that. They do not look as ugly. But inwardly, They do in the light of God's law. And the thing that makes them in many ways look worse is not only that I know better. I know so much better. I know so much better than that ungodly drunk or fornicator or murderer that you find out on the street. And my rising of my spirit in carnal anger deserves death in hell no less than the murderer's cold-blooded killing of an innocent person. And God's law will help you to look at life that way, which is the way you should look at it, brother. The moral law is a help and blessing to believers in the Christian life. It shows believers what their sins deserve. Fifth, the law shows that believers' sins may lead to afflictions in this life. It shows that believers' sins may lead to afflictions in this life. I'll quote again from the Confession. It says, "...and the threatenings of the law serve to show what afflictions in this life that they, that is even Christians, may expect for their sins, although they are freed from the curse against those sins threatened in the law. Turn with me to Leviticus 26. Now maybe this is one of those points you're saying, boy, you really are showing yourself to be a legalist here. Bear with me. Leviticus 26. Let's start out with verses 3 and 4. Moses says, speaking for God, if you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments and perform them, then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. So you see the point. You walk in My statutes, that means obey My commandments. Walk in My statutes and keep My commandments and perform them, then I will bless you. I'll give you all these outward blessings. And it goes on that way in the same vein through verse 13. Here's all the good things I'm going to do for you if you keep My commandments. And then you look at verses 14 to 16. If you do not obey Me and do not observe all these commandments, and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, I also will do this to you. I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart." And then a good chunk of the rest of the chapter goes on this way, all the way through verse 39. The judgments that are going to come upon the people of God if they disobey His commandments. Judgments which in the course of history did come upon them because of their disobedience to God's law. Now some would look at that and say, that is the Old Testament. And there's a sense in which this chapter highlights some ways that the Old Testament is different from the New. We've been reading about that in the book on the covenants, alright? Granted, But is this whole idea that if you obey, you will be blessed, and if you don't obey, you're going to be chastised by God, is that solely found in the Old Testament? Well, it's not, is it? Let's just turn to a few New Testament passages, a couple at least. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 28. 1 Corinthians 11 and verse 28. The idea is that even in the New Covenant, God's law helps us to understand that if we sin, it can lead to afflictions in this life, even though we are Christians. 1 Corinthians 11, 28. You know the setting. It's on the subject of the Lord's Supper. Paul is addressing sins that the people in Corinth were committing during the Lord's Supper. while they were supposed to be observing the supper of remembrance. He says in verse 28, but let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. So they were committing some very serious sins. They were being careless and unloving in the worship of God, specifically when they were observing the Lord's Supper. So then you come to the next two verses, verses 29 and 30. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this reason, many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. You see what Paul is saying there in verse 30. He's saying, some of you are sinning in the worship of God, and that's the reason that you have physical illnesses. That's what Paul is saying. And then when he says, that's the reason some of you sleep, he's saying, some of you, because of the way you have blasphemed the Lord in a sense, in the way you've acted during the Lord's Supper are dead. That's what he's saying in the New Covenant. God afflicted people. I don't think he is saying obviously all those people were really not saved. That's not my understanding of it anyway. But they were afflicted. Now, obviously, just like in all other situations, we don't look at people's afflictions and conclude, like Job's friends, the measure of his suffering is the measure of his sinfulness. We don't do that. But at the same time, we also don't say there is absolutely no connection in a loving God's world between suffering and sin. And the law shows us that believer sins may lead to afflictions in this life. Notice the language of verses 31 and following here. For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world. Therefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another." See, Paul is not making the assumption that anybody who is in any way afflicted by God must not have been a real Christian. He's not. He's saying here that it's we that God judges. We! We are judged. We are chastened by the Lord. And He makes a contrast with the world, that we may not be condemned with the world. God chastens us for our sins so we aren't condemned with the world. Or just look at one other passage, Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12, verses 3 and following. Paul says, "'For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin, and you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons. My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him. For whom the Lord loves, He chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons, for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect, shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but he for our profit that we may be partakers of his holiness." Now, no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Now, some people would come to a text like this and they would say, well, it's not talking about God dealing with sin. It's just talking about God afflicting people. Let me just point a couple of things out. The whole passage begins after that statement in verse 4. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed doing what? Striving against sin. It uses the word not afflict, but what? Chasten. And what is chastening? It's discipline. It's getting treated the way you deserve. And it uses the word correction. And he scourges, verse 6, every son whom he receives. And it compares God's conduct to earthly fathers. They see sin, hopefully. They deal with it. And it contrasts God's treatment to earthly fathers. The contrast is not that those fathers cared about sin, but God doesn't. The contrast is when God chastens, He never gets it wrong. He never spanks the wrong child. And God never overdoes it. And thankfully as well, God never fails in His chastening of His children. For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. And that's the other thing I would point out is that the fruit of this chastening is holiness, verse 10, and righteousness, verse 11. God does, brethren. Now don't go home from here saying every bad thing that happens in my life is because God is angry with me today. No. Many, said David, are the afflictions of the righteous. And there was no more afflicted man than Job was there. But having said that, I have heard preachers summarily dismiss and even ridicule the notion that God afflicts people who are Christians for sins as a violation of the idea of grace or a contradiction of the idea of... I've heard men talk about it on the radio and just dismiss it out of hand. Oh, God would never do such a thing like that. I just ask this question. How do you read these passages? It's another legitimate use of God's law. And the sixth and final thing I would point out is a blessing of the use of the law of God. The law shows that the obedience of Christians will lead to blessing. I'll quote it from the New Testament. Children, Ephesians 6, verses 2 and 3. Obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth. He changes it a little bit because we're not in the old covenant. So he doesn't say in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. But he says, on the earth. And you know how you hear those people, they live to be a hundred, they show them on the news, and then at the end of the interview they say, to what do you attribute this? And some of them will say things that you say, well, God just overruled some people's foolishness because they say, well, I ate like this and I drank like this. And you say, and that person lived to be 100. And then some of them will say, well, I was faithful to exercise and this and this. And you say, well, God used the means and so on. I once heard a woman say, I obeyed my dad and my mom. Now, maybe she was a legalist, but she wasn't necessarily, was she? Because this is the promise of God to His people in the New Covenant. Psalm 19.11 says it this way, "...moreover by them," that is, by God's judgment, "...your servant is warned, and in keeping them there is great reward." Not earned, but real. Great reward in keeping them. Brethren, the legalism is not in acknowledging that this point is biblical and true. That's not legalism. Legalism only enters in when you think that you have in any way earned the blessings God gives you at the end of the day. That's the legalism. And that is not the thinking, though, of David or Paul or the Holy Spirit. That would be the thinking of your or my Pharisaic heart. that takes what the Scripture says and say, I deserved it. That's not what the Scriptures teach. Don't believe that, don't think that. If that enters into our minds at all, may God deliver us from that kind of legalism. Legalism is a danger. Maybe at some point I'll give a message or two or seven on the subject of the dangers of legalism. Thinking you're okay when you look at God's law. That's a legalistic error, isn't it? Thinking you can save yourself. That's the error of legalism. Thinking you merit anything, whether before your conversion or after. That's legalism. Thinking you are something, like that Pharisee in the temple that day. That's legalism. Thinking too highly of yourself is legalism. Thinking you deserve anything. that you deserve anything from God's hand. That is legalism. Thinking you put God in your debt by obeying His commandments is legalism. As if, I did this, therefore He must do this to bless me. That's legalism. Resurrecting or propping up old covenant laws that have passed away, that's legalism. Adding to God's law to bind your conscience or someone else's, adding to it what's not there, that is legalism. But brethren, following God's law, following it carefully, following with all your heart, following it out of a good conscience with all your might, none of that is legalism. Let's make sure that we recognize that the law is good and that we use it lawfully for the glory of God and the good of our souls and to bring us nearer to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray together. Father in heaven, we do thank you for your word. And once again, we ask that you would instruct us out of your word, in particular, Lord, instruct us about your holy law. Show us all the ways that we have not regarded it as we ought. as highly as we ought, that we have not appreciated it. Show us the ways that we have thought that we could use it as a ladder to climb or earn our way to heaven or to achieve your blessings by our own goodness. Lord, have mercy upon us. Use the law to bring sinners to Christ here in this building. Use the law to humble your people. Use it, O Lord, to show us how we can express our gratitude to you for the way you have saved us by grace through the blood of your Son, Jesus Christ. Use it, Father, to conform us more to His image. And we ask all these things for your glory in Jesus' name. Amen.