When we talk about the law, a lot of times we talk about the moral law and we talk about the ceremonial law, and we did that last time. But I wanted to take the time to just kind of define and clarify what in the world are we talking about when we talk about the moral law and the ceremonial law? What's the difference? And what do they even mean? What are they there for? So we're going to start first with the moral law. And so here's what the moral law is. The moral law defines what is good and what is evil. It defines what's right and what's wrong. And the moral law is given to expose our sinful actions. Your, your activities, the way that you live, the, uh, actions that you take, they can be defined as either sinful or righteous. They can be defined as either, um, good or evil. And that's based upon the moral law. Now, when we talk about the moral law. The moral law is given to us in the 10 commandments on Exodus 20, and then it's expanded on through Exodus 21 through 23 and then in various other places in the Bible. But what I want to, what I want to make sure you understand about the moral law, at least the basics of the moral law is number one, uh, we find it in the 10 commandments. And number two, the moral law is concerned with your actions, the practice of sin, what you do. Now, the ceremonial law defines what is acceptable worship with God and what is not. So just that understanding might help you out whenever you think about a question like, why in the world is Leviticus I mean, of all the things that God could have said, why did he give us a book full of all these little meticulous details? Leviticus by and large is concerned with the ceremonial law. It's concerned with God telling, uh, his people what would be acceptable worship. Now he also lays out the ceremonial law in Exodus chapter 24 through 30. So pretty big chunk in the book of Exodus and the ceremonial law is really given to expose our sinful nature, our sinful nature. So you can't come to God under the ceremonial law, just any old way you want to come to God. Are you going to worship God and build a tabernacle for Him? Well, you can't build it any old way you want to build it. It's not acceptable to God. Matter of fact, it's polluted if you do it your way. Are you going to build a temple for God? Well, you can't just build any old temple. It's got to be down to the specific thread that God wants you to use or it's unacceptable. And so when you think about the ceremonial law, the ceremonial law really does expose what's acceptable and what's not acceptable before God. And what it really hits at is not the fact that our actions are sinful, but that we are sinful. Our nature is sinful. So you get language like clean and unclean and defiled and undefiled. And by nature, we are defiled. And God wanted to point that out. Uh, in a, in just a way that Israel could not miss. So as they came to worship God, they came and brought sacrifices. Well, why in the world would they come and bring sacrifices? Whose idea was that? Well, it was God's idea, right? Why would they present them this way? They presented them. Why would they, they, the ceremony of the whole thing go about the way it would go about? Well, we've talked about before, whenever you, if you were a bystander, if you were looking at, if you were watching or even part of a close by, um, spectator of what was going on in that tabernacle or in that temple, uh, it was not some romanticized, uh, uh, thing that was, um, entertaining to watch and was just a beautiful picture. dead carcasses and guts thrown on altars that were burning and blood flowing down canals and flies and stench and just putrid nastiness. And the point is, this is what your sin is to me. This is the consequences of your sin. And you need to realize it is disgusting in my eyes. And ceremonially, what God is saying is not just when you break the moral law, but just ceremonially your state is just disgusting. This is what it requires. And then obviously we say, Uh, as the Bible unfolds the moral law and the, uh, ceremonial law, we praise the Lord that Jesus Christ comes and he fulfills both on our behalf so that the scriptures could say that we were, uh, that we were, our prayers were a sweet smelling savor to the Lord. Isn't that a wonderful thought? In comparison to roadkill that flies have been swarming around and guts have been ripped out of, isn't that a sweet thought that our prayers, that our worship could be a sweet smelling savor to the Lord? Well, that's because Jesus Christ, who was ceremonially always clean, his nature was impeccably pure. made an offering once for our sin, and it was accepted by God so that as we come before God, God sees us as if we are eternally clean because you've been washed white as snow forever. Beautiful thought, isn't it? So the moral law in that Christ fulfilled the moral law for you. So the actions, the right, the wrong, the sinful, the unsinful, Jesus lived in a sinless nature and uncorrupted nature, a clean nature. And he also lived 100% through right actions, good actions, unsinful righteousness. And so it's, God looks at you, that righteousness has been placed on your account. Now, when Christ died for us, the ceremonial law is done away with. We don't do that anymore. And the reason we don't do that anymore is because we are no longer unclean. We've been made clean. But the moral law is not done away with. And that's because righteousness and unrighteousness, good and evil still exist. Now we don't use the moral law to find our justification before God. But brothers and sisters, we do live according to the moral law, according to what's right and wrong, because we know it pleases God. God has not changed. The law was never bad. Morally speaking, the law was never bad. It was good. And we're going to look at some of that tonight. So those are the, just a side note for clarification, moral law, what you do, God still cares about that. Matter of fact, the new Testament will continue to put its stamp on the moral law. Ceremonial law that has to do with what you are and Christ has made you clean through the washing of his blood. Okay. Point number five in the law of God for the London confession. Point number five. Essentially says this. All of humanity believer as well as unbeliever are held accountable to God to keep the moral law. Now the writers of confession talk about the fact that all humanity is held accountable to God as our creator and as our authority. to keep the moral law. Now, again, I want to make a clarification and make sure you understand when we talk about Christians keeping the moral law, we're not talking about Christians earning favor with God. We're not talking about Christians doing anything in their own strength before God. We're not talking about trying to become righteous when we are unrighteous. But a misconception that sometimes Christians can get is that the law is just old Testament stuff. You know, the moral law is just old Testament stuff. It doesn't really apply to us anymore. It doesn't really matter anymore. Go to Romans chapter 13, starting in verse eight, Romans chapter 13, starting in verse eight. Paul says, O no man anything but to love one another, for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet. And if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. So was Paul writes this Paul is equating. And whenever you look at the 10 commandments and how they're, they're broken up, you know, the first part is the way man relates to God. The second part is the way man relates to man. And as Paul distills every bit of this down, he says, when you look at the commandments, they're all centered on this one principle. And that is love, love toward God, love toward neighbor. Jesus distills the law down that way. Verse 10, as Paul wraps it up, he says, love works, no ill to his neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And so brothers and sisters, if we were to take the position that since the law isn't given in the old Testament, that the law is no longer, um, useful, the law is no longer needed for new Testament Christianity. That's the same thing as saying, there's no need for Christians to love. Paul says, love is the fulfilling of the law. It would sound ridiculous for me to say, we're new Testament Christians. We don't love, we don't love God. What are you talking about? You're talking about old Testament stuff. Now legalist, we don't love each other. What are you talking about? But as Paul boils this down and he does it several times in the new Testament, Christ boils it down this way. He boils it down to the fact that we are under obligation to love. We know that and love is the fulfilling of the law. So the moral law isn't done away with. Christ makes it very clear. He did not come to dissolve the law. He didn't come to do away with it. Look in Matthew chapter five in Matthew chapter five. Starting in verse 17, Jesus says, think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I'm not come to destroy but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, One jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men. So he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven, but whosoever shall do and teach them the same shall be called great and the kingdom of heaven. I'm going to stop there. Jesus comes and says, I didn't come to, to, to erase the law. I didn't come to destroy the law. I didn't come to get rid of the law. I came to fulfill it. That's the difference between. a new Testament Christians outlook on the law and someone who's got the old Testament type mindset. The difference is not the law has been erased and thrown away. The difference is the law has been fulfilled on your behalf. And so the good news is in God's grace, you are free, not only with the power to obey, but you're also free to have the forgiveness when you sin to get up and try again. The righteous man falls seven times and he gets back up. So Christ says, I didn't come to throw the law away. I came to fulfill it all the way down to the jot and to the tittle, Christ says, not just the fulfillment of it, but the fact that those things are still good. In Romans chapter three, after Paul has been talking about our justification by faith, but by grace through faith, he starts in RSA starts in verse 31. He makes this comment. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid. Yay. We established the law. You see, when Paul's talking about law and grace and law and faith, Paul doesn't get the idea. Paul doesn't explain it in such a way that grace makes void. The law that grace makes void. And as we're talking about this again, we're talking about the moral law. We're not talking about the ceremonial law. He says it doesn't do away with it, it establishes the law. And we get to the last point, the writers are a little clearer on pinpointing this, but again, the idea that there's some tension between Christians, New Testament Christians, people who love grace, there's some sort of tension between that and the moral law and it being useful for us today. is an unbiblical idea. What God thought was right the day he created the heavens and the earth, he still thinks is right today. What God thought was wrong the day he created the heavens and the earth, he still thinks is wrong today. That has not changed. Now in number six in the section of the confession, It's really long with a lot of semi-colons. So I'm not going to read it because I'm afraid I'll lose you while I read it. But if you have a copy of the confession, you ought to go home and read number six in that confession. It, I just thought it was really, really good. And this is what it says. It says, even though we are not justified through the law, we've been talking about this already. The law is still useful and good. The law is useful and good for unbelievers. It's useful and good for believers. Now we're talking about the moral law. Why is that? Do you know what you call somebody who is concerned with patterning their life after the law of the Lord because they love the Lord? You call that person wise. Wisdom is found in the law of the Lord. It's not bondage, it's freedom. It's understanding. It's making wise the simple, Proverbs would say. So in Romans chapter three, verse 20, we just established the fact that nobody can be justified through the law. Paul says, therefore, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. And so we've got to make sure we say that if we're going to, if we're going to continue to talk about the goodness of the law and what the law is useful for. We ought to be concerned with obeying God. We ought to be concerned with pleasing God. We ought to be concerned with obeying the law. But brothers and sisters, the minute we think that our standing before God is changed or altered or improved or diminished based upon how well we do or do not obey the law is the minute we miss the whole point of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on our behalf. You'll never be justified through the law. You'll never be justified through your obedience. God will never like you more because you're more obedient. He can't like you any more than he already likes you. If you're covered in the blood of Jesus Christ, you can't change that. But the right way for us to look at the law is not that it's going to make God like me more. But I can live a life that will be pleasing to Him. It'll be pleasing to Him. And you may think, wait a minute, that sounds kind of like you're speaking out of both sides of your mouth. How is it you could be more pleasing to God or less pleasing to God, but God couldn't like you any more or any less than He already does? And if you have children, you know just exactly how that's the case. You can be pleased, you can be displeased, But your, your, your love does not fluctuate with the behavior. So as God loves us, and then by the way, you take that and you multiply that times infinity and that's God and his children. And so look in Romans chapter seven. Now in Romans chapter seven, we're going to start in verse seven. And the point that Paul's making in all this is the point that the law is good. It's always been good. It was never bad. The law was never the problem. We were the problem. So look what he says, starting in verse seven. What shall we say then is the law sin. God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law. For I had not known lust, except the law had said, thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law, sin was dead. For I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore, the law is holy and the commandment, holy and just and good. Paul talks about the law here. And he first asked the question, essentially, he's asking this, if we could just do away with the law, would we do away with sin? The answer to that is no. That's like asking the question, if we could get rid of every mirror, would that mean we don't exist anymore? It doesn't work that way, does it? The law is, it reflects back, the law exposes, but the law, it exposes sin, but the law is not sin. The reason it exposes sin is because it's a backdrop of what's right, what's holy, what's good. And God uses that in a way that brings conviction. That's really what Paul's talking about. Gets in verses 8, 9, 10, 11. The law was right. And so by the law, my sin was exposed. I was able to see the covetousness that does lie within my heart. I was able to see the lust that is alive and well in my heart. I was able to see the sinfulness of my heart. And the reason I was able to see that is because it was in stark contrast to God's law that he had given me as he began to open my eyes to it and see it for what it really was. But in verse 11, as he talks about, I'm sorry, verse 12, he talks about it being holy, just, and good, holy, just, and good. And then in, um, first Peter chapter three, starting in verse eight, first Peter three, verse eight, he says, finally be all of one mind, having compassion, one of another. love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing, but contrary wise blessing, knowing that you're there unto call that you should inherit a blessing. For he that will love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they may speak no guile. Let him askew evil and do good. Let him seek peace and ensue it for the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open to their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. You see that last verse in verse 12, the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous. His ears are open to their prayers, but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. Outside of having the law, how in the world would you know which category you fell in? How would you know? How would you know what's good? How would you know what's righteous? How would you know to have confidence that you can lay hold of the promises of God to those who are walking in his ways? How would you know? How would conviction ever come is the flip side of that. How would you ever know that the face of the Lord was against you? How could sister Patsy's prayer this evening, and hopefully all of our prayers come to pass that God would bring some deep conviction to our hearts. If there were no contrast for us to see, if we didn't know what evil was, I point that out because Peter spends verses eight through 11, pretty much just talking about the law, just general variations there. He talks about a skew and evil. And then finally he talks about how all of that relates to the Lord. And so while we're not justified through the law, the law is good and the law is useful. And then lastly, the seventh point in the confession is that a Christian usage and observance of the law is not contrary to grace, but it's a manifestation of it. As a Christian shows reverence to the law, as a Christian places himself under the moral law in the sense that he's, his heart and his desire is to obey it, to observe it. That's not contrary to grace, but a manifestation of it. So let's go to Galatians chapter three. Now that I'm looking at my notes, I'm not sure why I went here. Let's go to Ezekiel 36, Ezekiel 36, sorry. Ezekiel chapter 36, God is talking about in verse 26 is where we'll start. He's talking about a new covenant that he's going to make. In verse 26, he says, I'm going to put a new heart, a new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. So God says, I'm going to take away that stony heart that you have. I'm going to give you a heart of flesh. He's talking about regeneration. He's talking about being gracious to his people. Well, what happens after that? What's in that new heart that God gives? And I will put a spirit, I'm sorry, verse 27, I will put my spirit within you and I will cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgments and do them. You see what God says? God's talking about a work of grace being done in the hearts of his people. And he says that work of grace is going to produce something in you. It's going to produce a new heart, a new heart that is made of flesh. And then I'm going to put my spirit in you and my spirit, which is given by grace is going to cause you to walk in my laws. What are you saying? In my statutes, in my judgments, and it will cause you to do them. And so when we think about the law as Christians, we think about the observance of the law, moral law. It's not contrary to grace. It's a manifestation of grace. So I hope as you think about this, you don't think about it as being just some dry, stale, irrelevant type topic. You realize the whole controversy over homosexual marriage and homosexuality in our nation has to do with what we're talking about tonight. A brand of people who claim to be Christians who say, well, the law is for the Old Testament, it's not for the new. And even if they don't say that, a brand of so-called Christians who say, who cares about that? That's not a big deal. We love, we're more about grace. We're more about love. We're more about acceptance. And we have to say, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. We can be about love, that's good. We can be about grace, that's good. But we can't call good what God's called evil. We can't accept something as good that God's moral law calls evil. And so we can't ignore that. That's not just reserved for homosexuality. We can't do that for, um, uh, fornication. We can't do that for adultery. We can't do that for any sin. We can't turn a blind eye and celebrate what God condemns in his law. And yet we live in a culture to where it's becoming more and more popular. for the churchy type culture to just ride the whole wave there. Brothers and sisters that has everything to do with your view of the law of God. And so may God bless us to esteem his law, not to try to find our justification in it, not to try to find our standing before God in its observance and obedience. But may we look to God's law for wisdom and may we look to God's law so that we may live a life that pleases him and brings honor and glory to his name. Thank you for listening to this message. Our prayer is that you've been blessed by the messages and the daily devotional blog on sermon audio from Ripley Primitive Baptist Church. We would love the opportunity to be of greater service to you in your walk with Christ. In other words, we would like to get to know you better. Do you have need of counsel, of a home church, or can we just pray for you? Please feel free to contact us by phone at 662-837-8590 or visit our website at www.ripleypbc.com.