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“THE LAWFUL USE OF THE LAW”
1 Timothy 1:8
*In The Gospel and the American Dream, historian Bruce Shelley writes, “In one hand Liberty holds the torch of freedom and in the other the tablet of law. The torch challenges the forces of darkness and tyranny. The tablet of law re-minds us that liberty degenerating into license is but another form of slavery.”
That is the message of the Ten Commandments.
The purpose of God’s law is deliverance, not domination. The Ten Commandments are God’s “statutes of liberty.”
The Ten Commandments are statutes of liberty to guard our good.
James Madison, the 4th President of the United States said this, "We stake the future of this country on our ability to govern ourselves under the principles of the Ten Commandments."
They are on display in the Supreme Court for a reason! Our forefathers based our laws upon Gods MORAL Law!
Judge Roy Moore & me “So Help Me God”
Paul speaks of the LAWFUL use of the law, not the AWFUL use of the law!
Legalism tries to mix up Law/Grace…….Liberalism Antinomianism try to chopit up!
Rom 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
Rom 7:7-1-17 “..the law is holy….. the law is spiritual……I consent unto the law that it is(not WA !) good. “.
Rom 7:22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 25 So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God.
Paul thought it was alright to teach the 10 for today! (Rom 13:8-10 he quotes 5)
Paul quoted them for & against saints as well as sinners! (Ephesians also)
The Ten Commandments, were bindingbefore and afterSinai and Calvary!!
It is written HERE and in the HEART! Rom 2:12-15
God meant the Ten Commandments to be permanentguidelines to follow in order to have the best relationship with God and each other.
I.The PROFILE of the law
Detectives always come up with a profile…and in depth investigation of the Modus operandi!
(often used in the abbreviated forms M.O.) a Latin phrase, translated as "method of operating".
We must understand the DEFINITION of the Law the DIFFERENTIATION of the law!
The Pharisaical law was unbiblical
A legal system of 613 laws, (based on words) 365 negative and 248 positive.
(*More often than not ,THIS Law is what Paul preached against-not Gods!)
Then there was the Mosaic law;
Moses’ law is divided into three classifications: Moral Law; Ceremonial Law; Civil Law.
Law is always divided! Today we have TRAFFIC laws, PROPERTY laws, CRIMINAL law etc.
The SDA & otherssay that this 3-fold distinction is imposed upon the Scripture without legitimacy.
2 Tim 2:15 answers this (We also divide poetry, history, etc.)
(It is the same augment used against Dispensationalist and it creates the same problems!)
Zack and Anna Luke 1:6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandmentsand ordinances of the Lord blameless.
(Peter’s vision in Acts Paul’srepeated revelationsreveal laws that WERE done away with, and NONE were MORAL!)
1.) the moral law
NT Commands & those OT commands restated in the New Testament.
All were repeated but the 4th and it was superseded by Sunday!
Rom 2:15“For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;”
Even non-Christian Cultures consider these criminal!!!
Moral laws are timeless, eternal, and universal, based on God's own character.
The Ten Commandments were written in stone by the finger of God, and placed inside the Ark of the Covenant, symbolizing their eternal nature.The ceremonial and civil law were not.
Dealt with differently—its okay to eat bacon now---not okay to serve other Gods.
There was nothing moral about the dietary laws.
Okay to mix fabrics…not ok to make graven images!
You don’t have to marry your brothers widow—but you do have to honor Mom and Dad!
Okay to pick up sticks on Saturday now---not okay to bear false witness!
People try to pick apart the OT by equating each with another throw the whole OT out as outdated. they should be ASHAMED!2 Tim 2:15
2.)The ceremonial law
This is the sacrificial system of the old covenant, typified Christ and is no more as Hebrews attests repeatedly. (Many over apply these passages to include all the law)
Heb 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
Under ceremonial law the Sheep die for the Shepherd—under Grace the shepherd dies for the sheep!
3.)the civil law
These are the laws that represented the criminal code, with its procedures and punishments, as well as a myriad of regulations and restrictions.
An example of a civil law is Deut 15:1 , "At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts."
The moral law, reflecting God’s changeless character, remains unaltered, although in Christ we are no longer condemned by our sins against it.
The law is notover us, to condemn us, but under our feet, to be a guide for our path!
II.The PURPOSE of the Law
—the Law never has and never will save a soul!
The Law is not to show us how to be SAVEDbut to show us that we need to be saved!!!!
The law points out the problem of sin; it doesn’t provide a solution.
1 Cor. 15:56 “The strength of sin is the LAW!”
Gal 3:11 “But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: “
John 1:17–“The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”
Rom 10:4 For Christ is the end (result) of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
You can hang a plum line next to a wall and it will reveal how crooked the wall is. The plum line cannot make that wall straight, it can only reveal that it is crooked!
a. THE LAW isPRACTICAL - for a people with no police/ prisons
b. THE LAW isPREVENTATIVE -it prevented people from getting away with sins.
c. THE LAW isPROCLAMATIONAL
1. It proclaims God’s holiness.
2. It proclaimsMans sinfulness (1 Tim. 1:9-10; Rom. 3:19-20; 4:15; 5:20; 7:7-13).
3. It Leads to Christ’s righteousness.
*In 1980 the Supreme Court ruled it unlawful to post the 10 commandments on the wall of a school, and you’ve got to hear the wording of their decision:
“If the posted copies of the Ten Commandments are to have any effect at all, it will be to induce the School children to read, meditate upon, perhaps to venerate and obey the Commandments.”
Let me translate. You cannot display the commandment ‘thou shalt not kill’ because somebody might obey it!
And every year we’ve got major killing sprees in schools.
The commandments are a blueprint for a beautiful life.People today resist rules and regulations.
But I remind you that the law and love always go together. True love shows restraint when needed.
A Compass for Direction
A Thermometer of Love
Jesus stated this clearly when He said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments” and “If a man love me, he will keep my words” (John 14:15, 23).
Augustine put it this way, "Love God and do as you please."
That works, because when you love God, you will always seek to do those things that please Him!
A Mirror of Reality
*My favorite painter is Norman Rockwell. One ofhis paintings has always fascinated me. In it, a lady isstanding at the counter of a butcher shop and thebutcher has a turkey on the scale. The lady is dressedquite properly and the butcher is wearing his apronand cap. They are smiling at each other and at firstglance, everything looks just right.
If you lookclosely, however, you notice that behind the turkey,the butcher’s thumb is pressing down on the scale.
Then, you notice that the lady is discreetly pushing upon the scale with her finger.
You can argue against the LAW of Gravity all you want, but it isn’t going anywhere!
III.The PEOPLE of the Law
The ceremonial & civil commandments of the law was given to a particular people for a particular time and place.
NO ONEELSE ever had such a law (Dt. 4:1, 8). (The Moral law was and is for everybody!)
THOSE LAWS are not binding upon the church. (Acts 15:1, 5-6, 19-20, 23-24, 28-29)
This has nothing to do with the 10 Commandments!
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
(Laodicean Recension)
1. I am the Lord thy God; thou shouldst consider me relatively important.
2. Thous ahlt have no idols before me except sports, hobbies, family , friends and finances.
3. Thou shouldst not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, unless thou art really really ticked off , then its Ok to Blaspheme
4. Honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy, unless something more important than God comes up like reunions, ball games and visiting friends-then play hookie.
5. Honor thy father and thy mother, except when thou art blaming them for thine own dysfunction.
6. Thou shouldst not kill; unless you call it abortion or euthanasia and pretend its OK
7. Thou shouldst not commit adultery, unless thou canst call it "serial monogamy" by continual divorce and remarriage
8. Thou shouldst not steal in such a way as to get caught.
9. Thou shouldst not bear false witness against thy neighbor, unless you call it a fib or little white lie.
10. Thou shouldst not covet thy neighbor's possessions, unless you really need them to find personal fulfillment.
The Commandments do not stand as rungs on a ladder to climb for salvation, they stand as barriers erected by God to help us live lives that glorify His Name.
IV.The PASSING of the Law
PASSING means “putting IN effect” or “Passing BY-out of the way”
KEEPING the 10 commandments means more than it used to!
It used to mean OBEYING them, now it means even KEEPING THEM AROUND!
*The Ten Commandments are ABSOLUTE not OBSOLETE!
LAYING DOWN THE LAW is twofold in interpretation and application!
Jesus summarized the Ten Commandments when He said, Mathew 22:37-40"...Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets".
Some people have misunderstood this to be saying that these 2 commandments replaced the 10 Commandments, but Jesus was not giving a 'new' law, He was quoting an Old Testament scripture about the importance of keeping the Ten Commandments!
Deuteronomy 6:5-8 "And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: ... And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes".
Jesus was summarizing and showing that the Ten Commandments were the law of love!
Romans 13:10 "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. "
The 1st 4 commandments showed us how to love God, and the last 6 how to love our fellow man.
This is why He said, "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets".
Do we Christians have laws that we are to obey? Yes, absolutely.
*If you’re going down the interstate at eighty-five miles an hour, and a policeman pulls you over, and you look at him and say, “Excuse me, Officer, I’m not under the Law, I’m under Grace.” After probably having a bit of a laughing fit, he’ll get up off the pavement and still write you a ticket!
Because we are still to obey laws. And the New Testament is full of laws.
Gal 6:2 Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
Jas 1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
Jas 2:8-14 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.
The 10 are for today….!