Old Testament Reading: Exodus 20:1-17

“And God spoke all these words, saying, ‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. ‘You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. “You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.” (Exodus 20:1–17, ESV)

New Testament Reading: Romans 7:1–8:4

“Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress. Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 7:1–8:4, ESV)

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Please excuse any typos and misspellings within this manuscript. It has been published online for the benefit of the saints of Emmaus Reformed Baptist Church but without the benefit of proofreading.

Introduction

We have taken a little hiatus from our study of the Ten Commandments to talk about the uses of God’s moral law. In the previous sermon, I said, “it’s one thing to know what God’s law is, it’s another thing to know how it is to be used.” I hope you agree with me, brothers and sisters, that if we love God’s law, we should be concerned to both know what it is and how it is to be used. 

I have said that many have done great damage to themselves and others, not so much because they have failed to understand what God’s law requires and forbids, but because they have misused God’s law. One of the most obvious and well-known examples of this is legalism. The legalist might know what God’s law is – they might have a correct understanding of what God’s law requires and forbids –  and yet they attempt to use God’s law to obtain God’s favor. They attempt to obey God’s law thinking that through their obedience they will be justified before God. “If only I were to worship God alone, avoid idolatry, revere God’s name, and keep the Lord’s Day Sabbath Holy, etc., then God will love me and accept me”, the legalist says. As you can see, the problem is not so much with the legalist’s understanding of what the law is, but with the legalist’s understanding of how God’s law is to be used. It is a deadly error. And Paul the Apostles corrects the error of legalism very clearly in his writings when he says things like this: “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in [God’s] sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20, ESV). In other words, the law is not to be used to obtain justification. No, it cannot, for the law, properly understood, is used to show us our sin.  

I suppose we could spend a long time talking about all of the ways in which the law of God has been misused in the history of the church up to this present day. I won’t do that now. Instead, I wish to present the proper uses of God’s law to you in a positive way. 

Historically the church has confessed that there are three uses of God’s moral law: civil, pedagogical, and normative. I’m not so concerned that you remember those terms, but I think it is important for you to know the concepts those terms represent. 

In the previous sermon, I taught you about the civil use of the moral law. I attempted to show you that God uses his moral law to restrain evil in the world. God, in his mercy, restrains evil in the hearts of men and women, and in societies, in part, by upholding and preserving his moral law. Men and women will try to distort and suppress this law that is within them. Societies will try to ignore it and to rebel against it. But I am saying that God mercifully preserves his moral law, and he uses it to restrain evil in the world even to this present day. We often wonder why the world is so wicked, but really we should marvel over the fact that it is not worse. Why is it not worse? Answer: Because God in his mercy restrains the wickedness of man. And the abiding presence of the moral law in the hearts of men and women is one of the things that God uses. 

In this sermon, we will turn our attention to the two other uses of the moral law, the pedagogical and the normative. 

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Pedagogical

When we speak of the pedagogical use of God’s moral law we are referring to the way in which God uses his law to convict sinners and to drive them to Christ. 

A pedagogue is a strict teacher. Paul uses the Greek word for “pedagogue” to describe the law in Galatians 3:24-25. English translations render that word in a variety of ways: tutor, schoolmaster, or guardian. The point is this: the law is a strict teacher, tutor, schoolmaster, and disciplinarian to those not in Christ. Can you picture an old-school strict teacher with a ruler or switch in their hand? Some of you can! What does the pedagogue do when their student errors or misbehaves? The pedagogue stikes the student with their switch. The pedagogue disciplines. And the scriptures teach that this is one of the ways that the law functions. It magnifies sin. It makes us more aware of sin. It condemns.

If we consider this use of the law in terms of the history of salvation and the various covenants that God has made with man, then it can be said the law God gave to Israel through Moses functioned in this pedagogical way to the extreme. Remember, Israel did not only have the moral law of God. No, God also gave them civil laws and ceremonial laws. I have said in previous sermons that the civil laws of Old Covenant Israel were in some ways very strict. They did not only restrain evil in Israel. Nor did they merely promote justice within Israel. The civil laws that were given to Israel also punished violations of God’s moral law in an unusually strict way. I have said before that this was because Israel was a holy nation. And here I am saying what the Apostle Paul says: the law of Moses magnified sin. It was a pedagogue to Old Covenant Israel (and to the nations that looked in upon them). But the civil and ceremonial laws of Israel had this function, they magnified sin, and this was to drive all nations to Jesus the Messiah. 

If we consider this pedagogical use of the law in terms of the order of salvation  – and by that I mean, if we think of the way that God draws individual people to salvation through faith in the Messiah – then we must acknowledge that God uses his moral law in the process. He uses his moral law to convict the world of sin. God uses his law to make sinners aware of their sin, their guilt before him, and their need for a Savior. 

To put the matter differently, God saves sinners through his law and his gospel. Or to say it another way, God saves sinners through the proclamation of the gospel, but for the gospel to be understood and believed, the law must first condemn.

What is the gospel except for the good news that God, by his grace, has made the forgiveness of sin and the hope of life eternal available to man through the finished work of Christ to be received by faith in him alone? But what is sin? We confess that sin is any lack of conformity unto or violation of God’s law. 

The point is this: it is the moral law of God that makes sinners aware of their sin. God’s law is the standard, and when the Holy Spirit of God draws sinners to salvation through faith in Christ, he first uses the moral law to condemn. This is the pedagogical use of the law. 

So you can see, then, that the law of God and the gospel of God are not contrary to one another. No, if the law is understood and used properly, it works together with the gospel to bring sinners to salvation through faith in the Messiah. The law delivers the bad news, and the gospel delivers the good news. In fact, we may say that the good news of the gospel cannot be understood apart from the bad news that the law brings.  

Friends, please hear me. If you do not have faith in Christ, you are in your sins. You are under God’s wrath and curse. If you die apart from Christ, God will judge you. You will be cast into hell for all eternity. This is what the scriptures so clearly teach. This is what Christ taught. And what do I mean when I say that you are a sinner if not in Christ? I mean that you have missed the mark. You have failed to meet God’s standard for righteousness. And where is this standard found? Answer: God’s moral law. His law teaches that we are to love him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves. In particular, we are to worship and serve God alone, in the way he has prescribed, not with idols, with reverence for God in our hearts, honoring one day in seven as holy unto him as a day for rest and worship. We must honor our father and mother. Indeed, we are to show honor to all people in a way that fits their relationship with us. Never are we to murder (or to hate in the heart). Never are we to commit adultery (or to lust in the heart). Never are we to steal, lie or covet. If I were to ask you, have you kept this law perfectly?, what would you say? I hope you would acknowledge that you have violated God’s law in thought, word, and deed. And this makes you a lawbreaker – a sinner. And what do the scriptures say about the consequences of sin? Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death…” Death. Eternal death – that is to say, eternal separation from God, and eternal judgment – is what our sins deserve. But the apostle continues in Romans 3:23 saying, “…but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23, ESV). You had better be found in Christ, friend. You had better be united to him by faith and washed clean in his blood. 

Can see how the law of God is used by the Spirit of God as a pedagogue to show men and women their sin and to drive them to Christ through the preaching of the gospel? In fact, that Romans 6:23 verse that was just read shows us that law and gospel are not contrary to one another, but sweetly comply. Again, “For the wages of sin is death…” There is the bad news. “…but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23, ESV). There is the good news. Consider the bad news and the good news together, and you have the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

So what is the first use of the law that I have taught you? It is the civil use. Here we recognize that God uses his moral law to restrain evil in the world. How do Christians relate to this civil use of the law? Well, we certainly benefit from it to the degree that evil is restrained and justice is upheld within our societies. More than this, we may be used by God to restrain evil within the world as we bring clarity to matters of justice and morality in the societies in which we live. Those in Christ have the scriptures. They have access to the moral law in writing. And those in Christ have the moral law written anew and afresh on their hearts by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. And so they ought to be able to speak with clarity to matters of justice and morality in society, according to their giftedness and callings. 

And what is the second use of the law that I have taught you? It is the pedagogical use. Here we confess that God uses his moral law to condemn sinners and to convict them of sin so that they might see their sin and what it deserves, and be drawn to Christ through the gospel as the Spirit calls them inwardly. How do Christians relate to this use of the law? Well, first of all, I think it is very important to say that Christians are not under the law in this pedagogical sense. Yes, the Spirit of God does use the law to convict the believer of remaining sin, as we will see. But the law does not condemn those in Christ in the way that it condemns those not in Christ. Can you see the difference? Those not in Christ are condemned by the law. By the law, they are made aware of their sin. By the law, they come to see what their sins deserve, namely, God’s wrath. The law brings no comfort at all. It only convinces them of their sin and misery before God. It shows those not in Christ that they are alienated from God. None of this is true of the one who is united to Christ by faith. Those who have believed the gospel – those who have taken refuge in Christ by faith – have had their sins washed away. They are justified in God’s sight. They have been made righteous. They have been adopted as sons and daughters. The wrath of God no longer hangs over them. And this is what the Apostle means when he says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1–4, ESV). Did you hear the good news? “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” The law, which once condemned us, condemns us no longer, for the blood of Christ has washed away our sins. Christ’s righteousness has been imputed to us. These gifts, and many others, were given to us by the grace of God Almighty and received by faith in Christ alone. 

You know, Christians are sometimes confused by the way that Paul speaks about the law. Sometimes he says that Christians are no longer under the law. But in other places, he seems to say that the law is still important for the Christian life. To some, this seems like a contradiction, but it is not. The key to understanding this is to be mindful of the different uses of the law, and also to be mindful of the distinctions between the moral law, and the civil and ceremonial laws that God gave to Israel in the days of Moses.

Question: Are we, who live now under the New Covenant, under the civil and ceremonial laws which God gave to Old Covenant Israel? Answer: No. They have been fulfilled by Christ, and have been abrogated and taken away.   

Question: Are we, who live now under the New Covenant, under the law as a covenant of works so that eternal life may be obtained through the keeping of it? Answer: No. The Covenant of Works was broken by Adam. We are born into that covenant, but it is a broken covenant. It’s curses remain, but life is not obtainable through Covenant anymore. This is why our first parents were cast out of the garden and the way to the tree of life was cut off. As Paul says. “yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified” (Galatians 2:16, ESV).

Question: Are we, who are united to Christ by faith and washed in his blood, under the law as a pedagogue? Answer: No. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1–4, ESV). 

Does this mean, therefore, that the moral law of God is of no use to the believer? No, for there is another use of God’s moral law, and that is the normative use. Let’s turn to that now. 

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Normative

When we speak of the normative use of God’s law we are saying that the moral life of the believer is to be normed, directed, and shaped by God’s moral law, which is summarily comprehended in the Ten Commandments. 

I’ll attempt to demonstrate this in two points:

One, in regeneration the Spirit of God writes (or should we say, re-writes) the moral law of God on the hearts of his people. This is what that famous passage in Jerimiah 31 says will happen to all who are partakers of the New Covenant. Quoting now Jeremiah: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31–34, ESV)

Notice a two things about this text. First, when the LORD says he will write his law on the hearts of the New Covenant people of God he is clearly alluding to the same moral law which he wrote on stone for the Old Covenant people of God. God does not have two moral laws, but one. The law of Christ is the moral law of God written upon the heart. Two, Jeremiah 31 does not say that no one had the moral law written on their hearts under the Old Covenant. To think that is to miss the point. Certainly, those who had true faith in Old Covenant times were regenerated by the Holy Spirit and had God’s law written on their hearts. They had faith in the promised Messiah. And they were regenerated by Spirit. Regeneration is a blessing of the New Covenant which was earned by Christ, but it was communicated to them ahead of time through the promise of the gospel. King David is an example of this. Read Psalm 119 and consider his love for God’s law! No, here is the unique thing about the New Covenant – all who truly partake of the New Covenant will be regenerate. All who are under the New Covenant will have the law written, not on stone, but on their hearts. This is one of the biggest differences between the Old and New Covenants. Men and women were born into the Old Covenant by natural birth. Some had true faith, but many did not. Some were regenerated by God’s Spirit, but many were not. This is why the scriptures distinguish between the children of Abraham and the true children of Abraham. But men and women are not born into the New Covenant. No, they are born again into the New Covenant. All who are members of the New Covenant have God’s moral law written on their hearts. That is the point of Jeremiah 31:31ff. 

 And here is my point: God’s moral law must matter to the Christian, for God has not merely written it on stone for you, he has written it on your heart.  

So how do when know that God’s moral law – the moral law contained within the Ten Commandments – is the norm or standard for the one in Christ? One, Jeremiah 31 says that the law will be written on the hearts of all the New Covenant people of God. Two, in the New Testament scriptures we find that the moral code for the New Covenant people of God is the same as the moral code of the Old Testament. 

For example, Christ summarized the law of God in this way: “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:30–31, ESV). Christ did not make this up. He was quoting the Old Testament. And these two laws clearly summarize the two tables of the Ten Commandments.

Consider also how Christ taught the true meaning of the Old Testament laws. He did not change them but taught their true meaning. 

And consider the ways that Christ and the Apostles appealed to the Old Covenant law to establish moral principles for the New Covenant people of God. Listen, for example, to Paul the Apostle in Romans 13:8ff: “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:8–10, ESV). Or consider Paul in his letter to the Ephesians. He wrote to the children saying, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother’ (this is the first commandment with a promise), ‘that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land” (Ephesians 6:1–3, ESV). And consider the way that Paul identified the moral principles contained within the civil laws of Israel (principles of general equity) and applied them to New Covenant church life. He wrote to Timothy saying, “Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, ‘You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,’ and, ‘The laborer deserves his wages’” (1 Timothy 5:17–18, ESV). Paul commanded that elders who devote themselves to teaching the scriptures be honored in two ways. They are to be honored with respect, and they are to be honored with financial compensation for their work. What did Paul base this on? The moral principle at the heart of the civil laws given to Israel, “‘You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,’ and, ‘The laborer deserves his wages.’”

So many more examples can be given. The point is simple. God’s moral law, which is summarized in the Ten Commandments, remains for the New Covenant people of God. It is our standard and norm. It is written for us, not on stone, as if we are to merely hang it on the walk and try, with our own strength to keep. No, it is written on our hearts by the Spirit. God, by his grace, has not only washed our sins away and imputed Christ’s righteousness to us. He has also renewed us so that we might know and keep God’s law from the heart. 

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Conclusion

Our confession sums all of this up very nicely in chapter 19. I’ll read paragraphs 5 through 7 as we conclude. 

2LCF 19.5. The moral law doth for ever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof, and that not only in regard of the matter contained in it, but also in respect of the authority of God the Creator, who gave it; neither doth Christ in the Gospel any way dissolve, but much strengthen this obligation.

(Romans 13:8-10; James 2:8, 10-12; James 2:10, 11; Matthew 5:17-19; Romans 3:31)

Paragraph 6. Although true believers be not under the law as a covenant of works, to be thereby justified or condemned, yet it is of great use to them as well as to others, in that as a rule of life, informing them of the will of God and their duty, it directs and binds them to walk accordingly; discovering also the sinful pollutions of their natures, hearts, and lives, so as examining themselves thereby, they may come to further conviction of, humiliation for, and hatred against, sin; together with a clearer sight of the need they have of Christ and the perfection of his obedience; it is likewise of use to the regenerate to restrain their corruptions, in that it forbids sin; and the threatenings of it serve to show what even their sins deserve, and what afflictions in this life they may expect for them, although freed from the curse and unalloyed rigour thereof. The promises of it likewise show them God’s approbation [approval] of obedience, and what blessings they may expect upon the performance thereof, though not as due to them by the law as a covenant of works; so as man’s doing good and refraining from evil, for the law encourageth to the one and deterreth from the other, is no evidence of his being under the law and not under grace.

(Romans 6:14; Galatians 2:16; Romans 8:1; Romans 10:4; Romans 3:20; Romans 7:7, etc; Romans 6:12-14; 1 Peter 3:8-13)

Paragraph 7. Neither are the aforementioned uses of the law 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, requireth to be done.

(Galatians 3:21; Ezekiel 36:27)

Old Testament Reading: Exodus 20:12-17

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.” (Exodus 20:12–17, ESV)

New Testament Reading: 1 Timothy 6:11–16

“But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.” (1 Timothy 6:11–16, ESV)

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Please excuse any typos and misspellings within this manuscript. It has been published online for the benefit of the saints of Emmaus Reformed Baptist Church but without the benefit of proofreading.

Introduction

Over the past four weeks, we have considered the first four of the Ten Commandments. The first four of the Ten Commandments are sometimes referred to as the first table of the law. This terminology is helpful because it draws our attention to the fact that the first four commandments go together. What unites them? They all have to do with man’s relationship to God. How are we are to relate to God? What are our duties before him? That is the question that the first four commandments answer. One, we are to worship him alone knowing that he alone is God – besides him, there is no other. Two, we are to worship him in the way that he says, not with images, knowing that he is a most pure spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in all of his perfections. Three, we are to have reverence for God. We must not take up his name in vain, for God is holy and will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. And four, a proportion of time is to be set apart for the worship of God. One day in seven is to be observed as holy unto the Lord. It is to be a day for rest from normal work. It is a day for worship. And we know that “from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ [the Sabbath day was] the last day of the week, and from the resurrection of Christ [the Sabbath day] was changed into the first day of the week, which is called the Lord’s Day: and is to be continued to the end of the world as the Christian Sabbath, the observation of the last day of the week being abolished.” So you can see clearly that the first table of the law is about man’s duty in relation to God. The first table is summarized by the command of Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5, ESV). 

Now as we turn our attention to the second table of the law I want you to see that it has to do with man’s relationship with man. How are commandments five through ten related? All of them have to do with the question, how are we to relate to one another as human beings in this world that God has made? We will consider each of these commandments carefully in the weeks to come. As has been our custom, we will ask what each of them requires and forbids. In brief, the second table of God’s law teaches us that children are to honor their parents. This establishes that honor is to be shown to all men and women in their various positions. Two, murder is forbidden. This forbids the unjust taking of human life and requires us to use lawful means to endeavor to preserve our own life and the life of others. Three, adultery is forbidden. This requires the preservation of our own and our neighbor’s chastity, in heart, speech, and behavior. Four, stealing is forbidden. This requires the lawful procuring and furthering of the wealth and outward estate of ourselves and others while forbidding the unjust procurement of wealth. Five, bearing false witness is forbidden. This requires us to maintain and promote truth between man and man, and of our own and our neighbor’s good name, especially in witness-bearing. And six, covetousness in the heart is forbidden. This requires us to pursue contentment in our condition and to maintain a right and charitable frame of spirit towards our neighbor, and all that is his. It should be recognized that violations of the other commandments contained within the second table do often flow from a heart that is covetous or discontent. 

As I have said, we will look at each of these commandments of the second table of God’s law in the weeks to come, but today I wish to speak with you about the usefulness of God’s moral law. We have been considering God’s law. We have been learning about what it requires and forbids. But here in this sermon, I wish to ask the question, what is God’s law good for? What are its uses? Brothers and sisters, I hope you can see why this is a very important question to ask. It is one thing to know what God’s law is, but it is another thing to know how it is to be used. 

Parents, if you give your child a knife as a gift, it is important that they know what it is. They need to know its components and how it is designed. Yes, I understand that these things are obvious to most, but the child needs to know the difference between the blade and the handle. They need to know which side of the blade is sharp. And, if it is a folding knife, they need to how the locking mechanism is designed. In other words, they need to know what the thing they are handling is. But more than this, they need to know how to use it. I wonder how many fathers have said to their children, it’s not a hammer, son (or daughter), it’s a knife. Or, it’s not a chisel, it’s a knife. Or, be sure to cut away from your hand, and not towards it. Or, use it to cut this, but never cut that. My point is this: just as it is one thing to know what a knife is, and another thing to know how to use it, so too it is one thing to know what God’s law is – what it requires and forbids and to understand its parts – but it is another thing to understand what its uses are. I’m afraid that many have done great harm to themselves and to others through the misuse of God’s law. They may understand what God’s law is (what it says, and what it requires and forbids), but by using God’s law in the wrong way, many have done great harm. 

In previous sermons, I have told you about what God’s law is. We’ve considered what each commandment forbids and requires as we have attempted to get to the heart of the matter. I’ve even mentioned that in the law that God delivered to Old Covenant Israel through Moses we find moral, civil (or judicial), and ceremonial laws. The ceremonial laws given to Israel governed Old Covenant worship. The judicial laws were used to govern Old Covenant Israel as a nation. And the moral law, which is for all people living in all times and places, was delivered to Israel too. It was contained in the Ten Words that God spoke to Israel from Sinai and later wrote on tablets of stone. I have also distinguished between moral law and positive. So I have, in a very basic and introductory way, told you about the various parts or components found within the law of Moses. I have described what God’s law is. But in this sermon, I wish to speak directly to the issue of the usefulness of God’s moral law. 

How does God use his law in the world now that man has fallen into sin? That is the question. And there are three answers to that question. One, God uses his moral law to restrain evil in the world. Two, God uses his moral law to show the world its sin and to drive his elect to Christ through the preaching of the gospel. And three, God uses his moral law to sanctify his people, to show them how they are to walk in this world for their good and the glory of his name.  

I had intended to cover all three functions of the law in this sermon but ran out of space. So today we will consider the first use, and next Sunday we will consider the other two, Lord willing. 

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To Restrain Evil

What are the uses of God’s moral law? The first thing I will say is this: Since the fall of man into sin, God uses his moral law to restrain evil in the world. This is an often forgotten or ignored use of God’s moral law. Again I say, since the fall of man into sin, God uses his moral law to restrain evil in the world. 

God is King over all creation. He is the Sovereign Lord of his people. And he is also the Sovereign Lord of those who do not honor him as such. He is God Almighty. Nothing is outside his control. He created the heavens and the earth in the beginning, and he does now govern all that he has made. 

And what is God doing in this world now? 

Well, stated very briefly, God, by his grace, is establishing his eternal kingdom. This he is doing through Jesus the Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the means of the proclamation of the gospel. 

I will remind you that the establishment of God’s eternal kingdom was the goal when God created the heavens and earth. When God created he made realms and he filled those realms with rulers. Adam and Eve were the pinnacle of creation. And when God made man he placed him in a garden and offered the eternal kingdom through the Covenant of Works. Adam was to obey God the King and enter into eternal life. He was to obey God the King and enter into eternal rest. He was to obey God the King and enter into glory. Or, to use kingdom language, Adam was to obey God the King, and in so doing usher in the consummation of the eternal kingdom of God. I am stating this rapidly and succinctly to you because you have heard this from me before. The Kingdom of God was offered to Adam, but forfeited. The establishment the eternal Kingdom of God, which is is so beautifully portrayed for us at the end of the book of Revelation, was always the goal. The first Adam failed to obtain it. The second Adam, Christ the Lord, succeeded.

When Adam fell from the state of perfection and into sin by listening, not to the voice of his King, but to the voice of that rebel and traitor, Satan, three things happened. 

One, another kingdom was born. Before this moment, there was one kingdom on earth – God’s kingdom. But after the rebellion of Adam, another kingdom emerged – the kingdom, not of God, but of Satan – the kingdom, not of light, but of darkness – the kingdom, not of heaven, but of this world. This rebel kingdom came into existence when Adam, who was made to be a king on earth loyal to the King of kings, and Lord of lords, YHWH, transferred his allegiance to another. Adam bowed his knee, not to YHWH, but to Satan, when he listened to his voice instead of God’s and ate of the tree of which God said, you shall not eat of it lest you die. So then, the first thing that happened when Adam rebelled is that a rebel kingdom was introduced into the world. 

And the second thing that happened was this: God Almighty showed mercy to Adam and to Eve by delaying the final judgment. And he showed grace to them and to his descendants by promising to defeat the kingdom of Satan and to establish the eternal kingdom of God (which was offered to them but lost) in another way, namely, through the Messiah who would one day be born into the world through the process of human procreation and by the power of God Almighty. He would come to atone for sin, to set his people free, and to usher in the eternal kingdom of God, which he would obtain through his obedience to the eternal covenant. When Adam rebelled, God, in his mercy, delayed the final judgment. And God, by his grace, promised to redeem. 

Now, the third thing that happened when Adam fell from perfection and into sin was that God, in his mercy and grace, began to uphold and preserve this fallen world while his plans for the redemption of his elect were accomplished. Of course, God upheld and sustained the created world even before Adam fell into sin. But here I am saying that something new happened after Adam sinned. If God was to bring the Messiah into the world through the seed of the woman as he promised, then it would be required of him to preserve the fallen and rebellious human race until all of his redemptive purposes were accomplished. And this he has done. This he will do until all of his sheep are brought into the fold. Indeed, from Adam and Eve, Abraham was born, and he was set apart from the nations. From Abraham, David was born. And from David, Christ was born into the world. Here I am wanting you to see that all of this redemptive history – which is, of course, the history that the scriptures focus upon – could not have happened if God Almighty did not preserve the fallen world.

So, how does God preserve the fallen world? 

Well, in more ways than we can comprehend. Indeed, we confess that there is a great mystery in this. But in general, we say, first of all,  that God upholds the natural order of the created world. The sun rises and sets, the rains fall, the seasons come and go, there is springtime and harvest. This will remain until heaven and earth pass away at Christ’s coming. This upholding and maintenance of the natural world is owed to the providential care of God Almighty. God upholds the natural world through the Word. This is what the writer to the Hebrews says: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…” (Hebrews 1:1–3, ESV). So, God the Father upholds the natural world through the Son. He preserves the natural order of things so that human life may go on. This is in fulfillment to the covenant promises he made with all creation in the days of Noah, when he said, “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22, ESV).

And not only does God uphold and preserve the natural order of things so that life may go on until all his purposes are accomplished, we confess that he does also restrain evil in the world so that humanity does not consume itself. Again, I say, God’s ways are mysterious. It is impossible for us to comprehend all of the ways that  God restrains evil in the world. We know that he sometimes works to frustrate the plans and purposes of wicked nations and men. Sometimes he acts in a very direct way in the outpouring of his wrath. But even more basic than this is the way that he preserves humanity through his natural and moral law. Men and women have the moral law written on their hearts, remember. Stated differently, men and women, having been made in God’s image, have consciences. Some have badly suppressed and distorted this law that is revealed in nature and that is within them. Some men and cultures have grown exceeding perverse. Some we would even call psychopaths and sociopaths. But most are not! And I am saying that this is God’s mercy. God, in his mercy, does restain evil in individuals and in nations so that we are not as bad as we could be. God, in his mercy, does bless us with systems of governance that are at least somewhat just. The point is this: God, in his merciful providence, restrains evil in the world. He does this so that we do not consume ourselves. He does this so that his purposes of redemption will be accomplished. He does this in many ways, one of them being through his upholding and preservation of his moral law in the world he has made. 

Believe me, brothers and sisters, I am keenly aware of the wickedness that exists within the hearts of men. And I’m mindful of the injustices that exist in all of the nations of the earth, including our own. This world is filled with wickedness. I’m aware of it. But have you ever wondered why it is not worse? I have noticed that Christians are often troubled by the question, why is this world so bad? I think a better question to ask is, why is this world not worse than it is? Have you ever asked that question? Have you ever wondered why the wickedness of man has been so restrained throughout the history of the world? If we consider the scriptures to be true we must confess that it is God who preserves humanity through the restraint of evil. One of the ways he does this is through the preservation of the moral law which was written on man’s heart in the beginning and on stone in the days of Moses, a record of it having been preserved for us in the Holy Scriptures.

Just a moment ago I reminded you that God covenanted with all creation in the days of Noah to preserve the order of the natural world so that life might go on as he accomplishes his redemptive purposes. “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22, ESV), God promised. Well, we should also remember that he promised to restrain evil in societies, saying, “And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. ‘Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image’” (Genesis 9:5–6, ESV). There is much to be said about this text. Indeed, a lot has been said about it in the teaching ministry if this church. For now I want to simply remind you of God’s promise to uphold a degree of justice within societies while seedtime and harvest remain. And if there is to be justice, there must be a moral law, and I am saying that God, in his mercy, has preserved it, and he will preserve it until Christ returns to make all things new. 

The question I have asked is, how does God use his law in the world now that man has fallen into sin?  And the first answer I have given is that God uses his moral law to restrain evil in the world. Notice, I did not say that evil is extinguished by the moral law. Now, the moral law cannot extinguish sin, but God does use it to restrain evil in the world. Justice is upheld in nations… somewhat. And justice can be upheld somewhat only because God’s moral standard is written on man’s heart and embedded within the created order. Men know, to one degree or another, that children are to honor parents, that murder, adultery, theft, lying, and covetousness are to be avoided. When this moral law flourishes, societies flourish. When this moral law manifests itself in the just laws of a nation, that nation will prosper. Where this moral law is disregarded and suppressed in men, and where injustice prevails, societies and nations will crumble. Please hear me: this is also one of the ways that God preserves the human race. Societies that are given over to wickedness and injustice will simply not survive. I supposed it is a good example of the survival of the fittest principle, but one that is often forgotten. Men assume that the wealthy and powerful will prevail, but they will not. Evil men and unjust societies might prosper for a time, but they will eventually crumble and fall. Why? Because they fight against God and his natural law. If God does not judge them directly, they will consume themselves as they bite and devour one another. As unpleasant as this is to witness, God’s people know that God will preserve the world he has made while his purposes of redemption are accomplished, for he has promised. Again, he has said, “And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. ‘Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image’” (Genesis 9:5–6, ESV).

So here is one way that God uses his moral law in the world today. He uses it to restrain evil in the world until Christ returns. By it, even the unregenerate are able to see the difference between right and wrong, good and evil. By it, even the unregenerate are able to discern the way of wisdom. By it – by the moral law – societies are able to establish and enforce laws of justice so that men are deterred from doing violence to the person or property of others. God uses his moral law to curb wickedness in the lives of men and in nations. Where there is a disregard for God’s moral law – where there is much perversity – the lives of individuals and of societies will crumble, for the way of the wicked does lead to death. But even in this – even when men and nations are judged by God as he gives them over to their perverse passions –  we can see God’s merciful providence in the preservation of the world he has made.     

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Application

If this is indeed one use of God’s moral law, then what is our obligation as Christian sojourners as it pertains to this? I have four suggestions for application:

One, as Christian sojourners we ourselves must strive to live holy lives in obedience to God’s moral law individually, in our homes, in our churches, and in our communities. As we do, with hearts filled with faith, hope, love, contentment, peace, and joy, it may be that the Lord would draw some to salvation through faith in Christ by the proclamation of the gospel – this is our leading desire and our highest aim. But it also may also be that the Lord uses us as a preservative within the culture as those who look in upon us see the wisdom and goodness of God’s moral law in us. 

Two, as Christian sojourners it is right for us to remind the unregenerate of the moral law that is within their hearts by nature. We can appeal to the conscience of those not in Christ. The moral law written on our hearts is the same as the one written on theirs. And the moral law summarized in the Ten Commandments is also the same. Those in Christ see it very clearly because they have God’s Word and have been regenerated by God’s Spirit. The law has been written on our hearts anew and afresh by the Spirit so that we do not only know God’s law but desire to keep it. Those in the world might only perceive God’s moral law dimly. Perhaps it is very dim for some due to weathering effects of sin. But it is there nonetheless. Christian sojourners are right to proclaim the moral law to the world. We must proclaim the gospel too, of course. Again, our highest aim is that men and women, boys and girls, would hear the gospel and come to faith in Christ for the salvation of their souls. But the Lord may also use us to restrain evil in the world in this way as we appeal to the consciences of our fellow human beings and help them to see the wisdom and goodness of God’s moral law.  

Three, Christian sojourners must also seek to establish and maintain just laws in the societies in which they live as they have the opportunity to do so. Please allow me to make five clarifying remarks about this point before bringing this sermon to a conclusion.  

Firstly, laws of justice cannot be established and maintained in society without God’s moral law. Justice depends upon moral absolutes. How can a society establish a legal code wherein crimes and their corresponding punishments are stated without a moral foundation to stand upon. Indeed, this is a major problem within our society. God’s natural law is being badly distorted and suppressed. It is no wonder, then, that injustice is prevailing. Christian sojourners are right to speak up in an attempt to bring moral clarity to the conversation.   

Secondly, as Christian sojourners seek to bring moral clarity to the world they had better be sure that they are not hypocrites. All Christians struggle with sin, that is true. We fail to keep the very law that we have come to love. This is due to the corruption that remains within us. We should be honest about that, and magnify our Redemer, even as we speak to issues of morality within the culture. That is not hypocrisy. But when professing Christians live in unrepentant sin while speaking harshly and critically of the sins of others, this is hypocrisy. It is most detestable to the world, and understandingly so. Christians must not live in unrepentant sin. And neither should Christians speak to the sins of others in a harsh, arrogant, judgemental, condescending and “holier than thou” manner. It is possible to confront evil in society with love and humility in the heart. We must. 

Thirdly, as Christian sojourners seek to bring moral clarity to the societies in which they live, and as they seek to promote justice within those societies, they must remember that this is not their highest calling. Christian sojourners must not merely be concerned with the betterment of society. No, we must always maintain an eternal perspective. We must be more concerned with the salvation of souls. We must always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us. We must be eager and on the lookout for opportunities to testify concerning the mercy and grace of God shown to us in Christ Jesus and to proclaim the gospel of peace. Some Christians might be called to devote themselves to public service. Some might be called to engage in politics. Please hear me. Not all are! But some are. But even these must maintain the perspective that life in this world, and the governments of this world, along with their judicial systems, are temporary. They are not eternal. They will pass away when Christ comes again. This does not mean that they are unimportant. But it does mean that they are not ultimate. As Christian sojourners, we must be ultimately concerned with the furtherance of God’s eternal kingdom, and we know that his kingdom is not of this world. 

Fourthly, we must remember that social transformation and the pursuit of justice in society are not the mission of the church. Now, some of you might think that I have just contradicted myself. In fact, I’ve been careful with my words. I have said that Christian sojourners may be used by the Lord to bring moral clarity to a society. And I have said that Christian sojourners may engage in political service so as to enact and uphold just laws, etc. But here I am talking about the mission of the church. What is the mission that Christ gave to the church, with first his Apostles, and later his elders, in the lead? What is the mission of the church as an institution? Christ was clear about this when he spoke to his disciples saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18–20, ESV). This is the mission of the church. The church must maintain a laser-like focus on this work. And please hear me: if the church would do her job – if the church would in fact be faithful to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, to baptize those who believe, to administer the Lord’s Supper, to disciple according to the scriptures, and to teach, then Christian sojourns would be well equipped to engage the culture and to serve in the civil realm as politicians, lawyers, judges, and the like, should Christ call them to this work. Ironically, when the church as an institution, with its elders in the lead, is distracted from her God-given mission – when she focuses instead on the transformation of the culture and on matters of social justice – she fails in two ways. The church, as an institution, will fail in her misguided attempt to transform culture, for she is not called or equipped for that work. And she will also fail to do what God has called her to do because she is distracted. The end result of this distraction is that both the church and the culture in which she lives will be worse off. Professing Christians will be immature and even carnal because they have not been taught to observe all that Christ has commanded us, and the culture will be without their witness. Worse yet, the culture will come to see the church for what it is – carnal, immature, and hypocritical – and they will disregard it and even come to despise it. May we as a church be faithful to do what Christ has commanded, and may we as Christian sojourners be faithful to our individual callings in both the sacred and secular realms. 

My fifth and final clarifying remark regarding the Christian sojourner seeking to establish and maintain just laws in the societies in which they live is this: If God has called and equipped you to serve in the civil realm in this way – if he has called and equipped you to be a Christian lawmaker, lawyer, judge, law enforcement officer, etc.  – then it is especially important for you to understand God’s moral law. You must know what God’s moral law is, what it requires, and forbids. But you must also understand its uses. As a civil servant, you should give special consideration to the use of the law that we have considered this morning. God’s moral law is used to restrain evil in the world. God’s moral law is the foundaion for the just laws of societies. You must know that the laws of nations may differ in the specifics depending upon the circumstances, but all must have God’s natural and moral law at their core if they are to be just. 

As we continue in our study of the book of the law of Moses we will eventually encounter the judicial or civil laws which God gave to Old Covenant Israel. And when we do encounter them, we will see that there were some things unique about their law code. 

For one, some of the civil laws of Israel and their corresponding punishments were unusually strict. For example, in Old Covenant Israel, persistently rebellious children were to be put to death. You may go to Deuteronomy 21:18 to read about that. When we encounter Old Covenant civil laws like these we must ask ourselves, are these civil laws and their corresponding punishments intended for all nations, or were they in some ways unique to the Old Covenant Israel? Answer: They were unique to Old Covenant Israel. Some laws were unusually strict. Why? Israel has been set apart as a holy nation. God entered into a holy covenant with them. He gave them a holy land when his holy name was to be worshiped. There in that land, the kingdom of God was prefigured.  Did the civil laws of Israel serve to restrain evil in that nation just as the civil laws of every nation do? Well, yes. But in an extreme way given Israel’s unique place, having been set apart by God as holy, so that through them the Messiah would be brought into the world. 

And here is another thing unique about the civil laws of Old Covenant Israel. The civil laws of Israel prescribed penalties, not only for crimes against persons but also for violations of the first table of God’s moral law. Sabbath-breakers were to be put to death, for example. You may go to Numbers 15:32 to read about that. Idolaters were also to be put to death. You may go to Deuteronomy 17:1 to read about that. Again, we must ask the question, were these civil laws intended for all nations, or for Israel only. We say, they were unique to Old Covenant Israel. Why? For the same reasons stated above – they were a holy nation set apart for a particular time and for redemptive purposes. When, in the fulness of time, the Christ was brought into the world through Israel to atone for sins, to accomplish salvation, and to inaugurate the New Covenant,  the judicial law code of Israel “expired together with the state of that people, not obliging any now by virtue of that institution; their general equity only being of moral use” (2LCF 19.4).

Why am I saying this now? Well, to make it clear that if you love God’s law and wish to see it used to restrain evil in society, then you had better understand what it says, and also how it is to be used. Common governments, and their common law codes, are to be very limited in their scope. They are to concern themselves with upholding justice amongst men. When violence is done to a person or to their property, then restitution is to be made. Civil governments and their civil law codes are to be concerned with that, and not more. In other words, whereas the law code of Old Covenant Israel was concerned with punishing violations of both tables of the moral law, common nations are to concern themselves with violations related to the second table of the law only, while leaving men and women, boys and girls, to worship God according to the conscience. Who is responsible now to promote and maintain the proper worship of God according to the first table of the law? The church is. And the church is to be left free to do it is work.

I have one final suggestion for application, brothers and sisters, and it is very brief. Take comfort in the covenant promises that God made to all creation in the days of Noah. He promised to preserve the natural order of things and to restrain evil in the world so that the human race will endure until all of his redemptive purposes are accomplished and Christ comes again to bring the new heavens and earth, in which righteousness dwells. Our God is sovereign, brothers and sisters. He is the King of kings, and Lord of lords. Though the corruption and evil in the world seem so very great, our heavenly Father is sovereign still.  

Old Testament Reading: Exodus 20:8-11

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20:8–11, ESV)

New Testament Reading: Mark 2:23–28

“One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees were saying to him, ‘Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?’ And he said to them, ‘Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?’ And he said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.’” (Mark 2:23–28, ESV)

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Please excuse any typos and misspellings within this manuscript. It has been published online for the benefit of the saints of Emmaus Reformed Baptist Church but without the benefit of proofreading.

Introduction

We have come now to the fourth of the Ten Commandments, which is “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” 

There are two things that I would like to remind you of by way of introduction. These two points have been made in previous sermons, but they are crucial to a proper understanding of the fourth commandment, and so I will restate them now. 

One, the Ten Commandments contain the moral law of God. We confess that the moral law is from God. It was written on man’s heart at creation. God made man a moral creature and gave him the ability to know right from wrong, and good from evil, and he inscribed (if you will) the moral law on man’s soul. The moral law of God applies to all people at all times and in all places, therefore. I have said in previous sermons that judicial or civil laws may change. Judicial laws are rooted in the moral law, but they may take different forms in different nations depending upon the circumstances. Israel’s Old Covenant judicial laws were indeed from God, but they were unique to that nation given their unique place in God’s program of redemption. And the ceremonial laws given to Israel under the Old Covenant were also unique to them. These were laws governing Old Covenant religious practice, and they have expired with the Old Covenant, for they were fulfilled in Christ. But the moral law which is contained within the Ten Commandments is universal, unchanging, and ever-binding on all men. If you wish to read a scripture text that speaks clearly about this, you can go to Romans chapter 2.

It would take me a very long time to say everything that could be said about the moral or natural law of God. For now, I simply wish to remind you of what we confess to be true. The same moral law which was written on Adam’s heart at creation is summarized in the Ten Commandments. And this same law – the moral law – is rewritten, not in stone (as the Ten Commandments were), but upon the hearts of all who believe upon Christ when they are regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit. This is what the LORD says in that famous passage found in Jerimiah 31 wherein he speaks of the coming New Covenant, saying, “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31:33, ESV).

So then, the moral law was delivered to Adam at creation, having been written on his heart, as it were. The same moral law was delivered to Israel. It was contained within the Ten Commandments which he spoke to them from Sinai and later delivered to them through Moses on tablets of stone. And this same moral law remains today. It remains within all men, though it is badly suppressed and distorted by sinners. And it is written anew and afresh upon the hearts of all who are regenerated by the Spirit and united to Christ by faith. We who have faith in Christ love God’s law and desire to keep it (though we often fall short) because God has renewed us by his grace. He has taken the moral law which was delivered to Israel through Moses on stone, and he has written it on our hearts through Christ, the mediator of the New Covenant, and by the Holy Spirit. Finally, it is by this moral or natural law that all men will be judged when Christ returns if not united to him by faith and washed in his blood. 

So why am I reminding you of this? Why am I reminding you that moral law is permanent and unchanging and that it is contained within the Ten Commandments? Well, it is for this reason. Most Christians will admit that it has always been true that YHWH alone is to be worshiped, not with images, and with reverence. They will admit that parents are to be honored by their children, and that murder, adultery, theft, deceit, and covetousness are sinful and always will be. In other words, most will freely acknowledge that nine of the Ten Commandments remain and apply universally. But I have noticed that many Christians today disregard the fourth commandment, which is, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” But here it is situated right in the middle of the Ten Commandments, which contain God’s moral law. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy”, the law says. 

My point is this: the law concerning Sabbath observance is moral. It is universal and unchanging. God created the world in such a way that a pattern was established for work, rest, and worship. Adam was to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Israel was to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Christ remembered the Sabbath day and kept it holy, and even declared himself to be Lord of the Sabbath. And all who are in Christ are to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy too, even to this present day, and on until the consummation of all things, and our eternal rest in Christ, of which the Sabbath day is a sign.

The second thing that I wish to remind you of by way of introduction is that some things were said to Old Covenant Israel when the Ten Commandments were delivered to them that were unique to them, and do not apply, therefore, to all people, at all times, and in all places. 

Is the moral law contained within the Ten Words that were delivered to Israel through Moses on Sinai? Yes, it is! It is summarily comprehended there. But do not forget that other things are said in the Ten Commandments that were unique to Old Covenant Israel. Take the preface, for example. It was to Israel, and to no one else, that God said, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Exodus 20:2, ESV). And remember also the warning that was attached to the second commandment which forbids idolatry. God warned that he would visit “the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate [him]”, and promised to show “steadfast love to thousands of those who love [him] and keep [his] commandments” (Exodus 20:5-6, ESV). These blessings and curses pertained to the Covenant of Works that God made with Israel in those days – he made that covenant with them, and not with anyone else. And when we come to the command concerning children honoring father and mother, we will see that a blessing was promised to those who obeyed. “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12, ESV). God promised to give Israel the land of Cannan and to bless them in it if they obeyed. He made no such promise to any other people. So then, this promise was specifically for them, though application can certainly be drawn from it, which Paul the apostle does in his letter to the Ephesians. 

What is my point? My point is that in Exodus 20 we find the moral law communicated to Israel, but it is clearly intermingled with other warnings and remarks that were unique to Old Covenant Israel. We cannot forget that God delivered this law to them while entering into a covenant with them. He gave them the moral law (which is for all men in all times and places), but he also spoke to them specifically as his covenant people. Some things were said to them, and not to us, therefore. And if we wish to understand God’s law correctly we must learn to distinguish between the ever-abiding moral laws themselves and the things which were added to them – either words of warning, or words of explanation, or positive laws of a judicial or ceremonial kind. 

These two points are especially important to remember as we consider the fourth of the Ten Commandments. This is because the fourth of the Ten Commandments contains a mixture of moral law and positive law. 

What is the moral law which is universally binding and unchanging? It is this: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” That will never change – not until Christ returns to usher in the eternal rest of which the weekly Sabbath is a sign. Men and women in all times and places are to worship YHWH alone, not with images, with reverence, with one day in seven being observed as a day that is holy, ceasing from work to engage in worship. That pattern of one out of every seven was established, not in the days of Moses, but at the time of the creation of this world. But do not be surprised when we find that some things about the fourth commandment have changed. What has changed? The day of observance has changed from the seventh day to the first, and for good reason. We will return to consider the reason for the change of the day in just a moment, but for now, I simply wish to remind you that in the law of Moses in general, and even in the Ten Words of Exodus 20, we find a mixture of unchanging and universal moral laws and things that were in some ways unique to Old Covenant Israel. We must be careful to distinguish between them if we are to handle the law of God correctly. 

With that rather long introduction now out of the way, let us consider the fourth commandment itself. 

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The Law

YHWH spoke to Israel saying, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20:8–11, ESV)

The first three commandments were stated negatively. “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image… You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain…” (Exodus 20:2–7, ESV). These commandments tell us what is forbidden, and we know that what is required of us is implied. God alone is to be worshipped. He is to be worshipped in the way that he prescribes. And he is to revered. 

The fourth commandment is stated positively. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy”, God’s law says. I don’t think we are to make too much of this because, with every negative command, the positive is implied. And with every positive command, the negative is implied. Each of these Ten Commandments forbids and requires things of us. Nevertheless, it is true that while the first three commandments place the emphasis upon sins to be avoided, the fourth commandment places the emphasis upon the practice to be observed. To “remember” the Sabbath day is to observe it or to keep, and it is to be kept thoughtfully, as we will see. The Sabbath day is to be remembered. 

Sabbath means rest, or “ceasing. The Sabbath day is a rest day, a day for stopping, or ceasing. The question is, what are we to cease from on the Sabbath day? The text tells us. “Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.” 

Notice what the commandment does not say. It does not say, cease from all activity, but rather, cease from your work, or labors. Cease, in other words, from the common work that you do on the other days of the week. Put a full stop to your normal labor, your ordinary chores, and from those common activities that are appropriate do be done on the common days of the week, but not on the Sabbath day, for the Sabbath day is to be honored as holy. You are to cease from your working, and so too are those in your household. Even the sojourners in Israel were to cease from work on the Sabbath day. In other words, work was not to be delegated to others in Israel.

Indeed, the Sabbath day is a rest day. It is a stop day, or a day to cease from ordinary work. But notice that it is also to be regarded as a holy day. Listen again to the commandment: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8, ESV). As I have said, the Sabbath day is to be observed as a rest day, but this does not mean that it is a day for inactivity. On the Sabbath day, we are to put a stop to our ordinary and common work so that we might engage in a special kind of activity, namely the activity of holy rest and holy worship. In other words, the Sabbath day is not to be an empty day, but a day filled with a special kind of activity. The day is to set apart from all the others as holy unto the Lord. It is a day for holy resting, holy contemplation of the works of God, holy fellowship, and holy worship. 

Notice that the reason for the Sabbath is stated in verse 11 with the words, “For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:11, ESV). This is a reference to Genesis 2:1-3. Here in the fourth commandment, we have a reminder of the original institution of the Sabbath day at the time of creation. This is very, very important. Who instituted the Sabbath? We say, God did. When did he do it? In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them? And how did he institute the Sabbath? By accomplishing the work of creation in six days, by resting from his work of creation on the seventh day, and by blessing the seventh day to make it holy. Who is to honor the Sabbath day, therefore? Adam and Eve were to honor the Sabbath day along with all of their descendants. This pattern of six days of work and one day for rest and worship was established at the time of creation. It was baked into the created order, if you will.

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The Heart Of The Matter

As we transition now to the portion of the sermon where I try to get to the heart of the matter, please allow me to make a few more observations about the institution of the original Sabbath. If we wish to understand the fourth commandment, we must understand what the Sabbath was originally.  

One, we must see that God did not need six days to create the heavens and earth, nor did he need a day of rest. No, he took six days to create the heavens and earth, and he took a day of rest in order to establish a pattern for us. 

Two, when the text says, “So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy…” (Genesis 2:3, ESV) we are to see that he blessed the day and made it holy, not for himself, but for us. All of the days of the week are, in and of themselves, the same. The sun rises and sets in the same manner on each day of the week. Time passes in the same way. The winds blow, the clouds move along, the birds sing, and the rain falls in the same way on the first day as on the seventh. What made the seventh day holy at the time of creation? We must say, it was not anything about the nature of the seventh day, but only by the pronouncement of God. God, by his works and by his word, set the day apart as holy. In other words, Adam would not have known that the seventh day was to be regarded as a holy day if the LORD had not said so. To use a technical term, the seventh day was made holy by way of the imposition of positive law. Men know by nature that God is to be worshipped, and that a particular proportion of time is to be devoted to worship. Just look at all of the religions of the world. They all have their holy days, don’t they? But when God created the world he did so in such a way to establish the pattern of one day in every seven. More than this, he blessed the seventh day and set it apart as holy by way of positive law.

Thirdly, and connected to this, we must remember that positive laws are symbolic in nature, and so it was with the seventh-day Sabbath. Just as the trees in the garden, circumcision, baptism and the Lord’s Supper signify or symbolize things, so too the seventh day Sabbath signified or symbolized something. What did it signify? Well, many things. One, it served as a perpetual reminder that God made the heavens and earth. If you cannot see why men need to be perpetually reminded of this, then I do not know what to say. We need to be reminded that God is God, and we are not, that he is the Creator, and we are his creatures, that this world and all that is in it belongs to him, and not to us. We are guests here, and stewards of the good gifts that God has given to us. The weekly Sabbath reminds us of God’s act of creation. Two, the Sabbath day reminds us that God created in six days and entered into rest so that we might follow his example. God took six days to create and entered into rest, and we are to do the same weekly. We are to be imitators of God in all of our work and in our rest. Three, the Sabbath day signifies the eternal rest of God and invites us to enter into it. There was no end to the seventh day of creation. This is because there is no end to God’s rest. But I say that we are invited to enter into God’s rest through the symbolism of the seventh-day Sabbath because this was clearly its original meaning. We must remember that God blessed the seventh day and made it holy while entering into the Covenant of Works with Adam in the garden. What was Adam to do? He was to work the garden to expand its borders. He was to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. He was to abstain from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and in due time he was to eat of the tree of life. What was the promised reward for obedience to the terms of this covenant? Eternal life, also known as, eternal rest in God. The commands concerning the trees were positive laws. They were filled with symbolism in connection with the Covenant of Works that God made with Adam in the beginning. And here I am saying to you that the seventh-day Sabbath had a similar significance or meaning. The Sabbath day itself communicated by way of symbol the invitation for man to enter into God’s rest, or to life eternal. And the seventh-day Sabbath in particular communicated the way that eternal rest would be obtained. For Adam under the Covenant of Works, the way to enter into that rest would be through work. If Adam was to eat of the tree of life and to have what it signified, he first was to be obedient to God’s law. In the same way, if Adam was to enter into God’s eternal Sabbath rest, he first had to do the work that God had given him to do. In the garden, the arrangement was this: faithful work will lead to eternal rest and glory. In other words, in general, the Sabbath day signifies eternal life and rest in the blessed presence of God. And in particular, the seventh day Sabbath signified that eternal life and rest in the blessed presence of God would have to be earned by man through obedient work. 

Let me now attempt to bring all of this together for you through a series of questions and answers. 

One, what is the natural law contained within the fourth commandment? It is that God alone is to be worshipped, not with idols, with reverence, and here it is: a particular time is to be set apart for the worship of God. This is the thing which all men seem to know intuitively, or by nature. 

Two, what is the moral law contained within the fourth commandment? It is that one day in seven is to be observed as a holy day of rest according to the pattern established by God when he created the world.

Three, what is the positive law concerning the particular day for rest and worship? We confess that “from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ [the Sabbath day] was the last day of the week, and from the resurrection of Christ [the Sabbath day] was changed into the first day of the week, which is called the Lord’s Day: and is to be continued to the end of the world as the Christian Sabbath, the observation of the last day of the week [having been] abolished.” 

If you were to ask me to present you with proof texts from the New Testament to demonstrate that, on the one hand, the weekly Sabbath day is still to be observed under the New Covenant, and on the other hand,  the Sabbath day has changed from the seventh day (Saturday) to the first day (Sunday), it would go something like this. 

First of all, in Mark 2 Jesus Christ declared himself to be Lord of the Sabbath. As Lord of the Sabbath, he taught about its proper observance. And as Lord of Sabbath, he has the authority to change the day. 

Two, Hebrews 4:9 explicitly says, “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God…” (Hebrews 4:9, ESV). The text is very clear. The writer to the Hebrews is declaring that the practice of Sabbath-keeping still remains under the New Covenant, and will remain, until the thing of which the weekly Sabbath signifies arrives, namely eternal rest in the new heavens and earth. 

Three, there are a number of passages that clearly teach that the Old Covenant, Jewish, seventh-day Sabbath, along with all of the festival and feast days associated with it,  have passed away because they have been fulfilled in Christ. Colossians 2:16-17 is the most famous of these. It says, “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath [plural in the Greek]. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ” (Colossians 2:16–17, ESV). These three terms, “festival”, “new moon”, and “Sabbaths” are used together in the Old Testament to refer to the entire religious calendar of Old Covenant Israel. As you know, Israel was not only to keep the weekly, seventh-day Sabbath, but other Sabbaths too which were connected to other feasts, such as the Passover, the feast of unleavened bread, and the feast of booths (see 2 Chronicles 8:13 as an example). Paul is saying here in Colossians 2:16-17 that the New Covenant people of God are not obligated to obey the Old Covenant positive laws regarding food and drink, and neither are they obligated to observe the Old Covenant religious calendar, including the seventh-day Sabbath, for these have been fulfilled in Christ.

Four, Christ rose from the dead on the first day of the week. And he also made a point of appearing to his disciples in his resurrection when they were assembled together on the first day of the week, which is sometimes called the eight-day. You can read the end of John’s gospel to see how he places an emphasis upon this fact. Christ (who is Lord of the Sabbath, remember) appeared to his disciples in his resurrection when they were assembled together on the first day of the week. He did this to set a precedent, or example, for them. 

Five, the New Testament is clear that it was the practice of the early church to assemble for worship on the first day of the week. For example, Acts 20:7 says, “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight”, etc.  This could not be more clear. The disciples assembled to break bread, that is, to observe the Lord’s Supper, and to listen to the preaching of the word of God. These are elements of New Covenant worship. What day did they assemble on? The first day. And listen to what Paul said to the Corinthian church, “On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.” Clearly, it was the practice of the church in the days of the Apostles to assemble on the first day, and we know from the writtings of the early church fathers that this remained their custom after the Apostles had passed. Why? Because Christ, who is the Lord of the Sabbath, established it. 

Six, in the book of Revelation this day is referred to appropriately as the Lord’s Day. In Revelation 1:10 John says, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet…”, etc. 

As is often the case, there is no one passage that says it all. But when taken all together the New Testamnet is clear that when Christ rose from the dead on the first day of the week there was a fulfillment of the old seventh-day Sabbath. It passed away. But the practice of Sabbath-keeping remains. God’s people are still to rest and worship one day in seven, but the day has changed from the seventh to the first. 

But why?

You see, I can present proof texts to you and demonstrate from the New Testament that the Sabbath day is still to be remembered and kept holy on the first day of the week. But I think it is also important for us to understand why?

Why does Sabbath-keeping remain? And why has the day changed? To understand the why, we cannot simply proof text. We need to also understand what the Sabbath is about. 

Why does Sabbath-keeping remain? I’ve already said it, but I will say it once more. It is because the thing of which the Sabbath is a sign is not here yet. What did the Sabbath day signify from the beginning? In brief, eternal life, eternal rest in the presence of God Almighty. It signified the new heavens and earth. It signified the eternal state which was offered to Adam and is portrayed for us so beautifully in the last chapter of the book of Revelation. Brothers and sisters, do I need to tell you that we have not yet entered into the fullness of that rest? In fact, this is precisely the argument that the writer to the Hebrews makes. A Sabbath-keeping remains for the people of God because we have not entered into the fullness of the rest that was offered to Adam and forfeited but earned by the second Adam, Christ the Lord. Sabbath-keeping remains because the thing of which the Sabbath was a sign is not here yet in full. 

And why has the day changed from the seventh to the first? Three things must be said. 

One, the original seventh-day Sabbath was attached to the original creation. God created through the Word and by the Spirit in six days and rested on the seventh. The original creation was ruined by sin. But now, by the grace of God, there is a new creation. It too was brought into existence by the Father through the Word and Spirit. The first-day Sabbath does not only remind us of the original creation only, but of the new creation which was earned by Christ.

Two, the original seventh-day Sabbath was attached to the Covenant of Works that God made with Adam in the beginning. Work would lead to rest. That was the arrangement. And the pattern of six days of work leading to one day of rest was a fitting sign for the Covenant of Works. But now God’s people are under the New Covenant, which is the Covenant of Grace. The seventh-day Sabbath does not fit the Covenant of Grace. In a Covenant of Grace, work does not lead to rest. No, rest is freely received, and then work (or obedience) does follow. Now the moral law remains the same. One day in seven is to be a rest day and observed as holy unto the Lord. But the positive and symbolic part of the law has changed. We rest first, and then we work, for by grace and through faith we have entered into the grace which Christ has earned through his obedience. 

Three, the day of rest is now Sunday, for this is the day on which Jesus Christ rose from the grave, and everything turns on this event. When Christ rose, the power of sin was broken, the evil one was defeated, and the new creation did enter in.  

Brothers and sisters, the fourth commandment is simply this: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” Have you kept this law perfectly? We confess that we have violated this law in thought, word, and deed.

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The Gospel

Now for the gospel. Not only did Christ perfectly keep the Sabbath for you, so that you might receive his righteousness by faith. And not only did Christ die to atone for your sins, including your sins of Sabbath-breaking, so that through faith in him your sins are washed away. I also say to you, that Christ is your Sabbath rest. This is good news.  

The first Adam was disobedient and failed to enter into the rest that was offered to him. But Jesus Christ, the second Adam, was obedient. He was obedient in the whole of life, and without sin. And as our appointed mediator, he was obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. He died, was buried, he rose again on the third day, ascended to the Father, and he sat down having finished the work of redemption that was assigned to him. Christ has entered into Sabbath rest. And in him, we have a foretaste of that rest even now. When he returns, we will rest in him fully and for all eternity. 

You see, when the faithful who lived before Christ remembered the Sabbath day and kept it holy, they were reminded of the original act of creation, of the Covenant of Works that God made with Adam, of the fact that Adam fell into sin, that we fell in him, and that we have come short of the eternal rest that was offered. But as they continued to observe the seventh-day Sabbath from the days of Adam to the days of Christ, the faithful were also reminded of the promise of the gospel that had been delivered to them. They knew that eternal rest could still be obtained through faithful work! It could not be their work, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Rest would have to be earned by the work of the Messiah. In this way, when combined with the promise of the gospel, the weekly Sabbath was good news to those who believed before Christ. In other words, those with faith looked forward to the Messiah’s coming and the work that he would accomplish for them. The faithful worked on days 1 through 6 and rested on the seventh as they set their hope on the Christ who was to come in the future.

Now that Messiah has come – now that he has finished his work that the Father gave him to do – and now that he has entered into his rest – we still are to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. And when we do, we do not only remember the first creation, the Covenant of works made with Adam, the breaking of that covenant, and the promise of the gospel that was spoken even in Adam’s presence. No, we also remember that Messiah has come, that he was faithful to do the work the Father gave him to do, that he has entered into his rest, that he has ushered in a new creation. We rest in him now, and are a new creation in him. And as we sojourn in this cursed world we long for the fullness of this rest, the consummation of all things, the new heavens and earth, purchased by Christ’s shed blood. 

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy”, brothers and sisters. In six days you shall do all your work. Do it faithfully and as unto the Lord. But the first day of the week is the Lord’s Day, the Christian, New Covenant Sabbath. It is a day for rest and for worship. It is not a day for ordinary work or for worldly recreation. No, with the exception of acts of necessity and mercy, it is to be a day filled with a special kind of activity. It is a day for remembering creation and also our redemption in Christ Jesus. It is a day for worship. It is a day for fellowship amongst believers. Brothers and sisters, the Sabbath was not made for God but for man! It is a gift to us, for in it we have the opportunity to draw near to God, our Creator and Redeemer, and to center and re-center our lives upon him and upon the Savior he has provided. It is a day for us to do business, not with the world, but with God. I pray that the Lord’s Day Sabbath is a blessing to you all. I pray that it is a day that you long for and savor when it is here. I pray that we would learn to keep it more and more, to God’s glory, and for our good, as we wait for the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and our eternal inheritance in him.