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INTRO: AD HOC LAWS

Throughout history, humanity has created rules and laws ad hoc in response to things we never expected someone to do. This is very different from how God has given us His laws.

God gave laws to reveal what He already knew of us but wanted us to learn about ourselves and Him. God’s laws in scripture (and the history around them) do exactly that—they reveal our sin and God’s righteousness. And, they do this by creating a place of testing: will we trust God and His laws to be righteous and wise, or will we deem them unfair and foolish?

God’s Law is for our good, revealing our greatest need—God—and the only way to Him—the gospel.

SERMON IN A SENTENCE: Use the Old-Covenant Law to give sound teaching to fellow-sinners according to the entrusted gospel.

The Old Testament is very Christian. It reveals the same God… same gospel… and same required response to God’s promise to save sinners through His Son: repentance and faith. It is simply the preceeding unfolding history and revelation of the gospel. Jesus made this clear in Luke 24:44-49.

1 Timothy 1:8 But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;

THE LAW IS GOOD IF

1 Timothy 1:5–11

5 Now the end of the commandment is charity [love]

out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned [genuine]:

6 From which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling [talk];

7 Desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm [assert].

8 But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully;

9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but

[1] for the lawless and disobedient [rebellious and defiant],

[2] for the ungodly [irreverent toward God] and for sinners,

[3] for unholy and profane [violators and dishonorers of the sacred],

[4] for murderers [also abusers] of fathers and murderers [also abusers] of mothers,

[5] for manslayers [murderers of humans],

[6] 10 For whoremongers [the sexually immoral], for them that defile themselves with mankind [those practicing homosexuality],

[7] for menstealers [enslavers/slave traders/kidnappers/human-traffickers],

[8] for liars,

[9] for perjured persons [false witnesses],

[10] and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; 11 According to the glorious gospel [of the glory] of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.

While the victory Christians have over the power of sin will not be fully realized until our resurrection at Jesus’s return, our victory over sin is truly realized day-by-day as we grow in obedience to sound teaching according to the gospel. This sound teaching includes teaching from the Old Covenant Law.

Q: Since the gospel is truly good, does it not ultimately free us from these corruptions, as promised? Do you believe the gospel? Then why would you ever justify living in such ways?

MISUSING THE LAW

Q: How might you use the Law unlawfully?

• Devoting yourself to unbiblical fables and myths that falsely claim to be scripture or truth (v4)

• Fighting about endless genealogies and your meaningless connections to them (v4)

• Talking and speculating about controversial things that have no meaning or good purpose (v4, 6)

• “Teaching” the Law without proper understanding (v7)

• Attempting to attain self-righteousness by obeying the Law (v9)

• Applying the Law apart from sound teaching according to the gospel (v10-11)

USING THE LAW FOR GOOD

Q: How might you use the Law for good?

• To shape consciences and restrain unrighteousness (v9)

• To show our accountability before God and reveal our need for the gospel (v11; 2 Timothy 3:15; Romans 3:19-25; Galatians 3:17-19, 24)

• To give sound teaching for reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness for those “in the faith” (v10; 2 Timothy 3:16-4:4)

• To be faithful with our stewardship of God’s gospel and church (v4-5, 11; Romans 13:8-10)

To rightly understand and apply this, we must know that loving God and others is the aim of the law, not the replacement of the commands. Summing up the law with love is not a way to get out of living according to God’s law. Rather, it describes what comes from obedience to the good laws—loving God and others by not lying, coveting, murdering, worshiping idols… all such goodness God has given in the Law.

God’s gospel of saving sinners through faith in the crucified and risen Lord Jesus displays the glory of our blessed God. We must steward it rightly through our teaching and our living.

A BLESSING FROM OUR BLESSED GOD

The Old-Covenant Law is a part of the history and message of the gospel that Jesus committed through His apostles to His church. As with the law given to Adam and Eve in the Garden, the Law given to Israel reveals our inability to live righteously in God’s eyes apart from faith in the gospel.

Faith in the gospel unites us with Jesus—Who has fulfilled the Law on our behalf through His life, death, and resurrection. Faith in the gospel enables us to live according to the righteousness revealed in the Law as we follow Jesus.

Our blessed God has blessed us with the truth and history of the Law that holds all the world accountable to God, makes sinners wise to salvation through faith in the gospel, and is good for instructing those “in the faith” on how to live righteously according to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God.

And remember, the goal of protecting and giving sound teaching according to the gospel is Christlike love toward God and others that comes from transformed followers of Jesus. Stewardship of the church and proper teaching of any passage of the Bible should maintain this God-given goal.

Q: Do you see the Old-Covenant Law as a good gift from our blessed God? How could you and your family become better familiar with it? What is some instruction you need to follow that comes from rightly meditating on it? Do you understand how it fits within the gospel message and history?

SERMON IN A SENTENCE: Use the Old-Covenant Law to give sound teaching to fellow-sinners according to the entrusted gospel.