Our text this evening is to be
found in the first epistle of Paul to Timothy in chapter 1
and verse 8. The first epistle of Paul to
Timothy, chapter 1 and verse 8. But we know that the law is
good if a man use it lawfully. But we know that the law is good
if a man uses it lawfully. I want us to consider then the
lawful use of the law. In the context, the Apostle makes
it quite clear that love is the sum and substance of the law. At verse 5, now the end of the
commandment is charity, love, we would now say is what
is being spoken of, it's the word agape. At the end of the
commandment is love out of a pure heart and of a good conscience
and of faith on faith. It is quite evident from other
parts of scripture that love is the fulfillment of the law. In the gospel, remember, we read
of one of the Pharisees who comes and attempts to ensnare the Lord
Jesus by his questioning. The man was a lawyer, he was
an expert in the law of Moses. and we read of him there in Matthew
chapter 22 trying to catch the Lord Jesus with his clever questioning
as it were. Verse 35 of Matthew 22, and one
of them which was a lawyer asked him a question tempting him and
saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt not the Lord thy God, with all
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is
the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments
hang all the law and the prophets. The sum of the first table, the
first four commandments, is that thou shalt love the Lord thy
God. The sum of the second table, the last six commandments, is
thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Lord Jesus himself
there then plainly declares the same as we have here in what
Paul writes to Timothy, the end of the commandment is charity
or love out of a pure heart. And again we see Paul writing
something very similar when he addresses the church at Rome
there in Romans chapter 13 and verses 9 And 10, he says, for
this, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt
not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not
commit. Speaking of that second table
that has to do with man's relationship with his fellow man, and if there
be any other commandments, It is briefly comprehended in this
saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour,
therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Again in Galatians,
Galatians chapter 5 and verse 14, all the law is fulfilled
in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. This is what the law declares,
this is what the law requires. But, of course, we know that
the law itself cannot produce such obedience. The law cannot
issue in such love as that. What the law could not do in
that it was weak through the flesh, we read in Romans chapter
chapter 8, what the law could not do. Why could the law not
do it? Because of the weakness of the
flesh. The weakness is not in the law.
No, God's law is a strong law. God's law is a holy law, a just
law, a good law. The weakness is in the sinner
who cannot, of himself, render the proper obedience to that
law of God. and so the law only works wrath. That is the conclusion that Paul
comes to in Romans 4 verse 15, therefore the law worketh wrath. How then, might say, might put
this question to what he said here in verse 5, how then is
this end, this goal of the law to be realised, the end of the
commandment That that is being aimed at, the goal of the commandment
is charity, love out of a pure heart. How can it be? We have
to see how that the Lord is really subservient to the Gospel. It is the Gospel that must come
in if the Lord is going to be adequately answered again. the language of the Apostle,
there in Romans chapter 8. Verse 3 it says, What the law
could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending
his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,
condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law
might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but
after the Spirit. Here is the only hope of the
sinner, Christ. It is Christ who was come made
of a woman and made under the law. It is Christ who was honoured
and magnified. That Lord, it is Christ who is
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. The law then clearly is that
that is meant to serve the gospel, and of course we know that the
gospel, the promise, really is previous to the law in Galatians. In Galatians chapter 3 and verse
17, this I say, writes Paul, that the covenant that was confirmed
before of God in Christ, the Law, which was 430 years after,
cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of non-effect.
That covenant, that promise confirmed before of God in Christ, the
promise that God gave to Abraham, was 430 years before the coming
of the Law at the hand of Moses. And so he goes on, verse 23,
before faith came we were kept under the law, shut up, unto
the faith which should afterward be revealed. Wherefore the law
was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we might
be justified by faith. Here is the way, the only way
in which this blessed end can be accomplished The end of the
commandments, charity, love out of a pure heart it is by and
in the Lord Jesus Christ and in the gospel of the grace of
God. And there were those teachers
and they were false teachers because they failed to realize
this. As Paul says, verse 6, in this
opening chapter of 1 Timothy, from which some, having swerved,
have turned aside unto vain jangling, desiring to be teachers of the
law, understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm. They set themselves up as being
teachers of the law, they are the great advocates of the law,
they are contending for the law, but they don't understand. that
Christ is that one who is superior to the law. They want to bring
these believers back onto the law. They want to add the law
to what Christ has done. They've swerved from the truth
as it is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we come to the words
of our text, but we, Timothy and the Apostle himself and all
those who are associated with his ministry but we know that
the law is good if a man use it lawfully. So let us for a
while consider something of what Paul is saying with regards to
the lawful use of the law. Two things. First of all, to
consider the lawful use of the law to convince and to convict
sinners. See how Paul continues after
our text. He says in verse 8, But we know
that the law is good if a man use it lawfully, knowing this,
that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the
lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners. It is not made for a righteous
man. Who is a righteous man? That is a justified man. That is the only righteousness
that can prevail before God. That is the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ imputed to those whose faith, whose trust
is in Christ. And that was Paul. For that was
his great desire, was it not? To be found in Christ. Not having
mine own righteousness which is of the Lord, he said, but
that which is through the faith of Christ. the righteousness
which is of God by faith. Paul was a justified sinner.
The righteousness that he stood in before God was that righteousness
of Christ. That's all he desired. And that
is true of all who are possessors of that justifying faith. This law there is not for the
justified, but it is for sinners. Paul, we know, had felt something
of the condemning power of the Lord. He didn't always feel that
condemning power of the Lord. He was once a Pharisee, and he
imagined as a Pharisee that he was able to keep the Lord of
God touching the righteousness which is of the law. He said
he was blameless, and so he thought as a Pharisee, but then in the
dealings of God with his soul he was made to feel the dreadful
condemnation of God's law as he says in Romans chapter 7 verse
9 following I was alive without the law once but when the commandment
came sin revived and I died and the commandment which was ordained
to life I found to be unto death For sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the
Lord is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good was in
that which is good, made death unto me, God forbid, but sin,
that it might appear sin working death in me by that which is
good, that sin by the commandments might become exceedingly sinful. Here is the weakness of the flesh,
he was made to feel what he was, He was made to feel himself a
sinner before God. He felt it in his soul. He was
condemned as a transgressor of that good, holy and just law
of God. But he not only felt it himself,
not only experienced that condemnation in his own soul, He also goes
on, of course, to declare the great purpose of the law. He
was brought to understand the purpose of the law. Those words
that we oft quote in Romans 3.19, we know, he says, we know. Just as here in our text, we
know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully. So there,
in verse 19 of Romans 3, we know that what things however the
law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
man may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God. For by the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the law is the
knowledge of sin." He is declaring there, in those words, the great
purpose of the law to condemn the sinner, to shut
the sinner's mouth, to bring the sinner in as one who is guilty
in the sight of God. And so, in that chapter that
we read, 2 Corinthians chapter 3, he speaks of that law as administration
of condemnation and administration of death. That's what the law is. It condemns. Wherefore then serveth the law? He asks, writing in Galatians
chapter 3. Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions. It's added because of transgressions.
to make the sinner see what his transgression is to cause him
to feel something of his iniquity and so constantly the Lord of
God is accompanied by sanction and penalty if we go back to
Moses there in Deuteronomy chapter 27 Deuteronomy chapter 27 and The last verse, verse 26, he
says, Curse be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law
to do them, and all the people shall say Amen. Here is the sanction
of the law. Curse be he that confirmeth not
all the words of this law. How are the words of the law
confirmed in the doing of them? And the people say Amen. That
is the awful sanction of the Lord of God, as we have it in
that book of Moses, but we also have it, of course, in the ministry
of the prophets. Are not the prophets those whose
authority is to appeal to the Lord of God, to the Lord and
to the testimony? If they speak not according to
this word, it is because there is no light in them. And so Jeremiah,
a prophet, says much the same as we have in Moses, the lawgiver.
Jeremiah 11.3, "...say thou unto them, thus saith the Lord God
of Israel, Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of
this covenant which I commanded your fathers in the day that
I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron
furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them according to all
which I command you. So shall you be my people, and
I will be your God." Again, we see the language is the same
as Moses himself had declared, Cursed be the man that obeyeth
not the words of this covenant. It's in the law of Moses, it's
there in the ministry of the prophets, it's there when we
come to the New Testament and the preaching of the apostles.
Paul writing to the Galatians again, for as many as are not
of the works of the Lord, he says, are under the curse. For
cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things written in
the book of the law to do them. Oh, that's the curse, you see.
That is the penalty that comes on those who are the transgressors
of that holy law of God. Whosoever, James says, whosoever
shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point, he is
guilty of all. Just one transgression. A man
could keep all the Ten Commandments. He could keep those Ten Commandments
all his days. and keep them not only in the
letter but keep them in the spirit that means he is free from sinful
thoughts as well as from sinful deeds and then there's one transgression
and all is spoiled that's what James says he is guilty of all
it must be a full complete perfect obedience to everyone of the
commandments. No wonder then that Paul makes
it plain now that the Lord of God is that that is constantly
condemning the sinner. Constantly the law will condemn
us. Again, that remarkable seventh
chapter. What a chapter is that that we
have in Romans chapter 7. Thank God that it's left upon
record here in Holy Scripture. What does Paul say there? Verse
12. Wherefore the Lord is holy, and
the commandments holy, and just, and good. Whilst then that which
is good may death unto me, God forbid, but sin that it might
appear, sin working death in me by that which is good, that
sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful. For
we know that the Lord is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold unto sin. For that which I do, I allow
not. For what I would do, that do I not. But what I hate, that
do I. For it is constantly tormenting
him, this law of God. He cannot do the thing that the
law requires of him. He cannot live in accordance
with those holy commandments. That is, all the Lord does is
to contend the sinner. It is only in the Lord Jesus
Christ that deliverance is to be found. Of course, this is
the great message that Paul is so much contending for when he
writes his epistle to the Galatians because of those who had crept
in amongst the Galatian churches and sorts to bring those believers
unto the Lord of Gods. They needed something more than
faith in the Lord Jesus. They needed to submit to circumcision. If they were circumcised, he
says, they are debtors to the whole law. And yet their only
hope is in Christ. It is there and there alone that
deliverance is to be found. Galatians chapter 3 and verse
13. Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written,
Cursed is everyone. that hangeth on a tree." Oh how
the Lord Jesus has honoured that law of God in the very law place
of His people. They were the transgressors of
the law. They were under the curse of
the law. Christ Himself took that curse to Himself and nailed
their sins to the cross. Well, Christ is that one, you
see, who has redeemed his people. He has paid that ransom price
that was demanded by God's law. He has died and died just for
the unjust to bring sinners to God. And Christ, of course, has
not only honoured that Lord in bearing the curse, the accursed
death of the cross, but Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes. Why has he not in his life also
honoured the law by his perfect obedience? His life was one that
was altogether without any sin, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners, made higher than the heavens. For this is the
only truly sinless man that has ever lived on the face of the
earth. Though Adam and Eve were created sinless, they were peccable,
they sinned, they fell. But the Lord Jesus, of course,
in his human nature was impeccable. All that holy thing, that human
nature conceived by the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin
Mary could never sin and never did sin. The Lord Jesus Christ
has fulfilled the law by his obedience to every commandment.
He was that one who ever pleased his Father. This is my beloved
son, he says, in whom I am well Please. And although the Lord
Jesus has come and fulfilled that law of God let us observe
that he has not abrogated it. He has not come to to do away
with the law, to destroy the law. We mentioned this morning
those words that he declares in the course of his ministry
in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5 Verse 17, Think not that I am
come to destroy the Law or the Prophets, I am not come to destroy,
but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till
heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle, shall in no wise
pass from the Law till all be fulfilled. I remarked this morning that
the jot, one jot, that's the reference to the smallest letter,
that we have in the Hebrew alphabet. One title, some say that is a
reference to the pointings that are necessary in Hebrew
being made up simply of consonants. The vowel sounds indicated simply
by dots and dashes that appear under the consonants. the very small part really of
the Hebrew alphabet but not one jot or one tittle says Christ
shall shall pass till all be fulfilled he doesn't come to
abolish the law though he says whosoever there shall shall break
one of these least commandments and shall teach men so he shall
be called the least in the kingdom of heaven but whosoever shall
do and teach them the same shall be called great in the kingdom
of heaven. What the Lord Jesus Christ has
done, of course, is to bring down the fullness of that Lord,
as he does there in his sermon. In that same 5th chapter of Matthews,
he deals with the 6th commandment and the 7th commandment. They
shall not kill, they shall not commit adultery. He says hatred
is murder. He says that the wanton look
is adultery. He shows quite clearly that there
is no salvation in that law. What is the ministry of the law?
It is to show us what we are, it is to convince us of our sins.
It is made for the lawless and disobedient, the ungodly and
for sinners. unholy and profane, murderers
of fathers, murderers of mothers, manslayers, whoremongers, them
that defile themselves with mankind, men-stealers, liars, perjured
persons. These are the things He declares
here in verses 9 and 10. It's meant to be that ministration
of condemnation to show us what we are as sinners. And we sang
it just now, did we not, in the hymn? since to convince and to
condemn is all the law can do. Or knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man,
but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners. It is to convince us of what
we are, it is to show us what we are. It is, in that sense,
as a glass, a looking glass, a mirror, wherein we see ourselves. Were we not to be, as James says,
like that man who seeth himself and goeth his way and forgets,
forgets what manner of man he is. Will God be pleased to show
us ourselves and then to reveal to us the Lord Jesus Christ as
that one who is the only Saviour of sinners. That's first lawful
use of the law then. It is to convince the sinner
of his sin. But secondly, I want us to consider
how that this law is not meant to be a rule of life to the believer. This is the controversial aspect
of course, and it is that really that distinguishes us as those
who would call ourselves gospel-standard, strict, and particular Baptists. We have it, do we not, in the
article, our article of faith, number 10, is a straightforward
declaration with regards to this business of the believer's relationship
to the law. Article, did I say Article 10? It's Article 16. We believe that
the believer's rule of conduct is the gospel and not the law,
commonly called the moral law, issued on man's side. which hath
no glory in it by reason of the glory that it exceleth, that
is to say the gospel, the gospel containing the sum and substance
and glory of all the laws which God ever promulgated from his
throne, and the Jews because of the hardness of their hearts
being permitted some things which the gospel forbids. there is a plain declaration,
Article 16, concerning the believer and the believer's relationship
to the law. Let us consider this particular
truth in the light of the text that we have before us tonight
here in 1 Timothy chapter 1. We know that the law is good
if a man use it lawfully, he says in verse 8. And then knowing
this, that the law is not made for a righteous man. As I said, the righteous man
is that man who is a justified sinner. He has justifying faith. He is a believer in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now is rule of conduct, the way
in which he governs his life, is not simply the law of God. By faith in Christ, he has been
delivered from all the condemnation of the law of God. It would be
a retrograde step to then bring that man back under the selfsame
law, and we're to beware of such regression as that. Stand fast
therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free, and
be not entangled again in the yoke of bondage." That's the
language of the Gospel as Paul declares it in Galatians chapter
5 and verse 1. You have liberty in the Lord
Jesus Christ, don't get entangled again in that yoke of bondage.
What is the yoke of bondage? It's that law that brings condemnation. It's that law that speaks in
terms of the curse. No, you have liberty, he says,
in the Lord Jesus. Now again, look at what he says
in the third chapter of that Galatian epistle there, in Galatians
chapter 3. O foolish Galatians, who have
bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose
eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
This is the gospel that they've had set before them, is it not?
This only would I learn of you. He asked to receive you the Spirit
by the works of the Lord or by the hearing of faith. Are ye
so foolish having begun in the Spirit? Are ye now made perfect
in the flesh? He goes on at verse 11 that no
man is justified by the Lord in the sight of God. It is evident
for the just shall live by faith. or that justified man, that righteous
man, he lives his life by faith, by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not entangling himself now
in that yoke, that bondage that is associated with the law of
God. Now says Paul again in Galatians,
Galatians 2 and verse 19, I through the law I'm dead to the law. For the law has done its work,
the law has come, the law has pronounced me a condemned man. Through the law I am dead to
the law that I might live unto God, he says. And now Paul gives an illustration
of what all of this means. And we see it in Romans, and
there in writing to the Romans in the opening verses of chapter
7, that great 7th chapter of Romans again. Know ye not, brethren,
for I speak to them that know the law, that the law hath dominion
over a man as long as he liveth. For the woman who hath a husband
is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth. But if
the husband be dead, she is loose from the law of her husband.
So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another
man, she shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, She
is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though
she be married to another. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also
are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should
be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead,
that we should bring forth fruit unto God. See what Paul is doing
here. He gives us an illustration.
He speaks of a woman who is married. And she's married, if she marries
another man, she's an adulteress. But if her husband has died,
and she's left in a widowed condition, she is enraged to remarry. And that's what Paul is saying.
These believers, they were married to the law. Whatever things the
law said, it said that they were under the law, that every mouth
is stopped and the world is brought in under condemnation. But when
the Lord has done that work and the believer has been slain,
as it were, by then that believer is married to another, even to
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is free now. Sin shall not have dominion over
you, for you are not under the law, but under grace. When we say, then, that the believer's
rule of life is not the law, we're not wanting to despise
that law of God. That law, we say, is a holy law,
that commandment is a holy and a just and a righteous commandment. We do not despise the law, but
we distinguish law from gospel. because we see how that in Scripture
that distinction is made between law and gospel. When Paul writes
to the Romans again and speaks of salvation, what does he say?
If salvation be by grace, then it is no more of law, otherwise
grace is no more grace. If it be of works, It is no more
of grace, otherwise work is no more work. These two things are
distinctive, mutually distinctive, one of another. And the Scripture
makes that distinction between gospel and law, between grace
and works. So we simply follow what is said
before us here in the Word of God. believers are not under
the law for it is that which is done
away that's what we read in that chapter that portion of scripture
that we add as our reading this evening in 2nd Corinthians 3
verse 11 that which is done away that's the Lord of God and so
the believer is not under the law But believers, who are under
the Gospel, are not therefore without any law. They're not
under the law as it was given there at Mount Sinai. But they're
not libertines. Look at the language of the Apostle
again when he writes in 1 Corinthians 9.21, he says, being not without
law to God, but under the law to Christ. There's a little parenthesis
there, a little bracketed section in that verse, and that's what
he says, that they're not without law to God, but under the law
to Christ. But when we examine it closely,
we see that that second reference to the Lord doesn't have the
definite article. That's how it's rendered in our
authorized version. What it literally says is, being
not without law to God, but under law, not the law, not the law
that was given by Moses, not that law, but certainly under
a law to the Lord Jesus Christ. They're under Christ's law. As
Gadsby says, the Gospel is the law of the Lamb. The Gospel is
the law of the Lamb. The Gospel is spoken of, is it
not, as that New Covenant. The most significant chapter
is Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 8. Paul speaks of the two covenants.
speaks of that that was given by God to Moses at Mount Sinai
and he says, verse 7 in Hebrews 8, if that first covenant had
been faultless then should no place have been sought for the
second. Now the second is that that comes
with the incarnation of the Lord Jesus The second is that that
is brought in under this Gospel dispensation. And what do we
read here? If that first covenant had been
faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
But, finding fault with them, he said, Behold, the day is come,
saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house
of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the
covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took
them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because
they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith
the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house
of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws
into their mind, and write them in their hearts and I will be
to them a God and they shall be to me a people." Now it's
the same truth that we have there that is spoken of in that portion
that we read where in that third chapter of 2nd Corinthians Paul
speaks of the law not written in tables of stone but in fleshy
tables of the heart." And there's a distinction, you see, between
what was there in the Old Testament and what we have in the New Testament. If you are led by the Spirit,
Paul says, you are not under the law. If we're led by the
Spirit of God, the Spirit who comes and reveals Christ, and
so deals with us as to write the Lord of God in our hearts. We're not under the Old Testament. We're under this new covenant
that has come in with the Saviour. And what is the motivation? What
is the motivation to embrace the precepts of the Gospel, to
obey all these commands of God? The love of Christ constrains
us, says Paul. There's a motivation. It's the
love of Christ. There are gospel motives. This is what moves the believer
to desire to walk in all holy obedience to the statutes and
the precepts and the commandments of God. we turn back to the epistle
to the Ephesians and there at the end of chapter 4 and through
into chapter 5 how Paul is giving very practical exhortation and
instruction and commandment that all bitterness he says and wrath
and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you
with all malice and be a kind one to another, tender hearted,
forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven
you." There's a motivation you see. Or we have exhortation in
verse 31, the beginning of verse 32 and these are motivation even
as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. Be ye therefore
followers of God as dear children as Christ also hath loved us,
and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to
God for us with manning sabre." Here's the motivation, you see.
Walk in love as Christ loved us, and what was the manifestation
of that love? He gave himself as an offering,
a sacrifice. And then he goes on by fornication. and all uncleanness or covetousness,
let it not be once named among you, hath become a saint's, neither
filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient,
but rather giving of thanks." He gives all these directions
and instructions and exhortations and he does it all in the context
of what God has done in the Gospel. For there is the motivation,
you see. They are to be motivated by the grace of God. The believer's
rule. It is not the law. It is clearly
to be understood in terms of the gospel. But the motivation
is not merely subjective. There is also this objective
rule that we see in the gospel. And we have it there. Again in
the Galatian epistle when he comes to that last chapter in
Galatians chapter 6 verse 14. Stand therefore having
your loin reading Ephesians 6 in Galatians chapter 6 verse But God forbid, He says, that
I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world. For
in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature. But as many as walk according
to this rule, peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel
of God." Here is the believer's rule then. As many as walk according
to this rule. All that he has been saying in
the Galatian Epistle is the rule. There is not only
gospel promise, there is also gospel precept. Believers are not under the law.
Now, remember what we considered earlier today in the morning
hour when we considered something of the Sabbath day and the significance
of the Sabbath day in relation to Christian redemption. We were looking at those words
at the end of Isaiah 58 If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath,
from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath
a delight, the holy of the Lord honourable, and shalt honour
him not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure,
nor speaking thine own words, then shalt thou delight thyself
in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places
of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father,
for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. Again we see here
a We have the exhortation, the command as it were, but then
the motivation, the promise that God attaches. I will cause you
to ride upon the high places of the earth and feed, He says,
with the heritage of Jacob thy father. Now, believers quite
clearly are not under that Lord of God as we see it promulgated
at Mount Sinai. The fourth commandment there
concerns the seventh day, the Jewish Sabbath. Now we do not
keep the Jewish Sabbath. We do not observe Saturday as
a Sabbath day. But we do recognize that there
is a Sabbath to be kept, because we see how at the beginning in
creation, God sanctified a day. There at the beginning of Genesis
chapter 2, after the record of how God had created all things
in six days, on the seventh day God rested from all the work
which He had made, and God sanctified that day, set it apart. But we
don't keep. We don't keep the law of God.
We observe a different day. We observe the first day of the
week. Now I don't want to repeat the
things that I was saying this morning, but remember those words
that we have Particularly in Hebrews 4 verse 19, there remaineth
therefore a rest to the people of God. Or as the margin says,
there remaineth therefore the keeping of a Sabbath, a Sabbath
day to the people of God. The word Sabbath simply means
rest, that's how it's rendered there. But the margin indicates
that literally it is saying that there is a Sabbath day that remains
to the people of God under the Gospel. And it is the day that
we know as the Lord's Day. We read this morning there in
the opening chapter of the Revelation where we see John in the Spirit
on the Lord's Day. It's the day that belongs to
the Lord. And the Lord Jesus, as we said,
is that one who is the Lord of the Sabbath, and He has changed
the day. It is evident when we read through the New Testament
Scriptures how the believers observed the first day of the
week as that day that was a special, a high and a holy day. So we're not under the law of
Moses, but we are under law to the Lord Jesus Christ. The believer's
rule of life is the gospel and not the law. This is what Paul
is saying here as he writes to Timothy. We know that the law
is good if a man use it lawfully. What is that lawful use of the
law? It is to condemn the sinner. Knowing this, that the Lord is
not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless, and disobedient,
for the ungodly, and for sinners. Oh, it's to condemn our sins,
it's to bring us in guilt, but then being brought in guilty
by the Lord, are we not moved then to fly to the Lord Jesus
Christ, who has come and stood in his people's law place, and
as their surety has answered all the demands of the Lord,
and as their substitutes has died in their room and in their
stead. All were those who would desire then to live to the honor
and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and embrace all those
great promises that we have in the gospel, exceeding great and
precious promises, but never to despise all those holy gospel
precepts, but desire only to walk in obedience to the Lord
Jesus Christ. May the Lord grant His blessing
upon His Word. And the tune is Russell 763. The gospel's the law of the Lord.
My soul of its glories shall sing, with pleasure my tongue
shall proclaim the law of my Saviour and King, the sweet law
of liberty this, a yoke that is easy and mild. Of love the
precious law is, unknown unto all but a child, 523.