Open your Bibles with me to the
book of 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter 1. I preached
on this last week concerning the grace of edification, which
has to do with God's people being built up in the faith, encouraged
by the truth of God. And one of the statements that
is made in this passage has to do with the right use of the
law. And of course, when we talk about
that, we're talking about edification. For example, I as a preacher
of the gospel, preacher of the word of God, how am I to use
the law of God properly in the edification, the building up,
the growth in grace and in knowledge of God's people? rather than
using the law improperly or unlawfully, as the scripture says here, verse
eight. It says in 1 Timothy 1.8, but we know that the law is good
if a man use it lawfully. And that's why I don't wanna
do that. I don't wanna use the law unlawfully
or in an improper way, so as not to bear you up, build you
up in the faith. When I say build you up in the
faith, I'm not talking about building up your egos or our
egos. I'm talking about building up
your confidence, your dependence, your desire for Christ. That's what that is. Growing
in grace and in knowledge of Christ. So that's what we're
gonna talk about, using the law lawfully. And the first thing
that we need to understand, to understand this verse and the
verses following, is what is the law of which he speaks? What
exactly is it? And anytime you go through the
scriptures from Genesis to Revelation, you're gonna see that word in
the Hebrew, in the Greek. You're gonna see the word law,
the law of God, or God's laws, plural, and all of that. And
the context determines what the word means. Now, when we talk
about law, we're not talking about suggestions. You know,
somebody asked me one time, said, well, are we under the law in
Christ? Well, it depends on what you
mean by that. The Bible says, for example, that we who are
in Christ, washed in his blood, clothed in his righteousness,
sinners saved by grace, we're not under law, we're under grace.
Romans 6 says that. And what I believe that means
is this, that we're not under a sentence of condemnation. and
guilt unto death. We're under the grace of God.
We're saved by grace. We're kept by grace. We'll enter
glory by grace. And grace reigns through righteousness,
which is the perfection of the law, which is found only in Christ. It reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. So we understand that. We're not, God's people are not
under condemnation. And we need to get that in our
minds. And I've often said it this way, you know, when we talk
about the Christian life, I don't want to oversimplify things,
but the way I describe it from the scriptures is by three words. Number one is our standing, standing
before God in Christ. How do I stand before God in
Christ? What does God's law, for example,
say about me as to my standing? And the Bible says that I stand
before God totally forgiven of all my sins on a just ground. And what is the just ground?
It's the blood of Jesus Christ. You understand? A lot of people
think the just ground of their forgiveness is their believing,
their faith, and that's not so. We do believe, that's the gift
of God. That's what identifies us and separates us from the
world. But what we believe is this,
the ground of God forgiving me of all my sins is the blood of
Jesus Christ. Faith in his blood, Romans 5
tells us. justified by his blood. And secondly,
it means to be declared righteous in God's sight. And what is that
righteousness? It's the perfection of the law
of God that can only be found in Christ. It's the satisfaction
that Christ accomplished as my surety, my substitute, my representative. And that's how I stand before
God. And that doesn't change. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ, who walk not according to the
flesh, but according to the Spirit. And what is it to walk according
to the Spirit? It's to walk looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith. That's what it is. And it's to
understand that I cannot be charged legally, imputed with my sins. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justified. Who
can condemn us? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
that is risen again, seated at the right hand of the Father
ever living to make intercession for us. As long as Christ stands
in my place as my surety, substitute, and redeemer, I cannot be charged
in God's court. And when I'm brought to faith
in Christ, that's when I'm exonerated in the court of my own conscience.
The conscience cleansed by the blood of Jesus. And that brings
me to the second word. First word is our standing before
God in Christ. The second word is our state
in this world. Now even God's elect, we all
fell in Adam into a state of sin and depravity and spiritual
death. And that's how we begin life,
as unregenerated, unbelieving people in darkness, in league
with Satan, enemies in our minds by wicked works. But that state
changes when God, at his appointed time, takes his people, brings
them under the preaching of the gospel, and gives them life,
spiritual life from the dead. You must be born again. And we
come from a state of unbelief, a state of darkness, a state
of depravity, to a state of grace in our minds, in our affections,
in our will. We're now believers. We're still
sinners, still weak, all the stuff that we go through. And
that brings me to the third word that describes the Christian
life. And that's struggle. Standing, state, and struggle. Because from the time that God
brings us into his family, calls his sheep into the fold, life
is a struggle. Now that's not to say that unbelievers
don't have struggles, they do. But not the same kind that we
do. Our struggle is a warfare within, it's called the warfare
of the spirit against the flesh. The biggest warfare we have to
fight is not in the Middle East and not in Ukraine, it's within
our souls. The flesh lusting against the
spirit, the spirit against the flesh, and that'll continue until
God calls us home to be with Christ. We leave this flesh behind. But all of that, so when we judge
ourselves or we examine ourselves, we see this word law, What is
he talking about? Well, sometimes in the Bible
the word law refers to the whole Old Testament from Genesis to
Malachi. Sometimes it specifically refers
to the Law of Moses or what is called the Mosaic Law or the
Old Covenant. That old covenant which began
at Mount Sinai, God gathering the Hebrew children together,
gave them that law from Mount Sinai through Moses, that includes
the Ten Commandments, all of that. And sometimes the word
law will refer specifically to that. Sometimes the word law
just refers generally to the whole word of God. And I use
it this way, you know, God doesn't make suggestions, does he? He doesn't say, I suggest that
you... No, everything God says has the force of law. That's
it. I mean, he means it. And sometimes
even the gospel is called a law. In fact, I believe this in James
1.25. Let me just read this to you.
It says, but whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and
continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a
doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his day." What
is the perfect law of liberty? Now the law, the bare law in
itself, given to a sinner is not liberty, it's bondage. In other words, without Christ,
any of the commandments of God are against me. You understand
that? We've all sinned and come short
of the glory of God. What does that mean? It means
we've missed the mark. Even as good as we try to be, the best,
that's why the Bible says man at his best state is altogether
vanity. The best you can be in yourself
falls short of the standard of the law, which is the perfection
of righteousness that can only be found in Christ. Why the Bible
says Christ is the end of the law, the fulfillment of the law,
the perfection of the law for righteousness to everyone that
believe. And so the gospel has a force of a command because
there's only one way of salvation and that's revealed in the gospel.
There's not two ways. It's not pay your money and take
your choice. And it's not based upon you doing
anything in order to gain God's favor or to get him to bless
you as if you can earn something from God, it's grace, grace,
grace. Now that's what it is. And grace reigns through righteousness. But where do we find righteousness?
In Christ. So let me show you something.
Turn back in your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah, chapter 31. Normally, when we see the word
law, especially in the New Testament, pertaining to believers or the
commandments or however you want to put it, it's the word of God. It's simply the word of God.
It's what God says by way of commandment or whatever. Believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a commandment. Now, it's
not salvation by works. The Bible says that man cannot
be saved, he cannot be justified, which means he cannot be forgiven,
he cannot be declared righteous by deeds of the law. Now, should
we try to obey God in whatever He commands us? Yes, but not
in order to be saved because that's impossible. That's bondage,
you see. But here's something you need
to see. This is Jeremiah chapter 31. Look at verse 31. Now what Jeremiah is doing here,
you know, the people of Judah and Jerusalem are getting ready
to be conquered by Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon, and they're going
to be taken off into captivity for 70 years. And then that's
going to end, they're going to be brought back to their homeland,
and they're going to rebuild a temple, not as elaborate as
the Temple of Solomon, but they're going to have one. And what Jeremiah
is telling them, that even though they're going under the judgment
of God for their sins in that captivity, there's a better time
coming in the future where the law of Moses will be gone, fulfilled,
abrogated by way of fulfillment, and a new covenant will come
in. That's why we are under the New
Covenant now. The New Covenant is a covenant
of grace. The New Covenant was brought in by the coming of Christ,
the first advent of Christ, in his obedience unto death for
the salvation of his people, and it was inaugurated at Pentecost
when Peter stood and preached that great message recorded in
Acts chapter two. And the New Covenant is the fulfillment
in time of the everlasting covenant of grace made before time. In
its essence, the new covenant and the everlasting covenant
are one and the same. And it goes like this. It's not
God will if you will. That was the old covenant. That
was bondage. And they failed. But you know
what? If we were under that covenant,
we'd fail too. You don't believe that, you think too highly of
yourself. So it's not God will if you will,
that's that bilateral covenant. But the new covenant, the everlasting
covenant of grace is God will and you will. God will and you
shall. And Jeremiah tells them about
that. a new day coming, a better day, where the law is not a burdensome
bondage upon you, but it is actually freedom and liberty because of
Christ. All right? Not because the future's
gonna produce a better breed of human being. No, no. Just as sinful and depraved and
rebellious as we always were, You ever notice that when you
read history, you think people are better today than they were
back then? You're lying to yourself. Oh no. And if you find anybody
who is saved, how are they saved? By the grace of God. And grace
reigns through righteousness, which is the perfection of the
law. It reigns through righteousness,
the law being kept perfectly, the law being satisfied in its
justice unto eternal life, here's your key, by Jesus Christ our
Lord. You understand that? The old
covenant was given to show them their sinfulness. The new covenant
is given to show us Christ's righteousness. And that's the
whole difference there. But look at what Jeremiah says
here, and I wanna make this point, look at verse 31. Jeremiah says
this, they're going into captivity, but he's giving them an encouragement
to look to the coming Messiah for salvation, not to their cells,
not to their works, not to the temple in Jerusalem, not to the
land, just to Christ. And he says, behold, the days
come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the
house of Israel and with the house of Jacob. Now the house
of Israel and the house of Judah, back then, you know, The nation
was divided into two kingdoms, the northern kingdom, which was
called Israel, and the southern kingdom, which was called Judah,
because Judah was the predominant tribe. They had two tribes in
the southern, Judah and Benjamin. And Judah, you know, Judah was
the tribe of the kings. And that's the tribe from which
we see the humanity of Christ coming through. And that's why
back in Israel's day, when he was on his deathbed, and he made
promises to his sons, and when he came to Judah, he told them,
he said, the scepter will not depart from Judah until Shiloh
comes. Shiloh meaning peace. Well, that's
Christ. And then the scepter would depart.
Well, anyway, he says, It's going to come on Israel and Judah.
That's a united kingdom, but it's also a spiritual kingdom.
And it's not just made up of physical Jews or physical Gentiles.
God has a chosen people out of every tribe, kindred, tongue,
and nation. It's believers. And so he said, I'm going to
make a new covenant with them. It's a covenant of grace. It's the
gospel covenant. And he says in verse 32, not
according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in
the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the
land of Egypt, which my covenant they break. If you're under the
new covenant, you can't break it because it's not conditioned
on you. It's already been kept and fulfilled
fully and completely in Christ. Then the Bible tells us that
in Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and you
are what? Complete in Him. By one offering
He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. See, that
cannot be broken because it's not conditioned on me. If it
were conditioned on me, it'd be broken. And if you don't believe
that, just stick around with me a little bit, and you'll see
it. But it's conditioned on Christ, and He's the perfect God-man.
So he says, which my covenant they break, although I was a
husband unto them, saith the Lord. In other words, God united
himself with that nation, just like a husband and wife, for
that time period. But Jeremiah, later on, he talks
about God giving them a bill of divorcement because of their
rebellion. See, that was a conditional covenant,
and they broke the condition, so God divorced them. But this unconditional covenant
towards us, it cannot be broken. Christ said, I'll never forsake
you. I'll never leave you. That's a covenant of grace. And
he said, I wasn't a husband unto them, saith the Lord. But look
at verse 33. He says, but this shall be the covenant that I
will make with them with the house of Israel. Now here's the
nature of the covenant. After those days, saith the Lord,
I will put my law in their inward parts. His law. Gonna write it
in their heart. Now do you think he's talking
about the old covenant there, the conditional covenant? No,
if it is, we're under bondage. What's he talking about, his
law? His word, beginning with the gospel. He's gonna write
it in our hearts, and what is the heart? It's the mind, it's
the affection, it's the will, it's the conscience. It may not show up outwardly
sometimes, But it's there written, imprinted with indelible spiritual
ink, you might say. And you can't get away from it. That's right, you can't get away
from it. Because he won't leave you. He's written it upon your
heart, the law. And listen to the rest. He said,
I will be their God and they'll be my people. That's a language
of a marriage covenant that cannot be broken. And look at verse
34, he says, And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor,
and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall
all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. And saith
the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity, I will remember
their sin no more. And what that means is that God
will not charge us with our sins. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? But he writes his law upon our
hearts. Now go back to 1 Timothy chapter one. Now how, second
thing, how is the law used? Well, it can either be used unlawfully
or lawfully. And if you'll look here, look
back at 1 Timothy chapter one, look at verse seven. He's talking
about false preachers. Now Timothy at this time, Paul
wrote this to Timothy. Timothy was at the church at
Ephesus and he was being their pastor and their elder, their
teacher, and Paul was, Timothy was a young man who Paul tutored
and brought up under the gospel. And there were false teachers,
and these false teachers, look at verse seven, desiring to be
teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor where
have they affirmed. They don't know what they're
talking about. They may sound like they do. They may be able
to quote Hebrew or Greek or whatever. But he says, 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. If there were a righteous person
on earth, that is righteous by nature, which there's not. Now
there are righteous people on earth, but who are they? They're
sinners saved by grace, made righteous in Christ. So if you
know Christ, if you're a believer, you're a righteous person. But
you're not righteous because you worked hard at it. You're
not righteous because you gave your heart to Jesus. You're not
righteous because you've been baptized. And you're certainly
not righteous because you're a preacher. You're righteous
because God has freely and fully imputed righteousness to you
by his grace through Jesus Christ our Lord. For Christ, Romans
10, four, is the end of the law, the fulfillment, the perfection,
the finishing of the law, that's what that means, for righteousness
to everyone that believe it. That's the revelation of the
righteousness of God in the gospel, Romans 1, 16 and 17. What is
that righteousness? It's the entire merit, worthiness,
value of the obedience unto death of Christ. the surety, the substitute,
the Redeemer of His people. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. So if you're a sinner saved by
grace, Christ is your worthiness and you don't have any outside
of Him. You understand? So the law wasn't made for a
righteous man. If a person were naturally righteous,
he wouldn't need the law because he's not going to break the law. You know, have you ever said
about your children, I'm going to lay down the law? They're
going to find out this is not right behavior. Well, if they
were obedient perfectly already, you wouldn't have to lay down
the law. Because they're not going to break it. Now, of course,
we know our children are going to break the law. We've broken
it. The law was made for the lawless and disobedience, the
ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers
of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayer. That's why we
have the law of the land. We've got criminals. They need
to be held in check. Verse 10, he goes, whoremongers
for them that defile themselves with mankind, men stealers, liars,
perjured persons. See all that, he's listing. there
be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, sound teaching,
according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was
committed to my trust." And of course the gospel in the power
of the Holy Spirit is the only hope that we sinners have because
it drives us to Christ. So how is the law used unlawfully? Let me give you a good example
of that pertaining to the old covenant. Look at Romans chapter
nine with me. I'll give you a few examples
of this. Using the law unlawfully, how
does that happen? Well, look at Romans chapter
nine, verse 31. Now this pertains to the law
of Moses. that the nation Israel was under
for about 1,500 years. It ranged from Mount Sinai, where
God gave it to Moses, to the Hebrew children, to the cross. And then it was abrogated, then
it was fulfilled, it was abolished. Now we've never been under the
old covenant. Now don't get me wrong, there
are preachers today who try to bring people under the old covenant
or parts of it. When they say, you gotta keep
this part or you're gonna go to hell or whatever, they say.
But that law of Moses was given to that nation specifically to
hold them together. This was God's way of holding
them together as a nation until Shiloh came, until Christ came. And when Christ died and gave
up the ghost, you remember what happened in the temple? The veil. that separated the holy place
from the holy of holies, was torn in two from top to bottom,
which shows that God's the one who did it. And the way into
the holiest was made plain by Christ, because of Christ. But look at what Israel did with
that law. Verse 31 of Romans 9, but Israel, which followed
after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law
of righteousness. They were trying to be righteous,
But they didn't make it. They didn't attain it. Verse
32, wherefore, that means why. Why didn't they make it? Because
they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of
the law. They used it unlawfully. Now
what is it to seek righteousness by faith? It's to seek righteousness
in and by Christ. Do you understand that? Get that
in your mind. To seek righteousness by faith
does not mean to seek righteousness by our believing. In other words,
I believe and therefore God accepts that as righteous. No, we believe
that Christ is our righteousness. Now I'm not just splitting hairs
there. That's important. To seek righteousness by faith
is to seek it in Christ. in and by the glory of his person
and the power and success of his finished work in his obedience
unto death. He is my righteousness. But they
used that law, and that law, Paul said it was a schoolmaster
to drive them to Christ. Think about that law. You had
the Ten Commandments, which was a moral code, and which we all
fall short, all right, Then you had the ceremonial law, which
was the priesthood, the sacrifices, all of that, which were all types
of what? Christ. They brought lambs and
slaughtered lambs, shedding blood, and they presented them unto
God. Well, what is Christ to his people?
He's the Lamb of God. He's our lamb. He's the spotless
lamb. So all of that. But rather than
see God's grace and see Christ in that, they sought righteousness
by their works. And it says in verse 32, for
they stumbled at the stumbling stone. Who's the stumbling stone?
That's Christ. When Christ came along and told
them the reality of it, they stumbled. Remember how he told
them the reality of it? He said, I didn't come to break
the law, but to keep it everywhere, jot and tittle. And he said this,
he said, except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and the Pharisees, you shall in no wise enter the kingdom
of heaven. He told them in John chapter five, he said, you search
the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life.
They are they which testify of me. He says, you think your hope
is in Moses. meaning the law, keeping the
law. But he said, Moses will be your judge. You haven't kept
the law. So here it is, it says, they
sought it and they stumbled when Christ came along. Rather than
embracing him and believing him, like we all do by nature, they
rejected him. And that tells us something here.
If you don't reject the true Christ of this book, As the Lord
your righteousness, who do you have to boast in? Yourself? Oh, I made the difference. I believed, but they didn't.
Oh, no. God forbid that I should glory save in the cross. You
attribute that to God. And he goes on to say, verse
33, as it is written, behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone
and rock of offense, and whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed. Look at chapter 10 there, verse
one. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel
is that they might be saved. Well, why would you call Israel
lost, Paul? Well, he said, I bear them record that they have a
zeal of God. They're religious. but not according to knowledge.
You mean they gotta know something? Well, apparently. What do they
have to know? Well, look at verse three. For
they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about
to establish their own righteousness, and we've already seen that's
by their works, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God. They wouldn't submit to the righteousness
of God. Well, what is the righteousness
of God? Look at verse four again. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believe. They've rejected
Christ. Now that's a good example of
using the law unlawfully. But let me give you an example.
Turn back a page to Romans chapter seven of using the law lawfully. Now, verse four, Romans seven. Paul writes, wherefore, my brethren,
you also are become dead to the law. Dead to the law? Well, that means that the law,
you're not under the law. That means the law cannot condemn
you. The law cannot inspire you or motivate you. How does the
law motivate people? It's either threats of punishment
or loss of reward. Isn't that right? And if that's
what you believe, you either become a legalist or you become
a mercenary or both. But you're certainly not a willing,
loving, bond-servant of Christ. But he says here, you become
dead to the law. Now, how did you become dead
to the law? Well, look at the next words. By the body of Christ. That's how a sinner becomes dead
to the law. Because Christ died. I read that
in the opening. We died with Christ. He died
for his people. He was buried for his people.
He was raised again for his people. He's now seated at the right
hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession for us.
And who is he? 1 John 2 and verse 2, Jesus Christ
the righteous. That's a good place to be. Isn't
that right? Because the father can find no
flaw in Jesus Christ the righteous. He's our great high priest. And
the names that are written on his breastplate is every one
of his sheep which God chose and gave him before the foundation
of the world. Names written in the Lamb's book
of life before the world began. So you become dead to the law
by the body of Christ, that you should be married to another,
even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring
forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh,
when we were unregenerate, in darkness, unbelief, The motions
or the passions of sin which were by the law did work in our
members to bring forth fruit unto death. Normally what I believe
that's talking about is man's efforts to save himself by his
works. That's fruit unto death. It won't
work. But verse six says, but now we're
delivered from the law. that being dead wherein we were
held, that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in
oldness of the letter. What is that newness of spirit?
That's obedience motivated by God's grace, motivated by God's
unconditional love, motivated by gratitude. Thank you, Lord,
for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole. And that's how the law is used lawfully. So let me conclude
with this. What are the uses of the law?
Number one, the Holy Spirit uses the law to expose our sinfulness,
our depravity, our lack of righteousness, and the fact that it is impossible
for any of us to be saved, to be justified, to be sanctified
by our law keeping. But it drives us to Christ, that's
the second one. and exposing our sins in the
power of the Spirit, He drives us to Christ for all salvation,
for all forgiveness, for all life and righteousness, and He
will not let us go anywhere else. I used to have a friend that
went to this church and somebody would come in visiting He'd look
at that person and he'd tell me, he'd say, you know, I believe
the Holy Spirit's working with that man or that woman. I'd ask
him, I'd say, well, how do you know that? Oh, you know, well,
there's only one way you can know if the Holy Spirit's working
with a person. Where do they find relief? Where
do they end up? Because if it's anywhere but
Christ crucified and risen from the dead, Christ our righteousness
is not the Holy Spirit. because he will drive you to
no one else for salvation. And then thirdly, uses the word
of God to guide us in the New Testament to show us how to follow
our Lord and Savior as motivated by grace and love and gratitude
with an aim towards what? Glorifying God, not ourselves. We don't seek to obey God, to
draw attention to ourselves. And that's what that verse in
Matthew 5 16 means. When he talks about let your
light shine before men that they might see your good works and
do what? Give you the key to the city?
Build a statue? No, glorify your father which
is in heaven. The light is not our works, the
light is the gospel of Christ. And that's what we want people
to know. Somebody comes up to you and say, well, I saw you
help that old lady across the street, and that was good. And that's OK. Help all the old
ladies you want. But listen, listen. And that's
all right. But if you're a believer, you
want people to know, look, that's not my righteousness. That's
not my salvation. Christ is. You see what I'm saying? That's when you let the light
shine. And that's the right use of the law of God. All right.