The Christian and the Law, part 2

Introductory Thoughts

* I fear that the presentation of the Gospel in many circles in our day is weak, anemic, and incomplete.

* What is missing is the preaching of conviction, the preaching of the Holiness of God, the sinfulness of sin, and the just demands of God’s Moral Law.

* Paul, in the text before us today, explains the goodness of the Law and also explains the need of sinful man to be convicted by that Law. In the text in Mark, we see Christ using the Law in the art of conviction of a self-righteous, lost man.

1. Another Big Question, and the answer. Rom 7:7

a. Is the Law sin?
(1) The message of grace is, in our day, often so distorted by easy-believism that one would almost think the Law was sin.
(2) Many would denigrate the Law, hold it up to ridicule, disregard it totally, and would teach and act as if character and conduct were meaningless to a Christian.
(3) The Law is no way of salvation, we are free from the Law, but the Law is not bad, nor is the Law sin. The Law is the just expectation of God upon the race He created.

b. But what purpose is the Law?
(1) I had not known sin, but by the law The Law helps define what sin is. One of the categories of sin is any violation of the Law. Is that an Old Testament teaching? NO! It is a New Testament Teaching. 1 John 3:4
(2) I had not known sin, but by the law—The Law helps us know that WE are sinners.
(3) More about this later, but Paul also gives us HIS personal sin problem— for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

2. The Law Convicting Sinners—

a. The Commandment actually excited sin. 7:8
(1) He thought he was covetous before, but now, it is greater.
(2) This is a recognizable human phenomenon —tell me I can’t do it, and I am going to want to do it, in many cases.
(3) The first stage of conviction by Paul was more sin!

b. …without the law sin was dead. That is, it was under cover, under the veneer of human religion, out of sight, out of mind.

c. The Law Kills—7:9.
(1) He wasn’t really spiritually alive, he just thought he was.
(2) But the Law awakened sin in his members, and it flamed to full life—Paul realized he was dead. Remember, Paul had been under conviction: Acts 9:1-5


d. Sin Kills 7:10-11

(1) The Law, which tells us how to live, only tells the lost sinner that he is a dead man—guilty, condemned, and hopeless.
(2) The Law excited the rebellion in his heart, and actually made his situation more desperate.


e. The Mechanics of what was going on—7:13
(1) When the Law began to really work on him, it revealed to him the depth of his own depravity and sinfulness;
(2) As he looked at the Holy Law, and really understood it experientially, his own sin became more and more apparent.

f. Applied to the Whole Race—Rom 3:19-20
(1) What then is the purpose of the Law? To show us our need of salvation!
(2) To be our schoolmaster—Gal 3:24
(3) To Convict the Lost—1 Tim 1:8-11
(4) The Law Is Good—7:12

g. The Law is holy—it is set apart, it is God’s Word, and the Law is good. The Law is God’s expression of His will for the conduct of human beings.

(1) The Commandment—the particular law that had convicted Paul, “thou shalt not covet,” Paul says that commandment is holy just and good.
(2) Holy—set apart for a special purpose
(3) Just—it is right, it is not unfair, it is not wrong, it is not unreasonable, it is just.
(4) Good—The commandment is Good. It is not a bad thing. It is not the fault of the commandment that I sin, the commandment is good.

3. Jesus’ Method of Evangelism, Using the Law—Mk 10:17ff

a. Please note—Christ did not always use the same way of dealing with lost people. He approached them individually, meeting their need at their point of need.

b. The Man Came Running—The Rich Young Ruler (Matthew 19 tells us he is young, and Luke 18 tells us he is a ruler).

c. What would our typical response be? Here is the richest young man in town, a leader among men, handsome, debonair, from the best family, and he wants to be saved! Well, just repeat the sinner’s prayer, young man—you’ll be teaching a boy’s Sunday School class in a month, and you’ll be on the church board next year.

(1) I mean, that’s all there is to it, isn’t it? I mean, he wants eternal life, right?

(a) Everyone wants eternal life, whether they believe in anything or not.
(b) A desire to live eternally says nothing about the spiritual state of someone, and even less about what they know of God, sin, salvation, repentance, and faith.
(c) Eternal life is only for those who desire it on God’s terms, not on their own.

d. Jesus’ Curious Response—18-19
(1) Implied question—do you realize Who I AM?
(2) Don’t flatter the preacher, boy! Give the glory to God!
(3) The commandments? Lord, you aren’t going to preach the LAW to him are you? Jesus, haven’t you been briefed on the latest evangelistic methods, haven’t you been to the latest church growth conferences? Don’t you know that you are supposed to cater to this man’s psychological needs and help him with his self-esteem? Don’t you know that you are supposed to make him feel comfortable in church so that he will kind of grow into the idea of salvation? The LAW? Lord, what are you thinking?
(4) The Lord sneaks an extra one in—perhaps just for this fellow-- Defraud not

e. The Big Lie, and What it Reveals—20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.

(1) He lied right here!
(2) But he showed that he thought of himself as righteous. Don’t lead this guy in “the sinner’s prayer,” because he doesn’t think he really is a sinner!

f. The Loving Truth—This preaches on its own!

(1) Love is consistent only with Truth, hard truth or not. 21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him,
(2) The Arrow Hits Home on a command not mentioned before—“Do not covet.” Jesus says, “give it all up…”.

(a) Is this for all of us? No, it was an individual instruction issued only to this young man.
(b) This was a test—Christ might have actually required him to go through with it, or it might have been like Abraham’s test, but the point is, if you are not willing to chuck it all to follow Christ, you are not ready to follow Him.
(c) Christ knew the man would not .

g. Oh no! You blew it! This guy was ready to commit, and you ran him off with the Law!

(1) No, this man was about to become another lost church member, and Christ confronted him with the Truth.
(2) This man was a sinner and not aware of that fact, and Christ used the Law to perform soul-convicting exploratory surgery.

.