The Moral Law (Q44-49)

The Baptist Catechism • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

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Introduction

Connection:“If you love me you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Here the Lord instructs us in the necessity of a love-filled, and law-governed obedience to Christ our King. But the question arises: what are the commandments are Christ? Are they just those that are repeated in the New Testament? Does Christ bring an entirely new law? Or does he affirm the validity of Old Testament Law? All of it? Some of it? These are all pressing questions to which we now turn this evening. As Christians we are called to be holy, set apart, not according to some abstract rules but according to God’s moral law. Thus the title for this evenings sermon is:

Theme: The Moral Law (Q44-49)

Need: We need clarity on what God requires of us, so that we can offer ourselves as living sacrifices to him in this New Year and forevermore.

Purpose: To instruct the church in God’s revealed will for our obedience; to comfort the church in Christ our Redeemer; and to exhort the church to gratitude-filled duty.

PRAY - PRAY - PRAY - PRAY

Q44. What is the duty which God requireth of man? A44. The duty which God requireth of man is, obedience to his revealed will (Mic 6:8; 1 Sam. 15:22).

Micah 6:8 ESV

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Here we see a great summary of what God requires of mankind. This is a statement of God’s law; of God’s commandments; of God’s precepts. As we have seen in weeks past God is the Eternal and Transcendent Creator, but He is also a personal God who in his loving wisdom calls us to obey his revealed will, his law, as a means of walking in fellowship with Him. What a glorious reality this is? That the Almighty God has created us in his image, male and female, and that he calls us to walk with him humbly and joyfully. This is the chief end of mankind: to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. We must never divorce our happiness from God’s revealed will, for it is therein that we find our purpose and calling—the Christian’s chiefest delight is to obey God who is his Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer. What a blessing to walk with the living God.

Is this your chief delight? Do you get up each morning thrilled to be able to walk humbly with God? Can you say with the Psalmist: in Ps. 119:9-16

Psalm 119:9–16 ESV

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Blessed are you, O Lord; teach me your statutes! With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth. In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.

As we saw this morning that we are not the captain of our own souls, God is; so too are we not the captain of our purpose; God and his law is our chief purpose and delight.

If you are indwelt with the Spirit of God you know this very well. You have been given a new-birth, with new-principles of affection and love. You have a desire for the presence of God; and a delight in the presence of God. You have a desire to walk in all things pleasing to Christ; and a delight as you do so. You have a desire to walk humbly with your beautiful Lord; and you have a delight in communion with Him.

But you also know the soul-crushing-experience of when you follow after your sin. When you are turning from God and desiring and delighting in sin. When you take a glance at pornography. When you judge your neighbor in sin. When you fail to love your wife and kids. When you live in on outrage of anger. When you sit on the couch for too long in laziness. When you scroll-endlessly on social media. We all know very well that when we are not communing with the living God we are causing a spiritual drought of our spiritual joy and delight—like the bride in the Song of Songs she cries out in Song. 5:2-6:

Song of Solomon 5:2–6 ESV

I slept, but my heart was awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking. “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one, for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.” I had put off my garment; how could I put it on? I had bathed my feet; how could I soil them? My beloved put his hand to the latch, and my heart was thrilled within me. I arose to open to my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, on the handles of the bolt. I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned and gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer.

When we do not keep awake and pursue the Lord Jesus our Bridegroom, we find that we lack communion with him, we lack joy, we lack peace, we lack love, we lack hope, and we lack contentment. When the soul neglects the presence of her beloved—our soul fails within us. But oh what a joy it is when we walk with our King, our Husband, our Lord—what delights ravish the soul. God help us to be more diligent in obeying God’s revealed will as we walk humbly with our Triune God in Christ.

But there’s another problem that arises when we speak of obedience—formality without sincerity. Hear from 1 Samuel:

1 Samuel 15:22 ESV

And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.

Here we see a grand distinction between the laws of God in the Old Testament. There are distinctions that need to be made. Yes the Law of Moses is a unit—but last time I checked units can still have divisions and distinctions. Here we see that God does not delight in obedience to ceremonial laws without actual obedience to the moral law. The basic distinctions in the Old Testament law are these: moral, civil, and ceremonial.

Moral laws are summarized in the Decalogue—these are eternal laws of right and wrong that reflect the righteous character of God. Civil laws are judicial or political applications of the moral law to the society of the Kingdom of Israel. Ceremonial laws are those laws relating to temple, worship, and symbolism.

In the text of 1 Sam. we see that God does not delight in obedience to the ceremonial laws (offerings and sacrifices), apart from true love and obedience to God’s moral law (to obey the voice of the Lord).

Anyone can go through ceremonial formalities—just like the new covenant ceremonial laws like baptism and the Lord’s Supper—but if they are not done with true faith, and love, they are worthless. God delights in spiritual obedience, love, which sets the flame to all other obedience.

This takes us to our next Question:

Q45. What did God at first reveal to man for the rule of his obedience? A45. The rule which God at first revealed to man for his obedience, was the moral law (Rom. 2; 14, 15, and 10:5).

As noted earlier, the moral law are those laws which are eternal in nature. They moral laws existed before the Bible existed. The moral laws existed before Mount Sinai, though they are republished at Mount Sinai. Because the moral law, also called natural law, is written on the tablets of human hearts.

Earlier in our Catechism study we looked at the doctrine of creation and the image of God. Part of the image of God is being made morally upright, with the moral, or natural law of God written in our hearts. What does this mean? It just means that mankind naturally knows good and evil, because it is written on his heart, which his conscience informs him of. Paul speaks of this in Romans 2:

Romans 2:14–15 ESV

For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them

Let’s unpack this. Gentiles do not have the written law, the Torah, the first 5 Books of Moses. But they by nature by nature they do what the law requires! (this is why we also call the moral law natural law as well). They show that the work of the law, the moral law, is written on their hearts. This is the most important text for understanding that mankind has morality imprinted upon his heart by the hand of his Almighty God. Even the Gentiles who did not have access to Scripture, have the work of the moral law written on their hearts. Because of this, their conscience (that governing part of our mind), bears witness as our conflicting thoughts accuse or excuse them.

What does this mean? It means that no one is with excuse with regards to morality. God’s moral laws (those eternal laws of right and wrong) are natural to us. We know, deep down, that our Creator requires us to love. We know, deep down, that our Creator requires us to worship. We know, deep down, that our Creator requires us to be truthful. We know, deep down, that our Creator requires us to be sexually pure.

Now, our consciences can be sears, as Paul says, as we suppress the truth in our unrighteousness, but this moral law never leaves—though it is clouded due to our sin and rebellion.

Here is what this moral law means. It is self-evident to us. Though the ten commandments had not yet been given, though God had not said at Mount Sinai: You shall not murder, Adam would have been sinning if he murdered his Wife in the Garden—why? Because we don’t need the Bible to know that Murder is wrong! We know by nature that Murder is wrong. And we know that when Paul says Law that he means the moral law because everytime he quotes the law in the Book of Romans he is quoting from the 10 Commandments.

Moral law is natural law that is written on the heart of ever man and woman, every male and female. Why? Because they are made in the image and likeness of their moral God. This takes us to the moral law as it is republished in Scripture, which is clarified in the next question:

Q46. Where is the moral law summarily comprehended? A46. The moral law is summarily comprehended in the ten commandments (Deut. 10:4; Mt. 19:17).

Deuteronomy 10:4 ESV

And he wrote on the tablets, in the same writing as before, the Ten Commandments that the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. And the Lord gave them to me.

Our Deacon Dave read for us the Ten Commandments, the Decalogue, the Moral Law, earlier this evening. Here Moses reminds us that it is the Finger of God alone that wrote the Decalogue. These are the only laws that God himself wrote in a special way. It was only the Decalogue that was put in the ark of the covenant. It was only the Decalogue that Gentiles were sinning against without Scripture.

We can walk through Genesis 1-Exodus 19 and show that every single one of the 10 Commandments was broken before any of them were written on the tablets of stone, showing that they are unique in a category of morality that is different from the civil and ceremonial laws. Thus, as the Catechism says, the moral law is summed up in the ten commandments.

This is important for us to understand. The ten commandments do not exhaust God’s moral law and requirements, rather, they summarize them. Thus, when God says: do not commit adultery he is giving the moral principle of sexual faithfulness and holiness. This commandment can be shown to be the summary of forbidding sins such as pornography, sex before marriage, unfaithfulness, lust, and much more.

This means that, as plainly as I can say it: If you cannot find the principle of moral law in the ten commandments then it is not moral law. The Decalogue summarizes the whole of what God requires of us. Thankfully, Jesus gives us a summary of this summary in the New Testament. Jesus did not come to give new moral laws, rather, the Sermon on the Mount is clarifying the true intent of the Decalogue. Jesus says: “I did not come to abolish the law or the prophets, but rather to fulfill it” (Matt. 5:17). Yet he also says much more about the Decalogue. This takes us to our next question:

Q47. What is the sum of the ten commandments? A47. The sum of the ten commandments is, to love the Lord our God, with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength, and with all our mind; and our neighbour as ourselves (Mt. 22:37-40).

Matthew 22:37–40 ESV

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Here it is. Here is the clearest summary of God’s moral law, the foundation of all commands in the Old Testament. Jesus tells us what it is: love. Not modern definition of love, no. But a biblical definition of love. Man is not the Lawgiver and Judge—rather—as we saw in James, God is the Only Lawgiver and Judge—He alone defines true moral law and true love (Jas. 4:12). What is Biblical love?

Thomas Watson says:

Q. What is love? A. It is an holy fire kindled in the affections, whereby a Christian is carried out strongly after God as the Supreme Good.

In other words, love is holy desire for and holy delight in, our Triune God, coupled with a holy devotion to our God in obedience. Love is not anti-law—love is the summary of the law. This is vertical love for God; and horizontal love for man includes the same elements which is doing good to our fellow neighbour with a pure heart and purpose.

To Love is to Live for the Glory of God. Soli Deo Gloria. John Flavel says:

Supreme love denotes the whole man to God and Christ: So that in life and death that man designs the glory of God as his main end; Rom. 14:7, 8. For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself; for whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live therefore or die, we are the Lord’s

Oh beloved, let this be the chief purpose of your life—wether in life or death to love and live for the glory of God. This is where you find yourself—not as the author of your story—but living as the child of God that He means for you to live. In love you are most like God—because God is love (1 John 4:8).

Thus, because part of the Gospel-Redemption in Christ includes our moral transformation by the Holy Spirit, we can say that those who are true believers have a true love for Christ and for his Church. Hear from the Apostle: 1 John 4:7-10:

1 John 4:7–10 ESV

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

God is love, and God has shown us saving love in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Because we are sinners, we are actually unable to love with a spiritual love that is purposed for the glory of God. We are dead in our sins—we cannot glorify God, rather, we glorify ourselves and live for the devil as his willing slaves. But when Christ takes ahold of us by the Gospel, by his Word and Spirit—He Redeems us, Regenerates us, and Restores us so that we can truly love and live for the Glory of God—this is where the Catechism takes us now.

Q48. What is the preface to the ten commandments? A48. The preface to the ten commandments is in these words; I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage (Ex. 20:2).

Exodus 20:2 ESV

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

In order to understand the relationship between faith and obedience, between grace and the law, we must understand this foundational principle: Before God commands any of the Decalogue to Israel, He reminds her that she has been redeemed by pure grace out of the land of Egypt. Thus, the order is (1) Guilt, (2) Grace, (3) Gratitude. Israel is guilty in sin, but God graciously redeems her, then calls her to obey in response to his saving grace.

This is the glorious foreshadow of the work of Jesus Christ in the Gospel. Just as the New Testament weaves the themes of the Passover Lamb, the Red Sea Crossing, the Wilderness, and the Promised Land into it’s fulfillment in Jesus Christ, so too is the land of Egypt, that place of bondage, a foreshadow of our slavery to the Devil in our sin.

Thus, the New Testament application of this verse for us is: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the domain of darkness, out of slavery to the devil, and into the kingdom of light, in whom we have forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:13-14). Making this connection, John Flavel writes:

Our deliverance is not from Egypt, but from hell; Col. 1:13 … And our persons are bought by the Redeemer to glorify God; 1 Cor. 6:19, 20. Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you? For ye are bought with a price: Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Beloved, Jesus is our sufficient Redeemer who delivers us from sin, death, and hell—and from slavery to the tyrant, Satan. Jesus says this to the unbelieving Jews of his day:

John 8:34 ESV

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.

Then Jesus says:

John 8:44 ESV

You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Notice the connection here between being a slave to sin, and freely doing the desires of the Devil. Here is the Egypt and the Pharoah of the Christian. He is under the condemnation of the law, he is under the power of the Devil, He is a slave to his sin and to the Devil, but Jesus our Mighty Redeemer comes by pure grace and He sets us free from sin and from the Devil. He redeems us from the true Egypt and Pharaoh. Thomas Watson adds:

Now, what an infinite mercy of God is it, when he brings poor souls out of this house of bondage,—when he gives them a delivery from the prince of darkness! Jesus Christ redeems captives,—he ransoms sinners by price, and rescues them by force. As David took a lamb out of the lion’s mouth, 1 Sam. 17:34., so Christ rescues souls out of the mouth of this roaring lion. O what a mercy is it to be brought out of the house of bondage, to be taken from being made captives to the prince of the power of the air, and to be made subjects of the Prince of Peace! And this is done by the preaching of the word, Acts 26:18., “To turn them from the power of Satan unto God.”

In the Gospel Redemption of Jesus Christ we are transferred from being children of the devil to being children of God, through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ—as we believe and receive the Spirit we are born again and made new-creatures in Christ and we find our identity and salvation in union with Jesus Christ our Victorious Redeemer. Hear from the Book of Hebrews:

English Standard Version Chapter 9

11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) 12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions

Oh what a glorious redemption Jesus has purchased for his saints, for his church—an eternal redemption accomplished and secured by his own precious blood, granting forgiveness of sins and purification of our hearts as we look forward to our promised eternal inheritance. But what do we do now? If we are trusting in Jesus Christ and the Good News of Redemption in Him—how does this relate to our obedience. Notice that the text above says that he purifies our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. The Gospel does not mean we can freely live in sin, no, the Gospel gives us infinite reason to serve our Redeemer and King for all of our days! Look at what He has done! God compels our obedience by dazzling us with the beauty of his grace in Jesus Christ.

Guilt, Grace, Gratitude. We are guilty in our sins and in slavery to Satan; the grace of Christ sets us free; now we are called to serve the living God out of gratitude. The moral law becomes our chief delight, as we spoke of beforehand—because it shows us not the way of salvation, but the way to show thanksgiving to the God of our salvation. The Law condemns us and sends us to Christ for life and hope and peace; then the Gospel sends us back to the Law to serve as a child of the King—saved by Sovereign Grace.

Thus the catechism continues:

Q49. What doth the preface to the ten commandments teach us? A49. The preface to the ten commandments teacheth us that because God is the Lord, and our God and redeemer, therefore we are bound to keep all his commandments (Luke 1:74, 75; 1 Pet. 1:15-19).

Luke 1:74–75 ESV

that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

Here we see the prophecy of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist who does not say that we are delivered from the hand of our enemies so that we can live as we please—no—we are delivered from the hand of our enemies so that we can live for the highest goal of serving God without fear of punishment in holiness (being set apart to God), in righteousness (obedient law-keeping), for how long? Before him all our days. The goal of the Gospel is not merely forgiveness of sins, but transformation of the heart so that we can live joyfully in communion with our Triune God, serving Him whom our soul loves.

We seek to love him, “because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). And what is love the summary of? The moral law. Love, desire and delight in our God, leads us to devote ourselves to our God—because of the great love with which he has loved us: “Sending his only-begotten Son so that all who believe in Him might never perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

We are bound to keep the commandments of God on two fronts: (1) Because we are God’s creatures, and (2) Because we are God’s children. The former is by nature; the latter is by grace. Because God is our God and Redeemer, we now get to live a life in his gracious presence, and for his awesome glory.

We obey not to become children, we become children by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, and then we seek to live as faithful children bringing glory to our God and Father, without fear of condemnation (which is all taken away in Christ), and with the power of the Holy Spirit. So go and seek to bring glory to your King, with gratitude-filled obedience to God’s moral laws, and additional laws in the New Testament: because of who He is, and for what He has done for you.

I’d like to finish by reading a poem on the Law and the Gospel:

When once the fiery law of God, Has chased me to the Gospel-road; Then back unto the holy law, Most kindly gospel-grace will draw.

When by the law to grace I’m schooled; Grace by the law will have me ruled; Hence, if I don’t the law obey, I cannot keep the gospel-way.

A rigid master was the law, Demanding brick, denying straw; But when the gospel-tongue it sings, It bids me fly, and gives me wings.

Amen! Let’s recap with the questions.

Conclusion + Big Idea