The Teaching of the Church: The Law & The Gospel
Notes
Transcript
And someone came and told them, “Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
There is no point upon which men make greater mistakes than upon the relation which exists between the law and the gospel. Some men put the law instead of the gospel: others put the gospel instead of the law; some modify the law and the gospel, and preach neither law nor gospel: and others entirely abrogate the law, by bringing in the gospel.
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, August 26, 1855, by the REV. C. H. Spurgeon At New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.
Article 12 - We believe that the Law of God is the eternal and unchangeable rule of his moral government; that it is holy, just, and good; and that the inability which the Scriptures ascribe to fallen men to fulfill its precepts arises entirely from their love of sin; to deliver them from which, and to restore them through a Mediator to unfeigned obedience to the holy Law, is one great end of the Gospel, and of the means of grace connected with the establishment of the visible Church
Law - Commands / Demands from God
Law - Commands / Demands from God
2 Objections:
2 Objections:
The Law is of no effect or necessity since Christ / We are under grace, not law
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
While we need to make distinction between what Old Testament requirements were specifically for the OT nation of Israel and the eternal law of God, there is no part, including those for OT Israel, that does not have application for the Christian in 2021
The teaching of hard doctrine, especially the law turns away saint and sinner alike / people don't like it
For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good. Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life!
If we continually teach and preach the Law of God, it will be received by believers, especially the more mature
The Law is needed for evangelism
The Law is needed for evangelism
John Eliot - Puritan Missionary to Native Americans mid 17th CE - was the first to produce printed materials in their own language
What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.
No one has ever sought a savior unless they knew by God’s awakening by Word and Spirit
The Law is needed for discipling
The Law is needed for discipling
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
How do we know what are good works?
The law is needed to understand the NT
The law is needed to understand the NT
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
NT preaching without an understanding of the OT (esp the Law) is anemic at best; more likely to be imbalanced, influenced by social pressures (outside the church as well as in), or maybe just wrong; missing the point, and therefore misleading / deceiving from true faith.
Gospel - Promises from God for mankind
Gospel - Promises from God for mankind
The Story of Jesus
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
The Freeness of the Gospel
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
The Power of the Gospel
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
What the Gospel is NOT
a plan
anything churchy
Testimony
Constant Encouragement
Fear Not - 365
No one can take away salvation
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
It is finished!
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
It may seem like it doesn’t need saying, but churches in this day (including ours) need to remain if not reclaim a focus on the gospel in every aspect our lives, especially church life itself
Either or? Both And!
Either or? Both And!
2 Examples from Scripture;
2 Examples from Scripture;
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
The self-righteous and hypocritical leadership of Jewish religion of the day
The ones who constantly tried to trap Jesus
The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
5 things about the Law & the Gospel
5 things about the Law & the Gospel
To have wisdom and discernment, God has gifted us the church family, and charged that the churches in this regard.
Maturing and wisdom
When we are met with self-righteousness and/or militant opposition to the gospel, we lovingly apply law (think rich young ruler)
When we meet humbled (even humiliated) hurting, suffering people who are not self righteous, we apply Gospel
When we need to know how to form our lives, our homes, marriages, parenting, our churches, we MUST look to the Law of God
When we hear the whispers of the devil that we are not enough; that we will soon be discarded by God because of our failures, we MUST preach to ourselves the gospel.
We, as members in, and teachers and preachers of New Testament churches ought to teach and preach both the law and the gospel, to the exclusion of neither; for the glory of God, for the advancement of the gospel kingdom in the saving of souls, and for the sanctifying of the Lord's elect.