Our help is in the Name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
Beloved, grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and the Lord
Jesus Christ, through the mighty working of God the Holy Spirit.
Amen
Psalm of praise: 1:1
Prayer
Psalm 19:4
Scripture reading:
John 1
Scripture text:
John 1:17;
Catechism Sunday 34
For
the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus
Christ (ESV).
It seems that this statement in the Bible implies that the law stands
in direct opposition to the grace of the Lord Jesus. For this reason we
are going to look at the position of the law under the following three
headings:
1. Why was the law given to mankind?
2. The necessity for the law
3. The power of the law
1. Why was the law given to mankind?
In the Old Testament the law was applied so man always had to keep it
in consideration.
- The law required obedience. It required fulfilment.
- The law condemned the person who could not do all
these things.
- It caused the people to be on tenterhooks all the
time.
In the New Testament it is revealed to us that we received everything
through Jesus Christ: Yes, grace upon grace.
- There is a huge difference between what the Lord
Jesus does and what the law does. Jesus prays for us – the law condemns
us.
- Jesus reconciles us with God – the law makes us
transgressors.
This brings us to the question: If we received complete grace in Jesus,
can the law in that case not fall away? What is our relationship, as
Christians, with the law?
- The answer is that the law is part of God’s
revelation and God’s revelation will always exist.
- Therefore, in Christ, we continually deal with the
law, because we have to remember that Jesus in fact fulfilled the law.
- The redemption He provided for us is not detached
from the law.
- In order to serve Jesus, and to truly live in
gratitude that God saved you from hell, you must obey the Lord.
- If you want to obey Jesus, you have the law as a
guideline.
An unconverted person does not worry about the law.
- He’s simply not interested in being obedient to
God.
- By contrast, the true convert lives according to
the law to avoid sin.
You see, the law has not failed the person who has received mercy in
Christ. For him it has new meaning.
- For him the law no longer pronounces judgement; it
is the reason for gratitude.
- He is grateful that the Lord has given the law
against which he can measure himself so that he can live up to the
Lord’s standards to the best of his ability.
- Furthermore it is reason for gratitude because
through the law he realises the extent of the mercy that God has shown
him in punishing Christ for all his sins.
2. The necessity of the law
Lawlessness always leads to destruction.
- Nothing can exist without law.
- The entire creation was created to function
according to specific laws – this applies to plants and animals and the
entire nature. Even today everything obeys those laws.
Like the laws for nature, the Lord also laid down laws for the
spiritual world. Spiritual lawlessness leads to havoc. For this reason
the Ten Commandments were given.
- The purpose is to establish spiritual guidelines
whereby the Lord presents His laws to the faithful.
- The believer is taught how to live a life in which
he shows true gratitude to God for the grace he received in Christ.
In a certain sense it could be said that the Ten Commandments form the
Constitution of heaven. In the old as well as in the new covenant the
law is the binding factor among all those who partake in the grace of
Christ – without which everyone would have gone his own way.
- Of course, if man had not sinned, the law would
have been totally unnecessary.
- Then obedience would have been an integral part of
human nature.
- But now we have sinned and we can hardly obey any
law.
- That is why Christ was born, died and rose from the
dead for our salvation.
Therefore we must realise that the law is, and will always be,
necessary.
- Which is why we still sing to the Lord to teach us
His ways.
- And ask the Lord to lead the humble in what is
right, and teach the humble His way.
After all, to fear the Lord means that you will obey His law. The
faithful therefore regard the law as worthy of obedience because, as
they expect their salvation in Christ, they want to honour God through
their lives.
3. The power of the law
All laws change from time to time. Except the law of the Lord. It never
changes.
- It also means that it can never lose its power.
- The law is so powerful that Jesus, who is also God
of the law, fully obeyed the law.
In the old dispensation the law made demands according to which the
faithful had to serve God. In the new dispensation it shows the way to
those who have received grace through Christ.
- Through the law God proclaims the laws of life and
we know that we are going to destroy ourselves if we do not obey them.
- By obeying the law your life achieves its purpose,
namely to glorify the Lord.
This is why the Ten Commandments start with the commandment to serve
the Lord and to have no other gods but Him.
- Has it ever occurred to you that fortune telling
and superstition are under discussion here? Is it not true that some of
us read our horoscope and value various forms of superstition?
- This is disobeying the first commandment, because
by doing that you deny your trust in, and love for, God.
- Our wavering faith and doubts when things don’t go
the way we want them to go are also covered by this commandment.
- We must at all times submit ourselves to God and
receive everything from Him in faith.
If we want our divine worship to be pure we should, like the rich young
man, go and stand before the Lord and ask Him: Lord, what should I do?
Then the Lord will reply – as to him:
- Keep my commandments.
- Keep my commandments out of gratitude for all the
grace in Christ.
Before Jesus came, the law had to show the light. When Christ came – so
Paul wrote – the saving grace of God appeared to all people. We obey
the law to worship Jesus in His grace and to follow His example.
Let us read together Catechism Sunday 34.
92. Q. What is the law of the
LORD?
A. God spoke all these words,
saying: I am the LORD your God, who
brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
- You shall have no other gods before Me.
- You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness
of
anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or
that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or
serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth
generation of those who hate Me, but showing steadfast love to
thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
- You shall not take the Name of the LORD your God in vain; for the
LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His Name in vain.
- Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you
shall
labour, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the
LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or
your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or
the sojourner who is within your gates; for in six days the LORD made
heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the
seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed
it.
- Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be long in
the land which the LORD your God gives you.
- You shall not kill.
- You shall not commit adultery.
- You shall not steal.
- You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
- You shall not covet your neighbour's house; you shall not
covet your neighbour's wife, or his manservant, or
his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your
neighbour's.[1]
[1] Ex. 20:1-17; Deut. 5:6-21.
93. Q. How are these
commandments divided?
A. Into two parts. The first
teaches us how to live in relation to God;
the second, what duties we owe our neighbour.[1]
[1] Matt. 22:37-40.
94. Q. What does the LORD
require in the first commandment?
A. That for the sake of my
very salvation I avoid and flee all
idolatry,[1] witchcraft, superstition,[2] and prayer to saints or to
other creatures.[3] Further, that I rightly come to know the only true
God.[4] trust in Him alone,[5] submit to Him with all humility[6] and
patience,[7] expect all good from Him only,[8] and love,[9] fear,[10]
and honour Him[11] with all my heart. In short, that I forsake all
creatures rather than do the least thing against His will.[12]
[1] I Cor. 6:9, 10; 10:5-14; I John 5:21. [2] Lev. 19:31; Deut.
18:9-12. [3] Matt. 4:10; Rev. 19:10; 22:8, 9. [4] John 17:3. [5] Jer.
17:5, 7. [6] I Pet. 5:5, 6. [7] Rom. 5:3, 4; I Cor. 10:10; Phil. 2:14;
Col. 1:11; Heb. 10:36. [8] Ps. 104:27, 28; Is. 45:7; James 1:17. [9]
Deut. 6:5; (Matt. 22:37). [10] Deut. 6:2; Ps. 111:10; Prov. 1:7; 9:10;
Matt. 10:28; I Pet. 1:17. [11] Deut. 6:13; (Matt. 4:10); Deut. 10:20.
[12] Matt. 5:29, 30; 10:37-39; Acts 5:29.
95. Q. What is idolatry?
A. Idolatry is having or inventing something in which to put our trust
instead of, or in addition to, the only true God who has revealed
Himself in His Word.[1]
[1] I Chron. 16:26; Gal. 4:8, 9; Eph. 5:5; Phil. 3:19.
Amen.
Closing prayer
Closing hymn: Psalm 78:3
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Amen.
Dr MJ du Plessis
Gereformeerde Kerk Bellville
Date: 25 January 2004 (evening)