The sermon, titled 'Common Objections to the Relevance of the Law' by Mike Davenport, delves into the role and relevance of the law in the life of a believer, particularly in light of the New Testament. It begins with a scriptural foundation from Galatians 3, asserting that the law was added because of transgressions to guide people to Christ, where they might be justified by faith. The speaker explores the misconception that the law is irrelevant to believers under the New Covenant, emphasizing that while the law cannot justify, it points to the need for Christ's righteousness. Davenport addresses three main objections: the belief that the New Testament negates the law's relevance, the notion that the law as a tutor is obsolete, and the idea that the Holy Spirit replaces the need for the law. He argues that the law's moral directives remain integral as they reflect God's unchanging righteousness and guide believers towards sanctification. The sermon highlights the distinction between being 'under law' and 'under grace,' explaining that grace empowers believers to live righteously rather than negating the law. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit works within believers to fulfill the law's righteous requirements. The sermon concludes with a call for non-believers to recognize the law's role in revealing their need for Christ and for believers to embrace the law as a guide to living in accordance with God's will.

Galatians 3, if you will have your eyes fall down upon verse 19, Galatians 3 19. What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made, and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator." Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one. Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not.

For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor." Oh, righteous God, the giver of the law, The law that does not speak of what our righteousness should be, but of what your righteousness is.

It establishes your righteousness. And oh God, it is a righteousness that we can never attain. But Lord, we thank You for the Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord, we ask that each and every one here would be justified, would look for justification by faith alone in the righteousness of your dear Son. Oh Lord, as has been prayed earlier, teach us to love your law.

But may we love it because we love you. Oh God, we ask that you would clear any misconceptions, that you would teach us out of your Word, and you would make us to be a people who are ready to obey and to take up and to believe every word of your scriptures. Help us by your Spirit who dwells within each and every one of us as believers. Lord, we pray that Christ would be honored and glorified in everything that's said and done. To Him be the glory.

Amen. Amen. Well, you may be seated. We come today to the third message in a series on the Ten Commandments. Now, what we have sought to do in the previous messages and what I hope to do again today and maybe for one more Sunday is to continue to lay the groundwork for a study of the actual commandments by seeking to better understand the law of God in general.

And it's my desire that we will be able to come to a study of the Ten Commandments with hearts that love the law of God because we love the God of that law. And to that end, I want to begin this morning with a review of what we have covered in the previous messages, and I want to start here for a few reasons. Number one, it's been a couple of months since I last preached a message in this series. Second, there are some in our midst who were not here for the first two messages. And third, what we handle today is just part of a series where groundwork has already been laid, and so certain important realities already handled would otherwise be assumed and not necessarily restated.

So everything stated today in the message must be taken in the broader context of what has already been said in this series and as well in the context of what the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689 states regarding these matters as well, because it's the rule for us as we as pastors seek to guide this church. So by way of review, in the first message entitled, The Perfect Law of the Lord, we considered the first four paragraphs of the 1689 Confession as we sought to establish three main points. First, the moral law has always existed and will always exist. Moral law did not start there at Mount Sinai. Second, God's being and attributes are the source of the moral law, thus establishing the fact that the moral law must be unchanging just as God Himself is unchanging.

And third, God's Word draws attention to specific distinctions in the law, specifically moral laws, ceremonial laws, and civil laws. In the second message entitled, Christ is the End of the Law for Righteousness, we turned our attention to Romans 10-4 where Paul states, for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. It is not only crucial to understand what the law is, it is just as crucial to understand what it isn't. Paul declares, I bear them witness that they, that is, those of the house of Israel, have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God." The thrust of that message can be summed up by two quotations that we considered.

The first was from Robert Haldane, quote, this righteousness is the righteousness provided by God and revealed in the gospel, which is received by faith, by which men are saved. And he who does not submit to this righteousness and humbly receive it, but supposes that he can do something to give him a right to obtain or merit it, or who attempts to add to it anything of his own Or to substitute in its place his own obedience, more or less, is equally ignorant of the corruption of his own heart, is ignorant of the holiness of God, and is ignorant of the perfection of the obedience which the law requires." The second quote was from Samuel Bolton, where he says, "'Alas, there are multitudes in the world who make a Christ of their own works. And this is their undoing. They look for righteousness and acceptance more in the precept than in the promise, in the law rather than in the gospel, more in working than in believing, and so they miscarry. There is something of this Spirit, he says, in us all.

Otherwise, we should not be up and down so much in respect of our comforts and our faith as is still so often the case. We become cast down with every weakness in ourselves, but we, " he says, should be all in Christ in weak performance and nothing in ourselves in strong performances." end quote. Well, that brings us to today. The title of my message is Common Objections to the Relevance of the Law Common Objections to the Relevance of the Law And we shall seek to consider three objections and take them to the Word of God to see if their claim is valid and true. And so, objection number one, the New Testament teaches that we are no longer under law.

Doesn't that mean that the law is no longer relevant in the life of the believer? It teaches that we're no longer under law. Doesn't that mean that the law is no longer relevant in the life of the believer? It teaches that we're no longer under law. Doesn't that mean that the law is no longer relevant in the life of the believer?

Turn with me to Romans 6 verse 14. Romans 6 verse 14. Those who would bring this objection will often go to this text. It says, for sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. Well note the context of the verse in regard to what proceeds it.

Paul is declaring that sin has dominion over those who are under law and that it does not have dominion over those who are under grace. Isn't that what the argument is that he's making here? To word it in another way, If you are under law, it would be understandable that sin would have dominion over you. But you're not under law, but under grace. And as one under grace, sin no longer has dominion over you." You see, it's the logical conclusion of what Paul has been telling this church who is reading this letter.

He says this earlier in the chapter, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin, for he who has died has been freed from sin." This is what grace in Christ had wrought in these believers. And that grace, Paul says, should create a new heart disposition in those who have experienced that grace. He says, and do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. That should be the heart disposition, " he says, because you're not under law but under grace. One who no longer finds himself under law not only has the freedom to but also the duty to present all the faculties of his mind and of his body as instruments in the outworking of righteousness to God.

One who is no longer under law is described as someone who refrains from sin and who practices righteousness. That's the description of one who's not under the law. What does it mean to sin? Sin is the violation of what? The law of God.

Or you could say of the nature of God described in the law, that's what sin is. And so those who are under grace are exhorted to present the totality of their beings to a striving after the righteousness that is established in the law. The freedom under grace is a freedom from sin and a freedom to live for God. Verse 12, verse 12, it says the same thing that the first part of verse 14 says. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in its lusts.

It shouldn't have dominion. Sin shall not have dominion over you. He is not saying that the law should not reign, but that sin should not reign. So the focus of those under the law is not the law itself, but the sin that comes in. Note also the context of the verse in regards to what follows it because the context moves on into verses 15 and following where we continue the description of the contrast between being under law and being under grace.

Paul describes the contrast as being either a slave of sin or a slave of God. He reminds these believers that they embraced the doctrine of salvation that had been brought to them, which embrace, freed them from the grip of sin and made them slaves of righteousness. Robert Haldane in his commentary on the book of Romans says this, every man till he is united to Christ is under the law which condemns him. When united to Christ, the believer is no longer under the law either to be condemned or to be justified. The circumstance that the law cannot sanctify the sinner and secure his obedience confers no emancipation from its demands.

The believer is freed from the law because another has taken his place and fulfilled it in his stead. Believers are not under the covenant of works, but under the covenant of grace, by which they enjoy all the blessings of that gracious covenant, in which all that is required of them is promised to them. They are in a state of reconciliation with God. They know the Lord. According to the tenor of that gracious covenant, his law, he says, is written in their hearts and his fear is put within them." And then he closes with this comment, "'They who are under the law have nothing but their own strength in order to their obedience.

Sin, therefore, must have dominion over them, but they who are under grace are by God himself thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Sin shall not have dominion over them." End quote. Well someone may say, but keep reading, pastor. Go to the next chapter. Look at verses 4 and 6.

We are dead to the law. We have been delivered from the law. Okay, let's look at Romans 7, 4 and 6. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter." Once again, this is somewhat of a class on studying the Word of God, hermeneutics, the toolbox that we use.

Context becomes important. You see, Paul is describing our relationship to the law through the lens of a relationship between a married couple. You see, when married, we have a responsibility to the other. We are under a binding covenant. Now the natural state of man is declared in the opening verse of chapter 7, the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives.

He's born under dominion, and in that natural state, he stays under that dominion. Man's relation to law by nature is to be under the dominion of that law as though married to it. And as we have seen, to be under the dominion of the law is to be under what? The dominion of sin. Listen to the comments of Matthew Henry.

Quote, so long as a man continues under the law as a covenant and seeks justification by his own obedience, he continues the slave of sin in some form. Nothing but the spirit of life in Christ Jesus can make any sinner free from the law of sin and death. Believers are delivered from that power of the law which condemns for the sins committed by them. And they are delivered from that power of the law which stirs up and provokes the sin that dwells in them. Understand, " he says, this, not of the law as a rule, but as a covenant of works.

In profession and in privilege, we are under a covenant of grace and not under a covenant of works. We are under the gospel of Christ, not under the law of Moses. The difference, he says, is spoken of under the similitude or figure of being married to a new husband. The second marriage is to Christ. By death, we are freed from obligation to the law as a covenant, as the wife is from her vows to her husband." End quote.

You see, Matthew Henry is being very careful in his words. He says, yes, there is freedom. Yes, there is a deliverance, but our freedom from the law is only in regard to our obligation to it as a covenant, not in regard to it as a rule for our lives. We are free from it as a means of justification, but not as a means of sanctification. And these same verses that speak of being dead to the law and delivered from the law, note the results of being delivered from the law, of being dead to the law.

They are stated at the end of verses 4 and 6. I'm going to read those verses again with the emphasis on the results. Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another, to him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. But Now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. What does this new relationship to grace result in?

That we should bear fruit to God and that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit. Listen to Paul's description of what it means to be under grace as he writes to his fellow laborer Titus in Titus 2, 11 through 14. For the grace of God that brings salvation, okay, it's grace that brings salvation, that grace has appeared to all men. And that grace teaches us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. What good works?

Well, He's redeeming us from lawless deeds so that we might be redeemed to keep the law to His glory because of the justification that's found in him and his sacrifice alone. And then as if Paul knew the pushback that Titus would receive after relaying such a message regarding grace? He says to this, this to him in the next verse, speak these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you." Well the context back in our text here in Romans 6 continues on into Romans 7, and it shows the heart of Paul later in that chapter, it shows the heart of Paul to keep the law of God as a saved man in spite of the fact that he found himself so often doing the very things he hated. And this did not stop him in his pursuit of doing the thing his heart desired, obeying God's commandments.

But as the one who had been delivered from the law and the accompanying the dominion of sin, Paul still sought for another deliverance, A deliverance from the strivings of the flesh that sought to still retake dominion over him. And his response shows that he no longer considered himself as married to the law, but married to another. So instead of striving harder to obey that law, he sought deliverance from the one he was now married to. And so he comes in chapter 7 verses 24 and 25 saying, Oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The deliverance that he had gotten from the dominion of sin, he still looked to that one for deliverance from the continuous outworkings of that sin from his own flesh. And so all of this is the context around that phrase, not under law. And the last point of context that I will draw your attention to is found in chapter 8. When we read verse 2, it seems that Paul is reiterating what he had stated back in 614. He says there in 8 2, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

But the next two verses declare how we are to understand this seeming restatement. We see the work of the Spirit in both justification and then sanctification, both of which relating to the law. He says, for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh. God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh on account of sin. He condemned sin in the flesh.

That is our justification in light of the law. That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. That is our sanctification in the light of the law. Objection number two. Objection number two.

The law was simply a tutor to bring us to Christ. It was a tutor. Aren't we no longer under that tutor now that Christ has come? And we see that in Galatians 3, 24 and 25, which we read earlier, "'Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith, But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor." Well the obvious answer to the question is yes, as Paul states, we are no longer under that tutor. But The question we must ask is, does that mean then that the law is irrelevant?

Does it mean that it has no more purpose under the New Covenant? Well, the commentators, Jameson, Faust, and Brown, provide the following helpful comments, quote, and notice how they bring in the different aspects of the law. The moral law shows us what we ought to be, and so we learn our inability to do it. In the ceremonial law, we seek by animal sacrifices to answer for our not having kept the law, but find dead victims no satisfaction for the sins of living men. And that outward purifying will not cleanse the soul, and that therefore we need an infinitely better Sacrifice that is Christ the anti type of all the legal sacrifices Thus they say delivered up to the judicial law we see how awful is the doom we deserve.

Thus the law, all three aspects of it, thus the law at last leads us to Christ with whom we find righteousness and peace." End quote. Once again, context is crucial. Both the context of these two verses and the context of the chapter, yay, the context of the whole book of Galatians. The end in mind, the goal, the aim of this role of the law is stated at the end of verse 24, that we might be justified by faith, not by law. That we might be justified by faith.

We do not handle the context properly if we try to tie this relation to the law to the believer's sanctification and not his justification. The text is telling us that. That's the end. It never was intended to be the object of our faith nor the means of our justification. The law was not intended to do that.

It never was intended to be a means of justification with God even when it was given there at Mount Sinai. Paul has already stated in verses 11 and 12, but that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith, Yet the law is not faith. In chapter 2 and verse 16, he states, knowing, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, Even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law, no flesh shall be justified." The law is our tutor, our schoolmaster, to teach us and to point us to Jesus Christ, the object of our faith and the means of our justification. This was the purpose of the law in Moses' day as much as it was in Paul's.

Paul will later in this book issue a warning about attaching ourselves to the tutor and not to the one to whom the tutor sought to bring us. He says in chapter 5 verse 4, you have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by the law, you have fallen from grace. So if we have come to Christ in faith, then we are justified by the obedience of Christ and His sacrificial death, and the law has accomplished the very purpose for which it was given. When we come to faith in Christ, the law smiles. The law has fulfilled its God-given purpose.

So once a sinner has come to Christ for salvation, justification is secured. It's done. It's accomplished. The law is no longer needed to act as a tutor to bring us to Christ. Note the similar terminology that we saw in the Romans passage, under, this preposition under, not under law but under grace.

Now here in this passage, not under the tutor but by implication now under Christ. As in the previous passage, what this text points to is a fundamental change in how we relate to the law. We must not fail to note that The text teaches us not that Christ has redeemed us from the law, but that He has redeemed us from the curse of the law. We are no longer under this curse because of a change in status, a change in connection, a change in relation to the law. Paul uses similar language to note the drastic change in this relation throughout the entire letter.

In chapter 1 verse 4, Paul talks about false brethren, secretly brought in, who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage, to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour." See all these relational terms? In chapter 2 verse 18, Paul declares that he will not build again those things which he destroyed. Destroyed? What things is he talking about? I believe he tells us in Philippians 4, 4 through 7 where he says, if anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, concerning the law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness which is in the law blameless.

But what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. He destroyed them. Oh, Christ in Christ alone. At the beginning of chapter 3, Paul states that a return to the previous relation to the law is foolish. It's foolish.

It is the result of being bewitched And everything accomplished then is in vain. In 4 9 he states that to turn again, it's a relationship, to turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, that's definitely references to the ceremonial aspects of the law which had found their fulfillment in the coming of the Messiah. To turn again to the weak and beggarly elements would be to put themselves in bondage again. In 5.1, Paul exhorts them not to be entangled again with a yoke of bondage, reminding them that Christ had set them free from this bondage. And then in 5 verses 2 and 4, he warns them that to return to that former relation with the law means that Christ will profit them nothing and that they will become estranged from Christ.

We would also do well to note what portion of the law is receiving the most emphasis throughout the book of Galatians. It is the ceremonial law. Paul has warned them about being brought into the bondage of the following. First, the laws concerning separation from Gentiles, chapter 2, 11 and 12. Second, the laws regarding the observance of days, months, seasons, and years, chapter 4, verse 10.

And third, the laws regarding circumcision. You see, they were being persuaded that they needed to be circumcised in order to receive justification alongside not Christ pushed out of the way, but added to what Christ had done. And we see that in chapter 2 verses 4 and 5, chapter 5 verses 2 and 3, as well as 12 and 13. Matthew Henry highlights that fact as well, drawing even more attention to the sacrificial aspects of the law. He says, the law did not teach a living saving knowledge, but by its rites and ceremonies, especially by its sacrifices, it pointed to Christ.

There's the tutor, that they might be justified by faith, and thus it was as the word properly signifies a servant to lead to Christ as children are led to school by servants who have the care of them, that they might be more fully taught by Him, the true way of justification and salvation, which is only by faith in Christ. That brings us to the third and final objection that I'll have time to deal with, and that is, doesn't the presence of the Holy Spirit do away with the need of the law? Doesn't the presence of the Holy Spirit do away with the need of the law. And for that we can look at Galatians 5, 18 where it says, but if you are led by the Spirit, If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now some would say that the promise of the New covenant, that promise being that God would send the Spirit in a special way and that He would take up residence in all His people, that this promise negates the need for an outward law to direct our steps.

They would say that the Spirit now directs the Christian, that He leaves, that He guides, that He directs. But does His presence and does His leading and guiding of necessity mean that the law is of no further use in our lives? Well we find here the familiar wording under the law, just as we have done in the previous passages. So once again, we must note that Paul is referring to our relationship to the law and not to the law itself. Now I trust the wider context of Galatians 5.18 is familiar to us.

It is the warfare of the Spirit against the flesh, where we read also the list of characteristics of what it means to be guided by the flesh and what it means to be guided by the Spirit. But we should also note what comes before this verse. It's part of the context. Not only what follows, but what comes before. In verses 13 and 14, We read, for you, brethren, have been called to liberty.

You've been delivered. Only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law that they've been delivered from, all the law is fulfilled in one word, even this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself." The liberty that is ours in Christ, the liberty that frees us from the dominion of the law, gives us the freedom to now serve Christ in keeping that very law we no longer serve under. Paul says that we are free to fulfill the law through love. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

And in quoting this, he is making reference to the words of Christ in the Gospels. And Christ said that these words sum up what? The second table of the law, the last half of the Ten Commandments. This is what it means, says Paul, to bear fruit by the Spirit, is to keep the law of God, is to love your neighbor. And obviously if we have grace to love our neighbor, it's because we have grace to love our God.

The liberty that is ours in Christ bears this kind of fruit. Now consider the promise of God in relation to the new covenant that we have in Jeremiah 31-33. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord, I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." What is being described here, what is being promised is the New Covenant. What is found in this promise? Does God say that He will remove the law?

Does he say that he will remove the law? Does he say that he will abolish the law? No. Rather, he will take what he wrote in stone with his own finger, and with that same finger, write that law on our hearts and place that law in our minds. The law will be in their minds to know and on their hearts to do.

All those who have Jehovah—think about what he says here—all those who have Jehovah for their God, All those are truly His children. Every single one of them has this work of the mind and heart done by God. It's part of the covenant. So what is the work of the Spirit? What does He do in and with believers?

Turn back with me to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8 again. I want your eyeballs to see it, and not just take my reading of it for granted. Romans chapter 8, note in verse 5 that those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit." Paul is saying that there are things belonging to the Spirit and that we, as the blood-bought people of God who have the Spirit dwelling in us, we should set our mind on these very things. But what are those things?

Well, I believe the context of the verses on either side tell us what those things are. Look with me at verses 5, 6, and 7. It says that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. And then for to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So these verses tell us two things about what it means to be Spirit-filled.

First, those who walk in accord with the Spirit fulfill the righteous requirements of the law. They don't do this for their justification. The previous verses have already declared that those in Christ have been set free from the law and from sin, death, that Christ on their behalf has condemned sin in the flesh. So this fulfilling of the righteous requirement of the law comes after justification, and it comes as we walk in accord with the Spirit. To set our mind on the Spirit is to walk according to the law of God.

Secondly, it says that the carnal mind, in other words, the unconverted man, woman, or child is not subject to the law of God and indeed cannot be. So what does that say of the spiritual mind, of the one who is living in the Spirit and has set their mind on the things of the Spirit? It says that the spiritual mind is subject to the law of God and not only can be, but it will be. It will be. Paul then goes on to state in verse 13, for if you live according to the flesh, you will die.

But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. You see, it is by the Spirit that we put to death the deeds of the body, put to death those deeds of the flesh that refuse to be subject to the law of God. Do you recall Paul's assessment of his Jewish brethren as he begins the tenth chapter of Romans? I quoted it in the introduction earlier. He declares that they have a zeal for God but not according to knowledge, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own righteousness have not submitted to the righteousness of God." Well, Paul, in thinking about those Jewish people, says this in 2 Corinthians 3, 14 and 18, but their minds were blinded, For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ.

But even to this day when Moses is read, That is when the law is red. A veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now, the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." What kind of liberty? We're supposed to be talking about liberty here.

I would propose to you, based on the context, it's liberty to see, to understand, and respond accordingly. But we all, with unveiled face in relation to the reading of the Old Testament, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, as seen in everything that Moses wrote. We are being transformed into the same image of Christ in all his righteousness from glory to glory just as By whom? The Spirit. By the Spirit.

It's the Spirit who doesn't say, don't worry about that stuff. I'm here now. He takes away the veil in Christ so that we can understand what the law was all about. But it's taken away in Christ. It's not taken away as we conform ourselves to this law.

I understand it now. I see it. No, we see the glory of Christ. And then setting our hearts on that glory and on that righteousness, then the Spirit begins working on us and changing us, transforming us into that same glory by one degree to the next until we read there in Revelation that the bride, when Jesus comes, the bride is brought all out and she's prepared as a bride. She is adorned because she has been made now perfect by all that the Spirit has done, by what Christ has accomplished, and she's now without spot and without wrinkle as she's presented to the Savior.

So we see again the work of the Spirit in this passage. The last passage I will give you is 1 John 3 24. 1 John 3 24, it says this, now he who keeps his commandments abides in him, and he in him, and by this we know that he abides in us by the Spirit whom he has given us. Now we were just exhorted last Sunday by the words of Christ in John 15, abide in me. Abide in me.

And the same John that wrote those words that He heard from the lips of Christ in that upper room, he writes here that the proof of abiding in Christ is what? Keeping His commandments by the Spirit. By the Spirit, the proof comes in the fact that truly keeping the commandments is evidence of the work of the Spirit. The Spirit does not work in us apart from the law of God. All the commandments contained in Scripture.

The Spirit, we were told, does not speak His own words. He speaks only that, that He has been given by the Father and by Christ. So to be led by the Spirit is to be led by all things that Jesus commanded us. Sounds familiar, huh? That's what we were to go into all the nations and do.

And because Jesus is the living Word of God, all the words of this book are the commandments of Jesus Christ. Well, so much more could be said. We've only scratched the surface. This small list of objections is certainly not exhaustive, but I think it summarizes some of the strongest and certainly some of the most frequent arguments brought against the biblical teaching of the relevance of the law of God in the life of the believer. These are important matters, brothers and sisters.

We can't afford to get this wrong either side. We can't afford it Pastor Al Martin in his book the forgotten fear states it both vexes and amazes me that in an age of blatant lawlessness and antinomianism, so many seem to be scared of anything that could even begin to look like legalism or moralism as though those two realities were our greatest practical danger. For the Lord willing, next time we will turn our attention to the last three paragraphs of our Confessions chapter on the law of God as we seek to better understand the relevance of the law of God as We anticipate our study of the Ten Commandments and as we close Let me just address any of you who are here this morning and without Christ You may wonder what all the fuss is about regarding this relevance of the law and the life of the new covenant believer. My friend, for a few moments, forget about its relevance to us. Instead, embrace its relevance to you, its relevance to you.

Galatians 3.10 says, "'Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things, all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. That means that if you have not kept the law perfectly and with an upright heart and with a good attitude and for the glory of God in God alone, you are cursed. You're cut off. You are destined for damnation. Forget about its relevance to me and to the other believers.

Its curse is what you abide under. We who know and love Christ were once in your shoes. But here's what happened to us. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, "'Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, so that the blessing of Abraham, that seed which would be a blessing to the nations, might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

My friend, for you the law is your tutor. It's your schoolmaster. It instructs you in regards to the truth about your soul, the condition of your soul before God. The Scripture has confined all under sin that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Christ has commissioned me to hold forth to you this morning the promise of freedom, freedom from this curse.

Life through Christ, sin forgiven to anyone who will simply believe. Just believe. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, my friend. Believe on Him right here and right now. Let us pray.

Father, we ask that You would come by Your Spirit, Lord, that your law would be to us who know and love you and have been justified by faith, O God, that it would be our rule of life as we seek to obey the one who has saved us. But, O God, for those who do not know You, may the law do its work this morning. May it show them Your righteousness, Your standard of perfection. May they feel the curse. May they feel the dominion that sin has on them that they can't free themselves, and oh, may they run to Christ and be justified by faith this morning.

And then your law will smile. It will smile, and your justice will be satisfied. We thank you. This all is the work of your blessed spirit. May he work this morning.

We pray in Christ's name, amen.