The sermon explores the relationship between the law of God and the grace of the gospel. It discusses the different types of law in the Law of God, including the moral, ceremonial, and civil or judicial law. The Mosaic covenant is explained as part of the covenant of grace, not a republication of the covenant of works. The sermon emphasizes that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, both in the Old Testament and the New Covenant. The role of the Holy Spirit in salvation and obedience is also highlighted. The law and the gospel are shown to be in harmony, with the law revealing the need for a Savior and the gospel providing the solution for salvation.

The Second London Baptist Confession comes again from chapter 19 of the Law of God paragraph 7. Neither are the aforementioned uses of the law contrary to the grace of the gospel, but do sweetly comply with it, and the Spirit of Christ subduing and enabling the will of man to do that freely and cheerfully which the will of God revealed in the law requireeth to be done. So we continue in our study of the law of God. We've learned that the law of God consists of the moral law, the ceremonial law, and the civil or judicial law. We've seen that the ceremonial laws are abolished and the judicial laws have expired.

Last week we covered the various uses of the law, and today we will conclude our study of the law of God as presented in the confession. During our talks of the law of God, I've spoken of the Mosaic covenant, the covenant of works, the covenant of grace. And this can lead to some confusions of what exactly are we talking about and how are these things connected? Is the Mosaic covenant part of the covenant of works? Is it part of the covenant of grace?

Is the Mosaic covenant the old covenant? And where does the new covenant fit in with all of this? Let's start at the beginning. Dr. Sproul comments, historic covenantal theology makes an important distinction between the covenant of works and the covenant of grace.

The covenant of works refers to the covenant that God made with Adam and Eve in their pristine purity before the fall, in which God promised them blessedness contingent upon their obedience to His command. After the fall, the fact that God continued to promise redemption to creatures who had violated the covenant of works, that ongoing promise of redemption is defined as the covenant of grace. Generally, the Mosaic covenant is also referred to as the old covenant. I think it can be easy to think of the old covenant as a covenant of works and the new covenant as the covenant of grace, but that isn't quite right. Remember Adam failed to meet the conditions of the covenant of works, thus as the representative head of mankind, we all have corrupted natures passed on to us.

Because of that we are unable to attain our own redemption, unable to earn our salvation by works. Was it God's intention then when he presented the Mosaic Covenant that if Israel kept it, they would be saved. I don't think so. Again, Dr. Sproul comments on the Mosaic Covenant.

It may include provisions that remind God's people of the covenant of works. But the Lord never meant for the Israelites to think that they could fulfill the covenant and keep His law with the perfection He demands for justification. The very existence of the sacrificial system, for example, presupposes that they would not. In fact, the sacrifices of the Mosaic Covenant are a testimony to its being part of the one covenant of grace, added to show people their transgression and to cultivate the hope of a Messiah who would offer the final sacrifice for sin. But the Mosaic Covenant is not a republication of the Covenant of works in the sense that it is opposed to the covenant with Abraham.

In fact, it is part of the covenant of grace, a gracious gift of God to reveal his demands and point people finally to Christ and to provide a blueprint that outlines holy living for those who have been justified by faith alone. So then how does this relate to the New Covenant? There's only one way of salvation. Stephen Lawson from Ligonier comments, in the Old Testament they were saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Looking ahead to the coming of Christ, Jesus said in John 8, 56, Abraham saw my day and he was glad.

We are saved by looking back to the first coming of Christ who died on the cross bearing our sins. In the Old Testament they simply looked ahead to the coming of Christ And we all meet at the foot of the cross. It is by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, that anyone is saved. Derek Thomas also from Ligonier has some additional thoughts more focused on the Holy Spirit. I think if you're asking the question, how is a person under the old covenant saved, then the answer has to be in precisely the same way as a person in the new covenant is saved by the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration, producing faith and repentance in a promised Christ that was seen in type and shadow.

But there is in Psalm 51 11, cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me. So yes, Pentecost is epical without parallel. It is a redemptively significant moment, a unique moment in redemptive history. So there's something about the fullness of the Spirit and perhaps the experience of that fullness under the new covenant that is different from the Old Covenant. But if the question is, were the Old Testament saints indwelt by the Spirit, I think I would have to say yes.

God's plan of redemption introduced in Genesis 3.15, the covenant of grace, is revealed progressively throughout the pages of scripture encompassing the Noic, the Abrahamic, the Mosaic, the Davidic, and the New Covenant. We touched on these back in Chapter 7 of the Confession. Commentaries at Ligonier explain later covenants do not supersede previous revelation rather they help to reveal and expand earlier covenants more fully. The Mosaic Covenant further unfolds the Abrahamic Covenant. Both of these are unfolded by the Davidic Covenant, and the New Covenant displays the intent and purpose of these pacts most clearly of all.

The old covenant is not thrown away or completely abolished. Last week we reviewed the uses of the law, revealing what is pleasing to God, discovering sin, showing the need for Christ, restraining sin, and encouraging our obedience from the promises attached to the law. I'm reminded of the approach that Ray Comfort takes. He presents some of the Ten Commandments to people on the streets. He gets them to confess that yes, they have broken these commandments and in a court of law, they would be found guilty.

He presents the bad news that they are destined for hell, to show them the need for a Savior, to bring them to a place where the good news is now important to them. This is the first point of the confession today that the law and the gospel are not contrary, but are in sweet harmony, and the uses of the law sweetly comply with the grace of the gospel. Paul affirms this in Galatians 321, 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. Again, the commentaries of Ligonier explained that the reformers of the past understood this.

Before preaching the gospel, they preached the law. They understood that the Gospels is good news only if we first know the bad news, namely that God is perfectly holy and demands perfect obedience. This is bad news because we cannot render such obedience. But the good news of the gospel tells us that Christ has rendered such obedience in our place so that in Him by faith alone we become the righteousness of God and then having received peace with God we thank him by loving and serving him. And this brings us to the second point of our paragraph today, for the Spirit of Christ subdues and enables the human will to do freely and cheerfully what the will of God, as revealed in the law, requires.

We read from Ezekiel, a new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them." Ezekiel 36, 26, and 27. Before we are saved, we have no inclination to do the things of God and to obey His commands. But when we are saved, when we're given a new heart and given faith to believe in Christ, we now have the inclination to please God and to obey his commands.

The Holy Spirit now dwells within us, guiding us, helping us, comforting us, and strengthening us. Paul reminds us in Philippians 2.13, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do his good pleasure. It is God that works in you. It is his Holy Spirit that works in you, both to will and to do his good pleasure. The psalmist declares his delight in the Lord's commands.

Psalm 119.35, make me walk in the path of your commands, commandments, for I delight in them. And Psalm 1 1947, and I will delight myself in your commandments which I love. We too should delight in the Lord's commands. We too should do freely and cheerfully what the will of God requires as revealed in the law. But to do this we need to be in the Word.

We need to study the Scriptures. We need to study God's law. Amen.