Yeah. you Yeah. you you you Yeah. You Good evening, everyone. I'd like to welcome you all to our speech tonight. It's a great privilege to be able to come at this late hour in the world while we hear our Lord's footsteps thundering all around us and hear a speech on the wonderful topic of the good law and the glorious gospel. I'd like to begin tonight by reading from 1 Timothy 1. 1 Timothy 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope. Unto Timothy, my own son, in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine, neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith, so do. Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned. from which some, having swerved, have turned aside into vain jangling, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm. But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully. Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men-stealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to my trust. And I thank Christ Jesus, our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he hath counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious, but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus, which is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Albeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever, amen. This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare, holding the faith and a good conscience, which some, having put away concerning faith, have made shipwreck, of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme. Let's open with a word of prayer. Our Father which art in heaven, we come unto thee in the evening hour of this day as we have seen the beautiful snow falling upon the earth. We confess that we see in this the glorious truth of thy gospel and what thou hast done to our sins, thou hast washed them clean, white as the snow in the blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ. And we pray, Lord, that thou will ever teach unto us, thy people, this gospel, that as we go about our life in this world, we may grow more and more to know and to love thee, that through this gospel we may see that all of the law has been finished for the sake of our Savior, Jesus Christ, whose obedience was imputed unto us. and that according to that gospel we have all of the blessings of salvation in life everlasting. We pray also that thou wilt be with us in this evening as we consider for a moment the topic of the good law and the glorious gospel. Pray that thou wilt edify us in that topic, that we may grow in our knowledge and our love for thee. Pray also, Lord, forgive us, for we confess that we are sinners, we have sinned against Thee in thought, in word, and in deed. We pray all this in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. We just have a couple of housekeeping items here before we get started. The agenda for tonight is going to be a lecture. And after the lecture, we're going to have some singing. We're just going to sing a couple of psalter numbers. And while we're singing those psalter numbers, we're going to gather some questions. And after the singing and the questions are gathered, we'll give those to Reverend Lanning, short question and answer period after the lecture. You'll notice there are notepads for you underneath the seats. So if you want to write your questions on those notepads, there's pens up here. So just raise your hand during the singing portion if you need a pen. Also, for those of you who are online, you can email questions to remnantreformchurch at gmail.com. Or if it's easier, you can just go to lawgospel.com and you can submit questions by going through the contact section of the webpage. Also, for those of you who are listening live stream, the video quality is going to be a little bit bad tonight because we're having some issues with the internet, but we will have uploaded video later that should have clearer video at that point. With that, I'd like to introduce our speaker to everyone tonight. Our speaker tonight is Reverend Andrew Lanning. He is the pastor of a small church in Western Michigan called Remnant Reform Church. This small church came to being in May 2023, when a little band of believers came together and formed this church, thereby calling Reverend Lanning to be their pastor. This church has been given, by all the eyes of men, one of the smallest possible places in this world. We are one church, and although we desire other congregations to come and federate with us as a denomination, it has not pleased God yet to grant us this desire. But although our place may look like the smallest possible place in this world, God has given to us the most expansive and large place possible, and that is because he has given to us the gospel. No matter how small or despised this church may look from the eyes of men, When we look through the eyes of faith, we see the largest and most firm foundation for a church, and that is the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And tonight, for a few minutes, we turn to hear instruction on that glorious gospel and its relation and distinction from God's good law. Reverend Lanning. Thank you, Keith, for that beautiful introduction and that glorious perspective on the church's foundation in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. As Keith announced, the topic of tonight's lecture is the good law and the glorious gospel. In that topic, we have two things. On the one hand, we have the law of God, and that law of God is good. On the other hand, we have the gospel of God, and that gospel of God is glorious. These are the descriptions that Timothy gives to the, or Paul rather, gives to the law and the gospel in 1 Timothy 1. We know that the law is good. if a man use it lawfully, and he speaks of all sound doctrine being judged according to his glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. From those descriptions, we get our topic, the good law and the glorious gospel. Because we have those two things, we must distinguish them as the word of God does. so that in our lecture tonight we are going to see the distinction between God's good law and God's glorious gospel. There's a danger for us tonight as we open up this topic that we consider the matter of the law-gospel distinction and the law-gospel relationship from a purely intellectual point of view. The topic of the law and the gospel is intellectually stimulating. It is a fascinating topic. We could even say that the relationship of the law and the gospel is a kind of theological puzzle, and a puzzle stimulates the mind of man so that the threat to us is that we view this whole matter merely as a curiosity or as a puzzle to solve or something to figure out merely intellectually and academically. But the perspective that we must take tonight regarding this distinction between the law and the gospel is that it is the most important distinction in the Christian faith. The distinction between the law and the gospel is salvation. The distinction between the law and the gospel sets us squarely before the throne of God himself. And that's where our lecture must begin then, standing before God's throne and looking upon the holy God. Can you see him? Can you see that God with the eye of faith? There in heaven, God has set his throne and it is a glorious throne. It is majestic. Upon that throne sits the ancient of days. He who is untouched by the passing years and centuries and millennia. He who from the beginning was the Ancient of Days, and who to all eternity is the Ancient of Days. He is the I Am that I Am. That God is a consuming fire, Hebrews 13, verse 1. That He is a consuming fire refers to His perfect devotion to Himself. So consecrated is he to himself in love that he burns unto himself. His devotion rises from him like waves of heat and returns unto him as a hot furnace distorts the air around it. Our God loves himself. He loves his being. He loves his holiness. He loves his majesty. He loves his glory. So much does God love His majesty and holiness and glory that God will not stand anything that is contrary to Him. God abominates and hates and curses and destroys all that is contrary to Him. So great is the holiness of God that those creatures that dwell in heaven made by God and who stand before him as his servants, cover their faces night and day in his presence. The angels themselves are holy, perfectly devoted to the service of Jehovah God. And yet those holy angels who are so glorious that when men saw them in the history of the scriptures, those men fell down upon their faces as dead men, Those holy angels nevertheless before the holy God cover their faces and cover their feet for they stand upon holy ground and they cry the holiness of Jehovah God night and day without ceasing. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. And now you stand before that God. You stand before him who can see you. before him whose eyes are as lamps of fire, who beholds the heart of man, who sees not as a man sees, judging appearance and judging externally and superficially, but who sees as the all-knowing God, who with his holy eyes looks into you and looks through you, who sees your mind and all of its thoughts, who sees your deeds and all of their motives, who sees your heart and all the things that are therein. You stand before that holy, almighty God. And now as you stand before that God, there is on the one side of God, looking down upon you with God, the good law of God. The law of God that declares unto you, you'll be holy the way God is holy. The law that says to you, you must obey this God and you must obey him perfectly because he is a perfect God and there can be nothing less than perfect obedience. That law speaks not only to your hands and what you work, and not only to your feet and how you walk, but that law speaks to your mind and how you think. That law speaks to your heart and what you are. And that law says to you, thou shalt obey, thou shalt be perfect, thou shalt be holy. And if you are not, then there is only one thing for you, and that is death. That is the curse of this holy God before whom you stand. For his eyes are too pure to behold evil, and he is perfectly holy himself. The law proclaims to you, not to other men now, but to you and to me, you must be holy. And if you are not, You must be cursed so that the whole infinite being of the I am that I am, whose days are unnumbered, that whole infinite being must be against you and must fall upon you and must destroy you. And as you stand before that law and hear its requirement of you, be perfect. What is exposed in you and in me is our sin. You are not perfect. You have not obeyed with the obedience that that law requires. You have transgressed the law and that transgression of the law is sin. You have rebelled against the one who made you and set you before that law. And you have done so in the most treacherous manner possible. In your first father, Adam, you disobeyed the command of God not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That was treachery on your part through Adam. And in your own life, you who have been brought into covenant fellowship with God and made his friends, made the members of his family, have disobeyed that God who has shown you nothing but mercy. The law exposes you as a transgressor whose transgression is of the most heinous treachery imaginable. You wear all your evil deeds like a leprosy upon your flesh so that you stink and your sores run with your sin, with your abomination, You wear your departure from God as a foul garment that is rotted and stinking and torn and filthy with the transgressions of your sin. There you stand before God. There you hear His law from the one side of Him. And as you stand before that God, There is now on the other side of him another word. This is the word of the gospel. That gospel comes to you, picks you up from your place before the eyes of Jehovah, takes you to itself, and puts another in your place. That other being the Lord Jesus Christ. Now Jesus Christ stands in your place before the holy eyes of Jehovah. Jesus Christ stands under the word of the law that demands that he obey and obey and obey and obey. Jesus Christ stands before that law which requires that his motives be entirely pure that his works be without any taint of sin, that he be holy and without blemish before this God who is holy and without blemish. And as that law thunders its requirement unto the Lord Jesus Christ in your place, the Lord Jesus Christ does nothing but obey, obey, obey, obey that law. The Lord Jesus Christ does nothing but measure up to the very righteousness of the holy being of Jehovah God himself. And as Jesus Christ stands before the word of that law, he wears his obedience and wears his goodness as a garment. He wears all of His holy motives and all of His holy love for God as perfectly spotless, clean purity. The Lord Jesus Christ stands there in your place before the eyes of Jehovah and obeys the law. And the gospel, that other word that is before Jehovah, that is next to Jehovah, that has declared unto you Jesus Christ, takes off his pure garment, and takes off your filthy garment, and puts your filthy one upon him, and his clean one upon you. That gospel takes off the leprosy and stinking sores of your flesh, and puts it upon the clean flesh of Christ, and takes His clean flesh, and gives it to you, so that now He stands before that holy God, whose eyes cannot behold evil, and who will not tolerate transgression against Him. He stands before that God, stinking, filthy, sinful, not for anything He has done, but for everything that you have done. and that law curses him. And because that law is the law of God, it is God who curses him, taking his leprous flesh, nailing it to a tree, the tree of the cross, pouring out of the depths of his infinite being from his mouth upon Jesus Christ the curse that was due to you the curse that is essentially this, be gone from me, go away from me. So that the Lord cried out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? The Lord, God curses Jesus Christ with the infinite curse that belongs to your sins so that God is emptied of that curse. finishes it, pours the whole thing into a cup and puts it to the lips of the Lord, who drains it to its dregs and empties it, that there is no curse left that belongs to your sins. And that gospel, which has shown to you the Lord Jesus Christ and shown to you The Lord's bearing your curse for your sin. That Gospel now declares to you what Jehovah finds in you. And because that Gospel is the Gospel of God, that Gospel declares the very Word of God Himself. And this is what the Gospel of Jehovah God says to you, covered in the blood of Christ, I see no iniquity in you. And my eyes know iniquity. My eyes are holy. They can discern and distinguish iniquity, and I don't see it in you. And that's the absolute truth. That's the way it really is. For the law came by Moses. but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. So that God's declaration regarding you, you are righteous. You are perfectly in harmony with my very being. You measure up to me with my own righteousness so that you may stand in my presence and live with me and come into my house. That declaration of God is absolutely true. There's no pretending in it. There's no fiction in it. It is the grace and truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's true because of the substitution of your head for you and you for your head. There's the law gospel distinction where it matters. There's the law gospel distinction, not as some puzzle to be amused with. There is the law gospel distinction before the throne of Jehovah God. And there is the importance, the significance of the distinction between the good law of Jehovah God and the glorious gospel of Jehovah God. And it is from that perspective that we must understand the law gospel distinction. And from that perspective that we must open up our investigation of the good law and the glorious gospel this evening. So let us pursue that distinction, the good law and the glorious gospel. Let us begin with some definitions of the law and the gospel, because if we are to distinguish them, we must know what they are. Let's begin with the law. Here is a definition of God's law we can work with. God's law is God's requirement for what man is to be and for what man is to do. God's law is God's requirement for what man is to be and for what man is to do. What does that definition mean? The law is God's requirement for what man is to do, first of all. The law comes to man and says to man, thou shalt not have any other God. That action, that activity, that thing of having another God, you may not do. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. You may not do that thing that is called making a graven image. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Thou shalt remember the Sabbath day, and thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother. Right through the Ten Commandments of the law of God, God's law requires what man must do. And that requirement of what man must do can be summarized as love. You must love God and you must love your neighbor. The law is God's requirement for what man must do. The law is also God's requirement for what man must be. Not only now the actions he performs and the words he speaks and the thoughts he thinks and the motives he wills. But God's requirement in his law is that a man be something. And what man must be according to the law is perfect. Absolutely perfect. When God commands a man, love me, he does not say, love me sincerely. Love me to the best of your ability. Love me according to your standard of love. But he says, love me with all your heart, your mind, your soul, and your strength. As my eyes pierce through you and look to the depth of your mind, your heart, and your soul, there is to be no imperfection there out of which hatred of me should arise or hatred of the neighbor. Love me. with all thy heart, mind, soul, and strength. You are to do perfectly and you are to be perfect. That law is God's requirement, which means that the law comes to man speaking about man. The law points at you and points at me And the law says you, thou, thou shalt do this and thou shalt be perfect. Thou shalt not do this. Thou shalt be perfect in this. The law squares you up before it. And the law points you to you. Thou, thou, thou, thou, thou. In its requirement of what thou art to do, the law is relentless. This requirement that the law is is not a set of guidelines. It is not a set of optional choices from which we select. The law of God is relentless. in its demand for perfection. The law never takes a break from demanding of you perfection. The law never gives you a night off, never gives you a day off in its demands. The law grants no quarter and no exceptions. The law does not say, I understand, How hard this commandment is going to be for you in the circumstances you find yourself. And so this part of the law is relieved from you. The law comes relentlessly, demandingly, day and night. Thou shalt, thou shalt, thou shalt, and thou shalt not. The law, as God's requirement for what we are to be and what we are to do, proclaims a curse upon failure to be perfect and failure to do perfect. The law declares that those who disobey must die. God to Adam, in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die, Genesis 2.17, And the apostle on behalf of God to all men, Romans 6 verse 23, the wages of sin is death. That declaration of death is not arbitrary. It is not some punishment that God came up with as God imagined. Now, what is the best way I can get across the seriousness of this law? Not at all. that death is not arbitrary, but necessary. Not as if God is bound by some external necessity, but the fact that God himself in his being is holy and perfectly devoted to himself as holy, perfectly consecrated as a consuming fire, unto himself means that there cannot be any life, any pardon apart from perfect obedience to that law. Jehovah God is a holy God and therefore all who disobey must die. That curse is simply God maintaining Himself as God over against the creature. God is not the creature and God never becomes the creature. God maintains Himself as God over against the creature, as the holy God, as the pure God, so that those who transgress must be cast from Him and suffer the infinite weight of His infinite curse in outer darkness and fire. The law then requires of a man that he be perfect and that he do perfectly. And to get the full picture of that, you can take hold of that description that Paul gives in Romans 6 of being under the law. so that the picture in that phrase under the law that is drawn is of an iron dome that is over our heads, an iron dome between man and heaven. And that iron dome is the law that looks down upon us and thunders down upon us the requirement of God. And the way to go be with God is only through that law, if one is under the law. When a man wakes up in the morning, the law is there at his bedside, in his face. thundering down from heaven, God's requirement, you must be perfect in your awaking. And you must do perfectly in your awaking. When that man sits down to his meal and spoons the food into his mouth, the law is there with every bite. You must eat perfectly to the glory of God and must be perfect in your eating. When he goes to his work, the law drives with him in his car and thunders at him, you must be perfect in your laboring. When he comes home and is among his family, the law sits with him on his sofa and thunders to him, you must be perfect in your life and your family. And when he lays down his head at night, The law thunders to him, you must obey me absolutely perfectly. And morning, noon, and night at every step, if a man disobeys, the law says to him, you must die. You must die, that's all there is. But death, that's all I can speak to you, is perfection in you, and if not, death for you. That's the law. What is the gospel? We can use this definition of the gospel. The gospel is God's declaration of His grace in Jesus Christ. The gospel is God's declaration of His grace in Jesus Christ. There's really only one thing the gospel says. The gospel says Jesus. The gospel says Christ. The gospel says Jesus Christ in all his person and what he is. The gospel says Jesus Christ in all his work and what he did. The gospel says regarding Jesus Christ, he's the son of God, the eternal son of God, who himself is God, the second person. That's who you're dealing with, with Jesus, God, the second person of the Trinity, who has come in our flesh and united to himself the nature of man so that he is very God and very man. And if you penetrate into the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ, you will find in that heart only purity, only purity. If you penetrate into the mind of Christ and the will of Christ, you will find only holiness and righteousness, only perfect obedience to the law of God. And if you examine all the works of the Lord, all the steps of his feet, all the labors of his hands, all the words of his mouth, you will find that all of them, to the smallest detail, measure up to the very being of God Himself, so that what Jesus Christ is, is right, right with God, righteous before Him. The Gospel declares, Why Christ did it? Why did he do all that righteousness? The gospel tells you something that only heaven could reveal, only heaven could know, only God could say. The Gospel says the reason He did it is as a substitute for some who were filthy, for some who did not obey. At the heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ we find that fact of substitution. He took the place of He did it for me and all His people. That matter of substitution that the gospel declares is not this, that Christ is going to make you better. He's going to make you a better person. He's going to give you strength so that you're going to do good things. And you're going to be something good. At the heart of the gospel is this. He did it for you in your place. He did what you don't do. And he did it perfectly. The gospel declares that substitution about Jesus suffering the curse, His taking your leprosy and His taking your filthy, clotted garments, and bearing the curse in your place for your sin. There's substitution. And the Gospel declares substitution with regard to His perfect deeds. He did those for you, so that when you stand before God, And God declares regarding you, I see no iniquity in you that has nothing to do with what you did or didn't do. That declaration. Is not anything to do with your obedience. And it is not anything to do with your disobedience. For that declaration of God in the gospel. As you stand before Him, it doesn't matter whether you obeyed or did not obey. It does not matter. It does not matter whether you loved God or did not love God. It does not matter whether you are perfect or not perfect. It matters whether Jesus obeyed God or did not obey God. And he obeyed God. And it matters whether Jesus was perfect or was not perfect. And he was perfect. He was perfect for you in your place, so that the declaration that comes to you is a declaration of what God imputes to you for Jesus' sake, which is the covering of Christ and the blood and obedience of Christ. And just as the law is relentless, morning, noon, and night in your face with its demands, so the gospel is rich and full with a richness and a fullness that cannot be searched. The gospel gives to you the bank vault of heaven. It gives you the key to that bank vault in which are all the treasures of Christ, the treasures of salvation, the treasures of heaven. And when you open that bank vault of heaven with the key and marvel at all the riches, you come to the very last corner of that vault. and find another key that opens the bank vault of heaven's heaven. And in that vault, another key that opens the bank vault of heaven's heaven's heaven. The riches of Christ are unsearchable so that there's never an end to them. In the morning, when the child of God wakes up, The Gospel is there on his pillow. It says to him, God is gracious to you. God sees no iniquity in you. God sees you in your Lord Jesus Christ. And when that man eats his food, the Gospel says to him, Christ already did all this perfectly. He ate and he drank and he woke and he slept And he worshiped and he worked and he prayed and he labored and he rested and did all things perfectly for you. So that all the Lord sees in all your waking and sleeping and eating and drinking and laboring and resting and suffering. Is the perfection of Christ. The Gospel declares life, peace, happiness, fellowship with God for Jesus' sake. Whereas the law requires of a man that he work and he be perfect, the Gospel gives to a man faith by which that man has Christ. The gospel gives to a man faith and Christ and all the things of Christ. The full picture then of this gospel for the child of God is pictured by Paul's word in Romans, you're not under the law, but under grace. And whereas under the law the way to God is through obedience to that law, being under grace means that the way to God is that God comes down to you, takes hold of you, and picks you up to Him. And that God puts the Lord Jesus Christ under the law, made of a woman, made under the law. so that in all his eating and drinking and waking and sleeping, the law thundered down upon him. Obey, obey, obey, obey. And Jesus Christ obeyed, obeyed, obeyed, obeyed, and through the law, through his own obedience, through his own work, went right into heaven and the presence of Jehovah God. And that way to heaven for you now, being under grace and not under the law, that way to heaven for you. is not through your work, but the way to heaven for you is through the flesh of Christ, the new and living way, the veil that he rent, which veil was his flesh. Through Jesus Christ, you go to the Father. I, says Jesus, am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me." That's the law and that's the gospel. What must we say then about the distinction between the law and the gospel? Negatively, the distinction between the two is not their author. as if the law had one author and the gospel another. It is God's law and it is God's gospel. He is the author and the speaker of both. The distinction between the law and the gospel also is not their power, as if one has power and the other has no power. Let's say the gospel has power and the law has no power. That's not the distinction. Both of them have power to accomplish the purpose that God has set for them. The distinction between the law and the gospel also is not their goodness, as if one is good and one is bad. The law is good, so says the apostle. In Romans 7, the law is holy and just and good. And in 1 Timothy 1, the law is good. And the gospel is good, and in fact, glorious, according to the word of the apostle in 1 Timothy 1. all sound doctrine must be judged according to my glorious gospel. Nor is the distinction between the law and the gospel their honor, as if one is honorable and the other is dishonorable. God does not disparage the law or the gospel. God loves his law, and God loves his gospel. Nor may man disparage God's law or God's gospel. Man may not call the law a wicked thing, or a despicable thing. And even in those passages where the inability of the law to save men is set forth, even there, the law as the law of God is not disparaged. For example, in Galatians 3, where Paul warns the Galatians about returning to the weak and beggarly elements of the world, the weak and beggarly rudiments. He is not calling God's good law beggarly. What he is saying to the Galatians is this, all those forms, lambs, goats, days, seasons, All those forms never had power in themselves. All those forms were types of something else. Why now, being delivered from those forms, do you try to return to those forms, those mere forms? That's what's beggarly. The distinction between the law and the gospel is not that the gospel is good and the law is bad and that we disparage, therefore, the law. Both of them are honorable. We love God's gospel, love Jesus Christ, and we love God's law. What is the distinction then between the law and the gospel? The distinction is this, their office. That is, God's purpose that He has with each and the work that He accomplishes by each. The distinction between God's good law and God's glorious gospel is that he has given the law certain work, and he has given the gospel certain work, and the law does not do the gospel's work. What is the office of the law? The office of the law, first of all, is to expose man in his sin. Romans 3, verse 20, by the law, is the knowledge of sin. When the law thunders down upon a man, you must be perfect and you must do perfectly. That man sees himself in the light of that law and sees, I am not perfect and I have not done perfectly. The law's office in the second place is to be the rule and the standard and the guide of a man's thankful life for the salvation that he has in Christ. The law does not give a man his thankful life. The law doesn't bestow anything to a man. The law only tells a man what that man is to do. But the law is the rule that shows a man This is how you live in gratitude to God for what you have in the gospel. The gospel's office is to save and bestow and give to man all the things of heaven. The gospel comes to a man and does not say to him, thou, thou, thou shalt, but says to him, Christ, Christ, Christ did. Christ obeyed, Christ suffered, Christ atoned, Christ gives all of heaven, all of salvation to you. Romans 8 verse 3, teaches that what the law could not do, the gospel does. Meaning that the law's office was never to give, never to save, never to make you happy. It was the gospel's office, always the gospel's office to save and to make you happy. And that gospel in its office indeed saves, and makes us blessed. God says about that law, or about that gospel, rather, an astounding thing in Romans 3, verse 21. First of all, verse 20, therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, that is the Old Testament, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. The gospel declares to you the righteousness of God. That does not mean the gospel tells you how righteous God is. It's true that God is righteous. But it means that the gospel declares to you that you have the righteousness of God. You measure up to God with the same righteousness that God measures up to God, not because of what you have done. This is entirely without the law and the deeds of the law. But you measure up to God with God's own righteousness for Jesus' sake, because He measures up to the righteousness of God with the very righteousness of God Himself. And that's what's imputed to you. That's the distinction between the good law and the glorious gospel, which distinction is biblical. and confessional. We have seen some scriptures. Let me mention merely a couple of confessional passages. First of all, the Heidelberg Catechism in Lourdes Day 3, and then again in Question and Answer 19. In Lourdes Day 3, the question is, Once knowest thou thy misery out of the law of God. There is its office to show you your misery. In Question 19, Once knowest thou thy Mediator from the Holy Gospel." There's the office of the Gospel to show you Christ and all His things. And then the Canons of Dort, Heads 3 and 4, Article 17. The Canons of Dort, Heads 3 and 4, Article 17, and before that, Articles 5 and 6. In those articles, you will find what the law could not do, not because there was a problem with the law, but because it wasn't God's office to save by the law, and because the flesh of man cannot keep the law, what the law could not do, that God has done by the gospel, which is the glad tidings of the mediator and salvation in Christ. This distinction between the law and the gospel is is essential, Reformed doctrine. What's the significance of this whole distinction? What's the point of there being this distinction? Because in the distinction between the law and the gospel, this question is answered, of whom is salvation. Is salvation of the Lord entirely or is salvation of man even in part? Of whom is salvation? If salvation comes by the law, then salvation is of man. For the law says thou, thou, thou, thou. Do and be what I say. And if any of that doing and being of man that the law requires is unto his salvation, then salvation is of man. And if salvation is of man, then there is no salvation, none whatsoever. For if a man would be saved by the law, by the deeds of the law, then he must continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. He must. He may not continue in some things or most things, but continue in all things. perfectly always, and man does not. If salvation is of the law, then salvation is of man and there is no salvation. But if salvation is of the gospel, then salvation is of God, for that's all the gospel declares. God and His grace in Jesus Christ. Christ, Christ, Christ, and what Christ has done. Christ, Christ, Christ, and what Christ is. With no part of it being supplied by man and his obedience. If salvation is of the gospel, then salvation is of the Lord. And salvation is sure. That's the importance of this distinction. And that explains why forever and again in the history of the church there is an attempt to make salvation of the law and salvation of the works of man. The Roman Catholic Church, Arminian theology, conditional covenant theology, conditional experience of the covenant theology, Phariseeism, Judaism, Cainism, and the offering of Cain of his works, and the theology of the fig leaves in the Garden of Eden, whereby man tried to cover his sin with his own works, all of that. is an attempt to make salvation of the law, of what man must do, and therefore salvation of man. And there is no salvation in it. The problem in the church is the use of the law and the use of the gospel. The law must be used lawfully which is Paul's play on words to say the law must be used in its office for its purpose. The law may not be held before man as that by which man obtains anything in his salvation. The law exposes man's sin, shows him the life of gratitude, but it doesn't give him any salvation. Salvation is of the Gospel because salvation is of the Lord. That's for you. As you stand before that throne of God with His eyes which burn as lamps, Jehovah God, who is a consuming fire, who loves Himself and is devoted to Himself perfectly, As you stand before that God, your salvation cannot come of the law, but must come entirely of the gospel. You must have that gospel pick you up and set you behind Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ, and have that gospel give you. the flesh of Christ and the garments of Christ for your own. Salvation is only of the Lord. There could be no more glorious truth than salvation of the Lord, for in that truth is revealed this truth, that Lord, that God, He alone is God, and that man who cannot save himself is not God. God is God, and God saves man to his own glory. In this distinction of the law and the gospel then, we find ourselves squarely in that great sola of the Reformation. soli deo gloria, to God alone be the glory. I thank you for your time. At this time, if you want to start writing down your questions, we'll have someone come around to pick them up, maybe pass them to this side of the aisle, and we'll take those questions. While we're taking those questions, we're going to sing from a couple numbers here. We're going to first sing from psalter number 42. And as we're singing this song, let's remember the truth that the Psalms are the words of our Savior, Jesus Christ, so that as we sing this song, remembering that we're singing of the obedience of our Savior, who loved God's law perfectly, and it was his meditation all the day. Let's sing all four verses of Psalter number 42. O La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La, La O come all ye faithful joyful and triumphant O'er the land of the free and the home of you Oh, how I wonder what you are. O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, Next, why don't we sing from Psalter 239, both verses there. But if anyone has any questions, make sure you pass them to the left. Next, let's sing from Psalter 49. I'll sing all three verses of the glorious gospel. And just for when we're done, there are cookies and coffee over here on this table. So with that, I'll have Reverend Lanning come up to answer some questions. We do have a few questions, some written here, some sent in. There are two that are similar to each other, so I'll begin with those and try to treat them together. Considering there is no grace in the law, should the threats of the law be used to bring regenerate believers who are walking waywardly in sin to repentance? If so, how should this be done? And a similar question, is there a place for threats to the child of God in the preaching? In both of those questions, the word threats is underlined, which leads me to believe that's the focus, the threats of the law. The Heidelberg Catechism teaches us how to preach the law in Lord's Day 44, question and answer 115. Why will God then have the Ten Commandments so strictly preached since no man in this life can keep them? I take that word strictly to mean that the Ten Commandments are to be preached with what they require as well as what they threaten. In the Catechism's explanation of why God will have the Ten Commandments so strictly preached, not any part of the answer indicates that that strict preaching of those Ten Commandments will give the child of God peace, will deliver the child of God from the threats of the law, or will give the child of God even obedience. All the things that the child of God receives, he must receive from elsewhere, from Christ. In fact, in this answer of the Catechism, the two offices of the law are given. Why will God have the Ten Commandments so strictly preached? First, that all our lifetime we may learn more and more to know our sinful nature, and thus become the more earnest in seeking the remission of sin and righteousness in Christ. Notice that that more earnest in seeking the remission of sins does not come out of the law. What the law does is teach us our sinful nature. It's from the preaching of the gospel that we see that there is remission of sin and righteousness in Christ. The law doesn't even say there's remission. It offers no solution. Then the second reason to preach the Ten Commandments strictly likewise, that we constantly endeavor and pray to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit that we may become more and more conformable to the image of God till we arrive at the perfection proposed to us in a life to come. Again, that endeavoring and that prayer does not come out of the commandment itself or out of the law or out of the preaching of that law. That must come out of the gospel, which is the only place that the grace of the Holy Spirit is revealed. But that law does show the rule, standard, and guide of our thankful life, which the Catechism refers to here as more and more conformable to the image of God, till we arrive at the perfection proposed to us in a life to come. So is there a place for threats to the child of God in the preaching? or considering there is no grace in the law, should the threats of the law be used to bring regenerate believers who are walking waywardly in sin to repentance? If so, how should this be done? The law must be preached. It must be preached strictly. It must be preached with its threats. But if that's all there is in the sermon, then the sermon was not a sermon. The sermon must set forth Jesus Christ crucified, and the sermon must set forth Jesus Christ as the deliverance from the threats of the law for the child of God. And it is that preaching of Jesus Christ as the deliverance from the threat of the law that will make the believer a turn from his sin, it will give the believer all his life of obedience and life of gratitude. The gospel gives that, not the bare law or the bare threats of the law. There's another similar question asking about the preaching with something tacked on at the end. I'll continue the answer after reading this question. All Reformed churches preach the law. The preaching is called the chief means of grace. When a minister preaches the law then, is the only part of the sermon that is a means of grace the gospel that is often added at the very end of a quote-unquote law sermon? Or is this a problem in the preaching itself so that the whole law sermon ought still to have the gospel at its center? If the name Christ and the word grace are tacked on at the end, of a sermon that put the people of God under the law for their salvation, then that sermon is not a sermon. It's a bad sermon. It's a false sermon. The gospel of Jesus Christ does not put the people of God under the law for their salvation. Rather, the sermon explains the law as a servant of the gospel. It is the gospel by which God saves. not by the law, but by the gospel. That gospel sets forth Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of the law. It sets forth Jesus Christ as the righteousness of the believer. It sets forth Jesus Christ as the only way to the Father, so that the child of God hearing that sermon knows, I am not under the law, but under grace. And the way to heaven for me, the way to fellowship with God, the way to anything with God for me, is not through that law, but through that gospel and through the finished work of Jesus Christ. In that sermon that expounds Jesus Christ, the law serves as a servant. The law has been compared to Hagar, who served Sarah. That law serves the gospel by showing the believer you're dead, apart from someone else doing something to save you. And that law serves the gospel by showing the believer, now that you have been delivered, this is the life of gratitude that you live to the glory of God. In that, the law doesn't give those things. The gospel gives those things. When it comes to how much of the sermon may be law and gospel, that's simply impossible to answer, I believe. It's not how much, it's not the volume, but it's the driving message of the sermon. If the driving message of the sermon puts you under the law so that you are sent home believing that you must do this, to have God, you must do something to have Christ, you must do something to have salvation, you must do something to have His fellowship, then that sermon left you under the law. Even if the word Christ was used many times in the sermon, but if that sermon shows you that you are under grace and have been saved in Christ, Even though that was just a small part of the sermon, but it was what everything in the sermon drove to, then that is the gospel. The law must not be used unlawfully, 1 Timothy 1. Unlawfully meaning to put the people under it. The law must be used lawfully to show a man that he's a whoremonger, an adulterer, and an idolater and a thief and all the other things that are listed there in 1 Timothy 1. But his deliverance from it is Jesus Christ. Next question, in Psalm 1, verse 2, we read, The blessed man's delight is in the law, parentheses, the Torah of the Lord, and in his law, parentheses, Torah, doth he meditate day and night. What is the meaning of law in Psalm 1, verse 2? How does it relate to the gospel and to the blessed man, Jesus Christ? Law there As far as the interpretation question or exegetical question could be taken either to mean the Bible or it could be taken to mean the commandments. For the point of Psalm 2, it doesn't matter. The point of Psalm 2 is to say that there is a blessed man who is consumed with God's word or God's law. He's eaten up with it. Personally, I like the interpretation of law and commandments, that Jesus Christ meditates in those commandments day and night. But whether it's commandments or the whole scripture, you and I don't do it. You and I are not blessed men in ourselves who meditate all day and all night on the Bible or on the Ten Commandments. But there is a blessed man who does. That's the blessed man who's going to stand in the judgment. That's the blessed man who's going to live in the congregation of the righteous, live in God's house. And that's the blessed man who is contrasted with those men who have a scorner's seat and who walk in the way of transgression. They are not like that blessed man. They are blown away as the chaff. The key in Psalm 1, in everything that's going on in Psalm 1, however you take law, in all the rest, however you take that, the key is that blessed man is Jesus Christ. He did it. He already did it. He flourishes. His leaf is green. It never withers. He brings forth his fruit in his season. Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. And then the Psalm ends with you. Now we come to you, the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous. And that way of the righteous is Jesus. And the Lord knoweth that way of the righteous eternally. That's where you and I come up in the psalm as those who are righteous for Jesus' sake and blessed for the blessed man's sake. Next question. Jesus is the only way, truth, and life. Good works are not the way or even a part of the way unto salvation, unto fellowship, or unto the experience of fellowship. How can it be taught by remnants? that the way to experience singing with Christ, the way to experience fellowship in worship with Christ, is by singing the Psalms. Singing the Psalms are taught as part of the way unto experiencing this fellowship with Christ. Shouldn't the good work of singing the Psalms be rejected as a way to achieve the experience of singing with Christ? Shouldn't the way to singing with Christ be entirely without the believers' works of the law? This question reveals what is apparently a pretty entrenched misunderstanding of what Remnant Reformed Church teaches and what it means to sing with Christ. This question asserts that Remnant teaches that singing the Psalms, doing the good work of singing Psalms, is the way unto experiencing fellowship with Christ. And that's constantly put in the terms of the experience of singing with Christ or the experience of fellowshipping with Christ in singing. The doctrine of remnant Reformed Church is not that the good work of psalm singing is unto fellowship with Christ, or any other way you want to put that. Unto the experience of fellowship with Christ, unto the experience of the fellowship of singing with Christ, or any other thing. We do not sing psalms in order to get fellowship with Christ. We sing psalms because we have fellowship with Christ. It's the fruit of fellowship with Christ. just like any obedience to any law of God is not unto salvation or fellowship or experience. The Apostle Peter and the Apostle Paul both speak of suffering as a Christian or suffering with Christ. I hope that can be an illustration that will make clear what singing with Christ means. When Peter says, suffer as a Christian, and don't suffer as an unbeliever who steals and robs and kills, but suffer as a Christian who suffers for the sake of the gospel, Peter is not saying that by refraining from stealing and by suffering for the sake of the gospel, you have done something unto fellowship with God, unto suffering with Christ, or unto suffering as a Christian. What Peter is saying there is you are a Christian, and Christ doesn't rob stores, so don't rob stores. You are a Christian, and Christ doesn't murder, so don't murder. Do the things that Christ does according to the law of God, not unto, but because of your salvation. That's Remnant's doctrine of psalm singing. Remnant's doctrine of psalm singing is that God's law requires the singing of psalms. The fact that he gave a book of psalms The fact that he specifically says in the Old and the New Testament, sing psalms in the body, sing psalms in your worship, is where we get our doctrine that God's law requires the singing of psalms. And when we put that in these terms, sing psalms with Christ, That doesn't mean sing psalms so that you can get unto some fellowship or experience of fellowship with Christ or singing with Christ or anything else. It means this, Christ is the sweet psalmist. Christ sings psalms. He doesn't sing the hymns of Isaac Watts. He doesn't sing that in church. Christ also doesn't sing, to put it somewhat crassly, the latest country songs that are on the radio. Christ doesn't sing those songs. Sing as a Christian. Sing as Christ does. Not so you can get unto fellowship with him, but because you already have it. And that illustrates the fruit of the gospel, of having fellowship with Christ for Christ's sake, The fruit of it is that the child of God wants to obey the law. He loves that law. He desires to follow it. And if the law of Christ is, or the law of God is, sing psalms, then the child of God says, I'm going to sing psalms. And if the law of God is don't steal, the child of God says, I'm not going to steal. Not unto, but because of. The real issue that the question raises is not their inaccurate presentation of Remnant's doctrine of singing with Christ. The real issue that stands between the questioner and Remnant would be, is psalm singing required? Is exclusive psalmody required? Remnant Reformed Church says yes. I take it that the questioner would probably say no. That's the issue. If singing psalms is required, if exclusive psalmody is required, then do it in gratitude. If something else is required as your gratitude, then do that. But the doctrine of remnant is psalm singing is what's required. Hopefully that apparently entrenched misunderstanding of remnant's doctrine can be put to bed somewhat with that answer. Next question, is sanctification progressive? I think this question would fit with the topic of the good law and the glorious gospel. with the idea that the gospel gives our sanctification as well as our justification. We're justified by faith alone in Christ alone, and we're sanctified by faith alone in Christ alone. From that point of view then, what is that sanctification of the believer? It's not progressive. That sanctification is perfect and complete in Christ. And the proof of that is 1 Corinthians 1, where Paul says that Jesus is made unto you wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. None of those other things, wisdom, righteousness, or redemption, are incomplete. None of those have a progressive aspect to them. Christ is our wisdom. We have full wisdom with Christ. Christ is our righteousness. You don't get more righteousness after Christ. Christ is our redemption that's finished and accomplished. In the same way, I would say sanctification is finished and complete. He simply is our sanctification. The way to try to put this in language that I can understand would be, he already did everything that I'm supposed to do. He already did all the growing. He increased in wisdom and in stature. He already did all the obedience. He already did all of the obedience that a 12-year-old does and that a grown man does. He did it all. There's nothing left of all of that for me to do or to somehow go get. He is my sanctification. That sanctification is going to play out in my life in a certain way when I'm 12 and in a certain way when I'm 44. That sanctification comes to manifestation, it shows itself. And that explains the more and more that you constantly find in the Heidelberg Catechism. That explains the growl that you constantly find in the Scriptures. Christ is my sanctification. I had Him as my sanctification at 12, and I have Him as my sanctification now. The circumstances of my life were different yesterday than today and will be different tomorrow again. In all these different places we are in life, that sanctification is manifest. I take that to be the more and the more. And that's also the encouragement to the child of God that he continue in obedience and service of God. It's impossible that he not. It's impossible that the gospel leave him careless and profane. The child of God hearing that gospel wants more of it, but that doesn't mean his sanctification is somehow incomplete. Jesus, right now, and yesterday, and at the cross, and in eternity, in election, was my sanctification, as well as my righteousness, wisdom, and redemption. Next question. Some people might argue from passages like Matthew 11, verse 28, which is Jesus' word, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and Acts 16, verse 31, which is Paul's word to the Philippian jailer, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Some people might argue from those two passages that law and gospel are artificial categories based on a negative view of God's commands. How should we interpret these passages within a framework that distinguishes between law and gospel? What's interesting about this question is that it brings up what we call the call of the gospel. In Matthew 11, verse 28, come unto me. In Acts 16, verse 31, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And the question is, someone might point out those are actually commandments. Come is an imperative. Come unto me. You come unto me. and believe is a commandment. It's in the imperative mood. You believe in Jesus Christ. Someone pointing that out about the call of the gospel might say that throws away this whole distinction between the law and the gospel. It always was an artificial distinction. It was made for whatever reason. probably because of a negative view of God's commandments. But if the law of gospel distinction is correct, how should these passages be interpreted within that framework that distinguishes them? In answer to that question, I believe we must maintain the distinction between the law and the gospel. The word of God is too crystal clear on it. The law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Or by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Therefore we conclude, for another passage, that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Christ. Or for another passage yet, you who received the Spirit tell me, Did you do it by the works of the, did you receive that spirit by the works of the law or by the grace of Jesus Christ? The scriptures are crystal clear that the law does not have the office of saving us. So we must maintain that distinction between the two. That's not a negative view of God's command. That's a very positive view. The law has an office and the law is very good at its office. The law is God's word in that office, but the law does not have the office to save. How do we interpret the call of the gospel then in that framework? We explain that by opening up an entirely new topic in the law and the gospel called the hermeneutic of the law and the gospel or just how to interpret using that law and that gospel. There are passages in scripture that say, if you obey me and keep all my commandments, then I will bring you into the promised land and make you a peculiar people. And the hermeneutic of the law and the gospel says that when we interpret that passage, we cannot interpret it as a promise of salvation to us. If you obey all my commandments then I will take you into the land. That must be interpreted as the law which shows us what we're required to do but cannot do. So that that law is saying to me obey me perfectly and you'll go to heaven. And we say but if that's all there is that I'm never going to heaven because I cannot obey those commandments. That commandment may not be interpreted this way if you obey me then I will give you the experience of fellowship or heaven or anything else. You do and I'll give. It's the same function as the law to show us what we cannot do so that we need another to do it. It doesn't announce to us who the other is. There were many lambs slain at Sinai in Exodus 19 where that word is given. And that announces who does it. That's Jesus Christ. So within that whole idea of taking this distinction and interpreting the Bible through the lens of that distinction, when we come to the call of the gospel, what's the point of that call of the gospel? Don't pay attention merely to the form. It's in the imperative mood. Come, believe, Just as in that other passage, don't pay attention to the form, that there is a future. I will take you into the land. You don't interpret that though as a promise. So also in this call of the gospel, it's not the form that determines it. What's the point of the call? And the point of the call is not you. The point of the call is Christ. Come unto me, he says. believe in Jesus Christ, he says. That's the gospel. It has the form of an imperative mood. It has the form of a commandment. But the point of it, the meaning of it is the gospel of Jesus Christ. And now we understand a little of something of what Luther said that distinguishing between the law and the gospel requires a doctorate of theology or something to that effect. And Luther wasn't saying the believer can't do it. Luther was just saying, you can't just look at the form. You have to understand the meaning and the point of the passage. So how would the call of the gospel be interpreted in a framework that distinguishes between law and gospel? It would be interpreted as the gospel of Jesus Christ that shows us the only one in whom there is salvation and that gives us the very coming and believing that is spoken of. I think there was one more. In his introduction to the Heidelberg Catechism, Zacharias Ursinus says that the two principal heads of the doctrine of the church are, quote, repentance and faith in Christ, which we may regard as synonymous with the law and gospel, end quote. In what sense is repentance synonymous with the law? First of all, that is a striking statement by Ursinus. In his commentary on the catechism, he opens up in the very beginning of his introduction by saying that all doctrine is law and gospel. The whole Christian faith is law and gospel. That indicates that there was a significance to this law-gospel distinction for the Reformed very much. But then with regard to his putting repentance and law together and faith and gospel together, in what sense is repentance synonymous with the law? And I believe this is a case where that word repentance in past usage had a lot more thrown into it than we might think of as repentance today. When I use the word repentance, when you use the word repentance, you mean that godly sorrow for sin that loves God and in the instant of loving God at that same time hates its sin. You mean a gift of the gospel. Repentance has been used in the sense of meaning just being crushed under the weight of guilt and the weight of sin. So that repentance isn't being used, you might say properly there, as a gift of God's grace given in the gospel, but repentance is being used in one of the ways that it meant before of being exposed in sin. In that sense, Repentance is synonymous with the law. The law shows us our sin and leaves us there. It doesn't give us a holy, godly sorrow and longing after God. The law shows us our sin and leaves us there. The gospel comes and says, but there is salvation in Christ. And in this, the love of God is revealed to you. And it's that gospel that works in our hearts, not merely of being crushed with sin and guilt. but of being sorry for it, and a love for God that at the same time hates sin. Thank you for those questions. I found them very interesting, personally stimulating, and a help to us to remember the importance of this glorious distinction of God's good law and glorious gospel. Thank you to everyone for coming tonight. Your presence, whether in person or online, I'm encouraging, we're thankful for it, and please join us, you who are here in person, for refreshments afterwards. Let's close with a word of prayer. Our Father which art in heaven, how great thou art, and how small man is, and how small we are, as we stand before thy good law and thy glorious gospel. We find, Father, that as Thou dost open up the truth unto us, we can begin to see it in its depths by the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, but must at the same time acknowledge there is so much that is yet to discover and plumb. We pray that thou wilt use the lecture this evening for the beginning of it, that we might continue to understand more thy law and thy gospel. And we pray, Father, that thou wilt give us the comfort of the gospel. the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has accomplished all things and who has obeyed perfectly and atoned for our sins, that we might be counted righteous before thee for his sake and have salvation and fellowship and thy blessing forevermore. Thou remember us as we depart, keep us in safety on our ways, home according to Thy will. Thou hear our prayer, forgiving our sins, for Jesus' sake. Amen. Will you remember that?