Well, let me just begin this episode with assuring you that when I chose the title, Lies Preachers Tell, for this series, I was not trying to be snarky or trying to be sarcastic or cute or clever. I chose that title because preachers tell lies. And because they tell those lies, those lies have very serious effect on very real people's lives. And so, this is not an attempt to be clever. This is an attempt to expose that which will destroy you if you are not discerning, if you follow those lies. Religious trauma is very real and it is very destructive. I think it's more destructive than family trauma because it comes in the name of God. And as a pastoral counselor, we see people coming through our counseling center all the time who are suffering horribly from religious trauma. But they don't think so. That's the thing that's so shocking. They often think that, well, my marriage is troubled, and it is. Or I can't keep friends, and they can't. Or they're suffering with some form or many forms of addiction. So they're having a hard time forming meaningful relationships and staying free from addictive impulses, although Most of the time, these are genuine Christians. People have had a genuine conversion experience and have the Spirit dwelling in them. They have just been lied to. And they are continuously lied to. Let me put it this way. A lot of people who come into my counseling office, whose lives are just train wrecks, the last thing that they will list were they to do so, as to what may be causing this chaos and this pain in their life, would be their theology, their tradition, their relationship to the church they now attend, the teaching that they're getting from that tradition. When in fact, it's those lies that are undergirding all the chaos and pain in their life. But they're devoted, they're loyal to that, because they don't think that's the problem. But it is, many, many times. And those who are willing to consider that maybe their theology's off base, that the teaching they're getting is destructive, are able to move on and become discerning and either adjust that relationship or leave it altogether and find fellowship that's healthy. Believe me, folks, there is no shortage of toxic, cult-like churches in America. There is no shortage of toxic, abusive, destructive theological systems and denominations and leaders within those denominations. But that doesn't mean that we should despair. It doesn't mean that we should give up on Christianity. That's what the devil would like us to do. See, this is all his best work. Now, the lies preachers tell is designed to get you to do just that. to lose faith, or at least have a crisis of faith. So, what we want to do in this series is take on some of the more common lies that are told. And they are pervasive, folks. It is astonishing. I'm 67 years old. I've spent the last 45 years in Christianity, and I've gone to many churches, I've pastored churches, I've been to seminary, I've earned degrees. I've witnessed that even some of my beloved professors in seminary went to jail for sexual misconduct, were fired from their jobs. I mean, the scandals, these are one after another. Why is that? Why is that? What we'll discover in this series is that the lies preachers tell have often been told them first. And what we will discover is that theological lies cannot restrain the flesh, cannot transform the life, character, mind, heart, And so you get this veneer of a Christianity covering up all this moral decadence, and eventually it's going to pop out. It's going to make itself known. And it's always a shock. It's always devastating. And it is, don't get me wrong. But we really ought not be surprised. So lies preachers tell have very serious consequences. And we have to find a way to do two things. We have to find a way to be very discerning, very mature in our discernment between good and evil, and at the same time, walk in joy and rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. So it's the mature that find their way to hold those tensions. I know I have to. I delight in my fellowship with the risen Christ, with my Lord Jesus Christ. I delight in my fellowship with the Father and with the Son by the Spirit. I delight in studying the inspired text. I delight in my fellowship with you. I delight in being able to actually do my job in such a way that someone's life is put back together and they go on to live for the glory of God. I delight to spend time with friends and family and brothers and sisters in Christ. I have a lot of great things that I rejoice for, moment by moment, every day. But that does not mean that I'm naive. I have been in the past and I've suffered for it. My family has suffered for it. We must not be naive to think that somehow because we can rejoice in the Lord that the world is going to leave us alone. That liars will suddenly stop appearing in our life. No, no, no. We must always be discerning. We must always have boundaries. We must always set limits. Now this thing of lying is a big deal. Revelation chapter 21, where we have this wonderful vision of a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth have passed away and there's no longer any sea. He goes on to describe the holy city, New Jerusalem, and a loud voice, behold the tabernacle of God is among men and he will dwell among men. among them and they will be his people and God himself will be among them. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no longer any death. There'll be no longer any mourning, crying, or pain. The first things passed away. And then in verse 5 he says, And he who sits on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. And he said, Write, for these words are faithful and true. Then he said to me, they are done. I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I'll give to the one who thirsts from the spring of water of life without cost. He who overcomes will inherit these things and I will be his God and he will be my son." Beautiful. A direct quote from the Davidic promise in 2 Samuel 7. And then he says in verse 8, But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. So we have this glorious vision of a new heaven and new earth and all that comes with it. And yet we still are aware that there are consequences. There are cowardly people, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers and idolaters, and liars. among us all around us many times within our churches oftentimes within our pulpits so there's the tension we have to live in in this now and not yet time folks I know this is not a very pleasant devotional-like study. I don't do those very often. I understand that there's place for that, and if you need a break, it'd be like eating a snack in between meals. But we can't live on snacks, can we? We can't live on 10-minute devotionals. We have to be prepared. We have to be prepared to go deeper. We have to lay a strong foundation. We have to build on rock, not sand. So having said that, I just want you to understand that I'm not doing this series because I'm trying to be cute or clever, and that that title, Lies Preachers Tell, is not something that is made up to entertain. It is a very real tragic thing that preachers tell lies and that you, are affected so negatively by those lies. Do you know that there are people who actually complete suicide because of religious trauma? That shouldn't be a shock. There are people whose health is ruined, who die not from completing suicide, but from some other form of disease because they're so traumatized by their religious experience. So this is a shooting war, folks. Sorry to have to be the alarm bell, but it is time for us to be awake. Wake, O sleeper, he says in Ephesians, and Christ will shine on you. So in this episode, I want to introduce you to a topic having to do with the law. A big topic. I've talked about it before. If you follow me regularly, you've heard some of this before, but it's important to expand on it. So I want to tackle this issue of the moral law, the moral law. Let me put it this way. I want to tackle the lie that you are under the moral law. Now, what is the moral law? Let me just give you a brief definition before we get into our study. The moral law, as it's taught in Reformed and Presbyterian covenant theology, and even in many evangelical circles that are not part of those traditions, is that the Ten Commandments remain of Moses, part of the law covenant. The Ten Commandments, as part of the law, ordained through angels, at Mount Sinai and delivered to Israel through Moses, is still binding upon your conscience and useful even for the preparation of preaching the Gospel to make sure that the sinner is adequately guilty and aware of his need for the Gospel and or sanctification after conversion to Christ. Now, no good Protestant would ever say that we are saved by law. And so they will divide the law into three parts, the civil, the ceremonial, and the moral law. Something the Bible doesn't do. That's just a simple fact. The Bible does not divide up the law. Paul said in Galatians 5, let me assure you if anyone allows themselves to be circumcised that they are under obligation to keep the whole law. No good Jew would ever imagine keeping a part of the law. They understood that either you reject the law or you accept the law, but you can't pick and choose. The law is not some smorgasbord at a country inn that you can pick and choose from. But on the other hand, it can't be taught legitimately that Christians are under the law. That's too broad a statement. So they have to divide it out to justify it and say, no, it's a civil law that's been abrogated and the ceremonial law was fulfilled in Christ. But the moral law still stands, as if the finished work of Christ did not fulfill the moral law. Which we'll discover in this study, that is exactly what Jesus did under the New Covenant, as he fulfilled the moral law. And he provided by the New Covenant, consecrated in his own blood, the means by which that moral law would be fulfilled but let me just back up to say again there is no civil ceremonial moral law there's only the law jesus was very clear in matthew five wasn't he that that not one stroke or least stroke of a pen would be done away with until all was accomplished, all was fulfilled. He didn't say, I came to fulfill the civil and the ceremonial law, but the moral law will remain. He didn't say that. And yet, in this widespread, widely participated system of theology, there are those who will argue for The fact that you are under law. The moral law. That the Ten Commandments are still binding upon your conscience. And that's why they can justify a Sunday Sabbath. That's why they can look to the Old Covenant to decide how they should worship. That's why they can look through the lens of the Old Covenant to even decide how they conduct themselves throughout life. It's the rule of life, they call it, for the Christian. But the question you must always learn to ask here is, is that true? So what I want to do today is just give you an introduction to the history of how we got here. We want to look at this from a historic point of view. There's two things that every Christian must learn to do, and that is learn to read their Bible well, and then learn to read church history well. And between the two of those things, you will get some very good sharpened discernment, not to mention some very precious spiritual growth in your life. It's the Learning to read the inspired text that the Spirit uses to bring about transformation in your life. Because it's the Holy Spirit who is the change agent. It is the Scripture that is instrumental, His instrument. And it's church history that helps us understand how we got to where we are. And what disasters occurred along the way and how not to repeat those disasters. and how shocking some of the actions have been by certain men during church history in their attack and their perversion and their twisting of the gospel. You'll also discover by studying church history that the pilgrim church, those who have always been devoted to living by the standards of the New Testament, by the power of the Spirit, and who have stayed outside of the Roman Church, the institutional Church, both of the East and the West, have suffered horribly. Suffered persecution. Listen, persecution has never ceased. Paul meant it when he said, for all those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. So it's very important if you're gonna truly be purely, simply devoted to Jesus Christ, to understand how to read your Bible well and to understand church history enough to be able to get a context to how to live out your Christian life. So let me just say that those in Christ are not under the law. that those in Christ are not under law but under grace is thematic throughout the New Testament. What do I mean by that? I mean that it runs all through the pages of the New Testament, especially the Pauline letters. You can't help but read Romans even casually and find out, wow, that we are not under law. So that those in Christ are not under law is thematic throughout the New Testament. Yet, you think it was just a conclusion. Easy to discern and easy to conclude and put that issue to rest. But from the earliest days of the apostolic mission to this very day, men have insisted that those in Christ are under grace to be sure but also under law. It is this also clause that produces what Paul called another gospel. Grace plus law equals gospel. Now, very few of those who teach law today Would ever subscribe to that formula. I just mentioned they would they would they would shrink back. Oh, no, no No, I don't I just teach free grace. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, no, no, no But they will do so in practice They will tell you that the law is not a system of salvation But it is useful and even binding upon the Christian's conscience for sanctification and as a rule of life for you. And yet they'll stand there and look you right in the eye and say, oh, but I don't believe that it's grace plus law. No. And yet they'll tell you, I mean, it's spiritual gaslighting is what it is. Crazy making. So Paul said that to do any kind of also, in other words, to begin to relate to God on the basis of law, and it doesn't matter if it's civil, ceremonial, or moral law, the Ten Commandments, at any point in the Christian life produces what Paul called another gospel, a gospel worthy only of a double apostolic curse. And yet that gospel is taught. You want to know where it's taught? You want to read about it today? You open up. It's hard. I'm not by nature a confrontive person. I like to be liked. I like for people to like me. But when it comes to these issues that are so diminishing, of the glory of Christ and his accomplished work on our behalf and so destructive to you, when you see it, you just have to say, that's it right there. If you see something awful happening, you've got to step up and stop it, right? You've got to say, hey, stop. I mean, if you see a little old ladies being mugged, you probably want to intervene, right? Or else you become as guilty as those who are doing the mugging. If you see a child being harmed, you, you're going to want to step in. It's not going to be a matter. Are you being confrontive or not or fair or not? You just need to stop. So do you want to really, if you want to read today where it is taught within Protestantism that you are under law, you just have to read the 1689 London Baptist confession. read the Westminster Confession of Faith, and you'll find it. There you'll find that the law is still applicable to the Christian, still useful to the Christian, and still binding upon your conscience, even though you are in Christ and you have the Spirit dwelling in you. Westminster Confession of Faith will even say that it's especially helpful for the people who have the spirit. So they'll subscribe to the spirit being at work in your life, but the law being the restraining force. So it's the spirit and the law. And the Bible simply doesn't teach that and you will discover that in this series. So it's critical in our day to understand what we're up against and to understand that Paul meant it when he said that another gospel is not something that we try to find common ground with. It's something we expose as a gospel only worthy of a double apostolic curse and stay away from it. It's critical in our day, therefore, that we ensure that we possess the biblical gospel and not some human innovation being passed off as the gospel. It's critical for the sake of the glory of the Lord, and it's critical for the sake of your health. So the place to start here is to gain the confidence that comes when you remember that the gospel comes to us within a context. historical, redemptive context. So context is everything. If you've never learned how to read your Bible, you can begin with that one principle. It's about context. Always read your Bible within its context. And there's a definite eschatological and covenantal context for the Bible. Now when I say eschatological, what I mean is it is God taking the final judgment and bringing it forward into history in the finished work of Christ at the cross so that that which was once awaited that we could only look toward and wonder whether or not we would ever make it. Will we make it on that final day? God has brought forward and in the finished work of his son said, yes, you will. Because of what my son accomplished for you on the cross. And I affirm that by raising him from the dead. You see why having an eschatological context is very important? Because that judgment day that every good Jew knew was lingering out there, was waiting. There's a divine appointment, has been brought forward into human history at the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. So that we're in a now and not yet state. For those who are in Christ, the judgment has been rendered against them at the cross and Christ took the judgment. The justification, the declaration of justification that they thought before only waited for them at that final day has been rendered by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So that if you're in him, your resurrection to eternal life is absolutely guaranteed. And then with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the covenantal context of the new covenant that Christ consecrated in his own blood at the cross, the new covenant era, rather than just be a future event, has also been brought into the present. And what this means to you, then, is that because you have the Spirit dwelling in you, you have been marked by God as His own. You have been sealed for redemption. And the implication of that is that you no longer belong to this present evil age. You belong to the coming age being lived out in the present. by the power of the eschatological gift of the Spirit who indwells you. The Holy Spirit only indwells those who are in Christ. The world doesn't have the Spirit, they don't know Him. But you do. And it's the abiding evidence, the gift of the Spirit is the abiding evidence that you are in Christ. The Spirit witnesses with your spirit that you are the children of God, Romans 8. You are no longer in the flesh, Paul says in Romans 8 and 9, but in the spirit. And what he means there by the realm, those are absolutes. You are no longer in the realm of the flesh, but in the realm of the spirit. Now I say all that because I want you to understand that the law was given for this present age as a restraining and exposing and a foreshadow in this present age, but you no longer belong to this present age. You now belong to the age of the Spirit, the realm of the Spirit. And listen carefully now. The eschatological and covenantal context of which I've just spoke presents the gift of the Spirit as God's sufficiency for the Christian life of love and true holiness. The gift of the Spirit is God's sufficiency to live the Christian life of love and true holiness. You are no longer under law, but under grace. You are no longer in the realm of the flesh, but in the realm of the Spirit. And don't dare convolute those. error, every heresy, every theological lie that's told today begins by convoluting the old and the new covenant somehow. So that you are confused, to which covenant do I belong? And it's not just a matter of simple theological academia. These have very real practical effects on your spiritual life, and consequently on your mental and relational life as well. So to insist, as many do to this day, that the preaching of the law is necessary to proceed the preaching of the gospel, or that once having experienced conversion by the Spirit that you must return to the law as a means of sanctification, is quite frankly a denial, it's a backdoor denial of the eschatological and covenantal context of the Gospel. And the reason they've done that originally was to comply with the demands of the European State Church. Which you'll discover in this study. A tragic turning point in the Reformation history. That which started out so powerfully, that fire that burned so bright, was quenched The moment that Luther and Zwingli conceded that revival to comply with the state demands. To comply with the civil authorities. Well documented in church history, by the way. That's not just my opinion. I try to keep my personal opinions to a very minimal not absence. You're not looking for my opinion, you're looking for truth here. We find that in the text of scripture and in the plain, clear view of church history. Yet, even though to preach the law as either preparatory to the preaching of the gospel or necessary for sanctification and binding upon your conscience is a denial of the new covenant eschatology and covenantal context of the gospel. That is precisely what many do within their theological system. The two dominant theological systems within America today are covenant theology, which would be the Presbyterian and Reformed, and the dispensational theology, which would be the Rapture group. a lot of independent Baptists. Even that too, though, had its origins within the Presbyterian system. All I'm saying here, folks, is that if we're not willing to subject our system, our tradition, to the examination of Scripture, we're already in trouble. If we're not willing to hold the light of scripture up to what we believe and confirm that it is biblical, we are in deep trouble. So nothing else, I hope this series, Lies Preachers Tell, will be something that encourages you to do just that. I had to, I did, I had to. I grew up, at least in my formative years, in a very Pentecostal denomination, very widely known. Thought I'd be in that denomination for the rest of my life. But I discovered that the teaching was very shallow. It was experience-based, oftentimes emotionalism. There was a lot of moral failure in that organization. A lot of bad teaching. And when it had a horrible effect on my life, I took the initiative to begin to study theology on my own. To actually read the Bible in its context. And I'll never forget waking up going, whoa, the Bible doesn't teach what I've been told. I was never taught that that text meant that. I was taught that it meant that. Now that's a waking up morning, folks. when the people you love and are devoted to and care about, you've grown up with in many senses, people you've known for decades, and suddenly you realize we're all living a lie. It's a sobering moment. And when you realize, I have to choose the integrity of the text, and the blessing of being aware now what the text actually teaches over my tradition, over my church family, then I guess I'll have to. Now, I tried to reason. I still try to reason today. But it's important to recognize that you don't have a choice, really. Your devotion and your purity of devotion is to the Lord Jesus Christ and the truth of his word, not your tradition. So some of you have already been offended because I referred to the 1689 London Baptist Confession or the Westminster Confession of Faith. And there are any number more of Reformed confessions that you could examine. You have a Reformation study Bible. They're most all in the back of that Bible Read them hold them up to the light of Scripture see if they actually fit and you will discover they don't Much of it does But again, we're not talking about being blatantly lied to we're talking about those who give us half-truths and Yes, you're saved by grace through faith in Jesus alone. Sola Christus, sola fide, sola gratia and law. Just like I was told, well, you know, you, you are saved, but you still have to be speak with tongues or you're not really saved. I mean, people labor under that to this day. I remember somebody, a preacher in my church in the day, referring to the fact that some young lady had gotten saved at summer camp and everybody applauded. He said, wait, wait, there's more. She was baptized in water. Oh, everybody applauded. Oh yes. Wonderful. Wait, Wait, there's more. She was baptized with the Holy Ghost and spoke in tongues, and everybody applauded again. And I said, whoa, I thought even then, I thought, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. She's received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and there's more? There's more add-ons? There's this, that, I mean, see how that goes? You're not really saved until you've complied with all the church's standards for what that means. It's not by faith alone after all, it's all by faith and something. So despite admitting conversion to be the work of the spirit through the preaching of the gospel, some insist that the law is both necessary to the preaching of the gospel and necessary for sanctification. So the role of the spirit, beloved, is diminished. in favor of the role of the law. Well, we're out of time for now in this opening episode. In the next episode, I'm gonna talk with you about the roots, the history of some of this from church history, very important. And then we'll look at the history through the eyes of the book of Acts as well. And let me plead with you before I leave with you one more time. Please consider what I'm saying for your sake, for the glory of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and for your spiritual health's sake. It's no problem for me to remind you of these things, and it's good safeguard for you. In my work, I'm interested in one thing, and that is, what is the truth? both personally and theologically. People come to me as a counselor because they're living a lie. Living a lie that they learned in their family system, but they're also oftentimes living a lie they learned in their theological system. And between the two of those colliding, they're in the midst of a train wreck. So what we often do in my counseling sessions is we just begin to unwind both of those. The lies they were told growing up and the lies they were told in their church tradition. And we do that by looking to the truth as it's revealed in scripture and illuminated to our hearts and minds by the precious Holy Spirit. People will be getting people get set free people's lives are restored. The truth does set us free and The love for the truth will bring you into wholeness Which is exactly what Christ died for Set you free from this present evil age and to bring you into his kingdom So we'll pause there and the next time we're together we'll look at the history of this propensity to teach law out of the Book of Acts, and we'll look at it in a little bit of church history, the early church fathers, men who were oftentimes quoted, especially within the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, and even in the Episcopal and Anglican Church traditions, as being infallible, almost. I mean, you'll hear these men, these church fathers, quoted as if they were other apostles. You'll find out that they actually redefined the gospel. They actually redefined the gospel, the spirit, the work of the spirit in grace, and they redefined even who Jesus is. There's a reason why the dark ages began, and we'll look into that next time. It'll be very important to you. Remember, this is not some academic study. This is not just entertainment. This is very important information for your health and the health of your family and friends. So check back with me. We'll do part two of Under the Moral Law. Amen.