All right, well, it is time to begin. Now, last week, what I was attempting to do was discuss, sort of as an excursus, first off, the threefold use of the law. which that we'll get into a bit more detail specifically when we talk about the new covenant, because that matters. And then also what's known as the threefold division of the law. Now, what's the threefold division of the law? What do we got? That's the initial softball question. All right, moral, ceremonial, and civil. And moral being the overarching category through which even the ceremonial and the civil are subject in some way. Now, again, these are just labels. to help us differentiate between the various kinds of law that we see. And there's no question that there is different variations of the law. We even see that in our own law system. So if somebody can come up with a better expression, moral, ceremonial, civil, I'm all for it. That's great. But it's just a helpful, useful tool to help us differentiate. Of course, the difficulty is I demonstrated how some laws that are in the Old Testament, it's a bit fuzzy. And you might say, well, is this a civil law or is this a ceremonial law? And sometimes it's both. So it gets tricky in that regard. But one of the things that I wanted to get to, but I didn't quite get there yet, is to deal with the question of what applies today and what doesn't apply today. Well, even that's not an easy question. It's very easy for us to say, well, the moral law, obviously, because that's a reflection of who God is, and that never changes, and that's true. But what about the civil law? As we think about the civil law, I would ask you to look at chapter 19 of the Confession, which by the way, this is the published edition of our standards for the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. You can order this at the OPC website or even Great Commission publication, however, Let me, if you're going to order it, be very careful because you might accidentally get the one for the PCA. The confession and catechisms proper are identical. That's not the issue. It'll be the proof text that will be somewhat different. Is it that big of a deal? No. but just be warned. The other thing is you can also get a PDF version of this very thing so the pagination is identical with the proof text and all that. Paragraph four of chapter 19 helps us to a degree with this question of the law To them also as a body politic, he gave sundry judicial laws which expired together with the state of that people. And notice state is capitalized there. Not obliging any other now further than the general equity thereof may require. That's the question right there. What do the standards, what did the Westminster divines mean with this statement of general equity? Okay, so that's a good example, unfortunately one of which we see a bit too often. So the Old Testament, as Conrad noted, had laws concerning an ox that gored another individual, particularly if it had a habit of doing this. If it did seem to have a habit, then it also became an issue for the owner. A really bad issue. So there's that. So the idea of general equity is that there are overarching principles that you can find in the Old Testament judicial civil law that can apply today, even if the specifics are very different. So One thing that you needed to do apparently was build a fence around your roof. Why? Why would you have to build a fence around your roof? Yeah, people were up there used frequently as living quarters. And what was the purpose of the fence? Yeah, keep people from falling off. Now, as far as I've seen here in Oklahoma, you're not really going to see too many roofs that people can just dwell and hang out on. So what would the principle of general equity be for something like we see having a fence around the roof? And there's no one answer. Okay, well, that's the principle. How would we apply that in something like that today? Okay, what about swimming pools? Okay, so one of the things that the civil government today does, for whatever reason, requires a fence around your yard or the pool area to prevent people from wandering onto your property and accidentally falling in and drowning, okay? That's an example of general equity. And in this case, as Chris had noted, that the overarching principle is love your neighbor, the good of your neighbor's wellbeing, his life and wellbeing. So what commandment, if you think about the 10 commandments, what commandment does that fall under? The sixth, do not kill, but put positively, it's preserve life. Whatever is to their good in health and preserving life. Okay? So that's kind of the concept of general equity. So you think about this connection again between the moral law and the civil law. You see how the moral law provides the overarching principle for all of the civil law with respect to how we deal with one another. What are some other general, and regardless of what you think about the specifics, because we all have our opinions. What are some other common civil laws that the government makes that, at least in principle, is for the well-being of others? Okay, unlawful discharge of a firearm. So for instance, just shooting up in the air. What goes up must come down, and especially if you're trying to shoot down a Chinese balloon. Yeah, 60,000 feet in the air, and you're not gonna reach it, sorry. But that's the point. You don't just go shooting it off in the air because that's reckless, and you could easily put people at risk. You could kill them. You know, from a pure physics standpoint, I realize there's air resistance and all that, but from a pure physics standpoint, when you shoot a gun up in the air, it comes down at the same speed as it leaves. That's the danger. So, yeah. Now, here's another example, and I don't think it's so much a legal thing, but what a large entertainment corporation has done recently. Major League Baseball has extended the protection net all the way up the first base and third base lines. It used to be just kind of an area behind home plate, but now they have extended it all the way through the first and third base line. How come? It's cheaper than lawsuits, but go further than that. What's the point? What's really the nub of it? People have gotten hurt. Those foul balls off of a major league baseball player's bat come fast, faster than the guys that pitch it. So you think the elite pitchers in the major league can pitch 100 miles an hour. I mean, even getting hit by a 70 mile an hour pitch would hurt. Off the bat of a full swing, they can easily be 110 to 120 miles an hour with so little reaction time. Now, if you're not an athletic kind of an individual and you're not paying attention, that could kill you. And that's the reasoning. It's protection of life. It's that concept of general equity. Now, of course, lawsuits are expensive. That plays into it as well. I get it. But even in the Old Testament, I would say that's part of it, because part of maintaining a civil society is not just avoiding the criminal action, but the civil fallout and broken relationships. Sure, right. Right, and even the way Jesus words things in his Sermon on the Mount and other teachings, if your brother has something against you, doesn't mention whether it's criminal or not, but they're going to the judge and Jesus is saying, work it out before you get there. So there is some sort of a principle in trying to preserve good order But the specifics, of course, are gonna differ from one place to the other. Some other ones that we will sometimes find a bit annoying. Traffic laws. You know, Jay Gresham Machen and jaywalking, right? Some of you know this story. You know, Machen's like, do we even need a law for this? Nobody gets tickets anymore for jaywalking that I've ever seen anywhere in this country. Funny thing is I heard of a story, one of the news broadcasters or the sports analysts for one of the Olympics that were most recently in Canada. The guy just in the middle of the street just started crossing because there was no traffic. The cops stopped him and gave him a ticket for jaywalking. So it can happen in places. So regardless of what you think, I mean, there's a certain measure of common sense, but the truth of the matter is, if we really think about it, sometimes sense is not all that common. We just need to be real about that. Can governments overdo it? Of course they can. Can they not? It would be nice if they didn't. But you think about this, even in principle, apart from the corruption side of things with respect to government, you know, a lot of times rules for premises come into place because something happened. Not because of forethought, but because something happened. We had, when we were running the camp, We had, it was a good-sized pool for a camp, 88,000 gallons, and it would go anywhere from three down to 10 feet. But one of the things that was interesting about the design of the pool is that all the way around, right at the edge, it was only three feet. It didn't matter. And then quickly went down in the diving area. So it was never really an issue. But what that meant was, at a depth of three feet down to 10 feet when it had an empty pool. The skateboarder saw that and think, this is awesome. And they started doing their skateboarding tricks in there. So they had to come up with a rule for retreat groups, particularly in the winter and off season, no skateboarding in the pool. You read that rule and you're like, what? That makes no sense. Who's gonna skate? Well, you would if you saw the situation. And that's an example of a rule that came into being on the premises because of what somebody did. Trish? It was always funny when it was my turn to read the rules to the Quilter's Guild. They're all sitting there listening that they are not allowed to skateboard in that pool. Correct. Yeah, and we did have to read the rules for all the groups. It was like an American Camping Association thing, as well as the insurance type thing as well, so that there were certain liability issues, not that that ever changed anything. But you see how sometimes when you think about your own house, those of you with kids, or you remember with kids, You have a certain rule in your house that somebody else doesn't. Why? Because, well, the kids did something here. We've got to fix that. OK, that happens. That's the concept of general equity in applying the principle of preserving life, the principle of the well-being of other individuals, and putting some sort of civil judicial law in place. Again, I'm talking ideally, I'm not talking about government corruption, that's a whole different issue. Jake? Okay, but here's the issue. The state of Israel no longer exists at Old Testament. In fact, after the exile, it didn't exist. So those laws are gone. But the moral law is always there. Well, yes and no. There's a book, which I have a copy of it, by, I think it's Philip Ross, called From the Finger of God. And it's actually a publication of his dissertation on the threefold division of law. And he demonstrates reasonably well the different uses, like if you want an example, you go to Psalm 19, the second half, the law, the statutes, the commandments, et cetera. He does a pretty good job demonstrating that while not absolute, each of those words functioned in a different way, and some were emphasized more for civil, some were emphasized more for ceremonial, et cetera. But see, now let's take this to the new covenant. The difficulty is the word law in the Old Testament is what word? It's Torah. So the question is, if you're talking about the new covenant, writing the law on your heart, is that the civil law? Is that the ceremonial law? Or is that the moral law? It is yes, but is it the specifics of the civil law? I don't think so. But the principles for understanding that there needs to be civil law, that's unquestionably there. But the specific law of building a fence on my roof, if that law specifically is written on my heart, I've got a problem. Many of you have seen my roof and you've got a very similar roof. High steepness. Nobody's going up there and nobody's going to build a fence on it. So is the specific thing written on my heart? No. Is the overarching principle? Yes. That's the difference. And there are specifics in the civil law that cannot possibly be carried over but the principle is, and that's why the confession uses the expression, except so far as the general equity that requires. That's the principle, general equity. So I think Romans 13 is a little bit helpful here too, because Paul's talking about being subject to governing authorities, and he uses the term for he in verse four, for he is God's servant for your good. Well, now we have to define good. That's the other side. Correct. It's a division of sorts. There's unquestionably some kind of a division. There has to be. Because you even think of the exile. Jerusalem was destroyed. The temple was destroyed. The Torah says three times a year, your males need to go to the appointed place. Well, they were in exile. What then? The Torah also said, you go back, nearly a thousand years prior to that, when Joshua was leading the people into the promised land, we see that after they crossed the Jordan, all the males are circumcised. And the text tells us why. Because in the wanderings, they were never circumcised. What did Gantz say to Abraham would happen if they weren't circumcised? They'd be cut off from the people. But for 40 years, they weren't cut off. So what's the distinction? Circumstances with respect to civil judicial laws and ceremonial laws are subject to the situation that you're in. But the overarching principle never changes. That's the concept of general equity. And that's what you've got to deal with. The moral law in order to preserve life never changes. How you go about doing that will look a little bit different and really from one house to the next even. Absolutely. Yep. Yeah, I think that's wrong. Right. And really, even our confession acknowledges this, that we're not under the law as a covenant of works. That's the whole thing. But nevertheless, and this is where, again, chapter 19 is beautiful. It's unfortunate that, and this is my quick soapbox, which we'll come back to in the future weeks, that many who have adopted the teachings of Meredith Klein have fallen short on their view of chapter 19. And that's been problematic. So the law is never for already fallen people. That's the key. We're already fallen. The covenant of works for us in and of itself in that sense, we're not under it except for its curse aside from grace, because we're in sin. And so the law is no longer for the believer can be constituted in any sense a covenant of works. It just can't be. So that's the issue. And so the moral law becomes the overarching principle and love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself is what Jesus told us in the New Testament. The beauty is he was actually quoting from the Torah. And that's the overarching principle. Now, how do you specifically love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind? Well, first off, know other gods. That's the first commandment. Worship him the way he says. That's the second commandment. Honor his name. That's the third commandment. Remember the Sabbath day. Keep it holy for a day of rest and worship. And on it goes. So even the 10 commandments are themselves, like those two greatest commandments, summaries. And they're worded negatively, almost all of them, the 10 commandments are worded negatively because our propensity to sin. But prior to the fall, the concept of the law, the positive side, would have already been written on our hearts. That's really what it boils down to. And we need to remember, this is where I think the difficulty comes. We think of the 10 commandments kind of in isolation, like they're the end all be all. And in one sense they are, but in another sense, we need to remember they are summaries of what God requires. And so we refer to caring for other people, doing everything we can for their health and well-being and their protection. That's the positive side of thou shalt not kill. But you don't see that just reading the words alone, thou shalt not kill. You should. But we need to recognize that that is a principle and here is how you preserve life and care for life. Yeah, it's application of the moral principle. That's really what it is in terms of like your property. Yeah, how many places, even in Proverbs, which is a wisdom book, talks about not moving your border stones? Why? Because that's stealing. In fact, what you should be doing is doing everything you can to help their estate without infringing upon your own, but also what you do with your estate should not infringe upon others. There's the corruption in government right there. So that's really what this boils down to, right? We are now still on stage. I am not bound to obey what God commands. They can't say, hey, I'm a pagan. It doesn't apply to me. And we can't say, hey, these politicians are pagans. God's law doesn't apply to them. On the contrary, it does apply to them. Correct. They must organize their laws on the basis of what God says. And that right there is really the rub. The general principles of what we call the moral law are binding on all. It does not change. So the civic aspects of certain things that we have in our country are going to differ from the civic aspects of what happens in France or England or whatever. Is there any moral reason why a person who comes into this country legally can't become a citizen in a month? Is there a moral reason? No. But for practical reasons, and there are a lot of complex understandings, we require five years before someone living here, before they can become a citizen. That's not moral, but there's an overarching principle of protecting the nation and making sure that the person really is committed to this nation. Other nations have other rules. Like we don't recognize, for instance, dual citizenship. Canada does. Who's right, who's wrong? You know, arguments can be made both ways. Correct. And it doesn't mean that the husband is wrong and the wife is wrong. Right, and there's also the side of, you know, you go, you think about this from house to house. Those of us who are parents have probably at one time or another, you have a certain rule in your house. Yeah, but so-and-so, they're allowed to do it. Right? Yeah. And when I was a kid, I used to use it too. I did. Why is it different? Well, for one thing, we're all different people. As we get older, we start to realize that. We realize that one thing could be overly offensive or a stumbling block for one person but not another. That's one aspect of it. So for instance, the question of alcohol. There are times where we would take the wine and the liquor, which liquor is only a recent thing, and put them away, out of sight. So as for certain individuals, it not become a stumbling block. Now, I could sit there and stay and open up scripture and say, well, there's nothing wrong with drinking. It is if there's a stumbling block. So just even there, differences of opinion, and the question of movies and TV shows that kids always bring up, right? Some kid can be allowed to watch this movie, another kid in this house can't. But even this, even within your own home, It gets humorous because I see this happen frequently and probably even within our own home it happened. But you get, you have multiple kids and there's age differences. And when the youngest finally gets to a certain age, you're able to start watching a little bit more. Well, then the oldest will complain and say, when I was that age, I couldn't watch it. That's because you had younger siblings. It wasn't that you couldn't, it's that they couldn't. And things change. So when the youngest has finally reached the age, then it's no longer really an issue. But when the oldest reaches that age, the difficulty is everybody else, you know, what are they supposed to do? And so that's where the oldest is always like, oh man, the youngest has it so easy. And there's probably some truth to that, but it's not as easy as you think. So Jake. There's a greater emphasis on the heart. We've now been recreated in Christ and now with this new nature, like him, we will love God as kindness, gentleness, love. And that's the principle. That's it. With this kind of theology, I'm kind of lost where we're saying that the moral law, how I see it, we have a new nature, but I don't see it as the moral law somehow just transfers over to this side. Like, that doesn't make any sense. Well, Ephesians 6.1, you go from there. Children, obey your parents in the Lord. That's what Paul says. What does he quote? What does he end up quoting? Which one? The fifth commandment. He quotes the fifth commandment. It's not like he's recreating the law. The reason why children obey your parents in the law exists is because there's a moral principle that still carries over. But that's the whole point. He's speaking to Gentiles and he's quoting the Old Testament that they should have known. And this is where it's important also to understand that before he wrote Ephesians, we need to remember from the book of Acts, a careful reading, Paul was there for three years. So this was a church that knew their stuff because Paul there taught and he opened a seminary for all practical purposes. So... the purpose of that law. And so I think it's twofold. It's not that you have to be regimented with the law, but by following God's laws, that does something to your heart. I think what Jesus says is it changes when it takes away that barrier of sin, but it also opens you up to understanding of why God's law. Yeah, there is truth to that, and that's true even of an unbeliever. You could convince an unbeliever, because they've got God's law written in their heart, that it's wrong to kill someone, life. It doesn't take long, even for babies, to understand the concept of thou shalt not steal. You know how to do that? You put two babies together in a crib and one toy. how quickly they learn thou shalt not steal. And from a greater perspective, and when we start talking about the new covenant, I hope to talk about this, and this is an expression, this is a statement that will unquestionably ruffle certain feathers even in our reformed circles. But the law of God, God's words, his commandments are an instrument of our sanctification. And the problem is there are those that understand the doctrine of justification of being by faith alone, they carry that into sanctification. That we're only sanctified by faith alone. That's not biblical teaching. And these are the same people that speak of the sacraments as being, what's the expression, means of grace. If they're means of grace, they're instruments. And so the law, and this is a beautiful thing, and I was gonna refer to this, Titus chapter two, which is what we used last week, I think. Might even be this week, I don't remember. Titus 2, this is a wonderful passage. Titus 2, 11 through 14. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people. That's where we, we all get that. Everyone will say amen to that. But here's the next thing that grace does for us. It trains us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and notice that's negative, now it goes positive, to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age. That's a summary of love the Lord your God and love your neighbor. It's not salvation by work. It is grace that trains us to do these things. And then also, grace also helps us to wait for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness. And here's the rest of it. This matters. and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Why do we think David, in Psalm 19, talked so positively about the law and what it does, because it was a means of his sanctification. A means, not the only means, but God uses the instrumentality of the word, he uses the instrumentality of the sacraments, he uses the instrumentality of genuine Christian fellowship as an instrument in your sanctification. And then we got to close it up. Right, yeah, that's the essence of it. Right. All right, we gotta close. I was gonna try to talk about when God appeared to Moses when he asked to see his glory, because that also, that was what, just by way of refreshing your memory real quick, we were talking a few weeks ago about the gracious character of the Mosaic Covenant, and then we started to have this discussion about this threefold division, so we took this excursus. But I'm hoping now to kind of bring us back to that gracious character and use particularly Exodus 34 to demonstrate this, not just what we see in the preface to the Ten Commandments and also Exodus 19. So yeah, that's it. So let's go ahead and close in prayer and get ready to worship our God. Our Father in God in heaven, how we give you thanks and praise for your word. And though we need to confess and admit, it is difficult to differentiate one law from the next. But Lord, help us to see the overarching principles that are truly a reflection of who you are. And may that be our guide. May your spirit work in our hearts, applying that word your commands, your precepts to our hearts that we may indeed live godly lives. And now, Lord, we pray that you would guide our hearts and minds as we are about to be ushered into your presence to worship and praise you. We pray all this in Christ's name. Amen.