Good morning, everyone. Good to see you all this morning. Have a lot of folks in town this weekend for the module, so glad you all are with us as well. We are entering the eighth week of introduction to the law of God. This is our final week to our introduction before we begin a commandment by commandment approach to the 10. And so I'm wrapping up today our introductory examination of the law as a whole. to make way for these brothers who will exposit the law after me. For those of you who have not been here the last seven weeks, there is a context to the things I'll be saying this morning, but I hope that you still find it edifying in isolation as well. But today we will be touching particularly on the topic of the law as the whole Christian life, in the words of Anthony Burgess. Before I begin though, I'd like to ask you to turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter six, beginning in verse four. Just begin our time in the word. This is the word of the Lord. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. This is the word of the Lord. Let's pray. Father, we come once again. under the consideration of your holy law, and we ask for your great help as we are so weak and so in need of it. Would you help us this morning to grasp how the law applies to all of our lives, that it is the moral law of God summarily comprehended, and how it is in all of scripture useful for our building and our edification and our training in all life and godliness. Would you help us to grasp this and to, in the gospel, in the power of your spirit, to walk with the law as a rule of life, that it would be our good companion unto holiness to conform us into your image, the image of your son. And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Now it's been a tremendous privilege to teach on this very weighty subject for the last seven weeks. It's been very sharpening for me as well. So I'm very grateful for this opportunity. I thought it would be helpful just to begin this time, this last time of our introduction, just to share with you where my interest in this subject began. It was in 2017 that I was sitting in a Sunday school class and my pastor at the time, announced the beginning of a series on the Ten Commandments. I don't remember exactly what my reaction was to that, but I think it was maybe similar to some of you, and it maybe went something like this, oh, okay, we're going to study the commandments, okay. Not exactly the exciting thing I was expecting, but all right, let's hear it. Through the course of that study, I was blown away by the simplicity, by the relevance and glory and beauty and comprehensiveness of the moral will of God, which was set forth in that study. And I was greatly and very much impressed with the central importance of these commandments for the entire Christian life and how they connected with all of the moral imperatives in the New Testament. And viewing them in the power of the gospel as a believer, That was a tremendous time of encouragement and strengthening to my soul as I fed upon the moral will of God. It stands out to me still as one of the most edifying Bible studies that I've ever had the privilege to be in, so I thank God for it. And that is in no small part due to the faithful exposition of my pastor, Greg Johnson, at the time. But much more than that, it's due to the fact that the law of God, next to the gospel, is central to the Christian life. And to explain this law to the heart of a believer in Christ, by the Spirit, is to give them great power. And it's my hope that this introductory series has made a similar impression on you, as feeble as it has been. This, I hope, is not something that we just learned together as one topic in Sunday school, put it away and go on to the next thing. No, the law of God, the moral will, is to be one of our closest companions for life. It is the will of God for us. It is forever the standard of holiness. It is spiritual, as we have seen, encompassing the whole heart, mind, and will, and not just the outward behavior. And it is comprehensive, as I want to and Lord willing to apply today. The law of God speaks in every part of our lives and it instructs us how to bring it into conformity with the will of God by the Spirit of God, which should be the real desire of all of us who are in Christ. And it's my goal today to begin this final lesson of our introduction by showing you that the Ten Commandments are comprehensive and that they are the whole moral law of God, summarily comprehended. and that they touch all of life. And this is the main idea that I wanna get across today. And because of this, as a result of this, the law is to be on the heart of the Christian. And it is to be the subject of our meditation so that it may be used of the spirit of God in us to bring every thought captive and conform us into the image of Christ. And I wanna give you some time for questions, just in regards to what I will talk about right now, but also just in general for the last several weeks of our study. And I'll lower willing conclude if we have time by showing you some practical benefits of your growing in your knowledge of the moral law of God. So, let's consider, as I've titled this lesson, the moral law is the whole Christian life for the Christian. I get this from Stephen Ascelli who summarized in the teaching of Anthony Burgess who is very much influential for chapter 19 in our confession and the Westminster Confession as well. He said this in his lectures on the law summarized by Stephen Ascelli. The law given at Sinai is a summary of the whole Christian life. Burgess repeatedly asserted that the whole Christian life is summarized in these 10 words. The law is so perfect and full that there is nothing necessary to the duty and worship of God, which is not here commanded, nor no sin to be avoided, which is not here forbidden. So we want to understand what Burgess and Naselli are saying here. This is, I think, an important point, and it deserves a little bit of meditation and thought, because we have in the law of God a comprehensive summary of the moral will of God, and that's worth thinking about and applying to our lives. Now, by the Christian life, Burgess here means the redeemed life, this is true of believers, as we've seen, and not unbelievers, those who have the law as a rule of life and not as a broken covenant. Burgess here means redeemed sinners, the life of a saved sinner. And when he says that the law is the whole Christian life, he's not denying that there are other aspects, of course, gospel promises, but he is saying that the law is a comprehensive summary of all the duties and sins of man to God and man to man. And the law furnishes us with all the moral duties that believers are obliged to uphold by the spirit and all the sins which we are forbidden to do. And we've talked a little bit about this in our time together, but I felt this deserved just a little bit more careful thought and meditation. So let's consider this in more detail. Now, what Burgess says here, is I think reflected in most of our catechisms from the period of the Reformation. There's great weight, as I've said previously, to the Ten Commandments in all of the Reformed catechisms, even going back to Luther. It's definitely reflected in our Baptist catechism. You can see here represented by the green bar Just to show you the percentage of the catechism that is taken up with the law of God specifically is in orange and the rest is in green. So you can see out of the 112 questions, there's no less than 42 of those questions dealing with the law of God. That's about 37%. Give you the number there. Those are, that 37% is dedicated to explaining the Ten Commandments and their use for the Christians. So this is just to show you, this is not our authority, this is to show you how important the Ten Commandments were to our Baptist forebears, that they saw it as so important from the testimony of scripture, the whole counsel of God, that it takes up a very large portion of our catechisms and also the catechisms of others. And that whole section begins with a statement, the duty, the duty which God requireth of man is obedience to his revealed will. And so it is the view here expressed that that's in commandment, which is the moral law of God summarily comprehended is the duty which is required of man. And it is obedience to his revealed will. And so, I want to show you this in the thought of Calvin as well, and then we will show what the root of this is in scripture. It will be judged by all men of sense that the order of the commandments has not been done at random or without reason. Indeed, the reason is so obvious as not to allow us to remain in doubt with regard to it. God thus divided his law into two parts containing a complete rule of righteousness. That's analogous to what Burgess says when he says that's the whole Christian life. It contains a complete rule of righteousness. That he might assign the first place to the duties of religion, which relate especially to his worship, and the second to the duties of charity, which have respect to man. But although the whole law is contained in two heads, yet in order to remove every pretext for excuse, the Lord has been pleased to deliver more fully and explicitly in Ten Commandments everything relating to his own honor, fear, and love, as well as everything relating to the charity which for his sake he enjoins us to have towards our fellow men. So Calvin calls this complete rule of righteousness. Now that's what Calvin says. That's what the reformers teach, similar things. But what does the word of God have to say about this? Where do they get this idea from? I think there's one very important passage which grounds this kind of thinking, and there's a plethora of other supporting texts that we could discuss as well. And that is Matthew 22, 37 to 40. And the Lord is asked, I believe, what is the greatest commandment that is in the law? And he said to him, you shall love The Lord your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, this is the great and first commandment, and a second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And the very important phrase for our purposes this morning is on these two commandments depend, or as King James says, hang, all the law and the prophets. So it depends, as in hang I think is the sense of the word there. Now the law and the prophets here that Jesus uses is really a reference to the entire scriptures. And so the Lord here is saying that on these two commandments, which we understand to be a summary of the first and second table of the law, hang all of the scriptures. So these are central And in some sense, scripture is built upon these two commandments, all the law and the prophets. Jesus is saying that foundational to the word of God is the moral law of God summarily comprehended in the Ten Commandments, which he summarizes by referring to their twofold division, love toward God and love toward man. The apostle Peter says something that I think is also relevant to this point. He says, God has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. So we don't need to look at the Ten Commandments and think, is there things that God has not told us in scripture that we don't know if it's his revealed will? It's his moral will. No, we've been given a perfect and complete rule of righteousness. We don't have to guess those things which are pleasing and in accordance with the moral will of God. God has revealed this to his people. And this is consistent with what Peter says. He's granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. We have it complete in the scriptures. And this, of course, requires that the moral law of God, which is revealed in scripture, is complete and perfect for the sanctification of the man of God. And so, all this to show you that our catechism simply draws that language, complete or perfect, and the reformers who use that word as well, rule of righteousness, a complete or perfect rule of righteousness from the Lord Jesus and the full testimony of scripture. That's where that comes from. Our own confession says it this way. The same law that was first written in the heart of man continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness after the fall and was delivered by God upon Mount Sinai in 10 commandments and written in two tables, the first four containing our duty towards God and the other six, our duty to man. And I just want to show you this by way of a table here. You can see this. I'll attempt to depict this in this chart. Everything inside the box is the moral law of God in the Ten Commandments summarily comprehended, divided into two tables. And you can see that its content is divided into four main headings. And I think this is just helpful for conceiving of what the Ten Commandments are summarizing. In the first table, which we would see as Commandments 1 to 4, That summarizes our duties toward God commanded. It also shows the sins toward God forbidden. So duties toward God commanded and sins toward God forbidden. And the second table, similarly, duties toward man commanded. and sins towards man forbidden." And again, you see the words here summarizing Virgis' teaching on this. The law is so perfect and full that there is nothing necessary to the duty and worship of God, which is not here commanded, nor no sin to be avoided, which is not here forbidden. So no duty outside of this. no sin outside of this, the moral law of God summarily comprehended. That raises perhaps some questions in your mind which I want to answer in just a moment. But in this sense, the law of God is the whole Christian life. It is the map for our sanctification. Pleasing God in Christ and being sanctified by the spirit of God as well as loving our fellow man and upholding our responsibilities toward them are all founded upon the moral law of God summarily comprehended in the Ten Commandments. I'll talk about what that means in a moment. If we, in Christ and by the Spirit of God, diligently apply the law of God to our hearts, minds, mouths, and hands, then we will walk in love toward God and our fellow man. Now, there are, of course, this might be one of the questions in your mind, there are, it was a question in my mind, there are positive laws, which we talked a lot about in our second week together. If you have questions about that, I point you back to that. But there are positive laws, which I gave the definition of from one man that I found helpful, was that positive laws are a thing of themselves and different. And we showed that those positive laws were the civil and ceremonial law in the old covenant, which were built upon the foundation. of the moral law of God. And similarly, there are positive laws in the New Covenant as well, and these are things of themselves indifferent, but by virtue of God's command, by virtue of the fact that he's given them to the church to be observed, now they are built upon the foundation of the moral law. And so they're to be upheld on the basis of that moral law. So, for example, failure to obey the positive ordinances of, let's say, the Lord's Supper and Baptism, perhaps the two most famous positive laws in the New Covenant, are now a violation of the first table of the law because they are commanded by God. So it is in this sense that even the positive laws are built upon this foundation and to violate them is to violate the one who gave them, which is a violation of the first table. So this is a very helpful chart, I think, to think about. I want to develop it just a bit here for our thinking. It's a very similar chart, but I have made some slight changes here just to call this whole chart the moral law. Because what I want to convey here is that it's important to make the point that we're not talking about the bare words of the commandment. Of course, that's the mistake of those who take the Ten Commandments very literally. It's, I think, the assumption of that Rishon, the ruler who comes up to Jesus and says, all these I've kept for my youth, up, because he takes a very external view, just the bare words of the command, as though they're not spiritual and to be taken internally. So I want to establish this here by way of this chart. So the moral law is the Ten Commandments, summarily comprehend that moral law. But it's bigger than Exodus 20, it's bigger than Deuteronomy 5. It extends throughout scripture as it's applied by the prophets. The prophets rebuke Israel for their disobedience and by doing so they're explaining the Ten Commandments and applying them to the situation of Israel, the moral law of God. And so they teach in greater light what it was forever, the moral law of God summarily comprehended. And similarly, Jesus and the apostles bring into even clearer relief and application this law in explaining its full sense in the light of further revelation. And so all of these things are one moral law given summarily at Sinai, but it is explained throughout the whole scriptures, the moral law of God. And so in this sense, we're not just constraining ourselves to the bare words of the Ten Commandments. We are to understand them in their fullest sense in the light of all of Scripture, none of which is inconsistent with what's given at Sinai, but explained in further light and application. And so, that's an important thing to bear in mind. Thomas Watson says that in the commandments there is a synecdoche. And that's a big literary word that Pastor Ben used several weeks ago, months ago, when he was talking about the Lord's Prayer. He used the word synecdoche in relation to the Lord's Prayer. And that is to just signify the fact that the words are simply something that is a small portion that points to a bigger idea. And in this sense, the things that are told for us to pray for in the Lord's Prayer point beyond just the bare give us this day our daily bread, but it speaks of the provision for us that we are in need of for all of our lives at the hand of God. And so in a similar way, Thomas Watson says there's a synecdoche in the commandments, in that more is intended than is spoken, or a part is made to represent the whole. And this is what the whole of scripture makes clear for us, and that's where he gets this idea from. This is what our catechism means when it says the moral law of God is summarily comprehended in the Ten Commandments. Jesus teaches this in Matthew 5, that it's not just that if you murder your brother that you're guilty, it's if you say you fool, you dehumanize this man in anger, you have in a sense violated that commandment. the spirit of that commandment. And so this is what the whole of scripture makes clear for us. And there are, the ten are a summary of the whole which is expounded and explained throughout the scriptures. And I think something of a good analogy for this, perhaps it breaks down at some point, is that the ten as they're delivered at Sinai are something of a table of contents to the moral law of God that is pointing to the larger view of those laws as they're explained throughout the scriptures. I think that's a good way of thinking about it. Now, what does this look like? Because I've told you some theoretical things here, some principles. What does this look like? Well, if you look at the Westminster or larger catechism, which is very, very helpful. And I want to say, this is not the source of our doctrine. This is the expression of what we believe the Bible to teach. Of course, we do not hold to the entire Westminster, but much of what they say here concerning the law of God is in complete harmony with our own confession. It's very helpful for our meditation very exhaustive and what they are doing here is just what I've just said They are looking at the whole of scripture and seeing what is the moral law of God summarily? Comprehended and and and how this is developed throughout the scriptures as well as its causes and and and thinking through what what are the causes and and and things that lead up to these sins as well that are in the commandments. And so that's what they're doing here. And I want to just give this to you by way of example because I find these to be very edifying, very challenging, and they summarize scripture doctrine on these commandments. And they're sort of a window to us on the whole teaching of scripture. on the commandment. So what do they say about the first commandment? They divide most of the commandments into duties and sins, of course. We talked about that a previous time together. So here I want to look at what are the duties required in the first commandment. The duties required in the first commandment are the knowing and acknowledging of God to be the only true God and our God and to worship and glorify him accordingly. By thinking, meditating, remembering, highly esteeming, honoring, adoring, choosing, loving, desiring, fearing of Him, believing Him, trusting, hoping, delighting, rejoicing in Him, being zealous for Him, calling upon Him, giving all praise and thanks and yielding all obedience and submission to Him with the whole man, being careful in all things to please Him and sorrowful when in anything he is offended and walking humbly with him. I don't want to steal Pastor Ben's thunder on any of this, just to show you, he will be opening this next week with you, beginning next week. But I just want to ask you the question that maybe some of you have had when you've looked at this, where does all this come from? The first commandment, it's just one phrase. with a preface. It says, the commandment itself simply says, thou shalt have no other gods before me. So how do we get this entire page, this entire paragraph from that? Well, it's just the fact that that is a window into all that the scripture has to say about that command. And that's what the catechism is doing here, which is of tremendous help to us. I want to show you another example, a negative example from the Eighth Commandment. What are the sins forbidden in the Eighth Commandment? The sins forbidden in the Eighth Commandment, besides the neglect of the duties required, are theft, robbery, man stealing, and receiving anything that is stolen, fraudulent dealing, false weights and measures, removing landmarks, injustice and unfaithfulness in contracts between man and man or in matters of trust, Oppression, extortion, usury, bribery, vexatious lawsuits, unjust enclosures and depredation. Some of these are tricky words. Engrossing commodities to enhance the price. It's clear what that is. Unlawful callings and all other unjust or sinful ways of taking or withholding from our neighbor what belongs to him or of enriching ourselves. Covetousness, inordinate prizing and affecting of worldly goods. distrustful and distracting cares and studies and getting, keeping, and using them, envying at the prosperity of others. We don't have a problem with that in the United States. As likewise, idleness, prodigality, wasteful gaming, and all other ways whereby we do unduly prejudice our own outward estate, and defrauding ourselves of the due use and comfort of that estate which God hath given us. So the question is the same. The eighth commandment is? Somebody shout it out. Thou shalt not steal. One very simple phrase. How many words is that? Four words. But here the catechism summarizes just the sins forbidden by the commandment as a whole entire paragraph. Some of them are much longer than this. Well, again, this represents sort of a window into the whole scripture teaching on the doctrine, which hopefully summarizes the spirit of that law and not just the bare words. And so in that sense, the Ten Commandments are the moral law of God summarily They are a summary of that law. I'm sorry about that. It'll pop up there. Now, I want to briefly talk about the comprehensiveness of the Ten Commandments in the sense that they summarize, sorry, I have talked about the comprehensiveness of the Ten Commandments in the sense that they summarize the entire moral will of God. But they also are comprehensive in that they lay claim to our entire person. And we've talked about this as well, but I just want to apply this briefly. This is to apply to every area of our lives. There's no part of our lives that's to be omitted from the law of God. Every thought, word, and deed, every duty and responsibility, every relationship, whether in church, in the home, or in the workplace. We are in every area of our lives, quorum Deo, before the face of God and are to be brought as Christians, as believers, it's important to say, into conformity with Christ by the Spirit before the face of God. And this is indeed not surprising because it's the stated result of the new covenant. We read in Jeremiah 31, 33, for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law within them and I will write it on their hearts. Ezekiel says something very similar. I will give you a new heart, Ezekiel 36. I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules." So this is not, salvation is not just simply We're just saved and that's it as we've as we've discussed. We're not saved just to live selfishly and live to ourselves we are clearly here from the the the What as an effect of the new covenant is that we are sanctified we are saved unto God and to be conformed into his image not ever Saved by it but saved unto it. I So this is a practical righteousness that flows out of the new covenant. It manifests itself by way of love towards God's law, and this is made clear by a desire to learn it, meditate on it, talk of it, and teach it to others. And this is the ideal which the psalmist puts forward. But now in the gospel, as we've seen, made possible for believers by the Spirit of God. Of course, I'm not saying it was not possible As people believed on Christ in the old covenant as well, as they looked to the promise, they received the spirit as well. But in light of those new covenant realities that were to come. His delight, this is the ideal here, his delight is in the law of the Lord, the righteous man, and on his law he meditates day and night. The righteous man is characterized by meditating on the law of God. He meditates on it day and night. This is what was commended. in Deuteronomy commanded in Deuteronomy 6, which we read together just a moment ago. These words that I command you today, and this comes right after he gives the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 5, and I believe calls them these words. These words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children. You shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. And I want you to notice about this passage, the stress almost to the point of what we might see as redundancy on our remembering and internalizing the Ten Commandments, the moral law of God summarily comprehended. Moses says that these Ten Commandments should be on your heart. And that is not just true of Israel in the Old Covenant. This is, in a sense, in a superior way true of us who are in the New Covenant because we're filled by the Spirit of God who writes this law on our hearts. So this should be a characterization of us as well by the Spirit. But he doesn't stop there. What does he mean by the law of being on your heart? He gives examples of what he means by this, and this is instructive. This includes meditating upon it individually, or to meditate on the law of God. This includes teaching and instructing our children in them. This includes speaking about this law as we go or as we sit at home, when we lie down and when we rise. And there's a big word, I believe it's called merism. It's just speaking of, it's essentially a way of saying here, there, and everywhere. It's everywhere in between. It's to be done all the time and everywhere is the figure of speech here. It's a merism for constant and organic conversation upon the subject of God's moral will. This text from Deuteronomy remains relevant. for the Christian life. And in fact, it is the spirit of Christ that enables us to truly do this. And so we should commit ourselves as Christians in Christ to meditating on the law. It is fruitful for us to meditate on the law because it is the nature and character of our God. It is our conformity to Jesus Christ. And so it is helpful and good for our meditation. And I'd just like to briefly encourage you as an exhortation to consider memorizing these commandments in light of their fuller sense. Of course, very excellent just to memorize what we have there in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. That is an excellent, excellent thing to do. It can be helpful and a great way to memorize the commandments in the context of a catechism as well. And I think it's helpful also because it does give it in that fuller sense. So I would highly recommend catechisms are not just for children. for us as well. And one of the benefits of that is these are summaries of scripture doctrine. And in the Baptist Catechism, you have a wonderful section of 40 questions, 37 questions that give you the sense of the law of God and how it is to be applied under the gospel. And so it's an excellent tool for you that is very simple to memorize. It contains a very simple summary of the duties and sins which are taught by each commandment. I'm going to talk a little bit more about that in a minute. I'm going to talk a little bit more about how to do that. I'm going to talk a little bit more about how to do that. of devines from past years that would be very jealous that we can just pop an MP3 onto our phone and it can sing the catechism to us. And it's very helpful. You can just put it in your car for three months with your kids. Some of you may drive for hours, 30 minutes. You can memorize that thing in a very short amount of time. And it's extremely helpful because, again, not just for the law, but for the entire Christian faith. What is the gospel? How do we understand the law in the context of the gospel? It puts all those things in order for us and sharpens us. And if you want to get a hold of that, that's done by Jim Scott Oreck, and it's outstanding, very, very helpful. It'll get stuck in your head and stay with you for a very long time. Now, I have been not very good at leaving time for questions throughout this whole few weeks, so I just want to give you a chance, if you have some questions from today, but also from previous weeks, you can ask them now. Rex had his hand up first. I'm sorry, it's not really a question, more of a comment. The lack of understanding that the Ten Commandments are summaries is a source of a lot of errors. And rightly understanding that can keep us from a lot of these errors. You know, each of the Ten Commandments, for instance, adultery. If you don't realize that's a summary commandment, you think the only thing that's telling me not to do is have physical relations with someone other than my spouse. And so you might think fornication is OK. But each of these commandments is expounded throughout the rest of the Bible. And the civil law of Israel does a lot of that expounding. I mean, it forbids bestiality. and gives the penalty of death. Well, rightly understanding, this helps us understand what our confession means when it says that the civil law has passed away, but it's still of moral use. We recognize from that civil law that bestiality is part of the seventh commandment, forbidding that form of sin. But the idea that the government needs to kill anyone who does it, that's passed away. And it's also the most common objection to our confession, the last two paragraphs on the Sabbath, those two paragraphs are built very strongly on Isaiah 58. And when you look at just the fourth commandment, and you don't look for the, where does the rest of scripture expound what it means to keep the day holy? That's where it's most fully expounded, and that's where the authors of our confession got it. And so just a lot of errors can be avoided if you really understand what you've been saying, that the commandments are summaries. Not simply these words. That's right. Yeah, the Apostle Paul, I think one of the most helpful examples of this, is the Apostle Paul reflecting on the Eighth Commandment. It says, lead the thief who steals, steal no longer. That's about the Bear Command. but let him work with his hands so that he may be able to share with those who have need. And so here the Apostle Paul sets that, he recognizes, rather, that ongoing summary and explanation of the commandment, and he, by the Spirit, shows the good, the duty. It's a duty to actually work hard and to provide for others. That's something to be put on as we even put off the stealing. So thank you, Rex. Steven's got a mic. I have a practical question I've been thinking about this week that I was curious about your input. So I've been thinking through how do you practically parent your unregenerate children with a proper law and gospel approach? What does that look like? A child who's not a Christian yet It's easy to show them the law, but how do you also very clearly give them an understanding of the gospel prior to them being saved? Yeah, if we get to it, I actually have a little paragraph on that that kind of walks through, but I'm not sure we will, so I'll just say very briefly, and we can all do better on this, all of us that are parents, but I think it's very important that we actually take the time when they sin to explain the law to them. I think there's a tendency for us. We're busy. We've got things going on. Sometimes we can be lazy. We can not care about them enough. We're more concerned about ourselves than them. And we're just annoyed that they sinned against us. And so you just get the kid in line, basically. And that's very selfish. And it's not treating your child in a lawful manner, not the way you would want to be treated, certainly. and it's not according to the moral will of God. So I think, what do you do? Well, I think, and maybe it's not even to that extreme, but what do we do? Well, I think we need to very clearly walk them through the law, where they have sinned, what's the root of that sin, and take the time to make sure they understand that. Have them repeat it back to you. You know, I will often ask my kids, what does the Lord require of you? And they know, many times when I ask that, it's to honor your father or mother. And so I think it's important that they acknowledge that. And then, of course, when you do that, when you're clear that, hey, you've not just violated, you've not just made me upset. You violated God's law, and you have to give an account to God. And there's temporal problems that come from that. There's eternal problems. You're not reconciled to God, and so you're not able to obey him out of a full heart. You show them their lack. and how it manifests itself through their sin, and then you lead them and say, you know, there is a fountain for sin and uncleanness, and if you run to Christ right now, he's righteous, he's never disobeyed his parents. He will receive you, and he will help you, and he will forgive your sin, and he will renew your mind as a benefit of that salvation to do the good and hate the bad. So I think it's just a patient, walking through the sin and walking through the gospel. Of course, we may not be able to do that equally every time, but I think that should be the normal kind of way that we approach discipline. And that's the negative discipline. The positive discipline is, I think we should aim in several ways to try to arm them and equip them with the moral law of God as we read the scriptures with them, just as Deuteronomy says, as we go. That's the positive side to that, so. Good question. Yes, Nathan Ladd. In our day, the law gets such a bad rap. You know, there's a few places where you get eight Sunday schools as an intro to the beauty of the law. Thank you, Bryce. So I get in conversations with people who just have not heard this. my go-to often is to try to show them the beauty of God's holiness, that these things just flow straight from his heart. And sometimes I'll tell the silly little joke about the man who was unchurched and God was working on him and he walked in and the Ten Commandments were written on the foyer and he thought they were promises and his heart was just rejoicing. Well, in a sense they are, right? So I'm wondering, What are your top two or three methods of getting people quickly to see the beauty of the law? When today, they go straight to, well, the Sabbath isn't repeated in the New Testament. And they have this lawyer-like defense against it. What are some other ways to get people into a good conversation about loving the law? Yeah, that's a big question. There's a lot of things to think of when you say that scenario. I think that underlying it is that there is a principle that's underlying the ways one would receive the law and the way another receives the law. And this might be a question. It might be a question of if they're really a Christian, their understanding is they're being sanctified. So it is possible for Christians to struggle with commandments and to sweetly submit, although difficult, and try to wrestle through it. And it's a period of time. We don't want to just, you're lawless, right? However, that being said, there is a principle that's at work in people that are fundamentally different than the believer. I don't remember a time, but I know that the law to me is convicting, but it's very sweet. It's a help to me. It is a manifestation of God's grace. When I'm chastised by it, it's sweet. It humbles me. And that should be, I think, the experience. We receive that as a father. And what's the difference between us responding that way to the law, hearing it as from a father's voice, versus hearing it as strictures? It is the stony, cold heart, I think, that could be at the root of the problem. Not always. Some believers could take years to struggle with certain commandments and their implications, and we need to be We need to be helping them and be patient with them. But it could be that there is just this kicking against the goats. I will not yield. I came here to be saved by grace. And that's what I came for. I didn't come to be told I have to live this way. That's legalism. And that's a spectrum, right? There's people in between there. But I think the law, oftentimes brought up in a conversation, can be a revealer of whether somebody has a renewed heart by the new covenant or not. because at the end of the day, if a person has not yielded themselves to Christ, they have a stone cold heart, and all of our instruction to them in the law is focused upon their being humbled by it, and not being assured by it, but being humbled by it. And that's, I think, important in evangelism, because we are, what are we doing in evangelism? We're trying to bring people under the fear of God and into conviction of God, and to the fact that they're humbled, and can receive the gospel. So I think there's some difficulties with that question. It would kind of depend on the situation, and ultimately, if that person is displaying an unwillingness to submit themselves to the law, or whether they're just struggling with some aspect of it, but progressively embracing it. Did I answer your question? Yes. OK. Yes, Blake. So, since Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 6 says, these words which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart, so we're supposed to apply the Word of God to our hearts. And since the word priority is defined by the fact or condition of being regarded as or treated as more important, therefore, how do we as Christians have our priorities straight according to the commandments of the Lord? Can you read that first part of your question one more time? The therefore? OK. Or the very beginning. The very beginning, like from Deuteronomy 6-6? Yeah, whatever you started, the first sentence you started with. So since Deuteronomy 6 says, these words which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart, applying the word of God to our hearts, and since the word priority is defined by the fact or condition of being regarded or treated as more important, therefore, how do we as Christians have our priorities straight according to the commandments of the Lord? Yeah, that seems like a very broad question. I'm not exactly sure how to answer that in a short amount of time. But I think, in a sense, they set our priorities, and they're somewhat shaping them by knowing, I had this on a slide, but it was good to hear your questions, and so we're not gonna get to that. For instance, prayer, what do we pray for? Well, for the Christian, for the redeemed mind, The law, along with the promises of God, gives us things to pray for. And arming ourselves with that knowledge of what is pleasing to God, what is His holy will, what are those things consistent with His nature, they have a way of seeping into our prayers as redeemed people. They say, well, God desires that I love my spouse selflessly. And he's taught so much about this throughout, you know, from Genesis to Revelation. And so that should be a subject of my prayers. And so I think the law, I may be misunderstanding your question, but it's a broad, it's just, it is a broad question in that these are actually, I think, priority setting. And they permeate every aspect of our being, our prayers, our desires, all these things. I don't know if I got to the sense of your question. OK. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. Just one example of that. It's 10.05. How fast is it going to be? OK. Go ahead. Go ahead. Only because I didn't call on you last week, so. Well, I just love how you have brought the law out these past few weeks, because especially in a world where people, especially in America, are following a religion that changes its rules every other hour, this gives great hope to, especially the Christian, because they can delight in the law, but to other people that maybe the law is drawing to the gospel, is we don't have to guess what the Lord requires of us. Amen. So while the Ten Commandments are convicting, it's also a relief to know what He wants of us and to delight in those things because it's of His character, it's of His nature, and it really is glorious to see those commandments followed. Yes. One of the benefits in Christ of knowledge of the law and thinking through it carefully and meditating on it is that there is this vague sense of guilt that we can have that I'm just generally not doing something right. It's part of the broken covenant that is still in our old man affecting us. And then other people can load expectations on us that are maybe not law and kind of manipulate us out of that sense of guilt. There's lots of examples of that. So having the law in our hearts and on our minds sort of equips us and actually kind of frees us to have a good conscience before God. Because while the law is not the source of a good conscience, the gospel is, it does tell us what should I feel guilty about and what should I not? And what is God pleased with and what is he not? And so, yes, I appreciate that comment. See, I missed several slides, but that's fine, that was great. So our introduction is complete. I thank you for your attention throughout these eight weeks. I've been very sharpened myself, and so it has been excellent to prepare for this, just for my own benefit in sharpening. So I hope it's been sharpening to you as well, and may the Lord help us to apply these things in a way consistent with his word that we might grow together as one mature man. Amen.