Let's pray together. Father, it is our desire to stand on every promise of your word. And Lord, we know that for that we must know your word. We must have understanding. We must have a fear of you that involves love and desire to be pleasing to you. And Lord, you have graciously directed us as how to do that in your word. Let us not be surface layer people, especially not superficial people, but let us be diligent. Let us take hold of the redemption and all that it entails in Christ, even the renewing of our minds and the transforming of our minds and of our affections and of our will. to be used for your glory according to the purpose that you created it for. So, Lord, we ask that you would help us towards that end by your spirit for the knowledge of the glory of you to be known in every place and for our King, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen. Imagine a world where every decision and every cultural endeavor and every ethical choice reflects God's unchanging law, where the whole moral fabric of society is woven together in righteousness, justice, and truth as a fragrant aroma of Christ, even as we read. That's the vision that the saints of old pursued, and it's also the challenge before us today. Biblical ethics, or as we have called it today, kingdom ethics, is not some theoretical exercise for church life alone. It's the foundation for being able to live out the cultural mandate to subdue the earth, to cultivate it for God's glory in every single sphere of life. So whether we're talking about politics, economics, education, or family life. God's Word speaks to all of it, and God's Word calls us to radical obedience that shapes culture and reflects the kingdom of God in whatever situation He's placed us in. Now, the world says ethics are relative, and culture is ours to shape by our own rules. But Christ His apostles and his prophets remind us that God's law is the standard for all of life. And his command to fill the earth and subdue it is our calling to transform culture with God's truth. So today, we'll begin to explore how this shapes the way we think, the way we work, the way we engage in the world for his glory. And we'll be building on some of the past messages that we've gone through. And so here is an outline for today, some of which will be review. There's six main points. Number one, God's mission. Number two, creation. Number three, creation or cultural mandate. Number four, the Lordship of Christ, our King. Number five, no neutrality. And number six, the law. God's mission, creation, creation mandate, the lordship of Christ our king, no neutrality, the law. Let's begin at our first movement, God's mission. So you recall the big picture of Scripture already, I'm sure. The glory of God is the ultimate end in all His works. His glory is seen in creation, as Scripture testifies in Romans 1, Psalm 19, and other places. And His glory is seen in new creation, as we see in Ephesians 2, 2 Corinthians 5, and even in Revelation and in the prophets. His glory is seen in the means He uses. His glory is also seen in the goals He accomplishes. God's mission is to reconcile all things to himself through his Son, Jesus Christ, by his Spirit indwelling his people. And the end of Scripture envisions a world where God's glory and righteousness permeate every aspect of life. You recall our summer series, 2 Peter 3.13. But according to his promise, we are looking for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. We don't have that now. And indeed, even the prophets agree. Habakkuk 2.14, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh as the waters cover the sea. This is God's mission. And this mission should motivate us as his people to seek his kingdom and his righteousness with zeal, not dragging our feet, and consistency. Not just Sundays. But we do have to remember that this does not take place on neutral ground. We are in a war. A war that began back in the garden, in our second movement, creation. Creation. Our obligation as creatures is to serve Yahweh. Yahweh created man, Yahweh created all things. Every single thing and every single person is under His legal authority. This encompasses all people, all relationships, all creations of men, whether they're believers or unbelievers. That doesn't matter. They are under His legal authority. If you remember in Genesis chapter one, just briefly reminding us of the first few verses In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He created it. He owns it. And this is replete throughout scripture. Psalm 24 is a great place to go and look at that. The earth is the Lord's, the fullness thereof, everything it contains, the people who dwell in it, everything is included. In verse 3 of Genesis 1, it shows the ease and intelligibility of God in creation. Let there be light, and there was light. It also tells us that reality is that which conforms to the Word of God. In Hebrew, it's literally be light and was light, and the words are exactly the same. Verse 4 shows us the benevolent goodness of God. The light was good. Verse 5 shows, again, the authority of God. He gets to name these things. He's calling them whatever He wills. In verses 6 and following, you see, and it was so, and it was so, and it was so. God speaks everything into existence from nothing. This is not the same way we create. We have pictures and images and copies and I'll take a piece of this and a piece of that and I wonder what would happen if I took this concept but worked it in with this physical thing that I've seen and made something that I haven't physically seen before. That's very different than God taking everything from his own mind without having anyone or anything to look at creating the idea from nothing and then bringing the matter and the relationships and everything that goes with it into existence from nothing. We noted when we got to verses 16 to 18 of chapter one, when he creates the sun and the moon, verse 18 says, to rule the day and the night. And we said, this is oddly peculiar language for inanimate objects. This is political language. This is authority language. And that led us into seeing that God creates both realms and rulers. Day one, the realm, light and darkness. Day four, the rulers, the sun and the moon. Day two, the realm, waters and the sky. Day five, the rulers, the fish and the birds. Day three, the realm, dry land. Day six, the rulers, living creatures. And then with the capstone over everything, God creates man in his image. So in six literal 24-hour days, God has established a structured domain, a kingdom with realms and with rulers and with a hierarchy There's a political authority structure over creation from the beginning of creation. God is the absolute sovereign over all, and man is God's vice-regent to rule in his place, to do his work. Third movement, creation mandate or cultural mandate. Look at Genesis 1.26. Then God said, let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, so that they, so that, purpose, so that they will have dominion over these aspects of creation. Why was man made in the image of God? So that he would have dominion, as God's vice regent, to rule. So he's to represent God, bearing his authority, in God's creation for his glory and for the good of his creation, to care for it. Genesis 128, God blessed them, the male and the female, the man and the woman. And God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea, birds of the sky, over every living thing that creeps on the earth. So then we see this fivefold command that's introduced, inaugurated, if you will, with a blessing. be fruitful, multiply, rule over the earth, subdue it, have dominion over the whole kingdom. This five-fold command is the first recorded communication that we have between God and man, is this cultural mandate from creation. And then we saw that there's a fall. Adam and Eve disobeyed, the serpent came in and deceived, and they fell and they were brought out of the garden. And part of the aspect of the curse is this enmity within mankind, the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. And we see the trajectory of these two different families very clearly in Cain and Seth. The serpent seed in Genesis 4, 19-22 is pursuing the physical cultural mandate. They're ruling over the earth, they're subduing it, they're making musical instruments and creating music even. The woman's seed in the following verses is pursuing a spiritual aspect of the cultural mandate. They're calling upon the name of Yahweh. So there's a divergence that we see. Now remember, man was created to be God's vice regent. God is the king over all, and God's goal is for the earth to be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh as the waters cover the sea. And then we came over to Genesis 12, if you want to look at Genesis 12. Then Yahweh said to Abram, Go forth from your land and from your kin and from your father's house to the land which I will show you. Just as a side note, For anyone loves father or mother more than me, he's not worthy of me. Where did Jesus get that concept from? What's he pulling on? Did he just make it up? Or is it going back to the father of the faith, Abraham, and what Abraham did in faith? The land which I will show you, and I will make you a great nation. and I will bless you. So there's some blessing again. And make your name great. And so, the text literally reads, and so be a blessing. I'm going to bless you, and so you, as my vice-regent, as a conduit, be a blessing. As I bless you, you bless. And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed. And so what we've seen as we've walked through these passages, God blesses his creation in 122 of Genesis. God blessed Adam and Eve and gave them the cultural mandate, as we just saw in 128. And then we saw that God blessed the seventh day, Genesis 2-3. After the flood, God blesses Noah and his sons, Genesis 9-1. And then here we see Abraham and his descendants are to be the vehicle of God's gracious mission of extending this blessing to the nations of the whole world. And if we were to keep going through Genesis, we'd see in 24-1, Abraham was old, advanced in age, and Yahweh had blessed Abram in every way. We would also see as we trace through this theme of being a blessing that Isaac was also blessed by Yahweh, Jacob then blessed Laban, Joseph blessed Potiphar, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And so we see in the early days this family being a blessing. This is very similar to something else that we see in Romans chapter one. Romans chapter one, verse five. Speaking of Jesus Christ, our Lord, through whom we received grace and apostleship for what? For the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name. Because, as Paul goes on to say in Romans, we are also of the seed of Abraham. He was called while uncircumcised and then was granted circumcision as a sign so that he would be the father of the uncircumcised and the circumcised by faith. And there's three senses of the word seed used, if you recall from months back. Three senses, and some of these can be mixed. There's the sense of the seed in which it's a promise according to the flesh, So for example, the line of Isaac, and we see the Jews holding on to this in the Gospels, were of Abraham. And they're resting in that physical, but through the line of the promise, seed. Then secondly, there's the seed of the flesh, which would be like the line of Ishmael, because he was also Abraham's seed, but he was not the seed of the promise. And then scripture speaks of the seed of the promise by faith. And those are believers in Christ. And we saw in Ephesians 1 that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing so that we are to be a blessing. Now, since Abraham is our father in the faith, One of the questions we have is, was there a model given to him that will help us fulfill our kingdom mandates and to live out these kingdom ethics? Let's look over at Genesis 18. Genesis 18, and we'll begin in verse 17. Now Yahweh said, shall I conceal from Abraham what I am about to do? He's going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed. Pay special attention to verse 19. For I have known him, God chose Abraham. so that he may command his children and his household after him for the purpose of teaching obedience to those that are his disciples. That they keep the way of Yahweh to do righteousness and justice, to keep and to do all that Yahweh commands. So that Yahweh may bring upon Abraham what he has spoken about him, to bring about the promises of blessing. So notice how this again includes election to build the community, discipleship to train the community in obedience to Yahweh's ethical standards for life, and mission to bring about the promises of God's blessings. We noted that this is strikingly parallel to another passage in scripture, but in the New Testament, Matthew 28. Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all that I've commanded you. Behold, I'm with you always, even to the end of the age. And so as we start building this continuity between the Old Testament and the New Testament, understanding the cultural mandate and the kingdom or evangelistic mandate, no matter how you slice it, we recognize that we're obligated to teach, to train, to disciple, to instruct in the way of Yahweh, the one true God. Every single one of us in some capacity is obligated. Are you being faithful to do that? Are you being faithful? Are you so infected by pietism that your Christianity is a privatized Christianity? Keep in mind that you're already teaching others, at least by your example. You're teaching other people what a Christian is. But are you also intentionally teaching others? And what does it mean to keep the way of Yahweh What is righteousness? What is justice? And let's dig a little deeper, and what does righteousness and justice, what do they look like in any given situation? Let's ask some questions. Can Christians participate in just wars? and what constitutes a just war according to biblical principles? Was the American War of Independence a just war? How should Christians apply Old Testament case laws in contemporary society? What is their enduring relevance? What about the ethical response to bioethical issues, like abortion, euthanasia, genetic engineering, and things like these? How should Christians navigate ethical dilemmas related to business, such as fair wages, contracts, economics in general? Is it ever morally justifiable to lie or to deceive in extreme situations, maybe to protect life during war. Could a Christian be a spy? If you had the opportunity to kill all of the leaders of Hamas without any man knowing, should you do it? Some of you are already making ethical decisions in response to these questions. But what I want to know is, how do you know your answers are in accordance with God's standard? Where is your morality coming from by which you are answering these questions in your head? In biblical ethics, we must begin with the right framework. And the right framework includes three things. Number one, a proper understanding of the biblical principles. Number two, a factual understanding of the situation. And then number three, cogent reasoning to connect it and tie it together. Then, In applying that biblical ethic, we have to have three more components. We have to have the standard, the motive, and the goal. And maybe in weeks to come, we'll go over different ethical systems and how they'll focus more on the standard or more on the motive or more on the goal. And a lot of these ethical systems have infiltrated many churches, and you'll hear Christians spouting them off. You'll even see some Christians teaching them in seminaries and Christian colleges. And this is just another example of how man-made philosophy has infiltrated the church at large. And remember, we're thousands of years downstream from these biblical events that we're studying. And there are swaths and swaths of error that has crept in and still remains and is being published. And perhaps the four most notable heretical remnants would be these. One, pietism. You've heard that word a lot recently. It's originally intended to be a call back to a heartfelt biblical piety, which is a good thing. But it quickly morphed into a personal experience that undermined doctrine, minimized theology, maximized withdrawal from cultural engagement. And if we were to sum it up really tightly, pietism separated faith from everyday life by compartmentalizing faith and making it private. This is where you get the idea. We don't talk about religion and politics at the table. Second, papism. Papism. The Roman Catholic Church's, if you can call it a church, separation of clergy and laity, of sacred and secular. That idea, sacred, secular, clergy, laity, that's a Roman Catholic teaching. It's not a biblical teaching. Because of the economy that the Roman Catholics created with extra sacraments and extra dispensations and how you could purchase things, you can purchase grace, you can vending machine receive grace, you could buy an indulgence for a dead person to get him out of purgatory and even skirt his way out of hell or get him to heaven immediately. The priests, therefore, had a unique access to God that everyone else didn't have, and they had a superior sacramental authority. So the laity, everybody that's not a priest, became spiritually dependent upon the clergy for access to God, for forgiveness to sins, And the Roman Catholics went so far as to enshrine this teaching as dogma in the Council of Trent, as an attack against what the Reformation taught, the priesthood of all believers through our union with Christ. Third, legalism. Legalism. Distorting God's law or using God's law unlawfully. Maybe by trying to keep the law for justification, or by imposing extra-biblical rules that are deemed necessary for righteousness, or binding the conscience of someone else with something that's not found in Scripture. And then, fourthly, the fraternal brother of legalism, antinomianism. Antinomianism, the belief that Christians are not bound to obey the law of God. I'm free in Christ. I'm under grace, not law. We've been corrupted by these villainous diseases. We have to ask ourselves, why do they still remain in our minds, in our hearts? Whatever happened to zeal for God's truth? that heart attitude of a man like John Knox, one man with God is always in the majority. What about the Apostle Paul? See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, and not according to Christ. Whatever happened to conviction based on and grounded in Scripture? Well, when we only get our theology from YouTube, and we're just listening to a bunch of sermons all day, and we're filling our mind with all, and we think we're doing good because we're listening to sermons, we end up with borrowed convictions. We end up shallow. Borrowed convictions don't hold. Borrowed convictions don't hold. They make for great discussions and debates, but when push comes to shove and that situation is before you, whatever your true conviction is, is what will come out. So let's run through some questions again. Is it more important to be a Christian politician or a Christian preacher? A Christian business owner or a Christian missionary. And think also if you can identify if there is error in anything that's being asked of you right now, which error, which heresy it is. Should a pastor refrain from drinking an alcoholic beverage in public? Just because on the off chance there might be someone there that struggles with alcohol. Since the Christian is no longer under the laws, he free to live without the law. Is it only the New Testament that is legally binding upon the Christian? And while we wouldn't go as far as Andy Stanley, we would unhitch ourselves from the Old Testament. If you think that, I have a question. Is bestiality still a sin? And if so, where would you go to prove that? Should the Christian be focused on just preaching the gospel or on working his job to the glory of Jesus Christ? So what's more important, subduing the earth or evangelism? The cultural mandate or the Great Commission mandate, redemptive mandate, evangelistic mandate, whatever we want to call it. We have to remember, again, there's a reciprocal relationship between these two mandates, and there's a priority given in Scripture to each mandate. There's a priority to the cultural mandate. God wanted his kingdom to come to a proper expression before he even spoke of redemption. There's a historical priority to the cultural mandate. It came first. The redemption aspect of the evangelistic mandate is to take place in and through the cultural mandate. They're not separate. Remember the seed language from Genesis 3.15, when redemption is first spoken of, when the gospel is first presented. It's through the woman. That's a cultural mandate, that the seed will be born. The Abrahamic covenant has seed and land. The Davidic covenant has seed and land. Christ is born of a woman. Seed and land. Christians are the seed of Abraham. And all things are ours in Christ. Yes, there will be. We're not going to live in heaven forever. Right? We all know that. Heaven is not eternal. Heaven is intermediary. There's a new heavens and a new earth. That's what's eternal. So there's a priority also to the redemptive mandate. The cultural mandate cannot properly take place in a sinful world, can it? We can't have the world filled with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh when it's just filled with unredeemed selfish sinners. You have to have redeemed people. And this redemptive mandate is a necessary means to the ultimate goal of the cultural mandate, that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh. So there's also this urgency to the redemptive mandate. And again, these can't be separated, but we can distinguish them because Scripture distinguishes them. There's no separation between them, so you can't pit them against each other and go, well, which one's more important? To varying degrees in every one of our lives, we're going to be seeing more of one or the other, depending on what we're doing at that time of day. For example, as a father, do I have a command from Scripture to train and to discipline my children? Am I disciplining my children right now? No. Am I being disobedient because I'm not disciplining my children right now? No. I would be disobedient if I was disciplining my children right now because they haven't earned it. You see? This is where we're getting into kingdom ethics, biblical principles. There's an urgency in the redemption mandate. There's a goal, the redemption of cultures and the cultural mandate for the glory of God so that Christ is recognized as king over every individual and over every sphere, every family, every nation, every church, so that the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh covers the earth as the waters do the sea. And we have two errors that we can fall into on this. One is that we become heartless. We become heartless, where we just focus on the cultural mandate, irrespective of the redemptive mandate. And we become heartless, not loving our neighbors. The other is we become blind. We become blind, just focusing on the redemptive mandate. And we're not being obedient to God, and in most situations, we're not loving our neighbors either. So let's be diligent to ensure that we're being neither heartless nor blind. Now, there's one other necessary distinction with regard to the cultural mandate that we have to make. The structure of the cultural mandate and the direction of the cultural mandate. So we're going down in levels now. So for the structure, is this education? Is this economics? Is this agriculture? Are we looking at the life of the family? What are we looking at here? What's the structure of it? And then the direction. Who's it being done for? And what's actually being done? Is it for God's glory in Christ? Or not? And this is binary. There's no neutrality. Proverbs 24 one says, haughty eyes and a proud heart, the fallow ground of the wicked are sin. Fallow ground is recently cultivated. So if you have two people, one's a Christian plowing his ground for God's glory, serving Christ as he's plowing his ground, And then you have somebody else that's doing a much better job plowing his ground. But he's not a Christian. He's not doing it for God's glory. One is sin and one is righteousness. The recently cultivated ground of the wicked is sin, even though they're pursuing the cultural mandate. To God it's sin. Because remember, In biblical ethics, we have to begin with the right framework. God created us with minds, amazing minds. And he wants us to use them for his glory. And the effects of the fall upon our mind are still there, but they can be overcome because sin doesn't have dominion over us anymore. And if we're to be transformed by the renewing of our mind, conformed to the image of Christ, was Christ Logically lazy? Did Christ not know how to reason properly? No, right thinking is a moral category. God's equipped us to be able to do it, and he empowers us to be able to do it, and he expects us to do it for his glory. So the right framework in biblical ethics The applicable biblical principles, we have to know the biblical principles, not just, I can quote a Bible verse, but what does it mean? It's great to memorize scripture and it's great to be able to quote Bible verses. What does it mean? That's what we need to know. Yes, we teach our children to memorize Bible verses because they don't know how to reason yet. We're teaching them how to, you don't reason with a two-year-old. But man, can they memorize stuff. They can remember all kinds of stuff. Even stuff you don't want them to remember, they can remember. But their logic is lacking. Their reasoning is lacking. And so let's not be children in our thinking, where we can quote scripture, but we have no idea what it means. We have to know the biblical principles, and then second, again, a factual understanding of the situation, the situation to which we're going to apply these biblical principles, in which we find ourselves. And then third, cogent reasoning, to be able to link it all together. Then when we apply that biblical ethic, we have to have these three more components, the standard, the motive, and the, what was it? Goal, good job, standard, motive, goal. So, as we begin through this, we have to begin in reality with the Lordship of Christ. This brings us to our fourth movement, the Lordship of Christ, our King. You recall, I'm going to go over the six things that we covered a few weeks ago. A Christian is one who fully and totally resigns himself to the Lordship of Christ in every single way. Here's six of them that should not be controversial. Number one, Christian is a person that believes that the final authority is the Word of God. This is the cry of the Reformation, right? Sola Scriptura. Scripture alone is the final authority. It's not the only authority, because Scripture tells us about other authorities. Parents are an authority. What if your kid said to you, I don't have to obey you, Mom and Dad, because Sola Scriptura. Scripture alone is my authority. You'd be like, that's cute, let's go to the closet. John 12, 48, our Lord says, he who rejects me and does not receive my words has one who judges him. The word I spoke is what will judge him on the last day. That's frightening. Jesus makes it clear this is an issue of authority. If you refuse my words, then you're going to be judged on the last day. All right, bring it on. Let me tell you what's going to judge you on the last day. My words. And so if you don't heed my words now, what do you think will happen on that day when you're judged by these same words? This is pure, unadulterated, supreme, unparalleled authority. No negotiations, no qualifications, no loopholes. So the question then becomes, what authority is there in heaven or on earth that's above or even equal to this authority? Absolutely none. There's not even a close second. Every true Christian believes this. Second, a Christian is a person that believes that all of scripture is the word of God. This is where we get tota scriptura. Sola scriptura, scripture alone is our final authority. Tota scriptura, all of scripture. We're not like Marcy in the heretic that cuts off the Old Testament and then some parts of the gospels that have miracles because we don't like that. So it's not just the New Testament, but from Genesis to Revelation, all 66 books. And if you want a verse to remember that by, remember 2 Timothy 3.16. 2 Timothy 3.16 is a beautiful passage where we can see this. Where he says, most scripture is God-breathed. But let's be honest, we don't live like that. Most scripture is God-breathed. like the New Testament, even though he's talking primarily about the old here. But Leviticus and case laws, is that really God-breathed? I mean, wearing clothing with two different fabrics, not eating bacon, do you think God really meant that? An unruly older child being put to death Do you think God really meant that? All scripture is God-breathed. That means, just like my words right now are Joey-breathed, his words are God-breathed. They are coming from him. Out of the overflow of the mouth, the heart speaks. We're seeing pictures of who God is in his character. Profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. What's another word for training in righteousness, if we had to sum it all up and it started with an S? Sanctification. It's interesting. So that the man of God may be equipped, having been thoroughly equipped, to just be a hearer of the word. For every good work. It's not just for doctrine. but for the life the doctrine produces, for the obedience in every aspect of life. Not just at church, not just at Bible study, every aspect of life. Every true Christian believes this. You guys were correcting me as I was trying to steer it along in the wrong way. You believe this. Third, a person that believes Jesus Christ is Lord of all. He's the universal Lord. In quoting Isaiah 45, Paul says in Philippians 2, Jesus Christ is Lord over all, amen? Jesus Christ is Lord over even the state, amen? Jesus Christ is Lord over Iran. Amen? Do we believe that? Or do we say he's Lord over all? And what we really mean is my church, my home, my family, the new Israel, the United States of America. Which would be a really hard thing to prove. Even taking the new Israel part out would be extremely hard to prove at the rate we kill children in this country. No, it's a universal kingship over time, over space, over matter, over the living, over the dead, over believers, over unbelievers, over things seen, over things unseen. And the same number of knees that are obligated to bow in humble adoration as they kiss the sun on this day are the same number of knees that should be bowing and are obligated to bow today. On that last day, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess. That obligation is universal. Does it not also apply today? It does. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, Jesus says. Heaven and earth. Every true Christian believes this. Fourth, salvation is by grace alone through faith alone. This isn't a tough one, Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, for by grace you've been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it's a gift of God. It's not something you can do, it's not of works, so that no one may boast, because the only boasting is in the Lord, who accomplished and procured our salvation for us, and applies it by His Spirit. Every true Christian believes this. Fifth, God's law is the standard. God's law is a standard, Romans 3, 19 and 20. Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are in the law. So that every mouth may be shut and all the world may become accountable to God. Because by works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. For through the law comes the knowledge of sin. So not just for doctrine, but for all morality. Which includes justice. There's only one standard of justice. That's a true standard, and that's God's standard of justice. For politics, for all of righteousness, for all of life. As James 4.12 says, there is one law giver and judge. Every true Christian believes this. And then sixth and finally, the power of the gospel to change the world. We believe in the power of the gospel. It's not the law that's going to save people. It's not the law that's going to save people. Only the gospel of God is the power of God unto salvation. Paul tells the Thessalonians, our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit. Because it's a powerful gospel, it doesn't just change part of the man. It changes the whole man. And it's not just efficacious in its power. It's God's gospel. It's also divine in its power. His word never returns to him void without accomplishing what he intends to accomplish, because he has a goal. What is his goal? So that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh as the waters cover the sea. And we noted that until then, as Jesus says, wheat and tares will remain, right? And they're not going to harvest up the tares yet, But remember, whose field is that? These wheat and these tares, where do they remain? In a wheat field. In the sower's field. Not a tare field. Not neutral ground. This brings us to our fifth movement, no neutrality. no neutrality. We've seen man's obligation as a creature is to serve Yahweh, excuse me, who created man according to his power and his authority. And that this extends to all persons in every sphere of life. And so when we look through scripture, we should be able to find God's authority not just over his chosen people, but over every nation. Do we find that? Let's look at Leviticus 18. Leviticus 18. Do we see that nations are held accountable to God's law? Leviticus 18. Let's start in verse 21. And you shall not give any of your seed to pass them over to Molech, Nor shall you profane the name of your God. I am Yahweh. You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female. It is an abomination. And you shall not lie with any animal to be made unclean with it. Nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is a perversion. So do not defile yourselves by any of these things. For by all these, the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled. God judges the nations. And keep in mind, this being revealed, this law is being revealed fresh to Israel. And God's saying, these nations have been doing this, and so I'm going to uproot them from the land. These Gentiles, these unbelievers, are held to the standard of my law, whether they know it or not. so that the land has become unclean and I have brought its punishment upon it and the land has vomited out its inhabitants. There's also a relationship between people and land. But as for you, you shall keep my statutes and my judgments and shall not do any of these abominations, neither the native nor the sojourner who sojourns among you. For the men of the land who have been before you have done all these abominations, and the land has become defiled, so that the land will not vomit you out should you make it unclean as it vomited out the nation which has been before you. For whoever does any of these abominations, those persons who do shall be cut off from among their people. Thus you are to keep my charge, that you do not do any of the abominable statutes which have been done before you, so as not to defile yourselves with them. I am Yahweh your God." So God does hold nations accountable according to the standard of his law. And we already knew this though, didn't we? Because we've read Sodom and Gomorrah. And Sodom and Gomorrah was laid waste for rebellion against God. Proverbs 16.12, it's an abomination for kings to commit wickedness, for in righteousness a throne is established. Christ is the standard for all kings, for all rulers, even of unbelieving nations, even of Muslim nations. Christ is the standard and his law Let's look just briefly at Psalm 2. It's always good for us to be reminded of Psalm 2 as we're working through this. Why do the nations rage and the peoples meditate on a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against Yahweh and against his anointed. So there's no neutrality. saying, let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us. They have us chained. God and his people, with their laws and their restricting of our sinful desires, have us chained up. Let's cast them off. Let's be free. Let's use freedom in an unbiblical way. How does God respond? Wringing his hands, worrying, instituting Plan B, He who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord mocks them. Then he speaks to them in his anger and terrifies them in his fury, saying, but as for me, I have installed my king upon Zion, my holy mountain. I will surely tell of the decree of Yahweh. He said to me, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will surely give the nations as your inheritance and the ends of the earth as your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall shatter them like a potter's vessel. So now, O kings, show insight. Take warning, O judges of the earth. Serve Yahweh with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the sun. Swear fealty, submit, bow down, show allegiance. Lest he become angry and you perish in the way, for his wrath may soon be kindled. How happy are all who take refuge in him. God is not neutral about how his creatures live. God is not neutral about what happens on earth. God's not neutral with regard to kings. God's not neutral with regard to his son's honor. God's not neutral with regard to his own glory. There's no neutrality on God's good earth. Neutrality is a lie. Neutrality is a false compromise. Neutrality is defiance. It's a rebellion. It's sin. So how do we avoid neutrality in our day-to-day life? Because we're all guilty of claiming to be neutral. Sixth movement, we must understand the law. We must understand the law. And herein lies a huge undertaking for us. This is going to take a lot of our brain power. And this is going to take a lot of our focus and studying, not just today, but throughout the week. Because Look at this. The law is presented in the New Testament negatively. Listen to this. Paul says, Christians are not under the law. Romans 6.14. I died to the law so that I might live to God. Galatians 2.19. Christ abolished the law. Ephesians 2.15. Paul says he's not under the law. 1 Corinthians 9.20. But the law is also presented positively in the New Testament. Paul says, so the law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good, Romans 7.12. For I joyfully concur, that's from the word hedone, hedonism. I hedonistically agree with the law of God and the inner man, Romans 7.22. The Apostle John says that keeping the law shows that one knows and loves God. That's pretty positive. And by this we know that we've come to know him if we keep his commandments. The one who says, I've come to know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. Well, it's about love, though, right? Well, John keeps going, but whoever keeps his word Truly in him, the one who keeps his word, the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him. The one who says he abides in him ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked. So it raises the question, how did Jesus walk? Perfect, habitual obedience to the law of God. So what are we to make of these seeming contradictions? Should we tally up the verses? And then whichever one has most, we're going to go that column? Is there a way to harmonize these statements? And we have to remember the obstacles that we have to face here. Number one, we're studying a different language. Number two, we're studying different cultures. It's a mixture of cultures going on here. Three, we're studying different time periods. Again, we're thousands of years removed from this. And when we begin in the New Testament, we're coming in in the middle of a conversation. Have you ever walked in in the middle of a conversation and assumed some things to try and catch up and then said something? And then realized you said something really stupid? I've done that. We do that with the Bible. Here's some examples. When Jesus came, he came preaching the gospel of the kingdom. And what is the kingdom? How come nobody asked Jesus? When you say kingdom, what do you mean? Because everybody already knew. What about the term flesh? Flesh. The flesh sets its desire against the spirit. Galatians 5.17. Is it always negative? Flesh? The word became flesh and dwelt among us. John 1.14. What about the term world? The term world. John 3.16. Because in this way, God loved the world. What's being said there? Does it mean every single person without exception? There was the true light which coming into the world, every single person, enlightens everyone. Every single person, John 1.9, that could fit. The world, every single person, cannot hate you, but every single person hates me because I bear witness about every single person, that every single person's deeds are evil. John 7, 7. As you sent me into every single person, I also sent them into every single person. John 17, 18. And we could go on and on. What about the term love? John 3.16 again, because in this way God loved the world. Do not love the world, or every single person, nor the things in every single person. If anyone loves every single person, the love of the Father is not in him. We have some challenges here, don't we? So what are we to make of these different uses of the term law? Now, if you recall, we briefly touched on three uses of the law. The three uses of the law, the civil use, restraining sin in society, the evangelical use, God's law functioning as a mirror to expose our sin, becoming a tutor to lead us to Christ, and then the normative use of the law, or pedagogical or didactic teaching. God's law teaches us who have been justified how to pursue and show our love to God that we may please Him. So let's look first at this civil use. The civil use of the law. Again, 1 Timothy chapter 1. 1 Timothy chapter 1, verse 5. The goal of our command is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and an unhypocritical faith. For some straying from these things have turned aside to fruitless discussion, wanting to be teachers of the law, even though they do not understand either what they're saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions. But we know that the law is good if what? One uses it lawfully. So the law is good, but the law can also be abused. If one uses it lawfully, it's good. If they use it in any other way than the lawful ways in which it's to be used, it's evil. No neutrality. Knowing this, that the law was not made for a righteous person. but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and godless, for those who break the sixth commandment, kill their fathers or mothers, their fifth commandment, for murderers, sixth commandment, for sexually immoral persons, for homosexuals, seventh commandment, for kidnappers, eighth commandment, for liars, perjurers, ninth commandment, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, according to the law. Right? What's it saying? According to the gospel. That's very interesting. According to the gospel of the glory of the happy, literally, happy God with which I have been entrusted. So it can be contrary to sound doctrine. Life and doctrine go hand in hand for all people. Even unbelievers? Yes. But laws can't make people Christian. But people can make Christian laws based upon the Word of God. Laws that reflect the righteousness of God as revealed in His Word. And this is what magistrates are obligated to do, because they also are under authority. Romans 13. Romans 13. Just look at the first few verses here. Every person, every soul, is to be in subjection to the governing authorities, for there's no authority except from God. And those which exist have been appointed by God, so their authority is delegated to them. Therefore, whoever resists that authority has opposed the ordinance of God, and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good works, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good, according to God's standard, and you will have praise from the same, for it is a minister of God to you for good." That's very interesting. Since God created us in His image, His law is most suited for our good. And we'll see that time and time again as we go through Deuteronomy. But you can't legislate morality. That's stupid. Yes, you can. Can you change someone's heart with the law? No. Can you legislate morality? We see it happening all around us, don't we? Take a look at San Francisco, Minnesota, New York, Portland. By changing the legislation, the morality is changed. By relaxing crimes and taking away punishments, How many flamboyant homosexuals are running around Muslim nations? You don't have sexual perverts like that running around. Why not? Because they will be put to death. There's a new morality in all these areas because of legislation. The law restrains sin, the civil use, and exposes sin, which is an aid of the evangelical use. And so if the law was functioning the way God intended the law to function, the government of the state to function according to his law, we'd see the cultural and evangelistic mandates working together. It'd be complementary. And wouldn't it be loving our neighbor? To not only restrain sin, I mean, where would you rather live? Would you rather live in an area that has no crime or an area that has a bunch of crime? Did you see Aurora, Colorado recently being taken over by MS-13 gang members? Is that where you want to live? Would you like to live in L.A.? Skid Row, where the cops don't even go? So we recognize it. But then to have the law doing the plow work necessary to expose sin in preparation for the good news of redemption in Jesus Christ, wouldn't that be loving to our neighbors as well? So you see, there's a complementary fashion to this. Second use, the evangelical use. Let's look at Galatians 3. Galatians 3, 21. Excuse me. Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be. For if the law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the scripture has shut up everyone under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Does God offer two ways to be right in his sight? No, look at 221. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died needlessly. But don't miss what Paul's saying in verse 21. He says, is the law contrary to the promises of God? Is the law against the gospel and gospel promises? Is it in conflict with the promises of God? Is it antagonistic? to the promises of God. And Paul uses the strongest Greek negation and says, may it never be. Because the law functions as a guide, as a tutor to lead us to Christ. We see the Pharisees use the law unlawfully. They used it legalistically. They tried to earn their salvation by law keeping. So a question for you, what is the remedy for this kind of Pharisaical legalism? This is where rubber meets road because all of us have a measure of legalism. Or you're not human. There's two religions in the world. Man's works and I can accomplish it, or grace. So what's the remedy for this kind of legalism? Is it swing the pendulum the other way? Antinomianism? Against the law of God? Is it the gospel? Is it grace? You might be shocked to find out what the answer is. Look at 219. What does Paul say? For through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God. What's the remedy to legalism? The law. Used lawfully with its intended purpose to expose It functions as a mirror revealing our inability to meet God's perfect standards. Paul even goes so far in Romans 3 as to say, do we abolish the law then through faith? May it never be. On the contrary, we establish the law. And this was really interesting, because remember we went through Ephesians 2.15? And it says that Christ in himself abolished the law contained in commandments and ordinances that was hostile to us. That's the same word being used here in Romans 3 for abolish. So that means that there's no Ten Commandments and no 600 whatever commandments of the Mosaic Law, right? The Ten Commandments, I mean, yeah, put them up on a school or something like that. They're great. They're like an old, rusty hand drill. You're not going to use it, but you still want to keep it as a memento, as a decoration. While the Mosaic law was indeed abolished, and scripture is clear on this point, here's what we have to get. The law of God, which energized and gave direction to the Mosaic law, will only cease to be binding upon men when God ceases to exist. And while we're not bound to the letter of the law, for example, you don't have to build a parapet on your roof, We are bound to the spirit of the law, the principles of the law, which, by God's grace, we'll learn in the weeks to come, as applied to our circumstances. So, for example, if you have a swimming pool, you're obligated to build a fence around it. We don't have parties up on our roofs, but if you do, you need to build a parapet, because it has to do with guarding and protecting life and the vulnerable. And also because the principles of the Law of Moses don't come from Moses, do they? They come from God. And the Ten Commandments don't come from Moses. They come from God. And they existed before Mount Sinai, didn't they? The First Commandment, no other gods. The Creator has a right to govern His creation, and Adam and Eve sought to be gods themselves. They lifted themselves up to godhood. They broke the First Commandment. Second commandment, no images. God already made his image when he created mankind. Man's not to submit to creation. Man is to rule over it. But they submitted to the serpent. It's against God's created order. Third commandment, don't take Yahweh's name in vain, as Adam and Eve did, living in an empty fashion, as if they don't have to represent him. They're God's representatives there, and so when they're asked a question, They should stand for the truth of God and not cower down and not be led away by their belly. That sounds interesting. Paul says that too, whose God is their belly. It's misusing God's authority. Fourth commandment, keep the Sabbath. God blessed and sanctified the day. They did not rest in God and they did not use their time wisely. Fifth commandment, honor your parents. Adam failed to honor and obey his father. Eve did not honor and obey her husband. There's an authority chain here, and it ties back to the cultural mandate and the authority structures that God set up with realms and rulers. Sixth commandment, no murder. God made man in his own image. Any attack upon visible man is directed at the unseen God. The serpent attacked Adam and Eve to kill them because he was trying to get at God. And Adam willingly brought death upon himself and all his posterity. The seventh, no adultery. God's design of marriage is a reflection of his own faithfulness and moral purity, and they were not faithful in the garden. Eighth commandment, no stealing. Man has a requirement to work, to labor with his hands, and instead, Adam chose to steal what belonged to God and not to him. Ninth commandment, no bearing false witness, like the serpent did about God. And humanity, you're surely not going to die. Like Adam when he blames Eve and God for his sin. Like Eve when she blames the serpent for her sin. Tenth, no coveting, like Eve did. It's the same word. Desiring the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So we see that these aren't unique to Israel, they precede Israel. Since we're in Romans, if you look at chapter 5, he says the same thing here, in 12 to 14. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin. That's Adam, right? So death spread to all men, because all sinned. For until the law, sin was not in the world. But sin is not imputed where there is no law. Look at 4.15 really quick. The law brings about wrath, but where there's no law, there's also no trespass. If there is no law, there's no sin, there's no trespass, there's no crime against God. 5.14, nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses. What's he saying? There was a law, and there were trespasses, and the evidence of that was the fact that everyone died. Because everyone's accountable to God's law. This is before the Mosaic Law. So God's law and its principles are universally binding over every sphere of life, over every nation, over every church, over every family, over every person. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 9. We've got just a couple more passages to look at. 1 Corinthians 9. Let's jump to verse 21. Paul says, to those who are without the law, he became as without the law, though not being without the law of God, but under the law of Christ. So he's not free from the law of God. When he was with the Jews in verse 20, to those under the law as under the law, though not myself being under the law. I know I don't have to submit to the Mosaic Covenant, but I'm not free from the law of God, because I can distinguish between these two things, because the law of God may look different. I'm not going to build a parapet on my roof here, because I don't go on my roof. It's superfluous. Why would I even do that? But I must build a fence around a swimming pool if I have one, because the principle still applies throughout all times and all cultures. What it's going to look like is going to be different. I need to know those principles. This brings us to the third use of the law, the normative use. Back to Romans, chapter 8, verses 1 to 4. We know that there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as an offering for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, the flesh of his Son. So that, here's the purpose, the righteous requirement of the law might be, it's not a maybe, it's a purpose, fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but we walk according to the Spirit. Paul teaches here that through the power of the Holy Spirit, believers are enabled to fulfill the righteous requirements of the law. Believers are, not for justification, but having been justified, no longer living according to the flesh. You hear the word again in Galatians 5.14, for the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. It doesn't mean we have nothing. Oh, Christ fulfilled the law for us, so now we can be antinomians and do nothing. No. Look at James 2. James 2, verse 8. If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law, or quite literally, the law of our king, There's that word fulfilling again. According to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point has become guilty of all. Is James tending to speak evangelistically here? No, he's talking to the brothers. That's often how we use this verse, though. It's not bad to use it that way, but that's not what it means. For he who said, do not commit adultery, also said, do not murder. And so what's he showing the law that this royal law he's talking about? Why is he quoting some of the Ten Commandments to show his royal law, the law of the king? Because they're summarized in the Ten Commandments. So in the normative use of the law, for those justified, the law no longer condemns. but instructs them on how to live in a manner pleasing to God. It serves as a rule for sanctification, providing principles and a pattern for God-glorifying living in every area of life. And it not only directs individual believers in personal sanctification, but as we've noted, and we'll see more in the weeks to come, it gives us a framework for organizing all areas of life, personal, family, church, civil, and all the subcategories that go with it. You know this verse. Now think about how it applies now in the cultural mandate and with the law of God. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I have sworn and I have confirmed to keep your righteous judgments. We say yes and amen. What are those righteous judgments? Just as Christ saves the whole man and he's supreme, over man, so his word was given to direct the whole man. And it's sufficient, as we've been learning, for all things pertaining to life and godliness, for piety, not pietism, so that Christ will be preeminent in everything, Colossians 118. So loved ones, let's be encouraged that our God has accomplished our redemption. He's given us a sufficient rule for all of life. He's given us power and a heart to obey. And let us say, and let us be diligent and say with the psalmist, I shall run the way of your commandments for you will enlarge my heart. Amen? Let's pray. Father, we thank you that you have given us life in Christ, that you have given us a rule, a standard for us to follow, and that you've given us your spirit so that we might be diligent and faithful in pursuing you, knowing that sin has no more dominion over us. We are not under its power anymore. that we have been set free so that we might fully pursue and obey you through your Son by your Spirit. And so let us take hold of this life and be diligent for your glory so that we would see the knowledge of the glory of you fill the earth as the waters cover the sea. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.