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04 I Timothy 1:8-11 - Law: What is it Good For?
Title: Law: What is it Good For?
Text: I Timothy 1:8-11
FCF: We often struggle using the law of God correctly
Prop: Because the law is the first half of the gospel, we must use the law for its intended purpose.
Scripture Intro:
[Slide 1] Turn in your bible to I Timothy chapter 1. Last week Paul expressed his purpose for placing Timothy in Ephesus. Paul made himself quite clear. The purpose for Timothy being there was to squash any and all false teachings, particularly those that mythicized the Old Testament and endlessly prattled on about various teachings that they laced into the text of the old testament. Instead, Paul’s desire for Timothy is to cling to the gospel of Christ. The gospel alone promotes the administration of God throughout time, and the gospel alone can produce love from a truly changed soul.
Today we will learn a little more about how these myths and endless genealogies were being used to lay unnecessary weight on the shoulders of God’s people, rather than using the law properly.
Having already addressed the uselessness of myths and genealogies, now Paul illuminates us on the proper use of the law. It is something we must understand if we are to preach the gospel effectively to those who desperately need to hear it.
I am in I Timothy chapter 1 and I’ll start reading from verse 3 through verse 20. I am reading from the NET which you can follow along in the pew bible on page 1337 or in whatever version you have. If you don’t have a bible be sure to take a pew bible home with you.
Transition:
There is so much to cover today and so much of it depends on things we have covered already and will cover next time. Pray the Lord will give us grace to understand most of the threads here as we go along.
I.) The law is not intended for the righteous, so we must use the law for its intended purpose. (8-9a)
a. [Slide 2] 8 – But we know that the law is good if someone uses it legitimately,
i. The law is not useless.
ii. Just because you cannot specialize in or be a teacher of the law, does not mean it is of no value.
iii. There is a proper use for the law, which Paul in other books has revealed. He will do so again here.
b. [Slide 3] 9 – realizing that law is not intended for a righteous person,
i. As we put the context together in I Timothy – we get a progressively clearer picture of what these certain teachers were doing. They were adding myths and endless discussions of genealogies into the law of God in order to add more restrictions upon God’s people while simultaneously loosening restrictions the law actually did impose upon His people.
ii. In short, they were using mythologies about the law to preach to and correct people who were declared righteous and living righteously in Christ.
iii. Paul corrects this outright. Before he gets to the actual, legitimate purpose of the law, he excludes a group from that purpose.
iv. A righteous person has no need for the law.
v. Having already corrected their mythologies and endless talk of genealogies – now Paul instructs on the proper use of the law.
vi. The law without myths and legends added to it is by its nature instructive, corrective, and judicial. It informs, restricts, and applies penalty for violation.
vii. But what are the foundations of that?
viii. The presuppositions of forming a law is that
1. People won’t know it naturally.
2. People won’t do it naturally.
3. And that people won’t enforce it justly if given the choice.
ix. But a person that is righteous is one who knows the law, does the law, and desires the law to be justly applied. God speaks this way of His children after having been united with Christ.
x. They have His law written on their heart, not needing to be taught of Him. They live in light as He is in light. And they desire His Kingdom to come and His will be done.
xi. This is not to say that the righteous discard the law, or find no use in it. But rather the righteous have already benefitted from the primary purpose of the law, by being shown their sin and need of a savior.
xii. The law is primarily for the spiritually blind, who do not see their own sin, or are not humble enough to see it. The law rebukes such thinking, and reveals sin. So, for a righteous person, one who has seen their sin and corrected their behavior in Christ and with His Spirit – such purpose for the law is now unneeded.
c. [Slide 4] Passage Truth: So although Paul’s point is not one that we can take to the extreme, as some do, we can still see that in a very real way the law’s primary purpose and intent from God, is not toward a person who is obedient and pure in heart. Although the law is not of no use, it certainly cannot be used in this way for the righteous.
d. Passage Application: So in Paul’s defense of the law, he is driving at a specific purpose for anyone, including Timothy to use it. So far, one way he cannot use it is toward the righteous person.
e. [Slide 5] Broader Biblical Truth: Zooming out from this we see the writer of Hebrews urging his readers to go beyond the elementary concepts of doctrine, like repenting of dead works. Dead works in Hebrews 6 is the vain attempts to live righteously enough to be accepted by God. Someone who has already repented of their vain attempts to keep the law and recognized that they cannot keep it, someone who has repented and found in Christ grace to actually begin to live the law of Christ, these kinds of people no longer need the law preached to them in this way for this purpose. The law is still good for them, but not as a schoolmaster to drive them to repentance and faith. This they have done and continue to do because the Spirit of Christ compels them, and the law of Christ constrains them.
f. Broader Biblical Application: As is often the case we do things backward of what they should be done in scripture. So often to unbelievers and pagans we are quick to share with them the love of Christ and His mercy to forgive them and cleanse them. To Christians we blast them with the law, guilting them into feeling shame and sorrow over their sin and seeking for them to merely change their behavior. Children of God need more than this! Why? Because there is now therefore no condemnation in Christ! Because true children of God will easily see their disconnection between God and themselves. They know that they are not who God wants them to be quite yet. And so, to be told that they have sinned, should not be surprising or farfetched. Indeed, they should welcome correction and instruction. Why? Because they are supremely discontent with how they are not like their Savior. A righteous person has God’s law written on their heart. They don’t need to be instructed anew to the holy standard of God. What they truly need is to know their Savior gave them an infinite alien righteousness and paid their full penalty for their sin. This means that they are not condemned for their sin and they have been given all they need for life and godliness. In short, it is the righteous, the believer, who needs to be told again and again of the mercy and grace, the forgiveness and cleansing of Christ. The law they know , it is unchanging and immovable – but God’s mercies and graces are new every morning.
Transition:
So if the law is not for the righteous – who is it for?
II.) The law must be used to reveal the sinfulness of sinners, so we must use the law for its intended purpose. (9b-10)
a. [Slide 6] but for lawless and rebellious people, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane
i. Therefore, the law is given to reveal, restrain, and rebuke mankind’s natural tendencies. And therefore, it is given to inform, correct, and enforce a standard upon, what is theoretically only those who are in this list, but what is practically all men by nature.
ii. So, to be a teacher of the law – what exactly are you an expert at teaching? Is it how sinful you are? Perhaps it is how self-righteous you are? How can anyone be an expert in the law?
iii. Paul is arguing that the law is not something in which you can gain expertise. The law is not something that you can expertly teach, but rather, the law itself IS the expert teacher and all mankind is its student.
iv. What does it teach?
v. The true nature of man. What are they? Paul gives examples.
vi. Let us now, spend some time defining the examples Paul lists here, because there are a few.
1. Lawless and rebellious - The law is for those who have no law and are by nature anti-law. So… everyone from birth.
2. Ungodly and sinners - The law is for those who are anti-God and law breakers. So… everyone from birth.
3. Unholy and profane - The law is for those who are not by nature set apart for a godly use and are instead wholly secular… and worldly. So… everyone from birth.
4. Why do you think we must be born again? Born anew? All in birth are under the law. All in new birth under Grace through faith in Christ.
vii. Now Paul moves into specific categories of which he lists a few examples. The three categories are those who are violent, those who are fornicators, and those who are liars. These three groups of people need the law. Why?
viii. Because everything Paul mentions is traced back to the 5th -9th commandments in the Decalogue.
ix. Honor Father and Mother, Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness.
x. Let’s look specifically.
b. [Slide 7] for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers,
i. Patricide and Matricide. Workers of this deed can hardly do it more than once. We wouldn’t call this a practiced sin per se.
ii. But then Paul goes on to include homicide as well.
iii. A person who takes the life of a person without a just reason such as war, defense, or to enforce the law… such a person needs the law. Why?
iv. The law will show them not only that murder is wicked – but that even the thoughts of murder are wicked.
v. As our Lord said – hatred is the seed from which murder flowers. Thus, even hatred is deserving of judgment from God. Indeed, the same judgment as murder itself.
c. [Slide 8] 10 – Sexually immoral people, practicing homosexuals, kidnappers
i. The next two for sure deal with sexual sins.
ii. The first is a word that is the broadest possible expression of sexual deviance that you can have in the Greek language. Anyone who practices unlawful, ungodly, unsanctified sexual activity needs the law to rebuke them for their debauchery.
iii. Once again, as our Lord explained, the law was designed not only to show that these acts were wicked – but even the lust to commit these acts is also wicked.
iv. In short one biological man and one biological woman in a marital relationship engaged in sexual union with one another exclusively for the duration of their natural lives, is the sum total of sexual activity this word does NOT include. Any who deviate from this in word, thought or deed need the law.
v. The second word is a compound word for man and bed. The usage of this in this culture was to describe men who performed sexual acts with other men. There is some disagreement as to whether this is speaking specifically to a particular type of partner or not. However, contextually I think it is being used not in a restrictive sense but a broader sense and means what the NET has translated here – practicing homosexuals.
1. This leads us to a little bit of a rabbit trail – but one I think we should take given our current culture.
2. We live in a world where identity and practice do not have to go hand in hand. That even if I lack all provable components of a particular identity, I can be that identity.
3. There are some who might take this Greek word and see a loophole in the text. The loophole, they might say, is that one can be a homosexual, but simply not practicing. That only practicing homosexuals need the law. That non-practicing homosexuals are righteous. Meaning that two people of the same gender can have a romantic relationship with one another without committing the sexual act and therefore not need the law for correction.
4. I wish we had time to get into Paul’s conversion testimony in verses 12-17 today. We don’t. But Paul smashes this argument to pieces. What does he say? I was FORMERLY a blasphemer, persecutor, and arrogant man.
5. In verse 13, Paul does not still identify himself as a blasphemer, just not practicing. He does not still identify himself as a persecutor, yet not practicing. He does not still identify himself as an arrogant man, yet not practicing. He formerly was this. He has not only rejected the practice of this, but even the identity of this. So, what happened to make that change in him?
6. Verse 15, Christ came to save sinners – and here Paul does identify himself as the first sinner, or the greatest sinner. So, what is the difference between saying I am a sinner that Christ saved and saying I am a non-practicing homosexual that Christ saved?
7. Being a sinner is an all-inclusive status term that refers to the corruption of man’s nature. We are not sinners because we sin, but sin because we are sinners. So, in a real way, the problem of our identity as sinners, cannot be fully dealt with until we are resurrected into Christ and given our new bodies free of that sin nature.
8. However, homosexuality is a particular sin. It is not the all-encompassing status of being corrupted by sin, but rather a particular expression of sin. One which Paul says in I Corinthians 6 – we have been washed, sanctified, and justified from and something we FORMERLY were.
9. So really the difference is, that our sanctification is the process of killing off particular expressions of sin in our lives, while that won’t be fully accomplished until we are glorified. And homosexuality is one of those particular sins that ought to be killed off.
10. It is therefore, theologically deviant and logically foolish to identify ourselves as a particular sin yet not practicing. None identify themselves as a non-practicing liar saved by grace or a non-practicing murderer saved by grace. Rather we ought to agree with God about our sin. Loathe it. And want to not be associated with it ever again. We are Christ’s not sin’s, and although we are unfortunately still a sinner and can not truly claim not to be – we do not want to be. We long for the day of being completely free of this identity.
11. So whether a person commits the sexual act or not is irrelevant. In the 1st century there was no separation that existed between being identified as a homosexual and practicing homosexual acts. Not only this, but in Romans 1, Paul seems to indict not only the sexual act but even the pursuit of relationships that are not cross gender.
12. At this – all modern interpretations of this word and the bible’s teaching on homosexuality falls woefully short of any semblance of scholarship in the language or culture of the 1st century Roman world. The plain meaning of scripture is this… Homosexuality, its act and identity, is something the law is necessary to correct… because it is wicked.
vi. The last one in this list is kidnappers or man stealers. And we are confronted with a dilemma.
vii. As I stated before, it seems like Paul is forming a list of three categories with examples of each. The category we have just seen is sexual sin, and the one following is liars. So here is the question – which category does man-stealers go into?
viii. Obviously, it could be its own category conforming to the 7th command not to steal. However, Paul seems to have grouped these into at least groups of two – yet we are met with an odd number here. So, what do we do with this one?
ix. Certainly, there is a good bit of deception involved with kidnapping someone. However, just like the word fornicators, this word could be interpreted in its broadest sense which would be to use someone against their will for selfish purposes.
x. [Slide 9] In which case – we could see this apply to both sexual sins and deception. Indeed, a more far reaching pandemic in this country that exceeds COVID 19 is the hotbed that our country and even our state is for sex trafficking.
xi. And recently I was awoken to the truth that when we talk about sex trafficking we are not dealing with organizations or crime syndicates that kidnap and sell children into slavery – although this is certainly part of it. But the most common sex traffickers are parents and family members, selling the children’s services for money. My friends…
xii. I think it goes without saying – those who are involved in this trade… need the law.
d. [Slide 10] Liars, perjurers
i. Those who do not speak the truth
ii. And those who do lie to either save themselves from due justice or incriminate the innocent.
iii. Those who omit certain details that are truth are the same as those who invent something they pass as truth.
iv. Honesty is a dying virtue that so many transcend. They rebrand the term lie as embellish, exaggerate, minimize or forget.
v. Those who cannot speak the truth, are least like Yahweh – who is truth.
vi. Indeed, lying lips are among the few sins God says he hates. Sins that are abomination to him.
vii. Homosexuality is abomination. In your mind if homosexuality is worse than lying – you see sin differently than God does. Because lying is abomination.
viii. Every week I read my sermon to my wife on Saturday night. After reading this point she relayed to me how amazing it is, that our little girls, their first expressions of sin are so ugly and raw. Selfishness, pride, lying, violence, trying to turn parents against each other or against their sister. When you get a chance you should look at Proverbs 6:16-19. God lists 7 sins that he hates and are abomination to him. It is stunning that each of these sins – at least in their unnuanced state – are present already in my 5 and 3 year old.
ix. Therefore, such people NEED the law.
e. [Slide 11] – in fact, for any who live contrary to sound teaching.
i. Paul then summarizes.
ii. Any person who lives contrary to sound teaching… needs the law.
iii. Any person who can stand opposed to Godly requirements upon the moral character of humanity – needs to be rebuked with that selfsame teaching. They do not need a new law – they need the same law that they have rejected.
iv. “Sound” here would be the word healthy. Or even, health producing.
v. Teaching that leads to regenerative growth is what is in view. So, any teaching that leads to people being conformed to Christ – if someone lives opposite of that teaching – that is who the law must be given to.
f. [Slide 12] Passage Truth: Paul explains to Timothy, perhaps to combat the accusations of those certain men who wish to be teachers of the law, that the law IS good when it is used properly. And the proper use of the law, is to reveal the sinfulness of sinners. The law is the schoolmaster showing someone their sin.
g. Passage Application: So Paul’s message to Timothy is to use the law for its intended purpose. To reveal the sinfulness of sinners.
h. [Slide 13] Broader Biblical Truth: Tracing back to early church fathers and found on the pages of several Pauline works, we do find the 3-fold purpose of the law. Its first and primary function is to reveal, like a mirror, both the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man. It does this by imposing impossible standards of God upon men – standards they could not hope to keep. The second purpose of the law is to restrain society from imploding in lawlessness. The law cannot change the heart but it can keep people in check to delay total moral decay and thus, societal collapse. The third and final purpose of the law is to guide the righteous to good works that God has planned for them. It tells His children what pleases God. It is as some have described “a family code.” So, for the godless, for the wicked, for the pagan, for the lawless – the first two purposes of the law endure as the primary purposes of the law. And such we have seen from this text.
i. Broader Biblical Application: So for us, by way of application, to the unsaved and pagan, we should preach the law and that God is holy and will judge rightly all men according to their works. They are still under the law and thus will be judged by the law. Such a proclamation will elicit fear in those who are being regenerated by the Spirit… fear enough for them to cry out for mercy from God – and in faith they will repent and believe the gospel. And in those who are not being regenerated, they may still be kept in check by the holy expectations of God, and restrain their more vile expressions of their sinfulness. We need not tell the ungodly of any stripe that an alien righteousness exists for them if they see no need for it. We have no business telling the ungodly that forgiveness exists for them, when they have not seen their desperate need of it. We do them harm to preach the gospel to them before we adequately preach the law to them.
Transition:
[Slide 14(blank)] But how do these balance? The law and the gospel? Are they at odds then? Are they two things? I thought we were only given one message.
III.) Revealing the sinfulness of sinners is a necessary component of the gospel, so we must use the law for its intended purpose. (11)
a. [Slide 15] 11 – This accords with the glorious gospel of the blessed God that was entrusted to me.
i. What is the sum total of health producing teaching? What is the foundation of health-producing teaching? It is the glorious gospel of the blessed God!
ii. We talked about this last week! We want to see people change? What do they need? THE GOSPEL!
iii. But many people set the law and the gospel in opposition to one another.
iv. However, the law itself is not in opposition to the gospel but rather is in harmony with the gospel.
v. The law itself is the schoolmaster teaching the dire need for the glorious gospel of our wonderful Lord.
vi. The law reveals the sinfulness of a sinner. The law reveals that we are all great sinners. And yet the gospel reveals that Christ is a great Savior.
vii. This is the gospel that was given to Paul to preach. The same message he preached to Timothy and that he is commanding Timothy to preach to the church in Ephesus. The same gospel he is charging Timothy to protect.
viii. So what is the gospel? Paul will get to it next time in I Timothy – but for now – Christ came and died for sinners.
ix. Inherent in this expression is the realization that we are sinners… not because we sin, but that is who we are. That is our identity. But the good news there – is that Christ came to die for who?... Sinners!
x. That is why the law and its proper use is in accord with the gospel – because it proves first that man is a sinner. And later, after that same man has received mercy and grace from God through Christ, that same man is shown to be righteous because he lives in accordance with God’s desires, loves the law, and has it written on his heart.
b. [Slide 16] Passage Truth: Paul to Timothy reveals that the law and the gospel go hand in hand. They are one. The law reveals the sinfulness of the sinner – and Christ is the message of good news from God providing an answer for the sinner. Paul will dive headlong into that next time in I Timothy.
c. Passage Application: Paul’s clear point for Timothy is to use the law properly in conjunction with the glorious gospel of God.
d. [Slide 17] Broader Biblical Truth: Zooming out from this we see that this is true throughout the Old and New Testaments. The old testament whispers of a time when the law will be written on people’s hearts. When no one will need to be taught who God is – they will know Him. They will be His people and He will be their God. The New Testament reveals that mystery in that Christ has fulfilled the law and provided an alien righteousness whereby sinners can truly keep the law and be made righteous. And the first step to all of that is to realize the sinfulness of our sin.
e. Broader Biblical Application: And so we too ought to understand that the first part of the good news – is the bad news. Without preaching the bad news until someone understands – there is no hope for them to ever understand the good news. God’s grace illuminates the mind in regeneration to see clearly their guilt and shame for sin against a holy God and thus their powerlessness to ever appease Him. And once that is made plain – God will gift them repentance and faith to cry out to him for mercy and believe the gospel.
Transition:
[Slide 18(end)] So what can we learn from this? How should we live differently because of this?
Conclusion:
Well last week our conclusion was that the one arrow in our quiver, the one weapon in the arsenal of the church is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
What Paul adds in the text this morning is how to be proficient in wielding such a weapon. How to aim for the heart with such an arrow.
It all starts with the law.
Many in Christianity have rightly stated that we are free from the law – but they have wrongly implied that we are free from obeying the law. There can be nothing further from the truth.
God set Adam in the garden and gave a covenant to him. A covenant whereby Adam could obey and live or disobey and die. It was a covenant defined by Adam’s works. Adam failed. That covenant of works has not changed. The Mosaic Covenant – the law – is only a more detailed expression of the covenant of works. Mankind must be perfect as God is perfect.
Adam was our representative. Adam failed and doomed us all to walk in a covenant agreement whereby we have no way of keeping or fulfilling our end of the bargain. Therefore, the Mosaic law, is God’s way to illustrate this fact to the Israelites. They can’t keep it. They need a perfect sacrificial substitute.
When the scriptures declare that Christ did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. That is the sense of the word fulfill. It means that Christ held up the contractual obligations levied on mankind, which was to obey the whole law. Christ then became our perfect substitute and traded places with us by paying our penalty for failing that contract and giving us the eternal success in keeping that contract.
Therefore, we are no longer under the law, in that our only hope of salvation is to keep it perfectly. Why? Christ has done it for us. It is done. Completed. Instead we are under grace, in that God personally intercedes and brings us to life and appropriates a new covenant to us by faith in Christ’s work. We trust and depend on what Christ did – and are therefore accepted into that new covenant. And in that new covenant what do we do? We, by grace, keep the law.
Therefore – the first message of the gospel is… you are under the yoke of the law!
But the ongoing message of the gospel is… you are free in Christ to keep the law – specifically the law of Christ. To love God and one another.
My friends the law is not cast aside. The old testament does not need to be abridged or unhitched from our faith. Indeed, the old Testament is just as much the gospel as the new testament. That covenant of works – although producing only despair – is a necessary covenant for someone to understand if they ever hope to understand the covenant of grace.
Sinners need the law. And the righteous need grace.
And so the preaching of the law to the lawless ends with their doom and judgment until they show signs of regenerated understanding and seek mercy.
But the preaching of the law to the righteous does not end with doom but ends with hope that in Christ we do keep the whole law legally (justification) but also do continue to keep the law practically (sanctification). And one day we will only know a perfect law keeping existence (glorification). The covenant of grace continues, forevermore.
My friends may we be preachers of the complete gospel message.
To the unbeliever: the law to reveal the sinfulness of their sin. To the believer: grace to overcome the presence of sin.
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By Christopher FreemanTitle: Law: What is it Good For?
Text: I Timothy 1:8-11
FCF: We often struggle using the law of God correctly
Prop: Because the law is the first half of the gospel, we must use the law for its intended purpose.
Scripture Intro:
[Slide 1] Turn in your bible to I Timothy chapter 1. Last week Paul expressed his purpose for placing Timothy in Ephesus. Paul made himself quite clear. The purpose for Timothy being there was to squash any and all false teachings, particularly those that mythicized the Old Testament and endlessly prattled on about various teachings that they laced into the text of the old testament. Instead, Paul’s desire for Timothy is to cling to the gospel of Christ. The gospel alone promotes the administration of God throughout time, and the gospel alone can produce love from a truly changed soul.
Today we will learn a little more about how these myths and endless genealogies were being used to lay unnecessary weight on the shoulders of God’s people, rather than using the law properly.
Having already addressed the uselessness of myths and genealogies, now Paul illuminates us on the proper use of the law. It is something we must understand if we are to preach the gospel effectively to those who desperately need to hear it.
I am in I Timothy chapter 1 and I’ll start reading from verse 3 through verse 20. I am reading from the NET which you can follow along in the pew bible on page 1337 or in whatever version you have. If you don’t have a bible be sure to take a pew bible home with you.
Transition:
There is so much to cover today and so much of it depends on things we have covered already and will cover next time. Pray the Lord will give us grace to understand most of the threads here as we go along.
I.) The law is not intended for the righteous, so we must use the law for its intended purpose. (8-9a)
a. [Slide 2] 8 – But we know that the law is good if someone uses it legitimately,
i. The law is not useless.
ii. Just because you cannot specialize in or be a teacher of the law, does not mean it is of no value.
iii. There is a proper use for the law, which Paul in other books has revealed. He will do so again here.
b. [Slide 3] 9 – realizing that law is not intended for a righteous person,
i. As we put the context together in I Timothy – we get a progressively clearer picture of what these certain teachers were doing. They were adding myths and endless discussions of genealogies into the law of God in order to add more restrictions upon God’s people while simultaneously loosening restrictions the law actually did impose upon His people.
ii. In short, they were using mythologies about the law to preach to and correct people who were declared righteous and living righteously in Christ.
iii. Paul corrects this outright. Before he gets to the actual, legitimate purpose of the law, he excludes a group from that purpose.
iv. A righteous person has no need for the law.
v. Having already corrected their mythologies and endless talk of genealogies – now Paul instructs on the proper use of the law.
vi. The law without myths and legends added to it is by its nature instructive, corrective, and judicial. It informs, restricts, and applies penalty for violation.
vii. But what are the foundations of that?
viii. The presuppositions of forming a law is that
1. People won’t know it naturally.
2. People won’t do it naturally.
3. And that people won’t enforce it justly if given the choice.
ix. But a person that is righteous is one who knows the law, does the law, and desires the law to be justly applied. God speaks this way of His children after having been united with Christ.
x. They have His law written on their heart, not needing to be taught of Him. They live in light as He is in light. And they desire His Kingdom to come and His will be done.
xi. This is not to say that the righteous discard the law, or find no use in it. But rather the righteous have already benefitted from the primary purpose of the law, by being shown their sin and need of a savior.
xii. The law is primarily for the spiritually blind, who do not see their own sin, or are not humble enough to see it. The law rebukes such thinking, and reveals sin. So, for a righteous person, one who has seen their sin and corrected their behavior in Christ and with His Spirit – such purpose for the law is now unneeded.
c. [Slide 4] Passage Truth: So although Paul’s point is not one that we can take to the extreme, as some do, we can still see that in a very real way the law’s primary purpose and intent from God, is not toward a person who is obedient and pure in heart. Although the law is not of no use, it certainly cannot be used in this way for the righteous.
d. Passage Application: So in Paul’s defense of the law, he is driving at a specific purpose for anyone, including Timothy to use it. So far, one way he cannot use it is toward the righteous person.
e. [Slide 5] Broader Biblical Truth: Zooming out from this we see the writer of Hebrews urging his readers to go beyond the elementary concepts of doctrine, like repenting of dead works. Dead works in Hebrews 6 is the vain attempts to live righteously enough to be accepted by God. Someone who has already repented of their vain attempts to keep the law and recognized that they cannot keep it, someone who has repented and found in Christ grace to actually begin to live the law of Christ, these kinds of people no longer need the law preached to them in this way for this purpose. The law is still good for them, but not as a schoolmaster to drive them to repentance and faith. This they have done and continue to do because the Spirit of Christ compels them, and the law of Christ constrains them.
f. Broader Biblical Application: As is often the case we do things backward of what they should be done in scripture. So often to unbelievers and pagans we are quick to share with them the love of Christ and His mercy to forgive them and cleanse them. To Christians we blast them with the law, guilting them into feeling shame and sorrow over their sin and seeking for them to merely change their behavior. Children of God need more than this! Why? Because there is now therefore no condemnation in Christ! Because true children of God will easily see their disconnection between God and themselves. They know that they are not who God wants them to be quite yet. And so, to be told that they have sinned, should not be surprising or farfetched. Indeed, they should welcome correction and instruction. Why? Because they are supremely discontent with how they are not like their Savior. A righteous person has God’s law written on their heart. They don’t need to be instructed anew to the holy standard of God. What they truly need is to know their Savior gave them an infinite alien righteousness and paid their full penalty for their sin. This means that they are not condemned for their sin and they have been given all they need for life and godliness. In short, it is the righteous, the believer, who needs to be told again and again of the mercy and grace, the forgiveness and cleansing of Christ. The law they know , it is unchanging and immovable – but God’s mercies and graces are new every morning.
Transition:
So if the law is not for the righteous – who is it for?
II.) The law must be used to reveal the sinfulness of sinners, so we must use the law for its intended purpose. (9b-10)
a. [Slide 6] but for lawless and rebellious people, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane
i. Therefore, the law is given to reveal, restrain, and rebuke mankind’s natural tendencies. And therefore, it is given to inform, correct, and enforce a standard upon, what is theoretically only those who are in this list, but what is practically all men by nature.
ii. So, to be a teacher of the law – what exactly are you an expert at teaching? Is it how sinful you are? Perhaps it is how self-righteous you are? How can anyone be an expert in the law?
iii. Paul is arguing that the law is not something in which you can gain expertise. The law is not something that you can expertly teach, but rather, the law itself IS the expert teacher and all mankind is its student.
iv. What does it teach?
v. The true nature of man. What are they? Paul gives examples.
vi. Let us now, spend some time defining the examples Paul lists here, because there are a few.
1. Lawless and rebellious - The law is for those who have no law and are by nature anti-law. So… everyone from birth.
2. Ungodly and sinners - The law is for those who are anti-God and law breakers. So… everyone from birth.
3. Unholy and profane - The law is for those who are not by nature set apart for a godly use and are instead wholly secular… and worldly. So… everyone from birth.
4. Why do you think we must be born again? Born anew? All in birth are under the law. All in new birth under Grace through faith in Christ.
vii. Now Paul moves into specific categories of which he lists a few examples. The three categories are those who are violent, those who are fornicators, and those who are liars. These three groups of people need the law. Why?
viii. Because everything Paul mentions is traced back to the 5th -9th commandments in the Decalogue.
ix. Honor Father and Mother, Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness.
x. Let’s look specifically.
b. [Slide 7] for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers,
i. Patricide and Matricide. Workers of this deed can hardly do it more than once. We wouldn’t call this a practiced sin per se.
ii. But then Paul goes on to include homicide as well.
iii. A person who takes the life of a person without a just reason such as war, defense, or to enforce the law… such a person needs the law. Why?
iv. The law will show them not only that murder is wicked – but that even the thoughts of murder are wicked.
v. As our Lord said – hatred is the seed from which murder flowers. Thus, even hatred is deserving of judgment from God. Indeed, the same judgment as murder itself.
c. [Slide 8] 10 – Sexually immoral people, practicing homosexuals, kidnappers
i. The next two for sure deal with sexual sins.
ii. The first is a word that is the broadest possible expression of sexual deviance that you can have in the Greek language. Anyone who practices unlawful, ungodly, unsanctified sexual activity needs the law to rebuke them for their debauchery.
iii. Once again, as our Lord explained, the law was designed not only to show that these acts were wicked – but even the lust to commit these acts is also wicked.
iv. In short one biological man and one biological woman in a marital relationship engaged in sexual union with one another exclusively for the duration of their natural lives, is the sum total of sexual activity this word does NOT include. Any who deviate from this in word, thought or deed need the law.
v. The second word is a compound word for man and bed. The usage of this in this culture was to describe men who performed sexual acts with other men. There is some disagreement as to whether this is speaking specifically to a particular type of partner or not. However, contextually I think it is being used not in a restrictive sense but a broader sense and means what the NET has translated here – practicing homosexuals.
1. This leads us to a little bit of a rabbit trail – but one I think we should take given our current culture.
2. We live in a world where identity and practice do not have to go hand in hand. That even if I lack all provable components of a particular identity, I can be that identity.
3. There are some who might take this Greek word and see a loophole in the text. The loophole, they might say, is that one can be a homosexual, but simply not practicing. That only practicing homosexuals need the law. That non-practicing homosexuals are righteous. Meaning that two people of the same gender can have a romantic relationship with one another without committing the sexual act and therefore not need the law for correction.
4. I wish we had time to get into Paul’s conversion testimony in verses 12-17 today. We don’t. But Paul smashes this argument to pieces. What does he say? I was FORMERLY a blasphemer, persecutor, and arrogant man.
5. In verse 13, Paul does not still identify himself as a blasphemer, just not practicing. He does not still identify himself as a persecutor, yet not practicing. He does not still identify himself as an arrogant man, yet not practicing. He formerly was this. He has not only rejected the practice of this, but even the identity of this. So, what happened to make that change in him?
6. Verse 15, Christ came to save sinners – and here Paul does identify himself as the first sinner, or the greatest sinner. So, what is the difference between saying I am a sinner that Christ saved and saying I am a non-practicing homosexual that Christ saved?
7. Being a sinner is an all-inclusive status term that refers to the corruption of man’s nature. We are not sinners because we sin, but sin because we are sinners. So, in a real way, the problem of our identity as sinners, cannot be fully dealt with until we are resurrected into Christ and given our new bodies free of that sin nature.
8. However, homosexuality is a particular sin. It is not the all-encompassing status of being corrupted by sin, but rather a particular expression of sin. One which Paul says in I Corinthians 6 – we have been washed, sanctified, and justified from and something we FORMERLY were.
9. So really the difference is, that our sanctification is the process of killing off particular expressions of sin in our lives, while that won’t be fully accomplished until we are glorified. And homosexuality is one of those particular sins that ought to be killed off.
10. It is therefore, theologically deviant and logically foolish to identify ourselves as a particular sin yet not practicing. None identify themselves as a non-practicing liar saved by grace or a non-practicing murderer saved by grace. Rather we ought to agree with God about our sin. Loathe it. And want to not be associated with it ever again. We are Christ’s not sin’s, and although we are unfortunately still a sinner and can not truly claim not to be – we do not want to be. We long for the day of being completely free of this identity.
11. So whether a person commits the sexual act or not is irrelevant. In the 1st century there was no separation that existed between being identified as a homosexual and practicing homosexual acts. Not only this, but in Romans 1, Paul seems to indict not only the sexual act but even the pursuit of relationships that are not cross gender.
12. At this – all modern interpretations of this word and the bible’s teaching on homosexuality falls woefully short of any semblance of scholarship in the language or culture of the 1st century Roman world. The plain meaning of scripture is this… Homosexuality, its act and identity, is something the law is necessary to correct… because it is wicked.
vi. The last one in this list is kidnappers or man stealers. And we are confronted with a dilemma.
vii. As I stated before, it seems like Paul is forming a list of three categories with examples of each. The category we have just seen is sexual sin, and the one following is liars. So here is the question – which category does man-stealers go into?
viii. Obviously, it could be its own category conforming to the 7th command not to steal. However, Paul seems to have grouped these into at least groups of two – yet we are met with an odd number here. So, what do we do with this one?
ix. Certainly, there is a good bit of deception involved with kidnapping someone. However, just like the word fornicators, this word could be interpreted in its broadest sense which would be to use someone against their will for selfish purposes.
x. [Slide 9] In which case – we could see this apply to both sexual sins and deception. Indeed, a more far reaching pandemic in this country that exceeds COVID 19 is the hotbed that our country and even our state is for sex trafficking.
xi. And recently I was awoken to the truth that when we talk about sex trafficking we are not dealing with organizations or crime syndicates that kidnap and sell children into slavery – although this is certainly part of it. But the most common sex traffickers are parents and family members, selling the children’s services for money. My friends…
xii. I think it goes without saying – those who are involved in this trade… need the law.
d. [Slide 10] Liars, perjurers
i. Those who do not speak the truth
ii. And those who do lie to either save themselves from due justice or incriminate the innocent.
iii. Those who omit certain details that are truth are the same as those who invent something they pass as truth.
iv. Honesty is a dying virtue that so many transcend. They rebrand the term lie as embellish, exaggerate, minimize or forget.
v. Those who cannot speak the truth, are least like Yahweh – who is truth.
vi. Indeed, lying lips are among the few sins God says he hates. Sins that are abomination to him.
vii. Homosexuality is abomination. In your mind if homosexuality is worse than lying – you see sin differently than God does. Because lying is abomination.
viii. Every week I read my sermon to my wife on Saturday night. After reading this point she relayed to me how amazing it is, that our little girls, their first expressions of sin are so ugly and raw. Selfishness, pride, lying, violence, trying to turn parents against each other or against their sister. When you get a chance you should look at Proverbs 6:16-19. God lists 7 sins that he hates and are abomination to him. It is stunning that each of these sins – at least in their unnuanced state – are present already in my 5 and 3 year old.
ix. Therefore, such people NEED the law.
e. [Slide 11] – in fact, for any who live contrary to sound teaching.
i. Paul then summarizes.
ii. Any person who lives contrary to sound teaching… needs the law.
iii. Any person who can stand opposed to Godly requirements upon the moral character of humanity – needs to be rebuked with that selfsame teaching. They do not need a new law – they need the same law that they have rejected.
iv. “Sound” here would be the word healthy. Or even, health producing.
v. Teaching that leads to regenerative growth is what is in view. So, any teaching that leads to people being conformed to Christ – if someone lives opposite of that teaching – that is who the law must be given to.
f. [Slide 12] Passage Truth: Paul explains to Timothy, perhaps to combat the accusations of those certain men who wish to be teachers of the law, that the law IS good when it is used properly. And the proper use of the law, is to reveal the sinfulness of sinners. The law is the schoolmaster showing someone their sin.
g. Passage Application: So Paul’s message to Timothy is to use the law for its intended purpose. To reveal the sinfulness of sinners.
h. [Slide 13] Broader Biblical Truth: Tracing back to early church fathers and found on the pages of several Pauline works, we do find the 3-fold purpose of the law. Its first and primary function is to reveal, like a mirror, both the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man. It does this by imposing impossible standards of God upon men – standards they could not hope to keep. The second purpose of the law is to restrain society from imploding in lawlessness. The law cannot change the heart but it can keep people in check to delay total moral decay and thus, societal collapse. The third and final purpose of the law is to guide the righteous to good works that God has planned for them. It tells His children what pleases God. It is as some have described “a family code.” So, for the godless, for the wicked, for the pagan, for the lawless – the first two purposes of the law endure as the primary purposes of the law. And such we have seen from this text.
i. Broader Biblical Application: So for us, by way of application, to the unsaved and pagan, we should preach the law and that God is holy and will judge rightly all men according to their works. They are still under the law and thus will be judged by the law. Such a proclamation will elicit fear in those who are being regenerated by the Spirit… fear enough for them to cry out for mercy from God – and in faith they will repent and believe the gospel. And in those who are not being regenerated, they may still be kept in check by the holy expectations of God, and restrain their more vile expressions of their sinfulness. We need not tell the ungodly of any stripe that an alien righteousness exists for them if they see no need for it. We have no business telling the ungodly that forgiveness exists for them, when they have not seen their desperate need of it. We do them harm to preach the gospel to them before we adequately preach the law to them.
Transition:
[Slide 14(blank)] But how do these balance? The law and the gospel? Are they at odds then? Are they two things? I thought we were only given one message.
III.) Revealing the sinfulness of sinners is a necessary component of the gospel, so we must use the law for its intended purpose. (11)
a. [Slide 15] 11 – This accords with the glorious gospel of the blessed God that was entrusted to me.
i. What is the sum total of health producing teaching? What is the foundation of health-producing teaching? It is the glorious gospel of the blessed God!
ii. We talked about this last week! We want to see people change? What do they need? THE GOSPEL!
iii. But many people set the law and the gospel in opposition to one another.
iv. However, the law itself is not in opposition to the gospel but rather is in harmony with the gospel.
v. The law itself is the schoolmaster teaching the dire need for the glorious gospel of our wonderful Lord.
vi. The law reveals the sinfulness of a sinner. The law reveals that we are all great sinners. And yet the gospel reveals that Christ is a great Savior.
vii. This is the gospel that was given to Paul to preach. The same message he preached to Timothy and that he is commanding Timothy to preach to the church in Ephesus. The same gospel he is charging Timothy to protect.
viii. So what is the gospel? Paul will get to it next time in I Timothy – but for now – Christ came and died for sinners.
ix. Inherent in this expression is the realization that we are sinners… not because we sin, but that is who we are. That is our identity. But the good news there – is that Christ came to die for who?... Sinners!
x. That is why the law and its proper use is in accord with the gospel – because it proves first that man is a sinner. And later, after that same man has received mercy and grace from God through Christ, that same man is shown to be righteous because he lives in accordance with God’s desires, loves the law, and has it written on his heart.
b. [Slide 16] Passage Truth: Paul to Timothy reveals that the law and the gospel go hand in hand. They are one. The law reveals the sinfulness of the sinner – and Christ is the message of good news from God providing an answer for the sinner. Paul will dive headlong into that next time in I Timothy.
c. Passage Application: Paul’s clear point for Timothy is to use the law properly in conjunction with the glorious gospel of God.
d. [Slide 17] Broader Biblical Truth: Zooming out from this we see that this is true throughout the Old and New Testaments. The old testament whispers of a time when the law will be written on people’s hearts. When no one will need to be taught who God is – they will know Him. They will be His people and He will be their God. The New Testament reveals that mystery in that Christ has fulfilled the law and provided an alien righteousness whereby sinners can truly keep the law and be made righteous. And the first step to all of that is to realize the sinfulness of our sin.
e. Broader Biblical Application: And so we too ought to understand that the first part of the good news – is the bad news. Without preaching the bad news until someone understands – there is no hope for them to ever understand the good news. God’s grace illuminates the mind in regeneration to see clearly their guilt and shame for sin against a holy God and thus their powerlessness to ever appease Him. And once that is made plain – God will gift them repentance and faith to cry out to him for mercy and believe the gospel.
Transition:
[Slide 18(end)] So what can we learn from this? How should we live differently because of this?
Conclusion:
Well last week our conclusion was that the one arrow in our quiver, the one weapon in the arsenal of the church is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
What Paul adds in the text this morning is how to be proficient in wielding such a weapon. How to aim for the heart with such an arrow.
It all starts with the law.
Many in Christianity have rightly stated that we are free from the law – but they have wrongly implied that we are free from obeying the law. There can be nothing further from the truth.
God set Adam in the garden and gave a covenant to him. A covenant whereby Adam could obey and live or disobey and die. It was a covenant defined by Adam’s works. Adam failed. That covenant of works has not changed. The Mosaic Covenant – the law – is only a more detailed expression of the covenant of works. Mankind must be perfect as God is perfect.
Adam was our representative. Adam failed and doomed us all to walk in a covenant agreement whereby we have no way of keeping or fulfilling our end of the bargain. Therefore, the Mosaic law, is God’s way to illustrate this fact to the Israelites. They can’t keep it. They need a perfect sacrificial substitute.
When the scriptures declare that Christ did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. That is the sense of the word fulfill. It means that Christ held up the contractual obligations levied on mankind, which was to obey the whole law. Christ then became our perfect substitute and traded places with us by paying our penalty for failing that contract and giving us the eternal success in keeping that contract.
Therefore, we are no longer under the law, in that our only hope of salvation is to keep it perfectly. Why? Christ has done it for us. It is done. Completed. Instead we are under grace, in that God personally intercedes and brings us to life and appropriates a new covenant to us by faith in Christ’s work. We trust and depend on what Christ did – and are therefore accepted into that new covenant. And in that new covenant what do we do? We, by grace, keep the law.
Therefore – the first message of the gospel is… you are under the yoke of the law!
But the ongoing message of the gospel is… you are free in Christ to keep the law – specifically the law of Christ. To love God and one another.
My friends the law is not cast aside. The old testament does not need to be abridged or unhitched from our faith. Indeed, the old Testament is just as much the gospel as the new testament. That covenant of works – although producing only despair – is a necessary covenant for someone to understand if they ever hope to understand the covenant of grace.
Sinners need the law. And the righteous need grace.
And so the preaching of the law to the lawless ends with their doom and judgment until they show signs of regenerated understanding and seek mercy.
But the preaching of the law to the righteous does not end with doom but ends with hope that in Christ we do keep the whole law legally (justification) but also do continue to keep the law practically (sanctification). And one day we will only know a perfect law keeping existence (glorification). The covenant of grace continues, forevermore.
My friends may we be preachers of the complete gospel message.
To the unbeliever: the law to reveal the sinfulness of their sin. To the believer: grace to overcome the presence of sin.