First Timothy for the life..

Welcome to Cornerstone Reformed Baptist Church. Thank you for using and sharing our resources. What you're about to hear is God's Word from one of our teaching elders. We trust that God's Word will inspire, instruct, and bless you. For further teachings or information on our ministry, please visit us on our website at cornerstonerbc.

com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Good evening everyone and welcome to our Wednesday Bible study. So if you have your Bibles, would you please open them up to the first letter of the Apostle Paul to Timothy.

The first letter of the Apostle Paul to his disciple Timothy. And we are going to be reading, as we did last week, the whole first chapter. but we hope that by the grace of God this evening we can address the verses of a section of Scripture that is contained from verses 8 to 11. So let's pay special attention to how the Apostle moves and the transition of the Apostle from verse 7 to verse 8, reading the whole chapter. Just in a way that all of you are there.

First Timothy, the Apostle Paul writing to Timothy. This is the words of God. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope. To Timothy, my true child in the faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. as I urge you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith.

The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons by swerving from these have wandered away into vain discussions, desiring to be teachers of the law without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. Now, we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, for sexually immoral men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service.

Though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent, but I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief. and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the king of ages, immortal, invisible, the holy God, be honor and glory forever and ever.

Amen. This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, that they might learn not to blaspheme. That's the words of God, brothers and sisters. Amen.

Last week we started with a series of Bible studies and we said, We said that we have decided as a church to go through this letter of 1 Timothy because we consider that it's a very practical letter. We have addressed already the doctrinal foundation, the doctrines that belong to our identity as a Reformed Baptist church, and now we think that it is just following the model of the apostles and of the scripture, moving from doctrines and from theology onto practice. And the letter that we have here in front of us, as I said last week, is a very practical letter. This is, as I said last week, is a letter that was written by the Apostle Paul to Timothy, his disciple Timothy, a young man, probably 30-something years after the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle is writing this for this man.

And the purpose of this letter is to communicate to the Church these practical matters of the life of the Church. Now the apostle is writing this letter to Timothy but he knows that Timothy as the pastor or as the person who is in charge of the church at Ephesus that he's going to read this letter to the church of course. So the apostle knows that the ultimate audience of this letter is the church at Ephesus, and for that reason, he presents himself, as we said last week, as an apostle. Not that he needs to present himself as an apostle before Timothy, because Timothy knows him very well, but because he knows that Timothy is going to take this letter and is going to read it in the church. But not only that, the apostle is not only presenting himself as an apostle, he's also confirming the relationship that he has with Timothy, because he calls him not only a true child in the faith in verse 2, but he calls him my true child in the faith, and he's going to refer to him later in verse 20 as my child.

So Timothy is not that he has been begotten spiritually by the apostle Paul, that's not the case, but rather is that this speaks of the special relationship that Paul has with Timothy. Later on, we will know that Timothy was having some problems because he was a young man, and probably the apostle was transferring this apostolic authority onto Timothy. So then this letter that was going to be read by Timothy among the church was not only carrying the apostolic authority of of Paul, but also this assertion of the ministry of Timothy. Now, we said that this is, brothers, a very practical letter addressing the life of the Church, and therefore is very important for us. Here, in a sense, the Holy Spirit, through the Apostle, is not only teaching the Church on the things that they should do, which is related to practice, but it's also teaching the Church about the leaders, or about the pastors, or about the shepherds.

because Paul is writing to Timothy who is a shepherd of this church and in doing so the church will know the expectations of the apostle of Timothy as the person who is pastoring or shepherding that church. So the Church will have a clear perspective of not only how the Church has to operate, but how those who have been called, separated, called out to minister the Word of God and in prayer to the Church should be not only externally, but also internally. Very important. Because, as we said, the Church of Jesus Christ is edified upon Jesus Christ, the cornerstone and the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, but the Lord has defined a way in which the Church is edified, and that's through the preaching of the Word of God. And that's probably why he starts addressing the nature of other doctrine.

And I want to be very cautious with that, because the apostle does not call it false doctrine. He calls it other doctrine. And I think that the apostle is being gracious because the charge, as I said last week, that he's given to Timothy is not remove those people from among you, but rather exhort them not to teach those things. So there is grace in there in which he's at least giving the opportunity to these people to repent of these other doctrine that they are teaching and to come to healthy or sound doctrine, as he will refer to in verse nine in chapter number one. So now the apostle is giving this gracious.

Now, this is very important, beloved, what we said last week. And this is if you remember something from last week and if you're going to take something from this first chapter, is that nature of false doctrine, because false doctrine or let me just take that back. Other doctrine initially is that doctrine that is an external manifestation of something that happens inside of the person. Brothers and sisters, pay attention to what Apostle does. He says to Timothy.

As I urge you, when I was going to Macedonia, I was there, but now I was going to Macedonia, I urge you to stay there. Timothy, remain at Ephesus so you may charge certain people not to teach other doctrine and not to devote themselves to fables and myths and endless genealogies. This is what you have to do, Timothy. Please exhort these people not to teach this other doctrine and to devote themselves to these vain practices. And then he says to him that the purpose of this charge is love that is rooted in a pure heart.

He's speaking to the right prophet, to the right teacher. The purpose of this charge is love that is rooted in a pure heart, in a good conscience, in a sincere faith. And then he explained to us what is the nature of this false doctrine. From these things, the apostle says to Timothy, Beloved Timothy, from these things, these certain persons among the church who are actually teachers among the church and who probably have a place of preeminence within the church and who probably all of your brothers and sisters are acknowledging them as teachers. These people have deviated, have swerved away, have moved away from these things.

And because they have moved away from these things, they have fall into these vain conversations and these vain practices. And then he speaks to us about what is going on inside of their heart, desiring to be teachers of the law. In their hearts, there was no desire for God and for love, for spiritual love, for love or biblical love, love towards God. But rather there was a love to themselves, a self-love, desiring to be teachers of the law. This is what we said last week.

Now the Apostle is going to do something very important, because he is going to tell us that these people within the church that are teaching other doctrine, that they decide to be teachers of the law, but they do not understand the things that they say. They do not understand the things that they affirm about the law. So because they have moved away in their hearts from godly love, love towards God, spiritual love, because they have moved from the spiritual to the flesh that is to them, because of their idolatry that they have forsaken God and they have made for themselves broken cisterns that do not contain living water, because they have turned from the fountain of living water to themselves, they do not understand the things that they actually want to teach, the things that they desire to do, the things that are deeply in their souls, deeply in their hearts, the things that they want to do, they do not understand those things. Even when they make assertions with confidence and with authority in the way that they speak, they do not understand the things that they are speaking. And this is a warning.

a warning for the church. Because as I said to you, the apostle is not calling Timothy to direct to false teachers. He's giving grace here. He's saying, exhort them not to do so he's opening the possibility that these people might turn so this means that there might be there is a possibility that some of them could have turned we know from verses 20 that hymenaeus and alexander by the hand of the apostle paul they were excommunicated that were removed from the church but there may be this possibility if there is grace in the exhortation that is given so there might be the possibility that some of them might have torn So this is a warning for those who preach. This is a warning for the church, because we can move from spiritual love, from biblical love, to idolatrous love, to self, and therefore end up teaching the law of God in a wrong way.

So now the apostle is going to transit. He's going to move into his argument, and then in verse 8. He's going to compare now these teachers of other doctrine with the teachers of sound doctrine, as he says in verse 9 or 10. Teachers of this other doctrine that is different to the apostolic doctrine that is good and that is healthy and that is sound. And he starts by saying something very important that tells us the difference.

He says, now We know. That's what he says in verse 8. Now we know. We were speaking about them, those who went away from love, from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. We were speaking about them.

But now we, Timothy, you and I, those who have been called by God to minister to the church, those who are teaching true doctrine and the doctrine that is of God. Now we know they don't know. They do not understand. But we know that the law is good. So the apostle is going to correct the view of the role of the law for New Testament believers.

These false teachers were not teaching the law of God according to godliness, according to that which is written because of their hearts, because of what was going on inside of them. Now, the apostle is going to give us the other side of that coin, and he's going to tell us that which the law really is. And the first thing that he starts saying is that he knows. And not only that, but in verse 10 or in verse 9, he says, understanding. Now we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully.

And then he starts verse nine saying, understanding, understanding false teachers do not know, nor they understand. Now, beloved, what the apostle is going to do, and this is very important. I'm going to try to keep it as simple as my words allow. But what the apostle is going to do here is that he's going to teach the church so they can compare false doctrine against good doctrine or other doctrine against sound doctrine, the use of the law for New Testament believers or in the New Testament or in the New Covenant. He says, now we know that the law is good in verse 8 if one uses it lawfully understanding this that the law is not laid down or that means established for the just beloved he says we the true teachers know that the law is good probably these fools or these teachers who were teaching other doctrines, when they were teaching about the law, they were teaching it in such a way that was wrong that people were concluding that the law was not good.

But now Paul says, we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. So there is a sense in which the law can be used in an unlawful way that it is not what it was meant to be for the church. And this is what these other teachers were doing. Now, it's very interesting what the apostle does, that the law is used lawfully. that the law of God is good if one uses it according to the law.

And now I know that what the apostle is going to do is that he's going to teach us about the use of the law for the New Testament people, because he says that the law has not been established or laid down for the unjust or for the just, but for the unjust. Read it with your eyes in verse nine. It says, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just, but for the lawless and disobedient. And then he continues there. So he says that the law is not established for the just or for the righteous.

Think about that, brothers and sisters. Think about that. What does the Bible say about someone being just or someone being righteous? that there is no one, that there is no one righteous, that there is no one just. So he says, understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just.

So that means that it's laid down for the unrighteous. This is New Testament categories because it is by faith that a person receives the righteousness of Christ and that person becomes just or righteous. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes for the Jew first and also for the Greek for in the gospel or in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written the just or the righteous shall live by faith. So the category of being righteous and the category of being unrighteous is one of having or not having faith in Christ. So what the apostle is saying is that the law is for those who are faithless or who are empty of salvific faith.

So this is a category that is applied to New Testament categories or New Covenant categories. And now he says, beloved, that the law was established. for this unjust person. The Apostle is going to do something very interesting there, and there is a sense in which we could spend much time in what he is going to do, but because I know that you like going through every single word, I want you to see what the Apostle does there. It's very interesting.

He's going to give us 10 different categories of unrighteousness. So he says, we know that the law is good if we use it lawfully, understanding that the law was established for the unrighteous, not for the just, not for the righteous, but it was given, it was established for the unrighteous. And now he's going to give us 10 different categories of these unrighteous people or these unrighteous or this unrighteousness. First of all, he's going to give us three categories that are categories of unrighteousness that are directed towards God directly. And then he's going to give us seven other categories of unrighteousness that seem to be directed towards people.

And then when pastors and theologians and commenters are trying to understand this person of Scripture, they would say that probably what the Apostle is trying to do is that in these first three categories of unrighteousness that are directed towards God, that the Apostle is referencing the tablets of stone, the Ten Commandments and the first tablet, which was related to God. And then when he moves into the other seven categories of unrighteousness, which are related to people, that the Apostle has in his mind the second tablet of stone, in which they contain also the Ten Commandments. Pay attention to what he does. First three categories, he's going to speak of this unrighteousness by saying, the law is not established, it's not laid down for the just, but he's going to give us the condition of someone and then the outcome of that condition. The condition of someone and then the outcome of that condition.

The first condition is the lawless. or the one without law. And the outcome of that, he puts it with and disobedient. That is one lawless and disobedient. Then he moves on to a second category against towards God, the ungodly and sinner.

Again, a category of unrighteousness from men towards God. Then he moves on to the third category for the unholy and profane. And then after that, he moves into these categories that seem to be of those unrighteous acts that we commit against those people who are around us. He starts saying, for those who strike their fathers and their mothers, that means for those who kill their fathers and their mothers. In Spanish, we have a very strong word that speaks of killers of fathers or killers of mothers, and then murderers.

the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, and perjurers. But beloved, you know, we could, as I said, there is a sense in which we could spend much time in those categories and go through that which the commentator says that there are these two different categories, one of unrighteousness towards God in these first three categories, and then also unrighteousness towards people. I don't think that the Apostle is given an exhaustive list of unrighteous acts just simply because of what he says in the end. He's going to give us the principle of this unrighteousness and the principle that will help us to understand the purpose of the law for the New Testament Church. He says, after listing all of these things, he says, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine.

He's not giving an exhaustive list of things because he says, and whatever else, rather, the apostle is giving us the criteria by which New Testament believers define the principles of unrighteousness that helps us to define the goodness of the law. And then he says that that principle is that which is contrary to some doctrine, but more importantly, he's going to say, in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. Beloved, this is crucial and this is very important. Look. Throughout history, from the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ, when the Lord Jesus Christ was taken up in glory, the church started to have a battle understanding the line that defines or the line that separates the law and grace.

This is not something that happened in church history just in the 15th or in the 16th century, but rather this is after the Lord Jesus Christ was ascended, the church started in a battle to understand the difference between the law and grace, or if you want to put it, the law and the gospel. When you go and read the Apostle Paul, you will see that most of his writings are addressing the nature of the law and that in relation to the gospel. The apostle has given us here a very important principle, brothers and sisters, pay attention please, that helps us to understand, that helps us to understand the use of the law in the New Testament. And that is that righteousness or unrighteousness is defined by the gospel himself or the gospel itself. The Apostle Paul says in Romans that the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So the way that we are going to understand the law and how the law is applied to the church is always in light of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we need to understand what the Law is, so then by understanding what the Law is, brothers and sisters, we will be able to understand what the Law accomplishes in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Law is just simply, beloved, those regulations that define the relationship between two entities. They can happen naturally or they can happen just by the will of one person. Think about this.

When a parent has a child, naturally that child enters into a relationship of obedience with the parent or with the father, with the mother. I didn't have to sign a letter with Sophie to tell her you have to obey me. That naturally happens. She is my daughter, so there is a natural relationship of obedience. But as she grows up, there's going to be some regulations or some standards that I will have to set in place so that she knows that this is the way that she has to behave in light of the relationship that she has to me as her father.

So the law are those regulations that define, sometimes naturally and organically, and sometimes out of the will of one of the parties, how the relationship between those two entities is going to operate. The law of God is precisely that, brothers and sisters. When God created man, naturally a relationship of obedience appeared and started, just because he's a creature and a creator. And then as time progressed, God started to give regulations to the creatures so the creature will know how they had to work and operate. The law was initially given to the heart of Adam, but also the Lord said, do not eat of the fruit of that tree of knowledge of good and evil, because the day that you eat of it, certainly you will die.

This was initially the law given to humans. But then as time progressed and when we reach to Abraham, if you remember from Genesis, he's given circumcision. If you do not circumcise the children, you will not belong or they will not enter the covenant. And then some years after that to Moses, the Ten Commandments and all the ceremonial law is given. This law, brothers and sisters, defines the relationship of one entity.

This is God, the creator. and the creatures. These regulations define how they are going to relate. What I'm saying to you is that it's only in the gospel, that it's only in the good news of Jesus Christ, that we are going to understand how We, as the Church of Christ, once we have been saved by grace through faith, are to relate to that law. Because the Apostle is saying that the purpose of this law is for the unrighteous.

So how is it that the law was established or was laid down for the unrighteous? Remember that the unrighteous is the one who has no faith. The unrighteous is the one who is outside of Christ. So what is the purpose of the law or why was the law established for the unrighteous? So go to Romans, please.

Go to Romans chapter 2, because the same apostle is going to give us, because the same apostle is going to give us in Romans chapter 2, the purpose of this law. I said chapter 2? Sorry, chapter 3. Chapter 3. Verse 19 and 20.

So we're trying to answer this question, brothers and sisters. Paul is saying to Timothy that the law is good. if one uses it lawfully, understanding that the law was established for the unrighteous. So how was the law established for the unrighteous? I said to you that we understand this in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And the apostle is going to answer that question here. Now, verse 19, chapter 3. Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law. So the unrighteous, the one who is faithless, the one who is outside of Christ, is someone who is under the law. Because the apostle will say in Romans 6 that we are not under the law, but we are under grace.

Now, so the law, whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God. Now, pay attention to this. For by works of the law, no human being by works of the law, no human being will be justified in the sight of God and in his sight. Since through the law comes knowledge of sin. Love it.

Those who are outside of Jesus Christ will never come to an understanding of their sin if it's not by the law either. The written work of the law in their beings or the law that is preached and it is communicated. The law brings knowledge of sin. And when knowledge of sin comes to a person, there is the need of a savior. When knowledge of sin comes for a person, immediately there is the need of someone who is going to pay the outcome of sin, which is death.

The wages of sin is death. And if a person by the law comes to an understanding of their sin, then they will come to an understanding that their sin deserves death. And when the reality of death strikes the heart of a person, the need of a savior arises. And then how are we going to be saved? Those people said to Peter, and then they said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, because then he is the one that fulfills the requirements of the law, beloved.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is that which reveals the righteousness of God. It is in the gospel that the justifier is just when he justifies the ungodly. The ungodly is made just, just because the righteousness of Christ is given to that person by faith. It is when the law brings this knowledge of our sin and this sin brings an understanding of the death that we deserve, that the need of a savior arises. But please go to first Corinthians chapter 15.

I want to mention another point that I think is very important for us to comprehend. While the apostle is not implicitly saying here, he has said it somewhere else. And I think it's very important for us to see this. In chapter 15 in 1 Corinthians, the apostle is going to give us something very important of the nature of the law and the use of that law in the New Testament. If you go to chapter 15 and then go to verse 54, it says, When the perishable puts on the imperishable, the apostles is speaking, brothers and sisters of the glory of the Christian.

When the last day comes, when we are made like Jesus Christ, where we taken up in heaven, the glorification of the Christian. And then he says, when the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the same that is written. Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting?

Now pay attention to what Apostle is going to say here. Verse 56. The sting of death is sin. The sting of death is sin. And now he's going to give us another category.

And the power of that sin, which is the sting of death, is the law. Brothers, this same apostle somewhere else in Romans 7 says that the law is holy, that the law is good. Here in 1 Timothy, right into Timothy, he says that the law is good if someone uses it lawfully according to the law. And then he says here that the law, this law that is holy, this law that is good, this law that is of God, this law that represents the righteousness of God revealed to a creature as a standard of how to regulate that relationship, that that law is the power of sin. So that which is evil finds in something that is holy and something that is good its power.

How are we going to understand that? Something that is evil, something that is opposite to God, finds in something that is good and holy and of God its power. And as I said to you, the church throughout the history, not only extra biblical church history, but biblical church history through the New Testament, the church has been always in this battle of understanding the role of the law in the life of the Christian and the life of the unbeliever. Now, beloved, pay attention to this. This is an illustration that I gave.

I'm not very good giving illustrations, but this is an illustration that I gave to Pedro and once to Sam when we were going to do our Bible study at Faith Church. explaining the role of the law. And if you can pay attention to this, imagine that Adam is in the garden and he has given he God has given him this mission to protect and to keep the garden. So God comes to Adam and he has this mission to protect and to keep the garden in obedience to God. He is going to give him a sword and that sword is the law.

This is the law that he has to follow and that he's going to use to keep and to protect the garden that is the abiding place of God in communion with Adam or with this gardener of our illustration. Now, he has the sword in his hand, and this is the law of God. The way that he keeps and that he protects the garden is not with the sword, but rather with the power that is inside of him. The sword without the hand of Adam will not accomplish that, which was the purpose that was given to Adam. But it's rather when Adam takes the sword in his hand that he can keep and protect the garden.

This is the commandment, this is the law that was given to him. Now, he was called to keep it and to protect it. Not only to keep it nice and to do all the gardening in the garden, but also to protect it from outsiders. Then there is an enemy that is coming into that garden, and that enemy is sin. He's a person, he's a monster that comes into that garden and Adam was supposed to use that sword, which was the law of God, the obedience of the commandment of God, to destroy that monster that was coming into that particular garden or into the abiding place.

He was supposed to use the sword and to put him to death and to destroy him. But rather he decides to give the sword to this monster that is called Sin because he disobeyed Romans 5, 12. Sin entered into the world through the disobedience of one man. And then when Sin grabs or takes the sword that belonged to Adam, what he does is that he strikes. Strikes is what you say?

He strikes him and he kills him. So now, because of the disobedience of Adam in giving him the sword to this monster that is called Sin, death has entered into the garden, not only into the garden, but into this person, Adam, who is now death. And now being death, Sin has the power that once was his and that belonged to God. Now the sword remains being good and holy because he's God's. Because he's divine, it belonged to him.

But now this monster that is seen contains and holds that sword. And it has not only killed Adam, who is on the ground, and is not able to keep and to protect the God anymore, but he continues pushing and striking and hitting Adam on the ground. Then comes the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ comes to destroy the evil works of the devil. Christ Jesus comes with the same sword.

He fulfills all of the requirements of obedience and not only all of the requirements of obedience, but all the requirements that God had given him from eternity past. And he destroys this monster that is called sin. And he now takes beloved the sword that belonged to sin, gives his life to Adam or to the person who is on the ground. And then once this person has been resurrected by the life of Christ, he gives the sword back to him. So just as when in the garden the sword was not that which protected the person, or Adam, but rather was the life that Adam had, now for the Christian, it's not the law that which keeps him alive, but the life that he has inside of him, and that is the life of Jesus Christ.

Now the life that we have of Christ is different to the life of Adam, because Adam could die. but the life of Christ is eternal. So brothers and sisters, now this person, this Adam who was supposed to keep the garden has in his hand the sword of the law not in order to accomplish life because life has already been given to him but rather to continue extending the garden of the Savior who gave him life So the law is not the means by which life is given, but the law is the means by which this governor becomes like his Savior and accomplishes the work that his Savior has given him. So the Apostle says, Timothy, the purpose of the law, or the law was not established for the just, The law was established for the unrighteous, because when the unrighteous comes to the knowledge of their sins through the law, they see the need of a Savior. The Apostle is not saying that the law is useless for the Christian.

He's not saying that we don't have any relation to the law. He's saying that the law was established because of sin. Sin entered the world through the disobedience of one man. And then Galatians 3.19 will say that because of the transgression of men, The mosaic law was given so that by the mosaic law, the offspring or the people of Israel will be preserved.

And Jesus Christ, who was the Messiah, would be born in the midst of those people. The law was given because of sin and because of the possibility of disobedience. But once the Christian who has been truly saved has in his hand the sword, this holy, perfect and good sword of the law of God, Just as the psalmist will say, Lord, I love thy law. Lord, I love your statutes. Love your commandments are the meditation of my heart.

I delight in your statutes. Why? Not because the sword is that which gives me life, but by keeping the law in my hand, the sword in my hand, I showed the love that I had for the one who gave me life. If you love me, you keep my commandments. If you love me, you have been given life, Christ's life.

And if you have been given Christ's life, you have been given the sword of the law so that you can keep it manifesting the love that you have towards your Savior. It is not that by using the law you obtain life. It is that you use the sword because you have been given life. So then these acts are source are rooted in love towards Jesus Christ. And the faith that we have is a faith that uses that sword in order to be like the Lord Jesus Christ.

It's like one preacher says, which commandment do you hate that you hate the law so much? Because there are some people who hate the law of God and who preach against the law of God. Which one of the commandments of God you hate that you don't want to keep? Which one of the commandments or the statutes of God is the one that disgusts you so much that you want to get rid of the law? The Bible speaks that the law of God is pure and is perfect and is holy.

It's only the heart of the newborn person or the born again person, the one that really loves and desires the commandments of God. Because The righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel. And righteousness is defined by that which corresponds to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We cannot understand any doctrine in the Bible apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is a very good technique of consistency of our understanding.

That which is according to South doctrine is that which is in accordance to the gospel, the glorious gospel of this blessed God that was entrusted to the apostle Paul, given to Timothy, given to the church and also given to us. Now, brothers and sisters, we have been given and this is very important. We have been given a life that naturally will love the commandments of our Savior. By keeping the commandments of our Savior, we become more like Him. The law purifies us, not in a righteousness, but makes us more like Him.

So just as we love God, we are to love the law of the God, because that's a manifestation of the life that is within us. Okay? Amen?