The Law of the Lord is perfe..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Hello, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. It's very much a privilege to be back in this pulpit once again, sharing the word of the Lord.

It is always a pleasure to study God's word, and it's an extra pleasure to have the opportunity to share the fruits of that study with the church, so I am very glad to be here. Those of you who heard me last time may recall that we studied the first portion of Psalm 19, so that is where we will turn today. Last time we considered the revelation of God's glory in the heavens, and today I'd like to take us back and consider the second section of the psalm, which is reflecting on the goodness and perfections of God's law. In particular today, I want to consider the first part of verse 7, which reads, So I want to start by reading the whole psalm, and then I will say a word of prayer. So please open your Bible to the 19th psalm if you would like to read along.

This is God's holy and inerrant word. To the choir master, a psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words whose voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber, And like a strong man runs its course with joy. Its rising is from the end of the heavens and its circuit to the end of them. There is nothing hidden from its heat. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.

The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring, forever. The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover by them is your servant warned. In keeping them there is a great reward. Who can discern his errors?

Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then shall I be blameless and innocent of great transgression, that the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. Amen.

So today I want to speak about the law of the Lord, and I'm sure as you could gather from the reading, you could tell that Psalm 19 as a whole is a reflection on God's gracious revelation of himself to us. Psalm 19 is this glorious revelation of God spoken through David, his servant, reflecting on just how great and glorious this revelation of God is to us, because God is so far above us and beyond us, infinitely great and glorious, beyond all human comprehension, and we ourselves are by nature estranged from him, in rebellion against him, and yet he condescends to reveal himself to us. So Psalm 19 highlights two different ways in which he does this. Last time we considered how the heavens declare God's glory, and this is an example of what is called general revelation. In creation, God reveals himself with unmistakable clarity to the ends of the earth, leaving each and every one of us without excuse for our sin and unbelief.

We also saw that while we can know something about God and our sinful condition from general revelation, apart from his grace, we will inevitably reject that knowledge. General revelation on its own does not reveal the gospel and cannot lead us to a saving knowledge of God. That is where I emphasize the need for the second mode of revelation, which is special revelation. Only by special revelation can we come to know about the Lord Jesus and the good news of his life, death, and resurrection for sinners. And that brings us to the second part of Psalm 19, which extends from verse 7 to verse 11.

Here David turns from his contemplation of the heavens, which is general revelation, to the contemplation of the supernaturally revealed law of God, which is an example of special revelation. Here he proclaims the perfections and the soul-transforming power of this revelation. David shows that the special revelation of God is a treasure of immense value for the spiritual life. And we find that in talking about this revelation, David parallels several distinct but closely related terms. He talks about the law, the testimony, the precepts, the commandment, fear, and rules of the Lord.

With each one of these terms, he also gives us a superlative. It is perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, and true. He then further pairs to each term a spiritual function. It revives the soul. It makes wise the simple.

It rejoices the heart, enlightens the eyes, and so on. So this is a rich and profound passage with some important implications. And so to just introduce the topic today, I want to just take a small portion in verse 7. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. And I want to consider three things today.

First, I want to determine what David means by the law of the Lord here in Psalm 19. And then we will consider the perfection of this law, its nature and its purpose. Finally, I want to consider how we can understand that the law revives the soul. So what does David mean when he uses these words like law, testimony, precepts, and commandments? Well, one of the challenges with biblical interpretation is that certain words can have different meanings in different contexts, and this is especially true of a word like the law.

So if we're not careful, we can get ourselves badly confused, and so I want to be very careful answering this question. Now, I don't want to pretend to know much about the biblical languages, but most of us would have already heard of the Hebrew word Torah. This is usually translated law in English, but in its most fundamental sense, it means instruction or teaching. So you can see how this word could be used in a very broad sense. And some very competent and sound commentators have understood the law in Psalm 19 in this very broad sense.

They might identify the law to be any teaching from God or the scriptures considered as a whole. But as I surveyed the use of the word Torah in the Old Testament, I was unconvinced that we could be quite so general in this context. Now, the word is used to refer to many different things in the Old Testament. Sometimes it's used of one specific rule. Leviticus has a lot of phrases like, this is the law of the Lord of, and then it describes something in particular.

Sometimes it could be used to refer to human instructions or customs, called Torah sometimes. And often it refers to the whole system of God's laws. In particular, Torah often refers to the system of rules and teachings given by God through Moses. that constitute the Mosaic covenant. And I think it's this latter meeting that is the Mosaic law that is in view here in Psalm 19.

So there are a few reasons why we should think this. First of all, from the context, we can clearly rule out any human instructions. This is of the Lord, as well as any one specific rule. We're not clarified or specified any further, so we are speaking of the law of the Lord in general. We also have the other words used in this passage in parallel.

Testimony, precepts, commandment, and rules. Some of these terms can be used more broadly than others, but the overall idea of one of divine imperatives. Instruction for a person is to live rightly before God. And this is also seen in verse 11. It reads, Moreover, by them is your servant warned.

In keeping them there is great reward." The language of warning and keeping clearly points to the idea of imperatives concerning one's conduct that have consequences attached for obedience or disobedience. So if you want further support for this view, I want you to consider this passage in verse 1 to verse 2 or verse 3 from 1 Kings chapter 2. So I want to read from verse 1 here. So it reads like this.

When David's time to draw to die drew near, he commanded Solomon, his son, saying, I'm about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong and show yourself a man and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules and his testimonies, as is written in the law of Moses. that you may prosper in all that you do and whenever you turn." So this is a particularly relevant passage because this is David himself speaking, the author of our psalm. He uses many of the exact words that he uses in Psalm 19.

Commandments, rules, testimonies. And he identifies these things as being contained in the law of Moses. The law is the overarching category, the total body of teaching, commandments that are given by God to the people of Israel through Moses. These are the things that Solomon was meant to keep, and so receive the blessings promised by obedience to the covenant. I also want to point out the law is scripture, even though scripture, not all scripture is law.

Throughout the Old Testament, you'll find phrases like the book of the law or something will be said to be written in the law of Moses. So the word Torah is identified with the books of scripture that contain the Torah or the stipulations of the old covenant. In Deuteronomy, we read that Moses writes down this law and commands that this writings, which is called the law, be read to the people at certain times. And indeed, the books of Moses were the foundational and most central part of Scripture for the Old Covenant believer. That would certainly be the case in David's time when the vast majority of what we know today as the Old Testament had not yet been written.

So when David wants to reflect on special revelation, his mind is naturally going to be turned to the books of the law. So while law might not necessarily be synonymous with scripture in Psalm 19, scripture is the medium through which God's law is revealed and preserved for his people. So my conclusion is that David probably has a slightly narrower understanding of the law in mind as he writes Psalm 19. He's thinking of the scriptures, yes, but particularly the books of Moses as a covenantal document, outlining stipulations, teachings, and ceremonies of the Mosaic covenant. This is God's special revelation concerning the way that he would have his chosen people live in his presence.

But taking this view does leave me with at least an apparent dilemma, because I think many of us would feel at least a tension between what David says here about the law and what the New Testament speaks about the law. We're told that it's a ministry of death. So how would we make sense of David's delight and passion for God's law? We also have to think theologically. One crucial element of the Reformation was the assertion of a clear law-gospel distinction.

Law was just anything, not necessarily the Mosaic law, but anything that God demands that we do. Gospel, on the other hand, is what God has done for us. To blur the line between the two is a serious error, with spiritual consequences that are quite dire, as we see among the Roman Catholics, for example. So I do want to vigorously uphold this law-gospel distinction, while also not making a law-gospel separation, which is another common error. So for now, I just want to observe that, as Christians, we need to be very clear about our relationship to God's law, and Old Testament revelation in general.

All of this is scripture for us, all of this is the word of God, but we're also not under the Mosaic covenant. We want to affirm the goodness of the law in God's revelation without confusing it with the gospel. So we'll consider these things as we discuss this text. But now that we have a little more insight into what's being described in this psalm under the word Torah, we'll turn back to this passage. So this is the first part of verse seven.

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. So we're told that this law, this covenantal revelation of God's will for his people, is two things. It is one, of the Lord, and two, perfect. And these two things are directly related. The first thing we want to notice is this use of the divine name, Lord, in capital letters in most English translations, representing the name Yahweh.

This is the name that God uses for himself in Exodus chapter 3, where he identifies himself to Moses as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is the first time we see this name used in Psalm 19, and so I think that is quite significant. We've already established that in the first six verses, we were dealing with the revelation of God that is broadcast to everyone. The world knows God as creator through general revelation. His glory, power, and divinity are clearly revealed and clearly perceived by man.

We call it general revelation because it's for a general audience, but it's also general in its content. We don't learn a lot of specific details about God and his relationship with mankind through creation alone, only through special revelation that we are able to know God as Redeemer, the God who makes covenant and keeps covenant with his people, God's own chosen people who were given the law, have the fuller, more personal understanding of who God is, and they know him as Yahweh. So in this passage, David begins by clearly identifying whose law it is that he's talking about. Yes, this is the law of the God who made the heavens and the earth, the God whose glory is revealed in the heavens, but is also the God who made covenant with Abraham. This is a God who redeemed his people from Egypt and gave them this law through Moses.

This is a God This God, who is the God of general revelation, is now identified with the God of Israel. So this use of the divine name, I think, marks this transition from general revelation to now considering special revelation. So this identity of this God who revealed this law as the Lord, as Yahweh, this is crucial for understanding what this law is. The nature of the lawgiver determines the nature of the law. David tells us, the law of the Lord is perfect.

Perfection is a direct result and necessary consequence of being of the Lord. The law is from the Lord and belongs to the Lord. And because the Lord himself is perfect, all that he does is going to be perfect. Let's briefly consider this word, perfect. The basic concept is wholeness and completeness.

The law then is complete. It contains all that is needed for the fulfillment of God's purposes for it. It is without any lack or defect. And we know that nothing that the law does fails in its purpose. Isaiah tells us that God's word will not return to him void.

God's word will accomplish its purpose. So when God gives his law to Israel, it must of necessity bear all the marks of coming from him. That is perfection. But let's consider further the nature of this perfect law. It is from God, but what does that mean?

And what is it grounded? And what is it for? Well, we said that David probably has the whole Mosaic law in mind as he writes Psalm 19. But let's begin at the beginning, before Moses, and consider this concept of law in principle. I began last time by talking about the order of creation and how we can discern certain physical laws, so to speak, that govern how the universe operates.

So apart from anything else we know about God, it should not be surprising to us that the God who imposes law and order on inanimate creation should give law also to mankind. This is a conviction that is a direct implication of the doctrine of creation. God makes the world and everything in it with purpose, and that includes us. As human beings, we were created for a purpose or end, the chiefest of which is to glorify God and enjoy him forever, as the Westminster Shorter Catechism so memorably puts it. The scripture says, all things were created through him and for him.

That's Colossians 1, verse 16, him referring specifically to the second person of the Trinity. We were made for God and indeed God's son. And this purpose is embedded in our very natures. On a very basic level then, what's good to do is what tends to the fulfillment of God's purpose in us, which is to say, glorify him. And what that is good because it's grounded in God's perfect character.

As his creatures, we are subject to him, and he has absolute right to require of us whatever his righteous will demands. You'll hear pagans and blasphemers out in the world call God a tyrant for imposing law on mankind, but that's simply a mistake. It's a mistake of thinking of God as just a big powerful version of us. A human tyrant is bad because no human being has ever been given absolute authority over his fellow man. A human tyrant is a usurper claiming what does not belong to him.

But God is not a man. He is our creator. He is the deepest and most fundamental of all realities. He is the reality that makes all things real. He is the truth that makes all truth true.

He is goodness itself. This means that God's rule cannot be arbitrary or wicked by definition. When man works for man's glory, that is wrong because that is not his purpose. He is made to glorify another. But when God glorifies himself, it is right, because God is the highest good there is.

God's laws show us how we might most glorify him. And because God himself is our highest good, and because our very nature is ordered toward glorifying God and enjoying him forever, God's laws are for our ultimate good as well. So at this stage, in thinking about the nature of God's law, I think it's important that we can distinguish between two different types of law. Moral law and positive law. This distinction comes from the fact that there are some commands of God that function as an unchanging moral standard, applicable to all times and all places.

And there are some commands that are tied to a particular individual, situation, or covenant, that are not necessarily abiding on everyone. Yes. So what's also the other thing that I wanted to point out about the positive law is that God can change it as he pleases, so that's important. So I want to make this distinction, and I think this distinction is important, because if we don't understand why there's a difference, we might think God is being arbitrary when some laws are changed and others are not. The truth is that not all God's laws are of exactly the same nature.

See, the moral law is that which flows from God's unchanging righteous character and his intention in the created order. These are those laws that are true and right in every possible world under any conceivable scenario because they are grounded in God himself. Positive law, on the other hand, is law that is made in addition to the moral law. It is consistent with the moral law. It is good and holy because it is from God, but it's not in and of itself necessitated by God's character or the nature of created things.

That is, it is not in itself a moral requirement. At the same time, positive law does demand obedience by virtue of the authority of the one who gave the law. Now, human laws usually work in exactly this way. Let's consider an example. So parents will make certain rules for their children, such as bedtime is 7 p.

m. It's not an absolute moral requirement that children be in bed by 7, but parents make a prudential judgment that it would be good for the ordering of the household and the well-being of the kids that 7pm would be an appropriate time to set. Notice that the children are morally obligated to submit to the rule, not because the rule is a moral requirement in and of itself, but because they are morally obligated to obey their parents. God's positive laws work in a similar way. In his perfect wisdom, he may give an additional law designed to serve a particular limited purpose.

Any positive law that God makes, if we are subject to that law, is just as binding on us as any intrinsically moral law is. But we understand that God may change or revoke those laws without denying his own character. So with these categories in mind, we can consider how God's law is manifest in history. Let's start with creation. God makes a good world.

He places his own image in the world, man and woman, made in his image to charge with taking dominion over the earth as stewards of God's creation. Man is made upright. He is without sin, without any need for externally imposed rules, but God's righteous requirements are written on his heart. This is the moral law of God. This is a law that applies to all of us by virtue of creation.

And even after the fall, we retained some sense of this moral law. Recall Romans chapter 2, Paul talks about the Gentiles who do not have the law, that is, they do not have the law of Moses, given by special revelation. And yet, this is what verses 14 and 15 say. When Gentiles who do not have the law by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, or their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting views or even excuse.

So there is a work of the law that is known apart from the mosaic law. I think this work of the law, this phrase, is best understood to mean the work that the law requires. By nature we have in our hearts a sense of what we ought to do and what we ought not to do, and our consciences bear witness to us whether what we do is good or bad. But let's think back to the garden before the fall. Adam has the moral law, but in addition to this, God gave Adam another law, a law not to eat of the fruit of a particular tree in the garden.

This is an example of positive law. There may not have been anything inherently wrong with eating that fruit or even knowing good and evil, which is what the tree was meant to do, but to eat of the tree was wrong for Adam because God had forbidden it. And what we see is that Adam's relationship with God was conditioned on his perfect obedience. God's perfect justice and righteous character demands that that would be so. Obey and live, disobey and die.

Essentially a covenant between God and Adam. Adam standing his head and representative of all his posterity. And as we know Adam... He broke the covenant, and in him with our covenant head we sinned too. In Adam we were all expelled from the garden, cut off from fellowship with God.

Our natures now corrupt and under God's curse. We are all by nature now, children of wrath, under the curse of God's law. Now, this is true for each and every one of us, Jew or Gentile, whether we have ever heard of God's revealed law or not. We are under Adam's condemnation, first of all, and on top of that, we transgress against our own consciences. We have natural obligations to God and to our fellow man that we fail to understand, and for that, we are rightly judged.

So even apart from the law as such, apart from the law of Moses, we will all stand guilty before God. So that brings us to the Mosaic law itself. God delivers the nation of Israel, his chosen people from slavery in Egypt, and he enters into covenant with them and gives them this law. The Mosaic law This is a system, the Mosaic law is a system that is to define how God's people are to relate to him and have fellowship with him in his presence. It is in many ways a gracious covenant.

God pours out love and blessings on an undeserving people. The covenant makes provision for dealing with sin. But like the law in the garden, this law sets forth life and death. There are blessings for obedience to the covenant and there are curses for breaking the covenant. So as to the content of this law, at its core is God's universal moral requirements.

The mosaic law is meant to reveal God's holy character to his people. They are to be holy as he is holy. The law shows us what this is meant to look like. In sum, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. That's how our Lord summarizes the whole law and the prophets.

Thus the moral substance of the Mosaic law is identical with the law that is revealed in the created order and the conscience of man, but revealed with greater clarity and purity and force. But the Mosaic law also contains positive law. Traditionally this has been divided into civil law and ceremonial law. I will admit that this distinction is somewhat controversial today, maybe you don't agree with it, but The concern of the critics of this categorization is that the biblical writers never explicitly delineate these categories for us. And it is certainly true that we have to be cautious not to artificially impose our theological categories onto a passage of scripture that may not be using those categories.

But I am convinced that these are logically valid and helpful distinctions. So I do want to explain them briefly. What's most important, though, whether you agree with that exact categorization or not, is that the Mosaic law contains elements that are clearly universal in nature, able to bind the conscience of anyone at any time, and some elements that serve a particular purpose in the Mosaic covenant. What we call civil or judicial laws are those that are tied to the practical governance of the nation of Israel. These often take the form of specific applications of moral principles for Israel in its unique context.

The ceremonial laws are those that govern the system of old covenant worship, distinguish Israel from the nations, they concern the priests, the sacrifices, holy days, clean and unclean, and so on. So that's the content of the law, but now we have to ask, what is it for? What does it do? Well, the scriptures tell us that the law has several functions. One thing that it does is reveal sin.

Romans chapter 3 verse 20 says this, So first of all, we have this denial. The law can by no means justify a man before God. That's because we're all sinners and what the law does is reveal our sin. Man's conscience is fallible. It can become seared and calloused, but the law is an infallible revelation of God's will, God's perfect standard of righteousness.

The law is like a perfectly polished mirror reflecting back at us who we are in all its horrifying detail. And not only that, but the law also increases sin. In Romans chapter 5 verse 20, Paul says, Now the law came in to increase the trespass. In chapter 7, Paul makes clear that this is not because there's anything wrong with the law. It's the law's sin, he says, by no means.

The law is good, but the law reveals sin, and this means that it gives opportunity for our sinful natures to act. God says, don't do that, that's wrong. But our hearts say, well, now that you mention it, I actually really want to do that. So that makes it so much worse. Now we're not just rebelling against our consciences, but knowingly sinning against the explicit commandment of God.

But next, the law also condemns sin. It doesn't just show us that we're sinners, but it puts us under a curse. It condemns us. This is what it says in Deuteronomy 27, verse 26. Again, this is not for any defect in the law.

Our condemnation is good and right and just. God's perfect law condemns us perfectly. But that's not good news for us. If the law reveals sin, exacerbates sin, and condemns sin, the law for us is a ministry of death, as Paul calls it in 2 Corinthians. So at this point, we might be wondering, well, how can David be so positive about the law in Psalm 19?

How can the law revive the soul if it's meant to condemn us? Well, that's because I haven't told you quite the whole story. We're missing a few pieces. Paul tells us something else about the law in Galatians chapter 3. Let's read from verse 21.

You can turn there if you would like to read along. So this is Galatians chapter 3 verse 21 and I'll read from verse 26. So that's Galatians chapter 3 and we'll read from verse 21. Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not.

For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. But the scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. Verse 25.

But now that faith has come, We are no longer under a guardian. For in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith. So there are a few important points here, at least relevant to our discussion. So once again, the law was never meant to give life in and of itself. For sinners, there is no chance to become righteous by works of the law.

The law was given to Israel as a guardian or a schoolmaster to prepare his people for the coming Messiah. God gave this law to instruct his people of their sinful natures and restrain their sinful ways by threat of external punishment. By it, he imprisoned them under sin. Life under the old covenant was a daily reminder of sin. Think of the huge volumes of animal blood that was shed before the temple, a visceral reminder to people of just what their sins deserve.

But notice what else it does. By holding Israel captive under the law, God shows them that they need to be set free. By Doing this, it reveals their need of a saviour. And because it's the law itself that holds them captive, that means that the law shows us that the law cannot itself be our saviour. If anyone is to be justified in God's sight, if we are going to be set free from the bondage of sin under the law, it could not be by means of the law itself.

So the law points outside of itself, to justification by faith, to the grace of God in the one who was to come. And indeed the law was designed in so many ways to point to this reality. The resurrected Jesus speaks to the disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24 and it says, So all the scriptures includes the law. And if we look, we find in the law many, many things concerning Jesus. And of course, there is explicit prophecy of Christ, but it is also packed full of types and shadows and signs by which the gospel was prophetically declared and Christ proclaimed.

And we immediately would think of the whole sacrificial system. Under the old covenant, God makes provision for the atonement of Israel's sin by the blood of animal sacrifices. On their own, these sacrifices can only affect a superficial ceremonial cleansing. We read in Hebrews, that they sanctify for the purification of the flesh, but cannot take away sin. These are sacrifices that cannot perfect the conscience.

They are repeated time and time again. They are offered by sinful priests who die and need to be replaced. But they did point forward to the perfect Lamb of God to come, whose blood would have the power to take away sins. A perfect sacrifice offered by a perfect priest who would never die and never cease to intercede for his people. We read, the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities.

And the true form is ultimately Christ. And this is not only true of the sacrifices. In his letter to the Colossians, Paul considers matters of food and drink, festivals, new moons, and Sabbath days. These are positive laws concerning the ceremonies of Old Testament religion. He says, these are shadows of things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

So in this way, under types and shadows, the law is not simply law to those with eyes to see. The law on its own, apart from faith, promises life for obedience and death for disobedience. For a sinner in Adam, it can only condemn. But for a true believer under the Old Covenant, For one with the faith of Abraham who believed and it was counted to him as righteousness. For the Old Testament saint, the law is not just condemnation but a pointer to a promise.

This is the promise of the gospel that was first given to Adam and Eve and also to Abraham and his offspring. This is the promise of the one who would fulfill the law on behalf of his people and bring about justification by faith. And indeed, Jesus fulfilled the law for us in many different senses. He was perfectly obedient to the law, and so fulfilled all the law's righteous requirements. He also fulfilled the curse of the law, bearing in himself the punishment that the law demands against us in satisfaction of God's perfect justice.

He also fulfilled the types and shadows of the law, bringing to fruition the substance promised in the types and the shadows. And it's in light of this that we can understand David's attitude toward the law in Psalm 19. He looks at the law with eyes of faith. David is a man intimately familiar with the grace and love and forgiveness of the Lord. So this is what he writes in Psalm 32.

David trusts in the promises of God. In the shadows of the law, by grace, by the grace of God, he was able to perceive something of his Savior and he believed. And for everyone in Christ by faith, we are free from the curse and condemnation of the law. In his death, we die to the law. We are no longer under law, but under grace.

And this is true of every saint in every age. There is no other means of salvation for sinners. Now, David, of course, formally remains under the old covenant system. He's still under that schoolmaster externally. though he has assurance that he is counted righteous by faith.

But our relationship to the law under the new covenant is going to be a little bit different. We who have the substance cannot go back to the types and the shadows. The ceremonial law has met its fulfillment and has been brought to an end. We are also in very different civil circumstances. We're not Israelites in the promised land.

The civil law of national Israel can no longer bind anyone, no more than the laws of New Zealand can bind me as a citizen of Australia. But the moral substance of the law, The law is a revelation of God's holiness, righteous requirements for man. This law continues for us now as a rule of life, the law now the law of Christ. That is, we are not under the law as a covenant, a covenant of works, but the law is still relevant to us as revelation. The Old Testament is Christian scripture.

As Paul writes to Timothy, all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. Of course, now we have to read and apply the law in light of the New Covenant. God's righteous standards have not changed. The promise of the New Covenant was not that God would put aside the law, but place it within us and write it on our hearts. For God's New Covenant people, it would no longer be an external cage regulating outward behavior by having no impact on the heart.

No, we are being renewed by the Spirit of God. He grants us the ability and desire to do what is pleasing to Him. He is forming us into the image of Christ, who is our example of perfect obedience and perfect holiness. So let's not make the mistake that many professing Christians do and think that our freedom from the law means freedom from God's moral standards. Writing to the Ephesians in chapter 2, Paul says, We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

So we are created anew in Christ for good works. We are freed from the power of sin, not to keep on sinning, but so that we can live how we were created to live, which is in a loving, willing obedience to God. So in light of all of this discussion, I want to consider this last part of our passage in Psalm 19. So let's read it again. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.

So what does it mean that the law revives the soul? All the translations might read converting the soul. Others read refreshing the soul or restoring the soul. A related word is used in Proverbs 25 verse 13. It reads this.

Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest is a faithful messenger to those who send him. He refreshes the soul of his masters. We read something similar in the opening verses of Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. The concept is one of refreshment and renewal, a turning or conversion from one state to a better state.

So this could indeed refer to a full conversion experience, where one turns from sin and belief to faith in the living God. But it could just as well apply to a believer, gaining refreshment and nourishment from God's word. So considering the first option, well, we know that God's word does give life. But as we've seen, the law on its own, as the revelation of God's wrath against sinners, that cannot do that. The law considered simply as the demands of God's justice condemns sinners.

It puts us to death. But I would want to point out that even in this capacity, the law does have a role to play in the conversion of sinners. We've already said the law is a mirror. It reveals sin, magnifying sin, and condemns sin. But you don't go to a doctor unless you know that you're sick.

You do not seek the grace of God unless he has first opened your eyes to the reality of the corruption of your own heart. You will not place all your trust in Christ alone for your salvation if you are under any illusion as to your ability to earn favor with God through your good works. The law then, in condemning us, in driving us to despair in ourselves, prepares us to receive the gospel as the good news that it really is. The law then, when used by God to draw lost sinners to himself, will cause us to call out on the mercy of God in Christ as our only hope. So in this sense, the law does plan a genuine gospel conversion.

This is not the only function of the law in reviving our souls. We've already noted that the law considered holistically is not simply a list of do's and don'ts. The law as a system of religion ordained by God does set forth His grace and mercy. Even on the surface, the law provided an external means by which Israel was to make atonement for sins and continue in outward fellowship with God. But more importantly, through the system, God's full and final means of dealing with sin was set forth under types and shadows.

The law then, functioning as a prophetic revelation of Christ and of the gospel, would indeed convert the souls of those despairing of hope of salvation by works of the law. And finally, what would the law look like for a believer like David? For someone assured of God's mercy and freed from the law's curse, now the law is sweet to the regenerate heart that seeks to do God's will. What a treasure it is to have God's will revealed with such clarity and purity. It's a perfect guide for our conduct, a roadmap for living a joyful life pleasing to God.

So how much wisdom is contained in this law? How many glorious truths about our Lord and Savior for our daily contemplation? Paul says the law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. We who now love God will find refreshment and delight in all that is holy and righteous and good. The wisdom and righteousness of the law should be attractive to our souls.

And the law was always meant to be received this way. Moses says this in Deuteronomy chapter four, verse seven. For what great nation is there that has a God so near to it as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law is that I set before you today? So the righteousness of God on displaying the law should have been the boast of Israel before the nations.

And Moses says this later in chapter 10, And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? But to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good. God gave the law for the good of his people. To walk in fellowship with God in obedience to him is an immense blessing. So my final exhortation for us is just that we ought to approach the law in the same way.

It is true that we're not under the Mosaic Covenant. That covenant has been made obsolete. It has passed away. But the law remains the inerrant, infallible revelation of God. And Jesus and the apostles model for us how we can and should apply the apply the law, and appeal to the law for wisdom, instruction, and moral guidance.

The moral imperatives of the law continue as an abiding, unchanging, and unchangeable revelation of God's will. Unchangeable because the heart of God does not change. Even the civil laws In these laws, we can learn how God chose to order the nation of Israel as a historical fact. We can also discern deeper principles of justice and wisdom in those laws that we can apply today. In the ceremonial laws, we can still see our Lord prophesied under types and shadows, and understanding how he fulfills those ceremonial laws can give us a deeper understanding of his work and ministry for us.

I know as Christians we can sometimes struggle with our relationship to God's law. And I'm not so much talking about the old covenant law now, but the law as it applies to us under the new covenant, those imperatives that continue to apply. Sometimes we suffer from indifference to God's commandments. We might think we have all the right theology in our heads, but in our hearts we can't always bring ourselves to take our sin too seriously. Perhaps we're trusting unconsciously in a kind of cheap grace.

We think, well, God loves me. God will forgive me, I don't have to worry about that. Or perhaps we don't trust grace quite enough, and instead of confronting the reality of our daily guilt and shame, giving that to Christ, we get by by just pretending it's not there. Sometimes, on the other hand, we labor heavily under the law. We're aware of our sin, we know it is hated by God.

We've repented and we know that he offers forgiveness, but we can't quite escape that horrible, strangling sense of guilt. Well, to you who feel crushed under the law, I say simply, look to the cross. Behold, there your dying Savior. Behold in His bleeding wounds the incomprehensible greatness of God's love and mercy. If you believe in the Savior, believe that He fulfilled the law for you.

In His life of perfect obedience, that's your life now. His death is your death. The demands of God's perfect law against you are satisfied in full. So look to the cross and find freedom from your guilt in Christ. To you who are indifferent to the law, I say, look to the cross.

Behold your suffering savior and see the full intensity of God's wrath against your own sin. In the wounds of Christ, in the depths of his grief, behold the full intensity of God's wrath against your sin. Behold the burning intensity of hatred for your sin. In the cross, see the penalty that your sins deserve. See the payment of the penalty that you could never in a million years fulfill in yourself.

So look to the cross and see what your salvation cost. And by the power of Christ, go and sin no more. Dear brothers and sisters, in the cross we see at once and in the very same moment the full extent of God's grace and the full extent of God's justice. In the cross, grace and justice are reconciled. In the cross, we learn how God can be at once just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

In the cross, the curse of the law against us and all the prophetic promises of the law for us are fulfilled. So in the light of the cross, and by faith in Jesus, we can say with David, Your law, O Lord, is perfect, reviving our souls. Amen.