Of the Law of God: The Moral Law & the Gospel____
Letter from the Pastor 2/18/2025, Part 7 of 7
INTRODUCTION
There is no contradiction between the law of God and the gospel of grace. There is no contradiction between Christians being justified freely and obeying the law of God. In fact, evangelical obedience is the natural product of being justified by grace through faith.
As we conclude our seven-part series on the law of God, let’s ask one final question: how and why do Christians obey God’s law? This question deals with the relationship between the moral law of God and the gospel’s work in our lives.
1: The Law of God Given to Adam[1]
2: The Nature of the Moral Law
3: The Mosaic Ceremonial Laws
4: The Mosaic Judicial Laws
5: The Perpetuity of the Moral Law
6: The Moral Law and Our Salvation
7: The Moral Law and the Gospel
SECOND LONDON CONFESSION, 19.7
Let’s begin by reading Confession 19.7
Neither are the aforementioned uses of the law contrary to the grace of the Gospel, but do sweetly comply with it, the Spirit of Christ subduing and enabling the will of man to do that freely and cheerfully which the will of God, revealed in the law, requires to be done.
EXPOSITION
The Work of the Spirit
Christian obedience is a fruit, or product of the enabling of the Holy Spirit. This is what God promised to do centuries before Christ through the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (Jeremiah 31:31-33, ESV)
26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. (Ezekiel 36:26-27)
In both these passages, God promises to make a New Covenant with his people. In the Jeremiah passage, we see that there will be a kind of discontinuity between the covenant God made with Moses and the New Covenant to come. What is that discontinuity? Obedience. Under the Mosaic Covenant, the nation is characterized by disobedience to and inability to keep the law. But, under the New Covenant, God says that “all shall know me.” (Jer. 31:34) What causes the obedience of New Covenant Christians? Ezekiel 36 tells us that the Spirit of God is placed within us, causing us to walk in God’s statutes. By grace, the Spirit molds and shapes our wills in order that we might obey the law “freely and cheerfully.”
William Cowper, author of the famous hymn There is a Fountain Filled with Blood, also wrote a hymn entitled Love Constrained to Obedience. Here are the lyrics of the final stanza:
To see the law by Christ fulfilled,
And hear his pardoning voice,
Changes a slave into a child,
And duty into choice.
These lyrics summarize exactly what the confession teaches. How does the Holy Spirit do his enabling work? He points us to the fullness of Christ’s work. He reminds us of our pardon. He reminds us that Jesus made full satisfaction. It is as we dwell on our free justification that our hearts are moved to free and cheerful obedience. G. C. Berkouwer put it this way, “The believer’s constant ‘commerce’ with the forgiveness of sins and his continued dependence on it must be laid bare, emphasized, and kept in sight.”[2] In a sense, the path to personal obedience doesn’t begin with a focus on personal obedience at all. Obedience begins by meditating on the obedience of Christ. Obedience to the law of God is the destination of the ship, and the gospel is the wind in the sail.
CONCLUDING THE SERIES
I want to end this series by making several summary applications from the former chapters.
First, the law is fundamental to humanity. We are creatures, made in God’s image, and any worldview that permits lawlessness degrades our self-understanding. Disobedience to the moral law dehumanizes us. More specifically, it demonizes us.
Second, God has written his moral law on the hearts of every person, and Christians ought to be comfortable making “natural law” arguments to unbelievers. Just because they do not profess faith in Christ or recognize the authority of the Scriptures does not mean unbelievers are ignorant of the law. We ought to expect our civil magistrates to enforce the moral law of God, not in order to create a “Christian nation,” but to promote true humanity, restrain evil, and allow the Church to accomplish her gospel mission without hinderance.
Third, the only way we will be able to accomplish the previous application is if we pay close attention to the moral and judicial law. The Scriptures are filled with numerous examples of justice and love. Christians must immerse themselves in the Scriptures. We must memorize the Ten Commandments and seek to obey them faithfully. We cannot hope for a more just society until the Church takes the law of God seriously.
Fourth, as we seek to obey the law of God, we must remember that we are not under the law as a covenant of works. We are not obeying the law to justify ourselves before God. Rather, the law is a rule of life. Having been justified freely, we obey out of love and honor for Christ and our fellow man.
Fifth, and finally, if it is true that only Christians are able to obey God’s moral law freely and cheerfully, then we must prioritize evangelism in our life and church. It is the job of the civil magistrate to enforce the law through the power of the sword. (Rom. 13:4) But only a move of God’s Spirit across our nation, through the preaching of the gospel will bring free and cheerful, rather than fearful obedience to the law. As much as we pray for and thank God for good civil magistrates, we ought to pray for good churches and ask God for more preachers and teachers of the gospel. Christian, even as you pray for the President, pray for conversions in our nation and the nations of the world. Proclaim the gospel in your homes and neighborhoods. Tell of the goodness of Jesus to those who do not yet know him. Call them to faith and repentance.
Thank you for the joy of pastoring a wonderful church, and for the joy of writing and publishing these letters. I pray that this labor will confirm you in the faith and that it will be a guide for your Christian walk in the days to come.
In Christ,
Pastor Jonathan
[1] I have found Pastor Tom Hick’s expositions on the confession helpful. They can be accessed here: https://www.fbcclintonla.com/ss-1689-Confession.html
[2] Gerrit Cornelis Berkouwer, Faith and Justification (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1954), 84.