I invite you to turn tonight to two places in those little, I can find mine, in those little forms and prayers book in the back to Lord's Day 44. What we do in our evening service is work through what we believe and confess, and this is the Heidelberg Catechism written in 1563 that summarizes the whole of the Christian faith in one year so you have can train your children and the church and all the truths of the faith we have just completed uh the the ten commandments and you'll notice that in this particular section this is page 251 251 there were two question and answers that were it seemed a little disconnected from the tenth commandment but really aren't so we're going to look at those two question answers tonight, then we'll go to Galatians chapter 5. Questions 114-115. I'll ask the question and please respond with the answer. But can those converted to God keep these commandments perfectly? No. In this life, even the holiest have only a small beginning of this obedience. Nevertheless, with all seriousness of purpose, they do begin to live according to all, not only some of God's commandments. Since no one in this life can keep the Ten Commandments perfectly, why does God want them preached so pointedly? First, so that all our life long, we may more and more come to know our sinful nature and thus more eagerly seek the forgiveness of sins and righteousness in Christ. Second, so that we may never stop striving and never stop praying to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit so that we may be renewed more and more after God's image until after this life we reach our goal perfection and I'm going to read now from the book of Galatians chapter 5 16 through 25 but I say walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh for the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh for these are opposed to each other to keep you from doing the things you want to do but if you are led by the spirit you are not under the law now the works of the flesh are evident sexual morality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions envy drunkenness orgies and things like these i warned you as i i warned you as i warned you before that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of god but the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control against such things there is no law and those who belong to christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires if we live by the spirit let us also keep in step with the spirit let us not become conceited provoking one another envying one another and there will end the reading of god's word one of the great confusions of our day is how to understand one of the most basic teachings of scripture since there's always so much discussion about this it seems how to understand the relationship of law and gospel law and grace and that great distinction that the scriptures speak of and show us everywhere i think you saw it reading the text tonight where he mentions things of not being under the law and gospel of course we know speaks of good news doesn't it that's what gospel means gospel means good news and it's uh it's announcing announcing to us the righteousness of christ it's announcing to us everything that was done for us outside of us in him and his fulfilling of all righteousness and keeping the law in our place that's called his active obedience and then going to death and atoning for our sins and making propitiation for our sins that's known as his passive obedience and everything that you could not do and the law could not do that's what god did in sending his son for us that's that's why we herald good news to people this is what they were saying in acts when jesus told them your primary mission is to go out and preach the forgiveness of sins to the ends of the earth to all nations if you don't make some kind of basic distinction here you will lose the goal of christian ministry you'll lose the goal and what is that goal to make known the cross to make known christ to make known forgiveness and that's why you get two very different approaches to christian ministry when the law and gospel are all mingled up and when that distinction is refused and abused you can produce angry pulpit ministries that because we're not seeing the kind of progress that I think you all should have the pastor can become angry and manipulate and guilt people into this new obedience and to make you all feel that you're not doing enough to please God. It's a very dangerous thing to do. Do we ever do enough to please God in our justification? Gospel only becomes good news when, think about this, in this type of ministry, when you're obeying the law according to the standards the pastor is setting while forgetting the overall purpose of the law that demands perfect and complete obedience. All that comes with this great fear today, that if we're too gracious with people, if we preach the free grace of God that comes to us freely based on the merits and righteousness of Christ, if we tell them too much that Jesus has accomplished all righteousness, it will make people absolutely careless. It will make people like what we call licentious in their living. It will make people, big word, antinomians, anti-law. So gospel becomes good news insofar as you are obedient. And these discussions go on endlessly. I think it's always important to be reminded Paul was never really charged for being a legalist. Paul was always charged for being an antinomian. Because they said, you can't preach that free grace stuff. You're going to produce in people licentious living that people are going to then go out and say, ah, all good then. I'll go out and do whatever I want to do. That is the worst kind of straw man argumentation. and i want to look at that tonight and look at exactly what the catechism teaches and what the scriptures show us so clearly um so that we would understand that nothing is farther from the truth in the life of god's project of saving somebody notice that our our um our our catechism the heidelberg puts clearly the law in the gratitude section a treatment extensive treatment of the 10 commandments in the gratitude section so that it makes very clear to everyone that your obedience to the law is not what achieves your justification before god your right standing is received by faith alone in christ alone as you rest and trust in all that he's done for you but an outflow of somebody who's been justified a consequence of somebody who has been justified who has embraced jesus is sanctification and i want to demonstrate this tonight right from paul and galatians 5 so that we would have a healthy view of the law of god in the life of the christian and i want to emphasize this little word tonight a realistic one a realistic one that we would never forget that the place of the law and the life of believers has a great purpose. And you'll notice that those purposes are outlined here. And Paul shows us in Galatians chapter 5 that we would be constantly kept on our knees, trusting in Christ and his forgiveness and striving to put off the old and put on the new as those who are being renewed into the image of Jesus. So after all this consideration of the Ten Commandments. And you have to confess. Somebody said, well, how's it going preaching the law? I said, great. I can crush with the best of them. Law preaching is easy preaching. Law preaching to go after the human heart is some of the easiest preaching to do. I can point out all your faults. And I can point out mine. That's easy to do. Law, searching and searching and trying the heart, I think you felt as we went through the Ten Commandments. All of us walked out of here, and if we didn't listen carefully, we got to the Tenth Commandment, which many of you said last time, and said, wow, that Tenth Commandment really does seal the deal of our being sold into sin. Everything coming out of the heart, as Jesus said, faulty desires, out of the heart proceeds murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, blasphemy. That's what's coming out of the human heart. And that's why the Bible assesses the human heart, not as the culture does that it's a good thing, but that it's desperately wicked and who can know it. So the goal then, as we come to the law of God and sanctification, is to keep our eyes on Christ, and notice this, as we are constantly driven to him for dependency on him for everything. And that's why briefly tonight we're considering the realistic place of the law in the life of the christian the continuing purpose of this as it's outlined for us here and then that final beautiful statement tonight that talks about the end goal of all of this and we'll get there at the very end now when you look at question 114 can those be converted to god can those converted to god keep these commandments perfectly what does that question assume well it assumes a lot of realism about this the truth of the matter is we have to be realistic about the christian life in regard to the law of god once we are indeed justified and saved by the grace of god and as that whole salvation is shown to us now we move to the question of sanctification as i said one of the great dangers of pulpit ministry is to now say God did his part. God justified you and now he expects from you in this life perfection. You were saved and now you better be perfect. There's a lot of preaching that treats God's people this way. And how does it make you feel? Well, it brings people back into bondage. this is why romans 8 is making really clear there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in christ jesus you're not put back under the law for condemnation that's over for you so the heidelberg makes this really important ask this really important question can you keep it perfectly and the answer is is a great answer no we can't keep it perfectly that's being realistic isn't it even the holiest in this life have only a small beginning in this new obedience that's being realistic that's understanding that our struggle is real in this life how small well if we think of the holiest in this life and i don't want anyone blurting out that they're the holist what about the least holy do we think about them what if one's life doesn't measure up to the amount of good works compared to the most holy and what the catechism is really helpful tonight in saying is regardless of the amount of good works in this life one does. Jesus was very clear that in his great work of bearing fruit in your lives, some will produce 30-fold, some will produce 60-fold, and some will produce 100-fold. That's all by the grace of God. The issue that's important for us tonight is now of a renewed heart in seriousness of purpose. Did you catch that? Isn't that a question? In seriousness of purpose, a renewed heart, a born-again life, now in seriousness of purpose, that we actually do begin to live according to not all, to not only all, to all, not only some of God's commandments. This is such an important point tonight that why the authors put together desires. I think I finally saw that, that there's desires. And in the 10th commandment, it's a commandment about desire, the faulty desires of the human heart. But when somebody is born again, John 3, when somebody's regenerated, when they've been justified by faith, the desires of the human heart change. And we are now entering into a war, as the scriptures describe. That's important tonight. There's seriousness of purpose because your desires have changed. I think we all know anyone who's lived in any kind of darkness for any amount of time or has run out and lived a very dark life in sin and done things that in those times they did not see, think of how blind you were in it now that you see. This is exactly what Paul was describing in Romans 7. There was a time I thought I was a good man. and then the commandment came, and it revived in me, and then I died. In other words, I saw what I was, but I never saw that before, and that's what he's describing here, this seriousness of purpose to now walk in the newness of life. So the first point is that we have to be, we have to be realistic about the Christian life, and this is what I love about the Apostle Paul. He doesn't come and say, that you're a christian you will live a perfect life in this life what does he say well this is galatians 5 but i say walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh those desires are still very real in you do you know that for the desires of the flesh are against the spirit and the desires of the spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other. Now listen, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. Crucial. Crucial. What is the desire of everyone here? I'll tell you what your desire is if you're redeemed. The reason you're here tonight is because you love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. but you know that's really hard to do in this life and you want to do that you desire to do that and that's a beautiful thing but the reality is you are in a constant battle with the old sinful nature that the desires of your flesh war against the desires of the spirit that's the christian life that's sanctification that's why if you're truly growing in sanctification you know what you're seeing about yourself what you're actually seeing about yourself and struggling with is that you don't feel like you're getting a lot better but sometimes you feel like you're getting worse do you know why because you're seeing your sin and because there's a war going on in you this is paul said in romans 7 we know that the law is spiritual but i'm of the flesh sold under sin for i do not understand my own actions i mean i don't think i can say that at times for i do not do what i want but the i do the very thing i hate now if i do what i do not want i agree with the law law is not the problem the law is good we love the law of God we desire to do the law of God so now it's no longer I who do it but it's sin that dwells within me for I know that nothing good dwells within me that is in my flesh for I have the desire there it is to do what's right but not the ability to carry it out in himself we're going to get to how we are able to begin to carry this out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now, if I do what I do not want, it's no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. See, that is a realistic struggle for you. That is not pre-conversion. This is the whole point the catechism is making. And it wants to be realistic about it. If you don't understand this, this is why it's such a pastoral application here. if you don't understand this about the Christian life, you'll become heavily discouraged. Always with this question in cloud, that God's love for you is based upon your perfection in this life. And that your failures mean he's angry at you. And you see, we've already forgotten justification. We've already taken our eyes off Jesus. We've already forgot that the reason Jesus came was to become under the law to fulfill all the righteous requirements of the law in our place. But the scriptures don't treat the believer this way. Even when God has to chastise us, what does he say? He chastises us as sons and daughters. He's doing it as a father does to a son. Anyone knows that when you have to discipline your child, it's a very difficult thing. We hate it. And what God is communicating to us is that He loves us and that He's committed because it's for our good. Well, what do we do when we sin? This is the difference. When we sin, there's two directions we go, like this morning. We either run away from him or we run back to him. That's what repentance is. And that's what Heidelberg's describing here when it says, with seriousness of purpose, we begin to do what the Spirit desires of us in the law. We love the law. A true believer loves God's will. And that's so important for some of you who have deep-rooted sins. And the longer you've had them in the course of your life, the harder that battle's going to be. There's a reason that John Owen had to write a whole treatise on the mortification of sin in the life of the believer. He describes scenarios after scenario of people whose sin is like that weed. You can't just chop off the top part. When it's deep-rooted, mortification, putting to death sin in the Christian life, is tough business. And God is the one who's sovereign over giving us that deliverance and that period of struggle when you're in the struggle may go on a long time. Of course it will. But he doesn't want the believer justified in Christ to live as though you're out of favor with God. That doesn't inspire you to get up and run to him. I think it was Kevin DeYoung I've used the example who, when he talks to his children and said, when your children are trying to do something that pleases you and they draw you a picture, do you pick it apart? Or do you look at that picture and say, good job. Of course that picture may not be perfect. Of course that picture may be scribbles from a child. But this is the Lord wants us to understand. We're in his favor as his children. So we get up and we sin. We confess. We repent. And what is the means God uses to keep us in this life and sanctification? And that's what 115 is so important. He says, since no one in this life can keep the Ten Commandments perfectly, why does God want to preach so plainly? Why does the law still have an important place in the Christian life? and this should root out that whole attack of anyone who says those who are interested in the gospel don't care about the law. Of course we care about the law. We love the law of God. What place does it have in the Christian life? Notice not having to do with your justification, but sanctification has everything to do with the lifelong struggle that you're in. Notice the first thing is said there. First, so that more and more, we may come to know our sinful nature and more eagerly seek the forgiveness of sins and righteousness of Christ. The law is read. The law is the standard. And as we read the law, it searches us and it tries us. And what it does is it keeps us humble. It keeps us on our knees. That's one of the special things about, you know, worship when we have in the liturgy a confession time as we read the law and then confess our sins he's giving you that opportunity every week i don't know how well you do it during the week but he certainly put it in place for you you see how important that is it's a tragedy if it's never read in worship that that's the beauty of this so that more and more we come to know our sinful nature because how like david how could you how could you fall into adultery for nine months and have a child and not know you had offended God until Nathan had to come to him that's the deceit see how deceitful sin is in life the law is the way that God continues to show that righteous standard to put us on our knees so that we'll look to Jesus and that's prayerful dependency and that's what the scriptures are are after from us my little children i'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin first john but i know you're going to struggle with sin if anyone sins i want you to know this we have an advocate with the father jesus christ the righteous he is the propitiation for our sins not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world constant dependency and think of the beauty of this if he commands you to forgive 70 times 7 on what principle is he doing that because every time you do the same stupid sin and come back to him he forgives you that's how gracious he is constant dependency to come to the throne of grace and then what does the heidelberg say so that we may never stop striving see this is this idea that you could be a christian and then go live any way you want to live is impossible in the scripture's view it's impossible the the purpose of sanctification is having been justified by faith having christ having been saved now we never stop striving to pray to god for what this is just beautiful the grace of the Holy Spirit so that we are renewed more and more into the image of Jesus isn't that just what Galatians is saying tonight we fight the desires of our flesh they war against the desires of the Spirit and what are we asking God for he is constantly inviting us to come to the throne of grace as his children to ask for grace he said it this morning grace and more grace and help in time of need he's sympathetic as a high priest and desires to do that and desires to give you his spirit and what does that look like if you're led by the spirit then you're going to now desire the things of the spirit and if you're led by the flesh then you're going to go live in the flesh but the christian doesn't want to do that anymore and he and he outlines what the former way was right sexual morality doesn't mean we don't struggle don't fight these things? Of course we do. Impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, things like these. We no longer live like that in them. And those who do those things won't inherit the kingdom of God, living in those sins. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. That's the drive of our life. That's the purpose in sanctification. I asked all Christians tonight, genuine Christians, do you want that? Of course, because the Spirit's in you. And there's a seriousness of purpose that desires to walk that way. Consider marriage. How hard is marriage? Marriage is tough business. How hard was marriage when you began? Well, you know, there was the honeymoon and everything was great. Then you realize this is a little hard. Some of you might feel, you know, there's patterns in my spouse that, will this ever change? Where's the love? Where's the sacrifice? Anyone in marriage knows, in a Christian marriage, that change is slow. And as God is growing your spouse, that change happens over time. Sacrificial love grows slowly. You don't always see it. But there will be growth in a godly spouse. And your prayer and your commitment to Christ in that marriage as you walk together, there's growth between you two and there will be change. Sanctification is slow. Sanctification is hard work. And God is patient with the process. God is very patient with the process. And here's the beauty of this tonight. Sanctification does not rest on your abilities. What is the emphasis tonight in Galatians 5? What does the catechism say to support it? God promises the Holy Spirit to help you. If we're honest, you know, one of the things that we're not strong enough about and to do is to get on our knees and pray for the grace of the Holy Spirit in our lives. To ask that the Spirit would so fill us that the desires of the Spirit would be pursued and loved. You can't fight it on your own. You know, next time we begin this little section in the Lord's Prayer, think of the third petition here for a minute. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We begin prayer next time. Listen to the answer to this. What does this mean? What is the third petition? Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. That is, grant us that we and all men may deny our own will without any murmuring, Obey your will, for it alone is good. Grant also that everyone may carry out the duties of his office and calling as willfully and faithfully as the angels in heaven. We're asking God to help us by the grace of the Holy Spirit. And do you know, in sanctification, that's what he's inviting you to do? To constantly come to him and ask him for grace so that your desires would more and more war against the old sinful nature, putting them to death in your life, and that you would love righteousness and the fruits of the Spirit and love, joy, peace, patience, kindness. But I want to close with this thought. Heidelberg reminds us tonight, in closing, That the goal of this is not finally met until when? Perfection. Perfection. When does perfection come? When is that? You know, there's a day coming when we finally put off all this sinning. There's a day coming when finally this is over. You might say tonight, I just want everything else. I'm tired of the wars and I'm tired of this and I'm tired of that. Well, my guess is, is that in the heart of the sensitive believer, there's a weariness over sin. Years ago, I had an 80-year-old lady come up to me in the ministry. And I had prayed in the congregational prayer, Lord, we long for the day when we'll no longer sin against you. There's this saint, you know, walking up. I'll never forget it. Rev, that's what she called me. Rev, Rev. She said, Rev, you have no idea how I long for that. Well, that's what's coming. You will finally achieve in your final rest the end of all sinning. And that's one of the things that the Bible says you can look forward to about death. Do you know there's something to look forward to in death, right? Not the process. Nobody wants to go through the process. God has that. There's a death benefit for you when you die. It's what our Heidelberg said so many pages ago. If Christ died for our sins, why do we still need to die? Why? Death's not a payment for our sins. It puts an end to all our sinning and is an entrance into eternal life. That's what you get to look forward to. That's what's held out for you. When you will finally love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. The way that you were created to do and lost in the fall. And you'll reach that great goal which is perfection. So that's what we return to tonight. Is it possible for someone who's been justified by faith to continue in sin that grace may abound? Paul would have said, if anyone is acting like that, they're not right with God. Of course not. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means. On the contrary, Romans 3, we uphold the law because it's become our delight. The law serves a great place in our life as Christians to continue to keep us on our knees, to seek Jesus, to help us with these new desires that we have. The law shows us our sin and the Spirit helps us with these new desires that we have and that is an unbroken connection to having been justified by faith that he will indeed sanctify us. So this is the wonderful news about the whole of our salvation. It's not a half gospel. It's a holistic gospel that gives you everything you need in Christ and the Spirit who has continued to work in you and to sanctify you according to the truth and that is the desires of the heart that we now have in response to a God who has loved us this much to give us his son and to set us free from the law of sin and death so that now having been justified we will pursue a life of gratitude for loving for his love to this degree in giving us so great a salvation. That's sanctification tonight. Let's pray. Heavenly Father Father, thank you for helping us with this great subject and help us, Lord, since you have redeemed us and purchased us, that we, Lord, as a way of gratitude would pursue striving to walk with these new holy desires that you have given by your Spirit, and that we would continue as we struggle to express constant dependency on our knees before you, but that we would still through all this struggle and wilderness walking have joy to know that we are loved by you and that you have saved us. Those who are justified by faith and believe the promises of the gospel have everything they need in the righteousness of Jesus. So thank you, O Lord, for caring so much now to continue and complete the project of conforming us to the image of your Son until we reach that great goal to your praise and glory, perfection. In Jesus' name we pray these things, amen.