Law to Gospel

Law To Gospel 1. The Law, though good, could not save us. It could direct our motions but could not cure our corrupted nature of spiritual death. ROM 7:14; GAL 3:21. 2. “...by the law is the knowledge of sin” (ROM 3:20). 3. The Old Testament, the law, precedes the New Testament, the gospel. 4. The order of Romans is to first reveal the wrath of God against the sin of man before expounding in detail God's grace. 5. It is the work of the law to reveal our need of a Savior. 6. We must see God's holiness, and our utter sinfulness and helplessness in order to appreciate the gospel of grace. A. A flawed perception of God falsely empowers the sinner. EZE 13:22; MAL 2:17. B. A genuine perception of God undoes one. ISA 6:1-5. C. Such persons have no problem with God's sovereignty in salvation. D. The wonder is not that God wills only to save some, but that God would save any. 7. Consider Paul's experience of ROM 7:7-13. 8. In the sermon on the mount (MAT 5-7) Jesus showed that righteousness extended beyond what the scribes and Pharisees had taught. MAT 5:20. 9. According to PRO 6:16-19 who of us isn't abominable? 10. The Holy Spirit convinces us of sin, then of what Christ has done for us in righteousness and judgment. JOH 16:8-11. 11. A gospel conversion begins with repentance and confession of sin. MAR 1:4-5; ACT 2:38; 19:18. A. repent: To affect (oneself) with contrition or regret for something done; to change one's mind with regard to past action or conduct through dissatisfaction with it or its results. B. Repentance involves sorrow over what was done, not just sorrow over being caught. 2CO 7:10-11. C. confess: To declare or disclose (something which one has kept or allowed to remain secret as being prejudicial or inconvenient to oneself); to acknowledge, own, or admit (a crime, charge, fault, weakness, or the like). (1) The Latin root means “to declare together with.” (2) In confession we take God's side against ourselves. PSA 51:4; DAN 9:7. 12. Compare with the sorrow for sin expressed in PSA 38:1-18; 51:1-17. A. In Scripture when a man perceives himself as an object of God's anger, he describes himself as having been shot with God's arrows. JOB 6:4; LAM 3:1, 12-13. B. His “...arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies; whereby the people fall under Him” (PSA 45:3-5). 13. Remember Isaiah's reaction when he faced God's holiness. ISA 6:5-8. 14. When the law reveals our foul condition, like the leper who was pronounced unclean by the law we cry “...Unclean, unclean” (LEV 13:45-46). 15. This mournful condition of spiritual poverty and neediness is a blessed one! MAT 5:3-6; LUK 18:9-14. 16. Gospel declarations of forgiveness are to those who know they are sinners and mourn over their sins. ISA 61:1-3; ACT 13:26, 38 c/w PRO 8:13; LUK 23:40-43. 17. Those who realize how much they have been forgiven will love much. LUK 7:44-47. A. This explains why some do not readily respond to the gospel call of obedience: they have never been convicted of their sinfulness. (1) They may mock at sin. PRO 14:9. (2) They may be deceived about how odious even one sin is to God. GEN 2:16-17; JAM 2:10. Law To Gospel 4-28-24 Page 1 of 1  (3) They may be deceived by notions of national, ecclesial, genealogical or party salvation. MAT 3:9. (4) They may be deceived by self-righteous comparisons with others. LUK 18:9-12. B. Some may admire the logic of the gospel without being convicted of their desperate need of the Savior it presents. The gospel may be to them even a rationale for their sin. ROM 3:8. C. Those who love the gospel because it is the only thing that answers the conviction of sinfulness in their own soul are truly blessed. The gospel is glad tidings to them. D. “Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the most high God? Will he be pleased with thousands of rams? But I am at a loss; I cannot frame a righteousness from any thing that I am, or have, in myself, or from any thing I can do for God or present to God, wherein I dare appear before him; but the gospel comes, and tells me that Jesus Christ had made his soul an offering for sin, and God has declared himself well-pleased with all believers in him; and this makes me easy.” (Matthew Henry, preface to N.T. commentary, ix) 18. See this beautifully portrayed in the story of Mephibosheth. 2SAM 9. A. He confessed himself unworthy of the favor he received. B. Mephibosheth so prized the grace he received from David that he was completely resigned to David's will. 2SAM 19:24-28. C. How much more should the objects of God’s grace be resigned to His will! GAL 2:20. Law To Gospel 4-28-24 Page 1 of 2