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Chapter 4
Chapter four, The Lost Key. As a brand new convert and an avid surfer, I told my buddies that I'd found something that was better than surfing. They couldn't believe that it could be such a thing, but with my continual hounding a number decided to experiment and prayed the sinner's prayer.
Not because they realized they'd sinned against God and were repentant, but because they wanted to see if what I was saying was true. Within a very short time almost all fell away from the faith, much to my dismay. I never fully understood why this happened until August 1982.
One Friday afternoon I was sitting in my office reading a portion of a sermon by Charles Spurgeon, the Prince of Preachers. I was fascinated to find that the Prince of Preachers used God's law, the Ten Commandments, to cause his hearers to tremble. This is what I read that began a radical change in my life.
Quote, There is a law between you and God's law. The Ten Commandments are against you. The first comes forward and says, Let him be cursed, for he denies me.
He has another God beside me. His God is his belly, and he yields his homage to his lust. All the Ten Commandments, like ten great cannons, are pointed at you today, for you've broken all of God's statutes and lived in naive neglect of all his commands.
So, you will find it a hard thing to go at war with the law. When the law came in peace, Sinai was altogether on a smoke, and even Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake. What will you do when the law of God comes in terror? When the trumpet of the archangel shall tear you from your grave? When the eyes of God shall burn their way into your guilty soul? When the great book shall be opened, and all your shame and sin shall be punished? Can you stand against an angry law in that day? End of quote.
A few days later, as I was reading Galatians 3.24, the question suddenly struck me. Is it legitimate to use the law as a schoolmaster to bring sinners to Christ, just as it brought Israel to Christ? I closed my Bible and began to search for a sinner on whom I could experiment. When I found a gentleman who was open to conversation, I took him through the Ten Commandments first, and then I shared the cross.
He stood to his feet and said, I've never heard anyone put that so clearly in all my life. It was like a light went on in both our heads. He understood the gospel, and I began to understand the great principle that the law was a schoolmaster that brings the knowledge of sin convincing a sinner of his need of the Savior.
I immediately began to study scripture, as well as the gospel proclamation of men like John Wesley, Spurgeon, Whitefield, Moody, Luther, and others whom God used down through the ages. I found they used a principle that is almost entirely neglected by modern evangelical methods. They warned that if the law wasn't used to prepare the way for the gospel, those who made decisions for Christ would almost certainly be false in their profession and would fall away.
The purpose of the law. When I speak of using the law in evangelism, I don't mean merely making a casual reference to it. Rather, the law should be the backbone of our gospel presentation, because its function is to prepare the sinner's heart for grace.
Martin Luther said of the law, In its true and proper work and purpose it humbles a man and prepares him, if he uses the law correctly, to yearn and seek for grace. The Bible tells us in 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 8 in the Amplified Bible, Now we recognize and know that the law is good if anyone uses it lawfully for the purpose for which it was designed. For what purpose was the law designed? The following verse tells us, The law is not made for a righteous person, but for sinners.
1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 9. And even less the sinners, forerunners, murderers, fornicators, homosexuals, kidnappers, liars, etc. The law's main design is not for the saved, but for the unsaved. It was given primarily as an evangelistic tool, as a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.
D. L. Moody said the law can only chase us to Calvary. No further. However, it is unlawful to use the law to try and use it for justification.
No one will make it to heaven by keeping the Ten Commandments. The scriptures make that very clear. A man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.
For by the works of the law, no flesh shall be justified. Galatians 2 verse 16. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone.
The law's rightful purpose is simply to act as a mirror to show us that we need cleansing. Those who seek to be justified by the law are taking the mirror off the wall and trying to wash themselves with it. Used correctly, that is lawfully, the law is the rod and staff of the shepherd to guide the sheep to himself.
It is the net of the fisherman, the plough of the farmer. It's the ten golden trumpets that prepare the way of the king. The law makes the sinner thirst for righteousness, that he might live.
Its holy light reveals the dust of sin on the table of the human heart, so that the gospel and the hand of the Spirit can wipe it perfectly clean. In Numbers 21, 6 through to 9, God sent fiery serpents among the Israelites, causing them to admit that they had sinned. When the people turned to God in repentance, he instructed Moses to craft a bronze serpent and place it on a pole where the people could see it.
Those who had been bitten and were doomed to die could look upon the bronze serpent and live. In John 3, 14, Jesus specifically cites this Old Testament passage in reference to his impending sacrifice on the cross to purchase our salvation from sin. The ten commandments are like ten biting serpents that carry with them the venomous curse of the law.
They drive sinners to look on the one lifted up on the cross. If the law of Moses did not demand death for sin, Jesus would not have had to die. The Messiah became a curse for us and redeemed us from the curse of the law.
Galatians 3, 13. The Old Testament said of the Messiah that he would magnify the law and make it honorable. Isaiah 42 verse 21.
The religious leaders had demeaned and dishonored God's law. By their tradition, they had twisted its ordinances, rendering it ineffectual. They had neglected the weightier matters of the law, limiting the scope of its precepts to mere outward piety.
In doing so, they had nullified the law's power to accomplish its purpose, bringing people to the knowledge of their sinfulness and the need for repentance and salvation. They even hindered others from entering into the kingdom of God. This is what Jesus said to them.
Woe to you lawyers, for you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves and those who were entering in, you hindered. Luke 10, 52.
These lawyers were professing to be experts in God's law, but because they did not use the key of knowledge to bring sinners to the Savior, they hindered the work of the law as a groundbreaking instrument in people's hearts. So Jesus first straightened out what the religious leaders had bent and honored what they had demeaned. He said, quote, Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets.
I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For surely I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle of the law by no means pass from the law until all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.
But whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you'll by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. End of quote.
Next, Jesus opened up the spiritual nature of the law, showing how God's desire is for truth in the inward parts. God will judge not only the actions but the thoughts and intents of the heart. Notice how Jesus magnifies the sixth and seventh commandments.
Quote, If heard that it was said of them of old, you shall not murder. And whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without cause shall be in danger of the judgment.
And whoever says to his brother, racker, shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, you fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. If heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not commit adultery.
But I say to you that whoever looks on a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. End of quote. Later in the same discourse, Jesus, the master teacher, magnifies the law further by opening up the ninth commandment.
Quote, Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not swear falsely. But you shall perform your oaths to the Lord. But I say to you, do not swear at all, neither by heaven, for it is God's throne, nor by the earth, for it is his footstool, nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king.
Nor should you swear by your head, because you cannot make one here white or black. But let your yes be yes, and your no be no. For whatever is more than these is from the evil one.
Jesus concluded this part of his teaching by saying, Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect. This statement must have left us here as speechless, which is likely what Jesus intended, because the function of the law is that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Romans 3 verse 19.
Who can justify themselves in God's sight if we are commanded to be perfect? No one. Our mouths are stopped, and we see our guilt. Some Bible commentators suggested that Jesus didn't really mean perfect, because that would require us to be without defect and flawless.
Instead, they contend that he was telling us to be mature. However, if that were true, then Jesus would be saying, You are to be mature as your heavenly Father is mature. Calling God mature would imply that he once was immature.
Such a thought is clearly contrary to scripture. God never changes. He's always been perfect and doesn't need to mature.
His law is also perfect, and if we're not perfect in accordance with the law, we'll perish on the day of judgment. That's why the apostle Paul says that we're to warn every man and teach every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Scripture makes clear that it is the perfect law of God that actually converts the soul.
The law of the law is perfect, converting the soul. Psalm 19 verse 7. Matthew Henry says, Of this excellent use is the law. It converts the soul, opens the eyes, prepares the way of the Lord in the desert, rends the rocks, levels the mountains, makes a people prepared for the Lord.
The offense and foolishness of the cross. According to scripture, the real function of the law is to make men recognize and be conscious of sin. Not a mere perception, but an acquaintance with sin which works towards repentance.
Romans 3 20 from the Amplified Bible. To illustrate this point, let's look for a moment at civil law. Imagine if I said to you, I've got some good news for you.
Someone's just paid a $25,000 speeding fine on your behalf. You'd probably respond with some cynicism in your voice. What are you talking about? That's not good news.
It doesn't make sense. I don't have a $25,000 speeding fine. Your reaction would be quite understandable.
If you don't know you've broken the law in the first place, the good news is someone paying the fine for you is not good news. It'll be foolishness to you. But more than that, it will be offensive to you because I'm insinuating you've broken the law when you don't think you have.
However, if I was to put it this way, it may make more sense. Today, a law enforcement officer clocked you at traveling at 55 miles an hour in an area designated for a blind children's convention. There were 10 clear warning signs indicating that the maximum speed was 15 miles an hour, but you completely ignored them and went straight through at 55 miles an hour.
What you did was extremely dangerous. There's a $25,000 fine or imprisonment. As you begin to see the seriousness of what you've done, I explain, the law was about to take its course when someone you don't even know stepped in and paid the fine for you.
You are very fortunate. Can you see that telling you precisely what you've done wrong first actually makes the good news make sense? If I don't clearly bring instruction and understand that you've violated the law, then the good news will seem foolishness and it will seem offensive. But once you understand you've broken the law, then the good news that your penalty has been paid will become good news indeed.
In the same way, if I approach an impenitent sinner and say, Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, it'll be foolishness to him and offensive to him. It'll be foolishness because it won't make sense. The Bible tells us that.
The preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. And it'll be offensive because I'm insinuating that he's a sinner when he doesn't think he is. As far as he's concerned, there are a lot people far worse than he is.
But if I take the time to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, it may make more sense. If I open up the divine law, the ten commandments, to show the sinner precisely what he's done wrong, that he's offended God by violating his law, then he'll become convicted by the law as a transgressor. Once he understands his transgression, the good news of his penalty being paid will not be foolishness, nor will it be offensive.
It will be the power of God to salvation. With those few thoughts in mind, let's look at some of the functions of God's law for humanity. Romans 3.19 says, So one function of God's law is to stop the mouth, to stop sinners from justifying themselves and saying, there are plenty of people worse than me.
I'm not a bad person, really. The law stops the mouth of justification and leaves not just the Jews, but the whole world guilty before God. Romans 3.20, the next verse says, In fact, 1 John 3.4 tells us the biblical definition of sin.
Sin is lawlessness, or as the King James Translation puts it, sin is transgression of the law. In Romans 7.7, Paul asks, Paul is reiterating, I didn't know what sin was until the law told me. Since the definition of sin is transgression of the law, according to scripture, the only way people can know their sin is by seeing themselves in the light of God's moral law.
The wonderful thing about God's law is that God has taken the time to write it upon our heart. Romans 2.15 says, The word conscience means with knowledge. Con is with, science is knowledge.
So each time we lie, steal, fornicate, blaspheme, commit adultery, etc., we do it with knowledge that it's wrong. God has given light to every man. Society may shape our conscience, but God is its giver, and no society, regardless of how primitive, has been left in complete moral darkness.
This is why the law is so effective universally. The conscience echoes the commandments, it bears witness. For this reason, according to Martin Luther, the first duty of the gospel preacher is to declare God's law and show the nature of sin.
Martin Lloyd-Jones said, That's why great evangelical preachers 300 years ago, in the time of the Puritans, and 200 years ago, in the time of Whitefield and others, always engaged in what they called a preliminary law work. When we use the law to appeal to the conscience and bring the knowledge of sin, we merely work with the Holy Spirit to convince people of their transgression. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment.
Scripture states that sin is transgression of the law, righteousness is of the law, and judgment is by the law. We must have absolute reliance on the Holy Spirit for the conversion of the lost. Without the Holy Spirit, anything we preach is nothing but dead letter.
He convicts the world of sin, and He has chosen to do this through the foolishness of preaching. Billy Graham said the Holy Spirit convicts us. He shows us the Ten Commandments.
The law is the schoolmaster that leads us to Christ. Spurgeon adds, when the Holy Spirit comes to us, He shows us what the law really is. Paris Readhead warned, If the law has no part in bringing a sinner to Christ, why did Paul say that the law was instrumental in his conversion? He didn't say, I would not have known sin except through the Holy Spirit, or by the Holy Spirit is the knowledge of sin, or that through the Holy Spirit sin became exceedingly sinful.
Instead, he said it was the law and the hand of the Spirit that produced this state of conviction. John Wesley observed, It is the ordinary method of the Spirit of God to convict sinners by the law. It is this which, being set home on the conscience, generally breaks the rock in pieces.
It is more especially this part of the Word of God which is quick and powerful, full of life and energy, and sharper than any two-edged sword. By this is the sinner discovered to himself. All his fig leaves are torn away, and he sees that he is wretched and poor and miserable and blind and naked.
The law flashes conviction on every sight. He feels himself a mere sinner. He has nothing to pay.
His mouth is stopped, and he stands guilty before God. The use of the law and evangelism is the neglected key to the sinner's heart in order for there to be conviction and conversion. Many of us in the past have wanted to avoid making sinners feel guilty, yet the reality is that they are guilty before God.
In the next chapter, we're going to look at why bringing the knowledge of sin is an essential step in preparing the heart for grace.