Terrifying Fear vs. Respectful Fear

Berean Baptist on February 4, 2019


            After our year-long study of the Ten Commandments, many comments were made about the value of the study. Perhaps the best is in this vein— “this has been convicting.” One person told me, and I paraphrase, “I was doing well until the tenth commandment. One through nine, I felt I was okay, but the tenth was very convicting.” I was pleased with this comment because it demonstrated what I tried to prove in the exposition of the last. None of us do very well at all because the tenth exposes the root of all sin—the heart. None of the commandments mention the heart, but the last has everything do with it. Covetousness is not seen. It is the attitude of the heart exposed in the act. It is not the act, but the exposure of evil desire.

            In the final message, the intent was to elicit the same reaction as the Israelites had after hearing God speak in a thunderous voice from the mountain. The sights and sounds were stunning. The voice of God was accompanied by earthquakes and thunder and lightning. Fear was the expected result. Fear of God who judges and will not clear the one who violates His law. God got what He wanted. The people were so afraid they retreated and asked Moses to stand in for them. They asked him to speak with God because they were too terrified to hear His voice.

            God expects the same from us when we approach Him. If we come based on the law, we should be terrified because we are offenders. We will experience His wrath if our violations are still upon us. The happy news of this story is the temperance of wrath because of mediation. In like manner of the mediation of Moses for the people, we have a mediator who will speak to God for us. We need not be terrified if our confidence is in Him. We do not need to fear the judgment of God in the same respect as without Him. Our fear of judgment is turned to the fear of respect, and the awesome wonder of the God who will forgive our horrible transgressions because of the untiring, unfailing work of the mediator.

            The mediator is the Lord Jesus Christ. We dare not approach God to touch His holy mountain without His intercession. If we sidestep, if we slip around, if we circumvent His work, we approach God bare naked with the thoughts and intents of the heart exposed. The scriptures teach God is satisfied for our sins in only one way—it must be the work of Christ for us. When satisfaction is made, the terror of judgment is taken away. Justification by the merits of Christ’s righteousness is the only way God’s wrath is turned from us.

            The Ten Commandments leave no doubt as to our guilt. Perhaps we believe we do well, but we will not reach the last and announce our good spiritual health. The heart, the beginning place of all evil, will catch us. Our transgression of this commandment is enough. One violation is the heart fully exposed before the commission of the act. It is enough to condemn us forever.

            The epilogue of the law is to point us back to the first. The acts of God played out in the laws of chapter 20 must take us back to the prologue of the law in chapter 19. The prologue is grace— “Ye have seen what I did to the Egyptians.” Look back to Calvary to see what God did to sin. You didn’t do it. You could not do it. Only God can. Respond to Him in faith and it is sure you understand the purpose of the law.

                                                                                                Pastor V. Mark Smith

The Agreement between Law and Grace

Berean Baptist on June 25, 2018

In studying the Ten Commandments, we are presented with a subset of scripture that permeates the whole. The Law is both Old and New Testament and is the basis for all our dealings with God. The preacher wrote in Ecclesiastes, “Let us hear the conclusion of the matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments” (Eccles. 12:13). This Old Testament verse seems to be at odds with what we think we know about the New Testament. We are living in the dispensation of grace and we are accustomed to singing songs like “Free from the law oh happy condition…” How does this agree with the statement that keeping commandments is the whole duty of man? The conflict can only be resolved by recognizing the different spheres of law and grace. They are not opposed to each other. They work seamlessly together to give us the full picture of how God brings us to salvation.

The song says we are free from the law, but this has nothing to do with our obligation to obey it. We are free from its condemnation. We are free from the consequences of its unrelenting justice as it insists that all transgressions against the holy God must be satisfied. This satisfaction is achieved for us by Christ’s perfect obedience which is transferred to us by faith. His goodness becomes ours, and thus we stand perfect before the judgment bar of the law. We are free from condemning justice but never free to disobey the law. As Paul said, “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” (Rom. 6:1). In our salvation more than ever, we recognize the whole duty of man is to keep God’s commandments. No one who truly loves God will sidestep any command and regard it as unimportant.

In today’s message, we see the gravity of the law. It was momentous as God was about to give Israel the most important document in history. It was accompanied by His personal presence. It was direct as chapter 20 in Exodus shows and intended to speak to each individual. Earthquakes and thunder and lightning on Mount Sinai showed the power of God and the reverence that must be observed for His holiness. It had not been written yet, but Israel knew “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Heb. 10:31).

We tend to believe that because of God’s grace law is relaxed and therefore we need not fear God any longer. It is okay to speak of God like a tired old grandfather whose sternness has played out over time. He is not really serious when He tells us we must obey. This is a terrible mistake. Grace has not calmed God and taken the bite out of His rebukes. Grace heightens the responsibility of obedience. Without grace, we are ignorant of His ways. Though without excuse for disobedience at any time, surely with right understanding comes more serious responsibility.

This is not an abstract. The person saved by grace recognizes this truth. God put it into his heart in his regeneration. Lack of obedience reveals a lack of saving grace. The person who says, “Free from the law oh happy condition” and by this he means I am free from condemnation therefore I need not be concerned for the way I live—that person has never experienced the saving grace of God.

Make sure you evaluate your understanding of God’s law. Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). This is equivalent to saying, “If you keep my commandments, you prove you have been touched by my grace.” He never meant this as an option—that any can be saved without it. Christ is not just a Saviour who keeps you from the condemnation of the law. He is also the Lord that requires absolute strict obedience. He will not be one without the other.

 

Pastor V. Mark Smith