Transcript: Episode 0025

“Judge (Not)”

This transcript:
  1. Was machine generated.
  2. Has not been checked for errors.
  3. May not be entirely accurate.
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00:00:37 – 00:00:39:	Welcome to the Stone Choir Podcast.

00:00:39 – 00:00:41:	I am Cori James Moller...

00:00:41 – 00:00:43:	and I am woe.

00:00:43 – 00:00:46:	Blessed are those who are perfect in the way,

00:00:46 – 00:00:48:	who walk in the law of the Lord.

00:00:48 – 00:00:50:	Blessed are those who keep his testimonies,

00:00:50 – 00:00:52:	who seek Him with the whole heart.

00:00:52 – 00:00:54:	Yea, they do know unrighteousness.

00:00:54 – 00:00:56:	They walk in His ways.

00:00:56 – 00:00:58:	You have commanded, Your precepts,

00:00:58 – 00:01:00:	we should observe them diligently.

00:01:00 – 00:01:05:	O that my ways were established, to observe Your statutes.

00:01:05 – 00:01:09:	Then shall I not be put to shame, when I look to all Your commandments.

00:01:09 – 00:01:12:	I will give thanks to You, with uprightness of heart,

00:01:12 – 00:01:14:	when I learn Your righteous judgments.

00:01:14 – 00:01:19:	I will observe Your statutes, do not forsake me utterly.

00:01:19 – 00:01:22:	How shall a young man cleanse his way?

00:01:22 – 00:01:24:	By taking heed according to Your word.

00:01:24 – 00:01:27:	With my whole heart have I sought You.

00:01:27 – 00:01:29:	Let me not wander from Your commandments.

00:01:29 – 00:01:32:	Your word have I laid up in my heart.

00:01:32 – 00:01:34:	That I might not sin against You.

00:01:34 – 00:01:36:	Blessed are You, O Lord.

00:01:36 – 00:01:38:	Teach me Your statutes.

00:01:38 – 00:01:42:	With my lips have I declared, all the ordinances of Your mouth.

00:01:42 – 00:01:45:	I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies.

00:01:45 – 00:01:47:	As much as in all riches.

00:01:47 – 00:01:51:	I will meditate on Your precepts, and look to Your ways.

00:01:51 – 00:01:53:	I will delight myself in Your statutes.

00:01:53 – 00:01:55:	I will not forget Your word.

00:01:58 – 00:02:01:	Those were the first two sections of Psalm 119,

00:02:01 – 00:02:03:	which is the longest Psalm in the Bible.

00:02:03 – 00:02:05:	There's some beautiful structure to it,

00:02:05 – 00:02:09:	and it's really almost a book unto itself.

00:02:09 – 00:02:11:	The reason that we opened with that

00:02:11 – 00:02:14:	is that those first two sections in particular

00:02:14 – 00:02:17:	are a testimony to the fact that the Christian life

00:02:17 – 00:02:20:	is one of following the precepts of God,

00:02:20 – 00:02:22:	which is something that is alien

00:02:22 – 00:02:26:	to the way a lot of Christians talk today.

00:02:26 – 00:02:29:	Last week, we spoke at length about the fact

00:02:29 – 00:02:31:	that all sins are not equal,

00:02:31 – 00:02:33:	because that is one of the first arguments

00:02:33 – 00:02:36:	that is used against the notion of saying

00:02:36 – 00:02:39:	something is a sin, or that we should stop sinning.

00:02:40 – 00:02:43:	Fundamentally, what we're talking about last week

00:02:43 – 00:02:45:	and this week is about the different ways

00:02:45 – 00:02:47:	that Satan tries to trick Christians

00:02:47 – 00:02:50:	into ceasing to speak as Christians,

00:02:50 – 00:02:53:	which in turn is ceasing to be Christian.

00:02:53 – 00:02:56:	So today, our discussion has moved on

00:02:56 – 00:02:58:	from all sins not being equal

00:02:58 – 00:02:59:	to a couple different things.

00:02:59 – 00:03:04:	One is the follow-on doctrine that comes out of that,

00:03:04 – 00:03:05:	which is judge not.

00:03:05 – 00:03:08:	Now, the way it's used in the world today

00:03:08 – 00:03:11:	is fundamentally satanic,

00:03:11 – 00:03:12:	but we have to make the case for that

00:03:12 – 00:03:15:	because judge not is literally a quote from Jesus.

00:03:15 – 00:03:17:	So one of the tricks that gets played

00:03:17 – 00:03:21:	by Satan himself in scripture when he quotes scripture

00:03:21 – 00:03:23:	is that he will say things that are true

00:03:23 – 00:03:26:	and yet twist them in ways that are false.

00:03:26 – 00:03:29:	And so as Christians, we know that in Matthew 7,

00:03:29 – 00:03:31:	Jesus said, judge not,

00:03:31 – 00:03:35:	and the world is redefining, is exegeting that for us

00:03:35 – 00:03:37:	in a way that's completely contrary to scripture.

00:03:37 – 00:03:39:	So today, we're going to be talking about

00:03:39 – 00:03:41:	what it means for Christians to judge

00:03:41 – 00:03:43:	or to refrain from judging.

00:03:43 – 00:03:45:	And in the second part of this episode,

00:03:45 – 00:03:47:	we're going to be talking about what Lutherans

00:03:47 – 00:03:50:	call the third use of the law and the manner

00:03:50 – 00:03:53:	in which all of these things come into play

00:03:53 – 00:03:56:	where Christians say, well, yeah, there's that law stuff,

00:03:56 – 00:03:59:	but I live in the gospel now, I'm free.

00:03:59 – 00:04:03:	And so I guess what the Bible says doesn't matter.

00:04:03 – 00:04:05:	And that's kind of where some people end up

00:04:05 – 00:04:07:	and they don't necessarily phrase it that way,

00:04:07 – 00:04:10:	but fundamentally that's where their version

00:04:10 – 00:04:12:	of Christianity takes them.

00:04:12 – 00:04:15:	And so when a person comes along

00:04:15 – 00:04:19:	and says, hey, scripture said, we should do X, Y, and Z,

00:04:19 – 00:04:20:	they fire right back.

00:04:20 – 00:04:21:	What are you saying?

00:04:21 – 00:04:23:	Your sins are better than mine?

00:04:23 – 00:04:24:	That I'm a worse sinner?

00:04:24 – 00:04:25:	Are you judging me?

00:04:25 – 00:04:29:	And so we have to deal with these piecemeal

00:04:29 – 00:04:31:	so that we can show the whole picture

00:04:31 – 00:04:34:	in which Satan tricks Christians

00:04:34 – 00:04:37:	into saying things that sound Christian

00:04:37 – 00:04:40:	in a way that fundamentally destroys Christianity.

00:04:40 – 00:04:43:	And I think that's one of the chief things

00:04:43 – 00:04:45:	that's the hardest for us to deal with

00:04:45 – 00:04:49:	is the idea that's in all of our heads

00:04:49 – 00:04:53:	that I'm a Christian, so what I think must be Christian,

00:04:53 – 00:04:55:	because I have a clean conscience.

00:04:55 – 00:04:58:	I read the Bible sometimes, I go to church most of the time,

00:04:58 – 00:05:00:	I pay attention, I believe it.

00:05:00 – 00:05:03:	So whatever I think about, whatever we're talking about,

00:05:03 – 00:05:06:	I must be right, because I'm a Christian.

00:05:06 – 00:05:08:	And that's an incredibly dangerous place to be

00:05:08 – 00:05:11:	because it's entirely possible to be a Christian

00:05:11 – 00:05:13:	and to have a malformed conscience.

00:05:13 – 00:05:15:	That's one of the things that scripture talks about,

00:05:15 – 00:05:18:	to dwell on God's teachings and his precepts

00:05:18 – 00:05:21:	so that we understand the ways of God.

00:05:21 – 00:05:23:	Because when he says, my ways are not your ways

00:05:23 – 00:05:26:	and my thoughts are not your thoughts, that's part of it.

00:05:26 – 00:05:29:	These things that God tells us to do,

00:05:29 – 00:05:31:	they're not instinct for a human.

00:05:31 – 00:05:36:	We're fallen sinful men, we naturally rebel against God.

00:05:36 – 00:05:40:	And even in our sanctified nature where we're given faith,

00:05:40 – 00:05:43:	there's still part of us that's constantly fighting it.

00:05:43 – 00:05:47:	And so Satan pits the part of the Christian soul

00:05:47 – 00:05:49:	that wants to fight God against the part

00:05:49 – 00:05:51:	that wants to follow God.

00:05:51 – 00:05:54:	And we have to listen to scripture,

00:05:54 – 00:05:57:	we have to listen to the thing that's outside of us

00:05:57 – 00:06:01:	to determine which part of us we should follow.

00:06:01 – 00:06:03:	Even with our conscience,

00:06:03 – 00:06:07:	we would never advocate that you disobey your conscience

00:06:07 – 00:06:09:	if you disagree with something that we say,

00:06:09 – 00:06:11:	but at the same time,

00:06:11 – 00:06:15:	if we make an argument for your conscience being malformed,

00:06:15 – 00:06:17:	I would hope that people would take that seriously

00:06:17 – 00:06:19:	wherever it comes from, if it's a credible source,

00:06:19 – 00:06:24:	because the Christian conscience is a powerful thing

00:06:24 – 00:06:27:	in the Christian's mind and in his heart.

00:06:27 – 00:06:30:	If your conscience says this is sin,

00:06:30 – 00:06:33:	for you to do it is sin.

00:06:33 – 00:06:37:	And James, I think James 417, I believe is where that's found.

00:06:37 – 00:06:40:	That's true, but it's also the case

00:06:40 – 00:06:45:	that your conscience can be malformed by false teachings,

00:06:45 – 00:06:46:	by the world.

00:06:46 – 00:06:48:	And so what you believe to be sin,

00:06:48 – 00:06:50:	which would be sinful for you if you did it,

00:06:50 – 00:06:51:	because you would think you were sinning,

00:06:51 – 00:06:54:	is in fact not sin, that happens sometimes.

00:06:54 – 00:06:56:	And more and more we're seeing in the world,

00:06:56 – 00:06:58:	things like racism and sexism

00:06:58 – 00:07:01:	and some of the other topics we've addressed recently,

00:07:01 – 00:07:03:	those are worldly sins that are imported

00:07:03 – 00:07:05:	into Christian consciences.

00:07:05 – 00:07:07:	And so when the Christian says,

00:07:07 – 00:07:10:	I can't do that because that would be sin,

00:07:12 – 00:07:14:	there's an immediate concern to figure out,

00:07:14 – 00:07:15:	well, is that actually true?

00:07:15 – 00:07:17:	Which is why we did those episodes.

00:07:17 – 00:07:20:	But as we talk about whether or not we can judge,

00:07:20 – 00:07:22:	as we talk about whether or not certain sins

00:07:22 – 00:07:23:	are worse than others,

00:07:23 – 00:07:26:	as we talk about whether God's instruction

00:07:26 – 00:07:29:	has any meaning for the Christian in the Christian life,

00:07:29 – 00:07:33:	it's fundamentally about informing our consciences

00:07:33 – 00:07:34:	according to God's will.

00:07:34 – 00:07:36:	Not according to a podcaster

00:07:36 – 00:07:39:	or necessarily even a sermon,

00:07:39 – 00:07:41:	but according to what is coming from God's word.

00:07:41 – 00:07:45:	And whatever you hear, if it's informative,

00:07:45 – 00:07:47:	if it's Christian teaching,

00:07:47 – 00:07:49:	it should be coming from God's word.

00:07:49 – 00:07:52:	But it's God's word that must be paramount.

00:07:52 – 00:07:54:	That is what has the sole authority

00:07:54 – 00:07:56:	to inform your conscience.

00:07:56 – 00:07:57:	Your television doesn't have the authority

00:07:57 – 00:07:59:	to inform your conscience.

00:07:59 – 00:08:01:	Your nagging spouse doesn't have the authority

00:08:01 – 00:08:03:	to inform your conscience.

00:08:03 – 00:08:05:	They will, and they do,

00:08:05 – 00:08:06:	because that's how human beings work.

00:08:06 – 00:08:08:	But a malformed conscience

00:08:08 – 00:08:12:	is one of the worst nightmares for a Christian

00:08:12 – 00:08:15:	because you think you're acting in good faith

00:08:15 – 00:08:16:	and in good conscience,

00:08:16 – 00:08:18:	when in fact you're acting sinfully.

00:08:18 – 00:08:20:	And I think the first example

00:08:20 – 00:08:23:	that we're gonna discuss is from Matthew seven,

00:08:23 – 00:08:25:	is part of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.

00:08:25 – 00:08:27:	When he says, judge not,

00:08:27 – 00:08:30:	the discussion there goes directly to the heart

00:08:30 – 00:08:32:	of what the world tells us about this.

00:08:32 – 00:08:33:	I'll just read that briefly

00:08:33 – 00:08:36:	and then we'll get into talking about it.

00:08:36 – 00:08:38:	Judge not, that you be not judged.

00:08:38 – 00:08:40:	For with the judgment you pronounce,

00:08:40 – 00:08:41:	you will be judged.

00:08:41 – 00:08:42:	And with the measure you use,

00:08:42 – 00:08:44:	it will be measured to you.

00:08:44 – 00:08:46:	Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye,

00:08:46 – 00:08:49:	but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

00:08:49 – 00:08:51:	Or how can you say to your brother,

00:08:51 – 00:08:53:	let me take that speck out of your eye

00:08:53 – 00:08:54:	when there is a log in your own eye?

00:08:54 – 00:08:58:	You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye

00:08:58 – 00:08:59:	and then you will see clearly

00:08:59 – 00:09:01:	to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

00:09:01 – 00:09:03:	Do not give dogs what is holy

00:09:03 – 00:09:05:	and do not throw your pearls before pigs,

00:09:05 – 00:09:08:	lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

00:09:09 – 00:09:11:	The reason I included that last verse

00:09:11 – 00:09:15:	is because I think the superficial reading of judge not,

00:09:15 – 00:09:17:	they were handed by the world

00:09:17 – 00:09:19:	and increasingly by some of our own pastors,

00:09:19 – 00:09:22:	is defied by what I think is verse six,

00:09:22 – 00:09:24:	do not give the dogs what is holy

00:09:24 – 00:09:26:	and do not cast your pearls before swine.

00:09:26 – 00:09:28:	If you take the world,

00:09:28 – 00:09:31:	it's exegesis of this passage at face value,

00:09:31 – 00:09:35:	that judge not means you can't judge anyone or anything.

00:09:35 – 00:09:37:	How can you then follow the next passage

00:09:37 – 00:09:40:	that says do not give dogs what is holy?

00:09:40 – 00:09:42:	The only way a Christian can know

00:09:42 – 00:09:45:	that someone is a dog or someone is a swine

00:09:45 – 00:09:47:	or that they're going to trample underfoot

00:09:47 – 00:09:49:	when you speak to them and turn and attack you

00:09:49 – 00:09:51:	is to judge them.

00:09:51 – 00:09:54:	So regardless of what that second passage means,

00:09:54 – 00:09:56:	we're not gonna talk about the meaning of that.

00:09:56 – 00:09:58:	Simply the fact that it's present

00:09:58 – 00:10:01:	and immediately follows the passage about judge not

00:10:01 – 00:10:03:	demonstrates clearly that the idea

00:10:03 – 00:10:07:	that you cannot judge means you cannot discern

00:10:07 – 00:10:09:	one thing from another or you cannot say

00:10:09 – 00:10:12:	that one thing is evil and another thing is not

00:10:12 – 00:10:13:	is false on its face.

00:10:13 – 00:10:18:	Jesus could not have said this in this context

00:10:18 – 00:10:20:	by that reading unless he was an idiot.

00:10:20 – 00:10:22:	He would have been telling the people

00:10:22 – 00:10:24:	who were listening and to us,

00:10:24 – 00:10:26:	do not give dogs what is holy,

00:10:26 – 00:10:27:	but don't judge who's a dog.

00:10:27 – 00:10:28:	You can't do that.

00:10:28 – 00:10:30:	That would be sin and then don't do this other thing.

00:10:30 – 00:10:31:	No.

00:10:31 – 00:10:34:	So just right out of the gate,

00:10:34 – 00:10:36:	the very context of this passage makes clear

00:10:36 – 00:10:38:	that everything you've been told that says judge not

00:10:38 – 00:10:40:	means hey man, just back off.

00:10:40 – 00:10:43:	You can't believe this too strongly.

00:10:43 – 00:10:45:	You can't condemn someone's sins.

00:10:45 – 00:10:49:	The very passage itself completely eliminates

00:10:49 – 00:10:52:	that sort of exegesis from any possible reading.

00:10:52 – 00:10:54:	There's a sort of inversion actually of this

00:10:54 – 00:10:58:	that happens in politics,

00:10:59 – 00:11:00:	particularly on the right wing

00:11:00 – 00:11:03:	and particularly amongst Christians.

00:11:03 – 00:11:06:	We make hypocrisy out to be everything.

00:11:06 – 00:11:09:	We always try to play a gotcha game with a politician

00:11:09 – 00:11:14:	or a public figure being a hypocrite about something.

00:11:14 – 00:11:16:	And then we turn around and ignore it

00:11:17 – 00:11:19:	in scripture in Matthew seven.

00:11:19 – 00:11:23:	Now in politics, someone being a hypocrite

00:11:23 – 00:11:26:	is not a very effective charge for a number of reasons

00:11:26 – 00:11:27:	at the discussion for another time,

00:11:27 – 00:11:31:	but here the central issue is that hypocrisy.

00:11:31 – 00:11:35:	And that should be obvious by the last sentence

00:11:35 – 00:11:37:	of Christ's words in the first part

00:11:37 – 00:11:39:	of this little section of Matthew.

00:11:39 – 00:11:42:	You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye,

00:11:42 – 00:11:44:	et cetera.

00:11:44 – 00:11:45:	The issue is that hypocrisy,

00:11:45 – 00:11:48:	if you are judging others,

00:11:48 – 00:11:51:	if you are condemning others for a sin,

00:11:51 – 00:11:53:	acting holier than thou,

00:11:54 – 00:11:57:	while you yourself are committing the same type of sin,

00:11:57 – 00:11:59:	you are being a rank hypocrite.

00:12:00 – 00:12:02:	And that's the issue here.

00:12:02 – 00:12:06:	So if you're engaged in an adulterous relationship

00:12:06 – 00:12:08:	and you spend all your time teaching

00:12:08 – 00:12:10:	against sexual immorality,

00:12:12 – 00:12:13:	this section is for you.

00:12:14 – 00:12:16:	So Christians do have to judge,

00:12:16 – 00:12:18:	of course we have to judge.

00:12:18 – 00:12:21:	God's law wouldn't be worth anything to us

00:12:21 – 00:12:22:	and we'll of course get into the law more

00:12:22 – 00:12:24:	in the next part of this episode,

00:12:24 – 00:12:27:	but God's law wouldn't be worth anything to us

00:12:27 – 00:12:28:	if we couldn't judge at all.

00:12:30 – 00:12:32:	What would you do with the law

00:12:32 – 00:12:36:	if you couldn't judge if something is or is not adultery,

00:12:36 – 00:12:38:	if it's not sexual immorality,

00:12:38 – 00:12:40:	or if it is sexual immorality?

00:12:41 – 00:12:44:	The sixth commandment wouldn't be any good to you.

00:12:44 – 00:12:47:	How can you judge whether or not something is slander,

00:12:47 – 00:12:50:	whether it runs afoul of the eighth commandment?

00:12:50 – 00:12:52:	If you can't judge whether or not someone

00:12:52 – 00:12:54:	is being slanderous, being a defamer.

00:12:56 – 00:12:57:	Christians have to judge,

00:12:57 – 00:12:59:	and there are other verses in scripture

00:12:59 – 00:13:00:	that instruct us to judge.

00:13:00 – 00:13:03:	We'll get into those in a little bit,

00:13:03 – 00:13:07:	but the issue here for judge not that you be not judged

00:13:08 – 00:13:10:	is clearly given in the second verse.

00:13:10 – 00:13:14:	The judgment you pronounce, if you're being a hypocrite,

00:13:14 – 00:13:17:	if you are committing the very sin you are condemning,

00:13:17 – 00:13:20:	you are going to be condemned with your own words

00:13:20 – 00:13:22:	because you are a hypocrite.

00:13:22 – 00:13:25:	And so Christians do have to judge,

00:13:25 – 00:13:28:	but the issue is not being a hypocritical judge,

00:13:28 – 00:13:32:	not being a faithless judge, not being an unjust judge.

00:13:33 – 00:13:36:	In the question of hypocrisy is also one of degrees of sin.

00:13:36 – 00:13:38:	Hypocrisy doesn't necessarily just mean

00:13:38 – 00:13:41:	I'm committing sexual sin and I accuse you of sexual sin,

00:13:41 – 00:13:43:	so that's hypocrisy.

00:13:43 – 00:13:47:	Maybe I'm a murderer and you're an adulterer.

00:13:47 – 00:13:48:	Murder is worse than adultery.

00:13:48 – 00:13:50:	If you know, like that's a prosperous example,

00:13:50 – 00:13:54:	like as sins are ranked and as sins are known

00:13:54 – 00:13:58:	in a community, the hypocrisy itself becomes corrosive

00:13:58 – 00:13:59:	because if someone comes along and says,

00:13:59 – 00:14:01:	hey, you need to stop what you're doing,

00:14:01 – 00:14:04:	and I know that you're doing something similar,

00:14:04 – 00:14:07:	you're doing something maybe worse,

00:14:07 – 00:14:09:	I'm not going to be able to receive

00:14:09 – 00:14:12:	that Christian admonition because of the hypocrisy.

00:14:12 – 00:14:14:	So the sin itself that you are committing

00:14:14 – 00:14:18:	by being a hypocrite is corrosive to my sanctification

00:14:18 – 00:14:21:	because if I am sinning and I'm sinning

00:14:21 – 00:14:22:	in a way that needs to be rebuked,

00:14:22 – 00:14:25:	I am less likely to receive the rebuke

00:14:25 – 00:14:28:	in a Christian fashion because of the hypocrisy.

00:14:28 – 00:14:31:	And so it's fundamentally destructive

00:14:31 – 00:14:34:	to the use of the law in the Christian life

00:14:34 – 00:14:36:	for someone to judge hypocritically.

00:14:36 – 00:14:39:	It separates the two people.

00:14:39 – 00:14:41:	They're no longer being Christian brothers,

00:14:41 – 00:14:43:	but one is being an accuser of the other,

00:14:43 – 00:14:46:	and that's a demolition of what should be the natural order

00:14:46 – 00:14:49:	inside the Christian congregation.

00:14:49 – 00:14:51:	And that actually ties right into one of the verses

00:14:51 – 00:14:54:	that tells us that we do in fact have to judge

00:14:54 – 00:14:56:	from 1 Corinthians 5,

00:14:56 – 00:14:59:	for what have I to do with judging outsiders?

00:14:59 – 00:15:03:	Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?

00:15:03 – 00:15:04:	God judges those outside,

00:15:04 – 00:15:06:	purge the evil person from among you.

00:15:07 – 00:15:09:	And so here we are commanded as Christians

00:15:09 – 00:15:12:	to judge specifically to judge fellow Christians.

00:15:13 – 00:15:15:	Part of this, of course, is going to be

00:15:15 – 00:15:18:	so that we can rebuke them from the law

00:15:18 – 00:15:20:	when they transgress, when they are living in sin,

00:15:20 – 00:15:22:	because if we do not do that,

00:15:22 – 00:15:25:	we are not behaving properly as brothers.

00:15:25 – 00:15:28:	Brothers are to look out for and to care for each other.

00:15:28 – 00:15:29:	The answer to the cry of Cain,

00:15:29 – 00:15:30:	am I my brother's keeper?

00:15:30 – 00:15:33:	Is yes, yes you are, you are your brother's keeper.

00:15:35 – 00:15:36:	And so if you cannot judge,

00:15:36 – 00:15:41:	if the world's supposed interpretation of Matthew 7

00:15:41 – 00:15:43:	is that Christians are never allowed to judge,

00:15:43 – 00:15:46:	how can you possibly rebuke a brother,

00:15:46 – 00:15:47:	according to scripture,

00:15:47 – 00:15:50:	which instructs you to rebuke a brother who is in sin?

00:15:50 – 00:15:52:	How can you do that?

00:15:53 – 00:15:55:	If you cannot judge what he is doing,

00:15:55 – 00:15:56:	and further, if you cannot discern

00:15:56 – 00:15:58:	what the law actually means,

00:15:58 – 00:16:01:	what the law instructs him to do in that scenario,

00:16:01 – 00:16:03:	what it instructs you to do in that scenario,

00:16:03 – 00:16:06:	you must as a Christian be able to judge

00:16:06 – 00:16:09:	in order to do the things that scripture instructs you to do.

00:16:09 – 00:16:13:	And so the world's isegesis of Matthew 7

00:16:13 – 00:16:18:	is indeed very clearly isegesis, not exegesis.

00:16:18 – 00:16:20:	It is a deliberate misinterpretation.

00:16:20 – 00:16:24:	It is a malicious interpretation of Jesus' words

00:16:24 – 00:16:27:	in order to get you not to act as a Christian,

00:16:27 – 00:16:30:	in order to get you not to rebuke your brother

00:16:30 – 00:16:31:	when he is in sin,

00:16:31 – 00:16:34:	in order to get you not to care for your brother

00:16:34 – 00:16:36:	by putting him back on the straight and narrow,

00:16:36 – 00:16:38:	in order to get you not to rebuke the world,

00:16:38 – 00:16:43:	which is living in heinous sin, growing worse by the day,

00:16:43 – 00:16:45:	because if you cannot judge,

00:16:46 – 00:16:49:	then you cannot actually apply the law.

00:16:49 – 00:16:51:	You cannot use God's law to rebuke sin,

00:16:51 – 00:16:54:	which is one of the things that Christians must do

00:16:54 – 00:16:55:	in this life.

00:16:55 – 00:16:57:	And that includes our own sin,

00:16:57 – 00:17:00:	which is fundamentally what's upstream from all of this.

00:17:00 – 00:17:05:	See, if all sins are equal, and if you can't judge anyone,

00:17:05 – 00:17:07:	eventually, if you adopt those beliefs

00:17:07 – 00:17:10:	as your core beliefs as a so-called Christian,

00:17:11 – 00:17:13:	Satan's gonna pay you into a corner

00:17:13 – 00:17:15:	where you're gonna be at the point where you aren't,

00:17:15 – 00:17:17:	you're gonna convince yourself

00:17:17 – 00:17:19:	that you can't actually tell if you're sinning.

00:17:19 – 00:17:21:	See, never mind what the other guy's doing,

00:17:21 – 00:17:22:	I'm not gonna be a hypocrite,

00:17:22 – 00:17:24:	I'm never gonna confront anyone else,

00:17:24 – 00:17:26:	but I'm not even sure if I'm sinning anymore.

00:17:26 – 00:17:31:	Sure, I'm doing something that used to be said was terrible,

00:17:31 – 00:17:33:	but I can judge, and no one can judge me,

00:17:33 – 00:17:35:	no one can be a judge over me.

00:17:35 – 00:17:40:	So if I'm not even sure if I'm sinning anymore,

00:17:40 – 00:17:41:	Satan's got you.

00:17:41 – 00:17:45:	That is the death of the Holy Spirit in your soul.

00:17:45 – 00:17:48:	That is you driving out the Holy Spirit

00:17:48 – 00:17:49:	by these little things,

00:17:49 – 00:17:51:	by these things that are seemingly small errors,

00:17:51 – 00:17:55:	where some people think that maybe you're quibbling.

00:17:55 – 00:17:57:	If you say, all sins are not equal,

00:17:57 – 00:17:59:	that's actually a big deal.

00:17:59 – 00:18:00:	Judge not, what are we doing,

00:18:00 – 00:18:02:	saying actually you should judge?

00:18:03 – 00:18:05:	You're a hypocrite, you're a sinner, right?

00:18:05 – 00:18:07:	Cory and I are sinners, right?

00:18:07 – 00:18:10:	So how can we tell someone to judge or not to judge?

00:18:10 – 00:18:13:	As soon as you go down the path of saying,

00:18:13 – 00:18:16:	well, it's you versus me and there's finger pointing,

00:18:16 – 00:18:18:	what has gone away?

00:18:18 – 00:18:20:	Scripture has gone away.

00:18:20 – 00:18:23:	What God has commanded us to do has gone away.

00:18:23 – 00:18:26:	And that's how all of this plays out in our lives.

00:18:26 – 00:18:28:	Because if you circle the wagons and you say,

00:18:28 – 00:18:29:	I'm not gonna go after anybody else

00:18:29 – 00:18:30:	because that would be a bridge too far,

00:18:30 – 00:18:32:	I don't wanna judge.

00:18:32 – 00:18:34:	Eventually you're gonna stop judging your own sins.

00:18:34 – 00:18:37:	And that's the Christian conscience.

00:18:37 – 00:18:39:	Your conscience is for the Christian,

00:18:39 – 00:18:41:	the Holy Spirit speaking inside you

00:18:41 – 00:18:44:	and saying what I am doing is sinful.

00:18:44 – 00:18:47:	Turn away from this, go pray,

00:18:47 – 00:18:51:	leave the room, leave the state, whatever I have to do.

00:18:51 – 00:18:54:	I need to separate from this evil and flee from it.

00:18:54 – 00:18:56:	Flee from temptation and flee from evil.

00:18:56 – 00:18:59:	Well, if I can't even tell what sin is anymore,

00:18:59 – 00:19:00:	how am I gonna know to run?

00:19:01 – 00:19:03:	And besides, I'm still a Christian, so I'll be all right.

00:19:03 – 00:19:05:	I'm living in Christian freedom.

00:19:05 – 00:19:07:	So what could possibly go wrong?

00:19:07 – 00:19:09:	I'm baptized, Jesus died for me.

00:19:10 – 00:19:11:	The further you go down that path,

00:19:11 – 00:19:15:	the easier it is to just gobble up all the evil in the world

00:19:15 – 00:19:17:	and to say, yeah, this is mine.

00:19:17 – 00:19:19:	And eventually you're just gonna forget about God.

00:19:19 – 00:19:22:	It won't be an act of repudiation,

00:19:22 – 00:19:23:	like some Reddit atheist.

00:19:23 – 00:19:26:	You're just gonna think that you belong to Jesus

00:19:26 – 00:19:28:	and you're a Christian and you'll quit caring

00:19:28 – 00:19:30:	about what any of those words actually mean.

00:19:31 – 00:19:35:	In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul again amplifies that.

00:19:35 – 00:19:37:	When one of you has a grievance against another,

00:19:37 – 00:19:40:	does he dare go to the law before the unrighteous

00:19:40 – 00:19:41:	instead of the saints?

00:19:41 – 00:19:44:	Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world?

00:19:44 – 00:19:46:	And if the world is to be judged by you,

00:19:46 – 00:19:49:	are you incompetent to try trivial cases?

00:19:49 – 00:19:52:	Do you not know that we are to judge angels?

00:19:52 – 00:19:55:	How much more then matters pertaining to this life?

00:19:55 – 00:19:56:	So if you have such cases,

00:19:56 – 00:19:58:	why do you lay them before those

00:19:58 – 00:20:00:	who have no standing in the church?

00:20:00 – 00:20:05:	So this on its face completely eliminates

00:20:05 – 00:20:08:	the question of whether or not Christians are to judge.

00:20:08 – 00:20:11:	We are absolutely to judge, we are commanded to.

00:20:11 – 00:20:13:	We have no choice.

00:20:13 – 00:20:15:	And the second thing I wanna highlight in here,

00:20:15 – 00:20:17:	which goes to something Corey was saying,

00:20:17 – 00:20:20:	is that this in particular is also talking

00:20:20 – 00:20:22:	about church discipline.

00:20:22 – 00:20:26:	It's not talking about an individual having a grievance

00:20:26 – 00:20:30:	and going and accusing someone directly.

00:20:30 – 00:20:32:	Now, Matthew 18 says if you have a problem

00:20:32 – 00:20:34:	with someone, you go to them first.

00:20:34 – 00:20:37:	This is talking about the next step of Matthew 18.

00:20:37 – 00:20:39:	First Corinthians six is talking about

00:20:39 – 00:20:41:	if you have a problem with someone,

00:20:41 – 00:20:43:	you've gone to them privately, you take it to the church.

00:20:43 – 00:20:45:	You don't try to judge it yourself.

00:20:45 – 00:20:47:	You say, look, as a Christian body,

00:20:47 – 00:20:49:	we need to deal with this together

00:20:49 – 00:20:51:	because it's what Christ commands.

00:20:51 – 00:20:54:	So this is important because again,

00:20:54 – 00:20:56:	it goes to the question of how are you to judge

00:20:56 – 00:20:59:	whether or not the church is to judge?

00:20:59 – 00:21:01:	Even if you say that the church collectively

00:21:01 – 00:21:04:	has the right to judge these matters, which is true.

00:21:04 – 00:21:06:	The only way something can be brought

00:21:06 – 00:21:08:	before the church righteously

00:21:08 – 00:21:10:	is if you individually have judged it privately

00:21:10 – 00:21:13:	to be a matter to be brought before the church.

00:21:13 – 00:21:16:	Do you see what happens if you say you can't judge?

00:21:16 – 00:21:18:	If you can't know if something's sin,

00:21:18 – 00:21:21:	how can you even obey the Bible and bring it

00:21:21 – 00:21:23:	to the church, to the elders or to whoever

00:21:23 – 00:21:27:	to address a sin between you and another believer?

00:21:27 – 00:21:29:	It's only possible if you're capable

00:21:29 – 00:21:32:	of actually discerning God's law, obeying God's commands

00:21:32 – 00:21:34:	and confronting evil where it's found,

00:21:34 – 00:21:36:	even when it's found within the church.

00:21:36 – 00:21:39:	To give one more verse that relates

00:21:39 – 00:21:41:	to the very clear requirement,

00:21:41 – 00:21:44:	the duty of Christians to judge other Christians

00:21:44 – 00:21:49:	and to rebuke them when they sin, Luke 17.3,

00:21:49 – 00:21:50:	pay attention to yourselves.

00:21:50 – 00:21:53:	If your brother sins, rebuke him.

00:21:53 – 00:21:55:	And if he repents, forgive him.

00:21:56 – 00:22:00:	Again, if the world's supposed interpretation

00:22:00 – 00:22:03:	of judge not as accurate, there's no way

00:22:03 – 00:22:06:	to know if your brother sins.

00:22:06 – 00:22:09:	Because if you determine that he has sinned,

00:22:09 – 00:22:12:	you are judging what he did to have been a sin.

00:22:13 – 00:22:16:	And if you cannot judge that he has sinned,

00:22:16 – 00:22:18:	then you cannot rebuke him.

00:22:18 – 00:22:21:	So very clearly, what the world says

00:22:21 – 00:22:23:	about judge not cannot be true

00:22:23 – 00:22:26:	because scripture does not conflict with scripture.

00:22:26 – 00:22:29:	Scripture is not going to tell you to do two things

00:22:29 – 00:22:32:	that cannot be done simultaneously.

00:22:32 – 00:22:34:	Scripture is going to tell you to do things

00:22:34 – 00:22:37:	that you cannot do because in your fallen state,

00:22:37 – 00:22:39:	you cannot uphold the law.

00:22:39 – 00:22:42:	But scripture is not going to tell you to do A

00:22:42 – 00:22:44:	and not A at the same time.

00:22:44 – 00:22:46:	And so scripture is not going to tell you,

00:22:46 – 00:22:49:	you cannot ever judge, you can never judge anyone,

00:22:49 – 00:22:50:	you can never judge anything.

00:22:50 – 00:22:52:	You have to stay in your own lane,

00:22:52 – 00:22:54:	you have to ignore these other sins.

00:22:54 – 00:22:56:	It's not your place to judge.

00:22:56 – 00:23:00:	And then turn around and tell you here in Luke and elsewhere,

00:23:00 – 00:23:02:	rebuke your brother when he sins.

00:23:02 – 00:23:05:	That's telling you to judge.

00:23:05 – 00:23:08:	So you must be able to judge what is sin.

00:23:08 – 00:23:12:	You must be able to judge the actions of fellow Christians

00:23:12 – 00:23:13:	in order to rebuke them.

00:23:13 – 00:23:16:	And then if they repent, forgive them.

00:23:16 – 00:23:18:	Part of the reason why it's so important

00:23:18 – 00:23:23:	to get this right is that going to a brother in Christ

00:23:23 – 00:23:25:	privately and saying, you are sinning,

00:23:25 – 00:23:28:	whether you've sinned against me or you're sinning

00:23:28 – 00:23:31:	in some other contexts that I become aware of.

00:23:31 – 00:23:33:	When someone comes to you privately

00:23:33 – 00:23:35:	or perhaps it's gone beyond that

00:23:35 – 00:23:37:	and it's a matter of some church discipline

00:23:37 – 00:23:40:	where the church elders or whomever else are coming to you

00:23:40 – 00:23:41:	as a group and saying,

00:23:41 – 00:23:45:	what you are doing is sinful, you need to repent.

00:23:45 – 00:23:48:	The reason it's so important to get everything up front right

00:23:48 – 00:23:51:	is that our natural inclination is to shout hypocrite.

00:23:51 – 00:23:53:	It's to say, judge not.

00:23:53 – 00:23:56:	As soon as the light is shown on your sins,

00:23:56 – 00:23:58:	that's exactly where your heart's gonna go.

00:23:58 – 00:24:00:	And it's gonna say, how dare you judge me?

00:24:00 – 00:24:02:	Aren't you a sinner too?

00:24:02 – 00:24:04:	And Jesus is teaching us these things

00:24:04 – 00:24:08:	so that when we are confronted with our own sins,

00:24:08 – 00:24:11:	our first response is not additional sin.

00:24:11 – 00:24:14:	Whenever anyone comes to you, whether they're right or wrong,

00:24:14 – 00:24:16:	and we're gonna talk about that in a second,

00:24:16 – 00:24:21:	but simply the fact that someone would come to you privately

00:24:21 – 00:24:26:	or in a court with Matthew 18 to admonish you of your sin,

00:24:28 – 00:24:31:	per se, that is a Christian act.

00:24:31 – 00:24:34:	Now, what's going on behind the scenes may not be.

00:24:34 – 00:24:36:	And so there are things that you may know

00:24:36 – 00:24:38:	that may change the context of it,

00:24:38 – 00:24:40:	but by itself, by default,

00:24:40 – 00:24:43:	the simple fact that a Christian would approach you privately

00:24:43 – 00:24:45:	and say, hey man, I'm concerned for your soul,

00:24:45 – 00:24:47:	I'm concerned about what you're doing.

00:24:47 – 00:24:50:	Can we talk about what I think is a sin in your life?

00:24:50 – 00:24:54:	Your first response must necessarily be humility.

00:24:54 – 00:24:58:	It must be to listen and to receive that humbly.

00:24:58 – 00:25:00:	Even if they're wrong, your first response

00:25:00 – 00:25:03:	can be to get your hackles up and to say let's fight

00:25:03 – 00:25:08:	because if you're wrong and you are sinning

00:25:09 – 00:25:11:	and they're admonishing you appropriately,

00:25:11 – 00:25:14:	you're going to resist their admonition.

00:25:14 – 00:25:18:	If you're right and they were falsely accusing you of sin,

00:25:18 – 00:25:20:	you've still set the wrong tone

00:25:20 – 00:25:23:	by eliminating the possibility that sin could be confronted

00:25:23 – 00:25:25:	because what will happen in some cases,

00:25:25 – 00:25:28:	someone will come to you and accuse you of racism

00:25:28 – 00:25:32:	or sexism, one of these other made up modern sins

00:25:32 – 00:25:35:	that is not a sin against God, whatever it is,

00:25:35 – 00:25:37:	whatever has occurred, if someone comes to you

00:25:37 – 00:25:40:	and says I'm concerned about you, which is Christian,

00:25:40 – 00:25:41:	it is Christian to be concerned

00:25:41 – 00:25:43:	about the souls of our brothers.

00:25:43 – 00:25:45:	We should all have that concern.

00:25:45 – 00:25:47:	That is the Christian part of that.

00:25:47 – 00:25:50:	If their conscience is malformed,

00:25:50 – 00:25:53:	if they are adopting false, worldly beliefs

00:25:53 – 00:25:56:	into their own version of Christianity

00:25:56 – 00:25:58:	and then holding you to a moral standard,

00:25:58 – 00:26:02:	the scripture does not hold, you have to be patient

00:26:02 – 00:26:05:	and you have to understand that they're coming to you

00:26:05 – 00:26:07:	in Christian concern, in some cases,

00:26:07 – 00:26:10:	there may be unbelievers who will do the same things

00:26:10 – 00:26:12:	and that's another matter for discernment.

00:26:12 – 00:26:14:	You may have someone who's an absolute liar

00:26:14 – 00:26:17:	who's using these things as a weapon to destroy you

00:26:17 – 00:26:20:	and to drive you from the church because they are evil

00:26:20 – 00:26:23:	and they do not want you to be where God wants you.

00:26:23 – 00:26:26:	So all of these things may happen

00:26:26 – 00:26:28:	but the first default response of anyone

00:26:28 – 00:26:31:	in the situation of being confronted

00:26:31 – 00:26:36:	cannot be resistance and rebuke and refutation.

00:26:36 – 00:26:40:	However, in the cases where there's error by the accuser,

00:26:40 – 00:26:44:	then you are now in the position that they are in.

00:26:44 – 00:26:46:	They have come to you accusing you of a sin

00:26:46 – 00:26:50:	that if it's a false sin, you must now gently rebuke

00:26:50 – 00:26:53:	but firmly rebuke their sin against you

00:26:53 – 00:26:55:	because they are bringing to you a false confession

00:26:55 – 00:26:57:	that's in their heart.

00:26:57 – 00:27:00:	They're accusing you of a sin that's not really a sin

00:27:00 – 00:27:02:	which means they're trying to get you

00:27:02 – 00:27:05:	to confess a false sin to a false God.

00:27:05 – 00:27:09:	They're trying to get you to apostatize in that moment,

00:27:09 – 00:27:10:	even by degrees.

00:27:10 – 00:27:13:	And so you as a Christian brother to them

00:27:13 – 00:27:15:	must be concerned for their soul

00:27:15 – 00:27:18:	because the fact that they came to you first as an accuser

00:27:18 – 00:27:21:	doesn't, maybe they're right, maybe they're wrong.

00:27:21 – 00:27:22:	And that's the first question.

00:27:22 – 00:27:23:	Are they right or are they wrong?

00:27:23 – 00:27:25:	If they're right, repent.

00:27:25 – 00:27:26:	Let that be the end of it

00:27:26 – 00:27:28:	so that you can be reunited with your brother.

00:27:28 – 00:27:31:	If they're wrong, there's still a problem there.

00:27:31 – 00:27:33:	And you as a Christian,

00:27:33 – 00:27:36:	don't solve that problem by just shouting at them

00:27:36 – 00:27:38:	or by haranguing them saying, you're a hypocrite.

00:27:38 – 00:27:40:	You have to clearly show them their sin

00:27:40 – 00:27:42:	just as they were trying to do to you

00:27:42 – 00:27:45:	because when they come to you with Christian concern,

00:27:45 – 00:27:46:	if they're in error,

00:27:46 – 00:27:49:	you then must have Christian concern for them.

00:27:49 – 00:27:52:	You see, there's an obligation in both directions.

00:27:52 – 00:27:54:	When we are part of the body of Christ,

00:27:54 – 00:27:56:	when we're brothers in Christ,

00:27:56 – 00:27:58:	we are our brother's keeper.

00:27:58 – 00:28:02:	And if he's erring by coming to you with false accusations,

00:28:02 – 00:28:03:	that's now your problem.

00:28:03 – 00:28:06:	His soul is now something that you have to be concerned about

00:28:06 – 00:28:07:	for his sake.

00:28:07 – 00:28:09:	And that gets incredibly tricky

00:28:09 – 00:28:14:	because he must listen to those administers as well.

00:28:14 – 00:28:16:	And that's something that's going to be missing in most cases

00:28:16 – 00:28:19:	because while he may have a Christian heart

00:28:19 – 00:28:23:	when it comes to confronting your sin,

00:28:23 – 00:28:25:	if you say, actually, you're sinning,

00:28:25 – 00:28:27:	it's very easy for someone to see that

00:28:27 – 00:28:30:	as someone getting their knuckles up,

00:28:30 – 00:28:31:	of stiffening their back,

00:28:31 – 00:28:34:	of being heart-hearted and unrepentant.

00:28:34 – 00:28:36:	Because if they accuse you of sin

00:28:36 – 00:28:37:	and you say, I don't repent of that,

00:28:37 – 00:28:38:	that's no sin at all.

00:28:38 – 00:28:40:	Their first instinct is going to be,

00:28:40 – 00:28:42:	well, that's unrepentant, you're a sinner,

00:28:42 – 00:28:43:	you're even worse than I thought.

00:28:43 – 00:28:47:	Well, if it were a real sin, yes, it was a false sin,

00:28:47 – 00:28:49:	then the tables have turned.

00:28:49 – 00:28:51:	The Christian duty is still there,

00:28:51 – 00:28:52:	but the direction is reversed.

00:28:52 – 00:28:55:	And so understanding all of this upfront

00:28:55 – 00:28:57:	is the only way to navigate

00:28:57 – 00:29:00:	these incredibly tricky situations

00:29:00 – 00:29:02:	that are ultimately, if they're dealt with

00:29:02 – 00:29:04:	in a Christian fashion,

00:29:04 – 00:29:06:	it's for the benefit of the church.

00:29:06 – 00:29:09:	It's for the benefit of your soul

00:29:09 – 00:29:10:	and the other man's soul.

00:29:10 – 00:29:12:	Because everyone should walk away

00:29:12 – 00:29:16:	from those interactions back on the same page as God.

00:29:16 – 00:29:17:	But everyone in those interactions,

00:29:17 – 00:29:19:	everyone who's not a hypocrite,

00:29:19 – 00:29:21:	must listen to the voice of God.

00:29:21 – 00:29:24:	And the fact that someone else was the first mover,

00:29:24 – 00:29:26:	if they're saying something that's false,

00:29:26 – 00:29:28:	you still have to deal with that.

00:29:28 – 00:29:29:	You have to deal with it gently,

00:29:29 – 00:29:30:	but it must be rebuked

00:29:30 – 00:29:32:	as the same sort of unrepentant sin

00:29:32 – 00:29:34:	that has brought them to you.

00:29:34 – 00:29:36:	And that's where the hypocrisy comes into play

00:29:36 – 00:29:39:	because they can't say, well, you can't accuse me.

00:29:39 – 00:29:41:	They're there accusing you.

00:29:41 – 00:29:44:	And it's not bad per se to accuse someone of sin.

00:29:44 – 00:29:45:	It is a hard thing to do.

00:29:45 – 00:29:48:	It's incredibly hard to do it faithfully,

00:29:48 – 00:29:49:	to go to a brother and say,

00:29:49 – 00:29:53:	I'm concerned about you, what you're doing is bad.

00:29:53 – 00:29:54:	Let's talk about this.

00:29:54 – 00:29:57:	I want to make sure that you are still in the faith

00:29:57 – 00:30:00:	and you're not making things worse for yourself.

00:30:00 – 00:30:01:	That's a hard thing to do.

00:30:01 – 00:30:02:	And you have to do it for them,

00:30:02 – 00:30:06:	even when they are in error and accusing you

00:30:06 – 00:30:09:	because the alternative is to multiply one sin

00:30:09 – 00:30:10:	into many sins.

00:30:10 – 00:30:14:	And that's why Jesus warned about the hypocrisy.

00:30:14 – 00:30:15:	It just makes things worse

00:30:15 – 00:30:17:	and it can very easily blow up

00:30:17 – 00:30:20:	an entire Christian congregation.

00:30:20 – 00:30:23:	And this tends to become a particular challenge

00:30:23 – 00:30:26:	when that initial party,

00:30:26 – 00:30:29:	the first man who comes to you to tell you

00:30:29 – 00:30:31:	that he believes you are sinning,

00:30:32 – 00:30:37:	either has or believes that he has a particular office

00:30:38 – 00:30:41:	that gives him that authority to rebuke sin.

00:30:41 – 00:30:45:	Now, of course, all Christians are told to rebuke sin.

00:30:46 – 00:30:47:	Scripture is very clear.

00:30:47 – 00:30:49:	We went over some of the verses

00:30:49 – 00:30:51:	that mentioned that it's all throughout scripture,

00:30:51 – 00:30:54:	but it is very clear that all Christians are to rebuke sin,

00:30:54 – 00:30:56:	but for instance, pastors and teachers,

00:30:57 – 00:31:01:	part of what they do in their office,

00:31:01 – 00:31:04:	part of their task is to rebuke sin

00:31:04 – 00:31:07:	because part of their task is to teach rightly.

00:31:07 – 00:31:10:	And if you teach rightly, if you are using the word,

00:31:10 – 00:31:12:	you are going to convict others of sin.

00:31:13 – 00:31:14:	In the case of a pastor,

00:31:14 – 00:31:17:	if you know that there is a particular sin

00:31:18 – 00:31:22:	in which some members of your flock are engaging,

00:31:22 – 00:31:24:	then you have a duty to go to them

00:31:24 – 00:31:26:	and to rebuke them for that sin,

00:31:26 – 00:31:29:	to teach them what scripture says about that sin,

00:31:29 – 00:31:31:	to help lead them out of that sin.

00:31:32 – 00:31:35:	But if you're pastor, if you're on the other side now,

00:31:35 – 00:31:38:	if your pastor is confused about what scripture means,

00:31:38 – 00:31:40:	if he has a false belief,

00:31:40 – 00:31:43:	if he has something he's imported from the world,

00:31:43 – 00:31:46:	which is very much the case today with many pastors,

00:31:47 – 00:31:48:	that is going to put you

00:31:48 – 00:31:52:	in a particularly difficult situation

00:31:52 – 00:31:54:	because now you are having to tell a man

00:31:54 – 00:31:57:	whose duty it is, whose special duty it is

00:31:57 – 00:32:00:	to rebuke sin, to know the word correctly,

00:32:00 – 00:32:01:	to speak to these issues.

00:32:01 – 00:32:05:	You are having to tell him, no, actually, you are an error.

00:32:06 – 00:32:09:	I can show you from scripture why you were wrong,

00:32:09 – 00:32:11:	where God says you are wrong.

00:32:13 – 00:32:16:	And now instead of just having the issue

00:32:16 – 00:32:19:	of that immediate reaction when someone

00:32:19 – 00:32:21:	is perceived to be doubling down,

00:32:22 – 00:32:25:	instead of repenting, there's that initial reaction,

00:32:26 – 00:32:28:	that's exacerbated by the fact

00:32:29 – 00:32:31:	that not only are you saying, no, I'm not sinning,

00:32:31 – 00:32:34:	you are in fact sinning, but you are saying it to someone

00:32:34 – 00:32:36:	who is in a position of some authority,

00:32:36 – 00:32:38:	who is in a position where it is his duty

00:32:38 – 00:32:42:	to rebuke these things, and at least theoretically,

00:32:42 – 00:32:45:	and in reality, in terms of the duty,

00:32:45 – 00:32:47:	he should know these things better than you.

00:32:49 – 00:32:51:	That makes for a very difficult situation,

00:32:51 – 00:32:54:	but many, and particularly those listening

00:32:54 – 00:32:57:	to this podcast, perhaps, are going to find themselves

00:32:57 – 00:33:01:	in such a situation in the not too distant future.

00:33:02 – 00:33:05:	And so it is incumbent on you to understand

00:33:05 – 00:33:06:	these things from scripture.

00:33:07 – 00:33:11:	And if you get into one of these situations

00:33:11 – 00:33:14:	with a pastor, a teacher, anyone like that,

00:33:14 – 00:33:16:	don't go looking for them, don't do that,

00:33:16 – 00:33:19:	that's just going to cause you undue trouble.

00:33:19 – 00:33:22:	But if you wind up in one of those situations,

00:33:22 – 00:33:24:	stick to the plain words of scripture.

00:33:24 – 00:33:29:	Don't get involved in complicated theological

00:33:29 – 00:33:32:	doctrinal discussions, don't follow the rabbit trails,

00:33:32 – 00:33:34:	insist on the words of scripture.

00:33:34 – 00:33:36:	If someone tells you, judge not,

00:33:36 – 00:33:38:	point out that scripture very clearly tells you,

00:33:38 – 00:33:40:	no, I have to rebuke brothers,

00:33:40 – 00:33:43:	and so it is necessary for me to be able to judge them.

00:33:43 – 00:33:46:	If I don't judge them, I cannot rebuke them.

00:33:46 – 00:33:48:	I cannot obey what God tells me to do.

00:33:50 – 00:33:53:	Your best bet is always to rely

00:33:53 – 00:33:55:	on the clear words of scripture,

00:33:55 – 00:33:57:	particularly in matters like this,

00:33:57 – 00:33:59:	where scripture is incredibly clear.

00:33:59 – 00:34:02:	This is not a complicated matter.

00:34:02 – 00:34:05:	The only reason that it gets supposedly complicated

00:34:05 – 00:34:09:	is that so many for so long have bought into

00:34:09 – 00:34:11:	what the world says about judge not.

00:34:11 – 00:34:13:	The world doesn't want you to judge

00:34:13 – 00:34:15:	because the world wants to be able to go on

00:34:15 – 00:34:18:	and keep sinning and committing worse sins

00:34:18 – 00:34:22:	and merrily waltzing down the road straight into hell.

00:34:22 – 00:34:23:	That's what the world wants.

00:34:23 – 00:34:24:	That's what Satan wants.

00:34:24 – 00:34:26:	It's what the sinful fallen flesh wants.

00:34:29 – 00:34:30:	But scripture is clear.

00:34:31 – 00:34:34:	As a Christian, you must judge and rebuke sin.

00:34:34 – 00:34:36:	That is part of your duty.

00:34:38 – 00:34:40:	And I would like to read a little bit here

00:34:40 – 00:34:41:	from the large catechism.

00:34:41 – 00:34:44:	Martin Luther does a great job dealing

00:34:44 – 00:34:48:	with this issue of rebuking sin.

00:34:48 – 00:34:50:	This is from the, like I said, the large catechism,

00:34:50 – 00:34:52:	part one on the Ten Commandments,

00:34:52 – 00:34:54:	dealing with the Eighth Commandment.

00:34:54 – 00:34:56:	The true way in this matter would be

00:34:56 – 00:34:58:	to keep the order in the gospel.

00:34:58 – 00:35:00:	In Matthew 18, Christ says,

00:35:00 – 00:35:02:	if your brother sins against you,

00:35:02 – 00:35:06:	go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.

00:35:06 – 00:35:09:	Here you have a precious and excellent teaching

00:35:09 – 00:35:11:	for governing well the tongue,

00:35:11 – 00:35:12:	which is to be carefully kept

00:35:12 – 00:35:14:	against this detestable misuse.

00:35:14 – 00:35:16:	Let this then be your rule,

00:35:16 – 00:35:18:	that you do not too quickly spread evil

00:35:18 – 00:35:21:	about your neighbor and slander him to others.

00:35:21 – 00:35:23:	Instead, admonish him privately

00:35:23 – 00:35:25:	that he may amend his life.

00:35:25 – 00:35:28:	Likewise, if someone reports to you

00:35:28 – 00:35:30:	what this or that person has done,

00:35:30 – 00:35:34:	teach him too to go and admonish that person personally.

00:35:34 – 00:35:36:	If he has seen the deed himself,

00:35:36 – 00:35:39:	but if he has not seen it, then let him hold his tongue.

00:35:40 – 00:35:41:	You can learn the same thing also

00:35:41 – 00:35:43:	from the daily government of the household.

00:35:43 – 00:35:46:	When the master of the house sees that the servant

00:35:46 – 00:35:47:	does not do what he ought,

00:35:47 – 00:35:50:	he admonishes him personally.

00:35:50 – 00:35:53:	But if he were so foolish as to let the servant sit at home

00:35:53 – 00:35:55:	and went on the streets to complain about him

00:35:55 – 00:35:57:	to his neighbors, he would no doubt be told,

00:35:57 – 00:36:00:	you fool, how does that concern us?

00:36:00 – 00:36:02:	Why don't you tell it to the servant?

00:36:02 – 00:36:05:	Look, that would be acting quite brotherly,

00:36:05 – 00:36:07:	so that the evil would be stopped

00:36:07 – 00:36:09:	and your neighbor would retain his honor.

00:36:09 – 00:36:12:	As Christ also says in the same place,

00:36:12 – 00:36:15:	if he listens to you, you have gained a brother.

00:36:15 – 00:36:18:	Then you have done a great and excellent work,

00:36:18 – 00:36:21:	for do you think it is a small matter to gain a brother?

00:36:21 – 00:36:23:	Let all monks and holy orders step forth

00:36:23 – 00:36:26:	with all their works melted together into one mass

00:36:26 – 00:36:30:	and see if they can boast that they have gained a brother.

00:36:30 – 00:36:33:	Further, Christ teaches, but if he does not listen,

00:36:33 – 00:36:35:	take one or two others along with you,

00:36:35 – 00:36:37:	that every charge may be established

00:36:37 – 00:36:39:	by the evidence of two or three witnesses.

00:36:39 – 00:36:41:	So the person concerned in this matter

00:36:41 – 00:36:43:	must always be dealt with personally

00:36:43 – 00:36:46:	and must not be spoken of without his knowledge.

00:36:46 – 00:36:48:	But if that does not work,

00:36:48 – 00:36:51:	then bring it publicly before the community,

00:36:51 – 00:36:53:	whether before the civil or the church court,

00:36:53 – 00:36:55:	for then you do not stand alone,

00:36:55 – 00:36:57:	but you have those witnesses with you

00:36:57 – 00:37:00:	by whom you can convict the guilty one.

00:37:00 – 00:37:01:	Relying on their testimony,

00:37:01 – 00:37:04:	the judge can pronounce sentence and punish.

00:37:04 – 00:37:05:	This is the right and regular course

00:37:05 – 00:37:08:	for checking and reforming a wicked person.

00:37:08 – 00:37:10:	But if we gossip about another in all corners

00:37:10 – 00:37:14:	and stir the filth, no one will be reformed.

00:37:14 – 00:37:16:	Later, when we are to stand up and bear witness,

00:37:16 – 00:37:18:	we deny having said so.

00:37:18 – 00:37:20:	Therefore it would serve such tongues right

00:37:20 – 00:37:23:	if their itch for slander were severely punished

00:37:23 – 00:37:25:	as a warning to others.

00:37:25 – 00:37:27:	If you were acting for your neighbor's reformation

00:37:27 – 00:37:29:	or from love of the truth,

00:37:29 – 00:37:31:	you would not sneak about secretly

00:37:31 – 00:37:33:	nor shun the day and the light.

00:37:35 – 00:37:37:	And this is another problem that we have today

00:37:37 – 00:37:40:	running rampant in the church.

00:37:40 – 00:37:43:	Instead of going to our brothers when they sin

00:37:43 – 00:37:46:	and rebuking them privately,

00:37:46 – 00:37:49:	we have all sorts of little networks of gossip.

00:37:49 – 00:37:52:	We spread rumors, slander, lies.

00:37:52 – 00:37:54:	We see that happening in all quarters.

00:37:55 – 00:37:57:	That is not what scripture tells us to do.

00:37:57 – 00:37:59:	We are to judge.

00:37:59 – 00:38:02:	But there is a way to do it properly.

00:38:02 – 00:38:04:	Yes, when it comes to public sins,

00:38:04 – 00:38:06:	it is a different matter.

00:38:06 – 00:38:08:	But right now we are dealing with sins

00:38:08 – 00:38:11:	that are not public, private sins, secret sins.

00:38:11 – 00:38:14:	In that case, you are to go to your brother personally.

00:38:15 – 00:38:18:	If indeed he will not reform himself

00:38:18 – 00:38:20:	or he will not repent, then you take others with you

00:38:20 – 00:38:22:	and eventually you take it to the church

00:38:22 – 00:38:26:	and eventually, if he all along the way refuses to repent,

00:38:26 – 00:38:27:	you must treat him as an unbeliever.

00:38:28 – 00:38:31:	But that first step is not happening.

00:38:31 – 00:38:35:	We do not have men who are going to other men

00:38:35 – 00:38:36:	when those other men are sinning

00:38:36 – 00:38:38:	and telling them privately,

00:38:38 – 00:38:39:	you need to amend your ways.

00:38:39 – 00:38:41:	You are sinning against God.

00:38:41 – 00:38:44:	You are not obeying this or that commandment.

00:38:44 – 00:38:47:	You are not obeying this or that section of scripture.

00:38:47 – 00:38:49:	You are doing these things

00:38:49 – 00:38:52:	that are incompatible with the Christian life.

00:38:52 – 00:38:54:	We don't have that happening.

00:38:54 – 00:38:57:	We have plenty of slander, plenty of rumor

00:38:57 – 00:39:00:	plenty of those things happening

00:39:00 – 00:39:02:	that are specifically what is not supposed to happen,

00:39:02 – 00:39:06:	specifically what Christians are not supposed to do,

00:39:06 – 00:39:08:	violations of the eighth commandment.

00:39:10 – 00:39:13:	And so if your brother sins against you,

00:39:13 – 00:39:14:	yes, you have to judge him,

00:39:14 – 00:39:17:	but you need to go to him personally

00:39:17 – 00:39:19:	to rebuke him for that sin.

00:39:19 – 00:39:21:	It may escalate from there,

00:39:21 – 00:39:24:	but you have to take that first step.

00:39:24 – 00:39:25:	And to take that first step,

00:39:25 – 00:39:27:	you have to know scripture.

00:39:27 – 00:39:30:	You have to know, yes, I need to judge him.

00:39:30 – 00:39:32:	Yes, I need to rebuke him,

00:39:32 – 00:39:34:	but you have to know according to what standard.

00:39:35 – 00:39:37:	And so spend time in your scripture,

00:39:37 – 00:39:39:	spend time in your Bible,

00:39:39 – 00:39:40:	listen to the word of God.

00:39:40 – 00:39:43:	You have to hear God's voice,

00:39:43 – 00:39:45:	know what he says about these things

00:39:45 – 00:39:48:	if you aren't then in turn to speak them to your brother.

00:39:48 – 00:39:50:	As we've mentioned in the past,

00:39:50 – 00:39:55:	one of the tricky things about the word judge in English

00:39:55 – 00:39:58:	is that we know that it has two different connotations,

00:39:58 – 00:40:01:	but we only really focus on one of them

00:40:01 – 00:40:03:	when we're reading these passages.

00:40:04 – 00:40:06:	We all know that in a courtroom,

00:40:06 – 00:40:08:	I've used this example before,

00:40:08 – 00:40:10:	the jury is judging facts,

00:40:10 – 00:40:12:	they're the triers of fact,

00:40:12 – 00:40:16:	and the judge determines the sentence.

00:40:16 – 00:40:18:	In some cases, the jury also passes

00:40:18 – 00:40:20:	the guilty or innocent verdict,

00:40:20 – 00:40:23:	and then the judge passes a sentence on that.

00:40:23 – 00:40:26:	What the juror is doing in the case of a courtroom

00:40:26 – 00:40:29:	is what Christians are called to do.

00:40:29 – 00:40:32:	We are not called to pass the final judgment

00:40:32 – 00:40:35:	on the person who is accused.

00:40:35 – 00:40:39:	What we are to do is to weigh the law,

00:40:39 – 00:40:43:	God's law, against the actions of a person,

00:40:43 – 00:40:45:	whether it's another person or it's ourselves.

00:40:45 – 00:40:47:	You were to do this to yourself too,

00:40:47 – 00:40:50:	to be a juror of your own actions,

00:40:50 – 00:40:53:	to weigh what God says in his law,

00:40:53 – 00:40:57:	in his eternal will, versus what you have done.

00:40:57 – 00:40:59:	And where you find there's a mismatch,

00:40:59 – 00:41:01:	you find yourself guilty.

00:41:01 – 00:41:04:	That's the sort of judgment that is permissible.

00:41:04 – 00:41:07:	The sort of judgment that is not permissible

00:41:07 – 00:41:10:	is the ultimate judgment on judgment day.

00:41:10 – 00:41:14:	We don't know the disposition of most men's souls.

00:41:14 – 00:41:17:	In some cases, it's reasonable to infer

00:41:17 – 00:41:20:	based on their confession and their lives.

00:41:20 – 00:41:22:	In other cases, we don't know.

00:41:22 – 00:41:24:	You can say that a man who never heard the gospel,

00:41:24 – 00:41:27:	who lived 3,000 years ago in North America,

00:41:27 – 00:41:31:	cannot be in heaven because he never heard the word of God.

00:41:31 – 00:41:33:	And although that seems unfair to us,

00:41:33 – 00:41:35:	we cannot say that there's any reason

00:41:35 – 00:41:37:	to believe that he would be saved.

00:41:37 – 00:41:41:	Nevertheless, we would not pronounce judgment on him.

00:41:41 – 00:41:43:	We would say based on what is given,

00:41:43 – 00:41:46:	this is the reasonable Christian conclusion.

00:41:46 – 00:41:48:	I think a prime example of this

00:41:48 – 00:41:50:	is one I mentioned before in Jude.

00:41:51 – 00:41:54:	But when the Archangel Michael contending with the devil

00:41:54 – 00:41:56:	was disputing about the body of Moses,

00:41:56 – 00:41:59:	he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment

00:41:59 – 00:42:02:	but said the Lord rebuke you.

00:42:02 – 00:42:04:	Now what's fascinating about this is,

00:42:04 – 00:42:05:	one, it's the Archangel Michael,

00:42:05 – 00:42:09:	who he stood in the presence of God Almighty.

00:42:09 – 00:42:10:	He is a perfect being.

00:42:10 – 00:42:11:	He's without sin.

00:42:11 – 00:42:14:	The Archangel Michael is morally

00:42:14 – 00:42:16:	on a different plane than us.

00:42:17 – 00:42:18:	He's fighting the devil.

00:42:19 – 00:42:22:	He's fighting Satan himself for Moses' body.

00:42:22 – 00:42:24:	Even in that circumstance,

00:42:24 – 00:42:27:	the blasphemous judgment that he would not pronounce

00:42:27 – 00:42:28:	is this one.

00:42:28 – 00:42:31:	Michael would not say to Satan, damn you.

00:42:31 – 00:42:33:	He wouldn't say go to hell,

00:42:33 – 00:42:36:	even though both of those are foregone conclusions.

00:42:36 – 00:42:37:	And everyone knows it.

00:42:37 – 00:42:40:	Like there's no doubt Satan is damned.

00:42:40 – 00:42:42:	Nevertheless, Michael would not pronounce

00:42:42 – 00:42:43:	a blasphemous judgment,

00:42:43 – 00:42:45:	not because it was not true,

00:42:45 – 00:42:47:	but because it was not his place.

00:42:47 – 00:42:50:	He was not to pronounce the final judgment on Satan.

00:42:50 – 00:42:53:	And so that's hard for me personally.

00:42:53 – 00:42:56:	I like saying, damn you.

00:42:56 – 00:42:57:	I don't do it often.

00:42:57 – 00:42:59:	I don't want to.

00:42:59 – 00:43:02:	But at the same time, confronted with evil,

00:43:02 – 00:43:04:	that is my natural inclination.

00:43:04 – 00:43:06:	It's an evil one.

00:43:06 – 00:43:08:	This verse and the other passages tell me it's evil,

00:43:08 – 00:43:11:	but that is an outflowing of part of my nature.

00:43:11 – 00:43:12:	It's part of my sinful nature.

00:43:12 – 00:43:14:	God says, no, don't do that.

00:43:14 – 00:43:16:	But there's the other side of judgment,

00:43:16 – 00:43:18:	the juror's side of judgment,

00:43:18 – 00:43:22:	that I am absolutely not only empowered to undertake,

00:43:22 – 00:43:25:	but commanded to and forbidden not to.

00:43:25 – 00:43:27:	And so that's what we're talking about.

00:43:27 – 00:43:30:	On the subject of slander, there's James four,

00:43:30 – 00:43:31:	where he writes,

00:43:31 – 00:43:34:	do not speak evil against one another brothers.

00:43:34 – 00:43:37:	The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother

00:43:37 – 00:43:40:	speaks evil against the law and judges the law.

00:43:40 – 00:43:41:	But if you judge the law,

00:43:41 – 00:43:43:	you are not a doer of the law, but a judge.

00:43:43 – 00:43:46:	There's only one lawgiver and judge.

00:43:46 – 00:43:48:	He who is able to save and to destroy,

00:43:48 – 00:43:51:	but you are you to judge your neighbor.

00:43:51 – 00:43:54:	Now I looked up on Bible Hub to look at what the Greek word

00:43:54 – 00:43:56:	was for do not speak evil.

00:43:56 – 00:43:59:	I guess that it was about blaspheming, I was wrong.

00:43:59 – 00:44:02:	It's a Greek word, katala leo,

00:44:02 – 00:44:05:	which basically means to slander, to rail at.

00:44:07 – 00:44:10:	Means to speak down on a hostile or deriding manner,

00:44:10 – 00:44:15:	to mock or revile, to defame, to slander or backbite,

00:44:15 – 00:44:17:	which as Corey was referring to,

00:44:17 – 00:44:20:	that's something that's rampant in our churches.

00:44:20 – 00:44:22:	I've seen it for the first time

00:44:22 – 00:44:26:	on a shockingly widespread scale within the Missouri Senate,

00:44:26 – 00:44:30:	where dozens of pastors whom I could name,

00:44:30 – 00:44:33:	and surely hundreds whose names are not familiar to me,

00:44:33 – 00:44:35:	some of whom I considered friends,

00:44:35 – 00:44:37:	have participated in slander,

00:44:37 – 00:44:39:	in this case against both Corey and me

00:44:39 – 00:44:40:	and some of our friends.

00:44:41 – 00:44:43:	What's interesting about this Greek word

00:44:43 – 00:44:46:	is that there's another word that's related to it,

00:44:46 – 00:44:50:	not by etymology, but by act.

00:44:50 – 00:44:53:	And this is a word that's gonna be more familiar to you,

00:44:53 – 00:44:57:	diabolos, devil, diabolos, slandering,

00:44:57 – 00:45:00:	accusing falsely, it's the agitival form of devil.

00:45:00 – 00:45:03:	So devilry is slander.

00:45:03 – 00:45:06:	And I think it's really important

00:45:06 – 00:45:09:	when we look at the places in scripture

00:45:09 – 00:45:11:	where murder appears,

00:45:11 – 00:45:14:	slander usually appears in the same breath.

00:45:14 – 00:45:18:	Murder and slander almost always go together.

00:45:18 – 00:45:20:	And as I was thinking about this

00:45:20 – 00:45:22:	while we were preparing for this episode,

00:45:24 – 00:45:27:	murder is worse in that it comes first

00:45:27 – 00:45:31:	in the Ten Commandments and it destroys the body.

00:45:32 – 00:45:37:	However, the damage done by slander I think is far greater.

00:45:38 – 00:45:42:	And I think it's the reason why God ties these two together

00:45:42 – 00:45:45:	and why the devil is called a murderer and a slander,

00:45:45 – 00:45:47:	again, in the same breath.

00:45:47 – 00:45:52:	Think about this, if I were to kill you,

00:45:52 – 00:45:55:	if I were to commit the sin of murder against you personally,

00:45:57 – 00:46:01:	there's been one sin, there's been my sin, a horrible sin.

00:46:01 – 00:46:04:	And then there's the outcome in your life.

00:46:04 – 00:46:06:	You're dead, you've been murdered unjustly,

00:46:06 – 00:46:10:	your family is injured, your friends are grieved,

00:46:10 – 00:46:13:	your community, your neighborhood is shocked

00:46:13 – 00:46:15:	that something terrible could happen like this

00:46:15 – 00:46:17:	in their community that's always unsettling

00:46:17 – 00:46:18:	whenever it happens.

00:46:18 – 00:46:23:	But the only sin would be mine acting as a murderer.

00:46:23 – 00:46:26:	If on the other hand, I commit the less serious sin

00:46:26 – 00:46:29:	of slander, if instead of going to your neighborhood

00:46:29 – 00:46:33:	and taking your life, I go to your neighborhood

00:46:33 – 00:46:35:	and I take your reputation, I slander you,

00:46:35 – 00:46:38:	I go to your friends and your family,

00:46:38 – 00:46:40:	I go to your neighbors, I go to your workplace,

00:46:40 – 00:46:43:	I go to your community, and I spread all manner

00:46:43 – 00:46:45:	of filthy lies about you.

00:46:45 – 00:46:48:	I say that you're a racist, you're a sexist,

00:46:48 – 00:46:50:	you're all of the worst things in the world,

00:46:50 – 00:46:52:	all the things that the world hates.

00:46:52 – 00:46:54:	You're not dead, you're still walking around,

00:46:54 – 00:46:56:	but what are you functionally?

00:46:56 – 00:46:59:	You're basically a dead man walking

00:46:59 – 00:47:00:	because many of your friends and family

00:47:00 – 00:47:02:	are going to believe this slander,

00:47:02 – 00:47:04:	they're going to turn against you,

00:47:04 – 00:47:07:	in many cases without ever even talking to you,

00:47:07 – 00:47:08:	they'll just never talk to you again.

00:47:08 – 00:47:12:	If some stranger comes to them with accusations,

00:47:12 – 00:47:14:	they will cut you off, they will treat you

00:47:14 – 00:47:16:	as though you are dead.

00:47:16 – 00:47:19:	So while I haven't taken your life like a murderer

00:47:19 – 00:47:22:	by taking your reputation under the eighth commandment,

00:47:22 – 00:47:24:	I have effectively rendered you dead.

00:47:24 – 00:47:28:	Now what makes it, I think in some ways a worse sin

00:47:28 – 00:47:31:	and the reason that it's one that Satan often prefers

00:47:31 – 00:47:34:	and the reason that one of his name is the devil

00:47:34 – 00:47:37:	is that how many sins are there then?

00:47:37 – 00:47:40:	If I murder you, there's one sin, there's my sin,

00:47:40 – 00:47:43:	I've committed murder, you're dead, everyone's hurt.

00:47:43 – 00:47:47:	If I slander you, everyone who entertained my slander

00:47:47 – 00:47:49:	is also a slanderer.

00:47:49 – 00:47:53:	They have received the lies that I spread to them,

00:47:53 – 00:47:55:	they believed them against you,

00:47:55 – 00:47:58:	they have robbed you of your reputation in their hearts,

00:47:58 – 00:47:59:	they have murdered you in their hearts

00:47:59 – 00:48:01:	with their hatred and anger against you.

00:48:02 – 00:48:06:	I have effectively incorporated my sin

00:48:06 – 00:48:07:	into the entire community.

00:48:07 – 00:48:11:	I've turned your entire network of friends and family

00:48:11 – 00:48:14:	in your community into a circular firing squad.

00:48:14 – 00:48:17:	Not only is your reputation murdered,

00:48:17 – 00:48:19:	not only are you socially isolated,

00:48:19 – 00:48:22:	but everyone involved is guilty of sin too.

00:48:22 – 00:48:24:	And it's a sin that many will not repent of.

00:48:24 – 00:48:27:	They're gonna think that they did justice

00:48:27 – 00:48:29:	by destroying your reputation and cutting you out,

00:48:29 – 00:48:32:	by treating you as a leper,

00:48:32 – 00:48:34:	by treating you in the worst possible way,

00:48:34 – 00:48:37:	because someone came to them and told them lies about you.

00:48:37 – 00:48:42:	So slander when the devil uses it in our lives

00:48:42 – 00:48:46:	is it's a way, it's a contagious sin.

00:48:46 – 00:48:49:	It's a sin that does damage unlike a murder

00:48:49 – 00:48:51:	or a violent crime.

00:48:51 – 00:48:55:	A murder or a other violent crime doesn't scale.

00:48:55 – 00:48:58:	If I were to kill people, it would be one at a time.

00:48:58 – 00:49:01:	It's a one sinner and then a victim.

00:49:01 – 00:49:04:	If I slander, I'm lighting a fire.

00:49:04 – 00:49:07:	I'm lighting a fire encircling my target.

00:49:07 – 00:49:10:	And everyone who participates, they catch on fire too.

00:49:10 – 00:49:11:	And they become a slander.

00:49:11 – 00:49:14:	They become a sinner just like me.

00:49:14 – 00:49:15:	Now the devil does this

00:49:15 – 00:49:18:	because it's a way to corrupt entire communities.

00:49:18 – 00:49:20:	Rather than just destroying you individually

00:49:20 – 00:49:22:	by robbing you of your reputation,

00:49:22 – 00:49:24:	it's involved everyone you know

00:49:24 – 00:49:26:	in a sin that destroys your community,

00:49:26 – 00:49:30:	destroys your family, it destroys your life

00:49:30 – 00:49:34:	in such a way that there's no way to repair that damage.

00:49:34 – 00:49:38:	In many senses, that's worse than if you'd just been killed.

00:49:38 – 00:49:41:	If you were alive one moment and dead the next,

00:49:41 – 00:49:43:	you never know, you're Christian, you go to heaven.

00:49:43 – 00:49:46:	If I come along and I slander you and I destroy your name,

00:49:46 – 00:49:48:	you'll never get it back.

00:49:48 – 00:49:51:	And that's why God spends so much time preaching against it.

00:49:51 – 00:49:55:	It's why this devil spends so much time using it

00:49:55 – 00:49:57:	as one of his favorite attacks

00:49:57 – 00:49:59:	because it indicts everyone.

00:49:59 – 00:50:01:	And it's a sin that people love to commit

00:50:01 – 00:50:03:	and they won't stop and they won't repent.

00:50:03 – 00:50:06:	And in the end, it will destroy communities

00:50:06 – 00:50:09:	in a way that if I had, for example, committed a murder,

00:50:09 – 00:50:12:	might have unified the community in a loving Christian way.

00:50:12 – 00:50:14:	If I slander you instead,

00:50:14 – 00:50:17:	I can burn your whole community down with one lie.

00:50:17 – 00:50:19:	And we see that in our churches today

00:50:19 – 00:50:20:	and we see it everywhere.

00:50:20 – 00:50:21:	Satan knows what he's doing.

00:50:21 – 00:50:23:	He doesn't just wanna destroy the body.

00:50:23 – 00:50:25:	He wants to destroy the soul forever.

00:50:25 – 00:50:27:	And slander is one of the chief ways

00:50:27 – 00:50:29:	that he accomplishes that.

00:50:29 – 00:50:32:	I'll resist the temptation to read the entirety

00:50:32 – 00:50:34:	of Luther's comments and the large catechism

00:50:34 – 00:50:37:	on the eighth commandment into this episode.

00:50:37 – 00:50:39:	But I will link it in the show notes.

00:50:39 – 00:50:40:	And I do recommend going through

00:50:40 – 00:50:42:	and reading the entirety of it.

00:50:43 – 00:50:46:	But just one additional paragraph here.

00:50:47 – 00:50:49:	Actually, I'll start with the one before it.

00:50:49 – 00:50:51:	So there's context.

00:50:51 – 00:50:53:	God therefore would have such behavior banned.

00:50:53 – 00:50:55:	That anyone should speak evil of another person

00:50:55 – 00:50:57:	even though that person is guilty

00:50:57 – 00:50:59:	and the latter knows it well.

00:50:59 – 00:51:01:	Much less if anyone does not know it

00:51:01 – 00:51:03:	and has the story only from hearsay.

00:51:03 – 00:51:06:	And the second part of this gives the context here.

00:51:06 – 00:51:08:	So bear in mind this context

00:51:08 – 00:51:10:	when interpreting what I just read.

00:51:10 – 00:51:14:	But you say, shall I not say something if it is the truth?

00:51:14 – 00:51:17:	Answer, why do you not make your accusation

00:51:17 – 00:51:19:	to regular judges?

00:51:19 – 00:51:21:	Ah, but I cannot prove it publicly.

00:51:21 – 00:51:22:	And so I might be silenced

00:51:22 – 00:51:24:	and turned away in a harsh manner.

00:51:24 – 00:51:26:	Ah, indeed, do you smell the roast?

00:51:27 – 00:51:29:	Now that, do you smell the roast?

00:51:29 – 00:51:31:	I don't know why the translators made the decision

00:51:31 – 00:51:34:	not to translate German idioms into English.

00:51:34 – 00:51:37:	But the closest English idiom is, do you smell a rat?

00:51:38 – 00:51:40:	And so the issue here

00:51:42 – 00:51:44:	is that if you bring something

00:51:44 – 00:51:46:	that is rumor and slander

00:51:47 – 00:51:49:	to whatever person,

00:51:49 – 00:51:50:	you tell it to your neighbor, you're gossiping,

00:51:50 – 00:51:51:	whatever have you.

00:51:51 – 00:51:52:	If you are doing this,

00:51:52 – 00:51:53:	but this is not something

00:51:53 – 00:51:56:	that you could prove to a proper authority.

00:51:56 – 00:51:59:	This is not something you should be spreading.

00:51:59 – 00:52:01:	You are violating the eighth commandment.

00:52:02 – 00:52:06:	You do not always have to spin something

00:52:07 – 00:52:11:	to the best construction in the wrong sense of that.

00:52:11 – 00:52:12:	We've gone over this before,

00:52:12 – 00:52:15:	but best construction properly applied

00:52:15 – 00:52:19:	is if I lend my lawn mower, weedwacker, chainsaw,

00:52:19 – 00:52:22:	whatever it happens to be to my neighbor,

00:52:22 – 00:52:24:	and he hasn't brought it back in two months.

00:52:26 – 00:52:29:	I put the best construction on that that he forgot,

00:52:29 – 00:52:30:	not that he's trying to steal it.

00:52:30 – 00:52:32:	That's best construction.

00:52:32 – 00:52:34:	Best construction is not when a politician stands up

00:52:34 – 00:52:36:	and starts lying and you say, well,

00:52:36 – 00:52:38:	he must be, he must think he's telling the truth.

00:52:38 – 00:52:39:	That's not best construction.

00:52:39 – 00:52:42:	That's stupidity, and there's a difference.

00:52:43 – 00:52:46:	So you're not supposed to spread these rumors

00:52:46 – 00:52:50:	about your neighbor, your fellow Christians,

00:52:50 – 00:52:51:	members of the congregation,

00:52:51 – 00:52:55:	these people whom God has put into your life

00:52:55 – 00:52:58:	for you to deal with them according to what scripture says.

00:53:00 – 00:53:01:	There is a difference when you are speaking

00:53:01 – 00:53:05:	about someone who is a public individual.

00:53:05 – 00:53:08:	So the politician really is the best example

00:53:08 – 00:53:10:	because we don't have kings and nobility and such.

00:53:10 – 00:53:13:	You should speak well of them as well,

00:53:13 – 00:53:14:	but as a different standard

00:53:15 – 00:53:19:	because that is a public forum.

00:53:20 – 00:53:21:	But privately, dealing with your neighbor,

00:53:21 – 00:53:23:	dealing with your brother in Christ,

00:53:23 – 00:53:25:	do not spread these rumors.

00:53:26 – 00:53:30:	If it is something that is a very real problem

00:53:30 – 00:53:31:	and you can very well prove it,

00:53:32 – 00:53:35:	go to him first and speak to him.

00:53:36 – 00:53:39:	And if necessary, eventually bring it to the church.

00:53:40 – 00:53:45:	But do not, again, at risk of repeating myself too much,

00:53:45 – 00:53:50:	do not spread rumors, spreading rumors, gossiping.

00:53:51 – 00:53:53:	These are violations of the Eighth Commandment.

00:53:53 – 00:53:56:	You are slandering your neighbor.

00:53:57 – 00:53:59:	If it were something that you could prove

00:53:59 – 00:54:01:	and it were something that should be proven,

00:54:01 – 00:54:04:	you would not be telling it to your neighbor.

00:54:05 – 00:54:08:	You are telling it to your neighbor, your brother,

00:54:08 – 00:54:11:	your sister, your parents, whatever person,

00:54:11 – 00:54:13:	to whomever you are speaking this.

00:54:13 – 00:54:14:	You're telling that person

00:54:14 – 00:54:16:	because you cannot properly prove it

00:54:16 – 00:54:18:	or it is something not worth properly proving.

00:54:19 – 00:54:20:	Hold your tongue.

00:54:20 – 00:54:23:	The Christian response is to hold your tongue

00:54:23 – 00:54:26:	when you cannot do things in the right way.

00:54:26 – 00:54:28:	And if someone comes you slander,

00:54:28 – 00:54:30:	the only Christian thing is to tell them to shut up

00:54:30 – 00:54:34:	if they start spreading lies about someone

00:54:34 – 00:54:35:	or even something that might be true.

00:54:35 – 00:54:39:	But as Corey said, if it can't be demonstrated

00:54:39 – 00:54:42:	and it's not appropriate for you to deal with it,

00:54:42 – 00:54:43:	tell them to be quiet.

00:54:43 – 00:54:44:	So I don't wanna hear it.

00:54:44 – 00:54:46:	If you have a problem with that person, go to them.

00:54:46 – 00:54:51:	You should not entertain slander against others.

00:54:51 – 00:54:53:	And an example of not saying that,

00:54:53 – 00:54:55:	which cannot be proven,

00:54:55 – 00:54:57:	is something that Corey and I talked about a few weeks ago

00:54:57 – 00:55:00:	in the episode against the Antichrist.

00:55:00 – 00:55:04:	We talked about the fact that Corey and I knew

00:55:04 – 00:55:06:	that Matt Harrison, the president of the Missouri Synod,

00:55:06 – 00:55:09:	was a false prophet in 2000.

00:55:09 – 00:55:11:	It was clear as day to us.

00:55:11 – 00:55:13:	We did not say it publicly

00:55:13 – 00:55:15:	because it would have violated the eighth commandment,

00:55:15 – 00:55:16:	even though it was true.

00:55:16 – 00:55:20:	And it wasn't until after Harrison published

00:55:20 – 00:55:24:	his apostate screed against us in February

00:55:24 – 00:55:26:	that he proved it to the world.

00:55:26 – 00:55:29:	That he proved it from scripture, that he rejects God.

00:55:29 – 00:55:31:	So at that point, it was permissible.

00:55:31 – 00:55:32:	And we will say from now on,

00:55:32 – 00:55:34:	Matt Harrison is a false prophet.

00:55:36 – 00:55:37:	Despite the fact that we knew

00:55:37 – 00:55:40:	this terrible thing was going on in our church,

00:55:40 – 00:55:42:	because we could not demonstrate it clearly,

00:55:42 – 00:55:43:	we kept our mouths shut.

00:55:43 – 00:55:45:	And that's unpleasant

00:55:45 – 00:55:48:	because he's been doing damage for years.

00:55:48 – 00:55:49:	And by the grace of God,

00:55:49 – 00:55:52:	the damage that he did in the large cataclysm

00:55:52 – 00:55:55:	and the pedochism has now made all of this visible

00:55:55 – 00:55:56:	to the world.

00:55:56 – 00:55:58:	And because this is public sin,

00:55:58 – 00:56:00:	we don't have to go to him privately.

00:56:00 – 00:56:02:	We have in the past.

00:56:02 – 00:56:03:	There's no longer any need to do so.

00:56:03 – 00:56:06:	He has made his willful apostasy,

00:56:06 – 00:56:09:	his false prophecy clear to the world.

00:56:09 – 00:56:14:	So there's a time and a place for dealing with things.

00:56:14 – 00:56:17:	It's sometimes impermissible to deal with things privately.

00:56:17 – 00:56:20:	It's sometimes mandatory to deal with things publicly.

00:56:20 – 00:56:22:	There's no one set rule

00:56:22 – 00:56:24:	that applies universally to all situations.

00:56:24 – 00:56:27:	That's why God spends so much time talking about this.

00:56:27 – 00:56:29:	It's why there's so many different passages

00:56:29 – 00:56:32:	dealing with different aspects of these questions.

00:56:33 – 00:56:34:	I'm actually going to read one more paragraph

00:56:34 – 00:56:35:	from the large cataclysm

00:56:35 – 00:56:38:	because it deals exactly with the issue

00:56:38 – 00:56:41:	you touched on earlier about damage reputation

00:56:41 – 00:56:44:	and emphasizes what you just said.

00:56:44 – 00:56:47:	It's just slightly on from what I read before.

00:56:47 – 00:56:49:	Therefore, if you meet an idle tongue

00:56:49 – 00:56:52:	that betrays and slanders someone,

00:56:52 – 00:56:54:	contradicts such a person promptly to his face

00:56:54 – 00:56:56:	so that he may blush,

00:56:56 – 00:56:58:	then many a person will hold his tongue

00:56:58 – 00:57:01:	who otherwise would bring some poor man into bad repute

00:57:01 – 00:57:04:	from which he would not easily free himself

00:57:04 – 00:57:07:	for honor and a good name are easily taken away

00:57:07 – 00:57:09:	but not easily restored.

00:57:10 – 00:57:13:	And that is just a simple truth.

00:57:13 – 00:57:15:	Many philosophers, statesmen,

00:57:15 – 00:57:17:	other thinkers have commented on this.

00:57:17 – 00:57:19:	We all know it to some degree.

00:57:20 – 00:57:25:	Your reputation is very easily taken away,

00:57:25 – 00:57:27:	is very easily destroyed,

00:57:27 – 00:57:31:	but it is a very difficult thing to restore a reputation

00:57:31 – 00:57:33:	after it has been destroyed.

00:57:34 – 00:57:36:	And this is one of the reasons that we have

00:57:36 – 00:57:39:	some of the protections we have in our legal system,

00:57:39 – 00:57:42:	particularly on the criminal side.

00:57:42 – 00:57:45:	Unfortunately, the media and certain politicians

00:57:45 – 00:57:48:	and others have turned it into a bit of a circus these days,

00:57:48 – 00:57:51:	but theoretically it is supposed to work

00:57:51 – 00:57:54:	where much of this is conducted

00:57:54 – 00:57:57:	publicly and privately simultaneously

00:57:57 – 00:58:00:	because you have to have public exposure

00:58:00 – 00:58:03:	to make sure that things are being done properly

00:58:03 – 00:58:05:	but privately to protect privacy,

00:58:05 – 00:58:07:	reputation, various other things.

00:58:08 – 00:58:13:	But that is why you are innocent until proven guilty.

00:58:13 – 00:58:16:	And we used to understand what that meant.

00:58:16 – 00:58:18:	Today, many of course will assume

00:58:18 – 00:58:21:	that someone who is charged is guilty,

00:58:21 – 00:58:25:	which is a violation of course of the Eighth Commandment.

00:58:25 – 00:58:27:	If you do not have evidence clearly demonstrating

00:58:27 – 00:58:29:	the guilt of the person and you simply assume

00:58:29 – 00:58:32:	that he is guilty because he has been charged,

00:58:32 – 00:58:34:	that is slander.

00:58:34 – 00:58:37:	You are believing evil about this man without adequate warrant.

00:58:38 – 00:58:40:	But it's supposed to be that you are innocent

00:58:40 – 00:58:44:	until proven guilty and that the mere fact

00:58:44 – 00:58:47:	that you have been indicted, that you have been charged,

00:58:47 – 00:58:49:	that you have been brought before a tribunal

00:58:49 – 00:58:54:	does not imply in any way, shape or form that you are guilty.

00:58:55 – 00:58:57:	Law enforcement officers make mistakes.

00:58:59 – 00:59:04:	DAs will charge and they can make mistakes.

00:59:04 – 00:59:06:	There is a reason we have the systems in place

00:59:06 – 00:59:09:	that we have and as Christians,

00:59:09 – 00:59:11:	we don't have to trust these things perfectly.

00:59:11 – 00:59:12:	I won't say that.

00:59:12 – 00:59:15:	They are deeply compromised these days.

00:59:15 – 00:59:18:	There is corruption, there are many problems.

00:59:18 – 00:59:21:	But we should at least have that foundational assumption

00:59:21 – 00:59:25:	that a man simply because he has been brought before a court,

00:59:25 – 00:59:27:	that does not mean that he is guilty.

00:59:27 – 00:59:30:	He is still innocent until he is proven guilty

00:59:30 – 00:59:33:	and we comport our behavior

00:59:33 – 00:59:35:	in the kingdom of the left hand of Christ

00:59:35 – 00:59:38:	with the commandments the same as we comport our behavior

00:59:38 – 00:59:40:	in the kingdom of the right hand of Christ

00:59:40 – 00:59:42:	with the commandments.

00:59:42 – 00:59:44:	God's law is his eternal will

00:59:44 – 00:59:47:	and we'll of course get into this more momentarily

00:59:47 – 00:59:49:	with antinomianism.

00:59:50 – 00:59:52:	Perhaps not momentarily, it won't be quite that brief

00:59:52 – 00:59:57:	but God's law is his unchanging, unchangeable eternal will.

59:59 – 01:00:01
These are not things that pass away.

01:00:01 – 01:00:04:	These are things to which Christians are beholden

01:00:04 – 01:00:06:	because these flow from God's nature.

01:00:06 – 01:00:08:	This is the structure of reality.

01:00:08 – 01:00:11:	As a Christian, you must comport your behavior

01:00:11 – 01:00:14:	with these commandments, with these strictures,

01:00:14 – 01:00:17:	with the way that God has set things up.

01:00:17 – 01:00:21:	Incidentally, this specific sin is precisely the moment

01:00:21 – 01:00:25:	that Cori and I knew that Matt Harrison was a false prophet

01:00:25 – 01:00:30:	in 2020 when George Floyd committed suicide

01:00:31 – 01:00:33:	with a fentanyl overdose.

01:00:33 – 01:00:37:	Within a few weeks, Matt Harrison put out a press release

01:00:37 – 01:00:39:	in the name of the entire Missouri Synod

01:00:39 – 01:00:43:	where he expressly condemned the police officers

01:00:43 – 01:00:45:	of unjustly taking that man's life.

01:00:45 – 01:00:46:	He committed libel.

01:00:46 – 01:00:49:	He committed an eighth commandment violation.

01:00:49 – 01:00:52:	Unrepentantly, it was an absolutely wicked,

01:00:52 – 01:00:53:	godless thing to do.

01:00:53 – 01:00:55:	And so we knew at that moment that we were dealing

01:00:55 – 01:00:57:	with a godless man with a false prophet.

01:00:57 – 01:01:01:	Nevertheless, most people because of the political fire

01:01:01 – 01:01:03:	bound up in that situation, which say,

01:01:03 – 01:01:04:	oh, that's overblown.

01:01:04 – 01:01:07:	We know based on all the things that we've just said,

01:01:07 – 01:01:10:	based on our knowledge and belief in scripture

01:01:10 – 01:01:13:	of the things, the explanations from Martin Luther

01:01:13 – 01:01:17:	in the large catechism, Christians don't do this.

01:01:17 – 01:01:20:	Christians don't judge a police officer to be guilty

01:01:20 – 01:01:24:	of killing when the courts haven't done it yet.

01:01:24 – 01:01:27:	That is not how any Christian conducts himself.

01:01:27 – 01:01:30:	Even if you believe it in private, which you shouldn't do,

01:01:30 – 01:01:33:	for you to say it in public, for you to say it in print,

01:01:33 – 01:01:36:	for you to say it as the present of a synod

01:01:36 – 01:01:39:	is a unspeakably evil sin.

01:01:39 – 01:01:42:	I was honestly praying that Chauvin would be exonerated,

01:01:42 – 01:01:44:	specifically so that he could sue the Missouri Synod

01:01:44 – 01:01:45:	for libel.

01:01:45 – 01:01:47:	That was such a wicked act.

01:01:47 – 01:01:50:	And of course the court did an evil thing

01:01:50 – 01:01:53:	because the jury did an evil thing.

01:01:53 – 01:01:55:	That's the state of the world today.

01:01:55 – 01:01:58:	And to move on to the next part of this,

01:01:58 – 01:02:00:	the reason that we're talking about all the ways

01:02:00 – 01:02:04:	that God lays these things out, in the case of slander,

01:02:04 – 01:02:08:	in the case of whether one sin is worse than another.

01:02:08 – 01:02:10:	God has written all this down for us.

01:02:10 – 01:02:12:	I'm just gonna read briefly the introduction

01:02:12 – 01:02:14:	to the sixth part of the solid declaration

01:02:14 – 01:02:17:	from the Book of Concord.

01:02:17 – 01:02:19:	The law of God is useful, not only to the end

01:02:19 – 01:02:22:	that external discipline and decency are maintained by it

01:02:22 – 01:02:25:	against all wild disobedient men.

01:02:25 – 01:02:27:	Likewise, that through it men are brought

01:02:27 – 01:02:29:	to a knowledge of their sins.

01:02:29 – 01:02:31:	But also that, when they have been born anew

01:02:31 – 01:02:33:	by the Spirit of God, converted to the Lord

01:02:33 – 01:02:36:	and thus the veil of Moses has been lifted from them,

01:02:36 – 01:02:38:	they live and walk in the law.

01:02:38 – 01:02:42:	Now, as Lutherans, we call these the three uses of the law.

01:02:42 – 01:02:46:	The first use, the wild and disobedient man is curbed

01:02:46 – 01:02:47:	against his sin.

01:02:47 – 01:02:50:	If someone doesn't have God

01:02:50 – 01:02:53:	and doesn't even listen to his own conscience,

01:02:53 – 01:02:56:	if he goes and commits horrible crimes, the law,

01:02:56 – 01:03:00:	the laws that's enforced by the just magistrate

01:03:00 – 01:03:02:	will act as a curb.

01:03:02 – 01:03:05:	He'll be put to death if he goes far enough.

01:03:05 – 01:03:06:	The second case is the mirror.

01:03:06 – 01:03:09:	The second use of the law is when it's shown

01:03:09 – 01:03:11:	to someone knowledge of their own sins.

01:03:11 – 01:03:13:	When you read scripture and you say,

01:03:13 – 01:03:18:	wow, this is me, as I do every time I open the Bible,

01:03:18 – 01:03:19:	that's the second use of the law.

01:03:19 – 01:03:22:	That's the law of God, God's eternal will,

01:03:22 – 01:03:25:	acting as a mirror on our own hearts.

01:03:25 – 01:03:28:	Now that can apply to both believers and unbelievers.

01:03:28 – 01:03:31:	Only a believer is going to understand

01:03:31 – 01:03:33:	the full implications, but even an unbeliever,

01:03:33 – 01:03:35:	if he reads the Ten Commandments, can say,

01:03:35 – 01:03:37:	yeah, I've broken a few of these.

01:03:37 – 01:03:40:	And then once he reads what Jesus says about them,

01:03:40 – 01:03:43:	he understands he's broken all of them.

01:03:43 – 01:03:44:	And then the third use,

01:03:44 – 01:03:46:	which is principally what we're gonna talk about today,

01:03:46 – 01:03:50:	is when someone is born anew by the Spirit of God,

01:03:50 – 01:03:53:	they're able to live and walk in the law.

01:03:53 – 01:03:54:	Now, this is something that Protestants

01:03:54 – 01:03:56:	are really allergic to these days,

01:03:56 – 01:03:59:	because isn't that works righteousness?

01:03:59 – 01:04:03:	Well, no, because they're born anew in the Spirit of God.

01:04:03 – 01:04:07:	That is a rebirth through baptism,

01:04:07 – 01:04:10:	that is faith, that is having saving faith.

01:04:10 – 01:04:12:	You're already a Christian,

01:04:12 – 01:04:15:	and then you live and walk in the law.

01:04:15 – 01:04:18:	Now, Christian freedom is a term

01:04:18 – 01:04:21:	that's completely twisted, warped, and misused.

01:04:21 – 01:04:25:	It is Christian freedom to live and walk in the law,

01:04:25 – 01:04:29:	because the law no longer only condemns our lives.

01:04:29 – 01:04:34:	Before, when all we had was our wild, untamed, wicked hearts,

01:04:34 – 01:04:37:	and then we were confronted with the mirror of the law,

01:04:37 – 01:04:39:	and like, I'm guilty of all this.

01:04:39 – 01:04:42:	If you were blessed to receive faith from God,

01:04:42 – 01:04:45:	you then are freed from the consequences

01:04:45 – 01:04:48:	of the eternal consequences of your sin.

01:04:48 – 01:04:50:	There are still temporal consequences

01:04:50 – 01:04:52:	for all the evil that we do, not all of it,

01:04:52 – 01:04:55:	but it is frequently the case that you will find

01:04:55 – 01:04:58:	you receive some punishment in some fashion

01:04:58 – 01:05:00:	for your sin, even as a Christian,

01:05:00 – 01:05:02:	because the temporal consequences

01:05:02 – 01:05:04:	are baked into the sins themselves.

01:05:04 – 01:05:08:	The eternal price, however, was paid by Christ on the cross.

01:05:08 – 01:05:11:	When we are covered in Christ's blood,

01:05:11 – 01:05:14:	and our robes are washed white in that blood,

01:05:14 – 01:05:17:	we appear before God as sinless

01:05:17 – 01:05:20:	for the sake of Christ's sacrifice.

01:05:20 – 01:05:22:	Having put on those robes,

01:05:22 – 01:05:24:	being renewed in the Spirit of God,

01:05:24 – 01:05:27:	we then can walk and live in the law,

01:05:28 – 01:05:29:	and the law is simply God's eternal will.

01:05:29 – 01:05:31:	It's all the stuff we're talking about.

01:05:31 – 01:05:34:	It's God says, do this, God says, don't do this.

01:05:34 – 01:05:38:	Not once in any episode, in any tweet, in any breath,

01:05:38 – 01:05:40:	from either Cory or I, will you ever hear us say,

01:05:40 – 01:05:42:	do this and you can save yourself.

01:05:42 – 01:05:43:	That's not Christian.

01:05:43 – 01:05:45:	That is not what we believe,

01:05:45 – 01:05:47:	it's not what any Christian believes.

01:05:47 – 01:05:50:	We're talking about the and then of the Christian life.

01:05:50 – 01:05:52:	And the reason that all sins are equal

01:05:52 – 01:05:54:	and judge not are so important

01:05:54 – 01:05:56:	is that they separate men

01:05:56 – 01:05:59:	from being able to look to scripture

01:05:59 – 01:06:02:	as a source of wisdom.

01:06:02 – 01:06:04:	The Psalms themselves begin in Psalm one.

01:06:04 – 01:06:07:	Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,

01:06:07 – 01:06:09:	nor stands in the ways of sinners,

01:06:09 – 01:06:11:	nor sits in the seats of sycophers,

01:06:11 – 01:06:14:	but his delight is in the law of the Lord.

01:06:14 – 01:06:16:	And on his law, he meditates day and night.

01:06:16 – 01:06:18:	Now the Psalms are the longest book in the Bible.

01:06:18 – 01:06:20:	It's an incredibly beautiful book.

01:06:20 – 01:06:22:	It begins right off the bat

01:06:22 – 01:06:24:	with delight in the law of the Lord

01:06:24 – 01:06:26:	and meditate on it day and night.

01:06:26 – 01:06:28:	This is the Christian life.

01:06:28 – 01:06:30:	And we're not talking about the law

01:06:30 – 01:06:32:	that says you're guilty and you're going to hell.

01:06:32 – 01:06:33:	We're talking about the law that says

01:06:33 – 01:06:38:	this is how God wants you to live a godly Christian life.

01:06:38 – 01:06:42:	It's the same law and the difference is Christ's blood.

01:06:42 – 01:06:45:	Before, all we had was condemnation.

01:06:45 – 01:06:46:	The law only accused us

01:06:46 – 01:06:50:	because without Christ's blood, we're guilty of all of it.

01:06:50 – 01:06:52:	It is only after we have received faith

01:06:52 – 01:06:54:	and salvation through Christ

01:06:54 – 01:06:57:	that meditating day and night on God's law

01:06:57 – 01:06:59:	does not bring condemnation, but brings wisdom,

01:06:59 – 01:07:03:	wisdom for a godly life that will enrich us

01:07:03 – 01:07:06:	and obedience to God has blessings attached to it.

01:07:06 – 01:07:09:	And we as Christians must return

01:07:09 – 01:07:11:	to being able to speak about things in these ways

01:07:11 – 01:07:14:	because that's where temporal peace and happiness,

01:07:14 – 01:07:17:	it's the only place you're going to find it.

01:07:17 – 01:07:18:	This is not prosperity gospel.

01:07:18 – 01:07:20:	We're not saying you're going to have a million dollars

01:07:20 – 01:07:23:	on a boat and whatever crap you want.

01:07:23 – 01:07:24:	We're saying that when you obey God,

01:07:24 – 01:07:27:	God will bless you in great ways and small ways.

01:07:27 – 01:07:29:	Maybe the blessing is simply the knowledge

01:07:29 – 01:07:31:	that you're doing what he wants

01:07:31 – 01:07:33:	and everything else is miserable.

01:07:33 – 01:07:35:	For some people, that's their lot in life.

01:07:35 – 01:07:37:	And God comforts them in scripture

01:07:37 – 01:07:39:	by saying your reward will be great in heaven.

01:07:39 – 01:07:41:	Don't worry about this stuff.

01:07:41 – 01:07:44:	Obey me, trust in God, trust in me.

01:07:44 – 01:07:47:	You will have your recompense and eternity.

01:07:47 – 01:07:50:	And for those who receive nothing more, that is sufficient.

01:07:51 – 01:07:53:	When we talk about the third use of the law,

01:07:53 – 01:07:56:	it is explicitly and only for Christians,

01:07:56 – 01:07:57:	but it's still the law.

01:07:57 – 01:07:59:	It's still God's eternal will

01:07:59 – 01:08:02:	for how we conduct our lives day to day.

01:08:02 – 01:08:05:	And so to keep with one of the themes of this episode,

01:08:05 – 01:08:09:	I guess, of frequently and pervasively

01:08:09 – 01:08:12:	misinterpreted sections of scripture,

01:08:12 – 01:08:17:	let's look at Galatians 3, starting with verse 10.

01:08:20 – 01:08:23:	Now it is evident that no one is justified before God

01:08:23 – 01:08:27:	by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith,

01:08:27 – 01:08:29:	but the law is not of faith, rather,

01:08:29 – 01:08:32:	the one who does them shall live by them.

01:08:32 – 01:08:35:	Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law

01:08:35 – 01:08:37:	by becoming a curse for us, for it is written,

01:08:37 – 01:08:40:	cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree,

01:08:40 – 01:08:43:	so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham

01:08:43 – 01:08:45:	might come to the nations of the earth.

01:08:45 – 01:08:47:	And so to keep with one another in life,

01:08:47 – 01:08:49:	in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham

01:08:49 – 01:08:51:	might come to the nations,

01:08:51 – 01:08:54:	so that we might receive the promised spirit through faith.

01:08:55 – 01:09:00:	And in both the epitome and the solid declaration,

01:09:00 – 01:09:02:	just like the catechisms,

01:09:02 – 01:09:04:	there's a small catechism and a large catechism

01:09:04 – 01:09:07:	in the book of Concord, for the formula of Concord,

01:09:07 – 01:09:09:	there is a shorter version and a longer version,

01:09:09 – 01:09:12:	they're called the epitome and the solid declaration.

01:09:12 – 01:09:15:	In the epitome, there are six points

01:09:15 – 01:09:17:	related to this third use of the law

01:09:17 – 01:09:18:	that's in article six.

01:09:18 – 01:09:20:	And the first is that as Christians,

01:09:20 – 01:09:24:	we are freed from the curse of the law.

01:09:25 – 01:09:28:	We are not under the law in so far as under the law

01:09:28 – 01:09:31:	means under the curse of the law.

01:09:32 – 01:09:35:	We are under the law in so far as being under the law

01:09:35 – 01:09:38:	means being subject to God's eternal will,

01:09:39 – 01:09:41:	which that's actually the sixth point

01:09:41 – 01:09:44:	that the law is God's eternal will,

01:09:44 – 01:09:47:	which is sort of the overarching point of this.

01:09:47 – 01:09:50:	The law is unchangeable, the law is unchanging

01:09:50 – 01:09:53:	because it is God's eternal will for everything,

01:09:53 – 01:09:55:	for creation, for mankind.

01:09:55 – 01:09:58:	We are to comport ourselves with the law

01:09:58 – 01:10:02:	as unregenerate or as regenerate

01:10:02 – 01:10:05:	because it is God's will for all.

01:10:05 – 01:10:10:	Now, we cannot perfectly fulfill the law, of course,

01:10:10 – 01:10:13:	as fallen human beings, we will fall short.

01:10:14 – 01:10:18:	Unregenerate persons cannot fulfill the law at all.

01:10:18 – 01:10:22:	Now, they can do the various outward acts,

01:10:22 – 01:10:23:	they can restrain their hands

01:10:23 – 01:10:25:	from actually murdering someone,

01:10:25 – 01:10:27:	they can restrain their hands

01:10:27 – 01:10:29:	from actually committing adultery, et cetera,

01:10:29 – 01:10:32:	stealing, bearing false witness, what have you.

01:10:33 – 01:10:37:	But they cannot actually perfectly fulfill the law

01:10:37 – 01:10:38:	because of course they will commit these sins

01:10:38 – 01:10:42:	in their hearts, they will hold hatred in their hearts

01:10:42 – 01:10:45:	such that it rises to the level of murderous,

01:10:45 – 01:10:47:	violating the fifth commandment,

01:10:47 – 01:10:49:	they will desire a woman who is not theirs,

01:10:49 – 01:10:50:	violating the sixth commandment,

01:10:50 – 01:10:52:	they will desire things that are not theirs,

01:10:52 – 01:10:54:	violating the seventh commandment

01:10:54 – 01:10:57:	and also the ninth and the tenth against coveting.

01:10:57 – 01:11:00:	But the overarching issue is not that

01:11:00 – 01:11:01:	they cannot fulfill the law perfectly

01:11:01 – 01:11:04:	because of course Christians cannot do that either.

01:11:04 – 01:11:08:	The overarching issue is that the unregenerate

01:11:08 – 01:11:09:	cannot do any good works,

01:11:09 – 01:11:12:	as we have mentioned previously in other episodes,

01:11:12 – 01:11:15:	they cannot do any good works because they are not in Christ.

01:11:15 – 01:11:18:	And therefore as sinners, everything they do is sin.

01:11:18 – 01:11:23:	As Christians, we still cannot fulfill the law perfectly.

01:11:23 – 01:11:27:	However, our failures are not counted against us

01:11:27 – 01:11:29:	because we are in Christ.

01:11:29 – 01:11:32:	Insofar as we comport our behavior with is so far

01:11:32 – 01:11:35:	as we uphold the law, we are given credit

01:11:35 – 01:11:38:	for that as good works.

01:11:38 – 01:11:41:	Because again, we are in Christ for the sake of Christ,

01:11:41 – 01:11:44:	those good works are counted to us.

01:11:44 – 01:11:45:	They are credited to us.

01:11:45 – 01:11:49:	We get credit because Christ has made it possible.

01:11:50 – 01:11:54:	And so that is the point here, that third use,

01:11:54 – 01:11:57:	Christians are to organize their lives

01:11:57 – 01:12:00:	according to the law.

01:12:00 – 01:12:02:	The law remains even for Christians.

01:12:02 – 01:12:05:	It is no longer a curse.

01:12:05 – 01:12:10:	And so the law is not this thing looming over you,

01:12:10 – 01:12:12:	damning you to hell

01:12:12 – 01:12:15:	because you cannot uphold the standard.

01:12:15 – 01:12:19:	You cannot perfectly fulfill the requirements of the law.

01:12:19 – 01:12:21:	That is the case for those who are not in Christ

01:12:21 – 01:12:23:	because no matter what they do,

01:12:23 – 01:12:26:	none of it will ever be good.

01:12:26 – 01:12:31:	For Christians, the law is a way that God speaks to us

01:12:31 – 01:12:35:	so that we can order our lives according to what he wants.

01:12:36 – 01:12:39:	And again, we get credit for our good works

01:12:39 – 01:12:43:	as we order our lives according to God's eternal will,

01:12:43 – 01:12:45:	according to the law.

01:12:46 – 01:12:47:	We will fall short.

01:12:47 – 01:12:48:	We will not succeed.

01:12:48 – 01:12:50:	We will continue to sin

01:12:50 – 01:12:55:	because the old Adam is not fully removed in this life.

01:12:57 – 01:13:01:	That's actually the third point under the six points

01:13:01 – 01:13:05:	is that regeneration in this life is incomplete.

01:13:05 – 01:13:07:	The old Adam remains.

01:13:07 – 01:13:11:	We are still living in the sinful fallen flesh.

01:13:11 – 01:13:14:	We will be fully regenerated at the resurrection,

01:13:14 – 01:13:18:	but we still get credit for our good works in this life

01:13:18 – 01:13:21:	because we are in Christ.

01:13:21 – 01:13:25:	And much of what you just said is straight from Romans 8

01:13:25 – 01:13:26:	where Paul writes,

01:13:26 – 01:13:28:	there is therefore now no condemnation

01:13:28 – 01:13:30:	for those who are in Christ Jesus.

01:13:30 – 01:13:32:	For the law of the spirit of life

01:13:32 – 01:13:34:	has set you free in Christ Jesus

01:13:34 – 01:13:35:	from the law of sin and death.

01:13:35 – 01:13:37:	For God has done what the law

01:13:37 – 01:13:39:	weakened by the flesh could not do.

01:13:39 – 01:13:40:	By sending his own son

01:13:40 – 01:13:43:	in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,

01:13:43 – 01:13:45:	he condemns sin in the flesh

01:13:45 – 01:13:48:	in order that the righteous requirement of the law

01:13:48 – 01:13:49:	might be fulfilled in us

01:13:49 – 01:13:51:	who walk not according to the flesh,

01:13:51 – 01:13:53:	but according to the spirit.

01:13:53 – 01:13:55:	For those who live according to the flesh

01:13:55 – 01:13:57:	set their minds on the things of the flesh.

01:13:57 – 01:13:59:	But those who live according to the spirit

01:13:59 – 01:14:02:	set their mind on the things of the spirit.

01:14:02 – 01:14:05:	So again, that's basically straight from Psalm one.

01:14:05 – 01:14:06:	Delighting in the law of the Lord

01:14:06 – 01:14:09:	and meditating on his law day and night.

01:14:09 – 01:14:12:	The law of God, God's eternal will, the scripture,

01:14:12 – 01:14:14:	all the things that God says to do,

01:14:14 – 01:14:16:	they're still binding on us.

01:14:16 – 01:14:18:	Not binding for our salvation,

01:14:18 – 01:14:20:	but binding in the sense that this is the path

01:14:20 – 01:14:22:	that God has laid out for us.

01:14:22 – 01:14:25:	And whereas before it was condemnation

01:14:25 – 01:14:26:	when we did not have Christ,

01:14:26 – 01:14:30:	now it is a joy because forget for a moment

01:14:30 – 01:14:33:	what the law does in your own personal life

01:14:33 – 01:14:36:	is it illuminates your sins.

01:14:36 – 01:14:39:	If we loved our neighbors as ourselves

01:14:39 – 01:14:42:	and if everyone else followed the law of God,

01:14:42 – 01:14:44:	what would your life be like?

01:14:44 – 01:14:46:	You would be in no danger ever.

01:14:46 – 01:14:47:	No one would ever steal from you.

01:14:47 – 01:14:49:	No one ever lie to you.

01:14:49 – 01:14:50:	They wouldn't take anything.

01:14:50 – 01:14:52:	Your wife, any of your property,

01:14:52 – 01:14:54:	they wouldn't slander you.

01:14:55 – 01:14:58:	All the things that we have insurance for

01:14:58 – 01:15:01:	and that we worry about and that we lock our doors for,

01:15:01 – 01:15:04:	all the things that are burdens

01:15:04 – 01:15:06:	and things that have to be dealt with in this life

01:15:06 – 01:15:10:	would vanish if everyone obeyed God.

01:15:10 – 01:15:12:	That's what the blessing is.

01:15:12 – 01:15:14:	So when we say the law is a blessing,

01:15:14 – 01:15:15:	that's what we mean.

01:15:15 – 01:15:17:	It's heaven.

01:15:17 – 01:15:19:	That's what the new earth will look like.

01:15:19 – 01:15:21:	The law will be perfectly upheld

01:15:21 – 01:15:23:	by everyone in the new earth.

01:15:23 – 01:15:25:	Those who are believers will receive their bodies

01:15:25 – 01:15:27:	fully intact and restored,

01:15:27 – 01:15:29:	will be raised from the dead

01:15:29 – 01:15:31:	in the flesh that God has given us in this life.

01:15:31 – 01:15:33:	We will be perfected.

01:15:33 – 01:15:35:	We will have no more sinful nature.

01:15:35 – 01:15:38:	We will continue to obey God in eternity.

01:15:38 – 01:15:40:	We're gonna keep obeying God.

01:15:40 – 01:15:41:	I think that's the problem

01:15:41 – 01:15:43:	that the antinomians bring up.

01:15:43 – 01:15:45:	Those who hate the law then think,

01:15:45 – 01:15:48:	oh, well, freedom in Christ means just freedom,

01:15:48 – 01:15:49:	means libertine.

01:15:49 – 01:15:51:	It means the freedom of the enlightenment.

01:15:51 – 01:15:54:	No, we are still slaves to Christ

01:15:54 – 01:15:56:	because we belong to God.

01:15:56 – 01:15:57:	That is not a burden.

01:15:57 – 01:16:02:	Our slavery to Christ and our being bound to obey God

01:16:03 – 01:16:04:	is a gift.

01:16:04 – 01:16:05:	It is not a burden.

01:16:05 – 01:16:06:	It is not something,

01:16:06 – 01:16:09:	it is not a standard by which we are held

01:16:09 – 01:16:10:	or we are damned.

01:16:10 – 01:16:12:	God took care of that.

01:16:12 – 01:16:16:	It is the standard by which all good things are measured.

01:16:16 – 01:16:20:	When you interpret the law as it's found in scripture,

01:16:20 – 01:16:22:	as God's eternal will,

01:16:22 – 01:16:23:	all this stuff makes a lot more sense.

01:16:23 – 01:16:24:	And that's what it is.

01:16:24 – 01:16:27:	The law is what God wants.

01:16:27 – 01:16:28:	And because God doesn't change,

01:16:28 – 01:16:30:	what God wants doesn't change.

01:16:30 – 01:16:33:	So the mouthful of the law as God's eternal will

01:16:33 – 01:16:36:	is a way of emphasizing that we're not talking about

01:16:36 – 01:16:39:	salvation works righteousness.

01:16:39 – 01:16:41:	We're not talking about justification before God

01:16:41 – 01:16:45:	or believing that we're superior to another man.

01:16:45 – 01:16:48:	We're talking about being and living in accord

01:16:48 – 01:16:50:	with what God wants.

01:16:50 – 01:16:51:	Don't use contraception.

01:16:51 – 01:16:53:	You'll have more kids.

01:16:53 – 01:16:54:	Don't cheat.

01:16:54 – 01:16:55:	You won't get in trouble.

01:16:55 – 01:16:59:	Like all the superficial stuff that like on its face,

01:16:59 – 01:17:01:	duh, it's so obvious.

01:17:01 – 01:17:04:	That is God's temporal rewards for obeying him,

01:17:04 – 01:17:06:	which even unbelievers receive.

01:17:06 – 01:17:09:	The unbeliever who lives a godly life

01:17:09 – 01:17:11:	will by and large be blessed in this life.

01:17:11 – 01:17:14:	It's not gonna do him any good in eternity.

01:17:14 – 01:17:15:	I feel for those people

01:17:15 – 01:17:16:	because they thought they had it all figured out.

01:17:16 – 01:17:19:	And in some ways it's harder for them

01:17:19 – 01:17:21:	because if everything is good,

01:17:21 – 01:17:23:	they'll think, why would I need God?

01:17:23 – 01:17:24:	Everything's hunky dory.

01:17:25 – 01:17:26:	I'm living a good life.

01:17:26 – 01:17:26:	I'm doing what I should.

01:17:26 – 01:17:28:	I don't steal from my neighbors.

01:17:28 – 01:17:30:	Why would I need this God stuff at all?

01:17:30 – 01:17:33:	It's almost a harder sell to that person

01:17:33 – 01:17:35:	to then to a career criminal

01:17:35 – 01:17:37:	who's at rock bottom, who's in prison,

01:17:37 – 01:17:39:	maybe for the rest of his life.

01:17:39 – 01:17:41:	He knows he needs Jesus.

01:17:41 – 01:17:42:	I mean, it might not know him by name,

01:17:42 – 01:17:45:	but he knows that he has failed

01:17:45 – 01:17:48:	where the man who is superficially righteous in this life

01:17:48 – 01:17:49:	doesn't know.

01:17:49 – 01:17:52:	We're not talking about superficial righteousness.

01:17:52 – 01:17:55:	We're talking about the Christian life

01:17:55 – 01:17:58:	being in accord with what God says.

01:17:58 – 01:18:01:	Meditating day and night on God's law is a blessing.

01:18:01 – 01:18:03:	And if we did a little more of that

01:18:03 – 01:18:08:	and a little less of just ingesting nonstop worldly culture

01:18:08 – 01:18:11:	in a way that deforms our consciences,

01:18:11 – 01:18:12:	we wouldn't have as many problems

01:18:12 – 01:18:14:	in the church and in the world.

01:18:14 – 01:18:17:	You know, Christendom 500 years ago

01:18:17 – 01:18:22:	was shaped very largely by the word of God

01:18:22 – 01:18:25:	because it was the norm in daily life.

01:18:25 – 01:18:27:	People didn't stray as far from it.

01:18:27 – 01:18:29:	Even if they weren't Christian,

01:18:29 – 01:18:31:	there probably weren't many who weren't Christian.

01:18:31 – 01:18:33:	There were terrible Christians like we don't know.

01:18:33 – 01:18:36:	We know that they were baptized and that they confessed.

01:18:36 – 01:18:39:	We open pray the most in heaven.

01:18:39 – 01:18:43:	However, in Christendom, because the law of God

01:18:43 – 01:18:45:	was also the law of the land,

01:18:45 – 01:18:47:	it kept much of the evil at bay

01:18:47 – 01:18:50:	in ways that we have since sacrificed

01:18:50 – 01:18:53:	by adopting the false God of democracy,

01:18:53 – 01:18:55:	this God that has clearly failed us.

01:18:55 – 01:18:58:	And yet it's still upheld in some of our own churches

01:18:58 – 01:18:59:	as sacrosanct.

01:18:59 – 01:19:02:	Cory and I have been accused of false doctrine

01:19:02 – 01:19:04:	for disliking democracy.

01:19:05 – 01:19:07:	That's just, never mind the evil,

01:19:07 – 01:19:09:	it's just purely insane.

01:19:09 – 01:19:12:	And yet that is where the church is in many places today

01:19:12 – 01:19:15:	where people can't understand the difference

01:19:15 – 01:19:17:	between God's eternal will

01:19:17 – 01:19:20:	and this garbage that we got in our social studies book

01:19:20 – 01:19:22:	in fifth and sixth grade.

01:19:22 – 01:19:23:	You know what?

01:19:23 – 01:19:24:	The guy who wrote the social studies book

01:19:24 – 01:19:26:	didn't have the same agenda

01:19:26 – 01:19:28:	as the guy who wrote the Bible.

01:19:28 – 01:19:31:	Maybe pay more attention to your Lord and Savior.

01:19:31 – 01:19:34:	Maybe pay more attention to your Creator

01:19:34 – 01:19:37:	because when this stuff is laid out for us,

01:19:37 – 01:19:40:	it's not just a good idea and it's not judgy.

01:19:40 – 01:19:42:	It's not saying do this or you get in trouble.

01:19:42 – 01:19:46:	It's saying this is what I, God, want for you in your lives.

01:19:46 – 01:19:48:	Fear me, love me, obey me.

01:19:48 – 01:19:51:	And all of my blessings will be yours.

01:19:52 – 01:19:54:	That should be the easiest sell in the world to anyone,

01:19:54 – 01:19:56:	especially to Christians.

01:19:56 – 01:20:00:	And yet today, so many Christians are so far removed

01:20:00 – 01:20:01:	from actual Christianity

01:20:01 – 01:20:04:	that they get their hackles up at that.

01:20:04 – 01:20:07:	They get angry at hearing those words.

01:20:07 – 01:20:09:	That is a profoundly scary thing for us in the church

01:20:09 – 01:20:11:	because suddenly you realize that someone

01:20:11 – 01:20:13:	who seemed like they were Christian,

01:20:13 – 01:20:16:	when matters of conscience arise,

01:20:16 – 01:20:19:	you find that while your conscience,

01:20:19 – 01:20:23:	hopefully is informed by scripture,

01:20:23 – 01:20:25:	their consciences in many cases

01:20:25 – 01:20:27:	are barely informed by scripture at all.

01:20:27 – 01:20:30:	They're informed by CNN.

01:20:30 – 01:20:31:	They're informed by movies.

01:20:31 – 01:20:34:	They're informed by all of these worldly things

01:20:34 – 01:20:36:	that are coming from Satan to be explicit.

01:20:36 – 01:20:39:	All these other things that are not from scripture

01:20:39 – 01:20:42:	is virtually all satanic today.

01:20:42 – 01:20:43:	That wasn't the case 500 years ago

01:20:43 – 01:20:45:	because we had Christendom.

01:20:45 – 01:20:47:	We had a world in Europe

01:20:47 – 01:20:50:	that was oriented around the Christian faith.

01:20:50 – 01:20:54:	There was no room for pornography and for filth

01:20:54 – 01:20:56:	and for all these things that are corrosive to the soul.

01:20:56 – 01:20:59:	Today, that's almost all you can find.

01:20:59 – 01:21:01:	Even the so-called wholesome stuff

01:21:01 – 01:21:03:	usually has some amount of degeneracy

01:21:03 – 01:21:04:	because hey, why not?

01:21:04 – 01:21:07:	We don't want people to feel like we're judging them.

01:21:07 – 01:21:09:	We gotta include a little bit of that.

01:21:09 – 01:21:11:	And then we baptize it and sanctify it

01:21:11 – 01:21:13:	by incorporating it into something

01:21:13 – 01:21:14:	that we're saying is Christian.

01:21:14 – 01:21:16:	We can't do that.

01:21:16 – 01:21:19:	And so the things that God tells us to do

01:21:20 – 01:21:23:	should be obvious and they should be easy for us.

01:21:23 – 01:21:25:	It's not how you save yourself.

01:21:25 – 01:21:28:	It's how God is saving you from misery in this life.

01:21:28 – 01:21:29:	You'll still suffer.

01:21:29 – 01:21:31:	You'll still have bad things happen.

01:21:31 – 01:21:34:	Your family members, your pets are gonna die.

01:21:34 – 01:21:36:	That's part of the suffering in life

01:21:36 – 01:21:40:	that is the result of original sin that never goes away.

01:21:40 – 01:21:42:	But all the problems that we cause for ourselves

01:21:42 – 01:21:46:	by disobeying God are caused by not meditating day and night

01:21:46 – 01:21:47:	on his law.

01:21:47 – 01:21:49:	And then when somebody brings it up,

01:21:49 – 01:21:51:	rather than saying, hey, that sounds like a good idea.

01:21:51 – 01:21:53:	I'd like to learn more from scripture

01:21:53 – 01:21:54:	about what God says.

01:21:55 – 01:21:58:	The instinct now is to kill the messenger.

01:21:58 – 01:22:02:	A lot of what you just said goes to the second point

01:22:02 – 01:22:05:	out of the six points in article six.

01:22:06 – 01:22:08:	And that is that the preaching of the law

01:22:08 – 01:22:12:	must be encouraged and must always have a place

01:22:12 – 01:22:14:	in the church.

01:22:14 – 01:22:18:	And this is something that a number of denominations

01:22:18 – 01:22:21:	have abandoned in the modern church.

01:22:22 – 01:22:25:	And this is one of the true strains of antinomianism

01:22:25 – 01:22:28:	where they just preach the gospel,

01:22:29 – 01:22:31:	at least insofar as they perceive it

01:22:31 – 01:22:33:	and they do not preach the law.

01:22:34 – 01:22:36:	And here I have to give the reform some credit

01:22:36 – 01:22:40:	because the reformed, at least the confessional version

01:22:40 – 01:22:44:	of the reformed, the staunch ones,

01:22:44 – 01:22:46:	have avoided this problem to some degree.

01:22:46 – 01:22:49:	Yes, there are some issues with perhaps

01:22:49 – 01:22:51:	not preaching the gospel enough in some cases,

01:22:51 – 01:22:55:	but I don't think that I'm just saying that,

01:22:55 – 01:22:57:	oh, well, Lutheran law gospel, that's not it.

01:22:59 – 01:23:02:	I am willing to commend those who preach

01:23:02 – 01:23:06:	and teach extensively, exegetically, properly,

01:23:06 – 01:23:08:	on the law, that's good.

01:23:08 – 01:23:11:	But you do have to have the gospel in there as well

01:23:11 – 01:23:15:	because part of the task of the law is to kill the sinner,

01:23:15 – 01:23:19:	is to kill the old Adam, but you have to have the gospel

01:23:19 – 01:23:22:	to revive the Christian, to bring forth the new man.

01:23:22 – 01:23:23:	So both are necessary.

01:23:24 – 01:23:27:	You can fall off either side of the horse.

01:23:28 – 01:23:29:	You can fall off the left side of the horse

01:23:29 – 01:23:32:	by preaching just the law, just fire and brimstone,

01:23:32 – 01:23:36:	100% of the time, and nothing of Jesus.

01:23:36 – 01:23:38:	You fall off the left side of the horse into the ditch.

01:23:38 – 01:23:40:	But you can also fall off the right side

01:23:40 – 01:23:44:	of the horse into the ditch by just Jesus loves you,

01:23:44 – 01:23:49:	you're forgiven, Jesus loves you, go home.

01:23:49 – 01:23:51:	No, you need the law as well

01:23:51 – 01:23:53:	because even as Christians, you have to be told,

01:23:53 – 01:23:56:	this is God's eternal will, you are to do this,

01:23:56 – 01:23:58:	you are not to do that.

01:23:58 – 01:24:01:	And the new man, the renewed part of you,

01:24:01 – 01:24:05:	the regenerated part of you, loves the law of God.

01:24:05 – 01:24:07:	And so you want to hear the law of God

01:24:07 – 01:24:10:	if you are a truly regenerate Christian.

01:24:10 – 01:24:13:	If you hear the law and you immediately hate it,

01:24:13 – 01:24:15:	you should be deeply worried

01:24:16 – 01:24:19:	because that is not the reaction of a Christian to the law.

01:24:19 – 01:24:21:	As a Christian, you will be convicted by the law.

01:24:21 – 01:24:23:	You will recognize the sin in your heart,

01:24:23 – 01:24:25:	you will recognize that you have not upheld it,

01:24:25 – 01:24:29:	you will perceive of it in that second sense as well

01:24:29 – 01:24:32:	as a mirror because it is held up to you

01:24:32 – 01:24:33:	and you see your sins in it.

01:24:35 – 01:24:37:	But there is also that third use

01:24:37 – 01:24:39:	and Christians will recognize that third use.

01:24:39 – 01:24:42:	This is how I can organize my life,

01:24:42 – 01:24:46:	this is how I can order my life according to what God wants.

01:24:46 – 01:24:49:	This is how I can behave as a Christian,

01:24:49 – 01:24:51:	not how I can save myself.

01:24:51 – 01:24:54:	That work is done, Christ did that, I'm saved.

01:24:54 – 01:24:58:	That's justification, that's once for all done.

01:25:00 – 01:25:04:	But what do I do after I am justified?

01:25:04 – 01:25:07:	Now that I am a Christian,

01:25:07 – 01:25:09:	now that I have faith,

01:25:09 – 01:25:12:	now that I have been given new life by the Spirit,

01:25:13 – 01:25:15:	it's the and then.

01:25:15 – 01:25:16:	What do I do as a Christian?

01:25:16 – 01:25:18:	How do I conduct myself?

01:25:18 – 01:25:19:	How do I comport my life?

01:25:20 – 01:25:24:	And that is the law and so Christians need both.

01:25:25 – 01:25:27:	Yes, the unregenerate also need both.

01:25:27 – 01:25:29:	The unregenerate need the law in full force

01:25:29 – 01:25:32:	until they repent than the gospel,

01:25:32 – 01:25:34:	but Christians also need the law in full force

01:25:34 – 01:25:36:	and then the gospel.

01:25:37 – 01:25:39:	That is one of the duties,

01:25:39 – 01:25:42:	that is the core duty of pastors and teachers,

01:25:42 – 01:25:46:	and many are falling short of that in one way or the other.

01:25:46 – 01:25:50:	There are very few today who preach the law

01:25:50 – 01:25:51:	in its full severity,

01:25:51 – 01:25:54:	and then the gospel in its full sweetness,

01:25:54 – 01:25:55:	who do that rightly,

01:25:55 – 01:25:58:	who rightly divide law and gospel

01:25:58 – 01:25:59:	without mingling them,

01:25:59 – 01:26:01:	without neglecting one or the other.

01:26:01 – 01:26:03:	And that is, as I said, the second point,

01:26:03 – 01:26:07:	this is a vitally important thing for the church.

01:26:07 – 01:26:09:	It is a live issue,

01:26:09 – 01:26:12:	it is a significant problem we face today,

01:26:12 – 01:26:14:	because we have, again,

01:26:14 – 01:26:17:	on the one side, those who are just preaching the law,

01:26:17 – 01:26:20:	largely ignoring the gospel,

01:26:20 – 01:26:21:	fewer of those, granted,

01:26:21 – 01:26:23:	and on the other side,

01:26:23 – 01:26:26:	we have many of these who are just preaching the gospel

01:26:26 – 01:26:27:	and ignoring the law.

01:26:28 – 01:26:31:	And as we keep saying, you cannot do that, point six,

01:26:31 – 01:26:35:	the law is God's eternal will.

01:26:35 – 01:26:37:	You cannot ignore it.

01:26:37 – 01:26:40:	As a Christian, you should love the law of God.

01:26:40 – 01:26:43:	Read the Psalms, it's all throughout them,

01:26:43 – 01:26:46:	particularly Psalm one and Psalm 119.

01:26:48 – 01:26:50:	And then points four and five

01:26:50 – 01:26:53:	are the only ones we really haven't touched on yet,

01:26:53 – 01:26:55:	and that is just the distinguishing between

01:26:56 – 01:26:59:	the works of the law and the fruits of the spirit.

01:26:59 – 01:27:00:	I actually went over this as well

01:27:00 – 01:27:03:	in the previous episode,

01:27:03 – 01:27:04:	but the works of the law

01:27:04 – 01:27:07:	in this specific technical sense.

01:27:07 – 01:27:09:	The works of the law are those works

01:27:09 – 01:27:12:	that are done out of fear,

01:27:12 – 01:27:15:	fear of punishment, fear of the wrath of God.

01:27:17 – 01:27:19:	You do not get commended for these.

01:27:19 – 01:27:22:	Yes, it is better to do the works of the law than not.

01:27:22 – 01:27:24:	Your eternity in hell will not be as bad

01:27:24 – 01:27:28:	if you do the works of the law in this limited sense.

01:27:28 – 01:27:29:	Again, bear in mind,

01:27:29 – 01:27:32:	this is a technical sense of that term.

01:27:32 – 01:27:35:	The fruits of the spirit are those works,

01:27:35 – 01:27:39:	those good works that flow from the regenerate

01:27:39 – 01:27:43:	because they are regenerate, because they are in Christ.

01:27:43 – 01:27:48:	Now, in a looser, less technical sense,

01:27:48 – 01:27:50:	yes, you can call those things that are done under the law,

01:27:50 – 01:27:53:	according to the law, even by the regenerate,

01:27:53 – 01:27:55:	works of the law because they are works done

01:27:55 – 01:27:56:	according to the law.

01:27:57 – 01:27:59:	But ultimately, what they actually are

01:27:59 – 01:28:01:	is fruits of the spirit.

01:28:01 – 01:28:03:	They agree with the law

01:28:03 – 01:28:05:	because, again, the law is God's eternal will.

01:28:05 – 01:28:08:	And so, good works are those things done,

01:28:08 – 01:28:09:	according to the law.

01:28:11 – 01:28:14:	Because a work is good in so far as

01:28:14 – 01:28:16:	it comports with God's eternal will,

01:28:16 – 01:28:18:	which is, again, just another way of saying,

01:28:18 – 01:28:21:	in so far as it comports with the law.

01:28:21 – 01:28:23:	And that is what the spirit is doing.

01:28:23 – 01:28:24:	That is sanctification.

01:28:25 – 01:28:27:	Justification is immediate.

01:28:27 – 01:28:28:	You're justified.

01:28:28 – 01:28:29:	It's done.

01:28:29 – 01:28:30:	The work is done.

01:28:30 – 01:28:32:	It's not progressive.

01:28:32 – 01:28:35:	You aren't more justified tomorrow than you are today.

01:28:35 – 01:28:37:	You weren't less justified yesterday.

01:28:38 – 01:28:42:	Christ's work was complete when He said it is finished.

01:28:44 – 01:28:48:	However, sanctification is progressive.

01:28:48 – 01:28:50:	As you maintain your faith in this life,

01:28:50 – 01:28:52:	as you spend time in God's word,

01:28:52 – 01:28:54:	as the spirit works in you,

01:28:54 – 01:28:55:	all these things,

01:28:55 – 01:29:00:	you will get progressively better as a Christian.

01:29:01 – 01:29:03:	Some of those sins that cling to you will fall away.

01:29:03 – 01:29:07:	Some of the temptations will taper over time.

01:29:07 – 01:29:08:	Yes, new things will spring up.

01:29:08 – 01:29:10:	Yes, you will recognize new sins.

01:29:10 – 01:29:14:	Anyone who has dedicated significant time and effort

01:29:14 – 01:29:18:	to the Christian life will tell you immediately,

01:29:19 – 01:29:22:	one of the things that will happen in the process,

01:29:22 – 01:29:24:	all along the way,

01:29:24 – 01:29:26:	is that you'll find a sin

01:29:26 – 01:29:28:	because the spirit will highlight it.

01:29:28 – 01:29:29:	God's word will show it to you.

01:29:30 – 01:29:32:	You'll get that sin under control.

01:29:32 – 01:29:33:	It may take a lot of time.

01:29:33 – 01:29:34:	It may take a little time.

01:29:34 – 01:29:39:	It depends on the kind of sin and many other factors,

01:29:39 – 01:29:41:	but you'll get that under control.

01:29:41 – 01:29:42:	You eventually will,

01:29:42 – 01:29:44:	with the help of the spirit, with God's word,

01:29:44 – 01:29:47:	time, patience, prayer, effort,

01:29:47 – 01:29:48:	you will get that under control.

01:29:50 – 01:29:52:	But then you'll read God's word,

01:29:52 – 01:29:56:	then the spirit will convict you of another sin

01:29:56 – 01:29:58:	because there is always another sin.

01:29:58 – 01:30:01:	Because in this life, you will never be perfect.

01:30:01 – 01:30:04:	The regeneration is not complete.

01:30:04 – 01:30:05:	That happens in the resurrection.

01:30:06 – 01:30:10:	And so you will continue to recognize these things

01:30:10 – 01:30:11:	in your life.

01:30:11 – 01:30:13:	Now, it may be as you go along,

01:30:13 – 01:30:15:	they are smaller sins.

01:30:15 – 01:30:17:	They are less heinous sins.

01:30:17 – 01:30:20:	There's still sin, and all sin is sin.

01:30:20 – 01:30:22:	But as we have pointed out,

01:30:22 – 01:30:25:	as is the purpose in large part of these two episodes,

01:30:25 – 01:30:27:	not all sins are equal.

01:30:27 – 01:30:29:	And so it may be when you started out,

01:30:29 – 01:30:30:	there were particularly heinous sins

01:30:30 – 01:30:32:	in which you were engaged.

01:30:32 – 01:30:36:	It may be fornication

01:30:36 – 01:30:39:	is going to be a common sin these days.

01:30:39 – 01:30:40:	It may be something like that.

01:30:40 – 01:30:42:	And you get that under control.

01:30:42 – 01:30:45:	And then it'll be rage.

01:30:45 – 01:30:49:	It'll be all these other various things as you go along.

01:30:50 – 01:30:52:	And the Spirit will continue to point these out

01:30:52 – 01:30:55:	as you spend time in God's word.

01:30:55 – 01:30:57:	You will continue to be convicted of these things.

01:30:57 – 01:31:02:	But that is the discipline that God gives to sons.

01:31:02 – 01:31:03:	Because God is your father.

01:31:03 – 01:31:07:	And fathers who love their sons discipline their sons.

01:31:07 – 01:31:09:	And so part of that discipline

01:31:09 – 01:31:12:	is going to be pointing out these sins

01:31:12 – 01:31:14:	and continuing to work through them

01:31:14 – 01:31:16:	for the entirety of your life.

01:31:16 – 01:31:20:	You are not going to reach a state of perfection in this life.

01:31:20 – 01:31:22:	Anyone who says that is a liar and a false prophet

01:31:22 – 01:31:24:	and you should burn his books.

01:31:25 – 01:31:28:	You will not reach some level of perfection

01:31:28 – 01:31:31:	whereby you no longer sin.

01:31:31 – 01:31:32:	No, you will continue to sin.

01:31:32 – 01:31:35:	And you will continue to find these sins as you go.

01:31:35 – 01:31:38:	You may even find things that you didn't really think

01:31:38 – 01:31:38:	were that bad.

01:31:38 – 01:31:40:	And then as you continue to grow in your faith

01:31:40 – 01:31:42:	and your walk with God,

01:31:42 – 01:31:44:	you realize, no, that's a sin that's been holding me back

01:31:44 – 01:31:47:	that's been separating me from God.

01:31:47 – 01:31:50:	And I should have taken that seriously long ago.

01:31:51 – 01:31:52:	But that is the Christian life.

01:31:52 – 01:31:54:	That is sanctification.

01:31:55 – 01:31:58:	As long as you are making that progress,

01:31:58 – 01:32:01:	and yes, you will backslide from time to time

01:32:01 – 01:32:04:	and you should not despair because of that.

01:32:04 – 01:32:09:	But you will overall make progress in your Christian life.

01:32:10 – 01:32:14:	If you do the things that God tells you to do.

01:32:14 – 01:32:16:	If you read his word.

01:32:16 – 01:32:18:	If you attend the divine service.

01:32:18 – 01:32:21:	If you make use of the sacrament.

01:32:22 – 01:32:25:	These are things that God instituted,

01:32:25 – 01:32:27:	that God created for your good.

01:32:27 – 01:32:29:	Make use of them.

01:32:29 – 01:32:31:	And you will grow in your Christian life

01:32:31 – 01:32:33:	and the spirit will continue

01:32:33 – 01:32:35:	that sanctification process in you.

01:32:38 – 01:32:41:	And so we've mentioned the Psalms a number of times

01:32:41 – 01:32:42:	in this episode.

01:32:42 – 01:32:45:	And you should be reading through the Psalter.

01:32:45 – 01:32:48:	I'm not going to tell you that you have to do it every week.

01:32:48 – 01:32:51:	It's not that long, but it's long enough.

01:32:51 – 01:32:53:	And most people these days do not sit down

01:32:53 – 01:32:56:	to concentrate and read for very long.

01:32:56 – 01:32:59:	But add two or three Psalms to your day.

01:32:59 – 01:33:01:	Read one in the morning, read one in the evening,

01:33:01 – 01:33:04:	whatever it takes, spend some time in the Psalter.

01:33:04 – 01:33:09:	The Psalter is the original hymnal as it were of the church.

01:33:09 – 01:33:12:	You should be spending time with the Psalms.

01:33:14 – 01:33:16:	And so after this, I recommend you go at least read

01:33:16 – 01:33:17:	Psalm 119 and Psalm one.

01:33:19 – 01:33:22:	Because they deal specifically

01:33:22 – 01:33:24:	with the goodness of God's law.

01:33:25 – 01:33:28:	But we're going to end by reading Psalm one.

01:33:28 – 01:33:31:	And we already went over Psalm one in the ESV.

01:33:31 – 01:33:34:	That was what Woe read earlier.

01:33:34 – 01:33:38:	I'm going to read it in a slightly older translation.

01:33:38 – 01:33:41:	This one, the 1650 Psalter.

01:33:44 – 01:33:47:	That man hath perfect blessedness, who walketh not astray,

01:33:47 – 01:33:52:	in counsel of ungodly men, nor stands in sinner's way,

01:33:52 – 01:33:56:	nor sitteth in the scorner's chair, but placeth his delight,

01:33:56 – 01:34:00:	upon God's law and meditates, on his law day and night.

01:34:00 – 01:34:03:	He shall be like a tree that grows near planted by a river,

01:34:03 – 01:34:06:	which in his season yields his fruit,

01:34:06 – 01:34:08:	and his leaf fadeeth never.

01:34:08 – 01:34:12:	And all he doth shall prosper well, the wicked are not so,

01:34:12 – 01:34:14:	but like they are unto the chaff,

01:34:14 – 01:34:17:	which wind drives to and fro.

01:34:17 – 01:34:19:	In judgment therefore shall not stand,

01:34:19 – 01:34:23:	such as ungodly are, nor in the assembly of the just,

01:34:23 – 01:34:25:	shall wicked men appear.

01:34:25 – 01:34:29:	For why the way of godly men unto the Lord is known?

01:34:29 – 01:34:32:	Whereas the way of wicked men shall quite be overthrown.

01:34:34 – 01:34:35:	Amen.

01:34:36 – 01:34:39:	Greetings Battler,

01:34:39 – 01:34:43:	and welcome you to a revelary妳 thorn down theため

01:34:43 – 01:34:47:	that was built upon the Lord,

01:34:47 – 01:34:51:	whom thou of thine name was made,

01:34:51 – 01:34:54:	and whom thou art made the begger,

01:34:54 – 01:34:57:	and whom thou art made the part of this kingdom.

01:34:57 – 01:35:01:	And here thy disease seleth me.