Pastor-teacher Don Hargrove

Faith Bible Church

Wed., Oct 7, 2009

http://fbcweb.org/Audio.html

GOD’S COVENANTS – Part 11: The Mosaic Covenant, Part 3:

The Mosaic Law, Natural Law & Human Government

(Messiah & A.C. #257)

Salvation (Acts 16:30-31); the spiritual life (1 Jn 1:5-9), spiritual maturity (Eze 14:14, 20)

A. Dispensations and Covenants.

1. Hermeneutics of Dispensationalism.

a. The dispensational principle of hermeneutics is the grammatical-historical method (GHM), e.g. the literal, normal, plain method of interpretation.

b. Since God Himself is the source of language, the GHM is the only method that honors Him and His Word.

c. The GHM means that the Scriptures are not to be interpreted with some special use of language or with hidden deeper meanings.

d. The GHM has been vindicated by the fulfilled prophecies of the OT concerning the first coming of Jesus Christ.

e. If one does not use the GHM interpretation, all objectivity is lost.

f. Only the dispensationalist consistently applies the GHM to all of Scripture.

g. The GHM is the ICE method of interpretation.

h. Results of HGM.

2. Covenants: There are two major categories of covenants.

a. Unconditional.

b. Conditional.

B. The Mosaic Covenant.

1. The Mosaic Law (ML) is a conditional covenant: “if you THEN I will.”

2. The ML was designed to keep Israel as a distinct people.

3. The ML was designed for orientation to absolutes and universals.

4. The ML was never designed for salvation or sanctification.

5. The ML was designed to define sin and bring sense of condemnation.

6. The ML provides an excellent delineation of many establishment principles.

7. The Christian is not under the ML (Acts 15; Rom 10:4; Galatians).

8. The ML is one integral unit (Js 2:10) with moral, spiritual, and civil components.

9. The ML was designed as a test for the Israelites.

10. The ML was never given to gentiles and no gentile nation in the OT or NT is ever judged according to the standards of the ML.

C. Mosaic Law, Natural Law, and the Role of Government.

1. God writes the “work of the Law” in man’s soul and thus each person stands accountable before God, Rom 2:14-16; Rom 10:4.

2. This work of the Law results in an innate sense of law or morality known as natural law – to be distinguished from legal positivism.

3. The intersection between natural law and natural rights is a key component in America’s Declaration of Independence and Constitution.

4. Natural law includes five divine institutions.

#1: Volition, Gen 2:17.

#2 - Marriage, Gen 2:24.

#3 – Family, Gen 2:24.

#4 - Limited Government, Gen 9:6.

#5 – Nationalism, Gen 11:1-9.

5. God ordained government to protect man’s God-given rights.

6. The chief function of government is to restrain evil.

7. Government exists to restrain evil but since government is also run by sinful man so it must be limited.

a. Government must be limited because all humans, even the best of leaders, are sinful, Rom 3:10, 23.

b. Governments must be limited because our rights come from God – they are not granted by the state, acts

c. The Declaration of Independence declares that our God-given rights include life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

d. The Declaration of Independence recognizes that God is above the government.

e.  Our Founding Fathers (FF) recognized the need for America’s own sovereignty – i.e. nationalism.

f. Our FF recognized the sinfulness of man and the corruption of power so they separated the powers between federal and state governments.

g. Our FF also separated the 3 branches of government to limit power in the hands of sinful man in government.

h. Our FF realized that God instituted human government to protect the natural God-given rights of the people.

i. Our FF understood that the last check and balance on the power of government was for the people to have the right to keep and bear arms.

j. Our FF realized that government, though necessary, poses the greatest threat to man and his freedom – thus it must have limited power.

k. Bible teaches that government is a necessary evil due to evil nature of man, Gen 8:21; 9:6; Rom 13; 1 Pt 2:14.

D. Just as God blesses and curses Israel according to the ML, so He also blesses and curses gentile nations according to principles in natural law, Dt 28; Lev 16; 26; Rom 1:18-25.

1. The 5 cyles of discipline on Israel, Lev 26; Dt 28.

2. Divine discipline on gentile nations for violation of natural law, Lev 18.

3. 4 Stages of degeneracy of a people and nation, Rom 1:18-25; Isa 5:20.