#13: God’s Spirit and God’s Law

I. Introduction
A. After God rescued the Israelites from Egypt they came to Mt. Sinai where Moses went up on the mountain where he was given the 10 commandments engraved on two tablets of stone.
1. But while he was up on the mountain, the people below fell into sins of many kinds, and when Moses finally showed up with the tablets and saw what was happening, he threw down the tablets, breaking God’s law in pieces, just like the Israelites had done by their behavior.
2. This becomes the picture of God’s people’s relationship with the law in the OT.
B. So how do you feel about God’s law? Is it the 10 commandments on tablets of stone?
1. Is it all about guilt, and duty, and restriction, and burden, and responsibility, and obligation?
2. Does it seem rigid and old-fashioned?
3. Does it seem boring at best and oppressive at worst?
4. Does it seem like it’s just trying to prevent you from doing what you want to do?
5. Does it seem like all the things which are fun, all the things which make you happy, those are the things which are forbidden? And the things you can’t stand are the things you must do?
C. I would suggest that the HS has something much better for us than that.
II. Explanation
A. Jeremiah 31:33 prophesies that in the new covenant God would put His laws into the minds of His people, and write them on their hearts.
B. This passage contrasts God’s dealings with His people in the OT with His dealings in the NT.
C. The two great Bible events of Sinai and Pentecost (when Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit {HS} upon His people) are linked.
1. It’s not a coincidence that God poured out the HS on the day of Pentecost.
a. Pentecost was an OT festival in early summer also known as ‘the feast of weeks’ or ‘the festival of first fruits’ when the Jews celebrated the first fruits of the harvest.
b. But there was more to the meaning of the OT Jewish day of Pentecost!
c. Though it is not pointed out in the Bible, the Jews believed that Pentecost was the day that the law was given at Sinai, which is reasonable in light of Exod.19:1. And so on Pentecost each year they celebrated the giving of the law on Mount Sinai.
d. This means that the promised HS was given on the day they celebrated the law being given.
e. On the first Pentecost, God gave His law. On the last Pentecost, God gave His Spirit.
f. On the first Pentecost, God wrote His law on tablets of stone. On the last Pentecost, God began to write His law on human hearts.
g. On the first Pentecost, the mediator of the Old Covenant (Moses) went up to God's presence to receive the law to deliver to the people. On the last Pentecost, the mediator of the New Covenant went up to God's presence to receive the HS to deliver to the people.
D. The NT is characterized as a time when God will write His law no longer just upon tablets of stone, but upon men’s hearts. Through the Spirit the law has been written on our hearts.
E. What’s wrong with tablets of stone?
1. Nothing, as long as it doesn’t stay on the tablet, never making it into the heart.
2. You see, the tablet of stone can come to symbolize their hard, stony hearts (2Cor.3:3).
F. What does it mean that He writes the law upon our hearts?
1. Well, it doesn’t mean that when we want to know what God’s law says we just consult our own hearts.
2. It means that the HS gives His people a deep affection for His law. He causes them to fall in love with God’s law.
3. This is basically the same meaning as Ezekiel 36:27: “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”
G. Does that mean that the Holy Spirit never did any of this before Pentecost?
1. How can it be so? Psalm 119:11, 34, 36, 69, 111, 112 says, “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You! Give me understanding, that I may observe Your law and keep it with all my heart. Incline my heart to Your testimonies and not to dishonest gain. With all my heart I will observe Your precepts. I have inherited Your testimonies forever, for they are the joy of my heart. I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes forever, even to the end.”
2. Was the law of God not written upon this author’s heart? And if it was, then who else but the Holy Spirit wrote God’s law upon this man’s heart?
3. Is any one of us arrogant enough to say that he has the word of God written on his heart more than the author of Ps.119? I hope not.
4. Then what is the meaning of the promise that an age would come in which the HS would write the law of God upon the hearts of His people? Well, again, you see it is a matter of degree and not of essence. The NT era would have so much more of this affection-for-God’s-holy-law given to His people that it would be as if God was writing His law upon their very hearts.
H. Think about it this way: there were two parts of Christ’s ministry: the external and the internal.
1. The external part of His ministry was being with His people (John 1:14), before His crucifixion, resurrection and ascension. The internal part was being in His people through the Holy Spirit after Pentecost.
2. Well, the HS’s NT ministry can also be divided into these same two parts. He was with God's people through Christ (that is through Christ's incarnation, Christ's human presence) at first. Then, at Pentecost, He was poured out and dwelt in men's hearts. This distinction is one that Christ Himself made in John 14:16-17:
3. “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth... He abides with you, and will be in you.” (John 14:16-17)
4. In other words, the Spirit abides with you now through Christ, and Christ will abide in you (soon) through the Spirit. The point of transition is Pentecost.
5. (And clearly the second stage is superior to the first. This is what Christ Himself says in John 16:7: "But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper shall not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.")
6. So, we see how at Pentecost God transfers His presence with His people (Immanuel=God with us) to be in His people (John 14:23). This transition from external presence (with-ness) to internal presence (in-ness) is one of the chief features of Pentecost.
I. This same feature can be seen with regard to the OT law.
1. In the OT God’s law was WITH the people, having been written on tablets of stone. But once Pentecost has occurred, God's law is now IN His people, having been written on men's hearts. This is one more aspect of the HS dwelling in the human heart.
III. Application
A. The law of death has become the law of liberty!
1. The same law which in the old covenant is the law of death (2Cor. 3:7, Rom. 4:15) in the new covenant has become the "law of liberty" (James 1:25, 2:12).
2. The fact is that Christ took upon Himself our guilt for violating His law. This radically changes our relationship with God’s law.
3. If we are in Christ, no longer does God’s law condemn us. It is no longer a law of death.
4. But it has become a law of liberty.
B. Jesus said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” – Matthew 11:28–30
1. There still is a yoke. (I would suggest that His yoke is really the same as His law. It’s the responsibilities, it’s the duties, it’s the cross to bear which come with being a follower of Christ.) There still is a burden. If someone tells you that being a Christian is yokeless or burdenless, they’re disagreeing with Jesus.
2. But compared to the burden of misery living without Christ, compared to the yoke of slavery to sin and the oppressive burden of belonging to the dominion of darkness, compared to these things, His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
3. And in light of the precious treasure of knowing Jesus and walking with Jesus, and resting in Jesus, His yoke is easy and His burden is light.
4. The privilege of enjoying His smile, the privilege of having His shoulder to lean on, the privilege of living in His love, makes His yoke and burden seem like nothing.
C. Christianity is about knowing Jesus, not about a system of beliefs or a list of rules.
1. Now I don’t mean it doesn’t have a set of beliefs and laws, I mean that at its heart, it’s a spiritual reality, not a human one or an intellectual one.
2. Perhaps Christianity seems to you to be dead: just a bunch of rules and doctrines.
a. I understand that. Lots of people perceive it that way. I once perceived it that way myself. In fact, I hated the very idea of a commanding God. I hated everything about Christianity.
b. But then, unexpectedly, surprisingly, I met Jesus. I realize now that the HS began to work in my heart making the things which always seemed oppressive and manipulative suddenly begin to be alive and lovely and refreshing and life-giving and joyful.
c. And I began to fall in love with God’s word.
3. What’s so lovely about God’s law? Even the parts which are laws?
a. It’s love. (Gal.5:14, Matt.22:37-40)
b. It’s Jesus. (If a person obeyed the law perfectly, he would look just like Jesus. God’s law then is a portrait of Jesus! It tells us what Jesus is like.)
c. It’s liberating.
(1) E.g. Romans 12:20–21 “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
(2) Is it liberating to hate, to return evil for evil, to get revenge? Or is it liberating to love?
4. And if you see how God’s law is lovely, you know that the HS has worked in your heart.
5. On the other hand, if Jesus seems boring to you, you probably don’t know Him.
a. I don’t mean to be judgmental. I’m just trying to address the fact that the Bible says some people feel secure in their salvation, when in fact you’re not actually saved at all.
b. Someone told me recently that their child has come to the point in his life where he knows intellectually that Christianity is true, but he still hasn’t embraced it in his heart. That’s good because for many he had denied Christianity. However, that’s not saving faith. Jesus and all He represents has to be welcomed and received and embraced.
c. The good thing is that if the law of God isn’t written on your heart, then you know where to go to have it happen.
D. I’m not talking about becoming a rule-lover. There is an important distinction between being a rule-lover and being a lover of God’s law. Don’t ever mix these two up, as many do.
E. I’m talking about letting the word of Christ dwell in you richly (Col.3:16). [Cf. the words of Jesus abiding in our hearts – John 15:7.]
1. Think about this phrase “dwell in you richly.”
a. This is hospitality language. God wants us to welcome and savor His word in our hearts.
b. When people have others over, sometimes they say under their breath, “Can’t wait till it’s over,” or “I hope we don’t have to do that again any time soon!”
c. But this isn’t the attitude God calls us to have toward His word!
d. He wants us to welcome it and rejoice in it and love it and count ourselves rich for having it.
e. Just knowing it is not enough.
f. Years ago, when we led the old Young Adults, after meeting A we would close in prayer, but most would stay and we’d have meeting B. Then we’d get up and have meeting C in the foyer. Then, we’d go out on the stoop and have meeting D. Sometimes we’d even walk them out to their car and have meeting E there! It was as if we never wanted it to end. We dwelt together richly.
2. And God the HS wants to write His word upon our hearts so that His word dwells in us richly.
F. Perhaps, you have tasted the goodness of the Lord and know His beauty, but your heart has grown cold toward the Lord and His word.
1. Perhaps you haven’t welcomed the Lord into your heart or life for awhile.
2. Perhaps you even perceive that He’s left you in disgust, shaking the dust off His feet as He leaves.
3. I don’t think so, in light of what He says.“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” –Rev.3:20