https://assets-cdn2.dropwave.io/086174f0-efbe-400f-a3e9-b91549a26ab7/media/Trinity 18 AD 2026.mp3

https://app.dropwave.io/show/our-savior-lynchburg/trinity-18-ad-2026

++ JESU JUVA ++

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

[Law and Gospel]

The Bible contains two fundamentally different teachings: God’s commands (His Law), and His promises (that is, the Gospel). The Law describes who God is. The Law is God’s holy and righteous will. It’s everything that has to do with what is right and wrong. This means the law is good. It is holy and righteous, because God is holy and righteous. Since He created us to belong to Him, it’s also supposed to describe us.

The Law is what God commands. The way we receive a command is by doing what it says. So the Law governs our will, our thoughts, our affections, our actions. The law shows us how God intends us to be within the order of His creation. God in His law promises every blessing to those who keep His commands. Commands are received by obeying them. He threatens to punish all who break them. If we look into God’s law rightly, we will see that we have done wrong, and we are under God’s condemnation for our sins.

But the Law is not the only word within the Scriptures. There is also the Gospel. The Gospel isn’t a command. The Gospel is a promise. A promise is not received by doing it, but by believing it. The Gospel doesn’t tell us what to do. The Gospel makes no threats; it is only gift. God graciously gives us what He has done. The Gospel declares that God the Father in heaven, out of His great love for you in Christ, freely and fully forgives all your law-breaking — every single sin you have committed against God and neighbor. Jesus has taken them all away by his death on the cross.

The wrath of God you earned because of your sins has fallen instead upon Christ. You could not keep the law, so Christ kept it as your substitute. Jesus became your substitute precisely because you could not keep the law of God. He desired your salvation, so He was willing to pay the price. He endured the cross because of the joy set before Him (Hebrews 12:2) — because by that work He would gain your salvation. For His sake, you have everlasting life. Christ has done for you what the Law demands but what you could never do.

Therefore, it is essential to faith to distinguish carefully between the Law and the Gospel. If we mix them up, the Bible remains a closed book, Christ becomes a new lawgiver, and you have no salvation. You remain condemned under God’s commands. But when Law and Gospel are rightly distinguished, the Law shows you your need for a Savior, and the Gospel gives you that Savior. The Law brings you to repentance; the Gospel gives you forgiveness, life, and peace through faith in Christ.

Without the law, we cannot see our need for the Gospel. Without the Law, the Gospel may be heard as information, advice, or a general message of God’s love. Without the Law, the Gospel won’t be understood in its proper sense as the gracious promise of forgiveness to condemned sinners for Christ’s sake The Law shows why salvation is necessary; the Gospel announces that salvation has been accomplished and is given freely in Christ. The Law diagnoses our disease; the Gospel delivers and gives the cure.

Nor can the proclamation of God’s law alone save us. The Law declares what is good and right and holy, but it gives no power to do what it demands. The Law exposes, accuses, condemns — but it cannot forgive. Only the Gospel reveals Christ as the Savior of sinners and gives the forgiveness, righteousness, and life that He has won for us. CFW Walther says it this way: Without the Law the Gospel is not understood; without the Gospel the Law benefits us nothing. This also means that the Law and the Gospel aren’t competing messages. Each has its proper place in the way God deals with us.

[A trap]

But the Pharisees aren’t interested in this distinction. They are merely interested in appearing to keep the law — especially as an academic exercise. Even more, they want to trap Jesus. So when they heard that He had silenced their political opponents, the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of their experts in the Old Testament law steps forward to tempt Jesus. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” (Matthew 22:36).

They’ve forgotten the true meaning and purpose of the law. They thought God had given the law as the way for them to justify themselves. They wanted to be sure they were properly justified. So they’d spend their time and energy debating the finer points of the law. They don’t see the law as something that God would use to bring them to Christ.

Remember what happened when the people of Israel heard God speak the Ten Commandments from heaven? Thundering and lightning; the sound of a trumpet that grew louder and louder; the mountain smoking. At that time long past, the people trembled and stood far off (Exodus 20).

But what would it mean if instead they had responded by saying, ”Which is the great commandment in the law?” What would it say about what they thought of the Commandments? It would mean that they did not understand what they had heard. — that they didn’t understand that under the law of God they all stand condemned. — that the law of God was not given so it could be academically analyzed, but to expose their sin and to drive them to Christ.

Jesus could have continued the debate. He could have explained to them why one commandment was superior to all the others. He could have taught why one sin is worse than another. But Jesus doesn’t do that — at least not here. Instead, He speaks in such a way as to proclaim the law of God so that it would do its proper work on their pharisaical hearts. He won’t play their games. He’s not giving them something to argue over or to study. He’s not permitting them to put themselves above God’s law. He’s setting God’s law over them. In this way, He intends to expose their hearts and drive them to Him.

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. (Matthew 22:37-38).

[With the heart]