God’s Clear Wisdom of Law and Gospel in a World of Confusion Exodus 20:1–17; 1 Corinthians 1:18–31; John 2:13–22 

Grace, mercy and peace be with you, from God, our Father, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Today we’re going to talk about God’s clear wisdom for us, as we live in this world of confusion.

There are some things in life that seem clear, and other things that seem more cloudy or confusing. In our information age, we hear and read all kinds of things from lots of different sources. Sometimes they agree; often times they disagree. So much so that it’s hard to know what to believe and what not to believe.

In this culture of confusion, we may be tempted to just pick and choose what we want to believe, and what we want to reject, based on what feels good to us, or seems fun, or interesting, or exciting, or what’s popular and trendy.

Thanks be to God, when it comes to faith and life, He gives something far more certain to know and believe: His clear Word of Law, and His clear Word of Gospel.

God’s Law is wisdom for living, and His Gospel is wisdom for our salvation. Psalm 111:10 says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. 2 Timothy 3:15 says that the sacred writings (the books of the Bible), are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 

While it may seem as foolishness to the world, our Epistle assures us that the Gospel of Christ, and Him crucified is the power and wisdom of God. And so we can trust it completely.

Paul says in Romans 1:16, For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of salvation for all who believe.

That we might clearly know and see our need for the Gospel, God gives us His law.

In our Old Testament today, we heard God clearly deliver His law, in the 10 Commandments, which are a summary of His moral law for the world.

Even before the 10 commandments were given at Mount Sinai, God’s people knew and followed them. Not perfectly, just as we don’t follow them perfectly today, but they generally knew and taught God’s moral law. 

They already knew God’s law before it was written down because it was passed on orally, told from generation to generation, starting already with Adam and Eve. 

They were also aware of God’s moral law, because knowing right and wrong is a part of the human conscience. This is taught in Romans 2, which says, 14 For when Gentiles, who do not have the law (the written law, the Bible) by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law (again, the Bible).  15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them. 

So there’s no excuse for doing wrong. We all know better by conscience and common sense. 

This is why we can see a certain amount of similarity in morals between different religions, and between believers and unbelievers. We all have the law written in our hearts, in our conscience. It’s what we call natural law. 

So if the law can be discerned naturally, why did God bother to have His commandments written down? 

Because it put them in stone for us. Literally, as on Sinai God engraved His commandments on stone tablets for the people, which we now have in the Bible. 

And figuratively written in stone, God’s laws were written down to make them more clear and resolute; set in stone, absolute, non-negotiable truth. 

There’s nothing relative or arbitrary about God’s commandments. No picking and choosing which we want to follow, and which we decide to overlook or ignore. 

Regardless of what popular culture teaches and promotes, God’s laws are universal and eternal, to be obeyed at all times, in all places. There is no law-free, or moral-free zone in life. 

God has given us His law, written it down and made it clear for us. In black and white He tells us, this is the way we are to love and honor God, and this is the way we are love and treat our neighbor. This is love and this is sin; this is right, this is wrong.

Since they are commandments and not suggestions, God requires strict obedience. He tells us in Leviticus 19:2, You shall be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy.

He doesn’t say, be pretty good, or better than average, or better than most. He says, holy. God is clear in what He expects of us; no sin, only love toward Him and our neighbor.

Romans 6:23 tells us the consequences tells us the consequences of failing to be holy, For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God is clear: failure to keep His law perfectly results in temporal and eternal death. Romans 3:23-24 tells us, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

That we all have sinned, and must die, is something we can also know by natural law and common sense.

But the free gift of eternal life, the grace and redemption in Christ, the Gospel, is something we can’t figure out on our own, we can only know it by God’s revelation. 

In His wisdom God saved the world in the only way He could, the way that only He could know, and only as He could do. Starting with Adam and Eve, and throughout the Old Testament, God revealed His plan to save the world through His Son.  

Then the time came; His Son came into the world, and fulfilled God’s plan by His holy life, innocent death, and mighty resurrection. 

                                                                                                                                            Now in His Word, God tells us that in His Son, there is salvation from sin and death for the world, for all who repent and believe. 

16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus became the Word made flesh for us, John 1:14 says. He came to show us salvation in His words, but more than that, in His actions. He came to be our salvation by dying and rising for us. 

What could more clearly show us the truth of our sin, than Jesus suffering and dying for us; and the truth of our salvation, than Jesus rising and ascending for us? 

By dying and rising for us Jesus not only won our salvation, He made it crystal clear that He is the one and only Savior for the world, the way and the truth and the life, John 14:6 says. 

To keep it clear for all the generations of people on earth, and that we may better share it with the world, God has written down the good news of salvation in His Word.

And yet, even as clear as God has made it, without His power, we still wouldn’t believe it. So through Baptism and His Word, God has given us His Spirit, with the power to believe and become the redeemed children of God.  

In this world of conflicting beliefs and diverse information, this culture of confusion, you can be sure of and completely trust in God’s Law and Gospel. 

His Gospel to save you, forgive you, comfort you, strengthen you, and enlighten you. And His law to show your sin and need for a Savior, and to guide you in living a life of goodness and love toward God and your neighbor.

The lies of the devil and the deception of the world are meant to confuse and mislead. But thanks be to God, He has given us His clear and certain Word to believe, and trust, and treasure, and learn, and follow, and share, and always hold on to.

And as you cherish and hold on to God’s clear and certain Word, His peace, which passes understanding, will guard your heart and mind, in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.