Preface’s Teaching
Q. What does the preface to the ten commandments teach us?
A. The preface to the ten commandments teaches us, that because God is the Lord, and our God, and Redeemer, therefore we are bound to keep all his commandments (Luke 1:74-75; 1 Peter 1:15-18).
What shall I render to my God for all his kindness shown? My feet shall visit thine abode, my songs address thy throne.
How much is mercy thy delight, thou ever-blessed God! How dear thy servants in thy sight! How precious is their blood!
How happy all thy servants are! How great thy grace to me! My life, which thou hast made thy care, Lord, I devote to thee.
Now I am thine, forever thine, nor shall my purpose move; thy hand hath loosed my bonds of pain, and bound me with thy love.
Here in thy courts I leave my vow, and thy rich grace record; witness, ye saints who hear me now, if I forsake the Lord.
#637, Trinity Hymnal; from Psalm 116:12-19; Isaac Watts, 1719; DOWNS C.M.; Lowell Mason, 1832
The Misadventures of Captain Headknowledge 
Preface – Indicative
10comm- imperatives
Indicative and Imperative = Law and Gospel
sorry…just thinking out loud
Gage Browning
Thanks for thinking in my comments thread. But let me give you a little tweak:
“Imperative and Indicative = Law and Gospel”
There, I feel better.
Either one actually works cap’n…
Sometimes it can be preached as Indicative so we follow the imperative out of gratitude. (Guilt-Grace-Gratitude) which the shorthand of that is Indicative and Imperative. That is why the Heidelberg catechism has the law in the gratitude section. The Heidelberg Catechism is a Catechism of the Reformed Church and is actually pretty good reading. You should try to get a copy…(I am the king of tweaks)
Gage Browning
Post Tenebras Lux
Define “it.” Do you mean by “it” that sometimes the Law can be preached as indicative? Or are you just talking about preaching things that are true about us in Christ (naturally, indicative) which imply imperatives that ought to be obeyed out of gratitude for the indicative?
Do you mean to say it’s okay to call Law indicative and to call Gospel imperative sometimes? If so, I guess that clears up my confusion on “The Gospel According to Jesus” which call, as portrayed by MacArthur, is, “Follow me” (imperative). And then Steve Camp wrote a song (yea, an album) inspired by the book in which he sings, “To give all that you are for all that he is, this is the Gospel according to Jesus” (imperative). I’d been scratching my noggin about that one a bit, but I figured it’d work itself out in the long run. Am I following what you’re saying, O Master Tweaker?
Oh, by the way, in case you forget, I’ve heard of the Heidelberg catechism. I’ve got it in the back of my NIV Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible by Third Mill Ministries, which is Sproul’s Reformation Study Bible on steroids. They fill in the unannotated blanks in the bottom of every page, like a giant outline of the whole Bible, and they stuck the Belgic Confession, Heidelberg Catechism, Westminster Confession and Longer and Shorter Catechisms in the back and keyed their respective proof-texts in the footnotes to each document. It’s pretty awesome, except for the NIV part. Which is alright, if you’re into that sort of thing. . .