Participants:
Series Code: PU
Program Code: PU000006S
|
00:01 What do the mysterious images of Daniel and Revelation mean? When
00:07 will the anti-Christ appear and make his final move? How can I 00:12 be ready for the final events of earth's history? You'll be 00:17 amazed and encouraged by what the Bible reveals. Join us as 00:21 Pastor Brian McMahon leads out in Prophecy Unsealed. 00:29 Good evening everyone and welcome again to another segment 00:32 in our Prophecy Unsealed Seminar series. Each evening we're 00:37 building another piece of the wonderful puzzle that the Bible 00:40 gives us of end time events and the beautiful ministry of Jesus 00:43 on our behalf. And our subject tonight is entitled The Issue 00:47 That Divides the World. In the heart of every human being no 00:52 matter who you are, no matter what you are there are certain 00:57 questions that we get confronted with about human experience. 01:00 Questions such as this: The question of origin; Where do I 01:04 come from? That's a very basic one isn't it? The question of 01:07 meaning; what is the purpose of my life? Then there's the 01:10 question of morality; how do I live my life now that I'm here? 01:14 What is right and what is wrong? And then there's the question of 01:17 Destiny; where am I going and where is my life leading me? 01:22 Over the course of our life we're going to have to answer 01:25 all of these questions at some point and as Bible students we 01:28 desire answers to these questions. But God is interested 01:32 in these questions because of course God has our highest 01:36 happiness in mind doesn't he? Who else do you think might just 01:39 be interested in how we relate to these questions? The devil is 01:43 also interested because the devil is not primarily 01:48 interested in our house or in our car or in our bank account. 01:52 But primarily the devil is interested in what? Our minds, 01:56 right? Because if the devil can get access to our minds what 02:01 else can he get access to? He can get access to everything. 02:03 And so it's very important that we're not confused on these 02:07 great questions of life. The devil will use delusions or 02:11 falsehoods in order to mislead the mind. Now according to 02:15 Daniel chapter 7, and we're not going to take a long time on 02:17 Daniel 7 tonight, but we will on a future night, on the night we 02:22 talk about the anti-Christ power that will be very prominent in 02:25 end time events. But one particular verse I want to bring 02:27 to your attention tonight. It's verse 25 of Daniel 7 and it says 02:32 here: And he shall speak great words against the most high, 02:35 speaking of God, and shall wear out, or persecute, the saints of 02:38 the most high, speaking of God's people, and think, or intend, to 02:42 change times and what else now? And laws. Now tonight we're not 02:47 going to deal with the question of origin or the question of 02:49 meaning or the question of destiny, but we're going to deal 02:52 with the question of morality. And God's law has to do with 02:56 what? It has to do with morality So one of the main plans on the 03:02 anti-Christ agenda is to interfere with the law of God. 03:06 You see when we study the Bible both the Old Testament and the 03:10 New Testament the devil is very much against God's law. But also 03:17 the anti-Christ is attacking God's law. Now the anti-Christ 03:20 is the conduit or the agent that the devil uses in order to draw 03:26 worship for himself. The devil is not going to walk around this 03:29 city or any other city as himself and say I am Satan. Come 03:32 follow me. I mean he's not going to get anyone here to follow him 03:35 and he's probably not going to get a lot of people when you 03:39 take all the world into perspective to follow him but 03:40 he's much more clever than that. He will uses a certain conduit 03:45 or agent to work through and that is primarily in the end time 03:50 the anti-Christ power that Revelation speaks about. He is 03:53 no fool in this regard. The devil folks has very bad history 03:56 when it comes to God's law. And we're going to see that before 04:00 we're through. And why does he attack God's law? Because the 04:04 law is the foundation of God's government and Satan wants to 04:07 overthrow the government of God. So to do that he has to 04:11 overthrow the law of God. And has he been successful in doing 04:14 that? Let's look at a few statistics here as we begin 04:17 tonight. The FBI crime statistics for 2016, the last 04:22 year that I was able to get statistics for, they said: In 04:26 the United States on average there were reported over 95,000 04:30 plus rapes. Those are just the reported ones. And there were 04:33 332 plus thousand robberies, 803 plus thousand aggravated 04:39 assaults, over 17,000 murders, over 1.5 million burglaries, 04:44 7.9 million property crimes and over 1.2 million violent crimes 04:50 just in this country. You know they say a man's home used to be 04:54 his castle. Well now it's become like a fortress. I mean people 04:57 in these cities they've got guard dogs, they've got burglar 04:59 alarm systems, they've got iron bars on their doors and on their 05:02 windows and many other types of protection. It's become very 05:07 obvious that the law of God has been neglected in this country. 05:11 Look at the magazines that we have today. I mean they reflect 05:14 the society don't they? Infidelity. We've got of course 05:18 drugs running rampant and multi billion dollar illegal drug 05:22 trade. Violence of all difference kinds. Of course you 05:25 know what's coming on in that regard. We've got of course 05:28 school shootings going absolutely crazy today. 05:30 Things we didn't used to deal within this country. Of course 05:34 we've got other kinds of immorality going on too don't we 05:36 Here's one from the USA Today newspaper. It says, City 05:40 Dwellers fight fear of violence. And in the highlighted region it 05:44 says: Some New Yorkers enduring endless reports of 05:47 unprovoked attacks are sending their kids to school in bullet 05:51 proof vests. All right. Now can you imagine we've reached the 05:53 point in this country where you have to send your child off to 05:56 school in a bullet proof vest to make sure they come home at 05:59 night. I mean that's a sad, sad time isn't it? TIME Magazine 06:03 again, full-page article, front cover it says The Generation 06:07 that Forgot God. Wow. It didn't used to be that way in this 06:11 country did it? Here's one from Newsweek Magazine: Shame. It 06:16 says: How do we bring back a sense of right and wrong. It 06:19 seems clear in this country and in other places in the world, 06:22 we've lost the moral compass that we once had. America which 06:26 was once touted as the greatest Christian nation has now become 06:29 a very wicked nation and why would that be? Take a look at 06:35 the difference between what it used to be and some you might 06:37 just remember back in those days The school problems of 1940 what 06:40 were they. Well Talking out of turn. Chewing Gum. Making noise. 06:43 Running in the hall. Cutting line. Dress code infractions and 06:46 littering. Some very serious stuff, right? What are they 06:50 fighting in schools today? Drug use, alcohol abuse, pregnancy, 06:54 suicide, rape, robbery, assault, and school shootings. Have times 06:56 changed friends? Wow! Have they ever changed. The Advocate 07:01 Newspaper it says, there's an article there you can see it 07:04 on the left hand side. It says They give Gallup Poll, it says: 07:07 More Americans profess belief in God: A new Gallup Poll has found 07:12 that 89 percent of Americans say that they believe in God, and 07:16 this is after the belief in God having declined over the last 07:19 few decades. When Gallup asks, Do you believe in God 89 percent 07:23 of U.S. adults said yes and 10 percent said no. One percent 07:28 said they had no opinion. Gallup said: The United States is 07:32 facing a moral and ethical crisis of the first dimension 07:35 and needs spiritual answers to deal with the situation. He said 07:39 it was shocking to discover that people's attendance, he means 07:42 church attendance, makes little difference in people's ethical 07:45 views and behavior. Now you would think that if they're 07:47 attending church that they'd at least have a difference in their 07:50 views and behavior. You think they would act differently 07:52 wouldn't you. He says no He says they're going to church but it's 07:55 really not affecting their life any different than many other 07:57 people. Why would that be? Well maybe an answer could be found 08:02 in this text right here. It says in 2 Timothy chapter 4 and in 08:08 verse 2: Preach the, what does it say? Word, right. It goes on: 08:13 be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort 08:16 with all longsuffering and doctrine. God says that's what a 08:19 faithful minister is supposed to do. But we live in a very 08:22 compromised type of age don't we. Where it seems that the word 08:25 is not getting preached. People tell stories and they might give 08:28 one text and go off into some kind of long, long sermon but it 08:32 doesn't really reflect much. The standard of God has fallen today 08:37 to such a degree that it's shameful. And people are taking 08:39 the way they want to live into church rather than letting the 08:43 Bible determine how we should live right? They're 08:45 predetermining how they want to live and carrying it on into and 08:48 folks listen. The Bible is holy Amen? And we can't draw it down 08:55 to fit our life, the life that we want. We have to leave it 08:57 where it is. And so again rather than change the Bible to fit our 09:00 life, we need to change our life to fit the Bible. Not everyone 09:03 that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom 09:05 of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is 09:09 in heaven. Then he says, Many will say to me in that day, and 09:12 that's speaking of the majority, Lord Lord have we not prophesied 09:15 in thy name? and in thy name have case out devils? and in thy 09:19 name done many wonderful works? Then I will profess unto them I 09:21 never knew you: depart from me ye that work iniquity. We look 09:26 at these people. We wouldn't think of them as bad people. We 09:28 would think of them as religious people. I mean they're 09:34 prophesying in Jesus name right? They're casting out devils in 09:36 Jesus' name. They're doing wonderful works in Jesus' name. 09:38 We would think of them as probably good people and yet it 09:41 says they will not be saved. Why were they not saved. Well Jesus 09:45 said I never knew you. That means they would not be saved 09:48 because eternal life is to know Jesus, John 17:3. We need to ask 09:52 yourself the question, what is the will of the Father in heaven 09:54 because Jesus said that is absolutely key. Well let's let 09:58 the Bible give us an answer here We're going to go to Psalm 40 10:02 and verse 8: I delight to do thy will O my God: yea, thy what? 10:08 law is within my heart. David knew having God's law in his 10:13 heart was doing God's will. So this is what God is looking 10:17 for friends, having the 10 commandment law enshrined in our 10:21 hearts. Now that was an Old Testament text. Beautiful as it 10:24 is we learned opening night that we can have perfect freedom to 10:26 go Old Testament, New Testament. It doesn't matter. They both 10:29 agree, they complement each other. So let's go into the New 10:31 Testament now to the book of Romans. Romans chapter 2 and 10:36 we'll take a look here at verse For not the hearers of the 10:39 law are just before God, but the what friends? Doers of the law 10:44 shall be justified. Now let me ask you a question. Is there a 10:47 difference then between a hearer and a doer? Absolutely. He says 10:51 one will be saved and one will not be saved. So when you talk 10:55 about the gospel one of the key passages that people will quote 10:59 today is Ephesians chapter 2 and starting here in verse 8. And it 11:03 says: For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of 11:06 yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works lest any man 11:10 should boast. Now of course salvation is by grace alone 11:13 there is no question about it there is no dispute about it. 11:17 Paul is very clear about that. But people read verse 8 and they 11:21 quote verse 9 but they almost never quote verse 10. And if 11:25 they would read and quote verse 10 it helps give us a balance to 11:28 verses 8 and 9. Verse 10 says: For we are his workmanship, 11:32 created in Christ Jesus unto what friends? Good works, which 11:38 God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. So the 11:40 Bible says we're saved by grace God's free marvelous grace but 11:46 we are ordained by that grace unto good works. Well what are 11:50 some of these good works that we are ordained to? We read in 11:53 there in Ephesians 2...Let's just go a little bit ahead to 11:56 Ephesians chapter 4. And here the same author says let him 12:02 that stole steal no more, that's verse 28. Now is there a 12:06 commandment that says thou shalt not steal? Absolutely. Did Paul 12:10 the apostle believe in that one? He sure did. So okay that's from 12:15 chapter 4. Let's go to chapter 6 for a moment here. Ephesians 6 12:18 it says in verse 1: Children, obey your parents in the Lord, 12:23 for this is right. Honor thy father and mother, which is 12:26 first commandment with promise. Now I'm glad that Paul said it 12:29 is the first commandment with promise. He doesn't say it used 12:32 to be the first commandment with promise, right? Is there a 12:37 commandment that says honor thy father and thy mother? 12:38 Absolutely. Did Paul the apostle believe in that one? He sure did 12:41 He's quoting from the law of God Absolutely friends. Why is law 12:47 so important? Because without law you have anarchy. You have 12:51 chaos. Every single city has to have laws in order to operate. 12:55 When we leave here at night we go to our respective homes and 12:59 wherever we are we go to those homes and we are driving in a 13:02 car or whatever vehicle and if there's a traffic light and it 13:05 turns red that means it's the law in that city that we do what 13:09 That we stop. Sure. All government has to have 13:15 law in order to properly function. And of course God's 13:18 government has laws as well. Did you know that God's law is so 13:24 important that it's the only part of the Bible that God did 13:28 not entrust man to write down on his own. God had to give it 13:32 to us himself. Let us see that. Let me show you that going back 13:37 to Exodus 31 and in verse 18, Exodus 31 verse 18. Here's what 13:43 the Bible says, friends. And he gave, he meaning God here, unto 13:47 Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon Mount 13:50 Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with 13:55 the finger of what now? God. How incredibly important that God 14:01 wrote it down with his own finger and he wrote it on stone. 14:04 He didn't write it on the sand of the desert did he? It might 14:07 wash away with the rain. He didn't write it down on 14:09 parchment paper. No, because it could fade down through time. 14:12 It could burn up perhaps. He wrote it on stone. It's an 14:16 undeniable code of conduct that it was to last for eternity. 14:19 And of course, that's where we get our expression today when we 14:21 say something's not meant to last we say well it's not 14:24 written in what? Stone. Where do we get that expression. We 14:27 got from the Bible of course. Now, on the other hand, the devil 14:32 hates God's law and since he first broke it it has been the 14:35 devil's studied intent to get other people to follow him in 14:39 his rebellion. He gets people to neglect it or reject it or 14:42 somehow argue it away and he has been very, very successful in 14:47 friends. If you go back about four decades or so God's law 14:52 had a very high position in schools, in government, in 14:57 churches, in people's homes. They respected it. They knew 14:59 it and most often they even memorized it. But today it's not 15:03 that way is it. Ah why is that? Those great principles of 15:08 morality that we used to have were taught from parent to child 15:11 from teacher to student and all of a sudden it's missing. Well 15:15 what else has changed in that time? Churches who used to teach 15:19 it and preach it with authority now all of a sudden they're 15:23 saying well God's law it's no longer valid, or they're saying 15:28 it was nailed to the cross when Jesus died. Well we've got grace 15:31 today so we don't need that obedience. Or they're saying 15:34 well that's burdensome or that's bondage. You don't want to go 15:37 back into that do you? And folks our society has changed 15:41 when the preaching changed. And where people used to obey 15:46 authority both in the home and out of the home where they you 15:48 know vulgar language was a whole lot less. Adultery was a whole 15:52 lot less. We could go on to many other areas. Now of course 15:55 society has changed and there's only hardly any respect for any 15:58 kind of authority. So Christian churches have fallen into a trap 16:05 and that trap is to listen to popular speakers in popular 16:10 churches preaching popular things and they've started to 16:16 believe those things rather than check it from the Bible. And 16:18 folks when you become a Christian, you don't become a 16:20 Christian to win a popularity contest. Isn't that right? I 16:24 didn't become a Christian to win a popularity contest. I know 16:26 that you didn't either. I would rather preach the truth for one 16:31 person than to compromise in any way to get a crowd of 10,000 16:34 folks. I won't do it. There was a book written in the 1990s 16:38 called The Day America Told the Truth and these two authors they 16:43 went across the United States and they asked the American 16:45 public about many different kinds of things and they tried 16:47 to get them to open up and really bare their soul as to 16:51 their true thinking and one of the things they asked them about 16:54 was the 10 commandments and when they asked them about the 10 16:57 commandments here is what they found. They said: Americans are 17:00 making up their own rules, their own laws. In effect we're making 17:04 up our own moral codes. Only 13 percent of us believe in all of 17:08 the 10 Commandments. Forty percent of us believe in five of 17:10 the 10 Commandments. We choose which laws of God we believe in. 17:15 Wow, that's sad, isn't it? There is absolutely no moral consensus 17:18 in this country as there was in the 1950s, when all our 17:22 institutions commanded more respect. Today there is very 17:26 little respect for the law, for any kind of law. Isn't that true 17:31 Wow. There is absolutely no moral consensus at all in the 17:36 1990s, which was when this book came out, it's even less now. 17:39 Everyone is making up their own personal moral codes, their own 17:43 Ten Commandments. I mean people are choosing the commandments 17:48 they want to believe in or the portions of them they want to 17:51 believe in like they would choose food on a smorgasbord 17:54 line. In other words, they look at the 10 commandments. They say 17:56 okay I'll take that one but not this. Okay I'll have a little 17:59 bit of that, not too much, right Not so much to make me 18:02 uncomfortable. Okay I'll have that one but only for a little 18:05 while. See in other words they're making up their 18:08 basically their own religion, a religion of their own devising. 18:10 Now there are those that will ask this. They'll say but hang 18:13 on now. Weren't the 10 commandments only for Israel. 18:17 Were they only for the Jews. Well long before there was a 18:20 Jewish nation, long before the law was revealed to the Jews on 18:25 Mt. Sinai. It has existed from the foundation of the world. 18:28 Here we find Abraham. Abraham lived hundreds of years before 18:33 the time of Mt. Sinai and it says here in Genesis 26 verse 5: 18:38 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my 18:43 commandments, my statutes, and my what? Laws, sure. Abraham knew 18:49 about the 10 commandments. He kept God's law and before 18:52 Abraham, there was of course the devil himself up in heaven. We 18:55 know the devil broke God's law there because it says he coveted 18:59 the throne of God, he broke the 10th commandment. He wanted to 19:02 be like God so he broke the first commandment. God said Thou 19:04 shalt have no other God's before me. He deceived a third of the 19:07 angels so he broke the one about deception, right? Thou shalt not 19:11 bear any false witness, so he broke that one. I'm sure he 19:14 broke them all. But the fact of the matter is this friends. 19:19 Satan lost heaven because of his rebellion and disobedience. 19:23 He spread that down to this world and he caused not only a 19:28 third of the angels to rebel with him but he caused Adam and 19:30 Eve to rebel with him. Those angels that were cast out they 19:34 spread that rebellion right down here. And Adam and Eve because 19:38 they joined with that and they disobeyed God they lost their 19:42 beautiful Eden home. Now I want you to think about something 19:46 with me. If the highest-ranking angel was cast out of heaven and 19:50 lost his home because of disobedience, if Adam and Eve 19:54 had to leave their garden home because of disobedience what 19:57 makes human beings think that we're going to go marching on 19:59 back into paradise if we continue in that disobedience? 20:02 Right? And that'd make no sense whatsoever. Let's go to Psalm 20:08 119 together here. I want to ask you a real sincere question. Do 20:11 you love the truth tonight? Give me an Amen if you love the truth 20:13 I love to hear audiences that say that. Well let's go see what 20:17 the Bible says about truth. Psalm 119 verse 142 says: Thy 20:21 righteousness is an everlasting righteousness and thy law is the 20:26 what friends? The truth. So if you love the truth then you got 20:30 to love God's law because the Bible equates them. Now we're 20:34 right next to another one here, Psalm 119 verse 151 and it says: 20:38 Thou art near, O Lord; and all thy commandments are truth. 20:43 So again the commandments are truth, the law is truth. We'll 20:47 go to Romans 7. We're going to get lots of verses tonight as we 20:50 always want to do. It says in Romans 7 verse 12: Wherefore the 20:54 law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. Now 20:59 there are not that many things that the Bible calls holy. God 21:02 is holy, his word is holy, but here it says the law is holy. 21:05 And should we be very careful with holy things? Ah we sure 21:09 should. Now above this let's quote Jesus tonight because 21:12 again on our subject of the second coming, on our subject of 21:16 death, on our subject of the millennium, every time we can we 21:19 want...the one on hellfire. Any time we can we want to quote 21:24 Jesus. We know he's the way, the truth and the light. So let's do 21:27 that. We'll go to Matthew chapter 5. When Jesus brought 21:33 his marvelous grace to the attention of humankind did 21:36 that somehow do away with following the 10 commandments? 21:38 Well let's go take a look here in Matthew 5 verse 17. Jesus is 21:43 speaking and he says: Think not...let's pause right there. 21:46 Think what? Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the 21:51 prophets. I am not come to destroy but to fulfill. We'll 21:55 look more about what the word fulfill means tomorrow night. 21:57 And it says: For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth 22:00 pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the 22:04 law, till all be fulfilled. Next verse: Whosoever therefore shall 22:10 break one of these least commandments, and shall teach 22:11 men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: 22:14 but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called 22:18 great in the kingdom of heaven. 22:20 Now when it says that that person will be called least in 22:22 the kingdom of heaven that doesn't mean they're going to be 22:24 in heaven except they'll have a low position. It means those 22:27 that are in heaven will look back and they'll call that 22:30 person the least of all. Those people who break it they won't 22:34 be there. Now this is clearly talking about the 10 22:37 commandments because that's verse 19 and verse 21 it talks 22:40 about thou shall not kill and verse 27 talks about thou shall 22:42 not commit adultery so it's clearly talking about the 10 22:46 commandments. In the New Testament Jesus upheld the 22:49 claims of the law of God. When someone tries to tell you friend 22:53 that the Law of God is done away with that it's no longer 22:56 binding. But you just remember that passage right there. I 22:59 don't care if it's a minister or anybody else. If they try to 23:03 tell you that the 10 commandment aren't binding then just say 23:05 this to them. Say: would you talk your foot and stomp it on 23:08 the ground? Now they might ask you why? You say would you just 23:10 stomp it on the ground? And they say okay. Now go over to the 23:16 window over there and look out and has the sun still come up? 23:17 Yes. At night do the moon and the stars still come out? Yes. 23:21 Then go back and read Matthew chapter 5 where Jesus said: Till 23:26 heaven and earth pass away not the smallest part of the law 23:31 will pass away and you just demonstrated and 23:33 you just declared 23:34 that heaven and earth are is still here. Amen. All 23:37 right. They might not 23:38 like it but that's the truth friends. Absolutely that's the 23:40 truth. Now to be bluntly honest I wouldn't have 23:45 confidence in a person that tried to tell me that the 10 23:47 commandments are done away with. Because in reality, they're 23:49 saying it's okay to kill, it's okay to commit adultery, it's 23:52 okay to steal. We could go all through them. The Bible clearly 23:55 records that God has an absolute standard, something that is 24:00 secure. Something that you could put your feet on and it's not 24:02 going to move. No man has the authority to tamper with what 24:06 God has written with his finger in stone. Would you agree? 24:10 Absolutely. Let's go to Psalm 111. Let's just settle it. Verse 24:12 7, Psalm 111 verse 7: The works of his hands are verity and 24:18 judgment; some of his commandments are sure. Is that 24:22 what it says. All right. Let's take a look at it again. The 24:24 works of his hands are variety and judgment: Most of his 24:28 commandments are sure. Did we now get it right? Nope. Well 24:32 maybe the speaker needs to clean his glasses. I don't know. All 24:35 right, let's try it one more time. Let's follow it here. The 24:37 works of his hands are a variety and judgment...All together: 24:40 ALL his commandments are sure. It goes on. They stand for how 24:45 long? Forever and ever and are done in truth and uprightness. 24:48 Now people will say to me. They'll says well pastor I 24:52 thought the 10 commandments was just given to the Jews. Right? 24:55 Because you know God gave it to them on Mt. Sinai. Well let me 24:58 ask you the question. Who else was God going to give it to at 25:00 the time. Was God going to give the 10 commandments to the 25:03 Amalekites. Was he going to give it to the Hittites. Was God going 25:06 to give it to the Philistines or some other pagan worshipping 25:08 group of people. God was only going to give a revelation of 25:12 himself which is what the 10 commandments are, we'll say more 25:14 about that. But God was only going to give that revelation of 25:17 himself to a people that were of a heart and mind to appreciate 25:20 it. This is why God raised up that group of people starting 25:24 with Abraham. So yes. It says they stand fast forever and ever 25:29 and are done in truth and uprightness. So the Jews are 25:33 there but think about it. Jesus spoke most of what he said when 25:37 he was on earth to the Jews. The Bible said the new covenant 25:40 was made with the house of Israel. Right? Jesus said to the 25:43 woman at the well salvation is of the Jews and James says in 25:48 his book that was written to the 12 tribes that were scattered 25:50 abroad. We could go on and on. The point is that any Christian 25:52 think that they're outside of the plan of salvation because 25:55 Jesus said salvation is of the Jews. Well no of course not. But 26:00 we're not going to understand this more fully till another 26:02 night, but I will say this. To those who are Bible students 26:05 of the New Testament it is absolutely clear that the 26:09 Christian is what we call the spiritual Jew or the spiritual 26:13 Israelite. Israel takes on a symbolic term in the New 26:16 Testament. Now we haven't gone through that yet so I 26:19 haven't given you all those verses but we will on a night 26:22 shortly. So the Christian receives the responsibility and 26:27 the privileges that were once given to the nation of Israel. 26:29 The 10 commandment law folks was not something that was just 26:35 given to a nomadic tribe in the Old Testament, someone that was 26:38 wandering around there and that was the only people that had to 26:41 obey it. The 10 commandments are the cohesive glue that binds 26:47 society together. Ah it's the foundation of all moral behavior 26:50 There has to be some definition of right and wrong. 26:54 You've heard of Focus on the Family? It's founder Dr. James 26:58 Dobson. He said this: Without a moral consensus people become 27:03 ungovernable. There are certain principles that have existed 27:06 from antiquity that were accepted in the culture until 27:09 the last 20 or 30 years. Now he said this in 1999 so today it'd 27:13 be about the last 50 years. We've moved away from those 27:16 moral principles, he said. There has to be a common understanding 27:20 of right and wrong... Okay I'm going to ask you a question. I 27:25 know it's a simple one but I'm going to ask it to you anyway 27:27 as our audience. Do we have sin in our world tonight? If so 27:32 raise your hand and say yes there is sin in our world 27:34 tonight. Okay, that's everybody. Now we all acknowledge it but 27:39 then if I ask how do you define that? We know there is sin but 27:43 what is sin? You know that the Bible actually gives a very 27:46 clear and precise definition of what sin is? Let's go take a 27:51 look at it. It's found in 1 John 3 and in verse 4. 1 John 3:4. 27:56 I love how the Bible unlocks itself, it defines itself. Here 28:00 in 1 John 3:4, it says: Whosoever commits sin transgresses also 28:04 the law: for sin is, here's our definition friends: sin is the 28:10 transgression of the what? Law. So transgression is kind of a 28:15 big word so Webster's dictionary breaks it down for us. It says 28:18 transgression is the breaking or violation of any law, civil 28:20 or moral... Now here we are talking about God's law so sin 28:24 is the breaking of God's law. So based on that verse it's 28:29 impossible biblically speaking that God's law could be done 28:33 away with. Why is that? Because sin the breaking of the law. 28:36 If you had no law they'd have no sin. The fact that we have sin 28:41 in our world proves beyond any shadow of a doubt that we have 28:44 to have God's law in full force and effect. And that's only 28:47 sensible. If there were no speed limits, could you get a ticket 28:52 for speeding? No right? The only way you can get a ticket for 28:56 speeding or a speeding ticket is you've broken some kind of law. 28:58 In the same way if a person sins there has to be a law that has 29:03 been broken. In this case, one of God's laws. And so God's law 29:07 could not be done away with. Now if someone wants to say well how 29:09 do we know that 1 John 3:4 is referring to the 10 commandments 29:12 The Bible helps us out there too Let's go to Romans 7:7. Paul 29:17 says here: I had not known sin but by the law: for I had not 29:22 known lust except the law had said, Thou shalt not what? Covet 29:27 So the law that says thou shalt not covet is the law that points 29:31 out sin to the apostle Paul. Of course, that's the 10 29:35 commandments. Now let's go to Romans chapter 4 verse 15. We're 29:37 getting lots of texts here tonight aren't we? Romans 29:39 chapter 4 and verse 15 says: Because the law works wrath: for 29:45 where no law is, there is no transgression. Now think very 29:50 carefully. Jesus would not have had to come down and die if the 29:54 law had been done away with because if the law could be done 29:56 away with he could have just have done away with when Adam 29:59 sinned. Because when Adam sinned friend God was basically left 30:02 with three choices. Choice number 1: He could have killed 30:05 Adam immediately because the Bible says the wages of sin is 30:08 death. He could have said Adam you sinned so you have to die 30:12 right now. But God said no, I love Adam too much. Choice 30:17 number 2: Well you could do away with the law that Adam broke and 30:20 therefore he didn't do anything wrong, right? But he couldn't do 30:23 away with the law because those that understand it and we will 30:25 get to that point in our study, the law is an expression of the 30:28 character of God. So God couldn't do away with the law 30:30 any more than he could do away with his own nature. So God says 30:34 I can't do away with the law and I don't want to kill Adam at 30:38 least not eternally so choice number 3: God says I the one who 30:46 wrote the law, the one who made Adam and Eve; he said I will 30:52 come down to this world. I will condescend to take man's form 30:57 I will live a perfect life that I now can give to those who have 31:01 fallen and he said I will die for Adam's sin and for Eve's sin 31:07 and for your sin and for my sin and can't you love a God like 31:12 that? That's why they call it amazing grace because God chose 31:16 that third option. What an amazing, amazing God we serve. 31:19 So okay so what is the role of the 10 commandments? We know 31:25 we are not saved by the law so what role does it have? Romans 31:29 chapter 3, verse 20, it says: Therefore by the deeds of the 31:32 law, which means the doing of the law, there shall no flesh be 31:36 justified in his sight: for by the law is the what now? 31:40 Knowledge of sin. So two important points are brought out 31:43 here for us friend. Number 1: It says no one is justified by the 31:46 keeping of the law because if we could be justified by keeping 31:48 the law we wouldn't need a Savior and we know of course 31:50 that is not true. And then secondly we realize that the law 31:57 cannot save us. It's not supposed to save us. That's not 32:01 its purpose. It says the law gives us a knowledge of sin. It 32:05 gives us a knowledge of what we should and should not do. Again, 32:08 it's like the traffic light out there that I talked about. I 32:11 could to driving up to that traffic light at 50, 60 miles an 32:14 hour and it turns red. It's giving me a knowledge, right, of 32:17 what I ought to do. I ought to stop. But can the traffic light 32:21 actually physically stop the vehicle? No it wasn't designed 32:25 for that. It was designed to give me a knowledge. It's a 32:28 knowledge that could save my life, right? If I would heed it. 32:32 But nevertheless the law of God works in a similar way. It gives 32:37 us a knowledge of what we should and we should not do. And so I 32:42 love the Bible in many ways and for many reasons but it's very 32:47 practical. In James chapter 1 and verse 22 tells us this, 32:52 James says: But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, 32:54 deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, 32:58 and not a doer...that's very similar to what we just read in 33:01 Romans 2 and verse 13 isn't it? If any be a hearer and not a 33:04 doer he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in 33:07 excuse me, let me say that again For if any be a hearer of law 33:11 and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face 33:14 in a glass:...Now the word glass there in the King James it means 33:18 mirror right? He's looking into a mirror and he's beholding his 33:22 face. It says for he beholds himself and goes his way and 33:26 straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But 33:28 whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty which means 33:32 freedom, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, 33:35 but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. So 33:39 it says that God's law is like a mirror, right? It's like a 33:45 mirror. Now when you think about it if I came here tonight like 33:51 this and I would stand up here speaking to you all and you know 33:55 we're just having a wonderful study together and you say 33:59 Pastor, you don't look quite the same tonight, right? And I go 34:03 what do you mean? Everything's fine right? I've got my glasses 34:07 here and my headphone. Everything's fine, right? 34:08 Is everything okay? No. What's the problem? What's the problem? 34:14 I would say well you're all good people and I'm sure you tell the 34:18 truth but you know there's something that I know will tell 34:21 me the truth and that something is a mirror, isn't that right? 34:23 Well it just so happens that tonight I brought one and I can 34:30 take this device that we call a mirror and I can look at that 34:32 and ooo-ee you're right. It doesn't look so good. Now what 34:36 if I reacted this way? What if I said you rotten dirty mirror 34:41 and put the blame on the mirror right? How dare you show me that 34:47 my tie is crooked? And if I took the mirror and I just zinged it 34:50 it against the wall and smashed it, does it solve the problem? No. 34:54 I mean you get rid of all the dirt by abolishing mirrors. No. 34:57 No of course not. The mirror has done me a favor right? The 35:00 mirror is diagnostic. It tells me that I have a problem. Now 35:03 if I want to correct the problem can the mirror correct the 35:06 problem? No, it can't do that unfortunately so I'm going to 35:10 have to probably take another method here. Okay now, feels 35:21 right. Did I get it right? Now you're honest people I know but 35:25 in order to make sure I still need what? I still need the 35:28 mirror. It's a good thing I didn't do away with it right? 35:31 So I take that mirror and look at it. Chuckles. Got a 35:37 perfectionist out there. That's okay, I am too. Wait a second. 35:45 The same mirror that showed me I have a problem, now that 35:52 mirror can tell me the problem has been corrected Amen. The 35:57 mirror is still necessary. It's a good thing we didn't do away 35:59 with it. Friends in the same way that the mirror is diagnostic 36:03 so is God's law just like that. We know that the law gives us a 36:08 knowledge of sin and it points of course, it reveals us our need 36:12 And the mirror can't take care of that need; it's not designed 36:15 for that. So what does it do: It points us to the fact that we 36:18 need a Savior. And our only hope is in Jesus isn't it? So we turn 36:23 to Jesus and we see him there dying for us on Calvary's cross 36:26 lifted up for the salvation of the world. And we come to him 36:30 and he freely forgives us. We realize he is there as the 36:35 Savior of the entire world for every man, every woman, every 36:38 young person and we confess our sins to him. 1 John 1 verse 9: 36:42 It says: If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to 36:45 forgive us of our sins, and cleanse of how much 36:48 unrighteousness friend? All unrighteousness. Oh yes. And not 36:52 only does he forgive us but he clothes us with his 36:57 righteousness, his perfection, what we don't have and never 37:00 could have he gives it to us as a free gift and more than that 37:05 friends. After he does that we're told in John 1:12: But as 37:08 many as received him, to them gave He power...which is the 37:12 Holy Spirit's power...to become the sons of God, even to them 37:15 that believe on his name. And because we have become God's 37:19 children adopted into his family because now we have his nature 37:22 now we have a spiritual mind that loves spiritual things. 37:27 Romans 8 verse 1 says: There is therefore now how much 37:30 condemnation? No condemnation to them which are in Christ 37:33 Jesus. Why no condemnation? It goes on who walk not after the 37:37 flesh, but after the Spirit. Notice friends the law hasn't 37:41 changed. It's still there as ever before. It's doing the work 37:44 it was supposed to do. It's convicting us of sin. It points 37:48 us to a Savior. The law is still there. It hasn't changed. But 37:53 who's changed. We've changed. Right. We have allowed the 37:57 Spirit of heaven into our heart. Now people will say this friends 38:03 They will say but wait a minute now. Didn't Jesus say that all 38:08 we need is to have love? And if we have love that we don't need 38:12 those 10 commandments. Okay. Let's go see what Jesus' words 38:16 really said. Matthew chapter 22 and in verse 36. It says: Master 38:21 which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, 38:25 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy 38:28 soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great 38:31 commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love 38:34 thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all 38:39 the law and the prophets. You know what people do with this 38:42 passage folks. They say these two commandments do away with 38:46 the law and the prophets. Is that what it says. Of course not 38:49 They're reading into it. They're assuming upon it what it doesn't 38:52 say. I mean the plain words of Jesus are so clear here. It says 38:57 that on these two principles loving the Lord God with all 39:01 your heart, soul, and mind, loving our neighbor as ourself 39:04 on these two great principles hang all the law. It means it is 39:11 all encompassed in those two great commandments. It doesn't 39:15 mean it's done away. It means it's simply summarized in there 39:17 so the entire law is summarized in one word, love. Loving God, 39:21 loving your fellow man and that's why Romans 13 and verse 39:24 10 says therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. When you 39:29 love God and love our fellowman as he asks us to you're going to 39:32 naturally, carry out the principles of the 10 39:34 commandments. What do you say folks. Amen? In other words, 39:37 another way of saying this would be Love always leads to 39:41 obedience. You know that a lot of people condemn the 10 39:44 commandments that really, I don't know if they've even read 39:46 them. I don't even know if they even know where they are in the 39:49 Bible. They put down what they don't understand. I like to say 39:55 they're down on what they're not up on, right? So that was that 40:00 way for me when it came to eating. I was brought up a 40:03 certain way. I just hated certain vegetables. I thought 40:05 they were unfit for food. And I went that way for quite a few 40:09 years and then I married my wife. She happened to be a 40:11 tremendous cook and when she got cooking you know she would often 40:14 serve me things and I'd say wow that's great you know what is 40:17 this? She'd say you used to hate that. But she had such a way of 40:20 preparing it that I used to love it. I was down on what I was not 40:23 up on, right? Let's go through the 10 commandments here and 40:27 let's ask ourself a question. Is there anything wrong with the 10 40:30 commandments? Right? Exodus chapter 20. The first one says 40:33 this: Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Is there 40:36 anything wrong with that? Haven't you learned that when 40:38 you put God first in your life everything else finds the proper 40:41 place. Okay. Then God will sort everything out when you put him 40:44 absolutely first. Number 2 says this: Thou shalt not make unto 40:47 thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in 40:50 heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the 40:52 water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to 40:54 them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, 40:59 visiting the iniquity of the fathers unto the children unto 41:02 unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 41:04 And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep 41:08 my commandments. Now friends this is the first of many times 41:13 the Bible speaks about these two things together. Love and 41:17 obedience. I've heard it said that you could summarize the 41:20 entire Bible in those two phrases. Love and Obedience. 41:23 In fact, did you know that obedience is the highest form 41:26 of worship. You can say all kinds of things. I worship this 41:29 and I love God and I'll...But folks God is looking for plain 41:33 simple obedience to his word, Amen? So nothing wrong with this 41:38 here. Aren't you thankful friend that we can go straight to God 41:42 with our prayer. Aren't you thankful that we don't have to 41:45 pray to the things that are made of wood and metal and plaster of 41:50 Paris you can buy through the mail and those kinds of things. 41:53 Aren't you thankful that our prayers reach right to the 41:55 throne of God when we pray by faith. Absolutely. The world 42:00 needs that faith. I've been to an island in this world over 42:03 there in Indonesia where it was just filled with idols. 42:08 Absolutely filled. I mean you cannot believe the thousands 42:11 upon thousands of idols there. I mean it is sad. It made you want 42:15 to weep. If they only understood this commandment. Number 3: 42:18 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain for the 42:21 Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 42:25 Now there is so much involved in this commandment here that you 42:27 could really pick a whole night and just preach on one 42:30 commandment. But just to summarize a little bit or to 42:34 make it short: Isn't it such a tragedy that in today's culture 42:38 it has become popular and acceptable to take God's name in 42:41 vain. People do it so often they almost don't even think about it 42:44 You know they use God and Jesus and these kind of names and they 42:48 just say it so flippantly. This might be a surprise to you. 42:53 But Christians often come very close to this to when they use 42:57 euphemisms. Euphemisms are substitute words. When we say 43:02 Gosh and golly and geez and G- whiz. Those are euphemisms for 43:08 the name of God and Jesus. We should be careful what comes out 43:09 of our mouth, amen? Right, right You know Jesus said let your yes 43:12 be yes and your no be no because anything more than that can come 43:14 from sin. So let's be careful how we use the name of God and 43:18 the name of Jesus. Nothing wrong with that. Now number 4: 43:21 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt 43:25 thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the 43:27 Sabbath of the Lord they God: in it, thou shalt not do any work 43:30 thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor 43:32 thy maidservant, nor thy cattle nor thy stranger that is within 43:35 thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the 43:37 sea and all that in them is and rested the seventh day: 43:40 wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it. 43:44 We live in a society folks where the devil has this society under 43:49 the hammer seven days a week, right? The popular phrase is 43:55 24/7 right? Everything's running 24/7. I'm working 24/7, that 43:58 kind of thing. Folks God is giving us a time of rest and 44:04 because people have neglected it they're getting heart attacks 44:05 and strokes and road rage and they're getting upset and ulcers 44:09 And any time you happen to accidentally step on their toes 44:13 they're getting angry and it's amazing. God is saying I'm 44:16 giving you a day every week to come aside and rest and recoup 44:21 and regroup and get spiritually charged. God wants us to have 44:25 that time with him, amen? Don't we need time with God. Isn't 44:28 that why we're looking forward to heaven, right? This isn't 44:32 about the golden streets up there, it's about being with God 44:33 And he's saying I can have that time with you every week if we 44:37 would only do it. Nothing wrong with that. We need more time 44:40 with God. Number 5: Honor thy father and thy mother that thy 44:44 days may be long upon the land which the Lord they God giveth 44:47 thee. Now again with children disobeying in the home and 44:52 therefore that disobeying authority goes out into the 44:54 street and into society and into government and all of these kinds 44:59 of things. My oh my what a different world we would have 45:02 if everyone simply obeyed that commandment right there. Honor 45:06 our father and mother. Honor authority that is over us. 45:09 Number 6: Thou shalt not kill. There were 17,000 murders in 45:15 this country alone each and every year. What a difference 45:18 in society, there would be if everyone kept that. There would 45:21 have a whole lot more of that Commandment don't we friends? 45:22 Absolutely. 45:24 Number 7: Thou shalt not commit adultery. Again a lot of disease 45:26 is spread because of this. A lot of homes are broken up because 45:29 of this. A lot of divorces happen because of this. Nothing 45:32 wrong with that commandment at all. Number 8: Thou shalt not 45:35 steal. Boy I wish people you know kept that one. You know you 45:39 walk around with a pocket full of keys, guys right? It weighs 45:42 you pocket down. 45:43 Uhh, who needs that? You know I came to my seminar one 45:46 night and my wife Heidi, she plays the piano, she plays the 45:50 keyboard. We had a keyboard up here on the platform. And I said 45:53 to her, I said Honey, I said where's our keyboard? She says 45:55 the keyboard's not there? I said no. Not there. Someone stole the 45:58 keyboard right off the church platform. One of the things 46:02 that I'm 46:03 looking forward to having in heaven is that there are no locks 46:05 and no keys. Because everybody's honest, right? What a difference 46:10 in society if we all kept that one. Number 9: Thou shalt not 46:12 bear false witness against thy neighbor. You know, be honest. 46:14 Don't bear false witness against thy neighbor means don't slander 46:19 don't gossip, be honest you know be a person of integrity. Right? 46:25 You need a lot more of that. Number 10: Thou shalt not covet 46:27 thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, 46:29 nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his 46:33 ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. In other words, be 46:36 content with what God has given us. We're working, working, 46:39 working trying to see who can die the richest fool in the 46:42 graveyard, right? You know it just seems like it's like that 46:45 and God is saying if you covet what belongs to someone else 46:48 you will get bitter, right? You'll get resentful and you'll 46:52 probably be in that graveyard earlier because of it. We don't 46:56 need that. The 10 commandments reveal the God's code of ethics 47:00 for this world. And people will say well aren't those 47:05 Commandments negative? Folks they're not negative. They are 47:10 positive statements of how God desires us to live and how we 47:13 can live if we allow God to live them through us. You see friends 47:19 the 10 commandments if everyone kept them what a utopia our 47:27 society would be. If everyone kept the 10 commandments would 47:30 you have to worry about taking self-defense classes? If 47:33 everyone kept the 10 commandments would you have to 47:36 worry about walking down the darkest street in this city late 47:38 at night? No. If everyone kept the 10 commandments it would be 47:41 a paradise here. And that's what heaven is going to be like. And 47:47 God knows that and what he's saying is I'm getting you ready 47:48 for heaven because in heaven these are the principles that we 47:51 adhere to and he wants us to be law-abiding citizens of the 47:55 kingdom, right? So he's saying do you want to be in the kingdom? 47:57 Yes. Well here is how the kingdom operates. Let me change 48:03 your heart now so when you get there you're not going to be 48:05 another rebellion like Lucifer was. Right? Another rebel. No. 48:09 Okay. Now someone will say this. And you hear this, it's amazing 48:15 what people will say. I don't know how they get this other 48:19 than they get it from the mouth of the devil himself. But they 48:23 will take what God says is beautiful and they will give it 48:26 a meaning 180 degrees opposite. They'll say oh but the 10 48:30 commandments are burdensome. That's bondage. You don't want 48:34 to go back into that do you? Right? Look how God opens up the 48:38 10 commandments to us here in Exodus chapter 20 he says I am 48:41 the Lord thy God that have brought thee out of the land of 48:45 Egypt out of the house of what? Bondage. So God is essentially 48:50 saying to us have I not shown you that your freedom is my 48:56 highest priority? And he's saying Now that I have shown you 48:59 that, I have demonstrated that to you, let me show you 10 ways 49:02 to stay free. And he gives them the 10 commandments. Is God 49:05 going to bring them out of bondage only to put them back 49:09 into bondage? Of course not. He's not going to deliver them 49:11 out of the slavery of Egypt only to give them a law that's going 49:13 to put them back into slavery. The 10 commandments which start 49:19 with those thou shalt nots become assurances and promises 49:23 to the converted person. To the person who is unconverted, right 49:26 to the person that has a carnal mind yeah they might seem 49:29 burdensome to them because they don't want them. But to the 49:32 person that's been converted and now you love the things or God 49:36 and you love the things of heaven, now those 10 49:38 commandments are precious promises of what God can fulfill 49:41 in our lives. Proverbs chapter 29 verse 18 says: He that keepeth 49:46 the law miserable is he. Is that what it says. No. Happy is he. 49:51 Happy is he. There's another one here. Psalm 119 verse 165: Great 49:58 peace have they which love thy law; and nothing shall offend 50:03 them. The law of the Lord is what friends? Perfect. Do you 50:06 have to change something that God says is perfect. We need to 50:09 alter, modify anything that God says is perfect. Absolutely not. 50:14 It is perfect. It says converting the soul: The 50:17 testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The law 50:21 of God enlightens the mind of man. Right? And the study of the 50:26 Holy Scriptures will make a man or a woman wiser than anything 50:29 else ever could. Anything else. The 10 commandments are the 50:34 epitome of the perfection of God and because it's the epitome of 50:39 the perfection of God finite man has no right to tamper with it. 50:42 Because if we were to try to abolish even one of God's 50:47 principles we have done the exact same thing that Lucifer 50:49 did in rebellion up in heaven. Let's go back to Psalm 19 and 50:53 finish it off here in verse 10. It says of the law: More to be 50:56 desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter 50:59 also than honey and the honeycomb. And it goes on and 51:03 says: Moreover by them is they servant warned: and in keeping 51:05 of them there is great reward. You know the great Dwight L. 51:11 Moody the evangelist of the 19th century, famous preacher, the 51:17 one who the Moody Bible Institute is based on, he said I 51:20 have never met an honest man that had any problem with the 51:24 10 commandments. Because Moody knew and we know that if a 51:29 person has a problem with the 10 commandments you can know one 51:32 thing for sure, It's convicting them of sin. They're breaking it 51:35 somewhere and because they're breaking it somewhere they've 51:37 rather condemn the law than refine their own life and we 51:41 don't want that. We want to do it for a purpose and for the 51:45 right motive. What motivates us to obey God's law? Let me ask 51:49 another very serious question here tonight. Do you love Jesus 51:52 Tonight? Amen. I do too. And I'm so glad you do too. Jesus spoke 51:57 about love for him very, very plainly in this next text found 52:02 in the book of John in chapter 14 and verse 15. Here it is, he 52:07 says: If you love me, keep my what? Commandments. Now notice 52:12 Jesus did not just say keep my commandments. No, he could have 52:16 said that but he didn't. He said if you love me, keep my 52:19 commandments. He put obedience in context of a relationship 52:24 with him. So the 10 commandments are 10 ways that we can show our 52:28 love for Jesus. He didn't say get up and shout. He didn't say 52:32 put a bumper sticker on your car right? You know Jesus didn't say 52:37 any of those things. He says if you love me keep my commandments 52:40 1 John 5 and verse 3 says it again: For this is the love of 52:44 God, that we keep his commandments: and his 52:47 Commandments are not grievous. So again God's put obedience in 52:51 the context of a love relationship with God. 52:54 It always leads to obedience. Now there are those that will 52:57 tell you that Oh but we have the Holy Spirit and we don't need 53:02 that law anymore because we've got the Holy Spirit. Now folks 53:06 once again don't get caught up in those kind of things. When 53:09 the devil doesn't have scripture he uses argument, carefully 53:15 crafted arguments that lead people to disobey because 53:17 they're listening to the word of man rather than the words of God 53:22 So let's go to Acts chapter 5 and verse 32. And it says: And 53:26 we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy 53:29 Ghost, whom God hath given to them that do what folks? Obey 53:32 him. I want the comfort of the Holy Spirit don't you. I want 53:38 all of the Holy Spirit that God can give me. I want the Holy 53:40 Spirit in my heart and you can see how this subject revolves 53:44 around love to God over and over and over again. Can we really be 53:50 true, sincere worshipers and not be obedient? Now let's go find 53:57 an answer to that. Let's go to 1 John 2 and verse 3. 1 John 2:3 54:04 And here the Bible says and hereby we do know that we know 54:06 him...speaking of Jesus...if we keep his commandments. He that 54:11 sayeth I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar, 54:15 and the truth is not in him. Notice friends it doesn't just 54:19 say they're lying. He says they are liars. He goes right to the 54:23 character of the individual here You know have you ever heard 54:27 that term politically correct? Or politically incorrect, right? 54:31 Big term for the current society Well it's becoming very 54:35 religiously incorrect to talk about obedience as a Christian. 54:39 The minute you say obedience immediately Satan has trained 54:43 his agents to say oh that's legalism. Now let me tell you 54:47 friends what legalism is. Legalism is when a person tries 54:52 to work their way to heaven through obedience. In other 54:56 words, when they think that through lawkeeping or through 54:59 the deeds of the flesh, they can earn a place in heaven, that's 55:02 a legalistic mindset. Now we want as Christians to be legal 55:06 which means we live within the confines of the law but we don't 55:10 wish to be legalistic which means to use the law as our 55:13 means of salvation because we've already covered that Jesus is 55:16 the way, the truth, and the light to salvation, right? So legalism 55:21 has very little to do with what you do and almost everything to 55:26 do with why you do it. If you wish to be faithful to God 55:31 because of love in your heart that's not legalism friends. 55:35 It's another word that starts with L and that's loyalty. You 55:39 missed a great chance to say Amen there. What did I say? 55:43 When you have love in your heart and you obey because of the love 55:47 in your heart, it's another word that starts with L and that is 55:50 what again? Loyalty. Absolutely. We called this subject tonight 55:55 The Issue That Divides the World Why do we call it that folks? 55:59 Because when we come down to God's Last Day book Revelation 56:03 chapter 14, we see the law of God really comes into focus. Here 56:09 is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the 56:12 commandments of God and the faith of what? Jesus. Those who 56:18 are on God's side at the end of time opposing the power that's 56:23 called the beast and opposing that which is called the mark of 56:26 the beast says they are keeping the commandments of God. 56:28 That would get my attention right there, right? Now if that 56:32 wasn't enough, take a look at this verse, last book of the 56:35 Bible, last chapter of the Bible almost the last verse of the 56:39 Bible. It's as if God had to tell us one more time in order 56:43 to get it into our minds before he closed the canon of scripture 56:46 It says here in Revelation 22 verse Blessed are they that do his 56:50 commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and 56:54 may enter in through the gates into the city. Again folks only 56:58 those who are obedient to God due to love in their hearts are 57:03 going to walk through those beautiful pearly gates one day 57:05 and oh folks that's a privilege for all of us right there to do 57:10 so. As we close this first night of four nights that we're going 57:15 go through a series of subjects that pertain to the law of God 57:19 we see two sides forming very clearly. We see a side in 57:24 Revelation represented by what is called the beast power that 57:28 we haven't gotten to yet in the seminar when we describe what 57:30 this power's talking about here in Revelation chapter 13. But it 57:34 says in the end time that all the world will wander after this 57:37 power. All the world will worship this power. All the 57:41 world will give obedience to this power and in both the Old 57:44 and the New Testament says that power is the lawless one. 57:49 And there only are two sides folks. It says those on Jesus' 57:53 side it says, If you love me, will do what? Keep his 57:57 commandments. Friends I want to be on Jesus' side, don't you? 58:01 I want to be one of those by God's grace that go walking into 58:06 that city one day. I want to be one of those people that love 58:09 God enough that his will is in my heart like David said and 58:12 because of that, we want to be obedient to all that God asks 58:17 because we love him with all our heart, all our soul, and all our 58:21 mind, Amen. |
Revised 2025-04-16