Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20. Title of the message, Law and Grace. Law and Grace. Last week we looked at this chapter verse by verse. And I said I wanted to come back this week, Lord willing, and look at the DIFFERENCE of a COMPARISON of LAW and GRACE. It is absolutely IMPORTANT, NECESSARY, to UNDERSTAND the DIFFERENCE between LAW and GRACE. I mean it is absolutely necessary to understand the difference between them. Too many people, because of their spiritual ignorance of law and grace, attempt to mix the two, and all that does is cause confusion. It just causes confusion. When we try to mix the two, the law loses its purpose and grace loses its beauty when we try to mix them. And we neither understand God's holiness nor do we understand our need of a Savior if we try to mix the two. Law and grace can never be blended. THEY CAN NEVER BE BLENDED. SALVATION IS EITHER ALL BY LAW OR IT'S ALL OF GRACE. IT'S NEVER BOTH! IT'S NEVER BOTH!

Turn over to Galatians Chapter 5. I'm not going to try to turn too much because it will just take us too long, but I want you to read this. In Galatians Chapter 5, And Galatians is a good book to read on this very subject that we are looking at this morning. Listen to this in the first four verses. Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. That's what the law was, it was a yoke of bondage. Behold, I, Paul, say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. If ye be circumcised in order to keep the law, as obedience to the law, Christ profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law, if that's the purpose of it. CHRIST HAS BECOME OF NO EFFECT UNTO YOU, WHOSOEVER OF YOU ARE JUSTIFIED BY THE LAW, YOU SEEK JUSTIFICATION BY THE LAW, YOU'VE FALLEN FROM GRACE, YOU'VE LEFT THE GRACE OF GOD, THEY CAN'T BE COMBINED, YOU'VE LEFT GRACE. You can't combine the two, it's either one or the other, but not both, not both.

Now we know this, we know that the law that God gave at Mount Sinai is not the full revelation of God. You cannot by the law that was just read, you cannot know the full revelation of God. You cannot know fully who God is. You can't do that. The law is a revelation of the holiness of God, of the justice of God. The law reveals man's responsibility to God. Thou shalt, thou shalt not. That's our responsibility. Thou shalt and thou shalt not. That's what the law reveals. But the law itself is not a full revelation of God. It does not reveal the love of God, the mercy of God, the grace of God. It does not reveal how God can be a just God and a Savior.

Now the law is given here at Mount Sinai. If we want to see the fullness of God's character, You know where we go? Calvary, Mount Calvary. We see the fullness of God's character in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Our Lord said this, He that has seen Me has seen the Father. It says in Colossians 2.9, For in Him that is in the Lord Jesus Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and you are complete in Him. You're not complete in keeping the Law because you can't do it. You can't do it. It's an impossibility. We see the Law's character at Mount Sinai. That mountain was on fire, there was thunder, there was blackness and smoke, it was a fearful sight. It was so fearful that they backed away from the mountain and they said, Moses, you speak to God, don't let God speak to us. It separated them, the law separated them from God. They couldn't deal with God except through a mediator. At that time, Moses being an example of Christ who's the only mediator between God and men is what the scripture says.

You see the law says this, DO THIS AND LIVE and it's unbending, it's unyielding. Do and live, don't do and die. That's the law. Do you not hear the law Paul said to the Galatians? Do you not hear the law? It's do and live or don't do and die.

THE VERDICT OF THE LAW IS THIS, CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT CONTINUE IN ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW TO DO THEM. It's a curse. The law knows no mercy. It knows ZERO mercy. It provides no strength to obey it. It only knows perfect justice. PERFECT ABSOLUTE STRICT JUSTICE. That's all it knows.

And the very purpose of the law, the reason God gave this, is this, in Romans 5 20, the law entered, it was given that the offense might abound, that sin would become exceeding sinful. We wouldn't know the exceeding sinfulness of sin unless God said, thou shalt not. Paul said, I didn't know covetousness until the law came and it said, thou shalt not covet. He said, I didn't know sin until the law said, thou shalt not covet. He said, I didn't know that was wrong. I didn't know it was wrong to look on a woman and lust after her. He said, I thought as long as you didn't touch her, I'd be all right.

And one man told me that. One young man told me that he said, it's all right to look long as I don't touch. I said, I don't know what Bible you're reading. I mean, this young man claimed to believe to be saved. He claimed to believe God. And I said, I don't know what you're reading because it does not say that. That's not all right. Not before God. Not before God.

Here's what the law is. The law is a mirror. It's a mirror. It reveals. You know, if you stand in front of a mirror and your face has mud on it, dirt on it, the law reveals that dirt, doesn't it? It can't remove it. It cannot remove the dirt. It can reveal the flaws, but it can't remove it. You take a plumb line And you put it up against a crooked wall. And you can see how crooked that wall is. That plumb line never and cannot remove that crookedness. It just reveals it. That's what it does.

When you go into a room, you turn the light on. You've seen this. You go into a room and you see dust particles floating. Well, the light didn't cause that. And the light can't remove it. But it can reveal it. And that's why God gave the law. To reveal to us our sinfulness. Our sinfulness. We never see our sinfulness until we see God's holiness. And you really can't understand God's holiness until you understand the law. Thou shalt not. Thou shalt. God gave Adam one law. One. Thou shalt not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Thou shalt not And he said to him, in the day you eat of it, and it's really there's a hint there that you're going to eat of it. In the day you eat of it, you'll die.

The law shows man his sinfulness, but it offers no remedy for it. It offers no remedy for my sinfulness. It condemns, but it cannot convert. It cannot convert. THE LAW CANNOT GIVE LIFE, IT CAN ONLY EXPOSE DEATH. THAT'S ALL IT CAN DO. THAT'S ALL IT CAN DO. THE LAWS DEMANDS, LISTEN, IT DEMANDS AND REQUIRES ABSOLUTE RIGHTEOUSNESS. THAT'S WHY IT SAYS OVER IN ROMANS 10 THAT THEY'VE BEEN IGNORANT OF GOD'S RIGHTEOUSNESS. THEY WERE IGNORANT OF THE ABSOLUTE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD. They thought that they could produce a righteousness of their own and God would accept it. That shows how ignorant they were of God. They didn't know of the absolute, strict, holy, righteousness demand of God. And when you're that ignorant spiritually, you're going to go back and try to establish one of your own and say, here God, it looks like Cain brought the fruit of the ground. The fruit of the cursed ground is what he brought. because he was ignorant of God's righteousness. And to be ignorant of God's righteousness is also to be ignorant of Jesus Christ who is the righteousness of God to everyone that believes.

The law of God is UNBENDING, it's UNBENDING, it's UNYIELDING, it cannot lower its demands because of our weakness. It's not going to, the law can't lower his standards, that'd be God lowering HIS standards come down to our standards because we can't meet HIS standards. No, HIS standards are going to be met, period. It must be perfect to be accepted, God said. Thank God for that perfect one who came and provided us with a righteousness. We'll see this in a little bit.

Every regenerate sinner, everyone who's born of God, even if they were placed under the law, they couldn't keep it. You can't, every person here that's been saved, the Lord saved you, you know you can't keep it. Even after the Lord saves you, you can't do it. You know, Paul says that back over again over here in Galatians. I could refer to Galatians through this whole thing. Listen here, over in Galatians, let me get to that, at Galatians chapter three, Listen to this, All foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified among you? This is only what I learned of you. Receive you the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit? Are you now made perfect by the flesh? You have begun in the Spirit, are you made perfect by your works?

THE SCRIPTURE SAYS YOU'RE COMPLETE IN HIM. MY WORKS AND EFFORTS DOESN'T MAKE ME COMPLETE IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM. WE DON'T BEGIN IN THE SPIRIT AND END UP PERFECTING IT BY THE FLESH. WE DON'T DO THAT. THE LAW REQUIRES PERFECT OBEDIENCE, NOT OUR SINCERE EFFORT. IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW SINCERE YOU ARE. IF YOU CAN'T KEEP IT, YOU CAN'T KEEP IT. THE LAW DOESN'T ACCEPT THAT. An officer pulls you over for speeding? Oh, sir, I really do want to keep the speed limit. How do you think that's going to go over? It's not. And it's sure not going to go over with God's law.

Here's the law's function. It was never meant to save. It was meant to show us our need of being saved. That's what it does. It stops every mouth and it makes the whole world guilty before God. No one can say, I'm not guilty, I didn't do any of that. Yes, you have. Defending one point of the law, he said, is to break the whole law of God. So if you don't love God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and your neighbor as yourself, you've already failed. You've already failed, you broke the whole law. It's like a piece of glass, when you drop it on the floor, the whole thing just shatters. It just shatters.

The LAW is NOT SIN, but it REVEALS SIN, that's what it does. And it says in Galatians 3.24, the function of the LAW here, it says it's our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. You know, here's the better translation of this. Here's the more correct translation. The LAW was our pedagogue. Now I know you're thinking, what in the world is a pedagogue? A pedagogue was a slave, and the master took his children and put them under this slave, his control. And this slave had the responsibility to take them to school, see to it that they learn, and also discipline them when they got out of hand. They were allowed to whip them if they got out of hand. The law is our pedagogue, our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.

Now I want us to see here, when you have time, you go home, I seem like I'm always giving you some reading assignments, but for you to understand what I'm saying, if you really want to understand the message, go home and read Acts chapter 15. And you'll see how the church, not the church, but there were some that in the church, they said there were some Pharisees that believed. They came down and they tried to get the Gentiles to keep the Law of Moses.

Listen here in Acts 15.1. And certain men which came down from Judea, in another scripture it says the Pharisees, which believed. They claimed to believe. And they said, You can also keep the Law of Moses. But here in Acts 15.1, And certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, after what Moses taught in the Law, ye cannot be saved. That whole chapter is given to that. False teachers tried to put Gentile believers under the Law, just what they did there in Galatia. Paul said, Who hath bewitched you? who has bewitched you, that's what it is, that you should not obey the truth. In Galatians chapter 1 he said, They have come preaching another gospel, which is not another, but there are some that trouble you. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he said, They'll come preaching another Jesus, another gospel, another spirit, an evil spirit.

The Apostles, led by the Holy Spirit here in Acts 15, firmly rejected this keeping of the Law, ANY, I mean ANY part of it, to the very jot and tittle, not even a jot and tittle, when it comes to salvation. You don't do it. And Peter said this to them in Acts 15.10, Why tempt ye God? This is what you're doing, he said. Why tempt ye God? to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples. We couldn't keep it, so why are you putting it upon them? Salvation is through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ ALONE! ALONE! It's all of grace. When by God's grace we stand in glory, we will know we had nothing to do with it. It was not out of obedience to anything. It's out of His obedience on our behalf. And God saved us. But I'm going to get to our walk here in just a little bit.

Peter also said this, now listen, this is bold. This is a Jew speaking. This is a Jew speaking. And he's speaking to the brethren, the other Jews in the church. He's speaking to the church. Acts 15 11 but we believe he says that through the grace of God not through the law not through efforts merits we believe through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they we shall be saved by grace us Jews shall be saved by grace the same as the Gentiles shall be saved by grace

If salvation was not by grace, not one person in this room would be saved. Not one person on this earth would be saved. Because we have a natural enmity to God. We naturally hate God.

Let me give you the superiority of the gospel over the law. How many nations were standing at the foot at the foot of Mount Sinai. How many nations were there standing there? One. One. How many nations were standing at the foot of the cross? Mount Calvary. The Jew and the Gentile were all there. There were people from all over standing there. God gave that law to one nation. But the gospel is proclaimed to all nations. Go throughout the whole world and proclaim the gospel, and those who believe baptized shall be saved. When the angel said this when our Lord was born, he said, Good tidings of great joy to all people. See the superiority of the gospel over the law? All people, there's going to be people saved by the grace of God out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. God's going to save them. He's not going to try to save them. He's not going to ask them if He can save them. He's going to save them. Because salvation is what? Of the Lord. It's of the Lord.

You see, the gospel reveals the full character of God. The law doesn't. It doesn't. The gospel reveals that God is holy and God is just. Stand there at Calvary, that's what you see. You see God is holy, God is just. He spared not His own Son. But God is love and God is salvation, God is merciful. Our Lord is hanging there, not because of Himself, but for a multitude of sinners, no man can number. I mean a multitude of sinners no man can number, and Jesus Christ, God in human flesh, hanging on that cross, is going to save them. He obeyed God's law and is suffering the penalty of God's law on their behalf. He honored God's law. He magnified the law, it says, and made it honorable. We dishonored it.

But those who seek to be teachers, well, let me read you this scripture in Psalm 85.10 in reference to the gospel revealing the full character of God.

And there's only one answer to this question. Where can mercy and truth meet together? Where can righteousness and peace kiss each other? At the cross. at the cross we sing a song

at the cross at the cross
when i first saw the light
that's where they meet together
that's where i see truth
justice and mercy coming together
that's where i see peace
righteousness and peace they embrace each other
they kiss each other because they can in christ THOSE WHO SEEK TO BE TEACHERS OF THE LAW, PAUL SAID, THEY TROUBLE THE CHURCH THERE IN GALATIANS, THAT'S ALL THEY DO, THEY TROUBLE THE CHURCH. LEGALISM IS NOT HOLINESS, IT IS UNBELIEF DRESSED UP IN SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS, THAT'S WHAT LEGALISM IS. CHRIST, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, WE ARE TOLD IN ROMANS 10-4, IS THE END OF THE LAW FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS. THE LAW OF GOD CAN DEMAND OF ME NO MORE THAN I HAVE IN CHRIST. CHRIST PROVIDED EVERYTHING THE LAW DEMANDS.

Brethren, we ought to be on the edge of our seats. Because we're about to meet God. We're about to meet God. Any one of us can meet God before his day is over with. Any one of us. And oh, how thankful. How thankful for that man, Jesus Christ, who answered all the demands of the law on my behalf. And I stand there not on my merits, but on His. He's the fulfillment of the law for righteousness. Now listen, He's the believer's life and rule of life, not the Ten Commandments. If you want to hang a Ten Commandments back here, You're hanging our death sentence. That's a death sentence. Because I'm guilty of everything it says not to do and to do. I'm guilty of every one of them. The law can only curse and slay, but the Lord Jesus Christ gives life and He guides us and directs us. HE BORE THE CURSE ON THE CROSS AND HE ROSE TO GIVE RIGHTEOUSNESS AND LIFE TO ALL WHO BELIEVE. Our rule of life, listen, our rule of life is not Mount Sinai, it's Jesus Christ Himself. The Word of God says this, WALK EVEN AS HE WALKED. That's my rule of life. I'm not going to read a commandment, I'm going to study Him. Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me, and walk even as He walked.

I want you to notice the higher standard of grace. I've heard some say, well, you know, you believe that all grace, you know, people sin and do what they want. Well, they do what they want to do anyway. If you're not, you're a hypocrite. Right? You know, I wish I could live like I want to. I'd live without sin if I could do it. I can't do it. I can't get rid of it. I can't eradicate it. But I would live, by God's grace, I'd live without sin. I'd live without an evil thought. I'd live like that.

Paul said, I find a law in my members that when I would do good, evil is present with me. that which I would do, I would do, I would to God I'd do it, but I don't do it. That which I would not do, I wish I wouldn't do it, but I DO IT! That's the struggle, that's the warfare that goes on in a believer.

But listen here to that higher standard that grace holds. The law says, Thou shalt not steal. Here's what grace says, work that you may have to give to him that needs." Isn't that a higher standard? The law forbids evil, grace produces goodness, righteousness. The law demands, but grace enables. The law demands, but it enables me to do nothing. Grace enables me to do everything. Paul said, Through Christ I can do all things. Who strengthens me?

THE BELIEVER'S WALK IS NOT UNDER THE POWER OF LAW, BUT IN THE POWER OF THE IN-DWELLING LIFE OF CHRIST. WE DON'T WALK BY THE POWER OF THE LAW, WE WALK BY THE POWER OF THE RESURRECTED LIFE IN ME, IN YOU. You can see that in Philippians 3. Paul said, OH THAT I MIGHT KNOW HIM AND THE POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION. THAT'S THE POWER OF HIS RESURRECTED LIFE IN ME. I WANT TO KNOW THAT! I WANT TO KNOW THAT!

THE LAW CANNOT PRODUCE A NEW MAN. IT CAN'T PRODUCE A NEW HEART. IT CAN'T DO IT. THE LAW CANNOT PRODUCE A HEART THAT LOVES GOD. LOVE THE LORD THY GOD WITH ALL THY HEART AND ALL THY SOUL AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF. THE LAW DEMANDS YOU TO DO THAT BECAUSE THAT'S RIGHT. It's the right thing to do. It's what God said to do. But grace enables us to do that. It enables us to love God, not like we ought to, but we do love Him.

Peter said, Lord, you know all things, you know, I love you. Can you say that? I know I don't love the Lord perfectly, but I can say, Lord, you know, I love you. Help me to love you more. That law can't produce a new man, grace does. The law cannot make you a new creation, but God does through the Spirit by the preaching of the gospel, by His grace.

Oh, the law demands love, thou shalt love the Lord thy God, but only grace can enable you to do it. Grace sheds the love of God brought in the heart by His Spirit, and the response of that love is this, you love one another. Christ said, by this shall all men know you're my disciples, that you keep the law. That's not what he said, that you love one another. That's how you know, He said, that's how you know you're my disciples, is that you love one another.

And if you love one another, you know what happened? The love of God was shed abroad in your heart. And if it's yet abroad in your heart, it's gonna leak out. It's gonna come out in your life. It will. We love Him because He what? First loved us. And then we come to, and this probably ought to be a different message here, but I'm gonna just touch on it. We had the reading of the law. and this fiery law, this thunder and this lightning going on. But thank God for verse 24 and on, God speaks of the altar and the sacrifice and where true worship is and where He puts His name. We go from the law to the altar. We leave the thundering and lightning and thick dark cloud to grace and mercy.

GRACE AND MERCY IS NOT FOUND AT MOUNT SINAI, IT IS FOUND HERE AT THE ALTAR. WHO'S THE ALTAR? IS IT THAT ALTAR THEY PUT UP HERE IN FRONT OF A BUILDING AND PEOPLE COME UP AND KNEEL DOWN ON IT AND CARRY ON? HEBREWS SAYS THAT WE HAVE AN ALTAR WHICH THOSE WHO SERVE THE TEMPLE HAVE NO RIGHT TO EAT OF, AND OUR ALTAR IS JESUS CHRIST.

He's the ALTAR and He's the SACRIFICE where we meet God and worship God. We have an ALTAR and Christ is that ALTAR. And where that is, I'll put my name there, I'll put my presence there. We have that here at Bethel Baptist Church. We have the GOSPEL here. We have the GOSPEL. I'm just as sure as I'm over five feet tall I can't say six feet just as sure as I'm over five feet tall we have the gospel here I can take the gospel I can take the gospel we preach and I can go from Genesis to Revelation and I can show you Jesus Christ I can show you the gospel I believe I have learned this.

Most people, if you really ask them to tell you about Jesus Christ, they can't do it. They just tell you what the preacher said. They can't go to the Word of God and tell you about the Lord Jesus Christ. This was my experience when I first heard the Gospel, and I heard Henry preaching the Gospel, and I heard it in power. I said this, what he's saying matches what I'm reading. matches what I'm reading when I hear a lot of these televangelists preaching does not match what I'm reading God loves you God wants to save you he wants to bless you I don't read that I don't read that I read I read this he hateth the workers of iniquity I'll tell you where God's blessings are. They're in Christ. Outside of Christ, God's a consuming fire.

You're going to meet this law I just read to you. It's not been trashed. It's not been trashed. It's not been done away with. Everyone outside of Christ is going to meet this fiery law that went from His right hand. They're going to meet this law right here. We've already met it in Christ at Calvary. The judgment it passes on me and you who believe is over. The condemnation it put on me and you is over. There is therefore now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.

So we go from the law to the altar At the altar, the sacrifice of the sinner is no longer a DOER, but a WORSHIPER. You see, there is no doer here that is a worshiper. God is being worshiped at the altar in sacrifice. And He says, Where this altar is, and this sacrifice is, that s where I ll record My name. Oh my, the simplicity of the grace of God! It says that this altar is to be of earth, or unhewn stone. It stacks stone up, but don't you raise a tool on it. You'll pollute it if you do. Christ is of God. This altar is of God. And it's a very low-key altar here. See this is before the ceremonial law was given and the altar was overlaid with pure gold. It was made of shidom wood and overlaid with pure gold signifying the divine and human nature of Jesus Christ. But now here he says you don't make any steps. We ain't climbing to God. Jesus Christ brings us to God. He's the one who brings it, we're not climbing steps, we're not building a tower like Tower of Babel. He said, don't you make one of steps. The altar points here, the altar points to Calvary where God meets sinners in mercy without law, without works. Jesus Christ is the meeting place. between a holy God and a sinful man and a sinful woman. Our meeting place, God said, I'll meet you HERE! I'll KILL you HERE! At Mount Sinai, I'll kill you! Here I'll save you!

God not only commands, He commands us to LOOK and come to this altar. Christ said, Come to me and I'll give you rest.

Now I close with this. I'm just going to do a quick contrast between law and grace or law and grace in Christ because grace is not outside and not apart from Christ. The law says do and live. Grace in Christ is live and do. The Law REVEALS SIN. Grace in Christ REMOVES SIN. The Law CONDEMNS. Grace in Christ JUSTIFIES the GUILTY. The Law DEMANDS LOVE. Grace in Christ PRODUCES LOVE. The Law CURSES Grace in Christ blesses. The law slays the sinner. Grace in Christ saves the sinner.

You see, the law brought the adulterous woman and threw her at the feet of Christ. Now what are you going to do with her? Grace bends down and saves her. I want grace. Grace, grace, That's all wonderful grace. Grace of our loving Lord. I'm in trouble when I start trying to sing.