Let's open our Bibles to Exodus
this evening, Exodus chapter 20. Those of you who are joining
us by way of the internet, if you weren't with us this morning,
I endeavor to speak on Exodus chapter 19. which has to do with
the things that led up to God giving His law to Israel. And I announced this morning
I'd be speaking tonight on Ten Commandments. Very, very familiar verses to
a good many people, certainly to all of you. and to many people
throughout this land who indicate they have respect for
the laws of God, the Ten Commandments. I was actually watching a church
service this week. Just briefly, I didn't have much
time, but as I did, I noticed right back of the preacher and
a very large, nice frame, and said ten commandments. So these
are statements that we're very familiar with. And I hope and
pray that God will give us some understanding of what this chapter,
the 20th chapter of Exodus, is all about. And let's ask Him.
to bless as we begin the study. Oh Lord, our Lord, how great
is your name, and we're thankful that as we read to begin the
service, thou art the God of peace. That glorious peace that
we, as your people, enjoy. was made with thee through thy
Son, the Lord Jesus, and his substitutionary sacrifice. Indeed, we do have peace with
God through the Son of God, and we rejoice. As we open your word
this evening, Father, we beseech thee to send your Spirit May
He take the things of our Lord Jesus Christ and may He show
them unto us. Enable us to see the inefficiency
of these laws to save us or to be gracious to us. The Lord shows
that there is no salvation to be had by endeavoring to live
by these Ten Commandments. We ask that you would give to
us an understanding of the sufficiency and the efficiency
of our Savior and His redemptive work that actually saves sinners. And we rejoice that we are not
under the law, but under grace. So give us a blessed understanding
of this portion of Scripture tonight. Bless all of these who
are in attendance and those who are watching. Give us a keen
comprehension of that which you demand and that which our Lord
Jesus has fulfilled for all of His people. These things we ask
in our Savior's name and for His sake. Amen. In Exodus here, chapter 20, We
have the declaration of the laws that God gave to Israel. And
these are the laws that they vowed that they would keep. If I may just take you back to
a verse in chapter 19, in verse 8, when all of the words of God
were given to the people by Moses, The people answered together,
and they said, verse 8 of chapter 19, all that the Lord hath spoken,
we will do. And then again, if you would
look over in chapter number 24, chapter 24, after Moses read
all of the law, gave all of the law to Israel, in chapter 24
4 verse 7, and he took the book of the covenant, he read in the
audience of the people and they said, all that the Lord hath
said will we do and be obedient. They vowed that they would keep
all of these laws and ever since multitudes of people have vowed
that they will keep these laws. And if they are unable to keep
them perfectly, they vow that they'll do the best that they
can do to keep these Ten Commandments. And I would just say this right
up front. to anyone who thinks that you
will live by obedience to the Ten Commandments, no, you won't. You're going to die. Because
these, these very strict commandments, they offer no hope, they offer
no life, they offer no mercy, They have nothing to do with
grace. They only have to do with perfect obedience. That's what's
demanded in these laws. Now, I do want you to hold your
place here, but I feel it's necessary to go to the book of Galatians
and read just a few verses here in the book of Galatians chapter
3. I encourage you to go to Galatians
chapter 3 because this is very, very vital that we understand
what the beloved apostle Paul has to say to us about the law. Galatians chapter 3 verse 10,
For as many as are of the works of the law, are under the curse,
for it is written, it is written, and it's written in Deuteronomy
27 and 26, it is written, cursed is everyone that continueth not
in all things that are written in the book of the law to do
them. I look at the next verse, but
that no man is justified, no man is made righteous. You've
got to be righteous or God's not going to have anything to
do with you. You read to us, except your righteousness exceed
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you're not going
to enter into the kingdom of heaven. But he says, but that
no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, and it's
only his sight that matters. Right? Doesn't matter what anybody
else sees. Doesn't matter how we appear
before others. Matters nothing at all. All that
matters is how God sees us. But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident. For the just,
the justified, That is, the righteous, they shall live by faith. Now look at verse 12, and the
law is not of faith. God's law doesn't require faith. It requires perfection. No deviation from these commandments. And the man that doeth them,
if you can, He shall live in them. Now here's
what Christ came to do, and this is what He did. Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law, which we could not keep. Well, how did He redeem us? Well,
by being made a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is
everyone that hangeth on a tree. Well, Jim, if keeping God's law
was then and is now an impossibility, why did God give the law? Well,
that's a reasonable question. What was the reason that God
gave this law? Well, go a little further into
this chapter, a little deeper into this chapter, and we don't
have time to go through all of these verses, but I'll direct
your attention to verse 23. But before faith came, now, hang
on right there just a second. By faith, I don't think he's
talking about believing on the Lord Jesus. But rather, before
faith came, he's talking about faith, the body of truth, which
he refers to later as the faith of God's elect. All of the body
of truth, the body of the gospel, the gospel of redemption, the
gospel of substitution, The gospel of our Lord Jesus, He satisfied
God by His life and by His death. But before faith came to us,
before that body of truth came to us, we were kept under the
law. And that word kept means garrisoned. It held us captive, as it were. And he says, we were shut up
unto the faith which afterwards should be revealed. You see,
the only way you'll ever know the gospel of redeeming love
and redeeming grace is by revelation. That's got to be revealed to
you. He's got to be revealed to you. That way whereby God
can be just and justify the ungodly, the Spirit of our Lord Jesus
has got to reveal that to you. And until that revelation comes,
here's what the Apostles Paul says, we were garrisoned, we
were kept by the law. It owned us. It had us. with all of its demands, obey
or die. That's the law. And so he says
in verse 24, all right, wherefore? Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster unto Christ. And you'll notice the words to
bring us. are in italics, which means these
are three words that were not in the original manuscript but
were inserted by the translators of the King James Version. It
was our schoolmaster unto Christ that we might be justified by
faith. Now, in the days of the Romans
and the Greeks, they had what they called schoolmasters. Actually, schoolmasters were,
they were themselves slaves. And the owner of the slaves,
let's say the owner of the slaves had two boys, and he wants them
educated. And so he gives to this servant,
here's your job. You take care of my boys. Teach
them. Guide them. You don't have to
love them. Be tough with them. I want you
to lead them to their manhood, to their adults. And that's what
the schoolmaster did. And after the boys reached adulthood,
then that particular servitude ended. Ended. Now, God is the owner of all
things. And God's law is His servant. And He sends it forth, He condemns
the sinful, and He uses it, He uses His law to set forth our
guilt. That is to expose our rottenness
and our inability to obey any of God's laws. Now look at verse
25 again. But after that faith is come,
after the body of truth, after the gospel comes to us, then we're no longer under the
schoolmaster. He's done with us. He's finished. His servitude toward us is over. And therefore he says in verse
26, for you're all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Once we know the body of truth,
once we know the gospel, there's no need for the schoolmaster
anymore. The law of God is a tough, harsh
schoolmaster. It doesn't show us any mercy
whatsoever. You will not discover in God's
laws any leniency, any forgiveness. It's unbendable. It will not
give an inch. It rewards perfection. And it
damns imperfection. If you break even one law, you've
broken the whole thing. And the law's on your case. I appreciate Marty playing the
song just before I stepped up here behind the pulpit once for
all. Thank you. I didn't ask her to
play that, but I thought, well, thank you Lord, that's kind of
a confirmation of the things that I'm going to say tonight,
because free from the law, O happy condition, O happy condition,
Jesus has bled, and there is remission. Cursed by God's law,
bruised by the fall, Grace hath redeemed us once for all. God's law with all of its very
stern precepts, it cannot bring us to Christ. It cannot. And that's why I drew
your attention to the fact back there in verse 24, the law was
our schoolmaster. It doesn't say to bring us to
Christ. God's law can't bring you to
Christ. Only the gospel can bring you
to Christ. Now we need to learn that. Because
there are some people who say, well, it's the law of God, the
law of God dealt with me and brought me to Jesus Christ, brought
me to Mount Calvary, and then after I go to Mount Calvary and
I have forgiveness of sins and I have righteousness, then the
law just teaches me how to live. No, no, no. Wrong, wrong, wrong. The law of God is our schoolmaster,
doesn't bring us to Christ. It has no ability to bring us
to Christ. It's the gospel that brings us
to Christ. It's the truth of redemption
that brings us to Christ. That's the message that is effectual
to us, not the law of God. It doesn't bring us. It shows us our guilt, but guess
what? It doesn't tell us what the remedy
is. It shows us that we fall far
short of perfection, but it doesn't tell us how to be perfect. That's
not its job. It can't save. It can't regenerate. It can't bring us to the Savior.
Only the gospel can do that. What does the law of God do?
It exposes us for what we are. You read in Romans chapter 3,
God gave us His law to shut our mouths and leave us guilty. That's what it says. That all
the world may become guilty before God. And when the law of God
does its job showing us our guilt and the Spirit of God uses that,
then we say, I'm in a hopeless situation. And then the body
of truth, the gospel of redemption, then it comes to us. And it has
a magnetic power and just draws us to the Savior. And we say
in essence, this is the one I need. This is the Savior, for in Him
I have pardoning grace. In Him I have a perfect standing
before God. And that's not, there's no possibility
of that in the law. Look with me and take the time
to turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 3. And I think this is a good
passage of scripture also to help us to understand this. 2 Corinthians chapter 3. And I'm just going to have to
kind of jump into the context here and forgive me for that.
But I'll begin at chapter 3 of 2 Corinthians in verse 6. who
also hath, that is, God also hath made us able ministers of
the New Testament, the new covenant, not the old, but the new, okay? Not of the letter, law, but of
the spirit, for the letter killeth. Got that? The letter killeth. The spirit giveth life. Now look at verse seven. But
if the ministration of death, what in the world is he talking
about? The ministry of death. That's a good word to use there.
The ministry of death. What is he referring to? Well,
it's obvious because he says written and engraved in stone,
God's law. If the ministration of death
written and engraved in stones was glorious so that the children
of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for
the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away
with, how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather or more
glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation
be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness
exceed glory." Here's what he's saying here. The law of God has
a ministry. It has a function. When you read
ministration, think of a function. It has a function. It has a purpose,
but its purpose is not to give life, or to save you, or to forgive
you. You know what the ministry of
the law of God is? Two vital statements here you
ought to underline. Verse 7, it's the ministration
of death. And then look at verse 9, it's
the ministration of condemnation. There's the law. There's the
law. It kills, it condemns. That's all it can do. Oh, it
will reward perfection if anybody can keep it, but nobody can keep
it except one man, the God-man. He kept it. He kept it. The law doesn't bring us to Christ. It exposes our guilt but offers
no remedy for violating God's law. Only the gospel can do that. Now with that groundwork laid,
let's go back to Exodus chapter 20 and let me make some statements
here about this and I'll make Four or five points as time allows. Number one, who speaks? Who speaks
here in these laws? Well, the answer of course is
obvious because in verse 1 it says, and God spake, all of these
words say. And here's what God says, I am
the Lord thy God. which have brought thee out of
the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." Here we see
His authority to lay down laws. Well, what right does God have
to lay down these very strict statutes? Here's His right. He's God. He does whatever He
wants to. He does all of His pleasure.
As far as Israel was concerned, He's the One that brought them
out of Egypt. He has a just and rightful hold
or claim on these people. He's the Lord. He's God our Savior. He's the Lord by God. He's the
Everlasting One, the Creator, the Sustainer of all things.
He's Lord, Savior, Deliverer. He immediately, right at the
beginning, He asserts His right to lay down His laws by virtue
of the fact He's the first cause of everything. He's God. He's God. These are not the laws
of Moses. These are not the laws of Israel.
These are the laws of God Almighty. So who speaks? God does. Second
thing, what are His commandments? And by the way, they're not suggestions. They're not good ideas. This is how you ought to live
your life. These are not recommendations for you. Laws. God's laws. It begins here, our duty to God,
verse three. Thou shalt have no other gods
before me. God says, don't you put anything
or anybody before me. Now let me ask you a question.
Have you broken that law? Are you guilty of breaking that
law? Well, of course you are. You have broken this law multiple
times. Actually, I think maybe a better
question would be, what have you not put before God? Isn't
that a better question? We're all guilty of putting ourselves
before God. Now you know that's right. You
hadn't kept this. Neither have I. We put ourselves
ahead of God. We put our desires ahead of God. That's natural. Look what he
says in verses 3 through 6. Here's commandment concerning
idolatry. Verse 4. Thou shalt not make
unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that
is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that
is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself
to them, nor serve them. For I am the Lord thy God. I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous
God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children
unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing
mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."
This is a commandment concerning idolatry. And if you have any comprehension
at all when He says, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven
image, or any likeness of anything that's in heaven, or on earth,
or under the earth, that is in a religious way, you know that
immediately knocks out. It eliminates all pictures of
Jesus, all statues of angels, all statues of dead saints, All
of these sayings, wearing the cross, any of these sayings and
all of these sayings, leads to idolatry. That's what it is,
it leads to idolatry. You see, since there is no one
like God, right? You agree with that? Since there
is no one like God, there's nothing that's like God, Don't attempt
to make something that kind of reminds you of Him. To do so brings God down to our
level and that's what idolatry always does that. It brings God
down to our level so we can better understand Him. I got news for
you, you'll never understand God. He's too big for your puny
brain and mine too. We can't comprehend Him. But
men want to bring God down so they can relate to Him, so they
can feel comfortable about Him. They humanize God. Religion today,
listen to me, has a mutant God. A mutant God. A modified God. That's what they've done. They've
modified God so they can get along with Him. A God who loves
everybody and hates nobody. A God who wants only the best
for you. A God who's wanting to make you
to be all that you want to be. and give you all that you want
to have. A God who wants you to be healthy and wealthy. A
God who will do for you if you'll just let Him. That's a mutant
God. That's just an idol. Any attempt to make a likeness
to God will always, always result in idolatry. Idolatry simply
consists of bringing God down to our level. Worship God only. Idolatry is always vile because
it always brings with it a false view of God and a false understanding
of God. Look at the last part of verse
5. He says, sorry, the last part of verse,
well, let me just read verse five to you again. Thou shall
not bow down thyself to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord
thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon
the children under the third and fourth generation, here it
is, of them that hate me. You know why men make idols?
Because they hate God as He is. They want Him to be different. They hate God as He is. They
hate His sovereignty. You want to get somebody riled
up? You want to get somebody upset? Talk about the absolute
sovereignty of God. And you know, many of you have
tried to talk to people about God's sovereignty. He does His
will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth and none can stay His hand or say unto Him, What doest
thou? Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated, I am the potter, you are the clay. I make vessels
of mercy and also make vessels of dishonor. vessels of wrath
fitted to destruction. That'll set people off. It shows
their real attitude toward God. They hate the strictness of God.
And so people say, you know, I think there's good in all religions. Oh, isn't that sweet? I think
there are many ways to heaven. You have your way, but we have
our way in our church. Well, I tell you what, you better
find out God's way. Because God's way is one way.
That's His Son, the Lord Jesus. And then He says this, and I'll
go quickly. Verse 7. Thou shalt not take
the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not
hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." God is so
glorious. Oh, God is so special. His name is holy and reverend. To use His name without Fear
and reverence is to take His name in vain. And God forgive me, I've done
that many times and you have too. We even have little kind of nicknames
for God. Short for God. You don't want
to use God's name, so you use something in its place. And even
when we use God's name, let me ask you this. Do you think we
have ever used God's name perfectly? Perfectly, reverently? The answer
is no. God forgives. Aren't you thankful
for the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ? Sometimes we use His name very
loosely. And the world does, we know that. They'll use the name of the Lord
Jesus. They'll say it in a way, maybe
they'll hit their finger with a hammer and say, Oh Jesus, that
hurts. That's blasphemy. That's taking
His name in vain. But we've done it too. Not having
the respect for God. You see, God's law, it doesn't
consist of it. It's not about, well, I mean
to use His name reverently. That's not good enough. His name is holy. His name is
to be praised. Don't take His name in vain.
We're all guilty. We're all guilty. Look at verses
8 through 11. And this concerns the Sabbath
day. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt
thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath
of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work,
thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant,
nor thy cattle, nor even the stranger that's within thy gates.
For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and
all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the
Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and He hallowed it." He hallowed
it. Forbidden to do any kind of work.
You remember in the book of Numbers, and I referenced this here a
few weeks ago, there was a man picking up sticks on the Sabbath
day. What's wrong with picking up
sticks? The man's probably going to build a fire. It may be cold
or whatever. Picking up sticks, whoa! That's
a violation of the Sabbath. He was arrested and the people
said, Moses, what's to be done with this man? And God gave the
word, kill him. Not put him out of the camp,
but kill him. That's how strict this is. Well now, what does this teach
us? Well if you go to Hebrews chapter
4, read it later, Christ is our Sabbath. He is our rest. And when it comes to your salvation,
now listen, Don't pick up sticks. Don't pick up any sticks concerning
your salvation. God will have you killed for
that. The law is, don't work, just
rest. Just rest. And you remember in the book
of Colossians, Paul says, don't let any man judge you concerning
the Sabbath. Do I observe a Sabbath? I rest
in the Sabbath who is Christ my Savior. What about the day? Isn't today
the Sabbath? No, never was. John calls it the Lord's day.
But didn't the Sabbath change from the Saturday to Sunday?
Show that to me anywhere. No. And I'll tell you, there are
a lot of people who try to keep a Sabbath even on Sunday. And as long as they're not endeavoring
to merit anything from God because of it, He's still a brethren,
but if you read Romans chapter 14, they're the weaker brethren.
That's what he says, right? That's what he says. He that
esteemeth the day, esteemeth to the Lord. But he's the weaker
brother because he doesn't understand, he hasn't grasped this yet. It's
not the day, it's the person of Christ resting in him. What about verse 12? Honor thy
father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land
which the Lord thy God giveth thee. A rebellious child. When you were children, did you
ever rebel against your parents? Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty,
guilty. All of us. And even after they're grown,
after we're grown rather. failed to show them the respect
that is due them. We've broken this. Verse 13,
thou shall not kill. Killing is a horrible thing,
taking another person's life. And yet, in that passage of scripture
that our brother read to us, if you're angry with somebody
without a cause, or you destroy somebody's character, put a little negativity in your
words about so-and-so, you're a murderer. You're a killer. Every one of us is guilty of
killing. Dragging somebody down to make yourself look a little
bit better. Verse 14, Thou shalt not commit
adultery, or to violate the marriage vow, that's a terrible thing.
How many broken homes have come about because people have not
obeyed that law? But there's another kind of adultery. It's spiritual adultery. Our
Lord Jesus, he gave the proper interpretation of this law. He says, he that lusteth after
a woman has committed adultery in his heart already. Really,
it's the person who lusts after another person. In your heart,
you've committed adultery. But there's a worse adultery
than that. What is adultery, really? It's
giving your love to one who is not entitled to it. And I'll tell you who we are
to love with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength. That's
our Lord. And we haven't loved Him that
way. We're guilty here too. Verse
15, thou shall not steal, taking something that doesn't belong
to you, shoplifting, Getting paid for
work you didn't do? Physical robbery is bad, but
robbing God, that's worse. That's the worst thing. Robbing
God of the glory of salvation. Trying to steal from Him. See,
that's what's wrong with free willism. It's thievery. It's stealing God's glory and
salvation. Old John Trapp, an English theologian,
said, the friends of free will are the enemies of free grace. Verse 16, lying thou shall not
bear false witness against thy neighbor. Wit to tell the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. We somehow or
another in our language, in our speech, tend to put ourselves
in a good light by a little bit of exaggeration. It's just a
little white lie. Just a little white discrepancy. I didn't mean anything
by it. Well, it's a lie. And covetousness,
verse 17, the scripture says covetousness is idolatry. Idolatry. Now, I'm speaking to
a bunch of thieves, adulterers, liars, and you're being spoken
to by one. Because you see, we're all guilty.
You understand that? We're all guilty. Because that
which is not done to perfection, Who determines whether it's perfect
or not? God does. That which is not done
to perfection is sinful. Why, we've just busted these
laws all to pieces. Whether you agree or don't agree,
hey, that's the truth. We're all guilty. But you see,
that's why God gave the law. God gave the law to shut our
mouths. Well, I'm doing the best I can. I'm living a good life. Wait!
Do you hear what the law says? And if God the Spirit ever lets
us hear what it says, it'll shut our mouths. The only thing we'll
say is guilty as charged. Oh, is there any hope for me?
I'm a lawbreaker. I'm a murderer, I'm a thief,
I'm a liar." And then, here's the third thing
the people of Israel realized again, they need a mediator.
Look at verse 18. All the people saw the thunderings
and the lightnings and the noise of the trumpet and the mountain
smoking. And when the people saw it, they
removed and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, O Moses,
speak with us. We'll hear. But we don't want
to hear God speak to us. Can't stand for God to speak
to us. And Moses said unto the people,
fear not. God's come to prove you, to test
you, that His fear may be upon your faces, that you sin not. And the people stood afar off,
and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.
And I'll tell you, I read this and I thought about our Lord
Jesus, who's the mediator of the new covenant. He drew near
to the darkness, the darkness upon the cross of Calvary. And he dealt with God for us.
For all of our law breakings, he dealt with God. He answered
for all of them. And then here's the last thing. Here's good news of the gospel.
Look at verse 22. Before I say that, verse 22 and
23 is kind of a summation of the law. And the Lord said unto
Moses, Thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen
that I have talked with you from heaven. Ye shall not make with
me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold. That's kind of a summation of
all the law. Idolatry is so horrible. So horrible. And then we get
to the gospel in verses 24, 25, and 26 very quickly. He says, an altar of earth thou
shalt make unto me. You're going to worship me? Make
it an altar of earth. Thou shalt sacrifice thereon
thy burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and
your oxen. Burnt offering speaks of our
Lord Jesus Christ. The peace offering is the result
of his offering to God of himself. We have peace with God. In all
places where I record my name, I will come unto thee and I will
bless thee. Now look at verse 25. If thou
wilt make an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn
stone. For if you lift up your tool
upon it, you've polluted it." You want to offer a sacrifice
to me on an altar of stone, of rock? God said, that's fine. But if you have any idea like
this, you know these rocks don't, God deserves something prettier
than this. I think I'm going to chisel this
a little bit. Make it look better. God says,
don't even lift up your tool against it. Don't lift a finger. Because you're adding to what
Christ, who Christ is and what Christ has done. You see, our
Lord Jesus, He's the altar. He's the sacrifice. And He's
the priest who offered the sacrifice. Don't try to add anything. Don't
try to polish the rocks. And then he says this, here's
the last thing, verse 26. Neither shalt thou go up by steps
unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon. If you seek to elevate yourself
in the worship of God, you just expose your nakedness, that is,
your lack of righteousness. Going up steps. I'll just elevate
myself a little bit. I'm going to put myself into
the picture. Just a little. Just a little. Oh, your nakedness
is going to be revealed. Those who are robed in the righteousness
of our Lord Jesus Christ, we don't ever want to elevate ourselves. And then he says this, here's
one last thing, verse 26. Neither shalt thou go up by steps
unto mine altar. By steps. There are no steps
to God. And that's what men want. Give
me a list of things to do, preacher. Okay. I'll do them. What are
the steps? What are the steps to salvation? Number one, there are no steps. You mean you don't have an A,
B, C, D, E, F, G, things that I need to do? There are no steps.
There are no steps. Well, don't I have to take a
step toward the Lord? No. He steps toward you. That's what
salvation is. Salvation is not you stepping
out to God. Somebody said, well, if you'll
take the first step, God will meet you halfway. Hey, if you
take the first step, you can take them all. Here's the problem. You can't take a step. Well,
what's going to have to happen? God's going to have to come to
you. See, that's exactly what happened. I mentioned Zacchaeus
this morning from Luke chapter 19. The Lord Jesus came to him. That believing thief on the cross? The Lord came to him. The Lord
knew exactly where that thief was going to be. He was going
to be nailed right beside of him. That man didn't take a step
toward the Lord. The Lord took a step toward him.
The Lord came to him. Saul of Tarsus! He wasn't going
up steps to meet the Lord. No! The Lord stepped out and
met him. Hey, there are no steps to Him.
You say, well, don't we seek the Lord? Only because He seeks
us. That's why it says in Isaiah
65 and verse 1, I was found of them that sought me not. Oh, how holy is God's law. It just strips us, doesn't it?
It just strips us. I don't hang the Ten Commandments
on the wall. I don't have anything to do with
the law of God anymore. And it doesn't have anything
to do with me. Now the law of God is good and
perfect. Everything is reasonable. But
that law was not made for a righteous man. It was made for the ungodly. And when that very harsh, harsh
servant, when it deals with me as God has ordained, and then
the gospel comes and draws me to Christ Jesus, the law of God
says, well, I've got no more use for that fellow. I've stripped
him of his guilt. And the gospel came to him like
oil and wine, the oil and wine of the gospel. Well, I hope you
understand. I hope I've made that kind of
clear to you, and more than that, I hope the Spirit of God will
make this clear to you. We have a law keeper, Christ
the Lord, and we have one who suffered all the condemnation
of the law. The ministry of the law is death
and condemnation. And somebody's already died in
our stead and been condemned in our stead. The law of God's
got nothing to do with the Lord's people. Father, bless the word
that has gone forth and oh how guilty we are of multitudes of
sins. We have no comprehension, we
have no idea how many sins we've even committed this day. Sins
of commission and sins of omission. Sin of not loving you like we
should. The sin of taking your name in
vain. The sin of Not being the people that we
ought to be. Oh God, forgive us. And we're
thankful that we had a law keeper in our stead. And one who died
for our violations of your laws. Even our Lord Jesus. And we don't come to the law
to learn how to live. It's the grace of God that has
appeared to us, teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly
lusts, that we should live righteously and soberly and godly in this
world. Oh God, thank you for your grace
to us through Christ. In his name I pray, amen. I love you