All right, I'm going to preach
on the law of God tonight, the law of God. Let me read just
a few verses of scripture here. Exodus 20, God spake all these
words saying, I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of
the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt
have no other gods before me. 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, 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.
Thou shall 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. Remember the Sabbath day, keep
it holy. Six days shut out labor and do all thy work. Rest the
seventh day. And then look down in verse 12.
Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon
the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill,
thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt
not bear false witness against thy neighbor, thou shalt not
covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's
wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox,
nor his ass, nor anything that is in thy neighbor's. And 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, Speak thou with us, and we will hear, but let not God
speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said unto the people,
Fear not, for God has come to prove you that his fear may be
before your faces, that you sin not. Now he said, God said he would
not hold a man guiltless who uses his name in vain. Iniquity,
the word iniquity means lawlessness, a disregard for God's law. And the scriptures tells us in
1 John 3, 4 that sin, sin is a transgression of the law. And
our Lord told us that where iniquity abounds, the love of many would
wax cold. And that's where we are today.
I mean this, this, this wax so cold. And I, you know, if we
as believers, our hearts get cold sometimes. Can you imagine
what it is if people don't know Christ? Don't know God? But I
do know this about men. They're self-pleasers. They're
self-pleasers. They're self-lovers. And we've
come to the time in America, it's been this way for quite
a while, marriage has become a thing of convenience to be
cast aside when it doesn't feel right anymore. But God's people,
they delight in the law of God after the inward man, the scriptures
tells us that. Our Lord Jesus said he, in the
volume of the book, it's written of me. Lo, I come, I come to
do thy will. Thy law is written within my
heart, and I delight to do thy law. And in the great congregation
have I preached righteousness. And our Lord Jesus Christ told
his people, he said, listen, you'll look with me in John 14,
21. Let's look at this. Look what our master said. In Romans 14, no, excuse me,
John 14, 21. Look at this with me here, what
our master said. I want to be very careful in
how I deal with this, lest anybody think that I'm going to bring
people back under the law. God help me, I won't do that.
But look what our master said here in verse 21. He that hath my commandments,
and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth
me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him and will
manifest myself to him. And I want to show you another
in 1 John 5. I want you to see this in 1 John
5 before I get into this message. 1 John 5 and verse 2. I want us to look at these things
and establish and set up this message tonight and the things
that I want to say about the law of God. And iniquity, of
course, means lawlessness. It's just lawlessness. And look
what John said here in 1 John 5 verse 2. By this we know that
we love the children of God. Now listen to this. When we love
God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God that
we keep His commandments and His commandments are not grievous. Now that's what he said. That's
what he said. Now the scriptures tells us that
the law is just and it's holy and it's good. And then it says
here in the beginning of this chapter, God spake all these
words. God's doing the speaking up on
this mountain. God's speaking face to face with
Moses. And there's thunders and lightnings
going on up there. God spake all these words. And
it's God's law. It's not man's law, it's God's.
And what he does, he declares his authority. He commanded Adam
not to eat of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. Just
gave him one commandment. This one. And I tell you, death
entered before the law did. But Adam, God gave him one commandment
to show him, I'm the one running this outfit. And I'm the one
that's got all the authority and all the power. And you'll
do what I say or else you'll suffer the consequences. Adam
suffered the consequences, we suffer the consequences. In redemption,
then look what he said, I am the Lord thy God which brought
thee out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of bondage.
Oh, you're talking about redemption. He brought us out. He said, I
brought you out of the house of bondage. Brought you out of
the world, brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of bondage.
And redemption is the most blessed motive for us to love God and
obey the Lord Jesus Christ. You know the scriptures tell
us that we were redeemed, not with such corruptible things
as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ
as a lamb slain without spot and without blemish. And I tell
you that God ordained him for the foundation of the world.
Now the laws, the laws, when we talk about the law, there's
three ways that you can look at the law in the scriptures.
The law one time, sometimes it means the whole word of God.
But God gave the law to the Israelites in three ways. And this is Israel
he gave them to now. Three classes, he gave them the
moral law, that's the Ten Commandments. Then he gave them the ceremonial
law. That's all the feast and the washings and the sanctifying
and all the washings that they had to do and all the little
things that they had to do and all the ceremonies, all the sacrifices
and all the ceremonies and all the rituals that they went through.
And he gave them all of those. And then he gave them a civil
law. God gave them a civil law. God ruled over Israel himself
until they desired a king. A theocracy. That's what it's
called. God ruled over his own people. And I tell you something he does
now. We're spiritual Israel and God reigns over us now. Huh? Oh listen, I know we're in America
and we're under the government and we're going to obey the laws.
We're going to do what the scriptures tell us to do. We're going to
honor them to whom honor is due. But I'll tell you one thing,
we're under the rule and reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
our master. He's our Savior. He's our Redeemer.
And as God ruled over Israel, Christ rules over us. And I'll
tell you one thing, you know how He rules? He said, take my
yoke upon you. He said, it's so easy. You know what? It's really, really
light. And then he said what the Pharisees
did, they put such a burden on people. It said over in Matthew,
he put such a burden on people that they could not bear them. Could not bear them. Now let
me say this, as rational creatures, men are taught and it sees this,
that they must be dependent upon God in a moral and a natural
sense. And what I mean by that is men
are not left to decide their own morality, their own sense
of God. God himself told us who he is. God himself put in man's conscience
ability to know right from wrong. Man's not left to decide what's
the right thing to do or the moral thing to do. God laid down
the moral law. God laid down the law, said this
is the way men are to act. This is the way men are to treat
one another, and this is the way man is supposed to be before
God. And so man backs up and says,
well I don't want to do that, I can't do that, and he's right. But that doesn't leave us without
excuse. We're without excuse when God
gave the law, we're without excuse. And I tell you what, he says
the law is written on our heart, and there's several laws written
on our heart. And that's why he says, you know, that God put
it in our heart that we know whether things are right, we
excuse ourselves, or the conscience either accuses us or excuses
us, one or the other. And when he gave the ceremonial
law, And this was just for Israel. Only for Israel. Ceremony law
was only for Israel. And every ceremony, every sacrifice,
every ritual that they had spoke of our Lord Jesus Christ in shadow
and time. Spoke every time they offered
a sacrifice. Every time that priest put on
his robe, every sacrifice that was offered, every feast that
they had, every Passover day that they had every year, every
one of those things spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ coming
and they did not know that and He had not come yet. And He had
not come and perfected all things by His satisfaction and making
all things new. And then he done it for his peculiar
people. As I said, he ruled over them.
A theocracy, civil law. There was no democracy. God didn't
say every man gets a vote. It wasn't even a republic. God
said, I am the Lord thy God. He said, I am the Lord thy God.
And that's what he says to us. I am the Lord thy God. Here, O Israel, the Lord God
is one. And I love to say the Lord thy
God is God. My God. Your God. I said it this morning. Our Lord
defined eternal life. I said this is eternal life that
they might know Thee. The only true God in Jesus Christ
whom Thou hast sent. No democracy. I remember when
we went to borrow money to build this building, we went and talked
to the banker. We'd been doing business with
this banker for years. And I told him, I said, you know,
is everybody on board with this? I said, yep. He said, well, did
all the church, you know, did you all vote on it and to have
a, make a business meeting and everybody signed the thing? I
said, no, we didn't have a business meeting. He said, what? Because
he's a member of a Baptist church out in north of town. He said,
no meeting, no business meeting, no nothing. I said, no. No, we
just got together. We know we want to build a building.
He said, he said, I never heard of such a thing. Never heard
of such a thing. You know, the last time I saw
a church give a vote, the last time I was in a church where
they had a business meeting and had a vote, you know what happened?
I got excluded. That vote was to exclude me from
that congregation. That's the last time I was in
a business meeting. To exclude me, Mary, and our
kids from that congregation. So, needless to say, we don't
have business meetings. You know, you don't have to do
that when you love one another. No, you trust one another. And
oh my, but he's, no democracy, no republic. Now let me give
you some reasons why the Ten Commandments are binding. Now
listen to me, binding upon men now. Binding upon men. And I tell you what, and people
put up their Ten Commandments, but I'm gonna tell you why they're
binding upon men now. Because it's right. The Creator's authority
is declared by Him in giving the Ten Commandments. He declares
His authority. And this is acknowledged by His
creatures. Adam, He commanded him. He commanded him. It's God's
right to give a commandment. It's God's right to give law.
It's God's right to set up what He thinks way men ought to live. And the way He says, you live
this way, and if you don't, you're going to suffer for it. And then
the second reason is the law or the Ten Commandments have
not been repealed. God ain't repealed them yet.
And I tell you what, even in our preaching we say God has
not changed His holiness. God has not changed His nature.
God has not changed His way in which He judges people. And I
tell you, you know, God hasn't repealed them yet. They were
written by the finger of God on tablets of stone and they're
permanent. They are permanent. That's why
first of all they got the right. They have not been repealed yet. God hasn't changed them. They
are still there. And I'll tell you another reason why men need
them. Men need them. Human nature has
not improved. They have not improved. Have
you ever seen human nature improve? Have you improved? Do men still need to be told,
have no gods before me? Thou shalt not take the name
of the Lord thy God in vain? Are children so good now that
you don't need to tell them that that honor thy father and thy
mother? Has man become so good in nature that you don't need
to tell him thou shalt not kill? Marriage relationship, is it
so sacred that thou shalt not commit adultery? But I'm going to tell you something.
The law, now listen to me. We're going to go to the New
Testament here in a minute. Show you what something thinks about it. But
the law is a spiritual thing and we'll see that. But the law
deals with what we think. The motives in why we do what
we do and the desires that we have. Now let me show you that. Now let's go to Matthew 5 first. Let's go to Matthew 5. You all
surely didn't think I was going to take you to the law and leave
you there, did you? Bring you out of the Ten Commandments.
No, no, no. We're not going to do that. But
they are binding. They are binding. And God, He's
not lowered His standard. He's not changed the law. He's
not changed His nature. He's not changed what He requires
out of man. He requires perfect and complete
obedience. He that's going to be justified
by the law, He must continue in all things written in the
book of the law to do them. Everything. and he's got to do
it right from the day he starts doing it to the day he dies and
if he messes up anywhere in between those two times just one time
is all it takes and you said one time then that nullifies
everything you did before and nullifies everything you ever
did before after that so when we're looking at the
law we need somebody Somebody that
has obeyed it. Somebody that has honored God.
Somebody that had a perfect heart to live under God. To fulfill
that blessed law. To honor and magnify that blessed
law. And I call it blessed law because
listen, God's blessed. God's blessed. And I tell you,
look what our master said here in Matthew 5.17. Oh, bless His holy name. Think
not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am
not come to destroy, but to do what? To fulfill it. When the fullness of time was
come, God sent forth His Son, made Him a woman, made under
the law, made under the law, What for? To redeem us, buy us,
pay for us, to get us out from under the curse of the law. Curse of the law. And our Lord
Jesus, like I said, He said, Thy law is written within my
heart, I delight to do Thy will, O God, I delight And I want you
to look with me now in Romans chapter 13. Thank God Christ
fulfilled it. Now look with me in Romans chapter
3. I want to show you now. I run across people all the time.
And you have to, that for some reason they think the law, you
go to the cross, you go to the cross, you go to Christ on the
cross, and his sacrifice on the cross. And that's where you get
your forgiveness of sin, that's where you get your justification.
But then you go back to the law, and you go back to the law to
what you do to get sanctified and to be made more holy. And
they say, you know, when you look at that law, you've got
to try to be holy. And I tell you, beloved, one
thing the law, two things the law cannot do. It cannot sanctify
you. It wasn't given for that reason.
The law cannot sanctify you, and secondly, the law cannot
make you holy. We can't make ourselves holy.
God said, be ye holy as I am holy. How in the world am I going
to be as holy as God is holy? And holiness is a state of being,
so I've got to have somebody who is holy. Well, who is holy? The Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy
One sent from God. the great and just one that saith
from God. And oh my, look what he said
here in Romans 3.19. Now this is what, here's what we, here's
where we hit the rubber hits the road right here now. Romans
3.19, now we know that whatsoever things the law saith. He's talking
about the moral law right here right now. It saith to them that
are under the law, And I tell you what, when you
look at it and it says, when you look at this and you see
that law and you live under it, every mouth's going to stop.
You're going to quit trying to justify yourself and talk about
your morality and talk about your goodness and talking about
your church going, talking about your praying and tithing. Oh,
that'll stop. And everybody that hears this
is guilty. Where? Before God. Huh? Therefore by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight. Now listen to
this, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. Paul said this, sin became
exceeding sinful by the law, by the commandment. Now look
down here in verse 26 We'll show you something here.
God declares His righteousness when He set forth the Lord Jesus
Christ. He said, I've declared, we're
setting forth Christ, I declare at this time His righteousness.
How righteous He is and the righteousness He demands. And He does this
that He might be a just God. That law-giving God. That Ten
Commandments-giving God. That holy God, that righteous
God, that infinitely holy nature God, that He might be just. And then He comes and He justifies
him with what? Keeps the law? Keeps the Ten
Commandments? Taught us to live the best He
can? No! Him that believeth in the Lord Jesus Christ. Well,
where in the world are we going to boast in? What do we got to
brag about? We've got to brag about something. We've got to
say we've done something. We've got to accomplish something.
How many times have I heard that? Preacher, don't we supposed to
have some part in this? No! If you have a part in it,
the only thing you bring to it is your sin. That's all we've
got to bring to this thing. Oh my! And then he goes on to
say, well where's boasting then? What are we going to brag about? One fellow told me, he said,
you know why I was saving other people, wasn't it? Because my
repentance was better and my faith was stronger. I said, well
that don't have nothing to do with grace then. He said, that's
the way I understand grace. So God saved him because his
repentance was better and his faith was better. We went round and round over
that one. I was in his car. He told me
that. I was in his car. But I tell you what, he could
have put me out for all I care. I couldn't let that go. I said, Dre, that's not the way
God saves sinners. God don't look at a man because
he accomplished something. That's what they say. He boasted.
He said, I did something better. I was more sincere. I was more
honest. And if those other folks would
have been like me, they could have been saved like me. Oh, he goes on to say, well,
where's our boasting net? Well, it's excluded. Well, by
what law? What principle? By the law? By works? No, no, if you had
works, you'd boast, and I tell you, you'd tell everybody about
them. I ain't missed a church service in 35 years. Bless your
heart. Oh boy, that really counts for
a lot. Don't have to get an extra star.
But oh my, but what law of works? No, no. But listen, here's the
law. He's talking about the law. This
is what them laws written on our hearts, by the law of faith.
Therefore, we come to this conclusion, that a man is justified by faith. Listen to it, without the deeds
of the law. Oh my! Is he the God of the Jews
only? No! Is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes! Of Gentile dogs like ourselves. Seeing it is one God, which shall
justify the circumcision, which is the Jew, by faith, and the
uncircumcision through faith. Now listen to it now. This is
the conclusion he comes to. Do we then make void the law
through faith? Do we nullify the law because
we believe? Do we just nullify it and make
it void because we don't believe? No, you know what he said? God
forbid. We establish it. How do we establish the law?
Because we come to Him who honored it and magnified it and fulfilled
it entirely and completely. God gets more glory out of us
trust in Christ cause in him he fulfilled the law he did everything
that God required to do and that's why through faith we established
the law saying God you're right you're just you're holy and good
and then you provide us a way to make us just righteous and
holy and good in Christ ain't that right? oh my Let me show
you something too over here in Romans 10. You got to see this.
I tell you what. Call us in on Romans all you
want to because we ain't going to be brought back out of that
alive. Not going to do it. You know I'm not in any way,
shape or form. I'm just not God helping me.
I'm not. And I understand that. I'm telling you what, that's
why people, you know, if they understood the law, the first
thing is, have no other gods before me. Honor the Lord that
died. No gods before me. That's the
first thing. You ever met anybody that did
not have a god before them before God ever made himself known to
them? Every single one of us had our own God. We had our opinions,
we had our feelings, we had our conceptions, and we thought,
well, God's this way, and God's that way, and God's another way.
And people say, God's whatever you want Him to be. It could
be a he, she, or an it. No, no. And look what He said
here in Romans 10. Brethren, my heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. He had a
burden for his people for Israel. Natural Israels. And he said,
I go on record. I go on record. Oh Lord, they
have a zeal of God. They love to pray in the marketplaces.
They love to keep the law. They love to go to the synagogue.
They have a great zeal for God. Love to tithe. Love to do all their washings.
But all they have is zeal of God. I'll bear record that they
do. But this zeal is not according to knowledge. They don't know
nothing. They don't know nothing. And that's why he says next,
they're ignorant. They're ignorant. Why? Of God's
righteousness. We just said over there God declares
His righteousness out through the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now watch this. They're ignorant. Going about
to establish righteousness. Their own righteousness. They
want to build it up. They want to talk about it. They
want glory in it. But they have not submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. Who is the righteousness of God?
The Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what he says there.
He said, now if Israel knew this, they're ignorant of this. Christ is the end, the fulfillment,
the goal of righteousness to everyone that believes. I believe, I believe, I believe.
Don't you? And then look what he goes and
here's two things. Now here's Moses going to describe the righteousness
which is of the law. He says in verse 5. Y'all want
to know what kind of righteousness the law produces? Well this is
the kind it produces, that the man which doeth those things
shall live by them. But the righteousness of faith
speaks on this way. Say not in thine heart who shall
ascend into heaven. Who's going to ascend up there,
stand in that holy hill with sinless hands and a pure heart.
Who shall ascend into heaven and bring Christ down so I can,
you know, to bring him down so we can be saved by him. Or who
shall descend into the deep? That is to bring up Christ again
from the dead. That's what he's talking about.
That's what he said. What does this say then? The
righteousness of faith. What does it say? The word is
nigh thee. Right close to you. Even in your
mouth. In your heart. What is it? Christ
is the end of righteousness. And that's the word of faith
which we preach. That if thou This is the word
of faith we preach. That if thou shalt confess with
thy mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
You don't have to do anything. Believe. For with the heart man
believeth unto righteousness. And boy, when he believes, when
he believes, when he believes, you know what he's gonna do?
He's gonna say, I believe that Christ saved me and he is going
to tell it. He is going to let somebody know it, huh? And I
am going to show you this. Just give me a minute or two
longer. Look at Romans 7 and I am going to wind it up with
this one. Like I said, the law won't sanctify us or make us
holy or in any way make us acceptable. But yet God is still binding.
God has not repealed it. God has not let it down. He has
not changed it all. Not changed at all? Oh, that's what our Lord Jesus
Christ said. The law comprehends the thoughts,
the motives, desires. He said, you've heard it said,
but I say unto you. Now look what Paul said here
in Romans chapter 3. He said in verse 12. Wherefore the law is holy, and
the commandment holy, just and good. Was then that which is
good made death unto me? The law was good. God forbid,
the law. But sin, sin, working death in
me by that which is good, by that law. It worked death in
me, because when I looked at it, I saw, oh my goodness, I
haven't kept it, I haven't obeyed it. But sin, that it might appear
sin working death in me, by that which is good, that sin, by the
commandment, might become exceeding sinful. Now you look at any commandment
in the Ten Commandments, and you look at that in light of
yourself, In light of yourself, any one of them, the four of
them deals with God and six of them deals with man to man. You
look at either one of them and see if by that commandment sin
don't become exceedingly sinful to you just because of what you
think, what you do, and the desires that you have. Right? And we know that the law is spiritual.
But I'm carnal, so none to sin. Now here's where we're at. Here's
where we're at. For that which I do, I don't
do. I allow not. For what I would,
that do I not. I ain't gonna do that no more. Well, wait a minute. For what
I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would
not. If I do that, then I say I will
not. I can sin under the law that
is good. I transgressed it. Now there is no more I that do
it. But what does it then Paul? Sin
that dwells in me. For I know that in me, that is
in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. And everybody here can
say Amen. For to will, and here's where
we're at, for will is present with me. Is there anybody in
here tonight that their will is present and they say, Lord,
I'd live to your glory, I'd live a perfect life, I'd live a sinless
life, I'd live a life of obedience and love to you perfectly. The
will is present with me, but how to do it? I don't know. For the good that I would, I
don't. But the evil which I would not,
I do. He said in verse 21, I find in
this law, this principle, that when I would do good, evil walks
right along with me. trying to keep you from doing
what's right. For I delight in the law of God
in this man inside me. I delight in it. But I see another
law in my hands, in my eyes, in my mind, in my heart, in my
flesh. I see another law warring against
the law of my mind, bringing me into the captivity of the
law of sin that's in my members. Oh, wretched man that I am. Who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? And you know what
he's talking about? He said it's like a dead body
hanging on your back. And I tell you what, when you
carry a dead body around with you, after a while it gets to
stinking. It gets real, real corrupt. Don't it? Now after
you've carried that a while, how bad corrupt does it get?
How stinking do you become? How rotten do you become? Oh,
do you say, oh wretched man, when will I get rid of this thing?
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So with the mind, I
myself serve the law of God. But with the flesh, the law of
sin. Oh, it's two of us, beloved. One that loves Christ, loves
God, and the other that, you know, you just... Now thank God
for this. There is therefore now... We
went through all that thing. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. I'm going to leave it right there.
It's a good place to stop, amen. So if God said, I've seen several
places they could stop. If He is here and said, that's
a good place to stop. That's a good place to stop.
But remember, I'm telling you, a man without Christ God uses
that law as a mirror to look at him. And if you ever look
at yourself in the law of God, you know what you do? You die.
You say, oh, wretched man that I am. I can't face that. And
that makes you automatically start seeking somebody who can.
The Lord Jesus Christ. Our Father, oh, our Father, in
the precious, blessed, glorious name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
our Savior, our Redeemer, Oh, we bless you and praise you and
thank you for your goodness and grace given to us in abundance. And Lord, it is in us. And that's
why we look so forward to leaving this world, going to be with
you, where sin will molest us no more and sense will molest
us no more. This flesh will never be a burden
again. We'll never sin in our thoughts,
never sin in our motives, Never sin in our desires. Oh God, the
will, the will is present with us. Oh, we've got the will. But
oh God, this flesh just won't let us perform it. But Lord,
one of these days, one of these blessed, blessed days, you'll
take this old vile body and change it and fashion it like unto your
glorious body. and we'll forever be with you.
Oh Lord, thank you for the blessed hope you give us in Christ. Thank
you for the gospel and the word today. Thank you for the saints
of God here. Bless and keep everyone. Bless
brother Bruce and Sandy and Joe and Bruce and others among us
who are frail, Jim and others among us who are weak and frail. We pray thy blessings upon them
for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. Let's turn to number
42 in our skill book. I think that's what I want. And
we'll stand together when we get through saying this, you'll
be at liberty to go. Yeah, that's what I want.