I choose thee, Lord. Todd's Road Grace Church would like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at 9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services. For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.

Now here's our pastor, Todd Nybert. I've entitled the message I want to bring this morning, After the Ten Commandments. The children of Israel just about seven or eight weeks before this had left Egypt. They'd seen God destroy that nation. The Red Sea parted and they're brought to a place called Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai, the word Sinai means thorny. And this is where God gave the Ten Commandments. And I think it's interesting that the place he gave them from has something to do with the curse. Cursed be the ground for thy sake. Thorns also and thistles shall it be brought forth to thee. The law curses. They come into God's presence And they stay away. Only Moses goes into the mountain. This mountain was thundering. There was darkness all around it, lightning. The earth was quaking. The people were terrified when God comes down to give the Ten Commandments.

Now, like I said, I've entitled this message after the Ten Commandments. But let me read the Ten Commandments. And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. His name, Jehovah, Elohim, Jehovah, the self-existent one. He has no needs. He's utterly independent. He doesn't need you or I to do something in order to make it to where he can do something for us. He's utterly independent. He's God. All of his attributes are comprehended in his independence. Because he's independent, he's sovereign. Because he's independent, he's all-powerful. Because he's independent, he's all-wise. Go on and on. This is who God is. Elohim is the plural of God. He's God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Why in Genesis 1-1 when it says, in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, God is in the plural. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, one God in three distinct persons. Just his name tells us he is to be worshiped and he is to be sought with all of our heart.

The Lord thy God which hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the land of bondage, now he gives the first commandment. Thou shalt have no other God before me. He only is God, nothing is to come before him, nothing is to be worshiped, nothing is to be served but him. No other God before him. The second commandment, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that's in heaven above, or that's in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. No religious imagery. You know, a cross, if I make that a religious piece, it's idolatry. If I make any religious symbolism, a picture of Jesus, a portrait of Jesus, that's idolatry. He said, you're not to make likeness of me of anything. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them or serve them, for I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. Now, the natural man hates God, and because he hates God, he makes images that he feels more comfortable with. It's idolatry. It's a God I can understand. It's a God that I can reach. It's a God that I can control. It's a God that I can get Him to do what I want Him to do. It's a false God. It's not the God of the Bible.

The third commandment, 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's name is so holy that to even use it without proper reverence is a sin that deserves hell. That's how holy his name is. People say, oh my Lord and oh my God so flippantly, that's taking his name in vain.

The fourth commandment, the commandment with regard to the Sabbath. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days thou shalt 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, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that's within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."

Now, what's the Sabbath day all about? It's about not working, and it's about resting. People make a work out of this. It's about not working, not being saved by your works and resting in what Christ did.

The fifth commandment, honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. This has to do with the respect for your mother and your father. It includes a respect for all authority. But he begins with a respect for your mother and for your father. What a glorious commandment. To honor your mother and father and to respect all authority that it might be well with thee. You know, if I teach my children and make my children respect authority, they're gonna do well. They're gonna do well in school, they're gonna do well in the job. Someone that is a rebel against authority is always gonna be a failure. But the point is, honor all God-placed authority.

The sixth commandment, thou shalt not kill. And that's talking about more than murder. You can kill someone's character by slander, by innuendo. It's being angry with your brother without a cause. God's definition of killing and ours is totally different. We think, well, I've not murdered anybody. Yeah, you have. You've killed somebody's character by your silence or by something you've said.

Thou shalt not commit adultery. This is the command against all sexual sin. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Someone said, well, I've been faithful. Well, the Lord said, if you commit adultery in your, if you look at a woman to lust after in your heart, you've already committed adultery. So if anyone says I've not committed adultery, you're not telling the truth. You have, but what a beautiful commandment with regard to sexual purity and sexual against all sexual sin.

Thou shalt not steal, the eighth commandment. Now this means more than shoplifting. If you're lazy on the job, you're stealing time. If you don't do your best, you're stealing time. If you take glory for what is not coming to you, you're stealing glory. You can seek to rob God of glory, giving yourself the credit for what only he has done. Thou shalt not steal.

16, thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Don't lie. Don't exaggerate. Don't give a white lie. Tell the truth. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Then he says in the 10th commandment, 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's thy neighbor's. You know, what's behind war? Be wanting what somebody else has. Be coveting what they have. Paul said covetousness is idolatry.

Now here we have the 10 commandments. And let me say this, you and I have not kept one commandment one time. Not truly in God's sight. Now Paul said before God saved him, touching the righteousness which is in the law, I was blameless. He said, I thought I'd kept them all. But every natural man has broken every commandment non-stop. The law is holy, and if it were kept, this place would be a heaven on earth. If nothing was put before God, if He was loved, there would be no idolatry. how his name would be used with the utmost reverence, we would rest in Christ, we would honor our parents in all authority. If there were no sexual sin, if there were no lying, if there were no thefts, if there was no covetousness, everyone would be in a virtual paradise living like that.

But the fact of the matter is, The reason there's a law is because we're sinners. Paul said in 1 Timothy 1.8, the law was not made for a righteous man. If you and I were righteous, there would be no need for law. We would just obey God from our heart and it would become natural to us. He said the law was not made for righteous man, but for sinners and for the ungodly.

Now here we have the 10 commandments. Verse 18, remember the messages after the 10 commandments. And all the people, when this law was given, the people who were at the bottom of the mountain, 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. They were scared to death.

Now, if you and I hear what the law really says, It'll scare us. We'll be afraid of the law giver, his great holiness, and we'll be afraid of ourselves as law breakers. Now, the people, when they saw this, they removed afar off, verse 19, and they said unto Moses, speak thou with us, and we will hear, but let not God speak with us lest we die. If I ever see the meaning of the law of God, I'm going to see my need of a mediator. I cannot come into God's presence on my own. I can't hear him speaking to me on my own. I need a mediator. Moses was a type of Christ here when he stood as a mediator between God and the people.

Verse 20, and Moses said unto the people, fear not, for God has come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your face, that you sin not. God's come to put you to the test, to see if you truly fear Him. Now, this is not talking about a slavish fear of punishment. This is talking about that fear of reverence, the fear that's the beginning of wisdom. And the people stood afar off. And Moses drew near into the thick darkness where God was."

Now, if all I see is the law and I don't see the gospel, I am in thick darkness with regard to God and with regard to myself. And the Lord, verse 22, the Lord said unto Moses, thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, you've seen that I have talked with you from heaven. He's the one who gave these 10 commandments. You shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall you make gods of gold. Now, the first thing the Lord says is, don't bring me down to a human level. Don't make an image of me out of gold or silver, a man-made God. God is as he is. Oh, the is-ness of God. He that cometh to God must believe that he is. He is as he reveals himself to be in his holy word. There's no knowledge of God apart from His Word. He said, don't try to bring me down to human levels.

And then he says in verse 24, and remember this is after the giving of the Ten Commandments. He says in verse 24, "'An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings and thy peace offerings, thy sheep and thine oxes in all the place where I record my name. I'll come unto thee, and I will bless thee.'"

Now, right after the giving of the law, He talks about an altar for burnt offerings and peace offerings. Why this? because he knew that the people would break the law. He didn't have any illusions about that. He knew the people would break the law and we read of sacrifices even then in the very place of the giving of the law. We read of burnt offerings and peace offerings.

Now what's a burnt offering? When the animal was slain and placed upon the altar It was burnt up. It was consumed. And that is what signified God's acceptance of the sacrifice of sin. I confess my sin, there's an offering made for me by the priest. And when that offering is burnt up and consumed, it means God accepted the sacrifice. Now, God did not accept the sacrifice of that animal. It's what that animal pointed to.

Do you remember when Elijah on Mount Carmel, took a bullock and doused it with water and put it on an altar. He had said, the God that answers by fire, let him be God. The prophets of Baal put their God on the altar and cried to it and cut themselves with stone, begging fire to come down from heaven. Silence, no God, no fire. Elijah puts his bullock on the altar. Fire comes down from heaven. And remember, he doused it three times with water. He prayed and fire came down from heaven and consumed the bullock. Not only did it consume the bullock, it consumed the stones that made up the altar and it consumed the dust and licked up the water. And after the fire fell, there was nothing left. That signifies God's complete acceptance of the sacrifice.

The only reason I can be accepted by a holy God is not because of my law-keeping, but because of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. My law-breaking was imputed to Him and became His, and He died guilty under God's wrath. And the consuming of the burnt sacrifice meant God accepted what He did.

Now, there was another time that fire came down from heaven. The Lord said, I have a baptism to be baptized with, and the fire is already kindled. And he was talking about the cross. When he was nailed to that cross, hanging on that tree, the fire of God's wrath came down upon him. But unlike Elijah's sacrifice, the fire did not consume him. He consumed the fire. He consumed the wrath so there was no more wrath. That is the burnt offering, and the peace offering comes only from that.

The only peace I have is that everything God requires of me, He looks to His Son for. His Son accomplished salvation for me. God is satisfied with what His Son did. And that's why He's satisfied with me. You're accepted in the Beloved, Paul says. In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him. You need nothing else. If what He did, He did for you. Now, that's the burnt offering, and the peace offering comes from that. The peace I have because Christ made my peace with God. I've heard people say, have you made your peace with God? No, I haven't. Christ made my peace with God, and I am accepted in Him. Having made peace by the blood of His cross, He is our peace. Peace by Jesus Christ.

Now, that is taking place as soon as the giving of the law, but let's go on reading. He says in verse 25, And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, he said, make it a mound of dirt, but if you make an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of eunestone, stone that men have made, chipped away and put it in the form or shape they wanted it to be. You shall not make it of ewen stone, for thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it." It can't be used. You've profaned it. You have defiled it. You've dishonored it.

If my works are involved, if I use the tool of my works, if my works are involved in any way in my salvation, it's no good. It's polluted. It's defiled. Hebrews 1.3 says he by himself purged our sins.

Now, most people will say, well, I don't believe in salvation by works. I believe in salvation by Christ. I believe in salvation by grace. I do believe that. I see that in the Bible. Let me ask you this. Jesus Christ is all in salvation. If he shed his blood for men who are now in hell, that means he's not all in salvation. Do you believe that He made salvation possible for you if you do your part, or do you believe that He accomplished salvation? If you believe that He made salvation possible for you, but yet it's dependent upon what you do, your acceptance of Him, you're asking Him into your heart, you have to do something, you need to give up this sin and give up this bad habit and start reading the Bible and then his blood will be applied to you. If you believe that, you believe in salvation by works and you have polluted the altar. It's no good. God will not accept it.

You see, The only reason I'm accepted, it's not because of what I did with the blood of Christ. It's because of the blood of Christ alone. God said, when I see the blood. I'll pass over you. He didn't say when I see your works. He didn't say when I see your sincerity. He didn't say when I see your efforts. He didn't say when I see your Bible reading or your witnessing or your praying or your efforts to not sin. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. That's the gospel. Don't put your tool to it. Don't put your fingerprints on it. It's what he did alone. When he said it is finished, my friends, my salvation was finished, completed, accomplished. He made me perfect by what he did. By one offering, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Do you hear that? Don't you try to add to that. What a complete salvation there is in Him only. And as soon as you add something to that, you make it go away. It's defiled, it's polluted, it's no good. It's Christ only, not Christ and, Christ only. Don't you put your tool to it.

And look what he says in verse 26. I think this is so interesting. He says, neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon. And not only did He say, Tool is not to put to it. Your works are not to be added to it. But he said, don't make steps to that altar. You see, if you make steps to that altar, all it's going to expose is your nakedness and your sinful shame. It will not do anything else.

Now, steps. Let's talk about steps for just a moment. Steps to God. Well, if I stop this sin, I'm a little closer. If I start doing this good thing, I'm a little closer. If I start loving more and being more forgiving, I'm a little closer.

Understand, there are not steps to God. That's the way religion works. seven-step program, 12-step program, there are no steps to God. We think of steps as if I do this, it'll bring me closer, a little higher. Take another step, a little higher, another step, a little higher. Stop committing sin, start becoming better, come to a greater and higher knowledge, have this experience, start doing this, stop doing that.

There are no steps. The Ethiopian or the Philippian jailer came to Paul and Silas and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? I know I can't save myself. I'm convinced of that. Sirs, what must, what is absolutely necessary for me to do to be saved.

Now, how did Paul answer? He didn't say, listen to this real carefully, he didn't say repent of your sins and trust Christ. Do you know the phrase repent of your sins is not found in the scripture? Now, this is not making sin okay, but repentance, most people when they think of repentance from sin, they think, well, you need to be sorry for your sin and you need to stop committing it. And you can't believe on Christ until you first do that. that steps to God.

What's the answer? Not start reading the Bible. Not be more sincere. Not have more good works. Not sin less. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Believe. That means rely. Trust. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

He's the Lord. He's the Lord of creation. He spake the word into existence. He's the Lord of providence. He controls everything that happens in time. He's the first cause of everything. He's the Lord of salvation. Salvation's in his hands. Believe on the Lord. Do you know He's your Lord? He's everybody's Lord. He's the Lord of the dead and the living. He's the Lord of the believer and the unbeliever. He's Lord. He really is Lord. It's not an empty title. He's Lord.

He's Jesus. Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. He's the Savior. He's the Christ. He's God's prophet. He's the Word of God. He's God's priest. If He brings you to God, you must be saved. He's God's king, yet have I set my king on my holy hill of Zion. He's the one whose will must be done, always is done. He's the sovereign king of kings and Lord of lords.

What must I do to be saved? Well, I need to straighten things up. I need to have a greater experience. I need to feel more. I need to do more. Believe. on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

Now, if I ever see what the Ten Commandments really mean, I'm going to see that I can't make any steps. guilty before God. All the law does is condemn me. By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified at his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. I, if I ever understand the law, I'll be driven to look to Christ only."

I'm not going to touch it with my hands, my works. I'm not going to have steps to heaven. I'm going to be brought to God by the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I am the way, the truth, the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me.

Now right after the giving of the law, he knew they would break it. Although they said twice all that the Lord has spoken will do, he knew that wasn't so. So we're given this altar for sacrifice, the burnt offering and the peace offering to make a believer acceptable before God.

To receive a copy of the sermon you have just heard, send your request to todd.neibert at gmail.com or you may write or call the church at the information provided on the screen.