When our Lord Jesus told Nicodemus
that he must be born again, that a man must be born of water and
of blood, Nicodemus, being totally confused by the Lord's declaration,
asked a question that exposed his utter ignorance and folly
and arrogance. He said, well, Am I supposed
to crawl back up in my mother's belly and be born a second time?
He asked that which was utterly ridiculous, hoping thereby to
cover his own ignorance and folly with horrible arrogance. I'm
often asked such questions, asked them by religious people. When
men and women are confused by or rebel against plainly revealed
truth, they will often ask questions that are utterly ridiculous in
an attempt to cover their folly, or to cover their ignorance,
or to cover their rebellion. Nowhere is this more evident
than when we declare, as the Scriptures do, that Christ is
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
When we declare, as the Scriptures do, that Jesus Christ has fulfilled
the law, and having fulfilled the law, we are not under law,
but under grace. When we declare, as the scriptures
do, that believers are not ruled by, motivated by, or constrained
by the law in any way, I will get questions like this, well,
does that mean I can go murder my neighbor? You say, nobody
asked you those things. I got a letter last week. Last
week. You say we're not under the law.
Does that mean it's all right for me to go murder my neighbor?
Utter folly, arrogance, and pride, revealing ignorance of that which
the Scriptures plainly declare. No. No. It's not all right for
you to go murder your neighbor or to think about it. It's not
all right for you to violate God's law, ever, or for me to
do so. But we are not under the law. We don't owe the law anything. We're not ruled by the law or
motivated by the law. We're not governed by the law.
The love of Christ constrains us in all that we do as God's
people in this world seeking His glory. My subject tonight
is the Ten Commandments. And I'm going to go over the
Ten Commandments with you as they're given plainly in the
book of Exodus chapter 20. When Moses was about to leave
this world, he declared, the Lord came from Sinai and rose
up from Seir unto them. He shined forth from Mount Paran,
and he came with ten thousands of his saints. From his right
hand went a fiery law for them. Wow. You've read often Exodus
19 and 20 about the lightnings and the fire and the smoke and
the quaking on Mount Sinai. Moses declares in Deuteronomy
33 verse 2 that this fiery law went forth from God's hand not
against his people, not to destroy his people, not to hurt his people,
but for his people. From his hand went a fiery law
for them. But Sinai is all darkness until
Zion's sun of righteousness rises upon it. Then the darkness melts
before the rising sun. The angry roars are hushed by
the sound of grace. The terrors of darkness are dispersed
by the light of life. And the quaking is settled by
the Prince of Peace. as we are made to see that Sinai
opens the way to Zion and the blissful slopes of grace and
mercy and love. Exodus chapter 20, verses 1 through
26. We'll look at this chapter together
and ask God the Holy Spirit to write its lessons upon our hearts. How vast, how infinite, how indescribably
important God's righteous law is. It was delivered with such
awful solemnity that all the children of Israel, as they stood
on the outside edges of Sinai's mount, were filled with fear. They stood before the mountain
quaking before God. That fact alone should fill our
hearts with constantly increasing praise, joy, and gratitude for
the unspeakable gift of God, Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, by
whose obedience to the law the law has been fulfilled, its justice
has been satisfied, and we are now freed from condemnation,
freed from guilt, freed from sin, and freed from the law.
Our Lord Jesus answered all the demands of Sinai's law for us. And answering those demands,
He declares that He is the end of the law, the terminating point
of the law, the cessation of the law, the finality of the
law to them that believe. He is the end of the law for
righteousness to all who believe on His name. with every renewed
view of our blessed Savior who has with His own blood redeemed
us from the curse of the law. Let us renew our praises to Him
and renew our devotion to Him as we are renewed, given renewed
conviction of sin, conviction of our sin and of His righteousness. Let us devote ourselves afresh
to our Redeemer. May God the Holy Spirit give
us grace to do so. Now let's look at four things
in these 26 verses. Here's the first one. In verses
1 and 2, the Lord God identifies himself. By what claim does anyone
lay upon us such demands as we find here in Exodus chapter 20?
Before giving the law, God gives us his claim upon us. And God
spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which
hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house
of bondage. Who is he? This is God, the Supreme
One. The word used for God here is
the word Elohim. speaks of his supremacy. The
Lord God speaks, and he says, understand who speaks to you. I am God, supreme, above all,
and there's none like me. I am God alone, your creator. And as our creator, he has right
to do with us what he will, and to demand of us what he will.
He's the creator. He's the potter. We're the clay.
He says, I am the Lord thy God. That is, I am your covenant God. I am God in covenant with you. I am God who swore to Abraham
that I would grant him a son and through his seed all nations
of the earth would be blessed. I am God in covenant redemption
with you. And so as our covenant God, he
speaks. He says, I am the Lord. Jehovah,
the self-existent, eternal God of redemption, the God who saves,
the God of all grace, as our covenant God who created us and
created us for Himself, the God who has purpose to redeem and
save us, and the God who does redeem and save, is I speak to
you now. I speak to you from this holy
mountain that quakes as I speak and give out my law. It is the
triune God, our omnipotent Savior, which hath brought thee out of
the land of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage. This is
the God of everlasting grace. He brought Israel down into Egypt,
and He watched over them during the years of their enslavement
in Egypt, and multiplied them, and kept them, and blessed them.
As He brought them out of Egypt, He provided for them everything
they needed. He delivered them by blood and
by power. And then He fed them. He fed
them with bread from heaven every morning. He quenched the thirst
that they had as they walked through the parched desert with
streams of water flowing from a smitten rock. All of these
things, of course, portraying our Redeemer. And now He brings
them to Sinai. And Sinai will be a platform,
a stage, upon which God shows His Christ to His chosen. Sinai will be a platform on which
God Almighty will present His Son to the people whom He has
redeemed. These children of Israel heard
a voice speaking to them from heaven, and the one who spoke
is none other than the Redeemer Himself. Our God, Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit tells us that
the angel, the messenger of the covenant, communed with Moses
on the mount. If Christ is the one who speaks,
if the one speaking is the Christ of God, the message will surely
be a message full of tenderness, full of compassion, full of mercy
and grace. He introduces it this way back
in chapter 19, verse 4. He said, you have seen what I
did unto the Egyptians and how I bare you on eagles' wings and
brought you unto myself." Surely, Darwin, he didn't carry them
on eagles' wings to dash them in pieces at Sinai. You've seen
what I've done for you. I've carried you on eagles' wings
to this place to myself. And now he speaks from the mount. The sound of thunder is heard.
The flashes of lightning shooting across the mount from heaven
announcing not judgment but fresh rain from heaven. New revelations
of grace by the hand of God. Special preparation must be made.
These people soiled and stained with sin must be purified before
they can draw nigh to God on the mount. That's what everything
spoken of at Sinai declares. We must be purged. We must be
purified from all iniquity, cleansed from all guilt, and purged of
all sin before we can come to God, or for that matter, before
God can come to us. You understand that? God cannot
come to you, and you cannot come to God except you be purged of
all sin, purified of all guilt and made clean from all transgressions. You can't come to God and God
can't come to you. So his first word here is a word
by which he identifies himself and identifies his claim upon
us as God our Savior. Redemption is his claim upon
our hearts and his claim upon our lives. And if you need another claim,
this claim doesn't apply to you. If you need another claim, well,
I appreciate that, but I believe I need the law to keep me in
line. I need something else to motivate
me. I need either a threat of punishment or a promise of reward
to keep me motivated. The only claim he'd give is his
right as God, your creator, who created you for himself and redeemed
you by his blood and by his power. You're not your own. You're bought
with a price. Therefore glorify God in your
body and in your spirits, which are God's. Turn over to Psalm
116. Psalm 116. Hold your hands here in Exodus.
We'll not get far from Exodus 20 tonight. Psalm 116, verse
16. Oh Lord, truly I am thy servant. I am thy servant and the son
of thine handmaid. Thou hast loosed my bonds. I will offer to thee the sacrifice
of thanksgiving. I will call upon the name of
the Lord. Now understand this. Whenever
you read about the law, whenever you think about the law, Whatever
you think about the righteousness of the law and the justice of
the law, remember that the hand that holds the glittering sword
of divine justice that threatens every man with death is the hand
of our crucified Redeemer by which sinners obtain mercy and
grace and life. The reason for the giving of
the law is to make sinners like you and me know our need him. Second, in verses 3 through 17,
having identified himself the Lord God gives us his Ten Commandments. Three times in the scriptures
these commandments are called the Ten Commandments. They were
written upon two tables of stone. First on the first table were
the first four commandments, dealing with our relationship
and duty to God, with our reverence for God, with God's demands with
regard to our heart attitude toward Him. And the second table
is all about our duty to man, our responsibilities and relationships
with one another, and all that God requires of us in our relationship,
in our dealings with one another. Let's look at these Ten Commandments
just briefly. Verse 3, Thou shalt have no other
gods before me. What does that mean? Well, our
Lord Jesus answers the question. Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, with all thy soul. and with all thy
mind." That's what it means. That's
exactly what it means. This is the first and great commandment. This commandment is that we are
to worship the triune God alone as God and recognize no other
as God. We are to worship Him in faith,
hope, and love. utterly devoted to him as God
our Savior. This is a prohibition of idolatry,
a prohibition of will worship. It is a prohibition of mixing
the worship of God with the worship of idols. Our Lord Jesus tells
us plainly that this commandment is talking about loving God alone,
trusting God alone, committing ourselves to God alone with all
your heart All your mind and all your strength. It is the
requirement of total, perfect reverence for God. Total, perfect
confidence in God. Second, verse four. Thou shalt
not make unto thee any graven image. Well, Brother Don, I believe
that means we ought not to have images of Buddha. It does mean
that. I believe that means we ought not have gods like those
folks down in Africa have. It does mean that. That means
we ought not worship stump water as though it's holy water and
does something good for you. It does mean that. That means
we ought not have voodoo images where those folks down in Haiti
practice voodoo, witchcraft. It does mean that. But we're
not likely to be duped by any of that foolishness, are we?
Nobody is likely to be duped by any of that. It means much
more. Take the word as it's written.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, any kind, or
any likeness of anything that's in heaven above, or that is in
earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Now
he's talking about religious images. 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. The second commandment is a strict
prohibition to all idolatrous religious images, religious icons,
pictures, religious relics, all such things. Not only are we
to acknowledge none as God except God, we're never to have or make
use of any religious symbol in the worship of God. Angels, crosses,
crucifixes, pictures of Christ, All that, it's nonsense. It's
nonsense, it's blasphemous, and it's idolatrous. Well, I don't
worship those things. Many times you hear folks talk
like they've got these crucifixes, got these statues of Mary. Well,
we don't worship that. That just helps us in our worship.
If it helps you to worship God, you worship it. If you don't
worship it, throw it away. Get rid of it. It's nothing but
idolatry, nothing but the remnants of Romanism in Baptist churches
and others. Listen to this. Take ye therefore
good heed unto yourselves, for you saw no manner of similitude
on the day that the Lord spoke unto you in Horeb out of the
midst of the fire. He's referring to Exodus chapter
3. You remember Moses when I spoke to you? out of the burning bush,
and all you saw was a bush on fire. There was no submittitude
of anything out of that bush. No submittitude or likeness of
anything shown to you. God is spirit, and if we worship
Him, we must worship Him in spirit and in truth. Included in this
is the requirement that we love and obey our God, worshiping
Him in our hearts and with our hearts. All right, look at 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. Our general tendency
is to think whenever we hear somebody cussing and using God's
name, that's taking his name in vain, and it is. But I've not heard that in any
churchyard I've been in in the last 40 years. But I've heard lots of folks
take God's name in vain. I've heard preachers do it in
the pulpit, and I've heard folks do it walking in and out of the
church door. What's he talking about? Someone
put it like this. Any use of God's name that is not intended to reverence
Him and honor Him and exalt Him is to take His name in vain. Some of you who truly reverence
God have a problem because of being unguarded in your language,
unguarded in your speech. You think little of saying things
like, oh Lord, when something happens. Oh, God. Oh, my God. Or you use terms like, Lordy,
Lordy, look who's 40. Or gosh. Or golly. Or geez. Or Jesus! Sweet Jesus! And it's nothing but taking God's
name in vain. Stop. Stop. Folks, Make jokes about God,
and Christ, and heaven, and spiritual things. Make jokes about me,
my mama, my wife, and my daughter, but not about my God. These things
are not to be spoken of lightly, or thought of lightly, not by
people who reverence God. Holy and reverend is His name. Let us use his name with reverence
and think of his name with reference. Verse 8. Remember the Sabbath
day to keep it holy, to keep it sanctified, to keep it hallowed,
to keep it reverenced. 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. That's pretty plain, isn't it? The seventh day, don't do a thing. No work. None at all. Of any
kind. Thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter,
thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger
that is within thy gates. Four. That is to say, here's
the reason why. 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 hallowed it, sanctified it, kept it holy. This fourth commandment, like
the first three, has reference to our duty toward God. But how
does Sabbath-keeping indicate love for God. I can't get that
yet. I can't get that. How does that
show any kind of a moral or spiritual uprightness or righteousness?
I can't perceive that. Is a man better because he keeps
the Sabbath day than one who doesn't keep the Sabbath day,
literally? No. No. He's not in any way advantaged. Not at all. Not at all. A man
who spends his whole life and never lifts his finger to work
on Saturday, or for folks who pretend that Sunday is the Sabbath,
never lifts his finger to work on Sunday, is in no way better
than the man who works every Saturday or works every Sunday.
What's this about then? The law, this fourth commandment
with regard to the Sabbath, you will notice is right at the conclusion
all the law regarding our relationship with God, and it's right at the
head of all the law regarding our relationship with our fellow
man. Maybe this is the hinge to all of it. Maybe this is the
thing on which the whole law hangs. Now let me come back to
that before I get done. Verse 12, Honor thy father and
thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the
Lord thy God giveth thee. Paul says this is the first commandment
with promise. Honor God. Well, that's not what it says.
It says honor father and mother, the nearest representations of
God to you. Give honor to whom honor is due. Honor to all symbols of divinely
appointed authority. And I promise you, it will go
well for you in doing so. Our Lord is not here promising
that a person who treats his mom and dad right is going to
have eternal life. That's not what He's promising.
He's not promising the person who treats his mom and dad right
is never going to have any trouble. He is making the same kind of
promise we have in Proverbs where the scripture promises train
a child in the way that he should go and when he's old he'll not
depart from it. Good training gives good results. That's the promise. And good
behavior gives good results. If you grow up reverencing authority,
oh my soul, what it will save you from. Caught your eye, David. Your
girls, have demonstrated a desire to
honor you all their lives. And that saves them from a whole
lot that I brought on myself in rebellion to authority. That's
exactly what it means. Exactly what it means. Read on.
Verse 13. Thou shalt not kill. I refer
to the words of our Lord Jesus again in Matthew's gospel. Whosoever
is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of
the judgment. God himself makes inquisition
for blood and he finds out those who despise others. Verse 14,
thou shalt not commit adultery. The seventh commandment is not
merely a prohibition to sexual immorality and infidelity on
the part of one who is married. It takes in all sexual deviancy,
all profane behavior arising from a profane heart, arising
from the lust of our hearts. Our Lord said, if you look on
a woman to lust after her, you've committed adultery already in
your heart. Verse 50, Thou shalt not steal. Don't defraud anyone. Don't take
what's not yours. Don't cheat. It's not just don't
go out and rob banks. Don't cheat. Don't treat other
people's things as though they were yours. Don't treat private
property as though it were your property, but rather respect
the property of others and respect their rights to possess what
they have. Verse 60, thou shalt not bear
false witness against thy neighbor. Now, I'm tempted to spend a long
time here, but it'll suffice to simply say don't bear false
witness and don't hear it. Don't bear it and don't hear
it. You see, gossip and slander would
die very quickly. If there were no ears anxious
to hear the slander and no tongues anxious to carry the slander,
the best-selling books there are these days, it appears, judging
by what I see on television, are those kiss-and-tell books
that folks sell everywhere. That former White House fellow
now selling a book by trying to expose what he says are secrets
in the Bush White House. And you have them with other
folks. Had them with Clinton, you have them with other folks.
Don't bear the lie and don't hear it. Well, I don't believe
this, you know, but you know what I heard about Brother Bob
Duff? No, and I don't want to know what you heard about Brother
Bob Duff. Well, I don't mean to bear him. Well, shut up, because
I ain't going to listen to it. I ain't going to listen to it.
Well, you oughtn't to treat folks that way. Oh, yes, you should.
Yes, indeed you should. Don't bear the slander and don't
hear it, because if you hear it, you'll bear it. Number ten,
thou shalt not covet. 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 thy neighbor's. Now this tenth commandment points
to the root of evil in the desire of our hearts that can never
be satisfied. Paul said, when I heard what
the law said, thou shalt not covet. And I understood for the
first time in my life, the law is inward and spiritual. The law demands more than outward
conformity. The law demands more than outward
integrity. The law demands more than outward
honesty. The law demands more than outward
uprightness and outward purity. The law demands more than all
these things that men see and that men show to one another.
The law demands that there be in my heart complete, perfect
love for God and love for my neighbor. What do these 10 commandments
require? Walk before me and be thou perfect. Be ye holy for
I am holy. Love me perfectly with all your
heart and love your neighbor perfectly as yourself. If you
want to live by the law, then understand that you're under
the curse of the law. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified
by the law in God's sight, it is evident. For the just shall
live by faith. The law was our schoolmaster
to bring us unto Christ. All right, back in Exodus 20
again, verses 18 and 19. We're told that as soon as they
heard what the Lord God required of them, and if ever you hear
what God requires, Paul addresses the Galatians
and he says, ye that would be under the law, hear ye what the
law saith. Don't you hear what the law says?
You want to be saved by your works? Don't you hear what God
says about your works? As soon as they heard what God
required of them, They wanted a mediator, someone to stand
between them and God, someone to represent them before God,
and someone to represent God before them. And all the people
saw the thunderings and the lightnings and the noise of the trumpet
and the mountains smoking. And when the people saw it, they
removed and stood afar off. And they said to Moses, Speak
thou with us, and we will hear. But let not God speak with us,
lest we die. Hold your hands here, and turn
to Psalm 15. I read this to the men in the
back. Bless God there is one man, only one man, who has fulfilled
all these commandments of God, and that man is the God-man,
our mediator, the Lord Jesus. Darwin read Psalm 24, which speaks
of him. Who shall ascend to the hill
of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath
clean hands and a pure heart, and has never lifted up his soul
unto vanity. Nobody else. Psalm 15. Lord, who shall abide in thy
tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?
He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh
the truth in his heart. He that backbiteth not with his
tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach
against his neighbor, in whose eyes a vile person is contend,
but he honoreth them that fear the Lord. He sweareth to his
own hurt, and changeth not. Thank God he does that. He that putteth not out his money
to usury, tithe and God will bless you.
He doesn't put his money out to usury. No. Nor taketh reward against the
innocent. He that doeth these things shall
never be moved. That's our mediator. That's the
one who represents us before God. But not only does he represent
us before God, we're one with him. Moses was a typical mediator. Christ is the real mediator.
Moses represented the children of Israel. Christ is his people
and we are he. We're one with him. How can I
state this? One with him as he is one with
the Father. So that when he lived in this
world in perfect obedience, always honoring God, always loving his
neighbor as himself. We lived here with Him in perfect
obedience. And He brought in everlasting
righteousness for us. And when He did, He suffered
all the fury of God's holy wrath and justice as our substitute
at Calvary. And we died in Him. That's the mediator we must have
and the mediator we do have. For this man, After he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God. And this man is able to save
to the uttermost all them that come to God by him. All right,
back in Exodus chapter 20 again. I've got to hurry. Skip down
to verse 22. Verses 22 through 26, the Lord
describes an altar of earth. And in doing so, he tells us
that there is one way, only one way to come to God. You come
to God on an altar, an altar of earth, an altar of God's making,
on which God forbids you to lift up your tool. If you try to do something, Doesn't
matter what it is. If you try to do something to
make yourself accepted with God, you're going to hell. Because
you've despised Christ. You've shoved Christ aside. You
said, no, I won't have God's sacrifice. I won't have God's
son. I don't need it. I can make it on my own. You'll
go to hell for it. God will send you to hell for
it. But Brother Don, how Can a sinner ever find acceptance
with God in heaven if he not only cannot perform that which
is perfect and righteous and good, but God forbids him to
even try? I mean, God forbids that you
even try. Well, I know nobody's perfect,
but we all try to do the best we can. Well, you ought to try
to be and do the best you can in everything on this earth,
but not before God. He said, you lift up your tool
on it. I've got righteousness, but I've
got some of my own. Brother Bruce Crabtree, I think
he said it from the pulpit here. I know he said it to me personally.
He went to visit with his father numerous times. His father used
to be a Church of God preacher. And Bruce kept trying to witness
to him. And he said to his dad, he said, Dad, you've got to give
up your righteousness. You've got to trust Christ alone. You can't stand before God with
any righteousness of your own. And his dad looked at him on
his deathbed. Men hardly breathe. He said, I can't do that. Oh, I'd be scared to stand before
God with no righteousness to offer Him. Be terrified to have any. God said, if you lift up your
tool on it, you've polluted it. Now, I told you we'd come back
to the fourth commandment on which the whole thing hinged.
There is nothing written in the book of God anywhere more important
than God's command that you keep the Sabbath. Nothing. What's this all about? Even in the giving of the law,
the Lord God gives a command by which he tells the children
of Israel how to obtain all the blessings of his grace. And that's
to rest. How can a sinner get to glory?
Listen real carefully. Watch me now. Sit down and rest your way home. Did you hear me? Rest all the
way to glory. Rest on the finished work of
Christ who gave this law. He says, come unto me, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Rest. Rest. Simplest thing on this earth is rest. You have any idea how hard it
is? Have any idea how hard it is? The only way you can go to bed
tonight and get a good night's sleep is if God closes your eyes
and settles your mind and gives you rest. And the only way on
this earth any sinner will ever give up hope in himself and rest
in Christ is if God settles your heart and gives you rest in His
Son. how I pray that He will cease
from your labor and rest in the Savior. Amen.