not that I did choose thee, Lord,
for, Lord, that could not be. Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neidert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 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. In Hebrews chapter 8, verse 10,
we read, For this is the covenant that I'll make with the house
of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws
into their mind and write them in their hearts. I've entitled this message, God's
Laws Written in the Heart. And I'm asking myself this question,
and I hope you'll ask yourself this question, has the living
God written in my heart? Well, for me to answer that question,
I'm going to have to understand what is meant by God's laws written
in the heart. Now, I would like to read the
verses that led up to this statement. In Hebrews chapter eight, verse
one, we read, Now of the things which we have spoken, this is
the sum. This is the main point. We, every believer, have such
an high priest, one to represent us, one who is set on the right
hand of the thrones of the majesty in the heavens. In verse 2, a
minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which
the Lord pitched, and not man, Now, the Old Testament tabernacle
was a material tabernacle made by man. The tabernacle he's talking
about is the true tabernacle in heaven. Verse 3, For every
high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices, whereof
it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. He's talking about the priesthood
of Christ. He has to have something to offer to God On our behalf,
and this he has his own righteousness, his precious blood that he presents
to the father as the great high priest of his people. Verse four,
for if he were on earth. He should not be a priest, seeing
that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law. Do
you know that the Lord Jesus Christ wasn't of the tribe of
Levi? He was the tribe of Judah and
they were not priests. If he were on earth, he couldn't
be a priest, according to the Old Testament law. And when he
talks about that Old Testament law, he says, who serve under
the example and shadow of heavenly things, all the Old Testament
is, is a shadow. There's no substance to a shadow.
It's an outline of the true and the real. For Moses was admonished
of God when he was about to make the tabernacle. For see, saith
he, that you make all things according to the pattern showed
thee on the mount. But now, Hath he, the Lord Jesus,
obtained a more excellent ministry? It's better than the Old Testament.
It's better than the law. But now hath he obtained a more
excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a
better covenant, which was established upon better promises? Now, he
has a more excellent ministry. This is talking about the New
Testament over the Old Testament. And when I say that, I'm not
just talking about the New Testament, Matthew through Revelation over
the Old Testament, Genesis through Malachi. You see, the doctrine
of the New Testament is in the Old Testament. But what he's
talking about is the distinction between salvation by law and
salvation by grace, salvation by works and salvation by Christ,
the Old Testament and the New Testament. Christ and the New
Testament is superior to the Old Testament. The Old Testament
law showed us our need of righteousness, but it didn't provide us a righteousness. It left us sinners. The Old Testament
sacrifices showed our need of atonement, but they didn't atone. Christ actually makes atonement. Christ actually makes us righteous. The Old Testament shows us our
need of a priest, but it didn't give us the priest we need. But
Christ is the priest we need. He's a better covenant, better
promises, the promises of free and sovereign grace. He says
in verse 7, for if that first covenant, the law, had been faultless,
then should no place have been sought for the second. Well,
what was the fault in it? It couldn't save. For finding fault
with them. This is God finding fault with
them. He saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I'll
make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the
house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with
their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead
them out of Egypt. Because they continued not in
my covenant and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. It's not
enough for the Lord to have your hand. He's got to put his hand
within your heart and write his laws in your heart. He says,
but this is the covenant that I'll make with the house of Israel
after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
mind and write them in their heart. Now, the Old Testament did something
externally. God took them by the hand. But that was not enough, because
it's up to us to continue if all He does is take us by the
hand. But the New Testament does something on the inside. God
said, I'll put my laws into their minds. And right then, in their
hearts. He puts something there that
was not there before. He writes his laws upon the heart. Now, what is meant by the term
laws? He says, I'll write my laws in
their heart. I'll place them within their
minds. Is he talking about the Ten Commandments?
I'll write the Ten Commandments on their hearts? and place them
in their minds. No, that's not what he's talking
about at all, because we're born into this world with the Ten
Commandments written on our hearts and minds. Romans, Chapter 2,
verses 14 and 15 says that. Listen to this scripture. But
when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature of
the things contained in the law, these having not the law are
a law unto themselves, which show the work of the law written
in their hearts. Their conscience also bearing
witness in their thoughts to meanwhile accusing or excusing
one another. Now everybody's got God's law
written in their heart in this sense. Everybody knows God is.
Everybody knows you ought to honor your parents. Everybody
knows you ought to love God. Everybody knows you ought not
lie. Everybody knows you ought not cheat. Everybody knows you
ought not commit sexual sin. Everybody knows you ought not
murder. Everybody knows you ought not steal. Everybody knows you
ought not covet. Everybody has these laws already
written in their hearts and minds. Everybody knows the difference
between right and wrong. Now, we may Squash our conscience. We may put it down, but still
everybody's born with this knowledge of the law written on their heart.
So when he's speaking of God's law written on the heart, he
is not referring to the Ten Commandments. Now, let me show you how this
word is used in the Scripture. Law. In Romans chapter 8, verse
2, Paul says, For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Now, here he speaks of two laws,
the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus and the law of
sin and death. Now, in that scripture, he's
not talking about God's laws, the Ten Commandments. He's talking
about a law, a principle of life that's in Christ Jesus that every
believer possesses that makes them free from the law of sin
and death, the law of sin that's in our members. Now, you've heard
of the laws of nature or the laws of physics, like the law
of gravity. Everything is drawn to the center
of the earth. A law of nature is a force that
impels action. What goes up? must come down
according to the law of gravity. Now, these laws that I'm going
to give you are the laws of the new nature. When God says, I'll
write my laws in their hearts, it's what's given to every believer
in the new birth. Now, understand in the New Testament,
God does something on the inside. Not just on the outside, we can
clean up our outward actions, but God does something on the
inside. He said, a new heart also will
I give you. The new birth is not the old
nature being changed or influenced for good. It's a new creation. It's God placing something there
that was not there before, a new heart. A new and a holy nature
called the inner man, called the new man, called the new creation
in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2.10 says we are His
workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God
hath before ordained that we should walk in Him. Now, please
listen carefully. A believer, a true believer, someone who's
been born of the Spirit, Someone who believes on the Lord Jesus
Christ has two separate natures. He's got the old nature, the
old man, and he's got the new nature, a divine nature, being
born of the Spirit of God, a new nature that was not there before,
a fallen nature and a new and a holy nature. Now, the Lord
Jesus Christ has two natures. He has a human nature and he
has the divine nature, and every believer has two natures, a holy
nature and the one he was born with, a sinful nature. Now, somebody may be thinking,
if you're a believer, you may be thinking, well, as far as
my experience is concerned, I sure don't feel like I have a holy
nature. I see sin in everything I do. Well, I understand that. Let me try to illustrate this. If you take red paint and yellow
paint and pour them both into a container, what comes out?
Orange paint. Now that red paint, it's still
red paint when it goes in. And that yellow paint, its composition
is not changed. Even when they go together, the
composition is not changed. But all you see is orange. Now, when this new nature is
funneled into this old man, you have both natures funneled into
this one man. And so you can't see a real clear
line of demarcation. Well, that's new and that's old.
It just doesn't work that way. But the new is there and the
old is there. I know the new is there. I feel
this power. There was a time when I had no
love for Christ. I do now. There was a time when
I didn't believe. I do now. And I know why. It's because of the new nature
in me. Now, in the New Testament, we
read of six laws. And this is what the Lord is
referring to when He says, I'll write my laws in their heart
and in their mind. Will I place it? They're all
a part of what Paul calls the law of the Spirit. of life in
Christ Jesus, and every believer is governed by these laws, and
they're caused to walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Now, I'm not going to give them
in the order of importance, because they're all equally important,
but here are the six laws we read of in the New Testament
that make up the laws of God written in the heart. We read
of the law of righteousness, the law of sin, the law of faith,
the law of liberty, the law of love, and the law of Christ. And these laws are written by
God upon the hearts and in the mind of every heaven-born son
or daughter of God. Now, the first thing I want us
to consider is the law of righteousness. We read of the law of righteousness
in Romans chapter 9, verses 30 and 31. Now, what does the Bible
mean by righteousness? Righteousness in the Scripture
is a perfect standing before the holy law of God. For me to be righteous before
God, I will have to have loved God with all my heart and my
neighbor as myself. For me to love God, for me to
be righteous before God, I can never have taken His name in
vain. I can never have committed adultery. I better never have
stolen or lied or coveted or killed on and on. Righteousness
is a perfect standing before God's holy law. Now, if I have
this law of righteousness written in my heart, that means my conscience
cannot be satisfied with anything short of perfect righteousness. If God takes me to heaven and
just forgives my sin, but there's no satisfaction for my sin, if
my sin is not punished, I can't find any satisfaction in that.
If God just treats me as if I was righteous, but I'm not really
righteous, but He treats me as if I were, my conscience doesn't
get any satisfaction in that. The only thing I can be satisfied
with is perfect righteousness before God. Now, how in the world
can that be attained? That can only be understood through
the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, hear the Gospel. My sin. My law-breaking, my rebellion,
my sinful thoughts, my sinful actions, all my sin was placed
upon Christ, who His own self bare our sins in His own body
on the tree. Now, sin can't be two places
at once. If it's on Christ, it's not on me. My sin was placed
upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and all of God's wrath against sin
came down upon Him. And my sin was punished and paid
for and put away. He was manifested to take away
our sins, and in Him is no sin. My sin was put away, it was blotted
out, and His perfect righteousness is placed upon me and becomes
mine. His righteousness is my righteousness. When He kept the law, that's
my obedience before God. That's perfect righteousness,
and that's the only thing my conscience can be satisfied with.
that I had no sin, that I stand perfectly righteous before God,
His merits being my righteousness before God. II Corinthians 5.21
says, For He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. The law of righteousness. And then we read in Romans 7
of the law of sin. In Romans chapter 7, beginning
in verse 21, Paul said, I find in a law. He's speaking as his
experience as a believer, I find in a law that when I would do
good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God
after the inward man, that perfect law of righteousness, but I see
another law in my members. warring against the law of my
mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in
my members. O wretched man that I am, who
should deliver me from this body of death." Now, it takes the
new nature to see this old nature. There was a time when I didn't
see this about myself. But when God saved me, and I'm
given this new nature, I may deceive that everything about
my old nature, everything about my natural man is nothing but
sin. When I would do good, evil is
present with me." He said in verse 8, I know that in verse
18 of Romans 7, I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. And I know that about myself.
When you have this new nature, you see that the old nature is
nothing but sin and evil and death, and it cannot be good. Why, the very idea of free will,
like you can will to be good, is ridiculous to somebody who's
been born of God because they know in and of themselves their
nature is completely evil. I'm a sinner by nature, by choice
and practice, and I can't make myself different. That is the
law of sin. Thirdly, we read in Romans 3.27
of the law of faith. The law of faith. Now remember,
this is a principle of life. The law of faith. The law of faith. A believer
does not choose to believe. It's his nature to. I don't choose
to breathe. Breathing is the action of life.
I don't choose to believe. Believing is the action of life. A believer cannot not believe. Now, the unbelief of the old
nature is always there. Remember the way that man cried,
Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief? The old nature never
believes, and the new nature always believes. And this is
a law of nature. It's the believer's nature to
believe. He can't not believe. Now, what
is meant by believing? It doesn't just mean believing
something's true or giving assent to something. It means you really
believe that Jesus Christ is your only righteousness before
God and you only rely on Him. You look nowhere else at all
times. He only is my salvation. A believer continually glories
in the cross and glories nowhere else. That's his nature. He cannot
not believe any more than he cannot exist. I must believe
the gospel. I don't choose to. I do it because
it's true, and I do it because I cannot not believe. Now, there
was a time when I had no faith. And then I found myself believing.
Faith is the evidence of the new nature. Faith is the evidence
of things not seen. How do you know you have this
new nature given to you by God? Because I believe the gospel. Faith is the evidence of things
not seen. And then we read in James 1.25
and James 2.12 and 13, the law of liberty. The law of liberty. The law of freedom. You know,
most people's religion is a very sad thing because it's people
doing what they really don't want to do. And not getting to
do the things they want to do. having to keep, there's no freedom
in it, no joy in it, doing things that they really don't want to
do, a very unhappy thing. What is liberty? Liberty is knowing
that there's nothing you need to do to obtain God's favor. You have it. I don't try to keep
the law because I've kept it in my beloved Redeemer. I stand
perfect before that law and I do not owe anything. Liberty is
owing nothing. No debts. All my debts have been
paid. Liberty is getting to do what
you want to do. Go thy way. He followed Jesus
in the way. That's my way. A believer must
have liberty. I can't be brought into bondage. Paul said in Galatians 5, 1,
stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and
be not entangled again in that yoke of bondage, always needing
more, always needing to do more, never quite measuring up. No, in Christ Jesus I have all. I owe nothing. And I'm completely
free. I'm doing what I want to do in
walking with Him. A believer must have liberty. And then in James 2, verse 8,
we read of the law of love. This is the nature of a believer,
the law of love. It's a believer's nature to love
God. I love the living God as is revealed
in His Word. I love everything about Him.
And if God is my witness, I wouldn't change Him if it were in my power
to change Him. I love His sovereignty. I love
His power. I love His wisdom. I love His
holiness. I love His justice. I love His
grace. Everything about Him, I love. I love Him. And I love His people. He that's begotten of God loveth
Him that's begotten of God. 1 John 2, 8, or yes, 1 John 4,
8 says, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born
of god and no one can go out no god he that love it not with
not god for god is love it's the law of nature for a believer
to love god to love his brother and to love all men now i can
say that i'm i'm preaching to a tv right now but i'm preaching
to other people i realize that the people i'm preaching to everybody
who's hearing me i love you and i'm not saying that the way religious
people do god loves you and i do i hate the way they do that but
i i want you to know the truth I want you to know the Christ
I know. I want you to be saved by the
same grace I'm saved by. And that's why I'm preaching
to you. That's why. I love God. I love His people.
I love all men in the sense that I want everybody to believe the
Gospel. Everybody ought to worship Christ. Everybody ought to bow
beneath Christ. There's the law of love, and
last, there's the law of Christ. In Galatians chapter 6, Paul
said, if a brother be overtaken in a fault which are spiritual,
restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself,
lest you also be tempted. When he says that, he means you
know that if you're tested the way your brother is, you'll fall
worse than he does. You can't look down your nose
at him. You can't look in moral superiority at him. You know
that in and of yourself, you're nothing but sin. Considering
yourself, lest you also be tempted, bear ye one another's burdens,
put up with one another, and so fulfill the law of Christ. This is the law of Christ, to
bear one another's burdens. That doesn't mean to share with
everybody what's going on within you. It means you put up with
that brother for Christ's sake. Because you know that you're
worse than he is, apart from the grace of God. And if he was
tempted and he fell, you'd do worse if you were put in the
same place. So you don't look down your nose at him. You restore
such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself, lest you
also be tempted. Now, these are God's laws written
in the heart. The law of righteousness. the
law of sin, the law of faith, the law of liberty, the law of
love, and the law of Christ. by these laws. This is true in every believer. They have the law of righteousness,
the law of sin, the law of faith, the law of liberty, the law of
love, and the law of Christ. Has God written His laws in your
heart? And we have this message on cassette
tape, DVD or CD. If you call the church or write
or e-mail, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Donovan, friend
and colleague. Thank you for helping out with
me. To request a copy of the sermon you have just heard, send
your request to messages at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.