Deuteronomy chapter 5. You and I have been studying
on the Ten Commandments the last few weeks, and we saw that they
were made up of two tables. The first table pertained to
God. to the one God. He says that
here in chapter 6 and verse 4. Here, O Israel, the Lord our
God is one God. And we found out that God is
very jealous of His oneness. He is very jealous of His attributes,
His character, His nature, His worship, His word, His name. Thou shalt not take the name
of the Lord in vain. Don't use it in an empty way.
of His name. And this one God we found out
in chapter 6 and verse 5 is to be loved. He's to be loved, reverenced. He's to be worshipped first and
foremost and at the exclusion of all other gods. He says that there in chapter
5, I think it is, in verse 5. And we've learned something else
here, the every thought. When we talk about, when we talk
about, Thou shalt have no other gods before me. What he said
there in verse 7. Thou shalt have no other gods
before me. And we see from that and the
other commandments that the very thought is to honor God. The motives, all for His glory. Every thought to honor God, every
motive for His glory, every word and every deed for His praise.
And nothing is to be done for self-glory or self-promotion. Now that is what we have in the
first table. And we saw that there in chapter 6 and verse
5. Look at it in chapter 6 and verse 5. Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul and with all
thy might." God is not worshipped, God is not served through ceremonies,
through rituals, but it's the matter of the heart, the spirit. With all your heart, mind and
soul and spirit. And then in verse 16 through
verse 21, we looked at that, And that's what we sometimes
call the second table. The first table as it pertains
to God, who He is, His holy character. And the second table as it pertains
to our fellow man. And in verses 16 through verse
21, we saw the spiritual nature of these commandments. He talked
there about murder, thou shalt not kill. We looked at that,
and the scripture teaches us that it goes deeper than physical
murder. Unjust hatred. Hating without a cause is murder. Anger without a cause. We're
told here in the second table, thou shalt not commit adultery,
but a lustful look is adultery, isn't it? A look of lust is adultery. And then stealing, we looked
at that, taking something that belongs to somebody else. Anything
we take that belongs to somebody else. But it's not just a physical
offer. It could be taking someone's
good name. It could speak a word to remove
somebody's confidence in somebody else. Taking somebody's influence
away. Stealing. Stealing. when we take
honor from God that belongs to Him only, that is still an animal.
That is the worst kind of thieving, not to give to Him the glory
that is due His name. In verse 21, I think probably
of all these commandments, this is probably the most far-reaching
commandment of all of them. In verse 21, neither shall thou
desire thy neighbor's wife. or desire your neighbor's house,
or his field, or his maidservant, and so on. This has to do with
the desires of a man's heart. And this is the sin that first
convicted Saul of Tarsus. He said, I had not known sin
except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. And here's a man that thought
he never had any desires for anything that was wrong. He never
had desires for anything but what was rightfully his. And
he said, suddenly I saw that I was desiring every evil thing
that one can imagine. And you can't control your desires,
can you? I mean, how many times have we saw something or we dreamed
something in our brain and our desires went after them, and
it was only after our desires went after them that we were
able to check it. Well, that's good, we checked
it, but the sin has been committed, hasn't it? In the desire. Thou shalt not even desire thy
neighbor's wife, or thy neighbor's land, or whatever. And these desires, these evil
desires, what it does, it joins the first
two tables together. The rest of these commandments
don't do this. You have the four commandments in the first table,
the sixth in the last table. But this desire, this covetousness,
is not only against man, for it's coveting your neighbor.
It's desiring something that's your neighbor. But the scriptures
call it idolatry. Idolatry. To desire something
that's not ours is setting an idol between us and God. It's
idolatry, Paul said. Covetousness is idolatry. Nothing
is to be desired above God, and when it is, it becomes an idol,
idolatry. The law tells us what's to be
desired above all else, and what is it? God. God is to be desired
above all else. What is the chief glory? To seek
God and His glory. And the law tells us what's not
to be desired. Anything contrary to the glory
of God. Desire. And to fulfill the law
there must be a burning desire for all that is right, and all
that's good, all that's wholesome, and all that's just before God. That's a strict law. That's a
deep law. And it's a despising of all that's
unjust, all that's corrupt and hurtful and sinful towards God
and towards man. The desire is to be a flame for
God and His glory. The desire is to despise everything
that's contrary to God and His glory. So the nature of this
law that you and I have been looking at now for some time
is just It's spiritual, it's holy, and it's searching and
far-reaching in its judgment, because it reaches to the depths
of our soul, and it reaches to the uttermost recesses of our
heart. And that's our problem, isn't
it? That's our problem. Here's our problem. Moses this year in the fifth
chapter, and let's begin reading in verse 22. Look at this. He tells the Lord knows our problems.
He says in verse 22, These words the Lord spake unto your assembly
in the mouth out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud out
of the cloud, out of the thick darkness with a great voice,
and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables
of stone and delivered them unto me. And it came to pass, when
ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, for the
mountain did burn with fire, that ye came near to me, even
all the heads of your tribes and your elders, and ye said,
Behold, the Lord our God hath showed us his glory and his greatness,
and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. We
have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth."
Boy, that was amazing, wasn't it? Can you imagine God speaking
and the mountain quaking and the flame and the smoke going
up and God's voice speaking? And it made them very fearful.
Now, therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will
consume us if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more.
We shall die. For who is there of all flesh
that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of
the midst of the fire as we have and have lived? Go thou near
and hear all that the Lord our God shall say, and speak unto
us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee, and we
will hear it and do it. And the Lord heard the voice
of your words when you spake unto me, and the Lord said unto
me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people which
they have spoken unto thee. They have well said all that
they have spoken." And here's our problem in verse 29. Oh,
that there were such a heart in them that they would reverence
me, fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it
might be well with them and with their children forever. That's the problem, isn't it?
That's the problem with Israel, the nation of Israel, when they
received this law. That's the problem with us. That's
the problem if you're a Jew or if you're a Gentile. It's the
heart, isn't it? Oh, that there were such a heart
in them to keep these commandments. God knows there was. Now, this
is not a study. I've not come here tonight to
teach the preachers or teachers or theologians. This is a lesson
that comes right down to where you and I live. This is for me. This is for every man and woman
and boy and girl here this afternoon. This is for us. This is where
you and I live in our daily lives. By that I mean this. The Bible
says this. Jesus Christ came into this world
to save sinners. He came to save sinners. But
what kind of sinners did He come to save? If I come around to
each one of you this evening, and I ask you personally, what
kind of sinner are you? What would you say? That's a
good start at it. Would you say, well, I don't
pray like a whore too, I don't read like a whore too, I don't
give like a whore too, but I'm not as bad as I used to be. When you search yourself in the
light of this law, what kind of sinner are you? Are you a
murderer? Are you a thief? Are you an idolater? Are you an adulterer? What kind of sinner are we? That's
what this law does. It searches out, not what we
do with our hands, Not what we do with our feet. But it searches
out the origin of sin. And there's where it finds it
and judges it and curses it. And here's the problem. They
had it. God recognized it. And you and
I have it. We have these two principles. We have this holy principle of
God's law. And we have this principle of
evil. of our nature and of our sin. And you get those two together
and all you've got is cursing and enmity and death. What's our problem when we look
at this law? Let me show you. Look over in
Mark chapter 7. Look in Mark chapter 7. That's why I'm saying that This
study tonight is for everybody. It's not for people who have
been studying the Scriptures or teaching some seminar. It's
for everybody. It's for the children because
it involves everybody. This law involves all of us.
Look here at what he says in Mark chapter 7. And look in verse
18. The Lord was speaking here about
what defiles a man. They thought things that you
ate was what defiled you. You didn't want to eat pork,
the Jews thought, because that defiled you. In verse 18, the
Lord said, Are you so without understanding also? Do you not
perceive that whatsoever thing, whatever thing from without entereth
unto the man, it cannot defile him, because it entereth unto
his heart, because it entereth not into his heart, but it goes
into his belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all
means. And he said, That which cometh
out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within,
out of the heart, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications,
murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness,
an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness, all these evil things
come from within and they defile a man. What kind of sinner are
we? Are we evil? That's a bad word,
isn't it? I think of all the words to describe
us. It's evil. Evil eye, evil pride,
evil covetousness, wickedness, evil adultery. What kind of sinners
are we? If we want to know, we examine
ourselves in the light of this law, because it tells us what
we are in our most innermost being, and that's our problem. That's our problem. Evil. Evil. There's three kinds of people
in regard to this. Those who know nothing of it,
they know absolutely nothing of this. They don't know the
nature of God's law. They don't know the evil nature
of their heart. They never had these two principles
come together. The holiness of God's law and
the evil of their heart. They have no idea what's going
on. Most of the people that you and
I know and run into, they have no idea of the nature of God's
law. And if you don't have any idea
of the nature of God's law, how can you know your own nature?
No wonder men deny the corruption and evil of their hearts. They
know nothing of the holy nature of God's law. That's the first
kind of people. The second kind of people, They're
those who confess this, but they brag about it. They don't take
it serious. They make a joke out of it, or
they excuse it. They laugh about the evil. They
excuse it when they've done something bad. And then there's that other
group of people, a very small group of people. They know this,
and they feel it. And it's their chief burden in
their heart. Evil. When I would do good, evil
is present with me. What kind of evil, Paul? This
kind of evil. The evil of pride, the evil of
covetousness, the evil eye, adultery, fornication, murder, all kinds
of evil being manufactured in our hearts. That's the nature
of God's law, and that's the nature of our hearts. What kind of sinners are we? Man, we'll never know until this
law comes to us in its holiness and purity and begins to search
us out. These two will never cease to
be contrary one to another, the holy law and the sinful heart. You may be a saint. You may love
the Lord, you may believe Him, but as long as you live in this
world, you're going to have a warfare. And here's the cause of it. This
law is continually exposing the sin of this old man. Paul said the law is spiritual,
but I'm carnal. And that's the problem with it.
There is nothing in this old man, there is nothing in this
old regenerate heart that can please, that can satisfy, that
can keep the holy law of God. Now that's the truth. A man may
put a poster out in his yard, may put a bumper sticker on his
car, I love the commandments, I stand by the commandments.
A man may brag about how he keeps them or how he tries to keep
them, but here's the fact. Here's the fact. These commandments,
these moral laws, search out sin of the carnal heart. They don't tell a man how good
he's doing. That's not what they do. They expose the evil of the
heart. And what kind of heart does man
have? The Lord just described it, didn't He? And I'm telling
you, there's nobody that knows the heart like Jesus. He knows
it. Because it's naked and open in
His eyes. I think sometimes I'd almost
be afraid. The Lord showed me my heart. I see enough of it
now, don't you? I see enough of it. Look here
in Romans chapter 3 and verse 9. Romans chapter 3 and verse 9. I think once we begin to study
about the Ten Commandments, the nine especially, Sabbath day,
it represents something to us. It's more ceremonial than moral,
but the other commandments that have to do with the holiness
of God and have to do with our feelings and attitude towards
our fellow man. I think when we begin to study
them and see them, we'll look in the New Testament then and
we'll see when we read about the law, we'll look at it in
a different light then. Look what he says in Romans 3.
He begins here in verse 9, a very familiar scripture. What shall
we say then? What then? Are we better? Are
we Jews better than the Gentiles? No, and know why. We have before
proved in chapter 1 and 2 that both Jews and Gentiles, they
are all under sin. As it is written, there is none
righteous, no, not one. There is none that understands.
There is none that seeketh after God. They're all going out of
the way, they're together become unprofitable. There's none that
doeth good, no not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher.
With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of ass
is under their lips. Their mouths are full of cursing
and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction
and misery are in their way, and the way of peace have they
not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. And what
if I said that you looked at these people and they were the
most holy looking people you've ever seen? What if they're Pharisees? What if they're separated? What
if they're in a cave living on bread and water? This surely
don't apply to them. You know where this sin is coming
from? The heart. A man may keep it from coming
out of his mouth. A man may keep from adultery
physically, but this is the sin that's being produced in the
heart. This is the law looking upon
the heart of a man and examining him and judging him. You may
never see it. Does people see your sin? I hide
it, don't you? I keep it oppressed. I'm afraid
it's going to leak out anyway. But it's there. And here's what
the law says about it in verse 19. Now we know. That what thing
soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty
before God." See why we're looking at this? All the world is guilty
before God. How do we plead guilty? The world
is guilty before God. Those who are beyond the jungles,
Living half-naked, they are guilty before God. We over here with
our great institutions and our cathedrals, we are guilty before
God. Why? We are under the law. It
searched us out. It examines our hearts. It sees
all the sin before it reaches outwardly. And it says, Cursed! You are cursed! I hate you! You are cursed! And that is where
it leads. And how do we plead? Guilty.
Guilty. You say, Bruce, we need to get
our act together. Yeah, we need to get our act
together. Here's the predicament we find
ourselves in. There's nothing we can do about our situation.
We cannot remedy our situation. Three things we need. And let
me give them to you right quickly. First of all, We need redemption. We need redemption. I hope we
understand, after studying this law more and more, and if we've
understood it before, I hope we have been revived and renewed
in our understanding of why we need redemption and what we need
to be redeemed from. If we are guilty before God because
of this holy law judging our sins, then the only way we can
be saved and reconciled to God is by being redeemed from this
law. Look in Galatians chapter 3.
On to your right just a minute. Galatians chapter 3 and look
in verse 10. Galatians chapter 3 and verse
10. Paul says here to the Galatians,
As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse,
for it is written, Cursed is every one that continues 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 the sight of God, it is evident, for the Bible
says in the Old Testament, the just shall live by faith. And
the law is not of faith, but the man that doeth those things
shall live in them. If you're going to have life
by the law, you've got to do what it tells you to do. We've
seen the other impossibility of that happening. One desire. One desire. You're gone. One desire and you're cursed.
If a man could be born holy and live holy all of his life, and
one hour before he dies, he has an evil thought. He's gone forever. He's gone forever. Here's the only remedy, verse
13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us For it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree." You know, men read this, people read these, church
members read verse 13, and they have no idea of the necessity
of what this verse is talking about. You and I realize, don't
we, why we have to be redeemed from the law? Because it curses
us. God has put us under it. He's
put all humanity under this law. We're born under it. The moral
judge of all the earth has given humanity this rule to live by. But it doesn't bless us, it curses
us. Why? Because we're sinners. And
the only way now to be redeemed from the curse of this law, it
doesn't matter who you are, how old or how young you are. The
only way that we can be redeemed from the curse of this law is
somebody who is able and willing and holy to come to this earth
and live in our stead. Lo, I come to do thy will. Thy law is within my heart. Boy, I tell you, there's nobody
like the Son of God. There's nobody like Him in our
humanity. Everything the Lord demanded of him from his very
heart, his motives, his desires. He never desired anything but
the glory of his Father. He despised that which was evil. In the days of his flesh upon
this earth, he lived a perfect, holy, righteous life before this
law. Ain't that amazing? But he didn't
do it for himself. He did it as a representative
of all of those who would ever believe upon him. And upon the
cross of Calvary, he became the substitute. He suffered the penalty
of this broken law. What about those desires that
you have? What about those sinful motives
that you have? What about your idolatry? What
about your adultery? What about your stealing? You
can't be saved at the expense of the law. The law has to be
satisfied for those sins that you and I have committed. And
it was satisfied. On Calvary's tree, the law was
satisfied for those penalties that you and I have committed
against them. There. And the Son of God died. And
that's what it took. And that's what it takes, Larry,
to redeem a man from the curse of this law. There's no other
way. A man is born under it, and if a man dies under this
law, he'll go to hell. He'll suffer under the offer
of God for all eternity. Now, that's no lie. That's no
exaggeration. And there's but one way to be
delivered from this law, and that's to be redeemed from it.
And Jesus Christ has accomplished that redemption. That is the
first thing we need. The second thing we need is this,
and this is just as important, and I can say this, this is just
as important as the cross, and I say that because the Bible
says this, and that is this, we must be given faith to believe
in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who has accomplished our redemption. There is no deliverance from
the law and its curse apart from faith in Jesus Christ. He that
believeth not is condemned, is he not? He that believeth on
the Son of God is not condemned, but he that believeth not is
condemned already. Why is he condemned? The law
condemns him. And the only way this condemnation can be removed
is by believing in Him who redeemed for hell-deserving sinners. Look in Acts chapter 13. Back
to your left just for a minute. This is why you and I preach
the gospel. This is why we seek under God
and through the aid of the Holy Spirit to bring men to faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because if men If men do not
come to believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who accomplished
redemption, they will die condemned under the curse of this law.
There is no other way to be justified. And what does justify mean? Freed
from charges. From what charges? From the charges
of this holy law that have examined our hearts. and found sin being
committed, and have charged us and cursed us and condemned us. And the only way to be from under
that condemnation is to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, look what Paul says in his
message in Acts chapter 13. Look here in verse 38. He had
been preaching Christ, and Christ came, and He died, and the Father
raised Him from the dead and set Him at His right hand. And
here is his conclusion in verse 38 and 39. Be it known unto you
therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sin. And by him, by his grace, by
his power, all that believe in him are justified from all things
from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. Now, is a man justified until
he believes? He's not, is he? He's not justified
until he believes. Well, if he's not justified,
what is he? He's condemned, isn't he? He's
condemned already. And the only way to be delivered
from the condemnation of the law is by a hard faith in the
Son of God who bore your sins and put them away in the days
of His flesh. Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Christ
that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by
the deeds of the law. If you are here tonight and you
are lost, you are condemned, you are under this curse, there
is but one way. There is but one only way for you to deliver
yourself from that curse. and that condemnation, and that's
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Until a man does that,
he's condemned. I don't care if he's elect or
non-elect. He's condemned until he believes
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's cursed. He's under the awful
judgment of God and His law. We need that, don't we? We need
to be redeemed, we must be redeemed, and we must believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Thirdly and lastly is this, we
need even more than that. We need even more than that.
We need a new heart. We need a new heart. We need
a new man within. We can't enter the kingdom without
a new birth. Here's the difference, and I've
often said it, between the lost man and the saved man. A lost
man is one person. He's just one person. He's flesh. He's carnal. A saved man is two
persons. He's this old man. He's this
old carnal man. The law is spiritual, but I am
carnal. But he's also a new man. He has an inner man. He has a
new creature. He's two men. He has the outward
man, and the law is always exposing the sin of this old man. And that's all right, ain't it? Let the law humble this old outer
man, this old carnal man. Let it beat him up, let it beat
him down. That's fine. But there's a new
man. There's a new Christian within. And that's where Jesus Christ
reigns in His grace. And this law has no place in
the conscience of the new man. When sin comes and tries to afflict
the conscience and tries to drive the conscience to despair and
expose the judgment of God to us, here's what we remind ourselves
of. Here's what we convince ourselves
of, that Jesus Christ is our surety. He has been a surety
for us. And though we know we're sinners,
and though we feel the sin, and it burdens us, yet God, for Christ's
sake, has forgiven all our sins and has promised to be a merciful
Father to us. and be merciful to this old man
and the remnant of sin that's in us. Now, how do you deal with
sin when you come to the knowledge of it as a child of God? Well, I'll tell you what you
mustn't do. You mustn't let this law, this moral law, drive you
to despair. Talk to yourself like David did.
He said to his soul, Why are you cast down? Hope in God. I shall yet praise Him who is
the help of your countenance. When this law comes and brings
us to the awful knowledge of our sins and afflicts our conscience,
talk to yourself. Oh, conscience, listen. Jesus
has been a charity for you. He has satisfied the law on your
behalf. He has purged your sins. Fear
not! Christ reigns in His grace. Fear not! This law has no hold
on you. And I tell you, that's the very
way. That's the very way. Not only to ease a screaming
conscience, but that's the very way in which we serve and worship
God in the gospel of His Son. Look here in Romans, last place,
look in Romans chapter 7. The way to be happy is to be
happy in your conscience. The only way you can be happy
is in your conscience is to set Christ there and allow nothing
else there. Don't allow the knowledge of
sin to reign there in your conscience. Jesus Christ has borne the sin.
He has suffered for the sin. He's redeemed you from the curse
of the law. Sin has no place to reign in
your conscience. You say, Bruce, I've done something
awful. Confess it and believe the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses
you from all sin. But sin is not allowed to reign
and domineer your conscience. That's Christ's throne room.
Look here at what he says in Romans chapter 7. Look here and begin in verse
1. I love how the Apostle Paul teaches us about this. Know ye
not, brethren, for I speak to them that know the law, how the
law hath dominion over a man as long as he lives. For the
woman which has none husband is bound by the law to her husband
so long as he lives. But if the husband be dead, she
is loose from the law of her husband. So then, if while her
husband lives, she is married to another man, she shall be
called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she
is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress though she
be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, you also
are become dead to the law by the dead body of Christ." When
Christ died, you died with Him. But that's not all that died. This law died too. You're not under it anymore.
See what He's teaching us? A woman that had a husband, if
she divorced him and married another man, she's an adulteress.
But if he's dead, she's free to be married to another man.
Paul said we're married to another man, to Christ. And the law is
dead because it died when he died. Look at this in verse 4
again. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also
are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should
be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead,
that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in
the flesh, the motions of sin which were by the law did work
in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. We are delivered
from the law that being dead wherein we are held, we should
serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the living. The very way to live a new life
is to set Jesus Christ upon the throne of your conscience, and
you do that through believing Him. And don't let the law, don't
let this legal covenant of the law enter your conscience. Because all it does is expose
sin. By the law is the knowledge of
sin. The law has its place, but not
in your conscience. That's Christ's knowledge. And
you hold Him there in your conscience, and you'll be happy. You'll be
happy. We seek for happiness of conscience.
We seek for liberty of conscience, not liberty of the flesh. We
have to keep the flesh beat down. We have to keep the flesh in
check. But we seek for happiness and freedom in our conscience. Nobody's going to bind our conscience.
And no law is going to bind our conscience. We're bound to Christ
and the laws of his kingdom. And this is the way we serve
God. This is the way we delight in God, and this is the way we
delight in the law of God. You'll never love the law of
God. You'll never delight in the law of God until you're absolutely
free from it. And when it comes to your conscience,
and you let it begin to reign there, I'll tell you what it'll
do. It'll breed contempt for God and for the law. The only
way you can delight in God and delight in the law is to be free
from the law, is to be delivered from the law. And then you can
love Him. Then you can delight in Him.
But bind your conscience with it, and I'm telling you what's
the truth, this enmity will boil over towards God and towards
His law. Set Christ upon your conscience, His redeeming grace
to reign there, and you'll love God, you'll love His law, you'll
love His Word, you'll love His people, you'll love His ways. You say, Bruce, why do you ever
give the law anyway? Just for the reason we've been
studying about. Why was the law added? Because of sin. God bless His Word.