The Law of God, Part 2

Turn with me if you would to Deuteronomy chapter 32. It's a swan song of Moses right before his death He wants to make sure the nation of Israel understand their responsibility verse number 44 Then Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people He with Joshua the son of Nun and when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel He said to them take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today Which you shall command your sons to observe carefully even all the words of this law For it is not an idle word for you.

Indeed. It is your life and By this word you shall prolong your days in the land which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess God's Law is brilliant We talked about that last last week the brilliance of the law of God over and over in Psalm 19 It it says that the that the law of the Lord is perfect and it restores the soul If you need a restoration you go to the law of God It says that that the testimony of the Lord is sure making making wise the simple Those who are easily led astray those who are easily taken down those are who are unable to stand those who are easily shaken Can can be secure why because they are made wise to the Word of God The precepts of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart Your heart can rejoice when you stand in the face of adversity because you know that God's Word is right and if it's right the world is wrong and Therefore you can rejoice over the fact that God's Word is true And writes the commandment of the Lord is pure it enlightens the eyes God removes the scales.

He helps you to understand the the statutes and the decrees of God The fear of the Lord is is clean it endures forever the judgments of the Lord are are true. They are righteous all together from there, we we went to talk about the Importance of the law of God God's Word is important Matthew chapter 5 Matthew chapter 5 verse number 17 says this do not think that I came to abolish the law of the prophets I did not come to abolish but to fulfill that law Back in in Deuteronomy chapter 30 listen to what Moses said in verses 11 and following He says for this commandment, which I command you today is not too difficult for you nor is it out of reach?

It is not in heaven that you should say who will go up to heaven for us to to get it for us and make us Hear it that we may observe it Nor is it beyond the sea that you should say who will cross the sea for us to get it Or to get it for us and to make us hear it that we may observe it But the word is very near you in your mouth and in your heart that you may Observe it see I have set before you today life and prosperity and death and adversity and that I command you today to to love the Lord your God to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments that you may live and Multiply and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it But if your heart turns away and you will not obey but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them I declare to you today that you shall surely perish You shall not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death the blessing and the curse so choose life in order that you may live you and Your descendants by loving the Lord your God by obeying his voice and by holding fast to him For this is your life and the length of your days that you may live in the land Which the Lord swore to your fathers to Abraham Isaac and Jacob to give them Reiterated over and over again the law of God is your life to keep the law of God There is great blessing to disobey the law of God is great cursing is great turmoil is great hardship So we ask what law is still fully in effect today The whole judicial system was only as good as as long as Israel was God's people When they were set aside the system itself was was set aside The ceremonial system was only good until the final sacrifice came When that sacrifice came the system itself was done away with That leaves only one element of God's law still Binding today and that is the moral law of God Which undergirded everything God ever said in this law Will be with us until we see him face to face the moral law of God which leads us to main point number three.

Well, you're on your outline tonight the endurance of that law Matthew 5 verse number 18 Jesus said for truly I say to you Until heaven and earth pass away Not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the law until all is Accomplished three things the statement the span and the standard first of all the statement Jesus says truly Amen Verily Whenever Christ said that and he said at 76 different times He wanted to make sure that You understood that what was coming next Was absolutely faithful and absolutely true Absolutely, I say this to you These words until heaven and earth pass away Not the smallest letter or stroke Shall pass away from the law until all is accomplished span of time is Until heaven and earth passes away Christ says I have come to fulfill the ultimate standard because I am that standard I have come To uphold the standard of Scripture.

You see what had happened is that the the Pharisees had lowered the standard So when Christ comes on the scene, he has to help them to understand that no the standard is not to be lowered It is to be raised And it's to be raised so high that the smallest letter the smallest mark is still valid until heaven and earth pass away and Then when there's a new heaven and there's a new earth You'll no longer need the law of God because everybody will be perfect But until that time its standard stays the same it is the ultimate standard of God That's important to understand Because not only is God's Word important, but God's Word lasts forever in God's Word stands as the ultimate test to man's condition Spiritually would see just a point number four the relevance of the law And we'll conclude with our time this evening with two points This shows us our responsibility This helps us to understand what we are to do Because God's law is brilliant because God's law is important and because God's law endures Forever it is relevant for us today And it's relevant in two areas area number one as a principle for Christian conduct as a principle for Christian conduct Listen to what the Lord says in verse number 19 whoever then Annulls one of the least of these commandments and so teaches others shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven But whoever keeps and teaches them he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven God says look If you break one of my laws if you annul one of my laws if you disallow one of my laws If you destroy them if you release yourself from the obligation of fulfilling get this now any part of my law What you're doing is doing what I did not do and that would make you Christlike or not Christlike you follow me Because in verse number 17 He says don't think that I came to abolish the law with the the the preposition added on the on The front of the prefix in the front kata what it did was emphasize the fact that he didn't come to to Obliterate the law he came to fulfill the law so he says now to us if you think that you can come and lose Yourself from any obligation of that law you are sadly mistaken And by the way He says if you think that you can teach someone else to nullify that or if you think that you can model Not keeping that so others then will not keep that law understand this you are the least in my kingdom but on the other hand if you are one who keeps the law and teaches the law and models that law Then you become the greatest in the kingdom greatest Discussing with our staff the other day the essence of greatness And we talked about it a couple weeks ago.

I believe that teachers Are the greatest in the kingdom of God you say well, I don't have the gift of teaching God didn't say that God said look you got to teach my law and you got to keep my law You're a lousy teacher if you don't keep the law right You're hypocrite, so you're not gonna teach it you got to keep it So whatever way you can teach the law of God to your children to your grandchildren to your two to yours to a study school Class to to a neighbor to a friend whatever you can do to a husband to a wife whatever you can do man If you want to be great the kingdom of God you got to be a teacher Because that's what the Word of God says right and Everybody can do that There's nobody disqualified from doing that He says look I Did not come to nullify the law of God and if you do Then you are least in the kingdom Now that's convicting isn't it?

Because you see if you're normal And you shouldn't be because you're a Christian. You should be abnormal But a lot of us like to look at ourselves as normal.

We we have trouble with God's law sometimes Don't we we don't we don't always want to keep it There are things that rub us the wrong way, you know you read you open your Bible you read say well I sure like that verse and if you had a Some white out with you or an eraser with you you take that verse out of there Because it becomes too convicting, but that's what the Word of God does it convicts us and we have to understand that there are things that we don't like and You know I I gotta tell you that I run into people all the time Who say well you know that though those those are for a different people What what Jesus said was under the law?

We just got to abide by what Paul said So we we read the epistles of Paul What Jesus did what that was under a different dispensation, so we don't go by by that. I hear that all the time in fact I heard it from from from a man who is a the president of a board of One of the major Christian radio stations in Southern, California When I confronted him on an issue about church discipline he said those those are the words of Jesus They don't apply today. I said really He said yeah, we we don't we don't take those as as valid for today I said then we have a problem because because evidently you have a different authority than I do God's Word is my authority all of God's Word.

I don't pick and choose. What part is my authority which part isn't That amazes me See that that that alarms me Because if I can throw out different parts of the Bible I can I can kind of do whatever I want to do And so when I hung up the phone that day I said, I'm really sorry sir, but we had nothing else to talk about Because I believe in the all the Word of God not just parts of it and Therefore I need to subject myself to it. I Would trust that one day you would do the same That's what's the end of our conversation But there's a positive side The greatness of those who keep and abide by the law of God If you're with us on a series on the Ten Commandments, we had a series of messages Someone asked me to send me the tapes on the Ten Commandments and he said how many tapes were there I said 12 He said well, how do you get 12 tapes out of Ten Commandments?

I said well one was an introduction and one one was a tape that dealt why Ten Commandments and If you were with us during that series, we we explained why the Ten Commandments why the moral law of God is so important We said first of all was because it it reflected the personality of the Lord God's law reflects his personality.

That's who he is We said it did it then it goes that it reinforces my iniquity before God You say when I realize that this is who God is and realize I can't meet that standard It reinforces my iniquity before God and there were three it reiterates my accountability to God, right? Because that's his standard. That's who he is. I fall short of that standard. I am accountable to that standard and Then third fourthly it reveals my necessity for God.

I need him. I Can't keep a standard And fifthly it would reassure the quality and longevity of my life That's important There will be those who say well, wait a minute. I Thought we were no longer under the law We're under grace If I had a nickel For every time somebody said that to me I'd be living on the beach in Maui right now I'd be retired man. You'd never see me again man. You sitting back soaking up the Sun surfing every weekend, man. I'd be so rich We're not under the law man. We're under the grace of God And yet I read Romans 7 22 Paul says man, I delight in the law of God I Delight in the law of God.

That's that's a Paul said why Romans 7 12 the law is holy The law is just The law is good You see we we get this paranoia about the law minutes. It's a bad thing, man Oh, man, you can't be done people at the law of God. It's just it's just so burdensome on people Paul said man The law is good The law is just the law is holy why is the law holy because God is holy right I Guess I don't understand. Maybe maybe I'm naive Maybe I mean, I'm just an absolute ignoramus that could possibly be But for me to say that the law of God is a bad thing and you shouldn't teach the law of God to people and let Them understand that God has a standard in which we are to live by.

I Don't understand that the law is a good thing It's not a bad thing. In fact, I like what what Paul says in Romans 8 He says there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Amen Amen, that wasn't a very good. Amen So maybe maybe say that again. I'm gonna read the verse first then you can say it again Okay, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus All right, that's good.

Yeah, when you go say amen, you guys can't line up so it gets on the tape This is now for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death That's good thing You see because the law imposes sin on us and death upon us It makes us see our sin and if we don't meet the standard there is death For what the law could not do weak as it was through the flesh God did set in his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin He condemns sin in the flesh in order that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us Who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit?

Now that's a powerful verse Because God from the very beginning has designed that the law of God be fulfilled in man And the only way the law of God can be fulfilled in man is for God to positionally Make us and declare us righteous before him. The only way that could happen is because he died on the cross for our sins When we accept and appropriate that work on the cross for our sins give our lives to him. He declares us righteous people We therefore have fulfilled the law positionally Now we live a life Enabled by the Spirit of God to fulfill the law Practically read on with me Romans 8 verse number 5 for those who are according to the flesh Set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit the things of the Spirit For the mindset on the flesh is death But the mindset on the spirit is life and peace because the mindset on the flesh is hostile toward God For it does not subject itself to the law of God for is not even able to do so and those who are in the flesh Cannot please God.

However, you are not in the flesh But in the Spirit if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ He does not belong to him and if Christ is in you though The body is dead because of sin yet. The Spirit is alive because of Righteousness, but at the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through a spirit who it dwells in You the whole point of Romans 8 is that what we could not do in the flesh God enabled us to do through the Spirit of God God's Spirit enables us to fulfill the law of God.

We can't do it without God We look at the law of God say, oh man, I can't do that You've got to be kidding me And God says you're right you can do it and expects us to throw ourselves upon him for his mercy and the Spirit of God and dwells man and Enables you to fulfill the law of God in a practical way Allow you to teach it Allow you to keep it Allowing you to become great in the kingdom She no one's great in the kingdom because they think the great the great because God allows you to be great God allows you to keep the word in the law of God.

God allows you to teach the the law of God and so we We understand as Romans 12 14 says that without holiness. No one will see the Lord, right? It's impossible So how are we made holy? by God God knew that you can't come into my presence in an unholy life. You got to be holy So God made us holy people positionally, right? If you live on earth he gave us a spirit to enable us to live out practically that holiness Which leads us to our second point not only is the law of God The principle for Christian conduct it is the prelude to Christian conversion Jesus said in verse number 20 of Matthew chapter 5 these words Unless your righteousness Surpasses that of the Scribes and Pharisees You shall not enter the kingdom of heaven The law of God is that prelude?

To Christian conversion The purpose of a God's law was to show you That you had to have more righteousness Than you could come up with on your own You get that? The purpose of the law Was to show you that you had to have more righteousness than you could come up with on your own Paul said in Galatians chapter 3 verse number 24 The law was our schoolmaster to bring us into Christ that we might be justified by faith Romans 7 7 says that is it is the law that reveals sin Romans 7 8 says it is the law that provokes sin Romans 7 9 is that it is the law that condemned Sin, you see the law is the perfect standard That showed us what our sin is and was and the law showed us that we couldn't be justified apart from Christ and That even the best people the Scribes and the Pharisees along with their religiosity along with their ceremonial rituals Could not earn the righteousness required to enter the kingdom and so the law was given for the purpose of frustrating and Exposing our inadequacy The law wasn't to tell us how good we were But rather to show us how rotten we are Jesus vehemently disagreed With the religious leaders of his day and they hated him because of it He taught that the entrance into his kingdom was dependent upon one's recognition of his wretchedness and They were too self-righteous to even see that they fell so far short of the glory of God One author said it this way The legalists had figured that they were so good there.

There must be something wrong with the law So they changed it It came up with a mass of rabbinical traditions That they could comfortably live by They accommodated the standard to themselves whereas the sinner beating on his breast accepted the divine standard and Realized that he didn't match up So Jesus confronted them and said in effect. I am a king in My manifesto is still the Old Testament standard It is the law of God down to the very smallest letter and none of it has been abrogated It also demands a righteousness out of you that you on your own can never attain They didn't recognize it they didn't want it Satan had blinded their eyes.

I wonder about you. Have you come to the point of your wretchedness? Have you realized that you fall short of God's standard His standard is perfection by the way Absolute perfection And without holiness Romans 12 14 says no one will see the Lord And God is marvelous grace and mercy just asks That we throw ourselves Upon him and say God we can't do it And God says I know but through me You can do anything and I want to enable you to do that It was Charles Spurgeon who said a troubled conscience Cannot be properly quieted Unless the gospel is rightly distinguished from the law but on the other hand There will be no troubled conscience to be quieted Without the law in quote The law was given to troubled conscience Trouble it completely And that's what makes the gospel soul appetizing My prayer for you and for me Is that we would never minimize the law of God never downplay God's law but instead Keep it to the standard that he wants.

It's the ultimate priority in the life of man And he realized that the only way the law of God can be fulfilled in man Is for man to throw himself on the mercy of God So that his spirit would indwell him and enable him to do what only God can do through you