The Perfect 10, Part 1

Turn with me in your Bible to Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20 as we begin talk about the Ten Commandments. This sermon is not politically motivated. This sermon is not about the Supreme Court's decision concerning the public display of the Ten Commandments in our hallways. In fact, let me say this.

I really don't care about the Supreme Court's decision about the display of the Ten Commandments. Because the Ten Commandments are not about being displayed publicly in the halls of our courts. They're about being demonstrated passionately in the hearts of God's people. Big difference there. So whatever the Supreme Court decides is pretty much irrelevant to me because what is relevant is what God says on the issue.

So as we embark on the study of Exodus chapter 20, understanding these ten comm, we're going to look at two points.

We're going to look at the purpose of the law and the precepts from the Lord. This morning we'll look at the purpose of the law.

Next week we'll begin talking about the precepts from the Lord and we'll examine those Ten Commandments. But understand this. How is it that Israel finds him at this place in Exodus chapter 20 and at this time to receive the Ten Commandments? God did not decide that one day He would throw some commands upon his people and surprise them and say, Okay, here are the laws, now you obey them. If you've been with us in our study of the book of Exodus, you know that Exodus chapter 1 begins with Israel in bondage in Egypt.

They were there for some 430 years before God would raise up a deliverer by the name of Moses. And he is basically the topic of our discussion through the book of Exodus. It's all about Moses, a man of destiny. Some three months after they left, they find themselves at the base of Mount Sinai. And it's in this location where Moses had already received his call from God and God had already revealed his character to Moses where now God was going to renew his covenant with his people. And reaffirm his commitment to them as his chosen people.

And so when you come to Exodus chapter 20, God now is going to give to Israel, listen. The very first written word of God.

Now we have in our hands God's Holy Word, and yet to be able to receive for the very first time The written word of God would be an amazing experience for the nation of Israel.

And that's what they were about to receive. It's commonly called the Ten Commandments. What was the dominant theme of God's covenant with His people was that He was their God. and they were His people. He loved them and they in turn were to love Him. That is so important for us to understand. God's commands were given to His people after He delivered them from bondage. After he demonstrated his love toward them by delivering them from their slavery, he said, This is now.

What you are to do. The requirements given to God's people were based on a relationship with their God. And because of that relationship, they now were to follow Him with all of their hearts. W all of their soul, with all of their mind. You see, it's important to understand before we ever begin a study of the Ten Commandments that God has always desired the heart of a man. God doesn't want lip service. God doesn't want people doing a list of do's and don'ts because they have to. No, at the base of God's commands.

Were a relationship between him and his people. And that relationship was a love relationship that would inspire these people to follow their God and to love him. Even more. God is always concerned about the heart. That's number one.

Man has always been saved by grace through faith. Abraham was justified by faith. God's method of salvation has never changed. It's always been the same. In the Old Testament and in the New Testament. It's always been by grace through faith in Christ alone. That's it. God never changes, His standards never change. They've always been the same. And yet, and yet, it's important to note that the Ten Commandments are extremely significant for all of us today. Not as a means of our justification, but as a means of demonstrating that we have been justified.

Important. Whenever you talk about the law of God, you must understand the law of God. So, before we begin a discussion, let me help you decipher between the civil law, the ceremonial law, and the moral law of God.

You must understand this. In Matthew chapter 5, Christ said, I came to fulfill the law and the prophets. I did not come to abolish the law. He fulfilled the moral law through his life. He fulfilled the civil and ceremonial law through his death. You with me so far? I don't want you to fall asleep on me. I want you to stay with me. You need to understand this. That's very important. You see, the moral law of God is the biblical morality, the standard of the Ten Commandments, Exodus chapter 20. That's the moral law of God.

And the moral law of God was given for all man. But the civil law and the ceremonial law was only given to Israel. And God would fulfill the moral law perfectly because He is perfect, He is sinless. And so when he came to this earth, he fulfilled the moral law perfectly because he was incapable of ever sinning. But when he died, he fulfilled the civil law and the ceremonial law. You say, well, what is the civil law? The civil law dealt with the diet and the dress and the personal relationships of Israel one with another.

The civil law was to demonstrate to a pagan society that we are completely different than everybody else by how we eat, by how we dress, and by how we relate to one another. Now while Christ came, listen very carefully, while Christ came and fulfilled the civil law through his death, the principle behind the civil law remains today. Because the people of God are to be significantly different than the world by how they eat, by how they dress, by how they go, and where they go, and how they interact with one another.

That's very important to understand. So the principle behind that's still the same. That's why Christ said, Be ye holy as I am holy. Be ye separate. Be ye distinct. Be different than everybody else. You see, because God's desire is that everybody be different and distinct because they are dependent upon God alone. You with me so far? Are you still with me? Okay? So when Christ died, He fulfilled the civil law because now He says, Look, Israel, you turned against me. Now, I'm going to the Gentile world, and now what I'm going to do is call out another people, the Church of Jesus Christ.

And so the civil law was fulfilled through the death of Christ. The ceremonial law governed how Israel was to worship. And how they worship all pointed to the ultimate sacrifice of Christ Himself. So in Hebrews chapter 9, Christ tells us that he now is that sacrifice that takes away sin. That the ceremony that they practiced in the Old Testament only would cover their sin, but the ultimate sacrifice would be through the Passover Lamb him. Jesus Christ our Lord, who is our Passover, who when sacrificed for us would then fulfill the ceremonial law, and thus that now would be fulfilled by our God.

See that? So now we understand about the moral law of God because you see, the moral law of God, while it was fulfilled through the life of Christ, Was given for all man. And we need to understand that. We need to realize the significance of the law of God. And so I want to give you some principles. I want to give you six principles. Six principles that tell us the purpose of the law. Number one, the first purpose is that they reflect.

The person of the Lord. They reflect the personality of the Lord. The law of God. Is the transcript of the divine mind. The law and the lawgiver are one. In the same. The law of God tells us what God is like. So it reflects to us the personal of our Lord. Exodus 20, verse number 1. Then God spoke all these words. The law was given to reveal to us who God is. Is. It reveals to us his holiness. It reveals to us his perfection. It reveals to us that our God is a consuming fire. Let me illustrate it to you this way.

If I was to ask you why you don't kill, you could say, well, because the Ten Commandments say thou shalt not kill. Kill. But that wouldn't be the right answer. The right answer is because it reveals the character of God, and God is in to life. Not death. God is life. I am the resurrection and the life, God says, John 11:2.

So we realize in John 14, 6, when Christ says that I am the life, the reason he says you can't kill is because he is life.

And those who follow him are in the life. Not death. That's why the Bible says that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.

If you say, why don't you lie? You can say, well, the commandments say, thou shalt not lie. Yes, they do. But they say that because God is what? Truth. God is truth. And if you lie, you align yourself with the character of who? The father of lies. Satan himself. If you tell the truth, you align yourself with the character of the God of truth who lives, who speaks, who embodies nothing but truth. You understand what I'm saying? Now you realize that the Ten Commandments, the purpose of the law, centers around the fact that they reflect.

To us, the personality of our Lord. Over in Romans chapter 7, verse number 12, it says, The law is holy. The commandments are holy and just and good. The law is holy. God is holy. His law is holy. God is good. His commands are good. God is just. His commands are just. So we realize that the purpose of the law is to reflect to us the personality of our L. He says, You shall have no other gods before me. Why? Because there's only one God. There's only one God, there's only one law. And if there's only one law, then you need to abide by that law.

Because it was the God, the only God, who gave it. Number two, it is to reinforce my iniquity before the Lord.

The law of God, if it reflects the personality of the Lord, it will then reinforce My iniquity before the Lord. Having seen God, listen, having seen God, the first thing you see.

Is your sin. Having come face to face with a holy God, you realize how unholy you are. That's why you always got to be leery. These people on TV say, Well, yeah, I saw God, I spoke to God, He spoke to me, yada, yada, yada, and they talk about all these different things. Unlike what happens to those in the Bible who see God, like Isaiah, who said, I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell amidst the people with unclean lips, because I have seen the king. glory. You see, whenever you see God, you see your sin.

It's accentuated, it's reinforced. My iniquity is ever before me because God is so pure and so true and so holy. Not only is God revealed through his law, but my sin is revealed through his law. Listen to Romans chapter 7, verse number 7. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? May it never be. On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the law, for I would not have known about coveting if the law. had not said, you shall not covet. Romans chapter 3, verse number 20. By the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

That's why it's so important that when you preach the gospel, you preach the law of God. Because man has no desire for a savior unless he understands he's a sinner. And when he realizes that he's a sinner, then he cries out to a God for mercy. See, the practical outcome of the law given to Moses was to realize that man can't meet it and is destined to the wrath of God. So that man would plead for the mercy of God, and then God would bestow his mercy upon man. Number three, it reiterates my accountability to my God.

The law of God reiterates my accountability to my God. Listen to Romans chapter 3. Verse number 19. Paul says, Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law. That every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become acc to God. I am accountable to the only true God of the universe. Who has a righteous and pure and holy standard. And if I don't meet that standard, I will be condemned through all eternity. It all deals with accountability. And people don't want to be accountable to anybody, let alone to a perfect standard, which is God's standard.

And yet, on May 10th, 1987, I found it very interesting that Ted Koppel, who is a professed humanist, Said these words to the graduates of Duke Univers. Our society finds truth too strong a medicine to digest undiluted. In its purest form, truth Is not a polite tap on the shoulder. It is a howling reproach. What Moses brought down from Mount Sinai were not the ten suggestions, they were commandments. Not were, he says. The sheer brilliance of the Ten Commandments is that they codify in a handful of words acceptable human behavior, not just for then or now, but for all time.

Languages evolve, power shifts from nation to nation, messages are transmitted with the speed of light, man erases one frontier after another, and yet we and our behavior and the commandments which govern that behavior remain the same. End quote. Now he's right. The only problem with that is that in his effort to receive eternal life, it comes through human achievement, not divine. acc. And you see, we need to realize that the Ten Commandments, the law of God, the moral law of God, reiterates my accountability to God.

Why? Because I will be held to that standard. John chapter 12, verse number 48. He who rejects me and does not receive my sayings has one who judges him. The word I spoke is what will judge him at that last day. Christ says, the words that I speak are the words that will judge man on that last day.

In Revelation chapter 20. It says that when all the unsaved are dead and the books are open, there is a book that records all the deeds. Of the unsaved. All of them. And Revelation 20 says, all those deeds will be read aloud on the day of judgment, Revelation chapter 20. All of them. And Christ will say to the unsaved dead, Depart from me, you who practice. Lawlessness. They might have prophesied in His name. They might have cast out demons in His name. They might have done many marvelous deeds in His name.

But they practiced lawlessness. They lived as if there was no law. They lived as if there was no standard that they were accountable to. And God says, By my words, the words which I speak, that will be the standard of judgment.

So they reflect the personality of our Lord, they reinforce my iniquity before my Lord, and they reiterate my accountability to my L. My Lord. Number four, the purpose of the law reveals my necessity for the Lord. Reveals my necessity for The Lord. Remember over in verse number 18 of Exodus 20. And all the people perceived the thunder, and the lightning flashes, and the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, and when the people saw it. They trembled and stood at a distance. Then they said to Moses, Speak to us yourself, and we will listen, but let not God speak to us, lest we die.

They were fearful as to what God said because they knew they fell short of that standard. And we can't meet the standard. And God knows you can't meet the standard. Only he could be the standard. That's why he had to die for your sins and for mine. You see, the law of God never help anybody. The law of God just made you helpless. That's it. Made you helpless. Because the law of God. Can not rem sin. It only is meant to reveal sin. See that? So therefore, The law of God will reveal to me my necessity for the Lord.

I need you, Lord. I can't meet this standard. It is an impossible standard to meet. I can't do it. Galatians chapter 3. Verse number 24 and 25. The law has become a tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come. We are no longer under A tutor. The law was meant to lead us to Christ. The law was meant to show us our sin. The law was meant to show us we need a savior. That's why God gave the law. Steve Hernandez McGee says this: when you see your hopeless condition, the law then becomes the one who takes you by the hand and brings you to Christ.

Christ is the one who kept the law, and because he died on the cross, paying the penalty for your sin, it is possible for a holy God to accept you without lowering the standard. The penalty is paid, and now he can receive you: a vile sinner, a lawbreaker, a transgressor, and bring you into the presence of God. But the reason so many people don't come to Christ is because we go to them and, you know what? You need to come to Jesus and He'll fill you with joy. You need to come to Jesus, He'll fill you with hope.

You need to come to Jesus and you're going to be so happy and so joyous. This is going to be great. You need to give your life to Jesus. And people say, well, why do I need to do that? I get joy in the world. You need to come to Jesus because you need to be loved. I got love. Well, you need to come to Jesus because you need hope. I got hope. See, they think they have hope and joy and peace and love in the world. They're always looking for those things to fulfill their emptiness. And they come to Christ on those terms.

Or you present the gospel in those terms, and we realize people don't repent. Why? Because you haven't put their life up against the law of God that says you don't meet it. Can't make it. You're a sinner. And you need Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. You need to give your life to Christ. And that's what's so important. The cross of Christ frees us from the law's condemnation. It does not free us from the law's obligation. Romans chapter 8. Verses 1 to 4, express that to us. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did, sending 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. So the law of God is fulfilled in us. The requirement of the law is fulfilled in us because of Jesus Christ our Lord.

So the purpose of the law is to. Number one, reflect the personality of our God. Number two, to reinforce my iniquity before my God.

To reiterate my accountability to God. To reveal my necessity for God, and number five, to reassure, to reassure the quality and longevity of my life as I serve God. To reassure the qual and longevity of my life as I serve God. What 's the first commandment with the promise?

Anybody know? Honor your father and mother. Honor your father and mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you. Paul would repeat that in Ephesians, right? Those who honor their mother and father live long and live well. Mark it down. That's very important to understand. Those who honor their father and mother live long and live well. God said so. And understand this. Over In the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 28. Before I read that, let me read to you James chapter 1, verse number 25.

But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, And abides in it, not having become a forgetful her, but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in all that he does. Deuteronomy 28, I won't read it to you because of time this morning, but Deuteronomy 28, verses 1 to 14, talk about how God will bless his people because of their commitment to fulfill the law of God in their lives. It reassures the quality and longevity of my life. And number six, it reminds me, reminds you of our priority to our family.

The law of God reminds me of my priority to my family. The Bible says, after God gives the commands, Moses records, These words which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart, and you shall teach them diligently to your sons.

And shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead, and you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your g. In Deuteronomy chapter 6, Moses says, you need to teach these diligently to your Children. That's the priority in your family. To teach the commands of God to your children, that they might understand. You need to live those commands, you need to model those commands.

You need to teach them conspicuously, creatively, continuously, constantly, because they need to know that God's Word is the supreme authority of your life as a parent. You need to do that. And that's the purpose. Of the law of God. And by the grace of God, may God grant us the mercy to live in accordance with His Word. Let's pray.