Good evening, y'all. Let's bow for a prayer and we'll get into our message here. Dear Father, we come before you again, thankful to you, Lord, for your eternal love and compassion on us, Father. It seems like, in a sense, the older we get, the more we realize our unworthiness before you. We become more and more aware of our shortcomings. But we're so grateful to You, Lord, that Your love for us is not based on our performances, but just based on the fact that You love us and You would manifest Yourself to us if we love You and seek to obey You. We want to ask now Your blessing on our time together. Thank You for Your word. We ask that You would open up some of the riches of it to us tonight, and we pray in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Brother Otis, there you are. You're in your spot. Brother Otis always looks over to me after we sing a couple of songs to wanna know, should we sing another one? And I always say yes, but it just occurred to me tonight that isn't there a song that says, sing them in, sing them in, sing them in from the fields of sin. So we're gonna sing until everybody gets here sort of. But anyway, we're glad to have everybody here tonight. Thank you so much. We are looking at a pivotal passage of the scriptures. Pivotal passages of the scriptures. There are like key mountaintop events. I guess you could say where you come up here and you get a view from this point of things. And then you come over here and you get a view from this point. Or you could look at it as things are rocking along and then boom, Here's an event happens that changes everything. And then you kind of rock along for a while and then boom, here's another event that changes everything. And one of those was the giving of the law. Whenever the children of Israel came to Mount Sinai, they had been enslaved for 400 years. And the Lord brought them out. He released them from bondage in slavery, and he was going to take them into the promised land. And the Lord knew. The Lord knew. He had made the covenant with Abraham, the covenant of promise. that the Lord was going to give them the land, that he was going to give Abraham's seed the land. But in order to be qualified to inherit that land and live there forever under the blessings of God, those people would need to be righteous. people that are sinful, people that are motivated by selfishness and pride and disobedience. Those people cannot be in a setting in which they can receive the blessings of God. We need to be righteous, which means that we need to be in conformity to God's will. We need to have the same motivation of love that God has, and we need to manifest that motivation of love in our thoughts and our words and our behavior. And we're not that way. We're not righteous. We're not like the Lord. We don't conform to his standards of thought and will and behavior. And yet the Lord promised to give Abraham that land and that he and his seed would have it forever. Our problem is that, again, we're not qualified to receive that blessing. So God has to make us righteous. And can anybody tell me, how did the Lord make Abraham righteous? Go ahead. Right, and it's Genesis chapter 15 verse 6, isn't it? Would you all turn there please? Genesis chapter 15 verse 6. And first person that gets it, go ahead and read it out loud there if you want to. So Abraham believed in the Lord. Abraham Believed in the Lord and the Lord counted it to him for righteousness. Now, what does that mean? He believed in the Lord. Does that mean that Abraham just suddenly agreed that God exists? No, we have the definition of what Abraham believed in the Lord. We have the definition of believed there, don't we? The apostle Paul explained it to us in the book of Romans in Romans chapter four. And I'd like to ask you to turn over there to Romans chapter four, verse 20. to see exactly what does that mean that Abraham believed in the Lord. And he counted it to him for righteousness. Genesis, I'm sorry, Romans chapter four, beginning in verse 20, verses 20 through 22. So if somebody has that, you can read that please. of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was also able to perform. And therefore, it was imputed to You see, this is the inspired commentary on Genesis chapter 15, verse six, isn't it? This is explaining when Abraham believed in the Lord, what was going on in the mind of Abraham. And let's look at that one more time. He did not stagger at the promise of God through unbelief. Okay, so Abraham's response to God and God's promises was not a response of unbelief. Abraham's response to God's promises was belief. But what does that mean though? What does that belief mean? He was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform. That was Abraham's response to God's promise. He was convinced, he was fully persuaded, which means he was convinced that God would keep his promise to him. And therefore, it was imputed to him for righteousness. So Abraham was qualified to receive the promises of God because he was convinced that God would keep his promises. And that's what biblical faith is, and that's what it means to to believe in the Lord and have it accounted unto you for righteousness. But people are not inclined to believe that. We're inclined to think I can receive the blessings of God in my life by being good. I have the ability to get my thoughts under control, to get my words under control, to get my actions under control, and then God can bless me because I'm doing so good. That's how we tend to think. So one of the most important things that the Lord has to do for us is that he has to convince us that we're sinners. He has to convince us that we are absolutely helpless and hopeless to be acceptable in his sight based on our own ability. And see, that was the problem that the Jewish people in Paul's day had. Come with me to Romans chapter 10. Just a few pages over, Romans chapter 10, verse one says, Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge for they being ignorant of God's righteousness. and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth." Do you see what was the problem that the Jewish people had even at this time? They were going about to establish their own righteousness, and they hadn't given up on their own righteousness and submitted themselves to God's provision of righteousness through Christ. So one of the most important things that the Lord has to do to us to get us to a point that we will stop trying to establish our own righteousness, one of the most important things that we have to do is come to the realization that I am absolutely, completely morally bankrupt, destitute, completely wicked and sinful and unworthy of God. Now, the person that reaches that point is a person that can be saved. Do you remember Jesus said, I did not come to call the righteous. I came to call sinners to repentance. So the only people that are not qualified to be saved are those who see themselves as righteous. They don't see that they have a need for grace. Now come with me to 1 Timothy chapter one, please. So this is why the law was given. First Timothy chapter one, and we'll look at a few scriptures on why did God, if God made the promise to Abraham and if Abraham was qualified to receive the promises of God and to inherit the things that God had promised, if Abraham was qualified for those things because he believed in the Lord and God counted to him for righteousness, then why did the Lord take the children of Israel and institute among them this covenant of law, this covenant of rules and regulations? First Timothy chapter one. And then we're going to go quickly to Galatians chapter three, but let's come here to first Timothy chapter one. And we're going to begin here in verse three, first Timothy chapter one, verse three. Okay. So here we are. We're a long way from Mount Sinai here. The Apostle Paul has written this letter to Timothy, and the book here says he was in Laodicea whenever Paul wrote it. But Paul left Timothy at Ephesus. So Timothy was one of Paul's partners, one of the people that was in the fellowship of the Apostle Paul, going from place to place, carrying the gospel, establishing churches. And Paul had left Timothy in Ephesus. Verse three. "'As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus "'when I went into Macedonia, "'that thou mightest charge some "'that they teach no other doctrine, "'neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies "'which minister questions rather than godly edifying, "'which is in faith, so do.'" So do as I charged you, that you might charge some that they teach no other doctrine. Now the end of the commandment, or the end of the charge which I have given you is this. is charity out of a pure heart and of good conscience and of faith unfeigned. Do you see that's what, that's the goal of our instruction as believers in Christ is charity, to be motivated by the love of God out of a pure heart, a good conscience and of faith unfeigned. From which some having swerved have turned aside under vain jangling. So some folks have turned aside from God's plan for our life, a life that manifests the love of God. Some have turned aside from that unto vain jangling. They're just making noise. Desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm. But we know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully. Okay, this is such a significant statement. One of the pitfalls that many believers in Christ fall into is the pitfall of what's called messianic Christianity, in which people try to live according to the law of Moses, thinking that that's going to draw them closer to God if they'll observe the Passover and observe the Feast of Weeks and if they'll dress the way that they were supposed to dress and things of that nature and try to be a Christian that follows the Old Testament law. And that really is a pitfall. There are Christians that fall into that thinking that somehow living by the instructions of the law of Moses, they're going to be closer to God. But the truth is, that's not why the law was given. The law was not given so that believers in Christ would live like Jews. No, the law was given to the Jews to show them their need for Christ. The law was a step for a believer in Christ to say, OK, now I've accepted Christ. Now I need to start living like a Jew. That's a step backward. The idea is that God gave that law to the Jews so that they would realize their need for Christ. And then they would live their life trusting in the Lord, following the example of Father Abraham. But we know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully. So it's not lawful to use the law to try to bring believers in Christ under that Mosaic system. Knowing this, okay, now he's gonna describe how to use the law lawfully. Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men's dealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust." So according to the gospel, the purpose of the law is to show sinful people how sinful they are. That's the purpose of the law. And the Apostle Paul explains that some more in Galatians chapter three. Let's go there to Galatians chapter three, where Paul explains that as well. Galatians three. In verse 17 again, This I say, then, that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was 430 years after, cannot disannul that it should make the promise of none effect. Now, this is a reference to to verse 16, where it tells us that that God made promises to Abraham and to Abraham's seed. So the covenant of the law does not nullify the covenant that God made with Abraham. Verse 18. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise. But God gave it to Abraham by promise. Wherefore, then serveth the law. For what purpose is the law? Here's the answer. The law was added because of transgressions. till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. And it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Why was the law added? Because of sins. The law was given to because the Jewish people were sinful. And whenever we say the Jewish people were sinful, you know, we can point to them and say, well, those Jewish people are sinful. But as soon as I point that one finger to them, I see three more coming right back at me. because the very sinfulness that they had is the very sinfulness that we have. If you've got a big cloth here, like this, and you take your scissors and go snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, and say, okay, here's the Jewish people. Well, they're cut from the same cloth that we are. They're just like us and we're just like them. So it was added because of transgression, not only to show the Jewish people their sin, but to show us our sinfulness. Verse 21, is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid. For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But there was no commandment given. that people could obey that would give them spiritual life. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith, which should afterward be revealed. Verse 24. Wherefore, the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith. I wanted to just clarify that because we're going to finish looking at the commandments tonight, the Ten Commandments. And I just want to make it really clear, we're studying the Ten Commandments, but we're not studying them with the idea that, yeah, if we can just obey these, man, then we'll be perfect with God. Now, what we're doing is we're looking at the commandments that God gave the people of Israel there, the Ten Commandments, which was the moral foundation of their nation. The Lord is showing us what the love of God looks like. Y'all remember, whenever the lawyer came to Jesus and asked him, Master, what is the great commandment in the law? What two commandments did Jesus point him to? Go ahead. What's the great commandment? Thou shalt. Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul and strength, and the second commandment is like unto it, which is to do what? Love thy neighbor as thyself, right? And then Jesus went on to say, on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. So what we're looking at when we come to the Ten Commandments is this, we're looking at what what the love looks like. What does it look like to love God? What does it look like to love the neighbor as oneself? And the 10 commandments have two sections. The first section, commandments one through four are called the first table of the law. And those are the commandments regarding God. What's the first commandment? The first commandment is to have no other gods before the Lord, right? And the idea behind that commandment is God's authority. Nobody, no person, no authority, no object of worship is above God. God is the top authority. And the second one is God's identity, isn't it? Don't fall down and worship idols, graven images. No, only worship the Lord. The third one is, can you all tell me what does the third commandment say? Thou shalt what? Not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. That's right. God's honor. God should always be spoken about and thought about honorably, honorably. Don't don't use God's name in a way that dishonors him. And then the fourth one, of course, is the the keep the Sabbath. Keep the Sabbath, God's memorial, a time to set aside to pause, stop what you're doing and consider what God has done. But now we're coming to the second table, the instructions regarding people. Instructions regarding people. And let's go there to Exodus chapter 20 and we'll use that. When the children of Israel received these Ten Commandments, how did they initially receive these Ten Commandments? Did God send them a text? And they all pulled out their phones and, hey, I got this text. OK, how did they receive the Ten Commandments initially? Okay, here they are, they're standing at the base of Mount Sinai, right? Moses told them, stand back, stand back. And then what happened? Right, the fire and the smoke came down on Mount Sinai and then the voice came that spoke the commandments. The people of Israel heard the voice of God speaking these commandments to them. So here we are, the fifth commandment. Honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. So that fifth commandment points out the holiness and the honor and the sanctity of the family. See, whenever he says, honor thy father and thy mother, there are three beings involved there, three people involved there. You've got the father, you've got the mother, and the one that's going to honor the father and the mother, that's the child, isn't it? So when you have a father, a mother, and a child, you've got the family there. And the family, of course, is the first relationship that we have with people. Our very first relationship is our relationship with our parents. And we're born into the family. Of course, that's God's plan. In this world of sin and disaster, sometimes people are born and they don't get connected to their biological parents, do they? or maybe at some time they're separated from them. But God's plan is that children are born into a family, and that family is a place of protection and a place of instruction for them. And the Apostle Paul teaches us that, doesn't he, in the book of Ephesians, chapter 6. Let's quickly go over there and take a look at that, Ephesians 6. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor thy father and thy mother, which is the first commandment with promise, that it may be well with thee and that thou mayest live long on the earth. And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. So this is a two-way um, responsibility, isn't it? The parents have responsibilities to their children and the children has the responsibility to honor their parents, to lift their parents up, you know, to honor. If somebody's honored, uh, well, for instance, you know, if we were to say, okay, well, this evening in our services here, we're going to take a moment here and we're going to, we're going to honor brother Lonnie Devins. Just because he's just because he's so beautiful. All right, so if we did that and we said, OK, tonight we're going to honor Brother Lonnie. Well, that means that we're going to lift Brother Lonnie up above everybody else to receive our attention. Right. And to receive to receive our devotion and willingness to to please him. Right? So that's the idea of honoring. It's to lift up in a good way and to lift up to seek to please. Well, the idea here is that we're to honor our parents, honor your father and mother, lift them up above your relationship with others and seek to please them. Treat them with respect. So that family relationship is a very holy and sacred relationship before God. The sixth commandment, thou shall not kill. And of course, this points out the sanctity of human life, doesn't it? When the Lord recounted the commandments for the rich young ruler, come with me to Mark chapter 19, verse 18. I'm sorry, Matthew chapter 19. If you've got a Bible with Mark 19, you've got the wrong Bible. Matthew chapter 19, and look here at verse 18. This this this man came to Jesus and said, what good thing shall I do that I might have eternal life? And Jesus said, keep the keep the commandments. And I'm giving you the quick version here. And he saith unto him, which Jesus said thou shalt do. What does your Bible say? No murder. No murder. See, the Lord commanded the children of Israel to kill, didn't he? They were commanded to kill the Passover there when they were in the land of Egypt and to take its blood and put its blood on the doorpost and then eat it. Well, that was that was killing, wasn't it? But the commandment says thou shalt not kill. And then whenever the Lord sent the children of Israel into the land of Canaan, they were told to kill them, to kill the inhabitants of the land of Canaan, weren't they? So when the Lord here gives the commandment, thou shalt not kill, the idea is not don't you dare swat that fly. You know, it's not don't kill anything, and it's not even don't kill a human being. It's the idea of murder. the idea of murder. In the book of Romans chapter 13, the scripture tells us that we should be obedient to the powers that be, submit to the powers that be, for they bear not the sword in vain. So why are the law enforcement carrying, of course, their sword today has the trademark Glock on it. So why are they carrying that gun? Is it just to show? No, they're authorized to use it. They're authorized under God to use deadly force. So the idea is not merely not to kill, but the idea is murder. I'd like to ask you to come with me to the book of Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy, we have another one of those inspired commentaries. You know, the best commentary on the scripture is the scripture itself. For those of you that want to study the Bible, you should put that down in your head. The best commentary on the Bible is the Bible itself. Here we are, Deuteronomy chapter 10, I'm sorry, Deuteronomy chapter 19. And we'll read here verses one through 10. When the Lord thy God hath cut off the nations whose land the Lord thy God giveth thee, and thou succeedest them and dwellest in their cities and in their houses, thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of thy land, which the Lord thy God hath given thee. giveth thee to possess it. Thou shalt prepare thee away and divide the coast of thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee to inherit into three parts, that the slayer may flee thither. And this is the case of the slayer, which shall flee thither, that he may live. Whoso killeth his neighbor ignorantly, whom he hated not in time past, As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand fetches a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve or the handle, and lighteth upon his neighbor that he die, he shall flee into one of the cities and live, lest the avenger of blood pursue the slayer while his heart is hot and overtake him because the way is long and slay him, whereas he was not worthy of death in as much as he hated him not in time past." We'll just stop right there. Do you see the issue is the hatred, wasn't it? Killing somebody with malice and a forethought. Intentionally killing a human being because of malice and hate. That's what he's talking about when he says, thou shalt not, thou shalt not kill. Let's move on. Move on quickly. And then the next commandment, the seventh commandment, is thou shalt not commit adultery. God is the one that established marriage. In Genesis 2, we have the account of how God made Adam and he gave him a great responsibility and that was to dress and keep the garden and to give names to the animals and all of that. And the Lord looked down at Adam doing that, and the Lord said, it's not good that the man should be alone. I will make and help meet for him. I will make a helper that is suitable to his need. And then the Lord knocked out Adam and made Eve and brought her to Adam. And they too became one flesh. And so marriage is God's idea. In the book of Malachi, and I want to ask you to turn there with me to Malachi chapter two. Malachi chapter two, verses 13 and 14. What we're going to see here is that this marriage relationship is not merely a matter of somebody liking each other and deciding, well, we're going to stay together here for a while, it's convenient. No. Malachi chapter 2 verses 13 and 14 say this, Yet you say, wherefore? Now, wherefore what? Well, what was happening here is that the people of Israel were coming to the temple and weeping and crying and asking God's forgiveness for their sin and seeking to draw close to God. And God says, I'm not going to pay attention to you or and I'm not going to pay attention to any of your offerings, your sacrifices. And yet you say, wherefore? Here's the Lord's answer. Because the Lord has been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth against whom thou has dealt treacherously. Yet is she thy companion and the wife of thy covenant. So whenever a man enters into marriage with a woman, there's a covenant made. There's a contract. There's an agreement there that God sees and God recognizes. And because they had what the leaders of Israel and others of Israel were doing at this time is that they were taking the law and saying, well, I'm unhappy with this woman, so I'm just going to, you know, legally bring this contract to an end and turn and marry someone else. And the Lord said, you are dealing treacherously with the wife of thy youth, with the wife of thy covenant. And yet did not he make one? Is it not God that put the man and the woman together and said the twain shall be one flesh? Yes, that's God's plan. That's God's way of doing it. Yet he had the residue or the excellency of the spirit. In other words, God has the better idea than what people do. And wherefore one? that he might seek a godly seed. Therefore, take heed to your spirit and let none deal treacherously against the wife of his youth. For the Lord, the God of Israel, saith that he hateth putting away." And we'll stop right there with that. So adultery is unfaithfulness to your covenant, the covenant that you made before God, the covenant that God recognizes, the covenant relationship that God established and adultery is being unfaithful to that covenant. I know that we live in a time where our nation is awash in this kind of thing. You know, even in churches, we live in a time where people are, I don't know, it's just, tiresome, tiresome all of the sexual innuendo that surrounds us, you know. The scripture says in Proverbs 7, 10, that there is such a thing as the attire of a harlot. There is such a thing as a woman dressing in a way in order to stimulate a man's physical interest in her. And we're surrounded with that kind of thing right now. But God gives us the ability to be faithful. And if we've been unfaithful, God forgives and gives you an opportunity to get started and go down the right path and stay on the right path. But we'll have to stop right there. It's already two minutes after. Well. We'll finish these up next time we get together. But again, I'd just like to close by emphasizing, as we read these 10 commandments, if we're looking at them honestly, we don't look at them and say, yeah, I do that one, and I do that one, and I do that. I've got a little problem with this one right here, but the rest of them, I'm doing good. Okay, a person that does that is a person that's not being honest with himself. and not being honest with God. And the reason that God gave us these commandments is so that we could look at them and say, woe is me, for I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips or unclean heart, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips and unclean heart. I need a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.