Why was the law given? Oh, it's okay. You can actually, you can answer. Yes. To show us that we are sinners and we need a savior. Yes. Okay. Now here's the, here's the $64 question. Which book of the Bible says that? Galatians Chapter 3. OK, very good. Very good. Which book of the Bible tells about the giving of the law? There are two books in the Bible that recount how God brought the children of Israel to Mount Sinai and gave them the law and he spoke from Mount Sinai. What are the two books of the Bible that describe that event? Exodus, right? Exodus Chapter 20. And the other one is? Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter five, Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy chapter five, that's right. Very good. I'd like to ask us to begin this evening by going to the book of Acts, the book of Acts, Acts chapter six. Acts chapter six and we have talked about this each time. I'm sorry. Acts chapter 15. Acts chapter 15. We've talked about this each time that we've gotten together and that is the purpose of the law was never The purpose of the law that God gave to Moses was never a set of rules that a person was supposed to keep in order to get to heaven. That was never the intention. If we read, especially the account there in the book of Exodus chapter, well, the whole book of Exodus, but particularly Exodus chapter 19, where we have the children of Israel arrive at Mount Sinai and the Lord calls Moses up into the mountain And he tells Moses that if the people will keep his covenant, then they will be a peculiar treasure unto him and they will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. That was sort of the preamble of the law of Moses. Nothing said there. about individual salvation. It had to do with a covenant that God was making with those descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give them the land and to bless them and prosper them and give them security if they would obey. So that was the point of the covenant, the physical point of the covenant there. The spiritual point of the giving of the law was to show them that they needed the Savior, to show them that they were incapable of fulfilling the requirements of the law. Are we in Acts chapter 15? We may be saying, why are we in Acts chapter 15? Well, here we are in Acts chapter 15, and we're in Acts chapter 15 because in the early church, after Christ had ascended and gone to heaven, we have a problem in the church, and that's this. The members of the church, the apostles, were people that had grown up under the teachings of Phariseeism, and they had grown up under the instruction that the way to be right with God, the way to be qualified to spend eternity with God in heaven, is to keep the law. And so that was in their minds, even though they knew that Christ had come, died and paid for their sins and that salvation was through him, they still had this mentality, they still had this way of thinking that if you're going to be one of God's people, you're going to have to be a keeper of the law. And so there arose this great controversy and that's this, the apostle Paul was going out and he was preaching Christ to the Gentiles. So the question is, did those Gentiles have to become Jews in order to be qualified to go to heaven and in order to be qualified to be members of the Lord's new institution, the church? So they got together and they had a big conference about it. And they determined that no, the Gentiles do not have to become Jews. All right, and that's another thing for us to keep in mind as we're looking at the at the law of Moses, we're not looking at God's instructions that we have to become Jews in order to be qualified to be a to be saved or to be a member of his house. No. But I want us to come here and notice something that James said. In Acts, chapter 15, verse 18. known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. So going all the way back into eternity past, God knew that the way people were going to be reconciled to him and be forgiven of their sin and be prepared to spend eternity with him was going to be through the payment that Jesus would make on the cross. God knew that from before the foundation of the world. And he planned that salvation was going to be only through Christ. He planned that from the foundation of the world. And James alludes to that here in Acts, chapter 15, verse 18. Peter talks about it in first Peter, chapter one, verses 17 through 20, that Christ was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. So whenever we're looking at God giving the law, he was not giving the people a set of instructions by which they could be saved. So he gave it to them because he was wanting to teach them their their sinfulness. But something else that he was doing with them is that he was putting in written form that that the the knowledge of good and evil that they already had in their conscience. People all around the world, no matter what country they're from, no matter whether they've been exposed to the Bible or not, people all around the world know there's a spiritual realm. They know there's an ultimate authority in that spiritual realm and they know what's right and wrong. And there are some, you know, some minor differences here and there, but there is the same concept of morality all around the world, whether people have been taught it in the Bible or have not been taught it. from the Bible. And that comes from our conscience, which comes from Adam and Eve having partaken of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So people know that they have that idea of what's right and wrong. In fact, come with me to the book of Romans. In reference to that, come with me to Romans chapter five in Romans five. And again, all of this is review. On the one hand, this is this is review. On the other hand, it's introduction. So but here we are in Romans chapter five. Come with me to verse 12, Romans 5, 12. The scripture says. Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. For until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. Now, let's go back and take a little bit closer look at the legalese of the Apostle Paul here. By one man, sin entered into the world. Got it. Adam sinned. Before Adam sinned, there was no sin in the human race. Sin had not disrupted God's good world at that point. But Adam sinned and sin entered into the world. And when sin came, death came. God had told Adam the day that you eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall surely die. And so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. Now, I want you to notice that that verse says, death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. It doesn't say death passed upon all men because of Adam's sin. I've been asked before, well, what do you think about the idea of original sin? And my response is, here's my thought about original sin. That's not a biblical term. The biblical perspective is that Adam sinned and he passed on that propensity, that urge to sin to his children. But each person dies spiritually because they choose to sin. And Paul talks about that in chapter 7 when he says, I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. But anyway, let's go back here. So death has passed upon all men, you and me and everybody in the world, because we choose to sin. Until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses." Okay, so here we are. Adam, we have Adam here, and Adam sinned, but when did the law come? Well, the law came with Moses. The law came later on. Okay, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. People are not held accountable for their sin if there's no law for them to violate. I remember as a young man, There was not a speed limit on the highways in Nevada. At least that's what my parents said. That's why as soon as we crossed the boundary and hit, crossed over from California into Nevada, instead of going 65, we were doing 85, just sailing through there. But because sin is not imputed when there is no law. So you could drive as fast as you wanted to. But nevertheless, From Adam to Moses, people sinned, and between Adam and Moses, people died, right? In fact, one of the biggest judgments of God upon sin happened between Adam and Moses, didn't it? The whole human race was wiped out, except for one man and his family. What was the name of that man? Noah, that's right. So that is evidence that there was some kind of law between Adam and Moses, it just hadn't been handed down from Mount Sinai yet. But the law of sin and death was there. The law of sin and death based on God's nature has existed from eternity past and will exist into eternity future. So the people who sinned between Adam and Moses, they died even though they didn't go to the garden and eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil the same way Adam did. They did their own sins. The scripture tells us that in the days of Noah, every imagination of the thoughts of their hearts were only evil continually. So God saw that there was violation of his law. So what happened with Moses? The law didn't start with Moses. Again, the law simply was a codification or codification, the writing down of the consciousness of what people already had in their heart. So what's the benefit of God doing that for us? What's the benefit for us? We're not gonna be saved by keeping it, so why should we bother even knowing it? Well, the scripture tells us in the book of Romans chapter two, and while we're in Romans, go ahead and turn a page or two over there. In Romans chapter two, he says this in verses 17 and 18. Behold, thou art called a Jew. and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, and knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law." See, the Jews knew the will of God. How did they know that? How did they know the will of God? According to this, you know his will, being instructed out of the law. Whenever we look at the law, and specifically we're talking here about the Ten Commandments, the moral basis of God's law, it shows us the will of God. It shows us what God wants us to do. And what does the law teach us to do? In a nutshell, remember, a man came to Jesus and said, Master, what is the great commandment in the law? Or in other words, Master, what's the priority of commandment in the law? And the Lord told him two priorities, didn't he? One is to love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. And the other is to love your neighbor as yourself. So when we're looking at these instructions that are given here at Mount Sinai, the Ten Commandments, the moral foundation of the law, what we're seeing is this is what love looks like. This is what love looks like. If you love God, then that love is going to produce in you, it's going to produce in me a recognition of God's authority. that God should have my loyalty and my devotion above everything else. And if I love God, I'm going to be faithful to him. The second commandment, of course, is do not bow down to idols. Don't make graven images to bow down to them. Instead, we are to be faithful to worship and serve only the Lord. That's because of our love for God. Don't take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Why is that? Well, when we love God, we want to speak of him and treat him honorably. Any reference that we have to him is going to be respectful and honorable to him. And if we respect and honor God, then we're going to remember what he did. And the Lord, that's, of course, the idea of the Sabbath. They were supposed to observe the Sabbath to remember that that the Lord made everything in six days. And he rested the seventh day and he told them to rest the seventh day in remembrance of what God did. And there's a special responsibility on the people of Israel to observe the Sabbath. And we won't go there, but but in Exodus chapter 31, verses 12 through 17, the Lord explains to the children of Israel that the Sabbath is a token of the covenant that God has with the nation of Israel. And it's a sign to them. It's a reminder every seven days our nation has a covenant with God that requires us to pause. That's the idea of Sabbath. It's the pausing or the cessation, the stopping in honor of the Lord. So that's the four commandments of what's called the first table of the law. The second table is God's commandments in regard to people. If we love people, what does that look like? Well, the fifth commandment, of course, is to honor your father and mother, honor your father and mother. And that's that's the idea that that relationship of father, mother and child, that is that's a holy, sanctified relationship. And if we're going to love people, well, As they say, charity starts at home. Charity starts, and that should be the first place that we love people, is to love our parents. and to honor and respect them. So this is what love looks like. And as we saw in Ephesians chapter six, verses one through four, the apostle Paul reiterates those instructions to tell children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. This is the first commandment with promise, honor thy father and thy mother. And then he goes on to say, doesn't he, And you fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." So there's a two-way street here. We as parents need to be honorable. And then the sixth commandment is thou shalt not kill. And we've spent a little bit of time last time discussing this, but I'd like to review this because this is a very difficult one in some respects. Because what we have here in Exodus and also in Deuteronomy is thou shalt not kill. But whenever Jesus talked about this, whenever he met the rich young ruler, that that said, good master, what good things shall I do that I might have eternal life? And the Lord told him, keep the commandments. And of course, we know from Galatians chapter three, the reason the Lord told him to keep the commandments is he wanted that rich young ruler to realize he was a sinner. Because if he didn't realize he was a sinner, he wasn't going to see his need to trust Christ as his savior. So the first thing is, the Lord had to get him lost before he could get him saved. So he says, well, what does the law say? And well, I'm sorry, in this case, the rich young ruler said, well, which commandments do I need to keep? And the Lord told him, thou shalt do no murder. Thou shalt do no murder." Instead of just saying kill, the Lord said, you shall not, you shall not murder. And this distinction between killing something and murdering, killing someone and murdering them is clearly delineated in the law itself. So come with me again to the book of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter 19. And we'll start here in verse one and read down a ways. Well, actually we'll begin in verse four. But what's happening here is that the Lord is telling the children of Israel that when they come into the land of Canaan, they need to, whenever they've taken possession of the land, they need to set aside three cities at different places in their land so that if someone, is guilty of manslaughter. If someone inadvertently kills someone, they have a place that they can go to for refuge until there's a trial. Let's go to verse four. This is the case of the slayer, someone who kills someone, which shall flee thither to one of those cities that he may live. Whosoever killeth his neighbor ignorantly, whom he hated not in time past. And when a man goeth into the, as, when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth off the helve, or the handle, and lighteth upon his neighbor that he die, he shall flee to one of these cities and live. Okay, so the avenger of blood, which is actually the kinsman redeemer, the Gael, is going to come to avenge the blood of his relative. And the person who killed someone inadvertently can go and find a place of refuge, and then they have a trial. And that person is not to be executed because, as it says here, whom he hated not. He did not hate his neighbor. So there's a difference between killing someone or slaying someone accidentally with no malice and murdering someone. So there are people who will intentionally kill someone. For instance, a police officer. in chasing down the bad guy, and the bad guy wants to have a shootout with the policemen. The policemen are authorized before God to kill that man. Romans chapter 13 talks about that. The powers that be are ordained of God and they bear not the sword in vain. Soldiers. Soldiers that are at war killing the enemy soldiers. Those soldiers that are at war killing enemy soldiers are there to defend their country. As it has been said, soldiers go to war and kill the enemy not because they hate the enemy who's in front of them, but because they love the people that are behind them. And so it's not a matter of hatred, it's a matter of protection. And in the same way, a man that's protecting his family, if there's a burglar or somebody that breaks into the home, and a man doesn't know if he intends harm or not, and he kills that person who is threatening their home, That man did not kill that intruder with malice and hatred in his heart. He is protecting his family. That is a different situation. Plus, the Lord, of course, told the children of Israel to to offer animals for sacrifice and to eat them and things of that nature. So we just needed to have a little clarification of that because because folks can go to the extreme and miss the point of God's commandment there. If you love people, You don't carry malice in your heart toward them and carry hatred in your heart toward them. That ultimately can result in killing them. Love also manifests itself in the relationship of marriage. Marriage was God's idea. God is the one that established marriage there with Adam and Eve. The Lord looked and saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone down there doing the job that God gave him to do. So Adam, the Lord made Adam a helper that was perfectly suited to him. to help him accomplish the job that God had given him to do. And that's still God's plan today. And that's why God has marriage still going on today. That institution is going on today. Now, I see some youngsters here today. And at my age, youngsters is anybody under 40. So you youngsters, as you may be considering marriage, marriage is not all about a warm, mushy feeling that you have towards somebody. But in God's plan, marriage is putting together a man and a woman to make them a team to serve the Lord together as a team. And he puts together people that are suited to one another. And in the same way that God brought Adam and Eve together, the Lord is still able to bring a man and a woman together. But in that relationship, that's a covenanted relationship. We saw that in the book of Malachi chapter two. She is the wife of thy covenant. You have a covenant with her. You have an agreement there. You have a contract with her. And of course, in our country, it's a spoken contract, whether it's done before the justice of the peace or it's done before the church or whoever it's done before. there's a contract there that is intended to last for life. And if someone is unfaithful to that covenant, then they're guilty of a word that means unfaithfulness, which is the word adultery. And then, so what does love look like? Love looks like a firm commitment to your spouse. That's what love looks like. It looks like faithfulness to your spouse. And as it has been said, not to confuse another man's wife with yours. And then the eighth commandment is, of course, thou shall not steal. And what does love look like there? Well, love looks like you leave other people's stuff alone. You don't take it from them, you don't mess it up, you don't vandalize it. People have the right before God to have their property and to be secure in their property. And let's look at a couple of scriptures on this. One is Ephesians chapter four, Ephesians 4.28. So, you know, this is a kind of a big deal, isn't it? Thou shalt not steal. I know some of us were taught if you go to somebody's house, don't touch anything. Right. Or when you go into the store, don't touch anything. Keep your hands behind your back. You know, don't Don't reach out and take something and perhaps break it or put it in your pocket or something like that because that store or those people, that family has the right to be secure in their property. Ephesians 4, 28. As Paul is talking to us about what the Christian life should look like, he says, let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth. So God's plan. is that we work to provide for ourselves and to have enough to turn around and to help other people. That's God's plan. So God wants people to be secure in their provisions. Proverbs 14, 23 says, the talk of the lips, excuse me, it says there is profit in all labor, but the talk of the lips tended only to penury. Penury is poverty. But there's profit in working, but just sitting around talking that just leads to poverty. God wants us to to provide our needs through labor. And then. The ninth commandment, of course, is is thou shall not bear false witness. And again, Ephesians chapter four, verse twenty five tells us, wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. So love looks like this. You tell people the truth. You don't lie to them to deceive them. In fact, Proverbs 12, 22 says lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. So the Lord wants us to be people that are honorable. When we say we're going to do something, we do it. When we give an account of what we did, we're being honest about it. Proverbs 11 11 says a false balance is an abomination to the Lord. So so we can we can be deceitful, not just in our words, but deceitful in the way that we that we do things. You know, the false balance would be. Back in the day when they weighed things with balances, you know, me having a balance here that says one pound, but it's been hollowed out, it actually only weighs eight ounces, and I put that thing on the scale, it says one pound, and then I'm gonna measure somebody a certain amount of wheat on there, and sure enough, there it is. The weight on the balance says one pound, but it's actually only a half a pound, right? So that's lying, that's lying. And then finally, the last one is, thou shalt not covet anything that is thy neighbor's. And the idea there is that God wants us to be content with what he has given us. I'd like to ask us again to come to Hebrews chapter 13, Hebrews 13, five. So love looks like, recognizing the right that people have to be secure in their property. Love looks like people getting the truth when we talk to them. You all know what I'm talking about. You've had people lie to you, haven't you? Yeah, and it's confusing. And it's a painful thing. It's an unhappy experience when someone lies to us. God, if we love people, then we want them to know that what they've heard from us is true. And Hebrews chapter 13, verse five. Notice what he says here. Let your conversation be without covetousness. Remember, the 10th commandment is thou shalt not covet anything that is your neighbor's. So he's actually discussing that 10th commandment. Let your conversation be without covetousness. And instead of coveting, be content with such things as ye have. For he hath said, he here is the Lord, isn't it? For he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. So if I have a need for something, God's plan is for me to do the work necessary in order to honestly get what I need. and not to sit and say, well, I wish I had what so and so has. I wonder what I can do to get that from him, you know, and plot in the heart to take away something that belongs to him, but instead to be content because the Lord has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. So love looks like allowing people to be secure from us coming up with strategies to take their stuff away. Well, God's commandments show us God's will. We want to follow these because, well, as we read through here, we say, yeah, that's right, that love does that. I want to love people the way that God wants me to. You know, sometimes we think that loving somebody is all about getting a mushy feeling and, you know, give them a hug or something like that. And it does include that. I'm not saying there's something wrong with being affectionate. But there comes a point where we have to treat people in a way that's loving in our day-to-day life. So what we've seen here, according to Romans chapter 2, is we've seen the will of God. This is how God wants me to behave toward people. This is what the love of God looks like in my behavior towards certain people. Love produces certain attitudes and behaviors. I'd like for us to close here by going to Matthew chapter seven. Matthew chapter seven, the Lord in the Sermon on the Mount refers to this as well. Matthew chapter seven, and come with me to verse 12. Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them. For this is the law and the prophets." When we treat people the way we want to be treated, then we don't want people conniving how they can take things away from us. We don't want people lying to us. We don't want people stealing things from us. We don't want people to be unfaithful in their marriage. We don't want our children to be disobedient to us. And we don't want to be disobedient to our parents. So if people treat us the way we want to be treated, if we treat people the way we want to be treated, then Jesus says, this is the law and the prophets. So this is what the this is what the commandments teach us. And this changed everything for the children of Israel and really for the world, because people have this standard in their minds. You know how we are. We have things rolling around in our mind. But but what the Lord did here at Mount Sinai was he laid it all out. And now it's unmistakably clear, not so that we can be saved by obeying it, but so that we can know how God would have us to to live. Well, let's bow for prayer then. Dear Father, thank you. Thank you for the wonderful scripture here, Lord. There is so much. Father, I pray that you'll help us to understand it and to apply it into our lives, Lord, and help us to be people that truly love people with the love of Christ. and treat people with respect and honor, just because that's what's in our heart to do, because we have the love of God there, but also so that we can have an excellent testimony to them that they might see the love of Christ manifested in our treatment of them, ultimately, Father, so that we can share the gospel of Christ with them. And they will hear it because they see a difference in how we live the love of God. Well, Father, we want to ask your blessing and we pray in Jesus's name. Amen.