Sermon

Prophecy Countdown _ The Decalogue and God_s Dilemma _ Doug Batchelor)

Evangelical Bible Church

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  1. S. S. Spece.

  2. Good evening, friends, Welcome again to Prophecy Countdown. I want

  3. to welcome those joining us across the country and around

  4. the world, and the various television networks also listening on

  5. the radio. Thank you for being a part of this

  6. Bible study experience. We want to agree to our friends here

  7. locally in the Fort Worth area, thank you for coming

  8. out tonight. Very important subject that we're going to be

  9. studying together this evening. But before we get to that,

  10. I'd like to tell everyone about a free gift, a

  11. digital download.

  12. It's easy to.

  13. Get a book entitled does God's Grace Blot Out the Law?

  14. This is our free gift. All you need to do

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  19. somebody else. Now, in addition to the books and the resources,

  20. we also have the study guides. And if you don't

  21. have a copy of tonight's lesson, you can just go

  22. to the Prophecycountdown dot tv website and you can download

  23. tonight's lesson. It is entitled The Decalogue and God's Dilemma.

  24. That is our title for tonight. You'll see that QR

  25. code on your screen. Just scan the QR code and

  26. you'll be able to download a copy of tonight's lesson.

  27. In addition to that, we are translating these programs live

  28. into various languages fifteen languages in all with the use

  29. of AI and we actually translating it live.

  30. So if you would like to get a.

  31. Program in a language that maybe you are more familiar with,

  32. please visit the website Prophecycountdown dot tv and you can

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  34. would like to give a special message to those who

  35. are viewing in the fort Worth, Dallas area. We of

  36. course uplinking this from Fort Worth and if you're in

  37. the area, we have a number of host sites that

  38. are also participating in this meeting. You might be wondering, well,

  39. is their host site near me? Well, there's a good

  40. possibility there is. We want to encourage you to go

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  42. dot org. You can scan the QR code and use

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  45. be wondering, well, I'm watching it now, why do I

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  47. that you'll receive at the host site that you won't

  48. be able to get just by watching the programs. So

  49. please check out that website and find a local host

  50. site connect with them, and you'll be blessed. Now, of course,

  51. we have a theme song that we like to sing

  52. every night, and I know those of you are watching.

  53. You sing along with us.

  54. Let's stand as we sing our theme song.

  55. Beautiful beautiful, Hey man, let's sing together, beautiful, be beautiful, beautiful.

  56. Jesus is beautiful, and Jesus makes beautiful things.

  57. Oh bye, carefully touching me, carefully touching me, cause by

  58. your eyes to see Cheus face, beautiful things of my life.

  59. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Let's sing, sir, you all right,

  60. a bunch.

  61. Wonderful lord ful that is oneful face.

  62. And the things of.

  63. Earth, and the things of earth will grow strange made.

  64. In the light of His glory and the grace.

  65. Amen, you will sound good this evening. Our prayer tonight

  66. is going to be brought to us by Pastor Michael.

  67. Let's just bow a head for prayer.

  68. Are the God in heaven. We praise you, and we

  69. thank you for this beautiful, wonderful privilege and opportunity for

  70. us to study your word together. We thank you for

  71. the freedom that we can do that in this great nation.

  72. And Lord, I'm also grateful that we don't have to

  73. beg you, but we can simply claim your promises. O. Lord,

  74. we believe that it is your desire for us to

  75. learn and to understand your will. And you have called

  76. us to your profits, your God, who is the same

  77. to everyone, so there is no limitations when it comes

  78. to ages, colors, and language. And so Lord, tonight, I

  79. pray that as your word being delivered, that it will

  80. not return to you void. Tony, I pray for the

  81. outpouring of your holy spirit within this place. May you

  82. speak to us, May you help us if we open

  83. our hearts and receive what you have instored for us.

  84. We asked us in Jesus name, we pray, Amen.

  85. Please be seated. Before we get to our Q and

  86. a time, We're gonna have.

  87. A beautiful, beautiful musical item entitled God, I look to you, my.

  88. Fate for father.

  89. And prayer and your tendermer season light o realver.

  90. With no wind.

  91. Wells cols mine say.

  92. Each time I come to your presence a standing waer's upga.

  93. Okay, because your grace it still massa Your love it's

  94. s love misty.

  95. And each day.

  96. I fall on mine.

  97. Because your race still maus be, your grace still.

  98. Mase, Oh paychant.

  99. Save you you made me hold You are the author

  100. and the healer of my soul.

  101. Agity, Lord, what should I say?

  102. I know there's no way se repay, only to.

  103. Off for you, my pard prest.

  104. Because your grace.

  105. It's still mazes.

  106. Your love it's still lonely story. And each.

  107. I follow mine because you're grace still a mass miasable,

  108. your grace still maze.

  109. Its bad's wider, it's strong, bird, it's hot, it's deeper, it's.

  110. Strong, it's wide.

  111. And theything my aunt seem long.

  112. Grace it's still low bass, You're love, it's still ostory.

  113. Each day.

  114. I'm following man, because you're great still bas is.

  115. Your grad stllbays maz.

  116. Thank you Jackie and Ryan, beautiful music, Amen, good evening, everyone,

  117. Welcome to Prophecy countdown question time. That's right, now, how

  118. do you post the question? Well, they're going to put

  119. up a QR code for our friends here also for

  120. those who are watching. Just scan the QR code. I

  121. think we've said that one hundred times passed the UG.

  122. Scan the QR code for everything the free offer of

  123. the questions. We're going to make it easy. Just scan

  124. that QR code and you can post your Bible question.

  125. And I'm still waiting for it to pop up here.

  126. I'm sure it will in just a few moments. Well,

  127. we've got some great questions that have come up past

  128. the UG and we're going to get right to it.

  129. Last night you spoke about well, Lucifer spoke about the

  130. birth of evil. So the first questions that we have

  131. are dealing with that subject. Some follow up questions that

  132. people had. Number one, I heard that Lucifer was a

  133. great musician. Is their biblical evidence for this?

  134. Well, do we know that angels sing? The Bible tells

  135. us an angel singing rejoice over one sinner that is lost.

  136. If Lucifer is the chief of the angels and he

  137. would be the choir director, you can read in Ezekiel

  138. twenty eight it says thy tabarts and thy pipes were

  139. prepared in me from the day that you were created.

  140. The word pipes it means voice or song. Do we

  141. believe that there can be God inspired music? When David

  142. played for King Salid drove away the evil spirits. If

  143. there can be God inspired music, does it make sense

  144. there can be evil inspired music? Yeah, you got God

  145. inspired music drives the devil out, and then there's music

  146. that drives the devil in. But the devil understands the

  147. power of music. You can be sure of that. And

  148. Satan was probably the leader of the heaven choir.

  149. Okay, next question that we have what Satan cast out

  150. of heaven before or after Adam and Eve were created.

  151. Well, that's a very important question and it takes a

  152. little bit of study. A few years ago, Amazing Facts

  153. did a program called con Cosmic Conflict. You can see

  154. it for free on YouTube. It was a documentary and

  155. we had to do some research, and we're pretty convinced

  156. that the war in heaven and Satan being evicted from

  157. Heaven happened before our world was created, because Adam and

  158. Eve had been warned about staying away from the Tree

  159. of Evil right there in the Garden of Eden. There

  160. was already the existence of this enemy that was going

  161. to try to tempt them. So we believe that that

  162. rebellion happened before the creation of our world.

  163. Next question, does the devil know our faults?

  164. No?

  165. This is one big difference between God and the devil.

  166. I believe it's First King's Chapter eight, verse thirty nine.

  167. God and God only knows the thoughts of men's hearts.

  168. The Bible tells us that God knows what you're thinking.

  169. You can pray to God in your heart like Neemiah

  170. did Jesus in Mark chapter two. It says Jesus knew

  171. what they were thinking. Jesus knew what the disciples were

  172. arguing about on the road. God knows what we're thinking.

  173. Will be judged not only by our actions, but by

  174. the motives of our hearts. So all things are naked

  175. and open to the eyes of Him with whom we

  176. have to do. I'm quoting Hebrews here. But the devil,

  177. he can tempt you and look at your expression and

  178. try to make a very educated guess on whether he's

  179. getting through. How many of you are married that sometimes

  180. you can tell what your spouse is thinking. See and

  181. we can read minds, but you know, you know some

  182. and for a while. And the devil, just like God,

  183. has guardian angels that protect and God a Satan's probably

  184. got angels appointed to us at study our character, our weaknesses.

  185. He knows what things would tempt us. They know our

  186. body language, and they can take a pretty educated guess

  187. on if they're getting through now. The devil can influence

  188. your dreams. The devil can put a thought in your mind,

  189. but he cannot read your mind because when he tempts us,

  190. he puts thoughts in your mind.

  191. Does that make sense?

  192. Okay, you're a quiet group.

  193. Here, all right?

  194. Next question, how can I live a pure life? Kind

  195. of ties in with our subject last night. How do

  196. I live a pure life when I'm surrounded by so

  197. much immorality in the media and on social media?

  198. Important question, And it is true, this is a difficult age.

  199. Satan has been studying the weakness of humanity and trying

  200. to accelerate evil more and more. As we near the

  201. end of time, Jesus said, one of the signs of

  202. the end, love would wax cold. The evil men, Paul said,

  203. speaking of the last as evil men and seducers will

  204. wax worse and worse, and sometimes we're just absolutely shocked

  205. at the depravity of the human heart, and we see

  206. the disconcern of men for their fellow humans. How do

  207. we live holy lives in this kind of an environment.

  208. When Jesus was born in Nazareth, when Philip told Nathaniel,

  209. we've found the Messiah of whom Moses and the prophets

  210. did speak, Jesus of Nazareth, Philip said, can anything good?

  211. And I'm sorry, Nathaniel said, can anything good come out

  212. of Nazareth? Nazareth had a reputation for being the wrong

  213. side of the tracks. And if Jesus could grow up

  214. and live a holy life in Nazareth, then you can too.

  215. You know, a swamp that's filled with slime and scum,

  216. a lily can pop up with a white flower in

  217. that environment. It's just amazing. And so it doesn't matter

  218. what your environment is. Blessed are the pure in heart.

  219. They will see God. You become like what you focus on.

  220. And even though we may be surrounded with the world

  221. with all kinds of evil influences, you can choose to

  222. fill your mind with the word of God. Enoch walked

  223. with God in a world that was so wicked that

  224. God destroyed it, but he still walked with God, and

  225. so did Noah. And you can walk with God just

  226. before the second Coming.

  227. All right, next question that we have, this is an

  228. important question. We do get this from time to time

  229. on the radio program. Can people who commit suicide be saved?

  230. Yeah? That's a very sobering question. And when I answer that,

  231. I'm thinking of two groups. I'll just tell you. We

  232. get calls on the radio program people ask can a

  233. suicide be saved? Sometimes it's a young person thinking of suicide.

  234. They want to know, can I commit suicide and still

  235. be saved. I'm very careful to tell them that is

  236. a bad idea, because the Bible says without faith, it's

  237. impossible to please God. And if the last act of

  238. a person's life is faithlessness, and the last act of

  239. a person's life is self murder, that does not bode well.

  240. But then there are people who call and they ask

  241. can a suicide be saved? And they're thinking of a

  242. loved one that got discouraged, or maybe they were under

  243. the influence of some chemical change in their body or

  244. some great tragedy and they took their life I think

  245. there are exceptions. God looks at the circumstances. And Pastor

  246. Ross and I have had some members that were going

  247. through tremendous pain because of cancer and they were ready

  248. to take their lives, and they never would do that

  249. under normal circumstances. And so I think God he looks

  250. at that. And Samson was a suicide, but it lists

  251. him in Hebrews eleven as being among the faithful. He'll

  252. be in heaven. Last act of his life was being

  253. filled with the spirit. He said, Lord, let me die

  254. with the philosines. He pushed down the building on himself

  255. and the enemy. So I guess you could argue that

  256. was a sacrifice, but he took his life.

  257. Okay, that we have How long will be the tribulation?

  258. And I think it's talking about the last of the

  259. great tribunal?

  260. Right, Most Christians agree there is a great final tribulation.

  261. Jesus said, there will be a time of trouble such

  262. as there never has been since there was a nation,

  263. even until the same time. And he said, read Daniel.

  264. The prophet you read in Daniel chapter twelve says in

  265. verse one, at that time Michael will stand up the

  266. great Prince that stands for the children of thy people,

  267. and there will be a time of trouble such as

  268. there never has been. And so we all agree there's

  269. a tribulation. People want to know, is it before the

  270. second Coming? Is it after a secret rapture? When is it?

  271. We'll get to that another time. You're asking how long

  272. is it? We don't know. Some have said, well, we

  273. believe it's going to be seven years of tribulation. They

  274. say that because they take a prophecy in Daniel chapter nine,

  275. called the four hundred and ninety year prophecy. Daniel nine

  276. talks about the final week, and they take that final

  277. week off of the four hundred and ninety years and

  278. they float it down at the end of time. Others say, well,

  279. because there were seven days that Noah was in the ark,

  280. even after the door was shut, So they say, you know,

  281. a day is a year. Maybe it'll be seven years

  282. of tribulation. Others say, well, maybe it'll be three and

  283. a half years, because it seems like that's often a

  284. period of time of great persecution, like the famine in

  285. the days of Elijah. We don't know. I'll tell you

  286. it does say in Revelation all of her plagues will

  287. come in a day, and a day in the Bible

  288. prophetically is a year. That means within one year all

  289. those plagues may come in rapid succession. There are two

  290. times of trouble. There's what you call a small time

  291. of trouble. That's when you cannot buy or sell, and

  292. they'll be persecution. Probation is not closed. The saints are

  293. going to be sharing their faith and many will be converted.

  294. Some will leave the church during that tribulation. But then

  295. when the great tribulation happens, probation has closed, saved or saved,

  296. and the lost or lost when the seven last plagues fall.

  297. We don't know exactly how long that will be.

  298. Okay, Another question dealing with time. Where in the Bible

  299. does it say that it took Noah one hundred and

  300. twenty years to build the Ark.

  301. It does not say that specifically. Most scholars believe that

  302. was the period of time because you read in Genesis six,

  303. God says, my spirit will not always strive with man.

  304. His days will be one hundred and twenty years, and

  305. the next verses talks about God choosing to destroy the

  306. world in calling Noah and giving him the dimensions of

  307. the arc, so it's presumed there were one hundred and

  308. twenty years from that point until the flood came. Peter

  309. refers to that in Second Peter, Chapter three, but he

  310. doesn't mention one hundred and twenty years. The life of

  311. Moses was one hundred and twenty years, broken up in

  312. three phases. Forty years in Egypt, forty years in the wilderness,

  313. forty years bringing people from Egypt to the Promised Land.

  314. So some have thought that Noah had one hundred and

  315. twenty years. That seems like a long time, but keep

  316. in mind Noah lived nine hundred and sixty five years,

  317. I think, so it was comparatively short. All right.

  318. Another question that we have, why is the Book of

  319. Enoch not included in the Bible?

  320. Good question because in the Book of Jude, Jude quotes

  321. from the Book of Enoch. But why isn't the whole

  322. Book of Enoch in the Bible. Well, most scholars agree

  323. the Book of Enoch is not written a book that

  324. was written by Enoch that was handed to Noah that

  325. made it through the flood. It was sort of an

  326. apocryphal book that was written by a devout Jew during

  327. the Babylonian captivity, and there were evidently some inspired statements

  328. in the book that Jude quoted from. It didn't mean

  329. the whole book was inspired. And Paul sometimes quotes from

  330. even contemporary authors and poets. That doesn't mean that those

  331. poets were all inspired. Sometimes there's an excerpt that is

  332. inspired that a prophet may choose to quote from. How

  333. many of you have read the book Pilgrim's Progress by

  334. John Bunyan. I'll tell you there's a lot of inspired

  335. statements in that book in my opinion, but it's not

  336. the Bible, so it's an allegory. The Book of Enoch

  337. was an allegory, and Jude chose to quote from part

  338. of it. It should not be included in the sacred

  339. Canon of Scripture. All right, next question.

  340. In the last few minutes you have passed that I'm

  341. ten years old and I want to know what do

  342. I have to do to be baptist? Here's the question,

  343. And I want to know do I have to be

  344. baptized to be saved?

  345. Well, of course there will be a lot of children

  346. in heaven that maybe died or the Lord came before

  347. the age of accountability, and they weren't baptized and of

  348. course they'll be in the kingdom when you reach the

  349. age of accountability and you accept Jesus. Part of that

  350. process is making the public commitment to Christ. Baptism symbolizes

  351. a way washing way of sin, and you should be

  352. You should do that in cooperation with your parents, studying

  353. with the pastor you should have Bible studies and know

  354. what the commitment means. People, someone, I'll just let you

  355. write down a question. What is the age of accountability?

  356. And we'll leave that for another question. But do we

  357. have a study where we're going to talk about baptism

  358. and the commitment and what it means to be spirit filled?

  359. So we'll wait for the full answer for that question.

  360. All right, maybe i'll ask question passed the eg will

  361. we be able to visit the planets when we go

  362. to heaven?

  363. Well, you know it doesn't say in the Bible, but

  364. how many of you have sung that song Rock of Ages?

  365. Rock of Ages? Yeah, it says we will sor to

  366. worlds unknown. No, that's not scripture, but I believe it's true.

  367. I don't, especially when you look at the James Webb

  368. telescope and the Hubble telescope and they keep thinking they're

  369. going to find the edge of the universe, and they

  370. find it just goes on and on, and they are

  371. seeing galaxies that have billions of stars. As far as

  372. we can see into space. God has an infinite universe.

  373. I believe we will not be quarantined to this planet,

  374. but we will be able to soar to worlds unknown

  375. and see God's unfallen universe.

  376. All right, Well, that's it for our questions for this evening. Again,

  377. it's easy to ask a question. Just scan the QR code,

  378. or if you don't have the QR code, go to

  379. the website. It's just Prophecy Countdown dot tv and there

  380. is a link that you can click on that says

  381. submit a question and that'll take you to the same

  382. app where you able to type in your question. And

  383. we're going to try and answer as many questions as

  384. we can from.

  385. Night to night.

  386. Well, we have been so blessed with our musicians with

  387. pastor Ryan Johnson, and we got Jackie Jackie Jewel got

  388. mixed up, almost had our last name. First, I thought,

  389. well that's not right, but Jackie Jewel at the piano.

  390. We ready to appreciate the music and we'll be blessed

  391. with another beautiful musical item.

  392. Lord prepares our hearts for the messages evening. This is

  393. a little song of praise that we would like to

  394. teach you. We're gonna sing it a couple of times,

  395. and they will invite you to sing it with us

  396. on the final time.

  397. Goes a bit like this.

  398. I will love you, Lord, my stray. I will love

  399. you Lord my she and I will love you Lord, my.

  400. Rock forever all my days. I will love you Lord,

  401. I will my story, I will my she, I will love.

  402. My walk.

  403. Forever my days. I will.

  404. You love.

  405. Let's try that. I will love you, Lord my Story.

  406. I love you, Lord, my Shield.

  407. I will love you, Lord, my Shep, and I will

  408. love you my Rock. I will love you, Lord, my Rock.

  409. Forever all my days.

  410. I will love you Lord.

  411. Forever my days, forever, all my days. I will love

  412. you forever, all my days. I will love.

  413. You.

  414. I love you, Love and ilve my go.

  415. To ship you.

  416. All my soul. Great take tore mokey.

  417. World.

  418. You may be a sweet sweet Amen.

  419. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

  420. Tonight, we have a very important subject. It's lesson number four.

  421. For those of you who are watching you can download

  422. the lesson. It's entitled The Decalogue and God's Dilemma. You'll

  423. find in the Book of Revelation there's two groups of people,

  424. those who worship God and keep his commandments and those

  425. who worship the beast power and keep the traditions of

  426. this power. We're going to learn about that tonight.

  427. Welcome once again friends to the Prophecy Countdown program. And

  428. I want to give a special welcome to those of

  429. you who are faithfully coming here in Crowley, Texas near

  430. the Fort Worth area. Also want to welcome all who

  431. are watching online or three abm AFTV, YouTube, Facebook, and

  432. this message is going out, you know one of these nights.

  433. What we need to do is we need to capture

  434. some of the programs that are going in another language,

  435. because it's entertaining to see me speaking Hindi and Chinese,

  436. because what they do is they actually capture my voice

  437. the resonance. It sounds like me, and then they have

  438. me speaking other languages and I could watch that for hours.

  439. It says really fun. So we may show you a

  440. sample of that. But yes, if you go to the

  441. website Prophecy Countdown dot tv, you'll see where you can

  442. click on the language and you can listen to these

  443. programs in fourteen fifteen different languages and text your friends

  444. around the world. You know, Jesus said the Gospel of

  445. the Kingdom will go into all the world to be

  446. preached to every nation and tongue. And that that is

  447. happening in your hearing friends. It's wonderful. Tonight we have

  448. a very important presentation talking about the Decalogue and God's dilemma. Now,

  449. the word decalogue is another word, it's mor of, an

  450. an older term for the Ten Commandments. A decca means

  451. ten log logos words, the ten words, the ten Commandments

  452. and the dilemma. And I like always start with a

  453. little amazing fact. The largest man made stone that we

  454. know is in Lebanon, and it's actually a series of

  455. stones called the Balbuck stones. Now, these stones can be

  456. found under what was an ancient temple, a Roman temple

  457. built in the first one hundred years AD. It was

  458. dedicated at one point to Jupiter and to Bacchus and

  459. their different gods. But the foundation stones were bigger than

  460. anything else the Romans had ever done. And the Romans

  461. used to brag about their architecture and their Colosseum and

  462. their aqueducts, but they never in their history mentioned these

  463. stones that were the biggest stones, because it's believed these

  464. foundation stones were there and they just used it and

  465. built on top of it. And so the question is

  466. who was it could build these enormous stones. One of

  467. the stones is the biggest man made stone in the world,

  468. sixty five feet long, rectangle, carved twelve feet wide eighteen

  469. feet estimated at sixteen hundred and fifty tons. It is

  470. absolutely massive and for some reason, the largest of the stones.

  471. They carved it, but they never finished moving it to

  472. its site, and there's something of a mystery there. And

  473. you know, as I travel around the world, I love

  474. to go and videotape amazing facts and different locations. They've

  475. got some megal massive stones that were carved. We don't

  476. even know how they did it. You go to South

  477. America where the Inca Indians were living, and they have

  478. stones that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle and you

  479. can't put a razor blade between them. I've been inside

  480. the Great Pyramid and you see the weather has not

  481. worn the stones on the inside. You can see it's

  482. all fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. You think it's

  483. like laser cut. How did they do it? How did

  484. they move them? I was an island in the South

  485. Pacific called Ponnapee in Micronesia. Anyone here ever heard of Pawnapey?

  486. And I've made two trips there. And they've got a

  487. place called nan Madal where they built this. They called

  488. it the Venice of the Pacific. It is a stone

  489. his own city that was abandoned before the natives ever

  490. got there. And it's made out of these basalt stone logs.

  491. Some of them are like, you know, fifty feet long.

  492. He's it's incredible. And you think about maybe some of

  493. these ancients had wisdom that we don't know about. And

  494. maybe when the Bible tells us that people were bigger

  495. and stronger and lived longer in ancient times, there's some

  496. truth to that. But when I think about a big,

  497. strong foundation stone, I don't think about the Balbic stones.

  498. I think about the word of Christ. Jesus said, a

  499. wise man is the man who digs deep. He gets

  500. down to the rock, and he builds his house on

  501. the rock. And when the storm comes and the wind

  502. blows and the water rushes, that house does not fall

  503. because it's founded on the rock, and the foolish man

  504. builds on the sand. And Christ and his word is

  505. that rock. And friends, you notice in the parable that

  506. Jesus tells in Matthew five and in Luke, he says,

  507. there's a storm that comes to a wise man, and

  508. there's a storm who comes to the full. Everybody is

  509. going to face the storm. The question is what are

  510. you building your life off. First few years of my

  511. life I built on just the typical, have fun and

  512. then die the cares of life. And it wasn't until

  513. I had my encounter with God reading a Bible someone

  514. left in a cave that my whole world view changed

  515. and my abundant life began. And you're able to survive

  516. the storms of life when you're founded on the rock.

  517. Some of you have already been through some storms. The

  518. big storm is coming in a tribulation, and we need

  519. to make sure our faith is rooted and grounded on

  520. the rock of God's word. And the rock is not

  521. just talking about the words of the Lord. The rock

  522. is talking about the law, the foundational law. Jesus wrote

  523. the Ten Commandments on stone. Now there is a lot

  524. of controversy believe it or not in the Christian Church

  525. about what do we do with the Ten Commandments? Even

  526. here in Texas, there's a great debate on whether or

  527. not they could put the Commandments in the schools, and

  528. so what do we do with the law of God?

  529. Is that pushing religion on the government and commingling church

  530. and state. Well, we went to our people on the

  531. street to get some insight on what is their view

  532. of the Law of God and the Commandments. Laws are

  533. basically the minimum of morality. Laws are a way of

  534. explaining moral concepts.

  535. So there's laws to make sure that we don't do

  536. anything to get ourselves hurt or get someone else hurt.

  537. I think that the importance of laws is mostly to

  538. keep people safe from each other, from themselves and all together,

  539. just to make sure that everyone is able to coexist.

  540. I believe we have them in place just to make

  541. sure sure we can function as a working society. We

  542. can function as a cohesive machine, we can function as

  543. one organism where we don't try to kill each other,

  544. we don't try to harm each other.

  545. I think laws give us structure in our daily life.

  546. I think I think we need laws. I mean I

  547. think it'd be total chaos and disorder if we didn't.

  548. We need laws.

  549. Morality is defunct, so laws help us define morality.

  550. And we do need that.

  551. We don't need to push it on everyone, but we

  552. got to have some morality, and I think the world's

  553. showing is that right now. You know, one thing I

  554. was wanting someone to address is if we have law,

  555. is there a penalty for breaking the law? And does

  556. a law have any force or teeth if there's no

  557. penalty for violating that law. You know, the Bible tells

  558. us that God has a law and there's a penalty

  559. for breaking that law. The wages for sin are well, yeah,

  560. that's pretty serious. So we're going to talk about this dilemma.

  561. All have sinned according to the Bible. We've all broken

  562. God's law. We're all under a death sentence, but we're

  563. not dead right now because Jesus on the cross purchased

  564. us probation to make an eternal decision. So we're going

  565. to discuss some of the tension and the understanding between

  566. the law and grace and salvation. And really, when you

  567. think about it this topic tonight, it does fit into

  568. revelation and it is one of the most important subjects

  569. we can study. You get to the last chapter of

  570. the Bible, Revelation, Blessed are those who do as commandments,

  571. that they might have a right to the Tree of

  572. life and enter through the gates of the city. How

  573. many of you want to eat from that tree and

  574. enter into the gates of that city. Well, what law

  575. is he talking about? You know, there are many different

  576. laws in the Bible. So we're going to find out

  577. about what is the gospel, what is the problem, and

  578. what is the solution? All right, Number one, go into

  579. Revelation chapter five, verse six. Who is symbolized by the

  580. lamb that you find in Revelation five to six. Let

  581. me read this to you. It says, and I looked

  582. and behold in the midst of the throne and the

  583. four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders,

  584. these are the twenty four elders, stood a lamb, as

  585. though it had been Swain, having seven horns and seven eyes,

  586. which are the seven spirits of God sent out into

  587. all the earth. And he came, and he took the

  588. scroll out of the right hand of him who sat

  589. on the throne, the only one who could open the

  590. scroll containing the names in the Book of Life we

  591. believe is this lamb? Now does everyone understand the lamb

  592. with you know, seven eyes and seven horns and seven

  593. spirits is symbolic language. The key to understanding these things

  594. is found other places in the Bible. That lamb is Christ.

  595. John the Baptist pointed to Jesus and said, behold the

  596. lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world,

  597. the guilt of the world. We are under a death penalty.

  598. He's got the seven eyes, representing that God is all knowing.

  599. He sees everything. You can read in the Bible where

  600. a prophet said, the eyes of the Lord do run

  601. to and fro through the whole earth to show himself

  602. mighty in behalf of him whose heart is loyal to him.

  603. The eyes of God see everything. You cannot run from God.

  604. Like Jonah tried, what about the seven spirits? People wonder

  605. is there one Holy Spirit or seven holy spirits? Well,

  606. the Holy Spirit is one. The Bible says one Lord,

  607. one faith, one baptism. There's one God, Father, Son and Spirit.

  608. Why is it say seven spirits? These are seven facets

  609. or attributes of the Holy Spirit. You can find them

  610. listed in Isaiah chapter eleven. Remember, the Old Testament has

  611. the keys. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.

  612. Count that as one. The spirit of wisdom and understanding,

  613. the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge,

  614. and the fear of the Lord, different facets of the

  615. Holy Spirit. When Solomon said, Lord, give me wisdom, well,

  616. that's a gift of the spirit. The Bible tells us,

  617. blessed be the Lord God. What about the horns, This

  618. Slam's got seven horns. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,

  619. for he has visited and redeemed his people and has

  620. raised up a horn of salivation for us in the

  621. house of his servant David, a horn of salvation. For

  622. the Hebrews. They were largely a nation of shepherds, and

  623. they would see that the male goats in the rams

  624. they had horns, and that's where their strength was. The

  625. oxen had horns. That's where their power was. You even

  626. use the expression on the horns of a dilemma. And

  627. in Texas you do bull riding, you got to watch

  628. for the horns, right, because that's where the power it is.

  629. And so it's talking about the power of Christ. The

  630. knowing of Christ, the facets of the Holy Spirit. And

  631. so this is a picture of Jesus, the Lamb of

  632. God that takes away the sin of the world. John

  633. said John one twenty nine. He saw Jesus. He says

  634. this twice. By the way, behold the Lamb of God

  635. who takes away the sin of the world. Right there

  636. in the garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve's sin,

  637. they Adam and Eve were not streaking naked around the

  638. garden as many people try to portray, and they always

  639. have pictures and paintings of Adam and Eve. And you've

  640. got strategically positioned leaves to cover things, you know, so

  641. you can read the books to the children. Adam and

  642. Eve had a garment of light when aber I'm sorry,

  643. when Moses was talking to God, he came down the mountain.

  644. He was shining so bright they had to veil their

  645. his face so it wouldn't shine it at them so much.

  646. Adam and Eve, in their holiness, they had garments robes

  647. of glory. But when they sinned, the light went out

  648. and they saw their nakedness, and they tried to cover

  649. their nakedness with fig leaves. Now keep in mind up

  650. till then nothing had died. They probably thought, well, this

  651. would last. But once they picked them, they started to wither,

  652. and they thought it's not good. By the way it says,

  653. they made themselves aprons of fig leaves. Aprons would mean

  654. mini skirts. That's the word. It's like a little apron

  655. that a butcher might use. And God said that will

  656. not do. And God gave them coats tunics of skin. Now,

  657. up to this point nothing had ever died. Where did

  658. God get the skin? Revelation talks about the lamb that

  659. was slain from the foundation of the world. God instituted

  660. the sacrificial system there in the garden of Eden for

  661. Adam and Eve, and it took the death of a

  662. lamb to cover their nakedness. You remember, Abel brought a lamb.

  663. They already knew about the sacrificial system way back in

  664. the beginning, and came to want to do that. God

  665. accepted able sacrifice. He did not accept Kane's sacrifice, and

  666. so the covering of this lamb, the death of the lamb.

  667. They were looking through history for when God's lamb would come.

  668. And Jesus is that lamb. I remember hearing a story

  669. years ago about a lighthouse keeper in Scotland. And he

  670. had this very high lighthouse, one hundred and fifty feet high,

  671. that was on a rocky bluff on a meadow overlooking

  672. the sea, green grass and sheep grazing below. And every

  673. now and then you've got to clean the lighthouse windows.

  674. And so he was out walking around the railing and

  675. he was trying to clean up the windows, and he

  676. leaned back against the railing, not knowing that the rust

  677. had worn through the rivets, and the railing gave way

  678. and he tumbled one hundred and fifty feet down and

  679. smacked down on the ground. Was soon he regained consciousness.

  680. He was looking up and he saw the puffy white

  681. clouds and the blue sky. He thought, I must be

  682. in heaven. And they thought, but if him in heaven,

  683. what had my back hurt so much? And then he

  684. came to his senses. He got up and he realized

  685. he had landed on top of one of the sheep.

  686. It broke his fall. The sheep died, but he lived.

  687. And the Lamb of God had to die so that

  688. we could live. And whether you accept it or not,

  689. do you know Jesus died for your sins? What a

  690. shame that he would die for your sins and you

  691. would die for your sins too. Talk about a waste.

  692. I remember once going out to eat with my father

  693. in law, and we each wanted to be magnanimous, and

  694. so I went up and I gave my credit card

  695. to pay for the dinner for the family, and he

  696. snuck up and he paid, and he gave, and somehow

  697. it came out as we were going down the road

  698. we had both paid, and they didn't bother to tell us, Well,

  699. that really hurts. It'd be ashamed to have it paid

  700. for twice. Jesus has paid for your sins. You need

  701. to embrace that and cash the check. Friends. Amen. He

  702. is called the Lamb of God. When Abraham, God said Abraham, Abraham, Exodus,

  703. chapter twenty two. Here I am Lord, Take your son,

  704. your only son, Isaac, whom you love. Bring him unto

  705. the mountains of Mariah, and there sacrifice him to me.

  706. Offer him is a burnt offering. Now this is the

  707. child He and Sarah had been waiting for Abraham one

  708. hundred years, and now he's over one hundred years old.

  709. And God is saying, all of your posterity a great

  710. nation is going to come through the sun. I want

  711. you to sacrifice him. Abraham probably didn't even wake up Sarah.

  712. He took some servants, he took his son, he took

  713. the mules with some wood and supplies, and they went

  714. a three day journey to the mountains of Mariah. At

  715. the base of the mountain, they told the servants stay here,

  716. and Abraham said, the lad and I will come to

  717. you again. Notice he said the lad and I will

  718. come to you again. He didn't know how God was

  719. going to get him out of that. But God had

  720. said a nation would come through Isaac, and he believed.

  721. Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.

  722. And if you read in Hebrews, it says in Hebrews eleven,

  723. Abraham believed that even if he killed Isaac, God would

  724. raise him up, which was a type of Christ. So

  725. then they go half a day up the mountain. Notice

  726. three and a half days a day in prophecies a year.

  727. Jesus ministered three and a half years. The wood is

  728. put on Isaac's back, the cross was put on Jesus back.

  729. They get to the top, Abraham has to explain to

  730. his son. Abraham did not jump Isaac and wrap him

  731. up like a rodeo expert. He said, here's what's going on.

  732. God has told me to offer you. He was a

  733. willing sacrifice like Jesus. And he put him on the wood,

  734. and just before the knife came down, God said, oh wait,

  735. I'll have that the best part. On the way up

  736. the mountain, Isaac is putting two and two together. He's

  737. gone to sacrifice with his father, because everywhere Abraham went

  738. he built an altar. And on the way up the mountain,

  739. Isaac's looking around. He says, well, we've got the wood

  740. and we've got what it takes to make the fire.

  741. But uh for missing the sacrifice. And he said, my

  742. father says, we've got the wood in the fire, but

  743. where is the lamb? And Abraham said, in those immortal

  744. words that have gone down through time, my son God

  745. will provide himself a lamb. God, the son Jesus provided

  746. himself a lamb. And just before the cross, the knife

  747. comes down symbol of the cross. The angel stops Abraham

  748. and says, don't do it. Don't harm your son. Now

  749. I know you fear me. Of course, God already knew

  750. this is a demonstration to all of us that he

  751. was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice of his child,

  752. which is what God did for you to save us.

  753. And then God directed Abraham's attention to a Ram that

  754. was caught by his horns in a thicket. The word

  755. thicket means a thorn bush. You've got a ram with

  756. a crown of thorns, like Jesus. This whole story is

  757. an allegory of the cross, the father and the son

  758. going to the place of sacrifice together. And this is

  759. how much God loves us that he would give his

  760. son to save us. Number two, why was it necessary

  761. for Jesus to suffer and die? I think most of

  762. you know this Romans three twenty three. For how many

  763. all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

  764. We've all sinned, everyone except Jesus. And what is the

  765. penalty Romans six twenty three. For the wages of sin

  766. is death. It is the most serious penalty, is a

  767. terribly contagious, deadly disease that God cannot allow to go unchecked.

  768. In his universe. Everybody is sort of born into life

  769. knowing there is right and wrong, Paul says in Romans

  770. Chapter one. Even the barbarians, even the Pagans have a conscience,

  771. even of them, some of them who don't have the

  772. law of God, they have that inward law. They know

  773. inherently some things are wrong. And you know, as you

  774. travel through the world in the primitive days, and they

  775. would discover different cultures. People seem to sort of understand

  776. that murder was wrong, and lying was wrong, and stealing

  777. was wrong. And the Ten Commandments are the best summary

  778. of any national law. That's why when you go to

  779. the Supreme Court at the pinnacle of the building, you're

  780. going to see Moses holding two tables of stone on

  781. his lap, because the foundation for all earthly loss springs

  782. back to that great man, Moses, who received the law

  783. from God. The Bible says First Corinthians fifteen three. Christ

  784. died for our sins. According to the scripture, and again

  785. Isaiah fifty three six, all we everybody like sheep, have

  786. gone astray. We've turned everyone to his own way, and

  787. the Lord has laid upon him. The Lord placed upon

  788. him the iniquity of the sin of us. All Jesus

  789. died for the sins of the whole world. Now it's

  790. hard for us to comprehend that somehow the Lord could

  791. carry the buckets filled with the sin and the guilt

  792. of the whole world when he suffered and then died

  793. on the cross. But he didn't suffer as a man suffered.

  794. He suffered as a god suffers because he's the creator.

  795. And friends, don't forget that. If Christ's sacrifice was adequate

  796. to cover the sins of the whole world, then he

  797. has enough for you, doesn't He don't think my sins

  798. are just too much. Lord, I don't think you can

  799. handle it. If he can handle the sins of the

  800. whole human race all through history, he can handle yours. Amen.

  801. He is a better savior than you are a sinner.

  802. For Christ also suffered once for sins the just, for

  803. the unjusts. He took our weakness and gives us his strength.

  804. He took our death, and he gives us his life.

  805. He took our impurity, and he gives us his holiness.

  806. He traded places with us. Number three, What does revelation

  807. call the plan to save people from death? We're going

  808. back to revelation again. Revelation fourteen six. By the way,

  809. just before the Second Coming and Revelation fourteen it says

  810. I looked and behold, once sat on the cloud like

  811. the Son of Man. It pictures Jesus coming. What do

  812. you read just before it pictures Jesus coming. These angels

  813. have a message that they are being proclaimed from heaven

  814. with a loud voice. That's where you get the word mephon,

  815. a Greek word. This loud voice going to the whole world,

  816. saying they have the Everlasting Gospel. The Gospel is going

  817. to the world. Jesus said, then the end will come.

  818. This is happening today, friends. The Gospel is being proclaimed

  819. everywhere through all these incredible communication means right now having

  820. the everlasting Gospel. It's never changed from the time that

  821. Adam sinned and he went out of the garden wearing

  822. lambskin to the present day. Everybody saved is saved by

  823. the lamb. Please do not miss this now. I come

  824. from a Jewish background, and I'm amazed sometimes to hear

  825. people say, well, yeah, and the Jews were saved by works.

  826. No they weren't. No Jew believes that. I mean, everyone

  827. wants to do good works, and there's even some legalistic Christians,

  828. but they all trusted in the Atonement. The whole sanctuary

  829. was built around God's mercy and forgiveness. His mercy endures forever.

  830. Is what the Jews taught. I knew they would never

  831. make it with their mercies. They needed to repent and

  832. turn and trust in God's mercy, because if we get

  833. God's justice.

  834. We're all doomed.

  835. They were saved by faith. Looking forward to the cross,

  836. Abraham believed God. He's the father of the faithful. We

  837. are saved by faith. Looking back to the cross. The

  838. gospel has not changed. Abel was saved by the blood

  839. of Christ. Nobody's going to get to heaven and say

  840. I work my way in.

  841. Is that right?

  842. There's only one name given among men whereby we must

  843. be saved. Somebody write down a question, send it in.

  844. I won't answer it. Now. Are there going to be

  845. people in dark continents that never heard about Jesus that

  846. will be in heaven? Not going to answer that? Send

  847. it in? See Everlasting Gospel number four. According to the Bible,

  848. what is sin and how do we recognize it? Here's

  849. like a dictionary definition. First on three four sin is

  850. got it on the screen? Sin is what lawlessness? If

  851. you have the King James version that says sin is

  852. the transgression of the law, which is lawlessness. And you

  853. read in Romans three twenty for by the law is

  854. the knowledge of sin. If you lie, you sin, You

  855. shall not bear false witness. If you steal, you sin.

  856. If you commit adultery, Jesus said, you can commit adultery

  857. in your heart, and you can commit it literally. And

  858. usually if you commit it literally, you also committed in

  859. your heart. It's sin, right murder, He said, you can

  860. murder in your heart. Anyone who is angry with his

  861. brother without cause is the guilty of murder. So Christ

  862. not only taught the letter of the law, he taught

  863. the spirit of the law. Because keeping the law is

  864. not just actions. It's also attitude. It's a bad attitude

  865. that leads to the bad action. And when you're born again,

  866. God changes your heart. You're a new creature. You love.

  867. You don't want to even think those things because it

  868. starts as a thought before it's an action. Right, So

  869. Christ talked about the law in the heart that then

  870. will be played out in the life. But basically what

  871. I'm saying is, when you break God's law, it's sin.

  872. The Ten Commandments are the most perfect summary of God's

  873. will you can find in the Bible. The Bible says

  874. Romans seven to seven, I would not have known sin

  875. except through the law, For I would not have known coveteousness.

  876. In the less the law said, now shall not covet

  877. Here Paul is quoting from the Ten Commandments to Commandment

  878. number ten. Now, friends, I'm going to say this in

  879. as strong way as I can. I don't mean to

  880. be unkind, but I've just got to tell you there

  881. is a false doctrine that I hear repeated over and

  882. over even in Christian churches, that Jesus came and that

  883. he nailed the law to the cross, meaning we don't

  884. need to keep the Ten Commandments anymore. That is a

  885. doctrine of devils. That's not at all what Paul is

  886. talking about about. Christ died, he kept the law, so

  887. we don't have to You ever heard that. I have.

  888. I've heard preachers say it on TV, and I just

  889. I think, Oh, that's diabolical. The idea that God doesn't

  890. care whether or not we obey his law, that is

  891. just mind boggling to me. That's what Paul would call

  892. a doctrine of devils. Of course, he wants us to

  893. keep his law. We cannot do it without his strength.

  894. When Jesus saves us from our sin, we are no

  895. longer under the law. What does that mean? We're not

  896. under the death penalty anymore. But we're more careful than

  897. ever to want to keep God's law because He's shown

  898. us mercy. Christians are not just forgiven, we should also

  899. be different. Right. Romans four fifteen stains, where there is

  900. no law, there is no transgression. Right, the law cannot

  901. save anyone, but it shows us God's perfection and our

  902. impert affection. And again you read in Psalm one nineteen

  903. verse ninety six. Any sin that a person commits is

  904. condemned by at least one of the ten commandments. This

  905. is why God's law is called broad and perfect Psalm nineteen,

  906. verse seven. The law is called perfect. The law covers

  907. the whole duty of man. Sin is lawlessness, for by

  908. the law is the knowledge of sin. Can God's moral

  909. law the Ten Commandments ever be changed or repealed? No,

  910. The Bible says it is easier. These are the words

  911. of Jesus. It is easier for a heaven and earth

  912. to pass away than one tittle to pass from the law.

  913. Tittle would be like the little crossing of a tea.

  914. It's the smallest increment of writing in the Hebrew language.

  915. Jesus in heaven and earth will have to pass away.

  916. Why you know God has a copy in heaven of

  917. the law. Have you read in Revelation I saw the

  918. Temple of God open in heaven. I saw the ark

  919. of the Covenant. What's in the ark the law of God.

  920. It is the perfect expression of his character. And again

  921. you read in Psalm eighty nine, verse thirty four. My

  922. covenant I will not break nor alter. The word has

  923. gone that has gone out of my mouth. It is

  924. a covenant. He will not break it. You read in

  925. Psalm one eleven, verse seven and eight. All of his

  926. precepts are sure. They stand fast for how long, forever

  927. and ever? Malachi three to six. I am the Lord.

  928. I change not now. I need to hasten to add.

  929. What confuses people is there were a number of Jewish

  930. ceremonial laws that were nailed to the cross. These are

  931. laws that came later. They came after the time of Moses.

  932. But follow me, I'm trusting you know your Bible a

  933. little a bit. When Joseph was tempted to sleep with

  934. his master's wife potifer his master. He said, how can

  935. I do this and sin against God? Did Josephoseph lived

  936. before the ten Commandments were spoken or after Before? Did

  937. Joseph know that it was a sin to commit adult

  938. tree before Moses wrote it down? Yes, when the Bible

  939. tells us that God said to cain, sin lies at

  940. your door, he was thinking of murdering his brother. Was

  941. murder a sin before it was written down?

  942. Yes?

  943. All Moses did was cartify the will of God that's

  944. been in existence through eternity. Let me see if I

  945. can explain it this way. If you were to sum

  946. up God with one word, what's the word the Bible

  947. gives us God is love. The first four commandments deal

  948. with our love relationship with God. You might even say

  949. the first four and a half commandments because honor your

  950. father and mother. He's also our father in heaven. The

  951. church is sort of like the bride of Christ the mother,

  952. So you could argue that's kind of a halfway commandment.

  953. But it transitions then to the last six commandments, deal

  954. with our love for our fellow man. By the way,

  955. the Lord's prayer is divided the same way. First three

  956. petitions we're talking about gods, God's will right, God's name,

  957. God's kingdom. The last feed us, deliver us right. So

  958. is divided the same way. The first four commandments talk

  959. about loving God. If we love God, we're not going

  960. to use his name in vain. We're not going to

  961. worship other gods. We're not going to break the Sabbath,

  962. and we're not going to worship idols and belittle his image.

  963. I send them out of order on purpose. The last

  964. six commandments deal with our love for our fellow man. Right,

  965. We're going to honor our father and other We're not

  966. going to commit adultery. We're not going to steal it.

  967. We're not going to lie, we're not going to be

  968. our fault murder, and we're not going to commit adultery.

  969. No cove it. I repeated one of them twice. So

  970. if you love, Paul says, love is the fulfilling of

  971. the law. God is love. Jesus said, the whole purpose

  972. of man is summed up in two commandments. Love the

  973. Lord with all your heart, mind and soul and strength.

  974. Love your neighbor as yourself. You know what your purpose

  975. in life is. How many of you are breathing right now,

  976. only two or three. I was wondering some of you

  977. look like, how many of your heart's beating right now?

  978. You're alive? Are? You want to know why? So you

  979. can learn to love God and love your neighbor the

  980. principal purpose of life. We have love problems. We need

  981. to learn to love God. We need to learn to

  982. love each other. And is loving God and sharing his love,

  983. loving one another and sharing that love. That's what God

  984. tries to teach us. With all that you go through

  985. every day, God is trying to teach you to trust

  986. and love Him and to love each other. It's all

  987. about love. So the ten commands are a summary of

  988. God's character in his nature of love. Look at this

  989. next slide and this will help bear that out. When

  990. you look at the definitions of God in the Bible,

  991. and then you look at what the scriptures say about

  992. the Law of God, you'll find there the exact same

  993. thing the Bible says. For example, God is good Luke

  994. eighteen nineteen, the Bible says the Law is good Romans

  995. seven twelve. The Bible says God is holy. In Isaiah

  996. five sixteen, it says the Law is holy. God is

  997. just Deuteronomy thirty two four.

  998. The law is just.

  999. I don't have time to read you all the scriptures.

  1000. They're in your lesson, But let me just go through.

  1001. God in the law is good, holy, just, perfect love.

  1002. I'm not done. Truth, pure, spiritual, unchangeable, eternal. When you

  1003. look at the definitions of God in the Bible, you'll

  1004. find the same definitions for his law. So if you

  1005. are trying to get rid of the law, you're trying

  1006. to get rid of who. The devil hates the law

  1007. of God because the law of God helps us recognize

  1008. that we are sinners and we need a savior. And

  1009. so the devil, even among Christians, is trying to downplay

  1010. the importance of being obedient. We are not saved by

  1011. the law, but we need the law because it shows

  1012. us our need of God. Number six a Christian is

  1013. ultimately what a follower of Christ? You still with me?

  1014. Did Jesus keep the ten commandments that ought to settle it?

  1015. He says, I have kept my father's commandments. That's as

  1016. clear as it can be. And some people say, well,

  1017. you know, Jesus kept the ten commandments, that was the

  1018. Father's commandments. But then you've got the laws of Jesus,

  1019. as though Jesus and the Father have two different laws.

  1020. Jesus that I and my Father are one, and all

  1021. things that were made were made by him who Jesus.

  1022. Jesus said in the beginning was the word. The word

  1023. was God, The word was with God. All things that

  1024. were made were made by him. Would that include the

  1025. ten commandments? Of course, Jesus and the Father do not

  1026. have two opposing laws.

  1027. They are united.

  1028. When he said I've kept my father's commandments, that includes

  1029. the ones that he spoke to the whole nation and

  1030. wrote with his finger in stone. So he wants us

  1031. to not just be hears, but doers of his word.

  1032. The Bible says he committed no sins. Sin is a

  1033. transgression of the law. Jesus kept all the commandments. But

  1034. Pastor Doug his enemies said that he was a wine bibber.

  1035. That's right. They accused him of that. Jesus was not

  1036. a drunk. They said he was a glutton. That's true.

  1037. They did accuse him of that.

  1038. He was not.

  1039. They also said he was demon possessed. Was Jesus demon possessed?

  1040. They said he was a Samaritan. He was not they

  1041. called him Beelzebab, They called them a false prophet. They

  1042. said all kinds of things about Jesus that just were

  1043. not true. He kept his father's commandments. Jesus did not sin.

  1044. If he did, how could he be the sacrifice for

  1045. our sins? He he perfectly obeyed all of the ten

  1046. commandments as a model for us. The Bible says, he

  1047. has given us an example that we should walk even

  1048. as he walk. Can you say, man, God's law could

  1049. be If God's law could be changed, it would not

  1050. have been necessary for Jesus to die on the cross,

  1051. because God's law is unchangeable. He prayed in the garden, Father,

  1052. if there is any other way, let this cup pass

  1053. from me. Father said, there is no other way. I

  1054. cannot change my law. You read in the Book of Daniel,

  1055. chapter six. And the king wrote a law according to

  1056. the meads in the Persians, which can not change. King

  1057. Herod he spoke and made a promise that if his

  1058. stepdaughter would dance, he'd give anything she wanted up to

  1059. half his kingdom. She wanted the head of John the Baptist.

  1060. He could not change his law. He has Uaris made

  1061. a law that all the Jews should be attacked on

  1062. a certain day. Then he found out esther, his wife

  1063. was a Jew. He could not change his law. He

  1064. just made another law that gave them permission to preemptively

  1065. attack their enemies. But kings could not change their law.

  1066. How much less can the king of the universe change

  1067. his law? And God did everything he could do to

  1068. show its permanence. He gathered the whole nation. He said,

  1069. y'all take a bath, prepare your hearts, pray. Come before me.

  1070. I will speak audibly for the whole nation my ten commandments,

  1071. and then I'll write it in stone to show.

  1072. With my own finger.

  1073. I'm not going to have Moses right this part. To

  1074. prove its unchanging eternal nature, our New Testament, Christians required

  1075. to keep the ten Commandments. Here's the big question. What

  1076. does the Bible say? This is all New Testament Matthew

  1077. nineteen seventeen. Christ said, if you would enter into life,

  1078. keep the commandments. If that's clear, say amen, John fourteen fifteen.

  1079. If you love me, keep my commandments. Revelation fourteen twelve.

  1080. Here is the patience of the saints speaking of the redeemed.

  1081. Here are these who keep the commandments of God. I

  1082. don't have time to read you all the scriptures that

  1083. say this. John said, if we say we know him

  1084. and keep not his commandments were liars.

  1085. And the truth is not in us.

  1086. And yet I hear pastors repeating that that's very dangerous.

  1087. Jesus said, whoever shall do and teach even the least

  1088. of these commandments will be called great in the Kingdom

  1089. of Heaven. So, friends, that's why I'm trying to teach

  1090. it and do it, because I'm doing what Jesus said.

  1091. He told us to do it and to teach it. Amen.

  1092. So I would like to illustrate a little something for

  1093. you right here. Okay, Now, if I were to continue

  1094. the sermon like this, would you find it distracting? Suppose

  1095. for a moment that you were just channel surfing and

  1096. you came upon this preacher who's preaching with a big

  1097. piece of black duct tape. You can do everything with

  1098. Ductory Kendrick on his forehead. Would you find that distracting?

  1099. Do you see something wrong with my appearance? I mean,

  1100. let's just say it's odd. You know, today it's almost

  1101. hard to find anything odd about a person's appearance because

  1102. it's like, you know, anything goes, but I won't go

  1103. there right now. But do you realize that I don't

  1104. see anything wrong with my appearance? How are you going

  1105. to persuade me that there's I mean, before I came,

  1106. you know, I brushed my teeth, and I gargled, and

  1107. I deodorized, and I checked my gigline, and I try

  1108. to look presentable before I come out, so you won't

  1109. be distracted by anything I'm wearing. But this is clearly distracting.

  1110. What do I need to know that there's a problem. Ah,

  1111. It just so happens, by a strange coincidence that I've

  1112. got a mirror here. Okay, exact, So he's liked to

  1113. do that with my watch when I'm on the airplane,

  1114. the flight attendants giving their thing, and I'm taking the sunshine,

  1115. and is.

  1116. All right?

  1117. So I feel okay right now, at least I did.

  1118. But I go like this, I go oooh, there is

  1119. clearly something wrong with what's supposed to be my normal appearance.

  1120. There's plenty wrong even with my normal appearance, but this

  1121. is very much beyond that. So since the mirror showed

  1122. me the problem, the mire should take it away.

  1123. Right.

  1124. Is that the function of the mirror. No, So I mean,

  1125. do I take the mirror and try to solve this? No?

  1126. What do I need to solve this problem? Another mirror? No,

  1127. that'll just multiply it. I need something to deal with

  1128. the sin. What can wash away in my sin? Nothing?

  1129. What does this represent? Blood of Jesus? You two can

  1130. have one of these for a dollar fifty at Walmart.

  1131. So this shows me the problem. This takes away the problem.

  1132. And now I go, oh, yeah, pretty good. I don't

  1133. mind this so much. And every now and then I'll

  1134. want to keep it handy in case that should happen again.

  1135. Just quickly reflect. Now I think you'd probably all agree.

  1136. How many of you will admit that at some point today,

  1137. be honest, raise your hand. You looked in the mirror?

  1138. Let me see hands, I got an audience shot. Let

  1139. me see. Come on, how many of you have a

  1140. problem with lying? Some of you did the How many

  1141. of you know someone that should look in the mirror

  1142. but they don't. So this is just to illustrate. There

  1143. are people that talk about the laws of the law

  1144. supposed to save it. The law doesn't save you, Paul said,

  1145. by the laws the knowledge of sin, the devil hates

  1146. the law because it shows us our sin. When we

  1147. look in the law and we see there's a problem,

  1148. then we run to Jesus for cleansing. And it's the

  1149. blood of Christ that changes us. But we need to

  1150. every now and then be looking at the law. And

  1151. Paul says, let each one of you first Corinthians, chapter

  1152. no tewod Corinthians, chapter thirteen. Let everyone examine himself whether

  1153. he be in the faith. It's appropriate. Don't become preoccupied

  1154. with your works, but it's appropriate every now and then

  1155. for you to do a little honest self examination. That

  1156. is healthy for a Christian. If you see no growth,

  1157. then there's a problem. You ought to see progress and

  1158. sanctification as you follow on to know the Lord. If

  1159. you've been a Christian for years and you're just still

  1160. drinking the milk and you can't handle the meat, there's

  1161. a problem. The Bible says James one twenty three. For

  1162. any anyone is a hear of the word and not

  1163. a doer. He's like a man observing his natural face

  1164. in a mirror. For he observes himself, and he goes

  1165. away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

  1166. You ought to consider what you see when you look

  1167. into God's law, you look in the law of God,

  1168. and you say I'm a sinner, then you must go

  1169. to Christ for repentance, conversion, and forgiveness. But he who

  1170. looks into the perfect law of liberty, what does it

  1171. call it? The law is not to restrict us, it's

  1172. to give us liberty. He continues in the law of

  1173. liberty and continues in it is not a forgetful here,

  1174. but a doer of the work. This one will be

  1175. blessed in what he does. By the way. James then

  1176. mentions two of the Ten Commandments in the same passage,

  1177. So no question what he's talking about. God does not

  1178. want us just to be hears, but he wants us

  1179. to be doers. You notice they're not called the ten Suggestions.

  1180. They're not called the ten Ideas, are the ten recommendations.

  1181. They are the ten Commandments of God. It is the

  1182. law of God, and to knowingly disobey the law of

  1183. God is sin, and the penalty for sin is death,

  1184. and it must be taken seriously. We must repent from

  1185. and turn repent of our sins. In turn from our sins.

  1186. The law points us to Christ. This is why the

  1187. devil hates the law and it is under attack today. Yes,

  1188. even in churches. Now I wish I had more time

  1189. to explain. Roger Williams, who founded one of the founders

  1190. of our country, great man of God. He understood that

  1191. the government should not make any laws regarding the first

  1192. four commandments. We have freedom of religion in our country.

  1193. The last six commandments should be civil in nature, meaning

  1194. you can't steal, you can't rob marriage should be honored

  1195. by the culture. Right the first four You don't want

  1196. the government telling you what the name of your God is,

  1197. or when to worship him or how to worship him.

  1198. You should be free to make that choice. But now

  1199. the government is the pendulum is swinging back and forth,

  1200. and they're not making the distinction that our founders made

  1201. understanding how to relate to the Law of God as

  1202. a government. When I grew up, even in public school,

  1203. we had the Ten Commandments on the wall in our school.

  1204. How many of you remember that public school and somehow

  1205. we survived. And now in a culture where you know,

  1206. kids are just they're shooting each other, and you wonder

  1207. maybe if they heard God say you shall not kill,

  1208. that would have an impact that this is God's will,

  1209. all right, moving along, Blessed are those who do his commandment.

  1210. It's not a curse.

  1211. Friends.

  1212. The reason the Bible calls it a law of liberty

  1213. is because it is liberating to keep his law. You

  1214. came here tonight with freedom. I because you're not under arrest.

  1215. The law that puts criminals in jail gives you freedom right.

  1216. How many of you remember zig Ziggler. He was a

  1217. great motivational speaker and a good Christian. He said, I

  1218. don't know why they call red lights stop lights. He said,

  1219. they're really go lights. He said, if all the red

  1220. lights stop working, you'd find out that nobody goes anywhere.

  1221. We need traffic signals. We need the law of God

  1222. to keep us free. Psalm one, nineteen, verse forty four

  1223. and forty five. So I will walk at liberty forever

  1224. and ever because I keep your precepts. It's a law

  1225. of liberty.

  1226. Friends.

  1227. The Bible speaks of our day by saying, it's a

  1228. time for you to act, o Lord, because they have

  1229. disregarded your law. If the foundations fail, what shall the

  1230. righteous do? I can do all things through Christ, who

  1231. strengthens me. One of my favorite Stories. Mark chapter five

  1232. tells about this demoniac. He is the most lost man

  1233. in the Bible. He's filled with a legion of demons.

  1234. He's running around naked, lives in the cemetery, surrounded by pigs.

  1235. In the Jewish mind, this man is unclean, unclean, unclean,

  1236. He's lost. But he comes to Jesus just like he

  1237. is with all who sent Christ forgives him, sets him free,

  1238. clothes him, gives him a word to If he can

  1239. save that man, he can save anybody here. Friends, Amen,

  1240. Just such a wonderful story in the Bible of God's liberation.

  1241. Being confident of this thing, that He that began a

  1242. good work in you, God will finish the work that

  1243. he started in your life. He will perform it. He

  1244. will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians

  1245. one six, number eight. What's the difference between the Old

  1246. and the New Covenant? All right, very simply, the Bible

  1247. tells us Deuteronomy four thirteen. So he declared to you

  1248. his covenant, that he commanded you to perform the ten commandments,

  1249. that is the Old Covenant, and he wrote them on

  1250. two tables of stone. Are we living now under the

  1251. old Covenant or the New Covenant. Don't hesitate new Covenant.

  1252. This last half of the Bible is called the New Testament.

  1253. That means the New Covenant. So yeah, we're saved by

  1254. the New Covenant. You know, the new Covenant is it's

  1255. the same law written in a different place. God says,

  1256. a new covenant I will make with the House of

  1257. Israel after those days, says the Lord, I will write

  1258. my law in their hearts Jeremiah thirty one. The New

  1259. Covenant is the same law, but it's now written in

  1260. the heart. People who say I'm under the New Covenant,

  1261. now I can go steal. That's crazy, of course, not

  1262. Jesus that. It's not just the action, it's the attitude.

  1263. I'll write my law in their hearts. By the way,

  1264. can you show me a place in the Bible where

  1265. God makes the new Covenant with Gentiles, A new covenant

  1266. I will make after those days with the House of

  1267. Israel and the House of Judah. The New Covenant is

  1268. made with the Jews. We are grafted into the stock

  1269. of Israel. It is the ten Commandments now written on

  1270. the heart. And you find it first in the Old

  1271. Testament when God spoke the Ten Commandments, and the people said,

  1272. all the Lord has said, we will do. That was

  1273. the old covenant. Why Moses is getting the Ten Commandments?

  1274. They make a golden calf and they break all ten

  1275. in one wild party. And the Bible says in Hebrews,

  1276. what was the problem finding fault with them? What was

  1277. the fault with the old covenant? The covenant or the

  1278. people finding fault with them? He said, I will make

  1279. a new covenant with the House of Israel and the

  1280. House of Judah. I will put my law in their hearts.

  1281. That's what God wants for us.

  1282. Friends.

  1283. Have you ever wondered where are the Ten Commandments today? Well,

  1284. I'll give you a little tip. You know, Raiders of

  1285. the Lost Ark says they're in Egypt. And there's some

  1286. Ethiopians that say, we've got them in that solemn sold

  1287. it to the queen Asheba, and it's now in Ethiopia.

  1288. But if you read your Bible, it tells us that

  1289. ten Commandments were still in Israel up until the Babylonian captivity.

  1290. Jeremiah and the priests knew that Nebu Kinezer was going

  1291. to destroy the temple. This is all in the Bible,

  1292. and they no doubt they hid it in one of

  1293. the many caves that honeycomb Jerusalem, and that has been

  1294. sealed and hidden from that day to this day. It's

  1295. still there. Wouldn't it be cool to find the Ark

  1296. of the Covenant? Well, you know, the cool thing is

  1297. not the golden box. The cool thing is the rocks

  1298. in the box. And if you want to know where

  1299. the treasure is in the Ark of the Covenant, it's

  1300. in your lap if you have a Bible, because the

  1301. Ark of the Covenant contained the Ten Commandments, and the

  1302. words of the ten Commandments are in our hands. Moses said,

  1303. it's not far from you. You don't have to go

  1304. to heaven of the bottom of the ocean to find it.

  1305. The Word is near you.

  1306. The Law of God is right there in your hands.

  1307. We don't need to go hunt for a golden box,

  1308. though that would be a great artifact. The temple of

  1309. God was open in heaven, and the Ark of his

  1310. Covenant was seen in his temple. This is telling us

  1311. that before the Lord comes back, there'll be a revival

  1312. of truth regarding his law and his people having the

  1313. law in their hearts. Number nine, What is it called?

  1314. When we are converted and given a new heart, you

  1315. must be born again. God wants us to have his

  1316. law written in our heart.

  1317. That is the new birth.

  1318. I don't want to do anything that displeases him. I

  1319. not only want to be here, I want to be

  1320. a doer. You know, if you love the Lord more,

  1321. it'd be easier to obey. How many of you are

  1322. aware that there is a law in Texas that you

  1323. cannot murder your children? How many know that? Some of

  1324. you never raise your hands no matter what I say,

  1325. right in case you didn't know there is such a law.

  1326. How many of you who don't kill your children because

  1327. there's a law? Does the law have anything to do

  1328. with the reason you don't kill your children? Don't raise

  1329. your hand. You don't kill your children because you love them.

  1330. There is a law, but you don't think about the

  1331. law because you love them. Wouldn't you like to love

  1332. the Lord so much that you wanted to keep his law.

  1333. I don't think about committing adultery because I love my wife.

  1334. And the more that you love love is the fulfilling

  1335. of the law. The easier it is to obey. When

  1336. we're born again, and the more we know about the Lord,

  1337. the better you love him. The more you love him,

  1338. the better you'll obey him and you'll share him. Number ten.

  1339. What must I do to be forgiven and cleanse from sin?

  1340. Repent and be converted, that your sins might be blotted out.

  1341. Ask God to give you a new heart. Repent of

  1342. your sins. If you don't feel like it's a Lord,

  1343. help me to choose. Give me a wis willingness. Whatever

  1344. it is you're lacking to be saved. God will supply,

  1345. even if it's the willingness of the heart. As I live,

  1346. says the Lord Ezekiel thirty three eleven. I have no

  1347. pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the

  1348. wicked would turn from his evil way and live. Turn ye,

  1349. turn ye, Why will you die? If we confess our sins,

  1350. we repent. Get alone with the Lord, Say Lord, I'm

  1351. guilty of these things. You know what your sins are.

  1352. Just look at the ten commandments and repent. Your sins

  1353. have cost the life of the Son of God. It's

  1354. not a cheap alter call where you say hey, thanks

  1355. Lord for saving me and walk away. It ought to

  1356. be heartfelt. We need to spend some time, maybe weeping

  1357. at the feet of Jesus, knowing he died for our sins.

  1358. He suffered for our sins. Because He loves you that much,

  1359. he will forgive us. Repentance is both a sorrow for

  1360. sin and a willingness to turn away. And God will

  1361. give you the power, and he will give you the

  1362. will who enters. It's a heart of a born again Christian.

  1363. And what does he do the spirit of truth? And

  1364. you know him, for he dwells with you, and he

  1365. will be in you both to will and to do

  1366. his good pleasure. He will change his will. It'll go

  1367. from my way to his way. Lord. I want to

  1368. do the things that please you. Number twelve, And I'm

  1369. rushing along because I want to finish his up. Friends,

  1370. why did God make such a fantastic sacrifice for us?

  1371. And how do we accept it? For God so loved

  1372. the world he gave his only begotten son. You know,

  1373. as a pastor, I've done a lot of funerals, and

  1374. I remember one funeral thirteen year old boy had a

  1375. heart problem, died in the shower just and I was there.

  1376. You know, the pastor. After the funeral, you stand by

  1377. the casket as the family comes by, and the last

  1378. one out as the family, and this family, the mother

  1379. in particular, grabbed the case askt and they had to

  1380. peel her hands off. She would not let go, and

  1381. she was wailing with a broken heart and saying, we

  1382. loved you so, we loved you so. And you know,

  1383. I can't read John three sixteen anymore, that two letter word,

  1384. so I can't read it the same way anymore. For

  1385. God soul loved the world that he gave his son,

  1386. he must really love us in that he loves us

  1387. more than we love our children. Karen and I lost

  1388. the son twenty years ago, handsome, healthy young man died

  1389. in the construction accident. I wouldn't wish that on my

  1390. worst enemy, that losing a child. And then I realized

  1391. God loves his children infinitely more than I love my children.

  1392. And he gave his son for you, and you who

  1393. are watching, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you

  1394. will be saved. Eve. It's true, friends, and the proof

  1395. is in the pity putting. He'll give you a new

  1396. heart and you'll have a new life. He adopts you

  1397. into his family, you become his children. Is anyone saved

  1398. by keeping the law. No, we are saved, the Bible

  1399. says by grace through faith. It's the grace of God

  1400. through faith. But when we are saved by grace, we

  1401. want to be doers of His word because we love them.

  1402. Number fourteen. Isn't it true that once for saved by grace,

  1403. it's no longer necessary to keep the law. No, do

  1404. we then make void? Paul says, do we then make

  1405. avoid the law? Through faith? God forbid we establish the law.

  1406. It is not the hearers of the law, but the

  1407. doers of the law. Paul says, that will be justified.

  1408. We shall not continue in sin that grace may abound.

  1409. I've been pulled over more than once for speeding and

  1410. policeman comes up. You're driving too fast And then I

  1411. begin to cry because I heard that works and ask

  1412. for mercy. My insurance will go up. Lord, have mercy officer,

  1413. and they say, okay, you're free. So now that means

  1414. they've forgiven me. I can drive as fast as I want. Right. No,

  1415. I am more careful than anybody, friends, because they've had

  1416. mercy on me. I want to not only be a here,

  1417. I want to be a doer of the law. And friends,

  1418. when you see what Jesus has paid for your sins.

  1419. How many of you want to say, Lord, You've forgiven me,

  1420. You've paid the penalty. I not only want to be

  1421. a here, I want to be a doer of the law.

  1422. Is that your will? Friends? The Bible says you'll have joy.

  1423. The doers of the law have joy. Happy is he

  1424. that keeps the law great peace. Have those that love

  1425. thy law? Nothing will offend them. God wants you to

  1426. have that peace. Friends. You can't do it without Jesus.

  1427. But through Jesus all things are possible. To accept that

  1428. gift tonight, and so all all forgive me for my

  1429. sin and help me to live and build on the rock.

  1430. Is that your prayer? Friends, Let's ask him tonight. Loving Lord,

  1431. give us that faith, give us that grace, and help

  1432. us to live for Jesus. We pray in his name. Amen. Next,

  1433. lesson tomorrow night talking about the good news about Hell.

  1434. You don't want to miss that. Friends. I promise you

  1435. it will change your view of God and you will

  1436. be blessed. God, bless you. Thank you very much. We

  1437. will see you tomorrow night. And thank you for our

  1438. friends who are watching