Loving God's Law

Well, this has to be true because it appeared on Facebook. I know if you can't trust Facebook, who can you trust? So a church member printed these off. This came to her Facebook page, and this he printed these off to me. And so I'll just read this here.

The third graders told the entire class that not only was Santa Claus not real, but neither were the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy. She told them that it is and always has been their parents. So it wasn't the Tooth Fairy that came by and gave them whatever it was for the tooth. It was Mom and Dad. Who the, and I'll just leave that off, does this lady think she is? Well, boy, this Facebook poster has a lot of friends. Friend number one, she just ruined it for the kids. Friend number two, oh no! Number three, I told them it's up to them what they believe, and that crazy lady is mean. Totally not her place to tell any of them kids that, and it's just because she forgot how to believe. Believe? Now, these are church people going to church, and they can believe all these things, all these lies. Another person said, I mean, boy, they just got on a roll. In church of all places. And I won't read the profanity after that one. Another one, that's horrible! That wasn't her place. Another one, oh my, that's terrible. I mean, this is like 8.36 p.m. 8.35, 8.36, 8.46, another one 8.46, 8.47. Another one, that's horrible. Definitely not her place to say a thing. You need to call the church and let them know that this has happened, and then horrible profanity. And then finally, well, not really finally, it's going to go on, and I'll save the rest for later. My awesome babysitter has already got that ball rolling. In other words, calling the church in protest that this lady said that Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy are all myths. Now, this is something, I guess I'd like to ask a question. Do these people, and there's a lot of them, I didn't count them, a dozen or so, do they love God's law? Do they love God's law? I'd like to turn to 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 10, talking about the law of this one coming with the working of Satan. That's verse 9, with all power, science, and life, wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, and that they might be saved. Do these people love the truth? I don't think so. Revelation 22, and we'll start in verse 14. Revelation 22, 14, Blessed are those who do his commandments. Now, if you're reading a more modern translation, it will be watered down, frankly. There's no other nice way to say it, but if you have a modern translation, it will say, blessed are those who wash their robes, which is just not as correct, and not as direct as saying, blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and that they may enter through the gates into the city, but outside are dogs, or homosexuals, sorcerers, sexually immoral, murderers, idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie. So, one of these scriptures says people don't love the truth, and this scripture says people love and practice lies. So, I think we've answered our question already. Do these people really love the law of God?

Now, along those same minds, I want to ask a little different question. What does define God's love? What defines God's love? Well, it's quite a challenge to say that, because God's love is bigger than this universe, and scientists tell us that the universe is expanding, but God's love is bigger than the entire universe.

What defines God's love? Well, I have seven points. You don't need to write them down, because you know them already. What defines God's love? The sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the giving of His law. The giving of God's law is the supreme act of love.

The giving of the Holy Spirit, the return of Jesus Christ. The putting away of the arch-enemy of humanity. That's a definition of God's love.

The establishment of His kingdom, the offering of salvation for every human being.

Now, those are seven points. You know them already, because they are the festivals. They parallel the Holy Day slash festival season, starting with the sacrifice of Christ, going all the way down to the offering of salvation for every human being. So, the Feast of Pentecost is coming up in two weeks to be celebrated in Troy. Hope you can all be there. It is a Holy Day.

And on Pentecost, we do celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit, and we also accept as probable the Jewish tradition that the Ten Commandments, God's Law of Love, the Ten Commandments, were given from Mount Sinai on Pentecost.

The Church has been giving a series of Bible studies on the Ten Commandments. I think the next one will conclude with commandment number ten. And here's what Gary Petty said on the first commandment I mentioned he gave as he started it with the first commandment. And he wanted to give an overview of the Ten Commandments with this statement. So here's what Gary Petty quoted. Mark Twain, who was, of course, a famous American humorist, most famous for Tom Sawyer. Mark Twain is also very famous during his lifetime for saying very sarcastic remarks in public. And I didn't realize he would say sarcastic remarks in public, especially if you were a well-known person. If you were giving a speech or something, he would just shout out very sarcastic and hilarious remarks. One that he's very famous for is that he was in a public place in Boston, and a ruthless businessman, who was known for just really being unethical in his business dealings, had made the comment. Basically, he said, I'm going to the Holy Land. I'm going there. I'm going to the top of Mount Sinai. Well, Mount Sinai is not really in the Holy Land, but anyway, I'm going to the top of Mount Sinai, and I'm going to read the Ten Commandments to God. And Mark Twain said, well, I have a better idea. Why don't you just stay in Boston and try to keep them? Which is pretty good advice to everybody.

Now, I will say that I think we know that the Ten Commandments are really hated by many, many people. We all, humanly, have a struggle to keep them. We all sense kind of a pull. It's our human nature, kind of trying to pull us away from observing them. But we try to observe them, and we strive to observe them, and we repent when we fall short. But then there are others that are really, they just hate God's law. I want to read this chilling statement from none other than Adolf Hitler, about what he said about the Ten Commandments.

So that's a very chilling statement, but he certainly lived a life to back up his evil. Maybe that's one of the reasons why he tried to exterminate the Jews. They were the ones that transmitted God's law. Maybe that's one reason. I know he felt they were an inferior race. But we have that statement. Now let's turn to James 1, though, to see what the brother of James was inspired to write about God's law, the brother of Jesus Christ. In James 1.25, How many people look at the law of God as the law of liberty? It is not a law of bondage. It is the law of liberty. Now here in chapter 2, verse 8, So this is what God says about the law. It is a royal law. It is a law of liberty. Let's go to Proverbs chapter 4. Now these four people have it all wrong, these people that I'm talking about on these Facebook posts, because they don't love God's law. Apparently they don't even know what it is. And they're more in love with lies. You know, Christmas, Easter, Easter rabbit, tooth fairy. They're more in love with that than they are in love with God's laws. Proverbs chapter 4, and this is written, brethren, at two levels. One would be God the Father speaking to us, and the other one would be the human father speaking to their children. Hear my children, the instruction of a father, and give attention to no understanding. For I give you good doctrine, do not forsake my law. It is good doctrine. It is not harsh or mean. Do not forsake my law. When I was my father's son, tender and the only one in the sight of my mother, he also taught me and said to me, let your heart retain my words, keep my commands, and live. Do you hear the voice of the loving God, the loving Father, saying that I'm giving you good doctrine, I'm giving you good laws. These are not the words of a harsh taskmaster. In 1 John chapter 4, verse 16, just to show about the love of God, because I'm talking about loving God's law, I'm talking about God's law is a law of love. He gave it to us as a loving God, and we must love God in His law. 1 John 4, verse 16, and we have known and believed the love that God has for us. Do we really know and believe His love? God's love is deeper, bigger, wider than the universe. How can this righteous, all-powerful God love us? Well, we know He does because of what He gave His Son to die for our sins. So we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and He who abides in love abides in God and God in Him. The world, again, doesn't understand this verse, and they look upon God as some harsh taskmaster. How sad that is.

Luke 24, we're going to work our way back to the Ten Commandments, but Luke, I should say, yeah, Luke 24, and verse 44. Luke 24, and verse 44. Jesus was talking about the prophecies about Himself and explaining to the disciples that He was fulfilling and had been fulfilling those prophecies.

Then He said to them, Luke 24, 44, These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning Me. So let's just stop for a moment. The law, the prophets, and the Psalms. The Bible starts with the law of God. The Bible starts with the loving law of God. The first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, these are all God's law. And the Bible starts with the law of God.

So let's turn now to Exodus chapter 20, and while we're turning there, I do want to give a quote. And this quote might be a little bit frivolous, maybe, but not really, because I think in a humorous way it makes a profound point. It makes a profound point. And this is from Ronald Reagan. I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. Congress.

Now, in other words, they would have watered it down, changed it, reworded it, made the Ten Commandments into just gigantic, and then it would have been ridiculous. But the point I'm making with that is God didn't run His law through the U.S. Congress, through the 70 elders of Israel. He didn't even run them through Moses, because Exodus 20 and verse 1 says this. Exodus 20 and verse 1, And God spoke all these words, saying. Now, this was just a unique time in history when God thundered out to about three million Israelites and, you know, a mixed multitude of Gentiles as well. And He spoke all these words. And they all heard it. They didn't say, Moses, I think you got number one wrong or number two wrong. God couldn't have said that. No, they heard God's voice. And then when Moses went up to Mount Sinai, He wrote them with the finger of God. And Moses was just the mailman. Rather unique, it's too bad that they said later on in verse 19, to Moses, You speak with us, we will hear, but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And so Moses became the mediator between God and man. But they did have a chance to hear directly from God's own voice. I am the Lord your God, Exodus 20 and verse 2, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You know, without God's law, we go back to bondage. Without God's law, we go back to bondage. And if we can only see the sickness, the absolute sickness of this country today, well, this country is in bondage. They think they're in freedom, but they're actually in bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me. There's only one God. You shall not make for yourself any carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. And you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me. So sometimes there is a generational hatred of God.

Father, son, grandson, great-grandson, all hating God. Other cases there's maybe father, son, and then the grandson repents and turns to God and loves God. And so the iniquity that God doesn't visit them, in that way He gives them blessings. Verse 6, But showing mercy to thousands and to those who love Me and keep My commandments. I'm going to come back to verse 6 later in the sermon because it really is a very crucial verse.

You know, you're a stranger who is within your gates. Verse 11, For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

Now, there are a whole bunch of people out there, millions and millions, maybe close to a billion, probably close to a billion who think that the Sabbath day is Sunday. Yet they cannot find one verse in the Bible that says that God blessed Sunday, or that God hallowed Sunday. It's just not there.

The only day of the week that God blessed says it right here, the Sabbath. He blessed it. He hallowed it. You cannot find that in application to Sunday anywhere. And I don't know whether they know it or not. Maybe they never have thought about it.

Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. Well, as I mentioned before, my mom and dad are both dead, but I do have father God, and I can honor Him. My goal is to honor Him and praise Him every day of my life, not into eternity forever. You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Such simple laws, and yet how they are ridiculed. If you were to go online, I'm not recommending you to do that, but just these beautiful simple laws of how they are ridiculed. You shall not covet your neighbor's house, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's. So, pretty plain, pretty beautiful, pretty simple, pretty profound. I'd encourage us to memorize the 17 verses and keep them very close to us.

Let's turn to Matthew 22 and take a look at verse 36, first of all.

Matthew 22, because Christ Jesus is going to summarize the commandments here. So we have Matthew 22 and verse 36.

Matthew 22, 36. A scribe, a lawyer came up to him and he was testing him. He wasn't...that was verse 35. He wasn't really wanting to learn. He was wanting to trip Jesus up. Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments, hang all the law in the prophets, verse 40. So how would you summarize the Old Testament? How would you summarize it? On these two commandments, hang all the law in the prophets. These two beautiful commandments. Let's turn to Mark chapter 12 because Mark is inspired to capture one other phrase that Matthew does not have. We know we put them all together and we get a clear picture of it. So in Mark chapter 12 and verse 29, we see this.

Mark 12, 29, Jesus answered him and said, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. Mark adds that phrase, with all your strength. So that's what Jesus had originally said. This is the first commandment. Our heart, our soul, those are the most inward parts of us.

With our mind, that's what we think with. That's our brain. So it's in our heart. It's in the deepest core of our emotions, the love of God. It's in our mind, that's what we think about, and it's with our strength that we love our great God. And therefore, with our strength means we produce fruits. We show fruits of what's in our heart and what's in our mind. And the second, like it is like this, you shall love the neighbor as yourself.

There is no other commandment greater than these. Luke has it as well, but I think two would be enough here. Let's go to Matthew 19. And some people get tripped up and they say, Well, okay, are you teaching salvation by works? And we say, No, we're not teaching salvation by works. We're teaching obedience to God because God doesn't want to save a rebel and give the rebel eternal life so he can be rebelliously miserable for the rest of eternity.

He wants someone to be obedient. He wants us to be obedient. So the man came to the good teacher, verse 16, and said, What good thing that I may do that I may have eternal life? Verse 17, Why do you call me good? There is no one good but one that is God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments. And so he said to him, Which ones? Jesus said, You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you should honor your father and your mother. So Jesus names five, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So these are the things that we do to prove that we're not going to get into a state of rebellion.

And if we become rebellious, then, you know, what good are we to anybody? Matthew chapter 5 and verse 17. Matthew chapter 5 and verse 17. Think not or do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For assuredly I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law until all is fulfilled.

Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. Of course, they're going to have to repent first before they can be accepted into the kingdom. But whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Now, what about some of the laws? What about the law of circumcision? Acts 15, as well as other places, say that the physical ritual is not necessary.

But there's a spiritual component to that. Romans 2, because the essence of God's law is the heart, our heart, our mind, our innermost being. That's the end result of God's law. It's not like the Jews were saying, oh, I just can't wait till Christ gets here, because Christ is going to get here, you know, throw out the Old Testament, and we're going to have just a wonderful time.

No, that was never the point of God's way of life. His way of life was to say, let's bring the laws of God into people's hearts. So he is not a Jew, verse 28, Romans 2, 28, that is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit, and not in the letter whose praise is not from men, but from God.

And so many of the Pharisees focused so much on the outward that they never dealt with the inward. And Paul is being inspired by God to say, it's a matter of the heart. It's a matter of the spirit, which is what we really are. That's what we really are. Now, what about sacrifices? We don't sacrifice lambs or bulls. We sacrifice us.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, Romans 12 and verse 1, Romans 12, 1, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. So we become living sacrifices, bringing glory to God by the way we live our lives.

Going back to Deuteronomy, I think people would be astonished and really surprised as to how many times the word love is found in Deuteronomy. I'm not going to give you the whole list of them. But Deuteronomy is the book on us loving God and on God loving us. People say, well, wait a minute. I thought that was the Old Testament. And the Old Testament is mean. Let's get rid of it. No, no. Let's not get rid of it.

The book of Deuteronomy shows these examples of God's great love. Deuteronomy 5 are the Ten Commandments. He tells us in verse 10 that God is showing mercy to thousands, to those who love me and who keep my commandments. That's Deuteronomy 5. Then chapter 6 in verse 5, this is one of the commands that, or the command that Christ was referring to. Deuteronomy 6 in verse 5, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. Chapter 7 verse 9, Therefore know that the Lord your God, he is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations, for those who love him and keep his commandments. Chapter 10 in verse 15, Deuteronomy 10 in verse 15, The Lord delighteth only in your fathers to love them, to love the fathers, the ancestors of the present day Israelized at that time, to love them, and he chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples as it is this day, that is showing God's love towards his people.

And then verse 12 with the same chapter, David loved God's law. Let's go to Psalm 19. David loved the law of God. Psalm 19, and we'll look at verse 7.

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. I did a little bit of a study on the word. I just did a short look at the word converting and found out what a powerful word this is. It means to restore the soul.

In other words, the law of the Lord, if we keep it, does create behavioral change in us. For example, somebody may have a bad mouth, a foul mouth, and so they decide, according to God's law, to clean up their mouth. They will have good behavior, and they'll end up having a proper respect, not only for God, but for their fellow neighbor and their fellow human being, and for themselves. It will convert them. It will restore them.

It'll do something good to them. So people can clean up their acts, so to speak, just by living by the law of the Lord. Now, they need repentance, and they need the Holy Spirit, but the place to start is with the law of the Lord, converting the soul.

It does create wonderful behavioral change. Verses 8 and 9, the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired than gold, yes, than much fine gold. Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

Are we learning to look at God's laws as sweeter than honey, sweeter than the honeycomb? Moreover, by them your servant is warned, and in keeping them there is great reward. So with verse 11 in mind, moreover by them is your servant warned. I want to go back to the Facebook here. And we left off with my awesome babysitter. He's already got that ball rolling. The other one says, My daughter was in that class as well and came home upset and questioning if they are real or not now.

I'm not very happy. I told her that when people don't believe, they try to tell others not to believe. And I said, oh boy, here we go. I said, it's your choice of what you believe, not anyone else's.

So if you want to believe in the tooth fairy, you just go right ahead. This is bringing our nation down. When people say, it's your choice, you can believe anything you want to. And you don't have to believe the same as anyone. This is bringing our country down. People are throwing out morality. They're throwing away any kind of sense of righteousness. They don't look to the Bible and say, I'm going to get my beliefs from the Bible. And these are church people. The sad thing is these are church people. And these church people are in a Baptist church. They're saying, you can believe whatever you want to believe.

Another one, in all caps, that's not her place to say those things. Well, she is the teacher. Why make the fun in life go away? Well, God says that His laws are sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Another one, that's so wrong. That lady shouldn't be allowed to teach class anymore. Another one says, I know, right. Now, grandma gets here, gets involved. I'm not a happy, this is not a happy grandma. I'm so sorry this happened to them. I'm going to give them extra hugs when I see them.

I can just imagine how upset so-and-so was. That little girl is such a kind heart. Why would anyone ever do such a thing to a group of children? The issue was there's no Santa Claus. There's no Easter bunny. There's no Tooth Fairy. That was the issue. I'm going to share with my friends, and so they will know about her really bad judgment.

So sorry, another one writes, and this is just one after the other. No words can make, no words can't make this right. I think she meant no words can make this right. I will pray that the church will address this matter. All kids have the right to believe, and adults don't need to, I guess, believe by their words or change this belief by their words.

I'm sure the pastor will be there, will address this, and hopefully the class too. They're going to bring in the pastor. Now, pastor, you need to deal with this Tooth Fairy situation. Here. Wow, I'd be mad too. And then this other one, I just can't understand it, so I won't read it. Some people believe we should put God first and not believe or nor believe in those things.

In her mind, she probably thought she was doing right, but I think that isn't anyone's place to tell a child that. I got mad when I found out my son told some little kids there wasn't a Santa Claus. She corrected her son for speaking the truth about Santa Claus. That's so very wrong. It's just wrong. My fourth grade teacher announced it in our class, and I was a true believer. I was so upset. I don't remember what happened that day, and I've had many, many years to try to remember. So, I mean, this is just unbelievable. We're over by them as I servant warned, and in the keeping of them, there is great reward.

You have young mothers who go to this Baptist Church all upset, all upset because the teacher spoke the truth about Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny. Let's go to Psalm 119 now. I just want to read part of it. The Psalmist, I usually say it's David, but we don't know that. For sure, it sounds a lot like him. He might have had a lot to do with this because it sounds so much like him, but we'll just call him the author, or we'll just call it the Psalmist. Blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of the Lord. So, this world is a very defiled world, and the way to be undefiled or blameless is to walk in the law of the Lord. Not just talk it, but walk it. And we can talk it, but do we walk it? Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with a whole heart. God wants wholeheartedness in us. They also do know iniquity. They walk in his ways. You have commanded us to keep your precepts diligently. O that my ways, verse 5, were directed to keep your statutes. So, the Psalmist here is admitting something every one of us have to face, and what we have to face is that there's something about us that wants to pull us away. From God's law. It wants to take us away from God's law. I just wish that I'd be my ways. We're directed to always keep your statutes. That I would not be ashamed when I look into all your commandments. I will praise you with uprightness of heart. When I learn your righteous judgments, I will keep your statutes. O forsake me not utterly. How can a young man cleanse his way by taking heed according to your word? How can a young woman cleanse her way by taking the same way, by keeping heed according to your word? We must, as young people, be in the Bible and be reading the Bible, and be studying the Bible. And that will keep us clean. The word of God, even in Ephesians 5, talks about the cleansing effect of the Bible, of the word of God.

With my whole heart I have sought you. O let me not wander from your commandments. It is, again, he's addressing the human tendency to want to just wander a little bit away from God's wonderful laws. Your word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. We should take this book and we should hide it in our heart. We should memorize parts of it. And we should keep it in our heart. Blessed are you, O Lord, teach me your statutes. With my lips I have declared all the judgments of your mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies as much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and contemplate your ways. So as far as riches were concerned, verse 14, he makes this statement over here in verse 72. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of shekels of gold and silver. God's law is better than all this wealth. I will delight myself in your statutes. I will not forget your word, verse 16. Deal bountifully with your servant that I may live and keep your word. Open my eyes that I may see the wondrous things from your law. And it is prophesied. I won't turn to Isaiah 42-21. But it's kind of easy to memorize that. Where it says, my Lord will magnify the law and make it honorable. Isaiah 42-21, he will magnify the law and make it honorable. And so we see the Lord doing that, Jesus Christ, because he took the Ten Commandments and made three chapters out of them in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6, and 7, our magnification of the Ten Commandments. So we're able to see the wondrous things from God's law. I am a stranger in the earth. You know, I don't fit in with everybody that's having a party. Do not hide your commandments from me. He admitted that he was willing to live by a different standard that felt strange to others. The standard was the Bible. My soul breaks with longing for your judgments at all times. You rebuke the proud, the cursed, who stray from your commandments. Remove from me reproach in contempt, where I have kept your testimonies.

Princes also seek and sit and speak against me, but your servant meditates on your statutes. So people in high places even were grumbling and growling and gossiping against the psalmist, because the psalmist was holding fast to the word of God rather than the society around him. Your testimonies are also my delight and my counselors. You know, there's just a lot of young people coming up into the church, through the church, and got up, you know, pre-teen Bible studies, teenagers, and then so on, and they have to make that choice. Is this going to be my attitude? Is this going to be my approach? Or am I going to go the way of the world? I mean, they're going to have to make that decision. I can't make it for them. My soul clings to the dust, revives me according to your word. I have declared my ways, and you answered me, teach me your statutes, make me understand the way of your precepts. And so shall I meditate on your wondrous works. My soul melts from heaviness, really, really sorrowful at this time. Strengthen me according to your word. People who, too many people today, they, maybe they have sorrow, maybe they have depression, so they go get a buzz. They go drink a bottle or two, or three, or four. And David said, I'm going to turn to God's word. I'm going to turn to the word of God instead. Remove from me the way of lying, and grant me your law graciously. Whoever wrote this may have had a problem with lying. He says, take it from me. I've chosen the way of truth. Your judgments have, I have laid before me. I cling to your testimonies. Oh, Lord, do not put me to shame. I will run the way of your commandments, for you shall enlarge my heart.

Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes, and I will keep it to the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law. Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me walk in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. And so, he used the word delighting in God's law. He used it here. He used it in verse 47, delighting in God's law. In fact, Psalm 1, verse 2, I think says, but in his, you know, but the commandments, you see, I'm trying to see if I can remember that.

Blessed is the one that does not walk in the way of the ungodly, and so on. But his delight, there it is, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. His delight is in the law of the Lord. Later on, Paul said, I delight in God's law. Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to covetousness. There is that human pull to go the opposite direction. Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me in your way.

So, he didn't have it all together. He was struggling to obey God, just like we all are. Establish your word to your servant, who is devoted to fearing you, loving and showing reverence to the great God. Turn away my reproach, which I dread, for your judgments are good. Behold, I long for your precepts. Revive me in your righteousness. Just a couple of points on how did Paul view the law? And it seemed like he said one thing here and one thing there, but he was really saying the same thing. Wherever you go, he was simply saying the same thing.

He was saying, yes, we must obey God's law, and no, we can't earn our salvation on our own strength. That's what he was saying again and again. We must be willing to obey the law, but we can't earn our salvation through our obedience or any kind of works that we might do.

That's all Paul was trying to say. Because if we think, well, I can earn my salvation by perfect law-keeping, we don't need Jesus Christ. And that's totally wrong. Romans 2, verse 13, he doesn't contradict himself. He carries both aspects here. Romans 2, verse 13, For not the hearers of the law are just, or we would say right, in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified. The doers of the law will be made right. The doers of the law will be forgiven of their sins. Because again, why would God want to give eternal life to someone who's going to be breaking the Ten Commandments for eternity?

That would be totally ridiculous. He wants us to repent now. Now, here in verse 28, chapter 3, verse 28, he's not contradicting himself. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. All that is saying is God wants us to have a repentant heart and obedient heart. But even if we have a perfectly repentant and obedient heart, we can't earn God's salvation on our own strength. That comes from Jesus Christ. Paul felt or sensed that he would be misunderstood.

And so dropping down to verse 31, he simply said this, Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not. On the contrary, we establish the law. We establish the law. Here's from a magazine here. So then why do we strive to live by God's commandments? We obey God not to earn our salvation, which of course is impossible, but rather as a part of genuine love for God the Father and Jesus Christ.

Obedience is not saying I'm earning my salvation by my works. Rather, it is saying I love God and my obedience is the proof. Godly love is more than an emotion. It involves active obedience. And then in our Fundamentals of Belief booklet on law, there's, let's see here, Law and Sin, I think, is one of the titles of this.

God's Law and Sin. And so it makes a very, very good point on page 19. Since sin in any form brings about alienation from God and eventual death, no amount of obedience following such conduct can reverse its effect, even though obedience is expected. Only the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ can procure our release and reconcile us to God. Let's see what else Paul said about God's Law.

Romans 7 and verse 12. Romans 7 and verse 12. Therefore the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good. So is Paul against the law? No. Verse 14 of Romans 7. We know that the law is spiritual. But I am carnal, sold under sin. He didn't have a problem with God's Law, he just had a problem with himself. That's what he's saying. And over here in chapter 1 Corinthians 7 and verse 19.

First Corinthians 7 and verse 19. Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God is what matters. Keeping the commandments of God is what matters. Now I want to turn to 1 John 5 and take a look at verses 2 and 3. I want to spend a little bit of time for this particular section because a misunderstanding of what was so simple confused a lot of people in the 1990s during the apostasy. And they put an evil twist, and there's just nothing else I can't describe any other way.

They put an evil spin, an evil twist, on such a plain and beautiful scripture. And I don't want any of us to be trapped by this. That's why I want to spend some time on it. So 1 John 5 verse 2, by this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep His commandments. Well, that should be pretty simple. But in case we don't get it, you're going to say it again. Verse 3, and this is a love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome.

They're the law of liberty. They're not burdensome. Well, now that should be simple enough. Sadly, the evil twist went something like this. Well, it's not talking about the Ten Commandments. Well, what is it talking about? Well, and they never could get around to what it was talking about. But, oh, it's some other...it's the commandments of Christ. That's what it was. It's not the Ten Commandments. It's the commandments of Christ. Well, never mind that Christ spoke the Ten Commandments. That's another subject. We shouldn't say, never mind. That was the point. But they spun that around and said, it can't be the Ten Commandments because they could not see God's love in the Ten Commandments.

And so, what they failed to teach our brethren, and our brethren did not go back, many of them, and check it out, because this particular verse, verses 2 and 3, have its roots in the Old Testament. This is not something new that's coming up now. This had its roots in the Old Testament. And if we go back to the Old Testament and find where it is, then there can be no doubt that this is talking about the Ten Commandments.

This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome. We find that verse almost word for word in Exodus 20 and verse 6. Exodus 20 and verse 6, where He says, God says, showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

John was not saying anything new. It was already in the Ten Commandments. It was already in the Decalogue. He wasn't saying anything new. It was here in the Decalogue. Showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

Let's go back to Deuteronomy chapter 5 again. Look at verse 10. We read it once, but I want to read it again in the context of 1 John 5. Deuteronomy chapter 5 and verse 10, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. Again, practically word for word of what John is saying here in 1 John chapter 5.

Now, this is repeated. I mentioned it's Exodus 20. It's in Deuteronomy 5. I'll just give you a couple others. It's mentioned in Deuteronomy 7. Deuteronomy 30. It's mentioned in Joshua, and it's mentioned in Nehemiah. The same phrase, and it's mentioned in Daniel. The same phrase, loving God and keeping His commandments. Nothing new. No new commandments. It's the Ten Commandments being talked about here. So I just wanted to take a little bit of time to spend that with you, because if someone tries to put an evil spin, hopefully you will remember.

Wait a minute! This verse is found, first of all, in Exodus 20 and verse 6. We'll wrap this up pretty quickly. In John 14 and verse 15, Jesus said, If you love me, you will keep my commandments. Verse 21, He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is He who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love Him and manifest myself to Him. Verse 23, Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. And my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

So in conclusion, what will God's end time church look like? How can we identify God's end time church? And this is the time of the end. Revelation chapter 12 and verse 17. Revelation chapter 12 and verse 17. And the dragon was enraged with the woman. The dragon is the devil, and the woman is the church.

And he went to make war with the rest of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Commandments of God, testimony of Jesus Christ. Chapter 14 verse 12.

What will the end time church look like? Here's the patience of the saints. Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. It's not just a matter of keeping commandments. We have to keep the commandments. We have to have the faith of Jesus Christ along as well.

So, brethren, I just wanted to mention this to you. You can kind of review to you the beauty of God's law. I tried to find the most basic scriptures I could find. And maybe you, too, have a list of some of your favorite scriptures about God's law.