The Real "Root" of Our National Problems

Well, thank you once again, and happy Sabbath-all! Well, I finished my sermon last night, and then I ran into something found on the internet newswire that I found was quite interesting, and it ties in so well with my sermonette that I thought I would start with it. This is a recent Gallup poll. Gallup has been doing this poll for decades, a long time. And here's the headline. It just came out yesterday. Number of Americans who believe in God dips to new load. Gallup poll. And here's some more details of this recent poll.

The good news is that a large majority of Americans say they believe in God. It's 81 percent. According to the poll that was conducted May 2nd through 22nd, but that number has dipped six points from a consistent 87 percent from 2013 to 2017. Now, the poll continues. Over 90 percent of Americans said they believed in God from 1944 to 2011, the number stabilizing at a rate of 98 percent from 1944 through the 1960s.

I've spoken in sermons before about what happened in my generation in 1960s in which the United States began, you can just hear a large flushing sound, the United States began to go down the tubes beginning in the 1960s, and that certainly is confirmed by what Gallup has found. It says the Gallup Values and Beliefs poll found that the decrease in theism, that is the belief in a God, has been driven by young adults and those on the political left. Both groups belief in God has dropped by 10 percent or more compared to the 2013 to 2017 average for their demographics.

Continuing, it says recent polls show that while high rates of theism remain with only a modest decline, traditional religious structures, meaning churches, church organizations, are declining faster, according to Gallup. So we continue to see a culture that is declining in its belief in God, and I just might add that even though 81 percent of Americans claim they believe in God, there's a huge gulf between claiming to believe in God and doing anything about it.

So that's part of what I would like to talk about today during the sermon. Just listening to the news or reading information in the internet, it's obvious that many traditional values are under assault. I could go on and on about the lack of civility in our culture, the division among Americans, marriage under assault, same-sex marriage, rampant divorce among heterosexual couples. Again, I could go on and on.

Gender confusion and all that's been brought about with gender discussions. Public school indoctrination of young people. Months that celebrate degenerate and sinful lifestyles. Again, I could go on and on with these topics. But if you think about it, this fierce assault on values is only the effect. The problems with marriage are an effect. The problems with gender are an effect. There's a cause, there's an underlying cause that's deeper than these problems. These attacks are merely a reflection of something that's going on that is far greater and far more important.

What that is, is what's really under the greatest assault and greatest attack are the Ten Commandments. Now, I'm just going to, again, this is just a drop in the ocean of examples that I could bring up. But just a small, small example. What I've seen in my lifetime, what I've seen in the last few years, that absolutely stuns me. For example, last week a politician who suffers from obvious mental dementia stated in a speech, quote, Exxon made more money than God last year. I'm offended by those kind of public statements.

To bring the Creator God down to the level of as if he cares about money. And why do you need to have God enter that discussion about money and profits of an oil company? I find those things deeply offensive. But that's not surprising because this followed his national address after a very tragic school shooting on May 24th in the same speech. And I watched this speech that night live. I heard him use God more times than some sermons that I've heard in my lifetime in a very short political speech. Here's what he says. When in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?

Another place. When in God's name will we do what we all know needs to be done? Another place. Same speech. When in God's name do you need an assault weapon except to kill someone? Another place. Deer aren't running through the forest with Kevlar Vestant for God's sake. Another place in the speech. For God's sake, we have to have the courage to stand up to the industry. I find that appalling. And there was a time in my lifetime when a politician would have never ever ever ever dared to say something like that.

And all this comes from a man who, contrary to his own professed religious faith, supports the execution of innocent children in their mother's wounds. But his predecessor was no better. This has nothing to do with politics. His predecessor was no better. In a campaign rally in 2019 regarding bombing Islamic State militants, he crowed, quote, they'll be hit so gee damn hard, crowd cheering, applauding, standing for him while bragging about bombing Islamic State militants.

And then in his speech, he recalled, he recounted, warning a wealthy businessman, quote, if you don't support me, you're going to be so gee damn poor. So common in our language today. Last week I heard a person on Fox News on a show called The Five use the gee damn phrase and all the other, I thought it was so funny, everybody's laughing, oh, you're going to get in trouble for that.

Because it's just become so commonplace in our society. Again, this is just a drop in the bucket in an assault that is occurring on respect towards God. And we wonder why Pew says that belief in God is down. On an assault on God and an assault, I hear constantly on the Ten Commandments in our modern culture. So what I like to do in this sermon is I want to answer some of the most common questions as a pastor that I hear about the Ten Commandments.

I want to emphasize the importance of them in our lives. And I want to encourage you to stand in the gap and be one of those who Jesus said would be called great in his kingdom. Those are those who teach and do his commandments. I want to encourage you to strive for greatness and not be like the examples of some politicians and so-called celebrities on news and many, many, many, many others in our culture today.

One question I'm often asked is, were the commandments of God instituted before the time of Moses? Because some say, including our previous association after they decided to go Protestant many years ago in the 90s, some say they were a temporary religious institution of the Jews since the time of Moses, that they're not universal, that the Ten Commandments were just something temporary, something made up by a group of people who had a relationship with God. Well, let's go to Genesis 4 and verse 6.

Let's take just some examples. Let's answer the question by going to the book. And the book, of course, is the Old Testament, some scriptures before the time of Moses.

And see what the Bible tells us and teaches us. So this is Cain. Cain and Abel bring an offering towards God. Abel brings something that has blood and animals, something very precious and important to him. Cain brings a few pickens from the garden, fruits and vegetables and offers it to God. He wonders why God isn't as happy about his offering as he was his brother. Genesis 4 and verse 6, so the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry and why has your countenance fallen? God says, I can tell by your look that you're upset, you're anxious, you're angry, you're frustrated, something's wrong. I can tell it by the look in your face. If you do well, will you not be accepted? God says, I'm fair. All you have to do is treat me with the same level of dignity as your brother and you'll get the same amount of love and dignity from me. I'm very fair. And if you do not do well, sin is not fair.

It lies at the door and its desire is for you, but you should rule over it. Now Cain talked with Abel his brother and it came to pass that when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him. Now according to scripture, sin is the transgression of the law. That's 1 John chapter 3 and verse 4. In order for sin to exist, for the definition of the word sin, to even have any meaning, there must be something that defines what sin is. In order for sin to be in the heart of Cain, a law had to exist to define what that act of sin was. And that law, of course, is what we would today call, because of its linkage with the law of Moses, the Ten Commandments or the commandments of God. Focus on two very important things. Giving love and respect and dignity towards God that's due him, and having respect and dignity and love towards other beings that God created.

Sum it all up, it's all about love and respect towards others. So even before this event, Adam and Eve coveted the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that violated one of God's commandments. They dishonored their father by disobeying him. The serpent lied to them, deceived them, told them things that would happen to them that did not happen. They never became like God. They're dead, waiting for a resurrection if God is merciful. These are all transgressions of God's great moral law, and it's rather absurd to think that God created Adam and Eve and didn't teach them the very moral laws that would govern their relationship with him and govern their relationship with each other. God wanted them to be happy and productive, and giving them the principles of how to love him and each other would have been part of his discussions. It says in Genesis 3.8 that he would walk through the garden and obviously talk with them and have discussions with them, and that would have been one of the themes when he walked through the garden was his law of love. So in this case here, Cain certainly knows what sin is. Sin is hate. He hates his brother. It's going to lead him to kill his brother, which is a violation of God's moral law, and he understood that.

Cain knew exactly what he was doing. Let's take a look at another example here, Genesis 39, verse 9. Joseph is a young, strapping, virile, Hebrew male. I'm sure he's very good-looking.

He's done a lot of work his whole life out in the fields. He's probably muscular. He's probably got a very nice physique, nice personality. Potiphar allows him to manage everything that he has. And one day, Potiphar's wife winks at him and says, Lie with me. Commit adultery.

Yeah, I know I'm Potiphar's wife, but do it anyway. And here's his response. Genesis chapter 39, verse 9. Joseph said, There's no one greater in this house than I, nor has he kept back anything from me. He was the manager, the organizer, supervisor of his entire home and properties. But because you are his wife, how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? How does he know that it's sin? We're not at the time of Moses yet. Of course he knows that it's sin. Because God had a relationship with Joseph.

Joseph had been taught by his parents, who had been taught by their parents, etc., etc., that God has laws and God has values and God has standards. And Joseph certainly knows that adultery was a violation of God's law or God's commandments. Sexual relations outside of marriage violate the marriage covenant, which is later called the Seventh Commandment in the Scriptures. And I also want you to notice that this is considered a sin, not against Potiphar. It's a sin against God. It's God's law, not the law of God. It's laws of man that are being violated when we break one of the Ten Commandments. It is God who is being offended. That's what sin means. It means we're missing the mark and we are offending the values and the standards of God Almighty. A few other examples. We won't turn to Genesis 18, verse 20. It says there, though, and the Lord said, because the outcry is against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin is very grave, etc., etc. So again, sin is acknowledged long before Moses comes on the scene. Everyone knows what sin is. Abraham knows what God means. God knows what he means. Everyone knows what sin is. Genesis, chapter 42, verse 22. Again, I'll just read it. This is Reuben speaking after his brother was sold into slavery. And Reuben answered them, saying, Did I not speak to you, saying, Do not sin against the boy? And you would not listen? Therefore, behold, his blood is now required of us. Selling our brother, deceiving our father, doing all those things that we did to get rid of Joseph was a sin. How does he know what sin is? Because he violated a law. He violated a value, a value that God has. Now let's go together to Genesis, chapter 26 and verse 4 and see something said about Abraham. Genesis, chapter 26 and verse 4.

God says, And I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven, and I will give to your offspring all these lands, and all the nations of the earth shall gain blessing for themselves through your offspring, and that has happened throughout world history, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. Notice, he breaks them down into different things. There's a clear distinction between God's commandments and the laws that he gave Abraham. Sometimes the words commandments and laws are used interchangeably, but sometimes they are clearly separate. Sometimes the word law refers to the Ten Commandments, and sometimes it refers to another law, like later on a law that will be called the Law of Moses and other laws. It's the context, understanding the context of the verse that has to be used to determine the meaning. My point is, it's an error to assume that the word law always refers to the Ten Commandments, and that it always refers to the Law of Moses. And it's an error to think that somehow they are always part of the same package. Let me take a few minutes to explain this. God has a value system known as his law. His law existed long before Moses and the Law of Moses. In any relationship God has with any being, the template of that relationship is God's Law of Love, and that includes deep, profound respect and awe towards the Creator and deep respect for God's other creations. That's his template. That is included in any relationship that God has, a covenant relationship with a person or a people. So yes, the Law of Moses did include within it the Ten Commandments. But the Ten Commandments existed before the Law of Moses because they are part of God's value system. And when the Law of Moses is suspended, the Ten Commandments, God's Law, continue because they're universal. They're applicable to everyone. They define who and what God is and what his definition of love is. So I think that's very important for us to understand and appreciate. And I want you to notice here how it is differentiated in Genesis chapter 26 and verse 4, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. We'll learn a little bit more about this in just a few minutes. Let me answer another question. Who gave the Ten Commandments to the nation of Israel? Good question. Exodus chapter 19 and verse 24.

You'll turn there with me. Exodus chapter 19 and verse 24. And the Lord said to him, Go down and come up, bringing Aaron with you, but do not let either the priest or the people break through to come up to the Lord. God is on the mount. He's ready to give them his commandments and to talk to them face to face. And God sets guidelines that people can't be like some unruly mob. They have to respect perimeters and respect their own space, respect God's space. So that's what this is talking about. Go down and come up, bringing Aaron with you, but do not let either the priest or the people break through to come up to the Lord. Otherwise, he will break out against them. So Moses went down to the people and told them, Then God spoke all of these words.

And the Ten Commandments are given. And it's not my purpose today to go through the actual Ten Commandments. I'm talking about them as a package, as a principle, a package of being God's value system. So after the Ten Commandments were spoken directly by God to the people, in fear they pleaded with Moses to become a mediator. They said, He's too much. He's too powerful. There's too much awe. There's too much raw power in this God. Moses, you talk to Him. You be a mediator. You tell us what He says. And there's a difference there, because that's exactly how the law of Moses would be communicated. Moses would be a mediator. The Ten Commandments, as we just saw, then God spoke all these words. Ten Commandments given directly by God. The law of Moses, all the other laws that Moses would write, He's a mediator. God gives to Him. He gives to the people. As it states in Deuteronomy chapter 5, verses 4 and 5, The Lord talked with you face to face, as is Moses speaking, The Lord talked with you face to face in the mountain from the midst of the fire. I stood between the Lord and you at that time to declare to you the word of the Lord, for you were afraid because of the fire and you did not go up to the mountain. So something else God does is later on, God decides that He's going to write His commandments on stone tablets.

He does it with His very own finger. First set of tablets, Moses is up talking to God.

He hears that Israel is committing idolatry and they're playing and they're goofing around. He gets angry and he hurls the stones and they break. So God's actually got to have him make a second set in order to write His commandments on the second set. So when God later gave the commandments to Moses on stone tablets, what is the significance of God writing the commands with His own finger? Well, it's another powerful symbol of the importance of God's great moral law. No other law, statute, or judgment in the Old Testament was written by the finger of God. The law of Moses was not written by the finger of God, was not spoken directly by God to the people like the Ten Commandments were, but through Moses as a mediator. This establishes the law of God as being part of God's very character and part of His nature. On a human level, signing a contract is a way to validate an agreement. Your whole life, when you decide to do something important, your signature will be required. Just try to go in and get that bank loan and say, no, I'm sorry, I don't sign things. See how far you get. It's against my personal religious beliefs to sign documents. Thank you very much. See how quickly they dash out the money to you. You have to tell them that. So even in our own culture, signing something, using an instrument that's attached to our finger, is a way that we, as we say, sign on the dotted line, that we give our credibility, that we demonstrate our integrity, we demonstrate our authority to do that by signing things. The signature validates one's authenticity and personal integrity. Even as a human gesture, when you point the finger, you're making a statement of direct authority. I say, I think, all of this is symbolic of God with his very own finger, writing his values on tablets of stone. Another question, does the Old Testament make a difference between the Ten Commandments and the Law of Moses? Again, let's allow the Scriptures to answer. Let's go into Deuteronomy 4 and verse 12. Deuteronomy 4 and verse 12. Here's what Moses was inspired to write. And the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. Remember, the Ten Commandments were given directly by God to the people. They could hear him. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form. You only heard a voice. So he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform the Ten Commandments. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone. That's exactly what we've been discussing. The next word is a very powerful transition word. And, aside from that, in addition to, as an adjunct of the Ten Commandments, the Lord commanded me to teach you the statutes and judgments that you might observe them in the land which you cross over to possess. So you notice the clear distinction between the Ten Commandments spoken of by God, written by his finger on stone, and the other statutes and judgments which were given to Moses, which he records. There's a huge difference between the two. So when a time comes that the law of Moses is suspended or it becomes obsolete, it has nothing to do with God's moral law. Nothing to do with his commandments. And I might add that the commandments are universal. Yes, we live in a world in which we have the moon and we have the sun. And as long as we have that, we observe a Sabbath day, every seventh day, according to God's command. But the spiritual principle of that, if you were in a place without sunrises, without a sun, the spiritual principle is make God a priority. Jesus said, seek you first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

So the spiritual principle behind the Sabbath is, even if you were in a world without a sun, without a moon, make God your priority. Give him time. Worship him. Make him an important part in your life. So you see, all of these commandments are universal to every people of every time, whether you live on the planet earth or not. Let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 10 and verse 1. How important were the 10 commandments? Were they treated any differently than the law of Moses? Let's find out. Deuteronomy chapter 10 and verse 1. And we'll see what happens. Deuteronomy chapter 10 and verse 1. At that time the Lord said to me, hue for yourself two tablets of stone like the first. You know, like the ones that you broke and all the super glue in the world can't put together. Those tablets? Make another set. And come up to me in the mountain and make yourself an ark of wood, and I will write in the tablets the words which were on the first tablets, which you broke, by the way. And you shall put them in the ark. So make an ark. It's going to be called the Ark of the Covenant. And I want these tablets inside that ark. So I made an ark of a case of wood, you two tablets of stone, like the first, went up to the mountain, having the two tablets in my hand. And he wrote on the tablets, according to the first writing, the Ten Commandments, which the Lord had spoken to you in the mountain in the midst of the fire in the day of assembly. And the Lord gave them to me. Then I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark which I had made. And there they are, just as the Lord commanded me. So the Ten Commandments are placed in the ark. There should be no surprise to anyone who realizes through Bible study that the ark represented the literal presence of God, the heart and core of whom what God was, was in that ark, between those two carabim who were facing each other in that ark. That was God's presence. Again, it's because of the values of God, and they're required of any covenant or relationship that one has with God. Hebrews chapter 9 verse 4 also confirms that they were placed inside of the ark. So that's where the Ten Commandments were placed. In the very utensil, the very chest that represented the presence of God, because they reflect his value system, again, who and what God is.

So what about the law of Moses? Let's go to chapter 31. Deuteronomy chapter 31 and verse 24. So if the Ten Commandments were placed in the ark to represent being part of God's very presence, part of God's mind, the mind of God, shall we say, the heart of God, where was the law of Moses placed, and what would that represent in importance? Chapter 31 verse 24. And so it was. When Moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book, not on stone, never confused the law of Moses with the moral law of God. All right? Moses writes it. He's the mediator. God tells him what to write in the book, and that's exactly what he does. The words of this law in a book, when they are finished, that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark to the covenant of the Lord, saying, Take this book, and take this book of the law, and put it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there as a witness against you. For I know you're rebellious, and I know you about your stiff neck. If today, while I'm yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the Lord, then how much more after my death? So put it on the side as a reminder that you're supposed to respect and observe this law of Moses written in this book. So again, I want you to understand the contrast. The book of the law was placed beside the ark of the covenant, but the tablets of God, his commandments, were placed inside of the ark of the covenant. Why? Because on the inside represented the heart and core of God's values. They revealed who and what God is, and what it takes to have an intimate, special relationship with God in the way that we should treat our neighbors, our fellow creation. In contrast, the law of Moses was intended for a special people in a certain land during a special period in time, and they would cease. They would come a time when the law of Moses would no longer be in effect for people whom God would call spiritually and give his Holy Spirit to. Any society or people who reject these laws eventually degenerate into acting like criminals. That's exactly what's happening in our culture today. I'll give you an example of a few generations after these laws themselves were given its Sinai. That's exactly what happened. Israel is recorded in the book of Judges. It wasn't too many generations later. If you've read the book of Judges, all the blood and gore and rape and perversion and murder and dysfunction that goes on, it shows Judges that it's a historical book that records great perversion and brutality. Why? Because they didn't honor and respect the laws that God had given them, and so they once again resorted to acting like animals. And that's exactly what's happening in our culture today. People are already in the same place. They are in our culture today. People are acting more and more selfishly, more violently, and more like animals. Sad to say. So now let's go to the New Testament. I hope that was fairly clear on the difference between the Ten Commandments and the Law of Moses. Ten Commandments were part of the Law of Moses, but they existed before, and they exist forever. God doesn't change. God says, I change not. He does not change his value system. He does not change how he desires to be worshipped and honored and appreciated and respected. And he doesn't change in the way that we should treat others who are also part of that wonderful creation of God created in God's image. Let's go to Matthew 5 and verse 17. Did Jesus himself ever differentiate between the Law of Moses and the Ten Commandments? We saw there was a clear difference in the Old Testament. How about what Jesus taught? We're going to go to Matthew 5 and verse 17 and see what he says. Many people say, oh, this is a key scripture.

This is where Jesus says that he fulfills the Ten Commandments, and they no longer need to be kept. Does he? Matthew 5 and verse 17. Do not think that I've come 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 till all is fulfilled. And this is a Greek word fulfilled called pleru, P-L-E-R-O-O.

Pleru, and it means to satisfy or to verify. So again, some people would say that Jesus was saying he would fulfill the Law. Well, first of all, we have to understand what Law – remember I said his context? In context, Jesus isn't talking about the Ten Commandments. He's talking about one of the great sections of the Old Testament which were the Law and the Prophets, the Law of Moses and the Prophetic Writings.

So in context, that's what he's talking about. And as far as them being fulfilled, some say that when Jesus said he would fulfill the Law, he meant to do away with it. Well, of course, that's ridiculous. I'll tell you why. In Matthew 3 and 5, when Jesus is being baptized, he uses that same Greek word.

He says why he's baptized? Because he's perfect and righteous and really doesn't need to be baptized. But he's baptized, quote, it's proper for us to fulfill all righteousness. He's referring to he and John the Baptist who baptized him. Again, that's Matthew chapter 3 and verse 15. That word fulfill, fulfill all righteousness, is the same Greek word. So if you're going to use the same reasoning, then you would have to say that Jesus did away with righteousness. If he meant by fulfill that something is done away, or no longer has any meaning, then you would have to say that the same Greek word used by the same author, Matthew, that Jesus was implying that there's no importance for righteousness anymore, which, of course, is absolutely ridiculous.

So again, in context, what Jesus is talking about here is the law of Moses. He's talking about the Old Testament, the books of the law, which were the significant portion of the Old Testament along with the prophets. Now let's take a look at verse 19. Before we read that, though, I want to emphasize that this Greek word law used here is nomos. All right? And that's a word used to convey the parceling out of regulations.

So that's the word, the Greek word that's used for the law portion of the Old Testament. I want you to notice what Matthew was inspired to do here. Verse 19, "...whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments..." Totally different Greek word. All right? Now he's talking about God's moral law, the Ten Commandments. "...whoever breaks, therefore breaks, one of the least of these commandments..." That Greek word is in tole, "...and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." The difference is they did not possess God's Holy Spirit, the presence of Christ, our righteousness.

They were trying to do it on their own. Their own carnal thinking, their own self-righteousness. We have an advantage because God has given us His Spirit. But I want you to notice that Jesus uses a different word to refer to the commandments. Again, the Greek word used here is in tole, and it means an authoritative prescription, a commandment, a precept.

Here in Matthew's inspired writing of the events, he revealed Jesus's clear distinction between the part of the Old Testament known as the law and the commandments by the usage of two different words in His sermon. Thankfully, Matthew was inspired to delineate the two. This shouldn't be surprising since God made the same distinction to Abraham. You may recall we went there in Genesis chapter 26 verses 4 and 5, in which God differentiated between His commandments and His laws. As a messenger of the new covenant, Jesus was introducing how these same commandments would become magnified and written in our hearts. The metaphor being written in our hearts is that they will become part of our lifestyle and character.

God wrote the law originally on stones, stone tablets. That's the letter of the law. But God wants to write His value system on our hearts, so it becomes who we are, so that it changes our lifestyle, it changes the way we think, it changes the way we perceive life, perceive our own purpose, perceive other people. That's the kind of change that God's law can help us to do. Now, having said that, what about those who followed Him, His disciples? Some say that these Ten Commandments were nailed to the cross and they were done away, and that God basically did away with the Ten Commandments, and through other writings He resurrected nine, not including the Sabbath, nine were resurrected, and that's part of the law of Christ, and that's what we live by.

I heard one preacher say once that I thought was a good analogy, he says, that's like you have a sore finger, that's like you cutting off all ten of your fingers and reattaching nine just because one was sore. That's the same reasoning. First, let's take a look at Paul's writings, 1 Corinthians 7 and verse 19. 1 Corinthians 7 and verse 19. We'll take a look at those who followed Jesus, who taught, who were preachers, who preached the gospel, who walked the walk, what they said, what they wrote.

This is just a small sampling. Paul says, 1 Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 19, one of his favorite topics that he couldn't get away from, which was circumcision. It probably seemed like the topic would never die.

It followed him wherever he went. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters. The other is physical, it's temporary, only affects half of the human race. The other is spiritual, it's eternal, it's universal, it changes our hearts and minds. Take a look at another example, Romans chapter 7 and verse 9. Romans chapter 7 and verse 9, he's been on a little discourse here about how the law condemns us, and it does condemn us.

When you look at the Ten Commandments, we realize how far short we fall of God's glory, especially if you look at the spiritual application of the Ten Commandments. Rather than killing, you shouldn't even hate someone, for example, right? Rather than stealing, you shouldn't even lust after that possession that someone else has, whether it's their spouse or their bank account or their new car or whatever it is, you shouldn't even have those thoughts. That's the spiritual application of the Ten Commandments.

Paul says, you're beginning in verse 9, I was alive once without the law. There's a time when we're small children, we're alive, we're going on in the world, but we're not yet at an age of accountability. It's a period of time before we can even read and understand right and wrong. But when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. When I understand that the law says you shall not steal and you know you've stolen, then obviously you know that you're dead.

You violated God's law. The penalty of sin is death. Verse 10, and the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. You can look at the Ten Commandments two ways. You can look at it as a great regulator that says, do these things, respect God's law, and you'll be happy, your life will be good. You can also look at them in a different way and say, boy, they're very condemning. They remind me. It's like looking in a mirror and seeing every wrinkle in my head, every place where hair used to be, right, every pimple, every flaw in my life.

So you can look at the Ten Commandments that way too. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. I was as good as dead. If you don't have a Savior—I've said this before—if you don't have a Savior, you are condemned, then there's only one Savior, and that's Jesus Christ.

So he says, for sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore, the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. And Paul realizes the purpose of the Ten Commandments. He realizes the purpose of the law. The purpose of the law is to just tell us how badly we need a Savior, how far short we fall of God's glory, how desperately we need to repent, and we need that shed blood of Jesus Christ to forgive us of our sins and our transgressions. Let's take a look at a few verses from John's writings. First, we'll go to 1 John chapter 2 and verse 3. First John chapter 2 and verse 3.

John writes, another one of Jesus' direct disciples. Paul came later on. He obviously wasn't one of the twelve, but John was, now by this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He who says, I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word truly, the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in him. He who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk just as he, capital H, he walked. Jesus kept the commandments. Jesus was perfect. He set a sterling example.

That should be our model. That should be what we strive for.

Now as physical human beings, we're not going to get there. We certainly can't do it on our own, but we should walk as he walked. Make every effort to live the kind of life that Jesus Christ lived.

Let's go forward a few chapters. First John chapter 5 verse 1. First John chapter 5 and verse 1.

John writes, whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and everyone who loves him who begot also loves him who is begotten of him. That's love towards your neighbor. Verse 2. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. Second John. Just turn a few pages. Second John chapter 1 and verse 6. Second John chapter 1 and verse 6.

This is love that we walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment that you have heard from the beginning that you should walk in it from the beginning of time.

From the beginning of this discussion with God and Cain. From the beginning. You can't get any earlier than Adam and Eve and their children from the beginning of time. Let's take a look at one scripture here from James. James chapter 1 and verse 22. Brother Jesus. James chapter 1 and verse 22.

James write, but be doers of the word and not hearers, only deceiving yourselves.

So if we're not keeping the commandments and we think we're godly, we think we have a relationship with God, we're only deceiving ourselves is what James is saying. Verse 23. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man, observing his natural face in a mirror, for he observes himself, goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it a long look in the mirror. And that's why we emphasize this particularly at Passover, a good examination of our lives and continues to want to grow and conform to God's law, his commandments, and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work. This one will be blessed in what he does. I'm going to tell one and myself. I'm traveling one time years ago, and I'm shaving and I cut myself, washed my face, getting ready, I have my shirt on already. Notice that I had shaved a little, I cut myself, there's blood. So I take a little piece of tissue, look into the mirror, put that little piece of tissue on there, phone rings.

So I got distracted like the person here. I immediately forgot what kind of man that I was.

So I run down to the lobby, meet my agent. I spend half the morning looking like that, until someone says to me, is that a piece of toilet paper on your chin? Sure enough, that toilet, not already been through like three or four sales calls, no one loved me enough to point that out. They all allowed me to look like a jerk all morning until someone finally said something. Why? Because I got distracted and I didn't observe myself closely and pay attention, and I immediately forgot what was on my face. And we can do that in our lives. If we're not looking at God's law and living by God's law, we can easily forget what kind of life we're supposed to lead and we start going in another direction. Well, God's great moral law is easily traceable to the time of Adam and Eve, and it's rather absurd to think that God created Adam and Eve and he didn't teach them his very own moral laws which would govern their relationship with him and govern their relationship with each other and their children in the future. Of course he did.

The commandments were understood and basically respected by the patriarchs of the Bible. Israel, who became a slave people after deliverance from Egypt, God restored to them his moral laws that had been lost while they were in slavery. They were called those laws, the Ten Commandments, and those laws were attached apart of the law of Moses, but as we saw earlier, independent of the law of Moses. These commandments have always been in force and they are the law of God, behind the law of Moses, in front of the law of Moses, beyond the law of Moses. Because the Ten Commandments existed before any other law, they are not limited to any other covenant or law that God makes with an individual or with a people. In the Old Testament, many righteous men and women desired to honor God's law, including King David and the prophets. When we get to the New Testament, we see that Jesus also taught and respected the commandments. He restored the spiritual aspect of the commandments, making a matter of our hearts, our attitudes, how we think, our approach, our instincts, dealing with even our negative instincts, rather than just the letter of the law that was originally given as part of the law of Moses.

As the messenger of the New Covenant, Jesus introduced how these commandments can become magnified and written on our hearts in a spiritual way, like God with his own finger wrote on those stone tablets. Later, we saw the disciples' very lifestyle and their writings reveal a continued belief and obedience and respect towards the commandments.

Christians respect and obey the Ten Commandments, not because they give us salvation, not because by obeying them we can achieve or earn any kind of salvation. We keep them for the simple fact that we want to be like our Father. You know, tomorrow is Father's Day, and millions and millions of people in one way or another will honor their fathers. And the greatest way that we can honor God is to say that I accept your values. I want to live by the same values that you live by. I want to treat others with respect. I want to love people. I want to love you and give you the respect and dignity you deserve as my God, as the Creator. And that is the finest way that we can show our love towards God, is respect the very commandments that He has given humanity to help us to be happy and to guide our lives. So we don't keep them because we think they offer or earn salvation. We do them because they reflect the nature and the character of God, that same nature and character that we desire to become, to live by. Our final scripture, Revelation chapter 22 and verse 14. Revelation chapter 22 and verse 14. Final scripture. Revelation chapter 22 and verse 14.

Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.

So whether it's times in the past going back to Adam and Eve or even before, or at some time in the future, long beyond the thousand-year millennium has ended going into eternity, as Mr. Graham spoke about last week, God's values always will be maintained. His value system will always exist.

I ask you today to continue to do His commandments, accept the blessing that comes from God by respecting His values and standards of conduct that are centered on love towards Him and love towards our neighbor. And as time goes on in a world gone mad, one that is drunk on foolishness and a world that's heading towards self-destruction, I encourage you to be one who stands in the gap and loves God's commandments. It says, I don't care what my culture says is right. I don't care what some Hollywood celebrity says is right. I don't care what a politician says is right, because Marl's poll, he or she will change their mind anyway, depending on what the poll says. So I don't care what some politician says is right. What is right is defined by God's commandments, by no other people, no other culture, no other kingdom of this earth, no group of people who sit in a court or sit in the halls of a congress or sit in a school board to find what my values are, what I'm going to teach my children, and how I'm going to live my life. Live by them. Let them be your moral code. Let them be your guide. Look to the perfect law of liberty and continue in it, as James said, and as Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5, but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Prepare for greatness, because that's your calling. Have a wonderful Sabbath.