Revealing God's Standard and Man's Need
Review:- What is the Law?
- The Law made Israel Distinct.
- The Law reflected Israel's God.
- The Law was for Israel's Good.
- The Law provided Atonement for sin.
- The Law propared the world for Christ.
- What was the Purpose of the Law?
Compilation of Decrees and Statutes given to Israel through Moses.
Review: Psalm 147:19-20
Review: Deuteronomy 6:24
The purpose of the Law was to clearly Explain and Expose human Sinfulness, in order to create desperation for Mercy and Grace.
Review: Galatians 3:19, 22, 23 | Romans 7:7
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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01:04-01:22
We're going to continue our series, "Bible 101." And I would suggest to you, as far as understanding the message of God's Word, this week's and next week's message are probably the two most important in the series.
01:23-01:24
So where have we been so far?
01:26-01:29
Well, we started off our series by talking about the Bible.
01:29-01:31
The Bible is the Word of God.
01:32-01:33
That is the book that God wrote.
01:34-01:42
And at Harvest Bible Chapel, we have four pillars, and our first pillar is proclaiming the authority of God's Word without apology.
01:43-01:45
That's why we stand and say this is what God said.
01:45-01:47
He's not apologizing for it.
01:48-01:49
And neither are we.
01:49-01:52
Our job is to just proclaim what God has already said.
01:54-01:58
We spent the following week talking about creation.
02:00-02:06
In six days, God created the heavens and the earth, including mankind.
02:08-02:10
Then we spent a week talking about sin.
02:10-02:21
How God gave one law to Adam and Eve and they broke that law and brought sin into the world and sin got so bad that God decided to flood the entire world.
02:23-02:30
And after Noah's family got off of the ark, We spent a week talking about the Tower of Babel.
02:32-02:36
How man tried to exalt himself and how God brought him down.
02:37-02:39
And confused their languages and spread them out.
02:40-02:47
And then last week we talked about Abraham, who would be the father of a nation of people.
02:48-02:53
A nation of people we know even today as the nation of Israel.
02:53-03:07
Now, if you recall last week, God told Abraham His people, the Israelites, were going to be delivered from a nation and brought into this promised land.
03:08-03:23
And Jacob's family - Jacob, eventually his name changed to Israel - when you get to the end of the book of Genesis, Jacob's family ended up in Egypt because of a severe famine.
03:25-03:35
When you get to the book of Exodus, you see the Israelites were living in Egypt and they were multiplying and many babies were being born and it got to the point that the Egyptians were like, "Wait a minute.
03:37-03:45
If war breaks out, these Israelites might join the enemy and they're living right here with us.
03:45-03:50
They might attack us." So the Egyptians decided to make the Israelites slaves.
03:52-04:01
And God used Moses, an Israelite who was born in Egypt, to deliver them from Egypt.
04:01-04:02
Can we put our bookshelf up?
04:04-04:07
You see, this sets the stage for the rest of the Old Testament.
04:09-04:14
You see, we spend a lot of time in the book of Genesis talking about creation and the flood.
04:15-04:23
Well, the story of the Lord using Moses to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt, that's found in the book of Exodus.
04:24-04:42
And through this wandering in the wilderness, we're going to talk a little bit about that today, the Lord, through Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, gave the Israelites the Old Testament law and Deuteronomy was a repeating of the law.
04:43-04:51
So this was Moses leading the Israelites out of Egypt to the promised land, and then Joshua led them into the promised land.
04:52-04:54
And these books are called books of history.
04:55-05:04
And in these books, Israel gets into the land, drives out most but not all of the enemies that were living there, and God raises up judges.
05:04-05:08
They were these military leaders to lead the Israelites.
05:08-05:13
And these books here in the Old Testament basically talk about the history of Israel.
05:13-05:19
Israel decided they wanted to be like other nations and have a king, so God gave them King Saul.
05:19-05:24
He didn't work out so well, and God gave them King David, and he had his problems too.
05:24-05:40
And it went on down the line until you got to a generation after King Solomon that the The nation divided into northern Israel and southern Israel, which we know as Judah.
05:42-05:54
And God told Israel, "If you persist in sin, I'm going to judge you." And the way that God was going to judge them was He was going to send an enemy nation in to drive them out of this land.
05:56-05:58
Spoiler alert for those of you that haven't read it.
06:00-06:01
Israel persisted in sin.
06:02-06:08
In about 705 B.C., the Lord sent the Assyrians to conquer northern Israel.
06:09-06:13
Well, Judah - southern Israel - they lasted a little bit longer.
06:14-06:16
But even they persisted in sin.
06:16-06:22
And by 586 B.C., the Lord sent the Babylonians to conquer them.
06:23-06:37
So you see, there was a period of Israel's history where they were in the land, and then they were driven out of the land, And the whole time they were in the land, God was sending all these preachers, telling them you need to repent, stop sinning, knock it off.
06:37-06:39
And those preachers are the prophets.
06:39-06:41
We have major and minor prophets.
06:42-06:44
Major prophets, it just means their writings are bigger.
06:44-06:50
Okay, it's not like these guys are important and these guys were like all under the age of 18 or anything like that.
06:50-06:52
That's not what minor prophets means.
06:52-06:54
It just means their writings are shorter.
06:54-06:59
So these were preachers that the Lord had sent, saying you need to repent, you need to repent.
06:59-06:59
and they wouldn't.
07:01-07:10
So after the Lord drove them out of their land, eventually a new world power rose, and those were the Persians.
07:10-07:15
And they allowed the Israelites to go back in and start rebuilding their land.
07:16-07:23
And even at that, they persisted in some hard-heartedness and some procrastination and some sin.
07:23-07:30
And some of these prophets were actually preachers during that day, the Lord sent to get them back on track.
07:33-07:48
Now by the time you get to the New Testament, Israel is still in their land, brought back again from the rule of the Persians, but at this point the world power is Rome.
07:50-08:01
So as Israel was established and living in their land and God promised to judge if they disobeyed, the question is this, what guidelines did God use?
08:01-08:07
I mean, it wasn't just an arbitrary measure to determine whether or not they were allowed to stay.
08:08-08:09
What were the guidelines?
08:10-08:22
to Moses, during the exodus from Egypt, God gave the law, the Mosaic covenant.
08:24-08:27
Today we refer to this as the old covenant.
08:27-08:30
So if you're taking notes, I want you to jot some things down.
08:31-08:33
Number one, what is the law?
08:35-08:36
What is the law?
08:37-08:38
Now you have two points in your outline.
08:38-08:40
is the law and what is the purpose of the law?
08:41-08:43
You're like, well, aren't those the same thing?
08:43-08:44
And they're really not.
08:44-08:46
And I want to explain why we're taking this approach.
08:47-08:47
What is the law?
08:48-08:51
I want to talk about some of the features of the law.
08:52-08:56
And what is the intended purpose of the law?
08:58-09:00
We're going to be talking about the purposes.
09:01-09:03
And it's sort of like this.
09:04-09:08
If I was going to try to sell you on a pencil, first of all, I would tell you the features.
09:08-09:15
I would say it's yellow, it's smooth, it's got an eraser on the end in case you make a mistake, and it smells great, at least I think so.
09:16-09:20
Those are some features about the pencil, but that's not the purpose.
09:21-09:23
The purpose is you use it to write things down.
09:24-09:27
And that's sort of the approach we want to take to looking at the law here.
09:27-09:36
I want to share with you some of the features of the law, and then we're going to look at God's purpose for giving the law.
09:38-09:39
Number one, what is the law?
09:41-09:43
To jot this down, I have some blanks for in the outline.
09:44-09:57
This is a very simple definition, but the law is the compilation of decrees and statutes given to Israel through Moses.
09:58-09:59
Okay, that's a very generic definition.
10:00-10:01
We're gonna explain it.
10:02-10:06
It's a compilation of decrees and statutes given to Israel through Moses.
10:07-10:18
Again, while the Israelites were leaving Egypt, and while they were in the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land, God gave these laws, these rules to Moses.
10:18-10:22
They're found in the first five books of the Bible called the Pentateuch.
10:23-10:25
The law is also called the Torah.
10:27-10:30
And the law was a bilateral covenant.
10:31-10:48
You know, last week we talked about a unilateral covenant where God said, "Abraham, I'm going to do these things, and you're just gonna watch." Now, Abraham was faithful, but the covenant that God made with Abraham wasn't based on Abraham being faithful, it was based on God keeping his word.
10:48-10:49
That's a unilateral covenant.
10:50-10:56
But the Mosaic Law, the law that we're going to be talking about today, that was more of a bilateral covenant, meaning this.
10:57-11:00
God promised Israel, "If you obey, I will bless you.
11:02-11:05
And if you disobey, I will bring judgment.
11:05-11:07
That was in the Mosaic law.
11:08-11:14
As I said, they persisted in disobeying and God brought judgment.
11:16-11:17
So here's some features.
11:17-11:18
I want you to jot down these features.
11:19-11:19
They're on your outline.
11:20-11:22
These are some features of the law.
11:22-11:25
Letter A, the law made Israel distinct.
11:27-11:29
The law made Israel distinct.
11:29-11:30
They weren't just rules.
11:32-11:34
These were laws of the covenant community.
11:36-11:40
And I want you to note that they were specifically and exclusively for the nation of Israel.
11:43-11:49
Psalm 147 says, "He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and rules to Israel.
11:50-11:52
He has not dealt thus with any other nation.
11:53-11:56
They do not know His rules." Praise the Lord.
11:57-12:07
So one of the purposes of the law was God says, "Israel, I want you to look, act, think, smell differently than everybody else in the world.
12:07-12:09
I want you to be distinct.
12:09-12:15
And in order for you to be distinct, you're going to have to follow these rules.
12:15-12:17
The rest of the world doesn't live by these rules.
12:17-12:23
You're going to live by these rules and you're going to stand out." So the law made Israel distinct.
12:23-12:50
be, the law reflected Israel's God. The law reflected Israel's God. You see in the law we often think of a list of rules, "Do this, don't do this, don't do this, you must do this." And these rules weren't arbitrary. You know, God wasn't up in heaven going, "I I wonder what I can get them to do today.
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Like, you know, taco Tuesday.
12:53-12:55
You can only have tacos on Tuesday.
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What else?
12:56-12:59
And polka dots on Friday.
12:59-13:01
You can only wear polka dots on Friday.
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And he didn't give just these arbitrary rules.
13:07-13:10
The law reflected some things about the character of God.
13:11-13:14
For example, the 10 commandments, we'll be talking about those in a couple of minutes.
13:15-13:18
It's the part of the law that most people are familiar with.
13:19-13:20
God says do not commit adultery.
13:21-13:21
Why would God say that?
13:23-13:25
Because God is a God of being faithful to His covenant.
13:26-13:30
And He says if you're going to look like Me, you're going to be faithful to your covenant too.
13:30-13:32
So you're going to be faithful to your wife.
13:32-13:34
That's why you don't commit adultery.
13:35-13:38
You see, that law reflected something about the heart of God.
13:39-13:42
Another example, you know, in the Ten Commandments?
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You shall not bear false witness, You shall not lie.
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Why would God say that?
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Because God is a God of truth.
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There's no falsehood in God.
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And God says, "I don't lie, and my people shouldn't either.
13:55-14:00
"So don't lie." Covening, the 10th commandment, you shall not coven.
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You know, covening is when you aren't satisfied with what the Lord provided you.
14:06-14:09
And instead, you're longing for something that the Lord has provided someone else.
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God says, "You don't act that way." Why?
14:11-14:14
It's your people that trust in my perfect provision.
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That's why.
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Okay?
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You trust me.
14:18-14:19
I'm a God who provides.
14:19-14:22
So the law reflected Israel's God.
14:22-14:25
Letter C, the law was for Israel's good.
14:27-14:39
Deuteronomy 6.24 says, "And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes to fear the Lord our God." Look at this next phrase, "For our good always, that he might preserve us alive as we are this day.
14:42-14:43
The law was for Israel's good.
14:45-14:49
It was to protect them and to keep them safe and to bless them.
14:50-14:56
So like our kids have a bunk bed, and in the top bunk there's this big wooden rail that goes beside the mattress.
14:56-15:00
And at one point, Cade was like, I don't want that rail in.
15:01-15:02
And I said, well, you're keeping the rail in.
15:02-15:04
Well, why do I have to keep the rail in?
15:04-15:05
You know why, right?
15:05-15:06
You know why?
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Why do I keep the rail in?
15:07-15:15
because if he rolls over, he could injure or kill himself falling off of the top bunk onto a hardwood floor.
15:16-15:17
I'm like, you're keeping the rail in.
15:18-15:22
He didn't like it, but it was for his own good, right?
15:22-15:24
And that was sort of the law in the Old Testament.
15:24-15:25
God says, I'm putting this here.
15:26-15:30
You might not like some of these things, but you're gonna have to trust me.
15:30-15:31
I'm doing this to protect you.
15:33-15:36
Letter D, the law provided atonement for sin.
15:38-15:40
This was another feature of the law.
15:40-15:42
The law provided atonement for sin.
15:42-15:44
That's especially throughout the book of Leviticus.
15:46-15:54
Leviticus prescribed how to kill and offer animals like sheep and goats for different kinds of sacrifices.
15:54-15:55
They were all different kinds.
15:55-15:56
You can read about them.
15:56-16:01
There was the peace offering, there was the sin offering, there was the guilt offering.
16:02-16:10
And these animals were killed and offered to God as atonement for sin.
16:11-16:16
Understand, they didn't forgive sin, they didn't take away sin, they atoned sin.
16:16-16:18
They basically covered sin over.
16:18-16:19
We talked about this before.
16:19-16:22
The Old Testament law, the sacrifices were like a credit card.
16:23-16:27
When you use a credit card at a store, you're technically not paying for that item.
16:28-16:33
You're just sort of covering the payment until real payment can be made.
16:33-16:35
That was the Old Testament sacrifices.
16:35-16:36
They were the credit card.
16:37-16:41
Just swipe it, payment's still going to have to be made, but you're covered for now, okay?
16:42-16:45
And it was a temporary covering.
16:46-16:50
That's why the Old Testament sacrifice constantly had to be repeated.
16:52-16:57
You know, day in, day out, the priests were offering sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice.
16:59-17:01
The law provided atonement for sin.
17:03-17:05
God was teaching how He deals with sin.
17:05-17:21
He says, "Sin must be punished, but I'm going to allow a substitutionary blood sacrifice that can be offered to God by a priest on the sinner's behalf.
17:22-17:27
Hold that thought because letter E, the law prepared the world for Christ.
17:29-17:35
You see all these sacrificial procedures were symbols, every one of them.
17:35-17:36
We're gonna talk more about this next week.
17:36-17:38
They were all symbols to get you ready for Christ.
17:39-17:47
The Old Testament law was sort of like ABCs And then Jesus is like the book, after you learn your alphabet, you learn to read.
17:50-17:52
The law was to teach them things.
17:53-17:58
God was taking mankind to school throughout human history.
17:59-18:06
And he was teaching things through Israel like this, look, you sin, but I'm going to allow a substitute to take your place.
18:06-18:08
It has to be a blood offering.
18:08-18:11
And by the way, it has to be a perfect lamb.
18:12-18:28
Okay, it wasn't like they could go out into their pen and say, "Well, this one's on like its last breath, "and it's got the mange, and it's got rabies, "and it's got heart failure, "and this sheep's gonna die any day now, "so I'm going to offer it to God." God says, "No, you don't do that.
18:28-18:30
"You get the best.
18:30-18:36
"You get the spotless lamb from your flock, "and you offer that to me, "but you couldn't even offer it yourself.
18:36-18:54
"You need to have a priest offer it to God on your behalf." how all of those things picture Jesus Christ, because Jesus is the Lamb, the spotless Lamb, but Jesus is also the priest that offers the sacrifice on your behalf.
18:56-19:06
So all of the Old Testament law, especially these sacrificial offerings, these procedures were pictures of Jesus Christ.
19:06-19:12
So that's the law, a compilation of decrees and statutes given to Israel through Moses.
19:12-19:26
And yes, there were some things dealing with morality and man to man interactions and dealing with crime and everything else, but there was also dealing with sin through the sacrificial system.
19:28-19:33
Like, well, that's very fascinating, Pastor Jeff, but number two, what was the purpose?
19:35-19:36
What was the purpose of the law?
19:37-19:42
I mean, we saw the features of the law, but what's the purpose?
19:42-19:46
And somebody here right now is saying, I know what the purpose of the law is.
19:47-19:52
We obey the law in order to get saved.
19:54-19:59
That is exactly not the purpose of the law.
19:59-20:04
You cannot be saved by keeping the law.
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You can't.
20:07-20:14
You're like, "I'm pretty sure I can." And I say, "I'm pretty sure you can't." I'm going to give you a quick test.
20:14-20:16
Ten questions. Just write it down in the margin.
20:17-20:27
I'm going to go through the Ten Commandments very quickly. And if you're guilty, or if you've ever been guilty, at one point if you've ever been guilty of any of these commandments, just give yourself a little check mark.
20:27-20:29
Okay? You can put numbers one through ten if you want.
20:31-20:35
But I just want you to go through the Ten Commandments Let's score ourselves, see how we're doing.
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The first commandment, God says, "You have no other gods." So, the question is, has God always been first and foremost in your mind?
20:45-20:48
That you've been in 100% worship mode all the time?
20:49-20:51
If not, then you have to give yourself a checkpoint there.
20:53-21:07
The second commandment goes with it, God says, "Don't make for yourself any idols." And we certainly don't make representations of pagan gods.
21:07-21:09
God says don't make for yourselves objects of worship.
21:12-21:18
So the second question is, have you ever had anything in your life, anything at all, that's taken a higher priority than God at any point?
21:20-21:24
Whether it was some recreational activity, some other person, whatever, something?
21:27-21:33
If at any point in your life something has been more important to you than God, then violated the second commandment.
21:34-21:36
The third commandment is do not use the Lord's name in vain.
21:37-21:38
Like, what does that mean?
21:38-21:41
It means we don't misrepresent God.
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Or this is the way I explain it to our kids.
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I say, the only time you use God's name is when you're talking to Him or when you're talking about Him, okay?
21:52-22:02
Some people think using the Lord's name in vain is saying GD or JC, and that's totally inappropriate and that totally falls under the category, But it's not exclusively that.
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Using the Lord's name in vain is just misrepresenting God.
22:06-22:11
When you mention the Lord, you should be talking to Him or you should be talking about Him.
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We don't throw His name around like it doesn't mean anything.
22:14-22:23
So if you've ever done that, if you've ever thrown God's name out there when you weren't talking to Him or about Him, then you give yourself a check mark.
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How are we doing so far?
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Anybody batting a thousand yet?
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You're like, yeah, the wrong way.
22:28-22:31
The fourth commandment is remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.
22:31-22:36
God says, "I work six days and rest one. You should do the same." Have you done that?
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Have you taken one day of the week that you're like, "You know, I'm going to focus this day on worshiping the Lord, on enjoying my family and the blessings of God." Have you always done that?
22:48-22:55
Or are there weeks that you've worked seven days a week, and you haven't set time aside to worship, then you've broken the fourth commandment.
22:56-22:57
The fifth commandment is honor your father and mother.
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Have you always honored your parents?
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Every time?
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Without question?
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If not, then you violated the fifth commandment.
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The sixth commandment is, "Do not murder." They're like, "Well, finally, Pastor Jeff, you got me because I have never killed anybody.
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Not once ever." Well, hang on.
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Jesus said, "If you've ever hated someone in your heart, it's the same as killing them.
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You wish they were gone.
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You wish they didn't exist." Jesus equated hatred with murder.
23:29-23:32
So by Jesus' definition, have you ever killed anyone?
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The seventh commandment is do not commit adultery.
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You see, Jesus expanded that one too.
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You know, Pastor Jeff, I've never slept with any other person except my spouse.
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Well, hang on.
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Jesus said if you look at a woman with lust in your heart, you've already committed adultery with her.
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So by Jesus' definition, how many people have committed adultery?
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The eighth commandment is do not steal.
23:58-24:02
Have you ever at one point, any time in your life, taken something that does not belong to you?
24:03-24:04
If so, you're a thief.
24:06-24:09
The ninth commandment, we already said, do not bear false witness, do not lie.
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Have you ever told a lie?
24:11-24:12
I could have started with that one.
24:12-24:15
It disqualified you all from the beginning, right?
24:16-24:17
The 10th commandment is do not covet.
24:19-24:22
Again, have you always been satisfied with everything the Lord's given you?
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You've never looked at something that somebody else said, "Man, I wish I had that.
24:27-24:35
"You know, I wish my wife was like his wife, "or I wish I lived in his neighborhood, "or I wish I had his job." Have you ever had a thought like that?
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If you have, then you've coveted.
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Okay, so how'd we do?
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Any sinless people in attendance today?
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Anyone?
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Well, now you're understanding the purpose of the law.
24:56-24:58
You see, you have to keep the law 100%.
24:58-25:04
If that's your desire, if you're like, "You know, I'm going to believe in the Ten Commandments, I'm going to keep the Ten Commandments," you have to do it 100%.
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Here's more bad news.
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Let's pretend there's somebody here that only ever sinned one time.
25:12-25:47
You've lived your whole life perfectly, but one time back in 1987, you had a momentary lapse of judgment and you told this little white lie, but other than that, you've been perfect. Well, I got bad news for you. James 2.10 tells us that if we've broken the law at one point, we are accountable for all of it. Do you know that? It'd be like taking a hammer and chisel and saying, "I'm just going to take a little piece of glass out of here, just a little piece out of the middle, and when you hit that chisel, what's going to happen? You're going to shatter the whole thing." James says God's law is like that.
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If you break it at one little point, you're guilty of all of it. Why? Because rejecting the law is rejecting the law giver, and you're accountable for all of it.
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And I would suggest to you, if you walked into any courthouse with an honest judge, and you were found guilty of breaking every law in the books, you don't have much chance of getting off.
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You're guilty.
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Now you're standing before a holy and righteous God, and you're guilty, literally, of breaking every law that he's given.
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by your own definition, by taking that test, you're guilty.
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Jot this down, the purpose of the law, this is on your outline.
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The purpose of the law was to clearly explain and expose human sinfulness.
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The purpose of the law was to clearly explain and expose human sinfulness.
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in order to create desperation for mercy and grace.
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Please hear this because this gets so botched in churches today.
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And there are a ton of Christians out there that are so confused because you think, well, yeah, Jesus and faith, but on the other hand, yeah, gotta keep the rules.
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So I want you to hear this.
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This is from God's word.
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This is why we're doing Bible 101.
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This is going to be news to some of you.
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But the law is to show you that you are a sinner in need of grace.
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That was the purpose of the law.
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The law was to break you.
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Okay, and somebody at this point is hearing this message and they're like, man, this church is a bummer.
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Not only do they take two offerings, but I didn't get some feel good, Jesus loves me, kumbaya message.
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Pastor Jeff made me feel like dirt and you should because you are.
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And so am I.
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And the law was supposed to do that.
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You're like, "Nah, I don't really think that's why God gave us the law." Yeah, he told us that's why he gave us the law.
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Look at these verses.
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Galatians 3, we're gonna look at verses 19, 22, 23.
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Why then the law?
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Paul has a question.
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This is from the New Testament.
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He's giving Holy Spirit commentary.
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Look at this question, why then the law?
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Or why did God give the law?
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Look at his answer.
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It was added because of transgressions.
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That's the fancy way of saying sin.
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The law was added because of sin.
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He goes on, but the scripture imprisoned everything under sin so that the promise by faith in Christ Jesus might be given to those who believe.
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Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.
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Romans 7, Paul says, "What then shall we say?
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"That the law is sin?
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"By no means." He said, "Yet if it had not been for the law, "I would not have known sin, "For I would not have known what it was to covet, "if the law had not said, 'You shall not covet.'" Look at that last phrase.
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He says, "For I would not have known what it is to covet, "if the law had not said, 'You shall not covet.'" This is the purpose of the law.
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This is the purpose of the law.
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A couple of weeks ago, Aaron and I stopped at the post office up in Cranberry.
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How many people have been there?
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been to the post office in Cranberry?
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That one specifically, I've been to a post office.
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No, that one.
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How many people have been to that one?
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Okay.
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If you've noticed, there's a sign right outside the post office that says, keep off the grass.
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How many people have seen that sign?
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Keep off the grass.
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I promise you, I had zero thoughts of frolicking on the lawn of the post office when I pulled up there.
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But do you know what happened to me when I saw that sign?
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Something wicked happened in my heart.
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I wanted to just start rolling on the lawn of the post office.
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Because just because the stupid sign said, don't get underground.
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And the funny thing was, it wasn't even a nice lawn.
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I mean, it was all patchy and splotchy and weedy and it was more dirt than grass.
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And I keep off of our prize post office lawn here.
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And Aaron was like, what are they trying to protect?
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It doesn't look great.
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I had no thoughts about jumping on that lawn, and I use that term loosely, I had no thoughts of jumping on that lawn until I saw that sign.
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And that sign revealed to me what a rebellious jerk I am.
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That's the law.
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You see, something about that sign awakened the rebellion within me.
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Now I should know better.
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I should know that when I go places, I don't just tromp on their lawn.
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I should know that.
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But see, it wasn't really clearly defined for me until I saw the sign.
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It's like, oh, to the very fact that I have this heart desire to do something just because I'm told not to do it, really says a lot about me, doesn't it?
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I mean, we've all done it.
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You're walking by the bench, through the park, you're walking by the bench, there's a sign that says, "Don't touch wet paint." What do you do?
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We touch it.
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We touch it. Why? Because there was a sign telling us not to do it. That's the law. God says, "I'm going to show you how sinful you are." See, Paul said, "Without the law I would have had these feelings of coveting, but I wouldn't have known exactly what that was." God defined it. He said, "You know why you want stuff that belongs to other people? It's because you're a sinner." The law shows us our predisposition to iniquity and that makes us feel guilty, that makes us feel trapped.
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He says it twice, we saw it in the passage in Galatians 3, he used the word "imprisoned." The law is to imprison us, but even that is part of God's grace. See, God's not out to make you feel bad for the sake of feeling bad. This is God's intention for the law.
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The guilt, the shame, the fear of judgment is supposed to make us desperate for mercy and grace and drive us to Christ who gives it.
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As we come down the home stretch, church, the danger that we face in our day is trying to combine law and grace.
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And the two are mutually exclusive, by the way.
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Grace says, "Jesus did it all." Law says, "There's still a part that I have to do in order to earn my salvation." You can't combine the two, but there's something in us that wants to try to combine the two.
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Because right now, I promise you, right now, there is somebody sitting here thinking, or somebody's listening to this podcast, Right now, somebody's thinking that living the victorious Christian life means keeping the Ten Commandments.
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Right now, somebody's thinking, "God's going to be happy with me because I try to keep the commandments." And then when you fall, when you sin, and you will, you think God is mad at you.
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Some people live their whole life that way.
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"I had a great morning.
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God's happy with me.
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I had a bad thought, I didn't treat my wife in the right way, now God's mad at me.
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If this is you, you not only misunderstand the purpose of the law, but you defeat yourself by misapplying it.
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Like, so wait a minute, there's no law?
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So what are you saying Pastor Jeff?
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Are you saying it's okay to steal and to lie and to lust just because we're forgiven?
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It sounds like what Pastor Jeff's saying to me.
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He's saying it's okay to sin because we're forgiven.
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I heard one person say this way.
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One person said, "Well, if Jesus paid for my sins, "I'm gonna get his money's worth.
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"And I'm gonna sin as much as I want." So it's okay to sin because we're forgiven, right?
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The answer is absolutely not.
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You absolutely should not be doing any of these things or any sin.
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But in Christ, listen church, in Christ, you are differently motivated.
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Not externally, because of a law that's written on a stone tablet in Christ, you're motivated internally.
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This is part of the new covenant.
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You know, even during the days of the old covenant, we'll talk about this next week, God promised that he was going to bring a new covenant.
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And he said, here's the primary feature.
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The law is not gonna be written on a tablet of stone, law is going to be written on your heart. Primary feature, Christ doesn't just save you, he changes you. He changes your identity and he changes your appetites.
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See the problem is you have somebody that knows enough about the Bible to be dangerous but hasn't actually received Jesus Christ, they're not actually born again and they're trying to live the Christian life in their own flesh.
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Question is, have you really received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?
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And if you have, God will change your appetite.
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You know, your appetite for food will change. Did you know that?
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I know it's true for me because I've been...
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I go on diet crazes, and I go on not caring what I stuff in my face phases, honestly.
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You know what's interesting about that?
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But when I'm going through one of those phases where I just eat whatever I want, I eat donut sandwiches with Pop-Tarts as the bread.
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You ever had one of those?
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Delicious.
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Chase it down with an extra large Coca-Cola.
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Consume your caloric intake for the next three months in one bite.
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But when I'm eating that stuff and I'm offered a salad,
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(grunts)
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rabbit food, salad's what, that's what food eats, right?
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And I don't have an appetite for that stuff.
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You know, something that's funny is once in a while I'll get in this health kick because I realize I'm not 20 anymore.
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And, you know, I can't eat like Garfield anymore and still maintain this fabulous figure that I have.
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You were so not supposed to laugh.
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I am so ashamed of myself now.
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And I'll get on these crates, I do eat the salads.
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And Aaron will make the most wonderful, healthy, she'll make salmon.
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And I'm like, you know, eating it.
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And I start to enjoy it after a while.
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And then after a while, when I'm off of the garbage and I'm eating the good stuff, You're out somewhere and you have a Pepsi and the Pepsi tastes like garbage.
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You're like, what am I drinking, battery acid?
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What is this stuff?
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It's nasty.
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Like, how did I love this so much before and now it tastes so gross?
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Because your appetites will change.
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And that's one of the amazing things when you come to Jesus Christ, when you receive him by faith, he changes your appetites.
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See, I used to crave sin, and I'd want to avoid the things of God.
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I used to have this appetite for sin.
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What's going to make me happy and gratify my flesh?
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And I remember before I came to Christ, somebody would, I remember people specifically had tried to witness to me, or to tell me about Jesus.
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I stayed far from those people.
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I didn't want to hear it.
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Why?
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Because I have an appetite for sin.
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I don't want to hear this Bible, Jesus stuff.
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Something weird happened to me in 1995.
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When I came to Christ, all of a sudden, I found myself wanting to be near the people that talk about Jesus.
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And I started having an appetite for these things.
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Yet now I wanna read the Bible.
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Now I wanna study and understand God's word.
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And sin has become like that occasional glass of Pepsi.
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Yeah, it still happens.
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It still happens.
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I still struggle with sin.
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Don't look so shocked.
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Some of you are like, "Yeah, I still struggle with sin.
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I'll tell you something that's different now.
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I don't crave it.
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And it tastes like garbage.
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This isn't who I am.
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Why did I do that?
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So gross." Christ changes your appetites.
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And as a child of God, I don't want to sin anymore.
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I don't want to.
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Because God has forgiven me.
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God has changed me.
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And now I want to honor Him and obey Him out of love.
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And even when I do sin, I am no more out of His family than my own kids are kicked to the curb because they disobey me.
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Believe me, there are times as a parent, I have been tempted to put my kids on eBay.
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Starting bid a nickel.
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Make an offer.
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I have been tempted.
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And I say that jokingly, but that will never happen.
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There's not a force on this earth that's going to stop my kids from being my kids.
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That's why sometimes Kate will be mad at me.
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She's like, fine, I'm going to quit the family.
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I'm like, you can't.
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My blood runs through your veins and it will until the day you die.
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And we did a whole parenting series, get it online.
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We have all kinds of nuggets of wisdom just like that one.
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But the point is, nothing is going to stop him from being my child.
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You parents, you know that.
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Nothing is ever going to change that.
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Your kid is going to be your kid for the rest of your life.
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Even if he or she messes up or rebels or whatever, nothing changes that, and so it isn't God's family.
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It doesn't matter how badly I mess up.
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God loves me, because I'm his kid.
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And when I sin, what do I do?
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I confess it to God.
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Confess just literally means to say the same, to say the same.
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Confession means you agree with God.
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I confess my sin, I say, "God, you know what?
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"I did this today, and that was wrong.
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I know it was wrong, and God, I'm confessing that to you.
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I confess sin to God.
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I turn from it.
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That's repentance.
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I thank God for the forgiveness He's already given.
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Jesus died once for my sin.
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He's not going to die again for my sin.
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I thank God for the forgiveness He's already given in Christ, and I ask God for strength in the future to avoid that sin.
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So, when we leave here today, you have a choice.
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You have a choice. You can try to live by the law.
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You can try.
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And you can fail repeatedly.
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And you can stand guilty before God.
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Or, you can recognize your guilt.
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You can accept the fact that you were never, and can never be good enough to be right with God.
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And you can receive Jesus Christ as your Savior and as your Lord.
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The whole purpose of God's law was to bring you to Jesus.
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That was the purpose.
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The purpose was never to embrace the law the sense of, "Well, I'm going to keep this and God's going to be happy." That was never the design. The question is, "How does faith in Jesus Christ save me from my sin, save me from the law?" Well, next week, the most important Bible 101 lesson as we examine the star of the book, Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday.
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It's my prayer that with this background of everything that we've studied leading up to this, that you're going to understand the cross and the resurrection in a much deeper way this Easter, perhaps than ever before.
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Let's pray.
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Father in heaven, we thank you for your law.
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Even the psalmist in the Old Testament says, I love your law.
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We love your law, Father, because it reveals who You are.
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And it certainly teaches us some things about ourselves.
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So Father, I want to pray specifically today for my brothers and sisters who have maybe been struggling with the law, thinking that I want to obey the Ten Commandments so God's happy with me, but I keep failing and I'm miserable.
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You haven't called us to that lifestyle, Father.
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You have called us to freedom.
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You've sent Your Son who lived the perfect life, who fulfilled the law with His life, with His death, with His resurrection.
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You've imputed that righteousness, that obedience, that perfection.
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You've imputed that onto our accounts.
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This is why we celebrate Your Son.
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Father, show us what it means to be rightly motivated.
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Show us what it means, Father, to have an appetite for righteousness.
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The hunger and thirst for righteousness, as Your Word says.
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Show us what it means, Father, to live in grace.
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We thank You, Father, for loving us enough to tell us the truth, We are lost and we are hopeless.
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We are imprisoned.
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But for loving us enough to get us out of that prison, through Your Son Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
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Amen.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read and review the 10 Commandments
How does God's Law reveal His character? What about His character does the Law reveal?
If God already made a covenant with Abraham, why did He make one with Moses/Israel?
What is the purpose of the Old Testament Law?
How would you respond to someone who says, "You have to obey the 10 Commandments if you want to be saved."?
Breakout Questions:
Pray for HBC and other Gospel-centered churches going into Easter weekend.