Participants: Carlton P. Byrd
Series Code: BOL
Program Code: BOL000557A
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00:01 BREATH OF LIFE MINISTRIES PRESENTS:
00:06 SERMON #557 COMMANDMENT KEEPING 00:13 (BREATH OF LIFE THEME MUSIC) 00:20 Pastor Byrd: God, we are looking for a miracle. 00:23 We're expecting the impossible, we're seeing the invisible, 00:28 recognizing the sky is the limit to what we can have in you. 00:35 And so, Lord, tonight we want peace, we want love, we want joy. 00:38 We want gentleness and goodness. And Lord, 00:40 tonight we just want to give you thanks. 00:43 And so God bless this word, bless this preacher, 00:47 speak through me tonight, speak to your people. 00:50 And when this is over this evening, we're going to say, 00:54 Lord, thank you for what you've done. Thank you for 00:57 being here tonight, we pray. Forgive us for our sins. 01:01 In Jesus name. Let everyone say Amen. Aud: Amen. 01:06 Amen. I got a note last night on a quiz card, 01:09 and the person wrote─they didn't write their name, 01:13 but they wrote and they said, “Pastor, I've heard” 01:18 (in essence, I'm paraphrasing) “what you have shared 01:21 relative to the fourth commandment. But the question was, 01:25 “I thought that it was nailed to the cross, 01:30 but I understand in essence why the Ten Commandments 01:34 have not been done away with and nailed to the cross. 01:39 So please tell us what law, then, has been nailed to the cross.” 01:46 And so in this message I hope that this will give 01:49 clarity and understanding to the fact that 01:53 God's Ten Commandments are still for us to live 01:57 and follow, and I hope that we can better understand 02:02 what was done away with at the cross. 02:06 Is that all right, everybody? [Aud. reaction] 02:10 All right. We live in a world of what I call postmodernism. 02:13 Now, you may have heard that term. 02:15 In this world of postmodernism, 02:17 it's a world where everyone abides by the thought, 02:22 or process, or practice of, you believe what you 02:27 want to believe, I believe what I want to believe, 02:31 and as long as what you believe and what I believe 02:34 don't conflict, we're good. So if you want to believe this, 02:39 that's fine. But I'm going to believe that. 02:42 You leave me alone, and I'll leave you alone. 02:46 We live in a world of lawlessness, where anything goes. 02:53 We live in a world of lawlessness that has even crept 02:57 into the church, that no one is strong enough or 03:02 courageous enough to call sin by its right now. 03:07 We live in a time where everyone, if you will, 03:11 wants to wink at what's wrong. You live how you 03:15 want to live, and as long as you say you love God, 03:18 you are all right. No one wants to hear what 03:22 the Word of God says. Used to be a time you 03:24 go to church and you say, “How was church today? 03:27 I don't know, but I got cut today.” You used to 03:30 live in a time where people say, “I went to church, 03:32 and my feet got all stepped on today, 03:35 but I'm better for it.” But we don't do that today. 03:39 We call that old-school preaching. We call that 03:43 old-school church. We're in new methods now. 03:47 We don't have chalkboards anymore; we have PowerPoints. 03:51 We don't have rotary phones anymore. 03:53 We don't even have cell phones; we have smart phones now. 03:57 We, we just live with different things. We don't 04:01 send a letter anymore. In fact, we call sending a 04:05 letter now snail mail. But we now live in a world of email, 04:10 and not just email, but Facebook. And not just Facebook, 04:15 but Instagram and Snapchat, and all these different 04:18 social media communication mediums. And I'm not saying 04:23 these things are bad. We live in a highly technological world. 04:28 Our methods have changed. But I am here to say, 04:33 regardless of the methods, the word of God, the message of God, 04:40 is still the same. It was good enough for my dear mother. 04:45 It was good enough for my dear father. And God's message 04:49 is still good enough for me. Do I have a witness in this place? 04:54 [Aud. reaction] So when we talk about the word of God, 04:57 when we talk about keeping God's commandments, 05:01 these things are not popular today. And so when we 05:06 talk about keeping God's commandments, 05:09 including the fourth commandment, a lot of people 05:12 want to say that's an old-school thing. That's an 05:16 Old Testament thing. We are now living post-New Testament times, 05:22 and the commandments of God, that's been done away with. 05:27 But it's interesting for those people that take that posture, 05:31 because when I read Revelation, chapter 12, verse number 17, 05:36 the Bible is clear that God's remnant people are divine 05:41 as those who keep the commandments of God and have the 05:46 testimony of Jesus Christ. So because that's how God's 05:51 remnant are defined, I don't know about you, 05:54 but I want to be a part of that number. 05:55 Are you hearing what I'm saying? I want to 05:58 keep God's commandments. Now, the challenge is, 06:02 many people, many Christians, have erred by emphasizing 06:07 the commandments of God to the exclusion of the testimony 06:12 of Jesus Christ. So they have been too far this way, 06:16 or too far that way. Because if they're too far with commandments, 06:22 the others on the other side, equally sincere Christians, 06:26 have been wrong, overemphasizing the testimony or 06:30 faith of Jesus, while minimizing the commandments of God. 06:34 But God's remnant are those who have a perfect 06:38 blend of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ. 06:45 God's remnant are those who have the perfect blend 06:48 of not only law, but grace. God's remnant are those 06:53 who have the perfect blend of information and inspiration, 06:58 of the commandments and Christ, of the holy scriptures, 07:03 but they also have the Holy Ghost. Are you hearing what 07:05 I'm saying? God's remnant are those who have this blend. 07:10 They don't keep the commandments of God in order to be saved, 07:16 but God's remnant people keep the commandments of God 07:20 because they are saved. You all don't hear what I'm saying. 07:24 [Aud. reaction] I don't keep the commandments of God 07:26 in order to be saved. I keep the commandments of God 07:30 because I am saved. You see, in the Old Testament the 07:35 Bible is very clear that people live and conquer by faith. 07:39 Everybody say faith. Aud: Faith 07:41 Faith, the Bible defines, is the substance of things hoped for, 07:44 the evidence of things not seen. Faith, then, 07:48 is believing what you can't see. Just like I can't 07:52 see the gas that goes in my car, but I believe when 07:56 I turn on that ignition, the gas is going to kick 07:58 into my engine and I'm gonna go forward. Are you hearing 08:01 what I'm saying? Faith is believing what you can't see. 08:05 You're trusting God even when you can't trace God. 08:09 Understand, friends of mine, sometimes God allows you 08:13 to go through things in life so you can exercise your faith. 08:17 If your faith is going to be tried, if your faith is going 08:22 to be justified at all, if your faith is going to be tested, 08:25 you gotta go through something. Because you can't have 08:29 a testimony without a test. Are you hearing what I'm saying? 08:32 Faith has no way to be tried in comfort. Faith has no way 08:35 to be tried in abundance. Faith is proven in tough times. 08:40 Faith is proven in dark days. Faith is proven when the 08:45 lights are out. Faith is proven when you don't have food 08:48 on your tables. You don't prove your faith by how much 08:51 money you've got. You prove your faith when the bills are due. 08:55 [Aud. reaction] The Bible says that without faith 08:59 it is impossible to please God. And so throughout Hebrews, 09:04 chapter 11, we see, if you will, the wall of faith. 09:07 We see people throughout the Old Testament who conquered 09:10 by faith. We know the text by faith, able, all for the 09:16 more excellent sacrifice they gave. By faith, Enoch was 09:20 translated without seeing death. By faith, Noah prepared 09:24 an ark to the saving of his house. By faith, Abraham 09:28 went into a land; he didn't know where he was going, 09:31 but he still went anyhow. By faith Jacob, when he was dying, 09:35 blessed both the sons of Joseph. By faith, Moses, 09:38 he didn't want to be called Pharaoh's son, but the Bible 09:41 says he chose to suffer the affliction with the people 09:44 of God than to enjoy sin for a season. [Aud. reaction] 09:48 By faith, the children of Israel passed the Red Sea 09:51 and walked on dry land. By faith, the walls of Jericho 09:55 came tumbling down. By faith, Rahab perished with, 09:59 not with them that believed not, which he received ___ 10:02 with peace. By faith. People in the Old Testament were 10:08 saved by faith. God did not save people in the 10:13 Old Testament by their works. Let me say that again. 10:17 God did not save people in the Old Testament by their works. 10:22 Old Testament folk were saved by their faith in 10:27 Jesus that was to come. [Aud. reaction] 10:30 He had not come, but he was to come. 10:33 What do I mean? You will remember, in order for 10:36 people in the Old Testament to receive forgiveness 10:39 from sin, they had to come to the temple. 10:42 They had to come to the sanctuary, and they would 10:45 take a lamb. They would take an offering. 10:48 They would take this offering, this lamb that was 10:50 without blemish, and they would take this offering, 10:53 and they would place their hand on the head of the 10:56 sin offering, and symbolically the sin was transferred 11:00 from the bearer to the offering. The offering, 11:03 the throat of the offering was slit. Blood came 11:06 streaming down, because, remember, there can be no 11:10 forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood. 11:13 The Old Testament folks did this in anticipate of the Lamb, 11:18 Jesus, that was to come. You see, the lamb was type. 11:22 Jesus was antitype. The lamb was a model, but Jesus 11:28 is the real thing. The lamb was an example, but Jesus 11:33 is the real thing. The lamb was the forerunner, 11:37 but Jesus was the real thing. Jesus, behold the Lamb of God, 11:43 which taketh away the sins of the world. 11:47 The Old Testament folks were saved by faith in 11:50 Jesus that was to come. They were not saved by 11:54 the works they performed. They were not saved by 11:58 their law-keeping. They were saved by their faith 12:02 in the shed blood of Jesus that was to come. 12:06 This shedding of the lamb's blood symbolized their 12:09 faith in Jesus Christ, that he was going to cover their sins. 12:14 Let me tell you something tonight. This is why this 12:17 all comes together. The children of Israel couldn't 12:20 have been saved by their commandment-keeping. [Aud. reaction] 12:24 Let me say that again. The children of Israel could 12:28 not have been saved by their commandment-keeping, 12:31 because God gave them the commandments after he saved them. 12:36 [Aud. reaction] God gave the children of Israel the 12:39 Ten Commandments after he had already redeemed them. 12:43 Before God gave Moses the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai, 12:48 the plan of salvation was already in place. God had already 12:53 saved Moses; he had already saved the children of Israel 12:57 and rescued them before, from Pharaoh before he even gave 13:02 Moses the Ten Commandments. That's why I told you Miriam 13:06 praised him like she did, because God said, “You see them 13:10 folk right there. You shall see them no more.” Miriam took 13:14 a tambourine and started beating that thing and started 13:17 stomping her feet like this, and clapping her hands. 13:20 The Bible says in Exodus 20, verse 1, “And God spake all these words, 13:24 saying, I am the Lord thy God. I brought you out of the land of Egypt. 13:30 I brought you out of the land of bondage.” And then he 13:34 proceeded with the Ten Commandment law. He had already 13:37 saved them before he had already given them the law. 13:41 [Aud. reaction] We don't keep the commandments in 13:44 order to be saved. We keep the commandments because 13:47 we are saved. God has already saved us. The fight is fixed. 13:54 We may lose some battles along the way, but the war has 13:58 already been won. So don't wait ‘til the battle is over. 14:01 We can go on and shout now. Jesus has already saved us. 14:07 Law-keeping has never been a means of salvation. Why? 14:12 With all the good I do, my righteousness in the sight 14:17 of God is still filthy rags. [Aud. reaction] 14:21 There's only one name under heaven whereby we can be saved, 14:27 and that's the name of Jesus. Buddha can't do it. 14:34 Mohammed can't do it. Confusions can't do it. 14:40 There's only one name whereby we can be saved, 14:44 and that's the name of Jesus. Tonight, let me remind you, 14:49 there's power on the name of Jesus. [Aud. reaction] 14:51 There's salvation in the name of Jesus. There is healing 14:57 in the name of Jesus. There's deliverance in the name of Jesus. 15:02 So in the morning, I call Jesus. In the noonday, I call Jesus. 15:07 In the evening, I call Jesus. In the midnight hour, I call Jesus. 15:13 The Bible says at the name of Jesus, Satan is ____ed. 15:16 At the name of Jesus, demons tremble. Jesus, 15:21 we are saved by faith through Jesus! [Aud. reaction] 15:26 Now, in the Old Testament, there are two great commandments. 15:31 How many commandments, everybody? 15:32 There are two great commandments. 15:34 The first one is to love God. Love whom, everybody? 15:36 Aud: God. Love whom, everybody? Aud: God. 15:39 God. The second one is to love your neighbor. 15:41 To love your what, everybody? Aud: Neighbor. 15:43 Take your Bibles and go with me to the book of Deuteronomy. 15:45 And we're going to Deuteronomy, chapter 6. 15:48 And I want to read to you verses 4 and 5. 15:50 These are the tre─two great commandments in the Old Testament. 15:54 Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verse number 4 and verse number 5. 16:00 Deuteronomy 6:4 and 5. The Word of God says to us tonight, verse 4, 16:06 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one” what, everybody? 16:12 “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, 16:18 with all thy soul, and with all thy” what, everybody? 16:23 That's the first commandment, to love God. To love whom, 16:27 everybody? Love whom, everybody? Now, the second one 16:30 is taken from Leviticus, chapter 19, and we're going 16:34 to verse number 18. Leviticus, chapter 19, and verse number 18. 16:39 The Word of God says in Leviticus 19, verse 18, the second command, 16:44 “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge 16:48 against the children of thy people, but thou 16:51 shalt love thy neighbour as” what, everybody? 16:54 Aud. reaction] “As thyself, because I am the” what? 16:57 [Aud. reaction] “I am the Lord.” Let's be very clear, 17:02 one more time. The people in the Old Testament were 17:05 not saved by their law-keeping. They were not saved 17:08 by their commandment-keeping, because they don't keep 17:11 the commandments in order to be saved, but they kept 17:13 the commandments because they are saved by the blood 17:16 of the Lamb, through Jesus Christ. Understand, 17:19 in the Old Testament there were two great laws: 17:21 number one, to love God, and then number two, 17:24 to love your neighbor as yourself. 17:28 These two commands were the basis of obedience 17:30 for all of God's children. And interestingly enough, 17:33 when you look at these two commandments, 17:36 the Ten Commandments recorded in Exodus, chapter 20, 17:39 spring from these two. The first four deal with our 17:46 love for God. The final six deal with our love for 17:54 our fellow man. Look at them carefully. 17:56 They're right behind us. The first four deal with 17:59 our love for God. “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” 18:02 That's love for God. “Thou shalt not make until thee 18:05 any graven image.” That's love for God. “Thou shalt not 18:09 take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” 18:12 That's love for God. Remember God's day, the Sabbath, 18:15 to keep it holy. That's love for God. The first 18:19 command was to love God. Love whom, everybody? Aud: God. 18:22 The next six deal with the commandment two, 18:26 love for our fellow man. “Honor thy father and thy” what, everybody? 18:30 “Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. 18:32 Thou shalt not bear false witness. Thou shalt not cover 18:36 thy neighbor.” The final six deal with our love for our 18:40 fellow man. So that means the Ten Commandments couldn't 18:43 be done away with, because the two, Ten Commandments 18:46 center around these two, love for God and love for your 18:49 fellow man. Why would God get rid of what he put in 18:52 place in the first place? [Aud. reaction] 18:55 Now, God has only one plan of salvation. 19:01 God has always saved his people by grace through faith. 19:08 I will never be holy enough. You will never be holy enough. 19:15 If we were holy enough, we would be in the kingdom already. 19:18 Are you hearing what I'm saying? God has always saved us by grace. 19:24 That's unmerited faith. That means we get what we don't deserve. 19:29 Are you hearing what I'm saying? [Aud. reaction] 19:30 God never commanded the Old Testament people to obey 19:34 in order to be saved. Their obedience was to spring from a love 19:37 relationship with him. That was the Old Testament. 19:40 But the New Testament was the same thing. What do I mean? 19:44 The people were to love Jesus. They were to have faith in Jesus. 19:50 Not the Jesus that was to come in the New Testament. 19:54 But they were to have faith in Jesus, who had already come. 19:58 In the New Testament, we see, a lot of people think that 20:01 the New Testament just teaches love. Love, love, love. 20:05 Love, love, love. It doesn't teach anything about obedience, 20:08 they think. A lot of people think in the New Testament you 20:10 can do whatever you want to do, be as bad as you want to be, 20:12 sleep around, lie around, cheat around, steal around, 20:18 have a bad attitude, be mean, do anything you want to do, 20:24 but just at the appropriate time, show low. And then they 20:29 say love has nothing to do with obedience. Just love. 20:33 Well, that can't be true, because it was Jesus himself 20:36 who said in John 14:15 that “if ye love me, keep my” what, everybody? 20:41 Love has everything to do with obedience. To know him is to love him. 20:49 To love him is to obey him. To obey him is to worship him. 20:54 To worship him is to serve him. “If you love me, keep my” what, everybody? 20:59 [Aud. reaction] So let's look at what the New Testament says. 21:02 Go to the book of Matthew, chapter 22. Matthew chapter 22, 21:07 and we'll find in the New Testament, all Jesus did was restate 21:11 what was already in the Old Testament. Go to Matthew, chapter 22, 21:15 and I want you to go to verse number 36. Matthew, chapter 22, 21:18 and let's go to verse number 36. Matthew, chapter 22, verse number 36. 21:21 The question was asked by a lawyer, “Master, which is the 21:32 great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, 21:36 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy” what? 21:41 Aud: Heart. “And with all thy” what? Aud: Soul. 21:43 “And with all thy” what? Aud: Mind. 21:45 “This is the first and great commandment. 21:47 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt 21:49 love thy neighbour as thy” what, everybody? 21:51 On these two commandments hang all the law and the” 21:55 what, everybody? Jesus simply restated in the 22:00 New Testament what had already been stated in the 22:04 Old Testament. Jesus didn't come to change God's law. 22:08 Jesus didn't come to change the Ten Commandments. 22:13 Jesus didn't originate a new law. Jesus was merely 22:18 restating what had already been taught. Jesus said, 22:21 “Think not that I have come to destroy the law and 22:24 the prophets. I haven't come to destroy them, 22:26 but I came to fulfill.” I came to what, everybody? 22:29 Aud: Fulfill. Now, if we were saved before the 22:37 law was even given, if people are not saved by 22:45 keeping the law, why do we have the law? 22:50 If we're not saved by keeping the law and we're 22:56 saved by grace through faith in Jesus, 22:58 what's the point of the law? Let's go to the 23:01 New Testament. Go to Romans, chapter 3. 23:03 Go to Romans, chapter 3, verse number 10, 20. 23:09 Romans, chapter 3, verse number 20. If we're not 23:15 saved by keeping the law, then what's the point 23:18 of the law? Romans, chapter 3, verse number 20. 23:21 Romans, chapter 3, 20. If you have it, let me hear you say Amen. 23:24 Aud: Amen. All right. The Word of God says, 23:27 “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall be, 23:29 there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by 23:34 the law is the knowledge of sin.” Okay, then, 23:40 the law doesn't save us, but the law gives us a 23:45 knowledge of sin. Go to Romans 7:7. So if the law 23:51 gives us not of the sin, but yet the law doesn't save us, 23:53 it just tells us what sin is, do we need to keep the law? 23:56 Romans 7:7: “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. 24:02 Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, 24:08 except the law had said, Thou shalt not” what, everybody? 24:11 So then the function and purpose of the law, according to 24:15 the Word of God, is to point out sin, to reveal sin, 24:20 give a knowledge of sin. Only Jesus can save us. 24:25 The law could never save us. The only thing the law does 24:29 is point out sin. You're all still not getting it. 24:33 Let me help you. Jesus has saved me. I'm saved, sanctified, 24:40 born again, washed in the blood of Jesus, intoxicated by 24:46 the Holy Ghost. That's what has saved me. The law points out sin. 24:52 I wouldn't know sin if there were no laws. Let me try it again. 24:58 So I used the illustration before; let me use it again. 25:01 It's app─appropriate here. All right, so I'm driving 25:04 down the parkway. There's a speed limit sign, and the 25:10 speed limit sign says, “Speed Limit 50.” I know it 25:15 because I drive it all the time. “Speed Limit 50.” 25:20 If there were no sign posted, I wouldn't know the speed 25:27 limit on the parkway. I would just be driving, and every 25:33 now and then my foot is heavy, and I would be driving, 25:38 and I could be going 60, 65, 70, 75─particularly when 25:44 no one's out on the parkway. But because of that speed 25:47 limit sign, I know the law. I know the law says, 25:52 “Speed Limit 50.” But if there had been no law posted, 25:57 if there had been no speed limit sign posted, I wouldn't 26:00 know the law. I wouldn't know the speed limit unless the 26:05 sign was posted. We wouldn't know sin unless the sign posted it. 26:14 Well, then, Pastor, if the law is to point out sin, 26:18 how are we saved? Ephesians 2:8 and 9. Ephesians 2:8 and 9. 26:24 “For by grace are we saved through faith, and that not of 26:30 ourselves: it is the gift of” whom, everybody? Aud: God. 26:35 “Not of works, lest any man should boast.” See, I love God. 26:39 God is all that and then some and a bag of chips. 26:41 God knew he had to save us through his blood, 26:43 because God knew that if we thought we could be saved 26:45 by our law-keeping, some of us would get the big head. 26:48 Look what I've done. Look what I've done. Look what 26:52 I've done! But God needed everybody to understand, 26:56 you've been saved by grace through faith--that regardless 26:59 of how much good you do, if it had not been for the Lord 27:03 on my side, where would I be? The law points out sin. 27:09 Jesus saves us. [Aud. reaction] For by grace are ye saved. 27:16 So not too long ago, I'm on the parkway, 27:22 and I'm driving on the parkway. And I'm driving, 27:28 and I'm moving pretty good. And all of a sudden, 27:33 I'm going through a construction zone. Some of you 27:35 all know where it is. And all of a sudden I see the lights. 27:40 And it's not the light of Jesus. Do I have a witness in this place? 27:45 Aud: [Laughter] So you know the drill. I pull over, 27:49 take my two hands and place them on the steering wheel. 27:56 Somebody knows what I'm talking about. I turn on the 28:00 interior lights in the car so that who--when the man 28:05 comes up to me at my window, he sees my hands, 28:07 he sees where they are, and he sees everything in the car. 28:12 Are you hearing what I'm saying? [Aud. reaction] 28:14 The man comes up to my window. I roll the window down 28:16 >: Thank you for joining us for another exciting 28:18 Breath of Life television broadcast. 28:20 Tune in next week at the same time as 28:23 Dr. Byrd will deliver another dynamic message 28:25 from the Lord just for you. 28:27 Until next time, may God bless you. 28:30 END |
Revised 2017-05-08