Participants: Dale Leamon
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000001
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00:30 Hello, I'm Dale Leamon.
00:32 I'm from Battle Creek, Michigan. 00:34 And I'm really glad you've decided to join us today 00:37 as we study God's word together in depth. 00:40 But before we do that, 00:42 let's bow our heads for a moment of prayer. 00:45 Father in heaven, I'm so thankful for your word 00:49 and I know that those who are viewing this program 00:51 are also very anxious to know the truth 00:54 and they love the Bible and I pray that your spirit 00:57 will just accompany this time together 01:00 that we may understand your will for us 01:03 and rejoice all the more in the gospel. 01:05 In Jesus name we pray. Amen. 01:10 Our topic which we'll be covering for several sessions 01:17 together is the Ten Commandments. 01:20 Now don't all stand up and clap your hands 01:22 and rejoice and say hallelujah at once. 01:25 I know that even a lot of Christians are 01:27 not that enthusiastic about the Ten Commandments. 01:30 Sometimes when we say, let's talk about God's law 01:34 we hear people saying, 01:36 I don't want to talk about the law, 01:37 let's talk about grace. 01:40 Well, when people say that, 01:41 they just reveal that they don't really know 01:45 the meaning of God's Ten Commandments 01:48 because the gospel is in the Commandments. 01:51 We usually read the Commandments "Thou shall not." 01:55 "Thou shall not." 01:56 Well, the words are there, aren't they? 01:58 And it sounds like don't, don't, don't. 02:02 Nobody likes to hear don't, don't, don't. 02:05 However, there's another way of reading "Thou shall not." 02:09 It can also be read you won't. 02:13 In other words, it can be read as a prediction 02:15 instead of as a command. 02:17 You won't behave in this way 02:19 and you won't behave in that way. 02:21 And when we read it, that way, 02:24 we see that the Commandments are actually promises. 02:28 Tremendous, beautiful, gospel promises of the lifestyle 02:34 and the behavior that God intends to produce 02:38 in his people, so in that way, 02:41 the Commandments become a prediction, 02:43 a prediction of the victory 02:45 that God will have in the lives of his people. 02:49 In fact, I suppose most of you have heard the law 02:52 referred to as the Law of Liberty. 02:55 It was James who expressed it that way. 02:59 It is a Law of Liberty, isn't it? 03:01 Because, God gave the law to reveal to us the liberty 03:06 that He was going to give us over sin 03:09 and selfishness and self rule and idolatry 03:13 and all the other things that the Commandments 03:15 predict God's people will no longer 03:19 experience in their lives. 03:23 As you know, the Commandments start out with 03:27 "Thou shall not," but there actually is a preface 03:32 to that first don't and that preface is found 03:37 in Exodus Chapter 20, the second verse. 03:41 Where we read, "I am the LORD your God, 03:46 who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 03:51 out of the house of bondage." 03:56 You see that preface shows us 03:58 that God has already delivered Israel and He gives them 04:04 His Commandments after He sets them free. 04:09 In Egypt they were not free to obey Him. 04:12 They were tied to the rigors of labor 04:18 under the Egyptian building program 04:21 that made it impossible for them to really 04:23 give their attention to God. 04:25 They were surrounded by idols and false Gods. 04:27 They were forced to work seven days a week, 04:29 so they couldn't even have a Sabbath. 04:32 They were required to do many things 04:35 that were out of harmony with God's purpose. 04:37 And so as you know, God sent Moses and the people 04:40 were delivered and set free 04:43 and then He gives them His Commandments. 04:46 The next verse, Exodus 20 and verse 3 04:50 expresses the First Commandment. 04:52 And what does it say, 04:54 "You shall have no other gods before Me." 04:58 Now I'm reading that from the New King James Version, 05:03 which says it much more like I like to hear it. 05:06 You shall have no other gods before Me. 05:08 Because I've set you free, because I've delivered you, 05:12 because I've taken you out of bondage now, 05:16 you won't have any other gods before Me. 05:18 In other words, it's a prediction, 05:20 it's a prophecy, it's a promise of what 05:23 God is doing for His people rather than a stern Commandment. 05:28 Some people, you see, read the Commandments 05:31 from a false view of God. 05:34 As if God is saying because I've done so much for you, 05:36 now you've to worship Me. 05:38 No, that's not what He's saying at all. 05:39 He is saying, because I've delivered you, 05:41 now, I'm going to make myself your favorite person. 05:45 And you will want to worship only Me. 05:49 Well, of course, there's a good reason 05:51 why we naturally don't find ourselves in harmony 05:55 with God's Commandments. 05:57 We aren't there yet in other words. 05:59 We look at the law and the reason 06:01 we find it challenging and we don't necessarily 06:04 always like to hear it even is because we recognize 06:07 that it doesn't yet perfectly represent the way we're living. 06:10 We're still falling short. 06:11 We're still failing in many respects. 06:14 Even Christians still fail in many respects. 06:17 Why is it that, that we fail? 06:19 If God made these promises so long ago, 06:22 isn't He keeping His promises? 06:24 Well, Romans 7 and verse 14, 06:27 explains our human condition and I'm afraid 06:29 we all find ourselves in this condition. 06:32 "For we know that the law is spiritual, 06:35 but I am carnal, sold under sin." 06:41 So you see, even though the law is beautiful 06:47 and even though it predicts the life 06:49 that we'll have with Christ forever and even though 06:52 we desire to be in harmony with God's law, 06:55 we do have within us that flesh nature, 06:58 that carnality, we were sold, 07:01 the whole race was sold. 07:03 Adam sold us, didn't he, in the garden so long ago. 07:08 And so we find ourselves unable to respond 07:13 to the spiritual law but you know I'm so glad 07:16 that we wake up to that early in our experience becuase 07:19 it just shows us again that the law has to be a promise. 07:24 It can't be something we can do for God. 07:25 It has to be something He does for us. 07:29 And so we see that, rather than resent the law, 07:31 we just need to look at it as a precious promise 07:35 that the Lord is making to us of what He is doing for us, 07:39 has done for us through Christ, 07:41 and will do for us in a complete way, 07:45 as we continue to walk with Jesus. 07:50 Well, another scripture which explains our condition 07:55 is in the chapter just following Romans Chapter 8 and verse 2. 08:01 Here the Apostle Paul says, 08:03 "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus 08:07 has made me free from the law of sin and death." 08:12 Moses delivered Israel from Egypt and Jesus 08:18 has delivered His people from the Egypt of sin. 08:23 Jesus has already won a tremendous victory for us. 08:27 Jesus himself is the one, 08:30 who is fulfilling the promise of the law, 08:33 because in Christ, we find the first human being 08:38 to walk on this planet, 08:40 who has lived in perfect harmony with God's law, 08:43 so we see in Jesus, 08:45 the fulfillment of the great promise 08:48 of the Ten Commandments. 08:51 Now, you probably are aware of the Old Testament Temple 08:57 and the original version, as you know, 08:58 was built by Moses in the wilderness 09:01 and it was covered with skins and it had three sections, 09:06 the courtyard, the holy place, and the most holy place. 09:12 And in the heart of that temple, in the most holy place, 09:19 was where there was a box that was covered completely 09:23 with gold and even had a solid gold lid on it, 09:26 which was called the mercy seat. 09:29 And that box represents the Thrown of God 09:32 in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary. 09:36 But that box is called the Ark of the Covenant 09:42 and what was inside of it, well the covenant of course. 09:47 What is a covenant? A covenant is a promise. 09:50 A covenant is a pledge. 09:54 A covenant is a testimony. 09:57 It is a testament. It is a binding relationship. 10:03 And the beautiful thing about the Ten Commandments 10:05 in that Ark of the Covenant is that, 10:07 they are the covenant. 10:09 Not our covenant to God. 10:11 We didn't write the Ten Commandments. 10:13 We didn't say that we thought 10:16 we could keep all of those things. 10:17 God wrote the Ten Commandments and gave them to us 10:20 as His promise to us 10:23 that we would be restored 10:28 into the image of God and the day would come 10:31 when all of those Commandments would be written in our hearts. 10:37 And we would be able to obey them with joy 10:41 and with great aptitude even though we find ourselves 10:46 yet in this world struggling to see how we could live up 10:51 to all those beautiful principles. 10:53 We have an absolute promise in Christ that, 10:57 that it is what He is going to do for us 10:59 and in fact has done for us through His holy life. 11:02 You see Jesus kept His Covenant already 11:06 because He kept His law. 11:08 And by keeping the law, 11:10 He overcame every temptation to sin. 11:13 And He has proven His ability to workout 11:17 His will in the flesh. 11:20 And that's our hope isn't it. 11:21 That's really the gospel. 11:22 That's good news that Christ can restore the human race 11:26 back to His purpose in His plan for us. 11:32 This is promised very clearly also in the Book of Romans. 11:37 In Romans Chapter 6 and verse 14, 11:41 here the Apostle says, 11:42 "For sin shall not have dominion over you." 11:47 And what is sin? 11:49 My sin is the violation of God's law, isn't it? 11:53 And it says very clearly, "Sin shall not have dominion 11:56 over you for you are not under the law but under grace." 12:00 You see God always knew that as long as we were under the law 12:03 that is trying to be holy by the observance of the law, 12:07 sin would continue to have dominion over us. 12:09 We'd still fail. 12:11 But here He promises that because now we're looking 12:14 at the law as a covenant, as a promise 12:19 and instead of being under a system of salvation 12:22 by law keeping, we've come under Jesus' grace. 12:25 Now, He says, we can stop sinning. 12:28 We can find sin eradicated from our lives through grace. 12:32 And so we can actually find through Christ's great victory 12:36 that His promise is being fulfilled in our own experience. 12:39 Oh, I don't say that we're looking for instant perfection, 12:42 but we are looking for continued growth in grace, 12:46 continued increase in victory, 12:48 continually more love for the will of God in our lives. 12:54 Why? Because the grace of Jesus 12:57 that grace by which He conquered all temptation 13:00 and kept every precept of His covenant promise to us. 13:04 Now, that grace is bestowed upon us. 13:08 What fantastic thing then the law of God is. 13:12 What a beautiful, beautiful promise. 13:16 Well, I hope you're already 13:17 starting to see the law in a new way. 13:20 I hope you're already starting to think 13:22 that's better than what I had in mind. 13:24 It's not just god erecting a barrier and saying, 13:28 let's see how hard we can make it for these humans 13:30 to make it to heaven, 13:31 let's really give them some hard, 13:34 strict regulations and see if we can challenge them. 13:38 No, no, no, not all. 13:40 The law is God's beautiful promise, 13:44 His purpose, His plan for the race. 13:49 And that is why He put it right there in the foundation 13:53 of His own thrown in the most holy place. 13:56 He tells us He will not break His covenant. 13:59 He has kept it in Christ Jesus and we'll all be recipients 14:03 of every part of it as we continue 14:05 to hold on to Christ. 14:08 But we all want to be changed, don't we? 14:11 We all want to experience that. 14:15 And I would like to help you to see how Jesus himself 14:22 did in fact keep that First Commandment. 14:25 How did He keep the Commandment, which says, 14:27 "You shall have no other Gods before Me." 14:33 Well, Jesus, of course, 14:37 started out in heaven. 14:41 What a tremendous loss to comedown from heaven to earth 14:47 and give up everything that He was used to there. 14:51 I had the privilege of doing a little traveling. 14:53 I have had had the privilege several times 14:55 of going to third world countries 14:56 and sharing the gospel in those places 14:59 and I'll tell you, there's no place like home. 15:03 After you've been without indoor plumbing, 15:06 and after you've been without a comfortable bed, 15:09 and after you've been without the convenience 15:12 of air conditioning, and a car to take wherever you want to, 15:16 whenever you want to go, 15:18 and you live that way for a while, 15:19 and my, my, my, how you miss home. 15:25 Well, Jesus could have treasured those things that He had. 15:32 He could have treasured the worship of all the angels. 15:35 He could have treasured the streets of gold. 15:37 He could have treasured the freedom to travel 15:39 from planet to planet around the universe. 15:41 He could have treasured many things, 15:43 they could have been even to Him, 15:45 His God, but they were not. 15:50 He left it all behind to fulfill the will of the heavenly father 15:55 and become a baby born and lain in a manger. 16:03 Jesus was tempted as you know 16:06 in the wilderness by Satan 16:09 and we have that story told very clearly 16:14 in the gospel of Mathew Chapter 4. 16:18 I'd like to draw your attention to verse 10. 16:24 The devil has just offered Jesus the whole world 16:28 if he'll just bow down and worship, 16:31 and what does Jesus say to him, 16:34 "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 16:40 'You shall worship the Lord your God, 16:42 and Him only you shall serve." 16:46 So Jesus gained a powerful victory 16:50 over the worship of material things. 16:55 In fact, when the main other God 17:00 that we really tend to have above the God of heaven 17:03 of course, is the God of self 17:06 and the God of self is very much attracted to glory 17:10 and aggrandizement that is why human beings 17:14 are tempted to worship images. 17:17 Because in worshiping an image, 17:19 they often make that image an image of themselves 17:23 or of even something more earthy 17:25 and lower than themselves in a way 17:27 that kind of exults the human, 17:29 so self worship is very, very much at the heart 17:32 of our failure to make God first. 17:35 But Jesus had none of that. 17:38 Satan offered Him kingship over the world. 17:41 That was why Jesus had come. 17:42 Why not take it? Why not go for it? 17:44 Here's a quick and easy way. 17:46 And yet Jesus didn't covet kingship of the world. 17:50 He coveted us. He wanted us. 17:53 He didn't come to be a king. 17:54 He came to die because His first priority was not Himself, 17:57 it was us. Jesus shows in His worship of the father 18:01 that He's given up selfishness. 18:04 In fact, he never had any. 18:07 But He shows even in the human flesh 18:09 that He wore 18:12 that He has no willingness to put self first. 18:18 How many of us could turn down an offer like that? 18:22 Or even a much smaller offer, 18:24 a few million dollars perhaps. 18:25 Don't give me the whole world, 18:26 just a few million dollars. 18:28 How many of us really do have other Gods 18:31 and yet Jesus has conquered this for us. 18:33 He's kept a promise of the law 18:36 because He said no to Satan, Away with you. 18:39 I'm not interested in worshiping anything 18:42 but only the Heavenly Father. 18:46 Well, I don't know about you, 18:48 but I need that victory. 18:50 That's the victory that's at the heart 18:52 of every other victory. 18:53 That First Commandment is the First Commandment 18:55 for a good reason because when God 18:58 becomes first in our lives, everything else falls in place. 19:02 And I'm so thankful that Jesus 19:06 has already won that victory. 19:11 But of course, the wilderness of temptation 19:14 and Satan coming to Him 19:15 and challenging Him to kneel down, 19:17 that was not, by any means, 19:20 the greatest example of Jesus' victory 19:25 in the area of making God first. 19:28 Oh, no. It was a much harder test, wasn't it? 19:32 That harder test came in the Garden of Gethsemane. 19:40 I know that you've read those passages, 19:41 but every time I read them, my heartbreaks again. 19:47 He had to face this test three times. 19:50 Even though He had spent his entire life 19:52 putting God first, even though 19:54 even before He was born as a man, He declared, 19:57 Lo, I come, in the volume of the book 19:59 it is written of me to do thy will, Oh, my God. 20:01 Still, He had to face that test again three times 20:06 before He went to the cross there in the garden. 20:09 He told His disciples, "Oh, I wish you'd stay awake 20:12 and pray with Me this night." 20:15 This is a night when I could really use your support 20:17 but of course, they didn't. 20:20 And, in fact, one wonders if they could have 20:23 because this was a victory only Jesus could win 20:25 and He won it alone. 20:30 You remember how that evening went. 20:34 After being with His disciples for the last supper, 20:39 Jesus finally, sadly, with a heavy heart, 20:47 led His disciples out to the Garden, 20:50 where they had often gone 20:51 to pray among the olive trees, 20:54 but this time, He is heavier than ever before. 20:56 And His disciples sense it and He even tells them 20:59 that He's burdened and He's feeling a load, 21:03 which is greater than any He's ever felt before. 21:05 You know, what He was carrying. 21:06 He was beginning to feel the horror of our sins. 21:09 He was beginning to feel what it really cost 21:13 to be alienated from God and to be torn away 21:19 from the source of all life and hope and joy. 21:23 He was beginning to feel the eternal hopelessness 21:26 of those who refuse to accept 21:29 the promise of God's Commandments 21:31 and they're determined to go their own way. 21:33 And in the horror of that moment, 21:34 as He looked straight ahead to the cross, 21:38 Jesus own heart almost failed. 21:41 The real battle was this. Shall I go home? 21:48 Shall I go home? No one here seems to care. 21:50 My disciples won't even stay awake and pray with me. 21:53 Or shall I go ahead and do 21:55 what the Father is telling me to do. 21:57 Remember, Jesus was equal with the Father. 21:59 It would have been no sin 22:01 if He had just gone back to heaven. 22:03 He had the right to do that. 22:04 This had to be a mutual choice 22:06 and Jesus had to go along with the decision 22:09 just as much as the Father, but would he? 22:12 He's wrestling there. 22:15 The devil is of course surrounding him 22:17 with suggestions that his sacrifice 22:21 will not achieve the salvation of humanity anyway, 22:24 that no one will really care. 22:28 And yet, Jesus goes to that rock, 22:34 He bows His head. He says, "Father, if it is possible, 22:39 let's find another way, make this cup pass from Me." 22:42 And the Father says, "There isn't any other way." 22:47 And Jesus says, "Not my will, but thine, be done." 22:56 There it is, the victory He is determined 22:59 to have only one God and to worship 23:02 no other to obey no other, not even His own self will, 23:06 which is the main thing we put up 23:08 against God in our own hearts. 23:10 No, He will not. 23:11 But still, he hasn't quite got the victory. 23:14 He moves away from that place, 23:16 talks to His disciples for a few minutes, 23:18 and He feels in himself still, the urging to run, 23:23 and so He goes back again and falls again on the ground. 23:27 And says, "Father, isn't it possible, 23:29 isn't there some way that we could save this race 23:33 without my going through this terrible experience" 23:35 and the Father says, there is no other way. 23:38 And once again, Jesus says, 23:39 "Not my will, but thine, be done." 23:44 And again, the third time, He goes and says, 23:48 the very same prayer once again. 23:51 And the third time is the time when the victory is complete. 23:57 And you know when the victory is complete, 23:59 there's no longer any longing to do the wrong thing. 24:03 Jesus very soon is surrounded by a mob of angry people. 24:08 one of His best friends comes up 24:11 and kisses Him on the cheek in betrayal. 24:14 And Jesus says to that crowd, 24:19 "I could call 10,000 angels to my aide." 24:24 But He's not tempted to do it. 24:26 He says to Peter, "Put away your sword." 24:29 He holds out His hands for them to tie him 24:33 because He's won the victory 24:36 and He has kept the First Commandment. 24:41 He has fulfilled the promise of the law for us. 24:44 He has gained complete and absolute worship 24:48 of the heavenly father alone. 24:51 And he will not go against the will of his Heavenly Father. 24:59 And so the victory of Christ is offered to us today. 25:03 You and I can claim it. 25:05 We can look at the Ten Commandments 25:06 and instead of shaking and saying, oh, no, no, 25:09 I don't want to see the Commandments, give me grace. 25:11 We can say, wait a minute, this is grace. 25:14 This is the Law of Liberty. 25:15 This is the promise of victory. 25:18 This is what Jesus has done for me. 25:21 Jesus has done these Commandments for me. 25:23 Jesus has like Moses come and delivered me 25:28 from Egypt and now these-- 25:32 this law is no longer my enemy to condemn 25:34 and accuse and criticize me 25:36 but is a great promise of exactly 25:39 where Jesus is taking me by His grace. 25:45 Do you want to claim that victory in your own life? 25:48 I know you do. I know you do. 25:54 Jesus has already won. 25:56 He has already waged the battle 25:58 with sin, slavery, and He has conquered. 26:05 You know, dear friend, today, 26:07 I would like for you to look into your own heart 26:10 and just evaluate your attitude 26:12 towards God's Commandments. 26:14 When somebody quotes the Commandments 26:17 or you see them, you know, 26:18 how they're printed out sometimes, 26:20 hanging on the wall, what do you think? 26:24 Do you think, oh, I, I sure hope that's been done away 26:28 with because there's no way 26:30 that I'm ever going to live up to that. 26:33 If that's been the way you felt about the Commandments 26:36 or if you've kind of turned away 26:37 or if you've tried hard not to think about it, 26:39 because you felt condemned by them, 26:42 I want you to know today there's no reason 26:43 for you to be condemned by the Commandments. 26:46 Jesus has borne all the condemnation for our failure 26:50 to live up to the Commandments. 26:51 He has already taken all of that upon Himself. 26:53 The Bible says the inequity of us all was laid upon Him 26:57 and he has also conquered all of our human weakness 27:02 and gained victory over all of that 27:06 and kept the Commandments perfectly. 27:08 Therefore, the promise of liberty in the Commandments 27:10 has been ratified by Jesus Christ 27:13 and therefore God has kept His promise. 27:17 And whether you feel totally victorious today or not, 27:20 you can take hold of Jesus hand 27:21 and say, I know that since you've begun a good work in me 27:24 you will bring it to completion, I know the victory is mine. 27:26 These Commandments are going to be written in my heart. 27:34 Well, Jesus has kept the promise 27:36 of the First Commandment, dear friends. 27:39 In our--in our next studies together, 27:41 we'll see, how he has kept the promise 27:42 of all the Commandments and how beautiful they are, 27:47 as he works them in ours own hearts. 27:51 Let's praise God for the victory. |
Revised 2014-12-17