Participants: Dale Leamon
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000002
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00:28 It's nice to be with you again today.
00:31 I'm Pastor Dale Leamon. 00:34 And we're going to look deeply into God's word together. 00:37 But before we do, let's ask for His blessing. 00:41 Father in Heaven, thank You so much for giving us the Bible 00:45 and here we find marvelous truth that shows us 00:49 how much You love us, 00:51 how perfect Your plan is for our salvation, 00:54 how able You are to bring everyone of us into Your family. 00:57 Let these things become clear as we study together today 01:01 and use me dear Lord in Jesus name, amen. 01:06 Well, we've a tremendous tendency, don't we? 01:11 To kind and not like the Ten Commandments. 01:14 Oh, they just kind of cross a lot of things 01:16 that are carnal nature we're born with 01:18 automatically wants to do, you know, 01:20 we're naturally selfish and the Ten Commandments 01:22 say we should worship God only. 01:25 We naturally have a tendency to be, 01:28 you know, dishonest and perhaps seen a little bit gluttonous 01:31 and we naturally have tendencies to take a advantage of 01:35 or harm other people even though we know it's not right 01:39 and all of these things the commandments tell us not to do. 01:42 Well, you know what, 01:45 the commandments are not just commandments, 01:48 they are actually promises. 01:51 That's right. We've in the Bible clear evidence 01:55 that God has spoken these words to us not so much to tell us 02:01 how we can get to heaven, 02:02 because in fact none of us are capable 02:04 of keeping the commandments anyway, 02:05 unless He writes them in our hearts. 02:08 But these are given to us to show us 02:10 what He will do for us by faith. 02:13 Each one of the commandments 02:15 was kept by Jesus in a powerful way. 02:18 He gained a huge victory and so the commandments 02:21 are not thou shalt not, as much as they are 02:25 because of my grace thou shall not. 02:29 In other words instead of becoming pushy forced commands, 02:36 imperatives, they are promises. 02:39 I'm delivering you, I'm giving you my grace, 02:42 I'm winning the victory for you and for that reason 02:45 you won't do those things anymore. 02:47 How wonderful it is to look at the law that way, 02:50 it relieves the pressure. 02:53 And actually makes us look forward to understanding 02:56 God's law and to see each aspect fulfilled in our own lives. 03:00 Well, some people say that God's commandments 03:03 have been done away with. 03:06 And it's certainly true in the Old Testament, 03:08 that aspects of the law of Moses 03:11 were nailed to the cross with Christ, 03:13 and are no longer in force for the Christian. 03:17 But that's not true of the Ten Commandments 03:19 and it couldn't be, because their promises of the new life 03:23 will have Jesus forever. 03:25 And if they were done away with then God 03:27 will be breaking His promises. 03:28 If God broke the commandments, 03:30 He would be breaking His promises to us. 03:32 Promises of the life that we come to want to live 03:36 more and more as we're saved by grace through Christ. 03:40 So each of us needs to discover God's law in that way. 03:46 A way that makes us not dread it, 03:48 or wish we could avoid it, but in fact appreciate it. 03:53 You know, we have seen that James 03:56 regarded the commandments as law of liberty 04:00 and that is because the commandments 04:01 describe the liberty that Jesus is giving us 04:05 from our natural tendencies to do wrong. 04:08 But we have many beautiful scriptures 04:12 that describe the law in a way 04:14 that shows that it has freedom in it. 04:18 Psalm 119, verse 45 was one of those. 04:22 Let's read that together. 04:24 "And I will walk at liberty, For I seek Your precepts." 04:30 Now do you understand what that verse is saying? 04:35 Somehow when we seek God's will in our life, 04:40 He gives us liberty, freedom. 04:43 You see, we suddenly no longer are trying to obey 04:47 of our own strength. 04:49 Now we're appreciating God's plan 04:51 for our life as a promise which He alone can fulfill. 04:56 And so it changes our whole viewpoint, 04:57 we feel free and that freedom is what we all want. 05:00 We, Americans, especially want freedom, 05:03 but I think everybody in the world does 05:05 and we think it's our right to have freedom. 05:07 And do you know what, God thinks so too. 05:10 It is our right. 05:11 He has won it for us through Christ Jesus, 05:14 and He doesn't want us to be slaves anymore. 05:16 Let's see what Jesus himself said was his main mission 05:21 to the world in Luke, Chapter 4 and verse 18. 05:28 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me. 05:30 This is Jesus speaking and He says 05:32 God's Spirit is upon Me, 05:34 because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. 05:40 He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, 05:43 to proclaim liberty, there we've that word to the captives 05:48 and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty, 05:53 there is that word about freedom again, 05:55 those who are oppressed." 05:58 So Jesus mission was a liberating mission. 06:03 In fact as we look at the items listed here, 06:05 we actually see that they all pertained to liberty in someway. 06:09 For instance, preaching the gospel to the poor. 06:14 These people who have heard no good news 06:16 in their whole lives now are hearing good news 06:18 and they're given the invitation to become part of God's family 06:21 and to be rich forever, free from their poverty. 06:25 He sent me to heal the brokenhearted. 06:27 Here people are being freed or liberated from their diseases 06:34 and particularly they're diseased of a broken heart, 06:37 their emotional diseases. 06:40 He has sent me Jesus says 06:42 to proclaim liberty to the captives. 06:45 And we don't see Jesus releasing a lot of people 06:48 from physical prisons, 06:51 but we do see him releasing people 06:52 from prisons of other kinds. 06:55 Prisons of diseases, we've already mentioned, 06:57 prisons of emotional illness yes, 07:00 prisons of spiritual illness in particular. 07:03 Some whom the devil had complete control of than others 07:06 who were only under partial control. 07:11 I suppose most of us have experienced that 07:13 from the dark side. 07:16 But Jesus came to free us, 07:18 that is His whole purpose and His law 07:22 was given as a precursor of the freedom 07:24 we would experience through him. 07:27 You see the law pointed forward to Jesus, 07:30 because it shows us the freedom that Christ would give us, 07:34 not from goodness, but from sin into goodness 07:39 and what a glorious truth that is. 07:42 He's also giving recovery of the sight to the blind 07:46 and so they're free from the darkness that has covered them 07:50 and understand that spiritual blindness 07:52 is one the things Jesus says that all of us 07:55 in these last days have to be concerned about. 07:58 But Jesus says given freedom from that blindness 08:01 by which our mind can't even discern the truth 08:04 and suddenly Jesus give us insight 08:08 and we see and we understand 08:11 and He sets at liberty those who are oppressed. 08:14 And certainly that is a condition 08:16 that we find ourselves in even though 08:17 we're so rich in our modern western world 08:20 and even though we're so well educated, 08:25 we suffer from major oppression from selfishness, 08:30 from love of things, from love of pleasure, 08:34 and of course oppression from others 08:38 who do not love the truth. 08:40 Its something that many are experiencing all over the world, 08:43 but Jesus gives us a deep inner sense that we're His 08:47 that we belong to Him and takes away that darkness 08:52 that surrounds the heart so easily and discourages us. 08:55 So freedom, Jesus ministry could be described 09:00 as a ministry of freedom. 09:04 And that really rings for all of us, 09:08 because we want to feel 09:10 that we are able to walk upright 09:14 and proud and free. 09:18 Well, some will say yes, yes, that's what I meant. 09:21 We're free from the law. 09:22 The laws were done away with and we're free from the law, 09:24 is that what it is? 09:26 Well, let's see Jesus' own words here. 09:28 Matthew, Chapter 5, Matthew, Chapter 5 verses 17 and 18. 09:38 "Do not think that I've come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. 09:43 I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 09:50 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, 09:55 one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law 10:00 till all is fulfilled. 10:05 How long did Jesus say, His law would remain 10:08 as a valuable tool in His plan of salvation? 10:11 He said till heaven and earth pass away. 10:15 He said He didn't come to destroy it, 10:17 but He came to fulfill it. 10:19 In other words Jesus came to earth to keep His promise. 10:24 His promise was even though you became in bondage to Satan 10:27 where Adam and Eve chose to sin 10:29 and the race has been controlled more or less 10:31 by Satan's plans ever since, I will deliver you. 10:36 And in the law we see the precious promises 10:38 of his freedom to serve God only. 10:42 Do not have to worship images too. 10:45 Do not take His name in vain anymore, 10:48 to love His holy Sabbath day and so forth, 10:52 to stop stealing, to stop lying, to stop committing adultery. 10:58 These are deliverances that Jesus will work out for us. 11:03 And He promised to do it and He tells us 11:05 He didn't come to do away with the law, 11:07 but in fact He came to fulfill it. 11:09 And then He says it won't be unneeded until 11:12 heaven and earth pass away. 11:14 Well, the reason why the law actually 11:16 might not be needed anymore at least in it's written form 11:19 as we have looked at it so many times 11:22 on the two tables of stone. 11:23 The reason it might not be needed anymore in that form 11:25 once the world comes to its end is that the Bible 11:29 assures us that by that time the Lord will have His law 11:32 written in the hearts and in the minds. 11:35 We can see that in Hebrews, the eighth Chapter, 11:37 in the hearts and in the minds of all of His children. 11:40 So it will no longer be necessary to review it 11:44 on tables of stone or in books. 11:48 But let's continue now looking at this New Testament 11:50 doctrine of the value of God's freeing law in Romans, 11:55 you know Romans is written by Paul 11:58 and is one of the great theological books of the Bible. 12:02 Romans 8 and verse 21, the apostle says, 12:07 "Because the creation itself also will be delivered 12:12 from the bondage of corruption 12:14 into the glorious liberty of the children of God." 12:18 So this great verse is showing us 12:21 that not only are God's children 12:23 set free from the moral and fleshly corruption 12:27 that they've experienced, but all nature is going to be 12:29 set free as we come to the end of world 12:32 and that's the reason of course why we won't need to 12:35 look at the commandments written in the stone 12:39 as we have seen them. 12:40 But now they're written in our hearts, 12:42 they'll be written in every flower and every tree 12:45 and every animal of the whole planet 12:48 will be free from the selfishness and evil 12:50 that came upon us as a result of Adam and Eve's rebellion. 12:54 What a wonderful day that would be 12:55 and Jesus has made all of that possible. 12:58 So the law has been a previous, a leading promise, 13:04 leading us to that very day 13:07 that we're looking forward to so much. 13:09 In Second Corinthians, the apostle continues to talk 13:12 about this great freedom which has always been God's plan 13:15 and since it's always been God's plan of course 13:17 everything He has told us up to this time 13:19 should be leading us toward this freedom. 13:22 Second Corinthians 3:17, 13:26 "Now the Lord is the Spirit 13:29 and where the Spirit of the Lord is, 13:31 there is liberty." 13:34 In this verse, we're clearly told that wherever God is, 13:37 wherever God's spirit is, its freedom and liberty, 13:40 certainly God's spirit, God Himself, 13:43 and His spirit were in His law 13:45 and so the laws intended to be a precursor of the liberty 13:51 that He would give us through Christ Jesus, 13:53 a promise of that liberty. 13:55 Galatians Chapter 5, verse 1. 14:00 Let's read this one, 14:03 "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ 14:07 has made us free, 14:09 and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage." 14:15 This verse of course is taken by come to mean 14:18 that we should be careful not to try to obey God's commandments 14:22 anymore because that would be a yoke of bondage 14:24 that would bring us back out of the liberty, 14:27 Christ has won for us, 14:28 that's a totally wrong understanding of that verse. 14:31 The liberty which Christ has won for us 14:33 is the liberty of being enabled to obey the commandments. 14:39 And there is of course a bondage 14:42 in terms of many Jewish regulations 14:44 from which we have been liberated 14:47 through Christ fulfillment of those promises. 14:49 But as far as the moral and ethical promises 14:52 of the Ten Commandments are concerned, 14:54 yes, Christ has won us freedom and liberty 14:58 and we never want to go back into the bondage 15:00 of trying to be saved by our own obedience, 15:02 but the freedom that He has given us is a liberty to obey 15:06 by His grace rather than to try to do by our own strength, 15:12 which is a terrible slavery indeed. 15:14 So Jesus has given us the hope of the freedom 15:20 from selfishness implied in every one of the commandments, 15:23 the hope of complete commitment to God. 15:26 Now as we look at the commandments, 15:30 we'd like today to look at the second commandment, 15:34 which deals with the issue of idolatry. 15:38 And that of course is found in Exodus the 20th Chapter 15:45 and verses 4 through 6. 15:48 We'll just take time to read all of those verses. 15:52 "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, 15:56 any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, 15:58 or that is in the earth beneath, 15:59 or that is in the water under the earth, 16:02 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. 16:05 For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, 16:08 visiting the iniquity of the fathers 16:10 upon the children to the third and fourth generations 16:13 of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, 16:18 to those who love Me and keep My commandments." 16:23 Isn't this an interesting command, 16:27 it's an even more interesting promise. 16:29 It's a promise of mercy. 16:31 It's a promise of God's jealousy. 16:33 I like that actually that He is jealous, 16:35 because it just shows how important we're to Him. 16:38 You know, you're only jealous of those 16:39 that you really care about. 16:41 And He cares about us, every one of us. 16:43 And it upsets Him when we hate Him 16:45 and that makes Him feel very sad. 16:48 We could look at the continued generational problem 16:52 that happens here, when people hate God, 16:55 it even affects their children, their grand children, 16:57 and their great grand children. 16:58 It's not because God would punish the children 17:01 for the parent's sins, 17:02 but because there is a terrible law of inheritance, 17:06 attitudes get passed along. 17:08 But here we see the Lord promising to deliver us 17:12 from making images for worship. Hmm! 17:17 I wonder how many Christians even want to be delivered 17:20 from the habit of making images for worship. 17:23 But He promises not only to deliver us from that, 17:26 but also to deliver us from bowing down 17:30 to these merely material things. 17:33 You know, we've a terrible way of 17:34 in this present age of saying, 17:36 I love this and I love that and I love the other thing, 17:40 but here He says He shows mercy to those who love Him 17:44 and keep His commandments. 17:45 I think we've learned to use that word love 17:47 altogether too lightly, don't you? 17:49 We love pizza, we love fast cars, 17:51 we love beautiful homes whatever it may be. 17:54 The Lord wants to take all the idols out of our hearts 17:59 and He needs to do that. 18:00 It must happen because the way to heaven 18:04 is complete trust in Jesus 18:07 and complete letting go of all the things of this world. 18:12 You just can't have them both. 18:14 You remember the scripture that says 18:16 no man can serve two masters. 18:18 You can't do it. 18:20 He says you'll either end up 18:21 hating the one or hating the other. 18:23 You can't love them both. 18:25 Jesus comes and offers us 18:28 an all or nothing relationship with Him so. 18:30 But what a reward for those who find freedom from idolatry 18:37 and the love of things. 18:39 That's what that's all about the love of things. 18:41 There's another scripture which clearly portrays 18:44 this deliverance and it shows that this is not something 18:47 we do for God. I don't give up idols for God. 18:50 I don't give up my love of beautiful cars for God. 18:52 It's something He does for me. 18:54 Ezekiel 36 and verse 25, 19:00 and also verse 26. 19:03 "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, 19:06 and you shall be clean, 19:08 I will cleanse you from all your filthiness 19:10 and from all your idols. 19:12 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. 19:15 I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh 19:19 and give you a heart of flesh." 19:22 Now I really like that, 19:23 you see people become like what they worship 19:26 and when we worship things that are made of metal, 19:28 we become metallic and we worship things made of stone, 19:32 we become like stone. 19:33 He says that He's gonna take the stony hearts away from us. 19:36 When we worship movie stars, 19:38 well our character may become kind of like theirs 19:41 and so on and so on. 19:42 But He says He's gonna remove all the affect 19:45 of our idolatry and give us soft hearts 19:48 like He gave to Adam and Eve to begin with. 19:51 Soft heart like Jesus has won for each of us. 19:54 He says I will cleanse you from your idols. 19:58 That is wonderful, because you know, 20:00 when you worship an idol for a long, long time, 20:01 it really does become a part of you. 20:04 And, oh, how we need to be completely cleansed 20:07 of all those addictions and all those idolatries. 20:12 What Jesus has done this for us? 20:14 He promised that He would. 20:16 The Second Commandment can be seen as a promise 20:19 of what Jesus would do for us when He came 20:21 under the law to fulfill the law for us and in us. 20:26 And so we can see that through the very experience 20:29 of Jesus in this world, we are delivered. 20:35 God wants us to come to totally trust 20:39 what we cannot see. 20:41 In our material age, we've a kind of idolatry 20:44 that is just based upon a faithless confidence 20:48 and things that we can touch and see it whole. 20:51 We think we'd be happy if we have this object, 20:55 that recreational device, this much money in the bank, 20:59 things that seem tangible to us. 21:01 But God is inviting us to give up our hope 21:03 in everything tangible. 21:05 Tells us this world is all gonna go up in smoke 21:07 before we'll know anything, 21:08 anyway everything tangible here is truly worthless. 21:13 And He says, I want you to put your faith 21:14 entirely in what you cannot see. 21:17 Well, that takes a miracle. 21:21 We just don't do that automatically. 21:24 But when we look at the life of Jesus, 21:26 isn't that exactly the way we'll see Him living. 21:28 He truly had no confidence in tangible things, 21:33 but He put His trust entirely in the Heavenly Father. 21:39 So we're promised in this commandment 21:40 that we'll no longer desire 21:43 the mere physical representations 21:45 of God's blessings, we'll want God's presence itself. 21:48 We want Him in our hearts. We want Him as our best friend. 21:51 We will feel that God's love and His spirit 21:55 are the greatest treasures of our life. 21:58 His presence will be so real to us 22:01 that anything less will be unsatisfying. 22:04 We will feel His jealousy, His jealous love, 22:07 and we'll love it, we'll feel protected by it, 22:11 and we'll feel safe in His arms. 22:13 Everything else will seem cheap and unimpressive to us. 22:19 We'll also find that material things 22:22 have no longer the power to own our affections, 22:29 the things we thought we couldn't be happy without 22:31 we'll discover that they no longer give us 22:34 any happiness at all. 22:37 Well, how did Jesus win this victory for us? 22:40 How did He fulfill the Second Commandment? 22:44 I think you remember a little regard 22:46 He had for all things material, He said 22:52 "The foxes have holes and the birds have nests, 22:57 the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." 22:59 And He wasn't complaining, 23:01 He was just saying that's the way I live, 23:03 I put my confidence in My Father. 23:08 When He was invited by Satan 23:13 in the wilderness of temptation 23:14 to make bread out of stones, He refused. 23:19 Hungry as He was near to starvation, 23:22 He put His faith in the invisible 23:25 instead of in the visible. 23:29 He trusted His Father completely. 23:32 He never worried about material things. 23:35 He said that we also should not be concerned 23:38 about what we'd wear, remember that verse, 23:41 take no thought for what we wear, 23:44 what we will eat. 23:46 He says our Heavenly Father knows we need all those things 23:49 and will make sure that they're provided. 23:54 But, you know, the time that really touches my heart 23:56 when we see the victory of Jesus most completely 24:01 is as He approaches the cross of Calvary. 24:07 And He says not my will but thine be done. 24:11 And then He marches bravely forward 24:13 to all those terrible trials, beatings, and floggings, 24:18 and all the ridicule being called the king 24:23 when they didn't think He was any king at all. 24:27 But to me it was the total letting go of everything 24:31 that was most remarkable. 24:33 Jesus didn't cling to anything. 24:36 His one great desire was for our salvation 24:42 and the symbol of his complete victory 24:45 over all things material, 24:48 I see in the method of His crucifixion 24:51 in which they literally stripped Him of everything. 24:56 Even His clothing was taken away 24:59 and was put in a pile for others to haggle over 25:04 and to gamble over 25:08 and there He was hanging on the cross 25:13 with nothing left to His name as far as humanity could see. 25:20 He cared for none of it. 25:22 He said father, forgive them 25:24 for they don't know what they're doing. 25:26 He didn't grieve about it, He didn't complain, 25:29 He was so completely wrapped up in the father's will 25:35 that He didn't even complain about the discomforts 25:37 of the miseries of crucifixion. 25:40 You remember that the thieves on either side of Him 25:43 were having a discussion about that. 25:45 Why don't you curse God or why don't you set yourself free 25:50 if you're so powerful. 25:52 But finally the one said to the other 25:55 why are you talking to Him like this, 25:57 you know, we deserve this but He is innocent. 26:01 And so Jesus literally had no concern 26:04 for anything material anymore. 26:08 And folks I believe that in that tremendous victory 26:11 over the cross, He fulfilled the meaning 26:15 of letting go of all idolatry. 26:19 He was looking in only one direction, 26:23 He said, Father why have you forsaken Me, 26:27 as he took the death of hell on Himself 26:31 and was separated momentarily from the Father. 26:34 The only thing that meant anything to Him 26:36 must to be restored to His heavenly Father. 26:41 Of course, then the moment of victory came, didn't it? 26:45 When He realized that His sacrifice was accepted 26:49 and He shouted it is finished. 26:53 What a victory He won, 26:55 nothing meant anything to Him anymore 26:57 but that He was going to be reunited 27:01 with His Heavenly Father. 27:03 Friends it may seem a bit extreme 27:05 that may seem like too much for God to ask, 27:08 but that's what He is asking. 27:10 He wants to fulfill that promise in your heart. 27:12 He wants to take away the value of everything 27:16 less than the privilege of being in heaven with the Father. 27:22 And so we are able today because of what Jesus did 27:28 to claim that victory in our own lives. 27:31 What about you friend? 27:32 Are you hindered by love of things? 27:38 Have you had an opportunity to serve God 27:40 in some particular way and yet said no to it 27:43 or passed it by because things which are important 27:47 Jesus has fulfilled the promise of the Second Commandment. 27:52 He will give you the victory He has won, 27:55 claim it today in Jesus name. |
Revised 2014-12-17