Participants: Dale Leamon
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000005
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00:28 Thanks for joining us today for our in-depth Bible study.
00:34 I'm Pastor Dale Leamon from Battle Creek, Michigan 00:37 and we are going to look further at God's Ten promises. 00:44 Some people call them the Ten Commandments, 00:46 which they are, but they are also wonderful promises 00:49 as we will see more fully in just a moment. 00:53 But first let's have a word of prayer. 00:55 Father in heaven, how we rejoice that You have given us 00:59 Your Holy Spirit this day and that even now 01:02 You are ready to help us understand the word. 01:06 Bless us as we study, that we may come 01:09 to a realization of Your goodness 01:11 and Your power to save and that our hearts may be transformed. 01:15 Help me, Lord, that I maybe Your servant. 01:17 In Jesus name, Amen. 01:22 Well, those who have understood that the law 01:25 is really a list of promises come to love the law. 01:32 You know, it's typical of people to kind of dread the law, 01:34 almost like you dread the coming of a judge, 01:37 when you find yourself in violation. 01:40 And of course, the reason that the law scares us a bit 01:42 is because we have often violated it. 01:44 But God knew we would. He understood that fully. 01:47 He gave it to imperfect people, to people who He knew 01:51 were already predetermined to sin by their parental heritage 01:55 and he understood that He didn't give it to us. 01:58 In other words, in order to become a standard, 02:02 by which we would achieve salvation. 02:04 But he gave it to us to show us our failings and to show us 02:09 what he was going to do for us as He transformed us. 02:12 And so the Ten Commandments can be seen as promises. 02:17 Promises of what He will do in our lives 02:19 as we give ourselves fully to His grace. 02:23 Now those who find the Ten Commandments to be promises, 02:27 even though they know they have failed, 02:30 are always given a much better concept of them 02:34 and have a good feeling about God's commandments. 02:36 In fact, one of the great examples of that is David 02:40 in the Old Testament. 02:42 David was not a perfect man. 02:43 I think, we all know that, don't we? 02:45 He--his--the Bible history records 02:48 some very serious violations of God's law. 02:52 And yet David did not allow himself to become discouraged. 02:57 In fact, he speaks of God's Commandments 02:58 in the most glowing terms and that was because again, 03:02 he realized that it was God himself 03:06 who was bringing him into conformity. 03:08 Well, just look at some of the things 03:09 David says about the law. 03:11 You probably know that the 119th Psalm, 03:15 which is just practically in the middle of the Bible, 03:18 is the very longest chapter of scripture. 03:22 In fact, it is quite a bit longer than 03:23 any other chapter of scripture 03:25 and that entire Psalm is about God's law 03:30 and his commandments and it is a hymn of praise 03:33 to the wisdom of God, who gave such wonderful commandments. 03:37 So we're just going to skip around 03:38 and look at several of the verses from this great chapter 03:41 to see how David really felt about the commandments. 03:46 Let's begin with Psalm 119:97. 03:53 All right. This says, "Oh, how I love your law! 03:59 It is my meditation all the day." 04:03 What a great praise to the Lord. 04:07 He thinks about God's law all day long. 04:10 We usually don't think about God's law 04:13 or at least sometimes we try not to or if we do, 04:17 the way we think about it is uh, it's on my shoulders. 04:21 I feel guilty. 04:22 But that's not the way David responded to the law. 04:25 He looked it as a hopeful thing. 04:26 This is what God is doing for me. 04:29 You see David understood Jewish history. 04:31 He understood that Israel had been given the law 04:33 after their deliverance from Egypt 04:35 and that God was showing what he was going to do for them next. 04:39 Now that I've delivered you from Egypt, 04:40 now I'm going to take away other gods and idols 04:44 from your heart and I'm going to help you to be a people 04:48 who love each other better. 04:50 And so, he says, oh, how I love your law. 04:53 Let's look at another one from this beautiful chapter. 04:56 Psalm 119:176. He says, 05:03 "I have gone astray like a lost sheep, 05:08 Seek your servant, 05:09 for I do not forget Your commandments." 05:13 Again, how beautiful. 05:16 He understands that remembering the commandments 05:19 and loving the commandments is something you can do 05:23 even though you are a sheep that has gone astray. 05:26 He understands that God doesn't intend for his law 05:29 in other words to condemn and crush us. 05:32 But rather, God intends that we would find hope in his law. 05:37 Let's look at another one. 05:38 Chapter 119 again but this time verse 127. 05:46 " Therefore I love your commandments, 05:49 more than gold, yes, than fine gold!" 05:54 So David thinks God's commandments 05:55 so the most valuable thing he's ever run into. 05:58 They're more valuable than gold. 06:01 He recognizes that the commandments 06:03 themselves are God's covenant, 06:06 that this is the promise that 06:08 he would be made ready for eternal life. 06:11 That God would in fact change him 06:13 and make him able to live with angels forever. 06:16 So that is far more valuable than gold. 06:18 Gold cannot buy our way into God's kingdom. 06:21 But the grace of our Lord, 06:23 which writes the law in our hearts, 06:25 certainly can and has purchased the kingdom for us. 06:29 Let's look at another one. Chapter 119:93. 06:36 "I will never forget your precepts, 06:39 For by them you have given me life." 06:44 David understands that the law is God's promise 06:47 of a new life and so He loves the law of God. 06:53 Let's look at verses 71 and 72 from this same chapter. 06:59 "It is good for me that I have been afflicted, 07:03 that I may learn Your statutes. 07:06 The law of your mouth is better to me 07:08 than thousands of coins of gold and silver." 07:12 He again says he values it more than gold and silver, 07:15 but notice, he says, it's a good thing 07:18 that I've had some trials in my life 07:20 because the trials have made me appreciate your law more. 07:24 Isn't that amazing? 07:25 He sees that God is developing his understanding 07:29 and appreciation for the rules. 07:31 He realizes that God isn't just saying here you are, 07:34 do your best, keep the rules 07:35 and if you do good enough job, I'll save you. 07:37 No, God is working with us throughout our life. 07:40 Even training us by disciplines and helping us 07:43 through afflictions to discover the value of His law 07:46 and to appreciate it's principles, 07:49 so that we more and more allow His grace 07:51 to write the law in our hearts. 07:53 David has a very mature understanding of the law 07:56 and therefore he loves it instead of hating it 07:59 as so many are tempted to do. 08:02 Let's look at verses 35 through 37. 08:07 "Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, 08:11 For I delight in it. 08:14 Incline my heart to Your testimonies 08:17 And not to covetousness. 08:19 Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things 08:23 and revive me in your way." 08:27 David here sees that it is God's work to bring him 08:32 to the enjoyment of the law and the obedience of the law, 08:36 where he says, incline my heart to your testimony. 08:39 You see what he is saying. 08:41 He is not just saying, okay, Lord, I know I blew it. 08:43 I'll try harder next time. I'll do better. 08:45 Give me another chance. No, no, no. 08:47 David knows that any number of extra chances 08:50 aren't going to change him. 08:52 He recognizes that what he needs is God's special grace 08:55 to come in and incline his heart. 08:58 Now, an incline is where you have a tilted floor 09:02 or level and he wants his heart to be tilted toward God's will 09:09 and toward God's law. 09:10 And he realizes that that's the work that only God can do, 09:13 and so he sees the commandments as a promise 09:17 and as an inducement to receive the grace 09:20 and the work of God in the heart. 09:23 Finally, let's look at verse 32 in this chapter, 09:29 which says, "I will run the course of your commandments 09:34 for You shall enlarge my heart!" 09:39 You see, he knows that he's got to have his heart enlarged. 09:44 As runners run it is true that as they exercise frequently, 09:49 their hearts expand somewhat and certainly 09:51 their strength of their heart muscle increases. 09:55 And so David is saying, 09:56 I'll keep your commandments better. 09:58 I want to, I'm willing to. 09:59 I see that they're wonderful and I just need you to 10:03 strengthen my heart, enlarge my heart. 10:06 He recognizes again that that's God's work to do that. 10:08 And so, he's not intimidated by the law 10:11 but rather sees it as a hopeful thing 10:14 that God intends to produce in his life. 10:17 That's the way we all need to look at the law. 10:19 David freely admits his many failings, 10:22 and difficulties, and weaknesses, and yet, 10:25 he sees God's law as a great treasure, 10:27 as a tremendous bank account 10:30 that is going to see him through. 10:33 He recognizes that he needs God to change his heart. 10:36 David, as you know, was guilty of adultery and murder. 10:42 In such a public way, that he brought shame and disgrace 10:44 on the entire nation of Israel 10:46 and yet he still loved God's law. 10:50 The law, which could be seen as condemning him, 10:53 he recognized was also promising him a new life 10:59 and hope for eternity. 11:02 Of course, it's God's work to change our hearts. 11:05 The law cannot change us in anyway. 11:07 It cannot save us. 11:08 But it is God's glorious promise to do for us 11:11 what we cannot do for ourselves. 11:14 Now let's look--let's focus on another command 11:18 as we have been doing. 11:20 This time we're going to look at one of the ten promises, 11:24 number five in number, 11:27 which is found in Exodus Chapter 20:12. 11:33 This is the commandment about family life, in particular 11:36 relationship between children and parents. 11:40 Let's read. "Honor your father and your mother, 11:45 that your days may be long upon the land 11:48 which the Lord your God is giving you." 11:52 Now that is, is interesting. 11:55 We've already seen that the first four commandments 11:59 relate to our relationship with God. 12:03 They show us, God wants to be the supreme person in our lives. 12:08 He doesn't want us to make cheap representations of Him 12:13 that we would worship. 12:14 He wants us to use His name properly, 12:18 to find the power that is in his name. 12:20 He wants us to have a day that we spend 12:23 with Him every week, that special Sabbath day. 12:27 But now, that--those, 12:29 we understand those four commandments 12:32 were contained on the first stone. 12:34 Remember that the Ten Commandments were written 12:36 on two tablets of stone and on that first stone 12:40 were those first four commandments. 12:41 On the second stone, we have commandments 12:44 that relate to the inter-human connection. 12:51 And it's very interesting since God is looking 12:54 at the hierarchy of relationships. 12:57 He starts on the first stone with relationships 13:00 between God and man. 13:01 Then when He moves to relationships 13:03 between man and man, 13:05 He starts with the relationship between man and his parents, 13:11 which in God's view is the next order of relationship, 13:15 you see, coming down from God and going all the way 13:18 to what we have with our neighbor. 13:20 So the--the parental child-parent relationship 13:25 is in God's mind a elevated relationship. 13:28 It's a very high relationship. 13:30 It stands just below that of man and God, 13:34 but above that of neighbor to neighbor. 13:38 In other words, God intends to give us an attitude 13:44 and a sense of appreciation and of respect for our parents 13:51 that will exceed any other relationship 13:56 that we have with another fellow being. 13:59 That's hard to imagine, isn't it? 14:01 And you might wonder what that says 14:02 about the marriage relationship, 14:03 which is also supposed to be such a high 14:05 and respectful relationship. But as we'll see, 14:08 the commandments relating to the marriage relationship 14:11 come after the one relating to parental relationship. 14:14 So clearly that has a very high precedent in God's mind 14:17 and He intends that we shall never stop 14:20 respecting our parents not even when we're grown 14:24 and we become more of a peer with them. 14:28 "Honor your father and mother." 14:32 Now that has become more difficult as time has gone on, 14:35 because parents make a lot of mistakes. 14:40 And many parents don't seem to be worthy of much honor. 14:46 We live in an age when love is dying from the human heart 14:50 and to some extent that has been due to the sickness in the home 14:57 and the loss of love between parents and children. 15:01 I would like to say though that God intends that 15:05 we should have a transformation in our thinking on this. 15:10 God intends to bring about a major revival 15:13 in these last days. 15:15 What we're seeing in society as a breakdown 15:18 in the appreciation between parents and children, 15:21 God intends to reverse in His church and among His people 15:25 and He intends to make it so that the connection 15:28 between parents and children is increasing, 15:31 improving, getting better and becoming a real model 15:35 of his original plan for us. 15:37 So, this promise this #5 promise of the Ten Commandments 15:43 is not something God is slacking off on, 15:47 even though in our culture in general, 15:49 it seems that the love between parents and children 15:52 is decreasing everyday. 15:54 Yet God intends to make this a very powerful testimony 16:00 among his final people as He keeps the promise 16:04 of the Fifth Commandment. 16:06 We have a scripture in which that promise 16:08 is made again in a prophetic sense. 16:12 And that is Malachi, the fourth Chapter. 16:17 We'll read that together, verses 5 and 6. 16:22 "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming 16:27 of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. 16:31 And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, 16:35 and the hearts of the children to their fathers..." 16:39 Let us stop with that part right there. 16:41 This prophet Elijah of course is a prediction 16:44 of the end time prophetic movement of God's people. 16:49 Elijah was--Jesus said that John the Baptist 16:55 was a fulfillment of this prophecy and yet of course, 16:58 this prophecy obviously has an end time application 17:02 because it says that this Elijah will come before the great 17:05 and dreadful day of the Lord. 17:07 Which in prophetic terms means the end of the world 17:11 and the judgment of the world. 17:13 And so we look for another fulfillment 17:15 of this Elijah prediction, 17:17 not in some literal Elijah person coming, 17:20 but in the mission of Elijah and John the Baptist 17:25 being again fulfilled by God's people 17:28 in preparation for Jesus appearing in the clouds. 17:31 This Elijah movement will be a movement that calls 17:36 the people to worship God alone. 17:39 It will be a Three Angels message 17:41 and will take up that great prophetic strain, 17:44 which the prophets of old have carried. 17:46 But it will call people back to a worship of God alone, 17:50 to the obedience of the commandments, 17:52 and the faith of Jesus. 17:54 And it will also affect family life greatly. 18:00 It said again that, the hearts of the fathers 18:02 will be turned to the children 18:04 and the hearts of the children turned to the fathers. 18:09 What a beautiful promise and how much we need that 18:13 in our modern age. 18:15 I had an experience a few years ago with meeting a young man. 18:21 We'll call him Gary. 18:23 Gary was from a home that was divided. 18:27 His mother was a Christian and his father was not, 18:30 and he is not practicing. 18:32 He--he had a kind of a rough home. 18:36 The father was involved with alcohol pretty heavily. 18:41 I don't know whether you'd call him an alcoholic exactly, 18:44 but he did drink fairly often, and whenever he did, 18:47 he--pretty much lost control of himself. 18:50 There were several children in the family, 18:51 but Gary was the oldest son and as such he had a particularly 18:57 challenging time because he really wanted to see his home 19:01 and his family be better. 19:02 But the father always seemed to be dragging things down 19:06 because his--his use of alcohol hindered 19:09 his effectiveness in work and there were times 19:11 when he lost jobs and wasn't able to provide very well. 19:14 So Gary kind of lost respect for his father. 19:17 Sometimes he would also see his father 19:20 under the influence of alcohol, hitting his mother, 19:24 and hitting his--his little brothers and sisters 19:29 and it--it upset him. 19:31 As he grew up watching this, 19:33 he--he began frankly to more and more hate his father. 19:37 He began to blame his father for everything bad 19:40 that had come upon the family 19:41 and to literally wish his father dead. 19:45 Well, needless to say, all of those feelings 19:47 didn't help Gary to be a Christian either. 19:51 And it almost looked like he was going to follow 19:53 in his father's footsteps. 19:55 Isn't it strange how when allow hatred to grow in our hearts, 19:58 we very often become like the thing we hate. 20:02 And he was beginning to, he was a teenager, 20:05 he was beginning to smoke and drink from time to time, 20:09 run around with friends who didn't have any good ideas 20:13 for his life and he seemed rather, 20:15 rather aimless and directionless. 20:18 But still he hated his father and blamed his father 20:21 and he had never given his life to Christ. 20:24 But one day, Gary was faced with a--a crisis in his experience 20:30 and he started thinking about God. 20:33 And I received a phone call from him in which he said, 20:38 Pastor Leamon, I'd really like to talk with you. 20:40 And I was delighted, whenever a teenager 20:42 that seems to be wandering 20:43 in the world calls me and says I'd like to talk, 20:46 I'm just thrilled and I certainly was. 20:49 I said, well, I have a little time today. 20:51 Let's get together today. 20:53 And so, we met in one of the rooms of the church 20:58 and Gary began to tell me about his life 21:02 and as he told me about his life 21:05 and the trouble that he was getting into, 21:07 tears began to come to his eyes. 21:09 He said, do you think that I could be a Christian? 21:11 Do you think that God could save me? 21:15 And I had such a tremendous joy sharing with him the gospel 21:20 and the fact that Jesus had already given his life for him 21:24 and had already provided salvation for him 21:26 and all he had to do was confess his sin 21:29 and confess Jesus as his Savior 21:31 and He could become a part of his family. 21:36 Well, you know, after we talked for perhaps an hour 21:40 and looked up through scriptures together, 21:42 Gary said, this is just what I needed. 21:44 This is just what I want. 21:45 Could we do that right now? 21:47 I tell you, that's music to my ears. 21:49 I said, absolutely, let's kneel down 21:51 where we are and pray. 21:53 And first of all, 21:55 I prayed and asked for the Holy Spirit 21:57 to really control that moment and then Gary prayed 22:00 and we prayed the most beautiful prayer 22:01 in which he confessed his sins. 22:04 He told the Lord all about his life 22:06 and he gave his heart to Christ. 22:09 I'll tell you, He just about jumped up from that prayer. 22:12 I have never seen a more obvious spirit filling 22:15 at the time of conversion than I did with Gary. 22:18 His--his face had a glow on it that 22:21 nothing else had ever produced. 22:24 He was absolutely filled with joy and peace 22:29 and immediately, he said two things. 22:30 #1, how soon can I be baptized and #2, 22:35 which surprised me so much, shouldn't have, I suppose, 22:39 he said, you know, I think, 22:44 I'm gonna have to work things out with my dad. 22:48 Boy, oh, boy, was that ever evidence 22:50 of the work of the Holy Spirit. 22:52 You see, just the week before, 22:54 he had gotten into an argument with his dad in which he now, 22:57 pretty strong and fit as a teenager had hit his dad 23:03 in the face and knocked him to the floor 23:06 and then stomped out in his anger. 23:09 Now he was feeling deep remorse for that 23:11 and realizing that he had broken the fifth commandment. 23:15 And even though his father had been such a bad example to him, 23:18 in his heart, he wanted to be restored to his father 23:23 and he started feeling a tenderness toward his father. 23:28 I tell you, folks, that's an evidence 23:29 of the work of the Holy Spirit. 23:31 And as we come to Jesus, we should expect that to happen. 23:35 Because all of his commandments are promises 23:37 and the closer we come to Jesus, 23:39 the more we can anticipate that he will put 23:44 the urging of these truths right inside of our hearts. 23:49 And so, you know, it wasn't for Gary, 23:51 it wasn't like, oh, boy, now that I'm Christian, 23:53 I suppose I have to try to like my dad. 23:58 No, not at all. It was, the Spirit came into him. 24:01 He began to feel, oh, I haven't respected my father. 24:05 I haven't loved my father 24:08 and instead of guilt, he felt hope. 24:12 And he immediately said, 24:14 I want the Lord to help me with this. 24:16 We know Jesus has kept the promise 24:19 of all ten of the commandments. 24:21 He, himself, has fulfilled these commandments 24:23 in his own experience and that is why 24:25 He can give them--give them to us. 24:27 He made the promise in the Old Testament, 24:29 but then when he came, he fulfilled the promise 24:32 in his own life by keeping all these commandments 24:34 perfectly himself. 24:37 Look at Jesus own example in relationship to his parents. 24:42 Jesus stayed at home for 30 some years. 24:47 You know, he could have gone out into his ministry much sooner. 24:51 He knew from age 12 pretty much exactly 24:54 what it was he was supposed to do and yet he waited, 24:58 and waited, and waited because he was needed at home. 25:02 His father had died. He was a carpenter. 25:05 He took up the family business. He took care of his mother. 25:09 He waited. He was also waiting for the Heavenly Father to say, 25:13 now is the time. 25:14 Because Jesus took counsel and guidance from his parents, 25:20 both his earthly parents and his heavenly parent. 25:24 He showed love for care-- in caring for his mother 25:27 after his father's death. 25:31 He revealed the special respect he had for his mother, 25:37 in that story of the wedding at Cana. 25:39 You remember that story. 25:41 His mother apparently was one of the relatives of the family 25:44 and as their wedding feast was progressing 25:47 and they ran out of wine, 25:51 we understand that was fresh wine, grape juice, 25:55 she went to Jesus and she said, do something about this. 25:59 When Jesus said, it's not time yet. 26:03 He hadn't himself yet felt that this was time 26:07 to introduce his miraculous powers, 26:11 that--that somehow that hadn't come. 26:12 But God sent that message through his mother, 26:16 that now was the time and he respected his mother 26:19 so much that when she told the servants, 26:23 you do whatever Jesus says to do. 26:25 Then He went ahead and He told them to fill the pots 26:28 with water and then the water became wine. 26:31 You know the story. 26:32 And--and then word went out from that very moment. 26:35 Jesus from Nazareth can do amazing things. 26:40 We've seen a miracle. Who is He? 26:42 Could He be the messiah? 26:45 And it was His mother that was used by God 26:48 to initiate His miraculous ministry. 26:52 So He respected His mother and listened to her 26:56 and allowed the voice of even His Heavenly Father 26:59 to speak through her. 27:01 And then of course, there was the cross. 27:04 When He took the responsibility of the oldest son so seriously, 27:09 and as His mother stood there. 27:11 Imagine that, his own mother watching His agony, 27:14 watching His grief, watching Him bear the sins of the world, 27:17 watching Him go through hell for us. 27:21 Uh, His mother, He still did not forget her. 27:23 He could have been excused for forgetting her. 27:25 Could He not? 27:26 When He was dealing with the entire human race. 27:30 But He did not forget her. 27:32 He looked down at His mother 27:34 and He looked at His disciple John standing near her. 27:39 And He said in effect, "John, from now on, she is your mother. 27:46 Take care of her for me." 27:48 And so we see Jesus fulfilling the commandment 27:53 to honor our father and mother 27:55 and He'll do that in your heart too. 27:57 Why not let Him do it for you? |
Revised 2014-12-17