In his sermon, James Lundquist explores the profound significance of the Ten Commandments as a reflection of God's holiness and their perpetual nature. The sermon, drawing primarily from Deuteronomy 5:29 to 6:9, underlines that the moral law is unchanged and eternal because it embodies God's infinite and unchangeable character. Lundquist asserts that God's law has existed from the beginning, demonstrated by biblical narratives, such as the fall of Satan, the sin of Adam and Eve, and the time of Noah. The interconnectedness of the Ten Commandments is emphasized, with all parts forming a unified whole. The sermon also highlights that the commandments are not merely a checklist but an expression of God's holy character, demanding a new heart for true obedience. Lundquist stresses that a heart transformation is essential for genuinely loving and keeping God's commandments, which only God can effectuate. The sermon further elaborates on the role of the law in evangelism, teaching individuals about the nature of sin and the necessity of a Savior. Lundquist argues that God's commandments are not burdensome for believers, as they lead to a life of righteousness and peace, with Jesus bearing the ultimate burden of sin. The commandments serve as a guide for living a life pleasing to God, offering blessings and not burdens, when understood and practiced in the light of Christ's sacrifice.

Today's sermon text is from Deuteronomy, beginning in chapter 5 verse 29 and continuing to verse 9 of chapter 6. I will begin reading in verse 28 of chapter 5. Then the Lord heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me and the Lord said to me I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you they are right and all they have spoken oh that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and always keep all my commandments that I might be well with them and with their children forever. Go and say to them, return to your tents. But as for you, stand here by me, and I will speak to you all the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which you shall teach them, that they may observe them in the land which I am giving them to possess.

Therefore, you shall be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess. Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, That you may fear the Lord your God to keep all his statutes and his commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. Therefore, hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Amen. Let's pray. Our Holy God, thank You for revealing Yourself in Scripture, for giving us Your law, for showing us what holiness is, for showing us the standard that we are to live up to, and then showing us that we can't do it, and giving us Christ. Help us as we look into your Word.

Help us as we try to look into your holiness. Help us to love the grace and mercy through Christ's work even more. Help us to see that This is so for our good. That You love us so much, You would give this to us. That You would remove all of our burdens, and that this would be a law of love, of grace, of mercy, of goodness.

Holy Spirit, use this time to conform us more to Christ. Help us. In Jesus' name. Amen. So it's always been planned that there would be two intro sermons.

This is not any way to improve on, correct anything that was said last week. This was planned and as we go through the Ten Commandments, plan on at least two sermons per commandment. Plan on that. It's just as simple as this. There's plenty to say.

Plenty to say and no matter how many weeks we stayed on this, we would not plumb the depths. But we will, by God's grace, give honor to His Word and plumb the depths we can. Last week, Jason said one of the rules for Bible interpretation, or the main rule for Bible interpretation, which is right, is the Bible interprets the Bible. I think it's so helpful, especially when we're going through the law. There's so many things we think about when we think of the law that we use the Word of God so much.

And we do this week in and week out anyway. Once we go through, we bring out other scriptures, have you turn to different scriptures. But I think it's just so important here to help us see these connections instead of just like, I think this or Jason thinks this or whoever preaches through this. You see in my tabs, I'm like Jason, I've got several here and there's several others I'll be going through that I'm not even turning to or having you turn to. So that's so important.

You see on your handout, about five points. The first three points are going to go fairly quick, but lest you're concerned that the sermon will be that short. The last two points will be a little bit longer, but we'll get through the first three pretty quick. The first point, the law was from the beginning. The law was from the beginning.

First of all, this law, the law of the holiness of God, when we talk about the law, we're talking about the moral law of God. We're not talking about the judiciary, we're not talking about the ceremonial, we're talking about the moral law of God. And I want to get across that it's always been there. This isn't something new. It's always been there.

And the point that will come out through this message, it's always been there because it's about the holiness of God. God's holiness has never changed. What is right, what is wrong has never changed. What is holy, good, and right has never changed because it's about the holiness of God. And the proof points we have that it's always been there, just look at it before even the actual giving of the law, you can go all the way back to heaven.

What was the standard in heaven? Well, the standard in heaven was you don't pretend to be God, you don't want to be God, you don't covet God's power, you don't say that He's a liar. And when Satan and the angels did that and wanted to be God themselves, they were kicked out. There was a standard, and that was God's holiness. There was a law there.

Adam and Eve. There's sin. We only see one direct command, but that command is, we'll see in the next point, is just disobey them all. Adam and Eve, Cain murdered Abel. It was wrong.

Not because God hadn't written it down, because it was against God's holiness. Just look what happened at the time of Noah. Look in Genesis 6, 5, it says, the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Nothing had been codified at that point. What made it evil continually?

What made the intents of the heart so wicked? It was because it was against the holiness of God. God looked at the heart and it disobeyed him, dishonored him, and it was evil, and the whole world, save eight people, were destroyed. It was wrong for Moses to kill an Egyptian. It was wrong for Abraham and Sarah to covet a child so much that Sarah said, here is another woman to be your wife and Abraham to take her.

That was still wrong before, though it was actually written down, I shall not commit adultery. It was still wrong. Jacob dishonoring his parents, especially his father, and lying and deceiving him. That was wrong before it was written down, you shall honor your father and mother. That was still sinful.

It went against the holiness of God. The moral law is perpetual. That's a key point in looking at the law. It is perpetual. It continues forever because the law is really about the infinite, unchangeable, holy, righteous character of God.

So the moral law is perpetual and this is very good because God's holiness is perpetual. It's unchangeable. This is good for us. God never changes. His holiness is forever.

His law never changes. It has been from the beginning and will continue. Point number two, the Ten Commandments are a whole. The Ten Commandments are a whole, taken as a whole. Just one point, the Ten Commandments is actually what God calls these, the Ten Commandments.

It's not some title to this area of scripture that people have made up. You just go another time, look at Exodus 34, Deuteronomy 4, and Deuteronomy 10, God calls them the Ten Commandments. But they have been inspired and ordered by God. It's not random. He didn't say, I've got ten of them and then they just got jumbled up.

They're in there in a particular order because God's a God of order. They're in the way he wants them and they are all connected. It is really one law because it is about the holiness of God. It is one law. And they all affect one another.

For that point, a verse that will be quoted often, quoted last week, Here it comes up again, Matthew 22, 40, where Jesus is asked about what are the greatest commands. And he says what? The two greatest commandments. He talks about it. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind.

Love your neighbor as yourself. In quoting Deuteronomy 6, hang what? All the law. Not just part of the law, not just certain sections of the law, all the law. He summed up all the law because all the law is a whole.

It has been taken as a whole. Not piece by piece. Now we're going to study it piece by piece because we go through Scripture verse by verse, expositionally. But as we go through each week, we're going to be bringing in different parts of how it's affected, how this affects another. Because the law is a reflection, is a picture of God's character, therefore it's holy, it's good, it's just and righteous, and we're being conformed to Christ, that means therefore it is a picture of what is holy, what is good, what is right, what is just in his children.

What is a picture of what his children are to look like. It's also a picture of what his children look like when he sees us through the work of Christ. God commands to us to be holy. He commands us to be holy as He is holy. 1 Peter 1, right?

And this is how. We see it how. How are we to be holy? In His law. He shows us that.

How kind of Him to do that, to give us this standard, how merciful and gracious of God to reveal His holiness in that way to us. That's not how He revealed His holiness to Israel. We've had His Holiness revealed to us in a different way. The first time they came face to face with His Holiness. You think about Israel at Mount Sinai.

What they were most terrified of was not the thunderings, the lightning, the shaking of the ground, the smoke. They were most terrified because they came face to face with the Holiness of God different than we ever have. They saw it and they were terrified. So in many ways we should be terrified when we see the holiness of God. If you're not a Christian, you should be terrified.

You look at that and you should be quaking. I can't do that. And yes, you can't. And we'll get to that. As Christians, we should be terrified but then full of joy because we realize I don't have to be so terrified because Christ has done the work.

I am clothed in His righteousness as Jason read. We are clothed in His righteousness. God sees us through Christ when he sees his holiness and his command to be holy. God is whole, God is one, all of him is holy, holy, holy, and all is completeness, so we can't separate God from his character, his attributes, and we can't separate out his law. You cannot look at the Ten Commandments and treat it as a to-do list, as a checklist.

Let me get number one right. I got that. No, you don't. You never will. I can get number two.

No, you can't. You can't get number three, four, all the way. You can't cheat as a checklist because you can never get through them and say, alright, let me just go rinse and repeat and refine. You can't. You'll never ever get there.

You can't do it. And if you're sinning in one area, you think, okay, I've done this, and I'll get to that one later. You can't separate it. You sin in one, and you're really sinning in all of them. They're all interconnected.

Any sin is breaking the first three. That's easy. Any sin is breaking the first three. That's easy. Any sin is breaking the first three.

But just as an example, stealing. I'm going to get to that for a while. Stealing. When you steal and you say, thou shall not steal, What do you think of first? You think, well, I'm not going to steal somebody else's stuff.

I'm not going to steal something that's not mine. That's the first thing you think of. But do you think of when you steal, you're stealing glory from God? You're stealing glory that God alone is God and there's nothing else that takes your affections away from God. You're stealing affections from God.

Do you think when we get to the Sabbath that stealing, not stealing glory from God, but if you dishonor the Sabbath, you could be stealing somebody else's Sabbath by what you have them do for you that day, or how you encourage them to act that day. You could be stealing somebody else's spouse, stealing somebody else's reputation the way you talk about them. You're stealing somebody else's joy through coveting what they have. See, it's all interconnected, and we will bring that out as we go through the interconnection of this. So, the Ten Commandments are a whole, and describe God's holiness.

Number three, You need a new heart. All right, I put this in order. I'll mess it up in a certain order, but I want to talk about the laws from the beginning. The Ten Commandments are a whole, and put that on you. But you need a new heart to do this.

You have to have a new heart to do this. And I was traveling this week and I was flying home and the connecting airport I was in, I was walking to my next gate and they had decorations up for February. The decorations on the walls, you're walking in these big hearts with sayings on them as you're walking along and who knows how many, like the little candies, right, these little sayings and another topic for another day, I do not like that, but anyway, Don't give me those little candies. But anyway, the sayings is what I'm generally against. But on there, these big hearts, the ones that drew my attention were the ones that said, follow your heart over and over.

Follow your heart. Now look down. Follow your heart. Look over there. Follow your heart.

Follow your heart. No, I want to. I really want to take them down. I really want to, I did. Like no, no, you can't follow your own heart.

You cannot. The heart, Jeremiah, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately, desperately wicked. Who can know it? Listen to Mark 7, verse 21, 23. Verse 21, 23, for from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness.

All these evil things come from within and defile a man. That's part of Jesus having this discussion of what brings defilement and This is how Jesus answers of what truly defiles you. You see the Ten Commandments in the law all wrapped up in that. This is what comes out of your heart. This is what you can expect.

Don't follow your heart because that's what you'll get. Disney and the world have done us no favors. Have done us no favors here. Tell us to follow your heart. The low hanging fruit for Christians, the red meat on this, We can look at the world and see some red meat that we're just like, yeah, that's so wrong.

You follow your heart, you get homosexual marriage, abortion, gender issues, bad definitions. That's red meat for us. It should be. If it's not, please, let's talk. That should be easy.

But as we go through, it's not the easy stuff that we want to bring out. We'll bring it out. But we really want to challenge our hearts. That's not where we need to go to. We have bad definitions of love.

We trust our hearts too much. You'll say, well, this isn't that bad for me to look at, to listen to, to read, to contemplate, to think on. I can control it. I got this. You know you don't have it.

You know you don't. You know it's not right. You know it's against God's holiness. But you think, I got this. And that's where your believing lies of your heart that I can do this.

I'm fine. It's not going to lead to that. If I do this, it's ultimately not going to lead to me murdering anybody. Well, let's look to see what God says about murder. It's not going to lead me to be an adulterer.

Oh, God says you're probably already adulterer in your heart. Because the way we look at it, children, Children. I can obey my parents. I don't have to obey them in this because I'm right. They just don't know the whole story.

It's not really dishonor if they really knew the whole story. Actually, we talk about dishonor of parents. It's not age restricted on how we honor our parents. It's really about authority. It's really about authority.

The heart lies all the time. One of the biggest lies that came up this morning, somebody's talking about or praying about autonomy. It lies to us that if all I do, it only affects me. It's okay as long as it only affects me. There's nothing that only affects you.

Not a thing. Not a thing that only affects you. Don't trust your heart. Trust God's holy wisdom and his word, his law. So back to this.

Here's your problem. This is your natural heart. This is your natural heart. These are your natural desires. Even your best efforts have a weakness in them.

And there is nothing you can do to change that. You can obey the Ten Commandments all you want. You can come in here and say, and listen to the sermons, and, Oh, alright, alright, I'm going to do better, I'm going to do better, I'm going to do better. And there's part of that that should be there is you're convicted but repent and rely on Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit but you can obey the Ten Commandments all you want and with a wicked heart still full of sin You may look good to the world, but to God? I don't care how small you think that is.

You have committed treason against God, and it's hell and the wrath of God forever. That's what it is. That's what it is. You need a new heart and only God can do that. Ezekiel 26, 26.

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Only God can do it. You can only truly want to obey and only truly love the holiness of God if you're given a new heart. If He makes you a new creation, if you're regenerated, if you're born again by God.

This is the order of the gospel. We talk about the gospel all the time that you must do what? Repent and believe the gospel in order to be saved. Here's the truth though. I mean that's truth but here's the other part of that.

You can't repent and believe the gospel unless God has first given you a new heart. You don't have to say that in evangelism when you're witnessing but that's the truth of the matter. If you think you can then you've relied on yourself and you're sinning and you're not saved. You really aren't. God must give you a new heart.

This is what you can expect all the time and no growth out of what we read in Mark. You may call it something that may look good to the outside, unless God gives you a new heart, you must have it. Turn to Deuteronomy 5. Turn to Deuteronomy 5, look at verse 1. For right now I just want to read verse 29.

I'm gonna come back to that one, I want you to read verse 5 already. Listen to what God says. What do you want? Oh that they had such a heart in them that they would fear me and always keep all my commandments that it may be well with them and with their children forever." That says you need a heart. You have to have a heart with you.

You have no hope of obeying his commands. As we'll get to it in a little bit, you'll see him as burdensome without a new heart. Even with a new heart you might. We'll talk about that. But you need that new heart.

Or you're not obeying. I don't care how good of a person you think you are. You're not obeying. You really aren't if you're not doing it to the glory of God because He has cleansed you from all unrighteousness and clothed you in the righteousness of Christ. That's at the heart of that.

So you need a new heart. So number four. So what does God expect us to do with His commandments? What does God expect us to do with them? So you're in Deuteronomy 5, I'm going to read verse 1, and then we're going to go on to 29.

And Moses called all Israel and said to them, Hear O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be careful to observe them. Right there, what I want you to start looking at, we're going to go through this. Verse 1, what does God tell you to do with His commandments? Hear. You're to hear.

You're to learn them. You're to be careful with them. You're to observe them. Let's go over to 29. This was read earlier, 29 through 6-9.

I just want to point out these words to you, these adjectives of what God says in His Word. We are to do with his commandments. In 29, keep all his commandments. In 30, shall teach them, may observe them. Then in 32, be careful.

In 33, you shall walk. And then halfway through that you may live. That's a result of this, I'll get to that at the end here. You may live. In 6.1, God has commanded to teach you that you may observe them.

In verse 2, keep. In verse 3, therefore hear O Israel and be careful to observe it. In verse 4, hear, O Israel. In verse 7, you shall teach them diligently. You shall talk of them when you walk by the way.

Verse 8, you shall bind them and verse 9, you shall write them. God gives us all these adjectives because it's so important. We need this to be fully part of our life, ingrained in our life, in what we do, how we act, and how we're interacting with others as well. I've taken these and I've put them in different buckets here, combined them. I want to bring scripture to bear on this.

Just the first ones, hear and listen, hear and listen. Just in Deuteronomy alone, it's mentioned forty, those words are mentioned forty-one times in talking about what to do with his commands. In relation to his commands, 41 times God tells us to hear and listen his commands just in Deuteronomy. Matthew 11, 15, He who has ears to hear, let him hear. In Romans 10, 17, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

Now, in Romans 10, we tend to just talk about that as far as evangelism. We need to send out evangelism. That's part of this. It's a big part of this. So they would hear.

That they would hear. That they would have faith and know that they would see how wicked and their desperate need and that they would hear and they ought to have faith. But that's also for you, Christian. Do you lack faith? Do you lack faith?

Then he who has ears, let him hear, and hear by the word of God. Do you lack faith? Pray for faith. Pray for faith. And then do something about it.

Read the Word of God. Read the Word of God. Read His law. And you will see a Holy God that cares for you, that loves you, that is for your joy, That is for your blessing. So that hearing the word of God is for everyone.

The other bucket I put together was obey, observe, keep, walk. In Deuteronomy alone, those are attached to his commandments a hundred times. In Deuteronomy alone. Obey, observe, keep, walk. Psalm 119 verse 105.

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." How do you know? How do you know the will of God? How are you going to know which way to go? How are you going to know what to do? His word.

Start there. Start with His commands. Well, God, I'm praying for your will. OK, well, I'm praying for things that will serve you alone, that will glorify you alone, that will protect life, that will protect my neighbor's things and his spouse, that will protect my marriage, that will encourage my children to honor, that will honor the Sabbath, right? You're praying for those things.

You get that from the Word of God that it would be a lamp to your feet and a light to your path. 1 John 2, 6. He who says he abides in him ought also himself, ought himself also to walk just as he walked. How did Jesus walk? In complete holiness.

How do we know what his complete holiness is that he walked in? It's all in the law. It's all right there. And we are to walk as he walked as we are being conformed to him. We have it right there.

Obey, observe, keep walk. Careful is the next word. Careful. Sixteen times in Deuteronomy, God uses the word careful in how we're to think about and how we're to act with His commandments. This is God's word.

We're to be full of care what we do with God's commands. Proverbs 14, 16, a wise man fears and departs from evil, but a fool rages and is self-confident. Be careful. 1 Corinthians 10, 12, Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall. Think about this.

The Israelites, what have they seen up to this point in Exodus 20? What have they seen? They've witnessed ten plagues. Ten plagues. They've plundered the Egyptians.

They were slaves. There's no way they had much. Now they go out as one of the wealthiest nations on Earth. So they've seen the plundering. They didn't only see the Red Sea cross, they crossed the Red Sea on dry land.

They saw this water piled up and then they saw Pharaoh's armies decimated. They had desired for 430 years to be out of Egypt and here it is. God destroys that army like that. They saw that. They have been led by this pillar of cloud and pillar of fire all these days and months, three months since they left up to this point.

They wanted food? They just walk out and pick up manna every morning. It's right there. They wanted water? God brought it from a rock.

They saw the thunderings. They see the lightning. They see the smoke. They see the mountains shaking. They hear the voice of God.

God speaks this to them. This might come out next week, just the uniqueness of this giving of the law. They hear this. Now, after hearing all that, all that they've seen, Would you expect that this nation would therefore say, hey, let's take all our gold, let's melt it down, let's make this calf, that's the God that brought us out of Egypt? You wouldn't expect that, but that's what happens.

Be careful. Be very careful with the holy word of God. This is his holiness. This is what he tells us to be conformed to in Christ. Be careful.

We are also told to teach. Thirteen times in Deuteronomy he attaches this to his commandments, to teach his commandments. The standard for that verse whenever you come up with teaching God's word is 2 Timothy 3.16, all scripture, all. It is given by inspiration of God and it is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." What are the good works for to be thoroughly equipped for? The holiness of God, the moral law.

You want to know what's a good work? Look at God's law. That will help you discern is this a good work or not. You need to be equipped for that. But we're also to teach this because of evangelism.

Evangelism. Matthew 28, 19-20. We love that for evangelism. Listen. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Doing what? Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And though I'm with you always, even to the end of the age, amen, we're to teach them, observe them. In our evangelism, it is not loving to tell them, you just need to believe in Christ. They don't know what their problem is yet.

They may think they know their problem. My problem, I got a problem with my wife, my children, my job's not going right. You're okay, great, join the human race. But you need to know what your true problem is. And it is not loving to them to not teach them the law of God.

I'm not talking about just walking through the Ten Commandments. That's one way you can do that. To show them their complete ineptitude to obey God. But they have to see their utter wickedness before God. And the law, God's Word, is used for evangelism in that way.

You need to know this. You need to know this. Bunyan, John Bunyan says it this way, the man who does not know the nature of the law cannot know the nature of the sin. And he who does not know the nature of sin, cannot know the nature of the Savior. You will not know how holy God is, how holy the Savior Jesus Christ is, if you do not know the Word of God, the Law, and how bad sin is.

You will not know the nature of Jesus grace for grace if you don't know how wicked we are compared to the Law. You won't know how merciful Jesus is unless you know the law. You won't know how beautiful it is to be clothed in His righteousness unless you see that you have none in and of yourself. The law is a tutor. The law is a tutor to bring us to Christ, to draw us to Christ, to see who we are, that we would see the beauty.

The last thing in this section, or the last word, is the result that you shall live. There's a result of all this that You shall live, and that's ten times in Deuteronomy, you attach it to these commandments, you obey and observe and teach and walk, that you would live. It would drive you to Christ. This is for Christians and non-Christians. The non-Christian, you would live, that would drive you to Christ.

You can see, I have no hope to live forever in eternity. I have no hope. It's being used not to obey them all that you would get eternal life. You can try that. You'll fail, you know you've failed.

That would drive you to Christ. And Christian, that you would live life abundantly as you see how merciful and gracious God was to give us Christ to perfectly obey and we see His holiness that we couldn't live up to and that we would live. We would live. Deuteronomy 30 verse 6, and the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live. Who is the initiator here?

God. God, He initiates it. He gives you a new heart. Circumcise your heart. Why?

That you would live. Live for eternity. As mentioned last week, and we'll continue to mention, there is salvation in law keeping. It's in Jesus' law keeping. That we would live.

If you can love God with all your heart, soul, mind, all your strength, great! Go ahead and do it and live! But you can't. You can't. You cannot.

You were born children of wrath with no hope. You can't do it now. You haven't done it even during this sermon. And I haven't done it even during this sermon. I guarantee it.

Even though I'm focused here and reading God's word, I guarantee it. You have no hope to do it on your own. If you think you will, you think you can, you will die trying. It's been eternity in hell. For the worm doesn't die and the fire is not quenched.

If you've given that new heart, given that new heart, made a new creation, you will live eternally with God forever. New heaven and new earth and enjoy His holiness. Enjoy it. Jesus obeyed the law out of love of God and for us and He died that we would live. As we went through John, one of the things that came up often is that when does eternal life start for the believer?

It starts now! Not just that you will live a great life after you die for all eternity and perfection and holiness and new body, that you would live now in this way. We're going to talk about that in the next point, really dig into that more. But you can live now in the beauty of God's righteousness. You can live now in the beauty of God's righteousness.

You can live now in the beauty of His love without burdens by obeying His commandments. Turn to Matthew 7. Turn to Matthew 7 verse 15. Last point in this section. Jesus says, Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.

You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Therefore, by their fruits you will know them." What else does God expect us to do with his commandments? The result is that we bear good fruit. This is bearing good fruit. This is evidence of a new heart, that we bear good fruit by obeying his commandments. Bearing good fruit is a result of a holy heart.

You want to know what good fruit is? Look at his word, look at the law. That's good fruit. We tend to go to the fruit of the Spirit. When we're talking about bearing good fruit, we see this passage and yes, I'd go to it as well.

I'd go to Galatians and point out the fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control. We point that out. We tend to go there, and that's good to do. But the law of God is what tells us what is loving.

Are you desiring more fruit of love? Go to the law of God and see what God says is loving. Do you desire more joy? Go to the law of God and see what God says is more joyful. Do you desire more peace?

Go to the law of God and see what God says brings peace. The law of God is a tutor to drive us to Christ and a tutor to keep us in Christ and a tutor to continue to sanctify us and grow us. It's beautiful. It's righteous fruit. Jesus spoke these words, partly, a big part of this, of him speaking this, was so that we can discern who Christians are and who they aren't.

By your fruits you will know them. But he's also speaking about himself. When we went through John, what did Jesus say? Judge me by my works. We judged him by his works.

We looked at his works. We saw Jesus is a good tree. I am the vine. I produce good fruit. And we're not a tree or a vine unto ourselves.

We've been engrafted into Christ. I am the vine, you are the branches. You've been engrafted into Christ. You can only bear good fruit because you've been engrafted into Christ because you are part of Christ because you have His holiness. You're clothed in His righteousness.

It's the only way you can bear good fruit. He gives you that new heart, adopts you. The Father adopts you as one of His. To bear good fruit, have good works. Number five, so that was what are we to do with God's commands.

The last point, God's commands are not burdensome. Turn to 1 John chapter 4. 1 John 4. I want to talk about how God's commands are not burdensome. Chapter 4, starting in verse 17 through 5, verse 5.

Love has been perfected among us in this, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear involves torment. But He who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us. Right?

Who's the initiator of anything good, of our new hearts, of us having love, loving His ways? God, We love Him because He first loved us. Who is the initiator of anything good, of our new hearts, of us having love, loving His ways? God. We love Him because He first loved us.

If someone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. There again, it's coming back to the whole laws interconnected. Can't say you love God and hate your brother. You can't have one without the other. You break the whole law.

For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? In this commandment we have from him that he who loves God must love his brother also. Verse 5, verse 1, whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and everyone who loves him who begot also loves him who is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome.

For whatever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world? But he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. Back to verse 2 and 3. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments.

For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. Before we can express love towards God in keeping His commandments, God expressed His love by giving us His commandments, and they are not burdensome. We know this going through John, Jesus is God. So the commands of God are therefore the commands of Jesus. You express love for Jesus by keeping His commands.

We saw this several times, especially in John 14 and 15. You express a desire to be conformed to His holy righteousness by keeping his commands. Now, God says here, loving God, loving his commands, right? He says right here, keeping and his commandments are not burdensome. He says that, so it must be so.

But we push back against that, don't we? We see law, we see commandments, and our tendency is to what? Push back. Or just it's too weighty. It's just too weighty, too heavy in one way, that's right.

You need to think about how weighty that it would drive you to Christ. But we often think that it really is burdensome. And we think of it for so many ways. One, because our hearts are just evil. And we want to do what we want to do.

And It's really not about it. It's not a burden. It's really that I just want to do what I want to do. That's what it comes down to often. It's not that it's a burden.

It's just I want to do what I want to do. And often it's because we fear man. We just plain out fear man. Well, what's man going to think if I observe the Sabbath this way? What are they going to think if I don't laugh at that?

What are they going to think if I don't talk about this person or that person in a bad way and don't protect their reputation? We have a fear of man And so we have this burden because we're fearful, or we just really want what I want. I think it's really not that bad. And we're not looking at the end of what God is desiring for us versus where sin wants to take us, where that roaring lion wants to take us. He wants to devour us.

We fear man instead of fearing God. We'll look at Exodus 20, verse two, next week in depth. But for now, I want you to listen to this. God has taken you out of bondage, taken you out of slavery to sin and to freedom, and to liberty to have joy in His grace and in His mercy. To redeem you, to conform you, and to perfect you to what?

His holiness. Which is described where? In His perfect law. In His moral law. Think on this.

Come Lord Jesus, come. Come quickly. Desiring heaven. And I'm getting it. The older I get, the more, I'm not saying I'm ancient, but the older you get, the more you're just tired of this body of death.

And the more you're like, yes, God, I'm getting a greater vision, a greater vision for what being in your holy presence would look like, clothed in the right hand of God, being perfected. And yes, that's so appealing. Well, if that's so appealing, why isn't it appealing now? Is heaven going to be burdensome to you? You're going to be living in perfect holiness for eternity.

No burden, right? No burden to be holy in heaven. So why would we think that God's holy, righteous commands and law would be burdensome now. It's because we don't look at them right. We don't see it as a law of love.

Oh, the world may call it a law of love in a totally different way. In a way that really blasphemes God and takes his name in vain. We don't see how it really is a lot of love, of joy, of mercy, of grace, of goodness. That's how we get to being a burden. Think about it.

Is it really a burden to worship only God? Is it? Instead of having all these idols, what does he want? What does he want? What does she want?

What does that want? And keeping all that straight. I mean, think of Israel. They were surrounded, and we're still surrounded, right? I'm not, anyway, they were all surrounded.

But now they have the complete freedom to worship only God. Only God. They had it before. They didn't have to worship in the idols. But now they don't even have that around them.

They just have God before them. Really, that was so hard that you had to actually physically make a calf. What was easier? What was the real burden there? Making a calf was way more burdensome than worshiping the Holy God.

Think of the Sabbath. Is it really a burden to worship on the Sabbath and put that day aside. Is it really? The Sabbath isn't about, can I go to a ball game, can I go to a movie, can I go shopping, out to eat? All those can be burdensome.

It can be burdensome on your time, on your wallet. It's burdensome on somebody else to care for you. Right? But now you're free to put aside a day for worship and rest. It was made for you out of God's love.

Think about this. We'll get to the Sabbath, but that's a little while away from now. Think about it. The Sabbath was there from the beginning. The Sabbath was there from The beginning.

We'll talk about that. Let me talk about it now. The Sabbath was there from the beginning. I talked about a little bit earlier how God put that Sabbath, how God created that to creation. Right?

The Sabbath from the beginning. The Sabbath was there made for men. Somehow, Adam and Eve still worshiped, they still set one day out of seven aside. I believe that. Because of what God says, how he created the Sabbath for man and linked it to creation.

It was good for them when they were perfect, it's even better for us now to put that aside. It was made for you out of God's love. The Sabbath is not just about rest, taking naps or anything like that, But how many of you have gone through the week and are like, oh, such a hard week, such a tough week, got a lot going on, I can use a break, I can use rest. And then Sunday comes, let's go do this, let's go do that, let's go do this, when God has set it aside. You can just worship, focus, encourage one another, rest, enjoy God's presence, be sanctified, be helped by the Word of God, help others by the Word of God, put it aside.

God said, yes, that's only OK. I'm commanding you to do it because I'm for your good and you need the command because you won't do it on your own. Is it really a burden to honor parents? Is it really a burden not to murder, not to commit adultery? And we know those are broader, anger, thoughts.

But is it? Right, It's the same about it. It is a burden to lie and to keep it straight. It is. Who have I said what to?

It is a burden to covet other people's property, their help, their spouses, using that energy for that instead of towards your own spouse or being content with what God has given you. That is a burden when you could be praising God for his provision and have joy in their joy. Thomas Watson, you will know him, my favorite Puritans, wrote a commentary on the Ten Commandments and I'm enjoying it. And he says this, at this point, it is easier to obey the commands of God than sin. The commands of sin are burdensome.

God commands nothing but what is beneficial. To obey God is not so much our duty as our privilege. His commands carry meat in the mouth of them. He bids us repent. And why?

That our sins may be blotted out. He commands us to believe. And why? That we may be saved. There is love in every command.

Listen to this. There is love in every command as if a king should bid one of his subjects to dig in a gold mine and then take the gold to himself there's gold and God is offering to you it's there it's there for you for your good they are not burdensome and I want want to convince you so much of that. I want to convince myself So much of that. There's not a single burden here. If you look at the law and don't see love, and you're seeing a burden, please look into your heart and ask why.

And then repent of it. Please repent of it and be joyful in God's salvation from bondage to being adopted, to being justified, for being redeemed. Children of God, for becoming the bride of Christ. Ultimately, ultimately, we don't have a burden here. We don't have a burden here because Jesus carried our ultimate burden for us.

These are burdensome if you don't have Christ. If you don't have Christ, these are completely a burden to you, and they should be. But with Christ, Christ carried your burden. He bore your burden of sin. He paid your sin wages so you could be given a new heart.

He's going to be born again so you can be a new creation that would love the righteousness of God. His commands of love, they are not a burden. 1 Corinthians 5, we quoted a lot, please, it's so important, 521, for He, God, made Him Jesus who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God. See, Jesus bore the burden of your deserving wrath as if He had broken all the law. As if...

It's even hard to say. I haven't written here, but it's hard to say what that means. Jesus bore the burden of your deserving wrath, if he had broken all the laws. As if Jesus had not loved God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength. As if Jesus had not loved his neighbor.

As if Jesus had other gods and worshiped them. Took the name of God in vain. As if Jesus hated the Sabbath. As if Jesus dishonored parents and authority. As if Jesus had been the one that murdered.

As if Jesus had committed adultery and had stolen, lied, and coveted. Jesus took our burden that we would know freedom to obey His loving righteousness and be conformed to Him, be clothed in His righteousness. God is our Father. He's a Father. He is God.

He is holy, holy, holy. He's a Father. By giving us commands, He is telling us not only how to freely live without burdens, but that He wants us to have this joyful, peaceful, restful, blessed life. Blessed life. If you think little of what God is for you, go read the beginning of Deuteronomy 28.

And you will see how much He wants to bless you. If you're a Christian, He has blessed you beyond what you can measure. But go read the beginning of Juniouronomy 28 of the blessings and just see how much God is desiring to bless you. Because his commands are not burdensome. Therefore you're good.

Therefore you're blessing. Therefore they're for the blessing of your children. Teach them to them. They're for the blessing of society. Tell them.

Tell them. They may live and have life more abundantly. Matthew, in this part with reading Matthew, Matthew 11, 28 and 29. Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." He's carried your biggest burden, The biggest burden of all humanity, he's carried that. His burden is light because his commands are not burdensome. You're being conformed to that. Applications. These first couple applications are really what I was just speaking about.

But often, I've been there, often you may not pay attention much until you hear the word and the applications. And you poke up because you're, hey, the sermon's almost done, I'll listen. So it's a way of getting some additional points in, I've already said. You're paying more attention. Number one, those of us that used to be in a Second London Baptist Confession Study used to ask this question.

I want you to ask this now. I want you to be asking this to this study. What is the effect, what is the effect if I, the church, or society disobeys? Gets us wrong. Well, see what happens when society gets us wrong and doesn't honor the law of God.

We can see that. We see what happens when the church gets us wrong because look at the influence on the world. So much church will not even touch this, not even touch the law of God. I'm not up here, Jason is not up here, there's some great person that's willing to touch this, they tremble before it. Tremble before it.

They teach on the holiness of God. But look at that. And then if I, if I get this wrong, I decide not to obey, what's the effect on my children, on my wife, on you? Not just because I'm a pastor, but for any member. What are you telling your fellow members?

Oh, it's not that important. I don't need that holiness. I've got enough. So what's the effect? Oh, You'll see the true burden and be driven to the great need of Christ's grace and mercy.

When you look at what happens when we get this wrong, you'll see a great burden. For the Christian, you'll be driven back to Christ. He will forgive you. The non-Christian, he will forgive you as well. He will, if you believe in Christ alone for salvation.

Number two, each week, each week as you come to service and you consider the commandment being studied, do this, as we're looking at all of its meaning, all of its breath, spend a good amount of time considering how it's not a burden to obey. Think on that. And consider the opposite too. As we're going through the law, we're going through the law, right, people talk about it's a negative law, but everyone has a positive to it. Do not murder.

Yes, protect life. Do not steal. Protect property. I'll have a positive command to it as well. But consider, think about, God you tell me it's not a burden?

Help me see how it's not a burden. And one way to see that, just look back on your life, when you did sit in that way, and just be honest with your heart, honest with yourself, on what was the outcome of that? How well did it go for you? Or maybe you're still hiding it. It hasn't been revealed.

How's that burden doing for you? All right? We've all gone through moments when we've had to confess sin to somebody else that we may have been hanging on to. And we know how freeing that was. How freeing that was.

Oh, there's still effects. There's still effects. How freeing that is. So I want you, week in and week out, to consider that. Just think on a 12.

This is not a burden. You say it's not a burden. If I think it is, I'm the one that's wrong. And see how it's really loving and kind. And number three, all this leads to what I've been saying along.

We are being conformed to Jesus. His holiness, His righteousness, and the law is our teacher in that. The law is our teacher of how we're being conformed. 1 John 2, 6, He who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk just as he walked." Let me read 2 Corinthians 3, 18. 2 Corinthians 3, 18.

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. What are we being transformed into? Being transformed into the image of God, Christ. Being transformed into Christ. Who is Christ?

Christ is God. What describes God in all of His holiness, the law of God. We're being conformed to that. So do you pray to be conformed to Christ? Yes.

I've probably prayed it who knows how many times this week, thankfully because I was studying, but in the past weeks before even studying this. Have you ever prayed to be conformed to Christ? Yes, God, sanctify me. That's being conformed to Christ. All right, well, pray it.

That's good. Then read the law of what that looks like to be conformed to Christ. The law is the answer for what that looks like. This is the beauty of Christ holiness, the beauty of Christ righteousness. This is our robe of righteousness.

The law of God, our beauty, by grace, mercy, alone. By grace, mercy, alone. I have here in my notes, the very last thing to read is Isaiah 61 10. Jason read that earlier. Read it earlier.

It's so beautiful of what we're being conformed to and what Christ has for us. And I close reading Isaiah 61 10. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. Let's pray.

Our God, I want to praise you for being so much for our good, that we would excel, that we would be restful, that we would be peaceful beyond all understanding. And you've demonstrated that to us through Christ, giving us Christ, and by giving us a picture of your holiness. God, thank you that you would give anybody a new heart that we can be saved. Oh God, let people now that are not yours be under the burden and feeling crushed and weighty. And God use that to draw them to yourself, that they would know the love and the beauty of Christ's righteousness.

Of being clothed in his robes of righteousness, as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. Thank you, O God, for your word. Amen.