Sermon on
The Two Laws
By Brian Pepper
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There is one thing that we
can expect especially in these Last Days and that is a more
widespread and vicious attack on the Law of God. Wherever we as a
people open a mission and exalt the Law of God in the eyes of the
people: there is an immediate reaction from the churches that teach
and believe that the Christian today is free from the obligations of
the Holy Law of God.
The Law of Moses or God?
In
John 1:17 we read, "For
the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ."
There you are they say, The
Law is Moses’ Law," but we are free from that because we are under
grace."
Now we know full well that it was God who gave the Law.
Deuteronomy 4:13 says, "And
he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to
perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of
stone.”
That is plain enough, but
Moses did give the Law which was quite different to what God gave.
Verse 14 says, “And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you
statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye
go over to possess it.”
The American Revised Version
gives it this way: "For the teaching was given
by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ."
All truth
comes from Jesus Christ, and seeing that it was Christ Himself that
gave the commandments, then they are part of that truth.
The Ten Commandments
There are two laws mentioned in the Bible. One is the law of God known as the
Ten Commandments, which was written on tables of stone, written by the
finger of God Himself.
You know it is rather a
strange thing that many churches recognize the handwriting of God as
being a solemn act, and what God wrote as being of great
consequence. So much so that many church members teach their
members to memorize the Ten Commandments. And yet a little later on
they begin to point out the one that they think you don’t need to
keep. But they still believe that
the commandments are important, that is the reason they ask their
members to memorize them.
The Mosaic Law
However let us notice the
other law, The law of ordinances. Now who wrote that? Moses.
Where did he write that law? It was written in a book. We must never fail to keep
that difference in your mind, the difference between the mosaic law
and the law of God.
The Pentateuch
Then there is another use of
the word law - not only applying to the Ten Commandments on tables
of stone, not only applying to the ritual and ceremonial, but to the
first five books of the Bible - the Pentateuch, which is also
referred to as the law.
So the word law is used
sometimes to apply to the first five Books of the Bible.
I mention this because
sometimes there are individuals who are confused by some of St
Paul’s statements.
Shadows of Things to Come
St Paul says that the
commandments contained in
ordinances, the ceremonies, the rituals and all of that were nailed to His Cross
being a shadow of things to come. He took them out of the way when
Jesus died upon the Cross that fateful Friday afternoon. He cried
out "It is finished." That is the Old Testament ceremonies, the
shadows, the rituals. For the true Lamb of God had made the great
sacrifice for sins. He had made the full atonement on Calvary's
Cross.
Daniel the prophet foretold
this.
Daniel 9:27 says, “And he (the Messiah) shall confirm the
covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he
shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease…”
The temple veil was rent
from the top to the bottom, showing that He had finished forever
with the old ceremonies of meat offering and drink offering.
Hebrews 9:9,10 says, “Which
was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both
gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service
perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; Which stood only in meats
and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on
them until the time of reformation.”
Yes, all of those yearly
Sabbath days that had to do with the Jewish calendar and the new
moon feasts - they were shadows of things to come. He took them out of the way,
for they were a shadow of the cross - a token of the coming Lamb of
God.
You will remember John the Baptist was preaching by the river Jordan and he kept preaching about
the coming King. He kept appealing to the people to turn from their
sins. That is not a very popular thing to do by the way. One day he
stopped short in his preaching and pointed "There He is, there He
is, the very One that I have been talking about, Behold the Lamb of
God that taketh away the Sins of the world."
The eyes of the world were tuned upon that man, the true Lamb of God
had come. Now there was the meaning to all those rites and ceremonies. As He went down into those
waters and was buried, it was a symbol of His own coming death.
"Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world."
All of those ceremonies
pointed forward to His death. That ritualistic law was taken out of the way,
being a shadow of Christ's death.
Ephesians 2:15 says, “Having
abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments
contained in ordinances…”
Hebrews 9:10 tells us in the margin that those Ordinances were rites
or ceremonies. So you can see that it is entirely different to God's
Ten Commandment law.
Were the Commandments Nailed to the Cross?
There are some people that
claim that when Jesus died and rose again He forever abolished the
law of God. That would mean you see, that on Sunday following the
crucifixion, it would be quite alright to worship idols; It would be
all right to swear or commit adultery, or to break the Sabbath, or
dishonor your parents. That is, if the law were abolished.
But we know that it simply could not be, for the very fact that
Jesus had to die proves this. If the law could be so easily set
aside then God could have said to Adam we will make a new law. We
will change the Ten Commandments. But St Paul tells us that "The
wages of sin is death." And St John says, "Sin is
the transgression of the Law."
I want you to be very clear
on this. It is written very clearly in the New Testament that the
penalty of breaking God's law still remains whether Church folk set
it aside or not, it makes very little difference. God tells us this. That
should be enough to make us realize how solemn it is.
Commandments only for the Jews?
I have heard some Christians
say, "But those commandments were for the Jews." Well then if they
only apply to the Jews then a Christian could do anything that he
might like such as steal, lie, kill etc. Do you agree
that that is so.
Let us examine the record of
the New Testament. In
John 14:15
Jesus says, I
wonder if you know this text? "If you love Me”, What?
"keep my commandments."
It must be love that
inspires us to do it, not to be driven on to do this or to do that.
Only through love will it mean anything, for it says in
James 2:10 “For whosoever shall keep
the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”
There it is, "he is guilty
of all." No use to keep nine of the ten and to leave one of them undone.
Are All Commandments Important?
Then it says the
condemnation of death comes upon us if we break His commandments.
How many individuals there are that break one of the ten
and say, "but I think this one is different; God won’t
expect me so much of me under the particular circumstances."
D. L. Moody illustrates it
this way. A chain of ten links - the commandments are like a chain
of ten links. Now say for instance that I am working on the
side of the Empire State building in New York.
My job is to clean the windows on the 100th story. Well I am
standing on a platform that is 1,000 ft above the street below. I
look down and that is enough to make me feel ill in the stomach. Now
my platform is suspended by steel chains and all of a sudden I hear
the sound of sawing. I look up and there is a man sawing away at the
chain that holds my platform. I yell "What are you doing?" The man
calls back "I am only sawing away one of the links, I am not cutting
them all out." Now my platform is suspended from that chain and if he cuts out one of
those links, where will I go? down! And when an individual breaks
one of the Ten Commandments where will he go? Down!
Where do you want to go
friends, UP? Yes, I want to go up not down, don’t you? D. L.
Moody says, "God's law is
like ten links in a chain, if we break one, we are guilty of all."
Yes, it is the same as though we had broken them all.
New Covenant
Have you noticed what God
promises to do under the New Covenant?
I have heard a good many
individuals talking quite a lot about the New Covenant. That is a
wonderful thing alright but they don’t seem to grasp just what it
involves, for in
Hebrews 8:10 it says, “For this is the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in
their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a
people.”
Did you ever notice what the
Apostle Paul says in
2 Corinthians 3:3, “Forasmuch as ye are
manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us,
written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in
tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.”
Who wrote the tables of
stone? Yes God did. Through whom? Why His Spirit. That is what
He says, That is under the New Covenant. So it is the same law ‑ on
tables of stone once, but now transferred and transcribed
on the fleshly tables of the heart.
How many of the commandments does God want to write on your heart?
How many would you reckon? Why ten of course.
Does it Matter not keeping all the
Commandments?
But what about the
individual that says "Lord you can write nine there, but not ten." You know people these days
are always looking for bargains, it seems to be the fashion, I do it
myself. Yes, everybody is looking for a bargain. And some churches
advertise "Come to us and we will give you a bargain, ten per cent off the ten
commandments." But I ask you, will that stand in the Judgment day?
Has any church the right to discount the Commandments of God ten per
cent? Can we imagine or presume that we are on the high road to
heaven when we knowingly are breaking one of God's Commandments. It is not a matter of whether a
church says I am
right, it is a matter of what God says.
There was a lady claiming to
be a Christian, and in her mind she was a good Christian. But she
was bitterly opposed to the commandments of God. She said, "I would
not stoop to keep those old commandments." I know that is true, because
later on she proved unfaithful to her husband. Anyway a famous
evangelist visited this lady and found that she was violently
opposed to the keeping of God's Commandments. However he asked her
to produce a Bible in order to read a passage of Scripture.
The lady came out of the bedroom blowing dust from the Bible. When
the evangelist opened the Bible to turn to the text he wanted he
found that the page was missing. So he asked if the lady had
another. She came out wiping the cobwebs off this one and behold the
same page was missing. A third was produced and this time the text
was intact. It seemed as if the devil
had torn that page out just as a lot of people have torn it out of
their minds.
This is the text,
1 John
2:3,4 "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his
commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his
commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”
Why you say, surely Brother
Pepper, you would not call a man a liar that doesn’t keep all Ten
Commandments? No, I would not, I should say not, but God does. God
says that someone who claims to love Jesus Christ and yet he doesn’t
keep the commandments is a liar and the truth; is not in him. I
can’t argue with things like that Could you? I would be afraid of a
text like that in the Judgment day.
Revelation 22:14 says, “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right
to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the
city.”
I would be afraid to come up
to the gates of life and say, "Lord I want to enter in,” And
God
says, "Have you been keeping the commandments?" Yes, I would be afraid if I
had been only keeping nine.
Blessings are Conditional upon Obedience
Somebody else says, "But the
Lord has heard my prayers. I have had a wonderful experience. But
remember
Proverbs 28:9, “He
that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer
shall be abomination.”
Do you think that God really
means this? Well let us add this text,
1 John 3:22, "And whatsoever
we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do
those things that are pleasing in his sight.”
So you can see, the blessings of Heaven are conditional upon
obedience.
St Paul says some very good
things about the law of God. In
Romans 7:12, “Wherefore the law is holy, and the
commandment holy, and just, and good.” Then he says in the
7th verse, "I would not have known what sin is
but by the law. I would not have known lust,
except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet."
Many people tell you that
the law was abolished at the Cross. I want to say that when they do
that it is like saying, that since the Cross there has been no sin.
But I have seen quite a few sinners in my time including myself.
For we are told that "All
have sinned and come short the glory of God." That includes me
friends. And that includes you too.
A Brief Look at the Ten Commandments
Let us examine just briefly
the Ten Commandments. We will check them over.
THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER
GOD'S BEFORE ME
Well, I can see that we must
believe in that one. We must be careful not to let other gods take
first place - the god of money, the god of popularity, or the god of
sport or pleasure. The next says,
THOU SHALT NOT MAKE ANY
GRAVEN IMAGES, OR BOW DOWN BEFORE THEM.
Yes, we believe that it is
wrong to make images and to worship them. We need to be careful over
this one.
THOU SHALT NOT TAKE THE NAME
OF THE LORD THY GOD IN VAIN.
In a world that breaks this
commandment every day, we as Christians certainly should stand by
this one.
HONOUR THY FATHER AND THY
MOTHER THAT THY DAYS MAY BE LONG UPON THE LAND etc
Yes we are fully behind this one. It reminds us of the
sacrifices that father and mother have made for us. The hours of
deep concern. Yes, we need to honour this commandment alright.
THOU SHALT NOT KILL
THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT
ADULTERY
I am sure that there is not
a person that is here today that would not be 100 per cent behind me
in saying that these commandments could be done away with.
THOU SHALT NOT STEAL, BEAR
FALSE WITNESS, THOU SHALT NOT COVET.
Again we are all agreed on
these.
REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY
But
you say "Brother Pepper you have forgotten one of these
commandments." Which one did I forget? Now isn’t that just too bad.
Why did I forget the one that says "Remember?"
Why did the churches forget the very one that
God started out with,
remember. Which one? Why the fourth one. That is the one that most
Christians have neglected.
"Remember the Sabbath day, to
keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work, but
the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, in it thou shalt
not do any work.... For in six days (that takes us back to creation) the Lord made heaven and
earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day,
wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it."
Exodus
20:8-11
Yes, it is quite easy to
have people agree that the other commandments are very necessary.
There are plenty of people that think we ought to keep this Commandment or that, but not
the fourth.
James 2:10
says, "For whosoever
shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point he is guilty of
all."
I think you see the point. That should be very clear. The churches have told us
that the fourth one is not necessary - that it is abolished. But God
never did. Remember in the Judgment day we will be judged by how
much of the law? All! And who will be our judge? God, not the
church.
Is Salvation Assured by Keeping the Commandments?
I want to make this quite
clear too. There are many people who make this mistake in reasoning,
"Oh I keep the Sabbath, I am saved." Not at all. That won’t
guarantee anyone salvation. Not one of these commandments will
guarantee salvation. Just because a man does not
lie, does not mean that he is going to heaven.
No, I must keep the Commandments of God because I love Him. It is love that causes me to
do it.
Now what about the man who
makes his living by stealing fowls. He supports his family that way.
He hears a sermon on the Ten Commandments. "Oh," he says “I see, You
have to keep all ten." Well I go and visit
this man. I ask him this question, "Have you thought anything about
the keeping of the commandments of God."
"Yes," he replies, “1 have given it some thought." I ask him, "Are
you keeping all ten new?" "Oh yes, all but one." "Which one?" "Well
that one that says you should not steal." "You steal?" "Yes, I
support my family by stealing." "Can’t you give it up?” Not
at present because I need to find another job and you know the Bible says
that a man who does not support his family is worse than a heathen."
And so he keeps on stealing fowls until the LORD helps him to get a better
job.
Then there is the man who
says "I must make this a matter of prayer. I had better ask God if
He thinks I should keep the Sabbath. Yes, I have asked God for a
special revelation, for a sign that 1 should keep His Sabbath." I want to tell you that that
is just the person that God won’t give a sign to - the ones who knowingly break
His commandments.
Wilful Sin
Do you know what it says in
Hebrews 10:26,27? “For if we sin wilfully
after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there
remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking
for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the
adversaries.”
Now isn’t that a dreadful
thought? If we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the
truth;
when we keep on breaking God's Commandments after the light of
truth has come to us, then Jesus blood will no longer atone for our
sins. There is no sacrifice in all of God's universe to cover known
sin. There is only one way to be saved, by accepting the blood of
Jesus Christ and walking in His commandments.
Hebrews 5:9 says,
“And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation
unto all them that obey him."
Are you an obedient
Christian? Then your salvation is assured.
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