SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter 5 brings to a close the first point of the Sermon on the Mount.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus preaches the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 6, and 7.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus, like any good Baptist preacher, has three points in the Sermon.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus didn't preach the Sermon on the Mount with chapter divisions.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, he just preached the Sermon on the Mount, and it was recorded and given verses and chapters later.
SPEAKER_00: However, the chapter divisions do pretty much mark those three points of the sermon.
SPEAKER_00: So as we read Matthew 5, verse 48, I understand that this verse is acting as a summary remark for the first point.
SPEAKER_00: The first main point Jesus has made in the sermon, back in Matthew 5, verse 2, is brought to a close here in Matthew 5, verse 48, which reads, You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
SPEAKER_00: We are brothers and sisters in the Lord, and Jesus is our Father.
SPEAKER_00: The command that this verse gives is that we must, it's an essential imperative, we must be perfect.
SPEAKER_00: We are designed by God to be perfect.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what does this mean?
SPEAKER_00: This gets you back to the beginning of Jesus' first point, which is that if you're going to live on your own righteousness, you will fail.
SPEAKER_00: If you're going to live on your own works and your own effort and your own merit, you will fail at it.
SPEAKER_00: And this is where the Sermon on the Mount begins with blessed are the bankrupt, blessed are the broken, blessed are those who mourn.
SPEAKER_00: You have to be blessed.
SPEAKER_00: In order to be blessed, you have to realize you don't have the righteousness that God requires.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have what it takes.
SPEAKER_00: And by and large, the majority of people who have ever lived, and particularly Americans, love to think that they are going to heaven when they die because they are good enough.
SPEAKER_00: That is the standard American answer.
SPEAKER_00: You know, do you believe in God?
SPEAKER_00: No, or I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: What's going to happen to you when you die?
SPEAKER_00: Well, God's going to let me into heaven.
SPEAKER_00: That kind of logic is prevalent in our society.
SPEAKER_00: God, if he or she exists, will let me into heaven.
SPEAKER_00: That's the way most people think.
SPEAKER_00: And when you drill down on that, you think, why would God let you into heaven?
SPEAKER_00: And the standard answer is because God knows that I am a good person.
SPEAKER_00: God knows that I try hard and I do get you know what?
SPEAKER_00: The bottom line is I do the best that I can.
SPEAKER_00: That you may not think like that.
SPEAKER_00: I know not everybody thinks like that.
SPEAKER_00: Like there are those with you know low self-image and the woe is me kind of mentality, but most people settle into the category of I try hard and I'm going to be okay when I die, because if heaven exists, I can stand before God based upon how I have lived my life.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus is hammering away at that, hitting it with a jackhammer over and over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: You there's no way to enter into the Sermon on the Mount apart from your own brokenness over your own inability.
SPEAKER_00: You have to recognize that you are spiritually bankrupt.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have what is necessary to stand before God and receive eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have it.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have that kind of righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: But if you want to live that way, that path is open to you.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus hits at this over and over again through Matthew 5.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, have you you think you're going to be good enough to stand before God?
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever looked at somebody with lust?
SPEAKER_00: Then you're an adulterer.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever coveted something?
SPEAKER_00: Then you're a thief.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever had a hatred for somebody in your heart?
SPEAKER_00: Then you're a murderer.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he's hitting you over and over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: So you think you can stand on your own.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is trying to peel the onion back here and let you see what's really inside of your heart.
SPEAKER_00: It's not the kind of heart that's able to stand before God.
SPEAKER_00: That's the main point of chapter 5.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to reiterate that point just by looking at verse 48 again.
SPEAKER_00: You therefore must be perfect.
SPEAKER_00: God is perfect.
SPEAKER_00: God defines righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: Something is holy and righteous if it conforms to God.
SPEAKER_00: Any lack of conformity to God is failure in that sense and is sin.
SPEAKER_00: Anything that does not come from faith is sin, the scripture says.
SPEAKER_00: Anything not done with a heart fully devoted to the Lord is in itself sinful.
SPEAKER_00: Because the standard is that you must be perfect.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this separates what's going to happen in chapter 7 of the Sermon on the Mount is that there's two paths.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is going to lay out two different ways to live.
SPEAKER_00: And he's sowing the seed for that right here.
SPEAKER_00: He's tilling the soil of the first half.
SPEAKER_00: Are you going to live for yourself?
SPEAKER_00: Are you going to live based upon your own standards and your own righteousness?
SPEAKER_00: Are you going to live to try to be good enough?
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to stand before God when you die for judgment based upon how you lived your life?
SPEAKER_00: That's this first question.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm here this morning to tell you that that is a path that is open to you.
SPEAKER_00: That the Bible makes it very clear if you want to live in a way where you will be judged for how you lived and rewarded or condemned for how you lived, you have that option available.
SPEAKER_00: That's the default option.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't scroll down on the terms and conditions to get to page two, this is the default option.
SPEAKER_00: This is the setting.
SPEAKER_00: You will stand before God based upon how you lived your life.
SPEAKER_00: You will be sent to heaven or hell based upon your own personal conduct, based upon how you did.
SPEAKER_00: But the standard is perfection.
SPEAKER_00: Now I want to demonstrate to you for the rest of the morning that this is not a new thing Jesus is saying.
SPEAKER_00: This is as old as it gets.
SPEAKER_00: The first human being in the world had the same option laid out for him.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to flip back to Genesis chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: Leave Matthew behind.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: This is before it had sorry, Genesis chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: All the way back to the beginning.
SPEAKER_00: Genesis chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: This is before it had even rained.
SPEAKER_00: There's animals in the earth.
SPEAKER_00: The plants are under the soil, beginning to grow.
SPEAKER_00: There's no rain.
SPEAKER_00: There's no eve.
SPEAKER_00: There's just the earth and the animals.
SPEAKER_00: And that's it.
SPEAKER_00: And God tells Adam, this is what you need to do, Adam, verse 15, get in the Garden of Eden, and God puts him there.
SPEAKER_00: Work it and keep it.
SPEAKER_00: This is called the creation mandate.
SPEAKER_00: It's going to include being fruitful and multiplying and subduing the earth later.
SPEAKER_00: That Adam is given the task of cultivating the earth, subduing the earth, which means beating back the wildlife.
SPEAKER_00: You know, don't weed your yard and see what happens, kind of thing.
SPEAKER_00: It'll take over.
SPEAKER_00: You as a human being are called to subject the earth, to cultivate it for your purposes and for God's glory.
SPEAKER_00: We are supposed to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth to accomplish that globally.
SPEAKER_00: Adam can't do this by himself.
SPEAKER_00: Adam can't weed his own garden by himself, honestly.
SPEAKER_00: Much less be fruitful and multiply.
SPEAKER_00: You can't do that by yourself.
SPEAKER_00: He needs a helper.
SPEAKER_00: That's going to come in verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: It says, I will make a helper fit for him.
SPEAKER_00: But in between this reality of the creation mandate and the helper fit for him, God explains to Adam what the standards around here will be.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 16, Genesis 2.
SPEAKER_00: Yahweh commanded, saying, You may surely eat of every tree in the garden.
SPEAKER_00: Now, pause here.
SPEAKER_00: He can eat whatever tree he wants.
SPEAKER_00: That's fine.
SPEAKER_00: Choose your favorite fruit.
SPEAKER_00: Go for it.
SPEAKER_00: That's not the main point.
SPEAKER_00: The main point is that the tree of life is in this garden.
SPEAKER_00: And if Adam eats from the tree of life, as long as he eats from the tree of life, he will live forever.
SPEAKER_00: If he eats from the tree of life, he will not physically die.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't need to worry about heaven or hell because he's not going to die as long as he has access to the tree of life.
SPEAKER_00: He will have complete fellowship with God.
SPEAKER_00: God walks in the garden with him.
SPEAKER_00: We learned this later on in Genesis 3.
SPEAKER_00: God is walking the earth with Adam.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what that looks like.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what kind of physical manifestation that was.
SPEAKER_00: I have no idea, but God had a communion and a fellowship and a relationship with Adam.
SPEAKER_00: They dwelled together.
SPEAKER_00: And as long as Adam did what God commanded him, he would live and have that life.
SPEAKER_00: It's eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: It's a relationship with God, eternal life, based upon his conduct, based upon keeping the earth, subduing the earth.
SPEAKER_00: He could live forever if he was obedient to God.
SPEAKER_00: That charge comes with law in verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: The tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.
SPEAKER_00: That's the law that's here.
SPEAKER_00: So he can live with God forever as long as he keeps the command of God, which here it's a very low shelf command.
SPEAKER_00: You have the whole world, Adam.
SPEAKER_00: Don't eat the one tree.
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
SPEAKER_00: You're not going to get a more basic command than that.
SPEAKER_00: But if he eats from that tree, the bad news bears.
SPEAKER_00: Look what it says in verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: The day you eat of it, you will surely die.
SPEAKER_00: Now we understand that when Adam and Eve eat from the tree, which they will, one rule.
SPEAKER_00: They had one rule.
SPEAKER_00: They broke it.
SPEAKER_00: When that happens, they did die on that day.
SPEAKER_00: They did not die physically on that day, they died spiritually on that day, which is much worse.
SPEAKER_00: They hide from God, the fellowship and communion with God is broken.
SPEAKER_00: They become outlaws on their own planet, refugees without even a country.
SPEAKER_00: They're hiding.
SPEAKER_00: That's what happens.
SPEAKER_00: They will die physically.
SPEAKER_00: The wages of sin is.
SPEAKER_00: And so when they sin, they're entering, they're allowing corruption into their own physical bodies.
SPEAKER_00: Their genetic disposition will decay.
SPEAKER_00: There will be genetic decay, and this takes time.
SPEAKER_00: They ate from the tree of life.
SPEAKER_00: It takes time for that to work out of their bodies.
SPEAKER_00: So they live for century after century after century after century after century after century after century.
SPEAKER_00: They lived a really long time.
SPEAKER_00: Even though they had sinned and died spiritually, it took a long time for them to die.
SPEAKER_00: Now, human life expectancy will decline after them as the genetic code has defects in it, and the sin starts to work its way through the world until it drops down to much less, and then through our medical advances, we can add a couple more decades on it.
SPEAKER_00: Great news, I guess.
SPEAKER_00: But the day they ate from the tree of good and evil, they died.
SPEAKER_00: This was the command Adam.
SPEAKER_00: Obey God, live forever.
SPEAKER_00: Disobey God and die immediately.
SPEAKER_00: Now we also deserve death.
SPEAKER_00: Even if you led a perfect life, you would deserve death because of Adam's sin.
SPEAKER_00: Adam's sin is passed on to you.
SPEAKER_00: You have Adam's sin nature.
SPEAKER_00: And you might say, that's not fair, that I would deserve hell because of Adam's sin.
SPEAKER_00: That's not fair.
SPEAKER_00: And if you yourself were sinless, I would probably agree with you.
SPEAKER_00: Like if you actually were sinless and you never sinned in your life, and then you were told that you're on your way to hell because of Adam's sin and you said that's not fair, I would say, you got a really good point.
SPEAKER_00: But it is, you would grant an academic hypothetical conversation.
SPEAKER_00: Because you have your own sin.
SPEAKER_00: You don't need to worry about Adam's sin being credited to you because you have your own.
SPEAKER_00: But the truth is that you have Adam's as well.
SPEAKER_00: That was the promise that God made Adam.
SPEAKER_00: Do this and live.
SPEAKER_00: You break it, you die.
SPEAKER_00: We have death because of Adam's sin.
SPEAKER_00: Now this premise is repeated throughout the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to flip over to the book of Leviticus.
SPEAKER_00: So Genesis, go right, Exodus, Leviticus.
SPEAKER_00: I know we have some new people.
SPEAKER_00: I've met some new people with us this morning.
SPEAKER_00: This is their first time at church ever.
SPEAKER_00: I don't presume that they would know where all the books of the Bible are.
SPEAKER_00: So Genesis is the first, Exodus, Leviticus is the third.
SPEAKER_00: So you're at the front end of the Bible here.
SPEAKER_00: Leviticus 18 is where we're headed.
SPEAKER_00: This is after, this is after their Exodus from Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: The Israelites were slaves in Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: This is a long time from Adam.
SPEAKER_00: There's a million plus Israelites.
SPEAKER_00: And they are led out of Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: They're in the wilderness, they are in the desert.
SPEAKER_00: Behind them is Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: In front of them is Canaan, the land of Israel where they're going.
SPEAKER_00: In the middle of there, God is giving them rules for how they're supposed to live.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Leviticus 18 is about.
SPEAKER_00: Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I'm Yahweh your God.
SPEAKER_00: Now this revelation is in itself an act of mercy.
SPEAKER_00: When the Israelites were in Egypt, they knew that they had a God, and they knew they were Israelites.
SPEAKER_00: They spoke a different language, they were slaves there, they were not Egyptians, they understood that.
SPEAKER_00: But they didn't know what God wanted from them.
SPEAKER_00: God hadn't given them a law.
SPEAKER_00: But now God is giving them a law.
SPEAKER_00: He's giving them rules to live by.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 3 of Leviticus 18, you shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they land in Canaan, where you're going.
SPEAKER_00: Don't live like them.
SPEAKER_00: Don't walk in their statutes.
SPEAKER_00: No, you, it says in verse 3, or in verse 4, you will follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them, because I'm Yahweh your God.
SPEAKER_00: As I mentioned, this is an act of mercy.
SPEAKER_00: You are not supposed to fit in, God is telling the Israelites.
SPEAKER_00: Don't look like them, don't look like them, look like me.
SPEAKER_00: Do what I'm telling you to do.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't matter if the other nations don't do it.
SPEAKER_00: I'm giving you what you're supposed to do.
SPEAKER_00: And then verse 5, here comes the reward.
SPEAKER_00: You will keep my statutes and my rules.
SPEAKER_00: If a person does them, he will live by them.
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: Does that sound familiar to you?
SPEAKER_00: Is that ringing in your ear a little bit?
SPEAKER_00: That's essentially what Adam was told.
SPEAKER_00: Do this and live.
SPEAKER_00: Don't do this and die.
SPEAKER_00: So you want to approach God based upon your own conduct?
SPEAKER_00: That's an option available to you.
SPEAKER_00: Do this and live.
SPEAKER_00: Well, what are the kind of commandments we're talking about here?
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to walk you through all of these because some of them are kind of graphic here in Leviticus 18.
SPEAKER_00: It starts with a lot of sexual sins.
SPEAKER_00: Like don't sleep with your father's wife.
SPEAKER_00: Your stepmom kind of thing is in here.
SPEAKER_00: Don't sleep with your sister.
SPEAKER_00: Like there's those rules in here.
SPEAKER_00: And you so you're going through this list and you're like, okay, I can relate to God like this.
SPEAKER_00: Check, not gonna do that.
SPEAKER_00: You go through the list, you're like, I got this.
SPEAKER_00: I'm doing well.
SPEAKER_00: Don't sleep with your neighbor's wife, verse 20 says.
SPEAKER_00: Don't do that.
SPEAKER_00: You're like, okay, don't have an affair.
SPEAKER_00: I I got it.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 21, don't sacrifice your children to Molech.
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: You're like, okay, I'm there.
SPEAKER_00: Don't lie with a male as if he was a woman.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 22, all right, I won't do that.
SPEAKER_00: And it goes through this list.
SPEAKER_00: And you think, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I can handle these kind of restrictions.
SPEAKER_00: I can keep these commandments, and if I do them, I can live by them.
SPEAKER_00: But then you keep reading.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 30.
SPEAKER_00: Don't do any of the abominable customs that were practiced before you.
SPEAKER_00: Never make yourself unclean by them.
SPEAKER_00: I'm Yahweh your God.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 2 of chapter 19, speak to all of Israel and say to them, Be holy, for I'm Yahweh your God.
SPEAKER_00: Like, alright, I'm gonna try to do this.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 3, honor your father and your mother.
SPEAKER_00: That's the fifth commandment.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 4, don't make idols.
SPEAKER_00: That's the second commandment.
SPEAKER_00: It keeps going.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 11, don't steal.
SPEAKER_00: That's the eighth commandment.
SPEAKER_00: Don't deal falsely.
SPEAKER_00: That's don't lie to each other.
SPEAKER_00: That's the ninth commandment.
SPEAKER_00: Don't swear by my name falsely.
SPEAKER_00: That's the third commandment.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 14, don't curse a deaf person or put a stumbling block before the blind.
SPEAKER_00: I'm Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: So you see, like, there's a broad expanse here.
SPEAKER_00: Like there's very specific things, these kind of sexual sins.
SPEAKER_00: There's very general things, like the Ten Commandments.
SPEAKER_00: There's a very specific thing, don't trip a blind person.
SPEAKER_00: I mean.
SPEAKER_00: You think that's this is how do you make sense of this?
SPEAKER_00: This is total, complete and total obedience, covering every area of your life.
SPEAKER_00: That's the point that he's driving home to you.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 16, don't slander.
SPEAKER_00: Protect your neighbor.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 17, don't hate your brother.
SPEAKER_00: Does that sound familiar to you?
SPEAKER_00: That's a Sermon on the Mount.
SPEAKER_00: Don't hate, if you hate the other person, you're a murderer, Jesus says.
SPEAKER_00: That's not just a New Testament ethic out of nowhere.
SPEAKER_00: That's right in the heart of this stuff.
SPEAKER_00: You want to relate to God on your own works.
SPEAKER_00: Don't hate anyone.
SPEAKER_00: Don't slander anyone.
SPEAKER_00: Don't take vengeance, verse 18 says.
SPEAKER_00: Love your neighbor as yourself.
SPEAKER_00: You want to relate to God on your own works?
SPEAKER_00: Love your neighbor as yourself.
SPEAKER_00: And you should start realizing right here, I don't, I'm starting to wonder here, can I do this?
SPEAKER_00: It's total obedience to the Lord, to where you love your neighbor as as if he was yourself.
SPEAKER_00: You prefer him over you all the time.
SPEAKER_00: In every way.
SPEAKER_00: You're careful to do everything God has commanded you to do.
SPEAKER_00: Skip down to verse 34 of Leviticus 19.
SPEAKER_00: You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you.
SPEAKER_00: You shall love him as you love yourself.
SPEAKER_00: So here, I heard somebody recently argue that loving your neighbor as yourself means loving those in your own country and not those outside of your country, like a form of nationalism here.
SPEAKER_00: They get that from the love your neighbors yourself.
SPEAKER_00: That's you see, you gotta love Americans before you can love other kinds of logic.
SPEAKER_00: But look, when that enters the Bible here, love your neighbor as yourself.
SPEAKER_00: It is in the context of loving the stranger, loving the foreigner, because you used to be in Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: That's what verse 36 says.
SPEAKER_00: Uh you used to be out of the land of Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: You are brought out of Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: Yahweh is our God, so don't cheat each other, don't wrong each other, love your neighbor as yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 34, because you are strangers in Egypt and I'm Yahweh, you love each other perfectly.
SPEAKER_00: And even if you are naive enough to think, I'm still with you.
SPEAKER_00: I won't slander anyone, I won't rob the foreigner, I won't have any sexual immorality, no idols.
SPEAKER_00: I'm with you, God.
SPEAKER_00: And verse 37 drops.
SPEAKER_00: All my rules, and do them because I'm Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: Adam had one rule, and he couldn't do it.
SPEAKER_00: Here, think of all of them.
SPEAKER_00: Can you do it?
SPEAKER_00: What do you think?
SPEAKER_00: Skip over to Deuteronomy now.
SPEAKER_00: Leviticus, Numbers is next.
SPEAKER_00: Deuteronomy, we go and write a few books more.
SPEAKER_00: Go all the way to Deuteronomy 27.
SPEAKER_00: Now we're a long time after Leviticus, 40 years later.
SPEAKER_00: All the Israelites are dead.
SPEAKER_00: They all died in the wilderness, new generation came up.
SPEAKER_00: So what Deuteronomy is doing in the Bible, it's repeating what was said in Leviticus and some of Exodus.
SPEAKER_00: It's repeating them to the new generation.
SPEAKER_00: These new people are going to go in the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: And they're getting the same speech by Moses.
SPEAKER_00: Moses doesn't get to go.
SPEAKER_00: Moses will die in the wilderness, but this new generation will get to go.
SPEAKER_00: And before they enter the promised land, Deuteronomy 27, God is reiterating the same kind of covenant to them.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 1 of Deuteronomy 27, Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep the whole commandment I command you today.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 2, you're going to cross over the Jordan, the land that Yahweh has given you.
SPEAKER_00: You're going to cross the river and you're going to go into Israel.
SPEAKER_00: When you do that, verse 2, set up large stones and plaster them with plaster.
SPEAKER_00: So there's the canyon walls there across the Jordan River.
SPEAKER_00: There's the wilderness rocks.
SPEAKER_00: It's got kind of the Shea rocks.
SPEAKER_00: They carve very easily.
SPEAKER_00: When it says set up rocks here, we're not talking about the kind of rocks you'd find in a creek or a river in Virginia.
SPEAKER_00: We're talking about these big, like canyon walls.
SPEAKER_00: And you're supposed to cover them with plaster, it says.
SPEAKER_00: And then verse 3, write on them.
SPEAKER_00: This is the first graffiti in the Bible, right here.
SPEAKER_00: Plaster the walls and write on them, and write all the words of the law so that when you enter the land that Yahweh is giving you, the idea here, you're going to walk by all of the law written on the wall.
SPEAKER_00: So you will have no excuse.
SPEAKER_00: When you cross into Egypt or into Israel, you're going to be walking by the words of God literally written on the wall.
SPEAKER_00: You think even in DC, we're kind of a land where this works.
SPEAKER_00: You got all kinds of declarations and promises and freedoms and commandments and stuff written on the monuments.
SPEAKER_00: So there's no excuse.
SPEAKER_00: There's no excuse.
SPEAKER_00: You walk in the Supreme Court, you're walking by these images carved into these massive doors about equality under the law.
SPEAKER_00: So it'd be very strange for somebody inside the Supreme Court to say, hey, is equality under the law a principle we even know about yet?
SPEAKER_00: It's written on the wall.
SPEAKER_00: That's what's happening here in Israel.
SPEAKER_00: You're going to walk in and you're going to walk by all of the laws that God wants you to do, painted on the wall next to you.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 5, build an altar to Yahweh there.
SPEAKER_00: Don't use any iron on it.
SPEAKER_00: Don't chisel it out.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, it's the Shea Rock here.
SPEAKER_00: Just paint over it and make it to God.
SPEAKER_00: You're not approaching God by your own works, is the point here.
SPEAKER_00: You're not going to carve the rock into some kind of idol.
SPEAKER_00: You're just supposed to build the altar there.
SPEAKER_00: Sacrifices and offerings.
SPEAKER_00: And then verse 8, write on the stones every word of this law.
SPEAKER_00: Very plainly.
SPEAKER_00: Make sure your handwriting is clear, so there's no excuses.
SPEAKER_00: Can't say I didn't know.
SPEAKER_00: Did it say commit adultery or don't commit adultery?
SPEAKER_00: I couldn't read the knot very well.
SPEAKER_00: No excuses.
SPEAKER_00: What kind of laws does God give them?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's everything in the book of life.
SPEAKER_00: Everything in the Torah.
SPEAKER_00: Everything they're supposed to do is written for them.
SPEAKER_00: And it's going to be repeated.
SPEAKER_00: And if you do it, you're going to get blessings.
SPEAKER_00: But if you don't do it, you're going to be cursed.
SPEAKER_00: And Moses starts going through it.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: Cursed is the man who makes an idol.
SPEAKER_00: It's an abomination to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: All the things made by the hands of craftsmen, and they set up in secret, and all the people shall answer and say, Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Cursed is anyone who dishonors his father and his mother, and all the people will say.
SPEAKER_00: Cursed is anyone who moves his neighbor's landmark, and all the people will say.
SPEAKER_00: Cursed is someone who misleads a blind man on the road, and all the people will say.
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm not going to go through this whole thing.
SPEAKER_00: It would be tempting.
SPEAKER_00: But you realize where this is going, don't you?
SPEAKER_00: Keep all of the laws, and all the people are saying, Amen, amen, amen.
SPEAKER_00: And you think, all right, again, I can do this.
SPEAKER_00: I'll honor my father and mother.
SPEAKER_00: I will won't commit the sexual sins that are in there.
SPEAKER_00: And then you get to verse 26.
SPEAKER_00: Cursed be anyone who doesn't conform to the words of this law by doing them.
SPEAKER_00: You wonder if the amens got a little softer on that one.
SPEAKER_00: You want to live this way?
SPEAKER_00: Do it all.
SPEAKER_00: You break it in one spot, you break the whole thing.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you do it, look at chapter 28.
SPEAKER_00: If you faithfully obey all of the things Yahweh your God commands you, careful to obey his commands, careful to do it all, then God will bless your socks off.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's the first part of chapter 28.
SPEAKER_00: You get all kinds of blessings.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: You'll be blessed in the city, you'll be blessed in the field.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that pretty much covers it right there.
SPEAKER_00: Your kids in verse 4 will be blessed.
SPEAKER_00: Your bread in verse 5 will be blessed.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've had some great bread, but this bread is.
SPEAKER_00: You'll be blessed when you come in in verse 6, blessed when you go out.
SPEAKER_00: Again, that means all of life.
SPEAKER_00: Your enemies, verse 7, they're going to go every which way.
SPEAKER_00: Your barns will be filled, verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's just your life is awesome when you're obeying the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: All kinds of practical, worldly blessings are all yours when you're obeying the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: That's the promise here.
SPEAKER_00: And you think, well, I am going to sign up for that deal right there.
SPEAKER_00: Where do I sign?
SPEAKER_00: But then there's a slight question that should go through your mind.
SPEAKER_00: Let me quote the prophet of our day, DC Talk.
SPEAKER_00: No, that's a different prophet.
SPEAKER_00: The prophet of our day, Dr.
SPEAKER_00: Seuss.
SPEAKER_00: Better than DC talk.
SPEAKER_00: Dr.
SPEAKER_00: Seuss.
SPEAKER_00: What if you don't?
SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes you.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you guys read Dr.
SPEAKER_00: Seuss.
SPEAKER_00: I love these blessings.
SPEAKER_00: But what if you don't do everything God says?
SPEAKER_00: Then what?
SPEAKER_00: Verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't do it, all of these curses will come upon you.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 16, you'll be cursed in the city.
SPEAKER_00: Cursed in the field.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 17, your bread will be cursed.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 18, your children will be cursed.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 19, you'll be cursed when you come in and when you go out.
SPEAKER_00: Again, that covers everything.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 20, your enemies will be blessed and you'll be cursed.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 21, your crops will die, your animals will die.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 22, you'll die.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 23, no rain.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 24, if it does rain, it won't help your crops.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 25, you're gonna die again by your enemies this time.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 26, the birds will eat your body.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 27, and you'll die with boils on you and tumors on you.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 28, and you'll be blind and mad and crazy.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 29, you're gonna just be leading a meaningless life without even knowing where you're going.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 30, it starts getting graphic.
SPEAKER_00: We'll skip over a bunch of this.
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna get to cannibalism in a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: Your wife is gonna secretly eat your children, it says, so that you don't catch her in the act.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the worst kind of curses are gonna come upon you if you don't obey all of the commands.
SPEAKER_00: The list goes on and on and on.
SPEAKER_00: Skip down to verse 45, though.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to see something gets snuck in here.
SPEAKER_00: All these curses, Leviticus 28, verse 45, all these curses will come upon you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed because you did not obey the voice of Yahweh your God.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna be destroyed by these curses.
SPEAKER_00: What does it mean you didn't obey the voice of Yahweh your God to keep the statutes that he commanded you?
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 47.
SPEAKER_00: Because you did not serve Yahweh your God with the joyfulness and gladness of heart.
SPEAKER_00: That's something new we haven't seen before, tucked in right there.
SPEAKER_00: Did you catch it?
SPEAKER_00: It's like when you update your iPhone and it says read the terms and conditions.
SPEAKER_00: You have to check, I read it.
SPEAKER_00: No, are you lying?
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm not lying.
SPEAKER_00: You're totally lying.
SPEAKER_00: This is a new term and condition that got snuck in at the very end here.
SPEAKER_00: You have to obey all of God's rules joyfully.
SPEAKER_00: So even if you keep everything he says, that's not sufficient to meet the terms of this covenant.
SPEAKER_00: You've got to keep everything he says and be happy about it.
SPEAKER_00: You've got to keep everything he says and be joyful about it and be excited about it.
SPEAKER_00: That's what you got to do.
SPEAKER_00: So even if you obey the law perfectly, but you're not stoked about it, you still fail.
SPEAKER_00: And then all the curses.
SPEAKER_00: Seems like an important part of the terms and conditions to read.
SPEAKER_00: And you understand when you zoom out a bit, that's the second, that's the first greatest command.
SPEAKER_00: Love the Lord your God.
SPEAKER_00: Second greatest command, love your neighbor as yourself.
SPEAKER_00: And that sums up the whole thing.
SPEAKER_00: If you just did those two, you wouldn't need the rest of the law.
SPEAKER_00: That's why this is here.
SPEAKER_00: If you just loved the Lord, then of course your obedience would be joyful.
SPEAKER_00: If you just loved your neighbor, then of course you wouldn't need all of the other laws about the sexual immorality laws and all and the don't put your weights on the scales laws and the don't trip the blind person laws.
SPEAKER_00: You wouldn't need any of those if you just loved your neighbor.
SPEAKER_00: You wouldn't need any of the laws about the idols and all that if you just loved Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: That pretty much covers it all.
SPEAKER_00: So do that and you will live.
SPEAKER_00: Skip over to Deuteronomy 30.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, like I said, this goes on for chapter after chapter after chapter.
SPEAKER_00: We're not going to read through all of it.
SPEAKER_00: I think you're starting to get the point.
SPEAKER_00: We'll skip the cannibalism part.
SPEAKER_00: Chapter 30, verse 15, this whole thing gets rephrased as a choice.
SPEAKER_00: I've set before you, Deuteronomy 30, verse 15, a choice.
SPEAKER_00: Here it is: life and good or death and evil.
SPEAKER_00: If you obey the commandments of Yahweh your God, I command you by loving Yahweh your God and walking in his ways and keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, you will live and you will multiply, and Yahweh your God will bless you.
SPEAKER_00: But if your heart turns away, then all the curses.
SPEAKER_00: So that's the choice.
SPEAKER_00: And I love that it's presented as a choice.
SPEAKER_00: Which would you choose?
SPEAKER_00: Well, after reading those curses, my goodness, do you want your bread blessed or stale?
SPEAKER_00: You get to choose.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's going to choose the blessed bread.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's going to choose the blessed children and the blessed crops.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody wants to choose that.
SPEAKER_00: The only catch is you have to lead the perfect life.
SPEAKER_00: You have to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength all the time.
SPEAKER_00: Love your neighbors yourself perfectly, always.
SPEAKER_00: You have to be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect if you choose that path.
SPEAKER_00: Move right.
SPEAKER_00: A few more books.
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's Joshua.
SPEAKER_00: Next book over.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua 24.
SPEAKER_00: Now we're jumping ahead.
SPEAKER_00: A few years.
SPEAKER_00: Moses is dead.
SPEAKER_00: The Israelites crossed the river.
SPEAKER_00: They're in the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: The land has been allotted.
SPEAKER_00: The Canaanites, for the most part, have been driven out.
SPEAKER_00: Everything is happy here.
SPEAKER_00: And now Joshua circles back to the same thing Moses said, the same thing Leviticus 19 says, the same thing God tells Adam pretty much.
SPEAKER_00: What are you going to do?
SPEAKER_00: Israelites, Joshua 24, verse 14.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua huddles them up together.
SPEAKER_00: They've conquered the land and he says, Fear Yahweh and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness.
SPEAKER_00: That's the same thing we just read.
SPEAKER_00: Serve him with a happy and a glad heart.
SPEAKER_00: Serve God perfectly.
SPEAKER_00: Put away the gods your forefathers served beyond the river of Egypt and serve Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: And I just stop there and go, oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_00: Some of them still have idols with them.
SPEAKER_00: After all of this, they were in Egypt like 50 years ago.
SPEAKER_00: And some of them still have idols from Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: That is amazing.
SPEAKER_00: But it's true.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 15, if it's evil to serve Yahweh, then choose this day whom you will serve.
SPEAKER_00: The gods your father served back in Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: The gods of the Amorites whose land we're about to take over.
SPEAKER_00: But as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I am treading on careful ground here because I know some of you have this painted on your house wall.
SPEAKER_00: You have it on a throw pillow.
SPEAKER_00: We have it, I'm confessing, we have it on a pillow in our house.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm treading carefully here.
SPEAKER_00: Think about what this verse means.
SPEAKER_00: As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You choose who you'll serve.
SPEAKER_00: Which way are you going to live?
SPEAKER_00: And the Israelites, they all say, look at them.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 16, far be it from us.
SPEAKER_00: Oh no.
SPEAKER_00: Far be it from us that we would forsake Yahweh and serve other gods.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, may it never be.
SPEAKER_00: For Yahweh's and all these great things for us in verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 18, we're winning because of Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: He is our God.
SPEAKER_00: Look at the end of verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore we will serve Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: He is our God.
SPEAKER_00: And you think, yes, and the Bible should end right there, but of course it doesn't.
SPEAKER_00: Because verse 19, Joshua said to the people, you are not able to serve Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: You can't do it.
SPEAKER_00: What's wrong with you?
SPEAKER_00: Have you not been keeping up?
SPEAKER_00: Serve this day whom you'll serve, whom you'll choose this day whom you'll serve.
SPEAKER_00: And they say, We choose Yahweh.
SPEAKER_00: And Joshua's like, you can't do that.
SPEAKER_00: Because if you want to approach God that way, you have to be perfect.
SPEAKER_00: You cannot do it.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua tells them, I don't know what else to say at this point.
SPEAKER_00: You're not able to, he says in verse 19, he's holy, he's jealous, he will not forgive you.
SPEAKER_00: And you want to stop and say, Oh no, Joshua.
SPEAKER_00: You see, I know that God's a forgiving God.
SPEAKER_00: Joshua, come here, my friend.
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you something you may not know.
SPEAKER_00: God actually does forgive.
SPEAKER_00: He does not forgive people who approach him on their own works.
SPEAKER_00: That's the point.
SPEAKER_00: You want to approach God based on how well you live your life and think you're good enough to stand before him?
SPEAKER_00: You want to say, I, on my own free will, I serve God, I choose God, I choose this God, I choose you.
SPEAKER_00: You can't do it, and he will not forgive you.
SPEAKER_00: It's over.
SPEAKER_00: So what would the better answer be?
SPEAKER_00: What's the right answer to that question?
SPEAKER_00: God, I'm broken.
SPEAKER_00: I am spiritually broken.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have any righteousness of my own.
SPEAKER_00: And it grieves me.
SPEAKER_00: I weep over the fact I don't have what it takes to be right before you.
SPEAKER_00: I need a righteousness that's not mine.
SPEAKER_00: I hunger for that righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: I thirst for that righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have it.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be at peace with you.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be in a right relationship with you.
SPEAKER_00: I cannot do it.
SPEAKER_00: That would be the right answer.
SPEAKER_00: That's not what they say.
SPEAKER_00: They say, I'm, God, I can do this.
SPEAKER_00: I can do it this time.
SPEAKER_00: I can succeed where Adam failed.
SPEAKER_00: And so, not with the pages on your fingers, but with the pages of the Bible in your heart here, turn over to the New Testament and recognize that Jesus, this is why Jesus resists temptation before the Sermon on the Mount.
SPEAKER_00: He succeeds where Adam failed.
SPEAKER_00: He's tempted as the second Adam and he resists the devil, showing you that he has earned righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: Not based upon anything else except his own obedience.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus obeyed perfectly.
SPEAKER_00: Adam broke it.
SPEAKER_00: You broke it in Adam.
SPEAKER_00: You broke it yourself.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus fulfills it.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus keeps it.
SPEAKER_00: He is completely obedient to God with joy in his heart all the time.
SPEAKER_00: He's faithful to do all God has commanded him.
SPEAKER_00: He resists the devil.
SPEAKER_00: He stands before God, receives the commendation for his life.
SPEAKER_00: But it's not, he's not content to live that for his own sake.
SPEAKER_00: He's not content to be perfectly obedient for his own sake.
SPEAKER_00: He instead goes to the cross.
SPEAKER_00: He should not have died in a just world.
SPEAKER_00: He should not have died because he had no sin.
SPEAKER_00: The wages of sin is death.
SPEAKER_00: He never sins.
SPEAKER_00: But he instead goes to the cross for our sin.
SPEAKER_00: So our sin is given to him.
SPEAKER_00: And what comes with our sin, but all the curses we just read about.
SPEAKER_00: All the curses of the law become his.
SPEAKER_00: He becomes cursed.
SPEAKER_00: His enemies have victory over him.
SPEAKER_00: His enemies circle him.
SPEAKER_00: He's cursed in the city, and he's cursed outside the city where he's put to death.
SPEAKER_00: He is cursed everywhere.
SPEAKER_00: All of the curses that should be ours go on him.
SPEAKER_00: This is why Galatians sums it up this way: that he is cursed with the curses of that first commandment.
SPEAKER_00: That first covenant become his curses.
SPEAKER_00: Cursed, it says, and Paul just sums it up this way.
SPEAKER_00: Cursed is anyone who hangs on the tree.
SPEAKER_00: That's a specific curse in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: You will die and your body will not be buried.
SPEAKER_00: You'll be tied to a tree.
SPEAKER_00: The birds will eat it.
SPEAKER_00: Cursed is the person who's hanging on a tree.
SPEAKER_00: That just represents all the curses in all those chapters we read in Deuteronomy, all those curses represented in that one curse on Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He takes all of the punishment for sin.
SPEAKER_00: He takes them all.
SPEAKER_00: He led the life that we couldn't lead.
SPEAKER_00: He can have a righteousness that we couldn't have.
SPEAKER_00: He takes the curses that we couldn't bear.
SPEAKER_00: Then he resurrects from the dead, showing that he still has eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't need the tree of life.
SPEAKER_00: He is the tree of life in that sense.
SPEAKER_00: So that takes us back to the two paths in the Sermon on the Mount.
SPEAKER_00: You want to live for yourself.
SPEAKER_00: And what I mean by for yourself, not even that you put yourself first, but when I say live for yourself, what I mean by that is you want to stand before God and say, I want to go to heaven based upon how I lived my life.
SPEAKER_00: I went to the Sermon on the Mount, I haven't committed adultery, I haven't hated, I haven't murdered, haven't made false promises, haven't lied, I've done, I've fulfilled the law.
SPEAKER_00: I've done all this since I was a youth.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus says, you have to be perfect, like your heavenly Father is perfect.
SPEAKER_00: And I hope none of you read that verse and go, that's still good news.
SPEAKER_00: It's good news if you turn to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's the choice.
SPEAKER_00: You want to live for yourself, be perfect.
SPEAKER_00: You want to surrender to Christ, you'll receive mercy.
SPEAKER_00: You want to pretend you're good enough for eternal life, you'll fail.
SPEAKER_00: Or do you want to rest from your works because Christ did it for you?
SPEAKER_00: Then you have peace.
SPEAKER_00: You want to say that you're good enough to go to heaven, you're a good person, then follow rules literally written on stone walls.
SPEAKER_00: Throw yourself at Christ, and you have the gospel written on your heart.
SPEAKER_00: You want to follow the law and try to do all that it says?
SPEAKER_00: The law will drive you away from God just like Cain was driven into the wilderness.
SPEAKER_00: You will not be able to keep it.
SPEAKER_00: Or do you want to throw yourself at the feet of Christ and you'll be received based upon his forgiveness like Abel was received?
SPEAKER_00: Do you want to have Moses as your mediator and say, I do what he told us to do?
SPEAKER_00: I've kept the Ten Commandments.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I'm a good person.
SPEAKER_00: I've kept the Ten Commandments.
SPEAKER_00: Great.
SPEAKER_00: Moses will appeal for you.
SPEAKER_00: Moses, who died in the wilderness, by the way, didn't get to go to the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: Or you go to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Say, I'm not good enough.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, you were good enough in my place.
SPEAKER_00: Then you have Jesus as your mediator who's sitting at the right hand of God even right now.
SPEAKER_00: God, we're thankful that you have given us a way to eternal life that is not based upon works or sacrifices that are our own, but it's based upon the works and the sacrifice of Christ instead.
SPEAKER_00: He provides eternal life, not us.
SPEAKER_00: We are not going to stand before you based upon our own merit.
SPEAKER_00: We will stand before you based upon the merit of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And for that reason, we have forgiveness.
SPEAKER_00: And they would see the truth that they are not perfect.
SPEAKER_00: And they would instead receive forgiveness for sins.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we don't know what other standard to expect from you.
SPEAKER_00: You're a holy and a perfect God.
SPEAKER_00: What other standard could there be?
SPEAKER_00: There's just that.
SPEAKER_00: We cling to you in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And now, for a parting word from Pastor Jesse Johnson.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER_00: If you're in the Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_00: area, I would love to see you at Emmanuel Bible Church.
SPEAKER_00: For more information on our church or our current service times, go to IBC.church.
SPEAKER_00: For more information about the Master Seminary and their Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_00: location, go to TMS.edu.
SPEAKER_00: I hope this resource has been a blessing to you and it helps you seek the Lord daily, serve others around you, and share the gospel with boldness.