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Deuteronomy 5:1-15

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1/12/1997
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Deuteronomy 5:1-15
Deuteronomy 5:1-15
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05 Deuteronomy - 1996

The book of Deuteronomy is the giving of the Mosaic Law to a new generation of Israelites at the end of their wanderings. Skip Heitzig tells the story of God's continuing grace to His people.

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We don't have a whole lot of time tonight, but we did have the Clark Extravaganza with us, so we want to take the rest of the time and get into the book of Deuteronomy. Now, we're not going to keep you long tonight. This is not a long Bible study. We're going to be true to our time demands and limits with the children and with the radio and so forth. And so in the forty minutes we have I'd ask that everybody remain seated and not move around. It's a shorter study tonight, so that shouldn't be difficult. Let's pray.

Father, we want to thank you tonight for the music that you've given to Terry and Nancy and Paul, and how they have shared it with the church for many, many years and continue to bless us with new songs that you give fresh expressions to worship you with, fresh insights into your character based on experiences. And, Lord, it teaches us that we should interpret life through the lens of Jesus Christ, rather than interpreting God through the lens of life. Lord, I pray that tonight as we read your word you would give us further insight into your character, your love, and build us up in the holy faith, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Well, Deuteronomy 5 is the second speech of Moses to the children of Israel. This is a new generation. The bones of their fathers are bleaching in the wilderness. They are on the plains of Moab. They're about ready to enter in, and, yet, Moses has some words for them before he goes up on Mount Nebo and finally dies. Before he does that, he gives a series of speeches to this young generation, you might say young whippersnappers who weren't around in the days of their fathers and their mothers. They hadn't seen all of the consequences of the sin of complaining and disbelieving God and his promises, and so Moses fills them in.

And the first four chapters he basically covers their history in a nutshell from the time they left Mount Sinai, to the time they went to Kadesh Barnea, to the time they wandered into the place where they are at, now he begins by going over the law. That's what the next several chapters are about. And we gave you an outline and we've showed you slides on Sunday night, so tonight we won't do that. We'll save it till next time because of time constraints. But basically he is going to cover the highlights, a recap of the highlights of the law, the covenant that God was making with the children of Israel that he made at Mount Sinai.

Now, he begins with the foundations which are the Ten Commandments. I don't know what you think of our society, but I would say that our age is marked by aimlessness: Where do we go? What is the system that we should follow? Are there any absolutes? What direction should I take? And that should be based upon what's important. And how do I determine what's important? By values. Whose values? What absolutes? Is there any law? Is there any right? Is there any wrong? There's even a generation that, unfortunately, has been sort of given, I think, by the media, the title "Generation X," X meaning unknown quantity, unknown number. It's kind of like the big question mark generation.

I think it's unfair to label a whole group like that. I think it's more typical of all generations who live now. There's a sense of aimlessness. And that is because the foundations that are covered in this section, the Ten Commandments, the foundations are gone. David in looking around, even his generation said, "Lord, if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?" It's a good question, literally, "When the pillars of the state," that's the foundations he meant, "have broken or have crumbled and are in ruins, what does that mean for the righteous?" And I think we see that today.

And so God here gives commandments, the Law, commandments that never go out of date. They're always relevant. They form an undergirding or a foundation, you might say, for life. Not only that, but you uncover a phrase in not only chapter 5, but in chapter 4 and in chapter 6 and in chapter 8 and in chapter 28. A phrase such as, "Do this that you might live." Really that's God's heart. God knows what makes you tick. God knows how to live it up, you might say. And he has given you freedom, freedom through his parameters, through his dictates that we really might live.

Now, I understand the whole idea of saying, "But I don't like rules." Right? How many have children here tonight? When you tell your kids, "Clean up your room." "Put your bicycle away." "Go to bed by this time." "Curfew is . . ." whatever. How many of your kids go, "Thank you." They usually, if they even these days comply, it's in a grudging sort of a fashion. "I don't like that rule! You're mean because you gave me that rule. You don't love me because you gave me that rule." That's why you gave them the rule is because you love them.

Imagine life without rules. Well, imagine the Super Bowl without rules, just put two teams in there together and say, "Do whatever you want, man." It's not going to work. We need rules. If you don't like rules, go to places where there's anarchy. There's certain nations in Africa tonight that are in absolute anarchy because there are no rules, people aren't keeping any rules at all, and we need them. I have a little article from the Orange County Register---don't worry, we'll get into the Ten Commandments, maybe next year, but we will.

The Orange County Register, a California newspaper, they polled three campuses in Riverside, California, about values, rules. Here's the article, quote: "What is right and wrong, good and evil, sin and virtue? It's important to pay attention to young people's ideas on morality. After all, these beliefs will be the basis for their action when they're in charge of the world. When adults asked students, there may be an accidental crossover from the Ten Commandments and the seven deadly sins, but most of these nineties students believe in setting their own standards."

The current thinking, folks, today is, as far as what is right and wrong is: "I will do what is right for me when I think it is the appropriate time." We have a lot of talk. I think it's double talk about civil rights and national rights, and who's right at this particular issue? should we uphold? The truth of the matter is we have a whole group, a whole nation, a whole society built on the philosophy in the time of the judges. "Every man did what is right in his own eyes." It's not what is right for these people, it's how I feel I should be treated.

Well, God expects two things you notice in the Ten Commandments: love him and love others. In fact, "That sums up the Law," Jesus said, "You will love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself." That's how the Ten Commandments, incidentally, are divided. And this is the foundation for this new generation. The first four commandments we notice deals with man's relationship to God. The next six commandments, the second set, the second tablet of the Law deals with man's relationship to man, how man should treat one another, built-in safeguards for any society.

Now, a few words about the Law, I think, in preparation of this. The Law is the foundation. It is not our covenant as Christians necessarily. All of the laws of Moses, laws of the Sabbath, laws of ritual purification, we don't keep all of those laws. But the law and the essence of the law, especially the Ten Commandments, is the foundation for the Christian faith. Judaism is the foundation for the Christian faith. It's what the Christian faith is actually built upon. Christianity has its roots in Judaism. Jesus said, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law, I did not come to destroy it, I came to fulfill it." Well, I would say we ought to find out about what he came to fulfill.

Then there was the woman at Samaria who said, "Well, you Jews say Jerusalem is the place to worship, we say Samaria. Does it matter?" Remember Jesus' response besides saying, "There is coming a day when you will worship me neither in this place or in Jerusalem, but in spirit and truth"? He said, "We know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews." That is the foundation. That's why Paul in Romans says that we as Gentiles believers should "not boast against the natural branches," the Jews, who have been temporarily severed in covenant relationship for a while so that we could be grafted in, but they will be grafted in again.

Secondly, it's a foundation for all of society. Most societies take their cues from the Ten Commandments. C. S. Lewis the great scholar from England said in The Abolition of Man: "Many ancient cultures have surprising agreement in ethical and moral standards despite the cultural differences. Man has a basic understanding of these standards that God has established for his creation." With that, let's begin in verse 1. "And Moses called all of Israel, and said to them: 'Hear O Israel, the statutes and the judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be carefully to observe them.' "

Notice the three important steps in our relationship, I think, to the Word of God. I think it's a good sort of a stepladder to follow. First of all, we're to hear it; second of all, we're to learn it; third of all, we're to keep it. There is a relationship between knowledge and obedience. What we believe should determine how we behave. And that's why we're to "grow in grace and knowledge," the Bible says. That's why in 2 Peter it talks about we have these things "through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue." Don't listen to those people who diminish the knowledge of Scripture: "It doesn't matter what you know, man, it matters how you feel." Baloney!

"Learn of me," said Jesus. "Study to show yourself approved, workmen that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." Study the word. Hear it. Learn it. Keep it. Verse 2, " 'The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.' " And remember Horeb is the general area where Mount Sinai was founded. " 'The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers.' " By the way, Paul mentioned the tour to Israel, next year we're taking a tour. It's Israel's fiftieth anniversary, as far as modern anniversary since 1948. It will be 1998, its fiftieth year in that land since God brought them back into the land.

And we're going to Israel and we're going to take an extension this time to Jordan, Petra, and then down through Sinai and have our Sunday service on top of Mount Sinai overlooking that general region of Horeb. So that's something to look forward to. And if you've gone to Israel, that's something we have yet to do to cover all those places in one fell swoop. " 'So the Lord did not make,' " verse 3, " 'the covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive.' " Why did he say that? Because their forefathers never entered in, right? to this covenant. Why? They're dead, that's why.

This is a fresh group. This is the young generation. They were too young to be held accountable for their disobedience. Mom, dad, uncle, aunt, grandma, grandpa---they bit the dust. But this is a new generation now in the land of Israel or coming into the land of Israel. Verse 4, " 'The Lord talked with you face to face,' " that is, it wasn't hearsay, it was a direct revelation, " 'on the mountain from the midst of the fire. I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord; for you were afraid because of the fire, you did not go up to the mountain.' " And then the commandments are given.

Moses said, "I was a go-between. I was your representative at that time before God." Now, Moses didn't want to be that necessarily. The people kept saying, "Uh, Moses, listen. Hey, you go off and you talk to God and, uh, we don't want to. You just tell us whatever God says and we'll do it." Now today people are looking for a go-between, between them and God, an advocate, someone who will stand in the gap between them and God. Some people feel really weird about intimacy with God. "I'm not worthy. I need to pray to this person who will talk to this person, who will talk to that person, and eventually they'll relay the message back to God."

The cross of Jesus Christ removes all go-betweens so that you can go directly to the Father in the name of Jesus. That's why Jesus said to his disciples, "You can talk and say---come in my name and ask the Father whatever it is, whatever's on your heart, whatever you will." He's removed the go-between. We don't have to find a Moses or a saint, you can go directly to God. You say, "I'm not worthy!" That's not anything new. God knows you're not worthy. Jesus is worthy and you come in the name---not a "I come to you in Skip's name." You's get a good laugh in heaven if you tried that, I think. [laughter]

You come in the name of Jesus and that name opens all doors to direct relationship with him. " ' "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land name of Egypt," ' " Verse 6, " ' "out of the house of bondage." ' " That in both instances in Exodus 20, the first giving of the Law, and here, the recap of the Law, is sort of the banner statement before the commandments are given: "Before I give you this Law, I want to remind you I'm the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt." You know why that is shared? And by the way, that is sort of Israel's banner throughout their history.

In every section of the Bible, they remind themselves of the Exodus. So dramatic was the exodus out of Egypt, the deliverance from bondage, that this event becomes the hinge of their history, the deliverance. They're to teach that to their children, the Passover, being taken from the bondage and the slavery of Egypt. "I am the Lord your God." And I think also it's sort of a comparison between Yahweh, the Lord God, the God of Israel, the covenant God, and all of the gods of Egypt. It's like saying, "Remember, you were in bondage for forty years, you were slaves, and Egypt worshiped many gods, none of them helped you."

All of the gods Egypt cried out to, they were put to shame by all the plagues, and by the Red Sea opening up and destroying the Egyptians. Apis the bull was a god of Egypt, Heka/Heqet was a frog goddess, Geb the earth god, there was the Nile River god---all which the Egyptians thought were powerful, these were the God's that controlled the forces of nature. God is saying, "I am the God who triumphed." It's sort of like battle of the gods, and God won because he's the only true God. Now, we come to the first commandment in verse 7. " ' "You shall have no other gods before me." ' " Numero uno on the list. God is God, there is no other God.

And God won't let you worship him plus something else. Now, there's a trend today---we'll worship God and we'll bring in the New Age; we'll worship God and humanism; we'll worship God and the great crystal gods, and the earth gods, and the gods of the Native Americans, and of the Tahitians, and everybody else. There's only one true God, and God demands exclusive worship. You say, "Well, that's kind of narrow-minded." He has the right to be. He's the only One that exists. All of the other gods and goddesses are not gods nor goddesses at all. They're not real.

And if there's any power behind them, it's demonic power, just like in Egypt. So, "I'm the true God." Why is that the first commandment? Because I think it serves to remind us as human beings that he's God, not us. He does not exist to serve us; we exist to serve God. Yeah, people sort of treat God, I notice, sort of like God owes them: "God, I prayed for this and you didn't give me what I want when I wanted it. I'm going to take my little spiritual football and hasta la vista, baby." Now, God created us for him, for his pleasure. We were made by him, we were made for him, we exist for God, and there is no other God beside him.

Also, this commandment would be so important for the children of Israel. Remember, they're in between nations, right? Where did they come from? Egypt. Where were they going? Canaan. In both Egypt and Canaan there were many gods, right? It was a polytheistic culture. There was a god of the sun, the moon, the stars, the earth, the rivers, so it was a polytheistic culture. Also, there was pantheism in some of the cultures, in some of the areas of Canaan. Pantheism is the idea that everything is God: the mountains are God, the trees are God, you're God, I'm God, the door is God, the carpet's God---everything is a part of the divine essence.

It was also the religion of the Greeks. It was the religion of part of the Roman Empire. They were going into a culture that was polytheistic, a culture that was pantheistic, and a culture that was also henotheistic, H-E-N-O, henotheistic. What that means is there were local gods over certain forces. There was the God over this mountain, the god over this valley. And often times when people fought, when cultures would fight each other in Canaan, they believe that the conflict was a battle between the gods, and whoever would win, that god from their country would take over that area. That was called henotheism.

And so gods could sort of take over more territory, and was allotted to them, I guess. Now, there was a twist to this idea, this is all the background of Canaan. If a prince married a princess from a foreign city-state or a country, and brought that princess to live in his country, his area, his city-state, she brought with her the gods of her region. So that often times the people, because of the princess or the queen who married into the culture, and now she is brought, she would bring her gods, and they would then sort of worship god, or their god and goddesses plus the others.

This was Solomon's big downfall. It says he married many foreign women and they brought his heart away from God because they brought in so many foreign gods and goddesses, worshipers of Baal, and Ashtoreth. Then there was King Ahab, you remember, who married Jezebel a Sidonian princess who worshiped these fertility gods and goddesses, and made sort of the national religion of Israel Yahweh-plus-Baal. And that's where Elijah came in the scene and said uh-uh, and he had that big confrontation on Mount Carmel, and God showed who was God.

So, "I am the Lord your God, you will have no other gods before me." You might want to ask yourself tonight: what is your master passion? what is your drive? what is your great cause?---that is your God. That is your God. You know, a compass you can point it in any direction, that's what's cool about it. And the needle---this is if the compass works. Sometimes I have compasses that just stick. But, supposedly, a compass, the needle is always supposed to point north no matter where you put it. Put it in your backpack, move it around, settle it, and the needle, the head will point to the north.

A person's mind is like that. It can focus on so many different things in any given day. But when you settle down, when you're alone at night, and you're alone with your thoughts, what direction does your mind point to? Inevitably it will point to your master passion. What is "north" in your life? Well, God said, "I am the Lord your God. I'm number one." And it's the first commandment: "No other gods before me."

The second commandment, verse 8, " ' "You shall not make for yourself a carved image---any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth." ' " We covered sort of that last week is in chapter 4. God kept saying, "Don't make a likeness when you worship. Don't make an image. I had no form. I only spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the voice, but you saw no image." So, the first commandment is the prohibition against false gods; the second commandment is the prohibition of false worship of the true God by the use of images to remind you of God.

If you have questions about that, it's on tape from last week, we went into at length. Verse 9, " ' "You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments." ' " Now, why is it that people continually say, and I'm tired of this: "Well, the God of the Old Testament is so different from the God of the New Testament. The God of the Old Testament is filled with wrath; the God of the New Testament, love and mercy."

It's like they deliberately push out verses like this. Yeah, "I will show," as he says in verse 9, "the iniquity of the fathers, I will reveal it, and I will hold them accountable to several generations, the third and fourth, but mercy to thousands," is the idea. " ' "To those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord your God will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain." ' " If you ask most Christian people the meaning of this commandment, this third commandment, taking the name of the Lord in vain, say, "What does that mean?"

Most would give you the answer that it has to do with profanity. It's sort of like "thou shall not cuss." The idea, and there's other translations, like the Knox translation that sort of brings the color in. The Knox translation puts it this way: "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God lightly upon your lips," using it without weight, without meaning, and without purpose. It has to do really with careless speech in the name of God. "Swear to God, man," using God's name lightly, in vain, with a false oath, or just loosely.

Now, why is the name of God so important as to write a commandment about it? Because in the Bible, in ancient culture, and obviously to God, the name carries more than just a title. It has the idea of reputation. The person's reputation is part of the name. That's why Jesus taught us to pray in Jesus' name. It carries authority with it. The person's character is embodied in the name. The name represents authority. Remember David, David sees Goliath and everybody's afraid of Goliath? Nobody will touch him. And, you know, they're thinking about: "How much weaponry do we have against this huge giant?"

And Goliath comes down the valley and little David comes out and faces off this big giant. Most of the people of Israel thought Goliath was too big to hit. David thought he was too big to miss. So he stands in front of the giant, and this is what David says: "You come to me with a sword and a spear. I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts whom you have defied." "I come in his name with his authority," he was not using that loosely upon his lips. It was not in vain. He came in the name of God, it was obvious, he didn't have a shield, he didn't have a sword, he didn't have a little Smith & Wesson .45.

He was just there saying, "God, I am trusting you. Now your reputation is at stake here. Your name is at stake. If they get the victory, it's your name that goes down among the Philistines. If I win this thing, it's your name that will get exalted." The reputation, the character, the name of God is so important to the Jews to be hallowed in such regard that even today Jews will not write the name of God. Friends of mine in Israel, when they fax me or write me, put G slash D [G/D]. They will not write the name of God out.

They are not worthy to write the name of God nor say the name of God. They don't want to be guilty of breaking this commandment, so they will simply in their prayer say, "the Name." That's how they refer to God. When they want to say, "Praise God," they will say Baruch Hashem, "Praise the Name." Baruch Hashem Adonai, "Praise the Name of our God." So it's "the Name," you don't take it lightly upon your lips, the name of Jesus Christ. Now, remember Jesus said, "Many will come to me in my day," and they will use the tag, but not have the life behind it.

They will come and they will say, "Lord, did we not cast out demons in your name and do many wonderful works in your name?" And he will say, "Depart from me, you workers of iniquity." Because the name, the profession that we give should match the real product, right? We have stamped in our lives the name Christian, followers of Christ. If we claim to be Christians, but we are not Christians, you know, it's like taking a Rolls-Royce emblem and ripping it off and sticking it on your Ford Pinto. It might say Rolls-Royce, but you can't deliver the goods. It's still a Pinto, unfortunately.

So, the name of the Lord. The fourth commandment, verse 12, " ' "Observe the Sabbath, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor." ' " Now, notice that this is not just a commandment to rest, but a commandment to work. Not, "Hey, man, cruise, rest every day." No. Not only five days, you shall work six days. Now, I don't want to necessarily get involved in your personal work. And some of you think, "Man, I got it hard at my job." But, you know what? In this country most of us work five days, we got it pretty good.

When I lived in Israel on the kibbutz, you work Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday until sundown. And you're off sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. That's when Shabbat begins and ends. And, you know, when you work six days, you really do rest the seventh. It's all you got. And you don't think, "Oh, man, tomorrow's Sabbath, I gotta clean up the garage and do that and do that." You don't do anything. You cruise, you hang, you relax, because you're tired, your body needs to be rejuvenated.

So, " ' "You shall work six days you shall work, and do all your work, you shall labor, but the seventh day is [the rest, Shabbat] Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work." ' " Now, the commandment is elaborated on, next, " ' "You, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day." ' "

What were they to think about on the Sabbath day? What were they to remember? Once again, deliverance. Imagine taking a whole day, a whole day, and meditating on the fact that you were delivered from bondage. Think what that would do to your Christian life if you took a whole day and you rested, and you just thought and remembered about how God delivered you from sin and where you used to be, and how aimless you were and filled with guilt, and how God delivered you and what God has done in your life. Imagine if you did that a whole day, the perspective you'd have, the vigor you'd have, the anointing you'd have for the rest of the week.

You shall remember it. And I love the last part of verse 15, " ' "Therefore [for this reason], the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath." ' " The Bible is always a source of surprise to me. There's certain things I'll read and I'll just---it'll just catch me off guard. This is one of them. When I first became a Christian, I read the Bible and I was as surprised, but I was more surprised what the Bible didn't say, what I always thought it said. I remember people saying, "You know, the Bible says, man, cleanliness is next to godliness. Yeah, that's the Bible." It's not in there.

So many little axioms and idioms and aphorisms that people said were in the Bible, weren't. But now what really gets me is what's in there, what it does say. It's striking to me that God gave a commandment to rest. Why did he do that? Because he knows us. He knows some of you are driven. Remember Jesus with his disciples? Jesus had them around the Sea of Galilee to preach in all the cities, sent seventy of them out, and then came back and they were all pumped: "Jesus, this is what happened, we cast demons out." They were all excited---excuse me. [mic noise] And they reported to him all that they did.

The first thing Jesus said to them is, "Come aside." It's in the imperative, it's a command. " 'Come aside and rest with me by yourselves for a while.' For they that had been coming and going, and they had no time to rest." Jesus gave them a command to rest, I love that. Jesus gave a command to rest. The fourth commandment is a commandment to keep the Sabbath. You know what that tells me? God doesn't want us to endure life---to enjoy life. Oh, that's so contrary to the American way of life in many regards. Endure, keep going, work hard, get more money, any extra time work, work, work, work!

Now, I love to work, but there is a time to rest, and God gives the command. I remember when I first discovered this and I sat out in the waves in Huntington Beach on a surfboard, and I discovered God is here also right now. He's in this place, he's in this place and he's to be a part of this experience of enjoying what he has created, this time of rest and fun, as well as being in church. Not that I say, "Oh, great then, every Sunday morning I'm going to be out there on the waves worshiping." No. I'm commanded to be with God's people, right? not forsake that and be nourished together.

But when I discovered the heart of God, then I started saying, "Okay, Lord, I pray that you'd bless me with a huge set right now, big waves, you know, four foot, five foot, six, you know, round," that I just started being specific, enjoying it. I suspect this is a principle that's timely for many of you. It's foreign to some of you. Some of you really are driven. As one person said, "We become a generation who worships our work, we work at our play, and we play at our worship." Who wrote that rule? God didn't, he never wrote that, people did.

A friend of mine who flies a plane all over the country and even parts of the world, I asked him one time, "What's the secret to safety? I mean, you fly a lot, what's the secret of being safe? You know, you could get in an accident." He said one word, "Maintenance," maintenance, maintain the machine. This is God's maintenance law for his people: work, and now hang for a whole day, rest. Now, a question that comes up, and we're running out of time but we should answer it anyway, is: Is the Sabbath for Christians? We kind of talked about that in our study of John. Who changed the Sabbath? Why do Christians have their Sabbath on Sunday?

We don't have our Sabbath on Sunday, the Sabbath is Saturday. It's not that there's a Jewish Sabbath and a Christian. There's one Sabbath, it's Saturday, and it's for the Jewish people. It's a covenant God made not with Gentiles, not with Moabites, not with Canaanites, not with people from Germany, or South America, but Israel, the Jewish people, the Jewish line. It was a covenant that they were to keep. Of all of the Ten Commandments it's the only commandment that is purely ceremonial and nonmoral. What I mean by that is every other commandment---notice in the list, the other nine pertain to moral and spiritual absolutes.

Those nine commandments are repeated all the way through the Scripture including the New Testament, they're reiterated. Paul even mentions them, and Peter does, and Jesus does, undergirds the other tenets. Coveting, stealing, it's still wrong to steal and to murder, but in the New Testament the Sabbath is never given as a commandment nor even recommended to Gentile believers. In fact, in Acts, chapter 15, the whole debate is you have to be circumcised and keep the law to be saved. The letter finally goes out and says, "Look, don't eat blood, don't sacrifice things offered to idols, abstain from fornication, and if you to that you do well." God bless you.

He didn't say, "And keep the Sabbath. And if you worship on Sunday you're taking the mark of the beast," that some certain churches like to teach today. You say, "Well, I like to keep the Sabbath." Good, keep it. "Well, I think you should keep the Sabbath." Time-out. If you feel led to keep the Sabbath, great. But it's one of those things that even Paul said, "One man esteems one day of the week above the others, another esteems another day, another says all the days are like. Let each one be persuaded in his own mind." It's one of those things, unlike others, that is sort of you pick and choose.

If you want to worship on Saturday, great. If you want to worship on Sunday, great. I like to worship on Saturday and Sunday and Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and Friday---every day is the Lord's day. They're alike. Now Sunday is the time where we gather specifically as the church, it celebrates the resurrection. We call it the Lord's Day. That's what the early Christians called it, communion was taken, offerings were taken up, and the church met specifically. And it's become a wonderful tradition to celebrate newness of life and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Now, unfortunately, by the New Testament the Sabbath had become complicated so that men weren't resting, but they were laboring to keep a commandment of rest. It's like they got up, "Okay, it's Sabbath, man, stress. Uh, am I keeping the right thing? Am I carrying a burden? Am I walking too far?" And they had made a day of rest into a day of burden. That's why Jesus said, "You laden men with burdens too heavy to bear, you don't even lift them yourselves, but you command others to do it." And they couldn't do it. Endless hours of debate between rabbis about: Could a woman wear a brooch in her hair without breaking the Sabbath commandment not to carry a burden on the Sabbath?

Is a brooch considered a burden? How big of a brooch is okay? If it's too big, maybe it's a little too heavy. Can a man wear false teeth on Sabbath? [laughter] I'm not making that up. It is a Jewish argument where these people fill pages of arguments against and for false teeth on the Sabbath. Can you or can you not write on the Sabbath? Can you set a limb on the Sabbath if it's broken, if it's an emergency? And the law states if a limb is broken, if it's not life threatening, let it hang until after the Sabbath. Yet, if your ox falls into a pit, get it out, that's your livelihood.

That's why Jesus said, "You know what? You guys have twisted it. You've ruined the whole meaning of the Sabbath." And he said, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. It was meant to serve you; you weren't meant to serve it." And they had made it become a burden. Now we come to the fifth commandment and it's now time, so we'll pick up the fifth commandment and cover from verse 16 all the way through chapter 6 next time as Moses ties it all together. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you this evening to consider really a letter of love. We are not under the law. The law certainly reminds us that we have broken your commands, and we thank you, Lord, that the law was a schoolmaster to lead us to Jesus Christ. We're so grateful for the purpose for the law fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Tonight, Lord, we rejoice in the new covenant, but we're so thankful, Lord, for being able to read your heart toward your people, these parameters of society, the foundation, in many respects, of New Testament Christianity, the natural branch, the covenant of your people.

Father, I pray that we would see as we even read the Old Testament that you're a God of mercy extending to thousands, and we see Christ in the Old Testament, and we see love, grace, and mercy portrayed. I pray that we would respond to it. Lord, tonight, no doubt, there are those who have gathered and been invited by a friend. They've come out in colder, icier weather than usual. And they're here tonight and they're conscience of the fact that they really don't know this God of love personally, they don't walk in fellowship with him. And they're ready, Lord, because you've made them ready, you've brought them to this point, the point of turning, of surrendering their lives surrendering their future to you.

So, Lord, I pray that at this point, at this moment you would draw, as the gospel net goes out, that you would catch those men and women with your mercy and grace and draw them in, Lord, to shore, to that place of safety. Tonight if you've gathered with us and you're not certain about your relationship with God, you're not certain that your sins are forgiven, that you have right standing with God, you're not certain that if you were to die you'd be in heaven tonight, but you want to make sure, you want to have the guilt removed, your sins forgiven. You're ready to commit your life to Jesus Christ personally, to repent, to turn from sin and to turn to him.

If you're ready to do that, I'd like you to indicate that by raising your hand up. I'm going to acknowledge your hand and pray for you as we close this service. Just raise your hand up, say, "Skip, I'm ready to give my life to him tonight." God bless you, in the back. Anyone else? Up here in the front, I see your hand. We want to pray for you, but I need to know who you are, so just raise your hand up and say, "Skip, pray for me. I'm ready to give my life to Jesus tonight. I want to make sure that I'm in right relationship with him." Slip your hand up and I'll pray for you. Anyone else? Raise it up, raise it up high, don't be ashamed. God bless you.

Additional Messages in this Series

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12/22/1996
completed
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Deuteronomy 1:1-33
Deuteronomy 1:1-33
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12/29/1996
completed
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Deuteronomy 1:34-3:29
Deuteronomy 1:34-3:29
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1/5/1997
completed
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Deuteronomy 4:1-49
Deuteronomy 4:1-49
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2/2/1997
completed
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Deuteronomy 5:16-6:9
Deuteronomy 5:16-6:9
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2/9/1997
completed
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Deuteronomy 6:8-8:11
Deuteronomy 6:8-8:11
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2/16/1997
completed
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Deuteronomy 9-10
Deuteronomy 9-10
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3/2/1997
completed
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Deuteronomy 11-12:13
Deuteronomy 11-12:13
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3/9/1997
completed
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Deuteronomy 13-14
Deuteronomy 13-14
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3/16/1997
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Deuteronomy 14:22-16:8
Deuteronomy 14:22-16:8
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4/6/1997
completed
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Deuteronomy 16:9-17:20
Deuteronomy 16:9-17:20
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4/14/1997
completed
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Deuteronomy 18-20
Deuteronomy 18-20
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4/20/1997
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Deuteronomy 20-21
Deuteronomy 20-21
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5/4/1997
completed
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Deuteronomy 22-23
Deuteronomy 22-23
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5/25/1997
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Deuteronomy 24-25
Deuteronomy 24-25
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6/8/1997
completed
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Deuteronomy 26-27:3
Deuteronomy 26-27:3
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6/11/1997
completed
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Deuteronomy 27:4-28:20
Deuteronomy 27:4-28:20
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6/18/1997
completed
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Deuteronomy 28:15-68
Deuteronomy 28:15-68
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6/26/1997
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Deuteronomy 29-30:8
Deuteronomy 29-30:8
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7/2/1997
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Deuteronomy 30:10-31:8
Deuteronomy 30:10-31:8
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7/9/1997
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Deuteronomy 31:9-32:22
Deuteronomy 31:9-32:22
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7/16/1997
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Deuteronomy 32:23-34:12
Deuteronomy 32:23-34:12
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There are 21 additional messages in this series.
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