In 1989, a Philadelphia financial analyst purchased an old, torn picture of a country scene for $4 at a flea market in Adamstown , PA because he liked the frame. Later, when he tried to detach the frame from the painting, the frame fell apart in his hands and he found a folded document between the canvas and wood backing which appeared to be an old copy of the Declaration of Independence. A friend who collected Civil War memorabilia advised him to have it appraised.
It was real -- one of 500 official copies from the first printing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. (Only twenty-four similar copies were known to exist before this find, of which a mere three were privately owned.) This rare document was offered for sale by Sotheby's on June 4, 1991 and the lucky find fetched even more than had been anticipated: the $800,000 to $1.2 million estimate turned into $2.42 million by the sound of the gavel.
Last month (June 2000) Donald Scheer of Atlanta , who purchased the original copy for $2.42 million put it up for sale a second time. Months prior to the auction, Sotheby's confirmed the printed broadsheet not only as authentic but also as one of the three finest known - as crisp as it was on the evening it was printed by John Dunlap to carry the news of America's independence to the people of the thirteen colonies. This time, the find that was purchased for $4 at a flea market went for a whopping $8.14 million in an on-line auction!
If that handwritten note, signed by the 56 founding fathers that declared America ’s independence from Great Britain was worth $8.14 million, think what an original hand-written note from God must be worth! (Wayde Wilson, Sermoncentral)
It was real -- one of 500 official copies from the first printing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. (Only twenty-four similar copies were known to exist before this find, of which a mere three were privately owned.) This rare document was offered for sale by Sotheby's on June 4, 1991 and the lucky find fetched even more than had been anticipated: the $800,000 to $1.2 million estimate turned into $2.42 million by the sound of the gavel.
Last month (June 2000) Donald Scheer of Atlanta , who purchased the original copy for $2.42 million put it up for sale a second time. Months prior to the auction, Sotheby's confirmed the printed broadsheet not only as authentic but also as one of the three finest known - as crisp as it was on the evening it was printed by John Dunlap to carry the news of America's independence to the people of the thirteen colonies. This time, the find that was purchased for $4 at a flea market went for a whopping $8.14 million in an on-line auction!
If that handwritten note, signed by the 56 founding fathers that declared America ’s independence from Great Britain was worth $8.14 million, think what an original hand-written note from God must be worth! (Wayde Wilson, Sermoncentral)
In Deut. 9:10, Moses says that God wrote with His own finger the 10 Commandments and then gave them to Moses to give to the people. Now, I want to ask you to put yourself in a place that many of you probably like to go. I want you to put yourself in God’s place. If you were God and you had created man and all other things, what would you do?
Revelation 4:11 says, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”Colossians 1:16 reiterates the point: “All things were created by him and for him.”
So, you are God and you created something you called “very good” and now you want all people to know what is expected of them, right. How would you do it? How about just right it down? You could just tell Moses and let him tell all the other people but then Satan would come along and do just what he did to Eve in the book of Genesis and say, “C’mon, did God really say that? I think you misunderstood.”
So, now, the people have written in stone exactly what is expected of them if they are to stay in good favor with you. In fact, if you were a king back in the old days you would probably do something similar. You might draw up a legal document stating that because you are the king and you are sovereign then this is what will be expected of your subjects and as long as they are obedient then they will have your protection.
Even today, in most places of business the boss will draw up an employment handbook and give it to all employees so they will know what is expected; what will get them promoted and what will get them fired. That is what we have with the 10 Commandments in the book of Exodus. And the beautiful thing about these commandments is that they are perfect. Psalm 19:7 says, “The law of the LORD is perfect.” James 1:25 says it is the perfect law that brings freedom.
So we have this perfect law communicated perfectly but the problem is it is given to an imperfect people. Just how imperfect? You can read in the 32nd chapter of Exodus that while Moses was still on the mountain getting the 10 Commandments from God that the people sinned. They saw Moses go up the mountain and they saw the fire. They felt the mountain shake. There was smoke and fire and thunder and lightning and they could see, hear, smell and feel that Moses was doing business with God.
And before he even came back down the people said to each other, “Hey, let’s build a golden calf and worship it.” “Oh, yeah, that’s a good idea.” So that’s what they did, within sight of the mountain, they melted all their gold and made a baby cow to worship.
When Moses came down from the mountain his face was shining like a lamp, his clothes were singed and smoking, his hair was white and his eyes were flashing. He had just been in the presence of holy God in a way that no man before or since ever has and as he came through the smoke and the cloud, I can just picture him looking around and wondering where everybody went. And he sees that they have built an idol and they are worshiping some chunk of gold.
“Seriously people? I was gone like 10 minutes and this is what you do?” You can’t blame Moses for being a little frustrated. You can’t blame God for being upset with us even today when we have His perfect law. It is written down in black and white. We all understand the words. And yet we all break those commands just like Moses broke the tablets. Honestly, it’s enough to make you wonder why God gave us those laws to begin with. Why would He give the perfect law to people so imperfect?
Well, let’s read these laws and then maybe we can find out the purpose behind them. Turn toward the front of your Bibles to the Old Testament book of Exodus and find chapter 20, verses 1-17.
And God spoke all these words:2“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.3 “You shall have no other gods before me.4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.13 “You shall not murder.14 “You shall not commit adultery.15 “You shall not steal.16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Now, after reading this passage it would be the perfect time for me to expound on each one of those laws and explain further what each one means and what they mean for us today. I could even take each one as a separate sermon and preach every week for the next 10 weeks on how you are messing up. I could tell you that you are making your job into your god. I could tell you how your language needs to be cleaned up and how wrong it is not to come to church on Sunday; how you are stealing from God by not tithing and how comparing yourself with your neighbor is wrong and how guilty you are; all from this passage, and I could do it for at least 9 more Sundays, more if I halfway tried. And honestly, that would preach. That’s good stuff. Nothing wrong with that.
And isn’t that why they are in there? Aren’t the 10 Commandments there so I can tell you how poor of a job you are doing in keeping them? It’s almost a“to-do” list. Yep, got that one, got that one. Oh, honey, that’s the one you did yesterday. I told you not to do that. Got that one, check. I’m doing that one right now. But we always end by saying, “Well, I’ve never murdered anybody and I’ve never robbed a bank so I’m not as bad as some.”
Are the 10 Commandments there so we can feel guilty or are they there so we can feel better about ourselves than others? I want us to look this morning at why the Law was written by looking first at why it was notwritten. And, no, it was certainly not written for us to feel better about ourselves but the first reason I would like to share is that it was not written to save us. And when I say that you should be praying, “Thank you Lord!” Thank you Lord that it is not by keeping all of your Laws that provides my way to heaven and to eternal life with you and keeps me out of a literal and fiery hell.
Let’s go back to putting yourself in the place of God. It just makes sense to us that if your good deeds outweigh your bad deeds then you are ok, right? That’s how we would do it if we were God. But if you have the law spelled out and every single person blasts through the vast majority of them over and over again, how can you say that person is good?
If you are a king in the old days and you have made a covenant with your people that if they follow your laws then you will protect them but otherwise there are consequences and if those people break those laws over and over again, what kind of king would you be to say to every single person, “Oh, that’s ok. It’s all right. I forgive you.”? You would have to be a just king or you would be a bad king. So, what do you do? The law does not save. Romans 3:20 says, “no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law.” The law is about justice. There is no mercy or forgiveness in the law. It’s black and white and if you break it you must pay the price. So the law is not there to save us.
It is also not written to give us goodstanding before God. We all like to think that we are good people but Romans 3:10 says, “There is no one righteous, not even one.” Yes, but I do good things now. I’m not perfect but I do some good things. Isaiah 64:6 says, “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” We all want to be in good standing with God just like if you were to sell your corporation, the person you are selling it to would want a certificate of good standing with the government. So, you call up your local gubmint official and tell him you want that certificate. He tells you that you haven’t paid your taxes. You have failed to meet the requirement necessary to get that certificate. You can beg and plead and make threats and tell all about how you used to pay your taxes and how your brother works for the gubmint. It doesn’t matter. It’s the same with God. The Law is not written to give us good standing with Him because we have all failed to meet the requirement of keeping that Law.
Lastly, the Law was not written to sanctify the saints. It was not written to make Christians holy. I am quite sure that there are some non-Christians out there that live a more moral life than I do. I’m sure that some people who never darken the door of a church could say they are better people than I am since they have broken the 10 Commandments fewer times than I have. Paul himself says in Romans 7, “15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[a] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.”
The Law doesn’t make us holy or sanctified. Even as Christians we blow through the 10 Commandments like Grant taking Richmond so why was it written? I’ll give you 3 reasons why it was written. First, it was written to show us the character of God. Just like you have certain characteristics that make you who you are, so God has characteristics that make Him God. And the fundamental thing that makes God who He is is that He is holy and righteous. The holiness of God is declared in the 10 Commandments as much as anywhere else. The book of Leviticus says several times, “Be holy, for the Lord your God is holy.”
Going back to the scenario of you being God, you would probably be a pretty cool God, right? You would cut folks some slack when they messed up because you know how it is to mess up. It’s hard not to sometimes and so you would go easy and not be all “righteous and holy”. I mean, that’s so Old Testament, right? Well, you are not God…and I’m glad. And while we all know that we are not under the law but under grace, there are still consequences for sin. It doesn’t matter if you are Billy Graham or Charles Manson. God still calls sin a sin and there will always be consequences to that sin because of God’s righteous and holy character.
Secondly, the reason the Law was given is so that we would see our own character. The Law is the plumbline that we hang down and compare to the crookedness of our own lives and characters. I read the first part of Romans 3:20 earlier, “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law.” But the last part says, “Rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.” When we look at the law and then look into a mirror we see a great difference. That is not our character and hasn’t been since Adam and Eve fell in the garden.
How many of you have honestly prayed to God for forgiveness but told Him that even now as I pray there is a part of me that wants to go do it again! As I sit here asking for forgiveness there is a part of me that want to go wallow in that mess of sin some more. Oh, Lord have mercy on us! But there is no mercy in the Law. There is no forgiveness. There is only justice and consequences. But thank God there is one more reason that the law was given.
Lastly, the reason the Law was given was ultimately to lead us to Jesus. Galatians 3:24 says, “So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.” Paul says that the Law was our “paidagogos”. It means in the original Greek, to lead a child. It was used of the servant in the house who took the child to school. The Law leads us to Jesus in the same way.
When I see that the law is perfect and yet I am not; when I see that the law can’t save us, give us a good standing before God or sanctify us as Christians, I see that I am in trouble because there is no mercy or grace in the Law. When I see the righteousness of God and how holy and perfect He is I realize there is no way I could ever earn my way to heaven no matter how many good things I did and so when the New Testament tells me that God loved me so much He sent His only Son to die in my place I want to scream, “Give me Jesus!” But if it weren’t for the Law in the Old Testament I would never know what was required.
That is why the Law was given so many thousands of years ago. And I would expect that most of the people here this morning know this already. You already know that righteous God requires a death sacrifice to pay for our sins and that He sent Jesus here to earth to show us grace where the law could not. You know that it is because of His death, burial and resurrection that we can be seen as righteous before God and have good standing with Him, through grace, not of ourselves, lest any man should boast. You know all that.
But I’m not going to mince my words here. You know that and I know that but I have reason to believe that TJ and Shannon who live across the street don’t know that. I have reason to believe that the precious older couple right behind us, the Ezells, don’t know that. What about Melissa down at the store? What about Keith who lives a couple of streets over? What about Tony in Runaway Bay ? What about your neighbor who was out working on the car this morning and you waved to him real friendly as you came to church? We are literally surrounded by people who have broken the Law of God just like we have but they have not accepted Jesus to be the Lord of their life and their substitute for punishment for their sin.
I’m not trying to preach a “fire and brimstone” sermon at all but Revelation 20:11 says, “whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Because God is a good and righteous judge we have to believe His word and believe that He means what He says. So, I’m going to end with just this question: who are you going to talk to about Jesus today?
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