God Requires Perfect Obedience from Man (2)

The Foundation of Law and the Creator-Creature Relationship

0:01 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday evening, November 12, 1995, at the Trinity Baptist Church of Montville, New Jersey. In the ministry of the Word of God this morning, we began our series of studies in the Ten Commandments. And in starting this series, I stated that I would be bringing, God willing, four to five introductory messages which would function after the analogy of the foundation of a house. And it is the foundation, the slab with its footings, and the walls, either poured concrete or concrete block, that constitute both the support and the bondage. Or the boundaries or the major contours of the superstructure. And I asserted this morning that if our study of the Ten Commandments, being the superstructure, was to be a responsible study, one in which we would, in the language of Paul in 1 Timothy, use the law lawfully and not unlawfully, that these introductions...

1:22 The introductory studies were essential, for bound up in a proper understanding of the law of God is not only the matter of our own relationship to God in blessing or in curse, but the very heart of the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ, major dimensions of biblical teaching on the Christian life. And to be...

1:52 Skewed in our thinking by an irresponsible plunging in and just beginning to address the meaning of the significance of the first and the second and the third and the fourth commandments would be to leave ourselves unnecessarily vulnerable to the wicked one whom, remember, was not at all reserved to quote Scripture even to the Son of God in seeking to tempt him. And if he did it with our blessed Lord, he is not beneath doing it with us. And one of the responsibilities of pastors and teachers whom the Lord says he would give and who would feed his people with knowledge and understanding is to be aware of these potential dangers and to do all within our power responsibly to hedge up any aspect of God's truth, from an unnecessary abuse. I then set before you a basic, a central principle in these words. Man, as created by God, is under an inescapable obligation to render perfect obedience to God.

3:13 I then went on to demonstrate, and I had only time to do this, the ground or the basis of... of this obligation.

3:24 What lies at the very foundation, the very basis of this inescapable obligation which man has to render perfect obedience to God? And I answered by the simple statement, it is the creator-creature relationship. And then we turned particularly to Genesis chapters 1 and 2, and saw that from the very beginning of creation, this creator-creature distinction is woven into the very fabric of the account of the created order, and that God does not consult with man the creature, God does not enter into negotiations with man the creature, God being God the creator, man being God the creator, being man the creature, God asserts His right to impose upon the man this obligation of perfect obedience to Himself. And we saw that the only way that we can even attempt to escape from the pressure of that obligation of perfect obedience to God based on the creator-creature relationship,

4:52 is either to un-God-God, or to un-man-man. And that that was precisely what lay at the heart of the initial temptation of the tempter when he says to Eve, you shall be as God knowing. You will be elevated from the posture of the creature who is to be receptive, who is...

5:22 who is to receive what God declares, and you shall be as God knowing. And then we considered some of the efforts from that time onward, some of which are recorded in Romans 1, 18 and following, in which man is continually seeking to do one or both of those things, or a third alternative, he seeks to make everything God, and utterly blur, any creator-creature distinction whatsoever. Now because this matter, I trust, is still fresh in our thinking, and is crucial to our study, and I don't want to linger any longer than necessary in these introductory studies, I want to complete this morning's message tonight by giving you the final two headings. We have asked the question, if man is ungodly, under an inescapable obligation to render perfect obedience to God, what is the ground of this obligation? And we have answered, it is the creator-creature distinction. Now we ask, what is the standard or the pattern for this obligation?

The Revealed Will of God as the Standard for Obedience

6:44 If the ground of it is that God is God and man is man, then what is the standard, or the pattern for this obligation? How shall this obligation, this inescapable obligation, to render perfect obedience to God express itself? And the answer again is a very simple one. It is the revealed will of God.

7:14 The revealed will of God is the standard or the pattern for this obligation. You see, if man is under an inescapable obligation to render perfect obedience to God, then he must know wherein that obedience consists. And furthermore, if God is righteous, just, and gracious in His relationship to man the creature, surely He will make known to man what He requires of him in the way of obedience. You children, think with me.

7:55 Back in the days when there were kings and kingdoms, what would you think of a king who proclaimed himself to be a just, a righteous, and a gracious king, whose heart was full of goodwill towards his subjects? He graciously provides for all of the needs of his subjects, and he declares himself to be committed to the well-being of his subjects, but as a righteous king, he demands order in his kingdom. And his rule and his will and obedience to his laws are indeed the framework of the order of his kingdom. Now, what would you think of him if he proclaimed himself to be a kind, a gracious, a righteous king, and said that in my kingdom my laws will all be righteous and reflect my graciousness? And my justice? But, I'm not going to tell you what they are. If you keep them, I'll smile upon you.

9:04 If you figure them out and comply with them, I'll confer additional favor and give you all the benefits of the additional protection and provisions of my kingdom. However, if you fail to figure them out and you break any of my laws, you'll be cast into, into a dungeon and tortured periodically. Now, what would you think of such a king who made his subjects bound to the laws of his kingdom with a promise of blessing if they would keep them and a curse and punishment if they would not keep them, but then did not reveal his will? Would you believe he was a just and a righteous and a gracious king? I see one of the little girls whom I'll not look, who's listening very carefully, looking right up at me when I ask the question going,

10:04 no, he would not be. For all of his self-proclaimed justice, righteousness, and graciousness, it would be nothing but a cruel tyrant who would bind his subjects to his law and then not reveal his law to his subjects. The God of the Bible who reveals himself, as a righteous, just, and gracious God, is not like that king in my parable. He has, from the very beginning of the creation of man, not only placed him under an obligation, an inescapable obligation, to render perfect obedience to himself, but he has always been capable, careful to set forth a standard or a pattern for that obligation by revealing his will to man.

God's Law Inscribed on the Heart (Romans 2)

11:15 Now, as I purpose to demonstrate in a future study, much of God's will was revealed to Adam by inscribing on the inner corridors of his heart what Adam was to do, and to be in rendering obedience to his God. Turn, please, to Romans chapter 2, not for a careful exposition of this passage now, but just a quick overview of it. A careful exposition will await another introductory study, God willing, next Lord's Day morning. But we read in Romans chapter 2,

11:55 in a section of this epistle, where Paul is demonstrating universal sinfulness, universal wrath deservingness upon all men, whether or not they've ever seen the pages of a Bible, whether or not they've ever heard the Gospel, whether or not they have ever heard or read Exodus 20 or Deuteronomy chapter 5, which contain a summary of the moral law of God. And he's dealing at this point with those who have never seen or heard a verbal, visual setting forth of the Decalogue, of the Ten Commandments, of the moral law of God. They are described in verse 12 of Romans 2, as many as have sinned without the law shall also perish without the law. There are those who have sinned. They have broken the law of God.

13:00 They have been guilty of failing to render perfect obedience to God. For that's the essence of sin. Sin is the transgression of law. Sin is lawlessness.

13:16 But they have sinned without the law. They have sinned without the code of God's will embodied in the Ten Commandments. Yet they have sinned. And they have sinned in such a way that they shall receive, the judgment of God.

13:34 Well, if that's so, on what basis can they be accounted sinful? Verse 14, For when Gentiles that have not the law, back to the same group of people, do by nature the things of the law, these not having the law, are the law unto themselves, in that they show the work of the law, written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness therewith, and their thoughts one with another, accusing or else excusing them. Now, the main overview of the passage that I want to set before you, and that's all I'm purposing at this point for our purposes tonight, is that here is a people who never saw the Ten Commandments, never heard a preaching, of the Decalogue, and yet, this passage says, being without law, they are a law unto themselves, in that they show the work of the law, written in their hearts, and this is manifested in the presence and function of a conscience, that approves certain things that they do, as being pleasing to God, and praiseworthy,

15:01 and other things that they do, as being displeasing to God, and blameworthy. Now, if that is true of the Gentile nations, hundreds and even thousands of years after the fall of man, where did this original writing take place? If they show and manifest this work of the law, written in their hearts, by whom, was it originally inscribed?

15:35 Well, obviously, not by societal consensus, and certainly not by the devil. It is like those ruined temples in Greece,

15:49 that some of you have seen in your geography books, and in your ancient history books, where there's a column here, and there is a wall there, and you can imagine, and the artist will seek to fill in, and represent, and present before your eyes, what that marvelous structure was like in its original constitution, but with the passing of years, and wars, and the erosion of the elements, they are just a faint resemblance of what they once were, but from what they now are, you can reason backward to what they were. And surely then, when Adam came from the hand of God, made remember in the very image, image and likeness of God, there was inscribed upon the inner chambers of the heart and soul of Adam and Eve, a clear revelation of what God expected of them. He revealed it to them by writing it upon them and in them. However, and this is the clear statement of Arun Kambara, confession of faith, I commend chapter 19 to you on the law of God, where we read, God gave to Adam a law of universal obedience written on his heart.

17:18 And the proof text cited are Genesis 1.27, Ecclesiastes 7.29, you have made man upright, and then in the next paragraph where a similar statement is found, Romans 2.14 and 15 are cited, as the proof texts.

God's Explicit External Revelation in Eden (Genesis 1-2)

17:36 But coming back then, to Adam in that original constitution, there he is, made in the image of God. God having revealed his will to Adam, having created him in his image, and by inscribing as it were upon the walls and chambers of his own inner life, what he was to do and be to render obedience to God, that God in addition to that made his will known by specific explicit directives that came external to Adam. Let's go back to Genesis and just look from a differing perspective at some of the passages we considered this morning. And notice, whereas this morning the emphasis was upon the fact that God commanded without seeking the commandment sent of the creature, seeking any counsel from the creature, any approval of the creature, he simply as creator exercised his rights, but notice the form in which he exercised those rights. Verse 28 of Genesis 1, And God blessed them, and God said unto them, and now he gives a clear, explicit revelation of his will,

19:04 by his word, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heaven, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. And then as Adam looks out upon the trees that are there, perhaps the question is anticipated in his mind of what use are these trees, to me, what use may I make of them, and please my maker? And the maker perhaps anticipating, reading the question of his heart, God said, Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed to you, it shall be for food. So that when Adam looked upon the tree, upon a given fruit tree, and there saw a luscious piece of fruit, and started to reach out with his mouth watering, he didn't have to hesitate and say, wait a minute, is this a no-no? Will it please my God if I pick this piece of fruit and eat it? Has God placed it there for His own pleasure? Am I in

20:29 some way displeasing my God by removing something in His world that He's put there, that He might look upon it with pleasure? God says, Adam, I'll settle all such questions for you. All the trees with all of their fruit, they're there for you. So that the standard for Adam's obedience in a most elementary issue, such as his physical appetite, was set by the revealed will of God.

21:03 The same way with regard to his sexual appetite. Adam was made with sexual capacities and functions, and no doubt with normal, hormonal, sexual drives. And when we read in chapter 2 that after he had named all of the animals in obedience to the command of God, knowing that it was the will of God that he should take upon himself so high and noble a responsibility, to give definition to the animal kingdom, Adam would not have presumed to do that had God not assigned him that task. It would have appeared like a presumptuous thing. Why, God made the animals. He alone has the right to assign their particular identity and function. Naming them was more than simply putting a verbal tag on them.

21:59 It meant to express their significance and their function and their identity in God's world. Adam didn't have to have any question about whether or not it was pleasing to God. Should he exercise his mental faculties, his faculties of observation and analysis and synthesis, and then come up with a conclusion? Because God brought the animals to Adam and made it known it was his will that he should name them.

22:28 As he named them, and as he saw them all, male and female, he became conscious that there was no one of them answering to his needs. None of them with whom he could communicate. None of them with whom he could unfold the deepest secrets and yearnings of his own heart. He could admire the handiwork of his God in them.

22:52 But there was not found a helper answering to his needs. And then God says, having apparently allowed Adam to have some felt consciousness of this, and we can only imagine what may have gone through Adam's mind, it's pure imagination. Could it be that he wondered,

23:13 is this yearning a discontent with who I am and where I am in God's world? Could it be that this sense that there is some lack in me is something that ought not to be? But God takes over and God speaks and says in verse 18, it is not good that the man should be alone. I will make a help answering to him.

23:43 I will make a counterpart suitable to him. And then we have the account of how the Lord did this when he anesthetized Adam, takes one of his ribs and from the rib forms the woman and brings her to the man. And when Adam awakes and beholds Eve, he says, verse 23, this is now bone, of my bones and flesh of my flesh, and she shall be called woman, Isha, for she has been taken out of man, Ish. She does answer to me. She is my counterpart and my complement. And I say it reverently, no doubt there began to burn within Adam every wholesome desire to touch the warm, beautiful form of the wife, that is brought to him in shameless innocence, in shameless nakedness there in Eden. And you see, as Adam felt all of the impulses reaching out to embrace his wife, he didn't have to have the slightest twinge of conscience that this was right, for God had said according to Genesis chapter 1, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth. And whether it's God speaking or Moses speaking afterward in that original

25:06 marriage institution, God made plain that he was establishing the pattern for marriage in this monogamous, permanent commitment. A man shall cleave to his wife, and they too shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. Why? Just as Adam felt no shame when he, quote, marred the perfect symmetry of a fruit tree by plucking off from one place, a few pieces of fruit. He had no sense of shame when he did that, because God said, I've given you all the trees for food. And when he brings his counterpart to him, there is no shame as he receives her with joyful exclamation. This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. And as Adam

25:59 gives himself to Eve, and Eve to Adam, and the whole creation account closes on that beautiful, chaste, note of Adam and Eve in total nakedness before one another, and before God in marital intimacy. God looks upon all that he's made, and behold, it is very good. Now, how did Adam know that? You see, something so fundamental and basic as his sexual capacities and instincts and drives, God was pleased to reveal his will, and he revealed it so explicitly that Adam, would have no question that he was pleasing the God to whom he was bound to render perfect obedience. So the standard or pattern for this obligation is the revealed will of God. It was true in Eden, hear me now, before sin ever entered the world. Do you see that?

The Intensified Need for Revealed Will After the Fall

27:12 Regardless of the measure to which God had inscribed upon the corridors of their hearts, the transcript of his will, he also gave additional external, objectively spoken dimensions of his will. And if that was God's way, when there was no darkness upon the mind of Adam and Eve with regard to what it is to do the will of God, there was no perversity and rebellion of heart. There was no crookedness of spirit in total innocence in positive righteousness made in the image of God with a positive bias to please and serve God. How much more do we desperately need a revelation of the will of God if we are to please god now that sin has entered and according to the scriptures our minds are darkened ephesians chapter 2 our wills are perverse romans 8 and verse 7 our affections are skewed from their

28:39 proper center and object there is none that seeks after god no not one romans chapter 3 and verse 11 you see the standard or pattern for this obligation is the revealed will of god and it has nothing to do with even man being a sinner it's intensified but it's It's part of the outgrowth of the creator-creature relationship. And in my preparation, I found it most helpful to think about angels.

Angelic Obedience to God's Revealed Word (Hebrews 1, Psalm 103)

29:23 You say, Pastor, you sit at your desk and you think about angels? Don't you have more important things to do? Well, think about the angels for a minute. The unfallen angels.

29:32 Are they under an inescapable obligation perfectly to perform the will of God? You say, yes, of course. And it's an obligation they delight to fulfill. Now, how do they fulfill that obligation?

29:50 What is the pattern? What is the standard for their obligation? Well, it's nothing less than the revealed will of God. I want you to look at two passages with me.

30:01 Hebrews chapter 1, where the writer to the Hebrews is demonstrating the superiority of Christ.

30:12 He comes in his argument to demonstrate. He comes in his argument to demonstrate that Christ is superior to angels. No angel has ever been called God. No angel has ever been given the position that has been given to Jesus Christ.

30:31 By contrast, Hebrews 1.14, speaking of the angels, are they not all ministering spirits, now notice, sent forth to do service? For the sake of them that inherit salvation. Angels do not simply go forth at the impulse of their holy, sinless wills.

30:57 They are sent forth according to the will of their God. And they do their service with joy. They do it with heavenly alacrity and with perfection. But they do it.

31:16 As sent forth. And what is clearly implied in the words sent forth is explicitly affirmed of the angels in Psalm 103 and verse 20. Here in this wonderful psalm, familiar to many of us, in which David is stirring up himself to bless, to speak well of his God. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me.

31:46 Bless the Lord, O my soul. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Well, after he's called himself and stirred up himself to bless God, and he does, then he's not satisfied. He then calls upon the angels to bless him.

32:03 In verse 20, Bless the Lord, you his angels, that are mighty in strength, now notice, that fulfill his word.

32:18 Hearken to the voice of the Lord. The voice of his word. I almost jumped out of my chair when I read it in this light. A psalm that I've prayed through over the years, dozens and dozens of times.

32:34 But here are holy angels that David calls upon to bless God. And how does he describe them? Mighty in strength, that fulfill his word. Heart, the voice of his word.

32:50 And there you can picture, if we can picture, disembodied spirits about the throne of God, eagerly awaiting what? The revelation of his will to them, as framed by his word. And the moment he speaks, they are sent forth, and with joy, and with angelic power and might, they accomplish and fulfill his word. As he has revealed, his will to them in it.

33:26 You see, in all of the realm of God's moral creatures, whether it is man or the angels, the creator-creature distinction is binding upon all those creatures, and all of the creatures, men and angels, are under an inescapable obligation to render perfect obedience to God, and the standard or the pattern for that obligation is the revealed will of God, even for sinless angels. They don't get together in a little caucus every morning and say, what shall we do today to exercise our strength for the honor and glory of our God, and to do service for the heirs of salvation, and have one of them say, well, there's a particular saint down there, and, and have one of them say, well, there's a particular saint down there, and, in Pequoynic and another one over there in Butler and one there in Montville that has this need or that need, well, who shall go on that ser... No, no. They don't get together,

Redeemed Obedience in Heaven (Revelation 14)

34:33 and by consensus determine what they'll do on any given day. They await the Word of the King! When He speaks, now their obedience follows the exact contours and shape and pattern of the will of God. And likewise, In heaven, in heaven itself, when the redeemed are fully confirmed in holiness and righteousness.

35:05 Now what that term means, kids, is that in heaven there'll be no possibility of ever sinning again. Unlike the garden of Eden, what we'll have in heaven will be better. For though Adam was made upright and with a positive bias to righteousness and holiness and loving God and serving God and doing the will of God, he was made capable of sinning. But when the Lord is finished with his own, the work of redemption will take us beyond that which Adam had in Eden.

35:38 And we will be confirmed, locked in to righteousness and to holiness and to perfect holiness. Obedience without any possibility whatsoever of ever reversing.

35:54 There'll be no tempter to come to any soul in the new heavens, in the new earth. But, but, in that state, what will be the pattern of fulfilling our obligation? What will be the standard that will determine how we shall express this perfectness? What will be the perfect confirmation in righteousness and holiness?

36:23 Well, again, there is a marvelous picture given to us in Revelation 14, and I ask you to turn there with me. Revelation chapter 14. And contrary to the heretical and damning teaching of the Russellites, the Jehovah's Witnesses, who deny the deity of the Son of God, who deny almost every major biblical truth essential, essential to life and salvation. The 144,000 described in Revelation 14 is simply one of the many pictures of the composite of God's redeemed.

37:04 And here they are pictured as the 144,000, which is one of the many pictures of all of God's redeemed. And notice how they're described. And I saw and behold the Lamb standing on the Mount Zion. And with him 144,000 having his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads.

37:33 And I heard from heaven as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder. And the voice which I heard was as the voice of harpers harping with their harps. And they sing as it were a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures. Preachers and the elders.

37:54 And no man could learn the song save the 144,000. Even they that had been purchased out of the earth. These are they that were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. You see here is a beautiful symbolic picture of their purity.

38:13 It is like the purity of a virgin. These are they. Now here's the description. Not that follow their perfectly sanctified holy.

38:31 Wherever they will take them, no. In that glorified state they are described. These are they that follow the Lamb. Whithersoever he goes.

38:47 These were purchased from among men. To be the first fruits unto God. And unto the Lamb. Do you see?

38:58 Even in the perfected state. The redeemed are found in the posture of doing as God reveals it in this language. In terms of where the Lamb goes, they know. What am I to do this day in heaven?

39:20 I see where the Lamb goes. And I follow the Lamb. Wherever He goes. Beautiful picture of this great principle.

The Danger of Doing What is Right in One's Own Eyes (Judges 21)

39:34 Namely that the standard or the pattern for this obligation to render perfect obedience to God. Is the revealed will of God. Now do you see dear brothers and sisters and young people and boys and girls. How crucial this truth is.

39:58 In the day in which we live. For surely if ever the language of Judges 21-25. Bears repeating as describing a generation of people. It bears repeating in describing this present generation of Americans.

40:20 In 1995. The book of Judges closes with this solemn frightening statement. In those days. There was no king in Israel.

40:36 There was no supreme authority. There was no one to issue decrees. There was no one to call the shots. Every man did that which was right.

40:53 In his own eyes. And if you want to know what that results in. Just don't eat a full meal. And then pray for grace to read the book of Judges with some measure of sensitivity.

41:07 And you'll read things that will make you want a wretch. That will make you want to hide your head in shame. You'll read things that you wonder that the spirit of God would even record them. And what was the problem?

41:23 There was no king in Israel. No one giving authoritative revelation of the will of God. For that was the function of every king in Israel. He was to lay up the book of the law by him.

41:38 He was to read it continually. Joshua was told this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth. Thou shalt meditate therein day and night. For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous.

41:50 And then thou shalt have good success. He was to see to it that it would be publicly read. Every seven years before the whole congregation of Israel. There was no one there articulating the revealed will of God.

42:04 And everyone was doing that which was, notice, right in his own eyes. But when you read what was right in their own eyes. Issue after issue was a flagrant violation of the law of God. Isn't that a description of this generation?

42:31 When the young man who was kicked out of the Boy Scouts. For being an unashamed, self-proclaimed pervert. A sodomite. A homosexual.

42:46 And the court upheld the right of the Boy Scouts to kick him out. He shamelessly looked into the eye of the television cameras. Proclaiming the injustice done against him. The prejudice shown against him.

43:04 And he's going to appeal to a higher court. It's right in his eyes that he should consort in active sexual activity with another man. When God says it is an abomination. When God says in Israel such a man was to be put to death.

43:27 But he's doing what's right in his eyes. That's why he can shamelessly look into the eye of the camera and say. I'm being discriminated against. That's why for hours.

43:38 For hours. Every day. Channel after channel. People can sit.

43:46 And spill forth. The most vile. The most wretched expressions of perverse. Immorality.

43:57 And bitterness. And the fracturing of every noble sacred human relationship. Without shame. Why?

44:08 It's right. In their eyes. And it's right in their eyes. And they are shameless.

44:16 Because it's a generation that's been reared. Without feeling the pressure. Of the law of the king of kings. Upon its conscience.

44:27 You say. Well isn't it better that homosexuals are out of the closet. Than in the closet. No.

44:34 A man in the closet at least shows. He's got his conscience in an unseared state. And he knows what he's doing is evil. And he's ashamed.

44:43 And so he stays in the closet. It's when his conscience is seared. And when we call evil good. Then good evil.

The Decalogue as God's Comprehensive Revelation

44:54 That everything under the sun. Comes out of the closet. And surely. If on the ground of the creator creature relationship.

45:04 Every one of us. Is under inescapable obligation to render perfect obedience to God. And if the standard or pattern for that obligation. Is the revealed will of God.

45:17 We must ask the question. Has God anywhere revealed his will. For man the creature. And the answer.

45:28 In one sense. Could be yes. He's revealed it in terms of the remnants. That are there in what once was a noble.

45:37 Glorious building in man's soul. We show the work of the law. Written in our hearts. Particularly manifested in the function of conscience.

45:48 If it is not wholly defiled and wholly seared. But what a horribly inaccurate standard. Is there no other place. And I could answer and it would be accurate.

46:00 And say yes the whole of the word of God. From Genesis to Revelation. For all scripture is given by inspiration of God. And is profitable for teaching.

46:09 Reprove. Correction. Instruction in righteousness. And in the same way.

46:14 In righteousness. What is that if it isn't moral standard. How can I be reproved. Unless there's a standard.

46:22 To which my conduct is held. And judged right or wrong. And if it's wrong it's reproved. And if there's no standard of right.

46:30 How I can be corrected. And turned into the right way. And all scripture is profitable for reproof. For correction.

46:37 For training in righteousness. How can I be trained in righteousness. Unless all of scripture sets forth. The standard of righteousness.

46:45 So in a sense the answer to the question. Is there anywhere to find this revelation of the will of God. The whole of scripture. But.

46:53 But. In a very unique and special way. Which I hope to demonstrate God willing. Next Lord's Day morning.

47:01 It is in the ten commandments. In the decalogue. In what we have come to call the moral law of God. That God has graciously given.

47:11 A most comprehensive. Tightly knit. Beautiful succinct summary. Of that which he requires of you.

47:21 And of me. As his creatures. Made in his image. And you see that is why we are coming to this study.

47:33 Of the ten commandments. Because God has chosen that in them. There should be this comprehensive. Yet distilled.

47:45 Closely knit. Marvelous synthesis of what is found. Scattered from Genesis to Revelation. Setting forth.

47:55 The revealed will of our God. For us. His creatures. And I trust that having considered.

Pastoral Application: Prayer for Knowledge and Conviction

48:08 The standard or pattern for this obligation. Your heart will cry out. Oh God. Teach me.

48:16 Your law. That I may know. As your child. How better to please you.

48:20 And if you are not a Christian. And you have been indifferent. To all the overtures. Of the gospel.

48:24 May it be your prayer. Oh God. Don't let me sink into hell. Stupid.

48:28 And insensitive. And unaware of my true state. And that by the preaching of the law. In the coming weeks.

48:32 And months. As the scripture says. You may come. To me.

48:36 To me. To me. To me. To me.

48:40 To me. To me. To me. To me.

48:44 To me. To me. You may come to a felt knowledge of your sins. Such as you've never never known before.

48:51 And instead of judging as right. What in your eyes is right. You begin to judge only what is right. That is in perfect parallel.

49:00 Ism to the law of God. That meets the standard of God's requirement. And everything that falls short of that is wrong. You will see how wretchedly.

49:12 Terribly. Tragically. Frighteningly. wrong you are, not only in your deeds and words, but in your thoughts, in your motives, in your desires, in your deepest thoughts and intents of the heart.

The Ultimate Expressions of God's Obligation: Christ's Work and Judgment

49:33 But then I come to conclude quickly, having considered the ground of this obligation to obey God this morning, having considered the standard for this obligation, the revealed will of God, now, what's the ultimate expression of this obligation? How can we know without any question, without any doubt, that this obligation that is upon us to obey God perfectly is not something...

50:11 is not something manufactured by a preacher trying to guilt-manipulate people, by religious fanatics, narrow-minded and bigoted? Let me suggest to you there are two ultimate expressions of this obligation. There are many, but two ultimate expressions, and you know what they are? The first is the work of Jesus Christ, and the second is the day of judgment.

50:39 You say, the work of Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ is the ultimate expression of our obligation to render to God perfect obedience? Yes. Yes, it is.

50:53 Because, you see, it was God's purpose that He should take out of the race of Adam a people whom He would rescue from the condemnation, from the power and defilement of sin, and make them into the kind of people described in that figurative language. Revelation 14, that He would have a people in the language of Ephesians 1 that was read this morning who would be holy and without blemish before Him, a people whom He in love predestinated unto adoption of sons, and whom He, according to Romans 8, predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son. And as God committed Himself to that, He predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son. Now, what would it entail? It would entail that God, in the person of the eternal Word, would have to take to Himself a true human soul and body, and the God-man would, in that state, submit Himself to the entirety of the very requirements of God's revealed will.

52:14 And so keep those requirements to perfection that, as Pastor Lamar reminded us tonight, He could be described as holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. That in the language of Romans 5, by His obedience, others might be justified. And He had to come into existence. He had to come into our situation as our representative and our substitute under that law which demanded of Him perfect obedience.

53:00 And He rendered that obedience so perfectly that the Father could speak from heaven and say, This is my Son, my beloved in whom I am well pleased. And as the confidence...

53:17 This is the culminating act of that obedience. Philippians chapter 2, He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And what happened upon the cross? He does not lay down His life as the symbol of selflessness, as the martyr spirit willing to die for a cause.

53:40 No. The Scriptures are clear. This is the gospel Paul says, 1 Corinthians 15. By which you are saved if you hold fast to the things delivered unto you.

53:52 Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.

54:00 And when He hung upon that cross, He was in the court of heaven being charged with the guilt of all of our offense. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him. The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

54:24 How seriously does God take our obligation to render perfect obedience to His law so seriously that I say it reverently, He parted with His own beloved Son.

54:40 He goes to the dark confines of a little maiden's womb to pass through every single stage of prenatal development. To be pushed into the world. He goes to the blood and the moans of his young mother. To nurse at her breast.

54:59 To toddle about their humble home in Nazareth. To live among sinners. To live in poverty. To grow up and to be despised and rejected.

55:13 And then to go to a place of execution and have his soul plunged into hell. Until he cried, My God, my God. Why have you persecuted me? Why have you persecuted me?

55:23 and then to go to a place of execution and have his soul plunged into hell. Until he cried, My God, my God. Why have you persecuted me? Satan, you think God doesn't take our obligation to his law seriously? Then explain to me the work of Jesus Christ. His incarnation is a mockery. His life of obedience is a mockery. His death upon the cross is a mockery. But it is no mockery. It is God saying, I take so seriously the creator creature relationship, which is the ground of man, the creature's obligation to render perfect obedience to me. I take so seriously the pattern and the standard of that obedience, my revealed will, that every single deviation from that will in every one of those whom I purpose to save can only be erased from the record. If my son takes to himself a true human soul and body and becomes a man and lives out a life of

56:34 obedience in the very circumstances where those whom I purpose to save have disobeyed me and not kept my law, he will perfectly keep it. That's why it is said in the prophecy of Isaiah that in his work of salvation, the servant of Jehovah would magnify the law. And make it honorable. And never was it more magnified than when in his person it was perfectly obeyed. And when in his person he bore the curse of that law upon the cross. And for you who take lightly your obligation to render perfect obedience to God, you better go back and rub out the incarnation, the life, the death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Before you pillow your head with any comfort that everything's going to turn all right, even though you aren't perfect, it ain't going to turn out all right. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. It's not going to

57:44 turn out all right. If God takes in the person of his son, that he's willing to expose his own heart to his wail of abandonment, do you think he'll turn away when you screech and howl? Sinking into hell. It's time you stop playing loose with God's law. And realize that God takes it seriously.

58:20 And the ultimate expression of that is the work of Christ. And secondly, the judgment of God.

58:31 What's going to happen at the judgment? Very quickly? There, according to Revelation 20, 12, and 13, God will open the books, figurative language, and he will judge every man according to his deeds or his works. Romans 14, 12, so then every one of us shall give account of himself to God in terms of our works. Matthew 12, 36, and 37 says every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment, for by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. And Romans 2, and verse 6, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. And Romans 2, and verse 6, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. 16 says, or verse 15, in the day, 16, in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men's hearts according to my gospel. You mean Almighty God, in the day of judgment, is going to bring forth

59:29 the record of every single deed that was not an expression of perfect conformity to his revealed will? Yes, every deed. The ones done openly, the ones done in secret, there was no eye but the eye of God. Every word, think of it, every word that was not perfect truth, every word that was not spoken in love, every word that cut and wounded, seduced, deceived, every word, every word, every word, but then every thought, think of it, the thoughts that some of you have been thinking right here in this service tonight. When in the world would this bletherer, God will bring that thought out in the day of judgment and say, I put you in a place where a man of God was preaching the word of God for your good. And you remember on November 12th, 1995, when you sat there and thought, when will this bletherer be done?

60:42 And God will drag your thoughts out, and your conscience will come alive, and your mouth will be shut. What is the ultimate expression of this obligation? Not only the work of Christ, but the day of judgment. Now, if you can obliterate the life and death of Christ from human history, and somehow coerce God to cancel the day of judgment, then you've got grounds, if you're not in Christ, to go out of here tonight with a skip in your step and with a giggle in your voice.

61:25 But if you are not in Christ, and you do not have the confidence that all of your failures to perfectly obey the will of God, as revealed in His holy law, that all of those offensive have been pardoned and cleansed in the blood of Christ, and that the perfect life, the perfect record of Jesus is credited to your account, giving you a legal right and title to heaven. Oh, my friend, if you don't know that this is yours, give yourself no rest till you take the shortest route to get into Christ. There is therefore no now, no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, in Christ Jesus. You see now why I said this was foundational? This was the slab, the extra thicket.

Concluding Prayer and Exhortation

62:33 The thickness in the footings, the weight-bearing walls of the foundation. We must start with this principle that we've tried to establish this day, that man as God's creature is under an inescapable obligation to render to God perfect obedience. Let us pray. Our Father, we are sobered.

63:21 We are very thought of the things in which we've trafficked tonight. We think of our nation, this part of it gone mad on this your holy day, with thousands out to prove their ability to pad their feet through the streets of New York City. When you've given this day that they might have opportunity to think of you and their never-dying souls, find a place of worship, a place of worship, a place of worship, a place of worship, a place of worship, a place of worship, where the word of God is preached. And instead, O Lord, they and the tens of thousands who sat glued by their television sets have profaned your day and treated their souls with contempt. O God, have mercy, have mercy, have mercy. And for those children and young people and adults who sit in this building tonight, light-hearted, treating holy things with contempt. O God, will you not arrest them? Will you not cause

64:40 your word to intrude and break in upon their little fairy tale bubble of carnal ease and delusion? O Lord, have mercy, have mercy, we beg of you. And for those of us who are your people, what can we say but blessed be your holy name, that we will come to that day of judgment confident that there will be no condemnation. Thank you, O God, that the thoughts that we're ashamed of, the words that we've repented of, the deeds from which we have turned, thank you that they've all been blotted out in the blood of your Son, and that instead of us, we're going to repent. Instead of attempting to appear before you in the filthy rags of our own righteousness, we will stand before you spotless, clothed in the robe of the righteousness of your dear Son, and beholding us clothed in it, you will joyfully welcome us into your presence. O, we thank you for gospel joys. Help us, O help us.

66:00 To show our love and gratitude by having the spirit of the holy angels, for you've taught us to pray that your will be done here on earth, even as it is in heaven. Lord, give us an obedience this week that in some little measure reflects the obedience of the angels, quick and eager to hear your voice, speaking in your word, and quick to obey in the strength and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank you for this day in your courts. Thank you for your presence with us. O God, seal your word.

66:39 Don't let the enemy pluck it up, but may it find deep root in every heart. We plead in Jesus' name. Amen.