5 God's Everlasting Law

Exploring God's Law: Insights from Prophecies of Hope

This post is based on the transcript of my YouTube video.
I want to thank Michaele Hamilton for proofreading and editing it.

You can access the PDF of our study guide here.

Welcome to another episode of our Prophecies of Hope series. I am so glad you decided to join us for one more. Just a reminder, you do need your Bible. We are using the Bible as our primary source of information. We will be studying it, diving in, and, whether physical or digital, as long as you have a version of the Bible so you can follow along and dive in.  We want to learn from the word of God. 

The topic for this study is “What Happened to Right and Wrong and God's Everlasting Law.  It's a good topic and I'm sure you will learn some new things that will add value to your life. 

If you do find this video or this series helpful, if you've been enjoying them and appreciating them, subscribe to our channel, give us a thumbs up, leave a comment below, give us some feedback. We want to continue to produce content that will benefit your life. 

I hope you're ready for this study. As we get ready to dive in, I invite you to bow your head with me as we pray.  Father in heaven, we want to learn more about you as we read the Bible.  Lord, we understand that spiritual things are spiritually discerned. So please, may Your Holy Spirit come into our hearts. May You teach us, Lord, from the Bible the lessons that You'd have us learn. I pray that You be with us.  In Jesus name, amen.  

A little bit about me. My first job, fresh out of college, was as a youth pastor in South Texas.  I'm talking way south, the Rio Grande Valley. The main attraction of that part of Texas, the very southern border right near Mexico, was South Padre Island.  One of my favorite things to do, if I had some time off, was drive to South Padre Island and enjoy the beach with my wife.  We were still newlyweds at that time.

It's very busy there during spring break, but most of the year you have so much space.  The sand and the waves.  It was just beautiful and perfect. I think this was the first time I drove my wife to South Padre Island.  We were following instructions, looking at the maps and driving along, and to my surprise, I saw lights behind my car.  I pulled over thinking the police were going somewhere else and then they pulled over behind me. Oh no, what happened? What did I do? Sure enough, the officer came up to the car.  I rolled down my window and he asked if I knew why he pulled me over.  I said, “Actually, I don't. What's going on?” And he says, “You were speeding.”  And I said, “I wasn't speeding. I was going 35.” And he said, “No, no, no. You see that sign back there?” And he points to a sign that was still visible from where we were. I had just passed the sign. “The sign says that it's 25 miles per hour.”

It's what we would call a speed trap. We were going down the highway going 75 and then it slows down to 65, then 55, then 45, then it is 35 when we get to downtown.  But then, there's a small area, in front of the library or a school or something, in a tiny little town on our way to South Padre Island, it drops to 25 miles an hour for a short section, and then it picks up again.  I am looking at the map and looking at things around me, talking to my new wife.  We had been married for less than a year, and I am just excited about going to the beach, just the two of us, and having the day off and thinking about what we're going to do, and I missed the sign. I got a ticket, my first speeding ticket, on my way to South Padre Island, because I missed the sign. 

The law stating how fast I could go, said that I was breaking the law because I was not going according to the speed limit that was posted.  I was not obeying the sign.  I found myself on the other side of the law, breaking the law. 

My first thought is to appeal the ticket because it's my only ticket, my first ticket. I don't go around driving like crazy. I don't go around disobeying the law. Then I realize, I will have to drive all the way there again to appeal the ticket.  The drive was about an hour away from where I lived, so I decided it was not worth it. I just paid the ticket. 

If the sign saying the speed limit was 25 miles an hour had not been there, I would not have done anything wrong.  The police officer could only pull me over because there was a law, a sign saying how fast I should be going, or I could be going. I was not. I was going faster. I was doing 35 in a 25.  

I use this to illustrate a passage in the Bible in the New Testament, Romans 3:20. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

In other words, keeping the law is not what justifies us. Nobody is going to be justified before God because they kept the law really well.  That's not the function of the law. Rather, the law allows us to know and gives us the knowledge of sin. 

What is sin? I don't know. But if I know the law, then going against the law, that is sin. What was wrong with me driving 35 on that particular strip of road?  There was a law saying that I should be driving 25, and because I was on that particular strip of road, I was breaking the law and got a speeding ticket.

Another passage in 1 John, not to be confused with the gospel of John. 1 John is all the way in the back of the Bible. 1 John 3:4 tells us something similar. It says, Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.  If you happen to have a King James version of the Bible there, it says, Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.  Different translations. We talked about this in our first video in this series.

This word, lawlessness, also means transgression of the law. I was curious and looked up this word.

If you are not a Greek scholar or know the ancient Greek language, here's a little lesson in Greek.  Sometimes there is a negative particle in front of a word, which makes it the opposite. In Greek, nomos means law.  The word for lawlessness is anomia.  The ‘a’ makes the word a negative, anomia, which means, without the law or against the law. 

You can look this up at www.blueletterbible.com. Type in the Bible verse, 1 John 3:4, click on the verse, and it will give you the Greek word for lawlessness.  You have access to this information for yourself so you can double check my work.

Anomia means, without law because ignorant of it, or, without law because of violating it. The word applies to both. Whether somebody is violating the law, it would be anomia, or someone is ignorant of the law, also anomia.  The second definition is, contempt and violation of law, iniquity, wickedness, or, as the New King James says, lawlessness, not having the law, or, going against the law, or, rebelling against the law.  There are more definitions for sin, but one of them is, lawlessness, being without a law, going against the law, rebelling against the law.

There is another passage that addresses this.  Romans 4:15 says, because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.

Going back to my illustration. On my trip to South Padre Island, if that sign had not been there saying I had to go 25 miles an hour, going 35 miles an hour would not have been a crime, would not have been a sin against the law? If there is no law, there is no transgression. If there is no speed limit, you can drive as fast as you want. 

Maybe there are those who wish there was no speed limit.  You can just go as fast as you want and do whatever you want.  If there was no law, there would be no problem. At least some tend to think that way. I disagree. 

A little bit about myself. I was born in Brazil, as some of you know from previous videos.  I was born in the city of Salvador, in the state of Baia, on the northeast, on the coast of Brazil.  A beautiful, massive city. I lived there for the first 12 years of my life before moving to the U.S.  In 1999, we went back for a visit.  The population at that time was 2.8 million, roughly the population of Chicago that same year.   During this time, the police decided to go on strike. They were not getting paid enough for the work they had to do. It was terrible what they were paying the police force. 

Imagine being in a city of almost 3 million people and there are no police out on the roads.  Some people think, awesome, great, no oppression from the police or the government, I can do whatever I want. It was terrifying.  I was there as a teenager with my family, and we were stuck inside my grandparents' house because it was dangerous to go outside.  People could come and steal your car, kidnap you, do whatever they wanted.  There was a lot of violence and destruction of property, robberies and stealing. It was chaos. It was terrifying. 

That experience gave me a new appreciation for the law.  I want to live in a place where there are laws and where people obey the law. Being in a place with my family where there was no law, no enforcement of the law, nobody following the law, nobody to keep anybody from taking what is yours unless you are willing to defend it yourself.  Then it escalates. It's scary. 

I am not someone who is against the law. I value good and fair law. I don’t think there is a need for 25 miles an hour on a small segment of road going to South Padre Island, which felt like a speed trap to me, but, I do think it's a good idea for people not to steal things from each other, not to commit murder and so many other laws. 

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

This is the gift of God's salvation. We do not get salvation by keeping the law.  The danger is people say, oh, I don't need the law then for salvation. They throw it out.  No, no, no, wait. There is value to it.  There is a reason it exists. Here's a way that I think about it. Just because the law is not going to bring about my salvation, I'm not saved by keeping the law, or I don't become more saved by keeping it better, doesn't mean it doesn't have a purpose. 

It would be like me wanting to race my car.  I get into my car and I want the car to go faster.  I try to upgrade and tweak and do what I can with the tires and the engine and the fuel and everything to make the car go faster.  I take out anything that doesn't make the car go faster. Then I come to the seatbelt.  I ask the mechanic, or whoever is helping me on this project, “Does the seatbelt help the car go faster?” And they say, “No, it does not help the car go faster. Get rid of the seatbelt.” But wait, it serves a purpose.  No, if it doesn't make the car go faster, I don't care. 

There is a danger there. There is a danger when people say, because the law doesn't save me, the keeping of the law doesn't save me, then I don't need the law at all. You want to throw it out.  Well, let's be careful. Let's slow down. If God thought it was important to tell us about it, to give us these guidelines, maybe it would be worthwhile paying attention to them.

There are some verses of the Bible that support this idea. I am not saying that the law saves us, that we save ourselves by keeping the law, but I am saying, let's slow down and not throw it out either. 

Psalm 19:7 says:

The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple;

The law of the Lord, the testimony of God. This is talking about the Bible. These words of God, the teachings, the guidelines, the law, it helps convert my soul. It gives me wisdom from God. And what is wisdom? Wisdom is knowing what to do in any given situation.  

I don't always know what to do. The love of God helps me make better decisions. It gives me wisdom. It converts my soul. The Holy Spirit works, I believe, in conjunction with the love of God, not opposed to it, not against it.  If you go against the love of God that would be sin. 

All these connections, all these things coming together. I know I'm throwing a lot at you, but hopefully this makes sense. 

Psalm 19:11 

Moreover by them Your servant is warned,
And in keeping them there is great reward.

Talking about the law. It gives me a warning. Don't do these things. I have found in my personal experience, whenever I rebel against the law of God, I disregard it, I disobey it, I go against it, not only do I hurt myself, I also hurt others. More often than not, the others that I hurt are the people I love the most.  Think about it. When you lie, you hurt those around you. When people commit adultery, when people steal, it always increases the suffering that we have in this world.  Imagine living in a world where nobody steals. Imagine living in a world where everybody was always honest and never deceitful. I want to live in that world. 

Whenever people go against the law of God, it increases suffering. It's when you get scammed, when somebody takes advantage of you, when you buy something, thinking it's one thing, and then turns out to be another thing.  We've all been there, we've all gone through experiences when somebody stole from us or deceived us, or we feared for our lives. 

It is not pleasant to live in an environment where there is no law or to be in an environment where the laws are abusive and oppressive.  That is not the case with the law of God. 

Let's study a little bit more and go a little bit deeper.  We go now to the New Testament and see the harmony that we find in the Bible, in the word of God. The reason we spend this time, and why you are sharing your precious time with me, is because we want to study the word of God and find out what it has to say about life and reality in general.

Romans 6:15, it says, What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!

 Here's the thing.  If I am not saved by keeping the law, should I just go and break the law? If I'm not saved because I don't steal, should I then just start stealing?  Should I start committing adultery? Should I start telling lies and deceiving people because I'm not saved by keeping the law? Certainly not! Are you crazy? That would not be good. 

This is something I hope we can all agree on.  I am not saying that keeping the law saves you. I am saying that going against it is a bad idea.  It's not good for you. It's not good for anybody.

Romans 6:16: Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?

According to Paul, yes, we are saved by grace. We are under grace. We are not under the law, but we are also slaves. We're not really free. We are either slaves of the law unto righteousness, or we're slaves of sin until death.  It's your choice.  You're not saved by keeping the law, but by rebelling against the law, you make yourself slaves to sin, and that leads to death.  That is my interpretation of this.  If you interpret it differently, let me know in the comments below this video. 

I hope you can see the connections with the law and the place it should have in our lives. Let's go back to the Old Testament, to Proverbs, and see what else can we learn about God's law and our relationship to it.

Proverbs 16:25, it says:

There is a way that seems right to a man, (to a man, to a woman, to a person)
But its end is the way of death.

This highlights one of the problems I addressed earlier. When I'm trying to make a choice, I don't always know the best option.  Sometimes cheating may seem like the best option. Sometimes telling a lie feels like the easier path, the better thing. The best thing for me would be to deceive, to lie, to cheat. I can get ahead, I can get my thing. Everybody else is doing it.  It may feel that way, but in the end, is it the best thing to do when everybody finds out? You've seen this, if you've been watching the news, it seems like it's only a matter of time.

We see people in positions of power and influence falling because lies, deceit, some secret sin, has gone public.  Some people even end up committing suicide because their favorite little sin, their secret sin, was brought to light.  

There is a danger. There is a path that seems right to a man, humanly speaking.  It seems like, yeah, that's the right thing to do. If it wasn't, in the end, it leads to death. The law of God helps me make better decisions. It helps me make decisions that don't lead to death, they lead to life.  Those decisions are the harder decision in the moment. Not the easy decision, the right decision.

If you care about making the right decisions, the best possible decision, then the word of God, the law of God, can offer you guidance so that you can live the best possible life. I'm not talking about an easy life. I'm talking about the best possible life. You will be a better spouse, a better son, child, father, grandfather, employer, employee, whatever area of life.  A better brother, a better neighbor, a better citizen. Your life will be better and people around you will benefit when you choose to follow the law of God.  

Continuing in the Old Testament let’s go to Exodus Chapter 20. Maybe some of you are already familiar with Exodus chapter 20.  This is where we find the 10 Commandments. There's lots of laws in the Bible about lots of different things. The 10 Commandments stand apart from all the other laws and teachings and guidance in the Bible. The 10 Commandments are different because they were written on tablets of stone by the finger of God.

Let's read from Exodus chapter 20, starting with verse one. It says, And God spoke all these words, saying:

To clarify here, these are not the laws of Moses. These are not the laws for the Jews. These were laws spoken by God.  If God felt that it was important to speak these laws so that His people could be aware of them, I think we could benefit from being at least aware of them.

God wanted His followers, His children that He brought out of Egypt and was taking to the Promised Land, His chosen nation, He wanted them to have the best possible life. He gives them these 10 laws. I believe this applies to all of humanity throughout all time. Hopefully, by the end of the video, I will make that point clear.

Exodus 20:1, And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

This is interesting. Before God gives the children of Israel a list of things to do or not do, first He reminds them who He is and what He has done for them.  God did send Moses to the children of Israel and say, “Moses, take these tablets of stone. Take these 10 rules, this law to them, and once they can keep it perfectly, I'll come and deliver them.” It wasn't that their obedience earned their salvation, God deliver them.  God saved them while they were slaves, while they were living their lives. Who knows what had happened after 400 years of slavery in Egypt. Who knows what kind of moral guidelines or parameters they were following at that time.  But God came and delivered them. As slaves, He brought them out of Egypt.  That happens earlier in the Book of Exodus if you want to go back and read that. 

By the time we get to chapter 20, a lot of things have happened and now God says, “let me give you these guidelines.” He starts by reminding, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.  I am the God that frees you. I'm the God that provides for you. I'm the God that takes you from slavery and gives you freedom.”

These laws are not going to make us slaves. They're not going to bind us and keep us from good things. Rather, they keep us from becoming slaves. I would argue that the 10 commandments, the laws of God in general, in the Bible, they give us freedom.  They set us free from the power of sin. 

Back to the Bible, Exodus 20:3. This is what we often consider the first commandment. It says, 

“You shall have no other gods before Me.”

God says, I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.  By the way, I did this for you, not any of the other gods.  I want you to worship just Me. Not anybody else. I think this is fair. If God is the One who is providing, who is delivering, who is guiding and saving, by all means, follow Him. You shouldn't follow some other god.  

God is saying, you can't do both.  You can't follow Me and somebody else. You're free to go and follow somebody else if you want. It will not go well, by the way, just a heads up.  A word of warning. But, if you stay with me, you can't have Me plus another god. It must be just Me, no other gods before Me.  Fair enough.  That is the first commandment. Only one God and worship only Him. 

Now, verse four, we go into what is considered the second commandment, and this goes for a few verses all the way to verse six. It says:

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 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.”

There is mercy and there is blessing for those who keep God's commandments.  

It is interesting that the second commandment is not a repetition of the first commandment.  I used to think about it that way, don't have any other gods, but the second one is saying, don't make any image or likeness.  

If I don't have any other gods and I'm worshiping the true God, can I make an image of Him?  No images of God.  This was probably very frustrating to ancient Israel.  Everyone around them had their gods and the little shape and the image of their gods.  The children of Israel had nothing.  They have tablets. They have a moral guideline. They have an understanding of the character of God. They have a history of how God acts and interacts with them. They don't know what God looks like. How many arms does He have? How many eyes does He have? What color is His hair? What color is His skin? Does He have skin?  How tall is He? How old is He? Does He have a beard? How long is the beard? What color is His beard? We don't know. 

None of that matters. Whenever we try to create an image of God, we are stepping outside of God's law.  There's a reason why He put this here. There are dangers in having images.  Even if it's your best interpretation of what God looks like, be careful.  Be careful with a church, a religion, a denomination, that creates an image of God for you to carry around to look at, to remind you of who God is.  We don't see that in the Bible. 

What we see is a clear commandment not to make any carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them.

If you find yourself bowing down to an image of God or of something that you believe is there in heaven, a person or a being or a thing, this commandment clearly says, don't do it. Very clear. Don't bow down to it. Don't make the image.

This is not talking about other gods. That was the first commandment. This is talking about the real God. Don't try to make an image of Him. Don't try to limit God. Don't try. God created us in His image and then we are returning the favor?  We end up making God in our image and then we start arguing over what God is like, His physical appearance or essence.  The Bible doesn't seem concerned with that. He cares more about His character and who He is. 

Exodus 20:7, this would be considered the third commandment.  It says, 

“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.”

I notice that happens here in the U.S. a lot. People just say God's name when they stub their toe if they're angry, if they're happy, if they're scared. I'd rather reserve the name of God for worship, for sharing and witnessing for praise, for prayer, if I'm talking about God.  Never use it as a curse word, never use it carelessly.  The way that I treat the word of God, His name, it impacts my view of God, my understanding of who He is and how important He is to me. Something for you to keep in mind. Sometimes by using his word carelessly, God becomes less important, less holy, less powerful, and then our relationship to Him stops being what it should be and what it could be.

The third commandment, “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain”, I would extend that to Christians. If I call myself a Christian, a follower of Jesus, a child of God, if I live life in a way that goes against the will of God, against the law of God, against God's plans for my life. I'm also blaspheming, I'm also taking His name in vain, carelessly.

Exodus 20:8, the fourth commandment. This is a long one. It goes from verse 8 all the way to verse 11.  Let's read it together. It says:

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it”

Interesting that this is the only one of the 10 Commandments that begins with ‘remember’. It seems like God is not establishing something new but helping us not forget something that was established much earlier.  This commandment references creation.  We can talk more about that in the future. 

Exodus 20:12, the next one, it says, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you”.  

This is an interesting one. I've often read this and wondered, is that a threat?  Honor your parents so that you'll live a long time. Well, it could be taken that way.  I don't think that was the intention. I think the idea is, do you want to live a long life? A great way of achieving that is by honoring your parents.  I believe there is a lot of value in honoring our parents and that a society that does that well is a healthy society. I also think it's good for parents. I am a father and I want to make sure that as a parent, we are living lives and treating our children in a way that makes it easier for them to honor us.  Let's live an honorable life which makes it easier for our children to keep the commandments of God and honor us.

Some parents make it very difficult. We can talk about the nuances of what it means to honor your father and your mother. We'll do that on a different video. Leave me a comment in the video if you'd like to pursue that further or look deeper into any of these commandments. I'm just going through them here.

The next few commandments are fairly short.  Exodus 20, starting at verse 13.

“You shall not murder. 

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

These are all quick and easy, and most people agree on these and would not have an issue with them.  

The last one is an odd one. The 10th commandment, it says, 

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

This is an odd commandment because it doesn't deal with an action.  It deals with something that happens in your mind. Coveting, you could say, happens in your heart. It's an inner thing, and God cares about that too. In the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5 to 7, Jesus clarifies what He means by some of these commandments.  Even if you do not commit murder, you don’t commit adultery, it's not just the action. What God really cares about, is our intentions, our thoughts, our hearts.  The 10th commandment gives us a glimpse into that.  

We're already in Exodus, let's jump forward to chapter 31 because this clarifies something I mentioned in passing earlier. Exodus 31:18 says, And when He (talking about God) had made an end of speaking with him (talking about Moses) on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

In Exodus 20, we have God speaking.  By Exodus 31:18, we find out that after God spoke all these words, He gave Moses tablets of stone with these words written on them, written with the finger of God. Interestingly, in chapter 32, the people come up with an idol because Moses is taking too long on top of the mountain, and they begin to worship it and it leads to all kinds of problems. 

You may question here, was the law created during that time in Exodus? Is this when God wrote it down? Is this when God is creating the law?  I would say no.  There is biblical evidence for that. Genesis 26:5, it says, “because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”

We see that during the time of Abraham, even though we are not given a list of commandments, God says that Abraham obeyed His voice, kept His charge, His commandments, His statutes and His laws.  Obedience to God's law was present even before the 10 Commandments were given to Moses on tablets of stone on Mount Sinai.

God has a law, it exists. Even before He formally gave the tablets of stone, the law already existed because otherwise there would be no sin. 

As an example, let's go to Genesis 18:20. And the LORD said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave,” If you continue into Genesis 19, you find the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. What was the problem? Their sin was very great. We keep coming to the same question.  How can you have sin without the law?  You don't. There can only be sin if people are going against the law of God.

Whatever was happening in Sodom and Gomorrah, you can read the story and find out, it was going against the law of God, it was sin, and God was going to judge them because of their sin.

Similarly, if you go back to Genesis chapter six, the story of the flood. God destroys the world with the judgment of water because of sin. How can you have sin if there is no law? How can it be wrong unless somebody says, don't do it? It is the same as getting the ticket on the way to South Padre Island.  It would not be wrong for me to go 35 miles an hour unless there was a law, a sign posted, saying I should be going 25 miles an hour.

The Law of God existed before it was formally written in stone at Mount Sinai and given to Moses. Exodus 16:28, it says, And the LORD said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws?”

This is Exodus 16. We're don’t get the 10 commandments until Exodus 20, and yet here we have God speaking in Exodus 16:28, about going against His law. How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? 

Interestingly, in Exodus chapter 16 is the story about the bread of heaven, the manna the children of Israel received while they were in the wilderness.  I would make a note of this. Go back, read the whole chapter so you can understand the story. Verse 30 provides context: So the people rested on the seventh day.  God was commanding them to rest.  God is talking about His laws, and they're not obeying.  They were breaking His law, and He is saying, “No, no, no, you're free, you're no longer slaves, you don't have to work all the time, you can rest.”  Just an interesting point there. In Exodus 16, before we have Exodus 20 and the formal 10 commandments written in stone, we see the principles. 

If you go back Genesis chapter 4 to Cain and Abel, when Cain killed his brother Abel, that was a sin that was wrong even though there were not 10 Commandments written on tablets of stone saying, you should not commit murder. It was already wrong.  The law of God had been in place even before it was formerly given at Mount Sinai, written on tablets of stones to the children of Israel.

One note here.  In Genesis chapter 18 and 19, we see the wickedness and then destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.  They were not Israelites, they were not Jews, they're not the descendants of Abraham. Yet their wickedness was wrong.  The flood in Genesis chapter six, there was no Abraham, there were no children of Israel, yet wickedness was wrong. Cain killing his brother. That was wrong. They were not Jews. This law seems to go beyond the children of Isreal.  They come from God to humanity, not just from Moses to the Jewish people. 

Let's jump back to the New Testament. Romans 4:15 says, because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.

We may want to avoid the law because it brings about wrath.  If there was no law, there would be no transgression. If there is no law and anybody can do whatever they want, and with our sinful tendency to selfishness and to rebellion against the rule of God, is that a good idea?  

Think about where you live, your neighborhood.  Do you want to live in a place where there is a law that promotes peace and harmony and creates an environment for people to thrive?  Or do you want to live in a place where there is no law?  People can steal and take things and kill and commit adultery and lie and cheat and deceive?  This is just the way things are, it's not wrong. There's no law so they are not doing anything wrong. They're not breaking any laws.  Or would you prefer laws that bring about harmony and create an environment where we can thrive?

I believe that God's laws promote peace and harmony.  They create an environment where we, our children, our business, our work, our lives, can thrive and be the best possible.  John chapter 14, the Gospel according to John, the same John who recorded the words spoken by Jesus in John 3:16. John 14:15 says, quoting Jesus, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”   Jesus is not saying, keep the commandments and you will save yourself.  He is saying, this is God's love language.  Do you want to show God love? He doesn't say, bring Me flowers. He doesn't say, offer a sacrifice. He doesn't say, give lots of money. He says, “if you love Me, keep My commandments.” It's how we show love and appreciation.

Those of us who are married, it's very important for us to understand how our spouse understands love.  How can I say I love you in a way they will understand I love them?  God's saying, I'll understand. I totally get the idea. If you want to show your love for Me, here's how you do it. Keep My commandments.

Matthew 22:37-38. This is interesting. Jesus is being questioned regarding the law.  His insert is so insightful and so helpful, and sadly, sometimes people rush through it and they miss the point. Let's look at it carefully and see what the main idea is.

Matthew 22, starting with verse 36. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.”

If you look at the tablets of stone containing the 10 Commandments, we can divide it.  On the first tablet, the first 4 commandments, are all the laws referring to God. If you love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, you will not have any other gods before Him.  You will not make any graven images.  You will not take His name in vain. You will rest on the Sabbath to spend that time with Him.  All of these are connected to loving God more than anything else in the world. 

Matthew 22:39: And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  If you love your neighbor as yourself, you will not commit murder, you will not steal, you will not lie, you will not commit adultery. 

In these two, love God above everything else, love your neighbor as yourself. You summarize the 10 Commandments. It doesn't mean, throw out the 10 commandments. It just means, love is at the core of properly keeping the 10 Commandments. It's something that we do because we love God and because we love others.  It keeps us from being completely selfish. 

Matthew 22:40, Jesus places the law in the right frame. He says “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”  The Old Testament. The law and the prophets.   What we're studying here, prophecy in the Bible and the law.  It's about loving God above everything else and loving others as yourself.  That's what it's all about. If you're keeping the law, but you're not doing it in a loving way, you're missing the point.  The point is love. Love is how you do this the right way.

Now, let's go back to the Old Testament.  This time we will look at the book of Deuteronomy.  Deuteronomy 5:29, ‘Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!

God, looking at His children, wishing that they would just keep His law.  He says, “Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments.” Why does God want that? He says here, “that it might be well with them and with their children forever.” Your best possible life can only be found in harmony with the law of God.

That's why He gave us the law and He says, “oh, if only they would keep it, their life would be so much better. It would be well with them forever. If only they would do this, it would be so good for them”.

Now let's go back to the New Testament. Let's look at Galatians 3:24. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

The law serves as a tutor. It points us to our need of Christ. Like I said before, we are justified by faith. The Bible teaches that clearly. The law reminds me that I need to be justified. The law reminds me that I am a sinner. The law points out the times that I fall short, that I rebelled, that I do something wrong.

I only know that I need a savior. I only know that I need grace and forgiveness and salvation because the law tells me where I've messed up, where I've fallen short, where I've made mistakes, and then I turn to Jesus to receive the salvation. Because of the law's existence, I understand my need of Jesus.

Without the law, there is no sin. If I have not committed sin, I don't need a Savior. I don't need Jesus in my life. Do you see how this works? The law doesn't save me, but it points me to the Savior.  

John 3:16. This is a familiar verse. I believe many of you probably have this memorized, or at least you've heard it before.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Jesus came and died so that we could receive the gift of everlasting life. Why did He have to die? Because that is the penalty for sin.  If that was not the issue, we would not have needed Jesus to come and die for us. Romans chapter six makes this clearer. 

Romans 6:23. It says, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The law, men's death. You break the law, you die.  Jesus came and died even though He did not break the law. He died because I broke the law. He died in my place, and then He offers me the eternal life that belongs to Him, but I get to live in Jesus.

This is so powerful!  It reminds us that God cannot just change His law. He could have just said, “ah, never mind, just keep doing your thing, the law was too strict, it was a bad law anyway. Let's just do away with it. Jesus, You don't have to die. Turns out it was just a bad law.”  No.  God does not change His law because His law is perfect. It's a perfect representation of His character, of His will. 

When we keep His law, life is better.  For Him to do away with His law, to change His law, would cause more suffering.  If we are not keeping His law right, if we're not aware that we're doing something wrong, we would still be living a selfish life causing sin and suffering and not even know why.  At least with the law, we are aware that we are in rebellion against the will of God.

Something to think about.  Something to consider. 

Ephesians 2:8. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God

God gives to us as a gift.  Keeping the commandments will not earn you salvation. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

We cannot boast because we do not save ourselves. God saves us. Not of works lest anyone should boast. Keeping the commandments does not save us. I hope that this is clear. I am highlighting the importance, the value of the 10 Commandments, the commandments of God, the teachings of God in the entire Bible.  But, it is not by obedience to it that we save ourselves, but there is value in keeping them and obeying them.

Ephesians 2:10 speaks about the purpose of life. Continuing here, the very next verse. It says, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Are you looking for meaning in life? You were created by God in Christ Jesus.  There's good works prepared for you to do. If you want to find meaning in life, live your best life. Do the good works that God created you to do. 

I'll read it once again, verse 10. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.  We were made to obey God's law. We are our happiest. We are our best. The best version of Marlon is the version of Marlon that keeps the law of God. The better I do it, the better my life is. When I fall short, when I fail, when I rebel against it, my life becomes a little bit less than what it could be. I'm less of the husband that I could be. I'm less of the father that I could be.  I'm less of the pastor that I could be. But, as I follow God's law, I become a better version of myself, the version that God intended for me to be.  

We were created for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. We find ourselves in the will of God as we obey God's law. That's what we were created to do.  That is the best possible life that we can live. 

Let's go to Revelation. This is a series on prophecy after all. Revelation chapter 14.  Here's some interesting things. You look to the book of Revelation, the end of the world and all these things. Does it have anything to say about the law of God?

Revelation 14:12. It says, Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

Isn't that beautiful? God's people in the last days identified as having both.  They are both keeping the commandments of God AND have faith in Jesus or the faith of Jesus.  It's both together, not one or the other. They're not against each other. Jesus and the law of God come together and these are God's people. In the last days, they have both. 

Revelation 12:17, says the following, And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring

Remember a few videos back, we talked about the seed of the woman that crushed the head of the serpent? He was talking about Jesus. Well, the woman has an offspring. You could call it the true church, the true children of God, the followers of God, the remnant that has been faithful to God throughout scriptures from Adam and Eve all the way down to the last days.  These are the offspring of the woman. God's people. 

Let me read that again. Revelation 12:17 And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ

They have the testimony of Jesus and they keep the commandments, commandments and Jesus together.  Do you want to be, and do you identify as a child of God? Do you want to be part of that remnant? God's people in the last days. The Bible describes that group of people as having both being faithful and keeping the commandments of God and also having the testimony of Jesus Christ or the faith of Jesus Christ.

The other passage that we read, going back to Matthew 26:39, tells us something about the law of God. It says the following, talking about Jesus. He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”

This is something we talked about earlier. If God could just change His law, Jesus would not have needed to die.  God could have said, never mind. The law was bad. He was too strict.  We will go into a new period of grace. He no longer needed the law, just do away with it.

No, Jesus had to pay the price. He had to fulfill the demand of the law.  The wages of sin is death.  In John 14:15, as we read before, Jesus says, “If you love Me, keep My commandments”.  It's all about love, loving God, loving others. If you want to live your best life, base it on love.  Put God above everything else in life. Love your neighbor as yourself, people around you, love them just like you love yourself.  

You will find that keeping God's law, is not a burden. It's a joy. It helps you make better decisions. It converts your soul. It brings you closer to God. It helps you understand the heart of God.  Your life will be better. The people around you will benefit from you keeping God's law.

Thank you for joining me in this study. Please let me know if you have any questions. Leave them in the comments.  We could always make another video and talk more about this. If you're in the Boise area, come in person and let's talk.  Reach out to me.  We can talk and go deeper into any of these points you might have some questions on. 

Next one in our series is “Created for Something Better - Exploring the Sabbath”.

If this video was helpful for you, please give us a thumbs up, subscribe to our channel so you can be aware of when more videos come out. Until then, may God bless you.