We're continuing our series entitled Written with the Finger of God. We are studying the law of God in covenantal context. The definition and purpose of biblical law as it has been properly developed by the Puritans and recorded within the Westminster Confession of Faith and catechisms. This is sermon number 41. I've had to correct that, only running a few weeks behind. Not that the sermons have been lost, it's just I'm not numbering correctly because some of them are lasting from week to week. and not being able to finish them, so we've gotten a little bit confused. At least I have. And so we are correcting that. This is sermon number 41. And we're still dealing with the first commandment. What are the sins forbidden in the first commandment? If you will, our sermon text is Deuteronomy chapter 9. verses 10 through 11. Then the Lord delivered to me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God. And on them were all the words which the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. And it came to pass at the end of 40 days and 40 nights, that the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. Shall we look to the Lord our God in prayer? Our Holy Father, we thank you for the privilege to once again come to consider the importance of the context of which we are studying, your law word, that which you have commanded of us to perform. We ask, O God, that as we consider each of these commandments, but in particular this first commandment in our ongoing study here, that we show us thy spirit would illuminate us how important it is that we are to live our life in a manner that is pleasing unto you, and to work out these things within our own life. Not only our duties, but the sins forbidden, that we might be a people of your book, that we might demonstrate the righteousness of Christ in us. Not that we are trying to gain acceptance with you, but having gained acceptance through Christ, by grace, through faith alone. Having received the new life, renewed by your Spirit, awakened from death to life, bringing us from darkness to light, that we, right now, live in the light of thy truth. So Father, we pray that you would help us, encourage us, strengthen us, oh God, in your truth. May your spirit teach us and may we grow in such truth to be anchored and strengthened in the word that we might be a faithful servant. So God, we ask, now that you would give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to receive that which your word and spirit would teach us, in Christ's most precious and holy name, amen. We are again, as I said, turning our attention back to this first commandment. This is the moral law of God speaking to us. This comes from question number 105 of the larger catechism. What are the sins forbidden in the first commandment? And the divines answered, the sins forbidden in the first commandment are atheism, in denying or not having a God, idolatry, in having or worshiping more gods than one or any with or instead of the true God, the not having and avouching him for God and our God, the omission or neglect of everything due him, required in this commandment. Ignorance, forgetfulness, misapprehensions, false opinions, unworthy and wicked thoughts of him, bold and curious searchings into his secrets. all profaneness, hatred of God, self-love, self-seeking, and all other inordinate and immoderate setting of our mind, will, or affections upon other things, and taking them off from Him in whole or in part, vain crudelity, Unbelief, heresy, misbelief, distrust, despair, incorrigibleness, and insensibility under judgments, hardness of heart, pride, presumption, carnality, or excuse me, cardinal security, tempting of God, using unlawful means, and trusting in lawful means. carnal delights and joys, corrupt, blind, and in discreet zeal, lukewarmness and deadness in the things of God, estranging ourselves and apostatizing from God, praying or giving any religious worship to saints, angels, or any other creatures, all compacts and consulting with the devil and hearkening to his suggestions. making men the lords of their faith and conscience, slighting and despising God and his commands, resisting and grieving of his spirit, discontent, impatience at his dispensations, charging him foolishly for the evils He inflicts upon us in ascribing the praise of any good we either are, have, or can do, to fortune, idols, ourselves, or any other creature. Well, last Lord's Day, we looked into this question of what did the divines mean by the bold? period searching into the secrets of God and we said it by no means should keep us or restrain us from studying the Word of God we have rather a duty to do that very thing but it is the study of the Word of God for the right reason with the right attitude well this Lord's Day we're moving on and we're looking at the next area that the divines have laid forth as those things which are sinful that we are forbidden to do in this commandment. And they use the concept, or if you will, the word profaneness. So what did the Westminster Divines mean by the term profaneness? Profaneness is not the same as profanity. which means taking God's name in vain, using God's name wrongfully, unlawfully, if you will. Profanity is a sin of speech, whereas profaneness is a sin of character, a sin of the whole life that one lives daily before God. A profane person is one who regards sacred and holy things as if they were ordinary or commonplace. When God commands of us certain things that we are to do in our worship, in our practices of worship, in the way that we live out our life, in how that we are to approach God and His Word and the things that He has commanded of us, that He holds sacred and dear unto Himself, thus requiring of His creature to have the same attitude when that person simply looks at those things as being ordinary, or if you will, commonplace. That is a profane individual. Well, let me give you an example if I could. And examples are good. I'll never forget Dr. Gordon Clark said one of the most profound things that I can remember him ever saying when he said, I will give you an illustration. Actually, he didn't say it that way. He said, I would like to give you an illustration. He was getting quite old by then. But, he would say, an illustration is just an illustration. It doesn't prove everything about what it's illustrating. For if it did, it wouldn't be an illustration, it would be the thing itself. So illustrations don't try to prove everything, but they are used to help us identify with the underlying principle involved. So let me give you an example or an illustration. Esau was a profane person. because he regarded his birthright as worth no more than an ordinary dinner. That which was considered sacred and important in the Old Testament time period, time period of Esau and Jacob, He was willing just to have some food, an ordinary dinner. He was willing to sell out his whole birthright. That which was something to be held honored because it was a part of the way of life that was lived in that type of time period with the patriarchs, he simply counted it as common, ordinary. that a profane person. That is, profaneness being demonstrated. If I could, let me give you another example. Cannibalism. That sounds strange for an illustration, doesn't it? But actually, it works. Cannibals, as they are considered profane people, because they regard the human body, which in Scripture is called what? The temple of God. Man created in the likeness of God. That likeness isn't the physical body, but the body is that which houses the soul. God created us as a living being. It is the whole man, body and soul, being called to the whole Christ. Cannibals look at the human body, which is inherently sacred, because the Scripture speaks of it. about being cautious. Look at the Old Testament requirements concerning how the body is to be taken care of. For example, we are not allowed to, in having a burial as Christians, we're not allowed to have the body burned. Cremation is not an option for us. As a matter of fact, the cremation of the body, the only ones we are told of in the Old Testament, were those that were done because of sins, and therefore they were to be cremated as an example in violation of the concept of a Old Testament burial in Israel. Because we wait for the day of the resurrection when the body should be raised to new. Does the body degenerating go away? Yes, it does. But the body is considered, no matter what state, as the Westminster divines have taught us, the Puritans have, Whatever state we die in, to remain in that state and no further damage done to it. Because the body, as the divine say in our confession, is still united to Christ in the resurrection. But how do cannibals look at the human body? As having only the value of common food. We must avoid desecrating what God has determined as being holy or sacred. We really have to get that in our mind. Think about it. Oh my, how many things has God said are sacred and holy unto him, and we consider it as an option for us whether or not we want to obey God. We seem to not be a very intelligent species, do we? Look what sin has done to us. But we're willing to even challenge the sovereign God of creation and say, well, just because you think something is sacred and holy doesn't mean I have to consider it the same way. But I say to you, such an attitude may be the betrayal of your own heart. How is it that God feels one way, you feel another? As a Christian, aren't you to be, little Christ, imitators of Christ? Those who love the law of God, those who want to obey God, those who do not want to sin against God, how can you be a profane person and say to me or to anyone else, I'm a Christian, I'm a believer. Oh, how I love God, except when he commands something that I don't like. when he holds something sacred that I don't think is sacred, when I think it has no value. When I look at his day of rest, this being no different than any other day of the week. Oh, there is a difference. Now, how we necessarily observe it, whether it is continental or in the strict Puritan sense, the question has to be, though both hold a moral underpinning, that there is a day given wherein we are to set aside the cares of this world and give ourselves to the time of the worship and fellowship with God and ourselves and the assembling of ourselves together. We cannot take that which is held sacred and holy and counted as if it is ordinary. We must avoid such profaneness. And we have to be careful. Too often we kind of skate on the edge of these things, or we come close to what is the edge. And as we allow ourselves certain liberties, our liberties become snares. And the snare wraps us up and puts us into sinful relationship with God. We must avoid profaneness. Well, then the divines also speak of hatred toward God. This fact can only be explained on the basis of the biblical doctrines of original sin and total depravity. In Romans 3, Here, St. Paul gives that famous declaration, having said that in chapter 1, the Gentiles violate the law of God. And in chapter 2, that the Jews are no better. They had the law, the prophets, they had the covenants, and yet they too are the blind who are leading the blind. saying that they really truly know the God of Scripture, and yet they only know him in name and not in service. Then in chapter 3 Paul says, well, what is the reason behind this? It's that man fallen into sin through Adam's transgression in the garden have led us to be At enmity with God, we are haters of God. And that's what we must be redeemed from. If it is a nature, a part of our nature in our sinfulness through Adam's transgression to hate God, it's clear we are not going to bring ourselves out of hating God. If it is, then salvation is of man, not of God. Thus Romans chapter 3 comes into play, very importantly, because it says to us, this is the state and the nature of man and he cannot escape from it, apart from the fact that God himself would redeem us from our sin. So, Paul, addressing the issue, dealing with the Jews, says this, what then, are we, Jews, better than they, Gentiles? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks, chapter one and chapter two, that they are all under sin, or if you will, they're under the domain of sin. They're under its power, its dominion, they cannot escape it. Jew, Gentile, doesn't matter. As it is written, now he begins to quote from the Old Testament, Here he begins to quote the authoritative word of God, a word that says to us what God demands of us, and how that we think, and the things that we do in our life. Here's what he says, and it's written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is no one who does what is right before God in their natural state. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God. He didn't say there's none who are religious. There are none who paw for ideas about religion in God. But he says, as it pertains to the truth of God, there's no one who understands. There's no one who seeks after the God of the Scripture. They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open tomb, with their tongues they have practiced deceit. The poison of asp is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known. Why can there never be a utopian society here upon earth apart from the work of God through his Son Jesus Christ and the redemption of all men being brought together in the resurrection and eternally established as the one true kingdom where peace and unity and harmony last forever? Because man in his state of sin cannot be Destruction and misery are in their ways. That is to say, their way of life is destruction and misery. Perfect example of what's going on in our society today, is it not? We must have tolerance. And those who cry for tolerance become the intolerant. Destruction and misery, that's all they know. Elitism. We do all things to feed the individual who is leading and working to that end rather than to helping the other people around us. And so it is, with all their cries of peace, in spite of the hippie movement, the love ends of the 60s, those who today are now with their children leading our nation, oh, look at their ways of love and peace. Oh, what joy they have brought to our nation, have they not? Destruction and misery. That is their lot in life. And if you believe anything else, you're simply deluded. This is the way of sinful men. Men, even in redemption, have to war against destruction and misery. Look what he says in verse 17, and the way of peace they have not known. Man in his natural state cannot know peace. It is impossible. Why? Why is it? Why is it that we're seeing more of a humanistic mentality and the continual growth of atheism within our society? It is right here explained to us. Why? There is no fear of God before their eyes. Somehow they think they have philosophized themselves into believing that the only judge they have to have in life is the judge that they judge of themselves by themselves. Don't ask me to repeat that. I will not be judged by God. There is no such thing as God. And if you're going to be consistent, even society cannot judge me. Because I am the individual. I stand upon my own premises of judgment. Yet is there not need for some kind of common morality in order to move society? They all agree upon that. The problem of it is they all violate it. They're foolish enough to believe their own lies to their own condemnation, to their own destruction. Why? There is no fear of God before them. You know what that means? They don't believe God is going to one day hold them accountable in judgment. Boy, have they been surprised, haven't they? Those who have died in their sins, gone and stood before God, they've had a real awakening, have they not? But it's too late. I can imagine. Some of those people who have said, we have no need of this Christian God, there's no such thing as that, and they've gone on and on and on, and die and they wake up and they go, oh man, you are real. I doubt if they really say that, because really and truthfully, they're probably so humbled and the realization of what has happened to them and the reality of the state wherein they are going to eternally be condemned, they have nothing to say but weeping and crying that they were so stupid and foolish. Oh, they have no fear of God before their eyes now, but not then. They will fear God. And they will know. They will too have to bow, but not in repentance. But because He is sovereign, He is creator, and He is the final judge, they are bowing because they are having to acknowledge their lie and His truth. Now we know, he says, Paul says, that whatever the law says, Oh, well, we're not under law, we're under grace. I got news for you. The law is the law. It's for everyone. Doesn't matter whether you're in the state of innocence, as Adam was, he was required to obey the commands of God out of obedience, to fulfill his duties and responsibilities. whether you're in a state of sin or whether you're in the state of redemption, the law of God. So whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law that every mouth shall be stopped. All the world may become guilty before God. That's what's gonna happen. The law of God still dominates all things because the law giver is the one who has spoken the law to man. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin." Now, I want you to get this point. This is the reason I hope you understand not only what we are trying to achieve in living the Christian life, Duties to be performed, sins to be avoided. But carefully note Paul's phrasing here in Romans. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified in his sight. I hope the one thing you will take away from this whole study is this. There is no way, humanly speaking, that we could keep all that is demanded in these commandments. I hope what you begin to get a sense of is, if God would judge me, By these commandments, I have no hope whatsoever of being justified before Him, no matter what I've done. No matter how many things I think I have done good, my good is as filthy rags before God. My righteousness is no good. I needed the alien righteousness of Christ. It ought to do what Paul said in Galatians. It ought to be a schoolmaster to teach you of your need for Christ. And even with the Spirit indwelling us, we struggle to keep the law of God. Not for acceptance with God, but to persevere in the growth of our sanctification of life. What it ought to do is drive you to your knees to say unto God, oh, thank you for the atoning work of Christ, how it's affected my life. Clearly, oh God, if I had to stand before you to gain acceptance and reconciliation with you, I could never stand. What will you plead as a Christian in the day of judgment when all of your thoughts and intents of the hearts will be made known? What will you plead? Well, let's see, even after a Christian, you violated this, this, and this, and the list just goes on and on. What are you gonna plead? Well, somewhere in there I had to do enough to get by, right? I got news for you, won't work. But I meant well, won't work. But my desire was to please you. Clearly not. You know what you plead? You can only plead that which brings all forgiveness of sin. and alone can restore us to a right relationship with God, legally. And that is the blood of Christ. That's your plea. If I got what I deserved, I'd be sent straight to hell. But oh God, through Jesus Christ, you have made me acceptable, not I have made myself acceptable, but you have made me acceptable unto you. And when you look upon me, what you see, my sins covered in the blood of Jesus Christ. Forgiven, pardoned, now to receive only that which Christ alone could have achieved, eternal life through Him, by His Spirit renewing me. in the redemption that he paid upon the cross. No deeds of the law, by the deeds of the law, excuse me, no flesh will be justified in his sight. Cannot be. Because of the law, you have a knowledge of sin, and because you are in sin, you know you're violators of the law of God. That's why man hates God. That's why man wants to escape. He wants to find an excuse, an alternative. He wants to erase the image of God in him at every point and every turn in who he is. Abortion, infanticide, all of the things. Look at the Old Testament, how we treat the body. Often in that way, we are saying we hate God's image. It is insufficient. And thus we hate God. And thus we're trying to eliminate, alter, change. I got news for you. The only way to escape the hatred of God is through the righteousness of Christ. There is no other way. Paul says, Romans 1.30, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedience to parents. That's the nature of the sinful man before God. Consider to the fact that there are people, and you might know some of them, who boast, literally boast, that they hate God. does not such acts demonstrate the depth of the moral wickedness to which the human race is plunged through the fall of Adam in his original transgression of the garden. So much so that Paul says in Romans that not only in chapter 1, not only Do you approve of such evil things? That you will do them, but you will approve of those who do them as well. You'll encourage it, in other words. You will be one who encourages transgression, sinful actions by wicked men. Thus the church is faced, is it not today, with the dilemma? Oh, we face it in every generation. There's nothing new under the sun. But in every generation we face it, but today we face it. Oh, you've got to be accepting of homosexuals. Oh, the church has to be accepting of the transgenders. Oh, the church has to be... There is not one thing in this life that they do not want us not to accept and approve of those who do them. And God says when you get to the point that you not only see it, permit it, and approve of it, you've hit the bottom of the barrel. It's unequivocal. It is unequivocal, yet point in your life. You have lost the battle and you have given in to Satan, to the sinfulness of man. How many churches have we seen already that has gone to the other side? on the question of homosexuality marriages, homosexuals within the church, also within other things, the transgenderism and all those things we've already compromised ourselves to. We have compromised our teachings of the scripture and given in to them. We have acted indifferent to them. And we have said we will go along that we might get along, lest we be humiliated for believing something that they would say is over 2,000 years old and should be cast off. Oh, with the existentialistic philosophy of our generation, The philosophers who constructed these type of pragmatic schemes, they simply came along and said, every generation has to decide and interpret everything for themselves to decide what they believe and what they think is right and wrong. It cannot be from generation to generation to generation the same thing. It must be subjective to that generation based upon new life, new facts, new evidence. Well, I say to you, that's not the way it's going to work when we stand before God. He will say to us, no. No, the law is the law. That's why it's called the law. It doesn't change. It's not the 10 suggestions, the 10 desires. These are the 10 commands of God by which man must live his life. So we must be very, very careful. We must ensure that we are not profane individuals, nor are we haters of God. in anything that we do. Oh, it is no small task, is it? It's a big task. It requires a lot of work. It requires us to yield to the Spirit of God to give up any of those lingering desires. There is that remnant of sin that yet remains in us, Paul says. that we still have to war with. That's the purpose of mortification of sin. Put to death sin in your life, put on the righteousness, the calling of God to walk with the mind of Christ to do what God has commanded that we could not do apart from Christ. Walk in his light. Walk in his word, or if you will, walk in his law. God help us to realize the importance, to realize how important it is for us to walk in the truth of His Word, to live out these things daily in our life, to learn to take these underlying principles and to apply them into so many other areas of life. That's what's important for us. Oh, it seems like a lot. I'm gonna tell you, it is a lot. As a Christian, it is a lot. It is a way of life that we have been given to live as Christians unto our God. Not a small task at all. And I say to you, think upon these things throughout this week. Think about your life. What are your commitments? What are your duties? What are your responsibilities? What has been forbidden of you? How might you be a violator of these things? I'm going to tell you, we all are. The issue is we are commanded to clean it up. to get it on. It's not easy. It's a struggle. You will struggle all of your life with sin. But the wonderful part of it is we've been forgiven and now we've been given the power to overcome it. Oh, we'll never be perfect in this life, but we are to persevere in the faith given to us to that eternal hope that one day we will, in the progression of our faith, grow more mature, stronger, more righteous in the righteousness of Christ, but knowing that the fullness of that will not come, but our hope is in the day of the resurrection, we will be raised in the newness of life. Total victory over sin, spiritually, physically. A new soul cleansed and a new body raised to receive that new soul, as it has been cleansed and made perfectly right with God, for that eternal reward of being with Him forever. Let us think upon these things and think of the importance of how we are to live out our life daily before Him. Shall we pray?