Continuing in our sermon from the preparatory service, and this morning we are in Exodus chapter 20, looking at the pathways of life as we understand God's commands to be life. Exodus chapter 20 starting with verse 1. Then 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 slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourselves an idol or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generation of those who love me, but showing loving kindness to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave him unpunished who takes his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them. and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Honor your father and your mother that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. All the people perceived the thunder, and the lightning flashes, and the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance. Then they said to Moses, Speak to us yourself, and we will listen. But let not God speak to us, or we will die. Moses said to the people, do not be afraid, for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin. So the people stood at a distance while Moses approached the thick cloud where God was. Pray with me. God, bless us now as we continue to look at the footsteps and the pathways of peace and life that you will be glorified as we love you and as we labor to walk in accordance with your commands. We thank you that you have made good steps for us that we may walk in them as this has been demonstrated in Christ Jesus. It is in His name that we pray. Amen. We look at the scripture and halfway through the Ten Commandments, I began to lament that I was booming the way that I was. and ways that we look at the scripture and ways that we consider it as we consider that these are pathways of life. It seems more like a gentle father could be coming alongside us and saying these good and gentle things as we could walk along together and that we could love them and that we could embrace these commandments and we could rejoice in them together because all of these commandments are quite literally a freedom. a freedom, a rescue, and a peace, and a joy. But the context here, as this is portrayed to us, it was quite literally a booming, wasn't it? God came down on the mountain, there was smoke, and the mountain shook. Lightning was flashing. God was quite literally answering with thunder or a voice of thunder that boomed and cracked that the people of God were literally shaking in those moments because God was so great and powerful and so terrifying to them. This is the way that he demonstrated himself in this moment in the Older Covenant. Now, we talked about the idea of being afraid of God in the previous two sermons, that he has shown himself in this way. Now, as we look at him here now and we see him in this way, and Moses says, well, he's doing it to test you. This testing, remember that it's a demonstration of what you really are. You can think of it as a scraping. of a metal or a rock to see what's below the exterior, what's below the surface. So he takes these people and he shows them the most terrifying scene that can come together and be put before them and he shakes them to their core where they say, I can't even listen to him. He's so scary, I can't even hear him and they back away from him. And with that fear being placed on them, we just look and 40 days later, they're making a golden calf. The fear didn't do it. The fear didn't stop their sin. So with that heart and that understanding, I want to read through here and I wanna speak to you like one of my old mentors did, this great old guy who could come alongside me when I'm dealing with my sin and he would look at me with tender eyes. And he would look at me and he would speak to me with a warm voice. And he could smile at me as we literally walked along together talking about the pathways of life. And as we look at these commandments, these are exactly that. Jesus talks about having set us free. He whom the son sets free is free indeed. Those of us who have lived those lives where we have not lived in accordance with God's commands, many of us still feel the shackles of these things, these pains from these things. As I work with a number of people who have broken lives, if you ever worked with a couple who have multiple ex-spouses and multiple children to those ex-spouses, There's a shackling and there's a binding in that where the freedom that one man and one woman with a household of children that live with them, they don't have that freedom. With each sin that is committed, we're bound more deeply. There are more consequences. There are more scars and scars build calluses. There's hurt, there's pain, There's sorrow, there's even limping as we would want to run the race. So as we look at the commandments, don't just hear the boom. Know that it's there and it will come again. But I invite you tonight to see these commands as pathways of life that are beautiful. that are glorious, that are hopeful, that we will be able to enjoy good things together. So as we continue on with the theme of walking in these pathways of life, if you're following in the outline, this is our sixth step. This is enjoy the blessing of honoring authority. Exodus 20, 12, honor your father and your mother that your days may be prolonged in the land which the Lord your God gives you. This idea of honoring authority, ever since at least the 60s in the United States, people have wanted to crumble this one up and throw it over their shoulders since the sexual revolution. I was told that it impacted our own church, the RPCNA, deeply. I was talking to a man who grew up in that time. He said, there was a time where we did what our parents said. It was expected, and that's what we did. And he said, and then the 60s hit. And he said, and the next thing I know, I'm traveling across Europe with a young lady, another guy, and another young lady. And it was as if, at that time, our parents thought they had no right to speak to us and tell us differently. And we imagined that they had no right to speak to us and tell us differently. Authority had been taken and thrown out the window. In our own lives, we may look and we may recognize that God has put authority in position. And for what reason? I was told that a number of years ago, a friend of mine, he was at Geneva College, and one of the professors asked, what's government for? What's government for? And the whole class just kind of looked back and forth at each other and no one had an answer. But then finally, one of our brethren spoke up and said, to reward good and punish evil. And it's put there by God. And that's true. Government, or to govern, is to reward good and to punish evil. That's the purpose. In the midst of our own household, God has put governing factors in place. And government doesn't just mean the elected officials in our lives. When I had gotten my first car, well, not my first car, my Geo Metro, I noticed there was something weird under the gas pedal. I was like, what is this thing? And I crawled under and looked at it, and something was bolted to the bottom of the pedal. And I asked someone, what is that? They said, it's a governor. It restricts your speed so that you can't put your pedal down all the way. I said, well, that thing's got to come off, right? A governor. I thought it was a bad thing. Something that would restrict me. But who has seen a child who is completely undisciplined? Who has seen a child that does whatever he wants? Have you seen a more despicable or disgusting image in life than a child who hates his parents? A child who would slap his father or his mother, and we would watch and there would be no consequences. Even talking about it makes my blood pressure go up. Well, we look and we see that in the scriptures, the Israelites were going into this country of a people who did whatever was right in their own sight. And when that happens, it escalates, and it escalates, and it escalates, and it escalates, and it escalates into pornography. It escalates into adultery. It escalates and it escalates into false gods. It escalates and it escalates and it escalates to the sacrifice of children. Some of us and some people would scoff at that idea, but here we are in the United States of America, where it's escalated and it's escalated and it's escalated and everyone does whatever is right in their own sight. So what is the answer and how do we have hope? Now, for anyone who has had an abortion, my heart goes out to you. It's a grief. It's a sorrow. It's a terrible thing. But Jesus does heal. Jesus does forgive. All of our sins are forgiven in Christ Jesus as we call on him. but it doesn't give us the freedom to continue on and murder. God has loved us. God has blessed us. He gives us forgiveness and he gives us life. He is the authority that is in place. God places authority in our lives for our rescue and our care. I have seen children who are not disciplined. They're the most miserable children that I've ever seen. Some may imagine that when the shackles are thrown off, that there is joy. It's worse. It's worse. I've seen small children who had full rule and full authority in their family, and they were the most miserable people that I have ever seen. Discipline and authority has been put in place in households and congregations. 1 Timothy 3 lays out who are to be the elders within the household of God. 1 Timothy 3.15 describes it that way. He says, the church is the household of God, and this is the way that we are to maintain. There are standards, there are people who are to govern, they are to lead. Hebrews 13.17 says, obey your leaders. And it makes this statement, which is scary for elders, because they're the ones who are going to give an account. We will have the answer for what we have done and what we have not done. So the idea of rule and authority is in place. It's placed there with the idea of responsibility. What responsibility do we each have, and how do we respond to each other in these roles? I heard one wife, and she was speaking on the idea of subjection. And she said, I like it. She said, it helps me. She said, one thing it tells me is how low I have to duck when my husband messes up when God swats him. The idea was that the responsibility was on him then. When it came down to it and he had to make the decision, he was the one who was going to have to give an account. There's a freedom in place when there's a governing body in place or governing individuals in place. The leaders are the ones who will give an account. And we have the blessing of honoring the authority that's in place. And really, it goes better with us. Who hasn't seen one sibling say to the strong-willed other, why won't you just do what you're told? Don't you see how much better it will be if you just do what you're told? It's the reality in the home. It's the reality in the church. It is our reality in life. Our next step, number seven, you shall not murder. Some people look and they imagine that the Ten Commandments were some new thing when they were given out, as if even the Sabbath day was a new thing. Sabbath day, even at that time, wasn't a new thing. Before they had been given the Ten Commandments and the manna was coming, they knew. You're not supposed to gather manna on the Sabbath. They understood. This was a principle that was in place from the place of creation. As we continue on and we get to this commandment here, it's not as if when it was spoken, you shall not murder, everybody said, ah, now I can't murder. The principle had already been in place. He who sheds man's blood by man, his blood shall be shed. It was the reality there. Now, is this a restraint for us? Is this a bad thing for us? Is this a shackle on you? Oh, I can't commit murder today because God has said, now I can't commit murder. Or is our whole life and is our whole society better? Because God says, you shall not commit murder. I'm pretty sure we'll agree. I'm glad that my neighbor is not allowed to murder me. Growing up, as I look back, I'm glad my parents weren't allowed to murder me. I'm glad my siblings weren't allowed to murder me. It's a good thing in place, it's life in place. Now, this freedom, as it is placed upon us, it continues on and it has another step for us, and this is a step within our heart. In Matthew 5, 22, but I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court. And whoever says to his brother, you good for nothing, shall be guilty before the Supreme Court. And whoever says, you fool, shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell." Is this restraining? For me to grab one of my sons and say, you can't hate your sister. Or to grab my daughter and say, you can't hate your brother. This issue in your heart needs dealt with. God gives us specific instruction here. Now, what is hatred as we think about it? What is hatred? And we mentioned the idea, and I've heard from some of us here that hate is pretty close, that close to a bad word in our family. We don't hate people. Well, hatred is to be the enemy of somebody. Someone recently has let me know. They said, you are my enemy, they have told me. to be the enemy of someone. That is, to be against their life, perhaps. To be against their soul. To be against their earthly good. Or to be against their eternal good. Do you really have room in your life to pit yourself against someone's life? Against their earthly good. Against their eternal good. If not, why not? Isn't the reason this? That while you were yet a sinner, Christ died for you? While you were the enemy of Jesus Christ, God so loved you that He gave His one and only Son. Now this, so far from being a shackle placed on you, is a shackle taken off of you. I imagine each of us in our lives can think of someone that we've hated. And we can think about what that did to our hearts, what that did to us, what it even did to our other relationships. Was it life? Did you have abundant life? while you were hating someone, while you were the enemy of their life, or the enemy of their soul, or the enemy of their earthly good, did you have life? Or was a dark, wet, stinking mantle of death laying over top of you in every footstep you took, in every prayer that you lifted before God? Not murdering. Not hating is freedom, and it is life. You are rescued from the shackles of hatred, as you are rescued from the shackles of murder, where you would be thrown into jail for 20 years in our country, and if it was done biblically, you would be executed. Freedom. Freedom from murder. Freedom from adultery. Our next step, or step seven, was be free from murder and hatred. Step number eight is be free from adultery and lust. Exodus 20, 14, you shall not commit adultery. That might look like a shackle to some people. That may look like a fence that has been put up, and you may imagine that it's keeping you from something that is good, something that would give you joy. Something that would give you peace. Some have thought in terms of, that keeps me from getting the good thing that I deserve, and that if I could just cross over this fence, I could be happy. Well, as is the case with all the commandments of God, crossing that fence is actually death. It is not a rescue. It is not a peace. It is not a joy. Speaking to one of our older sisters in our congregation, she says, look at these people who leave one husband for another. She said, I could have left my husband. She said, I could have left my husband. But as I look around, I know there isn't anybody any better. She said, everybody's messed up. You leave one messed up person, you get another. You still find yourself bound to the other person. Your heart is still stuck there. Your life is still stuck there. Your finances are still stuck there. If you have children, you're still stuck there by your children. I think God knew what he was talking about when he said, you shall not commit adultery. God knew what He was talking about when He said, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and these two shall be one. That you shall not divorce except for the reason of marital unfaithfulness. That we are together, that we are one, until death does us part. It is what God has intended. It is freedom, it is rescue, it is care, it is what is best. Now Jesus takes this same principle and he does this thing, he keeps unfolding and he keeps applying these principles of love and these principles of life. In Matthew 5, 27 and 28, you have heard that it was said, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. This is a tough one for us in our culture. The imagery is put before us all over the place. When our brother Brian Schneider, when he was candidating in different churches and when he was in Las Vegas, He was considering there and they probably would have called him there. He talked about just driving down the street and the billboards that were there where he would have to live. He said were so obscene that he didn't feel that he could raise his son there. Some of us have told, some have told me that even on your wholesome shows that you would be watching on TV, that the commercials that would come up would be so obscene that you would have to shut it off. I had to tell a family member that my family never sees smut until we sit down in their living room for a visit and the commercial comes on. It really is filth. It really is, as Jesus describes it here, adulterous. We are to guard our eyes, to let our eyes look straight ahead of us, to not look on these things that are forbidden. Because God doesn't want you to have joy? Or he doesn't want you to have peace? No, the reason is he wants you to have life. He wants life for your family. He wants life for your church. He wants life in the kingdom of God. Put no worthless thing before your eyes, as the Psalm says. Be careful. Guard your eyes. Guard your heart. Stay away from pornography. Stay away from looking at men and women with impurity. We're not allowed to think of anyone else other than our spouse in those ways. They're for husband and wife alone. Even that, Jesus says, is immorality. Guard our very thoughts from those places. And the best thing to do is to put your repentance line in your mind as you go along like a timeline. As soon as your mind or your eyes start to go astray, repent. This is life. Our next step, number nine, is be free to trust the Lord. Exodus 20, 15, you shall not steal. What is this idea of stealing? And how does that come in with trusting the Lord? Why would you steal? Why would you steal? I expect everyone here has either stolen or has been very tempted to steal at some point in your life. There has been some wicked part in me that would just want to steal just to try to get away with it, just to see if I could. I worked in a print shop, and there was some kind of judge who was attached and rented a space in the same area as the print shop, and it tormented me, because sometimes I would sit in my office, and I could look off, and I could look through one hall, look through another hall, then a little bit further in, the judge's office was there, and I could see his robe hanging there. And there was something in me that thought, how cool would it be to steal a judge's robe? If I could get away with that, what could I be getting away with? Now, as my mom said to me oftentimes when I was a child, honey, it's not cool. Stealing to get away with it isn't cool. Stealing to have what we don't have isn't cool. See, this idea of stealing, it's to say, you won't give me what I want. You won't give me what I need. So I'm gonna take it. I will get it myself because you won't take care of me. This is the heart of so many sins and how dare we say, after all that he has done for us, after he gave his one and only son to rescue us, he's demonstrated he will give you anything that you need. Anything that you need. Everything that you need, you will have. How dare we point a finger at him and say, I'll just get what I need myself. There's a bondage and a slavery attached to that, imagining that what we take would gratify us and fulfill us. I am very grateful for the things that I have not been caught doing. I'm very grateful for all the ways that God has restrained me. I'm very grateful that I never stole a judge's robe. I'm very grateful that I never even tried. Does he provide for you is the question. Does he provide for you? Have you been given what you need? Eternally, and even now so far in our lives, everything that we need that is good, we have it. We have it. And He lays out these pathways of life for us to walk in them. Sure, it sounds heavy. You shall not. You shall not. But it's the same as we heard this morning. You shall not let your baby run with needle-nose pliers and play on a hobby horse with it. Because that's death. It's destructive. It's stupid. Breaking God's commandments is stupid. It's death. It's destructive. Walk in the pathways of life with joyful hearts doing so. Pray with me. Our God, we thank you for all of the good that you have reserved for those who love you and who are called in accordance with your commandments. God, bless us as your people, as we love you and as we labor to keep your law that you will be glorified, as we demonstrate your love, your power, and your authority, as we labor to keep your commands. Thank you again, God, for all of the good that you have reserved as we love you. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.