And thank God that we can rest in Him. All right, if you're turning your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 10, that's our text this morning, that's where we're gonna be in our Bibles. And in our church Bible reading, we have begun reading about the kings, all right? Occasionally, the way our readings worked out, we're kind of a little bit all over the place, but we have been coming back to the kings each week and going through their lives. And sometimes you read those stories, And you might be surprised that the age of a king that is appointed, and there's several kings that were appointed in childhood. One of those kings is King Josiah that became king at eight years of age. Mac, if that was you, man, that would be next year. King Mac would come to reign. And I mean, just imagine what that'd be like to have a boy king that was there. But Josiah was a godly, godly young king and two kings in chapter 22. It says about Josiah, Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Jedidiah, the daughter of Adiah of Boscheth. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David his father, turned not aside to the right hand or to the left. And it came to pass in the 18th year of King Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshulam, the scribe, to the house of the Lord, saying, Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people. And let them deliver it into the hand of the doers of the work that have the oversight of the house of the Lord. and let them give it to the doers of the work which is in the house of the Lord to repair the breaches of the house. Unto carpenters and builders and masons to buy timber and hewn stone to repair the house. Albeit there was no reckoning made with them of the money that was delivered into their hand, because they dealt faithfully. And so Josiah looks at the house of God and say, hey, that needs to be built up. We've got money that's coming in, let's do that. Let's take that, let's apply that, get that out there. And so he's overseeing that work, that that gets done for God's glory. And it says in verse eight, Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan and he read it. And apparently God's word had been set aside. It had been forgotten. There were no doubt traditions that they practiced, but the full authority of the word of God had been set aside in his law books. And so he finds this book and he read it. In verse nine, Shaphan the scribe came to the king and brought the king word again and said, thy servants have gathered the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of them that do the work and have the oversight of the house of the Lord. And Shaphan the scribe showed the king saying, Hilkiah the priest hath delivered me a book and Shaphan read it before the king and it came to pass when the king had heard the words of the book of the law that he rent his clothes. And the king commanded Hokiah the priest and Ahicham the son of Shaphan and Achbor the son of Micaiah and Shaphan the scribe and Asahiah a servant of the king saying, go ye and inquire of the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah concerning the words of this book that is found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of the book to do according to all that which is written concerning us. This 18-year-old king looks at that book, he reads it, and as he reads it, he reads it as he's reading the very word of God, the very authority of God, and his eyes are not open to something physically, they're open to something spiritually that he sees because of that book, and he responds incredibly. In our day, this could be similar to the parliament declaring a state of emergency. God's wrath has gone out against the nation of Scotland and we need to understand God's law and yield to God's law and entreat the favor of God. Or it'd be like schools repenting of the false teaching that's taken place in our day and being pumped into the schools and say, hey, we're getting rid of that false teaching. We're gonna reinstate RE in a better way. and prayer in schools and bring back our lives to obedience to God. It's an amazing revival that takes place with Josiah and it takes place because he looks at the law and says, God said it and God meant it. You know, in our day, we look at that and we think, why do we think that's unlikely to happen in our day? We look at the things that I just mentioned and we wonder, you know, why would this not happen? Well, in our day, men do not respect God and his law. We've got blasphemy, we've got profaning God's name, profaning God's day. It is just common that man's hearts are against God. Men do not fear God. You know, we talk to people about heaven and hell, and as they think about hell, they might laugh about hell. They might laugh about a God that has the authority to stand in judgment upon them. To them, it's just a bit of humor to them. Men know what God's word says and yet they say there is no God and or we know better than God. I mean think about that that there is a common understanding even among unbelievers. We met a man yesterday that is not a church man. He does not have as he said any real knowledge about God but when I asked him a question about what he thought the word of God said about something, he said, it probably says this. And you know what? He was right, because generally speaking, men have an understanding, even people that are not in church, about what God says about truth. And yet they don't respond to that, because they're not walking in the fear of God. And so I wonder this morning, are we walking in the fear of God in his word? Are we walking in the fear of God in his word? Our text is Deuteronomy chapter 10, as I mentioned, and the main idea that I just want us to consider about, and really it would solve the error in our society, it would heal our families, it would heal our nation, if men would turn to this, and that is this, we need to respect God and his law. We need to respect God and His law. You know, am I walking today in the fear of God? Is there any trembling in my heart towards God and towards His word? And so let's pray, ask the Spirit of God to help us as we come to these thoughts this morning. Father, we thank you for the Word of God. And Father, I praise you that our book is not lost in the house of God somewhere, as the house of God's in disrepair. But Father, that by the grace of God, we have the Bible, we've got the truth. And Father, we could read it in the very same way that Josiah read it. We could read it with fear and trembling, understanding that it is the very words of a holy God, a God that is over everything. And Father, I pray for that sense of the truth today. I pray, Father, that your word would have free course in the hearts of the hearers as a church family as we take this in, that the Spirit of God would bring us back to a fear of God that respects the law, respects the God who gave the law. And Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would do this in our society. Father, we need it in Bilston, Roslyn, Lonehead, the south side of Edinburgh, Pennycook, and then out towards the borders, Lord, West Linton and Bigger and Temple and Howgate. and over to the east of us, Trenant, and closer in Haddington and other places, I just pray, Spirit of God, that there would be an awakening in Scotland. Father, in your mercy, that people would again turn to the Bible with the heart that we see in the heart of Josiah. A man that trembles at the Word of God. And Father, I pray for liberty to proclaim the truth of the Word of God. I can't speak without your enablement. I pray that I speak biblically, practically, lovingly, powerfully. And Father, I pray that you give us ears to hear. We're excited about what we desire to do today. We're excited about tonight and Daniel preaching this evening. I pray again, Spirit of God, that you bless that service. All right, so two points this morning. The first is that you need to respect God's law. The second is that you need to respect God. So we need to respect God and his law. So respecting God's law. Atheism says there is no God. Why? Because if there is a God, then God is the judge and God's gonna stand in judgment upon them. Psalm 75 verse 7 says, but God is the judge. He put it down one and set it up another. My wife and I read a psalm last night, Psalm 50, and it says God is the judge and it's all about the judgment of God and yet we know the Savior has the judgment put into his authority from the Father. John 5, verse 22, for the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. We know that the great white throne judgment is gonna take place as Jesus judges the ungodly. We know that the judgment seat of Christ is gonna take place as we stand before our Lord as the judge that evaluates the work that we've done with our life. Abraham, when he interceded, He acknowledged that God is the judge, and as he's praying for the city of Sodom, in Genesis 18, verse 25, he says, as he pleads with God to spare the city, he says, that be far from thee to do after this man, or to say the righteous with the wicked, and that the righteous should be as the wicked, and judged by God, and so that be far from thee. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? What a statement. The judge of all the earth. God is the judge, and he's also the lawgiver. James 4, 12 says there is one lawgiver. And we understand from our text this morning, we're gonna see who that is, and that lawgiver is God. In the States, there's a high-profile trial that's taking place of a young man named Kyle Rittenhouse that's 17 years old. I think they're in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He went down with an AR-15, 15 or a weapon like that, an automatic weapon, he went down to defend properties and people during a riot that was taking place. And in that riot, he was chased by some men. Altercations took place. A man died, I believe, and at least two other men were shot. I can't remember exactly how many were killed and whatnot. But the question is, did he do this with premeditation or was this in The prosecution has done a very poor job in this trial. According to all accounts, it seems that they've actually helped Kyle Rittenhouse as they try to prosecute him. And actually their witnesses continue to defend the actions that he took. And perhaps because of that, The prosecution entered into evidence in front of the jury, things that the judge forbid them to say. And the judge had the jury taken out of there, and the judge, and you can watch it, it's very interesting to watch, the judge reprimands the prosecution, says, I can't believe that you are introducing this. This has been law for the last, he says, 40, 50 years. I know that you know this, and you heard me say that this could not be entered in And no, this is not okay. And you look at that and think, you know, why does the judge have such a problem with the prosecution? Because the prosecution is not yielding to the authority of the judge or the authority of the law. And that's, again, where men's hearts are today, but by God's grace, men need to yield. to the authority of God, respect God, and respect God's law. And so as we think about respecting God's law, Respect God's law because the law is revelation from God. Respect God's law because the law is revelation from God. It says he wrote on the tables according to the first writing, the 10 commandments. Okay, revelation is truth. In other words, it's something that we wouldn't understand, that we wouldn't know if somebody didn't reveal it to us. In this case, what is revealed to us is the law of God or the commands that God has given, the 10 commandments. And the Ten Commandments are a synopsis of all the laws of God. They're kind of the building blocks of that law, but Jesus condensed it even further to two commands that pin up those Ten Commandments. And so Jesus, questioned by a man regarding the greatest law, said this in Matthew 22. The man said, Master, what's the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Then he says this, on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Loving God and loving others. Everything stems from that. And the laws that God has given is because man does not love God or love his fellow man in the way that he should. But the one that has revealed to us these laws is God. And as the law is revealed, the law reveals that we fall very short of fulfilling it. Romans 7, verse 7, Paul said it this way. He said, I had not known sin, But by the law, for I had not known lust, except the law had said, thou shalt not covet. And so as the law comes, what the law does very well is to make us realize how far we fall short of being what we should in loving God and loving others. So the law reveals to us our transgressions. And so the Ten Commandments are these, and I know that these will be familiar to us this morning, but just to refresh them in our minds this morning, the first one is, no other gods before me. And so God says, I've got first place. That means that in your day, God has first place with what you do during the day, with your life, with your decisions, everything that God has first place. The second command is do not make idols. So there's not to be anything that usurps God's place or made or fashioned that men would bow down to except to God, that allegiance is to be given to God. The third is do not take God's name in vain. We talked about this recently that that has to do with who God is and man's respect for God and understanding of God's authority. The fourth command is remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. We understand that we are not Sabbatarians today. We worship the Lord on the Lord's day, but that that command to have one day a week that is a day that's set aside for worship of God is a command that God himself gave. We know that in the New Testament. The Bible says forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as a matter of some is and that that is a command that God expects us to keep of giving him that day. Do not murder. It's another command and not to take man's life because God made man in his very image. Do not commit adultery. Don't take somebody else's spouse and take them as your own. Do not steal. And with that, not to take anything that's not your own, that isn't something that you possess, whether you purchased it or God in his grace gave it to you, but not to take something that is somebody else's. Do not testify falsely about your neighbor, not to say something to discredit somebody else by deceit. In other words, don't desire something that's not yours, that God hasn't seen fit to give you, but be content and satisfied with that which you have because coveting leads to many transgressions of God's law. And so as we look at that, And we begin to apply that to our lives, and we see the overarching aspects of that. What it does very well is make us understand, you know what, I'm a sinner. I transgressed God's law, and therefore there is not goodness in my heart, but there is sin that has come into my life because I've transgressed God's law. And the Bible speaks about that. In Romans 3, 23, it says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And basically it means this, man does not measure up. God's standard to get into heaven is perfect holiness, and without that, no man's gonna enter into heaven. He's gotta have righteousness, but what the law does is make man understand. that man has failed in that. How many of you like failure? Anybody this morning? I just love, I love to fail. None of us likes to fail. I read this statistic, and Benson, you might find some comfort in this. I hope not, because I hope you pass your driver's test. But it says that 46% of all people in 2018 and 2019 failed their practical driving test. Nearly 50% of those that took it did not pass, and we can look at that two ways. Well, the test is too tough, and so let's lower the standard, let's make it a little easier for people to drive. But let me ask you, would you like a society where people have an easy driver's test? Probably not, because that's going to lead to danger on our roadways. We understand that we got to keep that standard high. So what do we want to do? We want to go alongside of those people that are struggling to meet that standard and say, hey, let me help you learn how to drive properly and get you educated so that you meet the standard because that standard is good for society. Our world looks at the standard of God's law and says, let's get rid of it. People are failing, they feel really bad about their failures, it's really hurting them in their life, they have a bad self-image, and so let's take the standard and let's change the standard so that you're not failing, so that you're not called a failure morally or spiritually. And so they replace it with their standard, and their standard says this, killing a baby in the womb is good, it's okay. And yet I read about an author that stopped writing after she had an abortion. There were several years where she didn't write because of the guilt. And this is a secular person, this is a person that from reading what I read, I would not suspect that she has any qualms or thinks that abortion is necessarily wrong, but she had guilt for years because she took the life of a child in her womb. But the world says it's okay, it's good, you shouldn't feel bad about that. Having sexual relations outside of marriage is good. It's okay to shack up, it's okay to test the waters, it's okay to whatever you wanna do there, that's fine. The world says that's good, but God says it's sin and the Bible's very clear about sexual sin. They reject God and put humanism in God's place and say there is no such thing as God and understand the Ten Commandments have a lot to do with God. It has a lot to do with who God is. And so they get that out and say, there is no such thing as God. Don't feel bad about that. Just, you're okay. The standard has been changed, they say. They say marriage can be with anyone you desire, that sodomy is good, and that's being pumped out in our world, and again, it's sad that we have to speak about it, but the Bible's very clear about sodomy, and that it's a sin against God, and God has put it in black and white in the word of God, but man comes with a standard and says, hey, I feel bad for these people that desire that kind of relationship, and so that they don't feel like a failure spiritually or morally, let's change God's law. They say lies are good. You ask somebody at their door, if you're talking to people about the Lord and say, have you ever told a lie? And the answer is yes. Little lies, right? Only lies that are good, lies that help people. They've replaced the standard where God says deceit is bad and lies are bad, they say but lies are okay. They basically say this, sin is good as long as it does not hurt anyone. And so they've said that. Now let me ask, is that good for our society? Is our society better today? Because men have stepped in and said, this was God's law, and ooh, that was extreme, and it made people feel really bad, and there were spiritual and moral failures, and so let's change the law so that it doesn't say that anymore. Has that benefited us? No, why? Because God was the one that revealed the law. God was the one that illuminated this and helped us understand what makes society work and what makes society wonderful and what makes a family a blessing and what makes our lives individually a blessing. God gave that to us how? By giving us a law that identified that which hurts us. and that is sin. Romans 7 verse 12 says about the law itself, Now I admit this today, man can't meet that standard without Christ. Everybody ought to look at the law and say, but I'm a failure spiritually, I'm a failure morally. That's not a bad thing, because that makes me understand today that I need somebody to help me measure up to God's standard. And so we understand today that that person is Christ, the Savior that died on the cross for our sins, that through his blood, we could be forgiven of all those transgressions of God's law, but God revealed his law, not for our bad, but for our good. And so the second thing about respecting God's laws is respect God's law because the law is inspired by God. And I know I've already kind of said that, God revealed the law, that was the emphasis of what we're thinking about, but it was God that revealed the law. It was God that inspired the scriptures. 2 Timothy 3.16 says, Now you might know this, but inspiration means divinely breathed in. When man was created, God made man and God breathed into man the breath of life and man became a living soul. God also likewise with the scriptures and with the law, God breathed it in, God inspired it, God gave it life, God put it there for man. It is from God. Notice again in our text here. Deuteronomy 10, verse two, this is God. And I, God, will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou breakest and thou shall put them in the ark. And he wrote, God wrote on the tables, verse four, Who spake? God spake out of the mount. God gave his law to the people verbally as he wrote it down. He testified what the law was so that they would hear it from him. and the Lord gave them unto me." Okay, God gave us the law in the scriptures. Now, I had a young lady ask me specifically about sexuality, a question down in Princeton State Gardens on Monday. And I said this to her, one of the things I said is this, have you ever been wrong? And she said, yes. And the truth is this, man has been wrong, but has God ever been wrong? No. And see, God is a perfect and righteous God. God makes some mistakes. It is God that has given to us his truth. Jeremiah 17, nine says about us, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it. Our heart is corrupt. I mean, we have a human sinful nature that is corrupt. There's a person that said, you know, I've never been wrong. Then they said, I thought I was once, but I was wrong. I mean, the fact is you and I can perceive things and we think things and our eyes and our sight is skewed by so many things, but the eyesight of God is perfect. And God is the one that inspired the law and gave us the law. God's law is perfect because God is perfect. Psalm 92 verse 15 says to show that the Lord is upright. He is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him. God didn't make a mistake. God has never made a mistake. God will never make a mistake. God has never transgressed. He cannot transgress. God is absolutely perfect. He is holy God. and therefore His word is. Psalm 19, verse seven says, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. Okay, so God's standard is perfect. It's not gonna change. God revealed it. God inspired it. It's there. But again, our problem is that we don't measure up. We can't meet that perfect standard. So what a man needs As he looks at that, he needs somebody that'll pay the debt of his sin and take his sin away, that will remove God's wrath against him because his sin has been paid for. Romans 5 verse 8 says, but God commendeth his love toward us, and that while we are yet sinners, Christ died for us. The point of the cross is that man does not measure up to God's perfect standard. He can't measure up. So he needs somebody that will cleanse his heart of his sin, make him righteous. And the way he does that is through punishment in our place for our sin. It's called judicial forgiveness. It's that God can't just say to us today, well, hey, you're a nice kid and you're so serious about that. And you said, I'm sorry, please forgive me. And so, because I care about you, I'm just going to wipe your sin away. God can't do that because God must be just. And God is a righteous God, has to punish that sin. So what does he do? He takes his sinless son, Jesus Christ, puts him on the cross. He dies on the cross for our sins. So judicially, God can forgive us our sin and make us righteous. To have that righteousness, that man has to repent of his sin and put his faith in Jesus. Romans 10 verse 9 says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. If that person will come to faith in what Jesus Christ did, God will save them from what? The punishment of their sin in a lake of fire for all eternity. The death that they deserve because they have transgressed God's law. But if they'll do that, notice what it says in verse 10. It says that, for with the heart man believeth unto Righteousness, what's the standard to get into heaven? The standard to get into heaven is God's righteousness, perfect holiness. I can't meet it because I've already broken the law, I've transgressed the law, the law just condemns me, but through Christ, I have imputed righteousness as a gift that God gives me. Okay, so the law though, the law points out to us that we don't meet that standard. And guess what? It's God. It's God that decides that, it's God that revealed that, it's God that inspired that and told us this is sin, it's a transgression against my law. And so respect God's law because God revealed it, God inspired it. And then a final point as we consider this, respect God's law because God's law is preserved by God. God's law is preserved by God. God wrote it in stone. Verse three, it says, So you can see Moses going up, and I don't know how thick these were. I think Moses is kind of a strong guy, you know, because he cuts out these tablets, whatever size they were, tucks them under his arms, and he goes up into the mount, and God writes it in stone. You know, stone is the great preserver, isn't it? The oldest things that we possess in archeology are things that are maybe things of stone. Fossils, for instance. You know, I know they like to date those really, really old, and I know they're not that old, but the fact is, I mean, they're preserved. How are they preserved? In stone. Stone tools that I just saw, they found a bunch of stone tools somewhere recently here in Scotland, and they're excited about that. But why are they preserved? Because they're, again, in stone. God wrote it on stone to preserve it. Men would erase it, men would change it, men would edit it, but God puts it in something that is solid that he wrote it in. Psalm 19 verse 89 says, forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. LGBTQ, whatever letters there are in that, those people cannot edit the word of God. Pagans cannot edit the word of God. Abortion rights people cannot edit the word of God. People that are evolutionists or atheistic cannot edit the word of God because the word of God is forever settled in heaven. Matthew 5 18 Jesus said this truly I say unto you tell heaven and earth pass One jot or one tittle shall no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled the the Old Testament and majority is written in Hebrew that jot and tittle are the the smallest diacritical markings of the Hebrew Old Testament and Jesus said this they even are inspired and not a single one It's gonna fade from the law until everything be fulfilled. In Matthew 5, 19, Jesus said this, whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. That's the New Testament, all right? I understand it's before the cross, but that's Jesus' New Testament saying, I'm telling you this, if you teach men to violate my law, You're the least in the kingdom of heaven. Obviously it assumes that they're saved. But they for some reason thought, they can look at the law and think, well, that's not a big deal for whatever reason. And they said to others, it's not a big deal anymore. It's not a big deal if we break this law. If you do that, Jesus says you're the least in the kingdom of heaven. But then notice what he goes on to say. He says, but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. The same that shall look at the law and say, that law, it stands still today. It's still the commandments that God has given. We can't meet it through works, but we can meet it through grace, through faith in Christ and the spirit of God, enabling us and being changed into the image of God through the word of God, transforming us into Christ. Hey, meet that standard. God says it's good because the standard hasn't changed. There's a lot of churches in our day, they're saying, hey, the standard's different. The standard is not different, and God condemns that, and Jesus Christ very clearly says that is an error to say that, and if you do that, you're the least in the kingdom of heaven. But somebody that stands with the word of God says, this is what God says. God says that is great in his kingdom. And so God's law, respect God's law because God's law is preserved by God, preserved by God. And then, so God wrote it in stone, but let me point out, secondly, God wrote it in stone again, okay? Remember the story, Moses comes down from the mount the first time, the children of Israel had sat down and they rose up to play, the Bible says, and they corrupted themselves and Moses comes down, he's upset by that, he casts the stones, the first stones down and they were destroyed. But that didn't destroy the law. That didn't end the testimony of God's law. He went back up into the mount, back up with God, and God again took the stone and began, as we're reading here in our story, this is the second time, God wrote it again. And what I wanna point out about that is it was the same. When God wrote it in stone, again, it was not a different law. Notice what it says in verse one and three, it says this phrase, likened to the first. Likened to the first. Then verse four, according to the first writing. the 10 commandments, which the Lord spake unto them in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. Notice the scripture emphasizes, right? It's not edited, it's not different. When it goes back to get a second copy of the law, it's exactly the same. Why? Because God made it to be the same. You remember in Jeremiah's ministry as a prophet of God, he takes a scroll or a scroll that he had authored, the book of Jeremiah, is taken before the king. The king reads a few leafs of it. The Bible says he takes a pen knife and he casts it into the fire and he burns it and he destroys it. And yet God comes to Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 36, verse 28. He says, take the again another scroll and write in it all the former words that were in the first scroll. God has preserved his word. I meet people all the time and they'll say this, the Bible's changed. You know, the Bible's changed. You know, we've got all these different Bibles. Well, the truth is the Bible has not changed. We've got the Dead Sea Scrolls that were found at Qumran And God preserved their copies of the Old Testament, all the books of the Old Testament, including a complete Isaiah scroll that is there from the time of Christ. And guess what? It's the same as our Bible. Yes, ours is an English translation of that document, but it's the same. Why? Because God has preserved it. God has kept it. And so God wrote it in stone again, and God commanded the preservation of his word. It says in verse five, Remember that ark, that Ark of the Covenant that he would take and it would later be overlaid with gold, but it's that Ark of Shittemwood. He's to put that law into there, why? because God was gonna keep it. God was gonna preserve it so that every generation could look at it and say, that is the law given by God. Psalm 12, verse six says, the word of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in the furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord. Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever. If you ever get a chance, I mentioned we met one of the guys that works with a one o'clock gun at Edinburgh Castle, met him yesterday. But if you go up to Edinburgh Castle and you walk into the room that houses the crown jewels, what you notice is that you walk through very thick walls, and you enter a vault, and there's a vault door that's there, and then there's bulletproof glass, or I don't know what kind of glass it is, but very thick glass that is around there, and there's security guards there. And when Hitler invaded, you can read the story, they took the crown jewels, they hid them down in the wall of the castle, and man has done that, why? Because they will preserve the crown jewels, right? And I have no doubt that that's gonna be the case, that Scotland's gonna protect the crown jewels, that they're gonna preserve those, that they're gonna keep those. God has promised that he is the one that keeps his word. Men have tried at different times, destroy the Bible, get rid of the Bible, take away the Bible. God has preserved it just like he said. Proverbs chapter 16 verse five says, everyone that is proud in heart is abomination to the Lord, though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished. You know, our whole world could circle the globe, say we're just gonna grab hands and say, we reject the law of God, we reject the revelation that God has given, the inspiration that God has given, we cast it away, we're gonna destroy it. But the fact is, they'll not get away with it. they're still gonna be punished according to the law that God has given. You know, we need to be like Josiah, don't we? We need to look at that law that God revealed, that God inspired, that God has preserved and say, that is the very law of God. And I tremble with fear because so many in our day and in our hearts included as believers, where we look at the law and we think that's not significant to us anymore. We live in the age of grace. We need to go back a little bit and say, you know what? Let's tremble in fear before God. Let's understand that God's law is high, that it can only be met through Jesus Christ. And with that is our second idea, and this will be a little bit shorter to the point here. We need to respect God, but you need to, I'm sorry, respect God's law, but in doing that, we need to respect God as the giver of the law. Respect God. Notice what it says, look down at verse 12. It says, you know, that idea of fear is not like, oh, I'm terrified of God, that I don't have a relationship with God, but it's a fear of God like a son to his father. It's to respect your dad. It's like the Rechabites, they were the children of Jonadab and their dad commanded them, the Old Testament said, hey, I don't want you to drink any wine, I don't want you to plant any vineyards, and you're gonna be itinerant in your lifestyle. And they looked at what their dad said and said, I respect my dad, I fear my dad, I'm gonna obey my dad. And God used the Rechabites as an example to Judah, and he sends Jeremiah to these men, in Jeremiah chapter 25, and he puts a test in front of them. He said, Now God applies this, God looks at this great example of the fear of an earthly father, he looks at that and says to Judah, he says, why don't you obey me like that? Why don't you fear me like that? It says in verse 13, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, will ye not receive instruction to hearken to my word, saith the Lord, you're not listening? "'The word of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, "'that he commanded his sons not to drink wine, "'are performed. "'But unto this day they drink none, "'but obey their father's commandments. "'Notwithstanding, I have spoken unto you, "'rising early and speaking, but you hearken not unto me.'" And God's just saying to them, why don't you respect me? Just like the sons of Jonadab respected their father, why don't you just respect me? And say, you know what? That's what my father said. I hear what he said. And so I'm gonna walk in the fear of God. And so we need to respect God. And very quickly as we conclude, as we look at these final points, respect God and follow him. Respect God and follow him. It says in verse 12, what does the Lord require of thee, Israel? Okay, but to fear the Lord thy God and to walk in all his ways. Question, does it say 90% of the ways of God? 95%, 99%. Notice what it says. It says, and to walk in all his ways. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, as the Bible says. You know, God is a God that desires to lead us in our life. Isaiah 30, verse 21 says, This is the way, walk ye in it. When you turn to the right hand, when you turn to the left. God is a God that very much desires to say to us, this is what I want with your life, this is how I want to direct you. We ought to be somebody that says to God, God, I want to get that, I want to hear that. On Wednesday, we did outreach in Livingston with Pastor Dillman and Anish, another man in their church. And Anish and I were talking, he's in the back seat, I'm in the front. Pastor Dillman had his GPS on, all right? And it's telling directions and he goes, hey, I couldn't hear that. What does that say? And I picked it up and I was giving him directions because we didn't want to miss where it was that we needed to go and we certainly didn't want to get lost in getting there. You know, today, how earnest are you? about knowing God's way. Is there a trembling and fear that I just want to get it right? God, I want to know what you think about this. I want to know not what anybody else thinks. God, what do you think about this? God, what do you want in my life? God, what is your law about this? And I don't want to get it wrong because I want to walk in all your ways. And so God, I want to be in the house of God. God, I want to be in the word of God. I wanna get that spiritual GPS up and say, God, what is the direction that you give me? Psalm 119, 105, thy word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path. Proverbs 3, 6, in all thy ways acknowledge him, he shall direct thy path. King David said it this way, Psalm 119, 32, I will run the way of thy commandments when thou shalt enlarge my heart. If the Spirit of God spoke to your heart about something, would it be in your heart to say, God, I've got my running shoes on, I am there, I will do that because God, I respect you. God, this is your law. Follow him, all his ways. And then respect God and love him. Love him, it says in verse 12, and to love him. You know, if you respect God, you love him for giving his law to you. You love him. You know, I say to people all the time as I do evangelism, God's law is not restrictive, it's protective. It's for your good. It says that in this text. This is for your good. If you do this, it's for your benefit. I said to a young lady once, as I was witnessing, I said, name one sin that's good for you. It's a group of young people, and she pipes up and says, robbing the rich and giving to the poor. And I just go like this. I said, you won't mind if I take your necklace then. Yeah, sin's okay as long as it doesn't hurt you, but the thing is, sin hurts, doesn't it? And so, love God and say, God, you're not being restrictive when you say not to do this. God, you're not trying to take away the fun out of my life. You're not trying to make my life miserable. You're not trying to make me feel bad. God, you have a desire that my life be blessed. He came to give us life and to give us life more abundantly. How does that happen? It happens when I reject my mindset that says breaking the law is good and I accept that God's law is good. And that God in his love gave it to me. And you say, God, thank you, I love you, thank you for giving me your law. Respect God and love him. And then respect God and serve him. It says in verse 12, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul. Have you ever seen somebody put their heart and soul into something? There was a young lady sitting in front of me on the bus. I was in the second row, and I thought she had a medical issue. I thought she was, I didn't know. I mean, her body was just kind of really twitching kind of violently, and then I noticed that she had earbuds or headphones on, and it was her music. And I mean, it was funny. I could sit behind her, because she's like, I mean, just really violently twitching. And I looked at that and thought, what's up with that? But you know what? Her heart and soul was in it, her heart and soul. People don't mind giving their heart and soul to sports. They don't mind how much it costs them. They don't mind how inclement it is. They don't mind how much they're put out. Why? Because they are in it, heart and soul. Listen, today, does your heart and soul desire to serve God? Say, God, I get that, I love that, I thank you for that. God, I desire to serve you. And I can say this, 150%, I am living my life for God because God, I respect you. I respect you. Serve him. Respect God and obey him. Obey him. It says in verse 13, to keep the commandments of the Lord in his statutes. Again, here's where it is. Which I command you this day for thy good. If you respect God, you want to do what is pleasing in his sight, right? You want to obey him. James Stewart, the great evangelist that God used from Scotland that went to Europe, was used for revival in Europe, preached to a translator. And it was a Jewish man that was his translator. He had a really good relationship with him. Everything was going really well. And then he got to a meeting and the man wasn't there. He got there the next night, he wasn't there. When he came back, James Stewart was kind of upset and said, hey, where were you? I need you. God's blessed us and united us together. And the man said this, I became convicted, as you were preaching, about my heart not being right with somebody else. And so I had to go and I had to get right with them. And I'm right now. And I'm ready to serve God. I was reading Duncan Campbell's biography again last night, and a young person commented on this. He said, we used to take biscuits that weren't ours, and we called it snitching. But when Duncan Campbell preached, the conviction of God came into my heart. I realized I had to get that right. Another young person said, I had to go back to the United States and work for a year to pay off a $10,000 debt. See, when men begin to tremble in fear before God, they begin to understand God is God, and they respect God's law, they respect the giver of the law, and they say to God, God, I will obey you in every area of my life. Whatever you say, God. Respect God's law and obey him. The hymn writer says it, well, I won't read it for sake of time. In the hymn, is thy heart right with God? But it asks question after question after question after question after question, and then it says, is thy heart right with God? Is thy heart right with God? And I just say to us this morning, is there anything in our heart that we understand today that this is a transgression against God, either something I haven't done that God wants me to do, or something that I have done that God does not want me to do? Because the thing is, if I'm going to please God, I've got to look at his law and say, God, I respect you and I will obey you. And that means not being right 95%, not being right 99%, but by the grace of God, being right with God 100%. Respect God and obey him. And then lastly, respect God and cleave to him. Respect God and cleave to him. It says in verse 20, thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave and swear by his name. Cleave to God, swear by his name, have that oath of allegiance to God. Kaylee's in the United States, having grown up in Scotland. She was here since she was seven. Sometimes we go to the States and people say, aren't you glad to be home? And we're kind of like, well, it's not home. Home is in Scotland. Our kids from their very young age have been raised here in Scotland. This is home. So she goes to the United States. Well, in the United States, there's a couple of things. You sing the national anthem, all right? And you say the Pledge of Allegiance. And it's because our kids grew up in Scotland, they don't really know either of those. And so she's in a choir at Ambassador, and we're grateful for this. They sing at a sporting event that they do. And she had to learn the national anthem. And I think that's great that she had to learn that. She's also probably had to learn the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. And listen, I don't mind a nation that says, let's pledge allegiance. I don't mind that here in Britain. I don't mind that here in Scotland to say, I will give myself for this country. I think there ought to be a bit of national pride, but I ask you this. Do you know the pledge of allegiance to God? When I was a child, we would say a Christian, we would salute a Christian flag. I pledge allegiance to the Christian flag and to the Savior for whose kingdom it stands. And I wonder, do you have allegiance to God? See, if I respect God's law and I respect the giver of the law, then I say to God, God, I swear I will give my life for you. Cleave unto him. Swear allegiance in his name. David Livingston said it this way. Sever any tie. Save the tie that binds me to thy heart. Lord Jesus, my King, I consecrate my life, Lord, to thee. 18-year-old Josiah. respected God and his word. He heard the law of God. He trembles in fear. He rents his garment. And he goes and says, inquire of God. 2 Kings 22, again in that story, thus saith the Lord God of Israel. But to the king of Judah, which sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, as touching the words which thou hast heard, because thine heart was tender, thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hath rent thy clothes and wept before me. Why? Because as a young man, 18 years old, He looked at the law of God and said, that is the law of God. And he feared God. And he got right with God. And I just look at it today and I say, what is missing in our nation? You know what's missing? A respect for God's law and a respect for God. If we could see the pit of hell opened up today, if we could see the judgment seat of Christ and the great white throne judgment, there would be an anxiety, a panic, a desire to plead with people, get right with God. God's law is true, God's law is not changed. Repent. And see what this nation needs, and what we need as a church, we need a church that walks in the fear of God. And the fear of God is this, God's law is the same. God's law will always be the same. God revealed it, God inspired it, God has preserved it, so what? So I respect God. And because I respect him, I'm gonna walk in the fear of him. I'm gonna serve him with all my heart, I'm gonna obey him with all my might. I'm not gonna be 95% right with God and say, well that's good enough, you're a good Christian. I'm going to be somebody that walks circumspectly in my life. What I've noticed is this. In the past, people understood what sin was. What I notice about now is they disregard what sin is. At least if they transgressed in the past, they transgressed and they knew they were transgressors. In our day, they act as if they have not transgressed God's law. You know, we could fall into that as believers. where we could begin to disregard what God says and what God's law says, and we really need to come back and say, you know, God's law still applies. We can't meet it through the flesh in our goodness, but through Jesus Christ, the word of God and the spirit of God, we can absolutely live a life that's in victory to God and obedience to God with righteousness that is imputed to us through Christ. May God help us to do that today. Let's pray, ask the spirit of God to bless his word to our hearts. Father, just pray right now There might be somebody that looks at their life and says, you know what, if God's law hasn't changed, I'm in big trouble. And Father, the answer is yes, they are. But I pray, Lord, that they'd understand, if they could respond like Josiah and humble their heart and seek God and repent of transgressing God's law, that through Jesus Christ and his death on the cross, they could be forgiven. They could be given God's gift of everlasting life. And Father, as believers, we could just get used to not living in the fear of God, not really looking at the Word of God and thinking it matters much how we live our life. But Father, we're gonna give an account, and it's not gonna be an account that is favorable, because men's opinion doesn't matter, and it doesn't matter if the whole world and every church disobey God. We're gonna give an account. And Father, I just pray right now, in the quietness of our heart, that the Spirit of God would speak. Lord, if there's one thing, in our lives, whatever it is, Lord, we have transgressed God's law. And we thought it was okay, we thought, well, it's not a big deal, it's just a small thing. Lord, if somebody's stolen something, whether from the government or from somebody else, they ought to repent, they ought to confess, and they ought to restore. And Father, if there's deceit in our life or hidden things, things of dishonesty, then I pray, God, that we'd repent. I pray that we get right with God. Father, we want revival. Revival is a vital Christian life. It's what we looked at today. It's a heart that rightly understands who God is and what God says. So Father, would you speak to our hearts? I pray, spirit of God, bless. We sing a hymn of invitation. Lord, would you give us grace to really do business with God? It's in Christ's name we pray, amen.