Please turn with me tonight to Deuteronomy chapter 6, we will read the chapter, considering in a particular way the last few verses, verses 20 through 25, Deuteronomy chapter 6, you recall at the beginning of this chapter we find the summary of the law of God, the law, the Ten Commandments which are given in Deuteronomy chapter 5. Once you've found Deuteronomy 6, please, if you would like, you don't have to, but if you would like, you can turn to page 46 in the back of the Psalter hymnal. Again tonight, this is somewhat of an introductory sermon. As we consider the, about to consider in the Catechism, the Ten Commandments, one by one. I thought it'd be good tonight to have sort of an introduction, again, leading into those commandments, especially as on page 46 in the back of the Psalter hymnal, under the first commandment, it includes the preface, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Then also I would draw your attention to question and answer 93. I won't have you recite it tonight, but the question asks, How are these commandments divided into two tables? The first has four commandments teaching us what our relation to God should be. The second has six commandments teaching us what we owe our neighbor. With those things in our mind, we turn to Deuteronomy chapter 6 as we hear now the word of God. Again, following the giving once again of the Ten Commandments. The word of the Lord says, Lord, the God of your fathers promised you. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates. When the Lord your God brings you into the land, He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you a land with large flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant. Then, when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Fear the Lord your God. Serve him only. And take your oaths in his name. Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you, for the Lord your God who is among you is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you and he will destroy you from the face of the land. Do not test the Lord your God as you did at Massah. Be sure to keep the commands of the Lord your God and the stipulations and decrees He has given you. Do what is right and good in the Lord's sight so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land that the Lord promised on oath to your forefathers, thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the Lord said. In the future, when your son asks you, what is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees, and laws the Lord our God has commanded you, Tell him, we were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Before our eyes, the Lord sent miraculous signs and wonders, great and terrible, upon Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household. But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land that he promised on oath to our forefathers. The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us, that will be our righteousness. May God add His blessing to the reading, preaching, and hearing of His Word tonight. Well, beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, by nature, as we all know, we don't like to be told what to do and what not to do. I think we might all confess that that's true. And we see that early on with our children as they like to ask that infamous question, why? And of course, sometimes that question is asked in an inquisitive way. Why is the sky blue? Why is the ocean so big? Why does a dog have four legs, not three? Whatever the case might be, they ask these questions in such an inquisitive way. But sometimes, too, we know that our children ask that question, why, in somewhat of a rebellious way. When we ask them to clear the table, or to mow the lawn, and my kids know that this is hitting close to home, or to be home by 10. And that question comes, why? As in a challenging, rebellious sort of way. You see, by nature, we don't like to be told what to do or what not to do. We want it justified to us. We think that rules bind us. We believe that laws restrict us and complicate our lives. Laws and rules keep me from being truly me and truly free. And because of that then, we need, as believers especially, to ask ourselves the question, well, what do you think of the law of God? That law by which God tells us what to do and what not to do. We hear that law each and every Lord's Day. Every Sunday that law is read in our hearing. What do you think of the law of God? When you hear it, what is your attitude to it? Do you look at it as just a number of suggestions? Do you hear it or is your attitude toward it as something that binds you or restricts you in some way? is it depressing to you because it reminds you of your sin and guilt? You see, the law of God, we know, has always been important, has had an important place in the life of God's people. We think back to the Old Testament, and the tablets containing the Ten Commandments, we know, were placed in the Ark of the Covenant to show that the law of God indeed had an important place in that covenant relationship between God and His people. In the New Testament, in the Sermon on the Mount, we know, as we will be seeing, that Jesus showed the depth of the law. The apostles taught that the law was not a means of earning our salvation. Not at all did they teach that. But they taught that it was a norm for the Christian life. It's always had an important place in the life of God's people. It was something to be taught, as Deuteronomy 6 points out. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts, impress them on your children, talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up, tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads, write them on the door frames of your homes and on your gates. It was to be taught. And Moses also made it clear that children true to their nature would ask why. In verse 20, In the future, when your son asks you, what is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees, and laws the Lord our God has commanded you? In other words, why? Why do we have it? And notice the answer that Moses tells the father to give to the son points back to the preface. It points back to the introduction to the Ten Commandments that we know so well from Exodus and Deuteronomy. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. The parents were not to respond to their children, well, just because? That's how we often want to respond to those inquisitive questions of our children that we really can't answer, right? Well, the sky is blue just because. It is. Parents were not to answer their children even, Well, because God said so, which should have been sufficient. They weren't to say, well, we are to obey because of what God will do if we obey. Not at all. Because that wouldn't have been right. But in essence, the parents were to respond to their children, obey, we are to obey because of what God has already done. Because of what He has already given. And beloved, how we hear and how we understand the law of God is determined by our understanding of the relationship that God has brought us into with Himself. He has brought us into His covenant of grace with Himself through the perfect obedience and work of Jesus Christ and the law of God for His redeemed people has the most important place. And therefore, the law of God in the Christian's life, when we understand what God has done, when we understand what we have in Jesus Christ, that law is a law of gratitude as we know so well. And that law of God in the Christian's life, first of all, serves our liberty in Christ. And secondly, we want to consider that it directs our holiness in Christ. It serves our liberty in Christ and directs our holiness in Christ. First of all, serves our liberty in Christ. A liberty which he has accomplished. And we see that with Old Testament Israel. The answer that the parents were to give to their children, verses 21 and 22, tell him, we were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Before our eyes the Lord sent miraculous signs and wonders, great and terrible, upon Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household, but he brought us out from there. Israel enjoyed liberty, they enjoyed deliverance, which God had accomplished for His people. And beautifully, their children were to be taught. They were to be taught the old, old story of God's redemptive and gracious acts. Chief among them, their deliverance from slavery, from the bondage of Egypt, and the gift of land. The response to their question about the law? Because of our liberty. Because of our freedom, which God had accomplished for his people, by himself, against all human odds. You see, Israel, as we know, was a hopeless, it was a hopeless situation. They were servants of a superpower at that time. And God delivered them all by himself, often without, or we might say, really always, without Israel's cooperation. How often didn't they demonstrate a lack of trust? How often didn't they complain? How many times don't we read that they desired to turn back, to go back to the bondage from which they had been delivered? But they enjoyed liberty, which God accomplished, proving himself that he is the covenant God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, proving that he is faithful to his promises, proving that he was powerful over all of Egypt's supposed gods, which in a sense he flicked over one at a time, with each of the ten plagues. As we said this morning, this law introduction is what the Israelites heard. A clear reminder of their deliverance. A deliverance from a sort of hell. A deliverance from that which really was no life. But as we also mentioned this morning, that law introduction is still for you and me today as it points to our deliverance. again, not from Pharaoh, not through the Red Sea, not from bondage to slavery, physical slavery, but it points to our deliverance through the blood of Jesus Christ, from the tyranny of the devil, from the curse of sin, and from the threat of God's anger and punishment. Believers have been redeemed. We have been liberated, set free. Set free from slavery to sin by the accomplishment of Jesus Christ alone. The law does not save, as Paul says, that which the law was powerless to do, Jesus Christ did. So we are no longer slaves to sin, controlled by the devil. But God in Christ Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, renews us that we might delight in Him, that we might begin to do His will. God gave Israel His law, remember, after He delivered them, proving Himself as the one and only Almighty God, the only one that they should want to obey, proving to them that He indeed had their good in mind. And we too, beloved, every Lord's Day, as we hear the commandments of our God, even if we don't quite have it from Exodus or Deuteronomy, but we have it from other portions of Scripture, With every commandment, we are to hear that very same introduction attached to it. You shall have no other gods before me. Why? Because I am the Lord your God who brought you out of bondage to slavery, to sin. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall honor your father and mother. Why? Because I am the Lord your God who brought you out of bondage to sin. You are no longer a slave to sin. You're no longer stuck. in sin. You see, even though the commandments of our God, as we hear them, do remind us of our continual sin, yet they also, first and foremost, remind us of what Jesus Christ has done and of our liberty in Him for which we are grateful, for which we are to be grateful. Of Deuteronomy 6, verses 20-25, John Calvin says, the sole point which Moses urges in these verses is that the people should testify their gratitude by obeying the law. See, I believe Calvin assumed that Moses assumed that as the people and their children were reminded of their deliverance from slavery and bondage to Egypt, that indeed that would cause gratitude to spring up, to well up into their hearts. And he was calling them to express that gratitude by obeying the law. We are to be grateful because of what we already have. You see, beloved, it's hard to be grateful for something you have to work for. When you've done a day's work, it's hard to feel grateful, in a sense, for the check, for the cash, because you feel it's owed to you. But we are to be oh so grateful because of what we already have, and therefore because of what we don't have to do. because by nature we are dead in sin. By nature we cannot earn God's favor, but because of Jesus Christ and new life in Him, we are now able not to sin. Now think about that for a moment. Those who are slaves to sin can only sin. We are liberated. We are set free from sin. And that means we are able now not to sin. We don't have to sin. And instead, we are enabled by the Holy Spirit to obey. We are able to be obedient to God. And therefore, as we hear the law of God, we are to be filled with joy that we get to obey. That we get to live for God in a way that is pleasing to Him. We are to be filled with joy that the law is now our delight and that the commands, as Psalm 19 says, are sweeter than honey and more precious than gold and that law has been given to God's people not to make God's people slaves except to be servants of righteousness. It was given not to complicate our lives. But God has given to us His law as a law of liberty by which He keeps us. By which He keeps us safe. That's what Moses said to Israel in verse 24. The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God so that we might always prosper and be kept alive as is the case today. That was God's promise to Israel in the land of Canaan. If Israel would do as verse 18 says what is right and good and that which was right and good is obedience to the law of God. That law for Israel in the land of Canaan was a law served her safety, Served her protection. Of course, we know that's true as well of the laws of our land. It's for our safety. Laws, speed limit laws, for example. It's true of the laws, the rules of our homes, isn't it? It's for the safety of our children. It's true of the laws, the rules of a swimming pool. In a hotel recently, again, I saw the big chart by the swimming pool with all the rules listed. It's for the safety of all those who might use the swimming pool. But of course we know, as our study of Hosea proved once again, that Israel failed. Israel was not obedient to God. Israel lost the land. They forfeited their safety and protection, proving the need for the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ. And beloved, in His perfect obedience, which is already offered, we are secure forever. We have been given that heavenly promised land, which will never be lost by us. It will never be taken from us. We are secure. Yet by His law, even as we continue to live this life in the midst of a wicked world, God still keeps us safe from falling back into slavery to sin. Now, for those of you who are familiar with what is called the New Perspective on Paul, which teaches, at least in part, it teaches in a nutshell that we are in by grace, we are saved by grace, in God's covenant by grace, but that we stay in by works, that we stay in by our own efforts. That's not what I'm saying at all, because that is completely untrue. But in a sense, God still uses His law as we live this life to keep us from falling back into slavery to sin. The law is not a tool of our justification for you and me to accomplish, But it is a tool of sanctification by which the Holy Spirit continues to instruct us and to help us to walk. You see, it's either obedience or disobedience, not both and. If you are being obedient, then you are not being disobedient. If you are being disobedient, then you are not being obedient. And the Holy Spirit helps us to walk in obedience to the law of God and when He does, then we are not being disobedient. It serves our liberty. It keeps us in that freedom. And then, too, obedience to God's law is a demonstration of our heavenly citizenship. Just as the law of God was to be a law governing Israel's life in Canaan, her safety and freedom, the law of God for you and me today is a reflection of the holiness of heaven, a holiness that kingdom citizens are called to live on this earth and by which we give evidence of being citizens of heaven. And that law, then, which serves our liberty in Christ, then also keeps us by encouraging believers. You see, beloved, lawlessness, contrary to popular opinion, lawlessness is not true freedom. Lawlessness, when everyone does what is right in their own eyes, is not true freedom, but it is slavery, again, to one's own sinful passions. Lawlessness breeds anarchy. It breeds civil and world wars. It breeds a permissive society resulting, for example, in a worldwide AIDS epidemic and simply becoming more and more godless. James, in chapter 1, verse 25, speaks of the perfect law that gives freedom. God's law is perfect compared to man's laws. God's law is enduring and perfect. And it gives freedom in the sense that we have freedom through Jesus Christ who kept that law perfectly, but also we are free in Christ from bondage to sin and Satan, and therefore through the use of the law of God. We are held in that freedom to serve God in the beauty of His holiness. Living out what He has always intended for His people. You see, by obedience to the law of God, beloved, we give evidence that we are free from slavery to sin. And therefore, we enjoy the freedom, too, that we will not be paralyzed by the burden of our failures as we strive to be obedient to God. We do fail. We do fall short of the glory of God again and again, day by day, but because of our freedom, our liberty in Jesus Christ, we will not be paralyzed by the burden of our failures. But when our conscience does accuse us, we have the true relief of the forgiveness in Jesus Christ. And we are free, beloved, to serve God, to serve God joyfully in all the ways that we can imagine. We are free to truly love our neighbor again in all the ways that we can conceive of, love our neighbor as ourselves, again, without the fear of punishment when we fail. It is a struggle. because of the sin that we still struggle with. And that's why you and I do need to hear the law of God each and every Lord's Day to remind us of the true freedom that we have, not away from God, but freedom for God who calls us to be holy. In the second place, the law of God in the Christian's life not only serves the Christian's liberty, but it directs our holiness in Christ. In Leviticus 19, verse 1, the Lord said to Moses, who was the saint of Israel, be holy because I, the Lord, your God, am holy. Be holy. And then if you were to read Leviticus 19, you show once again that they are given the law. He says, be holy. And then as if to say, and I will show you how. I give you my law, which is a rule, a standard, a norm for holiness. It directs our holiness in Christ as a guide for living, as a guide for the Christian life. Now, God's holiness, we know, means that He is free from all sin. He's free from all blemish. It means that there is no darkness in Him. It means He is completely pure and He is holy other than all that is unholy. And it also means that He will associate in love only with a holy people. Our holiness is not like His holiness. Ours is not inherent in us. It is not perfect. Our holiness is that we are washed and cleansed by the blood and spirit of Jesus Christ. Our holiness includes the fact that we are set apart. We are set apart. We are different from the world. Peter says in 1 Peter 2 verse 9, But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God. You are separated, Peter says. You live in this world. But you're separated from them. You're different from the world. And as long as we live this world, beloved, the law of God sets believers apart, especially in the visible sense. It is to set us apart in a visible sense, as we will see in our study of the commandments, the Lord willing. But the law of God sets believers apart in a visible sense through which we show that we serve the Lord in the midst of a world that does not. In which we show that we delight in His will in the midst of a world that wants nothing to do with it. In which we visibly show that we place Him above all things. That the believer seeks first His kingdom and His righteousness being right in His sight. That's what Moses is talking about somewhat in verse 25. And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God as He has commanded us, that will be our righteousness. Now Moses is not talking about the fact that keeping the law will be their right standing before God. He's not talking about the fact that they can earn favor with God. But he's talking about living right. Living right and good, as he says in verse 18. And the law being directing them in their holiness. The law as a rule of a righteous life that would please God. That law directs our holiness in Christ, not only as a guide for living, but also then as a demonstration of love. Question 93 asks, how are these commandments divided? Into two tables. The first has four commandments, teaching us what our relation to God should be. The second has six commandments, teaching us what we owe our neighbor. Now, we know that that points to the summary of the law, to love God above all, and he shows us how with the first four commandments. And to love our neighbor as ourself, and he shows us how with the last six commandments. And that demonstration of love, beloved, through the law, is to be positively displayed. Even the boys and girls who are here tonight know that the Ten Commandments, most of them, are stated negatively. Not all of them, two of them aren't, but eight of them are stated negatively, you shall not. And they are stated negatively most likely because the things that we are not to do come naturally to us because of sin, because of selfishness. As parents, how often haven't you had it when you leave the house for the evening and leave your children with a babysitter or even with older brothers and sisters? You give them some final instructions before you leave. And most often the instructions go something like this. Don't get into trouble. Don't do this. Don't do that. Because we know what they are prone to do. In the same way, I think, the Ten Commandments are stated mostly in the negative sense. But they are to be positively displayed. Because that new life of love does not stop simply with not doing what God says not to do. But that life of love is demonstrated by positively doing the opposite of what God forbids and the catechism deals with us so beautifully as we will see. For example, when God says you shall not steal, He's not simply saying keep your hands off your neighbor's possessions. But He is saying actively promote your neighbor's well-being. Guard His stuff. You see, the fact that I don't beat my wife, that in and of itself does not show her that I love her. I am to hold her, to care for her, to tell her, not simply keep from harming her. It is to be positively displayed. And beloved, that's a natural part of faith. In verse 24 again, Moses says, The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God. Obey and fear. He's talking about a reverent fear, that faith and trust, that belief and love for God which cannot help but to be evidenced by obedience to Him. As we said this morning, our faith directs our obedience. Our obedience flows forth from faith. An obedience, again, not out of fear of punishment when we fail. We don't have to fear that. But an obedience given with delight and assurance of forgiveness when we do fail. Beloved, God's law has been given as a solid program, we might say, for holy living. It directs our liberty in Christ, or it serves our liberty in Christ, and it directs the holiness that God calls us to, that holy living that is pleasing and glorifying to God and is for the benefit of others. And therefore, every command as we hear it, every commandment is an illustration of how each area of our life is to be directed to God's glory and to be directed for our neighbor's good, even and especially that others might be drawn to Jesus Christ by observing our gospel joy through obedience to God's law of love. Beloved, even as we sang in the last number, may it truly be a joy for us to be obedient to God. God blesses obedience. The Bible says that. It talks about reward. We know it's a reward not of merit, but a reward of grace. God blesses our obedience, maybe not in the way that we think He should, or maybe not in the way that we would like Him to. Maybe the world will not willingly accept our obedience or look favorably upon it. might even reject our obedience to God. Then again, you never know, God might bless us in that we may enjoy the trust and confidence of others as they see the integrity of our Christian lives. We don't know how God may bless our obedience in this life, in a physical sense, but we do know that we will enjoy peace with God. Peace with God knowing that we are no longer His enemies, but we are His friends. that we are no longer slaves of sin but we are made able by the Holy Spirit to offer obedience to Him we do know that our God will bless us with contentment in this life whatever we might face whether we have plenty or whether we have little whether we are healthy or whether we are sick we will enjoy contentment and we know that God blesses His people with confidence of belonging body and soul in life and in death to our faithful Savior Jesus Christ and therefore as we hear the law of God every time we hear it may we hear his love may we hear his love in our deliverance may we hear his love in his gift to us of eternal life through Jesus Christ may we hear his love in his giving his law for our good by which he directs us and how to live for him and by which he keeps our focus on him our beloved praise be to god that he loves and cares for us so much that he tells us what to do and what not to do for our benefit for our freedom and therefore as we hear the law of god may we hear our marching orders in which we delight to represent and live for our savior and our king Amen. Let's pray together. Father, we do thank You and praise Your most holy name that not only do You know what's best for Your people, but You show us, You tell us. And even more so, You enable us by Your Holy Spirit. Because of the salvation that You have given to us in Jesus Christ, You enable us to delight in You, to delight in obedience to You. And Father, though we fail, though sometimes our sinful nature still creeps in and fights with the new man, we know that we live without fear of punishment. We know that we live in the confidence of security with You forever and ever and equip us more and more by Your Spirit to fight against the desires of the old man and to live in a way that is pleasing to You. And may we do so with joy. May our obedience be with such joy, O Lord, in every area of life that others may see it, that it may be contagious, that others may be introduced to the only Savior, Jesus Christ, through the lives of Your people. Father, help us to tell that old, old story again and again of Jesus Christ and His love. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.