Lesson 18

God’s Will For His People

The Giving of God’s Law

• God gave the world His Law in two ways:

Genesis 1:27 & Romans 2:14-15

• So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

• (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required… the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.)

The Giving of God’s Law

• God gave the world His Law in two ways:

1. He wrote it in people’s hearts.law

Deuteronomy 10:4 & Galatians 3:19

• The Lord wrote on these tablets what he had written before, the Ten Commandments he had proclaimed to you on the mountain, out of the fire, on the day of the assembly. And the Lord gave them to me.

• What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator.

The Giving of God’s Law

• God gave the world His Law in two ways:

1. He wrote it in people’s hearts.

2. He wrote it on stone tablets at Mt. Sinai because people’s sin made them forget some of God’s Law or misunderstand it.

The Reason For God’s Law

Matthew 19:16-22 & Romans 3:19-20

• Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?" "Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments." "Which ones?" the man inquired. Jesus replied, " 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother, and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'"

"All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?" Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

• Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

The Reason For God’s Law

1. The law serves as a mirror or x-ray/clear reminder to show us our sin (S.O.S.)

Psalm 119:105

• Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

The Reason For God’s Law

1. The Law serves as a mirror or x-ray/clear reminder to show us our sin (S.O.S.)

2. The Law serves as a guide to show believers how to live a God-pleasing life.

Why Obey God’s Law

• God introduces His commandments with the words:

Exodus 20:2

• I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

 

Why Obey God’s Law

• God introduces His commandments with the words: “I am the Lord YOUR God.”

Psalm 100:3

• Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his ; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Why Obey God’s Law (Continued)

• The Lord is OUR God, we belong to Him, because:

1. He created us.

This is chiefly the work of God the Father

1 Corinthians 6:20

• You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

Why Obey God’s Law (Continued)

• The Lord is OUR God, we belong to Him, because:

1. He created us.

This is chiefly the work of God the Father

2. He redeemed us, bought us.

This is chiefly the work of God the Son

1 Corinthians 12:3

• Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.

Why Obey God’s Law (Continued)

• The Lord is OUR God, we belong to Him, because:1. He created us. This is chiefly the work of God the Father2. He redeemed us, bought us.

This is chiefly the work of God the Son3. He sanctified us, set us apart for himself.

This is chiefly the work of God the Holy Spirit.The Lord is our Creator, our Redeemer, our Sanctifier

John 14:15 & 1 John 4:19

• “If you love me, you will obey what I command.”

• We love because he first loved us.

Why Obey God’s Law

• God’s children try to obey God’s Law because of God’s great love for us.

A Summary Of God’s Law

Matthew 22:37-39

• Jesus replied: “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: `Love your neighbor as yourself.'

A Summary Of God’s Law

• In one word, God’s commandments are summarized with the word Love

The 1st table of the Law says:

Love God above allThe 2nd table of the Law says:

Love your neighbor

The First Commandment

• You shall have no other gods

Daniel 3:16-18

• O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.

The First Commandment

• God requires in this commandment that he be first in our lives

Genesis 39:1-9 Proverbs 8:13

• How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?

• To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.

The First Commandment

• We fear God above all things when we hate the things God hates and love the things God loves

Genesis 22:10-12• Then he reached out his

hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Here I am," he replied. 12 "Do not lay a hand on the boy," he said. "Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son."

1 John 4:9 2 Cor. 5:14-15

• This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

• For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

The First Commandment

• We love God above all things when we consider him to be our greatest treasure and devote our whole life to serving him

Daniel 6:10

• Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.

1 Samuel 17

• David said to the Philistine, "You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I'll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD's, and he will give all of you into our hands."

Psalm 34:7 Psalm 37:5

• The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.

• Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this.

The First Commandment

• We trust in God above all things when we put our whole confidence in his promises and always take him at his word

The First Commandment

• The sin against the first commandment is called idolatry which means putting someone or something ahead of God

Exodus 32:4,9-10• [Aaron] took what they handed him and

made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." … "I have seen these people," the LORD said to Moses, "and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them."

1 Kings 18:38-39

• Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, "The LORD--he is God! The LORD--he is God!"

Exodus 20:4-5

• You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me...

Matthew 4:10

• Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: `Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.' "

John 5:23 1 John 2:23

• He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

• No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

The First Commandment

People commit idolatry when they …

1 Worship any false god, or idol.Any religion which does not accept

Jesus as the Son of God or does not trust in Him as the Redeemer from sin has a false god

Luke 12:20-21

• But God said to him, "You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?" This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.

Matthew 6:24

• No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.

1 John 2:15 Proverbs 3:5

• Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

• Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

Jeremiah 17:5 Matthew 10:37

• This is what the LORD says: "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD."

• Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

The First Commandment

People also commit idolatry when they …

2 Respect, love or trust in anything or anyone more than they respect, love or trust in God.

Examples:

The First Commandment

• It takes a perfect record to be fit to live with God. Who has achieved this?– Only Jesus

• For whom?– For us

Romans 5:19

• … Through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.