Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #10227 - The Ten Commandments Pt 3 - Exodus 20:14-26

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#10227 - The Ten Commandments Pt 3 - Exodus 20:14-26 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

• 0:03
  Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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  Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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  To learn more about the many resources available through
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  Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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  visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
• 0:22
  Calvary Church app. Now.
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  Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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  Amen. Open your Bibles.
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  Exodus chapter 20 is where we are verse by verse, studying the
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  book of Exodus. We'll finish the chapter today,
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  and the title of our Bible study is no surprise, the 10
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  Commandments, Part 3. And we're going to finish up the
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  10 Commandments as we wrap up our look and our study at the
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  revelation of God. He's revealing himself to the
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  nation of Israel who are no longer slaves, have been
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  delivered from Egypt. They've been taken out from
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  under their taskmasters. They have a brand new master,
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  but nothing like they've ever experienced before, only that we
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  have. They have heard of him, only
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  that they have cried out to him. And now along the way, God has
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  revealed Himself in power and majesty, and now He's giving
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  insights and direction for how they're to live their life in
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  relationship with Him. I know it's a simple
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  illustration, but like if I came and moved in with you and you
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  let me stay with you for a little while, there would be
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  house rules there. There would be things you expect
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  of me. They may be spoken.
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  That's the best. They may be written down, but
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  there are house rules. There are rules that you would
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  want me to follow to maintain relationship.
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  I'll give you one of them. One thing I'm sure you would not
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  want me to do is to go into your refrigerator, take out the milk,
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  open it up and drink it right from the container.
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  I don't know you would want me to do that.
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  You would prefer for me. You say anything in the
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  refrigerator is open to you, but with the milk, can you just
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  please get a glass? It's in the cupboard.
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  Just take it out. Pour yourself a glass.
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  Be respectful. We don't all want your germs
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  when we're drinking milk. It's a it's a rule.
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  It's not a rule. Like if you want to stay here,
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  do this with the milk. It's not delivered that way.
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  It's relational. If you want to enjoy, I want you
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  here. I want you to stay here.
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  I want you to get back on your feet.
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  I want that, but I also want it not excluding me.
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  I want you to acknowledge that it is our house, but you're
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  welcome in our house. Your family, come on in, but
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  don't drink the milk out of the container, please.
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  Let's just gross. Just don't do that.
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  Don't do that because it's a respect.
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  On a much broader scale, God is doing the same thing.
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  This is how you live your life. It's best for you.
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  It's best for us. It will identify you for all the
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  false idolaters and worse. You will be easily recognized as
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  my followers if you live by these rules.
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  And that's what they are. They are rules.
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  We often refer to them as commandments.
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  You could also refer to them as regulations.
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  You can also, as one commentator recommended, you could just call
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  them. These are 10 words from God.
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  He's giving them direction, which will be the first of many,
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  but these are the 10 that He gives.
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  These are not rules and make this clear because it comes into
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  our life today. These are not rules that will
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  save them or place them in a right relationship with God.
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  They already are in a right relationship with God.
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  He delivered them. Later on, He will lay out for
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  them a covenant. He will give the parameters of
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  that covenant, but at this point, they're already following
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  him. He's already in relationship
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  with them. These rules come to those in
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  relationship, which is important for you and me because there's
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  no set of rules or regulations that you or I live by today in
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  order to be saved. We are saved according to
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  Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8, by grace through faith.
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  You have been saved not of ourselves or not of yourselves.
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  It is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
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  For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good
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  works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk
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  in them. So you could say that we are not
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  saved by good works, however, we are saved for good works.
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  The reality of the works of righteousness follow our lives
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  because of our relationship. Last time we looked in depth if
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  you weren't with us in the command to honor your mother and
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  father, a very important one. It was a very powerful time if
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  you weren't here. The Holy Spirit was very thick
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  and very present among us as we were studying the Bible last
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  time. And especially in this topic of
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  honoring your mother and father, because we asked and answered
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  the questions of how we're to honour parents, especially how
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  do we honour those parents that dishonoured us?
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  And we spent some time in depth looking at that.
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  But we learned, remember that I may not and you may not have the
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  whole pathway of what the future might look like in honouring
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  parents that dishonoured, but we do know the first step.
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  It all begins with forgiveness. We don't know where it's going
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  to lead and we don't know how it's going to be worked out.
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  We don't know what God wants to do and how, but it begins on our
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  part. We honor the parents that
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  dishonored us by forgiving them. Very, very powerful.
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  You can get it on the app online, on YouTube, everywhere
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  we post it. It will set you free as you
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  learn to honor your mother and father.
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  So pick up with me now in verse 13, well, excuse me, in verse 14
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  we covered the murder. Now verse 14, you shall not
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  commit adultery #7 the 7th commandment is no adultery.
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  From the sanctity of life, do not murder.
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  We come now to the sanctity of marriage.
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  And adultery is defined as stealing from another.
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  What does not belong to you? Marriage was the first
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  institution that God created. One biological man, 1 biological
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  woman for one lifetime. It's unfortunate we have to add
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  that word, but it's necessary in our world today that our
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  definitions are very clear that God's intention for marriage is
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  one man, one woman, one lifetime.
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  And in the redefinition of our culture today, that is one
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  biological the biology, the the identity you were given at
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  conception, very, very important.
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  That's God's will. That's God's idea.
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  He wanted, he wanted sex to be absolutely fulfilling, something
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  to be enjoyed in marriage. God created sex.
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  He's the author and the key is that it to use it for what it's
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  designed for within marriage and since it's God-given, it must be
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  God guided adultery Mars and crushes the image of God's
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  holiness and his purity and it is a crushing blow to the
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  sanctity of relationship because it removes the significance of
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  trust in a relationship very painful when sex is outside of
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  marriage when it's abused. Severe consequences can come.
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  It's another another thing that I've seen come up in my ministry
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  recently on the radio, but also here is the consequences of
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  sexual sin, the consequences of even divorce.
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  They're long lasting and I find myself, as some are, describing
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  to me the difficulty they're going through right now and how
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  God is going to get them through.
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  It's unfortunate. God's ideal is not always what
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  we live up to. We fail, we sin.
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  There is sin among us. God's ideal is what we're
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  shooting for. It's what His desire is.
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  But we recognize that not everyone's able to hit God's
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  ideal. It's not a moment of
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  condemnation, but rather a moment of forgiveness.
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  However, there's always consequences with sin.
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  And I was describing, I've said it a couple of times to
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  different people. I've just been able to pause
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  them and I say no. This is why God hates divorce.
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  This is why God hates adultery. This is why God hates
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  fornication. It completely destroys what God
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  intended. Now, it's not that God can't
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  repair and God can't forgive. Of course he can.
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  He can do great work in our lives.
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  But the reality is is that this sin is forbidden for good
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  reason. When it's abused, severe
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  consequences can come, and sexual sin in general is
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  forbidden by God. It's not isolated to just one
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  sexual sin. Sexual sin of adultery, which is
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  defined as sex outside of your the confines of your covenant of
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  marriage. Fornication is defined as sex
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  between unmarried people. Homosexuality would be sex
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  between people of the same sex. And then you mix into all the
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  variations of that. Today it's all forbidden.
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  It's all forbidden and in all Mars.
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  And once again Jesus takes this and even goes deeper with
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  adultery, where he says in Matthew 527 you have heard it
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  said to those of old, you shall not commit adultery.
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  But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman and conversely
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  looking at a man to lust after her has already committed
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  adultery with her in his heart. Our time today is not to develop
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  this in any depth, but understand Jesus is reminding us
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  that these commandments are not merely outward behavior
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  modifications, but they're all issues of the heart, the heart,
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  so that outwardly there may not be the sin.
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  We learned this with the sin of murder.
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  Outwardly there may not be the sin.
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  You may never, you may go, oh, never mind, it doesn't apply to
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  me. It's no big deal.
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  I would never, ever, ever do that really, because you're in
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  relationship with God. It's a matter of the heart, not
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  just the behavior. And both are very damaging.
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  Adultery in the heart, adultery physically very damaging to a
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  marriage. And while there could be
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  degrade, you know, gradations of how bad it is and how bad it can
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  be, they're both very dangerous sending in the heart, sending
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  outwardly. They're very painful and felt
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  the same way. Notice now in verse 15, you
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  shall not steal. Pretty straightforward.
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  Do not steal. Don't take what does not belong
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  to you. And it's possible to steal in a
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  number of ways. You know, it's not just simply
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  being known as a thief or a robber.
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  You can steal from your employer time.
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  You can make an agreement with your employer and because you
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  think better, you can steal time from your employer.
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  You can steal from the government as you fill out your
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  tax forms or you not taking advantage of laws to minimize
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  your tax liability. That's not stealing but lying by
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  making the numbers to take away your like.
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  You can steal from the government.
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  You can even steal from God. Did you know that in Malachi
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  chapter 3 verse 8 it says will a man rob God?
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  You have robbed me, God says, but you say in what way have we
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  robbed you in the answer tithes and offerings and are giving of
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  ourselves to him. Do Christians need to be
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  reminded of this? Say it out loud, Church, yes,
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  it's like this is not for the Old Testament Saints coming out
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  of Egypt. It's for you today.
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  This is God's word. Someone I'm sure listening to
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  this Bible say, even if it's just one person on the other
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  side of the country, other side of the world, it's someone
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  hearing this. The Lord wants you to know the
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  answer is no, you cannot steal. Don't do it.
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  No. Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 28
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  let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him
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  labor, working with his hands what is good that he may have
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  something to give him who has need.
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  Such a liberating life you have in Christ, no longer taking, but
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  giving no no longer harming but helping.
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  It's just a gift from the Lord to us, especially those of us
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  man that just had such a bad sinful life.
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  Every sin that we were in, everything that harmed someone
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  or hurt someone. God says no, no, no.
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  Don't do that anymore. I got something better for you.
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  I don't want you to harm people. I don't want you to steal what's
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  not yours. I want you to be a giver that's
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  going to bless people. Be a giver, follow my lead.
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  Be be honest, be faithful, live in fidelity.
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  Honor your commitments, honor your marriage, honor your
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  singleness. Honor me.
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  Don't live like that anymore. Yeah, that's not for you.
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  It was harmful and hurtful, but now you can be a help.
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  And then those of you that maybe have a background in stealing,
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  hey, don't steal anymore. Here, let me give you something
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  better. God says don't steal anymore,
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  but work and give things away. It's like, and you're not trying
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  to make up. OK, OK, I'll be, I'm going to
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  get I stole for five years, so I'm going to give for five
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  years. It's not God's not asking you to
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  measure. Now there may be restitution
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  necessary with specific people for sure.
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  Like you know that you stole something from someone in the
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  you know, the the lawnmower still in your garage, Give it
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  back. You're a believer.
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  Now give it back and say in Jesus name, I stole this from
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  you, know you, there's restitution, but but I'm talking
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  about like you're free now. You're free to give.
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  You're not in bondage to stealing anymore.
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  You're not in bondage of looking at someone and seeing them for
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  what you can take from them. But now God has put in your
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  heart by the Holy Spirit, you can look at someone and see how
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  you can help them, how you can give to them, how you can help
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  them along in life, how you can minister to them, how you can
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  take all the bountiful blessings that God has given to you and
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  help someone else. Pretty straightforward #9 #9
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  verse 16. You shall not bear false witness
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  against your neighbor, and this has been often given to us as
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  you shouldn't lie, don't lie, don't bear false witness.
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  Of course, bearing false witness would to be say something untrue
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  against your neighbor. That the principle here is that
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  God loves truth and hates falsehood.
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  God loves truth. So there's no room for this
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  realm of being untruthful. And no more colors when it comes
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  to lies anymore. No more.
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  So well, it's just a white lie, can't have it.
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  Or a green lie, can't have it. Purple lie, can't have it.
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  Half lie, half truth. Get rid of that if you're out of
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  your vocabulary, it doesn't exist anymore.
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  Believers in Jesus Christ speak the truth.
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  There's no half truths. No, it's the truth.
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  And if it's a hard truth, then we speak the truth.
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  How in love, but we speak the truth.
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  We're to be known as truth bearers.
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  We're to be known as men and women who keep their word, men
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  and women that go the extra mile.
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  Men and women that are yes, is yes and are no is no.
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  We can be relied upon in a culture where people can't be
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  relied upon, that we're honest in a culture where people lie,
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  that we're the honest ones, no matter the cost.
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  No, no matter what it costs, we're going to tell the truth
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  and that's the command. Let me show you this.
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  Turn over to Proverbs. You're close to it.
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  So it's to the right from where you are.
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  Proverbs is right next to the Psalms.
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  And I want you to see this verse 6.
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  So when you get there, Proverbs chapter 6, verse 16, very
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  important passage in the Proverbs.
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  I encourage you for part of your Bible reading to read a proverb,
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  Proverbs every day, a chapter of Proverbs every day.
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  There are 31 chapters, so you can read a chapter every day,
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  once a month, and then on the days that have less than 31,
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  then you can just read the last two chapters whenever you want.
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  Like whatever day you can get ahead for some of the months,
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  but the months that have 31 days you can read a chapter.
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  So chapter 6 was a couple weeks ago and notice with me verse 16,
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  chapter 6. For those of you that read the
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  Proverbs, you already read this. These six things the Lord hates,
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  yes, seven, are an abomination of them to Him.
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  Excuse me, verse 17, a proud look.
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  And then what does your Bible say?
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  A lying tongue. If you like to write in your
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  Bibles and it's convenient, you can circle verse any of these
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  and come back to the word in verse 16.
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  The Lord hates. What does the Lord hate?
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  A lying tongue. You're not on the right side of
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  God when you lie. Neither are you on the right
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  side of your neighbor when you lie.
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  It's neither an act of love toward God nor an act of love
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  toward your neighbor. You're not even fulfilling the
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  royal command and neither am I. You gain nothing from lying.
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  You gain nothing. And when you're a truth teller,
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  when you tell the truth, you don't need to have a good memory
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  with the people that you talk to.
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  You don't have to worry what you told this person, what you told
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  that person, what you sent, that When you tell the truth, you
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  don't have to have a good memory because you told the truth.
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  You're just living in the truth, living in the light, nothing
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  hidden. It's a big deal for some people
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  coming out of the world when you're born again like that's a
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  big deal to be to be known as a truth teller.
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  You may even have the reputation.
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  Well, he's just a liar. He's just a liar.
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  He's just a liar, not in Christ in Christ.
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  You're a truth teller and just live the power of God in your
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  life. He not only we'll just finish
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  the section. Not only does God hate pride in
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  a lying tongue, but hands that shed innocent blood, a heart,
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  verse 18 that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift to
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  running an evil and now notice that switches a little verse 19.
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  Now he goes to the person he says a false witness who speaks,
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  lies, and then finally one who sows discord among the brethren.
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  It's important that we tell the truth.
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  We're to be truthful with one another.
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  Lying erodes trust among among us.
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  It breaks relationship, separates us from God, separates
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  us from each other, and lies include slander, gossip, made-up
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  stories that ruin reputations of another person.
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  Relationships are always built on truthfulness and trust.
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  And you know the depth of your relationship through time and
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  testing. Those are the ingredients,
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  truthfulness and trust, time and testing, working through
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  becoming the woman and the man that God wants you to be.
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  Verse 17. Now, coming back to Exodus, the
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  final commandment given is you shall not covet your neighbour's
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  house. You shall not covet your
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  neighbour's wife, his manservant, his maidservant, his
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  ox, his donkey or anything that is your neighbour.
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  And some of you going check mark, check mark.
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  Don't want my neighbour's ox, don't want my neighbour's
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  donkey. But covetousness is a sneaky
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  one. This is a sneaky 1.
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  Because I don't know how many people I've ever met that really
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  come and confess, You know, Pastor, will you pray for me?
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  I'm very covetous, but it's very common.
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  It's just unseen. This is an interesting because
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  it's an internal, It's very internal.
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  Hard to see outwardly, hard to see the action outwardly.
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  Nobody sees your coveting heart. Nobody physically sees my
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  coveting heart but God. Covetousness is a form of
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  discontentment, jealousy. Jealousy is is really wanting,
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  you know, seeing someone else has some something and you
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  really want it. Coveting is a little worse than
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  that. Coveting is you see what someone
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  else haunts and you are willing to do whatever it takes to get
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  it. And you begin to despise the
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  person. You know, when you're jealous of
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  someone, you're like, oh man, he has that.
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  I wish I really had that. And it could be kind of sinful.
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  You know, it's like not being content with what you have.
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  But coveting includes, I see what you have.
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  I really wish I wanted. It's kind of all jealousy.
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  But then it's like, no, I don't like you for having it.
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  I don't like that you have it. And maybe even someone says, not
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  only do I not like that you have it, but I, I want to hurt you in
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  some way for having it, taking it from you.
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  Or, you know, I think coveting is, is a source.
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  I, I know it's, it's an interesting source, but I think
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  it's the source of when someone decides that they just want to
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  key your car. I, I think it's one of those
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  resentment area. I mean, there's other reasons
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  for that, but like you come out from the store and you're like,
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  what was going on? What happened here?
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  It's just somebody saw what you had, they don't have it, and
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  they want to express their anger and frustration and ruin it for
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  you. I would say there's probably
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  more than jealousy there. It's probably especially like a
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  stranger doesn't know who you are.
• 22:09
  You don't know anything about them.
• 22:10
  You have no issue with them, but they see something of yours and
• 22:13
  want to destroy it. They want to harm you for it.
• 22:15
  Covetousness, very important that we are.
• 22:18
  Covetousness drives a person to take what God has given someone
• 22:22
  else. It is an area that God
• 22:25
  illuminated in Paul's heart. Now you remember Paul when he
• 22:29
  looked back as his life as Saul of Tarsus.
• 22:32
  He looked back at his life as being the epitome of a religious
• 22:37
  man. He looked back on his life and
• 22:41
  apart from Christ and he looked back and he goes, I was
• 22:44
  everything that you would expect to be.
• 22:45
  I lived it to the strictest standards.
• 22:48
  I lived to the strictest rules. I was a Pharisee of the
• 22:53
  Pharisees in my life. But when the Holy Spirit gave
• 22:57
  him new life, when he was born again and God opened his eyes to
• 23:01
  the Scriptures, listen to what he says.
• 23:03
  Romans Chapter 7, verse 7. This is what he says of himself.
• 23:06
  He says, what shall we say then? Is the law sin?
• 23:10
  Certainly not. On the contrary, I would not
• 23:14
  have known sin except through the law.
• 23:16
  I would have not have known covetousness unless the law said
• 23:20
  you shall not covet. God revealed to him an issue in
• 23:25
  his own life and it took him, Paul, a long time to see how
• 23:30
  much he coveted. And again, you probably can make
• 23:34
  a strong argument that covetousness is tied to anger as
• 23:38
  well, where you're not content. And because you're not content,
• 23:42
  you're upset. And because you're upset, you
• 23:44
  start to take it out on people that are closest to you.
• 23:48
  And with the 10 commandments, I know we spent a few weeks and I
• 23:51
  with each one of them could have been a study in and of
• 23:54
  themselves, but we're kind of going through a little bit
• 23:57
  broader on our verse by verse in our midweek study.
• 23:59
  But as even though we summed them up, you can see how valid
• 24:02
  they are, They're really nothing in the 10 commandments can be
• 24:08
  argued with. They're they're so reasonable
• 24:10
  and logical and protective and needful and valid.
• 24:15
  Nine of these commandments transcend the nation of Israel,
• 24:19
  reflecting God's desire upon us today.
• 24:22
  They reflect his moral character, and all ten of them
• 24:24
  reflect his character. But the imposition of them in
• 24:27
  the new covenant, only nine of them are given to us repeated in
• 24:32
  the New Testament, the Sabbath law, remember, we studied this
• 24:36
  now is found by faith in Christ. He is our Sabbath.
• 24:41
  We have our rest in him. But that's not to negate the
• 24:45
  need of the pattern 61 You can't work seven days a week, 24
• 24:49
  hours. God made you for rest, replenish
• 24:51
  yourself, be strengthened, go back to work.
• 24:53
  God made you to work. God made you to rest.
• 24:55
  You go. What do you think God made me to
• 24:57
  work? That's part of the curse.
• 24:58
  No, your bad attitude is a part of the curse.
• 25:03
  But work existed before the fall.
• 25:06
  Adam and Eve were given the responsibility and the joy of
• 25:10
  tending the garden before the fall.
• 25:13
  The fall brought our bad attitudes toward work and made
• 25:16
  it harder in the sweat of our brow and such, which we all deal
• 25:19
  with every day. Jesus took these things and
• 25:23
  remember one step further in his Sermon on the Mount and he said,
• 25:28
  I say to you in Matthew 520 that unless your righteousness
• 25:32
  exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you
• 25:36
  will by no means enter the Kingdom of heaven.
• 25:38
  I mean, OK, we're none of us are going to make it.
• 25:44
  There's no way our righteousness could ever exceed the
• 25:47
  righteousness of the Pharisees, of the scribes, of the
• 25:51
  religious. And then he began to give
• 25:54
  illustrations on murder, adultery, taking oath, service,
• 25:59
  loving our enemies, charitable deeds, prayer, fasting, all of
• 26:03
  these. The Pharisees were hitting
• 26:05
  outwardly grand slams. They were hitting it out of the
• 26:09
  park. But Jesus taught us that the
• 26:12
  righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees was just outward.
• 26:17
  It had no spiritual merit. It had no heart.
• 26:21
  They were doing it to control people, to take advantage of
• 26:24
  people. They weren't real.
• 26:27
  I mean, if I could summarize the 10 commandments, God just says
• 26:30
  be real, church, be real. Let these be lived out in your
• 26:34
  life. When you love the Lord God with
• 26:36
  all your heart and soul and mind, you don't even need to
• 26:38
  think about these things. You're not going to lie.
• 26:42
  You're not going to steal, you're not going to covet.
• 26:45
  And if you do like have that little desire, the Holy Spirit
• 26:47
  will be quick to say, no, no, no son, no, no, no, no, daughter,
• 26:51
  this is, this is not for you. It's not for you anymore.
• 26:54
  You, you want that, but I got something better for you and
• 26:58
  something better for you. Like like again, coveting
• 27:00
  someone's car. I, I, you want that car, but I
• 27:03
  have something better for you. And then you go, well, I have
• 27:04
  nothing. And God says that's better for
• 27:06
  you, that's better for you. That's where I have you.
• 27:10
  I withhold no good thing from those that look to me, that
• 27:13
  those that live for me and please me.
• 27:15
  I think is what the psalmist says.
• 27:16
  I'm not going to withhold anything from you.
• 27:18
  That's good for you. And so if you're wanting
• 27:22
  something right now and you don't have it, you could just
• 27:24
  say God is right now telling you that's not good for you.
• 27:29
  And we say, OK, Lord, I'm going to go back to following you.
• 27:33
  I don't want to live by some external code.
• 27:36
  I don't want to measure my life or whether I did 100 good things
• 27:39
  today and 30 bad things or I want to live my life because I
• 27:42
  followed you today. I was close to you.
• 27:45
  I'm living by your parameters. I'm I'm looking like it only
• 27:50
  like, like if you again, back to the silly illustration, if I'm
• 27:53
  living in your house, you really only need to tell me not to
• 27:57
  drink milk out of your carton one time and I think I'll get
• 28:02
  it. But you know, if we really have
• 28:03
  a relationship and I'm thinking of you, you're thinking of me.
• 28:06
  If I go to your refrigerator, I will ask you permission to open
• 28:11
  your refrigerator because it's your house.
• 28:15
  I'll ask you and say, hey, you know, I have a habit of just
• 28:19
  eating things and throwing everything around and just
• 28:21
  drinking out of it and like, and just throwing milk around.
• 28:24
  Like, is that OK with you now? Like like we, we had it's
• 28:27
  relationship, it's connection. It's I think of you more highly
• 28:31
  than I think of myself. I value you, I respect you, I
• 28:35
  honor you. All of the ingredients that make
• 28:37
  for a good relationship with us. They're learned by having a good
• 28:41
  relationship with your Father. And you don't need to write
• 28:45
  these down and remember. And what was those 10
• 28:46
  commandments again? Although memorizing Scripture is
• 28:49
  always good for sure, but you don't need to worry about them
• 28:53
  as you abide in Christ. You won't do them.
• 28:56
  Now. Verse 18.
• 28:58
  Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning
• 29:01
  flashes, the sound of the trumpet and the mountain
• 29:03
  smoking. And when the people saw it, they
• 29:06
  trembled and stood afar off. Then they said, the Moses, you
• 29:09
  speak with us and we'll hear, but let God let not God speak
• 29:13
  with us, lest we die. And Moses said to the people,
• 29:17
  don't fear, for God has come to test you, that his fear may be
• 29:21
  before you, so that you may not sin.
• 29:25
  This was a monumental moment the the mountaintop was filled with
• 29:30
  the amazement of these of the presence of God and it was
• 29:34
  manifest through lightning flashes and thunderings and
• 29:37
  sounds, smoking and and it caused a great fear, human fear
• 29:42
  in those that were watching. So Moses, we don't want, we do
• 29:46
  not want that we are fearful of what you what, what you just
• 29:51
  walked out of what you've been a part of.
• 29:54
  God is revealing himself in holiness and the holiness of God
• 29:59
  demands, these demands are given, these commands, these
• 30:02
  directions are given towards sinful man.
• 30:04
  You have holiness of God and sinful man.
• 30:07
  And God wanted them to fear. But the right type of fear, God
• 30:11
  wanted them to fear, but not in a human way.
• 30:15
  He wanted them to fear him in His Holiness, not all that was
• 30:19
  surrounding him. He wanted them to have a
• 30:22
  reverence Is often how you'll hear pastors explain the fear of
• 30:26
  God. It's a good explanation.
• 30:29
  The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.
• 30:32
  And the fear of God is not cowering in fear, but rather a
• 30:35
  reverence and an honor and a respect that you would enter
• 30:39
  into His presence with a respect for who God is and who you are.
• 30:45
  You would enter in and recognize that His Holiness is something
• 30:48
  to, to, to, to not take lightly that as he's, as we've been
• 30:55
  emphasizing the relational aspect of these commands, we
• 30:59
  cannot at the same time relationship, you've heard it
• 31:01
  over and over again, we cannot diminish the holiness of God.
• 31:06
  We cannot diminish the distance and the the distance between you
• 31:10
  and God, His Holiness, your unholiness.
• 31:15
  That's why they're they're recognizing it right here they
• 31:17
  go. You know what, God is holy.
• 31:19
  We are not Moses. We don't want to talk to him.
• 31:21
  You do that. There's something about you
• 31:23
  that's different. You be our mediator.
• 31:25
  You be our communicator. You go talk.
• 31:28
  We don't want we trust you. You go.
• 31:30
  We don't want to be close to that.
• 31:32
  And then this high and holy moment, God, he comes with great
• 31:37
  words through Moses and demonstrates his awe and the
• 31:41
  splendor through all these amazing sights and sounds,
• 31:46
  things to see and to smell and God through Moses.
• 31:49
  Moses responds to verse 20. Don't be afraid.
• 31:52
  God's come to you. He's come to test you that you
• 31:55
  may fear, that his fear may be before you so that you may not
• 32:00
  sin. That's the kind of fear that God
• 32:03
  speaks of. The fear of God is the beginning
• 32:05
  of wisdom. Wisdom will lead you not to sin.
• 32:09
  It's a wise thing to avoid sin. It says in verse 21, the people
• 32:12
  stood afar, but Moses drew near the thickness, thick darkness
• 32:16
  where God was. There's a great emphasis upon
• 32:20
  relationship, but please don't diminish the holiness of God.
• 32:24
  Don't diminish the distinction between a holy and a righteous
• 32:29
  God, an unholy man. Remember that.
• 32:34
  Notice as we close the chapter now in verse 22, it says, Then
• 32:40
  the Lord said to Moses, thus you shall say to the children of
• 32:43
  Israel, you have seen that I've talked with you from heaven.
• 32:46
  You shall not make anything to be with me.
• 32:48
  Gods of silver, gods of gold, you shall not make for
• 32:51
  yourselves an altar of the earth.
• 32:53
  You shall, you shall make for me, and you shall sacrifice on
• 32:56
  it your burnt offerings, your peace offerings, your sheep or
• 32:59
  your oxen. In every place where I record my
• 33:01
  name I will come to you and I'll bless you.
• 33:04
  And if you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of
• 33:07
  hewn stone for you, for if you use a tool on it, you have
• 33:11
  profaned it, You my nor shall you go up by the steps to my
• 33:16
  altar, that your nakedness may not be exposed on it.
• 33:23
  Now, the Canaanites in the land used cut and dress stones for
• 33:30
  their altars, very ornate, very beautiful, and these altars were
• 33:34
  for their false worship. Remember, there's a distinction
• 33:37
  going on as this nation is coming out of the false worship
• 33:40
  of Egypt, going into the fault, the land of false worship.
• 33:43
  The Canaanites, they're going into the promised land that is
• 33:46
  filled with idolaters. And there's a distinction in the
• 33:49
  children of Israel. This was just another
• 33:51
  distinction, so that of all the altars that are going to be in
• 33:54
  the land, the altars that didn't get tore down or found, they're
• 33:57
  going to know that the one true altar, because your altars,
• 34:00
  they're not going to be fashion in form.
• 34:02
  Just build it out of rocks. Just make it simple.
• 34:06
  Make it simple. God did not want ornate objects
• 34:08
  built for him. If you build it, just make it
• 34:11
  out of the earth. When you build one, there
• 34:14
  shouldn't be any steps on it either.
• 34:16
  Again, the Canaanites would have the elaborate altars where you
• 34:19
  would walk up the stairs. And he says, so don't make any
• 34:23
  steps on it. Make it just a nice size so that
• 34:25
  when you're going up, you're not uncovered in your nakedness.
• 34:28
  And I read some commentaries that said that some of the
• 34:31
  Canaanite priests would would sacrifice and have these ornate
• 34:35
  altars with no clothes on. And so he says, no, look, you
• 34:39
  guys, I don't even want that. Don't even don't even look like
• 34:42
  that. Don't even come close to it.
• 34:44
  I don't want you exposed. Draw attention not to what you
• 34:48
  made, but draw attention to whom you worship.
• 34:52
  And it reminded me on a small scale when we were building this
• 34:55
  building, because this was land before we got here and we had
• 34:57
  the privilege of building this building.
• 34:59
  It was a very simple approach to just make it a big box.
• 35:03
  That's all we need. We need a lot of space.
• 35:05
  Make it as big as you can with as big as a piece of parking for
• 35:09
  folks and as much space for the kids.
• 35:11
  That's what we wanted. And well, what about this?
• 35:14
  And the other churches are doing this and they're like, well, you
• 35:16
  know, this is what we want. We just want a big box, the
• 35:19
  biggest box you can. We actually wanted, you know how
• 35:21
  they build those buildings with the pre made walls, the tilt,
• 35:24
  they call it tilt up. And that's what we just want.
• 35:26
  Just build us a Costco here. But it's a Jesus on it, not A
• 35:29
  cause. Just build us a big building.
• 35:31
  That's all we want. But the city wouldn't let us do
• 35:33
  it. They said, no, you can't do
• 35:34
  that. And so the Lord was so gracious
• 35:38
  to us. I know you don't know the
• 35:39
  history unless you were here early, but he was so gracious to
• 35:41
  us because he bought a, he brought a builder to us that not
• 35:45
  only was inexpensive relatively, but they had a new technology
• 35:50
  that they said, yeah, we would love to work with you, but we
• 35:52
  want to use this new technology. And we said, we'll go great.
• 35:55
  And it was basically these foam bricks, foam bricks with sticks
• 36:00
  like sticking through them and wire like Legos.
• 36:03
  And they would build them up about 6 feet high and then shoot
• 36:07
  them with concrete. And then they'd build them
• 36:09
  another six feet high and shoot the middle of concrete.
• 36:12
  So that while we weren't able to put a big tilt up up with the
• 36:16
  walls of concrete, they were able to do it 6 feet at a time
• 36:20
  so that the whole building is really just concrete surrounded
• 36:23
  by. And then we got a bonus because
• 36:25
  that that insulation on either side or that that foam on either
• 36:29
  side is automatic insulation that was built.
• 36:32
  So the whole building, all the external walls were built with
• 36:35
  this technology. So we said, take that city.
• 36:37
  No, we didn't do that night. It's just God was so gracious to
• 36:41
  us. He's like, I, I want to honor
• 36:43
  you. I know that you're running into
• 36:44
  some roadblocks with the city, but that God said, I got a
• 36:46
  better way for you guys. It's even better than what you
• 36:49
  were thinking. And we honored them was like,
• 36:51
  OK, we're not going to do like we didn't fight.
• 36:53
  It was like, OK, we're happy. And then the Lord said, no, I
• 36:56
  got something even better for you.
• 36:57
  You know, that's a word from the Lord for someone.
• 36:59
  It's like, man, that's the second time now that's come up
• 37:02
  today. Like you don't have something,
• 37:03
  but God says I've got something better for you.
• 37:06
  Just trust me. Just wait it out.
• 37:08
  Don't take things into your own hands.
• 37:10
  I've got something better for you.
• 37:13
  Wait on me. Now, one more thing before we
• 37:17
  leave. As soon as the law is given, an
• 37:20
  altar is built. As soon as the law is given, an
• 37:23
  altar is built. God in His justice gives the
• 37:26
  law, but in His grace he gives an altar and they go together.
• 37:30
  You can jot it down in first John 21.
• 37:33
  It says My little children, these things I write to you so
• 37:36
  that you may not sin the law, but if anyone sends, we have an
• 37:42
  advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
• 37:46
  We have a greater today than Moses as a spokesperson for us.
• 37:50
  We have God in human flesh, a mediator.
• 37:53
  There is no other mediator. You don't need a pastor, you
• 37:56
  don't need a priest, you don't need a parent.
• 37:58
  You can come directly to the presence of God in the throne of
• 38:02
  God. If you're a born again believer,
• 38:05
  you can come straight to him. If you're not a born again
• 38:06
  believer today and ask him to forgive you, He will give you
• 38:10
  forgiveness directly through the blood of Jesus Christ.
• 38:13
  Jesus is the mediator so that when you receive the conviction
• 38:16
  of sin, I've written these things so you don't send.
• 38:19
  You could save with the 10 commandments.
• 38:20
  I've given you these things so you don't sin.
• 38:23
  But if you do, I have a mediator for you.
• 38:27
  If you confess your sins, He's faithful and just to forgive you
• 38:29
  and cleanse you from all unrighteousness if you do.
• 38:33
  But please don't because it'll wreck you and it'll hurt you and
• 38:37
  it'll harm you. You never want to take the
• 38:39
  position. You may not be taking it now,
• 38:41
  but you never want to take it in the future.
• 38:43
  Well, you know I can sin because God will always forgive me.
• 38:46
  I mean, what kind of language is that?
• 38:50
  The Lord didn't inspire that in you.
• 38:52
  I can sin, but God will forgive me.
• 38:55
  Yeah, you can sin. And God, he'll express his
• 38:59
  forgiveness through the blood of Jesus in your life.
• 39:02
  And you will suffer for that bad sinful decision.
• 39:07
  Sometimes that's suffering you. Well, I can control it.
• 39:09
  No, no, that's something that you, you can't control the
• 39:12
  consequences of your sin. You don't know how bad it's
• 39:16
  going to be. You don't know who it's going to
• 39:19
  affect. You don't know what long lasting
• 39:22
  issues. You don't.
• 39:23
  You can't control that. Well, I can control my decision.
• 39:26
  Sure you can. And I can control how far I go.
• 39:28
  Yeah. But you can't control the
• 39:29
  consequences. You're at the mercy of God.
• 39:35
  Sometimes you're at the mercy of a judge.
• 39:39
  Sometime you're at the mercy of a spouse.
• 39:43
  Sometime you're at the mercy of an officer.
• 39:45
  There's a lot of people that send puts your control.
• 39:48
  You give control away to a person in authority over your
• 39:51
  life, you give away your peace, you give away.
• 39:57
  Your confidence, you give away. Your ministry you give away.
• 40:03
  Your future. I I mean on and on you can go.
• 40:05
  So what does God say? No, no, no.
• 40:07
  I'm writing to you that you don't send.
• 40:11
  I'm giving you these. God says so you don't send.
• 40:15
  And when you build an altar to me, worship me.
• 40:18
  But don't worry about what it looks like.
• 40:20
  Worry about me. When you worship, do the best
• 40:24
  that you can with what you have. The law was given to us to
• 40:28
  reveal who God is and who am I who I am.
• 40:32
  The law, we'll learn later in our study through Galatians, is
• 40:35
  a mirror. It's not the source, it's just a
• 40:39
  mirror. It reveals.
• 40:41
  You don't take the mirror off the wall.
• 40:42
  You look up, you wake up in the morning and some of you are
• 40:45
  shocked by what you see, but the people close to you, that's what
• 40:48
  they see all the time. But you're like, whoa, it must
• 40:51
  have been a rough night in sleep or like whatever makeup's all
• 40:55
  over my hair, like whatever he's like, oh, whoa.
• 40:57
  But the mirror, it's not the mirrors fault.
• 40:59
  Don't be getting all mad at the mirror.
• 41:01
  And I was like, hey, honey, get us another mirror like this is
• 41:04
  no, this is what you look like every day.
• 41:07
  It's the same way when you look at a picture, you go, I don't
• 41:09
  like that picture. We that's you like what don't
• 41:12
  you like? That's you, that's me.
• 41:15
  Like So what we see is what we live with all the time.
• 41:17
  That's that's it. But we love each other anyway,
• 41:20
  right? You can't take the mirror down
• 41:23
  the mirror. The mirror just reveals.
• 41:27
  It just shows you, has no power to change you.
• 41:29
  You're going to have to brush your teeth.
• 41:33
  The mirror is not going to do it for you.
• 41:34
  You need to comb your hair. You need to take a shower.
• 41:37
  The mirror just reveals, and that's how the law is.
• 41:39
  It just reveals. The law is powerless to cleanse
• 41:42
  you, to change you, but it reveals it leads you in me to
• 41:47
  the blood of Jesus Christ. That's what cleanses his
• 41:50
  finished work. It's just a tutor just teaches
• 41:53
  us the law does this is God's heart for us.
• 41:56
  And when you love God right now with all your heart, soul and
• 41:59
  mind, you're going to find that love of neighbor.
• 42:02
  You're just going to have such a a sweeter life in a very hostile
• 42:05
  world. You're going to have so much
• 42:07
  less to worry about when you're abiding Christ.
• 42:11
  You're just going to cover you, protect you, lead you, guide
• 42:14
  you. You wonder what abiding in
• 42:16
  Christ looks like. Go to you don't need to do it
• 42:19
  now, but read tonight before you go to bed.
• 42:20
  Just read. It's very quick, even if you've
• 42:22
  memorized it. Take your Bible, read it fresh.
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  Psalm 23. You want to know what it's like
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  to have a Good Shepherd in your life.
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  Psalm 23 is perfect. John chapter 15, beautiful
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  reminders of the faithfulness of God.
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  So Father, thank you for this little miniseries in Exodus 20
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  just reminding us of your holiness and Your righteousness.
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  Sometimes we're fearful for you, of you for the wrong reasons.
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  God, we have this human fear when we should have a spiritual
• 42:49
  fear, a holy reverence and honor for you, for your holiness.
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  And Lord, because we're unholy doesn't mean we condemn
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  ourselves, doesn't mean that we beat ourselves up.
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  And we don't live in regret, but rather we come to the one that
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  cleanses, that restores, that rebuilds, that changes from the
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  inside out. And today, if you need to be
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  changed from the inside out, you need your sins forgiven, being
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  born again, you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the
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  forgiveness of your sins. If you've never given your life
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  to Jesus, responded to the work of his Spirit, I want to invite
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  you to do that here. If today you, you could say like
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  I, I need to follow God. This isn't a rededication.
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  You got everybody that needs to rededicate.
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  You can rededicate in your seat and just give it to the Lord,
• 43:42
  He'll hear you. But I'm talking about new
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  believer. You want, you need new life.
• 43:46
  You want to follow God for the first time.
• 43:48
  If that's you, would you just stand to your feet?
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  I want to help you. The Bible says if you confess
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  with your mouth the Lord Jesus and you believe in your heart
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  that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
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  We want you to be saved. We want you to be redeemed.
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  We want you to be forgiven. We want you.
• 44:04
  You know, this is a special always on Wednesdays because I
• 44:06
  got, I was saved on a Wednesday night.
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  I was saved in a Bible study just like this, going through
• 44:12
  the Bible. And then the pastor gave an
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  invitation and then he gave a second one and then he gave a
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  third one. It was the third one I responded
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  to. So I'm giving all three of them
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  at the same time right now. Just respond.
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  The Lord is working in your heart.
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  He's drawing it to himself. I recognize you guys out online.
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  I can't see you, of course are on the radio.
• 44:33
  We acknowledge you like you're responding from your heart right
• 44:36
  now. God sees you and I'm going to
• 44:37
  lead you in a prayer. But in the room right now, if
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  there's anyone here, I want to give you that chance.
• 44:42
  I want you to know that today you would again like I don't
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  want you to do this, but today you would leave and you're
• 44:49
  stepping over this hump like God says no stop.
• 44:53
  I love you. I have a better life for you.
• 44:57
  I want to deliver you and save you.
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  And now you once again you get a chance to respond.
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  Anyone here? God bless you.
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  Who else would say that's me? It's a big day.
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  God bless you too. It's a big day.
• 45:24
  Come on up, Andy. Right, right here.
• 45:27
  God bless you. We got a couple here.
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  It's just such a great moment. The work of God among us.
• 45:35
  Keep praying church like keep interceding for the work of the
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  Spirit. There's a battle.
• 45:39
  There's always a battle surrounding lives always thank
• 45:43
  you Bob, always a battle. And so I don't want you to be
• 45:47
  uncomfortable. These are pastors leaders in our
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  church that are coming next to you because we want to follow up
• 45:52
  with you. We want you to know you're not
• 45:53
  alone. And so pray with me.
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  That's what if you confess with them.
• 45:57
  I want to help you with that. You could say, God, I admit that
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  I've sinned against you, and I ask you to forgive me of all of
• 46:06
  my sins. I believe you sent Jesus, the
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  eternal Son of God, to live for me to die, for me to rise again
• 46:22
  the third day to save my soul. And I choose to follow you
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  today, God, and I'm asking for your help to turn away from my
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  sinful past from this day forward.
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  And Father, I know you're drawing people.
• 46:45
  You're serving, ministering, talking to them.
• 46:48
  I pray blessings on those that responded near and far.
• 46:52
  I pray for those responding in a jail cell, in a hospital room,
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  in a kitchen, in a car, in a truck, in a semi.
• 47:01
  I pray for those in an overflow room watching on a screen,
• 47:06
  listening in on a podcast. This the move of your Holy
• 47:09
  Spirit. It's changing lives from the
• 47:12
  inside out. Bless them Lord, in Jesus name,
• 47:16
  Amen. We pray that you've been
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  encouraged by this Bible study, delivered live from the
• 47:22
  sanctuary of Calvary Church. For prayer, call us at 87730
• 47:27
  Grace that's 877-304-7223. To listen to this message in its
• 47:35
  integrity or to join us for our live stream services, visit us
• 47:39
  online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free Calvary
• 47:44
  Church app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus
• 47:47
  this week.