Clean Transcript

Who Is Your God?

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• Today I need you to open your Bibles, if you would please, to Deuteronomy chapter 4. Deuteronomy chapter 4, and we're going to be reading verses 34 through 40. Deuteronomy 34—I'm sorry, Deuteronomy 4 and verse 34, and we'll read through verse 40. The title of the message today is "Who Is Your God?" Notice Deuteronomy chapter 4, and let's begin reading there with verse 34. Deuteronomy 4 verse 34: "Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God

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• did for you in Egypt before your eyes? Unto thee it was showed that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God, and there is none else beside him. Out of heaven He made thee to hear His voice, that He might instruct thee. And upon earth He showed thee His great fire, and thou heardest His words out of the midst of the fire. And because He loved thy fathers, therefore He chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in His sight with His mighty power out of Egypt, to drive out nations from before thee, greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, and to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day. Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath there is none else. Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes and his commandments which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth which the Lord thy God giveth thee forever."

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• So the question has to be asked: Who is your God? Who do you serve? Man is innately religious. He always has a deity. His deity may be Mammon, it may be Baal, it may be Moloch, or some other false god. But usually man is always going to recognize a superior or a supreme being. It is just simply in his nature. I suppose it being in your nature is very telling from what one atheist said publicly before he called himself. He said, "Thank God I don't believe in a God." Well, obviously it is in man by nature.

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• Intellectual atheism is often inconsistent anyhow. If a man truly believes there is no God, in such an instance what man does is he dethrones God and enthrones himself and places himself on the throne of God. And thus he has a God, really it is himself, because he does according to his will and his law and his pleasure, whatever he wanted to do. Well, intellectual atheism is far easier to discover and to deal with than practical atheism. Now, a practical atheist is someone who will admit there is a God. In fact, he may even say that he believes in God. I will even go further: many times he is a professing Christian. So he will say, "Yes, there is a God, and yes, I believe in that God," and yet the practical atheist is the individual who lives as if there was no God. He does not recognize God's law. He does not recognize God's commandments. He lives like the intellectual atheist, only for himself. He ignores God. He forgets God.

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• He does not consider Him. And for all practical purposes, his profession of faith is absolutely worthless. And, I might add, our churches are full of such people.

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• Now, you're going to ask, "How in the world can I make a statement like that?" Well, let me just say it again. Most professing Christians are practical atheists. And I can say that because they are absolutely ignorant of God and His law, and they live as if there was no God—as if God had not spoken, as if God had not given directions for every area and every sphere of life. They disregard God. They disregard His law. They try to relegate it to the Old Testament and say, "Well, that's just Old Testament," just as if the Old Testament is not as much the Word of God as the New Testament. It seems to me in 2 Timothy 3:16, when the Apostle Paul wrote, "All Scripture is inspired of God, and given by inspiration, and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction, and righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished under every good work"—when Paul wrote that, he had in mind particularly the Old Testament, because the New Testament had not been completed in that particular time.

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• So, the Old Testament is just as much the Word of God as the New Testament. So many people, they say that they are Christians and they say that they worship the Lord Jesus Christ. But Titus 1 and verse 16, the Apostle Paul dealt with such individuals when he said this—listen carefully—"They profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable and disobedient, unto every good work reprobate." Now listen to what he said: they profess that they know God. But in works—that is the way they live, the way they act—they deny Him.

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• In other words, that is in essence a practical atheist. It is someone who will confess with his mouth, acknowledge with his tongue there is a God, or maybe even say that Jesus Christ is God and yes, I believe in Him, but then he totally ignores Him in every area and every avenue of his life. There is a good illustration given to us in 2 Kings chapter 17.

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• I want you to turn there. We will come back there a little bit later. 2 Kings chapter 17. And let's begin reading there with verse 23 in just a moment. 2 Kings 17, and what has happened in this particular passage: the king of Assyria has conquered the ten northern tribes. He's conquered those tribes of Israel and he takes them into captivity into Assyria. And then what he does is he brings pagans from other areas of the country that he has captured and he now places them in the cities of Israel. And they're pagans and they have all their false gods and they're worshiping all their false gods. And God sends lions among them to destroy them because of their sin and because of their wickedness. And so they send to Assyria for a priest that they might learn how to live according to the God of the land. Now you have to remember, pagans were polytheistic. They believed in many gods. Moreover, they believed that each god was local, localized. In other words, he had local power and local authority, but he was not the supreme sovereign of the entire universe.

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• So, let's look at it. 2 Kings chapter 17 verse 23, here is the Bible telling us how God removed Israel out of His sight. "Until the Lord removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by all His servants the prophets, so was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day. And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Kutah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria, instead of the children of Israel. And they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof. And so it was at the beginning of their dwelling there that they feared not the Lord, so they would not acknowledge Him at all. They feared not the Lord. Therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which slew some of them. Wherefore they spake to the king of Assyria, saying, 'The nations which thou hast removed and placed in the cities of Samaria know not the manner of the God of the land. Therefore he hath sent lions among them, and, behold, they slay them, because they know not the manner of the God of the land.'"

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• Now watch. "Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, 'Carry thither one of the priests whom you brought forth from thence, and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.'"

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• Now let me just stop for a moment. You've got to remember that the priests that God carried away into captivity were not priests of the Lord Himself, because Israel, you remember, had the two golden calves in Dan and in Beersheba. And so these were priests of the golden calves. They were not necessarily God's priests. But so back in verse 27, "Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, 'Carry thither one of the priests, whom you brought from thence, and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the manner of the God of the land.' Then one of the priests, whom they had carried away from Samaria, came and dwelt in Bethel, taught them how they should fear the Lord," that is according to the worship of the golden calves.

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• Howbeit—now watch—"howbeit every nation made gods of their own, and put them in houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities where they dwelt. And the men of Babylon made Succoth Benoth, that was their god. And the men of Quth made Nergal. And the men of Hamoth made Eshema. And the Avites made Nimhaz and Tartac. And the Sepharvites burnt their children in fire to Adrammelech and Enamelech, the gods of Sepharvon. So they feared the Lord"—watch—"so they feared the Lord and knelt unto themselves of the lowest of them priests of the high places which sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. They feared the Lord and served their own gods after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence."

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• "Unto this day do after the former manners. They fear not the Lord, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandments which the Lord commanded the children whom the Lord had made a covenant and charged them, saying, 'You shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them. But the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, with great power and a stretched out arm, Him shall you fear, and Him shall you worship, and to Him shall you do sacrifice. And the statutes, and the ordinances, and the law, and the commandment which He wrote for you, you shall observe to do forever. You shall not fear other gods.' And the covenant that I have made with you, you shall not forget, neither shall you fear other gods. But the Lord your God you shall fear, and He shall deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies." Now watch, "howbeit they did not hearken, but they did after their former manner."

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• "So these nations"—that is all these wicked reprobates—"so these nations feared the Lord and served their graven images, their children, and their children's children, as to their fathers, so do they unto this day." So here are these people that are saying, "Look, we are in trouble, lions are among us, what in the world are we going to do? Oh, I know what we'll do, we'll send to Assyria and get a priest who will tell us how to pacify the God of the land." And so what they did: they openly and with their lips profess to worship Him, but then they turn around and made their own gods and sacrificed to them and worshipped and served them.

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• So basically they just simply ignored God. Now their verbal profession was absolutely useless. They ignored Him. They ignored His will. They ignored His Word. They ignored His commandments and His statutes, just like the average professing Christian today. In fact, you have to look around and say that basically professing Christendom is double minded. We are as double minded as people in the days of Zephaniah. You get to Zephaniah chapter 1, God is talking about all the people that He is going to judge and destroy. And in Zephaniah 1 verse 5 God says this, He is going to judge "them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops, and them that swear by the Lord that swear by Malcolm" or Molech. So God said, "Yes, I'm going to judge these out and out idolaters, they are worshiping the host of Heaven out of the housetop, but I'm also going to judge those who swear by the Lord and swear by Molech."

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• In other words, they are trying to serve both. And God says that is absolutely impossible. So here is the pressing question: Who is your God? When I ask this question, "Who is your God?" I am not talking about the God that you profess with your lips or with your mouth. But which God do you really, truly, actually, and genuinely worship and serve? Do you realize in the Old Testament and in the New Testament God complained about the people who worshiped Him with their lips?

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• But their hearts were far from Him. If you would hold Deuteronomy 4, but turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 29. Isaiah 29 and look, if you would please, at verse 13, and then we're going to go to Matthew 15. Isaiah 29 and notice, if you would please, verse 13. Look what God says. Isaiah 29 verse 13, then we'll go to Matthew 15. And Isaiah 29 and verse 13 our Lord says, "Wherefore the Lord said, 'Forasmuch as this people draw near to me with their mouth, and with their lips to honor me, but to remove their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of man.'" So here He is complaining about a people who make a profession with their mouth, who acknowledge Him, who confess Him, but who really do not worship and serve Him. And if you look in Matthew chapter 15 beginning there with verse 7, our Lord quotes from Isaiah and He applies that scripture to the people in His day. So in Matthew chapter 15 in verse 7 our Lord says to the Jews and the Pharisees, "Hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, 'This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.'"

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• "But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." Now notice what our Lord said: "In vain do they worship me." In other words, I don't accept it. I will not have it. It is not mine. I will not claim this type of worship because their hearts are far from me. So our God is not necessarily the one that we profess with our lips and with our mouth. Our God happens to be the one that we actually serve and obey. Profession and practice are not necessarily the same thing.

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• We agree that it should be. We should practice what we profess, but it's not always true. Many people profess but they do not practice. You remember our Lord in Matthew 6 and verse 21 said, "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." In other words, you will value and you will esteem where your heart really and truly is. And our Lord then went ahead in Matthew 6 and verse 24 and said it like this: "No man can serve two masters. Either he will love the one and hate the other, or he will cleave to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."

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• So what did he say? No man can serve two masters. You're either going to love one and hate the other or cleave one and despise the other. So we must determine then and we must know who our God really and truly is. So the question is this: How do we know who our God is? So David could say, "Well, my God is the Lord Jesus Christ." Really? Well, he just confessed that. He acknowledged that. Is there any other way that I can tell?

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• And the answer is yes. Scripture gives us the answers. If you would go back in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 4, and I want you to look at verses 39 and 40 because those are the two verses I want to deal with today. I will go back and get the context. But notice if you would Deuteronomy chapter 4 and let's read verses 39 and 40. Look what God says: "Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath. There is none else. Thou shalt keep therefore His statutes, and His commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth thee forever." So, first of all, I want you to look at a consideration. Verse 39, God says, "Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart." So here is a consideration. Now when God says "know therefore this day," the word "know" is the Hebrew word yada, which literally means to know and to perceive, to discern, to know by experience, to recognize, to acknowledge, to understand,

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• and confess. And when you get to the word "consider," it's the word shub, which means to return, to restore, to bring back, or to turn back as in repetition, as you turn something over and over in your mind. It could be another word for meditate. So, God is telling you, here is a consideration in verse 39: you must know and you must consider something. Well, what are you to know and what are you to consider? Well, first of all let me just say this: they were to know and consider the greatness of God in His revelation. The greatness of God in His revelation. Look back if you would to verses 32 and 33. What I'm talking about, the greatness of God in His revelation. Verse 32: "For ask now of the days that are past, which went before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth.

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• And ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such great thing as this, or have been heard like this? Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard and lived?" When you stop and think about what God did to those Israelites that He brought out of Egypt, He actually revealed Himself to them. They heard His voice. He came down on the mount with great fire and smoke, and He spoke to them out of that fire. They heard the voice of God. So God was pleased to reveal Himself to them. And so they need to consider that God has not done this to any other people.

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• He didn't do it to the Egyptians, or the Samaritans, or Sumerians, or anybody else. He just did it to Israel, His people. So here's my question: Do you know and have you considered that God has been pleased to reveal Himself to us? Have you thought about that? Do you understand the only way that we can know who God is or anything about God is that He has revealed Himself?

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• Now when you begin to talk about revelation, you have to understand there are two types of revelation. There is a general revelation and there is a special revelation. So what do I mean by a general revelation? Well, let me give you two types of what you and I would call general revelation. The very first type of general revelation is what you and I would call creation. Psalm 19: "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork, day unto day uttereth knowledge, night unto night showeth speech. There is no voice nor language where their speech is not heard." In other words, anybody can look at creation and say, "There must be a God. Look at the order. Look at the power that was involved in this. Look at all of these things together and you have to know, yes, there is a God."

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• In fact, Romans chapter 1 says, even the judgment of God against the ungodly tells you about God. He is holy and He is powerful. But you know, here is the thing about creation. Here is the thing about general revelation. It may tell you that there is a God, but it doesn't tell you anything about Him other than the fact that He is powerful, possibly holy. Does it tell you that He is merciful? Does it tell you that He is gracious? Does it tell you on what basis that He would have mercy upon you? Another type of general revelation is what you and I would call conscience, Romans chapter 2. When the Apostle Paul talks about even the heathen who by nature do those things which are contained in the law, he said their conscience is the meanwhile either accusing or excusing them.

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• So, I don't care where you go in the world, and I don't care what kind of pagan people you're talking to, usually most everyone would acknowledge that rape, robbery, and murder are bad. They're wrong. They're wicked. And yet you can go to the darkest tribe of Africa and if some African goes around and just hits his neighbor in the head and murders him, they'll tie him to an anthill somewhere and pour syrup or honey on him and let the ants eat him. They know that's wrong. But you let the neighbor attack him and he killed the man in self-defense and they knew nothing to him. In other words, their consciences know basically right and wrong.

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• Now, your conscience is a type of general revelation. Your conscience in one sense of the word can tell you some basic things about right and wrong, but it does not tell you what God has declared is true and right and holy, nor does it tell you everything that God has declared which is wicked and wrong and ungodly. The Bible tells us it's by the law that we have the knowledge of sin. So your conscience and creation are what you and I would call general revelation. When it comes to special revelation, I'm going to give you two as well. And I'm just going to use the word commandments. We've had creation, we've had conscience, which is general. Now we have a special which is the commandments or the Word of God. In fact, all of God's Word basically are commandments. And I'm not just talking about the ten. All of God's Word happens to be true. He commands us in His Word and throughout His Word. It is true that God did give us the Ten Commandments, Exodus chapter 20, Deuteronomy chapter 5.

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• So this is the special revelation of God. So how do I know that God is just? God has revealed it. How do I know that God is holy? God has revealed it. How do I know that God is merciful? God has revealed it. How do I know that God is the God of salvation? God has revealed it. Everything I know about God I get from special revelation. God has revealed Himself in His Word. And the fourth way God has revealed Himself, which is special revelation, is in the Lord Jesus Christ.

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• The Bible tells you very plainly in Hebrews chapter 1, "God who in times past spoke to our fathers in different ways and in divers manners, hath in these last days spoken to us by His Son whom He made heir of all things." So God has given us the full and final revelation of Himself in Jesus Christ. So let me just put it together like this: God is not some figment of someone's imagination.

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• He is not some design of some idol maker, nor is He the product of wishful thinking. God is the only One, and He happens to be the only One that has revealed Himself in His Word. And let me point this out: God is exactly as He revealed Himself in His Word. It is not doing you any good to say, "Well, boy, I hope God is like such and such. I wish God was like this." No, God is not like you think or like you want or like you wish. He is as He has revealed Himself in His Word. So He tells them that they should know and consider first of all that God has been pleased to reveal Himself unto them. And we need to consider that as well. We need to understand that the only reason we know anything about God is God has been pleased to reveal it. Now, secondly, if you look in verse 34, they were to know and consider the greatness of God in their salvation.

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• Watch verse 34: "Where hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes." Do you understand what these Israelites saw? They saw those judgments in Egypt. They saw the rivers turn to blood. They saw the frogs.

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• They knew about the lice. They knew the death of the firstborn. They knew all of this firsthand. They were eyewitnesses. It was a tremendous and miraculous and marvelous deliverance that God made for them. So here's my question: Do you know and have you considered the greatness of God in salvation in Jesus Christ?

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• Now, it is true we were not alive physically when Christ was alive. We did not see his miracles as many did. We were not there physically when he was crucified. We were not there physically when he was raised from the dead, nor were we there physically when he ascended into heaven. However, we may be there by faith, and we certainly were there covenantally. Because the Bible says, when He died, we died.

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• When He was resurrected, we were resurrected. When He ascended into Heaven, we ascended with Him. When He was glorified, we were glorified. So we can rest in this fact that God has sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. And yes, we see and we know the great salvation that God has given us in Jesus Christ. Now, here's my question: Why did God reveal Himself to these people? And why did God save these people?

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• Now you're going to tell me, "He did so just out of his own grace and mercy," which is true, but I want you to look in verse 35. He'll tell you why. Here it is, verse 35: "Unto thee it was showed that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God. There is none else beside him." Wow! God said, "I reveal myself and I saved you that you might know that I am God alone. There's no one else." So do you know the one true and the living God? Do you know and do you understand there is none beside Him? He alone is God.

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• He has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. And yes, we must know this truth. We must acknowledge this truth. We must consider this truth. We must not only confess it and acknowledge it with our mouths and our tongues, but we must consider it in our hearts, and we must turn it over and over in our minds, and we must constantly remind ourselves and remember that there is one God who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ, and

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• He is the supreme sovereign of the entire universe. So, here is a consideration in verse 39: "Know therefore this day and consider it in thine heart." Well, let me give you something else that we are to know and consider. Secondly, if you will look in verse 39, there is a declaration. Not just a consideration but now a declaration. Verse 39 he says, "Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord, He is God in Heaven above, and upon the earth beneath there is none else." So, you must consider that God is the absolute Sovereign of Heaven and Earth, there is none other.

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• It is important not only to grasp this fact but also to understand this truth. Why did God keep telling them, "You shall not fear the gods of the Amorites, you shall not fear the gods of all these nations"? Because they are not God. They are not God.

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• Now, I want you to hold Deuteronomy 4 but turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45. Look if you would please, we'll read verse 1 and then we'll skip down. I want you to see what God says to Cyrus, who is the king of Persia. Look what he said in Isaiah 45 verse 1: "Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand have I holden, to subdue nations before him.

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• And I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two lead gates, and the gates shall not be shut." So as the Persians then—Isaiah 45 verse 1—it was the Persians then who came in and destroyed the Babylonians. And of course it was under Cyrus that the people were allowed to leave Babylon, so God says this is the Cyrus. Now skip down to verse 4. Look what he said, verse 4: "For Jacob my servant's sake and Israel mine elect.

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• I've even called thee by thy name, I have surname thee, though thou hast not known me." So Cyrus was not a Christian. He did not know God, but yet God sovereignly chose him. God even named him. But he said, "You've not known me." Why? Look in verse 5: "I am the Lord and there's none else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee, though thou hast not known me, that they may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else." So God raised Cyrus up and allowed him to allow the Israelites to leave Babylon, go free, that they may know that he was God and God alone. Skip down to verse 21, Isaiah 45 verse 21.

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• Here it is. He says, "Tell you and bring them near, yea, let them take counsel together. Who declared this from ancient time? Who told it from that time? Have not I the Lord? Look, and there is no God else beside me, a just God and Savior, there is none beside me." Let me put it to you bluntly: Allah is not God, nor is he a god. Buddha is not God. None of the gods of the nations are God. There's only one ultimate, only one absolute, only one supreme being, only one sovereign, and that is the one true and the living God who's revealed Himself in His Word through the Lord Jesus Christ. May I remind you of Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4 where God said, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one." He is not only one, He is the only one. When you come to the New Testament in 1 Timothy chapter 3 in verse 16: "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness." Listen now: "God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up in glory." So without controversy great is the mystery of godliness.

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• What's that mystery? God was manifest in the flesh. One God revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. That's why in 1 Timothy 2 and verse 5 the Bible says, "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." So when our Lord was born, we refer to that as the Incarnation, that is when God actually manifested Himself in flesh. So Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ is Lord. He is the Sovereign God of Heaven and Earth. Do you know it? Do you confess it? Do you consider it?

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• Do you meditate upon it over and over in your mind? Do you remind yourself of this truth consistently and constantly that there is just one God? And He has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. Now, let me tell you what I've just done. I've just set you up. I've just set you up. Because everyone sitting in this room says, "Well, wow, I believe that Jesus Christ is God. I believe that He is the Sovereign, Supreme Lord of Heaven and Earth. I believe that." Well, look in verse 39 of Deuteronomy 4 again. Carefully, because there is a third truth here that I'm going to show you. Watch carefully. In verse 39 of Deuteronomy chapter 4, here it is, he says, "Know therefore this day and consider in thine heart"—that's the consideration—here's the declaration: "that the Lord, He is God in Heaven above, and upon the earth beneath there is none else." So, if you consider and you know God's revelation, God's salvation, and you confess and acknowledge this declaration that He is God, He's the Sovereign,

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• He's the Supreme One, that brings me to the third truth. There is an implication. What is the implication of God being the sovereign supreme one? Look in verse 40: "Thou shalt keep, therefore, his statutes and his commandments, which I commend thee this day, that it may go well with thee and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth thee forever."

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• Now, I want to call your attention to one word. Look in verse 40: "Thou shalt keep, therefore." Do you know what the word "therefore" indicates? It indicates that verse 40 is a conclusion based upon what is preceded. Everything that Moses has written in Deuteronomy chapter 4 so far, he comes to this conclusion: Therefore, since God is God, and He is the only God, we must therefore keep His commandments, His statutes.

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• Now, let me point something out. There are not two gods in the Bible. You will hear people say, "There's the God of the Old Testament, there's the God of the New Testament." No, there's only one God. And Jesus Christ is the same God in the Old Testament as He is in the New Testament. You have to remember God is immutable. He does not change. That's why in Hebrews 13 verse 8 the Bible says, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever." He is immutable. He does not change. His law does not change.

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• So, let me ask you a question. If the implication is this: if God is God and God is the Sovereign, therefore we must keep His law. We must obey Him. So, this poses another question: Why did God give us His law? Well, look in Deuteronomy chapter 5 and verse 1. Deuteronomy 5 verse 1: "And Moses called all Israel and said unto them, 'Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that you may learn them and keep them and do them.'" Note if you would: God gave us His law that we may learn His law, that we may keep His law, that we may do His law. So the point I'm trying to make is this: God's law is not simply good advice. God's law is not just simply sound reasoning. God's law is a demand and it is a command. You've heard me say before that a king rules by his law. And I don't care if you are talking about Saul, the first king of Israel, or Rehoboam, or Jehoiakim.

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• I don't care who you are talking about. I don't care if you are talking about the king of England, or the king of Spain, or King Obama. I mean let's be honest. That's why he could care less about the Word of God. That's why he could care less about the Constitution, because he's claiming to be a law unto himself. A king rules by his law, and that is true when it comes to the sovereign God of heaven and earth. God rules by His law. His law is an expression of His will for our lives. He is telling us how we're to live, how we're to think, how we're to conduct ourselves. Let me show you. Look in Deuteronomy 5 and let's begin reading there verse 31. Deuteronomy 5 verse 31.

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• "But as for thee, stand thou here by me, and I will speak unto thee all the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it. You shall observe to do therefore as the Lord your God hath commanded you. You shall not turn to the right hand or to the left. You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you, that you may live, and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess." Did you see what God just said? God said, "I don't want you turning to the left hand or to the right hand. I don't want you adding to or taking from.

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• You do exactly as I tell you, that it may be well with you, and that you may live long upon the earth." So God is giving us His law for our benefit. He is commanding us.

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• Now, look in chapter 6 at verses 1 through 3. Chapter 6, verse 1: "Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land whither you go to possess it, that thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments which I command thee, thou and thy son and thy son's son, all the days of thy life, and that thy days may be prolonged. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it, that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey." Now, go back to verse 1, he says, "Now these are the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord your God commanded to teach you." Why? "That you might do them." In other words, God says, "You need to learn My Law." Why?

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• Not so you can appear intellectual. Not so that you can argue with people. But so that you can obey it.

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• Now, look in verse 2: "That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments." How do you know that you fear God? You obey Him. You keep His Law. You keep His statutes. It's just that simple.

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• Now, I hope you've noticed—and I'm not really preaching on this today—but I hope you've noticed just these few brief verses that I've read that there are numerous blessings attached to obedience. There are also numerous curses attached to disobedience. We have not been reading about those curses. Why? Because in this passage God is accentuating the positive. "You obey me," God said, "you'll be blessed. You'll have help. You'll live long life. You'll be prosperous." And that's what he's accentuating. Now, I want you to look in Deuteronomy chapter 6 at verses 24 and 25. Deuteronomy 6 verse 24: "And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God for our good always, that He might preserve us alive as it is this day. And it shall be our righteousness if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God as He hath commanded us."

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• Now, there are several obvious truths here. Again in verse 24 God says He's commanded us to keep His law that we might fear Him, and that our keeping His law is for our good always, that He might preserve us alive. So obviously keeping God's law is not something that lacks benefits. God is not saying, "I'm giving you my law because I hate you or because I despise you or because I want to keep you from having a good time." It's not what He's saying. "I'm giving you my law so that I can preserve you and you can be blessed and have a long and fruitful life." Now, look in verse 25: "And it shall be our righteousness if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God as He hath commanded us." Wow! Now I've got a question for you. God says if we obey Him, it shall be for our righteousness. Wow! Does that mean that we're working for our salvation, that we're seeking to earn our salvation, or that we can be saved by doing good and keeping the law?

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• And the answer is absolutely no. Never. That is not what this verse means. There are numerous verses in the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament that teach obviously no one is saved or can be saved by the deeds of the law. For instance, in Romans chapter 3 and verse 20, "Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight, for by the Law is the knowledge of sin." So no one is going to be justified by the Law. The Law, you remember, demands three things of every individual. It demands a personal, a perfect, and a perpetual obedience. And there is not one individual that can give to the Law that which it demands. You cannot give to it a personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience. Just to show you, if you were to become absolutely perfect today, and from this time forth you never sinned again, internally or externally, would that get you to Heaven? No. Because what about all those sins that you committed before you got perfect?

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• You still are going to have to answer for those sins. No one is going to be saved by keeping the Law. In fact, in Romans 3 and verse 28 the Apostle said, "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." So here's my question: How can God say that if we obey Him it is for our righteousness? It shall be our righteousness.

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• Well, let me explain it like this. There is a difference between imputed righteousness and a practical righteousness. We are saved by the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the only individual that ever came into this world that kept the Law personally, perfectly, and perpetually. You remember that passage in the book of Galatians that says, "But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son made of a woman, made under the Law, that He might redeem those that were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." Now, why was Christ made under the Law? The answer is so that He could work out an absolute perfect righteousness. He kept the Law personally, perfectly, and perpetually. Jesus Christ also died as our substitute and our sacrifice in order for there to be forgiveness of sins. Now listen, God does not just simply forgive us our sins. Stop and think about this: if the only thing that God ever did for us was just forgive us of our sins, would that get us into the presence of God? The answer is no. No. Why? You need more than forgiveness of sins to get in the presence of God. You need a perfect

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• righteousness. So Jesus Christ then not only died to forgive us our sins, He worked out and earned a perfect righteousness, which is imputed to us. So, let me say it like this: it was our Lord's obedience to the law, His sacrificial death, His substitutionary atonement, His propitiation, and His intercession—these things alone are the basis and the foundation for salvation. No one will ever be saved apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, it's just that simple. And so what He does, He imputes His righteousness to us. Let me make one other thing clear: our obedience does not help to save us. Salvation is not synergistic. It's not partly the work of God and partly the work of man. No, it's not God and man working together. It's God and God alone. Well, how can I explain practical righteousness? Well, probably everyone in this room can quote Ephesians 2:8-9: "For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast."

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• So we've got that down. We're saved by grace through faith. But can we quote verse 10? After he said, "For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath foreordained that we should walk therein." Ah, ah. Let me tell you what a practical righteousness is. A practical righteousness is that which demonstrates that we have been saved by the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. A practical righteousness is a demonstration and a manifestation of and evidence that we have genuinely been saved by grace through faith.

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• So let me ask you some questions. I want you to think about this now. Our Lord said in Deuteronomy chapter 6 in verse 25, if we obey him it shall be our righteousness. Okay, so here's my question: Would you call a fornicator, a whoremonger, and an adulterer a righteous man? No, you would not. Okay. Would you call a thief, a robber, and a conman a righteous man? No. Okay, one more. Would you call a violent, hateful murderer a righteous man? No. Hmm. Well, who would you call a righteous man? Oh, I know.

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• It's someone who obeys God and submits to Him, brings his life into conformity to His Word. In other words, it's someone who is practically obedient. Someone who is practically righteous. And we can only be practically righteous if we've been imputed righteous by Jesus Christ. So, it's Ephesians 2:10.

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• Now, if you want to know who your God really is, to show you how you can know specifically, I want you to go back in your Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 17. 2 Kings chapter 17. You remember this is the passage where God sent the Israelites into captivity because of their sins against Him, where all of these pagans got into Israel. Notice in 2 Kings chapter 17 beginning there with verse—in fact let's read verse 6. Watch 2 Kings 17 verse 6: "In the ninth year of Hosea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Hala, in Habor, by the river of Gozan, in the cities of the Medes. For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods." Whoa, wait a minute. How do we know that Israel feared other gods? Well, you say we know that because God told us. Well, that's obvious. But what was the practical manifestation that they feared other gods? Well, look in verse 8. Part of verse 7: "and had feared other gods," verse 8: "and walked in the statutes of the heathen whom the Lord cast out from before

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• the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel which they had made." So what were they doing? They were casting God's law and His commandments behind their back and they were obeying the laws of heathen kings and heathen gods. They weren't obeying God. Down if you would to verse 13, just to show you if they had feared God they would have been keeping His Law, but they didn't fear God. Verse 13: "Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, 'Turn you from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets.' Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God. Watch! And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them. And they followed vanity"—that is idolatry—"and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do like them."

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• "And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves into evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of His sight. There was none left but the tribe of Judah only." And Judah did not last much longer. Look in verse 19: "Also Judah kept not the commandments of the Lord their God but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made." Wow! So how do we know that Israel feared other gods? Because they did not obey the one true and the living God. But they did obey the laws of their false gods. They did obey the laws of the heathen. They just simply did not obey God. Now, it is no different in the New Testament. You see, your obedience actually demonstrates who your God is, and I might also add, your disobedience actually demonstrates who your God is. Do you remember the passage in Luke 6 in verse 46 where our Lord said,

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• "Why called you me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say unto you?" And the word "Lord" is the word kurios in the Greek. It's where we get the English word "sovereign" or "boss" or "owner" or "master." So he said, "Why are you calling me boss? Why are you calling me sovereign if you're not going to do the things which I say unto you?" So how do we know that Jesus Christ is our Lord? If He's our Lord we obey Him. If He's not our Lord then we disobey Him. It's kind of like Pharaoh when Moses said, "Thus saith the Lord, let my people go." What did Pharaoh say? "I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go." I'm not going to obey Him. I don't recognize Him. You know what our Lord said in John 14 and verse 21? He said it like this: "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me." And in verse 24 he said this: "He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings."

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• So our Lord said it is very simple: if you love me you will keep my sayings. If you don't love me you will not keep my sayings.

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• Now, let me show you. I do want you to turn in your Bibles to 1 John chapter 5. I'm going to tie this together for you. I think the application is very clear and it should not take much to make the application. But look in 1 John chapter 5 and notice if you would please beginning there with verse 2. 1 John 5 verse 2, watch: "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and"—do what?—"keep his commandments." How do I know that I love Francis? Well, it's not because I fall on his shoulder and grab him and start hugging him and crying and snotting all over him saying, "I love you, I love you, I love you." No, I love him because I act biblically and scripturally toward him and toward his family. See? So that's what he says: "By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments." You have to remember Romans 13, love is the fulfilling of the law.

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• Now look at verse 3: "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not grievous." Isn't that amazing? What is it to love God? It's to keep his commandments. What is it to fear God? It's to keep his commandments. What is it to honor and worship the one true and the living God? It's to keep his commandments. Ah. Let me show you something else. Look in 1 John chapter 2 and verse 3. 1 John 2 and verse 3, watch carefully. The Bible said, "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments." Hereby we do know that we know him. 1 John 2 verse 3. How do I know that I am genuinely saved? How do I know that I know the one true and the living God who has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ? And the answer is, according to verse 3, He is enabling me by His grace to bring my life in conformity to His Word, to keep His commandments. That does not mean that I'm perfect, it does not mean that I'm spotless, it does not mean that I'm sinless, but it does mean as a general tenor of my life I am obeying him. That's what he said in verse 3: "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his

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• commandments." Now look in 1 John 2 in verse 4: "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." So here is a man who professes with his mouth that Jesus Christ is his God and his Lord, and yet his life is one of practical disobedience and ignoring God, and ignoring God's Word. What does God say? That man is a liar and the truth is not in him. So here is my question: Who is your God? Your God is not simply the one that you profess with your lips and acknowledge with your mouth. Your God is the one that you obey. Your God is the one that you honor and worship and bring your life into conformity to His Word. What did He say? Know and consider that there is no other God in Heaven above or on earth beneath. God says, "I am He and there is none else. Therefore you will keep His commandments." If you acknowledge that God is the Sovereign, you will keep His commandments.

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• Because when you acknowledge that and you consider it in your heart, you know that He's God of gods and King of kings and Lord of lords and beside Him there is none other. So when you look around the world today and you hear people say, "Well, I'm a Christian," well, just look at their lives. See who they practically obey. See who they practically worship. It's not just what you say with your mouth. It's what you do with your life.

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• Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow before thee this day. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth. We pray that you'd help us, Lord, not only to acknowledge with our lips and our mouth that thou art God and God alone, but Lord, that you would help us and enable us to obey thee and bring our lives in conformity to your word. Give us grace that we may serve Thee acceptably, with reverence and godly fear. In Thy name we pray, Amen.

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• so so

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T03:29:23Z