What if, what if you did things a little different? What if you woke up 30 minutes earlier? What if you gave a little more attention to your spouse? What if you gave a little more attention to your kids? What if you were a little more patient with your kids? What if you were a little more honoring towards your parents? What if you turned off all your devices a little more? What if you were a little less selfish and, and a little less angry and less bitter? What if you didn't blow off the news? What if you didn't blow up every time you hear the news? What if you didn't cheat the system? What if you didn't lie? What if in looking at your life you say? You know what? I, I'm not always going to look for the better car, the better house or the better job or, or the better, whatever it is. I'm not even going to be obsessed with the latest styles. What if, what if we are beginning the, the third week of a new year and it's at the new year that we decide to make some changes? Right. We're going to, you know, read different and we're going to think different. We're going to eat different and we're going to exercise different. We're going to dance different. We're going to brainstorm different. We're going to blame storm different. You know, we're just going to do everything different, you know? But what if we actually did that? What if we, we really did things a little different than we did even just a few weeks ago, maybe, even just a few hours ago. What if we actually did kind of do the right thing? A little more? I came across an interesting question that goes like this. Have you ever thought about how much better life would be if everyone kept the 10 commandments? I, that's just a fascinating question. Have you ever, have you ever felt thought about how much better life would be if everybody kept the 10 commandments? Let me really think about it. If everybody was keeping the 10 commandments, what would be different in your family? What would be different at work at school? What would be different with the government? What would be different in your marriage? What would be different in the church? What would be different in the White House, in the statehouse and over at your house? If truly, people kept the 10 commandments and, and not just people in general, what if you kept the 10 commandments? Have you ever considered? What, what would happen if, if you kept the 10 commandments, somebody might be thinking well, take commandments come on man and not some old story about some old guy that was up on a mountain and a bunch of lightning and thunder and a voice from the sky. Minute. Sounds like a Disney movie. Doesn't sound like something I really need to spend any time thinking about. And, and even if it were something that happened in history, it's old, whatever those commandments are, they, they don't fit now, they're outdated, they do not apply to our time. Is that really true? Is it really true? We begin a new series and our series is called 10 Ways To Change the World. No, no, that's a little lofty. I almost didn't go with that series title, but now we're going to go with it 10 ways to change the world. And what we're going to do is we're going to look at these ultimate laws of the universe, the 10 commandments as they are known, we're going to unpack them and we're going to try to see all right, what is it about these commandments that we need right now? Now, let me go ahead and tell you, um, every theological question and every theological insight that's connected to the 10 commandments. We ain't going to cover all this is just going to be a few sermons here. But hopefully, what we will uncover and we will see is that these commandments, these laws, they are good and they are good for us and they are good for this church and they are good for this community and they are good for this country and they are good for the world because they come and they have been created and they are maintained and they are energized by the only one who is perfectly eternally good. Our message today is titled Keep Up With Demands. We're going to be looking in Exodus chapter 20 we're going to begin in verse one. This is kind of an intro just so you're doing your math here. There will be 11 sermons in these series, but there's only 10 commandments. All right. Uh This is just kind of an intro and we begin in verse one. Then God spoke all these words. The 10 commandments are, are not uh a list of rules from a president or a general or a coach or a CEO. The 10 commandments are words that come from the only one who is holy, holy, holy, the 10 commandments come from the only one who is other other other. There is no one like God, these are his words. And why does that matter? Well, think of it this way. How do you know what is right? And how do you know what is wrong? And how do you know the difference? How you know, how do you know what's right and what's wrong? And how do you know the difference, all human beings and even many parts of the animal world? They understand that there is this thing called right? And wrong. There's a, a system of right and wrong. There are many people in the world today that think that their unique political party has the exclusive system of, of right and wrong. There are some among Christians that, that believe that if their TV, preacher or, or their local pastor or their favorite, you know, Instagram influencer says something about God that is right or wrong. They, oh well, that, that is now the law of the land. But when it comes to true, right and wrong, the standard of right and wrong, there has to be a standard, there must be a standard. An atheist has some system of knowing right from wrong in their world. But at some point in time, if an atheist and I disagree on something, someone is going to have to be wrong, everybody can't be right. In fact, the most reasonable rational thing in all of history and in history to come is that everybody can't be right all the time. Somewhere on the spectrum of life, every human being discovers and knows and understands that everybody can't be right all the time. There has to be a standard. So what is the standard of right and wrong? About 3000 years ago? King David put it this way. Psalm 19 7, the law of the Lord is perfect. The law of the one true most high sovereign God is perfect. It is the standard of right and wrong. Arthur Le was a professor of law at Yale University. He said this unless there is a God who is himself, goodness and justice, there can be no basis for the law for, there is no God for if there is no God, nothing can take his place. No human standard, no person, no group of people, no document is immune to challenge. Look, the laws at your house and the laws at my house might be different. Ok? The laws of one city in another city or one county and another county or one country and another country are, are different. Ok? There's different laws, there's different rules, there's, there's different regulations and anyone in anywhere just about any time can change laws, laws can be changed. The the system of right and wrong can be changed from the sense of the law. My right and wrong could be changed. Your right and wrong could be changed. Our rules can be changed, but that can never happen with God. God's definitions of right and wrong. God's definitions. His law cannot be changed. They can't be adjusted. Nobody can challenge them. Why? Because there's no one like Him. He is holy. Holy, holy, he is other, other other and that matters. You see, at the end of the day, there are a lot of human and practical similarities between the Muslim cleric in Iran and the Southern Baptist pastor in South Carolina. There's some equality there, but there is no equality with us and God. God alone is God. He has no equal. His law is the law. His system of right and wrong is the standard for all things who could stand up to Almighty God, who could actually challenge God and win no one. And that's why his law is the ultimate law and his standard of all things is the correct determination of what is right and what is wrong. Now, I realize that there are, there are many people in the world that would say that that sounds like a fairy tale. That sounds like a fiction novel. This this notion of, of God's law being the law. Well, come on, I'm, I'm not even paying attention to that. But you know, the hard truth is, it's actually among Christians and in the world of Christianity where it seems that the law of God has become make believe years ago, one media expert observed that the most successful TV, preachers were the preachers that never made any demands on the audience, but no demands were made. But here's the reality God makes demands. In fact, Jesus was not just a good guy and a good teacher and a nice man with gray hair. No, Jesus made demands. Luke chapter 14 verse 26 Jesus said this, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father, mother, wife, Children, brothers, sisters, yes and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. That'll increase church attendance, right? We got a lot of people to join with that as the demand. So is Jesus saying that you have to hate everybody in your family if you're going to be a Christian. No, what he's saying is using strong language to get to the heart attitude of who we are. And that strong language is this if you're going to follow Jesus, he has to be the first priority relationship, period, exclamation point. He must be the priority. He simply and boldly is saying, look, I have to be the priority. If you're going to follow after me, I'm the first relationship. I'm the first follow Napoleon Bonaparte was the French military leader and emperor for a time. It's recorded that he said this about Jesus. I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man between him and every other person in the world. There is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, the great Caesar Charlemagne and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest? The creations of our genius upon force? Jesus Christ founded his empire upon love. And this hour millions of men would die for him. Why, why would millions of men die for Jesus? Why would people die for Jesus? Because God's law is built on love, the demands of God are built on love. What does that mean? Well, we're going to see it in, in just a moment and, and kind of speak to that. But first, let's, let's don't miss the, a bit of the flip side of the preacher that doesn't make any demands because there is another picture of where we are clear with proclaiming the demands of God. But we also ignore them. As I've said many times, there are a lot of people that they will go stand on the steps of the state house and protest that we get the 10 commandments hung up somewhere in a public building. But those same people won't read and observe and pray over those commandments in their own home and in their own lives, someone else may say law, law, law, law. That's, that's so old Testament. We're New Testament. Christians. We, we don't need the law. We're all about freedom and, and love and there in lies one of the most dangerous intersections in all of Christianity, that intersection of law and, and liberty and we could even save law and, and love. It's been said that the Christian life is, is sometimes like you're walking across a narrow plank in a, in a chemical factory and there's only two chemicals and, and two big tanks and, and one, there's law and, and one, there's liberty and you have to be careful as you walk to make sure that you don't fall in either one. Because if you fall in one, then, then you might drown. If there's no help, you might drown in liberty, you might drown in law. A R Vidler was a historian, he said this, the church on earth has always to walk on the razor edge between taking the law too seriously and not taking it seriously enough. He says it is not surprising that every church tends to err in one direction or the other. That's a very sad but very true statement that many churches will err in one way or the other. It will be too much law, too much fundamentalism, too much legalism or, or too much liberty, too much love, too much freedom. Oh, we're just, we're just going to love everybody and it doesn't matter what you do and, and both of those are dangers. And so it is important for the church to, to find that balance as best as possible. So how do we avoid the error? How do we avoid the error of falling too much into one or the other? Well, the words of Jesus are super helpful. Matthew 517, Jesus says, do not presume that I came to abolish the law or the prophets. I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill Jesus didn't came to, to get rid of the law. Jesus came to fulfill the law, the freedom found in Christ that we see in the New Testament does not cancel out the law of the Old Testament. Rather Jesus becomes the fulfillment of the law. Think of it this way. God will not love you more if you obey the 10 commandments and he won't love you less. If you disobey the 10 commandments, that's, that's important for us to realize the, the love of God toward you is defined by Jesus. It's defined by the reality that Jesus shed his own blood, that Jesus sacrificed himself on a cross outside of Jerusalem. So God's love is defined by Jesus. God's love toward you is not defined by you. God's love toward you, is defined by Jesus. So if you have never turned from sin and turned to Jesus, received this, this truth of Jesus to receive the salvation of Jesus, to be saved from sin and death. Then God's eternal love will never rest on you. No matter how much law you keep God's love to you is defined by Jesus, which means two things. If you're a Christian, then God's love to you is defined by Jesus. And if you're not a Christian, then God's love to you is defined by Jesus, meaning that the invitation is always open, come to Jesus and live, come to Jesus and be free. One day Jesus was teaching and he said that the first and greatest and foremost commandment was to love God first and most. And then he said the second greatest commandment was like it and that was to love your neighbor in the same way that you love yourself. And then Jesus said this Matthew 22 verse 40 upon these two commandments, hang the whole law and the prophets. So all of the law hangs on, love and love is hanging all over the law. We must see that we must believe that we must embrace that because when we hear the law of God, we immediately go mm I don't want law but there is love all over the law. And that didn't begin with what Jesus said and it doesn't begin with Moses up on the mountain. It began all the way back in the garden. Theologian Fred Cluster said this God put Adam to the test and the heart of the test was simply this, love me, Adam by obeying me and obey me by loving me, love me, Adam by obeying me and obey me by loving me. Auster Beck said that that many Christians are like a plane with just one wing. We either have the the wing of of law or we have the wing of liberty or maybe the wing of love. And if we only have the one wing, then we're always on the runway, we're never taking off to what God actually designed and, and desires and, and delights for us to have this, this life in Christ, we never take off because we only have the the one wing and we refuse to get the other wing. We, we just, we turn it away. There are some people that said we need, we need less law and more love. World. World just needs more love and, and we need less law but has that ever actually worked in history? Does it ever work when there's more love and less love that everything's great. Everything's super Donald mcleod was a Scottish theologian. He, he died back in May of last year. He said this, that is not the lesson of history. What we will get is more inhumanity, more barbarism and more savagery. See, when the, the notion that to uphold God's law, to proclaim God's law or proclaim God's truth is said immediately what people say is, oh, well, if you do that, there'll be no freedom, there will be no tolerance and there will be no love. But history proves the opposite is actually true. The less of God's law, the less of God's love we have, the worse. Everything is the 10 commandments actually proved throughout history that in a sense, it is God's law. That is the only thing that can lead us to freedom and to love. How does it do that? Well, you know, we live in a society that says, well, as long as you don't murder anybody, as long as you don't break into anybody's house, you're good. Everything's fine. Even in the church, we say, hey, as long as you don't drink and cuss and dance and, and dishonor your wedding vows, then, then you're good. It's fine. You're, it's no big deal. Everything's fine. But as Martin Luther said that the law of God is an ax that crushes into our life and that ax comes down to our heart and soul and says, you know what? You're not good, you're dead, you're not free, you're a slave to sin. Think of it this way as any person in this room perfectly obeyed the 10 commandments over the last 24 hours. Now, before you pull out your calendar and kind of see where you were and what you're doing, let me answer for you. You didn't. OK? None of us did. We didn't, we, we can't. It's, it's impossible. See the law is this crashing ax that says, hey, you know what? You can't do it, it breaks into our life and says, you're not free, there's sin. The law is a mirror that, that shows up and we look in the mirror and we see that we're full of the acne of sin and rebellion. So once the ax is broken through, once the mirror has been revealed, what does the law do? What is it that the law is supposed to do? Once it exposes who we really are after Jesus was raised from the dead, he appeared to two men on a road to Emmaus and, and something happened as they were walking along. This is how the Bible records. It, Luke 24. Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets. Jesus explained to them, the things written about himself in all the scriptures and don't miss that. So Jesus is raised from the dead. He appears to these two guys and in the course of the conversation, Jesus gave them. No, that's what he gave me. He gave him law. And how did they respond to hearing the truth of all of this law? What was their response? Listening to Jesus speak of all of this law. Listen to their response. Verse 32 were our hearts not burning within us when he was speaking to us on the road while he was explaining the scriptures to us, something happened. There was this amazing, wonderful tension inside of them as they heard God's law and God's love all found in the person of Jesus. That tension was fantastic. The act came down, the mirror was revealed and what's the ax supposed to do? What's the mirror supposed to reveal? What is it supposed to happen from us? Engaging with the law? Martin Luther said this, the law is meant to drive us to Christ. The law is meant to help us see that we will not be able to do it on our own. He goes on when the law is properly used, its value cannot be too highly appraised. It. It has extreme value when it is properly communicated and properly used. And then Luther says this, it will take me to Christ every time the law will take us to Christ. Every time. Here's what happens with the danger of the law. If we're not careful, we'll start holding up the 10 commandments to go Hey, look how good I am. I'm better than that guy. I'm better than that gal. Look, I'm, I'm keeping the commandments but you're not because you can't because you're too weak and too simple. And so am I so every time we look at the law, it's a billboard saying I can't do it. I need to be saved. I need to be rescued. I need the strength to be able to do this. And all of that only happens through Jesus Luther is right. The law always drives us to Christ. And if it doesn't drive you to Christ, you're getting the law wrong. If the law of God does not drive you to Jesus, then you are missing the law of God. The law will take us to Christ every time. And that points us back to Exodus 20. God is giving Moses a word to give to the people and it begins like this verse one. Then God spoke all these words saying I am the Lord, your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt out of the house of slavery. God saved and redeemed and rescued the Israelite people. And then here in this moment, about 3469 years ago, and in this moment, God gives his law to Moses to give to the people, people just like me and people just like you. And why does that matter? Why does it matter? And why, why are we going to do this? Why are we going to spend some time looking at the 10 commandments is so we can pat ourselves on the back? Hey, I'm a better Christian than I thought. No. Are, are we doing it? Because you know, this is, this is just good theology. Are, are we doing it? Because this is our way of saying, oh, well, you know, God's ways are the best ways. No, we're, we're doing it for one simple reason. We're doing it because it is going to remind us how much we need God saved and unsaved Christian and non-christian. The law of God shows us how much we need God. And that's a good and great thing. Don mclean said this. God did not take them out of the land of Egypt because they kept the 10 commandments. It's not why I took him out. They were to keep the 10 commandments because God took them out. It was a love for God that drove them to honor God. We cannot make each other honor God. We can't make our spouses, we can't make our kids. We can't make our parents. I can't make church members. You can't make politicians. You can't make anyone in the universe honor God. We can't do it. Honoring God comes from a heart that loves God. Honoring God and keeping his commandments comes from a heart that realizes I have been rescued. I have been redeemed. This God is for me, not against me. The law cannot save you. But the law shows us that we need to be saved. And when you've been saved, the law becomes a treasure. It sounds a little crazy. But the law becomes a treasure. Yeah, because following after Jesus Christ being redeemed by Jesus Christ means that God's law is not a duty and it's not a demand. It's a delight. That's crazy. Why in the world would we consider the law of God to be something that we would delight in? Here's why? Because God's law is designed to change the world. So with the strength that He gives us for his glory, change the world.