Jesus' Commands

Scripture Reading

Let's go ahead and open up our Bibles and meet at John chapter 14, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John chapter 14. Might seem somewhat odd that we started a series on the book of Joshua and then jumped over to the book of John, but I promise there is a reason for it.

What did we look at in Joshua chapter one, the first nine verses? About Joshua's commission and his obligation to keep the law of God, to meditate upon it and to do it. Well, we have to ask a question there. And so just jumping into application, does that apply to us? So we turn in our Bibles this morning, and we hear from our Lord Himself, Jesus, what He says. John chapter 14. If you're using a pew Bible, you can find that on page 955. John chapter 14. Hear now God's Word. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me.

In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go, you know, and the way you know. Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going, and how can we know the way?

Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. And from now on, you know Him and have seen Him. Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us. Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long and yet you have not known me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I speak to you, I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me.

Or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also. And greater works than these he will do, because I go to my Father. And whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, keep my commandments.

And I will pray the Father and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans. I will come to you. a little longer, and the world will see me no more. But you will see me, because I live. You will live also.

At that day, you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. But Judas, not a scare hit, said to him, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world? Jesus answered and said to him, if anyone loves me, he will keep my commandment, my word. And my father will love him. And we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me does not keep my words.

And the word which you hear is not mine, but the father's who sent me. These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to you remembrance all the things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

You have heard me say to you, I am going away and coming back to you. If you loved me, you would rejoice because I said I am going to the Father, for my Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it comes that when it does come to pass, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in me. but that the world may know that I love my father, and as the father gave me commandment, so I do.

Prayer for Illumination

Arise, let us go from here. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word. Father, we pray that you indeed might give us your Holy Spirit, that you would illuminate our minds, be our teacher this morning, God. We pray that you might tear down barrier walls, that you might teach us, that you might comfort us, that you might build us up. In Jesus's name, amen.

Sermon

Well, what an interesting passage that Jesus This is the instruction He has for His disciples the night He's going to be betrayed. Chapter 13, Jesus has just washed His disciples' feet. Jesus has just given Judas that command to go and do His work quickly. To go and betray Him. And even in chapter 13 verse 34, Jesus said, A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

By this all men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. Jesus has on his mind, all over the place here, the Holy Spirit and his commandments. His leaving and what his people are going to do when he leaves. His disciples, you can imagine their hearts, they're confused.

You hear it in their voices, didn't you? In John chapter 14, it's, where are you going, Jesus? We don't know where you're going. How do we know there? And Philip's like, show us the Father. Hold on, I thought we were gonna see the kingdom of God come. What's going on here? And they're confused, and what does he mean he's gotta go away? And where are we gonna go? Who are we gonna follow? And on Jesus' heart as he's there, giving them instruction, He tells them in verse 15, look with me at chapter 14, verse 15.

If you love me, keep my commandments. And then drop down to verse 21, and what does he say? He who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me, and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. And then again, just look down another verse, verses 23 and 24. Jesus answered and said to him, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and he will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me does not keep my words. And the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me."

Jesus has got it on his heart and on his mind to teach his disciples something. He's got to go. And it's good for Him to go, because He's going to send a helper to them. And they're going to do far greater things than they've been able to do so far, than they've seen so far. But they need to keep His commandments. They need to follow His ways. He's leaving, and it doesn't mean that they do whatever they want.

And indeed, that's what He's going to talk about in chapter 15, when He talks about Him being divine. and them being the branches and how they're going to have much good fruit. Keeping Jesus's commands and abiding in Jesus go hand in hand. If we're going to abide in Jesus, we must keep Jesus's commands. If Jesus is going to abide in us and us in him, we must be those who are busy about his work. keeping his law. So some questions that linger from that. What are these commandments Jesus is telling them to keep? What's this commandment Jesus is telling them to keep? What does Jesus expect from us?

Well, it was clear in John chapter 13 verse 34. John chapter 13 verse 34, you can write that down. 13.34, what did he tell his disciples? A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another. And by this, all will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. So what place does the law have in a Christian's life? These are some questions that come up from this text as we read this and we think about this.

What are Jesus's commandments? Well, one commentator on this passage says, obeying Jesus's commands in effect means to copy the example of Jesus. What did Jesus do? Well, Jesus followed all of his father's instructions, didn't he? This is what theologians call the active obedience of Jesus Christ.

Every single jot into the law, Jesus kept. Every single commandment, Jesus kept perfectly. Even though he was tempted in every way, yet he was without sin. Jesus was active in his love for both God and for his neighbors. Jesus loved His God, or His Father perfectly, and Jesus loved His neighbor perfectly. Jesus Himself said in John chapter 6 verse 38, "'For I have come down from heaven not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.'" Jesus was busy about His Father's work. He was busy about keeping His Father's laws.

And some people challenged him on this. It wasn't, if we turn over in our Bibles to Matthew, Matthew chapter 22, there's a scholar, a lawyer, a teacher at the time, and in Matthew chapter 22 verse 37, he comes to Jesus. And he says, teacher, which is the greatest commandment in law?

And what does Jesus say in verse 37? You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And what did Jesus say his commandment was? To love our neighbors. And Jesus is recurring, or it's a recurring theme in Jesus' teaching about loving our Heavenly Father, and following after his ways, seeking his kingdom. And so Jesus, as He's there, He's saying, which is the greatest commandment?

Well, all of them. Right? The first four are really good. Those are really important, right? You shall have no other god before me. You shouldn't make any idols. You know, don't take the Lord's name in vain and remember the Sabbath day. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. And the second is like it, that second tablet of the law. You shall honor your mother and father. Don't commit adultery. Don't murder. Don't steal. Don't bear false testimony. Don't covet.

Right? Love your neighbor as yourself. This is what Jesus is saying when he says that these are the commandments we're to follow as we love God and as we love one another. But, they still apply to us. I know this is a little bit different type of sermon, but I need you to follow along with me. I'm going to try to keep you awake by doing lots of page flipping, okay? So if you don't have a Bible in front of you, go ahead and pick one up or open up your app and follow along with me here, because we're going to have to work through this to understand this biblically, because when we talk about, hold on, Christians have to keep the commandments, some people aren't very happy.

And the first thing people will say is, whoa, hold on, this sounds like legalism. You get the big fat L right on your forehead right away, you're a legalist. Well, hold on, let's define some terms real fast. What is legalism? Well, there's two parts of legalism.

First part of legalism is that you are trying to justify yourself by the law. I can keep God's law perfectly. I can do everything, all the commandments by myself, and I am righteous in and of myself. Go read the first five chapters of the book of Romans and see how much that's a lie. No, we're not talking about legalism here. Nor are we talking about the second part of legalism, and that's hedging the law. Right? We're not talking about creating all sorts of...

So this is what the Pharisees did. They would say, okay, the commandment is... Honor the Sabbath day, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Well, we don't wanna break the Sabbath day, so what we're gonna do is we're gonna say, you can only walk a certain amount of distance because we don't wanna do work on the Sabbath. So if you could take a stone and you could throw it, you can walk as far as that stone goes and no further. Well, hold on, it didn't say that anywhere in the commandment, nor any of the case laws that follow from it.

You've just made up your own. And the Jewish people at this time, it's not just at this time, even today, this is one of those fun things. I like learning about different cultures. If you ever go to New York, and you walk around the streets of New York, you might see a wire going up, but it doesn't connect any houses. It doesn't connect to anything, it's just a wire.

Because the Jewish leaders in the community have said, you can walk within your own neighborhood as far as you want without breaking the Sabbath. So they have miles and miles of this wire on poles hanging up to say, this is your neighborhood. Which, I mean, you could run three marathons within the neighborhood. But they've said, but if you go outside that neighborhood, you're doing work.

That's legalism. That's hedging the law. That's not what... That's legalism. Not trying to... Legalism is not saying we try to keep the Lord's Day. We need to remember we're listening here to Jesus. And it's Jesus himself who told us to keep his commandments. So it's not legalism. The law still exists, we can't just say, you know, throw around the word legalism and act like that's just okay, the law is all gone.

No, Jesus specifically said in Matthew chapter 5, you were at Matthew 22, now turn over to Matthew chapter 5, verses 17 and 19. I really want you to see that this is your Lord speaking here, Pastor Brian isn't making stuff up. This is Jesus who says these things. Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount says, do not think, verse 17, chapter 5, verse 17 of Matthew, do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets.

I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For assuredly I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men to do so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus is serious about the law.

There's a plague in modern evangelicalism, and I'm telling you, it is a plague where people will just, I'm in this reformed Facebook group, and I tried, Olivia, she's a very good wife, but she asked me yesterday, she said, you really wanna get into this argument?

I thought, no, I'm just gonna post this meme, and then say what the Westminster Confession says. But it was amazing, even a whole bunch of reformed people, oh, no, no, no, we don't keep God's law, we don't keep God's law, God's law has been abolished, and I thought, If your understanding of Matthew chapter 5, when Jesus says, I did not come to abolish the law, to fulfill it, if the I came to fulfill it means I came to abolish it, you don't understand Jesus' words.

Right? I came to fulfill cannot mean I came to abolish, because he said, I have not come to abolish. And he heightens that with the next verse saying, none of it's going to be done away with. Right? Not until he comes back with his kingdom is the law going to be done away with. So Jesus is the king with a law. Okay, but there's another objection. Second objection is, but we're not under the law, right? We're not under the law, but under grace. And that's true. But if how we understand the law makes us ignore what Jesus says here, then our understanding of that is wrong. The problem is how we think.

I want you to turn over to Ephesians chapter 6. If we're not under the law at all, like if it's been totally done away with, look at Ephesians chapter 6, and we got a problem with the Apostle Paul. Ephesians chapter 6, verses 1 through 3. If we can't tell people in the church that they need to keep God's law, then we got a problem here, don't we?

Children, obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right. Verse two, fifth commandment. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment, with a promise that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth. God here uses the 10 commandments. He specifically points out the fifth commandment and says this is still an obligation for people in the church now. Children, you must still honor your parents. It's still binding now. There's a law that must be kept. And again, if we think, okay, the entire law has been abolished and well, hold on, what did Paul say in Romans chapter 13? The book of Romans, the one that a lot of people like to go to to say that the law is done and gone away with.

Romans chapter 13 verses 8 through 10. That's going to be on page 1009 of your pew bibles. Romans chapter 13 verses 8 through 10. I'd encourage you to write down these verses if you think I'm misrepresenting them. Feel free to read the whole context later this afternoon. Romans chapter 13 verse 8 through 10, Notice what he says. How do we fulfill the law as Christians? Verse 9. For the commandments. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not murder. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. You shall not covet.

And if there is any other commandments, you all are all summed up in this one saying, namely, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. How do we love one another? We keep the law. Not because we want to make ourselves righteous, but because this is what Jesus commands us. And that's going to be the third objection some people have. Well, doesn't this just lead to justification by works? And not by faith alone, by no means. Absolutely not. Romans chapter 3 verse 20. Romans chapter 3 verse 20. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sins."

Brothers and sisters, let me make this absolutely clear to you. When Jesus says, if you love me, keep my commandments, this is not saying that if you want to be accepted in God's sight, the only way is to keep his commandments perfectly. For the wages of sin is death. but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. All of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. No, we are not justified by our works. The law condemns us of our works. Galatians chapter two says that just as well. Galatians chapter two. Galatians two, verse 16.

Knowing that a man is not justified, by justified that means being declared righteous. Right? Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by faith and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. You will never be declared righteous because you keep the law of God. You were declared righteous.

I love this when this happens. When we're going through the catechism and it's like, oh man, that's exactly what we're just about to look at. What is justification? Justification is the act of God's free grace wherein he pardoneth all our sins and welcometh and receive us as righteous in his sight only for the righteousness imputed to us by Christ, received by faith alone. We're declared righteous in his sight by faith in Jesus alone. For by grace you have been saved through faith in that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God, not a result of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship, creating Christ Jesus for good works. Out of our salvation comes love for God and love for neighbor.

Okay, so that objection four. So we have to keep every single command in the Pentateuch? Well, I'm going to encourage you to come to coffee or to chalk and talk later where we talk about the trifle division of the law. There are three different aspects of God's law. We need to be careful to make these distinctions. First is the moral law of God, summarized in the Ten Commandments. This reveals to us the nature of who God is and what holiness is. But there is a whole slew of ceremonial laws as well. The holiness code, you know, don't eat this, don't eat that, circumcision this, uncircumcision that.

Brothers and sisters, of the ceremonial law, we keep none of them because Christ has kept all of them. Eat all the bacon you want because God has declared it clean. Jesus has fulfilled the ceremonial law. Or Hebrews chapter 9 and Hebrews chapter 10 verse 1, Jesus was the perfect sacrifice. And as our high priests know, all those laws are abrogated because they found their fulfillment in Jesus.

Okay, but what about the other laws? That's just some of them. What about putting, you know, banisters around your roof or taking out the ox that's given to goring people or the cities of refuge in case somebody might have accidentally killed someone? Well, yeah, those are what we call the sundry laws or the civil laws. These are the laws that were given specifically to Israel as a nation. They are still good for us to look at for the general equity.

What was the principle of it? You know, if you have a dog who's given to biting people and you might kill someone, you should probably put that dog down. If you're going to build a stairway in your house, the parapet around the roof, keep people safe in your house. Love your neighbor by building a banister on your balcony. There's a general equity there that's helpful to us, but the exact laws are no longer binding because they were meant for the people of Israel.

We talked last week in Chalk and Talk about the commandments and how in the Ark itself was put the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments were the moral law that God wrote upon those two tables with his own finger when he gave them to Moses. Those were put, well the second copy was put in the Ark. The rest of the laws were tied to the outside of the Ark.

There was a distinction made there between those laws. 1 Corinthians 7 verse 19 tells us that it's not about circumcision or uncircumcision, but about keeping the commandments of God. There is a distinction between the moral law of God versus the ceremonial and civil laws. Okay, well objection number five, doesn't this just mean that we're keeping the law and not living by the Spirit? Right, doesn't this just sound like it's too prescribed?

Augustine, when he was lecturing in his tractes on this passage, John 14, 15, he says, Without the Holy Spirit, we can neither love Christ nor keep his commandments. While the less experience we have of his Holy Spirit, the less also we can do. And the fuller we experience his Holy Spirit, so much the greater our ability. To him who has, that he may have more abundantly. The more we have Christ, the more we love His commandments. The more His Holy Spirit fills us, the more we love others. This is not saying that we return to a slavish obedience to the law, but it means that we serve the Lord our God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength out of joy. Because He's our Father.

Not some taskmaster, not some slave owner. Doing the greater things that Jesus says we're going to do requires the Holy Spirit. This is not to put us in legalism. The scriptures give us four different ways in which we use the law. Most theologians will say that this is a three-fold use. I think it's a four-fold use, and that's fine. The first is the law convicts us of sin. The law convicts you of sin. You know this, don't you, in your own heart?

Paul knew this, when he read the commandment, it said, do not covet, he found out he was one who coveted. Jesus tried to... Jesus didn't just try, He did. He explained the depths of what it meant to not commit adultery when He said that if you have even looked with a woman lustfully with your eyes, you've already committed adultery in your heart.

It's so bad that He says, if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out, for it's better for you to enter into heaven maimed than your whole body to go into hell. If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off. Right? Jesus is serious about sin. He's serious about how the law convicts us of sin. Paul knows this when he was brought by the Holy Spirit in Romans chapter 7 to say, O wretched man that I am. The law is meant to convict you of sin. Secondly, the law then is meant to throw you at the feet of Christ. The law is not just there to convict you of sin, it's also there to throw you at the feet of Christ. If you look at Romans chapter 7, We, our hearts, so often know what this is like, right?

When we say, the things which I do not want to do, yet I do. And the things which I, which I want to do, yet I do not do. O wretched man that I am, who will save me from this bondage of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Right? The law points us to Christ. To a righteousness we never could earn on our own. It points us to a Redeemer. who could keep the law perfectly. And out of that heart, it also restrains us from evil. The law restrains us from evil.

James chapter 2, verse 11. James 2, 11. For he who said, do not commit adultery, also said, do not murder. Now, if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak, and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. Law restrains us. It tells us not to commit adultery. It tells us not to steal. The commandments are good for us.

Lastly, the law trains us up in holiness. We saw that in Ephesians 6, didn't we? With children. When God specifically told the children, honor your parents in the Lord. It builds us up in holiness. This is why you can go read Titus chapter two, verses 11 through 14, where more examples are there of how God's law trains us up in righteousness. Brothers and sisters, Jesus takes this seriously.

Jesus takes us keeping his commandments seriously. We're gonna buckle up your seatbelts. We're gonna run late. It's only going to be maybe five more minutes and you need to hear these. Okay, you ready? John chapter 8 verse 51. If you can't keep up, write it down. John chapter 8 verse 51. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. And the bread which I shall give him, give is my flesh, which I shall give for the bread of life. That's the wrong verse. John chapter 14 verse 21, we read that. John chapter 14 verses 23 and 24, we read that.

John chapter 15 verse 12, Jesus says, This is my command, that you love one another as I have loved you. Jesus, on the very last things, he tells his disciples of the Great Commission, you know, go therefore unto the ends of the earth. making disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The Greek goes on more literally after that to say, and teaching them to obey or to keep all my commandments. The same thing he just said here in John chapter 14. In 1st John, when the Apostle is writing there in 1st John chapter 2 verses 3 and 6, it gets even more clear. 1st John 2, 3 through 6.

Now by this we know that we have known Him if we keep His commandments. He who says, I know Him and does not keep His commandments, this is stinging, is a liar. And the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in him. He who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk just as he walked." We can't say, I love God, but I hate his commandments. It makes you a liar. Those are oxymorons. You can't hold those two things at the same time. Just to make sure we understood 1st John chapter 5 verses 1 through 3.

It says again, whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and everyone who loves him who begot also, sorry, and everyone who loves him who begot also loves Him who is begotten of Him. There's a lot of begots there. And this is, by this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God that we keep as commandments.

And His commandments are not burdensome. Some of you might have walked in here today And your reaction to this is, yeah, I got this. No, go back to the first years of the law, you don't got this. Jesus has got this and Jesus has got you. Abide in Jesus and have him abide in you and then do good works. You don't got this on your own. It's only the fruit of Christ abiding in you. Some of you say, but I fall short, right? I know God's commandments. I've read these things before. I memorized the Ten Commandments when I was a kid, and I fall short.

Brothers and sisters, if we sin, confess your sin, and He, who is faithful and righteous, will forgive you of all your sins and cleanse you of all of your unrighteousness. This is not saying that you are going to be perfect and never sin. You are simultaneously justified and sinner.

We're like kids learning to ride a bike. Sometimes we crash and we get hurt. Sometimes we make a mess of things. Get back on the bike. Confess your sins. Some of you, there's just no way. If you knew how far gone I was, I mean, God's commandments, I can't even get myself there. How do I? There's just no way that God could ever show mercy to someone like me. I'm just stuck at being convicted of my sin. There's no way Jesus could accept me in his sight.

Brothers and sisters, if he can accept the thief on the cross, with absolutely no good works to do, other than having faith, So He will also accept you. You're not too far gone. You're not too far gone. Cling to Jesus Christ. Don't just stop at a wretched man that I am. Say, who will save me from this bondage of death? Thanks be to God for Christ Jesus. Run to Christ. But some of you, your reaction is, I was once this way. But to be honest with you, I just, eh. Just a spirit of apathy. Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!

Jesus Christ is calling you today to repentance, to keep His law, to love Him with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Jesus Christ is telling you today, do not forget your first love. Do not grow lukewarm. You must stay hot, Christian. You must always be in love with Jesus Christ. Do not ever let God become so small in your mind and in your heart that you become cold and distant from Him. If that's what's going on, fan up the flame. Fan up the flame. I wish you were either hot or cold, God says. Do not forget your first love. Some of you, it's not just that you feel apathetic towards God, but it's, I just feel far away from God entirely. I don't know.

Could it be that you haven't been confessing your sins? The Westminster standards talk about when we confess our sins, we confess specific sins specifically. Have you been actually dealing with sin in a biblical way? Have you not just been saying, God, forgive me of my sins, but have you actually been evaluating your heart and seeing where lawlessness resides in your heart? I encourage you to do some self-reflection. Maybe God has become so small in you because sin has become so small to you. Repent of your lawlessness, confess your sins, pray. If you feel far from God, pray. Draw near to the living God, for he will draw near to you. Go to the Scriptures. You say, well, I've gone to the Scriptures. I say, go read more of the Scriptures. Well, I've read more of the Scriptures. Go wash yourself in the Scriptures.

Drink down as much of it as you can. Devote a day to prayer and fasting where you spend lots of time. Be serious about this. If you feel like your heart is going cold and you're just distant from God, take that seriously. I am encouraging you today. Go find ways that you can go love your neighbor. Find ways in which you have not been loving your neighbor and repent of them. Go read your scriptures, go do some works of repentance. This is one of the reasons why it's so absolutely important that we come to worship, right?

We can think about the Lord's day as this onerous thing, but brothers and sisters, this is one of the ways in which God fans up the flame in our heart. And I'm not saying that you're not ever going to have a time of apathy, but I guarantee you if you're not going to come to church, you will grow a spirit of apathy. I guarantee you if you'd stop coming to the public worship of God, stop encouraging the saints, stop being honest with one another, your heart will grow cold. It will. Because this is the way in which God has in his ordinary means said, do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together, but you need to encourage one another in so much the day as you see, so much the more as you see the day approaching.

We need to be honest with one another. I'm going to encourage you, if you're feeling far away from God, let's not play the hypocrites here. It's easy to put on a smiling face when you come to church. It's hard to tell someone, you know what, I'm just feeling spiritually dry lately.

Be honest with each other. This vulnerability takes courage. It's hard, but this is the way in which we have to be able to encourage each other, challenge one another, and pray for one another. That we might spur one another on towards love and good deeds to encourage people to love Christ more. Be honest with God. If you feel your heart cold from the Lord, I would encourage you to tell the Lord that.

Have you ever read the Psalms before? They are full of things we would think were irreverent if it hadn't been for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And there are times in which the psalmist cries out things about feeling like he's totally distant from God. That you're like, it's okay for Christians to say stuff like that?

Yeah. Yeah, go to the Lord with it. Tell him, Father, I don't want to be cold, I don't want to be lukewarm, but I feel that way. Please, Father, help me. I believe, help my disbelief. Some of you, for law, law, law, keep my commandments, follow my words, and you just say, I'm just worn out. I'm just tired. Jesus says to you, come to me. Oh, you who are weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest. Come, take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Jesus is gentle and lowly of heart. Go to Jesus. You can't do this on your own. You need the Holy Spirit, you need to abide in Christ. It's the only way that you're going to be able to do the good works that he wants you to do. Go to him in prayer.

Go to Him in your word, but as we, as we look over these next 10 weeks or so, the next 10 weeks are just going to be going through the 10 commandments. Well, there's going to be a break there where I'm out on vacation, but the application's coming. The next 10 weeks, we're going to be going through each of the commandments and looking at how do these convict us of sin throw us at the feet of Christ, restrain evil, and how does it train us in holiness? that we might be those like Joshua that would be strong and of good courage, meditating on his word, that it might go well with us, that we might love God and love our neighbors. So tune in. All right, come back. We're gonna get into some nitty gritty application. But God's law is for you, not as a burden, but as a delight. If you abide in Christ, you'll love one another.

Closing Prayer

Let's pray. Father, we thank you For your word in God, I pray. Lord, we pray that for those today who are weary, Father, give them rest. For those who are faint in their walk, Lord, we pray that you would give us strength to run the race with perseverance. Father, I pray that your Holy Spirit would convict us of sin and spur us on in righteousness, that we might look to Jesus Christ alone. Lord, please help us. Father, I pray that you would use this message, and if there were sinful or wrong things I said today, I pray that you would give your people a spirit of wisdom and of truth, that the dross would be burned away, the chaff would be gone, and that they might love you with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength.