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4:02Let me bring you up to speed where we are. We're in our third night, looking at, really fourth night, if you include the introduction, but we're looking at the law and wanting to understand the law from a Christian perspective. We already have established that the law is our tutor, purpose, as Paul expressly stated. The law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ. Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. This is part two. Did you happen to get the part three up? There's part three. Uh-oh, I don't know what happened. This is not the PowerPoint I had.

4:56No problem. We'll just go old-fashioned and just look at the book. You can just leave the title slide up there. That's fine. I don't know what happens sometimes when I copy things up. Maybe they don't get there. One of the, what's that? That's okay. Psalm 25, 8 says this. Good and upright is the Lord. Therefore, he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble injustice. He teaches the humble his way. God is good and upright. Therefore, what does he do? He instructs sinners. The word is a verb.

5:43Instruction. Yoré, Yorah. And you will probably recognize the word Torah, the body of instruction. He instructs. Because he's good and upright, he instructs sinners. I just want to see if they. No, there's just missing the slightly long missing. Okay. No worries. But here's the thing about the law. The law is given as an instruction, the Torah. It instructs, and God gives it to us because he is good and he is upright, therefore he instructs sinners in his way. And this instruction goes beyond just religious boundaries.

6:36He instructs humanity. He instructs sinners. In fact, if you went to the Supreme Court today and looked at the building, you looked at the pediment up there, right in the center of the pediment is Moses with the Ten Commandments. Moses. Fundamental to law. Understanding the law of Moses is very important. I would say if you're a lawmaker, if you are an attorney, if you want to understand the heart of God, or if you want to just understand what is good, wise, practical living, the law is for you to study.

7:17The law shows us, if you think about in the context that Paul speaks about it as a tutor, the law shows us our barrenness. And in the law, we see a righteousness that dwarfs anything of human proportions. The law takes us to the end of ourselves as it reveals to us the glory of this impeccable person behind the law. The law is a reflection of him. And as we step into the law and we gaze into the law, we see the perfections of a righteousness that dwarfs anything that we have ever witnessed here on earth. And just gazing upon it will quickly bring a person to the end of themselves and see our moral limits as we stand at the threshold and absolutely humbled at the glory and beauty and the perfections of this impeccable author. Because what the law does is it reveals a righteousness that is so superior to man that just looking into it blushes and shames and reduces, brings us to the end, humbling as we look upon the glories and the moral perfections of our Creator. And it leads us to that individual who embodies all of these things. As I look into the law, I see the moral perfections of God. And then I see Christ coming upon the earth and I see those moral perfections. Taking on flesh and dwelling among us.

9:07And so, as we look into the law, we've already established in our part one and part two that we're not seeking to be justified by the law. That's a misuse. Nor are we under the law. Spent a good evening recognizing we are not under the law. Just like Paul was going at it with the Judaizers in Galatians 4, 27. In our verse this morning, Paul was saying, Look, let me talk to you who want to be under the law. No, we are not under the law. But does the law apply to us? Absolutely. Not as those who are under it. It is not our covenant mother.

9:56But it has a lot to teach us about the lawgiver, a lot of wisdom, lots to say. And so I want to look at these curses and look at the beauty and wisdom of the lawgiver in that which he curses. If you can see the beauty of God in his curses, be profound. You'll just be amazed at all the things that, all his perfections that just beam forth in the pages of the Torah. Mark chapter 2. 12 and verse 26, there is this debate that Jesus is having about the resurrection. People are saying, well, the resurrection doesn't happen and that kind of thing. Jesus steps in, and in Mark 12, 26, he says, regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are greatly mistaken.

11:05I'm going to talk to you about this idea of valid implication. Jesus, in a debate about the resurrection, he goes to a text that really has nothing to do with the resurrection. He talks about how God spoke to Moses in the burning bush, and he says, This, I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. That is not a passage about the resurrection. But there are implications. What are some implications that you can think of just by this statement? This is what it means. God says, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. What are some implications from that?

11:49Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were real people, weren't they? That's a valid implication. Jesus saw them as historical people. Valid implication. God says, I am. There is a verb there. I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Not I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So God is still the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. They are still living, so there are implications for the resurrection. Even though this wasn't a passage directly about the resurrection, there were valid implications that Jesus Himself drew out of them that proves the resurrection. And it is this principle of valid implication that we see from Jesus Himself that we can go to the text that we're in today and just understand that there are valid implications of everything that is said here. And that's what we'll be spending a lot of our evening tonight: just these talking and looking and seeing these valid implications of what is stated. As I said, we can learn a lot about a person by what they don't like. We can learn a lot about a person's home by what they don't like.

13:16I remember the day I got engaged. I remember getting up early in the morning, and I had this breakfast that I made. It was my childhood favorite breakfast. By the way, can I tell this story? Is that okay? Usually I get permission ahead of time, but with my wife, I get a pass a lot. Anyway, so there it was. Got up early in the morning, like five or four, whatever. I got up and made this wonderful breakfast that my mom used to make. It was called Goldenrod. And it was, you take toast and you make this cream eggs, and then you take the egg yolks and you sprinkle it over the top. You shave it really fine, and it looks like gold on top of these toasts. It's my favorite breakfast growing up. And I set it down before, and then we talked a little bit. I asked her to marry me. She said yes. And then a few minutes later, she said, I'll be happy to marry you, but I can't eat this breakfast you made.

14:25She goes, I don't like hard-boiled egg yolks. And guess what? Guess what? We don't eat a whole lot in my home. Hard-boiled egg yolks. So you can tell a lot about a person by what they don't like, but you can also tell a lot about their home and the family that they envision. Either way, same is true about God. God, we can learn a lot about what he curses. Now, You're going to see this word in verse 15 of Deuteronomy 20, 17. Cursed is the man. Cursed is the man. That's going to go all the way through this statement. Cursed is the man. 16. Cursed is he. Cursed is he. Cursed is the man. Cursed is he. On down the line, cursed. What does cursed mean? It's a verb, it's passive. It means a person who's cursed is coming under the action of something else, someone else, in this case, God. It's the opposite of being blessed. It's a person coming under God's displeasure. Being cursed is coming under his displeasure, his active opposition. That is what it is to be cursed, to be under God's frown. But expressions of his opposition, his oppositions, expressions of that opposition.

16:03It really, to be cursed is to be under the withering influence of God. The withering pressure of God. Let me put it that way. It's a withering. To be cursed is to be in a state of withering. Think about our bodies. They're still under curse. It's withering. But this withering, this curse, continues. And unless it is reversed, unless one comes out of it, God's curse renders a person inoperative, ultimately. It's the worst condition to find oneself in, to be under God's curse.

16:59And so as we look at Deuteronomy 27 and we start looking into these curses, think about what God is doing. He's brought these people out of the land of Egypt. He's brought them into Israel, into the land of Canaan. And he immediately says, I want you all to make sure you understand what I curse. Because this society, Israel, isn't going to last if you walk under that which I curse. It will wither. And so the very first thing he does, he gets them in the new land and he has them shout out the curses to one another so that they will understand if they engage in these things. This is the minimum. Friends, for a society to function, these things cannot be true, cannot go on. And so that's what he does.

18:00And so, what I want to do this evening is just look at a few of these with the little time that we have. We certainly won't be able to exhaust the study here by any means, but we will certainly, I want to introduce you to what I mean by seeing the beauty and the wisdom in the lawgiver, of the lawgiver, in that which he curses. Some basic questions I want to ask each purse is: what does this text say about God?

18:29What does this text say about the society he envisions, whether that society is on earth or whether that society is in heaven? It tells us a little bit about the house or home that God dwells. Third question is: what does this say about how we are to relate to him and to creation and to each other? Because in all this, I want you to see the beauty and wisdom of the lawgiver in the things that he curses, so that you will promote his ways in your own hearts and in your homes and in the society that we live in. No one's different. I mean, no one's accepted. These are all truth. It's not just for Israel, it's for everyone. This is what God curses. And he's showing us a window into his heart. The very first one deals with idols. Look at verse 15: Cursed is the man who makes an idol. Or a molten image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen. Cursed is the man who makes, that is, the idea who is making, who is manufacturing something, so is laboring to produce an image, a concept, a depiction of God.

19:59Whether it's of wood, whether it's of stone, or whether it's a molten image of metal, is irrelevant. It's somebody, the person who is cursed is the one who is making an image of God, crafting. And the idea, you see, the hands of a craftsman, it doesn't matter how intricately detailed it is, it's an abomination to the Lord. It's disgusting. And this person who is making this, who is manufacturing this, and it's not just the work of the hands, but it's the mental processes to imagine what God looks like and to set him out there, to put him up, set him up in a place, establish this.

20:51It says in secret, private, hidden from the public eye, even if it's not seen. What is this saying? Just at the very forefront, God doesn't want anybody to reimagine him. Anybody who is reimagining God is under the curse of God. No one's to reimagine God, define God, or worship anything but God. Man is not the standard. Ah, I think there's something in creation over there that I'll make God look like. And the answer is no. God doesn't do that.

21:42God created everything. God is the standard. So he cannot be depicted by anything in creation, can he? The only thing in creation that can bear his image is man himself, and man isn't to worship himself. Man is a creature. But you think about what man is to do is image God, his creator. And you can be sure that God doesn't worship anything in creation. And so, as image-bearers, it's inappropriate to worship anything but God himself. Because God doesn't worship anything. So, what does this say about God?

22:29I'll. Make a few suggestions, and then if anybody has something they want to add, feel free. What does this say about God? Well, first of all, it says that God recognizes His own uniqueness. God recognizes His uniqueness. He is unique from all of creation, and God Himself recognizes that. What does this say about the society that He envisions? You think about that with Israel as they're going into the land of Canaan. You can think about that with regards to heaven and what is coming. You can think about that with America today. What does this say about the society that God envisions? Every member of society is to do what? Recognize God's uniqueness.

23:27God recognizes His own uniqueness, and you can be sure that heaven is going to be filled with people, with creatures, who recognize God's uniqueness. What does this say about how we are to relate to Him and each other? Well, it's clear we're not to be making, crafting, concocting, pursuing anything that right. The uniqueness of God. God is unique. We are to recognize that. And we are not to have any rivals, nor are we to concoct anything other than we're not to concoct anything about Him, we are to receive revelation about Him. We are not to imagine Him. We are to be taught by Him.

24:26He is to be supreme in every heart. That's how we're to relate to Him. How do we relate to one another? Well, we're to recognize that we all have this in common, don't we? The one who is cursed is the one who does not recognize God is God's uniqueness. God is unique. We all have this in common. Everybody on planet Earth is to recognize the uniqueness of God or be cursed. God has no vision for people who do not recognize Him as God as enduring. They are withering.

25:16And so, what does this say about our society? What are we about? What are we to be about? As much as possible, we are to promote God's uniqueness. In all facets of society, we are to be a people about calling people to recognize the uniqueness of God. And this shows up in everything we do: relationships, business, associations, government, everything. Those people and institutions who do not respect God as God are under the curse of God. God says it, cursed is the man who makes a molten image, who comes, who imagines God. Nowhere to recognize God. God is unique. But those who do not recognize God's uniqueness are certainly under his curse.

26:23Anybody else want to? That's one of them. That's the first one. Anybody comment on that? Yes, sir? Yes, there you have the righteousness. And that's the only other individual you see that can be worshipped. Yeah, good. Let's look at the second one. Let's get another one. Verse 16. Cursed is he who dishonors his father or mother. And all the people shall say amen. Think about this. Think about only just cursed again. The one who's withering, the one who has God's frown and displeasure and anger upon, is the one who dishonors his parents, father or mother.

27:18And the word is very, the idea of dishonoring is the one who is causing his dishonor to be brought up on his parents, to dishonor directly or to cause dishonor to come upon. That's the idea. Dishonor is the idea of to treat lightly. It's kind of a funny word. To toast something carries the idea of toast. You know, like what happens to it when you put toast in a toaster oven. I don't know if they didn't have a toaster oven back then, but they had a way to toast bread. And what would happen and it dry out? It shrinks. And that's the idea to dishonor, is to shrink, to give little esteem, to, we might, we even use the word roast, to roast something. And so don't roast your parents. That's the idea. Don't roast them. Don't toast them. Don't roast them. Don't treat them of little account.

28:22Don't treat them with content, but don't cause, don't, don't. Treat them as a person of little magnitude. That's the idea. What does this don't treat them as a person of little magnitude yourself, and don't cause others to treat your parents of having little value. You have to be promoting the respect, paying proper respect. What does this say about God? Anybody? God values what? Yes? So, I think this is also a parallel to learn that God describes himself as our father.

29:23Very good. Very good thought. So, if you don't learn how to respect God, or if you don't learn how practically to respect your parents, how in the world are you going to respect God? It's like God values the family, God values respect, God establishes authorities, and He despises those who do not give respect where respect is due. Origins are important to God. All this says this just this fact that He is, He wants Father and Mother to be honored. What does this say about the society that he envisions? Well, you can imagine that everyone is to respect those who brought them into existence. And you are to respect those who provided for your existence.

30:20And guess what? Every single one of us has such unique people in our lives. He wants people, he wants all of us to learn very early on, and one of the first things we need to learn in this world is the idea of respect and to honor those who brought you into existence and to honor those who provide for your existence. And he wants people very early, very first thing, to learn how to honor, to learn how to respect.

30:57And what Houston was just saying, why does he want this? Well, before you can recognize and respect God's uniqueness, you need to learn how to respect and honor your parents' uniqueness in your life. And he puts us all in that school. And the one who doesn't pay proper respect, and this has nothing to do with how swell or not swell your parents are. And I say, That lightly, but seriously. Yes, you're not to. I recognize there's a whole spectrum of parents. Some have left great pain, some have been excellent, some have been middle of the road. But God wants you to be a person in your parents' life who isn't causing shame to be brought to their name, regardless.

32:05You are not to be the one who treats them little or lightly. Yeah, you don't, if they ask you to sin, you don't sin, that kind of thing. But you're not to be a source of dishonor. What does this say about how we are to relate to Him, to creation, or how do we relate to each other? We are to treat Him as a person of magnitude. He is the God of origins. He is the one who provides.

32:40We are to honor Him as a great provider. What does this say about child training and the importance of child training? Sometimes I think we get this idea that child training is about. Moral order in the home, and it is that. But there's something far more profound going on. If you do not teach your children to properly respect the parents that God has put in their lives, they are under his curse. Cursed is he who dishonors father or mother.

33:30Teaching your children to respect is not an option in the society that God blesses. There's a withering child. If you do not understand this at this level, you will not understand life. You will not understand God. Let's do another one. Verse 17. Cursed is he who moves his neighbor's boundary mark, and all the people shall say amen. Moves. The idea that the verb there is moving a boundary mark. The other day I was putting in a fence post on my property, and I came and I have to mark out exactly where those iron rods are. And I wanted to make sure that I was in. You know, it's very easy to pick one of those iron rods up and move it over. Over and hammer it a little bit. We want to pick up another foot. Property.

34:36Well, that's what the idea is to displace a boundary marker. And it's, and again, it's that verb: the one who is causing boundary markers to be moved. Cursed is he who is moving his neighbor's boundary mark. It's interesting. The very first thing is he comes into the land and he's saying, cursed is anyone who reimagines God. Second, cursed is one who doesn't pay proper respect to the parents who brought them into origin, into the world, and provides for them. And cursed is the one who moves a boundary mark.

35:20These are the very basics of human society. What does this say about God? He doesn't want a boundary mark moved. What does this say about him? He respects what he has created. He created before the other. Yes, he created. He respects what he created. May I add, he respects individual property rights. That's. Important concept to get in your mind, isn't it? Think about communism. Think about some of the tenets of major governments. But God is saying, cursed is he who moves his neighbor's boundary mark. God respects individual property rights. He has established limits for humanity, limits geographically.

36:31God's really big on inheritance, passing that along. He's put limits on geography, limits physically, limits morally, limits spiritually, and he does not want man to move them. God has established boundaries. The world is his. What does this say about the society that God envisions? Individual property ownership, stewardship. God envisions that. And so, guess what? Governments need to protect individual property rights. All this is in the, you can see the wisdom of God and the society that He imagines just based on a few words. Cursed is the man who.

37:30Cursed is he who moves his neighbor's boundary mark. There are implications, valid implications we can draw from that that are at the foundation of how a healthy society should function. I've spent some time in different parts of the world, and one of the things I have learned is that one of the very first things that government needs to do is to protect individual property rights. You can't build anything, you can't improve anything if you don't know who really owns it. You go and invest all this money into something, and then it's built, and then somebody else comes in and says, No, I'll take over that, and there is no way to secure those property rights.

38:20Government needs to protect individual property rights physically, but also personal space. What are the things that we own? There's not really anything we really own in this world except the body that we have. So there is, government should protect that because the cursed is the one who is moving and not respecting boundaries that God has established. Each person is to respect what God has given the other person, not covet. That's how we're to relate to Him, be thankful for what He's given us. Boundaries that he's given us, boundaries of our habitation.

39:05What does it say? How we are to relate to each other? We are to be, we're not to envy, we are to honor the boundaries, moral boundaries, physical boundaries, be thankful. So, think about what he's establishing in this society as they first go into the land. You make sure you respect God, you make sure you respect your parents, you make sure you respect boundaries. Fundamental to human society. Cursed are those who don't do these things. That's what breaks society down. Let me take you one more, and then we'll obviously we're not going to get through these. Verse 18: Cursed is he who misleads a blind person on the road, and all the people shall say amen. Now, isn't that an interesting law?

40:04Here you are, you're like, okay, you're over there on Mountain. Okay, I want to hear what kind of law, okay, God, what do you want? And they're really simple, aren't they? But wow, they have profound implications. Cursed is he who misleads a blind person on the road. Could you imagine if there's a blind person walking down the road and somebody in here walks over there and thought it would be fun to make Make them walk right out into the ditch or maybe walk right out into oncoming traffic. Would that be funny?

40:41It's an awful thing to think about, isn't it? That somebody would actually take advantage of a person like that. But again, it's the idea: cursed is he who misleads or causes somebody to go astray. Sometimes we can mislead without actually lying, can't we? We want what we say, what we don't say, how we say it. We can get very good at deceiving one another. But the idea is: cursed is the one who is misleading somebody else. Who are the blind? Those who can't see what's in front of them.

41:22You can say that's true of the physically blind, but there's a lot of things in society that we don't see. There's a lot of things in this world we don't see, we don't understand, we're naive to. Shame on that person who takes advantage of somebody's naivety and causes them harm. It's about as cruel as anything you can imagine. You know anybody that's been guilty of doing that history past? What happened in the garden? There's some naive.

42:00Innocent people in the garden. And here comes a serpent. Now, let me lead you into this ditch. Let me lead you. Let me mislead you so that you die. Now you can see all that. It's very satanic. What does it say about God? God hates deception. He hates the one who causes somebody else to stray from the right path. That's what a misleading person, that's what somebody who misleads, they are causing somebody to stray from the path, from that, which is good.

42:44What does it say about God? He hates deception. He hates, despises the cruelness of taking advantage of somebody else. The implication is there is a right road that a person needs to be on, and harm comes to that person who falls into the ditch. But woe to those who cause people to stumble. Cursed is he who misleads somebody else. What does this say about the society God envisions? No fraud. No satanic influence. People helping each other to be. On the right road, no deception.

43:37What does this say about how we relate to Him or each other? Well, we're to recognize that deception is cruel. It is satanic. Your little white lies are little satanic escapades and they're cruel. And their intention is to mislead somebody from the path of truth and what is right. Why did God send Jesus? He came as a teacher. He came as the way, to show the way, to get people back, those who were going astray, to bring them back, those who had fallen, those who had.

44:38His whole ministry is one about truth, bringing people to respect the truth. So you think about just in these first few curses, what is fundamentally what God is going to curse in a society? Those who do not recognize God. This is universal, by the way. It's universal. Those who do not respect God, those who do not respect parents, those who do not respect boundaries, and those who do not respect the right way. That's enough for tonight. There's plenty more, but I'll open it up for a few questions or comments.