 if you are trying to keep the law, if you are trying to keep the 10 Commandments, my only question is, why in the world would you do that? There is a danger to people who might even have good intentions or maybe it might even reveal if they don't have good intentions at all. But there are people out there who name the name of Christ who are doing their very best to adhere to the law or at least doing their very best to adhere to the 10 Commandments. The problem with that is that is very dangerous and might get you a ticket to hell. Now I wanna make it clear, there is a difference between someone that is trying to keep the law versus someone who does not violate or offend certain tenants of the law. The difference is the person that's trying to keep the law is trying to guard, trying to regard it, trying to hold it, trying to make that be the reason why they either stay safe or become safe. That is a person that's trying to fulfill all the dictates and reach the lofty standards of perfection that the law dictates. The problem with trying to keep the law, even the 10 Commandments is that once you violate them, then you violated if you violated one, you violated them all. And then what's required once you violate that? Well, what's required if you violate the law is a sacrifice, two problems with that. One, the sacrifice that you would have to give according to the law is done away with. The only other sacrifice is for those who are not trying to keep the law. I understand that a believer would want to not sin. I get that. The problem is that's a hard issue to overcome and we should, as we live, we should sin a lot less than we did in the past. We'll never get to the point where we sin less and if a person says they do not sin, well then John says that person is a liar. But if you do, we do have an advocate for us. That is Jesus Christ, our Lord. He is our advocate. Now, the question was kind of broached to Jesus by a scribe. Remember, these are the people who at the time wanted to kind of test Jesus to see if maybe he was guilty of violating any aspects of the law. And so you would always have this constant friction, this battle between the Pharisees and the scribes. Well, in Mark 12, 29, one of the scribes comes him and asks him, verse 28, let's start there. He says, one of the scribes came and heard them arguing and recognized that he had answered them well, asked him, what commandment is the foremost of all? Jesus answered, he says, the foremost is hero Israel, the Lord our God is one. Now, we'll come back to that in just a second. But the interesting point is, notice what he did not go to. One, he did not go to the 10 Commandments. There is a knee-jerk response amongst Christians when they hear the word commandment, verse, go back to verse 28. When they hear this word commandment, entele, which means a command, a charge, a statute, teaching, they think naturally, 10 Commandments, commandment, commandment, 10 Commandments. And so therefore, when they hear commandment, they naturally go for some, naturally go to the 10 Commandments. Jesus's Commandments aren't only limited to the 10 Commandments. They are more exhausted than the 10 Commandments. And so even still, asking which commandment is the most important commandment, notice that Jesus did not go to the 10 Commandments. Instead, he went to what we call the Shema which is found in Deuteronomy 6. He says, the foremost of it is, here, oh Israel, the Lord our God is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind and all your strength. He says in the second one, that is this, you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. Why is that? Because in fulfilling that, everything that God would want you to do, everything that God would want you to adhere to, whatever he might not want you to violate, it's all covered in that. The problem with the law is you are helpless when it comes to trying to keep the law perfectly. And this was also reiterated in Matthew 20 to 36 when he says, teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? And he said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. And so he said the same thing that was stated in Mark chapter 12. So if you want to keep what God's commands are, what Jesus has commanded us to do, love him, regard him as one, love him, and then love your neighbor. Notice what he did not do. He did not run through the litany that sometimes people will do in going through the Ten Commandments. Does that mean we ought to intentionally violate or go against the Ten Commandments? No, obviously not. What it really means is that trying to keep the Ten Commandments doing our very best, making sure, I need to make sure I follow commandment one, follow commandment two, follow commandment three, follow commandment four, well it becomes tedious. What ends up happening is, just like with Israel, just like Paul tries to assess or understand, is you can't. You have an issue. Now with Israel, their issue was what? Their heart. God tells them circumcise their heart, they don't do it, they can't do it. So what does God's remedy? He says, I will circumcise your heart. And then as he says in Ezekiel 36, he says that I will put my spirit in you and I will cause you to walk in my commandments or my teaching or my statues. Same thing. And so having the Holy Spirit in you is all that's required. Because what does he say in 36 verse 27? That in having that, I will cause you. The word I say, I will cause, I will make you to walk in my teachings. Even if you're not fully sure what all of his teachings are, we're gonna get to that in just a little bit. But there's a problem that we have on the board. That is there are people that are intentionally trying to keep the Ten Commandments. There are people that are trying to keep the law in different aspects of the law. The problem is those that live by the law, they will also be judged according to the law and then ultimately die by the law. What we have today are modern day Judaizers. These were the people who wanted to compel the Gentile believers to become Jews or adhere to Judaism and then convert or then place their faith in Christ. But what they really had in mind was really still keeping the law. Now let's be clear. Many people who want to keep the law want to do so to show themselves. Want to have something to boast and to brag about. Not all, but many do. Some do so out of ignorance. Some do so because they think it's the right thing to do. But if they're honest with themselves, they realize they can't do it. They can't do anything but fail according to the law. When you compare your works, what you do according to the dictates of the law, you will fail 10 times out of 10. And then Paul brings this up with these Judaizers then, even for the Judaizers of today, because we do have modern day Judaizers in Galatians one. He says, I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel. Now think about it, this isn't just there because they were doing something that's unheard of. This is what we're even seeing today. You are abandoning Christ for a different gospel, which is really not another gospel. What is this other gospel? What the gospel is that it's Christ plus the law. It's faith in Christ plus keeping the law. This is which is really not another gospel. Only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel, contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be a curse. And so if there are people there that are teaching you that you must keep the law, people teach that you have to keep the 10 commandments. Paul says that person is a curse. Why? Because they're teaching another way to gain salvation other than the way that's been taught, which is placing faith in Christ. Now, Paul goes to even more detail as we go further into the ladies. Remember, this is the whole point of this letter because of these Judaizers that are coming. Notice what he says in chapter two, verse 16, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of law. Justified means to be declared right and treated as such, declared right by who? By God. So you are not in right standing by God because of the works of the law, doing or keeping the law, but by the faith, by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law. So not by doing anything of the law will it make you justified, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Now it's vitally important that we get what Paul is trying to say and relate what he's trying to say with what people are trying to say also today about keeping the 10 commandments, about keeping the law. We'll come back to the 10 commandments in a second, but apply that and see how that works in regards to this verse. Verse 17, but if we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners. Is therefore Christ the minister of sin? And what's his statement? Well, God forbid. No, he's not. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law am dead to the law that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live yet not I, but Christ who lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith, by the faith of God who loved me and gave me himself or gave himself for me. So what's in us is Christ in us who's working in us. Not me trying to keep the law or aspects of the law. It's just simply me yielding to Christ and letting him work through me. In that, what will happen? Will I ever offend if Christ gets his way in me? Will I offend what God wants us to do? No, I will not. We'll come to that more so a little bit later, but go to verse three, chapter one. It says, you foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? So who's fooling you? Who's messing you up? He says this, this is the only thing I want to find out from you. Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law? In other words, did you receive the Holy Spirit by keeping the law? Any aspects of the 10 commandments included? No, obviously not. Are you so foolish having begun by the spirit which is by faith in Christ? Are you now being perfected, being kept, being completed by the flesh, by keeping the law, by keeping the works, by keeping the 10 commandments? Did you suffer so many things in vain? If indeed it was in vain, that is if indeed you are a believer. So then does he who provide you with the spirit and works miracles among you do it by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Now this should be pretty clear. Anyone that is trying to ingrain it, there's nothing wrong with the 10 commandments. There's nothing wrong with the law. There's nothing, as a matter of fact, Paul makes a point. There's nothing wrong with the law. The problem isn't with the law, the problem is with us, which is why we place our faith in the one who doesn't have a problem with keeping the law, who doesn't have a problem with obeying, who doesn't have a problem with sin. He has no sin problem. We do. Now look what it says in verse 10. For as many as are the works of the law are under a curse for it is written. Curses everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law to perform them. So that now that no one is justified by the law before God is evident. The righteous man, the righteous shall live by faith. Understand, you are justified only by faith. Now listen to what he says in verse 12. He says, however, the law is not a faith. On the contrary, he who practices them shall live by them. That should be clear and it should be scary. If you practice those, if it is your goal, your aim, your desire to fulfill the law, if it's your desire to keep the commandments, you must live by them and all of them. And why is that scary? Because there is no other redemption that can be found in that because there is no sacrifice that God is gonna take from the law. The only sacrifice that he will take was what was given and you have decided that you are not going to follow that rather that you may say it in mouth, but indeed you're trying to keep the law which means you are cut off. As a matter of fact, what did Paul say in Galatians 5? In verse two, Paul says that if you receive a circumcision that is being a part of the law, Christ will be of no benefit to you and I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is under obligation to keep the whole law. You have been, look what he says, you have been severed from Christ, cut off. You who are seeking to be justified by the law, you have fallen from grace. Anyone that is trying to be justified by keeping the law, which part of the law, any part of the law, if you think I've got to keep this, this, this, this and this or this, I don't have to keep that but I got to keep this, it doesn't matter, you are cut off because if you only keep one aspect of it, you are required to keep all aspects of it. That is his point. Does that mean that there are no commandments of Christ that we should not keep? That's not what he's saying as a matter of fact, John 14.15 says, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. Again, don't have the need your response to think that he's speaking of the 10 commandments because what did he just tell us was his commandments? Well, he gave us two. Regard him as one, the Lord our God is one and love him with all your heart. Then the second one is to love your neighbors. If you do those two things, you are good. There's no problem that you have to worry about. Are you gonna keep both of those laws fulfilled perfectly? No, that's why we rely on the Christ that's in us. But are we saying that the 10 commandments are of no value? No, what it really is is a guide. Now here's the interesting thing. Every aspect of the 10 commandments and every aspect of the law that God wants us to adhere to today, they've been carried over. Think about this. All 10 commandments have been carried over, except for one, that is to keep the Sabbath. The Sabbath is not enforced. We are not required to keep the Sabbath. If you wanna keep the Sabbath, fine, you are not required to do so. Every other of the other nine, they all have been reiterated in some way, shape, or fashion. 1 Corinthians 8, 6, and Mark 12, 29 covers the first one. You should have no other guys before you. 1 John 15, 21, and Acts 5, 20. We cannot have any idols, that's covered as well. So here are the first two that have been reiterated in the New Testament. So should we have any other guys or any idols? Obviously not, because it's been told to us, to the church. What about taking his name in vain? Well, if you take it as just using his name flippantly, well, that's covered in the New Testament. Or if you think that it's just calling yourself a Christian when you really are not, that's also covered as well. Jesus said that, everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord. So however you take using the Lord's name in vain, that's also reiterated in the New Testament. What about out of your mother and father? Well, Ephesians 6 covers that. Do not murder. Well, 1 Peter 4, 15 covers that as well as do not steal. It's also covered in 1 Peter 4. Do not commit adultery. That's also covered in 1 Corinthians. And again, the only commandment of the 10 commandments that is not reiterated is to keep the Sabbath. Why? Because Jesus is our Sabbath rest. We are not trying to keep that. We are trying to keep him. We're trying to be in him, I should say, not trying to keep him. We are kept by him and that's the rest that we will enter into. But again, we're not called to keep any aspect of the law. As a matter of fact, when they were trying to figure out the church, these Jewish slaves of the church were trying to figure out what should happen to these Jews? What should they keep? What tennis of the law do they keep? If any, what burdens should be put upon them? What do they say? If we go to Acts chapter five, I'm sorry, verse 15, and I want you to notice this argument, this issue that comes up in the church. This issue is should the Gentiles have to observe the law of Moses, which is the law including the 10 commandments, should the Jews have to deal with any of that? What should we require the Gentiles to do? And remember, this is a Jewish led church at this time. The leaders of this church are Jewish apostles. And those which says in verse one of chapter 15, some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. And when Paul and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with them, the brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and some of the others should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning this issue. Therefore, being sent on their way by the church, they were passing through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles and were bringing great joy to all the brethren. When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders and they reported all that God had done with them. But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying it is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the law of Moses. Well, wasn't the law of Moses? Well, the first 10 things were the 10 commandments as well as the rest of it. And so the question is, were they supposed to adhere to? What was the church's response? These are the apostles who we have their writings and they're leading by the Holy Spirit. What was their response? Eventually, James stood up, gives a response and all of the church agrees with this. What he says, therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles. That's me, that's you. But that we write to them that they may abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood. For Moses from the ancient generations has in every city, those who preach him since he has read in the synagogue every Saturday. Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders with the whole church to choose men from among them to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. Judas called for Silas and Silas leading men and the brethren and they sent them by letter. Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas who themselves will also report the same things by word of mouth. For it seemed good, look what he says. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these. This is what the church has required the burden for them to adhere to. Notice what he says, verse 29. That you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication. If you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well, farewell. What's missing, the 10 Commandments, what's missing, the law. All of this is what they require them to do. Why? Because if you are a believer in Christ, what do you have? You literally have the Holy Spirit in you. Why is that important? Well, we are supposed to walk according to the Holy Spirit. We are to walk in accompaniment with the Holy Spirit. What does the Bible say in Galatians 5? Verse 16, chapter 5, you know very well, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of flesh. For the flesh sets the desires against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. For these are in opposition to one other, so that you may not do the things that you please, but if you are led by the Spirit, you are no longer under the law. You are not under the law if you are led by the Spirit. If you're not led by the Spirit and you wanna keep the law, well, then have at it. If you wanna keep the law, do your very best. I wish you well. You're gonna fail, but I wish you well. Maybe you have what it takes. Maybe you have what no one else has ever found, the ability to keep the law. But as for the rest of us who are led by the Spirit, we will be led by the Spirit. And what will we not offend? We will not offend any aspect of the law because the law is not of our concern. Instead, we are led by the Spirit that's in us and we'll live by the Spirit that's in us. We will fail from time to time, but because we are not living according to the law, we're living according to faith in Christ, then our payment has been made. We have been ransomed, we have been redeemed wide by the blood of Christ. Anyone else who wants to live by the dictates of the law the dictates of the law requires that when they sin, that an offering must be given. God is not accepting offerings under the law. And so if your intent is to fulfill the law, if your intent is to live according to the 10 commandments, if your intent is not to violate them, you're gonna be in problem. However, that's different than the person who is living to Christ, who's living according to the Holy Spirit and doesn't want to do anything wrong. That's one thing, but your desires are two different things. One desire is to check the box to make sure that they haven't sin. And in that case, be like a Pharisee where they have something to boast about, whereas the other's desire is just to live for Christ because he's already checked off all the boxes. And remember what differentiates us from other false religions. They have to do things to be saved. All we have to do is place our faith in the one who did something for us. Amen.