Repent & Believe > Pretend & Perform

“No man knows how bad he is until he has tried very hard to be good”

what if we understood the 10 Commandments and the rest of the law like Jesus?

the Sermon on the Mount…that is Jesus re-telling the giving of the law

Moses & Jesus

a threatened Pharaoh ordered male babies killed to try and kill Moses

a threatened Herod ordered male babies killed to try and kill Jesus

Moses’ family had fled to Egypt to save their lives

Jesus’ parents took him to Egypt to save His life

Moses passed through the waters of the Red Sea

Jesus passed through the waters of John’s baptism

Moses spent 40 years in the wilderness

Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness

Moses ascends Mt. Sinai to receive the law

Jesus ascends to the mountain to give the new law

Jesus is the truer and greater, Moses

the entire Old Testament points to Jesus

are the 10 commandments meant to be “10 steps on how to be perfect”?

no! just the opposite, they are meant to show how imperfect we are

the law is not a wall you climb, it is a law you crash into at 180 mph

laws show us our addiction to self-righteousness

a wall I can (mostly) climb (sometimes) = me pretty awesome

a wall that kills me and my lame attempts at righteousness = me not awesome

until you crash into a wall that is impossible to climb,

you will not ask for help and turn to the only One who climbed it perfectly

Jesus took the 10 Commandments further

I see your adultery and I raise it to include lust

I see your murder and I raise it to include anger

guess what people, the Law is not just about your outward actions,

but includes your inner world

You must be PERFECT outwardly, and within, always and forever

if your self-salvation strategy is your own goodness

Apostle Paul put it this way “There is no one good, no not one.”

As a guy who preached the gospel for 31 years in the over-churched South

I call this having to get you lost, so you can be saved

I sure did

I spent decades trying to do what most others were not doing

and not do, what most others were doing

i was lost in my sinful deeds, sinful thoughts AND my own self-righteousness

it was exhausting and my life swung back and forth

between PRIDE (when I had descent days) and SHAME (when I failed)

Jesus is the antidote to that insane attempt to keep law

He is the PERFECT Law-Keeper

You are either trusting you, OR HIM

Repent & Believe > Pretend & Perform