What is the Law in Your Heart?
Scripture Reading: Exodus 20:-1-17
1 And God spoke all these words, saying:
2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 “You shall but showing mercy to not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of
anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the
earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous
God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those
who hate Me, 6 thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
7 “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him
guiltless who takes His name in vain.
8 “ Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10
but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your
son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor is
within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all
that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and
hallowed it.
12 “ Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the
LORD your God is giving you.
13 “You shall not murder. your stranger who
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his
male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’
s.”
Most of us have heard the Ten Commandments. There’s an old movie with Charleston
Heston. There’s even a new movie coming out with that name. But we’re not talking
about a movie this morning; we’re talking about the giving of the law of which this is the
beginning. Many Christians will hear you say the law and quickly inform you that we’re
no longer under the law so it doesn’t apply to us. We discussed this topic a couple of
Tuesdays back with the study titled ‘The Curse of the Law’. Today we’ll be looking at a
different aspect of this issue. Listen to these few verses.
Jeremiah 31:33, But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,
says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God,
and they shall be My people.
Isaiah 51:7, Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, You people in whose heart is My law: Do
not fear the reproach of men, Nor be afraid of their insults.
Romans 2:13-15, 13 (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the
law will be justified; 14 for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law,
these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15 who show the work of the law written in
their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or
else excusing them)
These verses all talk about the phenomenon of having the law written on our hearts.
Two are from the Old Testament and the words of God the Father and one is from the
New Testament, the words of the apostle Paul. It’s clear by Jeremiah’s words that he is
talking about a new covenant to be made with God’s people. That’s the covenant Christ
brought and is therefore the covenant we enjoy with God. It says God will put the law in
our minds and write it on their hearts. What does that mean? What law will He put in our
minds and write on our hearts? Is it the same law the children of Israel? That’s what we’
re going to find out.
I always like to see who’s speaking when I read scripture. If God or Jesus is speaking,
my ears perk up. If it’s a righteous man or woman of God, I take that into account and if it’
s an enemy of God or God’s people, I consider that as well. This next section of reading
will be the words of Jesus Christ.
Matthew 5:17-20, 17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come
to destroy but to fulfill. 18 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. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of
the least of these commandments, and teaches men 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. 20
For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and
Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus says here that He hasn’t come to destroy the Law, but to fulfill. Many think He was
saying that He came to do the law for us because He knew we couldn’t but when you
listen to what He says after that doesn’t make sense. First He says that nothing will pass
from the law until heaven and earth pass away. We can see that hasn’t happened.
Then He says if we break the commandments or teach others to do so we will be least in
the kingdom. That doesn’t sound like He’s getting rid of the law. He says that we have to
be more righteous than the Pharisees. Does that mean we have to never break a law or
we’re doomed? Absolutely not! Do you remember when Jesus was talking to the scribes
and Pharisees and told them that they spend all their time making sure that the outside is
clean but the inside is full of dead men’s bones? He was talking about this issue. Listen
to the next few verses.
Matthew 5:21-22, 21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and
whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that whoever is angry with
his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother,
‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.
You see here that Jesus did not take away from the law concerning murder but rather
added to it. He shows us that it’s not only important what you do but also how you feel,
what you think, what’s in your heart. If we never commit murder but we spend or time
being hateful toward our neighbor, we have broken that commandment because we’ve
done so in our heart. Look at verses 27-28.
Matthew 5:27-28, 27 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit
adultery. 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed
adultery with her in his heart.
Again, Jesus does not remove the law from us but rather shows us the spirit of that law.
He does this with several other concepts including divorce, seeking revenge, loving our
enemies and taking oaths. So let’s use the same principle with some other things in the
law. You know ‘What Would Jesus Do?’. I going to look at one that I’m sure some of you
will not want to hear but I will encourage you to take the time to read through the book of
Leviticus yourself and apply this same principle with the laws you read. It’s important that
you come to a revelation of the truth yourself. This is not about anyone commanding or
forbidding you to keep the law. This has to be your willful desire to please God and be
obedient even to the heart. Remember, we are justified through the blood of Christ by
faith, not by works. This is not about our salvation, it’s about our obedience of heart.
Leviticus 11:2-8 & 24-25, 2 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘These are the animals
which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth: 3 Among the animals, whatever
divides the hoof, having cloven hooves and chewing the cud—that you may eat. 4 Nevertheless
these you shall not eat among those that chew the cud or those that have cloven hooves: the
camel, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you; 5 the rock
hyrax, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you; 6 the hare,
because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you; 7 and the swine,
though it divides the hoof, having cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. 8
Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. They are unclean to you.
24 ‘By these you shall become unclean; whoever touches the carcass of any of them shall be
unclean until evening; 25 whoever carries part of the carcass of any of them shall wash his
clothes and be unclean until evening:
Now before you stone me, look at verses 24-25 again. It says you will be unclean until
evening. This is not like those laws that require death. It is different in that way. What
do you think Jesus would say is the spirit of this law? I’ll give you my opinion but it’s just
that. Modern nutritionalists have studied all of the animals, fish, and creeping things
mentioned in this chapter and found that 100% of them are toxic to our bodies. Does our
body have mechanisms that fight off these toxins? Absolutely, but should we test God
that we when we don’t have to? I believe it should be in our hearts to be in the best
health possible so we can serve God for the longest possible lifetime and fulfill all our
purposes in Him. People will get diagnosed with some disease like high blood pressure
or something and the doctors will tell them to stop eating certain things because they’re
bad for them. I can remember my uncle Benny and my dad being told that they shouldn’t
eat certain things. With dad pork was one of those things. Unfortunately, they would
both say things like, “Oh, I like eating those things.” or “If I stop completely it would be like
being dead already.” I can remember after my uncle died going with my mom to his
apartment and finding like a garbage bag full of candy wrappers under his bed. He was
diabetic. We should have the desire in our hearts to keep this temple God blessed us
with at it’s best. The physical body inside and out and the spiritual body in our hearts
and minds. I feel I’ve spent a lot of time working on my spiritual body, renewing my mind
and heart to that of Christ, but I feel like I’ve really let my physical body go both inside
and out. I’m not up here preaching down at you about having it all together. This is
something that’s very close to my heart because it is something that I’m struggling with.
That’s why I believe the fellowship of believers is so important. As we each go through
our own struggles we are here to lift each other up and strengthen each other with our
testimonies. So what is the law in your heart? That’s something only you will be able to
answer. Dig deep to find out. What are your motivations? Is your desire for the
kingdom of heaven or for yourself? That is the big question.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: April 9, 2006