Grace Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Friday,
September 8, 2017
Keeping the Mosaic Law in itself is not happiness. The Law merely provides a “house” where happiness can live and be sustained.
Freedom verses slavery.
The first thing that we notice is that the Decalogue or the 10C did not come from Moses but from God.
These principles were given to a people who had just been set free to establish their own nation.
The verb “saying” is the Qal infinitive of the Hebrew verb amar which means “to bring to light.”
The Ten Commandments were never given to the Jews until they came OUT OF SLAVERY. Therefore, the Ten Commandments are for a people who have freedom.
Soul slavery precedes physical slavery.
Emotional revolt of the soul is the result of negative volition to God’s norms and standards. It leads to “scar tissue” of the soul and to the acceptance of false norms and standards.
Every “Thou shalt not” is a challenge to FREE WILL, which means that once you have physical freedom, you can, by your own volition, use or abuse that freedom.
If you maintain your freedom, you have great inner happiness; but, if you abuse this freedom, you will not only become a slave to emotion under emotional revolt of the soul and hardness of the heart.
For in EXO 20:2 we read again "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
The “am,” is in italics, it has been inserted, and is misleading. In the correct declaration, “I, the Lord thy God,” God is not establishing His existence, but is establishing Himself as the Source.
Basic enslavement in human life, as taught in Romans 6, occurs in the soul, and believers are commanded to avoid soul enslavement.
It is what goes on in the soul that determines freedom or slavery, and soul activity in turn influences the overt activity of the individual and the nation.
The phrase, “the Lord thy God,” in Exodus 20:2 is very interesting because it is made up of two words — the Tetragrammaton, which we will simply call “Jehovah,” and the noun, “Elohim.”
The God of Israel is Jesus Christ; therefore, “I, the Lord thy God, Jesus Christ,” gave these commandments to Moses.
Later on, great portions of the Mosaic Law were also taught by angels (Gal. 3:19).
GAL 3:19 Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator,
Neither the gospel nor evangelism was the issue in this passage because the people of the nation were already saved. But I will tell you what was the issue — FREEDOM!
The verb “have brought out” is the Hebrew word yatsa which means that the Jews were caused to go forth, or to be delivered from slavery.
The principle comes out in the literal rendition: “I have caused you to go forth out of the land of Egypt.”
The bloodshed by the physical death of the lamb taught, through representative analogy, the spiritual death of Christ.
The Old Testament believers looked forward to the cross, while today we look back to the cross; but for both, salvation is BY FAITH.
- First of all, Freedom Demands Responsibility. Once they were free from physical slavery, the Jews had the responsibility of not only exercising their freedom, but also of protecting and maintaining their freedom.
- Human Freedom Is a Primary Factor in the Resolving of the Angelic Conflict.
- Human Freedom Gives Opportunity for Relationship with God.
- God Has Designed Laws for the Protection of Freedom in the Angelic Conflict.
Without divine provision for the stability of the soul, man is no match for Satan, “the god of this world” (2Co 4:4).
Legalism is the greatest enemy of all of God’s grace provisions, and the Decalogue has been distorted and abused by legalism.
Legalism is Satanic in origin and is part of Satan’s strategy in the angelic conflict to destroy the true purpose of the Ten Commandments, and in this way destroy human freedom.
- All Sin, Known or Unknown Involves the Action of the Volition.
Subsequent events reveal that Adam understood the issue involved in God’s commandment, “Thou shalt not eat,” given in Genesis 2:17, but that the woman did not.
GEN 3:13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" And the woman said," The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
Since the serpent beguiled the woman, it is evident that she had developed an unstable soul in innocence.
Gen 3:6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate;
Even though she did not understand what she was doing, her volition was involved. Adam, on the other hand, knew exactly what he was doing.
How did they sin without an old sin nature?
Mechanically, there was only one way — through their volition. Volition operated in both souls: both sinned, one knowingly, one unknowingly, but both willingly.
They did not possess and old sin nature; yet the sin nature, once acquired, never produces sin apart from volition — NEVER!
- Volition and Human Freedom Are the Basis of the Function of True Love.
There are three categories of love: Category One — love toward God; Category Two — love toward right man-right woman; Category Three — love toward friends.
The man is the aggressor, and the initiation of love must come from his volition.
By contrast, a woman is designed to respond, but the response of love must come from HER VOLITION! True love cannot be coerced; it must be freely given.
True love cannot be found where it doesn't truly exist and it cannot be hidden where it truly does.
A woman can be very aggressive in responding to a man, but that does not mean that she is manly. It means that her volition has been protected, and she is free to respond.
The enslavement of a woman’s volition destroys her capacity for love.
Human Freedom is also the Basis for Determining Human Maturity. Human maturity is taking full responsibility for one’s decisions.
- Volition Is the Issue in Salvation. The reason volition is the determining factor is that everything else has been provided by God.
Salvation was designed by God the Father (Joh 4:34), is revealed by God the Holy Spirit (1Co 2:10), and was purchased by the Lord Jesus Christ through His work on the cross (1Pe 2:24)
Positive volition is: “He that BELIEVETH on the Son hath everlasting life”; negative volition is: “he that believeth NOT the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:36).
- Human Freedom Is Protected by God’s Prohibitions. “Thou shalt not” is not a tyrannical expression of God’s will; rather it has been given by God in His grace for the protection of the freedom of your soul and the freedom of your nation.
We are now ready for the first commandment: Exodus 20:3.