Meet Leo the Lion, he has a voracious appetite. The problem is, he's not a vegetarian. That means well, the other animals in his neighborhood are at risk, real serious risk. If you were a zebra drinking at the wrong place in the wrong time, you might just be his next meal. Lions aren't the only predators on the planet, there are other offenders too such as alligators, hyenas, leopards, frogs, wolves and bears. Back in the jungle, none of the animals can do anything about Leo's habit of eating their relatives. Too bad. They wouldn't even think about taking Leo to court and prosecute him for murder. Why? Because he's not a moral creature, neither are they for that matter.
Leo can't reason from cause to effect, he can't understand right from wrong. He only knows he's hungry and needs to eat, it's pure instinct. That's why Leo is beyond prosecution by moral or civil laws. However, if he eats a moral creature like you or me, Leo will pay dearly with his life, but not because he broke the law of the land. Unlike Leo however, when we harm someone else, we are held accountable for our actions because we are intelligent moral beings. We understand pain and are intelligent enough to demand justice.
Imagine a monkey placing an ad in the personal section describing the type of person he's looking for in a mate, not going to happen. This further illustrates the vast difference between animals, humans and moral accountability. Even small children understand the basic principles of moral action. How many times have you heard children say, "Hey, that's not fair."? When God created humans, He programmed into our brains the wonderful ability to reason from course to effect, to understand right from wrong.
Now, if God exists, He must have a government, and if there is a government, then there are laws. And if there are laws, we are accountable to those laws. Simple. The Law of God is as immutable as His throne and maintains its claims upon mankind in all ages, even in the post modern age. However, like the ostrich sticks its head in the sand thinking the threat of danger is gone, millions believe we can remove morality from society and not suffer the consequences. What people want is to be free, free from all moral restraint, but at what price?
The world is beginning to look a lot more like Leo's kingdom, the one rule by intelligent moral beings. Just like the law of gravity, when we ignore fixed moral laws, we suffer the consequences. For example, let's imagine that just one of God's moral laws were kept by the whole human race. Let's see, I'll take number eight, "You shall not steal." First of all, if everyone kept the eighth law, we wouldn't need locks on any doors or security systems in our homes or businesses. Have you ever had something stolen from you? How did it feel? Did you feel violated? Probably.
How many crimes involve stealing in our world? In America alone, 1.5 million homes are burglarized each year. Credit card fraud costs banks and card holders $190 billion annually. We all know about the Internet scams that rip people off as well. If everyone kept the eighth law, we wouldn't see any posters of children who have been stolen and abused by law breakers.
It isn't hard to imagine what a peaceful world it will be if all 10 of God's moral laws were kept by everyone. The law serves as a hedge of protection against selfishness. Remove this hedge in our society, and we expose ourselves to untold misery, danger and harm. When a parent tells a child, "Don't play in the street," are they trying to stop them from having fun or to protect them from harm? The child may see the command as a, "You shall not," but it was love that motivated the command. God's moral laws operate the same way.
Each of the big 10 define relationships based on love. The first four deal with love to God and the last six define the golden rule, "Do to others what you would want them to do to you." If everyone practiced the golden rule, there would be no stealing, murder, lying, rape, cheating or criminals, no betrayal of sacred trust, no divorce or starving children, and no corrupt judges and politicians.
Why? It would be heaven on earth.
The Bible says, it is appointed once for man to die, and after that the judgment. What? A judgment? That's right. Have you considered that you will stand before the God of Heaven and face your life's record, where every thought, motive and action will be judged by God's moral law. Can you imagine standing there alone to answer the unerring charges against yourself?
Humans frame laws into zealous to enforce them. Does it make sense then that we can transgress the laws from the mightiest sovereign of the universe and not be held accountable for our actions? Do you have a plan to get yourself off this planet after you die? Didn't think so. Without some rescue plan, the grave would be our eternal resting place. Why? Because we're paying for sin's eternal [unintelligible 00:05:38].
Here is the amazing part, God so loved the world that He gave His Son, so that whoever believes on his name will perish but can to have eternal life. That means you. The law-giver was the only one who could pay the penalty of the law breaker. An angel's life or any created being wouldn't be sufficient to pay the debt of our lawlessness. Jesus, the creator of heaven and earth, creator of the 300 sextillion stars and billions of galaxies in our universe, volunteered to come and die for our lawless [unintelligible 00:06:12]. What an exchange?
The very fact that it was necessary for Christ to die in order to atone for the transgression of His law, proves the law is immutable, unchangeable and eternal. Some Christians claim the law was nailed to the cross, and criticize those who would keep all the laws of God. However, if keeping the laws of the land makes us good citizens, why would keeping all 10 commandments make us bad Christians?
Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments." It really makes sense when you consider they're based on love to begin with. The truth about God's law is that it is still binding upon all men today. It does not ask what is your creed, what you believe, it does not care whether you are an atheist or a believer, rich or poor, free or slave. It only asks you to obey, to love. Will you accept the free gift offered by Jesus, His perfect life for your life record of lawlessness, or will you find yourself unsheltered and unforgiven on the great judgment day? Something to think about.