1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,640
We are in a series of heart-to-heart talks regarding the Ten Commandments,

2
00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:09,640
God's Ten Rules for Living.

3
00:00:09,640 --> 00:00:19,640
And you'll remember that I told you that there are really eleven commandments.

4
00:00:19,640 --> 00:00:23,640
Ten were given by God.

5
00:00:23,640 --> 00:00:30,640
The eleventh commandment was given by Jesus himself.

6
00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:40,640
And our little heart-to-heart talk today is the introduction to the eleventh commandment.

7
00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:45,640
Those of you who are following these heart-to-heart talks in this series of messages

8
00:00:45,640 --> 00:01:01,640
will remember that I told you that in reality these Ten Commandments are really God's Ten Rules for Living.

9
00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:13,640
When God created man, when the mighty Creator created man in his own image and after his own likeness,

10
00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:23,640
He gave man ten rules to govern his living.

11
00:01:23,640 --> 00:01:33,640
One, for instance, was as a protection for man's reputation.

12
00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:45,640
He gave another to protect life because life is something that's very precious.

13
00:01:45,640 --> 00:01:58,640
He gave a commandment to protect marriage, the sanctity of the home,

14
00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:05,640
because in the sight of God the relationship between man and woman is something very sacred.

15
00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:09,640
Thou shalt not commit adultery.

16
00:02:09,640 --> 00:02:12,640
Take one right act of the other.

17
00:02:12,640 --> 00:02:23,640
They are in reality ten rules laid down by God himself to govern our lives.

18
00:02:23,640 --> 00:02:26,640
And watch something.

19
00:02:26,640 --> 00:02:38,640
Jesus himself declared that the law, these ten rules will never be canceled out. Never.

20
00:02:38,640 --> 00:02:47,640
When anyone tells you that God's Ten Rules for Living, the Ten Commandments, have been voided,

21
00:02:47,640 --> 00:02:54,640
that they've been canceled out, that they are no longer in effect, that one speaks in error,

22
00:02:54,640 --> 00:02:58,640
because all on earth that you have to do is to just take the word of God.

23
00:02:58,640 --> 00:03:09,640
Take the word of Jesus, the one who declared that the law is still in effect

24
00:03:09,640 --> 00:03:21,640
and will continue to be in effect until that time when the surface of this earth will have been renovated by fire

25
00:03:21,640 --> 00:03:28,640
and the city of the New Jerusalem will rest upon this planet.

26
00:03:28,640 --> 00:03:37,640
And even then these Ten Rules for Living, the Ten Commandments, will not be destroyed.

27
00:03:37,640 --> 00:03:46,640
They will have passed from word to spirit, from cold letter into warm life.

28
00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:55,640
As it is now, the Ten Commandments are cold letter.

29
00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:59,640
They are the letter of the law.

30
00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:05,640
They are word. They govern.

31
00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:10,640
But the time will come when they will not be voided.

32
00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:18,640
They will simply pass from cold letter into warm life.

33
00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:21,640
They will pass from word into spirit.

34
00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:33,640
And that time will be when we have the ultimate law, the perfect law of righteousness.

35
00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:37,640
But man is not in a position at this time.

36
00:04:37,640 --> 00:04:47,640
God knows that this present civilization, that man at this time is not in a position,

37
00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:55,640
he is not geared to the ultimate law, the law of righteousness.

38
00:04:55,640 --> 00:05:03,640
He will not be in a position to be ruled by the perfect law of righteousness

39
00:05:03,640 --> 00:05:12,640
until this earth is populated with righteous people.

40
00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:14,640
Don't you understand?

41
00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:16,640
That's the reason Jesus said,

42
00:05:16,640 --> 00:05:21,640
think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets.

43
00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:26,640
In other words, the law is still in existence

44
00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:36,640
and will continue to be in existence till heaven and earth pass.

45
00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:43,640
And he refers to the time when the city of the New Jerusalem,

46
00:05:43,640 --> 00:05:48,640
as John saw it in vision and as recorded in the book of Revelation,

47
00:05:48,640 --> 00:05:56,640
cometh down from out of the heavens and this earth is completely renovated

48
00:05:56,640 --> 00:06:01,640
and this planet becomes our eternal heaven,

49
00:06:01,640 --> 00:06:13,640
populated with righteous people ruled over by God himself and Jesus his son.

50
00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:16,640
Now, watch something.

51
00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:27,640
Jesus is talking now not to all people, not to the unregenerated,

52
00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:31,640
but he's talking to those who have been born again,

53
00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:38,640
those who will have accepted salvation, regeneration.

54
00:06:38,640 --> 00:06:42,640
And he's saying something very definite.

55
00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:49,640
In essence, it's like this, the Ten Commandments,

56
00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:55,640
these Ten Rules for Living govern all men

57
00:06:55,640 --> 00:07:02,640
and should man break one of them, man will suffer.

58
00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:06,640
But he turns to those who have been regenerated

59
00:07:06,640 --> 00:07:13,640
and says to them, except your righteousness

60
00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:17,640
shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees,

61
00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:22,640
ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

62
00:07:22,640 --> 00:07:28,640
If you are a Christian, then he expects from your life

63
00:07:28,640 --> 00:07:35,640
a righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the law.

64
00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:39,640
Oh, sure, the scribes and the Pharisees kept the law

65
00:07:39,640 --> 00:07:45,640
to the crossing of every T, the dotting of every I.

66
00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:51,640
They adhered to the law so perfectly that in one instance

67
00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:55,640
they even accused Jesus of breaking the law.

68
00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:59,640
They would not break the law for anything in the world.

69
00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:04,640
And yet their hearts were so deceitful.

70
00:08:04,640 --> 00:08:07,640
Their lives, some of them, so immoral.

71
00:08:07,640 --> 00:08:17,640
And yet their righteousness was only the righteousness of the externals.

72
00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:20,640
Jesus said, if you're a Christian,

73
00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:25,640
if you are a member of my body, if you're born again,

74
00:08:25,640 --> 00:08:29,640
if you've had this new birth experience,

75
00:08:29,640 --> 00:08:36,640
the righteousness that I expect from you is a righteousness

76
00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:43,640
that begins inside, in the heart, internally.

77
00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:51,640
It's a righteousness that exceeds the righteousness

78
00:08:51,640 --> 00:08:53,640
of the scribes and the Pharisees.

79
00:08:53,640 --> 00:09:00,640
It goes further than the law.

80
00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:05,640
The righteousness that exceeds is not careless about the platter

81
00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:10,640
and the cup, is not careless about the tithe,

82
00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:13,640
is not careless about committing adultery,

83
00:09:13,640 --> 00:09:18,640
is not careless about bearing false witness against thy neighbor,

84
00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:22,640
is not careless about the Lord's Day, no.

85
00:09:22,640 --> 00:09:33,640
But the righteousness that exceeds does not have its beginning

86
00:09:33,640 --> 00:09:37,640
in the cup and the platter, or in the tithe,

87
00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:40,640
or in the keeping of the Lord's Day.

88
00:09:40,640 --> 00:09:50,640
It is a righteousness that begins in the heart.

89
00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:56,640
A new creature in Christ Jesus.

90
00:09:56,640 --> 00:10:00,640
When you are born again, something happens on the inside of you,

91
00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:07,640
that you are not governed merely with the law.

92
00:10:07,640 --> 00:10:11,640
You are governed by a law.

93
00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:19,640
You do these things because you want to,

94
00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:24,640
because they have become a very part of your nature.

95
00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:29,640
You do them because it's something that's spontaneous.

96
00:10:29,640 --> 00:10:34,640
You're obedient to Him in the paying of your tithes and your offerings,

97
00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:37,640
because you love Him enough.

98
00:10:37,640 --> 00:10:41,640
Love is something you do.

99
00:10:41,640 --> 00:10:43,640
Know that.

100
00:10:43,640 --> 00:10:51,640
You cannot love without doing is absolutely impossible.

101
00:10:51,640 --> 00:10:54,640
You cannot separate one from the other.

102
00:10:54,640 --> 00:11:01,640
When you love enough, you'll do.

103
00:11:01,640 --> 00:11:05,640
Nobody is forcing me to do what I'm doing.

104
00:11:05,640 --> 00:11:16,640
Nobody, no law could force me to work 16, 18, 20 hours a day.

105
00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:20,640
No law, no man could force me.

106
00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:22,640
I would rebel against it.

107
00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:26,640
I just wouldn't do it.

108
00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:29,640
That's right.

109
00:11:29,640 --> 00:11:32,640
Why do I do what I do?

110
00:11:32,640 --> 00:11:38,640
It's because of something that's inside of me.

111
00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:41,640
I love Him enough.

112
00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:43,640
I love souls enough.

113
00:11:43,640 --> 00:11:45,640
I love people.

114
00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:49,640
I love the Word.

115
00:11:49,640 --> 00:11:57,640
That I do it because I want to do it.

116
00:11:57,640 --> 00:12:05,640
And it's just like that, that righteousness that exceeds.

117
00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:12,640
Now, there's a third step.

118
00:12:12,640 --> 00:12:17,640
First we have the law given by God Himself.

119
00:12:17,640 --> 00:12:26,640
Then we have the righteousness that exceeds that Jesus talked about.

120
00:12:26,640 --> 00:12:33,640
There is a third step.

121
00:12:33,640 --> 00:12:40,640
And it's found in that same sermon from the same lips.

122
00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:48,640
And it's in the last verse of the fifth chapter of Matthew.

123
00:12:48,640 --> 00:12:57,640
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

124
00:12:57,640 --> 00:13:03,640
Somebody throws up his hands and says, My goodness, alive, Miss Kuhlman.

125
00:13:03,640 --> 00:13:05,640
I can accept the law.

126
00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:12,640
I can understand why God would have to lay down a law to govern men.

127
00:13:12,640 --> 00:13:22,640
But I thought he was going almost too far when Jesus came forth and said,

128
00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:30,640
He expects Christians to produce a righteousness that excels,

129
00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:35,640
a righteousness that goes beyond even the law.

130
00:13:35,640 --> 00:13:44,640
Now you tell me there is a third step, a step of perfection.

131
00:13:44,640 --> 00:13:48,640
How in the world is that achieved?

132
00:13:48,640 --> 00:13:52,640
I know exactly how you feel.

133
00:13:52,640 --> 00:13:58,640
I battled over this thing for a long, long time.

134
00:13:58,640 --> 00:14:04,640
Because I know myself better than anybody else knows me.

135
00:14:04,640 --> 00:14:08,640
I know Catherine Kuhlman.

136
00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:10,640
I know myself so well.

137
00:14:10,640 --> 00:14:12,640
I know my imperfection.

138
00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:15,640
I know my weaknesses.

139
00:14:15,640 --> 00:14:19,640
Well, I just know me.

140
00:14:19,640 --> 00:14:24,640
And when I put myself up against this command to be perfect,

141
00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:28,640
I'm just sunk before I ever begin.

142
00:14:28,640 --> 00:14:30,640
That's the reason, you know,

143
00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:37,640
I stand before members of my congregation and I say to you,

144
00:14:37,640 --> 00:14:40,640
now you get your eyes off of Catherine Kuhlman.

145
00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:44,640
Get your eyes off of me.

146
00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:50,640
As sure as you do, you may be disappointed.

147
00:14:50,640 --> 00:14:57,640
Because I'm mighty disappointed in myself sometimes.

148
00:14:57,640 --> 00:15:00,640
I'm just like any other Christian.

149
00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:03,640
I'm not perfection.

150
00:15:03,640 --> 00:15:06,640
I know better than you are.

151
00:15:06,640 --> 00:15:12,640
I too am a sinner saved by the grace of God.

152
00:15:12,640 --> 00:15:18,640
But I still have an old body of flesh.

153
00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:22,640
This old body is still corruption.

154
00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:27,640
There's still weakness of the flesh in this old body.

155
00:15:27,640 --> 00:15:29,640
Talk about Paul.

156
00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:31,640
Paul had the same battle.

157
00:15:31,640 --> 00:15:38,640
Oh, he said, I have a warfare that goes on constantly

158
00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:41,640
between the flesh and the spirit.

159
00:15:41,640 --> 00:15:50,640
Paul claimed no complete victory in himself.

160
00:15:50,640 --> 00:15:56,640
He said it's a warfare, it's a battle, it's a fight, it's a struggle.

161
00:15:56,640 --> 00:16:03,640
Paul did not say, look upon me and behold a saint.

162
00:16:03,640 --> 00:16:08,640
Look upon me and see one who is absolutely perfect.

163
00:16:08,640 --> 00:16:13,640
Beloved, there's only one who is perfect, just one.

164
00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:16,640
And that's the Son of the Living God.

165
00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:28,640
Yet Jesus demands perfection of God's children.

166
00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:37,640
Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

167
00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:41,640
What is it?

168
00:16:41,640 --> 00:16:47,640
In our next heart-to-heart talk.

169
00:16:47,640 --> 00:16:52,640
And it will be one of the greatest heart-to-heart talks we've ever had.

170
00:16:52,640 --> 00:17:02,640
I shall give you from the word exactly what this perfection is.

171
00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:08,640
Open our minds to the spiritual understanding of the deep truths for Jesus' sake.

172
00:17:08,640 --> 00:17:12,640
Amen.