Sunday Night Bible Study - Obeying All the Commands

Whitten Baptist Church

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Now, I want you to pay attention. It wasn't anything in Israel. It wasn't their military size.

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It wasn't the type of people. Good evening and welcome to Sunday Night Bible Study with Pastor Josiah Shipley of Wynton Baptist Church.

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I am very, very excited to start this new series with you. And this series is simply this.

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Are we to obey all the commands in the Bible? Why does it appear that some

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Christians, or that Christians in general, pick and choose which commands they obey? Are we to obey all the

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Levitical law? Even the ceremonial, civil, judicial, moral law.

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What are we supposed to obey? What's the purpose of it? Was that just for the people of Israel? So on and so forth.

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How applicable is Exodus to our lives today? This series is going to take a while.

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And some of you may be frustrated that it takes so long because you just want me to come out and answer the question right now.

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But I'm not going to do that because it takes time. God spent 1 ,500 years and 66 books with 40 -something writers to write his words.

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So we're going to take some time studying it. But I truly believe that if you stick with this series and take some notes, that hopefully, not because of me, but because of what the

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Word says, you can come away with some solid apologetic answers. Here at Witten, as pastors, we don't want to produce sheep that can't defend what they believe.

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Remember, like 1 Peter 3 .15 says, you're not defending God or the

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Bible. He doesn't need your help. You're defending the hope that is in you. Honor Messiah as Lord of your hearts.

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Always be ready to give a reasoned defense to anyone who asks for a reason for the hope that is in you. That is what we're trying to do.

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And this is a common objection of, Oh, well, are you wearing clothes with two different types of garments?

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Or you eat catfish and pork and so on and so forth. And do you believe in capital punishment for adultery?

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Stuff like that. So we're not going to shun any of those questions. We're going to get to all of them. But we've got some groundwork to do before we get there.

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So, let's start with a definition of hermeneutics. Hermeneutics are the rules for interpretation.

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They are the rules that we use to interpret the Bible. Remember, we've gone over some of this before.

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There's seven or eight rules for interpretation. Context, historical context, grammar, syntax, words that mean things, right?

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Literary genres. God used 40 -something writers to write his word. And he used a variety of literary genres.

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He used biographies, autobiographies, historical accounts, law, prophecy, epistles, which are just letters, musical stuff, wisdom literature, poetry.

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So, you always have to read that genre as if it's that genre. A proverb in any culture is a general truth.

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The difference between that and the Book of Proverbs is Proverbs is a Holy Scripture -inspired general truth, right?

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So, let's start with the premise of, do we have to obey God? Now, this may seem like an obvious question to some of you, but it's amazing how many

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Christians don't understand or don't care to obey God. And if we have somebody that says something like this, well,

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I love Jesus, I just don't really care about obeying the Bible. It's okay to question, and I just mean question, how much do they really love

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Jesus? For example, John 14 -15, Jesus said, If you love me, keep my commandments.

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So, if someone is not keeping his commandments, are they really showing Jesus love? This theme is throughout the

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Bible. Ecclesiastes 12 -13, this verse is a groundbreaking verse for me.

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Ecclesiastes 12 -13, remember Solomon wrote this, as he did with Song of Songs, Song of Solomon, most of Proverbs, a couple of the

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Psalms. Proverbs 12 -13 says this, The end of the matter, all has been heard.

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Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. Fear God and keep his commandments, this is the whole duty of man.

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Yeah, Josiah, well that's just Solomon. Okay, let's continue. 1 Samuel 15 -22.

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1 Samuel 15 -22. I hope you're writing these down. Go back and find the references.

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What the Scripture has to say is more important than anything I'll ever say. 1 Samuel 15 -22.

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Let me give you the background for this. God told King Saul, the first king of Israel, well, the one they chose for themselves because he was a head taller than everyone else, because he looked the part on the outside.

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Go and destroy the Ammonites, leave nothing alive, and take no spoils. Well, Saul went and destroyed them, but he took the king as a trophy,

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King Agag, and allowed his troops to take some of the cattle and sheep. The prophet

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Samuel realizes that Saul did not obey God fully. Now notice

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Saul obeyed God mostly, but partial obedience is total rebellion. God said leave nothing alive,

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Saul let Agag live, and God said take nothing, and Saul allowed the soldiers to take the cattle and the spoil and sheep and all that stuff.

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God sees that as total rebellion. Then notice, even though the soldiers also sinned,

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God spoke to the king first, the one in charge, the federal head, if you will. When Samuel asked

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Saul, why did you disobey God? This is Saul's response. Verse 20,

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Saul said to Samuel, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I went on the mission which the Lord sent me. I brought back

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Agag, the king of Amalek, the Amalekites, not the Ammonites, I'm sorry, and I devoted the

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Amalekites to destruction, but the people took the spoil, the sheep, the ox, and the best of things devoted to destruction to sacrifice to Yahweh your

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God at Gilgal. Now, I want you to hear their excuse for sin. It's far better than anyone you and I will ever have.

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Saul says, yes, the soldiers took the cattle and sheep, but they did it to offer sacrifices to you, God. This is

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Samuel's response. Verse 22, has Yahweh has greater delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of Yahweh?

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Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen, the fat of rams.

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In other words, obedience is what God desires most, from the outward and the inward.

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So, Ecclesiastes, the whole duty of man, fear God and keep his commandments. 1 Samuel 15, 22, to obey is better than even offering sacrifices to me.

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Jesus said, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. So, we're going through the whole Bible, have you noticed? 1

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John 5, 1 John 5, so we have wisdom literature, we have historical account in 1

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Samuel, we have one of the Gospels in John, and then we have an epistle, a general epistle. 1

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John 5, 2 through 4. 1 John 5, 2 through 4.

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By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.

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For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments. Let me read that one again. This is the love of God that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.

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For everyone has been born of God that overcomes the world, and this is the victor that has overcome the world, our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the

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Son of God? This is the love of God that we obey his commandments, and they're not burdensome.

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Because in your sanctification process, the more and more you conform to the image of Christ, even though there's ups and downs, the more you begin to hate sin and love the things that please

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God. So I think that is a resounding yes answer to the question, are we to obey

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God? Not only are we to, it's the most important thing to God. More than raising your hands during worship, more than singing the loudest, more than having a gold star on your

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Sunday school report, the most important thing to God is to keep his commandments. So now the question becomes, what has he commanded me to do?

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When talking about hermeneutics, three mistakes Christians often make when interpreting the Bible are a failure to look at the context, the use of anachronisms, and the chapter and verse divisions.

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Let me give you some examples of these, and you can see what I mean. Jonah 1 -2.

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Now I want everyone to read Jonah 1 -2, and don't read verse 1 or verse 3. Just read Jonah 1 -2.

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Let's see if I can remember where the book of Jonah is. Jonah 1 -2.

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Jonah 1 -2 says this. Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.

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Alright Christians, why is everyone not getting up and going to the city of Nineveh? Verse 2.

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Doesn't the Bible say go to Nineveh? Let me read it again. Arise, go to Nineveh. Christians, why are you all not getting on a plane to Nineveh right now?

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Josiah, there is no Nineveh. You're missing the point. If the Bible tells you to do it, why aren't you doing it?

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Well, context, the Bible's not talking to you. Who's the Bible talking to? Jonah.

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The Bible's talking to Jonah. Now, is there a moral truth there that we can glean from?

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Sure, God wants us to go to all the world and preach repentance. But the point is, that's a contextual mistake there, but also the chapter and verse divisions.

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Guys, we've been over this a hundred times. Remember, the chapter and verse divisions were not originally there in the

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Bible. They came centuries, millennia later. Now, it's a good thing they're there. It helps us find certain verses in the

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Bible, like we just did. But don't read your Bible in a chapter and verse format, or you'll always be confused.

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You know, it's funny. I've shared this before. Some of you were like, oh my gosh, he's going to do it again.

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Remember, a few years ago, I saw someone on Facebook make a post quoting the Bible out of Luke and of Matthew, and said, bow down and worship me, and I'll give you all that you see.

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And the comment section was filled with amen, hallelujah, praise God. Problem is, who said that in the scriptures?

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Satan. If you just read that chapter and verse, and you don't look at who's talking, who they're talking to, just like here in Jonah, you're going to start going to Nineveh when

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God never told you to, he told Jonah to. That was Satan that said that to Jesus to tempt him. That's how important context is.

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Satan did not misquote scripture when he was trying to tempt Jesus. He pulled it out of context.

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Like when the Psalms say, he will give his angels charge over you. Satan used that to say, oh, well that means if you jump off this temple, the angels will save you.

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But that's not what Psalms is talking about. He pulled it out of context.

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He didn't misquote it, he pulled it out of context. Same with Jonah 1 -2. Luke 9 -21 is another example.

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Luke 9 -21. You just read verse 21, don't look at the context, don't look at who's talking, who they're talking to.

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You don't look at any of that and you just read it without any context. Here's what it says. So we're not supposed to evangelize?

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We shouldn't tell people about the gospel? No, Jesus was speaking to his followers in that instance only.

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He later commands them to go tell the whole world. But right there in that moment, he didn't want them to go tell people about him being the

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Christ. Because it wasn't time yet. Look at the context, forget the chapter and verses, and life will make a lot more sense.

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When you read the Bible that way. But it must be done in the context that these are a collection of historical books that really happen.

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That God gave real commands to real people. Those commands sometimes are not directly applicable to you today in the sense that you were to follow them in the way they were given.

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Otherwise you would have to go to Nineveh or not preach the gospel. We need to recognize them in the sense that God... It's kind of like when people read 2

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Chronicles 7 -14 and say, Oh, well that's a prophecy about the

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United States of America. Do not be so myopic. God was speaking of the nation

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Israel. Is that true? Yes.

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Is that a prophecy about the United States of America? No. But the moral truth from it is applicable. Context.

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Guys, you don't have to be embarrassed about what's in the book of Exodus. Read it for what it is.

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Don't candy cone it. The next one we're talking about is the use of anachronisms.

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Now anachronisms are putting present context on past history. For example,

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And some of them got sick. I know a lot of them died for other reasons. Cold, whatever. Well, of course not.

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Because he didn't know about germs in the same way that we do today. That's anachronistic.

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You're putting a modern context back on him. Sometimes an accidental anachronism is you'll see in a movie, someone from the 1800s has an

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Apple Watch on because the actor didn't take it off. That's an accidental anachronism. But, you know, an anachronism is putting that modern context.

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So, for example, An unbeliever, an atheist may say, because this has happened to me,

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And everyone starts freaking out because you probably, when you hear the word slave, are going to put a modern context of your view of the evils of the

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North American slave trade, for example, back on the book of Exodus. In other words, it was a capital offense to steal somebody and sell them.

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You are not allowed to kidnap people and sell them. There it is, right there in the book of Exodus.

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Anybody from any nation. Well, that destroys the idea of the horrors and the sinfulness of the

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North American slave trade. In other words, when you read the Bible for what it says, don't read it in a modern context, you'll see and trust that God is all good, benevolent, and moral.

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You just have to read it in the context it was. The slavery spoken of in the Old Testament is nothing related to our modern idea of it.

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In fact, it was mostly used as a way to sell yourself for a certain number of years, say seven, for example, in the instance of some, to pay off a debt you could never pay.

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It was a way to work your way out of debt. Now, yes, there were also prisoners of war.

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That happened. War happened. And there was also a prison of war system.

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But in the law are guardrails against the abuse of those people.

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God's law made provision for that in a world where no one else did. Okay, so yeah, you've got to read the

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Bible in its context. You've got to not use anachronisms, and you can't trust the chapter and verse divisions as if they are original.

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So we've already come to the fact that you can't just read a sample sentence out of the Bible and say, oh,

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I've got to go to Nineveh now. You've got to read it in the context of who he's talking to. And our ultimate command is 1

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John 5 .23. Our ultimate command is 1 John 5 .23. It says this.

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I think I wrote down the wrong one. That can't be right. I'll tell you what.

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It's 1 John 3 .23. Let me fix that in my notes. It's 1 John 3 .23.

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I don't even think there is a 1 John 5 .23. 1 John 3 .23 says this.

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And this is the commandment, that we believe on the name of the Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another just as he commanded us.

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Notice it says this is the commandment, one. And then it says two things, love Jesus and love each other.

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Because those are really the same thing. Jesus said, if you've given them food, given them a cup of water, you've done it to me.

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Loving each other, Christian, is how you show love to Jesus.

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Greater love has no man than this, that man would lay down his life for his friend. Okay, so we have set the stage that obedience is the most important thing to God.

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And that when finding out what we are to obey, we need to read the Bible as it was originally written, not in a modern context.

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So, next week we're going to go over the purpose of the law. For you reformer geeks, you know, the three purposes of the law, we're going to do four.

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So we can one -up the reformers, right? Take that, Zwingli and Calvin and Luther. We're going to do the four purposes of the law.

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Talk about a little bit about what it is. Alright, I hope this was beneficial to you in some way.

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Go re -watch it. Re -listen to it. Search the scriptures that we talked about, and hopefully you'll receive some type of benefit from it as you study.

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Love you guys very much. Continue tuning in next week. I hope you've been liking the Shooting from the Hip series with Matt Atkins and Brother Bill.

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We'll continue to do that some in the future. But for now, we're going to stick with this series. Love you guys very much, and I will see you all next week.