F4F | Sorting out the Biblical Covenants

Fighting for the Faith

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Welcome to another installment of Fighting for the Faith. My name is Chris Roseborough. I am your servant in Jesus Christ.

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This is the channel that compares what people are saying in the name of God to the Word of God. All right, we've got a long episode.

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So I promised y 'all that I was going to do a review, a review of Robert Morris's Blessed Life, and so I want to talk about what the plans are.

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So before we get to it, let's, you know, kind of take a look here and let's pull up the old web browser, and we're gonna be doing at least two episodes on debunking the

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Blessed Life. But in doing my preparation for debunking the Blessed Life, it became really apparent to me that the root cause of Christians fall for, you know, these kinds of false teachings.

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You know, are Christians obligated to follow the Mosaic Covenant's command to tithe? No, we're not.

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But are we required to keep the Passover? No, we're not.

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Are we required to keep the Mosaic Covenant's Sabbath laws? No, we're not.

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But the thing is, is that if you don't understand why, then it's really, you know, you end up having to reinvent the wheel like five or six times, like for each and every time.

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So what I'm gonna do here is we're gonna start a little mini -series here on Fighting for the

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Faith, and about errors that relate to a improper understanding of the biblical covenants.

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When you understand the biblical covenants correctly, then what happens is you're no longer going to be swayed by the false teachers of the

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Hebrew roots movement, guys like Larry Huck, and even guys like, well,

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Robert Morris. So let's just say we got so much work to do that we're going to have to dedicate this first episode in the series to an in -depth look, and I mean in -depth, this is gonna be a long episode, an in -depth look at the biblical covenants, how they're established, how they work, how the signs play into it, and which covenant we're in, and we're going to be taking a really good look, hard look, at Galatians chapters 3 and 4, as well as Hebrews 5, 7, 8, 9, and 10.

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So let's just say we got a lot of biblical ground to cover. But before we get to that, what

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I wanted to do was go back in time. This is me from seven years ago.

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I debated a guy in the Hebrew roots movement by the name of Jim Staley. Now, a little after I debated him, he ended up going to prison for some time because he was found guilty of, you know, let's just say, taking little old lady's inheritance money, and lots of it.

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So, you know, he's somebody who's disqualified from any teaching publicly within the body of Christ, and you shouldn't be listening to him on moral grounds, as well as on grounds related to false teaching, because he's a

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Judaizer. Just straight up, that's exactly what he is. So what we're gonna do here is we're gonna go to the

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Q &A portion of my debate with him from seven years ago. You know, I just look at myself and go, yeah, this is before I decided to grow the the goatee out a little bit longer, but you could already see the gray hair!

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It's so annoying. Anyway, I want you to listen to this exchange during the

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Q &A time, because one of the things I kind of keyed in on is that with his understanding of Christians being obligated to keep

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Torah, to keep the Sabbath, to keep the feast days, you know, there's no physical temple in Jerusalem presently, and so my question for him was is, why aren't you presenting yourself three times a year in Jerusalem as the

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Torah demands, and if they rebuilt the temple, would you be offering sacrifices there?

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And his answers help us understand what the problem is as we study the covenants, because a proper understanding of the covenants will protect you from guys like Jim Staley.

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But let's listen to this exchange. Jim, in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 14 through 15, it says, "...for

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he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances."

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Yes sir. What does that mean? Okay, well if you look... Now real quick,

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I'm gonna pull this up in my Bible, and I didn't plan on this, but worth looking at.

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We're gonna duplicate this tab, and we're gonna go to Ephesians chapter 2, and after that wonderful section, then we get this, "...for

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he himself, Christ, you know, but now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

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For he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace."

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Now, as this teaching today unfolds, you're gonna understand that the Mosaic Covenant, its official status,

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I think the theological term is kaput, okay? That's the German theological status.

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It's kaput. It is not in place. Christ has fulfilled it, and here it says

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Christ has abolished the law of commandments. Now, this does not mean that the Ten Commandments, at least nine of them, don't apply today, because those get reiterated in the

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New Testament, in the New Covenant. The one that doesn't is the Sabbath, and we'll explain why.

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So that's the text that I read out to him, that Christ has abolished the law of commandments expressed in ordinances.

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Flat -out, you know, that's what the text says. So here's his answer. The first century, and the term here that is important to understand is the wall of separation.

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The reason why the Apostle uses the wall of separation is because there was a very real wall of separation in the temple that was kept the

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Gentiles on this side of the wall and the Jewish people on that side of the wall. It was the wall of separation that was contained in ordinances and commandments that were not found in Torah, but the oral law of the

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Jews that separated the Jew from the Gentile. So if you don't know what he just did there, he is flat -out denying what this text says by making the referent not the

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Torah, but the oral Torah of the Pharisees. That is a slick trick, but we continue.

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It was done away with. It was those laws of commandments, as well as the sin and bonds of our sin that were nailed to the cross, not the law of God.

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If it is the law of God, we have big problems with Paul when he upholds the law, and John tells us to keep the commandments of God, and then in the

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Great Tribulation it is said that the saints are the ones that are keeping the commandments of God. What is the purpose of the law? The purpose of the law is to show people their sin and to prove our love for God.

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Okay. Do you keep it? I absolutely keep the best that I can. No questions asked.

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No more than I keep my wife's laws the best that I can. Okay. Is the standard set out in Scripture regarding the keeping of the

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Torah that you do your best that you can? What is the standard? The standard is perfection. There are no questions asked.

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Okay. So you don't... Because the standard is Christ, and we are to attain and reach for the standard of our Messiah. So you do not keep the

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Torah? I keep the Torah as I absolutely best can, reaching for the rung of the

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Messiah. Do you appear three times a year before the Lord in Jerusalem? Not required to. You are required to.

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Are you sure? If you are keeping Torah, you are required to appear before the Lord three times a year. Do you know where that Scripture is? Yeah, yeah. It is actually...this

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is talking about the feast days. Okay. And do you know the conditions of which we are required to appear before the

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Lord, and those conditions are not available today? So that commandment is put on pause because the requirement is that the temple is supposed to be standing.

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If a temple was there, would you be keeping that? I suppose I would ask for him to give me free flight status to get there.

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But absolutely, I would do my best to always honor my King. All right. That's the answer that you needed to hear.

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So in the Mosaic Covenant, it is absolutely required of those in the Mosaic Covenant to appear, the males, to appear three times a year in the place where God has caused

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His name to dwell. And this was in the Old Testament before the temple, it was where the tabernacle was tabernacling, and then in Jerusalem, where the temple was built as a fixed item.

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And he flat out said, I asked him, so if they rebuild the temple, will you be flying, will you be going to Jerusalem three times a year and offering sacrifices?

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Answer, yes. And that shows a complete jumbling and a misunderstanding, or I would say deceived or being deceived, or deceiving, it's kind of both, understanding of the covenants.

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Christians are not under the Mosaic Covenant. Full stop.

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So this is where we're going to jump over to an extended biblical teaching on the covenants.

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And this, again, like I said, sets the groundwork that will protect us against the

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Judaizers of the Hebrew Roots Movement, of people who are Sabbatarians like the

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Seventh -day Adventists. Also, it's going to protect us from guys like Larry Huck and also

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Robert Morris, because the failure to recognize which covenant we're in and which commands are associated with which covenants is one that bamboozles people quite a bit.

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And the reason why is because the skilled twister of God's Word, by not properly distinguishing the covenants, is able to say, it says in the

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Bible, do this. But if you're not paying attention who it's saying that to and which covenant is being invoked, then you get all kinds of confusion and bondage.

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All right. So, that being said, we are going to first take a look at a kind of a presentation, and we'll reference this throughout today's teaching.

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And when we talk about covenants in the Bible, they are similar to contracts.

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I think this is a basic understanding here. And the idea is that once a contract is signed, there are obligations, and there are blessings for keeping your obligation, and there are curses for not keeping your obligation.

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A good example of a modern -day covenant, and I'm going to use that phrase here, would be if you have a mortgage, or if you have a contract regarding your lease or your rent in the place where you are living.

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And the idea is, is that when you sign that contract, you'll note that there are obligations.

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The obligation is to pay a certain amount of money by a certain time every month.

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And failure to do so will result in punishments, fines, and ultimately in eviction.

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So, that's how these things work. And so, when we talk about covenants, we're going to note that in Scripture, there are several notable covenants.

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Some of them are unilateral, and what I mean by that is that God is the one who's carrying all the weight of the covenant.

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He's making all the promises, and he's going to be the one who is going to be in trouble if he doesn't follow through on his obligation, on his word.

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But God never lies. So, you get the idea. Then there are bilateral covenants, and most notably is the

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Mosaic covenant. And in the Mosaic covenant, then both parties have responsibilities and duties, and it's responsible on both parties to keep their parts.

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And then note that once a covenant is ratified, no changes.

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There can be no changes to a covenant once ratified. In a similar way that once you sign your mortgage, you can't unilaterally decide that you're going to change the details of the mortgage or your obligation.

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Say, you know, it's just too much for me to pay this every month. I'm going to change my mortgage contract and drop it down by 200 bucks a month.

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You can't do that. You can try to renegotiate with your mortgage company, but that's going to then result in another contract.

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And so the idea, once a covenant is ratified, there are no changes. We've already talked about that there's blessings for obedience, curses for disobedience, and then biblical covenants always seem to have signs.

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Ah, signs! And we'll talk about this here in a little bit. And then you'll note that in Scripture, subsequent covenants do not nullify previously ratified covenants.

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And some covenants are, shall we say, permanent, while other covenants are temporary.

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And that's a distinction I didn't put in the slide here, but you get the idea. So we're going to ask this question, what is the new covenant and what is the status of the

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Mosaic covenant? Now, we've already seen from Ephesians 2 that Christ has canceled the

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Mosaic covenant. It's done away with, it's kaput. But I'll show you more text along those lines so you kind of get the idea.

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And so next slide then, we're going to take a look at the Noahic covenant. Noahic covenant is a great covenant to go to, to begin to get how covenants work.

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This is God establishing His covenant with Noah, His family, all their descendants, all the animals, all the creatures that God has made.

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Those are the ones who are receiving it. There's a specific sign regarding this covenant. And God is the one who's making all the promises.

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It's all 100 % promise. So let's take a look at that. And we're going to find it in Genesis chapter 9, starting at verse 8.

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Then God said to Noah and his sons with him, behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you.

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And with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark, it is for every beast of the earth.

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I establish my covenant with you that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.

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And God said, this is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you for all future generations.

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I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth when

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I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds. I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh, and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.

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When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.

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And God said to Noah, this is the sign of the covenant I've established between me and you and all the flesh that is on the earth.

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So the idea then here is if you have small kids, you know what I'm talking about, everyone's in the car, you're heading off to church or to the mall, or maybe you're on a driving trip and you just passed through a rainstorm and voila, there is a rainbow.

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And everyone says, look, there's a rainbow. And one of the kids says, yes, and that's the promise that God says that he will never again flood the whole earth to destroy it.

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And we all remember when we see the sign, we remember the promise.

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But if you paid attention to what I just read here, you'll note that the more important person who remembers is

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God. And so you'll note in verse 14 and 15, when I bring the clouds over the earth and the bow is seen,

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I will remember, God remembers. So every time there is a rainbow here on planet earth,

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God sees the rainbow and he remembers his promise never to flood the entire earth.

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And so this is a good thing. And I was thinking back just a few weeks ago, there was a news article that I ended up putting a link to it in social media, where Pope Francis was basically saying, if humanity doesn't get a hold of its carbon footprint, then what's going to happen is, is that God's going to flood the earth again.

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And it's like, and my question, and so I put this out on social media is, how does exactly does one become the

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Pope without having been having read Genesis 9? It's like, hello, every time we see a rainbow, we remember the promise that God will never destroy the earth by a flood.

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And God sees the rainbow and he remembers the promise that he will never again destroy the earth by a flood.

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So we got a problem here. And that is, is that the Pope needs to go back to Bible 101.

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Just saying. All right. So all that being said, you get the idea then how this all works.

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And let me come back here then. So the Nevada covenant is a unilateral covenant. God is making all the promises.

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The sign of the covenant is the rainbow. Both parties see the sign and both parties remember the promises.

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Next covenant, Abrahamic covenant. And this one is a little complicated.

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And the reason why is because we need a

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Holy Spirit interpreted like Supreme Court ruling on the finer details of the

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Abrahamic covenant. And thankfully we have that in the book of Galatians. But we'll note then the

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Abrahamic covenant is a unilateral covenant, all promise, and it's made between God...

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God is the one making the promises is between Abraham and his seed singular, singular, not off springs, but offspring.

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And the seed is Jesus. You're going to see this when we look at Holy Spirit interpretation of the

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Abrahamic covenant. And this covenant is established in Genesis 15. And the sign of the covenant then is circumcision.

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This sign is established in Genesis 17. So just a little after God establishes this covenant with Abraham, then in chapter 17, circumcision is given as the sign of the covenant.

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And the idea then is that both parties see the sign and they remember the promises.

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All of that being said, well, let's take a look then at the Holy Spirit interpretation of this, because I think it'll be, well, at least somewhat helpful.

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So in the book of Galatians, and what we're going to do, we're going to start in Galatians chapter one.

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And I'm going to remind you that this is the definitive epistle written by the apostle

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Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit against the Judaizers. And the

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Judaizers had come into the Christian church and they were saying that unless Gentiles were circumcised, which by the way, that's the sign of the

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Mosaic covenant. No, I'm sorry. That is the sign of the Abrahamic covenant. And then they have to keep the

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Sabbath and the feast days and things like this. The Sabbath is the sign of the Mosaic covenant. I'll talk about that. My apologies if I'm getting ahead of myself, but they are saying, unless you're circumcised, you can't be saved.

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And we see this then in Acts chapter 15. It says this, when some men came down from Judea and they were teaching the brothers, unless you are circumcised, according to the custom of Moses, you can't be saved.

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And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and to the elders about this question.

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And when you read the details here, you know, so here you got all the living apostles coming together to discuss, are

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Gentiles required to be circumcised? Answer, no. And there's very specific reasons as to why that's the case.

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So, Paul, writing to the churches in Galatia who had fallen for the heresy, and that's what it is.

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The Judaizers were heretics. They were teaching works righteousness, not salvation by grace through faith apart from works, but salvation by grace plus works.

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It was just a complete mess. So, Paul starts off the epistle to the churches in Galatia by saying,

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I'm astonished that you're so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.

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Note, the charges that they have deserted the real Jesus and his grace and are turning to a different gospel.

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And then he says, not that there is one, another one, but there are some who trouble you and they want to distort the gospel of Christ.

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But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel that is contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be anathema, damned.

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So, you get the idea here. And he goes on, so I say, as I said before, so again, if anyone's teaching a different gospel, let him be accursed, let him be damned.

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And so, now in the kind of the meat and potatoes portion of the book of Galatians, we're going to start to get a clear distinction between the

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Abrahamic covenant, the covenant of promise made between Abraham and Jesus, as well as the

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Mosaic covenant and its status and what it does. So, Paul then says to the churches in Galatians, oh foolish

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Galatians, who's bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.

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So, let me ask you this, did you receive the spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?

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The answer, by the way, to that question is the second one. They received the spirit by hearing with faith.

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Are you so foolish having begun by the spirit? Are you now being perfected by the flesh?

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Did you suffer so many things in vain if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the spirit to you and work miracles among you do so by works of the law or by hearing with faith?

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It's the second one. So, just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.

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And here, Paul is quoting from Genesis chapter 15. This is the same chapter where after Abraham believed

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God and it was credited to him as righteousness, that God then basically went into covenant with Abraham and established the

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Abrahamic covenant. So, then Paul goes on, know then it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.

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And I want you to consider this for a second, because one of the false teachings that's running around dispensational evangelicalism is that somehow the people who are genetically related to Abraham have some kind of an inside track with God.

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That's not true. That's not true at all. In fact, scripture is very clear. Everybody who believes and trusts in Christ, they are grafted into Israel.

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And that those who have faith like Abraham, the man of faith, they are the ones who are counted as the sons of Abraham.

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Keep that in mind. So, in scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham saying, in you shall all the nations be blessed.

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So, then those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

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For all who rely on works of the law, and here the reliance, this is a tough sentence in Greek, but the idiom,

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I think the ESV is grabbing the idiom correctly, that for all who continue to keep on doing works of the law and do so for the purpose of salvation, they are under a curse, for it is written, curse be everyone who does not abide by all the things written in the book of the law and continue to do them.

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And here, book of the law, I think you could translate this as the Torah, because that's what's really being referenced here.

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So, now it's evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith.

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But the law is not of faith, rather the one who does them shall live by them. You don't have to have faith to keep commandments.

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No, not at all. And that's kind of Paul's point. The righteous live by faith.

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So, the law is not of faith, rather the one who does them shall live by them. So, Christ redeemed us, listen to this, from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.

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He's redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.

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And here, the curses of the law are basically, it's invoking the curses portion of the

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Mosaic covenant. You don't keep these commands, here are the ever -increasing curses, and Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse, because cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.

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So that in Christ, the blessing of Abraham, the promise by grace through faith, might come to the

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Gentiles so that we might receive the promised spirit, how? Through faith. So, to give a human example.

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Now, I'm going to note here, from this point forward in our teaching, things are going to be a little complicated, and it's necessary that we apply ourselves to these things.

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It's not, let's just say, this isn't a great story like the story of David and Goliath.

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This is more like an insurance seminar. I understand that. That being the case, we must apply ourselves to this.

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Otherwise, we open ourselves up to being deceived. And you'll see that once we lay this out, a proper understanding of the commandments, that you're going to be inoculated against these false teachers, inoculated wonderfully.

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So, Paul then says this, to give a human example, even with a man -made covenant, think contract, no one annuls it or adds to it once it's been ratified.

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And that was one of the points I made in our slides. Now, the promises were made, listen to this, to Abraham and to his offspring, singular.

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It does not say, and to offsprings, plural. And so,

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Paul is going into Genesis 15, the very promise made by God to Abraham, these promises were made to Abraham and to his singular offspring,

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Zerah, not the Zerahim, his descendants, but his descendant, one.

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Okay? So, watch again. Now, the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, and to offsprings, referring to many, but referring to one, and to your offspring, who is

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Christ. This is definitive. You cannot overturn this and turn it into some kind of a plural.

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It's flat out. The Abrahamic covenant has two parties who are recipients. One is

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Abraham, the other is Jesus. That's what this text says. So, if you don't grab this, you're going to mess a lot of things up.

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So, this is what I mean then, the Torah, which came 430 years afterwards. So, the

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Mosaic covenant comes 430 years after God went into this covenant with Abraham and with Christ.

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It does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God so as to make the promises void.

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So, the Mosaic covenant had a specific purpose. Its purpose was never to save anybody.

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That's not its purpose. Its purpose is to show you how sinful you are at the end of the day.

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That's kind of its job. But the idea then here is this, is that when the Mosaic covenant then is cut with the children of Israel, that the

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Abrahamic covenant was not put aside at all, because it couldn't be, because there was a second recipient who was yet to be born.

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And that's kind of Paul's point. So, if the inheritance then comes by the law, it no longer comes by the promise, but God gave it to Abraham, how?

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By a promise. So, you'll note, our eternal inheritance doesn't come by law keeping.

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It comes by a promise from God. And that's his point. So, then the question arises, all right, well, if the

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Mosaic covenant doesn't save you, why? Why did God give it? Answer, it was added because of transgressions.

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So, a good way to think about it is that the children of Israel, you know, coming out of slavery, they were a pretty rowdy, sinful, idolatrous bunch, were they not?

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So, the law was added because of transgressions. And then watch the word, until.

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All right, so if I were to tell you, back in my history, my wife and I, when we dated, we dated through high school and a little bit of college, and we got married while we were in college.

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All right, but before we got married, we lived in separate homes until the marriage ceremony.

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And after we were publicly married, then we started living in the same roof, in the same house.

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You would understand that, okay, once a particular thing happened, then things changed.

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Things were this way until that happened, and then after that happened, then the order of things changed.

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Watch what Paul says here. So, the Torah was added, it was added because of transgressions, until.

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Until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.

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Now, an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one. So, note, so Christ, the

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Mosaic Covenant was put in place until Christ, the second recipient of the

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Mosaic Covenant, should appear. All right? So, then the question is, is the

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Torah then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not. No way. For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law, by the

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Torah. But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

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Now, before faith came, we were held captive under the law. We were imprisoned until the coming faith should be revealed.

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So, then the law was our guardian until, there it is again, until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith.

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You see, the Mosaic Covenant didn't save anybody. It didn't save a single person, not even one.

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Law keeping never saved anybody. Everybody who's was always saved by grace through faith, believing in the promises of God.

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So, now that faith has come, we're no longer under a guardian. For in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God through faith.

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For as many of you as were baptized into Christ, you have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek.

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There is neither slave nor free. There is no male or female. You're all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are

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Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, and you are heirs according to the promise.

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Sit there and go, I don't have any Israeli blood in me at all. I understand that.

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The point is, we've all been grafted into Israel. If you are Christ, you are

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Abraham's offspring. Abraham, the man of faith. And this is what the text says.

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The Abrahamic Covenant is the covenant of note prior to the establishing of the

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New Covenant. The Mosaic Covenant was added because of transgression to basically make us all slaves and hold us as a guardian until Jesus, the offspring of Abraham, should appear.

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So then, Paul then builds off of this idea, and he says, so I mean that the heir, so think of it this way, if we're the heir of eternal life, and we are, but prior to Christ showing up, we're likened to being children who need to have managers and guardians over us because we're not old enough to manage the estate.

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So Paul says, so what I mean, the heir, as long as he's a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father.

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In the same way, we also, when we were children, we were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.

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Now, here is where we have to do a little cross -reference work.

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Excuse me. And the reason why we have to do this cross -reference work is due to the fact that the phrase elementary principles is used by Paul quite a few times in his epistles, but it's in Colossians chapter two that he explains what that means.

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So let's do our cross -reference work here, and we'll come back to Galatians four. Okay. Galatians chapter two.

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We'll start at verse eight for our context. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human traditions, according to the elemental spirits of the world, not according to Christ.

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For in Christ, the whole fullness of the deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him who is the head of all rule and authority.

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In him also, you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by the putting off of the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God who raised him from the dead.

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I would just simply note here that baptism is the new covenant's answer to circumcision, and it's for everybody, and it's a circumcision done by the hands of Christ.

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That's what Colossians two is saying here. Now, talking about our status before God, before we were regenerated, and you who were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh,

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God has made you alive together with Christ, having forgiven all of our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.

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This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and the authorities, put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him.

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And every one of us says, amen. What good news this is that God has canceled the record of debt that stood against us, nailed it to the cross.

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This is another beautiful picture of salvation by grace through faith, and it assures us that all of our sins that we've committed from the moment we were conceived until the moment when we draw our last breath, that every one of our sins has been bled for and died for, and the whole record of debt in our books that are opened on the last day has been torn out of our books and nailed to the cross.

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Beautiful, beautiful picture. Now, because of this then, watch where Paul goes. Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink with regard to a festival or a new moon or a

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Shabbat. Okay? And this is where we see here, what's the status then of feast days and the

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Sabbath. Paul says, these are a shadow of the things to come. The substance belongs to Christ.

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So, the Passover, it's a shadow. The substance belongs to Christ. Are we required to keep kosher laws?

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Those are all a shadow. The substance belongs to Christ. The Sabbath itself, same thing.

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It's a shadow. The substance belongs to Christ. We're not obligated to keep the

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Mosaic covenants. Feast days, the Mosaic covenant has been done away with.

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We're not under it. That's the point. So, then he goes on to say this, let no one disqualify you insisting on asceticism, the worship of angels, going on about visions puffed up without reason by holding to a sensuous mind.

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I think of Cat Kerr. I think of all the people claiming that they've made trips to heaven. Yeah. Don't let anyone disqualify you.

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Not holding fast to the head from whom the whole body is nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments and grows with a growth that is from God.

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And then watch what he says then. If with Christ, you died to the elemental spirits of the world.

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And here is where he'll explain what that is. If with Christ, you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations?

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Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch, referring to things that all perish as they are used according to human precepts and teachings.

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These indeed have an appearance of wisdom in promoting self -made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

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So, the elemental spirits of the world are rules and regulations, do not handle, do not taste, do not touch.

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For instance, if you're truly a Christian, then you would never drink alcohol. Well, Jesus drank alcohol. What are you going to do with that?

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So, this is how Paul then defines the elemental spirits of the world. And you'll note then, we can hyperlink to different texts in the scripture, and scripture always interprets scripture.

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Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch. These are the elemental spirits of the world. And then along the way, we saw that we're not obligated to keep the feast days.

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We're not obligated to keep kosher laws. We're not obligated to keep the Sabbath. That's a shadow.

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The substance belongs to Christ. Now, it's in this regard that I'm going to add a little bonus teaching before we go back to Galatians.

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And that is that there are people who talk about that we as Christians, we have to keep the

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Sabbath. Nobody keeps the Sabbath. Not one person keeps it.

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And this is an article I wrote back seven years ago, while I was doing analysis on my debate with Jim Staley.

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And I asked the question, are you a Sabbath keeper or are you a Sabbath breaker? There's a lot of people out there,

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I keep the Sabbath. No, you don't. You don't. Because the Mosaic Covenant alone establishes what is required in order to keep the

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Sabbath. And people who say they're keeping it, they're not telling the truth.

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And so, we'll put a link to this down below so that you can reference it.

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But I asked the question, are you a Sabbath keeper or are you a Sabbath breaker? So, my first point, the

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Torah, and the Torah only defines what it to keep or to break the Sabbath. Here's what it teaches. Number one,

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Leviticus 23, 32, Sabbath must be observed from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday.

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That's just straight up the case. And that's how it's to be observed. And then note then the command is no work can be done on the

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Sabbath. It's wholly a day of rest. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a

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Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. No work at all.

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By the way, you are a Sabbath breaker if you turn your furnace on during the winter on the

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Sabbath. You're a Sabbath breaker. You shall kindle no fire in all your dwelling places on the

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Sabbath day. Now, a little bit of a note here. Today in Orthodox Judaism, if you're an

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Orthodox Jew, they are all about Sabbath keeping and down to the minutia, even so much that appliances like ovens and stoves, they have a

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Sabbath mode. So, if you go to the Whirlpool website, what is Sabbath mode? That talks about how different appliances have a

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Sabbath mode so that certain features don't work at all to keep you out.

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Lights can't be turned on and stuff like this, because you wouldn't want to break the

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Sabbath by kindling a fire on your oven, would you? So, you'll note that I would argue anybody who claims to be a

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Christian, claims to be a Sabbath keeper, my immediate question is, what kind of oven do you have?

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Does your oven lock you out so that you can't kindle a fire on the Sabbath?

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Does it run the burners at a low grade so that you can't be accused of kindling them?

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Does it make so you can't turn on and off the lights? I mean, don't tell me you're a Sabbath keeper if you don't have a

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Sabbath oven. You get the idea here. So then, of course, if you bake or boil food on the

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Sabbath, you're a Sabbath breaker. This is from Exodus 16, 22 to 23. And then if you travel far from your home, you're a

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Sabbath breaker, Exodus 16, verse 29. And I would note a lot of the people who claim to be

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Sabbath keepers today, they hop into their vehicles and drive, you know, 35, 40 minutes to go to their

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Hebrew roots synagogue. Yeah, have you gone beyond the traveling limits of the

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Sabbath? Just, you know, just saying. And if you don't keep the Sabbath, you don't keep the

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Sabbath unless you enforce it with the death penalty. That's one of the requirements. Exodus 31, 15 says, whoever does any work on the

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Sabbath shall be put to death. So my question is, if you're a Sabbath keeper, do you enforce it with the death penalty?

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Here in North Dakota, we don't have a death row filled with a bunch of Sabbath breakers.

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So, you know, just pointing that out. You're not keeping it unless you keep all of the requirements regarding it.

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And then, you know, I note that in Numbers 15, one fellow was actually put to death for working on the

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Sabbath. And then here's the other bit that a lot of people just seem to forget or, you know, just omit.

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It's, you're not, you don't keep the Sabbath unless your priest sacrifices two lambs every

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Sabbath. So on the Sabbath day, two male lambs a year, old without blemish, and two tenths of an ephah, a fine flour for a grain offering, mixed with oil and its drink offering.

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This is the burnt offering of every Sabbath besides the regular burnt offerings and its drink offering.

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So based then on how the Torah defines Sabbath and what it means to keep it, who can say that they keep it?

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Nobody. Nobody is able to keep the Sabbath. The Sabbath is the sign of the

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Mosaic covenant. And let me give you the text for that. In Exodus chapter 31, here's what we read.

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Exodus 31, 12, Yahweh said to Moses, you are to speak to the people of Israel and say, above all, you shall keep my

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Shabbats for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I, Yahweh, sanctify you.

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You shall keep the Sabbath because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death.

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Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a

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Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to Yahweh. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death.

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Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as a covenant forever.

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It's a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days, Yahweh made the heaven and the earth.

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And on the seventh day, he rested and was refreshed. So there you go. The Sabbath is the sign of the

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Mosaic covenant, the Mosaic covenant. The Mosaic covenant was never, ever intended to be a permanent covenant and life and the inheritance doesn't come through the

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Mosaic covenant. It was the guardian put in place until Jesus appeared.

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So now you kind of get the idea. And if you want the definitive explanation then as to what, since Colossians 2, we saw that the

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Sabbath was a shadow of the things to come. If it's type and shadow and Christians are not required to keep the

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Sabbath, and they're not, then what was its type and shadow purpose?

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The answer is found in Hebrews chapter four. Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest anyone, any of you should seem to have failed to reach it for good news has come to us just as to them.

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But the message that they heard did not benefit them because they were not united by faith with those who listened for we who have believed enter that rest.

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As he has said, I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Although his works were finished from the foundation of the world, for he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way, and God rested on the seventh day from all of his works.

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And again, in this passage, they shall not enter my rest. Since therefore it remains for some to enter it and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience.

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Again, he appoints a certain day, today. Today saying through David, so long afterward in the words already quoted today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.

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So, the point is this, today is the day of salvation and Christ through the message of repentance and the forgiveness of sins won by him is calling all of us to repent of our sin and enter into the eternal

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Sabbath rest, which is salvation by grace through faith apart from works.

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The Sabbath was a type and shadow of the coming salvation by grace through faith apart from works.

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That's what Hebrews 4 is all about. Okay. I know this is complicated.

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Just looking at our time here, we still have a long ways to go. Okay. So, coming back then to Galatians.

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All right. Back to Galatians. I'm going to back this up. We now know what the elementary principles of the world are.

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So, let's go back to verse one, grab the context and keep moving forward.

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So, I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though the owner, though he's the owner of everything, but he's under guardians and managers, here it is again, until the date set by his father.

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So, in the same way, we also, when we were children, we were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.

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Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch. But when the fullness of time had come,

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God sent forth his son, born of woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons.

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And because you are sons, we're not, we're sons, we're not slaves anymore. We're sons, sons by the promise. God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts crying,

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Abba, father, so you are no longer a slave, but you're a son. And if you're a son, then you are an heir through God.

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Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know

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God or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world?

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Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch. Whose slaves you want to be once more.

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You observe days and seasons and years, and I'm afraid

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I may have labored over you in vain. Rough translation of verse 10,

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I fear I wasted my time on you. And what's he condemning them for?

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What's he rebuking them for? Observing the Mosaic feast days, observing the Sabbath, the new moons, the seasons, the

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Passover, the Feast of Weeks and Booth. I'm afraid I may have labored over you in vain.

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And then he goes on in verse 20 to say, I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone for I'm perplexed about you.

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And then he says, so tell me you who desire to be under the law. Do you not listen to the law?

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You who desire to be under the Torah, under the Mosaic covenant. For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman.

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But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through the promise.

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Now this may be interpreted allegorically. These women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery.

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She is Hagar. Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia. She corresponds to the present

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Jerusalem for she is in slavery with their children. But the Jerusalem above is free and she's our mother.

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For it is written, rejoice O barren one who does not bear, break forth and cry aloud you who are not in labor.

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For the child of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband. Now you brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.

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But just as at the right time, he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the spirit.

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So also it is now. But what does it say? What does scripture say? Cast out the slave woman and her son.

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For the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman. So brothers, we are not children of the slave, but of the free woman.

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We're not under the Torah. We're not under the Mosaic covenant and its demands. We're not.

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We are children of the free woman, the child who was born by the promise.

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It is for freedom that Christ has set us free then. So stand firm and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

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Right? There's like your definitive point. So then Paul says, look,

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I say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole

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Torah. And that's why Christians are not required to be circumcised.

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And you get the idea. Now let's come back then to our keynote address here.

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So Abrahamic covenant, just by way of review, made between Abraham and his seed, singular, that's

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Jesus. That's what we just read in Galatians. The covenant is established in Genesis 15, and the sign of the covenant is circumcision, and that is established in Genesis 17.

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Both parties see the sign, they remember the promises. Okay? Next then, we're going to take a look at the

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Mosaic covenant. And we've already noted that the sign of the Mosaic covenant is the Sabbath, that is

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Exodus 31, 12 to 17. And this is where we got to pay attention very careful to the careful details regarding the

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Mosaic covenant. So when like a prosperity preacher goes to the blessings section of the

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Mosaic covenant in the book of Deuteronomy, and then says that these are promises for Christians, man, that is so duplicitous, because nobody's keeping the

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Mosaic covenant, and the Mosaic covenant is kaput. It was put in place until the seed promised that Abraham should come, and he's already come.

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So keep that in mind. So the Mosaic covenant is a bilateral covenant. A good way to think of it is a land lease agreement between God and the children of Abraham.

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That's its job. It's a land lease agreement. So it was made 430 years after the

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Abrahamic covenant. It promises blessings for obedience. And here we're going to pay attention to some of the...

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There's a lot more to this covenant than like the Noahic covenant and or even the

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Abrahamic covenant. So requirement of obedience to moral laws, requirements of obedience to civil laws, requirements of obedience to ceremonial laws, and all those ceremonial laws foreshadow

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Christ. We saw that in Colossians 2. We'll see it more in Hebrews as we get to that text. And there are specific rules then regarding priests and sacrifices, and note that priests must come from the tribe of Levi, and their sacrifices made no one perfect.

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Nope, that was not their point. They were foreshadowing Christ. The substance belongs to Christ.

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And blood sprinkled in the copies, replicas of the heavenly tabernacle. And here's a point that we're going to see in the book of Hebrews, and that is that the temple and then the tabernacle before it, these were replicas.

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These were copies of the heavenly thing. And as a result of it, what took place in them always foreshadowed what

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Christ would end up doing. And Christ, you know, His blood was not sprinkled in the earthly replicas, and that's kind of an important bit.

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Okay, and then we're going to note then in the curses section of the Mosaic covenant threatens ever increasing curses for disobedience, and the magnitude of the curses is really off the chain by the time you get to the end of the list, with the ultimate threat of eviction and being scattered among the nations.

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And then we already talked about this, the sign of the Mosaic covenant is the Sabbath. This is the

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Mosaic covenant. It is kaput, all right? And by the way, you and I were never part of this.

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This was a land lease agreement between God and the direct descendants of Abraham.

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That's who the land lease agreement was with, straight out. And so, I'm not in this covenant, you're not in this covenant.

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It's a very important covenant to look at, because there's much that we can learn from it, but we're not required to keep the civil portion of it, the ceremonial portion of it, at all.

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And then, like I said, nine of the Ten Commandments then get rolled into the New Covenant, but that's, you know,

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I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself. And then let's take a look also then at the New Covenant, okay?

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This is one, unilateral promises, and we're going to look at Jeremiah 31. And this covenant,

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New Covenant, is made between Christ and all who believe in Him. This covenant is established when

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Christ created the Lord's Supper. So, on the Thursday night before Jesus was arrested, they call it liturgically, that's called the

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Maundy Thursday. So, that's when they're celebrating the Passover, Jesus is celebrating the Passover with His disciples.

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He takes the cup of blessing, the Baruch Ha, and He totally changes the

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Passover of the cup of blessing, and that's where He establishes the

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New Covenant. We'll talk about that. So, the signs of the New Covenant are the body and blood of Christ, and remembrance then, when

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Jesus says, do this in remembrance of Me, remembrance is a covenantal term here. God is, and us, we are remembering the promise that God made to not remember our sins, and this covenant has its own priesthood.

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The New Covenant has its own priesthood and its own sacrifice, singular. The priesthood is according to the order of Melchizedek, and the single sacrifice of the

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New Covenant makes people perfect, whereas all of the blood sacrifices of animals in the

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Mosaic Covenant, they made nobody perfect. And then Jesus' blood was sprinkled on the actual heavenly tabernacle, not in an earthly replica.

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That's an important bit. So, you got at least the gist of it all out, and here's the thing.

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Christians are not under the Mosaic Covenant. That's one of the major points that Paul was saying to the

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Galatian churches. Why are you wanting to go back under the Mosaic Covenant? That makes you a slave, a child of Hagar, whereas in the

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New Covenant, we are children by the promise. That's the point.

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So, let's take a look then at Jeremiah 31, the prophecy regarding the

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New Covenant, and it says this, "'Behold, the days are coming,' declares Yahweh, "'when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.'"

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And remember, everybody who trusts in Christ is grafted into Israel and they are sons of Abraham.

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So, you're part of this, even if you're a Gentile. And the reason why is because you've been grafted into Israel. So, it's not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when

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I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke. So, you'll note that Yahweh here is making a distinction between the

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Mosaic Covenant and the New Covenant. This New Covenant ain't going to be like that one. And by the way, the children of Israel, they broke that one left, right, and center.

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And that's the reason why the Jews were scraped out of the land of Israel.

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They broke the land lease agreement and all of the curses of the Mosaic Covenant were ultimately fulfilled.

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And the finale of the curses came in 70 AD with the destruction of the Temple and then

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Rome dispersing the Jews throughout the nations and then not allowing them to come back.

01:00:04

So, I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, the covenant they broke, "'Though I was their husband,' declares

01:00:09

Yahweh, "'for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,' declares Yahweh, "'I will put my law within them.

01:00:16

I will write it on their hearts. I will be their God. They shall be my people. No longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, "'No,

01:00:25

Yahweh,' for they shall know me from the least of them to the greatest,' declares the Lord." And you'll note there's some eschatological promises here.

01:00:32

And then here's the one that's really important. "'For I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more.'"

01:00:40

Major primary promise of the new covenant. God promises that when

01:00:47

He sees the signs of the new covenant that He remembers to not remember your sin.

01:00:52

That's the big promise. "'For I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more.'"

01:00:59

Great promise. "'I will remember their sin no more.'" Thank you, Jesus, for what you've done there.

01:01:07

All right. So now we've done the covenantal work here. Let's take a look at the book of Hebrews.

01:01:13

And this will be the last book that we look at, really, in this regard, to the covenants.

01:01:20

But then knowing then how our covenants work, we can see what the major problem is that the book of Hebrews is addressing, that Hebrews is addressing people who are

01:01:31

Christians, who are genetically Jewish, who are being tempted to go back to the

01:01:38

Mosaic covenant and the types and shadows. And so the author of Hebrews is basically saying to them, listen, you can't go back to the shadows and the types.

01:01:51

The substance belongs to Christ. And now that Christ has come, He is our high priest and He's the sacrifice.

01:02:01

And everything we have in the new covenant supersedes and is even more excellent than the types and shadows we saw in the

01:02:09

Mosaic covenant. And you'll hear along the way that the status of the Mosaic covenant is kaput.

01:02:16

It's not in place. Nobody, there's nobody in the

01:02:22

Mosaic covenant. Period. As a covenant, its status is finished.

01:02:31

It's done. Christ has fulfilled it. So let's take a look now at the book of Hebrews.

01:02:37

Long section, but worth working through the details. So here the inspired author of Hebrews says, every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.

01:02:55

So here he's talking about the Aaronic, the Levitical priesthood. And he says, so that he can deal gently then with the ignorant and the wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness.

01:03:08

Because of this, he's obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins, just as he does for those of the people.

01:03:15

And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. So looking at the priests of the

01:03:22

Levitical priesthood, they all had to offer sacrifices for their own sins. Does our priest have to offer a sacrifice for his sins?

01:03:31

No. So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but he was appointed by him who said to him, you are my son.

01:03:40

Today I have begotten you. As he says also in another place, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

01:03:49

So Christ comes from the tribe of Judah. The tribe of Judah doesn't have priests.

01:03:56

It's forbidden for them to serve as priests, at least according to the Mosaic covenant. So it's necessary then that Christ's priesthood have a different order that he's following, not the order of Aaron, because he's not...

01:04:09

he can't be a priest in the order of Aaron. So he is going to be a priest in the order of Melchizedek.

01:04:16

And this is where we reference this weird text in Genesis 14. I believe that this is an appearance of the pre -incarnate

01:04:24

Christ. So after Abraham defeated Kedalaromer and the kings who defeated

01:04:30

Sodom and Gomorrah and rescued Lot, here's what it says in Genesis 4, 14, 17.

01:04:36

After his return from the defeat of Kedalaromer, the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the valley of Sheba.

01:04:46

That is the king's valley. And Melchizedek, Melchizedek means the king of righteousness,

01:04:52

Melchizedek, the king of Salem brought out bread and wine.

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He was priest of God most high. Melchizedek brought out what? Bread and wine.

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He was priest of God most high. Christ is a priest in the order of who?

01:05:11

Melchizedek. Now here's where we'll do a little cross -reference work here. In 1

01:05:17

Corinthians chapter 11, we have the words of Christ recorded for us regarding the

01:05:23

Lord's Supper. Now it's when Christ created the Lord's Supper that he establishes the new covenant. Listen to the words.

01:05:30

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night that he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is for you.

01:05:41

Do this in remembrance of me. That's covenantal talk. So what he's handing here in the

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Lord's Supper here is one of the signs of the new covenant. And then you'll see this. In the same way, also, he took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.

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Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and you drink this cup, you proclaim the

01:06:10

Lord's death until he comes. So there's the signs of the new covenant right there. And when we have the

01:06:16

Lord's Supper, we are remembering, when we see the elements, we are remembering the promise of the new covenant.

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And the promise of the new covenant is that God promises to remember to not remember our sins.

01:06:33

You see? Very important stuff when you put it all together. So here back in this text regarding Melchizedek, okay, so Melchizedek shows up, he's

01:06:45

Melchizedek, the King of Righteousness. He's also the King of Shalom, which is the King of Peace.

01:06:50

He brought out what? Bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High.

01:06:56

And he blessed Abram and said, blessed be Abram by God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth. And he blessed, and blessed be

01:07:02

God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand. And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

01:07:08

And the King of Sodom said, Abram, give me the persons, but take the goods for yourself. But you get the idea here.

01:07:15

So that's, this is where, this is like the only place that Melchizedek shows up.

01:07:20

And here in the book of Hebrews, it specifically then says that Jesus now is a priest forever, not according to Aaron, but according to Melchizedek.

01:07:35

Okay? And that's going to be an important part because if there's a different priesthood, that means we're in a different covenant, straight up.

01:07:43

So in the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death.

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And he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered and being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.

01:08:02

And by the way, how does one obey Christ? By believing, right? Being designated by God, watch this,

01:08:08

God made him this, a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. Now about this, we have much to say, and it's hard to explain.

01:08:18

Indeed it is. But this is where Christians must pay attention to the details and be mature and work through them.

01:08:25

So as I have much to say, it's hard to explain since you've become dull of hearing for though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again, the basic principles of the oracles of God and you need milk, not solid food.

01:08:38

So you'll note that the author here is chastising the recipients of the epistle of the Hebrews.

01:08:44

Then onto chapter six, verse 13, and here's where we pick up again with the details of the discussion between the two covenants and the other priesthood.

01:08:54

Christ is a priest in the order of Melchizedek, he's our priest, okay? So when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself saying, surely

01:09:05

I will bless you and I will multiply you. And thus Abraham having patiently waited, he obtained the promise.

01:09:12

For people swear by someone greater than themselves and in all their disputes, an oath is final for confirmation.

01:09:18

So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise, the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath.

01:09:29

So that by two unchangeable things in which is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope that is set before us.

01:09:42

So we have this as assurance, steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become, and note the redundancy here, a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

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For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God most high, he met

01:10:09

Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and he blessed him. And to him, Abraham apportioned the 10th of everything.

01:10:16

He is first by translation of his name, king of righteousness, Melchizedek, that's a king of righteousness.

01:10:23

And he's also, then he's also king of Salem, that is the king of peace. Shalom is the name there here.

01:10:30

He is without father, he's without mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the son of God, he continues as a priest forever.

01:10:42

And it's this text in Hebrews 7 that makes you sit there and go, wait a second, that means that when

01:10:50

Melchizedek showed up in Genesis 14, that was a pre -incarnate appearance of Jesus.

01:10:57

It was a Christophany. Right, because what do we know about Melchizedek? He doesn't have a genealogy, he doesn't have a father or mother, he has neither end of days, but he resembles the son of God forever, as a priest forever.

01:11:14

Okay? So see how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a 10th of the spoils.

01:11:20

And those descendants of Levi who received the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham.

01:11:32

But this man, who does not have his descent from them, received tithes from Abraham and then blessed him who had the promises.

01:11:41

It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. In the one case, tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives.

01:11:52

So note here, this verse here makes it clear that Abram tithed to one who is not described as mortal, but verse 8 goes, takes great pains to describe

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Melchizedek as not being mortal. He has no end of days. Okay? In the one case, tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by the one of whom it is testified that he lives.

01:12:14

So one might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when

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Melchizedek met him. And here comes the important next bit. If perfection had been attainable through the

01:12:35

Levitical priesthood, and it's not, for under it, the people received the

01:12:41

Torah, what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek rather than one named after the order of Aaron?

01:12:51

And this is where the author of Hebrews is making a really important point. Wait a second here.

01:12:57

Perfection was never attainable under the Mosaic covenant. Right.

01:13:03

We need perfection. Okay? How are we going to get that? We're not going to get it according to the Levites.

01:13:09

We're only going to get it according to the one who is in the order of Melchizedek. For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well.

01:13:18

And for us Christians, has there been a change in the priesthood? Yeah. Christ is our high priest.

01:13:27

He's also our sacrifice. So there's been a change in the priesthood. We're not...

01:13:33

So when Jim Staley said, well, they build a temple there and then I'm going to be going to Jerusalem and offering sacrifices.

01:13:42

Christ is our priest. Christ is our priest according to the order of Melchizedek. And when there is a change in the priesthood, and there has been, there is necessarily a change in the law as well.

01:13:53

The Mosaic covenant is kaput. For the one of whom these things are spoken belong to another tribe from which no one has ever served at the altar.

01:14:01

For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah and in connection with that tribe, Moses said nothing about priests.

01:14:08

So this becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life.

01:14:25

For it is witnessed of him, you are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. For on the one hand, a former commandment then is set aside because of its weakness and its uselessness.

01:14:35

The Mosaic covenant, according to Hebrews 7 .18, has been set aside. Why? Because it is, it's weakness and it's uselessness.

01:14:45

For the law made nothing perfect. But on the other hand, a better hope is introduced through which we draw near to God.

01:14:55

And it was not without an oath for those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath.

01:15:01

But this was, this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him, the

01:15:08

Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever. So this makes Jesus the guarantor of what?

01:15:16

A better covenant. Why would you go back to the Mosaic covenant? Because Jesus is our priest, priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.

01:15:24

God has made him that by the power of an indestructible life. And he's the guarantor of a better covenant. Now come back to Acts 15 and consider what the apostles say here.

01:15:34

And in this regard, you know, as to whether or not Christians should be required to be circumcised,

01:15:40

Gentiles be required to be circumcised. So when the men came from Judea, they were teaching, unless you were circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you can't be saved.

01:15:49

And so Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them. Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question.

01:15:59

So being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria describing in detail, the conversion of the

01:16:06

Gentiles and brought great joy to all the brothers. And when they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them.

01:16:17

But some believers who belong to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, it is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep what?

01:16:26

The law of Moses, the Mosaic covenant. So the apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter.

01:16:34

And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, brothers, you know that in the early days, God made a choice among you that by my mouth, the

01:16:42

Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God who knows the heart bore witness to them by giving them the

01:16:49

Holy spirit, just as he did to us. And he made no distinction between us and them having cleansed their hearts.

01:16:56

How? By faith, not by works of the Torah. Now, therefore, why are you putting

01:17:02

God to the test? So you'll note, Peter even recognizes that the Pharisees within the visible church who are saying, they have to be circumcised and follow the covenant that what are they doing?

01:17:15

They're putting God to the test. Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers, nor we have been able to bear, but we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the

01:17:29

Lord Jesus Christ, just as they will. And all the assembly fell silent and they listened to Barnabas and Paul, as they related what signs and wonders

01:17:38

God had done through them among the Gentiles. And after they finished speaking, James replied, brothers, listen to me.

01:17:45

Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for his name.

01:17:50

And with this, the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written after this, I will return and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen.

01:17:58

I will rebuild its ruins and I will restore it that the remnant of mankind may seek the

01:18:04

Lord and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord who makes these things known from of old.

01:18:10

Therefore, my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from what has been strangled and from blood.

01:18:23

For from ancient generations, Moses has had in every city, those who proclaim him for he's read every

01:18:30

Sabbath in the synagogues." So, what's going on here?

01:18:37

No, the answer is no, we're not going back to the Mosaic Covenant. It made nobody perfect.

01:18:45

We have a different high priest, we have a different priest, and that's priest Jesus. Okay? So Jesus is the guarantor of a better covenant than the

01:18:55

Mosaic Covenant. So the former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office.

01:19:01

By the way, how many Levitical priests are there today? Zero. But he holds his priesthood permanent.

01:19:10

Christ holds his priesthood permanently because he continues forever. Consequently, Jesus is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them.

01:19:23

For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens.

01:19:32

He has no need like those high priests to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself.

01:19:45

For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later, then the law appoints a son who has been made perfect forever.

01:19:55

Now, the point in what we are saying is this, we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that Yahweh, that the

01:20:09

Lord set up, not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices, thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.

01:20:18

Now, if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law.

01:20:24

They serve, watch this, a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things.

01:20:31

Christ's blood was not sprinkled in the replica or in the shadow, and that's the point, watch this.

01:20:37

For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God saying, see that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown on the mountain.

01:20:46

But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better since it is enacted on better promises.

01:20:59

That's an argument against the Mosaic covenant. For if the first covenant had been faultless, and it wasn't, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

01:21:08

For he finds fault with them when he says, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant.

01:21:14

And now he's quoting from Jeremiah 31, the passage we just looked at. I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel, with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when

01:21:24

I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, for they did not continue in my covenant.

01:21:29

And so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord, for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel.

01:21:36

After those days, declares the Lord, I will put my laws in their minds. I will write them on their hearts.

01:21:42

I will be their God. They shall be my people. And they shall not teach each one his neighbor and each one his brother saying, no, the

01:21:50

Lord, they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest, for I will be merciful toward their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more.

01:21:59

So in speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. The Mosaic covenant has been made obsolete.

01:22:11

How many of you are still computing on DOS? Anybody? Anybody? Yeah. Hasn't all the latest iterations of computer operating systems made

01:22:22

DOS obsolete? And indeed it is. Thank God DOS is obsolete, right?

01:22:29

That's the point. The Mosaic covenant is DOS. The new covenant is the latest iteration of Apple.

01:22:38

I'm sorry for you Windows users out there. And you Linux guys, I don't get you. So anyway, anyway.

01:22:43

So in speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete is growing old and is ready to vanish away.

01:22:51

And it did. In 70 AD, it was gone, kaput forever. And so now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness.

01:23:01

For a tent was prepared, the first section in which were the lamp stand and the table and the bread of the presence.

01:23:07

It's called the holy place. Behind the second curtain was a second section called the most holy place.

01:23:13

Having the golden altar, the incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold and which was a golden urn holding the manna and Aaron's staff that budded and the tablets of the covenant above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat.

01:23:28

Of these things, we cannot now speak in detail. These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section performing their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes, but he but once a year and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.

01:23:52

By this, the Holy Spirit then indicates that the way to the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing.

01:24:00

And I remember when Christ died on the cross, the curtain that separated the holy of holy and the holy place was torn in two from top to bottom, okay?

01:24:10

That's an important bit as well. So by this, the Holy Spirit indicates that the way to the holy places is not yet open as long as the first section is still standing, which is symbolic for the present age.

01:24:20

So according to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered and watch this, that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper.

01:24:28

They never could. But they deal only with food and drink and various washings and regulations for the body imposed, watch this, until the time of reformation.

01:24:39

And that time is now. That time is now.

01:24:45

We're in the new covenant. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have already come, even through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is not of this creation.

01:24:58

So Christ sprinkled his blood, not on anything earthly. That would include the wacky idea of Ron Wyatt, that when

01:25:07

Christ was bleeding on the cross, the earthquake opened up a fissure and his blood spilled on the Ark of the Covenant that was supposedly under Golgotha.

01:25:15

Nonsense. This text here will make it very clear where Christ's blood was sprinkled and that that matters.

01:25:23

Even the Ark of the Covenant of the Old Testament was a replica. The mercy seat that was at the top of that was a replica.

01:25:32

Christ's blood needed to be sprinkled on the thing that is the original, not on the shadow, but on the substance.

01:25:38

So when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, even through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

01:26:01

For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living

01:26:22

God. Therefore, Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant, and that's what we're under, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

01:26:39

For where a will is involved, the death of the one who has made it must be established, for a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive, therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.

01:26:55

For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, this is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you, and in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship.

01:27:17

Indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins.

01:27:25

Thus, it was necessary for the copies, the replicas of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.

01:27:40

For Christ has entered into holy, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies, replicas of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf, nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood that is not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world.

01:28:10

But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

01:28:19

And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes the judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

01:28:37

For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come." And there it is again. You'll note that Paul says that in Colossians 2.

01:28:44

Here, Hebrews 10, 1 says it very clearly. The Torah is a shadow of the good things to come.

01:28:51

The substance belongs to Christ, and Christ is the substance of it. The shadows have given way to Christ.

01:28:57

For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come, instead of the true form of these realities, it can never by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year make perfect those who draw near.

01:29:12

It can't make anybody perfect. Can't do it. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered since the worshipers having once been cleansed would no longer have any consciousness of sins?

01:29:25

But in these sacrifices, there's a reminder of sins every year. For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

01:29:33

It's impossible. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, sacrifices and offerings, you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me.

01:29:42

In burnt offerings and sin offerings, you've taken no pleasure. So then I said, behold, I have come to do your will,

01:29:47

O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book. So when he said above, you have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and burnt offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings, these are offered according to the

01:29:59

Torah. Then he added, behold, I have come to do your will. He does away with the first in order to establish the second.

01:30:07

Christ has done away with the Mosaic covenant and the new covenant has been established.

01:30:13

Hebrews 10, nine says it explicitly. And by that will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

01:30:27

Wow. And every priest then stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.

01:30:34

But when Christ had offered for all time, a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.

01:30:47

For by a single offering, he has perfected for all time, those who are being sanctified. And the

01:30:52

Holy Spirit also bears witness to us for after saying, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days declares the

01:31:02

Lord. I will put my laws in their heart and write them in their minds. And then he adds, I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.

01:31:10

So where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

01:31:17

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and the living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh.

01:31:28

And since we have a great priest over us, over the house of God, let us now draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

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Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering for he who promised is faithful.

01:31:48

And let us consider how then to stir up one another to love and to good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day drawing near."

01:32:02

Okay, long episode, but let me again kind of summarize some of the major points here.

01:32:10

And that is that when we talk about the new covenant, it is made between Christ and all who believe in him.

01:32:16

It is established when Christ created the Lord's supper. Signs of the new covenant are the body and blood of Christ.

01:32:23

Remembrance equals God and us remembering the promise of the new covenant, which is that God remembers to not remember our sins.

01:32:31

And this covenant has its own priesthood and its sacrifice. Christ is the high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

01:32:37

He is also the once for all sacrifice for sins. And the priesthood then is according to the order of Melchizedek.

01:32:44

And the blood of the new covenant makes people perfect. Uh -huh. Blood sprinkled in the actual heavenly tabernacle, not in the replicas here on earth.

01:32:55

In other words, anybody who invokes the Mosaic covenant commands today and says, you as Christians are obligated to keep those commands, and I'm gonna take out nine commandments, the nine of the 10 commandments.

01:33:09

So, idolatry is still in play. We're gonna... Taking God's name is still in play.

01:33:16

Honoring your father and mother, murder, adultery, theft, slandering, and lying, and coveting, these are all still in play because those are, again, reiterated in the new covenant.

01:33:31

I would point you to like the tail end of the book of Romans as an example of that. But all that being said, commandments that are specific to the

01:33:40

Mosaic covenant, the civil ceremonial laws, things like this, especially somebody saying that Christians have to tithe, and if you don't, the destroyer is gonna destroy you, all this kind of nonsense.

01:33:55

We'll talk about this when we get into our critique of the blessed life. Or any of today's modern day

01:34:01

Judaizers who say that Christians are required to keep the Sabbath, that Christians are required to keep the feast days, that you think of Larry Huck, you think of Jim Staley, guys like this, they're heretics.

01:34:12

They're putting God to the test and putting people back under the yoke of slavery, which is the Mosaic covenant.

01:34:17

So now you see it. The Mosaic covenant, it's kaput. It's inferior.

01:34:23

Now that the superior has showed up, it's been made obsolete. That's what the

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Bible says. And hopefully I didn't confuse you too much. You might need to go back and watch this again, take notes along the way to get this sorted out.

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But before we get into a critique of the blessed life, you have to get these covenants straightened out and know that you are under the new covenant.

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Christ is your priest, and Christ is your sacrifice, and the commandments of the

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Mosaic covenant and the tithes and shadows, we're not obligated to keep them. And once you see that, and you can spot that, then you can spot when somebody's twisting the biblical text in order to make money, because that's usually how guys like Robert Morris and the

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Word of Faith heretics operate. So, all right. Hopefully you found this helpful. All the information on how you can share the video is down below.

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And until next time, may God richly bless you in the grace and mercy won by Jesus Christ and his vicarious death on the cross for all of your sins.