The Abiding Relevance of God's Law, Pt. 2

Apologia Studios

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

01:36

If you would, open your Bibles to the Gospel according to Matthew. Matthew, first book in your

01:45

New Testament, chapter 5. Today we're discussing the abiding relevance of the law of God.

01:59

And so, Matthew, chapter 5, starting in verse 17.

02:14

Matthew 5, 17. Hear now the word of the living and the true

02:22

God. Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.

02:29

I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For truly

02:35

I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished.

02:46

Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

02:57

But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

03:12

Thus far as the reading of God's holy and inspired word, let's praise God's people. Lord, thank you for the gift of eternal life.

03:23

Jesus, we throw ourselves completely upon you, your righteousness, your death on our behalf.

03:32

The fact that you are raised again from the dead, you are seated on your throne interceding for us.

03:38

We recognize we have nothing to boast in except for your grace and love and mercy for sinners like us.

03:45

We thank you, Lord, that you call us children. The Father, we call you our

03:51

Father, that you'll never lose us, that you'll never forsake us. And here we are gathered together because of your sovereign will.

03:59

You've directed our steps to this moment. We're before your throne worshiping with the host of heaven and with the other children of God on the earth.

04:11

We stand by your grace. This moment is a gift of your grace, and Lord, we ask that you would teach by your word that this word would go forth, that it would not return void, that you,

04:22

Lord, would allow us to treasure up what we've learned from you and your word today in our hearts and minds, that it would change us, renew our minds.

04:30

As always, God, we ask that you would get the teacher out of the way and that we would remember your word and what we've learned from you by your spirit.

04:39

We pray that you move by your spirit today, God, in a mighty way for your glory, for your kingdom. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.

04:47

So here we are, Matthew, starting over again, I guess. Matthew chapter 5,

04:53

Jesus' most famous sermon, the actual most famous sermon in the history of humanity, the

05:00

Sermon on the Mount. This is truly the most famous sermon in the history of the world. And this is before social media and the streaming and all the devices and ways to communicate things at an instant, at the push of a button, to be able to get 250 viewers at a time globally as you live stream something.

05:23

And there are many popular sermons out there, many popular sermons that have been seen millions of times, but they haven't yet been able to cut to the heart of humanity and to bless the world like this

05:35

Sermon on the Mount. Many of the most famous quotes from people about Jesus come from this particular sermon.

05:43

It's well known, even amongst unbelievers, the things that Jesus says, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

05:51

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

05:59

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see

06:04

God. It's beautiful. And of course, we recognize the hard things in this sermon as well that cut through all of us.

06:15

They expose the dark parts of our hearts, the things that we hide from others. The way that we like to, on the outside, look a certain way, but on the inside, we are a different way.

06:25

Now, as a Christian, if you know your own heart and God is sanctifying you, you hate that kind of duplicity in yourself.

06:32

You hate that hypocrisy that you know that you want the inside of the cup to be clean and the outside of the cup to be clean.

06:40

You don't want to look just merely religious on the outside, and that bothers you when you sin. It bothers you to have thoughts that are far from God or conflicting sinful thoughts, and you're in this process of sanctification, and so the

06:51

Sermon on the Mount cuts you and you repent and you ask God to sanctify you, but it's a word from God that will challenge the religious person that wants the outside to look good, but not the inside.

07:04

Jesus, in this text, demonstrates that he is the true law keeper. He is the

07:10

Psalm 119 man. Over the last couple of weeks, we've had Tim and the others read from Psalm 119 this passionate plea before God, that God, let me obey your law.

07:23

Oh, Lord, how I love your law. I look at those who violate your law with disgust.

07:30

Of course, that is truly describing only Jesus Christ, and Jesus comes in the

07:35

Sermon on the Mount, blesses the world with his teaching, and then demonstrates that he is the true law keeper. However, he is the one who truly loves

07:42

God's law because he strips away the hypocrisy and that facade that religious people will have in looking externally like they've got it all together, and Jesus says, that's not obeying the law.

07:55

It has to come from within. If you talk about adultery and sexual immorality, it's not simply the act.

08:01

The lover of God's law isn't concerned simply with the act of sexual immorality and adultery or the act of murder.

08:08

Jesus says, no, the true law keeper keeps that law from within. If it begins in your heart,

08:15

Jesus says, if it's in your heart, you've already committed that act. You're not fooling God with what you're doing to violate his law secretly and silently within yourself.

08:26

Jesus says, that true law keeping is much deeper. The facade of the religious isn't impressive to God, and Jesus says, the true law keeper keeps it from within.

08:36

You don't hate your neighbor in your heart. You're already a murderer if you've done that. You don't lust after somebody within your heart.

08:43

You're already an adulterer. You're already sexually immoral if you do that, and Jesus is shown there to be the true upholder of the

08:51

Torah and the law of God. It's true intention was never simply to transform a person from the outside, but to have the inside clean as well.

09:01

Now, I was thinking a moment ago in terms of this, and this is kind of a funny thing, but we're not to judge by outward appearances, right?

09:11

That's the clear claim in Scripture. Don't judge by outward appearances, and I was thinking of Pastor James, and hold on.

09:20

I was thinking of just what a tremendous gift to the body of Christ that he's been in his life and just what a giant of the faith that he is and the foundation that he's laid, and he comes up here and he takes the majority of the sermon time for the first sermon and then all the rest.

09:36

It's such a gift, right? And it's amazing. We recognize what a gift that Pastor James is to all of us and to the world, and there's a tremendous mind that God has given to him and how the

09:45

Spirit of God uses him, and I noticed as we're looking at the congregation today, we recognize the internal work and the

09:53

Spirit of God at work in his life and this just tremendous gift that he is, the pastor that he is, and not one of you seem to have noticed the shirt that he was wearing today.

10:08

If we judge merely by, yeah, if we judge merely by outward appearances, like if he was walking around out there, nobody would know by that shirt what a gift that man is inside.

10:22

It's a shirt filled with a bunch of colorful cats. Dr. James White. No, yeah, and he has hearing aids now, so praise the

10:32

Lord. Anyways, the outward appearance isn't impressive to God.

10:38

That's when we get into the Sermon on the Mount. The true law keeper keeps it from within. But what's amazing is, consider this, consider this, as we work through those details from the

10:48

Sermon on the Mount, you're familiar with popular Christian misinterpretation of the

10:54

Sermon on the Mount. A popular misinterpretation of the Sermon on the

11:00

Mount is that Jesus comes in and he undoes the law of God.

11:05

He essentially does away with it and he gives us an actual higher view of the law.

11:11

Jesus takes the law of God and he talks to people who believe it and he actually says, no, no, no, let me give you a different version of it now.

11:18

Let me elevate this for you now. That is not what Jesus was doing in the Sermon on the Mount. He was giving them the true law's intents.

11:27

He was giving them how they ought to have kept the law the whole time. Jesus wasn't saying the law is going to be different now, he was demonstrating to them the true interpretation of the law and he was confronting their abuse and mishandling of the law.

11:42

Oftentimes, Christians will come to the Sermon on the Mount and they'll say, okay, so Jesus is essentially giving us a new version of the law.

11:49

He's sort of done away with that old view of the law and he's giving us a new one. What's impressive about that misinterpretation is that it comes right on the heels of Jesus saying, do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.

12:11

I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.

12:17

And how Christians will oftentimes look at the teaching of Jesus here related to the Torah, related to God's instruction, related to God's law, they'll often say, okay, so what

12:26

Jesus is doing here is he's saying, I have not come to abolish the law or the prophets, but I've come to abolish them and give you a new one.

12:35

He just said, I have not come to abolish the law or the prophets, but to fulfill them. And what's important to recognize in the original language, and I always emphasize this, you've heard me say it many times before, do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.

12:51

In the Greek, me namasete, it's a strong denunciation of the idea that you would think at all or let that thought spring into your mind or start to form that he's come to abolish the law or the prophets.

13:06

Me namasete is don't even start. Don't let the seed be planted. Don't even begin to entertain the thought.

13:14

He's not saying stop thinking. He's saying don't even begin to think that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets.

13:21

I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. And we've been talking now the last two Lord's days about the abiding validity of the law of God.

13:30

If you missed the first message, I encourage you to go get that in terms of a more comprehensive understanding of what we're getting at today.

13:37

We're talking about Jesus' view of the law, Paul's view of the law, the New Testaments assumption of the abiding validity of the law of God, and the reason why it is so vital for us in this day to discuss this is that I think in Western Christianity today, the most popular perspective of the law of God today is that it is somehow done away with.

14:01

It is somehow irrelevant to the modern Christian. Maybe some parts come over, certain ones that are maybe our favorite ones.

14:10

We discussed that last week, like I love the law against murder. I love the law against rape and those sorts of things.

14:16

Maybe that comes over, the laws against bestiality and those sorts of things. But with the rest of it, we could essentially be done away with it.

14:23

We talk about those today that want to talk about unhitching from the Old Testament. We talk about Christian leaders today that actually seem like they're embarrassed by the law of God.

14:34

They're somehow embarrassed by God's statutes or His decrees about what is right and just and true in terms of even punishment.

14:42

We see Christians in public debate and dialogue shying away from what God says in His Word about what is just recompense for any particular sin or crime.

14:53

We oftentimes see leaders today avoiding the discussion of the law of God and somehow embarrassed by what

14:59

God has said. And so the popular perspective today, I think, amongst evangelicals and even

15:05

Catholics today, even the Pope himself says that capital punishment is unjust, therefore condemning

15:13

God as unjust. But the popular perspective is the law is defunct and over and no longer relevant for the world.

15:20

It is no longer to be seen as a gift to the world. We're not to speak about God's statutes and His standards for the world.

15:26

And I want to say, let's go to the incarnate God and ask Him, how should we view

15:31

Your law, Lord Jesus? If God became a man and He walked among us, we would want to know what is

15:40

His perspective of the law of God. And His perspective here isn't unclear.

15:46

Do not even begin to think that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

15:54

And then it's amplified even more. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished.

16:05

Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

16:16

But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. There's Jesus' view of the law.

16:26

There's His view of the Torah. And by the way, doesn't it have to be the case? If Jesus is going to be your representative and mine, if He's truly our substitute, if we get

16:38

His righteousness that exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, if that's given to us as a gift by God's grace, then wouldn't we need a

16:48

Savior and a representative that perfectly kept the law of God and upheld it and praised it?

16:57

Don't we need a Savior who keeps the law of God and views it like Psalm 119?

17:04

That's the Savior that we need. That's the Messiah that we need. And it's interesting, Pastor Luke and I were on a mission the last couple of days for end abortion now.

17:14

And so we had some traveling to do via plane and driving. And on one of the long drives, we listened to an old debate with one of our friends and a close friend of Pastor James, Dr.

17:26

Michael Brown. And in this debate, Dr. Michael Brown was debating a rather well -known rabbi named

17:32

Rabbi Shmuley. The guy is a real fireball. He truly is.

17:38

I mean, one of the recent debates I saw him doing, it was difficult to listen to because he is just ferocious.

17:44

Well, he was debating Dr. Michael Brown on whether or not Isaiah chapter 53 is speaking about Jesus.

17:52

And Dr. Michael Brown took Shmuley to school. If you haven't seen that debate,

17:57

I encourage you to see it. It is absolutely amazing. But one of the things that is interesting is that you do have particular

18:04

Orthodox Jews and Jewish rabbis who will view Jesus in a more historic

18:11

Orthodox Jewish perspective. And that is to say, if they're being consistent, they view

18:16

Jesus as a false Messiah and a false prophet. They see him as a danger to Israel.

18:23

Now, that's their perspective. If they're going to reject him as Mashiach, then of course, they'd have to ultimately say that.

18:29

But Shmuley took a different perspective. I think a more compromised modern Orthodox Jewish perspective.

18:35

In the debate, he spoke highly about Jesus. He still thinks he's not the

18:41

Messiah. He still thinks, of course, Jesus didn't die and rise from the dead. But he spoke extremely highly of Jesus.

18:47

Said that Jesus was a devout Jew. A devout Jew. And he said something that has been said many times before.

18:56

He said that Jesus was a strict law or Torah -keeping

19:01

Jew and that he was of the school of the Pharisees. Now it is interesting to make that claim.

19:07

I think it's peculiar because if he's Orthodox Jew, he would, I think, be more consistent if he condemned

19:13

Jesus as a false Messiah. But he was, I think, trying to be more in a compromised middle position saying Jesus is a devout

19:19

Jew and he was a Torah -keeping Jew. But he called Jesus a Pharisee. Now for the

19:25

Christian, we oftentimes see the bad moments with the Pharisees and the scribes in Scripture, right?

19:31

And so we tend to use the word Pharisee as a pejorative, right? We see a guy who's trying to impose his own personal opinions on others and trying to force his rigorous law -keeping on others and condemning others.

19:44

We would call him a what? We would say, that guy's a Pharisee, right? He's a Pharisee. He's making up his own laws. He's adding stuff to the law of God and that guy's a

19:52

Pharisee. And so it's typically a pejorative to us to call someone a Pharisee. But not so in Jesus' day.

19:59

Not so in Jesus' day. The Pharisees were known as the rigorous thinkers and meditators upon God's law.

20:09

They so revered God's law and his standards that they were devoted to studying it and promoting it and keeping as strict to it as they could.

20:19

And they even added a few laws here and there, like Scripture talks about violating the Sabbath.

20:24

Well, they had a number of ways, a list of ways that you could violate the Sabbath in extra ways.

20:30

And so they added even extra rules. They were respected in the first century. We see them oftentimes as the bad guys of the story.

20:38

But the Pharisees in Judaism in the first century and even today are respected as the law -keeping, law -abiding, conservative

20:46

Jews. And so Shmuley says about Jesus that he was a devout

20:51

Jew and he was a Pharisee. And I thought that was an interesting thing to say because even

20:57

Shmuley, who rejects Jesus as Mashiach, recognizes in the text that Jesus upholds the

21:05

Torah, points to the Torah, and is committed to the Torah and the law of God. Very different from how many modern evangelicals view

21:13

Jesus. We view it through a different lens, a different tradition. We say the law is no longer relevant.

21:19

It is defunct and somehow Jesus opposes the law and gives us a new way. And this modern

21:24

Orthodox Jew says, no, Jesus was a Pharisee. He was strictly devoted to the law of God.

21:30

And so when we ask the question about the abiding relevance of the law of God, today in the

21:36

New Testament we need to see what Jesus' view is. What is Jesus' view? Don't even begin to think that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets.

21:46

I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. But if you teach anyone to disobey even the least of these commandments, you will be called least in the kingdom of God.

21:58

But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great. That is the view of Jesus, of the

22:04

Torah, of the law of God, and that is in the New Testament. But we want to recognize that you do see this throughout the

22:11

New Testament and today we can't go over all the examples of how Jesus upholds the Torah in his life and work and ministry, but just a couple examples in terms of, well, let's look at Jesus.

22:22

How does he do this? In Matthew chapter 19, go there, and this is, of course, a relevant passage in our day and every day, but in particular our day.

22:31

Matthew chapter 19, you start in verse 1.

22:37

Now, when Jesus had finished these sayings, he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.

22:43

And large crowds followed him and he healed them there. And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, is it lawful to divorce one's wife for, here's the word, ready, any cause?

22:57

Now note who is bringing the question. Who is bringing the question to Jesus?

23:05

You guys can talk back. Now, who's bringing the question? The Pharisees. The Pharisees. And why were they bringing the question according to the text?

23:12

They were bringing the question as Pharisees, remember who they are. They're the law -keeping school, they're the conservative school, they are the

23:19

Torah -obeying and abiding school, they are rigorously committed to the law of God as good and right and true and it must be obeyed.

23:28

And they come to Jesus, okay, you're the Messiah, let's see how you feel about this current controversy.

23:35

The Pharisees, the law of God is good, we've got to obey God's law, his standards are the rule of faith.

23:41

That was their position. And so they're coming to Jesus now, let's test this guy, let's see how committed he is to the law of God, let's see where he falls on this current controversy.

23:54

And the controversy, it's in the text, we know about it historically, you can study this outside of the scriptures, we know who was involved, we know who was teaching it, we know about this controversy, it was the

24:05

Hillelite marriage clause or controversy related to divorce.

24:12

Can you divorce for, here's the words, any cause?

24:18

And the Pharisees had a position on this. And their position, what do you think it was?

24:24

Was that you must use the law of God. If the law of God says you can get divorced, you have to follow the rules of divorce according to God's own revelation.

24:35

And along comes this familiar and common form of divorce of the day, the

24:41

Hillelite marriage clause. And it was from Rabbi Hillel, and Rabbi Hillel taught, well, scripture says that there's got to be a certificate of divorce, and so as long as you have a certificate of divorce, it's a manipulation of the text, as long as you have a certificate of divorce, you can get divorced for any cause, because the rule is you've got to have a certificate of divorce, and so any cause.

25:09

And so it's controversial in a day, because it's more of a, call it a liberal view of scripture, right, sort of playing with the text a bit, right?

25:18

Any cause, just give that certificate of divorce, look on the outside like you're following the Torah and all the rules.

25:24

There was another school of thought that the Pharisees clearly held to from Rabbi Shammai.

25:32

It was called the Shammait view. And that view was the view that says only the law of God is to be followed in terms of the parameters of how you can actually get divorced and for what reason.

25:48

And scripture is very clear, I'm not going to repeat the sermon I've given on this before, you can go look it up on divorce. The law of God gives you a number of reasons for a proper biblical divorce.

26:00

A number of reasons. But they are biblically defined under biblical parameters.

26:07

And so the Pharisees held to the position saying it must be the Bible, it must be the Torah, it is only for these reasons.

26:15

And so now they come to Jesus, okay Jesus, let's see where you're at on the question.

26:21

Are you with the school that says the Bible defines this, or are you with this Hillel that says you can do it for any cause whatsoever, wife can't cook as well anymore,

26:31

I don't think she's as pretty, right, husband's breath stinks, you name the reason.

26:37

Any cause, hey I gave you a certificate and I gave you a reason. Any cause.

26:43

So what is Jesus the law keeper? What is his position?

26:48

Because they're testing him, give us what your position is and here's what is said. Verse four, he answered, have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.

27:11

So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.

27:20

So know where Jesus takes them, where does he take them? Where does he take them to answer the question of the any cause divorce, where does he take them?

27:28

To the Torah. He takes them to the Torah. Have you not read, and he brings them back, this is

27:35

God's creational purpose, this is God's creational order and therefore do not separate it.

27:43

That's what the law of God says. Now the discussion continues. They said to him, why then did

27:50

Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away? He said to them because of your hardness of heart

27:58

Moses allowed you to divorce your wives but from the beginning it was not so, in other words because of sin divorce was allowed but that's not

28:06

God's intention. That's not God's intention from the very beginning. And I say to you whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery.

28:20

And so Jesus as the perfect law keeper brings them back to the Torah, brings them back to God's creational purpose and God's creational norm and he sides away from Rabbi Hillel on the any cause divorce and he says only biblical divorce according to God's standards, according to God's law.

28:41

That's where Jesus goes. One more example from Matthew, in Matthew chapter 15,

28:47

Matthew chapter 15 Jesus gives another example of how he relates to the law of God and how he expects others to relate to the law of God.

29:03

Matthew 15 1, then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, why do your hands when they eat?

29:15

He answered them, and why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?

29:22

For God commanded honor your father or your mother and whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.

29:28

But you say if anyone tells his father or his mother what you would have gained from me as given to God, he need not honor his father.

29:37

So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites, well did

29:44

Isaiah prophesy of you when he said, this people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me.

29:51

In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. Now we've been in this text many times before, right guys?

29:59

Right? And we oftentimes point to this when we're discussing what should we, how should we view the word of God in relation to man -made tradition.

30:09

We recognize, of course, that at Apologia Church and many other excellent churches around the valley, we all have particular traditions.

30:18

You've got amazing Presbyterian churches locally that have a tradition of the Westminster Confession of Faith, a fine

30:24

Confession of Faith. You've got other great Reformed Baptist churches around that have a Confession of Faith that is a particular tradition.

30:31

And so we don't say as Protestants that tradition is all bad. We love the Confessions of Faith.

30:36

We love solid biblical Christian traditions. But we want to hold to the view of Jesus when it comes to tradition.

30:43

And what he does here is he talks to them about a popular tradition of the day that allowed people to violate the law of God.

30:54

And so what Jesus says about their tradition is he says, why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?

31:01

And what does he do in his day? He says, you're violating the law of God with your tradition.

31:07

He says this, Moses says this, but you say this.

31:14

And so what Jesus teaches us there is the incarnate one is simply this, your words, my words, your thoughts, my thoughts, your traditions, my traditions must ultimately be compared to the word of the living

31:33

God. And if our words or our traditions contradict the very words of God, then it is our traditions and our words, our thoughts, our feelings that have to be cast down and thrown away.

31:48

Because Jesus says, Moses says this, therefore what? God says this. And you say this.

31:54

And your tradition contradicts the words of God, and so you are voiding

31:59

God's word for the sake of your tradition. But note something really important here. Jesus as the perfect law keeper,

32:08

Jesus as the perfect Torah -keeping Jew does not denigrate the law of God.

32:15

He upholds it, and he upholds it to them, saying it is your tradition that is voiding

32:21

God's word. And you are a hypocrite. And he actually confronts them for what?

32:28

For their tradition that contradicts the Torah. That is how Jesus views human tradition in contrast to the word of God.

32:38

He elevates the word of God over their tradition. That is how Jesus views God's law.

32:45

One more. Go to Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10 in terms of discovering how

32:51

Jesus views the law of God in his ministry. Mark chapter 10, starting at verse 17.

33:07

The text says, and as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, good teacher, what must

33:15

I do to inherit eternal life? Is that not the most important question? If you had a chance to run into Jesus on the road, would that not be the question?

33:25

I'm sure we all have a million questions for Jesus. I do. But that is the question to ask

33:31

Jesus. Here's the source of life, the way, the truth, and the life. This is the God who made me. I want

33:37

God. And so that has to be the most important question. What must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus, I love how

33:44

Jesus does this. He's giving him an internal critique as he's answering his question.

33:50

Jesus says, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

34:00

Now, this is really interesting how I just want to prepare you for this one. I prepare everyone for this one. Oftentimes there may be some people from Mormonism or the

34:08

Watchtower Bible and Tract Society that will go to this very text to try to disprove the deity of Christ.

34:16

They'll say, well, you're saying Jesus is God? Well, that's not what Jesus said. Well, here's what Jesus said in Mark chapter 10.

34:23

Jesus said, why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You see, he can't be

34:28

God, to which you say to the Mormon very simply, okay, is Jesus good?

34:34

And the Mormon goes, yes. Who's good according to Jesus? Only God alone.

34:41

So what is Jesus doing here? Denying that he's good or denying that he's God? What's he doing?

34:47

He's demonstrating to the man who he is actually talking to. Why do you call me good?

34:53

No one is good except God alone. Now Jesus now answers him. The question is, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

34:59

And look what he says. You know the commandments. Do not murder.

35:05

Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness. Do not defraud. Honor your father and mother.

35:12

And he said to him, teacher, all these I have kept for my youth. And Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, you lack one thing.

35:22

Here's what you lack. Ready? You lack one thing. Go, sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.

35:29

And come, follow me. That's what he wants to know.

35:35

How do I inherit eternal life? And he's thinking, I've done all these things, which, by the way, no, he hasn't.

35:42

I've done all these things for my youth. Yeah, let's talk to your mom about that one. Let's ask your mom how she feels about that one, right?

35:48

Honor your father and mother. So what does Jesus do here? As the perfect law -keeping Jew, as the Psalm 119 man, he points the man to God's law.

35:57

He doesn't denigrate it. He doesn't call it not good. He doesn't tell him to stop obeying the law of God. He points to what he is lacking.

36:04

He wants eternal life. And so he points him to the law of God, and he says, but here's what you're lacking.

36:10

Come, follow me. Let go of all these things, and you come and follow me.

36:16

The point is this. If you want eternal life, you must come and follow me. You must come and follow me.

36:22

Let go of all these things. Let go of all that you're grasping onto. Give away all your possessions, because that really, obviously, was the man's

36:29

God. You've got to come and follow Jesus. Here's what you're missing. Follow me.

36:34

But note how Jesus talks about the law of God, not in a way to denigrate it, not in a way to diminish it, not in a way to devalue it.

36:43

Jesus is that Psalm 119 human, that perfect law -keeping man.

36:49

And so Jesus, in Mark 10, 17 through 21, upholds the commandments of God. And of course, we talked for a moment here, we can't do a complete unpacking of this.

36:58

I have done a sermon series on the Sermon on the Mount. I encourage you to go look at that. But when Jesus is going through the

37:04

Sermon on the Mount, he brings them to the law's true intention. He doesn't create a law that didn't exist before.

37:13

And those who attempt to go to the text on the Sermon on the Mount and say somehow that Jesus was doing something different or new than God's standards in the

37:23

Old Testament, I think have no understanding of what God's standards were in the Old Testament. Are we saying, when we say that Jesus was giving us something that was just totally new from the

37:33

Old Testament, are we saying that in the Old Testament, when God said, do not murder, do not commit adultery, are we saying that he allowed to internally do those things in the

37:44

Old Testament, that he was fine with that there? But in the New Testament, it's in a different way? No, Jesus is the perfect Torah -keeping

37:53

Jew, and he came and explained to them God's true intention, meaning, and purpose in the law of God.

38:02

He was giving it to them in the way that it ought to be obeyed, the way that it should have been obeyed in the

38:07

Old Testament under that covenant. Now, we're not going to spend a lot of time on this today, this next part, because we did last week, but I want to just make note of it.

38:18

We talked about Jesus' view of the law. That's not comprehensive. Just a touch on it. Next, we talk about Paul's view of the law.

38:25

Go there briefly, just to make sure that we touch on it again. We know it. We understand it.

38:31

In Romans chapter 3, just some quick points as bullet points.

38:39

In Romans chapter 3, we talked about Paul's view of the law. Now, what does Paul say about the law?

38:48

That it can justify nobody. It will justify nobody.

38:54

What do we know about our condition from Romans 3? We all fall short of the glory of God. We are not righteous.

39:01

We are not good. And the law, therefore, can justify nobody. And what will the law do, according to Paul, in Romans chapter 3, verse 19?

39:10

We know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law. So that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

39:25

So what will the law do, according to Paul? It will shut the entire world's mouth.

39:33

Not just Jews, not just Jews. It will close the mouth of the world.

39:39

And then it says this, for by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

39:47

So we talked about the fact that Paul is going to great lengths in Romans 3 to explain, this is the condition of humanity, fallen, you are not righteous, you are not good, you are non -God seeking.

39:58

You won't accomplish it, because the law will never be used to justify anybody. But here is what God has done in Christ.

40:05

The scriptures promise this. It is a gift by his grace to the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God puts

40:11

Jesus forth as a propitiation. He's a diversion of wrath in the place of the people of God.

40:19

He fully satisfies the wrath of God in your place and mine. So that God can remain just, because he's not neglecting his law.

40:28

He's not ignoring your sin and my sin, your lies, my lies, your adultery, my adultery, your murder, my murder.

40:37

He doesn't turn a blind eye to it. He actually fully exhausts his wrath in what

40:43

Christ accomplished on the cross, and that's Paul's point. The law is not going to justify you, it's not going to save you, and God actually provides the satisfaction for our law breaking in the cross of Jesus Christ.

40:58

So that God remains just, because he punishes it. And a justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

41:04

And then Paul says this, this is the key point. In verse 28, for we hold that a man or one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

41:21

We are justified by faith apart from the works of the law. There's faith alone.

41:26

That law that can't justify you, it's not going to save you. You're not justified by it, you are justified by faith over by itself, apart from the works of the law.

41:38

To which we said, remember this, Christians will have a tendency to read that and then not read the next verses.

41:46

Okay, so we're justified by faith alone and not by works of the law, so we can ignore the law. The law is defunct and over, we don't talk about it.

41:55

If it's not mentioned in the New Testament, it's no longer relevant to us today. That's not how Paul says it. That law that won't justify you,

42:02

Paul says, is the very law. Now that you're saved, now that you're justified, now that you have faith, is the very law you uphold.

42:09

In Romans 3, 31, he says this. Do we then overthrow the law? Do we then overthrow the law by this faith?

42:20

Many Christian theologies today would say yes, yeah. We're in the new covenant, we do overthrow that law.

42:28

It is void, or much of it is just void now, Paul, because it's faith apart from works.

42:35

But Paul says, do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means, on the contrary, we uphold the law.

42:45

So what is the perspective of Paul regarding the law? The same law that will never justify you is the very same law that you uphold now that you are in Christ.

42:59

That's Paul's perspective on the law. We don't overthrow it in Christ. We don't overthrow it because of faith.

43:05

That law that can't justify us is the one we actually uphold. Now this gets us to the most,

43:11

I think, interesting part of this discussion now. And that is, if you take a look at the

43:17

New Testament, the inspired revelation of God from the writers of the New Testament and the apostles, you will see something interesting.

43:26

Not only do you see Jesus saying, don't even begin to think I've come to abolish the law of the prophets. Not only do you see the apostle

43:32

Paul saying, we don't make void the law through faith. We actually uphold the law that can't justify us.

43:37

But you see a continual assumption of the abiding validity of the law of God just quoted at random throughout the

43:46

New Testament. And this I find to be so compelling in terms of the assumption of continuity of the law of God.

43:56

Here's the point, ready? If we take the perspective of many well -meaning and wonderful Christian brothers and sisters of the law of God that says somehow we don't relate to that anymore in that way.

44:08

We don't really pay attention to that. It's really for the old covenant people of God, the body politic of Israel.

44:13

We don't need those standards of justice and righteousness and holiness any longer. Those don't apply to us.

44:19

If we take that perspective, it is interesting because in the

44:24

New Testament, the apostles will just randomly assume the abiding validity of the law of God at points that might surprise you.

44:35

If the law is defunct and over and no longer something we're appealing to as abiding and relevant today, then what are the apostles doing consistently appealing to the law of God, the

44:49

Torah, in ways again that would surprise you? Some examples. This is an easy one.

44:55

If you go to your Bibles to Ephesians, go to Ephesians chapter six, and this is every child's favorite verse, probably the one heard the most in the home.

45:11

Ephesians chapter six. A lot of kids in the room right now are like, I already know it.

45:17

I don't need to open my Bible. I hear this from dad daily. Ephesians chapter six.

45:27

Think about when this was written. Was this written before the cross or after the cross?

45:34

After. Is this written before the resurrection or after the resurrection? Before the ascension or after the ascension?

45:42

Here's the point I'm making. This is from the apostle Paul well after the ascension and seating of the

45:50

Messiah. And the apostle Paul here, knowing that children, by the way, are going to be in the congregation under the hearing of the reading of the letter, he assumes the children are there, that he can talk to the kids while this is being given in church, family integrated worship.

46:08

That's one of the reasons we do it. The children are there. They're assumed to be there. But the apostle Paul also assumes something.

46:15

That that law of God about children obeying your parents and the Lord is relevant under the new covenant.

46:22

It is relevant after the cross, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. He just, he does not say, listen closely, he does not say ever.

46:32

Now we know everyone that under the new covenant, the law of God is no longer relevant. It's defunct.

46:38

Most of it is just not something we appeal to. We know that. But let's go ahead and pull over this verse from the

46:45

Old Testament because this one is important. He just simply assumes the abiding validity and continuity of the law of God under the new covenant.

46:54

He just assumes it. And so he says, Isaiah or say or Ephesians 6, children obey your parents in the

47:01

Lord for this is right. Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with a promise that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the lands.

47:16

Isn't it interesting? The apostle Paul just assumes the abiding validity and continuity of the law of God with regard to children honoring your father and your mother.

47:30

And again, this is an important note. He does not, when he engages the question of the law of God where he's just pulling things over, he does not stop to say, now we know that the law is not good or somehow bad or somehow diminished or somehow not relevant, but we're going to keep this one under the new covenant.

47:52

What do you see from Paul? The assumption of continuity. Mark that down. Next, go to 1st

47:59

Timothy. 1st

48:05

Timothy 5, 1st

48:18

Timothy 5, starting in verse 17.

48:24

Here's Paul talking to Timothy, this young pastor, giving him guidance and instruction.

48:32

And as he's giving guidance and instruction as an inspired apostle, note what he says in verse 17.

48:42

Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who would labor in preaching and teaching.

48:49

Let it be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching for, and here is the basis.

48:58

So I'm telling you as an inspired apostle, double honor for these pastors and elders.

49:04

Take care of them, especially the ones who labor in preaching and teaching. You have to take care of your pastors, double honor.

49:13

And on what basis does he say to do so? For the scripture says, you shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain and the laborer deserves his wages.

49:31

Stop there. Animal husbandry, Paul. You know, people look at the

49:39

Old Testament at times because we don't understand the Old Testament because we're not in it. We're not meditating on the word of God, the law of God and its application and the core principles that are behind each law and say case law examples.

49:51

We might say today as you go to the Old Testament, not reading something like this with that inspired interpretation.

49:57

What relevance do the animal husbandry laws of the Old Testament have to do with my life today?

50:05

And the answer is everything. Paul says on the basis of the law of God, you should not muzzle the ox while it treads the grain.

50:15

You need to pay the people who are laboring for you, pay them for their work for you.

50:22

Take care of their needs. Now, by the way, that law, that animal husbandry law that God gave in the

50:27

Old Testament, that someone says, how is that relevant in terms of animal stuff today is relevant to you and I as business owners, as people who are in contracts with one another.

50:39

And by the way, can I just say as an aside, Christians have to stop abusing other Christians to try to get free stuff.

50:47

Can I get an amen about that? What's the first thing Christians would do? It's like, oh man, everything broke in my house.

50:54

I need to find a Christian that will do this for what? For free. Or we try to find the

50:59

Christian that we can give less money to for the job. Brothers and sisters, we can't live that way as Christians.

51:06

We need to pay people and pay them well for their work. By the way, if as a Christian you want to give yourself away graciously to somebody, do it.

51:14

Sacrifice, lay your life down, give stuff away. But that should be your decision and not something that's forced on you by another

51:20

Christian. Like, can't you just give me a hookup? Can't you give me a better deal? What we ought to be doing is making sure that the laborer gets paid because they are worthy of their wages.

51:31

Amen? Don't muzzle the ox while it treads the grain. Christians should be the first people to make sure that people are getting paid well for what they do.

51:39

Can I get an amen to that? We need to be a culture here at Apology of Church. We've talked about this from the beginning, that we show great hospitality to people and we make sure that we are the ones that are paying people well for their work.

51:51

We need to have that kind of culture, that kind of lifestyle, that we pay people well for their work.

51:56

But notice that Paul says, you pay people for their work because God says in his law, don't muzzle the ox while it treads the grain.

52:07

Note again what Paul does not do. No discussion whatsoever of saying, now we know that under the new covenant, the law of God is no longer relevant here.

52:19

We're not going to appeal to those laws regarding how we're to pay people. Paul does what?

52:25

He's talking to Timothy, he says, hey, make sure you take care of your pastors, especially the ones laboring in preaching and teaching, because you know

52:33

God's law, don't muzzle the ox while it treads the grain. He just passes right past it.

52:39

He assumes it's abiding validity, like you're supposed to know this, Timothy. That law of God is

52:44

God's law and it's relevant. But watch this. There's more. Again, the assumption of continuity.

52:51

He says in verse 19, do not admit a charge against an elder except in the evidence of two or three witnesses.

52:59

Pause. Where's that from? Where is the rule in scripture about not admitting a charge against really anybody unless it's on the basis of two to three independent lines of witness?

53:13

Where's that from? It's from the Torah. It's from the law of God. What is Paul doing here?

53:19

He's reminding Timothy of the standard. Timothy, as a pastor, you need to live this way, preach this way, believe this way.

53:28

Don't muzzle the ox while it treads the grain. That's the Torah. Don't admit a charge against an elder unless it's on the basis of two to three independent lines of witness.

53:36

That is the standard from the Old Testament. And I will note one more thing about that standard. If it's passed away, if it's no longer to be applied in the

53:46

New Covenant, then what is Jesus doing, giving it to the church for church discipline in Matthew 18?

53:54

How does Jesus tell us to carry out church discipline? How does he say? What's the first thing that happens when somebody's in sin?

54:00

What do you do? You go to them what? Privately. You keep it private.

54:06

You try to solve and heal the problem privately. No gossip. No church splits.

54:11

No factions. It's private. It's to heal. It's to bless. But if they won't listen, what do you bring?

54:19

Two to three. And if they won't listen to them, what do you do? You bring them before the church.

54:25

But note that Jesus uses the standard of accusation that is straight from the

54:32

Torah. He just assumes it's abiding validity and continuity. Jesus does.

54:38

Paul does. One more. We have to. It's right here. We've got to do it again.

54:45

In verse 20, as for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all so that the rest may stand in fear.

54:57

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of the elect angels, I charge you to keep these rules without prejudging, doing nothing from partiality.

55:09

What does the law of God say regarding partiality? A lot. You shall not show partiality in judgment.

55:19

What is Paul doing here? He's repeating lines from the Torah. Don't prejudge a situation.

55:27

You shall show no partiality in judgment. And I have to note again, it is important for us to note this, that for all of these

55:34

Christian theologies today that would teach somehow that the law of God from the Old Testament, animal husbandry laws, those judicial standards of accusation, all those things about partiality, they're not relevant under the

55:46

New Covenant. We don't need to live by that. We don't need to promote those things. We're not under that anymore. I think

55:52

I have a hard time dealing with Paul here after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus where he's just assuming it.

55:59

He's assuming it's abiding validity under the New Covenant. The New Covenant is in force.

56:04

Jesus is raised from the dead. Jesus is on his throne. And the Apostle Paul is just assuming it.

56:11

Next is an example of no partiality. Stuff that's just assumed. You're supposed to know this. You know it.

56:17

From James 2, 1 through 13. Brothers and sisters, show no what?

56:23

Partiality. Deuteronomy 1, 17 as an example. I'll give you another example of just stuff that's just assumed.

56:31

When Paul is on trial in Acts 25, 11, many

56:37

Christians today will argue against the death penalty, capital punishment for particular crimes. Paul, post -cross, post -resurrection, post -ascension, after, while he's on trial in Acts 25, 11, says, if I have done anything worthy of death,

56:58

I do not object to dying. What is that an admission of by an inspired

57:06

Apostle? That there are things worthy of death. And Paul is saying, if I have done any of those things that are worthy of death under the new covenant, in this new covenant age and world, if I've done anything worthy of death, then

57:23

I don't object to dying. Paul's saying, that would be right for you to do, because there are things that are worthy of death.

57:32

And the question is, if you were to ask the Apostle Paul, how do we know which things are worthy of death, what do you think he would have pointed you to?

57:41

What do you think he would have pointed you to? The law of God. So Paul is saying, after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, that there are things worthy of death, and if I've done them,

57:50

I don't object to dying. There's just another small example. Now, I want to show you another example of how the

58:00

New Testament does this, in terms of keeping the principle that's given to you in the law, assuming it's abiding validity, but showing you its transformation.

58:12

Go to this one. 1 Corinthians 5. 1

58:17

Corinthians chapter 5, and look how the

58:24

Apostle Paul begins to demonstrate in 1 Corinthians how we relate now to particular laws from God's law.

58:38

This is an interesting one. In 1 Corinthians 5, verse 6, he says, your boasting is not good.

58:46

Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened.

58:57

For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

59:13

Now, I'd love to be able to go into this in full detail and unpack all the details here related to the law of God and the leaven and all the things they did ritualistically to cleanse out the leaven, all those things.

59:24

But here's the point. He is assuming the principle and the abiding validity behind what was given to them in the

59:33

Torah in terms of ritual to cleanse leaven, and he shows its transformative work under the

59:40

New Covenant and its real intention. What it was pointing to as a sign. What does he say?

59:48

Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

59:57

What is he saying? We're not appealing to that any longer. We're not looking to that any longer.

01:00:03

He's saying we're to see this in the New Covenant way. It's not destroyed and gone.

01:00:09

The way that it was done before is different and transformed under the New Covenant. But here's how we do it as Christians under the

01:00:17

New Covenant. There's an example. In Matthew 22, 35, you can just mark it down.

01:00:26

Well, actually, let's go to it. We have time. Kimmy, I just saw you move.

01:00:33

Matthew 22, 35. This is the famous scene.

01:00:52

And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the law?

01:00:59

And he said to them, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

01:01:06

What's he quoting there, brothers and sisters? The Shema. You want to do it together?

01:01:11

We got a lot of new people here. You want to do it together? Everyone, let's do it. Say Shema. Shema. We can do it like passion.

01:01:18

Shema. Yisrael, Yahweh, Eloheinu, Yahweh, Echad.

01:01:27

He quotes Deuteronomy 6, 4. What is the greatest commandment in the law?

01:01:34

Jesus. What's the most important thing I have to do? And Jesus says,

01:01:40

Deuteronomy 6, 4. And then he says, this is the great and first commandment, and the second is like it.

01:01:49

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.

01:01:57

And so Jesus, the perfect law keeper, when being asked the question, what is the most important thing

01:02:02

I do? I obey. Jesus, tell me. We have the eternal life question. Now I want to know to you,

01:02:08

God. What is the most important commandment? And Jesus says, love the

01:02:13

Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. And he says, love your neighbor as yourself. What does Jesus quote there?

01:02:19

The Torah. What does he quote? Deuteronomy and Leviticus. Love God, love neighbor.

01:02:26

And note something. When the Christian today tells us, again, well -meaning,

01:02:32

Christ -loving Christian says that the only important things under the new covenant, the most valuable, is to love

01:02:39

God and love neighbor. I want to note, you are quoting the Torah, Deuteronomy and Leviticus, and Jesus made the point that all, not some, all of the law and the prophets are built upon love for God, love for neighbor.

01:02:57

And so if you were to ask the question, the next question, ready? What's the greatest commandment, Jesus? And he tells you, love

01:03:03

God, love neighbor. And then you ask him this question. Are you ready? Okay, but how?

01:03:12

How do I love God and love neighbor? The answer is obvious.

01:03:18

If all the law and the prophets are built upon love for God, love for neighbor, then the law is an explication, an explanation of how we truly love

01:03:30

God and how we truly love our neighbors. If we love our neighbors, we'll obey the

01:03:37

Torah. We will not lie about them. We will not steal from them.

01:03:43

We will not covet and want their stuff. We will not commit adultery.

01:03:50

If we love our neighbors, we'll make sure that our neighbor is safe on our property and they don't get harmed, like obeying that law about building a parapet around the roof of your house.

01:04:00

We will take the principle of that and say, you know what? I'm going to make sure that there is nothing in my house that is going to harm my children or my guests when they come into my home.

01:04:10

You know, you have in your home this big exposed wire that's like shooting sparks. So someone walks in, they get their ears zapped as they walk in.

01:04:17

You're sinning. If you leave that out to harm a person, you are sinning because you are not working for the preservation and protection of human life.

01:04:27

And the Torah tells us how to love our neighbor. Another way that you are told to love your neighbor is to do justice and only justice for them.

01:04:36

To make sure that when you hear an accusation about someone even you love or someone you don't love, someone you don't like, you love your neighbor by making sure that you preserve and protect justice on their behalf.

01:04:51

You show no partiality in judgment. You do not regard the face of your favorite person by showing partiality.

01:04:58

You have equal weights and measures. That you make sure there are two to three independent lines of witness and testimony against somebody.

01:05:06

If they're in court, you'll demand that the witnesses are telling the truth, that there's consequences for lying witnesses because you love your neighbor.

01:05:18

You'll love the victim and want justice on behalf of the victim according to what

01:05:23

God's just standards are. So here's the point. You get to ask Jesus a question. Jesus, I want to know, what is the greatest commandment?

01:05:32

Love God. Second one, love neighbor. How do

01:05:37

I do that? Read the Torah. Because all of the law and the prophets are built upon love for God, love for neighbor.

01:05:47

Just a couple things to point to and you can read this, study this later yourself. Scripture is called, the law is called holy, righteous, and good in Romans 7.

01:06:00

We see post -cross, post -resurrection, post -ascension. In Hebrews 2 -2, the writer of Hebrews says that every sin under the old covenant received a just recompense.

01:06:18

So what was given as a standard, as recompense under God's law, was just or unjust?

01:06:25

Which was it? Which was it? Just. So if the writer of Hebrews calls the recompense just, then it is just, holy, righteous, and good.

01:06:37

Now, pointing one important point out here, brothers and sisters. When we think about the new covenant, there are obviously things that are transformed from the old covenant administration to the new covenant administration.

01:06:53

But the question is this, since the apostles just simply assume the abiding validity of the law of God everywhere, how do we know which laws are transformed and how to actually do them or perform them under the new covenant?

01:07:08

The amazing and good thing is we have a word from God about how we're to view those things. So watch, this is the easy way to do it.

01:07:15

This is the easy way to do it. As an example, brothers and sisters, in the Old Testament, God had specific rituals, specific symbols, specific acts that the people of God were supposed to do to work towards this story of redemption.

01:07:31

So you even had like really graphic days that, let's be honest, would be hard for our kids to view.

01:07:36

Today, like really hard, like Yom Kippurim, the day of atonements or the day of atonement, where you have the high priest, you have a bull, blood sacrifice for him.

01:07:47

You've got one creature, another creature, a scapegoat. It's a very bloody and brutal looking day.

01:07:53

You've got the sins of the people of God confessed onto the scapegoats, pressed down, and then that scapegoat led away from the people of God.

01:08:00

What else do you have in the Old Testament? You've got a temple, a place with a holiest place, the holy of holies.

01:08:08

You've got a priest that can go in beyond the veil. You're doing all these rituals that are just this story being played out.

01:08:17

Brothers and sisters, do we need a temple today? Are we going to help the

01:08:22

Jews rebuild the third temple? Brothers and sisters, when I hear

01:08:27

Christians talking about helping the Jews to rebuild their temple, it breaks my heart because if the

01:08:34

Jews rebuilt that physical temple and started instituting new animal sacrifices, what would that mean?

01:08:40

What would they be saying? That we reject Christ. We reject his atonement.

01:08:46

We do not believe him. We do not need him. The temple is gone for a reason.

01:08:52

God destroyed that temple. Why? Because Jesus said in John chapter 2, destroy this temple and in three days

01:08:59

I will raise it up again. What does scripture say about us under the new covenant? We have a high priest who is always interceding for us.

01:09:11

We have a mediator, one God and one mediator between Christ Jesus. We have a sacrifice, but it's a once for all sacrifice, never to be repeated again.

01:09:23

Able to perfect forever those who draw near to God through him. We still have a blood sacrifice.

01:09:29

We still have a temple. We still have a prophet. We still have a priest. We still have a king. But we don't have it in the same way.

01:09:37

But brothers and sisters, come with me on this. The necessity of blood atonement is still relevant under the new covenant.

01:09:49

But it's finished. It's finished once for all. The need for a mediator is still relevant under the new covenant.

01:09:57

But now we have a perfect mediator. The need for a high priest is still relevant under the new covenant.

01:10:04

But now we have one that stands with us forever and for us forever. And we still have that beautiful story of this temple.

01:10:15

And Peter says, we are all little stones being built up in this amazing work of God.

01:10:23

Here's my point. Ready? Yeah, the law is fulfilled in that way. But you still have a sacrifice.

01:10:29

You still have a priest. You still have a mediator. You still have a prophet. You still have a king. It's all still relevant under the new covenant.

01:10:36

It's just now transformed and fulfilled. And I'll show you one more point in terms of, well, how do we know what's abiding and relevant or what's transformed?

01:10:45

This is one of my favorites to point to. There's others that we could. Quickly go to Ephesians 2. And we'll end on this.

01:10:56

Ephesians 2. Now people will, atheists love this, by the way.

01:11:08

It's one of their chestnut arguments, right? They'll talk about bacon and different types of clothing that, you know, are you wearing clothing that has mixed fabrics?

01:11:20

Like they'll mock the law of God in terms of mixed fabrics and like bacon and the kinds of things that you eat.

01:11:26

And praise God that we can all eat bacon now, right? Amen? But by the way, watch.

01:11:31

How come we can eat bacon now? How come? How come?

01:11:37

A specific word from God that tells you this is now transformed. There's no need for this kind of separation any longer between Jews and Gentiles.

01:11:45

All that that was pointing to is no longer relevant under the new covenants. Now this is all clean because what that was teaching the people of God is no longer necessary and those dividing walls are no longer separating

01:11:57

Jews and Gentiles any longer. But Paul is dealing with that. The holiness code.

01:12:04

And here's what he says in Ephesians 2. Therefore, remember that one time, at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands.

01:12:15

Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise.

01:12:23

Listen to that. It's beautiful. And for those of you who love the discussion of covenant theology, this is powerful.

01:12:29

The covenants, plural of promise, singular. So he's saying this.

01:12:37

You were strangers. By the way, this is more important than you think.

01:12:43

You were strangers to the covenants, plural of promise, singular.

01:12:51

Where were you? Aliens. Outside of this. Covenants of promise.

01:12:56

You're outside of them. Now know what he says. Having no hope and without God in the world, but now in Christ Jesus, you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

01:13:15

What is Paul saying? He watches the devastating point and we're done after this.

01:13:21

So get get the hands on this because it is vital. You were aliens and strangers to the covenants of promise.

01:13:30

But in Christ, you have been brought near to what?

01:13:38

To what? The Commonwealth of Israel. To the covenants of promise.

01:13:45

So all of the blessings of those covenants that we were once strangers to, we're far off from, he says, because of the blood of Christ, you now have been brought toward the blessings of those covenants.

01:14:01

In Christ. Not that they're somehow irrelevant or no longer good. You've been brought near.

01:14:07

For he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh.

01:14:14

Listen what he calls it. The dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances.

01:14:23

That's the holiness code that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two.

01:14:30

So making peace. So the holiness code, some of those strange laws from the

01:14:36

Old Testament, I would call them training wheels, rituals that were training wheels for the

01:14:41

Jews that taught them separation from the world. Do not mix fabrics.

01:14:48

Syncretism. Don't blend with the culture of the pagans. Don't engage in their paganism, their worship, their idolatry, their lifestyle.

01:14:56

Don't blend with them. They were taught not to do syncretism, not to do what they did down to their clothing.

01:15:03

Remember, don't blend. Be separate. Be holy. Don't be like them.

01:15:10

That's what they had as training for holiness, righteousness, and separation. And Paul says now, because of Christ, that holiness code, that's done away with.

01:15:21

Now you've been brought near in Jesus. We don't need that in that way anymore. But stop.

01:15:27

That leads someone to say, great, so now that it's abolished, it's no longer relevant.

01:15:34

No. What was taught in the law regarding separation from the world, holiness, not blending with that culture or taking their methods and lifestyle is still relevant under the new covenant.

01:15:50

We still need to be a separate people, amen? We still have to be a holy people. We still have to avoid blending with the culture around us.

01:15:58

We need to look like a peculiar people, just like the Jews looked, but not in the same way.

01:16:06

The law of God there is still abiding and relevant, but it's not done in the same way, in the same way that the law about priest sacrifice and all the rest is still relevant today, but is now fulfilled in Christ.

01:16:20

Amen? I really am done. Brothers and sisters, this discussion is vital.

01:16:29

It's important, especially in a day like ours, especially a day like ours where we have so many voices with no standards, no standards, personal opinion, arbitrariness.

01:16:45

And the sad thing is, is you have oftentimes many professing Christians in the public square in the public eye talking heads that, you know, profess the faith in Jesus.

01:16:54

You know they believe in Christ. They know the Lord, but they will not appeal to God's word as the standard.

01:17:01

Say something like, Jesus says or God says. We're afraid to say that. And we have the same arbitrary position because we won't argue from the basis of Scripture as the unbeliever.

01:17:14

And I hope, if anything, this study has brought us to the place that we need to ask the vital question, by what standard?

01:17:20

Is it your thoughts? My thoughts? Our traditions? Our opinions? Or is it the very words of God?

01:17:26

What will we appeal to in terms of how do I know? How do I know what is lovely, beautiful, true, good, just, righteous?

01:17:38

How do I know? How will we speak to the world out there? As time is approaching in terms of what seems to be a devastating and hard and dark future ahead of us, with some difficulties ahead of us because of so much spoil and decay out there,

01:17:56

I pray that God, within His church universal, but in particular our church, raises us up with a bold and humble commitment to God's law word,

01:18:11

His revelation about His character, what is good and true and just, and that we will be found when asked what is right here, what is just here, we say, thus saith the

01:18:26

Lord. These are the words of God. Can I leave you with one thought with it, as a point?

01:18:34

When the Obergefell thing was happening, and I'm talking about gay mirage, when that was happening, where was the voice of the church?

01:18:47

Where was the voice of the church, not just in the church, but out there in the public square, and even in the legislature, to simply say,

01:18:58

Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords. He's the ruler of the kings of the earth, and His word on this subject of marriage was very simple, have you not read that He created them from the beginning, male and female, binary, and that a man shall leave his father and mother, binary, and cling to his wife and become one flesh.

01:19:28

That is God's creative intention, and so the question of what is marriage is answered by the creator of the universe, who walked among us, and so the answer in response to the

01:19:42

Supreme Court from the Christian church universal should not have been things like, well, you know, human reason would lead us to believe, and biological things cause us to believe, and you know, there's this human tradition that's followed us for a long time, and we really think it should be male and female.

01:19:56

Brothers and sisters, if you want to shatter the rebellious heart of sinful humanity, you have to use the words of God.

01:20:03

You have to use the words of the living God. We have to stop using our words, and we need to stop being so fearful of man.

01:20:11

We need to first and foremost fear God, and our word should be to speak like Jesus.

01:20:17

Have you not read? These are the words of God. Have you not read what was spoken to you by God?

01:20:23

Brothers and sisters, I think the main point to get from this series now on the law of God is that we have to stand on God's words first and foremost in terms of knowing what is true and having certainty.

01:20:36

Amen? Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you,

01:20:41

Lord Jesus, for your life and death and resurrection. We trust in you and you alone. We pray that, Lord, you would teach us to love your law.