A survey of the Old Testament Law--Arrival at Sinai

Before God does anything, He will always prepare His people (see Amos 3:7). The most obvious example of this is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. For nearly 2000 years before Christ arrived, God prepared the people for the one who would deliver us from our sins—he did so by using prophets. The prophet Isaiah declared that the Messiah would be despised and rejected by men…Smitten by God, and afflicted…wounded for our transgressions…bruised for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:3-5). And right up to the time when Jesus walked the earth, God sent one more prophet—John the Baptist—to declare that Messiah had come. God also spoke of this coming Messiah through the Psalms, saying that God would not leave that Savior in the grave, and that the Savior’s body would not decay (Psalm 16:10). God also used sacrifices and rituals that would paint a picture of the Savior to come. The first Passover—the night when God sent the angel of death to slay the firstborn of Egypt to convince Pharaoh to set the Hebrews free—even that was a picture of the Messiah.

We are about to begin a journey through another means that God used to prepare the word for Christ, and that was the OT Law. And today we are going to see that God even prepared His people to receive this Law. Let me set the stage for you. The Israelites have left Egypt. They have crossed the Red Sea, and they are now dwelling in the wilderness of the area called Sinai. This is not to say that everything was perfect. As we human beings tend to do, this one has a dispute with that one; this other fellow was accusing another of something. Problem was—well, actually, two problems. They did not have a hard and fast set of laws that they could point to and say, “Yitzhak violated my rights under section 123.45 of the Tennessee Code Annotated!” They had no way of determining who was a credible witness, what kind of punishment to deal out. Not only that, the even bigger problem was they only had one judge—Moses. Exodus 18:13—And so it was, on the next day, that Moses sat to judge the people; and the people stood before Moses from morning until evening. Now, the most conservative estimates put the population of this great crowd at about 2,000,000 people. You think your local court gets backed up! It’s going to be a while before Moses hears your case. As it says, the people stood from morning until evening.

From the time he woke up in the morning until he went to bed, Moses’ day was filled with hearing one gripe after another. Well, along comes his father-in-law, Jethro. Exodus 18:17-21—So Moses' father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you do is not good. Both you and these people who are with you will surely wear yourselves out. For this thing is too much for you; you are not able to perform it by yourself. Listen now to my voice; I will give you counsel, and God will be with you: Stand before God for the people, so that you may bring the difficulties to God. And you shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do. Moreover you shall select from all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.” Kinda like what we have today. We have sessions court; they deal with local laws. If you want to appeal their ruling, you go up to the Court of Appeals. From there to the federal district court, then up to the Supreme Court for the most difficult cases. That’s what Jethro is advising Moses to do here he says to break them up into divisions, Exodus 18:22-26—“…rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And let them judge the people at all times. Then it will be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So it will be easier for you, for they will bear the burden with you. If you do this thing, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all this people will also go to their place in peace.” So Moses heeded the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people: rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. So they judged the people at all times; the hard cases they brought to Moses, but they judged every small case themselves. Think about it like this—if you buy a chain saw, do you need to first learn how to use it? So, God sends Jethro to show Moses how to use the Law that God is about to give.

The next thing we read is the people reach Mt. Sinai. Exodus 19:2-6—They departed from Rephidim, and came to the Wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness. So Israel camped there before the mountain. And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’” Look at what God says in verse 6. “And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” These promises are given not only to these people here, but to all who call upon Christ. 1st Peter 2:5-9—You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ…you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Revelation 1:5-6—[Jesus] loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father. The priesthood, the covenants, the Law, the favor of God—these were, at the time, given to the Israelites—ONLY. But now, since Christ has come and has performed everything contained in this Law that we are going to study over the next few months, we Gentiles who have accepted Christ as Savior and Lord—now, we too are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people. But, as God is speaking in Exodus, He is giving these promises only to the Jews.

Exodus 19:9-13—And the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I come to you in the thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever.” So Moses told the words of the people to the LORD. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the LORD will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, ‘Take heed to yourselves that you do not go up to the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. Not a hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot with an arrow; whether man or beast, he shall not live.’” In our conditions as human beings, we cannot look upon the glory of God. But not only are we unable to look upon His pure glory, we cannot even lay a hand upon anything that contains that glory. 2nd Samuel 6:3-7—So they set the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab…And when they came to Nachon's threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the LORD was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God. We as humans tend to handle the things of God in a very flippant manner. Turn on the TV and you will find men and women who handle the word of God in a very shameful manner, and use it to further the kingdom of Kenneth Copeland, and the kingdom of Rod parsley and the kingdom of Marilyn Hickey. They will receive the reward they are due.

When we handle the things of God, the things that show His perfect glory and holiness, we must do so with the utmost care. We will see what happens to Nadab and Abihu when they did not regard the holiness of God. Isaiah 66:1-4 (NASB)—Thus says the LORD…“To this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word. But he who kills an ox is like one who slays a man; he who sacrifices a lamb is like the one who breaks a dog's neck; he who offers a grain offering is like one who offers swine's blood; he who burns incense is like the one who blesses an idol. As they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations, so I will choose their punishments and will bring on them what they dread” We do not honor God when we worship Him any old way we choose. You hear people say, “Well, I worship God in my own way. I worship Him through the tress and the rocks” Unless we worship God in a way which actually honors Him, He will not accept it.

We must totally and completely separate ourselves from the ways of this world. Which is what God tells Moses to do in Exodus 19:20-25—Then the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. And the LORD said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to gaze at the LORD, and many of them perish. Also let the priests who come near the LORD consecrate themselves, lest the LORD break out against them.” But Moses said to the LORD, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai; for You warned us, saying, ‘Set bounds around the mountain and consecrate it.’” Moses was under the impression that since God had given the command for the people to not touch the mountain, he wouldn’t have to give it again. God knows us a whole lot better. God knew that there would be people who would not be able to resist that command, and they would approach the mountain. So, God tells Moses one more time, verses 24-25. Then the LORD said to him, “Away! Get down and then come up, you and Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the LORD, lest He break out against them.” So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them. Now they are ready to receive the Law of God.

So we start, in earnest, our study of the Law of God and we begin with the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are usually broken up into two groups. The first 4 describe our dealings with God; the last six describe our dealings with others. We’re going to look at the first commandment today. We’re not going to finish, but we will get started. Exodus 20:1-3—And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.” He starts out by reminding the people of who He is. “I am the LORD your God.” The word “LORD”—the Bible was not written in English, the OT was written in Hebrew. It is then translated into English, and it is never a perfect process by any means. Not like Spanish to English, which is a fairly word-for-word process. Hebrew into English is a little more tricky. When you are reading the OT, any time you see the word LORD in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, that is how the translators render the Hebrew word YHVH, which is the name that God uses to refer to Himself.

Now, many people pronounce it “Jehovah”, but it is more likely pronounced 'YAH-vay'. We will talk more about the name YHVH when we get to the commandment against taking His name in vain. So, basically what He is saying is “I am YHVH, your God.” “…who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” This would not be the last time that God would have to remind these people who He was and what He had done for them. They had just come out of 435 years of slavery, of stomping mud to make the clay bricks to build the monuments to the very one who was keeping them in bondage. God, in a matter of months—maybe—ended their slavery to Pharaoh, and 435 years of bondage ended in one night—just like that. Yet time and time again, the people would forget that. Kinda like us. When we get saved, we still have to walk around in these bodies of flesh, and we tend to forget that we are no longer slaves to Satan, but rather we are children of God. And we do things and disobey Him. And He has to remind us of who is in charge. Hebrews 12:5-7 (NASB)—You have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the LORD, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; for those whom the LORD loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.” If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? We disobey, He paddles our backside, we confess our sin, and we follow Him more closely.

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.” Or, better, “You shall have no other gods besides Me.” We won’t get through all of this today, but we’ll get started. These people just come from Egypt. And in Egypt, they were doing the physical task of building monuments to Pharaoh. The Egyptians, at the time, worshipped many so-called ‘gods.’ According to one source,

“The Egyptians considered sacred the lion, the ox, the ram, the wolf, the dog, the cat, the ibis, the vulture, the falcon, the hippopotamus, the crocodile, the cobra, the dolphin, different varieties of fish, trees, and small animals including the frog, scarab, locust and other insects. In addition to these there were anthropomorphic gods; that is, men in the prime of life such as Amun, Atum, or Osiris.” (John Davis, Moses and the Gods of Egypt, p. 95).

So when God sent the 10 plagues on the land of Egypt, it was His way of showing that He and He alone was God, and that He and He alone had power over all creation, and that their ‘gods’ were, in fact, no gods at all. For example, when He turned the waters of the Nile River to blood, that was His way of showing the uselessness of Hapi, the Egyptian ‘god’ who was supposedly the one who brought the water of the Nile River to Egypt. When He sent swarms of frogs, He was showing His superiority over Heqt.

“The frog was considered the theophany of the goddess Heqt, the wife of the creator of the world and the goddess of birth. Heqt was always shown with the head and body of a frog.” (David Padfield, Against All The Gods Of Egypt (#1).

Likewise, when He sent the swarms of lice and gnats, and caused people to break out with boils, and sent hail that turned to fire, and sent locusts to devour every green thing in Egypt—all these things were His way of showing Pharaoh that Pharaoh was not God—that YHVH and YHVH alone is God. As Paul says in 1st Corinthians 8:4-6—An idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.

Now, God had a good reason for giving this commandment to have no other gods but God. When the Israelites came out of Egypt, they were not alone. If we were to go back to Exodus 12, we would see that there were more than a few Egyptians who, seeing the mighty works of God, came out with them. Exodus 12:37-38—Then the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. A mixed multitude went up with them also, and flocks and herds—a great deal of livestock. This “mixed multitude” would come to be a problem later on, and we’ll see that when we get to Numbers 11. It is because of this “mixed multitude” that God tells the people “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Because, when someone with strong morals is surrounded by people of questionable character, who is going to rub off on whom? The morally corrupt will be more likely to rub off on the morally upright than the other way around. If you want proof of that, the apostle Paul tells us in 1st Corinthians 15:33—Bad company corrupts good morals. And next time we will see this principle played out, and we will see that it’s not simply the worship of pagan ‘gods’ that is forbidden here, but even everyday things can be a ‘god’.

Jesus Christ is Lord.
Amen.

On the Incarnation and the Submission of Christ

1st Peter 2:21-24 may not seem like the kind of passage we would read around Christmas time. But we’re going to see that when Christ took on human flesh, and was conceived in the womb of Mary, and was born and walked this earth, He gave us a pattern to follow in fulfilling the will of God in our own lives.

Now, to answer the question that comes up every year at this time—on what day of the year was Jesus born? Well, we don’t know. But it probably wasn’t December 25th. It was more likely in the spring or even more likely in the fall. Listen to what Luke says in Luke 2:8-11—8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. Now, notice what he says in verse 8—And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. In December, in the land that was called Palestine, what is now modern-day Israel, in December it got downright cold. And shepherds would not be dwelling outside at night. Adam Clarke has this to say about shepherds “watching their flocks by night”—

It was a custom among the Jews to send out their sheep to the deserts, about the Passover (spring), and bring them home at the (time of year that we call) October and November, we find that the sheep were kept out in the open country during the whole of the summer. And as these shepherds had not yet brought home their flocks, it is (can be assumed) that October had not yet started, and that, consequently, our Lord was not born on the 25th of December, when no flocks were out in the fields; nor could he have been born later than September, as the flocks were still in the fields by night. On this very ground the (idea that Christ was born in) December should be given up.

But here’s an even more important question: does it matter what time of year He was born? All that matters is that the Son of God came to earth, lived a perfectly sinless life, died on the cross so that all who believe in Him could be reconciled to God.

That said, let’s read our text in 1st Peter and see just what the apostle is telling us. 1st Peter 2:21-24—21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: 22 “Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth”; 23 who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. The key phrase in this whole passage I want to focus on is verse 21—For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps. This idea ties in real well with our study of the OT Law, because many of the commandments deal with the fact that we are to subject ourselves to each other and to not trample on the rights of others. We know also that Christ fulfilled the Law for us, and if we are in Christ—that is, if we trust Christ and Christ alone to save us from our sins and, consequently, from the wrath of God; if we turn away from our sins and obey the commands of Christ to love God and to love one another—then He has fulfilled the requirements of the Law for us. Romans 8:3-4—3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. So let’s see now just how far Jesus submitted Himself for our sakes.

First, He submitted to the will of the Father. This is where all submission must start. If Christ did not submit to the will of the Father He would not have been our Savior. John 5:30—“I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.” Luke 22:41-42—41 He knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done." This is by no means an exhaustive study of the Trinity, but here goes. God the Father is the head of all things. Everything in creation is subject to God the Father. And not only is creation subject to the Father, but so is God the Son. Jesus Christ has existed from all eternity past as God. He will be, for all eternity in the future, God. BUT God the Son, at a point in time, left His throne, at the command of God the Father. He did not just have some bright idea one day and came up with this brilliant plan to save mankind from their sins--that is what the Mormons teach. Truth is, before creation God the Father, knowing all things, knew that we wretched human beings would fall into sin. And God the Father, still before the foundation of the world, counted His Son—the Son that He loved—as being slain for our sins. There are many verses that talk about this idea. John 17:24—“Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” Ephesians 1:4—He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him. Hebrews 4:3—For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest'” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 1st Peter 1:18-20—You were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold…19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. 20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest [i.e., 'has appeared'] in these last times for you. Revelation 13:8—All who dwell on the earth will worship [the Antichrist], whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. So even before creation, God the Son submitted Himself to God the Father on behalf of us worms.

And our main verse today tells us that we should do the same. If we are going to call ourselves a Christian, we must also submit to the will of the Father. After all, what does Jesus tell us should be the one of the first things we pray for? Matthew 6:9-10—“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done.” Not our will. You may have heard some of these prosperity preachers on TV--the likes of Benny Hinn and Kenneth Copeland and Paul Crouch and Morris Cerullo. They will say something like this: “Don’t pray according to God’s will! Pray according to your faith!” That is blasphemy! They are basically calling Jesus a liar. Christ is our example, that we are to submit to the will of the Father.

Next we see that Jesus submitted Himself to His own Law. Galatians 4:4-5—4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. How many times do we hear about police officers, judges, lawmakers basically getting away with committing crimes that you or I would have gone to prison for? Ted Kennedy left a woman to drown in Chappaquiddick Bay in Massachusetts and he got to keep his job in the US Senate for another 48 years. And we hear that and we are outraged—as well we should be. And this is why Jesus subjected Himself to His own Law—so that when we share the good news of Christ we can point to Him as the spotless Lamb of God. If He did not subject Himself to His one Law, He could have—literally—gotten away with murder. And He would have been no different than you or me.

BUT—listen to our main verse for today, 1st Peter 2:21-22—For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: 22 “Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth.” I like what John Gill said about this:

“‘Who did no sin’ He was in the likeness of sinful flesh; he looked like a sinful man, being born of a sinful woman, and keeping company with sinful men, being himself a man of sorrows, greatly afflicted, and at last put to death. He was (accused of being) a sinner by his enemies, and had all the sins of his people on him, which he bore, and made satisfaction for, and were the reason of his sufferings; but he had no sin in his nature, nor did he commit any in his life: ‘neither was deceit found in his mouth;’ though it was diligently sought for, by the Scribes and Pharisees; there was no deceit in his lips, no falsehood in his doctrine, any more than there was immorality in his (conduct).”

He submitted Himself to the Law of God, leaving us an example. Not that we should try to keep the Law perfectly because we never will. Romans 3:10 and Romans 3:23—As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one” and for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And anyone who tries to do so will fail. James 2:10—For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. And when a person tries to make themselves righteous by keeping the Law, they have no part in Christ. Galatians 5:3-4—3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law. But if we are in Christ, as I read from Romans 8:3-4 earlier, He is our righteousness, we are justified in Him, and we will love His law and turn away from sin and obey the “royal Law” in James 2:8—If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well. And as Jesus Himself said in John 13:34—“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”

Next we see that Jesus submitted to His own creation. When He took on flesh, He did not become some kind of “Superman” who could leap tall buildings in a single bound and catch bullets in His hands. When people saw Christ, they saw a man who looked just like any other man. Philippians 2:6-7 (Weymouth New Testament)—6 Although from the beginning He had the nature of God He did not reckon His equality with God a treasure to be tightly grasped. 7 Nay, He stripped Himself of His glory, and took on Him the nature of a bondservant by becoming a man like other men. That is as close as you will ever get to what the original actually means. As God He could have snapped His fingers and all creation would have vanished. BUT He did not exercise that right of ownership, and instead He became subject to the very limitations placed upon us by our being human. Again, John Gill—

“Though he took that which he had not before, he lost nothing of what he had; the glory of his divine nature was covered, and out of sight; and though some rays and beams of it broke out through his works and miracles, yet his glory, as the only begotten of the Father, was beheld only by a few.”

Listen to some of these passages. Matthew 4:1-2—Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Matthew 8:24—And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. And one of the last things that Jesus ever spoke before He gave up His life as He hung on the cross, John 19:28—After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I thirst!"

He was also tempted. Now, let me qualify that statement. He was tempted with sin, but He was not tempted by sin. Satan offered Him temptations, but Jesus was not tempted by them. (For a more in-depth discussion of Jesus and temptation, see here) Hebrews 4:14-15—14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. And since Jesus is our example, as our text from 1st Peter says, we too should follow that example. We know that God is not the originator of temptations. James 1:13—Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But when temptations do come, and they will, we must always remember that there is always a way out. We don’t have to give in to that temptation. 1st Corinthians 10:13—No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. When Satan tempted Jesus, how did Jesus respond? Three times, “It is written…it is written…it is written…” If we diligently study this word, and we use it when Satan comes knocking on our door—as Jesus did—then as James 4:7 says, resist the devil and he will flee. Christ fulfilled all righteousness by becoming like us. He was subject to the will of God, He was subject to His own Law, He was subject to all the frailties we humans suffer because of sin. And yet he committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth.

And as we read the last words in that passage from Peter, we see that Christ submitted Himself to death. 1st Peter 2:24—He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness. The fact that Christ submitted Himself to death because of our sins gives us a pattern to follow—that we too should die to our sins. We will die because of our sins; but while our bodies live, we must die to our sins, and not let sin reign in our mortal body. But because Jesus died for our sins, to pay for our sins, if we believe in Him and allow ourselves to die to sin, then as that passage concludes with Peter echoing the words of the prophet Isaiah, by whose stripes you were healed. This of course is a repeat of Isaiah 53:5—But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. Because He died, we can have life.

Jesus Christ is Lord.
Amen.

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Introduction (part 2)

Whenever I get ready to plan a lesson, I always try to look back on the previous week and ask myself “Is there anything I didn’t explain as well as I should have?” And I really think that last week I didn’t do a good job of explaining just what it means that “Christ fulfilled the Law.” Well, as we saw last week the Law was simply part of a bigger picture of the One who would deliver the world from the power of sin. Think of the OT like this—Pastor Phil gave this illustration once. Suppose I ran into someone I had not seen in years. They ask me if I'm married, and I'm going to pull out this picture and say, “This is my wife Laurie.” Thing is, will they be looking at my wife? Not really. After all, am I married to a picture? No. That piece of paper with ink on it is not my wife—but it is a picture of my wife. And by looking at that little piece of paper, you will see what my wife looks like.

We can apply that same principle to Christ and The Law. If one were to study the Law—and the Psalms and prophets—one would see a picture of the perfect righteousness of God. So that when the perfect righteousness of God were to stand before you—you would know it. Christ was that perfect righteousness of God that the Law and the Psalms and the prophets showed in a picture. Christ “fulfilled the Law” by being the One that the Law—and the Psalms and prophets—were only a picture of. Make sense?

Another thing I want to go over is Romans 7:7—I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet." I mentioned how we all know, without anyone telling us, that killing is wrong and that stealing is wrong. So how could Paul say that he did not it was wrong to covet? Well, covetousness is an inward sin. We know it’s wrong to harm other people—but we don’t always realize that even our thoughts can bring judgment upon us. Which is why Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:21-28—“You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder…' But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment…You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” It’s not simply the outward actions that bring judgment—but even the secret thoughts of the heart. Do we know, are we aware of, every single sin we have ever committed? In fact, we see this in Psalm 103:3—If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?

The Pharisees—including Paul, who was a Pharisee before he met Christ—the Pharisees were teaching that keeping the Law was simply about rituals and cleansings and burnt offerings. But Jesus rebuked even their thought life in Matthew 23:23—“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.” So the purpose of the Law was not simply for people to go on sinning and then bring a bull or a goat for a burnt offering. It was meant to address the outside—but also the inside as well. This, oddly enough, brings us to today’s text.

Let’s look at the effectiveness of the Law. Psalm 19:7-12—The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them Your servant is warned, and in keeping them there is great reward. Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. This is not simply an OT idea. Listen to what the apostle Paul says in Romans 7:12—The law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. 1st Timothy 1:8-9—The law is good if one uses it lawfully, knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners. There are many false converts in the American church today. And when I say that, I don’t mean to sit in a seat of judgment and banging the gavel on any individuals. The even bigger problem is, many of those people don’t know they have not been converted. Because many of those who witness to people to bring them to Christ begin their message like this: “God loves you just the way you are and has a wonderful plan for your life.” And many of them end their encounter by telling the person to “Pray this prayer and ask Jesus into your heart.” The person prays the prayer, and the witness declares them saved. The problem is, they get the person saved before they ever get the person lost. Not only that, many times they don’t go on and teach the person about what that means to them now. Can they go on living like they used to, and at the end of the day throw up a prayer, “Please forgive me God!” Because, after all, that preacher said I'm saved, and if I'm saved I can't be lost again!

Well, this was the pattern that the nation of Israel fell into many times in the OT. In Isaiah 1:10-15—Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah: “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?” says the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs or goats. When you come to appear before Me, who has required this from your hand, to trample My courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices; incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies—I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; they are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.” These people are doing what was commanded in the Law—all the festivals and Sabbaths and burnt offerings which God said would be a “sweet aroma unto the LORD”—and now He’s saying “These things make Me sick.”

What happened?

What happened was these people are bringing sacrifices and keeping feasts—rather than turning away from their sins. They're thinking “We can go on sinning, just so long as we keep the feasts.” Look at verse 10. “Rulers of Sodom… people of Gomorrah.” The same thing could almost be said of people who swear up and down they're saved—yet if you look at their lives…huh? They're going to Cotton Eyed Joe’s every Saturday and getting drunk; listening to music that glorifies drugs and alcohol and all other sorts of ungodly things—but they're “saved.” I'm not going to say they're not—but…ya know?

Well, when a person—or a nation for that matter—wants to go on living in sin, thinking that if they give enough lip service to God He’ll just give them a wink and a pass, be sure that He will more than likely take away the very symbols of their outward religion to bring about an inward change. Joel 1:9-10—The grain offering and the drink offering have been cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests mourn, who minister to the LORD. The field is wasted, the land mourns; for the grain is ruined, the new wine is dried up, the oil fails. God had sent a swarm of locusts—as it says, one which had never been seen before nor will be see ever again—and these locusts chewed up the grapevines and the fig trees and the barley and the wheat. Not only did all the vegetation die—the animals that ate it died, too. And if all your bulls and goats are dead, what can y9ou bring for an offering? Well, you can bring yourself. This was God’s way of telling the people “I don’t want your burnt offerings and your goats and your barley cakes—I want your hearts.” In fact, He goes on to say Joel 2:12-13—“Now, therefore,” says the LORD, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm.”

So, what does all this mean for us today? After all, we don’t go to the temple with bulls and goats and barley cakes. Well, if we belong to Christ, we will have a heart that wants to obey the Law of God. In fact, God will write that Law upon our hearts. Psalm 37:30-31—The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, and his tongue talks of justice. The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide. Jeremiah 31:33-34—“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says the LORD: “I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” says the LORD. “For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Those of us that God has saved—He has written His Law on our hearts, and we delight in keeping that Law. Because it is not about a list of commandments and rituals and bulls and goats and barley cakes. It’s about loving God. And if we love God, will we want to do anything that may even have a hint that it is displeasing to God? No; we will want to live our lives according to His Law—but not because we are trying to be saved by keeping the Law, but because we have been saved, we show Him we love Him by living our lives by that Law.

And we do so, knowing that we cannot possibly live that Law perfectly. But we don’t use that as an excuse, either. And this is why we love Him—Christ lived a perfectly sinless life because we can't! We try to, but we know we will fall short, and because we will fall short we have been given the full righteousness of Christ—not sort of “Christ fill in the gaps” but we are made perfectly righteous in God’s eyes. 2nd Corinthians 5:21 (NET)—God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God. If we are saved, we don’t simply have the righteousness of God—we become the righteousness of God. Keil and Delitzsch—

"The demands of the law…cannot be fulfilled by sinful man. Even when he strives most earnestly to keep the commands of the law, he cannot satisfy its requirements. The law, with its rigid demands, can only humble the sinner, and make him plead for God to blot out his sin and create in him a clean heart; it can only awaken him to the perception of sin, but cannot blot it out…the forgiveness of sins is a work of grace which cancels the demand of the law against men. In the old covenant, the law with its requirements is the impelling force; in the new covenant, the grace shown in the forgiveness of sins is the aiding power by which man attains that common life with God which the law sets before him as the great problem of life."

Before Christ, the force of the Law compelled the people to keep it. After Christ, the grace of God in the person of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us gives us a heart that wants to obey His Law. Those who do not accept Christ’s blood as payment for their sins and who do not turn from their sins will need to keep every jot and tittle of that Law to be righteous in God’s eyes. BUT—Christ has completed the Law for those who believe in Him, and if our righteousness is from Christ living in us, He will give us the Holy Spirit we need to love God’s Law and do His will. John 14:15-17—“If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” 1st Corinthians 6:19—Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God. And if the Holy Spirit is dwelling in us, our lives will be evidence of this fact. Galatians 5:22-23—But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. Notice again—fruit of the Spirit (singular), not fruits (plural). This is collectively what the new life looks like.

And if we are walking according to the ways of God, then we are the most blessed people on earth. Psalm 1:1-3 (NASB)—How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers. If we do not use the commandments of God as our standard for morality, we will, individually and as a nation, wind up following every philosophy of man and every new teaching that comes along. And we see this happening today. People trying to explain away the things contained in the Law of God, concerning things like homosexuality and abortion and adultery and so on. Isaiah 5:20-24—Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight…as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom will ascend like dust; because they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Try telling someone today that homosexuality is a sin and that abortion is murder—and I use those two because they are two of the more visible and more widely tolerated sins that we as a nation are guilty of—try telling these things to someone and see if you don’t have to wash out your ears after they're done telling you what a blankety-blank blanking-blanker you are, and how they don’t need your God and they don’t need no Jesus and who are you to judge and so on and so forth. We live in a nation that calls evil good and that calls good evil.

But let me finish with this passage that contrasts this mindset with a picture of the heart of a man who dearly loves the Lord God and who delights in His Law and who has the Law of God written on his heart. Psalm 119:33-40—Teach me, O LORD, the way of Your statutes, and I shall observe it to the end. Give me understanding, that I may observe Your law and keep it with all my heart. Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline my heart to Your testimonies and not to dishonest gain. Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, and revive me in Your ways. Establish Your word to Your servant, as that which produces reverence for You. Turn away my reproach which I dread, for Your ordinances are good. Behold, I long for Your precepts; revive me through Your righteousness. So now that we have a good background concerning the Law, next week we will begin our journey starting with the Ten Commandments.

Jesus Christ is Lord.
Amen.

Renee Fleming--"O Holy Night"

I got nothin' to add. I'll just let the woman's voice speak for itself.

(PS--Do you know how hard it is to find a version of this where they don't chop out the parts that talk about "His gospel", or "His law" and especially "Christ is the Lord"?)




O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O holy night, O night divine!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
O'er the world a star is sweetly gleaming,
Now come the wisemen from out of the Orient land.
The King of kings lay thus lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friends.
He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
With all our hearts we praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,
His power and glory ever more proclaim!
His power and glory ever more proclaim!

Sheri Easter--"What Child Is This?"

What Child is this who, laid to rest
On Mary’s lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,
While shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing;
Haste, haste, to bring Him laud,
The Babe, the Son of Mary.

Why lies He in such mean estate,
Where ox and ass are feeding?
Good Christians, fear, for sinners here
The silent Word is pleading.
Nails, spear shall pierce Him through,
The cross be borne for me, for you.
Hail, hail the Word made flesh,
The Babe, the Son of Mary.

So bring Him incense, gold and myrrh,
Come peasant, king to own Him;
The King of kings salvation brings,
Let loving hearts enthrone Him.
Raise, raise a song on high,
The virgin sings her lullaby.
Joy, joy for Christ is born,
The Babe, the Son of Mary.

A survey of the Old Testament Law--Introduction part 1

We are beginning a brand new series, studying what we call “The Law.” You may hear it called “The OT Law” or “The Law of God” or “The Mosaic Law.” And you may hear people teaching that the Pharisees thought they were saved by the Law, that Jesus kept the Law that Jesus fulfilled the Law. And what we’re going to do over these however-many months is to study this Law. But first we need to understand what the Law says, its purpose, what does it mean for us and so on—to sort of see the background of this Law and the reason God gave it. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover, so let’s go ahead and dive right in. We will start with Romans 2. The book of Romans was written by the apostle Paul, the same man who wrote the epistle to the Philippians that we spent the last couple years studying. At the time when Paul wrote this letter, the church in Rome was made up of both Jewish and Gentile Christians. Many times in the first few chapters he uses the phrase “to the Jew first and also to the Gentile.” And to address them both, he makes many references to “The Law.” In fact, Romans contains more verses about the OT Law than any other book in the NT.

To begin with, let me just say this—when you start reading about “The Law,” after a while you realize that “Law” is singular. You never read about “The Laws”—plural. It is always called “The Law.” The Law of God is one Law. And if one part of that Law gets broken, then the whole Law is broken. Galatians 3:10—For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them." Think about holding a chain in your hand. Do you have one chain--or many chains? Well, you have ONE chain. That chain is made up of links. And if you break one of those links, how many chains have you broken? It’s not that you simply broke one link of that chain—you broke the whole chain. The same is true with the Law of God—if we break one commandment we have broken them all. James 2:10-11—10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. 11 For He who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not murder." Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So many people, if someone asks them if they're saved, they’ll say “Well, yes, I try to keep the Ten Commandments.” Or they’ll say “Well, it’s not like I've ever killed anyone.” OK, great—they’ve never killed anyone. Have they ever lied? Ever talked back to their parents, taken anything? Well, truth be told, yeah probably.
Then they have broken the Law of God—the whole Law—and they must be punished. 1st John 3:4 (KJV)—Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. And how many people have sinned? Romans 3:23—All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So, obviously, the purpose of the Law was not to make anyone righteous. Then what was the purpose of the Law? Well, there are at least three purposes.

One purpose of the Law is to judge sinners. Romans 2:12-16--¹² For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law ¹³ (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; ¹⁴ for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, ¹⁵ who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) ¹⁶ in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel. What all this means is, that even though the Law was given to the Jews through Moses, we Gentiles, even though we were not given the Law, know the things contained in the Law—it’s not right to steal from someone; it’s not right to lie, and so on—and because we know these things in our conscience, yet still do them, we are in fact guilty for doing them. Because of that fact, when sinners who never believed in Christ or who never turned away from their sins stand before Christ, they will all be judged by that same Law. HOWEVER—If we are in Christ, we are not under the Law; we will see that in a little while. Romans 3:19-20--¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. ²⁰ Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. So, one purpose of the Law is to judge sinners.

A second purpose is to show us what sin is until faith has come. Romans 7:7--What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” John Gill says about this verse—

“When the law came and entered his conscience with power and light attending it, then he saw, such innumerable swarms of lusts in his heart, and these to be sinful, which he never saw and knew before: just as in a sunbeam we behold those numerous little bits of dust, which otherwise are indiscernible by us. Now the law is of such use, not only to discover the sinfulness of outward actions, but also of inward lusts and desires.”

Paul says in Galatians 3:19-22—19 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made…For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. 22 But the Scripture has imprisoned all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. If your child doesn’t know that you don’t want them to do something, and they do it, do you really have a right to get angry with them? No. BUT—if you tell them, in no uncertain terms not to do something and they still do it—things change then, yeah? That’s the purpose of the Law—to tell us what God requires and what He condemns. 1st Timothy 1:8-10—8 But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully, 9 knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10 for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine. The Law shows us what sin really is. BUT, while we walk around in these bodies of flesh with a spirit that is dead to God, our mind and our spirit do not want to do the things of God. Romans 8:5-8-- ⁵ For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. ⁷ Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. ⁸ So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

The third purpose of the Law is to point us to Christ. Galatians 3:23-25—23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. The word “tutor” (“schoolmaster”—Galatians 3:24 (KJV)) is not really a good word to use to translate the Greek. In fact, we really don’t have a word in English that does it justice. The word Paul uses means, literally, a servant who is assigned by his master to accompany a child to school, make sure the child went to their classes, got their assignments, and completed them. They literally walked the child everywhere by the hand and kept an eye on them for their master. That was the job of the Law. It was meant to paint a vivid picture of the coming Savior and Messiah, Jesus Christ. However, by the time the Pharisees had become the self-appointed guardians of all things spiritual, they had elevated the status of the Law to the point that they were teaching people that one is saved by keeping that Law. That was never meant to be the case. If you ever want to read more about the purpose of the Law, read Hebrews 8-10. Hebrews 10:1-4—1 For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. 3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. It had gotten to the point that the religious leaders were staking their salvation on outward religious practices. But, again, this was not what God wanted. The Law was simply a shadow of the Savior. Psalm 51:16-17—16 You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart—these, O God, You will not despise.

Christ, when He offered up Himself as a sacrifice for our sins, didn’t simply cover over the sins of those who believe in Him—He takes them away completely—FOREVER!! Hebrews 10:11-14—11 And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. 14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. The Law was a shadow to point us to the fullness of perfection that we have in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Those are three purposes of the Law. Now let’s see what the Law does and what it doesn’t do. We are not saved by keeping the Law. Galatians 2:16—Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. We talked earlier about how we have all broken the Law of God at some point in our lives. There is nothing we can do to unbreak that Law. We need someone who will take the penalty for our sins upon Himself and take that penalty away. We have such a one in Christ. Galatians 3:11-14—11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for "the just shall live by faith." 12 Yet the law is not of faith, but "the man who does them shall live by them." 13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. A person who does not accept the payment that Christ made will stand before God on that final Day and be forced to plead their own case, and let me tell ya, they won’t stand a chance. All the books will be opened, containing all the “good” things they did—but, also, all the sins they committed. And all they will be able to do is stand there as count after count, charge after charge, is read. And when all the charges are read, they will have no one to appeal to, no attorney, no lawyer, no one to mediate for them—they will stand naked and exposed before the pure and holy justice of God and will be declared “Guilty as charged.”

So, the Law was not meant to save us, it was in fact meant to guide us to the One who would save us by fulfilling it—which is what Christ did. In the Sermon on the Mount, he tells the people, Matthew 5:17-18—“17 Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” Here was the living, breathing embodiment of the Law standing in their midst, and so many of the teachers who should have know it—didn’t. In fact, on more than one occasion He told them “Go back and read your Scriptures”—that is, the OT—“and you'll find Me all over it!!” And by His death and resurrection, He removed the veil and rendered unnecessary all the rituals and ceremonies, which were simply a shadow, because now we have the real thing—Jesus! Colossians 2:15-17—15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. 16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. But, even after His death and resurrection He was still having to show people that He was the fulfillment of the Law. Luke 24:44-45—44 Then He said to them, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me." 45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.

Finally, Christ has shown us that to fulfill the Law does not mean to go through rituals and ceremonies and sabbaths and new moons and killing bulls and goats. He has shown us that love is the fulfillment of the Law. Romans 13:8-10--⁸ Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. ⁹ For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰ Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Here we have another case of Paul quoting Jesus. These were almost the exact words we find Jesus speaking in Matthew 22:35-39—35 Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, 36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" 37 Jesus said to him, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." Paul says in Galatians 5:14—All the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” James 2:8—If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well.

You see, the righteousness that God requires is not simply outward observance of ordinances. God wants to change our hearts to love Him and worship Him in spirit and in truth. And if we love God, then we will want to obey His commands. The heart that loves God loves His Law. Read Psalm 119 and all you will find is a heart that loves God and sees His commandments and statutes—not as a grievous burden that must be carried grudgingly—but a heart that delights in obeying those statutes. Next week we will talk more about the heart that loves God’s Law, and we will talk about how Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law.

Jesus Christ is Lord.
Amen.