Basis of the Law

Good afternoon. Thank you, gentlemen, for getting me situated here. And thank you to Nate, Julie, and Jessica for that beautiful music. I feel like I should thank Tim, too, for turning those pages. Unsung hero! I'm just wondering if somebody back at the table has the remote for that projector. I'm not sure if you'll be able to read the Scripture words across my forehead, but ah, there it is. Something we deal with in here. It's amazing. It feels so different being up here as when we're down there and it's a classroom, but it's largely about the same. And speaking of classroom settings, this time of year I want to enter open by talking about something that might sound kind of happy or something we look forward to, and that's the thought of spring break.

Actually, I'm thinking back to last year's spring break. Something interesting happened during the break, and it relates to Facebook, of all things. I didn't go to Florida and play on the beach or anything like that, but I have a Facebook account, which just about everybody in the world does, I know, but I only started Facebook for one reason only. Well, I guess sort of two, but one is Mr. Cubic told me I should. But he told me I should because I should be able to keep in touch with the students and be available to them. And so I try to stay in touch with the students and be aware of what's on their mind, what they're up to, and I check in with Facebook now and then.

And last year in the spring, during spring break, I was surprised when I saw photos show up one morning of some of our students. 19, 20, 18-year-old students sitting around in a restaurant raising classes of beer. What are they doing? They know underage drinking is against the law. They've signed a code of conduct. Why would they do that? And why would they put pictures on Facebook so I know about it? But I only thought about that for just a brief moment and then, ah, a group of the students went to visit Niagara Falls during spring break. This was a picture taken inside a restaurant in Canada where the legal drinking age is not 21, it's 18.

What a relief! Partly because I hate having to discipline students. I didn't want to have to call people in and say, what do you think you're doing? So I was very relieved and happy about that. But I also thought, you know, I'm glad they're thinking. They're thinking about the law and how it applies in some cases and what jurisdictions are. That's something we deal with in some of my classes. I teach the Pentateuch class. And of course we deal with the law of Moses and ecclesiastical and ritual law. And it's funny when you get into that, sometimes something, you think, oh, the law of God should be simple and basic. And sometimes it seems to turn complicated, especially when you're some things you say, well, this seems to be there in the law, but do we do that or are we not supposed to do it? So I think it's good for us to talk about the law, what the law is based on and how it fits in our lives. Because we're the called-out people of God and we're going to be teaching people this in His kingdom. So we want to understand, and of course I'll admit that I'm still learning these things. So it's worthwhile maybe to start off by addressing the idea of what is law. And when I was working on this, the first thing I did is, okay, Frank, you better find out. So I went and pulled off down my Merriam-Webster's dictionary. In this case I used the five-pound dictionary, not the twenty-pounder that I've got at home. Even this one told me that law, the word comes from Scandinavian origin. It has nothing to do with the sermon, but I thought I'd throw it in. There are several different definitions. If we're talking about, in the Bible, the law, usually that means the Torah, the first five books, what we often call the Pentateuch. But there are other dictionary definitions. One I thought was interesting is, and I have some of these written down, something that happens in nature or mathematics that is consistent and invariable. You've heard of laws of physics, laws of logic or mathematics. That's not necessarily what we're going to talk about today. If you're like me, when you hear the word law, you think of the main definition. A couple ways it was written down. One is a binding custom or practice of a community, a binding custom or practice.

Or another one, I like this one, a rule of conduct, prescribed or formally recognized as binding or enforced by a controlling authority. That sounds like law. I don't know if I would have come up with that on my own, but it fits. A rule of conduct prescribed or formally recognized as binding, enforced by a controlling authority.

That definition could apply to a single stipulation or one single rule or even a collection of them. When we have a collection, we might refer to it as a body of law. And of course, then I set myself up. Well, what are you going to talk about today, Frank? Well, if there's all these different definitions and I just say that three-letter word law, then either I need to be specific or we can go by the context.

Of course, the context is the Sabbath, and I'm standing up here. We're going to probably talk about the law of God. I'm interested in jurisprudence. Often thought if I had unlimited time and money, I'd love to go back to law school. But I'm not going to talk about the Ohio Revised Code or English Common Law. We want to talk about what the Bible says about the law. Just in reading in general, you could find a number of things. Think of just what the book of Psalm says. And I'm going to recite a number of scriptures without turning there, partly because I can see that big clock on the back of the wall.

But David we know loved the law. Besides writing the words, oh, how love I thy law, in Psalm 19, verse 7, he said, the law of the Lord is perfect. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. Psalm 119, verse 142, he said, your law is truth. God's law is truth, which fits well, if you remember what Christ said in his prayer to the Father in John 17, verse 17.

He said, God's Word is truth. God's law is truth. God's Word is truth. I see a connection there. And Proverbs, Solomon wrote, and Proverbs 6 and verse 23, that the commandment is a lamp and the law is a light. And that fits with a scripture that I quote fairly often in classes in Isaiah 8, verse 20, where it says, the law and the testimony.

If they speak not according to this word, it's because there's no light in them. So the law is like a light. It helps us see where we're going, where we want to step and where not to. Like David, the Apostle Paul wrote quite a bit about the law, some of which has been taken out of context and misunderstood.

But he wrote to Timothy, in 1 Timothy 1.8, saying that the law is good if one uses it lawfully. In Romans 7 and verse 14, he said that the law was spiritual. And I would submit that all of these things make a lot of sense when we think about what underlies the law, where it comes from. But I do want to turn to Isaiah chapter 51, if you'll join me there. Isaiah 51, beginning in verse 4. Actually, not beginning, I'm just going to read this one verse.

Isaiah 51 and verse 4. This seems to be God speaking in first person. And he says, listen to me, my people, and give ear to me, O my nation, for a law will proceed from me, and I will make my justice rest. A law will proceed from me. This is God speaking. So it says the law proceeds from God. And I would say that doesn't only mean that he's the one that made it up, or that he spoke it. That is true. But I think we could go further and say that the law is an expression of what God is.

It's not just something he arbitrarily came up with, but the law proceeds from. It's based on who and what God is. If we let that sink in, then we could connect that to another common memory scripture in 1 John. 1 John 4 and verse 8 includes the simple words, wording, something I was going to say that would have made sense. But it says, God is love.

God is love. A law proceeds from God. We could put that together with some of the things Paul wrote. Romans 13 and verse 10, he wrote that love is the fulfilling of the law. Love is the fulfilling of the law. And the law proceeds from God, and God is love. When we obey God's law, we're behaving like God. We're acting out of love. Galatians 5 and verse 14, let's turn there. I'm reeling off a lot of scriptures. I thought I could be accused of being legalistic in this sermon, since it's all about law. But Galatians 5 and verse 14 says, all the law is fulfilled in one word, even this.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I'm saying, I would tell you when he says all the law is fulfilled in one word, and then he says, love your neighbor as yourself.

Well, that's several words, but the one word he was emphasizing was love. Let's turn back to Matthew 22 to see Jesus Christ himself made that very clear. Matthew 22, beginning in verse 36. Matthew 22 and verse 36, if you look at verse 35, glancing, a lawyer asked him a question, testing him. Think, teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus wasn't averse to talking about the law or people asking him about it. So what's the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind.

He was quoting from Deuteronomy 6 and verse 5 at the time. But Jesus went ahead and answered also something he didn't ask. He said, that's the first and the greatest commandment, and the second is like it.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There he was quoting from Leviticus 19 and verse 18. And Jesus said, on these two commandments, one and two, hang all the law and the prophets. So the passage here in Matthew 22 verses 36 to 40, I think illustrates a couple of principles.

One is, again, saying that the law is an expression of what God is, of his very nature, which is love. And I would say, when Jesus said the second commandment, the second greatest commandment, is like the first, both of them involve love. So they are like each other. I think we could also say that this great premise on which the law is based, all the law is based on love. But Jesus was here making a point that other things are based on that. On that hangs all the law and the commandments. So you can break this basic premise of love first towards God, then towards man into sub-points. And that's what I just did. Sub-point number one is love God with your all. Number two is love your neighbor as yourself. We can go forward and break it down, and God did break it down for us into ten specific points, which we call the Ten Commandments. We routinely would say that the first four commandments seem to be related to how we can love God. Because it's easy to say, love God with all your heart, soul, and strength. Okay, I love God. I'm loving Him right now with all I've got. But love isn't just this feeling or focus. It's what you do. So God says, if you love me, put me first. Don't have any other gods. Don't take my name in vain. Remember my Sabbath day. Keep it holy. If you want to love your neighbor, don't kill him. Don't steal from him. Don't commit adultery. Don't lie. All of these things, they're just expanding out on that basic premise. If we stop there, I can make the case we wouldn't have much disagreement within the church. For that matter, even with mainstream Christianity, just about everybody likes the Ten Commandments. We love the Ten Commandments. Now, I'll say some people in other churches have a little bit of an issue with number four. But if we placate them, and if we would give them, or you could switch it to Sunday and only devote about one hour of that, we wouldn't have much disagreement. But we're not willing to stop there or make that concession. And then a bigger disagreement goes on, though. If we go past Exodus 20, somebody might tell us, surely you don't think we have to keep any laws that came after Exodus 20. After all, think of what Paul wrote. I'll just quote from Galatians. In Galatians 3 and verse 24, Paul said the law was a schoolmaster. And some people would imply that it was a harsh, mean schoolmaster, meant to lead us to Christ. In Galatians 3, 19, I'll look at that later, but it says the law was only added because of transgressions.

Oh yeah, a little bit of a disagreement comes up when we go past the premise of love. Love towards God and love towards neighbor and those Ten Commandments. I don't mind that much disagreeing with mainstream Christianity. Although they won't concede it, I think I win the argument. A good summary of why the Bible doesn't teach that the law was nailed to the cross and it's all done away. We can look at various places, but Matthew 5 verse 17 is a pretty clear statement. And we're in Matthew. We can turn back to chapter 5. Matthew 5 beginning in verse 17.

Christ said, Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For, assuredly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. I would say that besides the fact that fulfilled here, that word doesn't mean complete and throw it away, but it means fill it up, make it whole and complete. But even if we didn't take that into account, until we see the earth melting with fervent heat and replaced by a new heavens and a new earth, I don't see the law passing away. Jesus said he didn't come to do that.

But we still have some questions and some challenges when we think about that. Because if we say, okay, everything in here, going from Deuteronomy 34 back, is binding law we've got to live by. So that would lead us to perhaps regularly find a red heifer and burn it down to ashes so we could make water for purification, wearing tassels on the corners of our clothes, any juvenile delinquents we take out and we stone to death. Those things don't sound like something a Christian church would be doing. So, how do we reconcile these?

I would say that the answer comes by a more complex examination of what we mean by the law. Maybe I should be doing it this way, right? What is the law? And we can go through these first five books and quickly discern that there are various bodies of law or sets of law. Not all the same.

And that's one of the reasons I wanted to begin with that story about students and spring break. I know you were hoping I'd talk about warm, sunny beaches and going outside in a tank top in shorts. Nobody's smiling about it. You're probably thinking, don't be cruel. You could go outside in a tank top in shorts. It's not against the law. Except the laws of physics say you might pay a price.

But, you know, when we think of man-made laws, it's easy to think of different jurisdictions or laws that apply in some places and sometimes and not others. What is legal in one time and place, such as a 19-year-old having a beer in a restaurant in Canada, doesn't have to be legal in every place at every time. That same 19-year-old a week later back here in the Cincinnati area. Sorry, no beer.

But would God Himself make different laws for different times and occasions? I believe the answer to that is yes, in short. And I can show that in Scripture. But I want to be careful in saying that because that has led people off track and have complete misunderstandings. And one thing that helps us to not go off track is understanding that underlying basis of what's beneath the law, what it's based on. Those principles of love God with everything you've got. Love your neighbor as yourself. That never varies. That doesn't apply in different times and different places. I would say that about the Ten Commandments. Those are given. They're spiritual laws that are invariable. God spoke them directly to the people of Israel. He wrote them with His finger on tables of stone.

But interestingly, once after that, I mentioned, well, some people wouldn't want to pay attention to anything after Exodus 20. But if you keep reading, which we have occasion to do, in Exodus chapter 21 through 23, God gave Moses a set of laws that He calls judgments. And I'll make a case that not everything in those chapters is for everyone at every place at every time. And I'm saying that with great caution. I don't want to be taken out of context, because I'm not saying, oh, it's just all done away. None of that matters. But we want to pay attention. There were some laws that God gave for the political body of people known as the nation of Israel. And they applied to the citizens of that nation. Actually, let's go back to Exodus. I think it's interesting, in Exodus 12, in verse 49, He told them, One law shall be for him that is home-born and for the stranger among you. One law. And that's a practice, actually, we still follow today. Can't... I almost said Kansas for some reason. Canada has that one law about how old you have to be to order a beer in a restaurant. It applies to the Canadians and to the Americans who might be visiting there. So some laws are specific for a certain area and a certain time and place. God gave a set of laws specifically for the nation of Israel. It was part of an agreement that God made with them as a covenant. I turned to Exodus 12, but I didn't read from there. I want to go to chapter 24.

After God gave this list of judgments, these laws that He was... He actually proposed for the nation of Israel. He told them to Moses. And God... We see this portrayed in the Bible as a type of marriage. And in a sense, God proposed to Israel. He didn't get down on one knee and offer up a diamond ring, but He sent Moses in verse 3, Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments.

So here's what God's proposing. And the people said, all the words which the Lord has said, we will do. So they said, yes, I agree. And Moses wrote out all the words, and there was a ceremony. We could liken that to a marriage. In verse 7, He took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of all the people. I've inserted the word all. Hearing of the people. And they said, all that the Lord has done, we will do and be obedient. It's almost like saying, I do. And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said, this is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words. I hesitate there because that's where it's a little different than marriage ceremonies we do today, thankfully.

And we could stop and mention specifically that what they agreed to so far did not include animal sacrifices and the rituals attached to that with the tabernacle and then later the temple. Even though people had been making sacrifice. Sacrifice wasn't invented after this. All the way back to Abel and Cain, there was sacrifice. And Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob offered animal sacrifice, and God accepted it. Just a few chapters before this in Exodus 18, Moses' father-in-law came, and they offered sacrifice. So, sacrifice to God existed long before what is called the law of Moses. And this is sort of a side point, but if you look in the New Testament, you'll see references to spiritual sacrifices that we offer today.

So, sacrifice hasn't disappeared, but certain types of sacrifices and the laws regarding those have. Matter of fact, if you want to keep your finger here, I want to go to Jeremiah 7 to note something. But this covenant that we just saw that the people of Israel agreed to and ratified stipulated the Ten Commandments and the judgments that were listed in those three chapters.

And in Jeremiah 7, verse 22, God makes reference to that.

In Jeremiah 7, beginning in verse 22, God says, That's not in that agreement there.

But this is what I commanded them, saying, That's what that covenant was about. And of course, the covenant is an agreement about those laws and regulations. It's not the laws themselves. Verse 24 tells us, The most immediate way that they didn't obey that covenant is while Moses was up getting more instruction from God, the people of Israel went to Aaron and said, Make us gods! And they built a golden calf and set about worshipping that.

And we know what happened. God sent Moses down. He destroyed the calf.

And interestingly, I'm sort of abbreviating, but the next thing you see in the story flow is building of a tabernacle and an altar, an institution of animal sacrifice and ritual. I think that gives us the context for understanding Galatians 3 and verse 19. Galatians 3, 19, I will turn there for this, for this time.

Galatians 3, 19 says, Now, remember, I mentioned earlier, the word law could have different meanings at different times. What purpose does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come, to whom the promise was made. It was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.

I think the law that Paul had in mind here, and it's our common belief, is he's referring to the ritual ceremonial law that has to do with animal sacrifices, not the Ten Commandments, not the eternal law of love, the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself. That wasn't added. It is always... Let me say that again. It had always existed. It was God's nature, the law of love, and God is love.

Now, I don't want to delve into all the points that Paul is making in Galatians, because, as I'm sure our students and Mr. Meyers know, you can spend a lot of hours going through Galatians and making that clear.

My purpose here is to show that there was a full set of ritual sacrificial laws given by God that had a limited jurisdiction. That law was designated for the Levitical, the Aaronic priesthood, to carry out for the people. And I think we can make the case that it was added because of transgressions.

And then the book of Hebrews is devoted largely to explaining why that particular set of laws isn't in place anymore. I'll turn to Hebrews 7 and verse 12 for a good summary statement. Hebrews 7 and verse 12.

And I'll make the case, it's going to say here that the priesthood being changed, the change in the priesthood was when Jesus Christ, after the order of Melchizedek, superseded the priesthood of Aaron. So there was a change. Jesus Christ is our High Priest now at the right hand of the Father. Verse 12 says, for the priesthood being changed, of necessity there's also a change in the law.

Another way of saying this might be that there have been changes in the way we apply the unchanging basis of the law.

We've seen that underlying all the law is love, the love of God and love of our fellow man. And remember a common memory scripture in Romans 6.23. Romans 6.23 tells us the wages of sin is death. Violation of the law brings death. In ancient Israel, that underlying premise was recognized through various sacrifices. In the Church of God today, our recognition of that principle, that breaking the law brings death, is recognized through repentance and acceptance of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Death is still the penalty for law. We have a high priest who paid the penalty, and thus we can be forgiven of sins and still live. We can see that in relation to tithing. In ancient Israel, a tithe of a person's income belonged to God, and it was given to the priesthood in the Levites to do God's work at that time with a temple system. Today in the Church, the tithe still is God's, and we give it to the Church to do God's work, which largely consists of preaching the gospel, or as it says here in front of me, preaching the gospel and preparing the people. But the underlying principle still is there, the tithe belongs to God, and we don't have any authority to change that. I think in some ways it's easy to notice some of the laws that might, you know, we could see were for a limited jurisdiction. Especially, there are some laws that we could call criminal law. We have criminal law today, and criminal law has certain things that are prohibited, and there's a punishment. You know, these laws usually have the if-then statements. It's not computer programming, but it says, if you do something, this is the result. And there's an interesting contrast. I'll just give you these scriptures. But in Exodus 20, verse 15, it says, thou shalt not steal. Timeless spiritual law. Exodus 22, verse 1 tells us, if a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep. That was part of the civil law for the nation of Israel. It had specific punishments. And in this case, a punishment less than the death penalty.

We can make the case that unrepentative, violating the law of stealing, would still invoke death because of the wages of sin as death. Another one is found in the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20, verse 12, Honor thy father and thy mother. There's not a, if you don't, this is what happens, this is a statement of God's spiritual law. In Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter 21, verses 18 through 21, and I'll summarize because it's more lengthy, but it says that the punishment for a rebellious, drunken son was stoning. And so there's an, if your son is doing this, this is the punishment. And God gave these laws to ancient Israel, we could say because ancient Israel was both a nation and a church, in a sense. There was not separation of church and state in the law that God gave Israel. But as Americans, we're quite comfortable with separation of church and state. It's sort of drilled into us from our earliest days. So things are different for us. We here today are a church. We're not a civil government, which is good for juvenile delinquents. Hopefully we don't have any juvenile delinquents, but we don't take out in stone anyone. Or if you happen to swipe something that's not yours, you don't have to give back five oxen and four sheep. Now, we still recognize, though, that those laws were based on the underlying principle of love and God's expression of it. So we don't just say, well, it's all useless, we don't have to care about what's there. We want to know what's there and why. I think we can readily agree, of course, that God has called people today into a church, not a nation. But still, we're in Hebrews. I'd like to turn it over to chapter 12, where it specifically makes that point. Hebrews 12, beginning in verse 18. We'll see first a reference to that covenant that God made with ancient Israel at Mount Sinai. And remember, when God came down on Mount Sinai, there was smoke and thunder and lightning and an earthquake and people were scared to death. It says here, They couldn't endure it. Let's skip ahead. In verse 22, it says, But you, and I could point to everyone in this room, you, you, you, and you, you've come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, who are registered in heaven to God, the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect.

That's a long way of saying, you're not called into a civil nation, we're called into a church.

And to a new covenant.

Does that mean no laws? No, there's still laws.

But the new covenant is not between God and a particular nation. It's between those that God calls out of whatever group He will, and that will and can include those who are of the nation of Israel. It's just that God isn't working with them because of being Israel, but because of being called into His church. That's where I'll bring in Jeremiah 31 and verse 33. I'll turn there, you don't have to turn with me, because I'm sure you all have it memorized. But Jeremiah 31, and verse 33, I don't have it memorized, so I have to read it.

He says, If this is the covenant that I'll 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'll be my people. So rather than saying I'm getting rid of law, God is saying I'm going to write it on your hearts.

Israel's destiny is to be called into God's church as we are and have His law written in their hearts. I would submit that the law that God is writing on our hearts through His Holy Spirit doesn't specify paying back four sheep for a stolen sheep, but it does tell us, don't steal. Period. Just don't steal. Likewise, He's writing on our hearts that we are to honor our parents without necessarily writing that bit about stoning the recalcitrant drunken son. And I think that's a general principle that can apply in many cases. If we're in the Pentateuch, we see specific punishments. It's easy to say, well, that seems to be a direction given to a political nation that had the power and authority to execute punishment. As a church, we don't beat you with rods or things like that. Now, one thing we could do is say if you're not willing to live by God's law and be part of the community, we might ask you to not fellowship with us. And that's kind of extreme because we see the fellowship among the body of Christ is so important. But we don't usurp civic authority. And let's not think that the spiritual law written on our hearts is less. I would say that it's more. It's not easier law. It's a greater fulfillment. Think of what Christ said on the Sermon on the Mount. Getting those words coming out too fast. For instance, I'll cite Matthew 5, verses 27 and 28.

The spiritual law written on our hearts not only prohibits adultery, but it prohibits the lust that could lead to it. Earlier in that chapter, verses 21 to 22, the law written in our hearts forbids hatred. Not just the murder that hatred could lead to. I think it's interesting. Jesus didn't specify that for every one of the Ten Commandments or all the different laws. He gave some examples to illustrate the point. And you could say the fact that He only gave that for some is somewhat what causes disagreements in the Church. We will come up with questions. Should I do something? Do I have to not do? And you can fill in the blank. In my notes, I literally have blanks. And we can fill them in as we will. I think we could quickly come up with a long list of such questions that we might have disagreements. There are a couple that come to my mind right away. But I want to build up to addressing those. First, I want to consider a general statement that I think does apply to us. It's found in Micah 6. Micah 6 and verse 8. This is one many of you probably know from memory. If I can't find it very soon, I'll have to know it by memory. Micah 6 and verse 8. There's a good statement of how God wants us to live. It says here, He's shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? But to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. This is part of a larger statement. I won't read a whole length of the chapter. Micah is expressing God's explanation that he never really wanted animal sacrifice so much as he wanted obedience. And we could even reference what Samuel told the king Saul when he said, to obey is better than to sacrifice. What God requires of us is to do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God. That corresponds pretty well with what Christ said in Matthew 23, 23, when he said, the way to your matters of the law were justice, mercy, and faith. That Hebrew word for judgment that's related closely to judgment is mishpat. And it carries with it the meaning of making decisions based on the law. It could mean making a verdict one way or the other. And Jesus Christ said, one of the most important matters of the law for Christians involves making judgments. We have to make decisions on how to apply that underlying principle of the law in our lives if there's question on whether that civil law applies to us now. Now, in a lot of cases, that's really easy. You know, taking something that's not mine is stealing. Okay, don't do that. I can make a quick, easy judgment on that. But I also know that I'm required to keep the Sabbath holy. Okay, that's sometimes not as easy because I think, well, is doing this not making it holy, or do I need to do this? And we go through many, many decisions and judgments on that. And some directives that we find in the book of Leviticus give us pause. You know, the early part of Leviticus is easy, as we explained. We don't have a priesthood killing animals and sacrificing them, burning the fat and the kidneys and draining the blood. But Leviticus has some other sections that aren't about making animals sacrifice. They're directed towards how a people can be a holy people, a special people. I'm going to read from Leviticus 19. Leviticus 19 and verse 2. I think of Leviticus chapter 19 as the epicenter for some of these questions as to, well, how does that apply to us today? Does it or not? But let's look at the underlying basis of this. It says, That's a pretty simple statement, but I think it's pretty powerful. God is saying, I'm holy, and as my special people, I want you to be holy.

This was directed to ancient Israel, but there are a number of scriptures in the New Testament that show that that's a principle that applies to us today. Matter of fact, 1 Peter chapter 1, verses 15 to 16, quotes this directly. 1 Peter 1, 15 to 16, I won't turn there, but Peter writes, Ephesians 1 and verse 4 says that He chose us that we should be holy. And I'm just citing these. You can go look them up, but it's a reminder, okay, we're called into God's church. God wants us to be holy. And I'm intrigued by the fact that the underlying Greek and Hebrew words for holy are based on words that have the connotation of different. Being holy is to be different or separate, not like everything else. I'll mention also a common memory scripture, John 17, 17, where Christ prayed to the Father and He said, Sanctify them by your word. Your word is truth. And that word sanctify relates to making holy. So God's word is part of what makes us holy. And that provides the underlying principle for several do's and don'ts that we might question in the book of Leviticus. That we're commanded to be holy. So that's the underlying principle. And we see that in verses 3 and 4, being holy means we will respect our Father and Mother. We'll keep the Sabbath. That's part of what you do living as a Christian. You stand out from other people. Also, if you look in verse 13, you shall not cheat your neighbor nor rob him. No, that's part of being holy. Be honest, fair dealing with other people. I'll go to verse 19. This is one that brings some questions. It says, You shall keep my statutes. Many times we think statutes are part of that civil law. But he tells us, Keep my statutes part of being holy. You shall not let your livestock breed with another kind. You shall not sow your field with mixed seed, nor shall a garment of mixed linen and wool come upon you.

Now, it's interesting because we could talk about these being statutes, and so we might say that's part of the civil law that doesn't apply, but we're to be holy. So I always say we need to look for reasons where and when the underlying principle applies to us. And I've read a lot of speculations on the underlying principle. Probably many of you have. And so, we can look at wisdom. Some say this has to do with deception and false marketing or inferior products. I've even read some that mixing the wool and linen builds up static electricity, and wizards would try to do deception. I don't know. I know it's not as good at clothing. So we can leave it at that and say, I think we can look for reasons and find good ways to apply that. If we move ahead to verse 28, this is one that's caused controversy. And I mentioned there are a couple issues. This is one of them. You shall not make cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks upon you. I am the eternal. That phrase, I am the eternal, appears again and again in this chapter. I think it's like a shorthand phrase relating back to what he said early on, where he said, Be you holy, for I am holy. It's like, remember? I'm holy, and I want you to be holy. So we could interpret these two things as arbitrary regulations for Israel's ceremonial law, and say, oh, we're not under that jurisdiction. But I think if we consider the underlying principle, the aspect of God's eternal law of love that caused him to give this law in the first place, I think it gives us pause to think, you know, there's something more to this than just it's a ritual. God wants His chosen people to be different. He wants us to be holy. And one of the things He tells us is, I want you to maintain your body in the way that I made it. Maintain its purity. I gave you a body. Don't mutilate it. Don't mark it up. That line of thought appears in 1 Corinthians. I'm going to look at a couple of New Testament scriptures. 1 Corinthians 6, beginning in verse 19.

1 Corinthians 6, 19, says, oh, no wonder, as I was looking in verse 7. Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is in you? Which you have, and I'm saying which because that's the proper pronoun, which you have from God, and you are not your own, for you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. This passage actually comes at the end of a long condemnation of sexual immorality. So I don't want people to accuse me of taking it out of context. He was focusing on, look, don't commit fornication. Don't commit adultery or have any sex outside of marriage. But the underlying principle that provides a reason for us to look at these rules, he reminds us God owns our bodies. They're just on loan to us, in a sense, and he wants us to maintain their purity in ways he defines. If we need more specifics in how it is he wants us to maintain that purity, well, we've got some instruction in the Old Testament. I would make the case that God's tastes don't change much. He still doesn't want us to punch up holes and make all kinds of cuttings and print marks on ourselves. And I'm bringing that up because it's been an issue in the church and one I've had come up. I think that's why it's been the teaching in the United Church of God for many years and continues to be.

Interestingly, I'm going to make a reference to Deuteronomy 14 in verse 2 and 3.

We all know Deuteronomy—we're familiar with Leviticus 11 being the clean and unclean meats chapter. We tend to forget that that was repeated in Deuteronomy 14 of what you can eat and what you can't eat. But the reason that God gives, although there are a lot of good health reasons for not eating pork or shrimp or things like that, God doesn't say it's because it'll keep you healthy. He says this, You are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. You shall not eat any detestable thing. That's the reason we don't eat those things. And they're side benefits, yes. But I think we can make a case that the same reason we're not to eat pepperoni on our pizza is why He doesn't want us to go out and get tattoos on our skin, because He wants us to maintain our bodies.

And to me, that relates back to those greatest commandments. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. I'm running short on time, but I mentioned that there were two points. I know Mr. Dean said, always never tell him how many points.

This one will be fairly quick, but another question that comes up in relation is, should we as God's people be wearing tassels on our clothing? Do we need to do that? Is it the same issue? And the church that's come up again and again, and we always study it thoroughly, and the church's answer has always been, no, we don't need to do that. But there's always some people that say, I think it should be, yes. I think we can apply some of the principles we've been using to look at that. Now, we don't find tassels in Leviticus chapter 19. We do find them in Deuteronomy 22.

Interestingly, right after another reminder about mixing linen and woolen cloth, Deuteronomy 22 and verse 12, it says, you shall make tassels on the four corners of your clothing with which you cover yourself.

But what's different here is, there's a biblical narrative where God shows exactly when and why He added that.

And I think it's a good example of what we saw in Galatians 3.19, where something being added to the law because of transgressions.

That narrative is earlier in Numbers, chapter 15. Numbers 15 beginning in verse 32.

Well, actually, I'll summarize this. Verse 32 through 36 says, the children of Israel were in the wilderness and they found a man out working on the Sabbath, gathering as firewood.

And they apprehended him and put him in guard and actually had Moses go check with God. What are we supposed to do with this guy? God said, well, the law says it's the death penalty and he was stoned.

And immediately following that in verse 37, says the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the children of Israel. Tell them to make tassels on the corners of the garments throughout their generations and to put a blue thread in the tassels.

And you shall have the tassel that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them, that you may not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined.

And then at the point where he says, put tassels on your clothing. Here in verse 39.

Why? To remember the commandments so that you won't just go by what's in your own mind.

I think again a reminder of the spiritual principle. God wants us to be holy.

What do we need to do to be holy? Remember his law and obey it.

The holiness is connected to remembering to obey the law, not connected to a physical thing attached to our clothing.

I always think of this, I think of it in the exasperated voice that I remember from my mother when I would do the opposite of what she told me.

I think God's saying, okay, you can't remember a simple thing like don't work on the Sabbath, so here.

Wear something kind of silly looking and obvious so when you see it you'll remember.

I do that in my car all the time. Frank, you've got to get gas after work, so I'll stick something on my dashboard.

It's like, oh, I see that, I remember, I would have forgot otherwise.

Are Christians required to wear them today? I like an answer I heard Gary Petty once said.

He said, well, if that's the best way you can do to remember God's law, by all means.

But Jesus Christ showed us a better way. He mentions it in John chapter 14.

I'm nearing my end, so if you'll bear with me. John 14 and verse 26.

Jesus spoke of the Helper, the Holy Spirit, which the Father will send in my name.

It will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you.

The Holy Spirit is to bring things to our remembrance. That relates back to Jeremiah 31, 33, through the Holy Spirit, the law is written on our hearts.

Aaron Dean once said, it's like God gave us spiritual tassels internally to help us remember.

I think that fits with the underlying basis of God's law, love for God and love for mankind.

I think I've traveled quite a ways from spring break and drinking beer in a restaurant, if you're 19, in Canada.

But we can use similar methods in analyzing jurisdiction and types of laws.

The same thing for those students we can use in looking at the law. What's the underlying basis?

As a matter of fact, I think of for alcohol, why is there an age limit to avoid abuse of the law?

We know God doesn't want us to overuse alcohol.

So I would say, I want to follow the spirit of the law. Whether or not the law of the land says I can have it or not, I want to follow the spirit of the law and use moderation or resist using it all.

I would apply that not only to alcohol but to other substances.

I know the state of California said, hey, light up. Smoke all the marijuana you want.

I'm not sure that matches with the principle in God's law.

So we want to follow the underlying principle, like I said, the spirit of the law. And it comes down to the fact that God is love.

Every command that He gives us is an expression of His love.

The way that we exercise judgment, mercy, and faith should also be expressions of God's love.

Now, there's complexities and some little decisions from day to day, but the basic question, again, was answered.

One more reference to Micah 6 and verse 8.

He's shown you what's good.

What does the Lord require of you? Do justly. Love mercy and walk humbly with your God.