How to Know Which Laws to Keep

We have a special sermon. I think it's going to be instructive and, in a proper sense, entertaining, because this is going to be an active message. So I'm going to ask the ushers to give you a handout, which you can fill out during the sermon, because there are spaces here. And this is a very important subject, so I'm just going to go through it, because I hope, as time goes along, you will not forget the key words to remember this very important subject.

The subject is, how can you tell which laws in the Bible to keep? How can you tell which laws in the Bible to keep? This is one of the most common questions that people ask once they want to follow the Bible. They find there are Old Testament laws, there are laws in the New Testament, different churches have different versions of what to keep. Some hear that the law has been done away.

Others, that you have to keep all the laws, including the rituals. How would you be able to answer if someone asked you, how can I tell which laws I should keep, which are still binding on us as Christians? So we are going to learn an easy way to do so through the help of a memory device.

This used to be used a lot in the Old Testament times. People didn't have notebooks, and the paper was very expensive, the papyrus, sometimes the parchments were even more expensive. They were done from animal skins. So a lot of times people would get around and they would mill inside their houses. It's very interesting, I was going through archaeological lecture this week, and one of the archaeologists is mentioning how in Israel they had a very unique housing architecture.

It was very different from other nations, because here they call it the Four Room House, but every one of these places had kind of a big patio in the middle, and some of these houses could be considerable. They could have quite extensions, but the idea was that maybe two or three families would live there. Usually everybody was very close in the village, and so in the evenings after work they would have a meal, and then they would sit together, and the young kids would learn from their elders the history, the background, and they would use these what we call today memnotic devices, which are memory-jogging tools to remember things. And so we're going to do the same thing today.

I remember we used this to prove how evolution is false, and we had a young man, Joseph Reeves, this year went to camp. I gave a lecture on that, and I used the word false to just remember that word as the key to proving evolution is false. And this must have been a week later. We had a youth weekend, which we do during the summer, and we had all the youths over at the Weiss' home, and we had a brunch, and then kids would give different speeches. And just an improvised, we had five something like eight minute speeches, and I went to Joseph. I said at the at that time, I said, Joseph, he had won an award for reciting that lecture. I said, could you go ahead and give it again? And he thought, and he said, yeah. And just from the spur of the moment, after they finished, he gave the sixth, and he gave the five points about how evolution is false.

He gave the key illustration about each one of those, and just explained it, and it looked like it was the exact lecture that I had given at camp. And because of this device, this memory device, using an acronym, false, you know, fossils, assumptions, life only begets life, S, which has to do with symbiosis or symbiosis, and E, engineering. See, I can still remember it from the top of my head. I could give you that lecture, because this memory device is so effective.

And so I want to do the same thing, and I've given you a handout, which has, you know, some spaces here, and we're going to learn how you can tell which laws in the Bible to keep. There are six letters, six key scriptures, and six key illustrations. And by the way, if there are young young people here, or young adults, or somebody that really desperately needs a Bible, we're going to give as a prize the person who can later recite this. They can call me. I'll do an oral exam, and I will give them a new Bible. So that's part of the prize that's available. Now, the priests used a scroll to write God's law. To this day, synagogues need to have one. In order for it to operate, that's why they have kind of a little box in the front, and they have the scrolls, the scroll of the law of the first five books of the Bible. So the key word is scroll. You can go ahead and write it down. If you can remember this, you can remember the five proofs how you can tell which laws in the Bible to keep. So if you just remember the word scroll, that'll jog your memories to remember this. And so this is an acronym, which means every letter has a key word. So the first one is S, which means spiritual. That's the first key word, spiritual. God's law is spiritual. We have to elevate it to its rightful place.

It is not man-made. Moses didn't make the law. Abraham didn't make the law. Adam didn't make the law.

It is God-made. And so people that attack God's law are attacking God Himself.

We should blame, instead, our sinful human nature. That's the real culprit, not God's holy, just, and perfect law. It was given for our own good, not to do us harm.

And the key scripture is Romans, chapter 7, verses 12 through 14. Romans, chapter 7, verses 12 through 14. I'll read it. Here it sums up God's law being spiritual. This is the apostle Paul, the apostle who supposedly said the law was bad or it was done away, and that's a complete misrepresentation, because look what he said in verse 12. Therefore, the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. Not saying it's bad. It is holy because it comes from God, and it is just because it is fair. Verse 13, has then what is good become death to me?

Certainly not. Let's not blame God's law. But sin, the human nature, the evil human nature in us, that it might appear sin was producing death in me through what is good. So that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful, because now you have a definition of what sin is.

The law defines what sin is. So you can tell exactly what you should not do. And if you transgress it, there is a law there that is enforced by God.

Verse 14, it says, for we know that the law is what? Is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. So this is a church that honors God's law. It says God's law is not the problem. We are. We shouldn't be a church that blames the law because we sin, or somehow to assuage people's consciences. Let's talk about the bad law, that now we're under grace and everything else.

Grace is forgiveness of breaking the law. That doesn't give you the right to trespass it.

It's the same thing as if you run a red light and you go before the judge, and the judge says, well, I'm going to forgive you. I'm going to extend grace to you, give you an opportunity. So then you're going to go back and say, oh, well, now you see I'm under grace. So now I can run all the red lights I want. Of course not. Don't blame the traffic lights. Don't blame the traffic laws. Let's blame ourselves when we transgress it. So it's the same principle. And we have an illustration which is a spiritual, let's put spiritual mirror as the key illustration to understand this concept of God's law, that it is spiritual, that it is God-given. We should honor it, respect it, be thankful of it, not trash it, not to attack it in such a way. That's why man has gone off and why Christianity hasn't been able to solve the true problems of mankind. Because they have this kind of schizophrenic idea of the law that, well, yeah, we should keep it, but then it's done away. And well, the commandments, some say it's abolished, but then does that mean I can steal and rob and lie? No. And then so you got all of this mixture because you're sort of blaming the spiritual mirror that's making you look bad. Notice in James chapter 1 and verse 22, it says, But be doers of the word, and not hearers only deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror.

For he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty, that's what God's law is defined as, the perfect law of liberty, and continues in it, perseveres, as it was mentioned in the sermonette, you have to have self-control, you have to discipline yourself, you have to persevere, you have to exercise that willpower, and with the help of God, because we can't do it without his help, it says, and is not a forgetful hearer, not a fair weather type doer. When things get tough, that's when you start breaking the laws, no, you persevere in it.

He says, this one will be blessed in what he does. If you look into that perfect law of liberty, and respect it, because it comes from God, and what do people do? They look at the spiritual law of God, and it incriminates them, it shows them their faults, it shows them their sins. So what do they do? Oh, let's throw the spiritual mirror away. That way we won't look me so bad. Let's just take the grace and just throw it out, and now we're all fine, because after all, I remember one of the writings of Martin Luther, he says, look, I can commit adultery all the times I want during the day, but I'm under grace, and I don't have to feel miserable about it. God has done it for me, and this is again a very sick way of looking at things. But Protestantism is infected with this mentality of the universal acid, grace becoming a universal acid that dissolves everything about God's good and holy and just law. And so you have to use grace in the proper balance. It's the law plus grace. It's not grace minus the law.

So we understand this first concept. The problem, of course, is that that spiritual mirror can show what sin is, and it can show what righteousness is, but it can't make you fulfill it. It can't make it happen, because you have that spiritual mirror. It doesn't mean that you're going to go through with it. That's where it's not enough to have God's law. We need more than that. So that takes us to the second letter of scroll, C, which is for commandments, the commandments of God. And it's important to start with the Ten Commandments.

They are at a different level than other laws.

It's a divine backbone for the rest of the laws.

God gave them directly, written with His finger on two stone tablets.

The key scripture is 1 Corinthians 7.19.

1 Corinthians 7.19.

Paul, again, speaking about the law, makes a very important statement.

This should be highlighted in our Bibles, because it really clarifies how you can tell which laws in the Bible to keep. He says, circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters. So you see here, Paul is separating God's law into two parts.

Circumcision, which has to do with the ritual law, it is the first law.

When you become a Jew and you have to be circumcised, once you do that in a synagogue, you put on all of the ritual law. You're to follow all the ceremonies and rituals. That's why you have your little cap, you have your phylactries, you have all kinds of trappings, and you have all kinds of things. I was going over a book which is given to any Orthodox Jew. I actually got it in Argentina, and it is a manual which is given. There it says, this is the manual that every law-abiding Jew should follow. Of course, this was written maybe a couple hundred years ago. I think you have Maimonides and others in the 12th and 13th century. They compile this, and it tells you how many prayers. When you wake up, what prayer you should do. Before a meal, what prayer you should have. Then after the meal, you have another one. How to greet people when you go outside. How when you see a river, you should thank God for it, and it's got a prayer for that. I mean, it's all day long, and this is what you should do, and you shouldn't miss anything. This is what Paul said, that as far as this system of law, I was blameless, because he really dedicated himself to it.

So here it tells you that the circumcision, which is the beginning of the whole ritual law, Paul is saying circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing. That part of the law is no longer required for salvation. That is not where the important aspects of it are. After Christ came, there was a change in the application of these laws, and that's why he can say this. The circumcision was one of God's laws, and it was given to Abraham in Mount Sinai. It was confirmed, and now he's saying that that is no longer a necessary part of lawkeeping. But, he says, keeping the commandments of God is what matters, which separates.

The Ten Commandments from the ritual law. So, having that scripture, you realize, well, here are the two main categories. One is a temporary law that was given to Israel for a period of time. It has to do with the rituals, with the temples, the sacrifices, and including circumcision. And then, here's the other great body of law, based on the Ten Commandments.

That is what really matters for salvation and for a Christian. Now, again, we don't believe that that's the only thing you can't be saved by just having the law of God.

You need to have the faith in the sacrifice of Christ and the grace, but they all come together.

That's what we're going to see. It's all a package. You don't separate this other package and discard things. This is a whole package here, when he's talking about the commandments, is what matters. And so, the key illustration is the word engraving. Engraving. Well, most of us know what an engraving is. It's something that is engraved, that is put on a medallion, or something is engraved with your names, or in a document. And we are talking here about the laws written in our hearts. They are engraved in our hearts. And so, these commandments, one day, are going to be engraved in our hearts. Notice in Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10, in verse 1. It says here, for the law, and of course, here in the context, as you can see, it has to do with the ceremonial law, the laws of the temple, the Levitical law. It says, for the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of things, can never, with these same sacrifices, because it's talking about that part of the law, which they offer continually year by year, it says it cannot make those who approach perfect.

This doesn't really solve the spiritual transgressions of the people. And so, the law with the rituals and ceremonies was just a helper to help people recognize their need for a Savior, for true forgiveness. Notice in verse 14, it says, for by one offering, I'm talking about Christ, He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. So, His sacrifice is what forgives us. And of course, He doesn't have to be sacrificing Himself time after time. He did it once.

And so, with that, we can receive forgiveness now and in the future. It says, but the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us. God is revealing something. For after He had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts. And in their minds, I will write them. Then He adds, their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. Now, where there is a remission or forgiveness of these, there is no longer an offering for sin. You don't need to go back to the rituals and sacrifices for it. And so, it goes on to say, verse 19, therefore brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us through the veil. So, here we see again that God's law is destined to be engraved in our hearts. So, it's not something that has been done away because if it's done away, why is God so concerned that we're internalized through our lives? And then when we're resurrected, that very nature is going to be in us. It doesn't make sense. Of course, this is not talking about the ritual law that's got to be engraved in us. It's got to do with God's Ten Commandments and His holy way of life is what's going to be internalized, is going to be completely inculcated in us. So, that is the second point we have. The third one, R, is for rituals, the word rituals, which is talking about the ritual law. These are the temporary laws imposed until the coming of Christ and His sacrifice superseded these sacrifices. Supercede means to go in a superior way. It supersedes, it replaces with something better. That's what it does. His sacrifice superseded the key scripture in Hebrews 9 verse 6. Hebrews 9 verse 6. Again, the Hebrews was basically written because some were going back to the temple and sacrifice and the rituals.

And so, these were Hebrew Christians. We believe Paul wrote it. Everything sounds like him.

There's not an author mentioned, so we can't be 100% sure, but we certainly believe it was Paul because of the knowledge. He mentions Timothy at the very end of the book as someone very close. But Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 6, it says, Now when these things had been thus prepared, talking about the tabernacle, the priest always went into the first part of the tabernacle, performing the services. But into the second part of the high priest alone, once a year, not without blood, which he offered for himself and for the people's sins committed in ignorance, the Holy Spirit indicating this, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle was still standing, that this wasn't the final product. It was intermediary. It was something that was there for something in the future that would supersede it, that would be better. And it says, it was symbolic, the temple, the tabernacle, the sacrifices, all the priestly system. It was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered, which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience. It wasn't dealing with spiritual sin.

It says, concerned only with foods and drinks, various washings and fleshly ordinances, talking about all the sacrifices, imposed until the time of Reformation. So these were temporary laws. They would run from the time of Mount Sinai to the time of Jesus Christ and his sacrifice.

And the Church has to finally decide and see this truth that is in the Bible. That's why we don't have to offer two lambs on the Sabbath day. That's why we don't have incense burning today, because you're supposed to, and you're supposed to do all these things. But that's part of the ritual law that was binding until the time of Christ. Now some have asked, and we certainly believe when Christ comes back and he establishes his temple in Jerusalem, and he says he's going to use priests again, and they're going to have that because these sacrifices for people that have no idea, they're going to have to come and they're going to see the symbolic nature. Those sacrifices represented Christ's sacrifice, and you're going to have to accept God's way of life. And there's a physical presence of what Christ went through for all of us. See, these little animals being shed, the blood, that's a reminder looking backward in time. Just like in Sinai, they looked forward in time to Christ's sacrifice. So the key word here is engraving. It's God's law is being engraved in our hearts. But certainly this is... Oh well, I want to... that's number two. But the key illustration for number three, the word is tutor. Tutor. T-U-T-O-R. God's law is being engraved, but the ritual law was temporary, and it was a tutor for us. Notice in Galatians chapter 3 verse 24. Galatians chapter 3 verse 24. It says, therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we're no longer under a tutor.

The Greek expert T. Robertson mentions this. It says this... Oh, let me see here. Yeah, it says, our tutor. This is Robertson's word pictures. It says, our tutor. Pidagogos is the term in Greek.

It says, common word for the slave employed in Greek and Roman families of the better class in charge of the boy from about 6 to 16. The pedagogue watched his behavior at home and attended him when he went away from home as to school. So this was the person to keep him straight.

Wouldn't you like to have a pedagogue like this? That when they're six, you have this servant, and he is to make sure that little boy goes down the straight and true path. He teaches them, he guides them, but he also disciplines them until he reaches the age of 16, when now he sort of graduates from the childhood stage, and he's ready now for the man stage, and he no longer needs the guide to keep him in the straight and narrow like this. And this is a very accurate picture of what the ritual law was about. With all of this, people, when they sin, they had to bring some type of animal, watch the animal get killed, and the person saying, boy, that little animal had to suffer because of me. Sometimes it was a lamb, sometimes it can be a bullock, can be all kinds of different animals, but it was not the sin offering mentioned in Leviticus was always something very painful. It was very expensive. But of course, how many people really were diligent about that? Very few. And those that did, they might have thought, well, you see that little lamb died, so now I'm perfectly fine.

I don't have to worry about that. Well, you did one part of it, but you still have that conscience problem that you need to resolve. So we see that the ritual law was a temporary law imposed until the coming of Christ, and with his sacrifice, it became superseded. You don't need to go through the ritual law. That takes us to the fourth point, which starts with an O for origin.

You have to look at the origin of the law. If you want to know what kind of law to keep, looking when it originated is very important. When certain law was given and for what purpose?

The key scripture here, Jeremiah 7 verse 22. Jeremiah 7 verse 22. This was hundreds of years after God gave the law to Israel during the time of Jeremiah the prophet, and God used Jeremiah as a spokesperson because it was God who brought this out.

Now, we can start in verse 21. It says, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. Oh yeah, you're all busy sacrificing for me doing all of this. And this was a time when the Babylonians were about ready to destroy Jerusalem, to conquer it. And people were saying, oh well, we're fine. We're doing our little physical help and doing our rituals that will stave God's anger from us. And this is what God answers them.

It says, Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. For I did not speak to your fathers or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. But this is what I commanded them, saying, Obey my voice. I gave you my commandments. That's where it was at. All these sacrifices are not going to substitute for right living. You're breaking my laws and then you think all these burnt offerings and just, oh, let's get more so that'll stave God's anger away from us. That's not going to work. It says, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people, and walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you. Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward, since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt. Until this day I have even sent to you all my servants, the prophets, daily, rising up early and sending them. Yet they did not obey me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers. Therefore you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you.

And so, of course, God's punishment is going to be there because they were thinking with the ritual law, another part of Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

People say, oh, the temple. The temple is what's important.

And yet the immorality, the breaking of the Ten Commandments, was rampant!

So we should not fall into the same idea that because we attend services or we go to feasts or we tithe or we do these things, that that is going to compensate for wrong way of living.

God can say the same thing to us. So you see, God's commandments are part of his loyal law, the righteous way of life.

And the key illustration for this is Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai.

That's where many of these temporary laws were given, where the tabernacle system was set up and later the temple. That's where the Levitical system, the rituals, and this mixed multitude of people. They were all part of the Israelites. Remember they brought with them a lot of Egyptians and mixed peoples. And so God had to give these rituals to help them keep the straight and narrow. All of these ritual laws and washings and things to keep them centered on obedience.

There was a price to pay, a physical price to pay for disobedience.

Notice in Galatians chapter 3 and verse 10. The term here, what Paul uses, works of the law, has to do with the rituals that had to require a lot of work behind it. It says, For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. For it is written, Curses everyone who does not, continuing all these things which are written in the book of the law to do them. That's quoted from the book of Leviticus, where it's saying, You better follow all of these dictates, all of these procedures. Ergo nomo, which is the works of the law, talking about something that required physical effort. Even in the Dead Sea Scrolls, they have a whole section there, the Essenes that were there in the Dead Sea area, the Qumran area. They have a whole section in its title, Works of the Law. It had to do with all of these purifications and ceremonial aspects to it. And of course, the book of Galatians is dealing with the Gentiles that were going back, that had been converted, were going back to being circumcised and requiring all of this temporary law to be imposed upon them. And so Paul is saying, No, you cannot do this. You cannot go backwards. And he mentions circumcision throughout this entire epistle and the works of the law. So you have to look at the context of this book. He's not talking about getting rid of the Ten Commandments, that now you can dishonor your father or mother, or you can lie, you can cheat, you can murder. No, that's not talking about that part of the law. As we mentioned, there are two sections. This is talking about the ritual law. Notice further down, Galatians 3 verse 17, it says, In this I say that the law, and again, when was all this given? It was at Mount Sinai. And he's talking here in particular about the ritual law, which was 430 years later than what was given to Abraham.

The promises, Abraham followed God's laws, and he received the promises, but he didn't receive all this system of rituals and ceremonies that he had to go through. He says this was what was added at that time. Cannot anole the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. But if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise. What he's saying here is that if this law continues, then the Gentiles would have to keep it. But it was temporary. It was for a time until Christ. And so he says, what purpose then does the law serve? One of the translations, the pharaoh translation says, what does the rituals serve? Which is going into the real context of what it's talking about. It says it was added because of transgressions, because of the sinful Israel. It's not talking here that, well, before that you never had law.

Of course you did. You see Joseph, he tried to avoid committing adultery with Potiphar's wife.

And you couldn't lie, you couldn't steal. That law was given to Adam and Eve. And continually there was a spiritual law that was in effect throughout all of Genesis. Look what Cain God says, look, if you kill your brother, you know, you're going to break the law.

What did Cain say? Oh, well, no, that's 430 or that's way down the line when you're going to, I don't have law now to worry about. He sinned. And sin is the transgression of the law. So this is talking about the law that was given at that time for the purpose, because of the multitude of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. And it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. And so he continues on, now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one. So he's saying God is superior to Moses, who mediated at that time. He says, is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! So it wasn't like the ritual law was evil or bad. For if there had been a law given, which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Who believe what? In the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, by faith. We don't have to go through the ritual law to be cleansed. It says, but before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith, which would afterward be revealed. And then it mentions about being a tutor. So people get all confused because they don't know which part of the law they're talking about. Just talking about, well, the transgressions were added at that time outside, because people started sinning. People have been sinning since the very beginning. But this was a certain law that now was not to be imposed upon the Gentiles. I'll just add here one point in chapter 5 verse 1, after he elaborates all of this. By the way, this was all one of the first epistles that Paul wrote.

It's certainly very indicative that it was before the Jerusalem Conference. So he couldn't just go and say this is the decree. So he tried through all of these arguments to explain why those newly converted Gentiles did not have to be circumcised. Galatians 5 verse 1, it says, Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

Indeed, I say, I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.

And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised, that he is a debtor to keep the whole law, both parts of the law, the ritual and the spiritual law, based on the Ten Commandments.

So with the term Mount Sinai, you remember that there were many temporary laws given there, the temple Levites rituals, the mixture of people. And so, of course, God had to add to keep his holiness within the camp, holiness within Israel. That takes us to the fifth point, L, and this stands for love, the word love. God is love. God's law expresses his love toward us. And, of course, we know what it says in 1 John 5, verse 3, one of the key scriptures that we are all taught to learn by memory, because if you want to know what love is, here's what it says in 1 John 5, 3. It says, For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. See, there was one part of the law that was a yoke, that was a big burden, but there was another part that was a spiritual law, based on the Ten Commandments and God's very character in nature.

And so it says here, this is the love of God. If you want to really love God, keep his commandments, all ten of them, not nine, not eight. That's why we're here today, because we believe in keeping the fourth commandment holy. And so this is the way we express our love to God today, by keeping the Sabbath day holy, which is a commandment spiritually made by God, not man-made. Sunday is a man-made day. There's nowhere in the Bible where the first day is sanctified, is made holy, is made into a holy convocation. That's how mixed up mankind is.

We think we're so modern and sophisticated, and we can be so dumb as sheep, following the wrong teachers when the Bible itself is telling you what you should do.

And so in verse 8, let's say here, in verse 8 of 1 John 4.8, He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. That's the expression.

It is the law of God, the law of love. There is an upward part of the law, which are the first four commandments. They're upward. This is the way you love God, keeping the first four commandments, which is don't have any other gods before you.

And that includes all the paraphernalia. That's why we don't keep these or other gods.

This is paraphernalia of other gods. We don't have Christmas trees in the Bible. We have sacred trees that are condemned in the Bible. Jeremiah 5.1 tells us, don't build these type of sacred trees. And it's been incorporated. But that's keeping the first commandment. It says, no, we worship God in spirit and in truth. We're not to have symbols. These are not spiritual symbols of God or His way of life. It's a whole different system.

And the second commandment tells us we shall not have physical objects that are religious in nature that represent God or His way. That's why we don't believe in any type of idols.

So upward, the first four commandments, the first one don't have any other gods, don't have any other implements that symbolize God or His way of life. The third commandment, keep God's name with honor.

Don't take it in vain. Make sure you respect it and what He represents. And then the fourth one, keep God's day holy, which is the Sabbath day, the seventh day, which at creation He established for man to keep. And Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath. He's not the Lord of Sunday.

He had nothing to do with that day as far as keeping it sacred.

And the key illustration for this is the word fruit, talking about the fruit of God's spirit. We already covered some of this in the first message in Galatians 5.22.

Galatians 5 verse 22.

If God's law is love, God's Holy Spirit produces these different fruits of the Spirit.

Galatians 5.22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. And against such, there is no law. In other words, none of God's laws go against these spiritual qualities. What's more, they are made for this purpose, to produce this. And so, if you remember the word fruit, you're going to think of the fruits of God's Spirit, which come from keeping His law in Spirit, in truth, the letter and the Spirit of God's law. Again, this is a whole learning process. First, you start keeping the Sabbath physically.

Later, you start learning how to keep the Sabbath spiritually, because it's not just not working on this day. It's not just resting on this day, but there's that spiritual dimension, which has to do with getting closer to God, praying to Him, studying your Bible, coming to services, loving brethren, loving truth, having a spiritual Sabbath day.

And not just, well, I've got a clock in, then afterwards I'll go and just be physical again.

So, the Sabbath is a time that we have to get closer to God. Many of us are busy during the week with all these things, but the Sabbath day should be for spiritual rest. And of course, it's difficult to do nowadays. So many distractions, so many things going on. But we should take a little extra time to pray, to get close to God, to recharge that spiritual battery, so we don't get so irritable so easily. Because when God's Spirit starts waning, starts weakening, that carnal-mindedness starts showing up. We get much more irritable, we get thinking about wrong things, and it's very easy to lose your temper and your patience. Just as it mentioned there, just driving down the freeway, you know when you haven't prayed enough, it's very easy to lose your patience. And that takes us to the sixth and final point, L. And L is for the word legacy. L-E-G-A-C-Y. Legacy. And actually, this means something that has been given to you by a former generation. The legacy is something that you hand over to the next generation.

And what has been handed to us from that first generation of Christians, it's what the Jerusalem church left us to follow, which all the apostles agreed with it. The key Scripture is found in Romans 8, verse 2. Romans 8, verse 2. It says, For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

Yes, they bequeathed us with a wonderful law through God's Spirit that gives us life and not death. That's in Christ, not in the rituals. The Holy Spirit is in you, and you can keep it in a deeper and more complete sense, God's law. This is a spiritual law based on God's commandments, which the grace of God is included in this law, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ, which is living, walking with Christ, guiding you through His Holy Spirit.

And it is based on the Ten Commandments and the spiritual dimension that encloses the Ten Commandments. The key illustration is the Jerusalem Decree.

In Acts 15, verse 8, this is what, after more than 20 years after Christ had died, and the apostles and the elders and the members got together in Jerusalem, they had to deal with what part of the laws of God were still binding. In Acts 15, verse 8, Peter gets up. Of course, this had to do again with what kind of... there were some that were from the Pharisaic sect that had become converted. We can see this in verse 1. It says, "...and certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, unless you're circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." So again, you've got to put upon yourself the yoke of the ceremonial law. All of these things you have to do.

Yes, you have Jesus Christ as your Savior, but you still need the ceremonies, you still need the ritual law, you have to follow all of these things mentioned in Leviticus and other parts.

And it says, "...therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question." So being sent on their way mentions in verse 4, "...and when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all things that God had done with them. But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, it is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses, which had to do with all of the ceremonies and rituals and according to the Pharisaic system." So it was very dear to them. It's like today going to a Jewish synagogue and saying, guess what? Now you don't have to have all these trappings. You don't have to put your little hat on. You don't have to put on the robe. You don't have to worry about carrying more than the weight of two figs on you. You don't have to worry about all the rituals involved. You know, they run you out of the synagogue because they say it's still necessary to be circumcised. You know, to this day, if you want to be converted into Judaism, you have to become circumcised and accept the yoke of the law. It hasn't changed in 2,000 years. So this is what was being decided then. And so it mentions in verse 8, so God, Peter saying here, who knows the heart, acknowledged them, talk about the Gentiles, by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them. In other words, they weren't ceremonially unclean, as we thought, purifying their hearts by faith, because they believed in the sacrifice of Christ. They accepted Christ as their Savior. They didn't have to go through all of these rituals and be circumcised. He says, now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? Now, he's not talking about the Ten Commandments. It's not a yoke to honor your father and mother. It's not a yoke to not have any other gods before you, or not have any idols, or not to take God's name in vain, or to keep the Sabbath day, or honor your parents, or don't commit murder, or don't steal, or don't lie, or don't lust. See, that's not a yoke. It's not talking about that part of the law. It's talking about the ritual law, which was such a burden to them. Believe me, if you read that copy, all the things that you have to do to try to be righteous before God, it was horrible. I'm glad I never had to go under that yoke, which a believing Jew up to this day, the Orthodox Jews, are keeping. Going on, it says, verse 11, but we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved in the same manner as they, through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, not through all the rituals and ceremonies. And then we have the decree itself. And this is very important. It's very valuable that the actual decree, what was decided formally guided by God, we can read that same Jerusalem decree almost 2,000 years later. And this is what it says here in verse starting in verse 23. It says, they wrote this letter to them. This is called the Jerusalem decree. This was the formal law that was established for all the churches around the world, whether they were Gentile Jews, Gentile Christians rather, or Jewish Christians, whatever they were, this was the ruling by the apostles. And it says, the apostles, the elders, and the brethren.

It's interesting that it doesn't say, well, here's Pope Peter with a decree. This was a very collegial attitude. It included the apostles. It included the rest of the ministry, and it included the membership that were there. Also, they were taking into account. It says, to the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. See, this was going to go to Galatia. It was going to Ephesus. It was going to go to all the Gentile churches. And we can read it.

It says, greetings, since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words unsettling your souls, saying, you must be circumcised and keep the law, talking about the ritual aspects, to whom we gave no such commandment. So here, these Judaizers that were trying to have all the Gentiles be circumcised and be under this ceremonial law. It says, we didn't authorize it. Of course, you're supposed to honor your father and mother. You're supposed not to steal. That commandment was never in question.

But this ritual law was. It says, it seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth. So here, many representatives went out from Jerusalem, for it seemed good to the Holy Spirit. They were guided, they prayed, they fasted, they were close to God, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things.

So he says, you don't have to worry about circumcision and the ritual law. But here are parts that we want, that we require you to keep, not part of the ritual law, but that can be confused as such. So here, they differentiate a couple of things so people wouldn't say, the Gentile Christians wouldn't say, oh, you see, that went out with the ritual law.

So they said, no, wait a minute. These things are still part of the extension of God's spiritual law. They're part of, and it is here, it says, that you abstain from things offered to idols. Because that has to do with a second commandment. You're not to have idols or have anything to do with things offered to idols from blood. So it means the food laws are still binding. You're not to eat blood, which was the minor law dealing with food laws. So just like a good legislature, you don't have to tell the people everything they have to do.

You just say, okay, no, you don't drink blood. You don't cook with blood. You don't deal with that. So, of course, everything you don't eat pork. You don't eat grease. You don't eat fat. See, all of those things are much more elaborated. So he says, up to that point, the minimum part is blood.

See, that's everything above, because this is not talking about even the meat. It's just the way that meat should be eaten without blood. It goes on to say here, from blood and from things strangled. So you're not supposed to eat the meat of something that is strangled, that has blood inside it. And I remember here, if Eric Schmidt is here and talk about the blood sauce, as is, that Germans like so much. Well, you see, that would have been prohibited in the first part. And then there are people that don't properly remove the blood from animals.

It can be a cow. It can be sheep. If you're going to prepare sheep, you're to drain its blood. That's part of God's law, because it's good for us. These are health laws. These are food laws. And then he says, and from sexual immorality. And of course, there are many aspects of this. It has to do with incest. You're not to marry too close to kin. Those laws are still active. You know, if a brother and sister want to get married in the church, we can't allow it, because it's still part of God's legal system in place.

And it says, if you keep yourself from these, you will do well. So I think that is very clear. Then in chapter 16, verse 4, it says, and they went through the cities, and they delivered to them the decrees to keep, which were determined by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in numbers daily.

There was unity of mind. Everybody was keeping the same thing. Nowadays, we've got all these hundreds of different Christian groups. How many keep the decrees in Jerusalem? We do. We keep them. We still go back to that for our guidance. In chapter 21, just real quickly as we wind down, this is important because this happened several years later. Paul came back to Jerusalem after teaching about the decrees and everything.

They got together here. Verse 18, on the following day, Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. This was a Jerusalem church. James was Christ's half-brother, and he was presiding there.

He says, when he had greeted them, he told in detail those things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord. And they said to him, you see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealots for the law. So they respected the law, and most of the Jewish Christians, they still felt, well, we can still circumcise our kids. We're not going to go into the ritual law, but we can continue to be dedicated in that way because we are Israelites. We are part of Abraham's seed, and it's part of our cultural heritage and part of that. So, see, they were concerned that the Jews were just, believing Jews, were just going to throw the entire package out. And he says here, but they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews, notice not the Gentiles, but the Jews who are among the Gentiles, to forsake Moses, saying they ought not to circumcise their children, nor to walk according to the customs. What then? The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear what you have come. And so a practicing Christian Jew could still go to the temple, and Paul himself was arrested because he had taken a vow when he went in there. So you see, that part of the temple and things, believing Jew could still honor God in that way. But it wasn't essential for salvation anymore. So the key illustration here is the Jerusalem decree.

I'd like to quote Robertson. It says, this is a flat disclaimer of the whole conduct of the Judaizers in Antioch and in Jerusalem, a complete repudiation of their efforts to impose the Mosaic ceremonial law upon the Gentile Christians. Very well said. That's what they were trying to impose. Not the Ten Commandments, but the Mosaic ceremonial law. So now we can memorize the word here, scroll. The six points, spiritual commandments, rituals, origin, love, and legacy, to remember those key words. And of course, we've got to learn the key scriptures and the key illustrations that we have covered. The spiritual mirror, the engraving, the tutor, Mount Sinai, fruit of God's Spirit, and finally the Jerusalem decree. If we remember those, then we're going to be able to answer people who ask us. And of course, those four categories that we keep, the commandments, the feasts, the food laws, and the tithes, all of that is not part of the ritual law, that's part of God's law, that we shall not steal, which means that we shall not steal what is God's tithe, because that is part of the Eighth Commandment. So now we are equipped to better answer the question, how can you tell which laws in the Bible to keep? Remember, there's a prize for anybody that wants a new Bible. Give me a call and we'll go through that.