What Did John Mean by Law?

You know, I was uh this message is is a bit of an afterthought because we just did the Torah series, right? And I thought I was like completely done with that and I and I you know I am I mean in terms of what I wanted to cover in that series I'm done with that. However, you know we kept reading through um you know Exodus and Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy and the repeated sayings that that if you will obey my commandments, my statutes, my judgments.

And I was thinking to myself, I wonder how many people, maybe possibly even me, isn't exactly sure what all of that means, like in the details. Like if I said, "Do you know what a statute is? Do you are you do you instantly say, "Oh, yeah. I know exactly what a statute is. Tell me what the ordinances are in the Bible.

" And you could just list them right out. Like that'd be amazing if you could do that. I was thinking maybe we don't all know exactly what they are and maybe not even what they how you would define them and maybe that'd be healthy for us to go through. So that's what I want to do today and I want to start over in first John.

This is a it's a kind of an important issue biblically speaking. So over in first John writes and gives us what we have always called the definition of sin. He says here in verse 4 of 1 John chapter 3, he says, "Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness." Now, this is my New King James reading of that.

If you have the King James version, it's going to say, you know, that it is a transgression of the law. This is the definition of what sin is. Okay, that's the clearest statement in your Bible on what is sin. So I would ask this question to begin. What law? If sin is lawless, a nomia is the Greek word. Anomia, not law. Okay.

Nomia is the Greek word for law. So it is aomia without law. What does that mean? What law? Take yourself back with me and let's think about who John was writing to. When is he writing? would all we need is rough numbers here. This is sometime in the early to mid 90s AD on an island in Patmos. He's apparently collected all of the letters and the gospels.

They've all kind of made their way to him. This is what we we believe has happened. Who's he writing to? Writing to the church, right? Would you agree? When he says to the church, "Sin is lawlessness." Are they confused? Well, the answer is embedded in a in a in what he didn't say. I I would I would put it to you this way.

If if I knew you understood something and then I I raised the issue to you knowing fully that you understand it, do I need to reexlain it to you? No. If you understand it, and I know you understand it, I don't need to reexlain it to you. And John does not explain anything beyond this. He helps us to understand his point.

He's absolutely going to do that. But he doesn't stop to say, "Oh, you're not sure what law means. Let me tell you what law means." They had been reading the law in the scriptures. What were the scriptures that they had? At this time, there is no codified New Testament. There are letters and there are gospels, epistles, what they're called.

The letters are called also epistles. The scripture is the Old Testament. The only body of work that that any of the church had at that time was the Old Testament as the codified law. Christ referred to it. We're familiar with that when he said, "What is the law?" The prophets and the writings. He called that the scriptures.

Okay? So, they had the scriptures. And the scriptures describe law. I've named for you three I think so far the laws that I want to walk through today. There there are four that the Old Testament scriptures fundamentally describe. They all come from God. So these are God's law.

We went through the Torah series and Torah means what? We described it as meaning law or instruction. It's the first five books. the books written by Moses and it is the first five books where we see the covenant established between God and Israel and the basis of that covenant are called commandments law direct commands of God. It's important to have that foundation that understanding and that realization of who Jesus Christ was talking to and where they would go to find law in a world today.

This is what I was thinking. In a world today that's dominated by a certain amount of Protestant theology where we're told that the law was hung on the cross, that the law we obey is the law of Christ. These sorts of principles. I I'm at the 90s AD and I'm looking to the last living disciple of Jesus Christ. When he said law, what did he mean? That's the question.

It's at the foundation of all of our truth, what that law is and what Christ taught. And so, we can go only where John knew people had to go, the scriptures. And the only scriptures that existed are the Old Testament. Therefore, we we will begin in the Old Testament. I'm going to go back to Deuteronomy chapter 5, 40 years after.

And see, this is why this is sort of the appendix to our Torah series, because it's necessary for us to tag on this message about law, specifically about law, to the books of the law we just reviewed together. We know because we went through the book of Deuteronomy as our last message that it is 40 years later. The children of Israel are now on the east side of the Jordan. They are ready to cross over.

And Moses and Joshua are talking to them. And Moses is giving them instructions. He's preparing the new generation to go into the promised land to dwell with God so that God could dwell with his children. Moses made it very clear to them that they are themselves under covenant. They could not say that was the covenant between you and our parents.

Moses's point was to say, "No, no, no. We collective we today are under that covenant. And here in Deuteronomy chapter 5, he lays out once again the basis of that covenant which is the commandments of God. We read in verse 10 of Deuteronomy chapter 5. He says, "But showing mercy to thousands," this is verse 10, "to those who love me and keep my commandments.

" The basis of the covenant with ancient Israel were God's commandments. The Levites did not make up those commandments. Moses did not make up those commandments. God gave those commandments. He spoke the words of those commandments himself. Let's go back 40 years to Exodus chapter 20 where God, as we learn throughout this passage, God speaks these words himself.

It would have been, I think, somewhat frightening. Exodus chapter 20, we'll read the first three verses. And God spoke all these words, saying, "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me." This is a declarative statement by the eternal God who is making himself known in this covenant.

Israel comes out of a of a people called the Egyptians who worshiped all manner of gods that were not God. The world around Egypt, Palestine, the entire region, all of those gentile nations worshiped gods. None of them worshiped God. Now, put yourself in God's position for just a minute. God himself knows there is only God and the word at this time.

There's only those two beings of the Godhead called Alohim. There is no other God. The only spiritual existence beyond the father and the word at this time are the angel are the angels. Imagine that you are God. You've created everything. And you look at your creation whom you gave a spirit of intelligence to and you see repeatedly that they will worship virtually anything except you.

They will call trees and rocks and stone and formed metals God and they will bow down to those things, but they won't worship you, the true God. There is no other God. And he makes it plain that that is the basis of his relationship with Israel. That of all the nations on the earth, there would be one that would have God as their God.

And his expectation is that you will not have any other lowercase G gods because there are no other uppercase G gods. There's only God and the word. This is a really fundamental understanding for us because of the basis of that law which is in itself eternal. It is God's law that he uses as the basis of the covenant with this people.

Unique on the entire face of the earth is the only people who has God as their God. God did not free Israel so that they could decide for themselves what is right and wrong. Enter into a covenant with him and say, "Well, we'd like to massage those terms a little bit." Uh that the terms are not negotiable. Now, go back to chapter or Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 13.

And and this is just such a plain statement that's so clear about the basis of the covenant. Deuteronomy 4:13, even before he reiterates what that law is, he says in verse 13, "So he declared to you his covenant which he commanded you to perform the ten commandments." The very first layer of law in the Old Testament is the commandments of God, the ten commandments specifically.

And he wrote them on two tables of stone. If we if if the reader were in any way confused by the previous statement, the ten commandments, he makes it clear that that is what he wrote on the two tables of stone. It is those two tables of stone that were placed in the ark of the covenant. directly bene beneath the mercy seat.

It is the eternal law of God. So it is the commandments that form the basis of the covenant and God spoke those commandments to the entire nation and he also wrote them on these stone tablets. Now that obviously shows how important they are. You think about that contractually when today we're very familiar with the idea that not a great idea to enter into a contract with somebody verbally.

God did speak the terms of the covenant verbally, but he then wrote the terms on two tables of stone which echoes for us signing the contract. It's absolutely clear what happened here. So that helps us to understand why commandments rank first in the order of law. They are and hold primacy within the law. A commandment gives the clear statement of God's will. It is an order from him.

Notice the word that was used when we read, "You shall have no other gods." Today in all modern juristprudence, we understand the weight of the word shall. It's non-negotiable. It's a requirement. It's a requirement within the law that if you fail to meet the requirement, there are consequences. That's why the word is used.

It is not optional what is stated as the terms of the covenant. You shall or you shall not. That ends it. No negotiation. Other forms of law can explain details, procedures or cases, but commandments give the main direction. For example, you shall not steal is a commandment. Shall not is binding. It is mandatory. But later, we're going to have judgments and we're going to have ordinances that help us to see how to do that.

You see, God gives us clear commands, but the commands aren't intended to tell you how exactly to do these things. I mean, you can say, well, I suppose it's easy enough to understand. You shall not steal. Just don't steal. You shall not murder. Probably pretty plain. You just don't murder. But you'll see later that that God that God is going to set through statutes.

He's going to set appointed times, things that we have to observe. And yet, he won't fully explain how to do those. And so you're going to find that there's a role for ordinances. So you see there's a layer, there's an order to how God's law exists and it begins with his commandments. So when John wrote that sin is lawlessness, he didn't have to stop to explain to his audience who knew from the scriptures God's commandments are part of his law.

And therefore lawlessness would have to be not keeping the commandments. He didn't have to say that out loud. It means uh don't keep, you know, you have to keep the commandments. His audience understood that. That's my point. It's a very fundamental point in case anybody wanted to argue that the law has somehow been done away.

You'd have to explain how John's audience understood that because they certainly did not believe that. Over in 1 John chapter 2, let's go back there here before we move on to our second layer of law. Again this is now 1 John chapter 2:es 3 and 4. Now this is really important again keep in mind the date keep in mind the audience.

Verse three of 1 John 2 it says now by this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He who says, "I know him," and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. That's a very bold statement by John about the weight of God's commandments and our obligation to obey those commandments if we claim to believe in Jesus Christ in God.

So the first and clearest form of law then is the direct instruction from God that defines what he requires from those who serve him and that includes us. The second form of law is statutes. Statutes are the second form of law. A statute is something God sets in place and tells his people to keep, to observe, to practice.

A commandment gives a direct order. A statute gives an established requirement that continues as part of the way that God wants his people to live. Deuteronomy chapter 6, I want you to note the weight of what God says when he says when he uses the word statutes that this carries the weight of law, his law. Deuteronomy chapter 6, the very first verse says, "This is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to

possess, that you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, you and your son, and your grandson. send all the days of your life and that your days may be prolonged. Did that sound in any way optional? It is a requirement. The definition of this word statute is something prescribed.

God is the one who prescribes what he wants done. The clearest example of prescription by God of things he wants done that are added to, if you will, or made clear by his own command are the feasts of the Lord. Leviticus chapter 23, we went through this together to some degree as we rehearsed. This is important because we can't ever claim that we don't have to keep these feast days because somehow they're not gods.

Well, those are the feasts of the Jews, so we don't have to keep them. Those are the feasts of ancient Israel, so therefore we don't have to keep them. Those are, you know, the feasts of some other organization or some other origin. God says plainly in Leviticus 23, "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, speak to the children of Israel and say to them, the feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy conversations, these are my feasts.

" Um, it's just impossible to get around that clear, plain statement. These are God's feasts. It's why we observe them today. They're not our feasts. They're not the Jews feast and they're not the church's feast. They're God's feasts. So, we keep them because he said to keep them. And he told us why in such plain language that we can't deny it.

They are his. Now, drop down to we'll just look at one example. We could walk through all of these and find these easy to see statements. But let's look at the feast of tabernacles here that is listed towards the end of Leviticus 23. Verse 41 says, verse 41 says, "You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year.

It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month." So the feast of tabernacles, the feasts of the Lord are established by the Lord by statute. He declares appointed times and then he gives the job to the priesthood of announcing those proclaimed anointed times. They do not anoint the times. God does.

That's the whole point of the book of Leviticus chapter 23. He carefully and meticulously points us directly to when this day is to be observed in the year. Then when is this day to be observed? And he calls them holy convocations so that we have no doubt about what he means when he says you will observe it.

What does that mean? That's what it means. Statutes often teach God's people how to remember what he has done and how to walk before him year by year. So you see now statutes have an interesting role. They connect obedience to memory. You repeat, we keep every single year the Passover, the days of unleven bread, Pentecost, trumpets, atonement, the feast of tabernacles, and the eighth day.

We rehearse through the observance of those days the plan of God. I I find that interesting because can you now see that there might be a distinction between the commandments themselves as the primary that is the basis of everything. But you're supposed to walk with those commandments daily, right? But we don't walk in Passover daily.

We do it once a year. We don't walk in the days of unleven bread daily. We do that once a year. Pentecost comes once a year. They have a there's a purpose for those statutes. our obedience, God revealing his plan and connecting that to our memory. We cannot forget because we keep rehearsing. The beauty of these statutes is that they help us to remember the plan of God.

Deuteronomy 16:12. Funny, let's look at that. Deuteronomy chapter 16, where we see memory connected directly to observance. Deuteronomy 16:12 says, "And you shall remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and you shall be careful to observe these statutes." It's interesting how many times God connects remember this, remember that, remember this, and remember that.

Statutes are what he gives us to help us remember So this is why statutes are important to understand in John's words about lawlessness. They're included. They're a part of what God says you must obey. John's audience knew that God's law included more than the Ten Commandments. They knew it included his statutes.

God is not ambiguous. We've already read multiple times. observe my commandments, my statutes, my judgments, layers of his law. Notice later we have words given to us in Psalms 119 119 verse 8 my this section of well 119 begins with for mine my header is meditations on the excellencies of the word of God and verse 8 says I will keep your statutes do not forsake me utterly understanding that statutes have the same weight as law they are a part of God's law

so he didn't treat them by the way as some burdensome technical rule that I just have to pay attention to it's Law statutes also show that God's law reaches into our regular everyday life. A person may agree with a command in principle and still resist the way God says to practice it. Statutes takes God's authority from the general idea and they place it into a repeated action. We keep the feast days.

We practice obedience by keeping the feast days. We connect our practice and our obedience in our memory year after year to the plan of God. These are all connected ideas. But this is the attitude God wants from us over in Psalm 119. We're still here. Let's go over to verse 112. He says, "I have inclined my heart to perform your statutes forever to the very end.

" You know, that's what God wants from us in our hearts is to desire to keep his statutes and his commandments, his ordinances, and his judgments. To from our hearts want that because it's what's good for us. It's what creates an orderly society. So, in order, we have commandments that come first because they state God's direct will.

Statutes come next because they establish appointed duties and practices that carry God's command into our lives by doing things. The third form of law is ordinances. These are very necessary. You you may not realize that you live in a world governed by ordinances, but we have parking ordinances and we have noise ordinances. We have wastewater ordinances.

We have all kinds of ordinances. What is an ordinance? It's a way for us to structure our society where we have rules that we all live by so we can get along, cooperate, have peace amongst ourselves generally if we're all sort of doing and following those ordinances. An ordinance really is just a rule that tells people how something is to be done in an orderly way.

So, for example, I come out of the wastewater world. You know, if you have running water in your home and if you have toilets that flush, you're governed by a wastewater ordinance, that tells you that you can't take that big pot that you used to deep fry your turkey over to your toilet and dump it down there.

I know most people don't think you'd be surprised, though. You would be surprised what people do. Not good. So, I I laughed often because think about how people how do kids grow up? They don't grow up in a home that's a commercial kitchen. You grow up in a home in which all the dishes are done in one sink.

You get to a if they get a job in a restaurant, there are multiple different kinds of sinks. And unless they've got a really well marked up kitchen and really brilliant training, they don't really know what all those sinks are for. any given sink, including a hand sink. And I've been in kitchens, by the way, that have hand sinks that have chicken that are falling in them. Oh, yeah. People don't know.

Kids don't know. And so, they might be washing a pot in a sink that's designed for food handling, and they don't care because they don't know. So, that's what I'm trying to say. This is why we create ordinances. And then you have to have people responsible to enforce those ordinances. So, we have people who are who work for the wastewater authority.

What do they do? They go into the kitchens and they make sure everybody's behaving themselves. That's not any different really than the priesthood's job was to enforce the ordinances. So, this gives you a way to connect to that. But let's notice something. God was also a God of consistency and application of law. Numbers chapter 9.

Numbers chapter 9 verse 14. Numbers 9:14 says, "And if a stranger dwells among you and would keep the Lord's Passover, he must do so according to the right of the Passover and according to its ceremony. You shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger and the native of the land.

" You know what this is saying? Passover is an ordinance that we keep. It gives us specific requirements of what we're supposed to do. It is the it is the prescriptive nature of how we keep Passover that is in the ordinance. The Passover itself is identified as a feast of the Lord. But how do I do it? You see the point now of ordinances.

How do I do it? That's what's given to us in the ordinance. You roast the lamb. You don't put it into a boiling pot of water. Part of the ordinance. Let's turn over to Numbers chapter 31 and notice ordinances. How do we be a holy people? Well, you know, how much time did we spend really thinking through that God wants to dwell with his people? But in order to dwell with a people who sin, there must be a way for them to be cleansed of their sins so that God wouldn't destroy them living amongst them.

It's what allows God to be able to dwell with his people. So numbers 31:es 21- 24 verse 21. Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to the battle, "This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses. Only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead.

Everything that can endure fire, you shall put through the fire." and it shall be clean, and it shall be purified with the water of purification. But all that cannot endure fire, you shall put through water, and you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day and be clean, and afterward you may come into the camp.

How do I do holiness? Here's an ordinance. It teaches you how to do holiness. We see here that it uses the phrase the ordinance of the law directly. And then we see what's described for us in the behavior that's there. And so it's not difficult to connect the two things. This is an ordinance and it and it governs behavior. Obviously, it's not a broad command like you shall not steal.

We understand that commandment. And it's not a yearly statute like keeping the feast, right? Did they go to war every month, every other month, once a year? Was it a requirement? No, it was not. This was the requirement for purification after a battle, after conquest, after capturing. That distinction helps us to keep the order very clear.

Commandments tells us what God directly instructs us to do or not do. That's the commandment. Statutes tell us tells us what God establishes for us to do to connect our memory to obedience. Our learning is attached by the repetition. Ordinance tell us how God wants to wants us to live our lives in an orderly way. It is governing the actions that we do and how we get to the place called holy.

Do these things. That's what the ordinances are for. Leviticus 18:4. We're not far from there. Leviticus 18:4. And the book of law amongst the books of law. Leviticus 18:4 says, "You shall observe my judgments and keep my ordinances to walk in them. I am the Lord your God." It's a nice nudge about what they're about.

The doing that we do to be holy, to become pure. And of course, we read this earlier, but let's just be clear that God says it's one law for everybody. Numbers 15. Let's go to Numbers 15:15. He doesn't want one ordinance for for the people and one ordinance for the stranger. He says, "No, it's one ordinance.

Everybody follows and obeys the same." That's how a society is supposed to live so that God can dwell among them. That's why he says, "Not multiple, it's one." Verse 15 of Leviticus 15 says, "One ordinance shall be for you of the assembly and for the stranger who dwells with you. An ordinance forever throughout your generations.

As you are, so shall the stranger be before the Lord." Everybody doing the same thing, complying to the same rules of the ordinances. Now notice that this was understood for quite some time even after these ordinances. Let's turn over to 2 Chronicles and I'm wrap up this point. 2 Chronicles chapter 35. This is the time of Josiah.

Remember earlier we read an aspect of the Passover that was an ordinance. Now we get to 2 Chronicles 35 verse 13. And it says here in verse 13, also they roasted the Passover offerings with fire according to the ordinance, the instructions for how to do it. The ordinance, it says here, continuing.

He says, "But the other holy offerings they boiled in pots and cauldrons and pans and divided them quickly among the the lay people." So now we see a distinction here with the aspect of the Passover that is observed through the ordinance which is the instructions on how to do it. So ordinances belong in this order after the commandments and after the statutes.

There's you can begin to see there's this progression between them that leads us along in this relationship that God wants to have with his people. The people he wants to dwell with. The theme of our Torah series. The fourth category, the fourth form of law is judgments. And it makes sense now.

I think we've gone through commandments, we've gone through statutes, we've gone through ordinances. What's left? What's left is what if there's a question in how something should be done or how something should be applied in a particular situation. God renders judgments in that case. We're familiar with the concept.

We have a Supreme Court of the United States. It is the highest court of the land. When it makes a decision, that is the decision for everybody. Like it or not, it is the ruling. In this case, we have the eternal supreme high court of all things created in God, the judge of all judges. And he renders judgments and they are binding.

They form law. How they are applied is when God makes a decision in a specific case. So judgments show how God applies his law when a question needs an answer. Sometimes a command gives the main rule, but a real case raises a detail that still needs a decision. We have a very simple and nice and easy one that I'll go through here just shortly.

Exodus 21 verse 1. Right after giving the law on Mount Si, Exodus 21 uh begins here in verse one. Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them if you buy a Hebrew servant. Where in his giving of the Ten Commandments did he describe buying a Hebrew servant? He did not. Therefore, he's going to say, "Okay, there's some things that are clearly not already delineated.

So, let me render to you some judgments about some things that are going to happen, and here's how you'll handle them." God giving his judgments. Let's look at one good example. Let's turn over to Numbers chapter 27. Num. Remember Numbers, Numbers at the end of the book of Numbers, as we went through this is when the children of Israel, the next generation, arrives at the threshold to the promised land east of the Jordan.

And it's here where Moses gets the map out with Joshua and they start telling people who's going to get what land where. Okay, that's what they're going through. This is what this issue is dealing with. Verse one of chapter 27. Then came the daughters of Zalofahad. All right, the daughters of Zilofahad. Verse two, we don't need to read all the rest of that because I'd just trip over the names anyway.

Verse two says, ' And they stood before Moses, before Eleazar the priest, and before the leaders and all the congregation by the doorway of the tabernacle of meeting, saying, Our Father died in the wilderness, but he was not in the company of those who gathered together against the Lord in company with Kora. He died in his own sins, and he had no sons.

It's interesting the implications of this. They believe that if he had died with the sons of Kora that he wouldn't have been worthy of of receiving land is what the implication appears to be. But they go on to make the argument he wasn't. So we're what we're saying here is in verse four, why should the name of our father be removed from among his family? Because he had no son.

So the petition is please give us a possession among our father's brothers. Well, as you know, in ancient law, prior to this, it was the law. All inheritance in virtually every culture passed from father to son. The idea that if there was a son that you would give your inheritance to your daughter is an anathema.

You give it to the oldest son. It descends through him. They understand that very clearly. There's no question about that. This is why a petition is required. We think we have a unique case. They go to Moses to make the case to him. We have a unique situation. Why should our father be denied land among his brothers? Okay, notice verse 5.

Moses understands immediately that this is unique. He doesn't have an answer for this. So he doesn't make one up. He goes to the proper source. Verse 5. So Moses brought their case before the Lord. In verse six, and the Lord spoke to Moses, and he said, "Here is the decision of the high judge. The daughters of Zilofahad speak what what is right.

You shall surely give them a possession of inheritance among their father's brothers, and cause the inheritance of their father to pass to them." This is the judgment of God in a specific case. It's important. But for the daughters of Z of Zalofahad, if I said that correctly, Zofahad, it answers their case. But what about other daughters throughout any of the other tribes? And by the way, throughout the duration of the covenant who might also have this same situation arise.

God foresees this and gives the answer in verse eight. And you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, "If a man dies and has no son, then you shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter." Period. This is the law. This is the judgment that is now law in Israel. There is now an inheritance right for the family where there is no son that it goes to the daughter.

This is why judgments are law. When they come from God, he calls them law. This is why judgments are so important then because they show that God's law reaches into everyday life, gives real answers to everyday problems and questions when there is no no other answer. But God has to deal with something and he does.

It's important for us to understand that he gives it the weight of law equal in weight with the commandments. This will be obeyed. So go back to John's audience. Sin is the transgression of the law. Sin is lawlessness. Judgments of God are law. If we look then through the judgments that God has given, we have to give them the same weight as law.

The final thing I wanted to deal with today as we think about these, I I wanted to make sure you understood that biblically speaking, there are fundamentally these four areas of law. They have a hierarchy. God's commandments, then his statutes, then his ordinances, and then his judgments. And it makes sense now why they are ranked that way.

But it leaves me with a question, and it's one that I want to wrap up today answering. Did Christ what did Christ do about that law? Did Christ change that law? Matthew chapter 5. I want to be I want to go here. Matthew chapter 5 verse 18. Well, let's begin at 17. Sorry, notetakers. Sorry. Verse 17. That's where I'm at.

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, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tit will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. These are the the jot and the tit you've some of you most of you have heard before are the smallest parts of the letters the characters of the alphabet not even those would go away until heaven and earth pass away has heaven and earth passed away I'm feels solid I look up there's atmosphere Here I can

breathe. So no, still got some heaven and earth here. So therefore, the law has not passed away. Not one jot or one tit has passed from this law. Has all been fulfilled? When will all be fulfilled? Will the law ever actually go away if it is the eternal law of God? It's a It's just a way for us to understand the eternal nature of it.

Christ never said, "I came to destroy and get rid of the law." He's the very God who entered into a covenant on behalf of the Godhead with Israel with the law as the basis of the covenant. It is the very basis that Jeremiah says will be written on our hearts where a stony heart represented by two tables of stone is now replaced by a fleshly heart.

The law written on both but only one of those is capable of accepting that law and living by it. Those who have been given the spirit of God, that is the fleshly heart that's coming. And what's written on it is God's law. So no, it is an eternal law. We cannot simply dismiss it because some aspect of it is inconvenient. What Christ did change the administration of the priesthood and the sacrifices.

Mr. Ro went through some of that today during his sermonet helping us to see there's a difference in priesthood now precisely. So it was the Levitical priesthood that carried out the temple service, the animal sacrifices, the washings, the related ordinances. Now Christ serves as our high priest and his one sacrifice stands above all the animal sacrifices that had ever been done.

As it says in Hebrews chapter 7, Mr. Row and I'll walk some of the same ground today, but not a lot. Hebrews chapter 7 verse 12 it says in verse 12 for the priesthood being changed of necessity there is also a change of the law. What was the change? I would ask a simple question right here at this juncture. Is there a temple in Jerusalem when these words are being written? Yes, there is.

Is there a priesthood administering at that temple? Yes, there is. Is there a high priest? Yes, there is. Notice that it did not say of necessity there the priesthood was destroyed. It says changed. There is a change in administration. When did that change happen? When Jesus Christ took his place at the right hand of God and became our high priest.

The whole point of chapter 7 is to justify Jesus Christ as high priest to a people who looked over to a temple that had a high priest. They see a physical Levite sitting in the office. The author says he's not the high priest anymore. That covenant died when Christ died. There is now a new covenant and he is the administrator of the new or the inner what's that word intermediate the mediator. Thank you. He's the me.

Thank you. He's the mediator of a new covenant. Now we enter that covenant early by means of our baptism. That covenant will not come to this earth until Christ comes to this earth. It's here in us and we partake about we partake of it early. We enter into it early. We follow the terms of it early because we've been called out of this world into that covenant.

But when he comes, he brings that covenant with him and the world will be under that covenant. So his priesthood is legitimate and it is working right now. I I appreciated Mr. Rose's comment. I'm not a priest right now. You're not a priest right now. We don't take those roles until Christ returns.

We are then given those roles. We will be kings and priests and rule and reign with Jesus Christ. For right now, what he what he has set up is a church. And that church is a body of believers that God has called out of this world, brought together, repented, baptized, given the Holy Spirit that binds us together under the terms of the new covenant as God's church.

This is where we are. What Christ did in order to administer the new covenant in the church was create a kind of priesthood called the ministry of Jesus Christ. This is the function of the ministry. It is to administer the covenant today not to the world to the church. If you read carefully chapter 7 describes because of that there needs to be a new administration of the law of tithing.

The ministry has to have a way to function and that function will come through tithing. It was to the temple in the church. It is now to the ministry of Jesus Christ. It isn't ours to do with whatever we would like. We are supposed to preach the gospel with it. We are supposed to be caring for God's sheep with it.

So, we have roles, responsibilities, and duties. We're familiar with what that looks like because I can read back in the Old Testament and see what the duties and responsibilities of the Levitical priesthood was. doesn't know that they had duties and responsibilities. And so today we do in the church as well.

Let's notice Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10 helps us then to see the exactly what it was that changed and what Christ did. 10 verse one, we're in verse one here. It says, "For the law having a shadow of the good things to come and not the very image of the things can never with these same sacrifices which they offer.

" Now, who's he talking about? This is written and there's a temple and there are sacrifices going on right now. And he's pointing to them and he says which they offer continually year after year. But those sacrifices will not make those who approach perfect. There was never salvation offered in the sacrifices of animals.

Only the shed blood of Jesus Christ gets us there. So the animal sacrifices served as a shadow. Christ fulfilled that. Hence we are not sacrificing animals today. verse 10 of chapter 10. Verse 10. Let's actually let's start a little earlier because it sounds it's really a weird way that it picks up the that picks up the uh the thought here.

Let's go up to verse eight. Previously saying sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings and offerings for sin you did not desire. This is verse eight. Nor had pleasure in them. Why? Well, they're offered according to the law. But he said, "Behold, I have come to do your will, oh God, your will, God.

" He takes away the first, that's those sacrifices to establish the second, Christ's sacrifice. And Christ, and here he says, "By that will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." It's just a big way of saying Christ fulfilled all that. It is his sacrifice that did what those sacrifices never could do. They pointed to him.

They didn't replace him. What else did Christ do? He magnified the spiritual intent of God's commandments. So, not only did he say, "I did not come to destroy." But hang on, let me make this planer for you. He says, let's go back to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5 21. Not only did he not get rid of the law, which he just got done saying in verses 17 and 18, but now in verse 21, he goes on to double down on the law.

You've heard it said by those of old, "You shall not murder." And whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. True story. You shall not murder. It's a commandment. But Christ says, "But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without cause shall be in danger of the judgment." Christ looks inside.

Where is your mind? Where's your desires? Where's your heart? You can perfectly keep the law and never murder somebody, but have murdered a lot of people in your heart. It's where he goes first. I'm looking in here. Where are you? What's your attitude? He does the same thing with infidelity. Verse 27, you've heard it said by those of old, "You shall not commit adultery.

But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." He's not talking about the passing thought. I This is why I tried to deal with this a while ago. Satan floods us with his attitudes. And so we we will get thoughts. The question is, are you dwelling on those thoughts? Are you using those thoughts? Is that where you want to live? Paul said, "Bring every thought into captivity.

" If it were possible for those thoughts to just not ever come into our minds, then Paul would never need to say that, would he? That you need to bring them into captivity. It's just a clear way of saying they're going to come into your head. What are you going to do about it? Get them out. That's the point. It's when we begin to dwell on them.

That's what this is about. Lust isn't the passing, oh, she's pretty. Lust is dwelling, creating desire. That's what he's talking about. That's what you when you're starting to take ownership for the thought, that's when sin is beginning right now. And that's what James was talking about when he warned us about the process of sin.

So, what did Christ change regarding the law? He changed the priestly and sacrificial administration. He fulfilled the animal sacrifices. And he made the spiritual intent of God's commandments plain. This is what Christ did. This is the education John got. And this is what John knew when he was writing sin is the transgression of the law.

He wasn't confused. And he knew that his audience wasn't confused about what the law is. Hopefully today having gone through this we're not confused about what the law is either