What Does the Bible Say About the Spirit and Letter of the Law?

Well, today I'm going to start out with a question, actually a few questions. The first question is, are we part of the Old Covenant or the New Covenant? Are we part of the Old Covenant or the New Covenant? Well, obviously the answer is pretty obvious. It's the New Covenant. But I have another question. Have you ever been accused of being under the Old Covenant? And for some of us, the answer is yes. Perhaps not all of us, but for some of us, there certainly were. However, none of us were ever under the Old Covenant.

None of us are even near old enough to be under the New Covenant. It just would not work out. But now a different question, but still along the same line. Do we live like we are under the Old Covenant or under the New Covenant? How do we live? Now that's a different question. How do we behave as part of the Old Covenant or the New Covenant? And again, I'll say, well, how do we know whether we're living as the Old or New Covenant? Well, to help us answer this question, I have another question. Again, how do we view the law? How do we view the law? Do we believe, practice, and keep the letter of the law?

All of the time. Some of the time, or maybe none of the time. Or do we believe and practice and keep the spirit of the law? Again, all of the time, some of the time, or none of the time. In the world tomorrow, will people be under the Old Covenant or under the New Covenant?

How will people view the law at that particular time? Today, brethren, I'm going to talk about what does the Bible say about the letter of the law? Also, what the Bible says about the spirit of the law. There is much written in both the Old and New Testaments about the law. What did Christ say about the law? Letter and spirit. What did the Apostle Paul say about the letter and the spirit of the law?

The Apostle Paul wrote a lot about the letter of the law and the spirit of the law. Well, obviously, this is a big subject. Actually, it's a huge subject. So today, I'm only going to cover some basic points or basic concepts. But take a look at foundational principles. We're going to talk about the letter and the spirit of the law. Let's first look at what Christ said about the law.

Turn to Matthew 5, and I'll start reading in verse 17. This is the beginning part of the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus Christ had much good instruction for all Christians. It's a basic scripture. Matthew 5, verse 17, it says, and this is read letters, Jesus Christ's so-called quote, Do not think I came to destroy the law of the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

For assuredly I say to you, verse 18, Till heaven and earth pass away, One jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law, Till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments And teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches them, He shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds The righteousness of the scribes and of the Pharisees, You will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. So Christ very definitely supported the law. He wasn't against the law at all. Later Paul also supported law-keeping.

He said the law was holy, and just, and good. However, both were accused in their day, As well as for that matter, accused today of being against the law. You look in a commentary and you'll see what it has to say.

Paul obviously was anti-Nomen, so to speak. He was against the law. Now we know what Christ said. As I mentioned, it's a plain statement. It's a strong statement. Nothing shall fail till all is fulfilled. Nothing to lead it. Not even the smallest part of the law, The dotting of an I or the crossing of a T. None of it is going to fail until all is fulfilled. But do you ever wonder why Jesus Christ said this? I'm glad he did. It makes it very plain and simple and clear. It's good for us today, but why did he say this to the people back then?

Who was he talking to? Well, he was talking to Jews. He was talking to people that were law-keepers. They kept the law. He's telling them that he's not come to do away with the law. Why would he do that? Again, he's talking to Pharisees. He's talking to people who kept the law in an excellent way, at least physically speaking. Well, he knows that he's going to be making some changes. And we'll talk about those changes in a little bit. He knows that he's going to make changes, and that these changes could be not understood by the religious establishment.

He doesn't want them to misunderstand what he is teaching. They might think he's trying to do away with the law, even though, plainly, he says, he did not come to do away with the law. An analogy to what Jesus Christ was going to do, and actually doing, would be like the United States Constitution and the amendments. The Constitution is roughly 200, 240-plus years old. It's remained the same since it was written. No changes.

However, there have been amendments that have been added to the Constitution. These amendments do not change the original document, but they add certain aspects. They add certain points. Christ did something similar. He did not take away or destroy any part of the law, but he definitely added to it. He added the spirit of the law, the intent behind the law, the mind of God behind the law. He said, our righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the scribes and of the Pharisees.

As I mentioned, they were very righteous. They were better lawkeepers than probably any of us here, at least physically speaking. When the Apostle Paul was listing his background, he said, you know, according to the law, he was blameless. And I'm not going to turn there, but for those who'd like to look later, at Philippians the third chapter, verses 4-6, and specifically verse 6, he said he was blameless as far as the righteousness of the law.

But Christ said, don't just look at the letter of the law, look at the spirit, look at principles, look at what God intends, look at the mind behind the law of why, you know, what is the reason for having the law. Look at the mind of God, not just at what he said, but to try to understand why he said it.

We need to try and learn to think as God thinks. I'll take a couple of examples to illustrate the point, still in Matthew 5, I'm not going to read a little bit further in verses 21 and 22, where he says, Christ says, you know, you have heard, you know, you shall not murder. And then he goes on to say, well, you shouldn't hate either. That's an addition to the law. And in fact, he even goes further and said, don't even call anybody a fool. Again, these are additions.

It certainly didn't do away with the law of murder, but it made it much more binding. Likewise, further, he said, you know, you have read, do not commit adultery. Again, he says, you know, that's true, but he says, but I see unto you, do not lust. Again, he ratcheted up a couple of points, a couple of levels. Or as someone on TV says, you know, kicked it up a notch. He made it much more binding than just the letter of the law. Another example, since it's coming up, it was mentioned in the announcements, as far as Passover is concerned.

Again, I'm not going to turn there, but Matthew 26, verses 19-28, is where Christ changed the symbols for the Passover. Killing a lamb and eating a lamb changed the symbols to bread and wine. And I think we're all familiar with that, so as I mentioned, I'm not going to read that. I'm just going to quote it at this point. Again, Matthew 26, starting about verse 19.

The wine was representing the blood of Christ, the bread representing his beaten body. There were other changes as far as the Passover was concerned as well. You think about it, the original Passover in Egypt, it was done in individual houses. Then, a little while later, you couldn't kill a lamb in your own house. You had to go to the tabernacle or the temple and have the priest kill the lamb. And then, again, now we come together as a group for the Passover. So these are changes that are made.

It doesn't do away with the Passover at all. But it keeps giving us a fuller, deeper, richer meaning. Again, as I mentioned, the lamb represented Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, what is our Passover? The lamb represented him. Sometimes we think, well, you know, Christ fulfilled. Well, he did fulfill the Passover, but Christ wasn't pointing back to the Old Testament Passover.

The Old Testament Passover was pointing to Jesus Christ. Now, turn to 1 Corinthians 11, 1 Corinthians 11, and we'll see some instructions from Jesus Christ. And again, this talks about the various symbols. 1 Corinthians 11, and I'll start reading in verse 23, where it says, the Apostle Paul is saying, So Paul received instructions from Jesus Christ. Verse 24, and it says, Again, these are new instructions from Jesus Christ. This is why we do what we do when we do it.

Some people like to study, you know, the original Passover when Israel was in Egypt. And it is nice to study that. There's a lot of interesting information there. It's a historical event. It occurred at a time and at a place. But now we have today some who debate about, well, when should the Passover be kept?

Which night? Which night? How to do it? There's a lot of controversy that goes with that, and I think many of us here are familiar with that controversy. It's kind of interesting, a few years ago, there was a man who visited the East congregation, East PM. He visited the East PM, and he had studied long and hard about this event. He said, you know, he self-proclaimed, if you will, he was an expert, if you will, on the Old Testament Passover.

He studied Hebrew. He studied Israeli costumes. He studied a long time, you know, looking at the Bible, looking at other sources. And as I said, he was an expert on the Old Testament Passover, and this is according to his opinion. And he knew history. He knew customs. He understood all about the Old Testament Passover.

And I'll say, that's interesting. There are lessons we can learn from the Old Testament Passover, but that's not why we do what we do when we do it. It's not. We do what we do when we do it because of 1 Corinthians 11 chapter by the Apostle Paul's instruction. So even though the other is interesting, it really is not our guide.

We can learn from it, but we do what we do because of 1 Corinthians 11 chapter. We do it because of what Jesus Christ said. We'll turn ahead to 2 Timothy 3 chapter. 2 Timothy 3 chapter, and I'll start reading in verse 14.

We'll look at what Paul said about the Old Testament. 2 Timothy 3 chapter, starting in verse 14. Again, this will be a passage of Scripture that's familiar to some of us, maybe most of us. 2 Timothy 3, starting in verse 14, where it says, But as for you, and this is Paul writing to Timothy, continue in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them.

And from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures. And I want to stop at that point. What were the Holy Scriptures that Timothy knew from childhood? Obviously, it was the Old Testament. The New Testament wasn't written yet. So he had the Holy Scriptures. This is what we would call the Old Testament. It says, Which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.

And then continuing on in verse 16, it says, All Scripture, and again, what Scripture? The Old Testament, is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness.

So he tells us that there's a lot of value in the Scriptures, and specifically the Old Testament. It can make us wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Notice what Paul said. He used a specific word. He said, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable, and then for various things. He did not say everything is required. He said it's profitable.

He used the right word. He did not say everything in the Old Testament was required. It's profitable. It's useful. It's beneficial. It's helpful for us. Paul obviously was not hostile to the Old Testament or to the law. He says it's profitable. Our sacrifice is profitable? Yes, they are. Yes, they are. We can learn a lot from them. We can learn about our sacrifices, the way we sacrifice today, and we do, or at least we should.

We can learn more about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. What about circumcision? Is it that profitable? Our hearts must be circumcised. There is a problem with our flesh. It's a problem with our heart. It must be changed. What about the ceremonies that are listed? As you go through the first five books of the Bible, and you kind of, you know, just laborishly go through this reading about all the various Washington's and this and that, are they profitable?

Are these ceremonies profitable? Yes, they are. We can learn from them. Paul said that the Scriptures, the Old Testament, the law is profitable. And Paul reasoned from the Old Testament a lot. Paul often reasoned from the Old Testament. He's saying, I'm not starting something new here. I've got a scriptural basis for what I'm speaking to you and what I am telling you. Let's turn back to 2 Corinthians, the third chapter, and we'll see more of what the Apostle Paul has said in comparing specifically the covenants, the New Covenant and the Old Covenant.

2 Corinthians 3, starting in verse 1, it says, do we begin to commend ourselves, or do we indeed, as some others, and some others, epistles, try this again, do we begin to commend ourselves, or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation? Apparently, the itinerant preachers, such as the Apostle Paul, some would have letters from one congregation saying, receive this person and help them out. Paul actually wrote letters like that for some young evangelist that he was sending out. Paul says, I don't need a letter.

It says, you are our epistle, written in our hearts, known and read by all men. The Holy Spirit working within you, you are our letter. This is written on your heart. Verse 3, you are manifestly an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God, on tablets of stone, but on tablets of flesh, that is the heart.

They were living letters. They were His authority, if you will. They were the proof of His ministry. Then, continuing on in verse 4, it says, and we have such trust through Christ towards God, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant. Ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

I'm going to pause at this time and talk about covenants a little bit. Paul mentioned here the new covenant. I'll mention somewhat both covenants in general, but I'm going to focus obviously on the new covenant. The word covenant, it's transliterated, bereeth, or pronounced something like that. I'm not sure the exact pronunciation. According to the Brown driver in Briggs, Lexington, a covenant is an agreement. It's a contract. It's a treaty between two or more parties. Covenant, it's an agreement. There are conditions included in this agreement, and again, between two or more parties, and there are actions as a result of the conditions in the covenant.

You do this, I'll do that. You don't do this, I'll do something else. The covenant, what we refer to as the old covenant, was between God and the nation of Israel. There was the law, there was the book of the law, that became the conditions for the covenant. And then, obviously, there were results. God said, you know, you keep the book of the covenant, I will be your God. I will bless you. I will make you prosper.

So this is what the old covenant was. It's also what the new covenant is. It's just covenants in general. Hold your finger here, and turn back to Jeremiah 31 chapter. Jeremiah 31 chapter. And again, as I mentioned, Paul appealed to the Old Testament a lot. This is one of the places that he appealed to. It's where the new covenant is mentioned in the Old Testament.

Jeremiah 31. And I'll start reading in verse 31. It says, Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. So now he's talking about a new covenant. And he says, Not according to the covenant I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant, which they broke.

Elsewhere we'll read that it said there was a problem with the old covenant. And the problem with the old covenant was the people. Again, I'm not going to turn there, but that's found in Hebrews 8, verses 7 and 8. The problem was with the people. It wasn't with, it certainly wasn't with God or with the law. It was the people. They were unable to live up to the book of the law. So it's my covenant, but continue on, it says, Not according to the covenant I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant, which they broke.

Again, the problem with the people. Though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. And again, the old covenant was a marriage agreement. But I'll continue on reading, it says, But this is a covenant that I will make. So now talking about the new covenant, that I will make with the house of Israel, after those days, says the Lord, I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.

I will be their God, and they shall be my people. So here we see that there is a new covenant that is coming. It talks about with the house of Israel, but ultimately it's going to expand to all mankind. As Romans 11 said, the Gentiles are going to be grafted into Israel. And we understand that the new covenant is going to be established through Jesus Christ. The new covenant is new. It's different from the Old Testament, actually in several ways.

I'm just going to mention a couple here. One is, where is the old covenant written? The old covenant was written on tables of stone. The new covenant is written on a person's heart. It's in their mind. It's in their heart. It's obedience, not because it's written down on a piece of paper or a stone, that we have to do it. No, it's written in our hearts. And in love, we want to do it. We want to obey God. Again, not out of fear, but out of love. And again, the old covenant was a national covenant.

It was, again, with the nation of Israel. This one will begin with the nation of Israel and then go on out from there to cover all mankind. But it ultimately has a better promise. Not a nationalistic promise, but a promise of life forever in the kingdom of God. Continuing on in verse 34, it says, No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord.

For they all shall know me, from the least of them to the greatest from them. Everybody is going to know God the Father and the real Jesus Christ. For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more. So now we see that grace is introduced. As was mentioned in the first message, God is very merciful. Grace is introduced. In the old covenant, if something was wrong, you know, if a person sinned, they had to pay a price.

They had to pay a steep price. Here, in the new covenant, there also is a price to be paid. But Jesus Christ paid that price for each one of us. Again, under the old covenant, it was a reminder of sin and punishment. When a person sinned, something or someone had to die, depending on the nature of the sin. If it was murder, if it was adultery or kidnapping, or some few other items, few other acts, if you will, a person himself had to die or herself had to die.

Otherwise, an animal had to die, a sacrifice. It reminded a person of the sin, but it did not forgive the person their sin. It was a system of punishment, not of mercy or forgiveness. It didn't do anything as far as a person's conscience is concerned. It reminded the person of their sin. So what is a minister's role if a person is caught in a sin? Well, Christ did not put a method of punishment into the church. He did not say that if you tell a little white lie, you've got to contribute a dollar, or if you tell a really big whopper, you have to contribute a hundred dollars.

That's not it. Christ did not put a method of punishment in the church. He did not put a method of punishment in the covenant in that sense. Ministers don't deal with sin in this way. A minister, you know, what if a minister finds out that someone is sinning, that someone has done something very wrong?

Well, a minister is not a policeman, is not a sheriff, is not a judge, and is not a jury. A minister's job is to teach the person about a sin, and to try and help the person to teach about repentance. Not punishment, but repentance. However, while, as I mentioned, there's not a system of punishment within the church as far as what a minister, you know, judges or doles out, the New Covenant definitely has a penalty. It has a penalty. If people do not change, if they do not repent, the wages of sin is death.

So there is a penalty. There will be a lake of fire, and the wages of sin will be death. It will be death and be death forever. Now, the New Covenant is different. It cleanses. It includes forgiveness. It cleanses the conscience. It gives life. It has mercy. Again, as we heard, that, you know, Judas did not repent, and ended up committing suicide.

Peter did repent, and he became an apostle, and a very powerful instrument in God's hands. He was forgiven, and he went forward, and Christ forgave him, and blessed him, and strengthened him mightily. The New Covenant talks about life. It talks about mercy and forgiveness through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The New Covenant has a totally different focus than the Old Covenant. And the Old Covenant, people, I think, had sort of like a sword of Damocles hanging over their heads, saying that, you know, you've got to be careful, or God's going to get me.

Well, in the New Covenant, that's not the way it is. It's not that way at all. God is working for each of us. He wants to save us. He wants us in his family. He wants us to live for him, excuse me, live for him and with him forever. As the Apostle James says, mercy triumphs over judgment. That's found in James 2.13, if you want to write that one down. Now, the Old Testament had a glory, but now it is superseded by the New Covenant.

Again, turn back to 2 Corinthians, the 3rd chapter. 2 Corinthians, the 3rd chapter. And I'll reread chapter 6 and then go on into verse 6 and then go on into verse 7, where it is breaking into the context. It says, Who has made us sufficient as ministers of the New Covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit, for the letter kills, and again, as I mentioned, an animal or a person had to die. The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Verse 7, it says, But if the ministry of death, and I'm talking about the Old Covenant, written and engraved on stones was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses, because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away. So again, but the ministry of death, it was written on stones. It was glorious. It wasn't a bad covenant. Sometimes we think of the Old Covenant, and we have negative connotations of it. Obviously, it's much better to live under the New Covenant. But it does say that the ministry of death, or the Old Covenant, was glorious. It wasn't a bad covenant. It was a good covenant, if Israel could have obeyed. And of course, they didn't. It wasn't a bad covenant. It was a perfect covenant for dealing with a physical nation, you know, with physical people. It was a good covenant for that. It was glorious. And we can read about that in other areas of the Bible, but I'll continue staying here, continuing on in verse 8, where it says... I'll back up a little bit. It says, It said, Verse 8, In other words, the Old Testament, the Old Covenant had glory. The New Covenant has much more glory.

In fact, because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is even more glorious. William Barkley has an interesting comment on this particular passage. It says, And I'll, in my way, say it was not only second best, it was a big second best. It was way behind. Continuing back with Barkley.

It was not something wrong, superseded by something right. But it was something incomplete, superseded by that which is complete. Again, thinking about an analogy, think of a lantern. Many of us have camped from time to time. And we have an a-lan- a-lantern, either electric or kerosene. You know, something, you know, that we can take around at night so we don't crash into things. We can see a little bit with a lantern. We can see, as I say, to get up and walk around and not crash into things.

We can also see maybe to play cards. Or, if it's really a good lantern, maybe we can read something if we're so inclined while we're out camping. But it's, you know, a lantern. It's just a small amount of light. The next day, when the sun comes up, you have a lot of light. A lot of light. It supersedes the lantern, even though the lantern could be sitting here turned on or, you know, with kerosene. You know, the lantern could be there, but it doesn't make any difference. It's superseded by the light that is all around. Likewise, you have the old covenant, which is typified by, I'll say, the lantern, and then the new covenant, you know, this tremendous amount of light.

It totally supersedes and takes over from what that other light was doing. The little lantern had a little glory. Daylight has much more glory. It supersedes the lantern. So likewise, brethren, punishment has an effect, but it cannot change people's hearts. If we have a system, let's say, of dealing with stealing, perhaps, you know, cutting off a person's hand, or, you know, maybe some societies, maybe even capital punishment, that would be a deterrent for a while. But only for a while, but even then it will break down.

We can't threaten people to do the right thing. It just won't work in a lasting, you know, ongoing situation. Change must come from the inside. It must come from their heart. The new covenant is about changing people's hearts, minds, attitudes, and thoughts. As I mentioned, it's a motivation of love. It's not a motivation of fear. The new covenant is leading people to do the right thing. It's about what I'll call true righteousness. Continuing on in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 12, it says, reading of the Old Testament because the veil is taken away in Christ.

So the Apostle Paul is saying here that the Jewish people of today, they have a veil. You know, they can't see, they can't understand, which basically describes almost everybody in the world, unless God calls. That's the only way. None can come to God except through Jesus Christ. None can come through Christ except the Father, John 6, 44. That veil has to be removed. We have to have this removed so that we can see and see clearly.

Till the veil is taken away in Christ. Verse 15, but even to this day when Moses has read a veil lies on their heart. Again, talking about people of Israel at this particular time. Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. In other words, unless God calls, opens our minds, and open our hearts, the veil is still there.

It's taken away by God the Father. God calls. Verse 17, now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all with unveiled face, beholding us in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of God.

I want to back up to verse 17 here, where it says, now where the Spirit of the Lord is, and it's now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. There is liberty. There is freedom. And again, it's not freedom to sin, it's freedom from sin. It's having a clear conscience, being forgiven of going forward with a clear conscience, having true freedom and true liberty.

Something that, apart from Christ, God the Father, is not available in the world today, will be available to all in the world tomorrow. Turn back to Luke the 10th chapter. Luke the 10th chapter, and I'll start reading in verse 25.

Luke 10 and verse 25.

Again, we need to see more the reason for the law, to see what is behind the law, to see more of the mind of God, to see more of what His intention is. Again, the letter of the law and the Spirit of the law. We need to rightly divide the word of truth. Putting things together, Christ wants us to have more of His mind, of His heart and His attitude. He often answered questions with principles, as opposed to giving specific answers. He did not get caught up in picky points of this, that, or the other, but He covered various subjects by dealing in principles. This is one of the places, Luke 10, and I'll start reading in verse 25, where it says, And Christ says, What is written in the law? What is your reading of it? So He answered and said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor, as yourself. And He said to him, You have spoken rightly, do this and you will live. So Christ has said, You have the right answer. You have it right. You've got it going for you. But then, continuing on, He says, He wanted to justify Himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor? I think we're all, again, familiar with this passage, but I'll continue reading. It says, Then Jesus answered and said, So the question is, Who is a neighbor? Now, just think about this. If He said, Well, the neighbor is the person that lives next door to me, what about the person that lives next door to Him on the other side? Or if we're sitting here, you know, someone's sitting on this side of the room, but not sitting on that side of the room. You start, you know, drawing boundaries. But Christ eliminated that, and He started dealing in principles and making this explanation. And He answered and said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now, by chance a certain priest came down the road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise, a Levite, when he arrived at that place, came and looked and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. And he set him on his own animal, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, and gave them to the innkeeper, and said, Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you. So then Christ asked the question, So which of these do you think was the neighbor to him who fell among thieves? Verse 37, He said, He who showed mercy on him, then Jesus said to him, Go and do likewise.

Again, Christ didn't get in the idea of, you know, well, we'll draw a line here, and on this side's your neighbor, and on the other side's this not-neighbor. No, he didn't do that at all. What he did was, you know, everybody's our neighbor. Humanity is our neighbor. There are no boundary lines in this. He dealt with principles. We need to have more of the mind of Christ dealing in principles, of seeing reasons why things are stated in the Bible, to be more spiritually minded, to have more of the spirit of the law internalized within us, and I'll say less of the letter of the law. I'm not going to turn there, but there's a similar account in Matthew 22, Matthew 22, and verses 34 to 40. It's a similar amount, where here we have a lawyer coming to question Jesus Christ, and testing him. And again, this time he says, Which is the great commandment of law? Now, not what must I do to be saved, but which is the great commandment of the law? And Jesus said to him, Again, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Very similar to what we just read in the book of Luke. But then he goes on and says, On these two commandments, hang all the law and the prophets. Basically, the law and the prophets is a reference to the Old Testament. I could also say the same thing for the New Testament, but it wasn't written at that particular time. All the law and the prophets are based on these two commandments, the love God and to love your neighbor. All law is based on love. God is love. His way is love. We need to know how to properly love each other. God is looking for children to be like Him and say to be more spiritually minded, to be more led by the Spirit, to have our hearts become fleshly hearts, with the law written on our hearts. God is looking for children to be just like Him. He's looking for children now and certainly for the future. To have more of His love, to have more of His mind, to have more of the mind of Jesus Christ, not to have the law written on tables of stone, but to have His law written upon our hearts.