Your Covenant with God - Part 2

This is part two of a sermon series on Your Covenant with God, and this is going to deal with keeping God's law. Let's go to Deuteronomy 31, verse 10. I'd like to show you what prompted this series. This year at the Feast of Tabernacles, it was a year that I was not coordinating a feast site, and not giving several messages at the feast, coordinating with all the department responsibilities, the set-up and the reservations and everything that went along with that.

My wife and many others helping out, his department heads. This is a very, very busy time in the past years. This year did something a little different. Have the time to try to fulfill this verse, or this set of verses. Verse 10 of Deuteronomy 31, it says, Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time, and the year of release, at the Feast of Tabernacles, when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God, and the place which he chooses, you shall read this law before Israel in their hearing.

So the law was to be read every seventh year. Going on in verse 12, Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger who is within your gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn to fear the Lord your God, and to carefully observe all the words of this law, and that their children who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land. So generation after generation, every seven years, would be reminded of all of God's law.

New people would hear it for the first time. Everyone would hear it again. And so God's law was to be remembered, and then obeyed carefully. When we think about knowing God's law, it's like, well, they heard it on Sinai, right? They heard the Ten Commandments. They heard the law at some point, but it's easy to get, as it were, rusty, or to begin to sort of paraphrase, or to consolidate, and begin to think, well, I'm in the church, therefore I keep the law, without really remembering what is in it, and to keep that carefully. So let's ask the question, what is the law of God in the Bible?

What exactly is the law? Where is it found? Do you keep the law of God carefully? All of God's law? Part of God's law? Do you know what the law is of God that relates to the New Covenant? Do you keep the commandments of God? Do you keep the statutes of God? Do you keep the precepts of the law? Do you keep the judgments of the law?

The testimonies of the law? See, there's a lot to the law, and what are those, in fact? Are they part of the New Covenant? Which of them are necessary to keep in order to enter the Kingdom of God? Let's examine today a core element of the New Covenant, God's law. God's law is something that we need to rediscover, that we need to re-familiarize ourself with on a regular basis, and to know and to perform that which requires, that's which God requires all of those who will be in His Kingdom to fulfill, to submit to, to obey, and to perform.

At the core of the New Covenant in Christ's blood are God's laws. And in the New Covenant, we have each covenanted with God to stop breaking those laws, to obey those laws, and to be keeping them carefully. The New Covenant makes keeping God's law possible because we now have God's Holy Spirit to help us keep His law. Let's go to Romans 8, verses 3 and 4.

Romans 8, and verse 3. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their mind and write them on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. So the New Covenant that God will make with Israel and Judah will be His laws that have always existed. But now they'll, like with you and me, be written in our hearts if we allow them to be, if we have parts of flesh and not stone.

Let's pause and consider where God's law is found in the Bible. Do you know where His law is? I think many times we tend to assume that we know the law and we'll go about our day or our week and maybe not even have much time to look in the Bible. But if we do, maybe there are some go-to places we like to go and read. Are we reading the law?

Well, let's talk about that a minute. We go back to New Testament time when Paul was writing this book we've just been reading from, or the books we've just been reading from, the other apostles were writing, Peter and all. The New Testament didn't exist. We tend not to think about that. Let's think of the New Testament period in three dates. 30 and 60 and 90 AD, just to simplify things. Around 30 AD, Jesus Christ died.

Around 60 AD, Peter, Paul, James died. Around 90 AD, John wrote the Gospel of John, 1, 2, and 3 John, and the book of Revelation. So when you think of the church and its first 30 years, it had no New Testament. Paul hadn't even written his letter to Timothy yet. Peter hadn't written his books. When you go to 90 AD, the first 60 years, John hadn't written his Gospel. He hadn't written Revelation, 1, 2, and 3 John. So in generality, you say that the Bible was being written in letters, a few were here and there, some of those were being collected, but they didn't have the New Testament.

Let's go to Acts chapter 28. See, we're at the, towards the end of the book of Acts here, we're towards the end of the life of the Apostle Paul.

He is about to go to Rome, where he will be imprisoned and killed. He will write from Rome some of his epistles. But notice here, Acts 28 and verse 23, what he says.

So when they had appointed him a day, many came to him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the law of Moses and the prophets from morning till evening. That's what the Apostle Paul used throughout his ministry.

The law of Moses and the prophets. In other words, the Old Testament. Those are two divisions of the Old Testament.

What if we were to take the Bible and sort of cut it up like they had back in that day? What if we took the Bible and, let's say, you know, got it in, chopped it up. Let's see if we can do some slicing here.

So we have the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. Okay. Now, if you have the Old and the New Covenant, and they only had the Old Covenant, right, this is what they used.

This was it.

It's interesting how, if you look in Romans, you go to the New Covenant section and look in Romans chapter 7 and verse 12. Let's go there. Romans 7 and verse 12.

Therefore, the law is holy and the commandment holy, just and good. So what they had, you see, was holy and just and good. We're reading this in the New Testament about what was in the Old Testament. Notice verse 14.

For we know that the law is spiritual. It's talking about the Old Testament. We know that it is spiritual.

For I am carnal, sold under sin.

The importance of the Old Testament is shown by Jesus Christ. In Luke 24 and verse 44, it says, Jesus said to them, These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms concerning me.

And he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures. So he opened their understanding so they could comprehend the Scriptures, which was the Old Testament. And so he gives us these three divisions. The law, he mentions, the law of Moses, that's the Pentateuch. That's Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, the first five books of the Bible. That is called the law.

The psalms include Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. And the prophets is the remainder of the Old Testament.

So it's divided up that way. Jesus talked about that, show them how they can understand it. But altogether, all together, these form God's law. Okay, if you put them all together, everything is God's law. The Old Testament, all is God's law. Now let's go to 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 15. 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 15 in the New Testament. 2 Peter 3, 15 says, And consider that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation, as our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you.

As in all of his epistles, speaking in them of things which some things are hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist through their own destruction, as they also do the rest of the Scriptures. What are the Scriptures they are talking about? It's talking about what we call the Old Testament.

And the Apostle Paul wrote some letters, but he's talking about the Bible, the Old Testament. Romans chapter 7 and verse 12, when he said God's law is holy, it's because it's of God, it's of his mind, it's his character. It's not some rules he made up. That defines what is right, that defines the divine nature of God. He has opened this up to human beings. He's sharing this with us.

So that is why it is so important for us to listen and to meditate on his law, and to bring that into our life. It is just, it is proper, it's fitting, it is just, and from just we get justice and judgment. We will be judged by whether we obey God's law, because it is a just law, it is just for all concern. And justice also is part of that law. And it is good. God is love. And love is good to everyone. As the Bible says, love does no harm. It is all good. So this law is something that God obviously gave us. It is holy because it is of him, and it is descriptive of him. We find in 1 John chapter 3 and verse 4, whoever commits sin commits lawlessness. And sin is the transgression of the law, says in the King James Version.

Sin is the transgression of the law. So we have vowed with God that we will not sin. We'll stop sinning. And we have an advocate when we do sin, an advocate Jesus Christ.

But we are to stop sinning against the law. So it is important that we understand this law, that we treat it with respect, value it. We tremble before God's word. And that we inculcate it into our lives so we can be godly like he is godly. In Deuteronomy 6 and verse 1, if we go into what is called the Old Testament, and many people in society like to categorize anything that requires them to do something they don't want to do as old and done away with. So the Bible before Jesus' day is relegated to being something old. In fact, many times people do cut that out of the Bible. Let's stick the Psalms back with it. They'll keep the New Testament, but they won't want anything to do with those laws.

Deuteronomy 6 and verse 1, Now 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. So as part of this law, then, we begin to find that there are commandments, statutes, and judgments. In verse 2, that you may fear the Lord to keep all of his statutes and his commandments, which I command you.

So the law of God has many elements to it. And combine these elements form God's law. God's law. Let's go to Ezekiel 36 and verse 26.

Ezekiel chapter 36 and verse 26.

I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take out the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Verse 27, Ezekiel 36. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. You will keep my judgments and do them.

So this is what God wants. It's not just sort of one or two items. It's his whole law and the commandments and the statutes and the precepts and the judgments.

When we look at Leviticus 26 verses 14 and 15, we see this expressed again, this holy righteous law that the apostles taught that will make us wise for salvation.

Leviticus 26, looking in verse 14 and 15.

But if you do not obey me and do not observe all these commandments, and if you despise my statutes or if your soul abhors my judgments, that you do not perform all my commandments but break my covenant, now you see how this fits into the covenant, your covenant with God.

We have the law, the statutes, the commandments, the judgments. All of these things are what we have agreed and vowed to God to perform in our covenant.

So it is good that we read them. It's good that we study, that we review, and are renewed by them.

Today, let's use the Bible used in the New Testament times, you know, the Old Testament.

If we look at that, we can then understand more about our calling now, what God is expecting from you and me. Let's go to Joshua chapter 23 in verse 6. Therefore, be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses, lest you turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left. You need to be very, very careful for all of this. The law isn't just the Ten Commandments by any means. All the law of Moses is Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. And they together form what is called the law.

The word law is from the Hebrew word Torah.

It means to aim or to teach, to point out, to direct, to lead, to guide. It's almost as if you're on a journey with God and this is the way. Walk you in it, you see. That's what the word law means. Torah means this is the way. This is the direction. Jesus Christ is the goal. How he lived, in other words. He set us the example that is the goal. He said in Matthew 5, 48, Be you therefore like your Father in heaven is. That's the target. And so the bride needs to be cleaning herself up along these lines.

In chapter 8 of Joshua, in verse 34, going back to Joshua 8 and verse 34, afterward he read all the words of the law. Here's Joshua reading to Israel all the words of the law. The blessings, the cursings according to all that is written in the book of the law. There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded, which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel. With the women, with the little ones, and the strangers who were living among them.

So you see, there's a lot to the law. Quite a bit.

When we look at David, if we go to Psalm 119 and verse 97, we pluck out a statement that he made. It's a wonderful statement. But it's taken, lifted totally out of its context, which we'll get to a little bit later. But Psalm 119 and verse 97 says this, Oh, how love are your law! It is my meditation all the day.

Why would David meditate on all of that law? All of those five books?

Because there's a lot in it. And in order to fulfill God's law, we need to be reading it. We need to be putting it in our mind. And his Spirit needs to be reviving that in us and bringing it to the forefront of our mind so that we obey it, that we keep it.

When we think of the whole law, it's kind of maybe hard to get your mind around. I like to take complex things and try to simplify them. And I've been working on this one for several weeks. When you think of the whole law, think, for instance, about driving a car.

Driving a car has laws, right? And thinking about being a member of God's Church, being in the body of Christ has laws, right? Yes, they do. They both do.

It's kind of easy for us in time if we don't pick up the manual either the motor vehicle manual or the Bible to think we know the law. On the way here to church, I was kind of reminiscing with Mary a little bit about rules of the road. Maybe you can do this with me. What are the laws of driving? Well, let's see. Don't drive too fast. Stop at red lights. Try not to hit anybody. What else is there? Got to be something. Don't get caught. Okay. Don't get caught. Okay. All right. So now we've got driving down. Let's go to the law of God. What's in the law of God? Well, basically, if you look at God's commandments, it's honor God.

Keep the Sabbath and don't do those sins like lying and stealing and everything. Pretty much got it, right? So there we go.

Except, you see, there is a motor vehicle code it's called. And your state or your province has a written motor vehicle code. And it's pretty deep. Here's what's in it. It contains the laws that affect a driver's license, vehicle registration, vehicle title, the rules of the road, violations, penalties, administrative processes, and procedures.

I know we know all that, right? But we don't tend to think about all that a lot. We know it's in the Bible as well.

You know, when you have the law of the road, you have commandments. Commandments might be obey the traffic laws. Okay, so we're going to do that. A statute might be 65 miles an hour, 110 kilometers an hour, posted. All right, so there's a statute.

Posted speed limit. There's a curve speed limit. Sometimes not a speed limit, but a recommendation, an off-ramp speed recommendation, an on-ramp speed limit, perhaps. There is a passing speed, a school zone speed, a construction speed with rules. There are downgrade speeds, wet road speeds, snowy speeds, icy speeds, fog smoke speed, and a self-generated speed when driving next to a police car. You know, so there's a lot of speeds, just in the one thing about speeding.

There's a judgment. The judgment might be that yellow sign with a curved arrow on it, with a number. The judgment is there's a curve up ahead, and if you're a tall, truck-heavy, don't exceed this limit, or you might fall over. And if you're a car, you know, you can add 10 miles an hour of that, and you'll probably be all right. A precept. A precept might be, be a courteous driver. Dim your headlights when others approach. Use your turn signals. Put your phone down. Then there's testimonies. You know, the bridge ahead might be icy in the winter.

Watch out for deer. Don't drive all night, you know. There's some things like that. There's some things like that. So when we come to God's law, it has elements as well. Let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 4 and verse 44.

Deuteronomy chapter 4 and verse 44.

Now, it's not necessary to break down the rules of the road into commandments, precepts, judgments, and statutes, right? Just do it, right? Just do it. The same with God's law, but it can help us understand here what these terms are in the Bible.

They're all part of God's law. Deuteronomy chapter 4 and verse 44 through 45 says, Now, this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel. These are the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which Moses spoke to the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt.

The entire law, remember, is holy, just, and good.

The elements, then, are not optional.

In Leviticus chapter 18 and verse 5, Leviticus 18 and verse 5, well, verse 4, You shall observe my judgments and keep my ordinance to walk in them. I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them. I am the Lord your God.

In Deuteronomy chapter 28 and verse 45, Deuteronomy 28 and verse 45, Moreover, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God to keep his commandments and his statutes.

Which he commanded you. So God's very serious about this. And again, this was the law. This was the Bible that was taught in the New Testament period when they didn't have the New Testament yet. This was the law that they were teaching.

And you and I need to follow it.

Let's see these elements existing within the code of the New Covenant. Let's go to Psalm 119. Just a little bit of background about Psalm 119.

Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible.

Psalm 119 is much more special than that.

It is an acrostic book.

We already read from this chapter that David said, Oh, how love I your law! It's my meditation all the day. Acrostic means something really special.

Each verse in a section begins with the same letter. The first word of each verse in each section begins with the same letter.

So in the first eight verses of Psalm 119, every first word in every verse begins with the Hebrew letter aleph.

In the next eight verses, every first word in those eight verses begins with the letter we would associate with B or Beth. Okay? And so it goes through the Hebrew alphabet.

All 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet in consecutive order. Eight, eight, eight, eight, all the way through every letter. It's very interesting that you have that arrangement here. There's 22 sections of eight verses.

Each of those sections begins with the consecutive letter of the alphabet and the first word of every one of the eight verses.

Now, what's the purpose of that?

The purpose of Psalm 119 is to remind us to keep the entirety of God's law. As an example, let's look at verse 1 through 8, the first section here that everyone begins with the letter aleph.

It says Psalm 119 verse 1, blessed are the undefiled in the way who walk in the law of God.

Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with the whole heart. They also do know iniquity they walk in his ways. You have commanded us to keep your precepts diligently. Oh, that my ways were directed to keep your statutes. See, every verse also has one of these eight terms, one of these eight elements of God's law.

Verse 6, then I would not be ashamed when I look into all your commandments. I will praise you with uprightness of heart when I learn of your righteous judgments.

I will keep your statutes, oh, do not forsake me utterly. Every verse for 176 verses contains one of those elements of God's law. And thus, he says in the middle of the chapter, O how love I your law.

Now let's examine some meaning and purpose of each element in God's law, in his code of the covenant that we are to know. No. All the various aspects of that.

Just commandments comes from the Hebrew word mitzvoth, to command and to legislate. If we step into Matthew chapter 19 in the New Testament in verse 17, Matthew 19 and verse 17, let's look and see what Jesus said.

Matthew 19, verse 17.

He said to him, Why do you call me good? No one is good, but one that is God. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments. So the commandments are part of God's law, as we've seen in Psalm 119 and elsewhere. If you want to enter life in the New Covenant, keep God's commandments. We typically think again of the Ten Commandments as maybe being the whole law. It's not. Or we tend to sort of set aside the Ten Commandments because we probably keep them anyway. We need to be very, very careful about it.

Is there more to the law than the Ten Commandments? Well, the next one is statutes. The word statutes is used 23 times in Psalm 119 alone. It comes from the Hebrew word chukash. It means to mark out or to have a prescribed ordinance. A prescribed ordinance. It's a written ordinance.

It teaches us how to walk.

These are instructions that God gives in his word. Some examples. If we go to Exodus 15, verse 26.

If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God to do what is right in his sight, give ear to his commandments and keep all of his statutes. If we do that, then notice what he says. I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians.

So they had come out of Egypt. God had put diseases on them in the plagues. And he said, now that you're coming out, if you will keep my commandments and my statutes, I won't put those on you.

I will not put those on you. For I am the Lord who heals you. So there's a lot to that verse if you stop and ponder what he's saying to them at that time in their covenant and what the diseases that he put on Egypt were and why he would not put them on them if they followed his commandments and his statutes. In chapter 18 and verse 20, And you shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and the work that they must do.

Again, this is the way. It's sort of the directive, the signpost, as it were, things that are prescribed ordinances that we are to follow. Deuteronomy 6 and verse 20.

Deuteronomy 6 and verse 20.

When your son asks you in time, saying, What is the meaning of the testimonies? Well, here we are. What is the meaning of the testimonies? And what's the meaning of the statutes? And what's the meaning of the judgments, which the Lord has commanded you?

Then you shall say to your son, We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the Lord showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in, to give us the land of which he swore to our fathers. And so the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is to this day.

Then it will be for righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God, he has commanded us. In one sense, all of these terms tend to flow together a little bit. In fact, sometimes they're even used to talk about another one of the elements of God's law. They all form part of the law of God, and the law of God, as we've read already, is holy, just, and good.

Are these some kind of extra advice? Well, obviously, in verse 24 again, the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always. These are good. The law of God is good. Everything in the law is good and to be a blessing.

We come now to Genesis chapter 26 and verse 5. Genesis 26 and verse 5. Some may say, oh, well, this is part of the the Mosaic law, and you know, we don't need to worry about what was going on there with the Israelites. Well, notice in this concept of the God who never changes, Genesis 26 and verse 5 says, because Abraham obeyed my voice, God's word, kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, my laws.

Abraham was careful to know what they were and to put them into his life, to live by them. And so he became the father of the faithful. Judgments from the Hebrew word sheffetim, they distinguish and regulate and dictate what is proper to be done. Sometimes the judgments were done by the priest or in the new covenant by the ministry. They were made to determine or show how God's law applied to certain situations. Leviticus chapter 19 and verse 15 is a good example. Leviticus chapter 19 and verse 15. You shall do no injustice in judgment. So talking to the priests, they were to do no injustice in judgment. They had to make judgments, but they had to do them justly. You shall not be partial to the poor. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness, you shall judge your neighbor.

God is, again, a just judge. And when determining how things apply, they have to be done in concert with what God says, not what humans come up with. If we look at Exodus chapter 21 and verse 1.

Exodus 21 verse 1. Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them. He begins to lay out a few judgments about doing this. And if this happens, then you'll have to judge if this situation is this way or that way. And if so, here's what should be done under that certain circumstance. In verse 6, his master shall bring him to the judges, and he also shall bring him to the door, to the doorpost. You see, there's a decision that has to be made, and then an action that would take place according to the law. But that would require somebody judging whether this fit this law or another law.

Also, if we drop down to verse 18. If men contend with each other, and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and he does not die but is confined to his bed, if he rises and walks outside with his staff, then he who struck him shall be acquitted. He shall only pay for the loss of his time and provide for him to be thoroughly healed. So it goes through and makes some regulations, but then those regulations have to be judged. Did he walk with a staff? You see? Et cetera, et cetera.

And sometimes they, again, had to be brought before judges. In verse 22, if a men fight and hurt a woman with child so that she gives birth prematurely, then he shall surely be punished according to the woman's husband, what the woman's husband imposes on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine.

Pay as the judge. See, there was a judgment that had to take place.

And so we were trying to apply the law of God down through time and different ages with circumstances that simply didn't exist. They didn't have cars. They didn't have airplanes. They didn't have fast food. You know, they didn't have the internet. They didn't have phones. I mean, there are things that happen that are a little different.

And so some of these things have to be adapted accordingly.

You know, the Apostle Paul, for instance, mentions meat sacrificed idols. You know, there had to be a judgment rendered there based on the circumstance spiritually in the New Covenant.

We also come to Romans chapter 2, verses 2 and 3 in the New Testament. Romans chapter 2 and verse 2.

But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. So the judgments also include judgment, God's judgment. And God lays out certain judgments through Scripture that will take place.

The next is testimonies. The Hebrew means beyond.

In other words, it's those things that look beyond or in time beyond. The sacrifices, for instance, looked beyond the killing of animals to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

And the Mosaic law referred to that which was to come in many instances. There were types, an anti-type.

We have the ordinances.

Mishmaraoth in the Hebrew, to guard, to keep safe, to watch over. Meaning to watch yourself. How many times did Jesus Christ say, watch yourself? He is saying, follow the ordinance.

Watch yourself. Watch your doings. Watch your ways. That's what an ordinance is.

Be careful. Watch out. Be circumspect. Monitor what you're doing.

You have precepts mentioned 21 times in Psalm 119 alone. From Piccadim in the Hebrew means to take notice of.

Or in the English, a precept is a rule intended to regulate behavior, thought, moral conduct. So we have precepts that regulate our moral behavior, our conduct. How much of the Bible talks about conduct, about what comes out of your mouth, about what you say, what you do, what you think. See, there are precepts.

In Psalm 119 and verse 100, if we go back to that largest chapter in the Bible, once again, the talks, and it shows us the importance of all the law of God. Psalm 119 and verse 100, what do all these things generate?

The wicked have laid a snare for me. See, that's something that is evil, that's wrong, that's harmful.

So sin hurts. The ways of God are what David says, yet I have not strayed from your precepts. Not strayed from your precepts. They benefit everyone. Everyone. Now, in the New Testament, if we look in the book that we have now, which is really great, do we find anything like precepts? Let's go to 1 Timothy 6 and verse 14. 1 Timothy 6 and verse 14.

Paul says, I urge you in the sight of God, verse 13, verse 14, that you keep this commandment without spot blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ appearing.

The word commandment right there is the Greek word interlei, meaning precept.

So there are precepts.

We don't tend to use that term so much, but they are precepts in the scripture. In 2 John chapter 1 and verse 6, we oftentimes aren't familiar with that term, but it's in the New Testament for sure. 2 John in verse 6 says, This is love that we walk according to his commandments.

And this is the precept. That's the word from the Greek that means precept. And this is the precept that you have heard from the beginning that you should walk in it. Once again, this thing that guides our moral conduct, we should walk in.

And finally, in the seventh element that I'll mention today is the word of God. The Hebrew means to utter or to speak. That which is spoken. The word of God is his counsel.

His counsel that he provides to us humans. It extends from his righteousness. It extends from his goodness. It extends from truth. True truth. And so his word is something that should be very important to us. To not only listen to, but to invoke a reaction, a doing in our life. So when you combine all of these into one thing, it is into the law of the Lord, as it's called in the New Testament. The law of the Lord is to set humans straight in their understanding of who the supreme God is. To teach and instruct them in the true knowledge of God.

Now, God's law is also to be kept in the New Covenant as well. It is not just something way back to the Old Covenant. No, God's law is for the New Covenant. And God's law is throughout the Bible, as we've seen, and we just read there in 2 John.

You and I, we like having the whole Bible, don't we? We like having the Old and the New Testament. We like them together. You know, if you take the law of God and you put it together, and you take Bible cement and put it back together, this is what we like.

We like the law of God. We like the whole Bible. We want it all together. We don't want some chopped up thing. Because we understand that this is the whole word of God. And as we've seen Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul, Peter, everybody looks at God's law as an entire thing that we are to live by.

In the New Covenant, we are given more information that is so helpful. I mean, the New Testament. It's so helpful for us in living the New Covenant. And we love to have this all together. Let's conclude by reading Hebrews 5 and verse 9. Because we're going to find that those who keep God's law faithfully will be given eternal life. Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 9.

It's talking about Jesus Christ in the previous verse.

And if we notice carefully, having been perfected, he became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him.

You and I need to know what God commands of us, what all of his law is, what he expects us to keep and to live by, so that we can have eternal salvation. Next time, in part 3 of Your Covenant with God, we'll take a look at God's law in the New Covenant. We'll examine which laws of the Old Covenant were done away with by the New Covenant.

The answer, of course, was none.

But we'll see more of that next time. By the way, just in case you were wondering, no Bible was harmed in any way today during this presentation.