Jesus & The Law of God

hey everybody I'm pastor Jeff Durbin with apologia Church I want to thank you all so much for watching the content right here on apologia Studios channel what you're about to watch is a sermon a message from apologia church's worship service and again I want to thank you all so much for watching for liking for commenting for sharing the sermon itself we truly believe that it's important for the Christian Church to have an engagement in the public square with the Word of God so we thank you so much for partnering with us to send this out across the world I just wanted to say something before you actually watch this and that is that I'm not your pastor though I'd love to be I am NOT your pastor and it's very important as you're watching this you know that it's God's design for individual Christians to be part of a local Christian Church under the care of qualified faithful biblical elders and so as much as we love all of you watching these sermons and we're thankful to God that God uses them to bless you to encourage you I do want to encourage you as a minister of the gospel to get plugged into a local body of believers particularly I think important a Reformed Church would be it would be best but we want to encourage you to get plugged into a solid biblical church where you can fellowship where you can worship where you can serve where you can be connected that is vitally important and actually a biblical command and so as much as again as we love for your participation your partnership and we are so thankful to God that he's using these in your lives we want to encourage you to get plugged into a local church you can though actually partner with apologia Church as we proclaim the gospel and provide a defense of the biblical gospel all around the world you can do that by going to apologia studios.com you can partner with us by becoming all access when you do you help to make all of this possible and you get all of our TV shows or after shows and apologia Academy all of that and you're a part of all that God is doing with us in the world to proclaim Herald the gospel of the kingdom you can partner with us and I want to say one last word about that do make sure that none of your giving and partnership towards apology a chirp Church interferes with your giving your worship your tithes your offerings to a local body of believers in your area so thank you again so much for watching these and sharing them god bless you you can open your Bibles to Gospel according to Matthew chapter 22 Gospel according to Matthew chapter 22 for those of you guys are new to the scriptures in your relationship with the Lord that's the first book in the New Testament Gospel according to Matthew we are in a significant section that I've been looking forward to from the very beginning and we are today I'm packing Matthew chapter 22 verse 34 through 40 Matthew 22 34 through 40 here now the words of the living and the true God but when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees they gathered together and one of them a lawyer asked him a question to test him teacher which is the Great Commandment in the law and he said to him you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind this is the great and first commandment and the second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself on these two Commandments depend all the law and the prophets as far as the reading of God's holy and inspired word let's pray as a church father would come before you as your people that you've redeemed out of darkness and brought into the kingdom of your son we recognize Lord that we are standing on holy ground we hold your word this is a gift to us and these are the words of the creator and sustainer of everything in God we recognize a fallible man standing before your people and so we ask God that you would teach today through your word by your spirit you would grant to us understanding help me to be faithful as a pastor of these people we pray that you would open our eyes to the truth change our minds and our hearts and we pray Lord that your revelation would be the place that we stand in Jesus name Amen so question is how do we get here how do we get here to this section I told you last week that I'm taking this kind of as a block Jesus has told his disciples that he's coming into Jerusalem that they're gonna kill him he's gonna rise again from the dead he comes into Jerusalem that epic scene that was prophesied long before Jesus came he comes in Jerusalem yelling Hosanna Hosanna and they're laying down these palm branches Jesus comes in for that second cleansing of the temple Jesus now finds it diseased as the priest was supposed to do from the Old Testament law the priest comes in first to check once in the second time then there's the dismantling so very symbolic things happening there with the cleansing of the temple Jesus the true and perfect priest comes in and examines Jerusalem he's looking for fruit he comes to the fig tree he finds only leaves no fruit and he curses the fig tree then Jesus Authority is challenged in Matthew 21 by what authority are you doing all this you can't just be nobody coming into Jerusalem acting like you have all this authority that you have the authority to cleanse the temple and to lay these curses down who are you exactly and by what authority and Jesus wisdom embodied actually cuts to the core of their foundation gives them a question that's they couldn't rightly answer without exposing themselves and then Jesus goes on to these parables he gives three parables here in Matthew and he gives and there's four questions so three parables that are really an indictment upon that first century generation they're an indictment on them they can hear through all of this this is him confronting them they recognize it and of course the parable of the vineyard owner and the tenants they perceived that he was talking about Vamsi Jesus is doing these parables he's indicted that generation the religious leaders really of that generation and then there's these four questions where they're coming to cross-examine the Son of God what arrogance coming to cross-examine the Son of God they have their three questions here in Matthew and then Jesus asks them a question we're not there yet but we're on this third question and it's powerful and it relates very much to everything we do in life this is foundational I would say that if you ask the average Christian globally anybody what the two great Commandments are generally they'll know love God love neighbor many hipster churches today we'll put that on t-shirts right like this is the sum of all of life love God love neighbor and no we're not a hipster Church despite what many would say love God love neighbor hey that's it and ask people today is that true today love God love neighbor that that that's the foundation and the the basis for the life of the believer we're to love God love neighbor I'd say we'd globally be all on the same page that yes those are the two great Commandments and they actually are relevant today in our generation under the new covenant love God love neighbor Jesus now has asked this question but it's interesting because mark gives a little more detail here that I think would help with this particular passage so we just went through Matthew 22 34 through 40 if you would move over just to the next gospel and that would be Gospel of Mark and if you move to mark chapter 12 you'll see kind of the same section through mark and it starts in verse 28 and one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another and seeing that he answered them well asked him which commandment is the most important of all jesus answered the most important is here o Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one you should love the Lord your God all your heart with all your soul with all your mind with all your strength mark says the second is this you should love your neighbor as yourself there is no other commandment greater than these and the scribe said to him you're right teacher you truly said that he is one and there is no other besides him and to love him with all your heart with all your all the understanding him with all the strength and to love one's neighbor as oneself is much more than all Holborn offerings and sacrifices and when Jesus saw that he answered wisely he said to him you are not far from the kingdom of God and after that no one dared to ask him any more questions powerful section writes amazing because this is something that the Jews would have understood I mean Jesus now is in conflict with religious leaders they know the scriptures they know the law of God they know what God has said about himself as a matter of fact this starting point the first and greatest commandment there that first one quoted there is from Deuteronomy chapter six verse four it was part of the morning prayers of the Jews and many today start that same prayer every morning it was the hear o Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one now we've done this a lot at apologia but I'll make sure we all know it let's do it together Shema well let's go on you can do better than that guys shema yisrael Yahweh Elohim Yahweh HUD there you go gesundheit alright so this is where they started this was the foundation this is what they believed about God that he is the only God and you love him with all your heart soul and minds that was fundamental and so coming across examine wisdom and bought in by the embodiment of wisdom coming to cross-examine the son of God they come to ask him his perspective on the law of God now this is vitally important again if they could have demonstrated that this Messiah who says he's the son of God has set himself in opposition to the law of God it would have been easy to demonstrate that he is not the promised Messiah he couldn't be David's son he couldn't not if he's at war with the law of God this is critical because if we read the law of God God provides a basis for us asked as to whether we know or how we can know if someone is actually from God so some tests of a prophet Deuteronomy chapter 13 Deuteronomy chapter 18 we do this often when we're out doing evangelism with the cults right we talked about the test of a prophet in Deuteronomy chapter 18 how should we know the word which the Lord has not spoken when the Prophet speaks in her name in the Lord and the thing follows not nor comes to pass that is the word which the Lord has not spoken the prophet has spoken it presumptuously you shall not be afraid of him so false prophecy is a way for us to know definitively whether or not this person actually speaks for the true and living God and why because God is sovereign amen he controls everything all of history every molecule everything is controlled by this one true and living God and so God sets up an acid test if you want to know this person's from me speaking from me well if he gives you false prophecy not from the sovereign God I wouldn't do that you couldn't be speaking for me because I wouldn't give you a false story of history and so that's one way you know another way is Deuteronomy chapter 13 reading verses one through five and that is that the test is whether or not that prophet speaks in accordance with it check this out God's previous revelation of himself and even gives you an example of even if there are signs and wonders it looks legit it looks so Christian it looks like it's from God himself all the lights and the movie the the movement and emotions and it looks like there's even miracles taking place signs and wonders God says this but if he leads you after other gods gods which you have not known then you know this person is not speaking from the true and living God so what was the basis for those Jews listen closely the revelation of God God's own self-disclosure God's revelation of himself he's condescended he is not absent he is not far from us he's actually entered into history and he's spoken to his people has revealed himself and the test that God gives to his people as to whether or not that prophet speaks in accordance with his previous revelation these are acid tests that the kind of tests that we can apply today when we're engaging with our Mormon neighbors our Jehovah's Witness neighbors our Christian Scientists neighbors whether you're talking to the Rosicrucians or the Baha'i ZAR whoever the tests are the same gods revealed himself he's spoken that's how I know you want certainty you stand on the revelation of God in the Reformation this principle was called Sola what script Torah that really is fundamentally in the bottom of Sola scriptura a revelational epistemology don't let that word throw you epistemology is a theory of knowledge how do you know something how do you know and Christians have a revelational epistemology God has spoken his word is the standard I can have certainty because God has spoken and so for believers we rest on the Word of God and his own self disclosure so we talked to the Mormon for example phenomenal text mark chapter 12 right think about it in terms of our interaction with the Mormon neighbor Mormons believe that God had many gods before him there mommy gods and daddy gods here a God there a God everywhere a God God everywhere is a God right there's no end to the gods of Mormonism right more gods than matter that many gods right Elohim is one god amongst a pantheon of gods he had a God before him who had a gone before him who had gone before him Jesus is a creation of Elohim he was created in the pre-existence through heavenly Father and one of his goddess wives and lo and behold you can all become gods like Elohim rice matter-of-fact Joseph Smith and history of church history the church said exactly that he said you've got to learn to become gods yourselves the same way all gods have done before you that was his revelation so what is the standard for a Christian that approaches that in the modern context the same standard listen listen that these Jews were supposed to apply we're supposed to apply to Jesus what do you say about God's revelation and let me say this real fast that's actually a good question that's a good question to ask you see some of these questions are really trying to entangle Jesus let me get to people that hate each other kind of teaming up becoming bedfellows for a moment right the Pharisees and the Herodians not Bev fellows right getting together to ask Jesus questions and flatter him you know we know that you know the respecter of persons but what about taxes Jesus trying to get them twisted up right very deceptive but now this person comes to Jesus and asks him very good question greatest commandment of law which is it these are good questions to ask the Messiah if you want an acid test find out what Jesus says about God's revelation is the in opposition to it and when we apply that test today when we're going to the Asian market not down not far down the road which always has Jehovah's Witnesses in the entrance you're welcome that was an invitation to go get them what do we do we apply the same standard what do you say about God's revelation because if you're like Joseph and you teach that there's many gods before God and you can become one one day well let's use as an example when Jesus has asked about this in mark chapter 12 he says hear o Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one and he says you shall love your neighbor as you love yourself love God and love your neighbor the one God and of course this person hears Jesus say that and says you're right there isn't any other God besides him there's only one God that's right but as you look at this we need to ask the question as we're unpacking this about Jesus view of the law of God now I've already done a sermon and a message you can go and get it later on Matthew chapter five but let's at least today talk here about these two specific Commandments from the law of God from the Old Testament and we need to ask the question about Jesus own position on the law of God so let's stick with Matthew first just move back I'm not going to fully unpack it today but just direct you towards it - Matthew chapter 5 verses 17 through 19 here's an example of Jesus talking about the law of God in Matthew 5:17 this is in the most famous sermon in the history of the world and that's the truth the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus after talking about us as the salt and light in the world he says this in verse 17 of chapter 5 Matthew do not think do not think that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them for truly I say to you until heaven and earth pass away not an iota not a dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these Commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven for I tell you unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees he will never enter the kingdom of heaven so the text here Jesus talking about the law of God the Sermon on the Mount may know misete a do not even begin to think don't let it enter into your mind Jesus doesn't say here stop thinking that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets stop thinking that he says do not even begin to think don't even let it enter into your minds that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them so Jesus when he speaks about the law of God speaks about it very differently than we hear many evangelicals today in terms of you can think about popular figures today like Andy Stanley arguing that we ought to on the hitch the Old Testament from the New Testament that we need to essentially ignore that revelation of God's Andy Stanley demonstrating that he's in very strong disagreement with the Apostle Paul in 2nd Timothy chapter 3 verse 16 and on where the Apostle Paul says all scripture is say on estas all Scripture is breathed out by God profitable for what doctrine what reprove what else teaching and correction that a man of God may be acquit fully-equipped right now this is the Apostle Paul just consider for a second now Jesus think about timeline seer brothers and sisters Jesus has come lived righteously died for sinners rose again from the dead and he is ascended at the right hand of the Father he is on his throne putting all of his enemies where under his feet this is the Apostle Paul post cross post resurrection post a sentient ascension saying all Scripture is breathed out by God it is profitable question was he referring to the completed New Testament Canon he's referring to what Old Testament revelation of God but we have a popular view today that says essentially we want to ignore much of that Old Testament revelation call it defunct call it void and that wasn't the position of the New Testament writers I'm going to talk a bit about that but another example if you moved to Luke chapter 16 verse 16 just as a point of contact in terms of reading later Jesus discussion about the law of God in Luke 16 verse 16 here's another moment where Jesus talks about the law and the prophets he says the law and the prophets were until John it's John the Baptist since then the good news of the kingdom the gospel of the kingdom the good news of the kingdom of God is preached and everyone forces his way into it but it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the law to become what void so when Jesus talks about the law it is in a way that is consistent with what you would expect from the Messiah from David's son from the Son of God now we need to talk about this particular point of contact when the Lord Jesus is making these statements about the law of God don't even let it enter your mind that I've come to destroy it I didn't I came to fulfill it when he says things about people teaching to disobey even the least of these Commandments being least in the kingdom of God we need to talk about where Jesus pointed whenever there was conflict Jesus had a revelation Allah pista mala ji there today this is really important because watch you might be thinking right now I came to church on Sunday my kids are here I'm not sure if they know what a piston piston what what is I don't know right they're eating a goldfish off the floor from last week and I'm not sure that they're really there is this really important to talk about in a Sunday well I'm going to tell you this is very very important because you are going to come into contact with this all week long when you pull up your Facebook when you pull up your Twitter Instagram when you are watching the news when you are when you're on YouTube and and listening to people make claims we are constantly in the midst of an of a conflict of epistemology 'he's a conflict between competing worldviews and theories of how you know what you know this week we stood before the City Council and we went before the City Council and we called abortion murder on what basis are we doing that because in that room I assure you listening to all the gasps and the size and and looking at all the rolled eyes and the members of the City Council literally standing up and walking out when desi was actually speaking to them they all had a basis for what they were doing how they were feeling and how they were responding they all had a theory of how they know what they know what they know is true here you have Christians standing before the City Council and demanding of these people that they obey Jesus that they repent of this uphold justice now watch what arrogance right what arrogance if it isn't true if it isn't true but on what basis do we stand before the City Council and call them to repentance and uphold God's standards of justice on what basis do I call abortion murder is it because I feel personally like it's murder well that's audacious considering how many women in the United States of America have had one what kind of audacity is that for me to say it's murder that's because listen we stand on God's self-disclosure we stand on his word we stand on God where he says you shall not murder we stand on God's Word when he talks about the nature of what's in the womb it is not a cosmic accident it's not a pile of meaningless tissue it's the very image of God and when Christians in this culture stand against an evil and injustice like abortion we're not doing so on our say-so we're doing it because of a revelational epistemology god has spoken and believe me when you come into contact this week with your neighbor they have a theory of knowledge as well and often times and I was actually it came across my feed this week an old discussion that I had with the vice president of the Atheist Society at Cornell it's available online you guys can go listen to that it's interesting as he was pressed and he was pushed and as he was questioned and as he was challenged on his worldview and how he knows anything at all he admits in that conversation vice president of the Atheist society at Cornell not ashamed to say no I have no certainty I don't know anything why because when you really whittle it down there are a few options for you how do you know something to be true well you can do it through reason how do you know that's true well the laws of logic tell me human reason tells me I've reasoned through it I've come to certain conclusions through my own human reasoning well that could be challenged how do you think you got here well my ancestors were bacteria and then there was some fish and then African Apes and then right ask the question what was any purpose or design behind you any mover any cause any anything sustaining or is this all just matter in motion no no it's all matter in motion okay so you want to base your knowledge claims and truth claims on human reason what's human reason in your worldview well if you listen to guys like Harris and Dawkins human reason is nothing more than biochemical responses happening in your brain so basically you're just fizzing chemical thoughts right I'm fizzing Christian chemical thoughts you're fizzing a theistic chemical thoughts and so nothing is really true then is it there's no certainty is there it's just a bag of stuff making noises because of fizz happening in there three-pound brain so your basis is human reason okay well that's done how about empiricism popular today people will say well no you can know things because of experience right you have to experience it you got to see you gotta test it taste it feel it experience this you're gonna you know work out the laboratory tests and observe empiricism you have another version today pragmatism well works for me and boy oh boy is that the popular epistemology of our day right it works for me I saw a funny thing this week it was so funny alaa is Alan West right is Alan West the the conservative yep Alan West was that a public talk and he's black and this millennial girl comes up to ask her question and she says do you identify as black and the audience just what whatever do you mean and Alan West was trying to be respectful and cordial he and it's just no no hang on everyone's like ooh like what are you asking she said no no no hang on he may not identify as black and Alan West was like yeah I'm black which I just goes to show where we are today and that is an epistemological claim how do you know something is true how do you know is it objective is it true whether you like it or not or is it true because you feel like it because hey it feels good to me should it be dressing up our little eight-year-old boys like girls should be get pumping them full of hormones to change them from male to female well I really feel like in my life and my world like that's the right thing to do we feel like it's true it feels right to me you have to base it off of emotion so see these are all the Piston illogical claims how do you know and here's the thing Jesus has a revelational epistemology when he's asked here what is the greatest commandment in the law he says what here o Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one he appeals to God's revelation you should love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and the second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself here's an important point what's he quoting from the Old Testament revelation of God he points to God's revelation another example of Jesus challenged on something is from Matthew chapter 19 verse 1 go there quickly Matthew 19 1 this is a famous section where Jesus is actually right in the midst of a controversy in the first century we talked about this when we were there remember that Rabbi Hillel Rabbi Shammai two opposing perspectives in this day you had the hill alight marriage clause which was a clause that said hey as long as you give a certificate doesn't matter if the reason is biblical it could be for any cause and it was in any cause divorce you had the more conservative School Rabbi Shammai the shemites that would have said no you can only divorce on biblical grounds according to how God says to divorce now Jesus is put into that conflict here and Jesus answers this way verse 3 and the Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking is it lawful to divorce one's wife or and there it is any cause he answered watch have you not read there is where Jesus rests it isn't amazing Jesus is God in the flesh amen yeah yes amen to that okay Jesus is God in the flesh God tabernacled among us he can speak and his words have authority yes but when Jesus is in the midst of a controversy in his day between different schools of thought what does Jesus do in terms of certainty what does he go to as the standard he goes to the Scriptures to God's own word he says very clearly have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and the two shall become on flesh what does he do he really refers to the law of God the Word of God his own revelation of himself that was Jesus standard Jesus held to revelational epistemology God says because God says now we need to talk about the context here Jesus coming into Jerusalem Jesus as the Messiah himself Jesus as God in the flesh and this question asked of Jesus about the law of God he gives us two foundations one is love God and the other is love neighbor from the Old Testament love God and love neighbor and he says that all of the law and the prophets come from those two Commandments but we need to actually ask this question to when we look at the Ministry of Jesus what was the expectation in the Ministry of Jesus in his work from God's Old Testament promises so very quickly just move to Isaiah chapter 2 I just want to give you a point of reference you guys can go and read these in more detail later Isaiah chapter 2 starting in verse 1 I know some of you guys are still getting there but I'm gonna start the word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem verse 2 of chapter 2 it shall come to pass in the latter days of the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains and shall be lifted up above the hills and all the nations shall flow to it and many people shall come and say come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths for out of Zion shall go the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem so one of those promises that was proclaimed before the life and ministry of the Messiah was that God himself was going to draw the nation's up to his mountain and his law would go forth those were expectations another expectation most of us are familiar with is from Jeremiah this is one of those New Covenant promises it's in Jeremiah chapter 31 Jeremiah chapter 31 these are expectations because you see Jesus remember it says there that he was proclaiming the good news of the kingdom the good news of the kingdom the good news of the kingdom brothers and sisters we have to know what that was about you see we think about the gospel today in a truncated way where we truncate it down to justification through faith and amen we are only justified through faith alone in Christ alone by God's grace alone amen yes but the gospel was a good was gospel of a kingdom of the rule of the Messiah these are some of those promises Isaiah chapter 2 Jeremiah 31:31 behold the days are coming declares the Lord and I'll make a new covenant with the house of Israel in the house of Judah not like the covenant that i made with their fathers on the day when i took them by the hands and bring them out of the land of Egypt my covenant that they broke though I was their husband declares the Lord for this is the Covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days declares the Lord I will put my what law within them and I will write it on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people and no longer shall each one teaches neighbor and each his brother saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest declares the Lord for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more one of the amazing promises of the Old Testament coming into the New Testament with the expectation is that God was going to do something spectacular something amazing in the New Covenant that was different from before but it wasn't an abrogating of the law of God and dismissal of the law of God avoiding of the law of God it wasn't a hatred of the law of God as though were some bad thing God actually says in a new covenant God now no longer has his law on stone tablets outside of the people of God but the promise is now he's gonna take the law and he's gonna put it where on our inward parts now rather than having the law of God on stone tablets outside of people in the flesh applying pressure from the outside now through God's Spirit in the new covenant with the forgiveness we have in Jesus we have God taking that law and putting it inside of us so now we have the internal motivation to love God and love who neighbor the very greatest Commandments in the law of God another expectation I'll just point you to this one you guys should know this one by heart by now Ezekiel chapter 36 we love that as reform folks Amen yes if he had Calvinist chestnut verses they'd be there right Ezekiel 36 God says he's gonna cleanse his people he's gonna cleanse them of their idols sprinkle clean water on them so they'll be clean he says that he is going to remove a heart of stone and give a heart of what he's gonna put his spirit within them and here it is caused them to observe his statutes for hearing it the Old Testament promising us in the Messiah and his kingdom and through his work we would have a new way of relating to God and to his law the promise of God raising us to newness of life the promise of God putting his law our inward parts the promise of God by his spirit causing us to obey his statutes we cease today so much of a dismissal of the law of God and evangelicalism a hoss dylaney toward the law of God in evangelicalism we hear us as Christians today in the 21st century talking about God's law in terms of it is just bad it is just mean it is just from a wrathful God isn't it so great now we have Jesus where we can have a God who is gracious and no more of that law stuff but you see the expectation of the kingdom the Messiah was something very different than we here today in popular form the law of God was going to actually take a new position and it was going to take a position from inside God's people actually empowered by motivated by God's Spirit there's the fulfilling of it but when you see Jesus the Messiah coming into the world he's talking about the law of God in a very different way than we often hear today here's how God talks about it Deuteronomy chapter 4 in the Old Testament Deuteronomy chapter 4 Jesus quotes from two chapters after this Jesus quotes Deuteronomy chapter 6 Deuteronomy chapter 6 comes of course after Deuteronomy chapter 4 in Deuteronomy chapter 4 verse 4 this is how God speaks about his law but you who held fast to the Lord your God are alive today see I have taught you statutes and rules as the Lord my God commanded me that you should do them on the land that you are entering to take possession of it keep them and do them for here it is that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who when they hear all these statutes will say surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people for what great nation is there that has a God so near to it as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call upon him and here it is and what great nation is there that has staff shoots and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today do we think about God's law like that today do we think about it like that today God here is talking about his law in terms of that's going to be your wisdom in the sight of all the people they're gonna see all these statutes all these rules all these righteous standards they're gonna see these as they look in from these pagan surrounding nations they're gonna look at these laws and they're gonna say what great nation is there that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I've set before you today it's so good Wow we are today so far removed from history and from a proper understanding of the law of God and the Word of God that we've now found ourselves in the position that much of the time modern evangelicals professing Christians talk about the law of God as though it were only a curse only oppressive and brothers and sisters that is not how God speaks about his law let's just do this quick test move to your Bibles to Psalms chapter 119 psalm 119 as funny as you guys get there today Tim messaged me and he was like hey which song do you want us to do before church today maybe one that relates of course to worship today in the word today and I laughed and said uh psalm 119 which if you don't know is the longest chapter in the entire Bible so that's obviously gonna make worship difficult if Tim is up here for 45 minutes reading from psalm 119 before we even get started but let's just do this I'm not gonna open psalm 119 I'm gonna have you guys there let me ask you to do this just for the next minute or so I want you to look through psalm 119 and I want you to find me a verse or two that speaks about God's law the goodness of God's law and how were to relate to God's law something about God's law and some psalm 119 and just so you know as you go there it's not going to be hard at all the whole chapter is about God's law our relation to the law of God God's standards so psalm 119 here's where dude just just give me one verse or two verses from psalm 119 raise your hands say it nice and loud Jim please every one of your righteous rules in doors forever let's get another one from psalm 119 somebody else psalm 119 wait very good yes good Jerry I hate those who are double minded but I love your instruction I love your law yes ma'am eyes fixed on your commandments Cathy say that first part one more time nice and loud several men hear you my soul is consumed with longing for your rules Connor okay so let's just hang there for a minute psalm 119 we can go with this for the remainder of the sermon really but if you read psalm 119 question is that true today is that how our heart should relate to the law of God as God's people somebody might say no pastor Jeff what you don't understand is that psalm 119 is really the mind of Christ that's how Christ is about the law that's the righteousness that we need is we need the righteousness of the one who actually is that way about the law of God who does feel that way about the law of God fulfills the law of God in that way I would say Amen that is precisely how Jesus the Lord Jesus related to the law of God responded to the law of God absolutely and the only way to have that righteous standing before God is through faith having his righteousness as a gift amen yes but the question is in light of the fact that Jesus is our Messiah he is our righteousness we're being conformed to the image of who Christ so the way that Jesus is in terms of his relation to the law of God his obedience is how the Spirit of God is sanctifying all of us today so the perspective of the law of God in psalm 119 very different from we often hear today again Jesus is asked Jesus has asked go back to Matthew chapter 22 he's asked what is the which is the great commandment in the law and jesus again quotes two passages from the Old Testament Jesus quotes from the Shema Deuteronomy chapter 6 and he quotes from Leviticus chapter 19 so as we unpack this we have to recognize that Jesus isn't coming up with this for the first time this isn't new stuff this is now Jesus as the Jewish Messiah raised under the hearing of the law of God in synagogues singing songs this is Jesus pointing these Jews God's covenant people back to God's revelation God says hear o Israel the Lord our God the Lord is one you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and he says the second is like it you love your neighbour as you love yourself now those two Commandments come from the law of God oftentimes we think as Christians about our yearly Bible reading plans and we think about that's Old Testament time where we're reading through our yearly Bible plan and going through the Old Testament and oftentimes we stumble and we get into difficult moments when we get into genealogical passages and things like that know this god has those there for a reason that's inspired revelation it's necessary for God to demonstrate his faithfulness and giving us Messiah by giving us those moments of genealogies but it's interesting we'll go to the Old Testament and at times as Christians we go to sections in the Old Testament we hereabouts auxes not being muzzled we hear about parapets on the roofs of houses we hear about these things and we go I just don't know I don't know what benefit there is to reading this today remember this Deuteronomy 4 says that that was to be their wisdom in the side of the people's and one of the things that God wanted his law given to his people to do is actually provoke a response from the pagan nations that what great nation is this that has rules and statutes so righteous as this now if you read Jesus says love your neighbor as you love yourself but I want to point you to where that's from Leviticus 19 a lot of moving back and forth today so move to Leviticus now love it kiss chapter 19 everybody's favorite book in the Bible Leviticus chapter 19 by the way just a reminder in terms of how important this text is for understanding the Word of God it's Leviticus 14 43 that demonstrates to us what was behind Jesus cleansing of the temple so this book matters it matters a lot in Leviticus chapter 19 I'm going to read you some portions of this this is where Jesus quotes from the laviticus chapter 19 verse 11 he says you shall not steal you should not deal falsely you should not lie to one another you should not swear by my name falsely and so for feign the name of your God I am the Lord you should not oppress your neighbour or rob him the wages of a hired worker should not remain with you all night until the morning you should not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind and you shall fear your God I am the Lord you should do in no injustice in courts you should not be parcel to the poor defer to the great but in righteousness you shall judge your neighbor you should not go around as a slanderer among your people and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor I am the Lord you should not hate your brother in your heart but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor lest you incur sin because of him you shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people but you shall love your neighbor as yourself I am the Lord I say those are good things what do you think amen and Jesus points back to that you should love your neighbor as you love yourself love God love neighbor love God love neighbor mahir it is ready here's the sum of all this Jesus says watch all the law and the prophets are built upon love for God and love for neighbor let's unpack that for just a moment okay guys love for God love for neighbor first part love God second part love neighbor interesting can anybody think about any list of Commandments given to us that really spell out loving God and love your neighbor anybody can think of anything at all what's that the Ten Commandments are in the back of the church y'all love God love neighbor say well how is that look well let's do it we can't do it all today but just a bit of it you shall have no other gods before me by the way that is not like let me in there right just don't let the gods be before me no other right that's what we read it's there's no other gods before me like let me be the first God in your system of gods no actually no other God before me is no other God in my sight so that's loving God you shall have no other gods before me love God how about love neighbor isn't it obvious don't kill them right don't lie to them don't commit adultery don't covet their stuff that's loving neighbor so when Jesus says two great Commandments love God love neighbor all the law and the prophets built upon these two Commandments you can see how the Ten Commandments flow out of loving God and loving neighbor they flow out naturally love God and love neighbor so what motivates what motivates the commandments of God these are not rules oppressive rules just to slap down on somebody so they can go to heaven one day that's impossible justification has always been through faith abraham believed god and it was credited to him as righteousness god didn't give these laws to be a media between him and his people he gave his law and it was a revelation of his own character his holiness his righteousness his goodness and so we think about God's commandments what is the motivation for having no other God before God I love God God's calling me to love him when God says you should not commit murder what's motivating that love for neighbor don't lie to your neighbor why because you're to love your neighbor those two things are the foundation of all of God's commandments but it gets more interesting actually because as you move through the Pentateuch the five books of Moses as you move through the Pentateuch you see not just love God love neighbor oh and the Ten Commandments here's how you love God and here's how you love neighbor then Jesus says all of the law and the prophets are built upon love God love neighbor so now we've moved to the book say of Leviticus or anywhere in Deuteronomy and we should see more expressions of loving God and loving neighbor it is really in extrapolating on what it means to love God and love your neighbor I'll give you an example Deuteronomy chapter 22 verse 8 you can write it down or you can go there now Deuteronomy chapter 22 and verse 8 there is one of those laws that today we see as Christians and we go I don't see how that relates to me at all and that law tells people to bear to actually build a parapet or a railing around the rooftops of their houses now some of you guys are thinking well I guess we're all going to Home Depot after in and out tonight start some work of building railings around the roofs of our houses here's the problem when we look at the case laws in the Old Testament these are case law examples that give us a principle of the preservation of life we don't take the law of God from the Old Testament where it tells us how to love God and love neighbor and then slap that down on society today saying hey it says build a parapet around the roof through houses so everyone start doing so know the principle there in that case law example is this you shall preserve life why you shall not kill thou shalt not kill so we preserve life so a parapet around the rooms of the house is today in Arizona doesn't make a whole lot of sense we're not spending a lot of time on our roofs today are we some of you weirdos might be but I don't know right we're not doing a lot of like hanging out at night time in the rooms of our houses because glory to God we have air conditioning if you go to our house and kawaiii you might want to spend the night on top of the house because it's hot right now they actually would go to their rooftops to cool off to hang out to store things and so God gives a case law example of the preservation of life how do you love your neighbor here's how preserve their lives if there's a risk of them falling off and hurting themselves preserve their life now one note here real fast God didn't say that there were any fines or tickets offered because you didn't do it but if you didn't have the parapet on the roof of your house and somebody fell off you were disobedient to God and you were thus accountable but no ticket was offered no fine was offered so how would we apply the general equity of this law today how do we love our neighbor today in light of God's commandment there of building a parapet around the roof of your house well here's how anybody have any pools and their yards it would be righteous to say you build a fence around your pool to keep children from falling inside of it and perishing or anybody have land with a deep well in the land it is a righteous thing to build a railing or a fence around that hole there why love God and love neighbor that's why we do this because we love our neighbor we want to preserve life so again we have two great Commandments what are they love God and love who when you move to the Ten Commandments you see expressions of what it means to love God and to love neighbor and when you move into God's statutes his case law examples you see examples of it further means to love God and love your neighbor I'll give you another example Exodus chapter 22 there are laws about theft and repayment in Exodus chapter 22 you can just record that down now you can see where God tells his people how to actually handle theft in a way that loves neighbor now this is critical today because watch we live in a system today that says no to God's law our first Supreme Court Justice John Jay lived in the context of the Christian worldview and our first Supreme Court justice John Jay who was very much into evangelism and missions he was a great man of God he appealed to the law of God as the first Supreme Court justice the United States of America we're in a very different time today or where now it's Olly Olly oxen free anything goes whatever you like we say no to this book as a standard we say no to God's revelation we say we don't want all that law that's a lot of law from God we don't want that I challenge you to go to the law library in Phoenix and tell me how many books you see how many new statutes how many new rules and regulations down to how many screws you can put into your wall but we live in a time today where we don't we don't focus in upon as God does victims rights and loving our neighbor so when theft happens in today's society the victim may never get paid back today's society the state becomes the victim God's concern and Jesus points to it is love God love neighbor and his law as he even gives penalties focuses on love for neighbor and again if you read Exodus a passage a pointed you to you'll see God's concern for the victim for the neighbor and God actually has righteous statutes and case law examples of what to do if somebody is stolen from do you know what the answer isn't in God's law five years in prison do you know what it is pay it back you will pay it back because the victim has rights and you must love your neighbor love your neighbor today we have a system that doesn't focus on love for neighbor and victims rights as God is concerned with and as Jesus points to but we are now allowing the state to be the victim we say let's create more victims so give you two examples one example would be in some Arab countries today if somebody steals something what's the consequence cut their hand off i'ma say that God would never allow for such a thing that is unjust the victim has received ultimately no rights and protection and now we've created another victim by maiming somebody for theft God would never have anything to do with such a thing he says love God and love neighbor we also have a system today where we create more victims where we don't love our neighbors for example today in this room we are all because we ignore God's righteous statutes victims of other people's crimes so what we say today is if somebody Rob's somebody or steal something let's take that person and put them in prison for a number of years question who's paying for that we all are paying for that so now we all actually become victims of coercive taxation how the state demands of us that we pay for the crimes of somebody else we pay for their shelter we pay for their food we pay for their sex changes possibly but we now become victims today why because we don't focus on two great Commandments love God and love neighbor God says theft at the bottom requires repayment repayment and when you follow God's righteous statutes in terms of repayment and loving your neighbor now the person who stole something can actually be reconciled to the victim and come back to society whole again God says love him and love neighbor another example of God's law of loving him and loving neighbor is God's laws against rape God says rape is a sin and a crime and if somebody has demonstrated to be a rapist on the basis of two to three independent lines of evidence and testimony what's the penalty according to God for rape why love God love neighbor I give you guys this example before and I think it's a powerful one when I was in high school I had a girlfriend and in high school the girl that I was seeing was actually a victim of rape at her 16th birthday party she was at home with her family and friends more friends came and they invited a stranger that she didn't know and this stranger came into the house was hanging out and when she went to the bathroom he followed her into the bathroom did an evil and horrible wicked thing he was caught he was brought to trial he was found guilty and he ended up serving six months in jail six months in jail and he was released God says love him love neighbor and when he expands on what it means to love him and love neighbor he does so even in terms of standards of justice and loving neighbor the victim and he says this is the righteous rule to love neighbor in this instance another thing that we get from the law of God is the good things that are the basis of our just laws today they are laws that relate to loving God and loving neighbor and they provided the basis and foundation of much of what we enjoy today although I'm not sure for how much longer and that is a scary thing but how about this Deuteronomy chapter 19 verse 15 God says that you were never to accept the testimony of one witness of one witness against somebody one witness can't rise up and have somebody charged with a crime you needed two to three independent lines of witness and testimony in God's law and what did you always have in God's law because you love your neighbor and you love God here it is listen closely the assumption of innocence the assumption of innocence you needed two to three witnesses how about the laws today about warrantless searches and seizures no cop can come and just start running through your stuff and break into your house why not because atheism it was the Christian worldview and Christians in history that developed a righteous way to view society and culture based upon God's law and Commandments you know that there's a history of Christianity behind us we're not the first ones take a stab at this right and we're grateful dr. White's gonna be doing a church history course for us soon so that will bless us all a bunch but let me just say there are examples in history of Christians who are abused by the magistrates to the degree that they were actually charged with crimes without sufficient evidence they were forced to swear against themselves and they were forced to testify against themselves God's law was the basis of no warrantless searches and seizures that we have an our law today have you ever heard the right to remain what that came from atheism the assumption of innocence is in God's law that's how we're to love our neighbor and I'm not forced by God's law to testify against myself here's the point if I'm truly guilty listen in God's law if I'm truly guilty you don't need my help if I'm truly guilty there is evidence and witness to prove it so there's so much we can talk about here in terms of separation of church and state as a biblical principle church and state are institutionally and functionally distinct and Israel the king and the priests were different offices Saul lost the kingdom when he tried to usurp that Uzziah was struck with leprosy when he tried to offer incense so when we talk about even the separation of church and state today that wasn't given to you by atheism that is from Christianity you're welcome how about this though separation of church and state did not mean in the Old Testament war according to Christians who gave it to the world that the state is not to be obedient to Jesus did not mean that it meant that we were not supposed to have a church run state or a state run church those are distinct offices and Christ is the head of the church amen but a coroner according to Roman's 13 the magistrate is the deacon or the servant of God wielding his sword of justice ultimately as an aside I'll just say this quickly Matthew 28:18 through 20 says about Christ's Authority that he has all authority we're brothers and sisters heaven and where else on earth are we to expect according to God's Word that the kings of the earth are to obey Jesus Psalm chapter 2 God says the father says to the son ask of me I'll give you the nation's for your inheritance the very ends of the earth for your possession and he warns the kings of the earth to be wise and to kiss the son obey the son or they will perish Jesus is the king of what I know we're finishing up here guys will stay with me guys Jesus is the king of what guys kings he's the lord of what king of kings and Lord of lords I'm saying like two weeks ago before an audience I think in Oklahoma these are great Christian t-shirts right and they're usually really ugly king of kings and Lord of lords right we don't seem to know how to make nice t-shirts as Christians right they're always very funky and king of kings and Lord of lords it makes a great t-shirt makes a great oil painting makes a great bumper sticker but have we thought about the implications of that claim that Jesus is the king of kings today that he's the Lord of lords today there are things that we need to embrace if we believe that Jesus appeal to the law of God and said you're to love God and love your neighbor all the law and the prophets are built upon those if we're to be obedient as Christians and as communities and as States and as nations we need to be obedient to God's revelation and disclosure of himself next week I'm going to talk just a bit more on this to unpack this a little bit more to demonstrate that the New Testament authors assumed the continuity of those foundational laws love God and love neighbor and they did it even to the degree of pointing to the Ten Commandments to animal husbandry laws and more but I wanted to finish this up by just pointing to a summary in the modern context when we think about Jesus listen closely this is very very important in the modern context we think about Jesus and what he points to as the greatest Commandments what are they love God and love neighbor we need to embrace this very important thing this is friend from my friend Doug Wilson I know he got it from somebody else but he says it often it's not whether we will have a God over our system but which God will we have over our systems God is the ultimate it's the point at which you do not go beyond it's the final point of appeal for Christians we say it's Yahweh we say it's the triune God of the Bible it's his revelation of himself that's the place that I stop I rest on his revelation he is God over everything he has all authority sustains all things and we think well the atheists in our culture don't accept God so they don't have a God do they answer of course they do it's not a quadrant question of whether we will have a god it is which God for the secularists today for the humanists today they say what they say well it's not Jesus and it's not that book it's us in this moment in our time it's democracy that's the ultimate standard we decide where the reference points oh yeah great your God is Dimas Dimas from which we get democracy it's the people determined that people say it's not whether we will have an ultimate standard of law but which ultimate standard will we have Jesus said God's two greatest Commandments is to love God and love neighbor I want to note that the two greatest Commandments are from the Old Testament revelation of God when we hear people today talking about unhitching the Old Testament from the new we should see it for what it is here's the glory of it final words here Ezekiel 36 Romans 8 when we think about Jesus pointing to the fir two greatest Commandments and all the law being based upon those two Commandments we need to glory in the redemption we have in Jesus Christ because God has not only declared us righteous as a gift by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus through faith in Him and his work he has not just given us as a gift a righteousness that is not our own through faith given to us he is not just credited to us righteousness apart from works and not counted our sins against us as a gift all to his glory all on the basis of his own work God has also given us his spirit given us new hearts put his law on our inward parts we have now a new way of relating to God and his law that is different Romans chapter 8 Paul makes a very clear distinction between those who are in the flesh and those who are in the spirits those who are in the flesh those who are dead those who are in Adam there is only condemnation and death and they cannot submit to God's law Paul says they are not even able to do so but if you are in Christ not only do you have a righteous standing before God that is a gift that you have nothing to do with in terms of something you've earned it is all of his glory all by His grace you also have the presence of his spirit and you are now in his spirit made alive and now you relate to God in his law in a new way now Christians love God and love neighbor not because of stone tablets outside of us but because we are now redeemed in Jesus in dwell by his Spirit and you have the Spirit of God he's equal 36 causing us to observe his statutes so now as believers we have a new way of relating to one another and obeying God by loving him and loving each other and it is all by his spirits we are not in the flesh Amen we are now regenerated made alive and now have rights standing before God and so now when God says love me and love your neighbor the inner desire of the Christian is not resistance but my soul longs for that I love this this is my favorite thing about being a pastor truly just know I'm going to tell you ahead of time if we ever do counseling together which I have with most of you and you ever talk to me about all your struggles with sanctification if I smile I'm not mocking you I always smile when believers in Christ sit before me and tell me all of their hatred for their sin I love when I see Christians with tears coming out of their eyes when they talk about I just want to love God I don't want to sin against God anymore I want to be a better husband to my wife I want to love my wife like God calls me to and I don't know what wrong with me and I just want to get this behind me to repent pastor Jeff what's wrong with me I'm just this is so lovely it's so amazing because this isn't now the church and pastors taking law and placing it on top people saying obey this is now believers and draw by God's spirits longing for the law of God longing to worship God to obey God and their by the way is one of the glorious examples of identification as a believer if you love God and love neighbor and long for that that is the work of the Spirit of God in your life we relate to God in a new way let's pray father I pray that you'd bless the words that went out today use them Lord please to change us we desire to love you God and love each other please grant to us a strength by your spirit to do it in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Apologia Studios

Views: 18,262

Keywords: jeff durbin, apologia church, apologia studios, Jesus and the law, law of god, theonomy, best sermon, shocking sermon, paul washer sermon, t.d. jakes sermon, joel osteen sermon, joel osteen best sermon, sermon jam, john piper sermon, john macarthur sermon, paula white sermon, kenneth copeland sermon, matt chandler sermon, mark driscoll sermon

Id: FBCYScsaclM

Length: 77min 32sec (4652 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 28 2019