Why We Believe - God's Law is for Today

if you would open your bibles to isaiah 42 there's so many places that we could go to begin this study and we're going to be going into a lot of scripture today but i think especially with the moment that we're in right now here is hope for the future here is hope isaiah chapter 42 you'll remember as we did our study on why we believe jesus is the messiah i talked about the fact that one of the things that must have been difficult we need to show them some mercy for the first century jews that had the torah the tanakh they had the writings of the prophets they had the law of god the psalms they had all of that one of the things that had to be slightly confusing for them is the different facets of the messiah the different portraits of mashiach the messiah who was to come you have of course all of the illustrations of the messiah as the suffering servant as the one who would die for the sins of god's people he would justify the many as he would bear their iniquities see the the lord was pleased to crush him you would see all of that and yet you also have these other prophecies that are extensive and they're all over of messiah who rules the world who draws the nations to god who has dominion who sits at the right hand of god putting all of his enemies under his feet you have the promises of the torah the law of god going out to the nations god's standards of justice being upheld all of that's there and of course that had to be somewhat confusing for them to be thinking okay this messiah is going to win the whole world and establish justice in this world god is concerned with justice and yet here comes this lowly messiah on a dusty road this prophet from nazareth can any good thing come from nazareth jesus coming humble and lowly on a donkey they had to be thinking i'm not quite sure how jesus is going to overthrow the roman government with so much power when he's just this lowly messiah riding on a donkey the reason they probably were somewhat confused is the prophecies are clear this messiah is going to rule the world he's going to draw the nations to god he's going to establish justice and here is one of those prophecies isaiah 42 this is given today for the people of god here at apologia for your hope isaiah 42 verse 1. hear now the word of the living and the true god behold my servant whom i uphold my chosen in whom my soul delights i have put my spirit upon him he will bring forth justice to the nations he will not cry aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the streets a bruised reed he will not break and a faintly burning wick he will not quench he will faithfully bring forth justice he will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth and the coastlands wait for his law thus far as the reading of god's holy and inspired word let's pray together lord we come before you as your people humbled before you by the gift of your word this is your special revelation you have condescended and revealed yourself to us god we don't deserve what we're holding in our hands right now we recognize the gift that it is and lord and myself i'm not worthy to be bringing this word to your people the lord we do trust you we cling to the righteousness of jesus it's his obedience and his work his death that brings us to a place where we have peace with you we know you we're we're called children of god and i pray lord that you would allow me to get out of the way today as i proclaim your truth to your church we pray that you would guard my mouth and my mind from error that you would raise up your church boldly with a proclamation of the gospel lord in your standards your truth lord how we love your law we pray god that you would use this message to change us challenge us and to get us on our feet please allow us to be light in the midst of so much darkness lord we already know your victory your victory at the cross your victory in your resurrection your ascension and you're being seated on that promised messianic throne and lord we know the promises of your victory in the world and we do ask lord that you would use us as a means to bring forth that victory in jesus name we pray amen so why do we believe that god's law is for today there's ways you could say this we could talk about why we believe in the abiding validity of the law of god and it's an important message because well i would say it wouldn't be such a peculiar sermon during the days of the puritans uh if you were talking to the huguenots or huguenots however you want to say it or the puritans the pilgrims and those early people that were founders of this particular nation as it is talking about the law of god and god's righteous standards and justice wouldn't have been odd it would have been normative they would have expected and anticipated if you had a question about how should you run your city how should you run your communities what's the righteous response to this evil how should we handle this thing there wouldn't be any question for say the puritans or the huguenots or those original people who came over here and established communities as to where we go for the answer they knew god has spoken we're not doing this based upon our own wisdom or understanding we look to the word of god as to what is right what is just what is holy and pure and true but in a day that we live in today this is a tough message to give because we've been inundated over the last couple of generations with a very peculiar perspective on the law of god his righteous statutes we've turned the idea of justification through faith alone in christ alone apart from works of law into an idea that the law is all-encompassing a curse it is just this awful overbearing thing there is no real good in it and aren't we glad that it's over aren't we glad that jesus became a curse for us so we can get away from that awful law of god and i want to say we read it today where tim read it beautifully psalm 119. doesn't the scripture have just a very different perspective than the modern evangelical about the law of god i posted of course on facebook they come to church we're going to do the study on why we believe the law of god is relevant today that it's true today we believe in it today and somebody said this and i kid you not the law is dead the law is dead to the believer in christ the law is dead it's over and of course you can easily just sort of sum up that discussion and end it quickly by saying are we allowed to uh have relations with animals under the new covenants those people start having a hard time when you ask questions like that how do we know what's righteous what's true and how are we certain of it if we have word from god we know what the truth is we know what is righteous but we're living in a tough time the state of our nation today is a testimony to the church stepping away there's it's been said that uh the culture is the report card of the church the culture is the report card of the church and so the question we have to ask i think ourselves as the church today in a nation that has been so impacted by the gospel of jesus christ it's this how are we doing church with the state of our nation how are we doing we had so many believers who sacrificed and preached the gospel we have so many faithful believers behind us it was never a utopia of course because the world is in the process of transformation because his kingdom is expanding like a mustard seed into a large tree and like leaven in a lump of dough but we shouldn't ignore the giants that have come before us and what they laid down and what they testified to and what they preached and proclaimed we have a nation that's been so impacted by the goodness of the gospel and god's just statutes and standards and now our nation has abandoned all of those and the question must be asked because we understand how sinners are going to respond to god and his law that's what we do by nature the question has to be asked where's the church where's our witness where's our proclamation and i think we've been gutted as a church because we've told people god's law is no longer relevant his standards of justice and righteousness in society those don't mean anything anymore under the new testament under the new covenants you see what we really need to be about as a church is we need to be about escaping from our bodies leaving our humanity behind and escaping into this gassy existence over there to this higher story of the spiritual that's where life really is we need to basically get people saved so they can go quote to heaven one day very different very very different than the perspective that the prophets give us over and over again about the messiah's kingdom it is a very much here and now kingdom it is of course a spiritual kingdom but it impacts this world i've already given you one testimony to that in isaiah chapter 42 the messiah the servant who will establish justice he won't grow faint or weary till he has done so and the coastlands are waiting for his law is that the eternal states what are coastlands doing waiting for god's law in the eternal states just think about it that's a promise of messiah's kingdom that's a promise of the blessing of jesus bringing his salvation into the world is as people get saved as their hearts and minds are transformed as they're indwelled by god's spirits they now love god's law they long for his law they long for his righteous statutes they long for justice they long for victims rights they long for love for neighbor they long for god's ways as jesus saves people then we begin the process of teaching them to obey the state of our nation is something to consider how do we ever get to a place i watched recently this week i actually watched it um one of the uh biden uh it's not wasn't so much of a rally it was more of a gathering of cars um and uh our former president obama was was speaking and sort of you know uh doing his thing for uh biden hoping he gets elected and i i happened upon a moment in this um rally where the former president was talking about billionaires and all the money they're making and essentially saying it's not fair and we need to make sure that we're we're we're going after the fact that these billionaires are making all this money and we need to make sure everyone else gets some of that when did we ever get or how did we ever get to the place where coveting our neighbors things was considered virtuous isn't it amazing it's become mainline it's mainstream now the idea that hey they have all this stuff don't you want their stuff and everyone goes yay give me their stuff that's righteous why they have something and i want it give it to me we've mainlined that we've mainstreamed that the idea of coveting what somebody else has and wanting it for ourselves we have whole communities that advocate for such a thing we should be taking this person's stuff why because it's too much stuff i like the stuff and i want some of it for my stuff we say that that's a virtue to take what belongs to other people we turn into a virtue the theft of property we call it virtuous if we raise people's taxes if we take their income if we take their things that's a virtuous thing why is it virtuous because if we take their things that they've earned and that they have for themselves and we give it to these other people over here that's very virtuous well how will you do it through coercion through force well what happens if they don't give it to you well they'll serve time or will take more of their stuff by force we call this virtue unjust taxation property tax i was mentioning this week on apology or radio we're in a place now as a nation that if you'd have told our founders they would have asked you have you started shooting yet the idea of property tax in our country right now if you buy a house you buy a home you don't really own it you can pay it off in cash and what are you doing you're paying rent permanently through things called property tax and what is property tax well the land you have you thought you bought it you thought you owned it but actually it's not owned by you it's owned by somebody else because if you stop paying that tax then what happens they take your stuff they'll take your income they'll take the home they'll take your things there is no ownership of property any longer they're throwing things like property tax does that matter to god think about it for a second now in god's law god tells his people do not move the boundary marker of your neighbor what's that mean your neighbor has property don't you dare enter your boundary marker over into their property why because fundamentally you shall not steal you should not steal is it the basis of capitalism this isn't a sermon preaching republican anything this is talking about god's law people own their stuff that's how god can say you shall not steal watch you shall not steal has the assumption the presupposition in it that somebody has something that belongs to them and nobody else it's theirs and god talks about boundary markers don't move the boundary marker why because that property belongs to them how should we view things like property tax or coercive taxation over property when god says don't you dare even mess with their property it belongs to them we have things like estate tax today in our country the injustice of estate tax and god's law when somebody established wealth they worked their whole lives they built something up that stuff was supposed to go to the family it was supposed to go to the firstborn distributed through the family what to do it builds wealth for the next generation it helps people start new businesses to actually bless their neighbor to give charitably to give to others to flourish because we have somebody who's worked their whole lives develop stuff and a righteous person leaves an inheritance for their children and who's a go-to the family why because it's their stuff they worked for it it's their property you shall not steal and our government today has the injustice of estate tax where you died and then they get you again not much you can say about it you're dead but they say no no no it used to go to the firstborn but now the government becomes the firstborn we'll take our peace it'll belong to us we have of course today the idea of gay mirage god's law is spurned we don't want god's law we don't want the standards of justice and so what do we have a nation that creates a fiction over marriage and it says male male sure we'll call that a marriage i didn't know if you poured salt into a pot it was called marrying salt generally when you're creating things in a pot you put different things together and it's called a what marriage because they're different you don't marry salt with salt it's sameness but of course our nation says well male and male that could be fine female female and so we have gay mirage why because we hate god's law we say his rules don't apply we have gender confusion today gender confusion we don't even know if a boy is a boy or a girl is a girl we have people today who are saying an eight-year-old should be able to make the decision to be castrated to work their way towards castration why because we hate god's law and the witness of the christian church is we say well that law doesn't apply anymore god's not concerned with righteousness and justice in this world anymore what does god want to do well he's about the business of getting people out of this world to the spiritual existence elsewhere he's not really concerned with this life in this world no wonder many orthodox jews that know the promises of the messiah's kingdom in the world laugh at the christian story because their perspective from the scriptures is that this messiah is going to do something in this world in this life he's going to establish justice and righteousness here in this world we need to talk today about where we're at in terms of the law of our world because you see here's the problem here's the problem people are challenged by the idea of jesus rule in the world and god's law is the stipulated standards in the world but i want to say that theocracies are inevitable it's impossible to avoid it because if you find the if you find the source of law in any culture or society you've found the god of the system what are we saying when you find the source of law in a culture you found the god of the system the god of the system is the ultimate it's the unquestioned it's the standard from which everything else comes so in a christian society what do christians say when they're asked about the ultimate how do you know what is right here what do you want to be established here what's the christian say the christian says it's right here in this book this is special revelation from the true the one and only true and living god this is his revelation this is what is right this is what is true this is what is just the christian says this is the ultimate it comes from the ultimate himself but in today's society we have a society says we don't want jesus ruling over this nation we don't want him as the king and ruler over this nation and so we need to solve these problems of injustice in our world so what should we do about them well let's ask the question can men and men get married well the christian goes to their ultimate source and they say well this word says no that's not a marriage that's not how god created the world but we say no to god so now they go to their ultimates well we have demas as god democracy demas the word means people the people and so what's the ultimate source in a society that says no to jesus and they say we will do it by a vote who's the standard there what's the source where's the god the people they're the god it's their reasoning it's their voice it's their law it's their word demas is god in our culture and society today find the source of law and you found the god of the system the ultimate nothing above this is where it stops you see this is an important thing for us to study i think many of us don't know a lot about history and christians in history and what took place to get to where we're at right now we don't even know about the history of the covenanters the covenanters and what they endured think about this for a moment this is not a long this is not a long study on these historical moments but if you just think about that group the covenanters the covenanters were destroyed they were killed they were starved to death they were to death they were maimed they had their heads cut off they were dragged with their legs broken down a long street and all they had to say to stop the torture was yes the king also has authority over the church think about it would you endure having your thumbs broken and crushed and your legs broken and crushed and dragged down a long street which we walked down this year and went to scotland we walked down that street to be brought up to a platform as a public spectacle and then killed in front of everybody would you be willing to endure all of that for this statement no king but christ no king but christ they could have escaped all the pain all the torture by just simply saying yes the king has authority over the church but they died starving cold outside deaths to say that there is no king but christ they understood that there is an ultimate and that's king jesus he has the ultimate say there is nothing above him nothing below him he is the source he is the ultimate he is the standard for justice and righteousness and you are the king and we'll be good servants we will be dedicated faithful people but you are not the king over the church king didn't like that tyrants generally don't and so they died to seal that testimony you have examples in history of the huguenots my ancestors have recently found out durbin means city dweller don't laugh at that that could not get sound bad city dweller uh durban means city dweller and i found out that my ancestors were actually part of the huguenots they were part of the people who actually escaped the persecution to come over to america and did you know that the huguenots were here before the pilgrims interesting huh the huguenots developed even the doctrine of resistance to tyranny because jesus is the king and did you know that our founding fathers actually quoted from the huguenots as they were fighting against the tyranny of king george we have a long history of the black robe regiment in our nation england referred to the war for independence or the revolutionary war they referred to it as the presbyterian revolt as the presbyterian revolt where presbyterian pastors wore their black genevan gowns they preached against the injustices that were going on they preached the law of god and the gospel then they took off their robes they grabbed a rifle and then they went and fought why because they believed that jesus was supreme he was the king his law counted they were indicting england for the injustices they were being perpetrated upon christians on the basis of god's standards of god's law we have of course the history in our country i've mentioned this many times john jay our first supreme court justice when they were establishing the case law system that we have today in our supreme court when they were establishing that they quoted directly from the old testament law chapter and verse when giving case law examples there was no question where is the source of law in this nation it's jesus christ it's god's law we've come a very very long way and in our own experience as a church this last year when the government announced that there was a pandemic when the government announced that churches need to close then we need to essentially shut down businesses and operations we need to stop this stop meeting together the elders of your church meditated on this issue we prayed about it we interacted with each other we challenged one another we brought up counter arguments but what we put before us was god's word god's law and we said god's law says quarantine the sick god's law says to love our neighbors that means all of them including those who would lose their livelihoods and their businesses in the midst of this we looked at all the data and we filtered through it because we recognized romans 13 that the government is god's deacon god's servant to do what to punish the wicked and to protect the righteous that's prescriptive that's their role so we respect the government because that is their prescriptive duty that's what you're supposed to do it's not what they always do but as we examine the decisions that our government was making we recognized they were inconsistent they were wrong and we made a decision as elders to say we will resist the decree of caesar and we will continue the worship of the people of god unabated and we did that because it is our deep conviction that while we must respect government jesus is the king and he's the ruler so where government is consistent with god's law we will yield happily and submits where government attempts to subvert god's law destroy neighbor and subvert the worship of the church we reject that tyranny and always will question is this it's christ or chaos it is theonomy or autonomy theos namas two words god's law it is god's law or it is man's law self law there's really only your two categories it's not a question of whether we're going to work for a society where there's a god over the system it's a question of which god who's your ultimate where's the ultimate which god it is truly in our circumstance jesus or demas the people who has the say in our culture and society is it jesus is it his voice that is ultimate or is it the voice of the american people in 2020 here's the question does the bible teach us to work towards a god-ruled world here's this is this is fascinating to me i always find it so fascinating that we're even having this discussion i really do i truly think this discussion is fascinating and again if we were in the time of the puritans it wouldn't even be necessary this would just be sort of like standard stuff like of course give us something interesting to talk about but here we are in 2020 murder hornets and all the question i hate that it even has to be asked but let's answer it does the bible teach us to work towards a god-ruled world well there are many places to go to to answer this question but i think a fundamental one would be one where it kind of gets us all like we already have this in our hearts and minds if you're a christian i hope you've read this we say it all the time in apology at church matthew 28 18-20 it's the great commission passage how could we deny that the ultimate goal is a god-ruled world it's in the great commission brothers and sisters jesus says all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me that's past tense not will be not might be has been given to me this is before the ascension jesus is ascending and he says all the authority in heaven and here here has been given to me he says on that basis therefore go make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son of the holy spirit and he says teaching them to observe all that i commanded you why is there a question whether we're working towards a god-ruled world the goal of the great commission is not simply to get people to make professions of faith but it is to disciple the nations to teach them to obey jesus is there any question that we're working as christians for jesus to rule the nations that's what we're aiming for you know i don't even know why we're ashamed to say it somebody says are you saying you want jesus to rule the nation and his law commands to be the standard it's like what bible are you reading that's the mission of the church always has been when the nations teach them to obey jesus oh but not the governments yes are they part of the nations then they got to obey him too well i thought they're the ultimate no all authority is jesus are you saying jesus is the king over kings are you saying that he's lord over the lords of this earth are you saying he's the ruler of the kings of the earth yeah that's what we're saying it's really it's such an amazing thing it's like we're afraid to just tell the story as it is disciple the nations teach them to obey jesus is there anybody that's not a part of that call everybody it's why when the early missionaries went to the hawaiian kingdom in the 19th century they converted the hawaiian islands to christ and within 20 years within 20 years those missionaries knew what they were doing they were winning the hawaiians to jesus and the hawaiian constitution in 20 years of missionary work said no law of the hawaiian kingdom will be at variance with the law of jehovah god they knew what they were doing in the hawaiian kingdom those missionaries knew the goal let's win them to christ and teach them to obey jesus is there any question what our goal is someone says jeff are you working for a theocracy have you been listening yes i'm working for jesus to be the one who's obeyed up and down and all around in the culture i'm trying to win this world to jesus and bring the nations to jesus so they obey him are we ashamed to say that shame on us for being ashamed to say that he's the ruler he's the king only this king we don't win people to his side through bullets and bombs we win with the gospel calling people to repentance and faith and when they trust him they love his law and they long for it matthew 28 18-20 by the way don't don't forget this this is so so important don't forget that when jesus says that it's so crazy we always we we think about big picture things and we forget about like moments of context like where they were at what was going on he just died just rose again he's appearing to people and now he's telling them he has all authority in heaven on earth they're on this like dusty road in you know it's like unknown part of the world with these very confused disciples like only a couple of them and he has the audacity to say that i am the final authority in the entire world and they were like i think caesar might have something to say about that i think he's down the road a bit and he might have something to say about the fact that you're the boss but that's what jesus said that's the sum and substance of our message he has all authority and in terms of what does the bible teach us about to work towards in terms of a god-ruled world i'm going to point you to romans 1. let's go and do it i want you to see with your own eyes go to romans chapter 1 romans chapter 1 as the apostle paul is explaining the gospel i want you to see how the apostle paul sets up his explanation of the gospel and romans 1 verse 1 he says paul a slave of christ jesus called to be an apostle set apart for the gospel of god which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son who was descended from david according to the flesh and was declared to be the son of god in power according to the spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead jesus christ our lord through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations including you who are called to belong to jesus christ that's the goal to bring about the obedience of faith or the obedience that comes from faith some people have argued for that translation uh that structure there but the point is to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations that's how he starts this we're aiming for all the nations to obey jesus and he ends this romans 16 go there so you see how he ends with the same words romans 16 so his opening words and his departing words are essentially the same romans 16 verse 25. now to him who's able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of jesus christ according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations according to the command of the eternal god here it is the command of the eternal god to bring about the obedience of faith that's the goal starts the gospel ends the gospel explanation with that's the goal the command of the eternal god to bring about the obedience of faith among what among all the nations that's the goal of the christian faith yes we're trying to take over the world with god's gospel of peace amen are you afraid to say it someone's like these guys are dangerous they're trying to take over the world yeah i thought you knew we've been here for a long time 2 000 years christians have been doing this and yep that's what we're trying to do have everyone know jesus and obey jesus this by the way sounds very familiar to the jewish mind when paul has a jewish rabbi knowing jesus is starting his gospel with bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations the command of the eternal god to bring about the obedience of faith sounds a lot like genesis 49 10. first book of the bible what were they hopeful for this one is coming and to him shall be the obedience of the nations to him shall be the obedience of the nations that's the goal the messiah rules the world wins the world with his salvation and brings about his standards of justice and righteousness how does the bible see jesus revelation chapter 1 go to revelation not revelations revelation chapter 1 what's it say about jesus how does the bible see jesus post resurrection and ascension this is very important in our day when you have so many people vying for power and trying to pull it away from jesus and his rule and authority here's how the apostles saw in the inspired scripture sees the lord jesus and his rule wrote revelation 1 4 through 6 john to the seven churches that are in asia grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come and from the seven spirits who are before his throne and from jesus christ the faithful witness the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of kings on earth john says this in patmos i believe in exile nero sent him there nero's killing christians he's in exile in patmos with this revelation and he has the audacity to say yeah jesus is the ruler of the kings of the earth while he's in patmos sent into exile right but that's the message of the bible jesus is the ruler of the kings of the earth to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom priest to his god and father to him be glory and dominion forever and ever amen jesus the ruler of the kings of the earth in the first century to him shall be dominion sound kind of familiar oh yeah that's what the bible said about the messiah if we were singing our psalms in synagogue we would know about psalm 72 he shall have dominion from sea to sea from the river to the ends of the earth desert tribes are going to lick the dust and bow down to him this jesus and it's this jesus that's going to have dominion of course you can go to first timothy 6 13-16 all the descriptions there of jesus as the sovereign as the king of kings and lord of lords and i want you to stop here and pause for a moment here's where you come back please listen to this very very important we i've often said have turned this into a pithy slogan and something you just put on uh posters and t-shirts and hats and it almost has no meaning in our culture and society and it shouldn't be the case when we say jesus today is king of kings and lord of lords do we mean it do we even mean it because here's the thing we have to ask ourselves do we as a church have the right in our culture and society to go to our legislators and the rulers and governments and say to them no this is unjust you must obey jesus we've turned christian witness into well let's do it with neutrality let's take the backdoor approach right we don't want to call this murder because that offends people even though god would define it as murder image of god unjust taking of human life we don't want to say murder and we certainly don't want to say that the legislator has to obey jesus well how's that working out for you with 65 million dead babies how's it working out for you your neutrality jesus says whoever's not with me is against me when we've gone to our legislators over the last year in the state of arizona we've been gracious we have been humble we have pled with them and we have not compromised by the grace of god we have said that's an image bearer of god this is murder you need to call it murder you need to criminalize it and not regulate it because god demands that of you you must obey jesus i'm saying that to mormons catholics christians atheists i'm telling sheriffs criminalize it because you have to obey jesus and they're like you know i think you're right about that i think i think i need to do that isn't it amazing what faithfulness will get you we need to stop compromising now let's talk about the law of god here we talk about the law of god i want to say that the law of god in scripture is a constituent element of the new covenant the law of god was promised to be a constituent element of the new covenant now don't get this wrong nobody has ever been justified by the law not in the old testament not in the new testament how was abraham justified genesis 15 6 abraham believed god and it was credited to him as righteousness nobody has ever ever been justified through the law it has always been through faith and through faith alone that is a testimony of the scriptures through and through however the bible does teach that the law of god is a constituent element of the new covenant blessing to the world i'll point you to two spaces jeremiah 31 31 and ezekiel 36 25 through 27. in jeremiah you guys can go there 31 31. easy to remember that one right it's the easiest one to memorize jeremiah 31 31 here's what's promised now i want you to consider real fast as you get to jeremiah 31 think of yourselves under the hearing of this message in jeremiah's day you are a jew long before the time of christ and what do you have you have some of the prophets at this point you have moses you have the law of god the pentateuch you have that but more is coming and jesus hasn't arrived yet in the incarnation and so what do you have torah the law of god and in jeremiah 31 31 it says this behold the days are coming declares the lord when 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 in the day when i took them by the hands to 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 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 teach his 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 first of all hashtag dat post mill all of them will know me from the least of them to the greatest of them that's just a side note just had to point it out next i'll point to the fact that he says i will put my law within them so much for the law having no meaning under the new covenants what's it say god's going to do which law did they know the law the known law god's law only difference now is in the old testament what did you have you had the law written on stone tablets outside the people of god and in the new covenant god by his spirit is going to put that law within them now they're going to have the spirit wrought power to obey that law when before they were just in the flesh and that's on stone tablets exerting pressure from the outside and down and now god says i'll put that law the law within you and cause you to observe my statutes the new covenant is better yes but a constituent element of the new covenant is the blessing of the law of god within the people of god so much for the law being dead to the new covenant believer ezekiel 36 25-27 you can read that later god promises that in the new covenant he's going to do something amazing he's going to sprinkle clean water on you and cleanse you from all your idols he says he's going to remove a heart of stone and give a heart of flesh and then he says he's going to put his spirit within his people and cause them to observe his statutes now think again ezekiel's day which statutes is god referring to the known statutes the known revealed law of god god says in the new covenant i'll put my spirit within you and i'll cause you to observe my statutes the law of god is the constituent element of the blessings the promises of blessing and the new covenants but here's the really cool stuff and i would love to do this all day but this is a standalone message and i will not go as long as james went last week [Laughter] just kidding the law i really will yeah okay the law is a constituent element of the kingdom of the messiah in the world or i can say the blessings of the rule of the messiah in the world and so just two places we already did one of them today but that book i told you about that gives you so many different perspectives of messiah you have suffering servant and yet victorious king go to isaiah chapter two isaiah chapter two oh so much in isaiah so much about this victory it just again we can't spend all day on this but just in terms of like what they were expecting uh context always very important amen yes isaiah chapter 1 brutal i mean if you haven't read it read it and take it to heart it will work you over you you've got to read it and consider what god is saying there isaiah chapter 1 god tells his people his covenant people that he doesn't want them to bother with their prayers and their worship he says that he's weary of bearing them he says their hands are full of blood and he tells them to seek justice correct depression he says bring justice to the fatherless and god tells them they have to correct all this oppression and injustice or he doesn't want their worship he says you're filled with injustice he says i want you to cease turn away from it correct the oppression and the injustice and he says come now let us reason together says the lord though your sins are a scarlet they be white as snow it's in the context of the fact that they have injustice all around them all around them and god says don't even bother with your worship while you are sitting in the midst of all this injustice and then isaiah 2. so that's the background of isaiah 1 now isaiah 2. here's the promise the word that isaiah the son of amos saw concerning judah and jerusalem it should come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the lord should be established as the highest of the mountains beautiful poetic language here and shall be lifted 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 what law isn't it interesting that one of the promises of messiah's kingdom is as he is drawing the nations up to god's mountain beautiful imagery there because water doesn't flow up so god's drawing the nations up to his mountain and what is the promise as a part of the the messiah's kingdom is that these nations are coming to god and they're saying what to god they're saying that teach us your ways and it says out of zion that's that center place of the people of god it says out of zion shall go what the law who wrote this isaiah what law is he referring to the known law the revealed will of god and law of god so much for the law of god being dead to the christian it's a constituent element of the promise of the blessing of god in the world of course i read isaiah 42 at the beginning i won't read it again that's the promise that this messiah who's coming is going to establish justice in the earth and here's what we need to grapple with guys here's the important stuff we got to think about because all of us have to start asking the questions like well what part of the law and how does that look i thought the law is a curse and the answer is yes it depends on how you're referring to it it occurs to those who can't accomplish it who violated of course who were in the flesh rebelling against god but jesus became a curse for us took that it doesn't mean the law itself is not good is not true is not righteous is not just we need to ask this question and it's fundamental please hear me on this if you checked out check back in for this one deuteronomy chapter 4 how does god view the law that he gave does he view it like the modern evangelical the modern evangelical talks about god's law in terms of oppression that awful old testament law aren't we glad that that's no longer around sort of a thing and of course there are elements to the law we would say in terms of it being a curse not being able to accomplish it you'd say praise god for jesus and i'm not under the curse i'm not condemned christ accomplished it all but how does god talk about his law in deuteronomy chapter 4 in verse 5 god says this see i have taught you statutes and rules as the lord my god commanded me that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it keep them and do them for that will be your wisdom and your understanding and the sight of the peoples who when they hear all these statutes we'll 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 his name and what great nation is there that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that i set before you today does that sound like the law is just a curse just oppressive god's saying actually this law that you have that i've given to you this law that protects property that protects life and neighbor this law that holds victims rights this law that has at its basis love for neighbor as the foundation this law was supposed to be something that the surrounding pagan nations looked at and went what whoa that's liberty that's freedom that's justice that's righteousness that's wise that's wise you know people talk about criminal justice reform today i want to say guys there's a there's kind of a book there's kind of a book that talks about how you're supposed to handle these things it's not fair this guy got caught with this and he did 15 years in jail yeah yeah that's abusive damage bearers of god did you know there's a book that talks about that i supposed to handle that do you know that there's actually revelation from god that tells you how to actually deal with these sins and crimes and culture and society in such a way that you love the victim and you allow the person who's committed the crime to come back whole to society and not be treated like an animal in a cage do you know there's a way to uphold people's dignity and their value as human beings if they sin or commit a crime and culture in society but god's law establishes justice or you could say well what do you think we should do with someone that steals well cut off their hand maim them for life so they can never work again is that just would god's law allow for something like that in terms of theft god's law says what you steal what happens you pay it back and there's different standards for if you steal from somebody who use something for a business versus just a person who has you're stealing their television god says restoration make the make the victim whole again god's law is concerned with justice now that's how god uses law as wisdom as a way for the nations to look into the people of israel and say this god is wise these statutes are righteous and good you see other nations were to see these laws and want to come into israel to live in a place where there was liberty where there was protection of victims where there was justice and where there was righteousness god actually talks about his law in a way that is very different than the modern evangelical but we need to talk about this in terms of god's own nature or his character this is fundamental because everybody could say oh yeah that's how god talked about his law and his concern for justice but is god concerned with it any longer and i want to point us to the immutability of god what's that mean it's a big fancy theological term that means this god does not change it's one of the glorious truths of the christian worldview brothers and sisters it's not the kind of testimony you'll get from latter-day saints their god changes he was once a man who became a god one day and you and i are on our way to hopefully become little gods and gods like him over our own planets one day this god grew and changed and learns the god of the bible is all-knowing and eternal there's none before and none after and he says i am the lord i do not change so if god tells us that he commands his people to uphold justice to protect the fatherless to correct depression when god tells his people i don't want your worship if your hands are filled with blood and you have injustice all around you and you do nothing about it the question is has god changed has he changed the bible teaches that god does not change through the sacrifice of jesus christ we have atonement and forgiveness but god's concern for justice and righteousness in this world have not changed because he says i am the lord i do not change god is still concerned with justice today and i want to just say this if you want to see god's perspective on his law his rules his statutes read psalm 119. it'll take you a minute the question we have to ask is this i'll just do it briefly what was jesus view of the law go to matthew chapter 5 matthew chapter 5 17-19 this is of course in jesus most famous sermon is the most famous sermon in the history of the world the sermon on the mount when jesus says first that the meek shall inherit the earth he pronounces the blessings on the peacemakers and all the rest that you know he says after telling us that we're the salt of the earth that we're the light of the world he says in 5 17 do not think that i have 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 shall 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 so jesus perspective on the law was he was not coming to take it apart to take it down to undo it jesus talks about the fact that he wants them to not even think not even to start to think that he has come to abolish the law or the prophets so jesus perspective of the law of god he didn't come to destroy it he came to fulfill it and of course we need to ask the question what does it mean to fulfill how did he fulfill it and we'll try to do some of that here but the next question i want to ask is this what do we see after the resurrection and ascension of jesus because that's key right jesus has died for sin jesus has risen again jesus has ascended so what do we see in the inspired writings of the apostles in terms of what was their posture towards god's law how did they relate to god's law after jesus had ascended so new covenant is in force everything's accomplished it is finished we have to ask the question how do the inspired apostles relate to god's law well what do we see we see throughout the new testament this principle the assumption of continuity unless we have divine revelation of a change what do you see in the new testament the assumption of continuity unless there is divine revelation of a change a change in the administration or how something's supposed to be done and what do we see i'll give you some examples you want to write them down these are very very important there's not an exhaustive list but it's some things in terms of think about timing jesus died jesus rose jesus ascended he's now seated and the apostles are writing now divine revelation first point judicial law first timothy 5 19 judicial law what's this mean did you know that in the case law stuff of the old testament the law of god there is law regarding how you are to receive accusations or how somebody should actually go to trial and the law of god and paul quotes this to timothy is receive no accusation against an elder unless it's on the basis of what two two three witnesses god's law said there had to be two to three independent lines of witness evidence and testimony to bring charges against somebody that was so we do not penalize or punish people who are innocent so what's what's paul saying here this is by the way let's let's take a step out of this for a second in terms of thinking of the overarching big stuff and think about it in your own lives moms and dads teach your kids this teach your kids this you assume the innocence of every single person you cross past with you assume the innocence of everybody unless you have evidence to the contrary everybody has the assumption of innocence and by the way does that sound familiar to you innocent before what you guys can thank the christian worldview and the law of god for that one innocent until proven guilty uh that didn't come from atheist societies brothers and sisters that came from jesus so on the behalf of christians everywhere you're welcome atheists innocent until proven guilty is no accusation received unless it's on the basis of two to three witnesses now watch here the apostle paul is post cross post post-resurrection post-ascension new covenants in force and he's quoting from god's standards in the court to say you're to receive no accusation against an elder unless it's in the base of two to three witnesses that applies by the way not just to elders but to everybody you are assumed innocent until there is proof of guilt thank god for that blessing but we should note that's from god's judicial law and that's after the ascension next the assumption of continuity unless we have divine revelation of a change is seen in first timothy 5 18 where the apostle paul quotes an animal husbandry law and applies the general equity of it the principle to that day give an example you are not to muzzle the ox while it treads the grain paul quotes that and assumes its continuity he doesn't say now timothy we all know that the law is debt it's dead to christians it's over with it's defunct and over but i'm going to bring this neat little animal husbandry law over right here because isn't this cute he says like you're supposed to know you're not to muzzle the ox while it treads the grain and most of you are like well i don't have many oxes so i don't know how that applies to me it does apply to you in terms of who you have working for you if somebody works for you you pay them and by the way christians we got to get this one right we're supposed to be the best at hospitality in giving things away christians are always looking for handouts from other christians stop stop if a christian does good work for you paid them better than anybody pay them well we're always looking for a hookup right you got a christian you're like hey can you uh can you paint my house for me or fix my car for me like listen if the brother or sister says no i am not getting paid i'm doing this to bless you and to love you i just want to give to you that's fine but all a lot of times christians go all right here's the yellow pages used to be a thing called yellow pages let me yeah let me look for all the businesses and people now let me go to my church directory and see if there's any guy i can do that get to do this for free for me right we abuse others what's the principle in god's law don't muzzle the ox while it treads the grain what's that mean well in paul's day saying you should pay these ministers who are laboring for you they're giving their lives for you make sure they're not going to starve and then he says don't muslim the oxford treads the grain well that principle the general equity is applied in the new covenant someone says how much of the law actually applies well the general equity of animal husbandry laws even applies according to the apostle paul another one and this one kids listen up the apostle paul post cross post resurrection post ascension says in ephesians chapter 6 verse 1 to the children who apparently were in the congregation he says children obey her parents in the lord honor your father and your mother it's the first commandment with a what promise now way to wait a tick that's the ten commandments and i'm pretty sure that jesus put that law to death right paul just quotes it just like they're supposed to know you know that commandment the ten commandments kids honor your father and your mother first commandment with a promise he just quotes it like assumption of continuity next death penalty we wouldn't want the death penalty in a christian society well the apostle paul in acts 25 11 there's a moment where actually we have insight to what the inspired apostle believed about the death penalty in the new covenant after the cross after the resurrection after the ascension while he's on trial he says this if i've done anything worthy of death i don't object to dying which says that he believed that there were things worthy of death and he says if i've done anything that's worthy of death i don't object to dying acts 25 11. next how about feasts and proper celebration just go to first corinthians chapter 5 verse 8 as an example of the apostle paul telling believers under the new covenant you are to practice this in its meant way what it was pointing to rather than removing from your house the leaven like before in the ritual that was supposed to give them a dress rehearsal a ritual of practice to symbolize what they were doing to clean their house he says you're to remove the leaven of malice from your lives so watch that law still has meaning but it's done in the new covenant way we're christians with the spirit of god within us we don't need to go around our houses removing leaven from our houses who has leaven in their house anyways wait we do yeah actually a bunch of bread making home school moms do yeah um no i love it but i'm not making fun of your bread i'm saying keep giving it to me um don't stop but we don't have that problem we also don't have to do the ritual because it's a new covenant now we remove now malice and wickedness from us it meant something but can i point something out to all of us in terms of new covenant law and all the rest yes there are changes it's a new administration of course there's changes but can i point something out we still have a temple we still have a priest and we still have a relevant sacrifice think about that the reason you're not guilty is because you have a priest who's advocating for you before god the reason you're not guilty is because there is a sacrifice that god demands for the breaking of his law that is still relevant today it's a once for all sacrifice but don't ever forget brothers and sisters there's still a temple still a priest and still a relevant sacrifice god's law has abiding validity it doesn't mean it's all done in the same way someone says you mean the whole log gets dropped down no like for example the muzzle the ox thing we take the general equity of the principle and we apply it today because the principle is abiding or there are other laws that are actually good and righteous laws like for example this is a popular one it's one of my favorites most of you know this already and they were to put a parapet around the roofs of their houses it was a rail to protect people from falling off because you spent a lot of time on their roofs then to cool off at night and so god says put a parapet around the roof of your house why the principle is preservation of life you protect life on your property you protect that life on your property now today we wouldn't leave here after the service and say pastor jeff says god's law has abiding validity let's go to home depot and build a rail around the house be no point but you could say hey that principle still applies today so i should put a railing or protection around pools to protect kids from falling in i should put a railing around deep wells and property i should do what i can if i have this electrical wire sticking out near my doorway so if a friend comes in hey does it you know like i should do what i can to preserve human life because god's law commands that we preserve human life now consider this justification by faith alone how are we justified through faith alone apart from works of law if anybody tries to get justified on the basis of any law of god christ has become of no effect to you paul says in galatians chapter 5 you've fallen from grace salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in christ alone that law will justify nobody if you go the route of law you will be condemned anathema however in that same chapter romans chapter 3 when the apostle paul is talking about nobody is justified on the basis of law or the works of the law go see this in romans chapter 3 the apostle paul says in the same discussion when he says we are justified by grace as a gift verse 24 through the redemption that is in christ jesus when he says in verse 28 for we hold that one is justified by faith apart from the works of the law he then says in verse 31 do we then overthrow the law by this faith by no means on the contrary we uphold the law we establish the law christianity is not antinomianism it is not lawlessness it is not autonomy we're saved now so we can live according to our own dictates our own statutes our own rules christianity says god saved me he changed my heart he changed my mind he indwells me and so now i love his law now i love his statutes now i uphold this revelation of god i establish it okay final points here and i really mean that everyone laughs about that that was a very devious laugh did you hear that okay okay answering questions here real fast does the law come with a curse yep people who receive that law who are in the flesh who fall short were told that they would be the blessings and curses of the covenant god made with the nation of israel there'd be blessings and there'd be curses that's right old covenant administration very specific administration we're not arguing for that administration to be dropped on the world today it's a new covenant jesus is the king jesus is the priest all that's transformed and changed of course the law has a aspect to it that is a curse you are under the curse to fulfill all of it if that's the route you're going in terms of how to be right with god however jesus became a curse for us jesus became a curse for us those of us who have violated god's law violated his stipulated standards jesus took the penalty and the curse on our behalf and we are reconciled to god through what jesus did however please hear me on this it is vital it is not a curse it is not evil it is not oppressive to say you shall not sleep with your neighbor's wife that is righteous that is good and that is from the mouth of god it is not a curse to say in society today that you shall respect your neighbor's property it is not a curse to say that today god demands that we preserve human life it is not a curse to say as god says you shall not rape it is not a curse to say that victims rights should be protected it is not a curse to say that we need to protect the innocent from false accusations god's law is good these statutes are wise and holy and true and good and they are abiding they have validity today somebody could ask this question the holiness code though what about all this this is what i i always love it always comes down to this right every time you can read psalm 119 all of your righteous rules endure forever you could show paul quoting from the judicial code and animal husbandry and all the rest and everyone just neglects all of it they don't answer it and they just say so no bacon right so no bacon what about the different mixed fibers and what about all these weird holiness codes thing what about all the ceremonial uncleanness all that stuff brothers and sisters we have revelation from god that tells you what those laws were pointing to and how they are no longer done in that way under the new covenant you know why i'm not under that anymore i don't need that i got the spirit of god that teaches me to be separated from the world i don't need to do the ritual with the clothing to teach me not to mix things together against syncretism i don't need to have all those divides with food they were teaching me to keep myself unstained and pure and away from those things why because i have jesus now all those rituals and all those dress rehearsals are done because we have the better the new covenants and we get to eat bacon but if you want to go see the revelation from god about how those things are to be viewed just read ephesians chapter 2. just read ephesians chapter 2 in terms of what how are we to view the holiness code under the new covenants we have word from god revelation from god that tells us how you to view those particular aspects of the law now i want to i want to land on this one pastor james encouraged me to to land on this one when we think about our mission in the world today i started with this jesus is the ruler of the world he's the king of kings and lord of lords do you agree he's the ruler of the kings of the earth today do you believe he has all authority in heaven and on earth today brothers and sisters yes the mission of the gospel is not to get people to make just personal professions of faith and to have bible studies in basements the mission of the gospel is to win the nations to god and to teach them to obey jesus now you know that we believe in apologia that jesus is going to have dominion and he will have victory over the world we believe that he's seated at the right hand of the father right now in a position of power and authority and he's putting every enemy under his feet and paul says first corinthians 15 he must reign until every enemy is subdued put under his feet and then death will be defeated first every enemy and then death you know that we believe in the victory of the gospel however believing that jesus is going to win the entire world before he comes back for the final resurrection does not mean that every nation that was once professing faith in jesus is going to make it there are historical judgments in history there are historical judgments in history god does not change let me let me give you an example of this just in scripture so you can see it i can do this over and over again but i just want you to see at least these references go to leviticus some of you guys are like where's that leviticus 18. just look at this example in scripture of when god gives his law how he refers to the surrounding nations and his dealing with them in the midst of his giving his law to his people leviticus 18 20. god says this and you shall not lie sexually with your neighbor's wife and so make yourself unclean with her you shall not give any of your children to offer them to molech and so profane the name of your god i am the lord god's against child sacrifice his heart hasn't changed on that god is still against child sacrifice he says you should not lie with a male as with a woman it is an abomination and you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it it is perversion do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things for by all these the nations i am driving out before you have become unclean and the land became unclean so that i punished its iniquity and the land vomited out its inhabitants but you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations so here's an example in scripture where god has a standard of sexual ethics when it comes to animals neighbors men with men women with women he says here is my law this is an abomination this is a perversion and he says that he's judging hear this he's judging the surrounding nations and he is uprooting them and putting them out of existence and out of their lands on the basis of his law and his standards he gives his law to his people and he actually still holds the pagan nations surrounding israel guilty for violating his standard and his laws there are historical judgments you can read another example of this in leviticus 20 22-23 i'll let you read that later here's my point in terms of our call as missionaries to our world we're called to bring the gospel of the kingdom the call of repentance and faith and salvation as a gift of god through grace through the grace of god and jesus we're called to to tell the whole world that and call the world to believe in jesus but when we have a nation that we're sitting in today that sacrifices their own children by the metric ton millions and millions of children sacrificed to false gods when we have a nation that does perversions as god defines them we should expect i believe historical judgments apart from revival reformation and repentance it's amazing somebody will say to me you believe jeff that god's going to be victorious with the gospel and the kingdom but look look at america today i'm going to say don't forget where we started it was only a couple confused disciples and today we have more professing christians on this earth than any time in history but there are historical judgments there's no promise that america is going to be here as we know it today and i do believe that where we are as a nation in terms of our blessing and flourishing will be based upon trust in christ and obedience to god's law god has already said when he gave his law to his people that he's driving out these pagan nations for their wickedness and he's uprooting them there's no cause to believe that god has changed in terms of how he deals with nations and their wickedness so my hope in terms of our witness as a church is that we would speak the gospel boldly and with humility to the culture around us that we would do what jesus says to do and be salt and light to the world around us that we would invest in it that we would not love our lives more than jesus and his gospel that we would sacrifice ourselves ourselves in the way that our forebearers did for the sake of the gospel and our descendants that we would look at the culture around us right now and we'd stop asking questions like how did this get so wicked and start saying how did i let this get so wicked why haven't i been faithful why haven't we been faithful i hope that this message challenges us to be bold in our proclamation of the kingship of jesus christ in the worlds you know that whole concept of no king but christ can also just be a pithy slogan the real challenge is putting legs on that truth and the culture around us by actually saying to the world there is no salvation other than through faith in jesus christ and through his work and his work alone and there will be no justice and peace in society apart from obedience to jesus none my hope is that we would actually be brave enough and this is my final word to say to the powers that be you need to do what is just and righteous here it is because god says we're so afraid to say that today god says yep that's my basis i can defend that by the way philosophically rationally we could take the legs off of atheism and all the materialism and their attempts to to have a moral standard apart from god but we need to be willing to say um these are god's standards you shall not god says and we need to live lives of missionary risky sacrifice for the cause of the gospel of the kingdom let's pray father i pray that you'd bless us as a church with our witness in the world our courage grant to us love and humility and peaceableness but also grant to us the strength to be godly christian troublemakers to go into the world with your gospel of peace saturated with love compassion and grace but also with a boldness that your word is true your law is good your righteous statutes are just please god give us the graces of church to leave a legacy for the gospel it's in your name we pray amen

Channel: Apologia Studios

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Keywords: jeff durbin, apologia church, apologia studios, jeff durbin sermons, shocking youth sermon, paul washer sermon, paul washer shocking youth sermon, the sermon that shocked everyone, best sermons on youtube, best sermon, encouraging sermon, t.d. jakes sermons, paula white sermons, steven furtick sermon, kenneth copeland sermon, r.c. sproul sermon, john macarthur sermon

Id: pDZ7SADYY24

Length: 80min 38sec (4838 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 02 2020