Hopefully you all have the handout and can see where we're going to be today in Matthew chapter five as we continue our way through the Sermon on the Mount. Our focus this morning will be on Matthew five verses 17 and 18. I'll read verses 17 through 20, however, they're really a unit. And my plan to tackle all those verses today went by the wayside when, as so often happens with me, my sermon got too long. So, let's cut it in half. I'll begin reading in verse 17, where our Lord Jesus says, Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven but whoever does and teaches them, he should be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom. Let's take a moment to pray. Holy Father, we come this morning before you recognizing as always that it is only through the power and working of your Holy Spirit that we have been able to see and to enter the kingdom. We thank you for the gift of faith and repentance that you have wrought in our hearts through your own power. And each one of us here who knows you as Lord and Savior, we just want to say thank you. Thank you for your love. Thank you for choosing us. Thank you for granting us the gift of your spirit. And thank you for the fruit of the spirit that we may know in our lives through his working within us. Thank you for the warm, generous, loving spirit that it has brought to this church, the gift of your spirit. And now, Lord, we recognize that we stand in need of the work of your spirit in our hearts again this morning. We ask that you would fill us with your spirit, that we might understand your word as we should, that we might learn from it the things you'd have us to learn today. Make us good hearers of the word, we pray. Open our eyes that we may see. Give us ears to hear the things you wish to say to us, hearts willing to receive and obey. We ask these things for your glory and for our good and in the name of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. As I've studied the Sermon on the Mount and looked at various commentators, I was struck by a comment made by D.A. Carson in his commentary in the Sermon on the Mount, where he says, Matthew 5, verses 17 through 20 are among the most difficult verses in all the Bible. Now, as I studied them, they seem kind of difficult to me. So I'm glad I'm not alone in feeling that way. But I think the reason that he said that is that they're so debated by different groups of Christians as to what they mean. So you can imagine then how humbling is the tax before me this morning, but it's my job to teach the scriptures, so I shall give it my best shot. By the grace of God, I hope to do well, and I'll seek to explain this passage as best I can, being desirous as a good elder should to teach the whole counsel of God, even those passages which commentators regard as difficult ones. We're gonna examine this passage under two main headings. The first one is the relationship of Christ to the Old Testament, because I really think that's the focus of verses 17 and 18, as I hope to show you. And then the second part of the message, which will be next week, is the relationship of Christians to the Old Testament, which I think is kind of the focus of the next few verses. So with that plan in mind, we're gonna turn to the first part of our text under this, idea of the relationship of Christ to the Old Testament. I want to show you how I think that these verses speak to that very clearly in my mind. We'll begin with verse 17 where it says, do not think that I came to destroy, that can mean abolish or put an end to, the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. Now, I think in order to grasp what Jesus is saying here, We need, first of all, to understand what he meant when he spoke of the law or the prophets. As many of you may already know, the Jews in the first century had ways of referring to the entirety of Scripture as they knew it then in the first century, our Old Testament. They would refer to it by referring to the major divisions of Scripture as they understood them, and they did this in different ways. Sometimes they would split it up into three parts and refer to it, sometimes to two parts, sometimes to only one, just refer to the law. And sometimes that would refer to the books of Moses and sometimes refer to the whole Old Testament. So this is the way that they had of talking about the Old Testament as we know it. So when Jesus spoke of the law or the prophets here, he was referring to all of what we would call the Old Testament. So he's saying that he did not come to destroy, any part of the Old Testament, but to fulfill it. Now, as we will learn in other parts of scripture, the fulfillment of parts of this meant that the Old Covenant, for example, was done away with. It wasn't destroyed, its purpose was fulfilled through Christ and the coming of the new covenant. So that's an important thing to keep in mind. There are also a couple of things worth noting with regard to Jesus' words, do not think that I came to destroy. First, Jesus was actually employing a grammatical construction here, and I won't get into the Greek, but it's used almost always to prevent a forbidden action from beginning. So it could be translated this way, never think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. Whatever else you think, never think that. Second, it is possible then, given that understanding what he's saying here, that Jesus had already encountered a misunderstanding of his mission and thus he was responding to it. But it is certain in the context, even if he had not previously encountered such a misunderstanding, that he anticipates such a misunderstanding. Namely that some, at least, would accuse him of seeking to destroy the law of the prophets. that he was in some way seeking to undermine, abolish, do away with what God had revealed previously in the scriptures. He's anticipating, at the very least, that kind of objection. So with these things in mind, I've got a couple of questions I want us to answer here that stood out to me as I studied this text. First is this, why might some think that Jesus had come to destroy the law or the prophets? Why would they think that? Why would Jesus be so interested in guarding against that idea? As we'll see in the coming weeks. Jesus is preparing to teach about and contradict a number of scribal and Pharisee distortions of the law. The problem is that those Pharisee and scribal distortions of the law were equated by the people with the law itself. So in destroying the scribal and Pharisee traditions, which had been added to the law and which distorted the law, they would be tempted to think he was actually trying to destroy the law itself. and they might misunderstand what he's trying to do. He's getting ready to give what many refer to as the six antitheses, beginning in verse 21 and continuing throughout chapter five, each of which has a statement like this, you have heard it said, but I say to you. For now, we'll just take a few minutes to read each of them so you can see what I mean. And then of course, in the coming weeks, we'll delve into these in detail. And I'll endeavor to show you that in each case, Jesus wasn't changing the Old Testament law at all. He was countering the bad teaching of that law by the Pharisees and the scribes, and he was doing away with that, not the law itself in any way, or the principles of the law, the teaching of the law. I'll read each of these six antitheses. The first one is in verses 21 and 22. where Jesus says, you have heard that it was said to those of old, you shall not murder and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment. But I say to you that whoever's angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. Some people might have thought that he was seeking to in some way undermine the law with a statement and nothing could be further from the truth as we'll see in our detailed study of that in future weeks. In fact, we'll see that every but I say to you that Jesus gives, you can find in the law. And so what he's really doing is giving the fuller context of the law and correcting the misunderstanding of it that was had in his day, as I said. The second antithesis that we see, or antithesis, I have to speak singularly now, because I'm speaking of one. And verses 27 and 28 says this, you have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not commit adultery, but I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. The third one is in verse 31 and 32. Furthermore, it has been said, whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce, but I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery. The fourth one is in verses 33 and 34. Again, you have heard that it was said, excuse me, to those of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oath to the Lord. But I say to you, do not swear at all, neither by heaven, for it is God's throne, and so forth. The fifth one, in verses 38 and 39, you have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I tell you not to resist an evil person, but whoever slaps you on the right cheek, turn the other to him also. And then the sixth and final one, In verses 43 and 44 of chapter five, you have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you. Those are the six main topics that are gonna come up immediately following verses 17 through 20 in our New Testament. These are the things he's about to say that he suspects people will misunderstand as him trying in some way to undermine or destroy the law. And he's saying right up front, I don't want you ever to think that. He wants to prepare them to not think that, right? And so we need to not think that when we study these in the coming weeks. We need to have in our minds whatever else Jesus is doing, he's not seeking to do away with the law, but to fulfill it. And we'll see as we move on what all that entails. At any rate, what Jesus is really going after when he says, you have heard it was said, he's talking about what they're hearing from their teachers, the scribes and the Pharisees. And he's attacking the misinterpretation of the law that was common in his day. So that's the answer to the first question. Why might some think that Jesus had come to destroy the law of the prophets? Because what he's about to say could be easily misunderstood by people who equate what the law and the prophets teach with what the scribes and Pharisees say. And Jesus doesn't make that equation. The second question we're gonna seek to answer here is how does Jesus fulfill the Law and the Prophets? He said he's going to do this. He doesn't get into detail about that now, although those six antitheses start to tip us off. He brings out the true teaching of the Law and the Prophets in a way that the scribes and Pharisees didn't. and wants people to live it out with a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees. And that way he seeks to fulfill the law. That's clear in what's coming. But there are some other ways as well. When he said, I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. How do we understand that? Well, I think a good place to start, of course, we've got the whole New Testament and all of Jesus' teaching we could look at. But the place we're gonna start is with three examples from the book of Matthew itself, from the more immediate context. And we're gonna look at the way that this same Greek term that's translated fulfill here is used in several instances that teaches something about how it is that Jesus came to fulfill the law and the prophets, the Old Testament scriptures. The first example is an Old Testament prophecy that foretold an aspect of the Messiah's coming, which was fulfilled in Jesus. This is in Matthew 1, verses 22 and 23, when we read the account of Jesus' birth. And we're told, so all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is translated God with us. And that is found in Isaiah 7.14. So we've already had, by the time we read this section of Matthew, one good example of how Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament scriptures. The promises about him, about his birth, were fulfilled in his coming. So that's one example. He fulfills Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah. And in so doing, he's not getting rid of the Old Testament, right? He's fulfilling it. A second example is an Old Testament event that foreshadowed an event in Jesus' life in which it finds its fulfillment. An Old Testament event. We can find this earlier in Matthew 2, verses 14 and 15. Joseph was warned that he needed to flee and go to Egypt. We're told, when he, Joseph, arose, he took the young child, that's Jesus, and his mother, Mary, by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled, there's that same word again, which was spoken by the Lord through the prophets, saying, out of Egypt I called my son. And that's a reference to Hosea 11.1. So there was an event that happened in the Old Testament days which was apparently a type of what would happen in the life of Christ. And in that sense, he fulfilled it. He fulfilled what that foreshadowed about him. A third example is the necessity of perfect obedience to God is fulfilled on our behalf by Jesus. One good example of this is seen in his baptism by John. He submitted to John's baptism. And it was called a baptism of repentance. See, Jesus didn't have to repent. So why would he submit to John's baptism? He gives John a hint about that in Matthew 3. verses 13 through 15, and all of these precede his teaching in Matthew 5, so that the reader of Matthew should have some idea in mind already, right, when Jesus says, I didn't come to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill it, the Old Testament scriptures, they should already, the reader, have some idea in their minds what he might mean Now the people who are listening to him may not remember all these things, right? But Matthew has recorded them for us before this so that we'll know, so that the readers of his gospel will have these ideas already in their mind. Matthew 3, verses 13 through 15 says this, then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. And John tried to prevent him, saying, I need to be baptized by you when you're coming to me. See, his baptism was a baptism of repentance, and he did not believe Jesus needed to do that. He believed he needed to do that. John Baptist said, I'm the one who needs you to baptize me. What did Jesus say? He answered and said to him, permitted to be so for now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. And then he allowed him to fulfill all righteousness. Righteousness, now that's Jesus' own use of the term fulfill here. What did he mean by that? Well, of course, we have the larger New Testament to help us understand that, right? Jesus had to obey all the things that the people of Israel were called to obey and do it perfectly in order to be the perfect righteous sacrifice for our sins. God's people were called on to be baptized by John. Therefore, Jesus did it. Why? To fulfill all righteousness. Nobody could look at Jesus and say, he didn't do every righteous thing a Jew ought to do. And one of those things was the baptism of John. I think that's the best way to understand it, especially given the larger testimony of the New Testament, that Jesus, because he was A lamb without blemish could be the sacrifice for our sins because he knew no sin, but became sin for us. And this is what he was doing when he was baptized by John the Baptist apparently. How did that fulfill the Old Testament scriptures though? Well, the Old Testament law teaches a righteousness that the people were to follow. And Jesus in his life followed it to the letter. But when God sent a prophet who gave new revelation, like John the Baptist, who was the forerunner of Christ, the people were required to listen to the prophets when they came. That is taught in the law as well. And so Jesus did that. He set the example for the people in doing so. So he's about to teach everybody in Matthew 5 about what genuine righteousness is like, but he's already demonstrated through his own example something of what he means by that. He's already been living it out perfectly. And being baptized by John was, I think, just one example of that. As Thomas Constable has observed in his study notes, Jesus understood that it was God's will for John to baptize him. There is no Old Testament prophecy that states that the Messiah must undergo water baptism. But there is prophecy that the Messiah would submit himself to God. Examples would be in Isaiah 42, 1, and Isaiah 53. The spirit of submissiveness to God's will is primarily what John's baptism identified in those who submitted to it. Consequently, it was appropriate for Jesus to undergo John's baptism, and John consented to baptize him. In doing so, Jesus authenticated John's ministry and identified himself with a godly remnant within Israel. I think that's pretty well said. Again, it's my contention that Jesus has all such ways of fulfilling the law and the prophets in mind in Matthew 5 17 when he says I've come not to destroy but to fulfill. I think he's thinking of his entire ministry as the Messiah and all the ways in which he fulfills the Old Testament scriptures. Not only did he come to fulfill the prophecies made about him but also to fulfill the law in the sense that he would conformed perfectly to its ethical demands on our behalf, fully obeying the will of God. He did for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He obeyed perfectly. And that's why some people forget this, but they need to keep it in mind. When we speak of Jesus' work of salvation, we need to talk of his saving life, not just his saving death and resurrection. His life saved us, too. his whole life because he was without sin. He couldn't have been our sacrifice had he not lived that life of sinlessness. Everything Jesus did was for our salvation, is what I'm saying. And that fulfilled the law. At any rate, our Lord Jesus never wanted any of his hearers to think that he came to destroy the law in any way, but only to fulfill it to fulfill, as we've seen, his prophecies concerning him, to accomplish the purpose for which the law was given. In fact, he was so concerned that people not misunderstand his intentions in this regard that he went on to stress it even more emphatically in what we see in the next verse, in verse 18. For assuredly, that's amen, truly I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law until all fulfilled or is accomplished, happens. Now here in order to grasp what our Lord Jesus meant by this statement, I think we need to begin with understanding a couple of terms with which some of us might not be familiar. These terms are jot and tittle. and I've given you this in your notes to help you. I think Kent Hughes in his commentary did a good, gave a good brief description of each that I've shared with you there. First, the term jot refers to the Hebrew yod. It's the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet, and as Hughes says, it looks something like an apostrophe. It's the first letter in the name of God, Yahweh, that yod. The tiniest letter in the Hebrew alphabet. Second, the term tittle appears but to refer to the Hebrew serif, which is a tiny extension on some letters that distinguishes it from other letters. I think I gave you in your notes two Hebrew letters, the dalet and the calf, where you just put a little extension on what looks like a dalet and it turns it into another letter, right? Perhaps the best example in English would be that little bitty line that changes a capital or an uppercase L, right? from a small lowercase l, which is just one vertical line, you put that little horizontal line on it and it makes it a capital L, that's our equivalent to what they might have called a tittle, right? So it's the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet and the smallest part of a letter in the Hebrew alphabet that Jesus is talking about. So when Jesus said that, One jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. He meant that absolutely no part of the law, not even the seemingly most insignificant parts, will pass away till all is fulfilled. That has to be what he means with this bit of hyperbole that he uses, right? Now, you may have noticed that I have assumed that Jesus' reference to the law here in this verse is also another way of speaking of the entirety of the Old Testament, and it is. And if we didn't already know that from other usages in the New Testament, we would know it from this context because the term law is used here in parallel with the previous reference to the law of the prophets. And so that has to be referring to the same thing, right? It's shorter shorthand than the previous shorthand he used. Notice also that although Jesus has indicated in the preceding context that the kingdom of heaven is already here as a present reality, we saw that in the Beatitudes in verses three and five of chapter, or three and verse 10 of chapter five. Here he seems to indicate that it is not yet fully come. Remember we, in our study of the kingdom thus far, in our overview of the Sermon on the Mount, in our study of the Beatitudes, we saw that there's this now and not yet aspect of the kingdom of God. There's a sense in which the kingdom of God is already here, has already come with the first advent of Christ. But there's a sense in which the ultimate fulfillment of the kingdom has not already come. As I like to say, it's as though the future kingdom has reached back into the past, our present, and partially revealed itself now. And we've already become citizens of the kingdom, and we're drawn on to the future. where the new heavens and the new earth is our ultimate home, right? Well, he seems to have that future, that not yet fully come aspect of the kingdom here. He says, till heaven and earth pass away, that's the future. One jot or one tittle by no means will pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Now, Jesus will also speak of the kingdom has not yet fully come later in the Sermon on the Mount. There's a couple of passages that we looked at previously. For example, when he teaches to pray, he teaches to pray, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And he's just told them they're already in the kingdom. In the Beatitudes, that's the presupposed. But yet we're praying for the kingdom to still come. It's not here in its fullness yet. And of course, that scary passage, one of the two scariest in the whole Bible, in my opinion. As I've said before, in Matthew 7, 21 to 23, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, he's viewing it as future. So, ultimate coming of the kingdom. But he who does the will of my Father in heaven, many will say to me in that day, that's how we know he's speaking of the future, of the day of the Lord there. Lord, Lord, have we not promised or prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, not you who practice righteousness, but lawlessness, he says. So in the same way, Jesus was referring to the future kingdom in our text. We may conclude that in his first advent, Jesus began the fulfillment of the Old Testament scriptures as we know them. But that the complete fulfillment of the Old Testament scriptures awaits the future. And since we've previously noted some of the ways in which Jesus has already fulfilled some things, we looked at those examples from earlier in Matthew, I think it's good to consider a couple of things not yet fulfilled. from the Old Testament scriptures. One example would be Daniel's prophecy of the coming resurrection of the righteous and the wicked. In Daniel 12 too, he wrote, and many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. Well, that hasn't happened yet, the resurrection that he's talking about. We know this awaits the future. The apostle Paul made this clear, for example, in his defense before Felix at Caesarea. And this is in Acts 24, 14, and 15. You should have all these scriptures so you don't have to flip back and forth, but you can look them up later if you like. In Matthew 24, 14, and 15, he says, this is the Apostle Paul speaking, but this I confess to you that according to the way, which they call a sect, that was what Christianity was called early on, the way. It was the way of life, following Christ. And it's based on these ideas in the Old Testament. There's a way of life and a way of death. Well, the way of life is fully revealed through Christ, who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And so you can see why early Christianity was called the way. At any rate, he says, but this I confess to you that according to the way, which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and the prophets. There's that. way of referring to what we call the Old Testament Scriptures again, I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. I believe what the Old Testament Scriptures say, Paul says, the law and the prophets, and they speak of a future resurrection. I believe in that. Well, it hasn't happened yet. He's still looking forward to it. We also know this event will occur at the second coming of our Lord Jesus, as Paul wrote in his first epistle to the Thessalonian Christians, in 1 Thessalonians 4, beginning in verse 15, where he says, for this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. That's a euphemism for those who are dead. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. So there's an Old Testament prophecy of a future resurrection. It's still future. Christ has not yet fulfilled that. He has not yet raised us all from the dead in the future resurrection. So although our Lord Jesus began to fulfill all the Old Testament in his first coming, this is one part of those things that still has yet to be fulfilled in the future coming of Christ, in the future kingdom, when it comes in all its fullness. Another example would be Isaiah's prophecy of a new heavens and a new earth. I met a guy one time who called himself a preterist, which is a heresy, by the way, and they teach that all these prophecies have already been fulfilled. And I remember saying to him, brother, if this is the new heavens and the new earth, I'm really disappointed, because I'm still crying and I'm still dying, and I was told that that wouldn't happen in the new heavens and the new earth. Anybody that says this has already happened is lying. The prophecy, one of them anyway, in Isaiah 66, 22, says, for as the new heavens and the new earth which I shall make shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your descendants and your name remain. So there's a new heavens and a new earth that God is going to make. That hasn't been fulfilled yet. And we know it hasn't because Peter was still looking forward to it in his second epistle. In 2 Peter 3, 13 and 14, he says, nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by him in peace without spot and blameless. So we're still looking forward to these things. Christ did not fulfill this aspect of the Old Testament prophecies in his first coming. that awaits the future, and of course, if you go and read Revelation 21, you can read all about the new heavens and the new earth. So again, we see that the complete fulfillment of the Old Testament awaits the future, and that our Lord Jesus will indeed fulfill all of it, as he promised. He said he would fulfill it all. He's in the process of doing it. In fact, it's happening now, even, as the kingdom progresses in the world. until there's people from every tribe and tongue and nation. So in conclusion, we've seen that Jesus' relationship to the Old Testament was as the one who would fulfill it in every way, and that, in fact, the Old Testament scriptures find their ultimate purpose in him. We also see that he affirmed the truthfulness, permanence, and authority of every single aspect of the Old Testament Scriptures when he made these claims. He is presupposing the truthfulness, permanence, and authority of the Old Testament, isn't he? This should remind us that all Scripture is the inspired Word of God. The Apostle Paul said in 2 Timothy 3, 16 to 17, all scripture is given by inspiration of God. What he was talking about there was primarily the Old Testament, although in that same context, he quotes the Gospel of Luke. So he had other scriptures other than just the Old Testament, the scriptures that were still being written he had in mind as well. The New Covenant scriptures. but certainly of the Old Testament scriptures. When he says, all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. So that presupposes, doesn't it, that we need the Old Testament to be thoroughly equipped, not just the New Testament writings, but the Old Testament writings as well. We cannot be The Christ-like people were called to be without all of Scripture. Kent Hughes, I think, was right when he commented on Jesus' teaching here and said, we need to be people of both Testaments. Relying on the New Testament alone makes us, he says, one-legged believers. We need to spend time in the Old Testament and the New. That is one of the practical implications of Christ's attitude toward the law and the prophets. He's right. I couldn't agree more. We shouldn't be among those professing believers who have a Bible within the Bible, a canon within the canon. Maybe you're one of them. There are some Christians that have a Bible within the Bible. They say, I believe the Bible is the word of God. But it's really only parts of it they spend any time in. They have their favorite books. They have their favorite passages. They may never have read Nahum, right? They may ignore almost all of Leviticus. They like part of Genesis, because they need part of that to go over against the evolutionists. They like some of the Psalms, the ones that are really encouraging, like Psalm 23. They might like some of the Proverbs, as long as they're not too convicting, but seem more practical to them. They might like some key text in Isaiah or Jeremiah or something like that. And when you come to the New Testament, they might ignore parts of that too. And, you know, I like part of Romans, you know. And they know parts of the Bible well, but they ignore virtually the rest of it. And they have a Bible within the Bible. There's only one Bible. It's the whole Bible. and we're supposed to seek to understand all of it, and to hear God speaking to us through all of it. Now, we're gonna have to understand the Old Testament differently than the Jews initially in Jesus' day were understanding it, because we live this side of Christ's first coming, and we read the Old Testament differently than they would read it in their day. We interpret the Old Testament by the new, but we interpret it, we read it, we take it to heart, May God help us to be more diligent in seeking to understand the whole counsel of God. That's one of the important things we can take away from this. Along with our deeper, I hope, awareness and understanding of just what Jesus was talking about here. What did he mean? I hope I've helped you get a better grasp of that.