The title of my sermon today is Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. And our primary text will be from Galatians chapter three. Please stand for the reading of God's word. O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn from you. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of the faith? Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit? Are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain? Therefore, he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Just as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Therefore, know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, In you, all the nations shall be blessed. So then, those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident for the just shall live by faith. Yet the law is not of faith, but the man who does them shall live by them. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Brethren, I speak in the manner of men, though it is only a man's covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He does not say and to seeds as of many, but as of one and to your seed, who is Christ. And this, I say that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ and that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritances of the law, it is no longer a promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise. What purpose, then, does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. And it was appointed to angels by the hand of a mediator. Now, a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one. Is the law, then, against the promises of God? Certainly not. For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. But the scripture has confined all under sin that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ and we might be justified that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for this word. We thank you for the many connections here with the old covenant, with Abraham, with the promises made, connections with the law. Father, we ask as we look into these matters today, you would give us a better understanding of your purposes for us and your work as these things testify of you. We ask it in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. When I first was thinking about what I wanted to preach on, I thought, you know, I would like to go back over some fundamentals, I guess. We have many young people in our congregation who have not heard some of these things, who have not read many of the books that some of us who've been in the faith a while have read, many who are not as familiar with the distinctives between reformed theology and fundamentalist theology. And so I wanted to touch on some of those issues today, kind of laying groundwork in those regards. We have new families with us who have come in and some who are not as familiar with some of these things. So I First thought, I want to speak primarily about the law. But as I began looking at this and talking with others and preparing for it, I decided to really broaden it a little bit. I want to talk about Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever. And of course, the law is part of that. And we'll be talking about that. But that's really the context of this, that we're talking about the whole word of God. And how it ties together and the importance of tying it together and the uses we make of that and how we use it and so on in our church here, in our congregation, in the reformed world in general. So those are some of the issues that I would like to talk about. A little this morning, a very big subject certainly can't do justice to all of this. And so, uh, some areas will hit a little more depth as we go through this particular passage and many areas really, uh, will have to be left for other times. Uh, so emphasis here really is from my perspective this morning is, is connections between the old covenant, the new covenant, as, as Pastor Terry said last week, you know, we should rip that page out that says new Testament on the, in our Bibles, and that's what we'll be looking at a little bit today, is that continuity aspect here, that it is one word. It is about Christ, about the Word of God, and its focus is Christ, as we shall see. These things are important because they touch on how we view what God is doing in the world. They touch on things such as Whether Satan is controlled or whether God is in control. Matters of sovereignty and how we view that. Do we see demons under every corner or do we see God's sovereignty and his working in our lives that greater is he that is within us than he that is within the world. Touches on matters of salvation. Are we saved by our choice? Are we saved by God's sovereignty, by his sovereign choice? Touches on matters of the future. What is God's purpose for it? Is the world going downhill and imminently coming to an end? Or is God at work with a long term plan and victory for his son and the glorification of him in history and in his church promising victory to his church? and implications for how we live in terms of ethics in our lives. Matters of the law touch on a great many issues of our life. And how do we apply those? And so there are many, many issues here related to this continuity of the Old Testament to the New Testament. Very important to us. As we look back to the Reformation, Look at some of the creeds that were established then and written the symbols. Then we see their statements regarding these issues about the law in particular. And we'll touch on those a little bit. Categorization of the law. What parts, as stated in, for example, the Westminster Confession, some parts continue untouched and others are transformed. Others were particular to Israel. I want to touch basic base a little bit on that. So. There's a history that's involved here. When we look at the Bible as a whole, the Bible is about God and his word to us, it is a Trinitarian, our God is a Trinitarian God. And to me, this is I've been particularly in reformed churches and and studied and been here at RCC. This just continues to take on more and more importance to me. It seems that I learn more and more about The relevance of the fact that God is Trinitarian and how that applies to us. I find it quite remarkable. This is a very simple statement here with regard to this overall picture. You know, God is one, the father and the son and the Holy Spirit. That means and that they are in perfect unity. We see that throughout teaching throughout the New Testament. But what does that mean about the Old Testament? And we'll see the book of Hebrews talks about in the opening verses that God, that Christ was there at creation, wasn't some thing that the father did. And let and Jesus came in later in the picture. He is the word of God and the word was involved in creation. And we see that in the book of John in the opening verses that that Jesus is there just as surely and just as completely in agreement with the father in every step of the way through the Old Testament, that the words we read there are his words just as surely as they are the father's words. And so in that basis alone, how do we separate them? How can we pull them apart? How can we argue that some is no longer relevant? God is not I do not believe capricious in what he has given us. He is very careful and deliberate and he has given us that which we need to know. And he has stated so in his word. And the Old Testament then declares and plainly teaches much about who God is and particularly who Christ is. And we'll look at that very briefly as we get done with this passage in Galatians. Funny, I'll note that kind of background that the scripture is, of course, covenantal. And we're going to touch on that briefly today, but it's a whole another area, a major area. I'm very aware of that here as we look at the word and see how it applies to us and our children and communion and baptism and how we rear them and how we apply the Old Testament. Very important part. That is not going to be my primary focus this morning. Note that when I first personal note, when I first came to the Reformed faith, I was in a Baptist church and and Yeah, I don't know if I've mentioned this story before, but our church rented out space to a strange group. That was a PPAC, I believe. And Dennis is involved in that. And they had a speaker they brought in. This was out in the lower. And Dennis had a book table there in our church. And I didn't attend the conference or things pretty much. I think mostly other folks, not many from our church. But I picked up four books there. Seventy dollars worth, which is a lot of money back. Seemed like back then. And one of them was Greg Bonson's Theonomy and Christian Ethics. And it was that book that brought me into the reform faith, a book about the law and its application. And so I mentioned that just because the you know, there are many ways to, I think, come into reform. thinking come through. People may visit our church and they'll see various sorts of things, many of which may seem different. For many, it's, you know, might see a baptism and not used to seeing infants baptized. Communion would be if communion would be another. The weekly communion might be one. We invited friends one time and and they came and afterwards they came one time and touched basis with him briefly, and their comments were the wife said she loved the emphasis on the Old Testament and the husband said, but too much emphasis on the law. I couldn't come back. And, you know, so these things are very apparent. They permeate who we are and our our life here and our service. And you don't have to go too far, visit many other places to see many differences that are there. So why are they important to us? And that's part of what I want to talk about this morning, why these things are important to us and looking at the scriptures to see that. So let's look turn to Galatians three, if you have your Bibles there and verse one, we're just going to kind of work through it here a little bit. A little bit of background, Galatians. Paul, Barnabas, and Titus went to Jerusalem. Titus was a Greek, and Titus was not compelled to be circumcised there. James, Cephas, and John were given the right hand of fellowship that they should go to the Gentiles. Paul opposed Peter when he went to Antioch. Peter would eat with the Gentiles when James was not there, but would withdraw otherwise, fearing those of the circumcision, as the word says. Other Jews followed suit, even Barnabas. And Paul challenged him. He said, Peter, you living as a Jew or he a Jew living as a Gentile, but showing favor to the Jews and preference for requiring adherence to the law. And Paul challenged him on this matter. And that is the background of this particular section we're going to look at. So it's a matter of. preference, giving giving preference to the law, requiring that circumcision in particular and other matters be upheld. And Paul is challenging that directly here. So he says the first few verses there, verses one through nine, he talks about why have you been bewitched? You know, how is it that you received Christ? He said, did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish that you have turned from your beginnings? Does not the one or he who supplies the spirit to you and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? And then he makes our first connection back into the old covenant. He speaks of Abraham and he says, or does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith? Just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. Therefore, know that only those who are of faith are the sons of Abraham. And the scripture for seeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preach the gospel to Abraham. So here we have Paul explaining to them that this gospel is not a new gospel. It's a gospel that has been preached to Abraham, the old covenant, and and he's going to make strong connections here that Jesus is following on the work of Abraham, that he has come to fulfill the promises promised to Abraham. Promises. Of blessing. And not so much with Abraham, do you see the law there, but you see promises of blessing made to him. And this is demonstrated with Abraham. Remember the accounts there. I'm not going to go through all those details. Assume that you probably know those stories. So so it was accounted to him by faith, not by works. He received the blessings before circumcision and so on. It's interesting to note, if you look in Matthew one one and we'll be looking a little at Matthew starts there with the accounting of the genealogies. that in those genealogies, it says the book of genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of. It doesn't say the son of Moses, interestingly, but the son of Abraham. The connection here, as you look at it, the line of Christ is not one that includes the Levitical line directly. It includes, in fact, as we'll see later, what priesthood line is Jesus from. He's in the order of Melchizedek. not in the order of the Levitical priesthood. Again, the connection here. These are connections that Paul makes and that others make pointing out that Jesus work is not, at least here in Galatians, is not primarily connected with the law, but predates that and goes back to earlier foundations than the law itself. The blessings that are noted in Genesis twelve, one, two, three to Abraham are I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. I will curse those who say I will curse him who curses you. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. These are the promises that he will be talking about here. In Genesis 15, continuing with Abraham, it says, And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir. And he brought him outside and said, Look now toward heaven and count the stars if you are able to number them. And he said to him, So shall your descendants be. And he believed in the Lord and he accounted it to him for righteousness. And then in Genesis seventeen six, I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make nations of you and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you and their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and your descendants after you. Sounds much like new covenant and the passages in the New Testament refer back to this directly. This is the gospel preached Abram. The God will, through Adam and his seed, bless the families of the earth. God did not give the law, then bless who those who obeyed him. Instead, he made promises that he would bless those who believe him. And here the promise was to Abram. And in spite of circumstances, Abram believed God. This is still the gospel. God promises to draw near to us, to make his covenant with us and to bless us with his presence for all eternity. We are to believe him and to respond with genuine love, with our whole heart, mind, soul and strength. Romans four addresses the same topic, it says, for if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect because the law brings about wrath. For where there is no law, there is no transgression. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God and being fully convinced that what he had promised he was also able to perform. And therefore, it was accounted to him as righteousness. Now, it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in him, who raised up Jesus, our Lord, from the dead. who was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification. This is the background. This is the promise. This is a connection. The argument that Paul sets forth the primary one regarding our salvation, that it's not directly of the law, but of the promises given earlier, the covenant made with Abraham. But we go on and look at verses 10 and 11. But as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no one is justified by the law on the side of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith. Yet the law is not a faith, but the man who does them shall live by them. So Paul now begins to address the law in this passage a little more directly. The law declares all guilty. To break one point of the law is to break the law and to be cursed. Since all sin, all are guilty and all are under the curse of the law. James 2.10 states this even more directly. For whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. Romans 8.2 For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Along with the connections that Paul is making here. First Corinthians fifteen fifty six. The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law. So the faith. So the law is not of faith. It notes why was the law added? Well, if they had been faithful, there wouldn't have been a need for the law. Right. But they were not faithful. It was added because of transgression. Viticus 18 5 says you shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, which, if a man does, he shall live by them. I am the Lord and here live. Equivalent to continue in life or means to continue in life, be restored or healed. It's a promise of life if the law is kept, but clearly it's a promise that cannot be kept. It's a law that cannot be kept, and so man cannot receive God's blessing based upon that law. The law, and as it states here in the passage, is not a faith. It is added because of sin. If one could live perfectly by the law, one could find life in the law, but no one can. It exposes our sinful nature and shows us our need for redemption. Going on to 13. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. It's quoting from Deuteronomy 21, 33, where it says, For he who is hanged is cursed of God when we are united in Christ. He takes upon himself the curse, do us that we might receive the blessing of Abraham, the promise of the spirit through faith. Note again the connection with Abraham here and the promised blessings that they might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus. The salvation is not of the law, the law brings judgment, condemnation, cursing upon us, salvation is of faith. Verse 15. Brethren, I speak in the manner of men, though it is only a man's covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He does not say and to seeds as of many, but as of one. And to your seed, who is Christ? This I say that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ. That it should make the promise of no effect, for if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer a promise. But God gave it to Abraham by promise. Four hundred and thirty years from the covenant, Abraham to the giving of the law, and he's just stating that as evidence here that the law is not absolutely essential to salvation here. that salvation is based on earlier covenants, earlier promises and earlier works and not upon the law itself. He makes reference to covenant with Abraham by first referring to covenants made by men. Now, when we make covenants, we sign them and we expect that they will be binding and they will hold. They will not be changed or altered. And that's his argument here, that the covenant with Abraham was made by God, it holds, it's binding, it will not be changed and the law does not change it and cannot annul that initial promise or supersede it. It is added to that. Hence the intervening mosaic covenant does not set aside or annul the covenant with Abraham. Paul then points out that the Abrahamic covenant was to Abraham and his seed, namely Christ. We, following in the line of Abraham, inherit the promised blessings through faith, as did Abraham, and not through keeping the law. We cannot properly understand God's grace and purposes for us apart from the old covenant, nor fully comprehend the work of Christ apart from that old covenant. And this, of course, is a foundational argument for reformed view of interpreting and understanding the scriptures, that the old covenant contains much about who God is, what he desires of us, what he's going to accomplish, means by which he's going to accomplish it. Examples of of how he applies that promise in the lives of people such as Abraham and others. It's full of huge amount of material. And think about for a moment, what would we know if we were to take that old covenant out? If we were to take away that and take away the law and take away all that's there, what would we know? How would how much would we understand of Christ's work? You know, the law gives many, many examples and details and focuses on specific aspects of Christ's work in all of the sacrificial system and many things. But it does more than that. And we'll get to that in a little bit. But that law and that old covenant is very important to our understanding, to our interpreting, to properly seeing that which Christ has come and that which he has, which he is the reality of and which previously was taught by shadows. He was seven, 11 through 18, says, therefore, if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood for under it, people receive the law. What further need was there that another priest should rise according to the order of Melchizedek and not be called according to the order of Aaron? For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law. For he of whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe from which no man has officiated at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord arose from Judah, of which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood. And it is yet far more evident if, in the likeness of Melchizedek, there arises another priest, one has come not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life. For he testifies, you are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek. For on the one hand, there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness. For the law made nothing perfect. On the other hand, there is the bringing in of a better hope through which we draw near to God. The passage speaks of an annulling of the former commandment, that many shadows have been replaced by their realities. Sacrifices, high priest laws, details of many, many of these things have been altered and changed, clearly altered and changed. Have they passed away? Are they gone entirely? Of course not. There still remain in great detail and great substance. They inform us, they teach us, they show us the matters of equity and of God's heart and purpose towards us. But many details have passed away. We don't have breastplate on the high priest. We don't have the twelve stones on the garments. We don't have, you know, the sacrifices being offered daily. Many, many of these things have been annulled, as it says here. And we'll touch on that a little more. And we finish as we finish going through here. Why has this happened? Because a better hope has come a way to draw near to God, to enter into his very throne room under the Old Testament. In the old law, you couldn't enter into the throne. You couldn't enter into the holy of holies. And Christ has come to make that passageway to open that passageway for us, that we might come into the very presence of God. The Old Covenant showed that there was such a place. The Old Covenant showed that not just anyone could enter. The Old Covenant showed there were specific ways that were necessary to draw near to God. And Christ has come and shown us the meaning and the fullness and the richness of that and has accomplished it so that we can enter in. The Old Covenant law forbade entry to the Holy of Holies, but now we enter into God's presence. Note here that Christ's priesthood comes not through the law and the Levitical priesthood, but through the order of Melchizedek. Again, this downplays the role of the law. Paul has so far argued that the law is unnecessary regarding our salvation, or maybe worse, a hindrance to those understanding salvation, not wanting to dismiss the law. He now turns to a defensive law. I once attended a lecture. You know, I should have written this down was by a black man who is a member of the Black Panthers. And he gave a lecture all about communism. He had probably too young for many of you to know, but they were robbing banks and doing all kinds of kinds of illegal things in this country. And he was he fled the country and he went to Cuba. And he thought, you know, there is where I'm going to find beautiful communism is in Cuba. And he said when he got there, he found that people wandered around the streets, hunched over, wouldn't look you in the eyes. He said it was like they were all in prison. So this can't be right. So he went to Angola, then communism a little longer. He discovered it was worse. Then he went to Russia. He was welcomed with open arms in these places. He found it was worse. He said he finally realized that communism could not be right. But in the first hour of his lecture, he extolled the wonders of communism, why he had gotten into it. And by the end of that first hour, I personally was getting a little upset and angry with him because I didn't want to hear about the wonders and extoll the greatness of communism. So then he turned in for the next hour. He talked about. how he had come into faith, how he had turned from that communism, how he had seen the work of God in the birth of his first child and a whole turnaround. And then he spent the next hour talking about everything that was wrong with communism. Now, Paul is kind of a little like that here in this passage. He has spent his time stating here that the law came after the promise. that the law does not provide salvation, it does not provide perfection, it is a curse, it speaks of the curse that is upon us, and this is the nature of the law. But Paul does not leave it there. Now he turns and now he begins to say, so what is the use of the law then? Starting in verse 19, what purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions till the seed should come to whom the promise was made. And it was appointed to angels by the hand of a mediator. Now, a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one. Here he states that law was added because of transgression, so here God has given promises, but these people that he has given the promises to cannot enter into them. They are so far from him and so distant. There's so many difficulties here with sin that they they need help. They need serious help. And so he provides for them a tutor, a mediator to begin to prepare them, to bring them along in the ways of his salvation. What purpose does the law serve? Added because of transgression. Paul emphasizes that the law here is not some man made work. This is not Moses law. He's not dismissing it. He's not saying this is unimportant. He's saying this law was appointed to angels, appointed to angels. So it is an important matter. It's not a not to be trifled with, not to be ignored, not to be just simply discarded. This is an important matter. Verse 21 is the law then against the promises of God. Certainly not, for if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been given by the law. If there were a means by which righteousness could come apart from Christ appearing, this would have been it. It provided, as I said earlier, those who obey the law will live, find life by the law, but not possible. So the scripture has confined all under sin that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. So the purpose primary purpose, he argues here, is that it is. To confine people under sin and to prepare them, to bring them. To an awareness of their need of a savior, to bring them To them, move them towards Christ and we'll talk a little more about that. Pointed by the hand of angels. Is it against the promises of God? Certainly not. Verse twenty three, but before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith, which would afterward be revealed. Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. Now, the tutor, how should we think of that as tutor? And I think personally, the example I like is if I were going to train for the Olympics, I'd go out and find me a good tutor, a trainer, someone who was expert, someone who knew how it all works, someone who knew what was going to happen in the future, someone who knew what I needed to know. And who could train me in that, not just an intellectual knowledge, someone who would set rules about what I could eat, when I should go to bed, when I should get up in the morning and so on. That's the kind of trainer I want, somebody who's going to get me ready for it. And I think of the law as like that. It's a tutor, a trainer preparing us for Christ, preparing us for his coming. And in many, many ways, which we'll talk about in a little bit here. But it says that's the purpose here. to tutor, to prepare us, to keep us and guard us, to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith, and that after faith has come, we are no longer under the tutor. We'll touch on that here in a bit. Hebrews 8, 7-10 says, For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, he says, who's them? It's not the covenant that's the fault, it's not the law that's the fault. The law is perfect, is in agreement with the promises. It's not in disagreeing with the promises. It's there to lead us to being able to receive those promises. That was its purpose. And had no fault, but what fault was there? It's already been stated. The fault was the people were sinners. This was the fault and they could not, as a result, come unto righteousness through that covenant. And no, it says, for if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second, because finding fault with them, he says, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant. And I disregarded them. Says the Lord, for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their mind and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Has the law been forgotten? No, hasn't been forgotten. The law is righteous, perfect, holy, scripture says. In fact, you look at all the attributes applied to the law. Looks like talking about God. It's his word and it's speaking about his purposes and so God says he's going to write law on our hearts. Matthew 1113 says for all the prophets in the law prophesied until John prophesied about what. Then he said in Luke 24, 34, these are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me. The law is about Christ. It is about him. The law and the prophets and the Psalms are about him. Can that be set aside? Can it just be thrown out? No, there's very. Deep significance to those things that have been written, they teach about Christ, who he is, about his character, about his offices, about his coming, about his life. Many, many, many details full from the old covenant, full of those details about him and who he is and his work, and they are prophetic of him. And he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the scriptures. Wouldn't it be nice to have him do that with us? Open the understanding as he did there. Well, that's part of what all these scriptures are about in the New Covenant here and about his life revealing the reality that these shadows spoke of. Romans 321, but now the righteousness of God, apart from the law, is revealed being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. What is it that's been revealed? What did the law say here? Says that. It revealed being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, the righteousness of God is revealed there. At the very least, these things speak of him and who he is and his righteousness. That has not changed a bit, not changed at all. The law speaks of Christ. This is true not only of the priestly and sacrificial law, but also of the civil and moral components of law. These speak of Christ's personal righteousness, which we are to imitate and of his kingly sovereignty, which we now exercise with him. This is their first and primary purpose and application to teach us of him. But Paul says that after faith has come, we are no longer under the tutoring of the law to help understand this, consider the moment my example of a sports event. I train, I work hard and finally the big day comes, the event is here and I'm done. And then what happens? Well, let's see, I probably don't need to keep the regimen of getting up at a certain time and eating certain foods quite so regularly as I did before. Are they important? Well, if I'm an athlete and that's important to me, then being in good shape is important. And there's an equity, there's a substance, there's teaching there that will inform me in the rest of my life. Almost certainly, at the very least, we have that going on at the very least. Can a tutor still be of value to us? Of course, if we intend to continue competing, it would be good to continue on. The analogy is not perfect here, but a tutor is a repository, if you will, of wisdom and detail of how to please God. And so it is here that this is a the law is a depository of that sort of knowledge and wisdom about God, about his righteousness, about how to approach him, about what pleases him. about his work, about his reign at present, about the future. Hebrews 8.10, again, for this is the covenant, I read already, that I will make with the house of Israel. I will put my laws in their mind and write them on their hearts. Second, Timothy three 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. Does that include the law? Of course, does that include the covenants? Of course, does that include the history? Does that include everything in the Old Testament? Of course, that's what it's talking about here. And what is it profitable for for doctrine? We rely on the law. We rely on the covenants in the history for understanding and working out correct doctrine for reproof, for correction and for instruction in righteousness. A very important part, which we just saw instruction in righteousness, these things. have not lost their value in the least with regard to informing us about what pleases God, about what he is like, about how to draw near to him and so on. The substance of those things remains in every way. Well, that kind of finishes the passage, I'd like to make a few comments about this might leave us wondering still little. What law is this talking about? The Westminster standards speak of moral, ceremonial and judicial laws and state that only the moral laws continue into the new covenant. So here we have a classification system. This is not a biblical classification system. This is an external classification system. Bonson and theonomy and ethics. speaks of standing laws, policy directives applicable over time to classes of individuals and civil precepts as continuing into the new covenant. He would broaden it a little more than a little more of it continues into the new covenant and would exclude ceremonial primarily and a number of other individualized kind of laws. Again, as you work through these things and look at them, they're not simple matters. They're very difficult and very complex, for example, Westminster Confessions say the Ten Commandments, the moral law continues. Yet the Lord's Day has clearly been altered and transformed. It does not continue precisely. And when we look at any particular law, is it an easy matter to tell if it falls into one of these categories? I don't know about you. If you've looked at them very much and puzzled over very much, this is not an easy thing at all. Some of them seem fairly clear cut, but. Many of them are gray and very hard to sort out and determine by these simple rules whether they continue intact or not. Not a trivial matter at all. Verne Poitras has in his book The Shadow of Christ and the Law of Moses talks about this extensively. And if you haven't read that, I'd recommend the book. But his point is. The law going back to passages like this and Galatians, it's hard to separate this out. Instead, we must be very careful in that, that the law, the scripture speaks of the law as complete, whole fabric, not separated into these isolated pieces. And so when we look at the law, we have to be careful. Does that mean there are laws that can be thrown out? No, we look at look at the ones that are about ceremonial, which are classified as ceremonial. Those are the ones that most obviously have changed. And it's easy to see they've changed. There's no question about it. I mentioned a whole bunch of them earlier and there are many, many more. But the substance of them behind them has not gone away. We still practice not the Sabbath, but the Lord's Day. There's something eternal about that. There's something fundamental there. And all of the laws have that nature to them. There's something fundamental about them. We need to discern what it is and sort it out when it comes to picking a particular law and saying this one continues. We need to be a little careful. For example, I might say penalty for murder. Does that continue? Is that a law that continues? And certainly we would all agree with that. I think I don't think you'd find anybody anywhere who would disagree with that. But when you start looking through all the individual case laws about what the penalty is under various circumstance, now it might get a little bit gray, a little gray. And there Poitras goes to any notes. Some of these have ceremonial aspects. Now, just give one example of this. This is an example given by Jordan. He says, if you look at Deuteronomy 22, 10, and I'm going to read from the NIV says, do not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together. Now, that's an interesting law. Interesting from several respects. First off, why would you put a law like that in there? Is there some great eternal order that gets broken when you put a donkey and an ox together? It seems like an odd thing to put a law, make a law about second. This would apply, you know, farmers. We should go ask farmers that they put donkeys and oxes together when they want to plow the land. I think not. We would find, you know, donkeys and oxes don't have the same pull. They don't work together too well. You know, your your your plows going to wander all over the place. It's going to be a continual chore to keep it in a straight line. You wouldn't do that. So what is this law about here? Why is it here? Jordan points out that. When we look at the law, it's mixed with all sorts of other things. It's not just a simple law code like you'd read in our law books or any law book for that matter. It's full of wisdom things and it's full of other kinds of things. As we've just seen, it's full of prophetic matters about Christ. It's full of all sorts of things, not a simple law, not simple to interpret in that regard. Jordan points out that, of course, we do have an application of this law. Not in the old covenant, but in the new, about being unequally yoked in marriage. Is that what the law was intended for? It seems likely that's certainly a strong part of it, that its intention is for that situation. But that asks, then, what kind of a law is it? Is it a moral law? Is it a civil law? Is it a ceremonial law? Just what kind of a law is that? Well, this is just a single example. We could go through lots and lots of these. I'm not going to go through any more of these today. But it is difficult to sort these out and make a simple classification scheme. On the other hand. On the other hand, it is easy to take. Well, maybe not easy, but but easier to take the passage I just read about all law being applicable, all law being of value in training and righteousness in and so on. The passage said there that all law is valuable to us and is not to be ignored or forgotten. It is to be studied. It's to be meditated on. It's to be looked at. It's to see how it would apply to us today. Some will apply exactly. Some will apply with considerable change, but all of it is relevant and informs us of who God is and what he desires of us and should not be set aside. And so this is an area that separates reform thinking strongly from other branches, from other groups and churches in Christianity. How do we approach the law? Is it a good thing? Yes. Is it perfect and holy? Yes. Does it speak of Christ? Yes. Then why would we say it should be set aside that is no longer of any use and it should be ignored? So. As we've gone through this, then we've seen that Paul's argument is first that it's not essential to our salvation. That our salvation flows from the line of promise from Abraham. That it was added on to. It was added due to sin to begin to move the people and train them to teach them matters of right and wrong, teach them how to approach God, teach them of what goes on in heavenly places and so on. It speaks of Christ and his work. Jordan notes. Let's look, Matthew five, 17 and 18, I want to touch on that just briefly. As many of us are familiar with, kind of the cornerstone of thinking about the law. Do you not think 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. A difficult passage at best. And how do we interpret that? Jordan notes that. Clearly, Johnson titles have passed. Many, many laws, those which others would classify as ceremonial, have changed very significantly. Johnson said, oh, you know, that's a little mark in a word in Hebrew. And so it's talking about not just the words of passing away, but even the things that make up the words. Nothing's going to pass away. Every detail intact. Jordan says, now let's say, you know, clearly Johnson titles have changed and passed away. So how do we interpret the passage then? He suggests that the best way is to think of it in light of the fact that. The heavens and earth have passed away, that with Christ coming, an age has passed, that we are in a new creation. All things are being made new. And consequently, as we read earlier in Hebrews with a change in the priesthood, there's a change of the law. There is changes here. The change isn't a discarding of the law. The change is a. showing us the deeper meaning, the proper way to fulfill the how to go about using it in a better way. So that's what it's about. And it's not that it's the passage doesn't mean that it just disappeared or that it stays eternal, as many would state it, that all things stay. Now, this doesn't break it out here into components. It doesn't say the ceremonial law will continue indefinitely or the moral law or will fall away immediately in the ceremony and the moral law will continue indefinitely. There's no discussion of that sort of thing here. So you suggest that that's the case. And this would be consistent with passages like in Isaiah, where it talks about a new heavens and a new earth, and they shall live to be 100 years old. Sounds like he's talking about our period now in the new in the new creation. And Jordan writes of that in a variety of places. So we now live in a new heaven and a new earth and Christ has come. The shadows have passed away. Things have been made new. We are now in the realities of which those shadows spoke. And which they taught. As evidence of that, he points out, if you look at Christ's miracles in the past, if somebody touched someone who had leprosy, they became unclean. When Christ touches someone with leprosy, he doesn't become unclean. They become clean. Good is overcoming evil. And the world has changed in that regard. A significant change due to Christ's coming and the reality and the power of who he is and his presence. So where does that leave the law? Again, Jordan suggests we should not think in terms of continuity and discontinuity, but rather in terms of applicability. And the question is not quite so difficult. All law, all scripture is given by inspiration and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction and righteousness that the man of God may be complete. It is applicable. The question is, how do we apply it to us? Well, conclusion, Christ's work is founded upon old covenant promises. Christ's office of priest follows from Melchizedek before the law, the law and the prophets were added due to transgression, and they are about Christ. The law is useful to us for a variety of reasons, but not necessarily every jot and tittle. When we look at applications of this, as I started the sermon today, they are everywhere. We apply this everywhere. We look at our worship service. It draws from the covenant renewal. It draws from the Old Testament sacrifices and orders and informs our service and how we come before him. We look at our Lord's Day that we practice on Sundays rather than the Sabbath, because we celebrate not redemption from Israel, but we celebrate redemption in Christ and his work, new creations in him. We look at infant baptism and communion clearly founded upon Old Covenant principles. The purposes of marriage, the nature of marriage and issues such as homosexuality and so on, come strongly from the Old Covenant teaching that's there about purposes God has made us for civil laws regarding murder, theft, justice, such things. We rely heavily upon those in our civil code and, of course, the Ten Commandments itself. regarded very highly throughout Christendom and rightfully, properly so. We may not apply every jot and tittle of the law, but we recognize the strong necessity of upholding the meaning and equity of all of the law and in many cases, specific details of the law. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for your word that and the richness of it that gives us just a small glimpse into who you are and your purposes for us. And over the ages, how you have led us to understand you, to understand more specifically Jesus and his work on our behalf of his priestly office, his kingly office. Father, we thank you for. How you have taught us to apply these things in our daily lives, in our church lives, our family lives, our civil lives and every aspect of who we are in this world. We ask for your continued wisdom and guidance as we seek to please you on these matters. We ask it in Jesus name. Amen.