An Overview of Right Division. Part 3

[0:00] The wonderful paddit contains a number of principles, and the one that just kind of jumps off the page to me is the principle of the freedom of conscience, which is a very important and integral part of the Christian faith.

[0:13] Freedom of conscience simply means that there are areas in which believers may sincerely and honestly disagree, holding different convictions about different kinds of things, and we are to be eager to allow each to his own conscience and his own freedom.

[0:33] This is the principle of Christianity that stands tall among a number of other faiths. There are certain other world religions that will not allow people the freedom of conscience.

[0:46] You do not have the right to believe as you choose to believe. You only have the right to believe what we tell you, and that's a dictatorial kind of an approach, but there are those who exist doing that throughout the world.

[1:01] The Bible recognizes that God has created us with a volition, with a will, and that gives us the power to make choices, and that also becomes the basis for our accountability.

[1:14] It is because we have the ability to do right and wrong that there is a time of accounting in regard to our use of our volition.

[1:29] So that's just one thing that comes into play in this text, and right now we are considering some of the more, shall I say, basic issues that are found in Scripture that have since given way to the progress of doctrine, and that they are no longer in force.

[1:51] We find many of these contrasting between the Old and the New Covenant, and we're going to just deal briefly with a couple of them. We've already touched a little bit on the principle of substitution, which is ingrained into Judaism.

[2:06] It's very much a part of Judaism. It's perhaps their core or central institution, that is, that of animal sacrifice. And the second is circumcision.

[2:19] For the male child born of Jewish parents to be circumcised on the eighth day of his life. And the word circumcised simply means to cut around.

[2:31] And this forever branded that child at the age of eight days for the rest of his life, that it reminded him he was a child of the covenant, he was dedicated to God, and he is responsible to God.

[2:45] And that was a permanent way of instilling in the male that that was so. I wonder about people today with all of the tattoos and things, because, you know, the scriptures make it quite clear that this is unacceptable to the Lord, that we are not to deface the body that way.

[3:04] But then again, that is pretty much a Jewish thing, it's an Old Testament concept, and people are having all kinds of tattoos and things like that today, many of which they will probably regret later in life.

[3:16] But nonetheless, that's their freedom of their conscience to do that. And the passage that was read has to do with diets and with days to be observed.

[3:28] So in addition to the Jewish sacrificial system and the institution of circumcision, there is also the institution of the Sabbath.

[3:39] And I think we can safely call those the big three of Judaism, having to do with animal sacrifice, circumcision, and Sabbatarianism, or the maintenance of the Sabbath as the seventh day of the week.

[3:55] It is to be reserved and kept holy unto the Lord. There is a great deal of confusion that surrounds this whole concept of the Sabbath, and I would like to expound on that just a little bit, because it is important that you understand the difference between that which was required of Israel during the Old Covenant times and actually extending into the New Testament, because we certainly find it in the book of Acts and also in the Gospels.

[4:27] But insofar as Christians and the Sabbath is concerned, there is a great deal of confusion that remains even to this day. We are familiar, at least those of us with a little sufficient maturity on our part, we are familiar with the Blue Laws.

[4:48] And they were called the Blue Laws because originally when this was produced, it came out on blue paper, of all things, and it was labeled the Blue Laws.

[5:00] I don't know exactly when they were originated, but I'm sure, like everything else, you can Google it and find out when the Blue Laws were instituted. At any rate, there were probably few places in the whole country that were as committed to the violate or committed to the upholding of the Blue Laws, probably no more than the state of Pennsylvania, and in particular, the city of Philadelphia, founded by William Penn.

[5:33] And this was back in the days when the Old Testament was looked upon as something that was as vital for Christians as it is for the Jews.

[5:45] Now, fortunately, most of the population has moved away from that, but it is not because of religious conviction or religious enlightenment. It's just because of carelessness on the part of so many.

[5:59] But I can well remember years ago the difficulty that baseball schedulers had in trying to arrange for games to be played in Philadelphia.

[6:10] This was back in the days when there was the Philadelphia Athletics and the Philadelphia Phillies. They had a National League team and an American League team, both there in Philadelphia.

[6:22] And all the other states throughout the nation that had their baseball teams, they played a full schedule of seven days a week or whatever the schedule required. But in Philadelphia, you couldn't play baseball on Sunday.

[6:35] Neither the Nationals nor the American League. So it gave the schedulers fits trying to coordinate that so the teams could come in and play baseball in Cincinnati, but it couldn't be on a Sunday.

[6:48] Well, that's all changed. That's all changed. And it's probably for the best, because there is no valid basis at all for Sabbatarianism in Christianity.

[6:58] And yet you'd be surprised at confusion that reigns supreme in connection with that. For instance, I could remember, easily remember, that the thinking was that everything that was forbidden for the Jewish people to do on Saturday is now forbidden for Christians to do on Sunday.

[7:23] And that included work. I don't know how many of you are familiar with the South or the Deep South, but you will find much of this sentiment still existing down there in a lot of places where everything closes down on Sunday.

[7:39] And to a certain degree, we have that right here in the United States. But for most of them, it is not based on a religious conviction, although it may have been at one time, but now it's based on more or less convenience, giving people a day off, allowing families to spend time together, etc.

[7:55] I can assure you that the vast majority of people who are opposed to working on Sunday are not in church on Sunday.

[8:07] Think of that. Most of the people who are opposed to people working on Sunday, it isn't because they feel compelled to go to church on Sunday.

[8:18] It's because they want the day off. And that's par for the course. That's just the way it is. So what is the Christian response to this Sunday thing, anyway?

[8:30] Some are of the opinion that the Sabbath, which literally means seven, it's in the Hebrew, it's Shabbat. S-H-A-U-V-O-T, they would pronounce it.

[8:44] It's Shabbat. And some call it Shabbat. But at any rate, it's Sabbath, and it means the seventh day. In the Bible, time is reckoning from the evening till the morning.

[8:57] In fact, just for getting it on the record, let's go back all the way to Genesis chapter 1. Genesis chapter 1.

[9:09] In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void and darkness.

[9:20] That was the order. I can't say it was the order of the day, because there wasn't any day. But that was just the way it was when it began. In the beginning, verse 1, it was darkness over the surface of the deep.

[9:34] The Spirit of God moved on the face of the surface of the waters. And God said, let there be light. So we start with darkness, all right?

[9:44] We start with what we could call night, nighttime. God saw that the light was good. God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day.

[9:57] And the darkness he called night. And you've got to remember, it started out with darkness, and then the light came. And that's why there was evening, and there was morning.

[10:12] One day. So when the beginning began, it began with nighttime. And then day followed that. Light followed that.

[10:22] So ever in the Bible, the reckoning is, days are from morning till evening. And it's just about the opposite with us. Because we tend to think of a day as starting out in the morning.

[10:35] Usually when you rise from bed, we call that morning. We go through the day. Then later on, it starts getting dark. And then it gets really dark. And then it gets up to midnight. So we call it pretty much day and night.

[10:50] But the Bible calls it night and day. So in the Jewish economy and in the biblical economy, which they followed rather strenuously, or at least attempted to, the Sabbath began with sundown.

[11:05] Friday. Friday at sundown. And it lasted until Saturday at sundown. And some are of the opinion that it was the Pope that changed it from Saturday to Sunday.

[11:21] But there is no valid record that would indicate that. I suspect that it changed rather gradually. And it did so because of the connection of Christ being raised from the dead on the first day of the week.

[11:36] But when was the first day of the week? When did the first day of the week begin? The first day of the week began Saturday at sundown.

[11:48] And it lasted until Sunday at sundown. That was the first day of the week. So it still is.

[12:01] The Sabbath has not changed. The Jewish Sabbath remains sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. And when Christians changed it, or at least became accustomed to it over a period of time, it very likely was because we are convinced that Christ rose from the grave on Sunday morning.

[12:24] But the Bible doesn't say that. It just says that when the women came to the tomb, it was still dark. So we are talking about very early in the morning, before daylight.

[12:38] And the tomb was already empty. So when did the first day of the week begin? It began Saturday evening at sundown. For all practical purposes, Jesus may very well have risen from the dead 8 or 9 o'clock on Saturday evening.

[12:56] Tradition tells us that it was a sunrise thing. But that's not valid because we know when the women got there, it was still dark.

[13:09] He was already gone. So most tend to think that, well, he just rose 15 minutes before they got there. Well, we don't know exactly when it was, but it could have been as early as Saturday evening.

[13:19] Because that is the biblical first day of the week. It begins sundown, Saturday. Well, how then and when did this Sunday morning thing come about?

[13:32] Well, it started in Europe. And it goes all the way back to when Europe, as well as the United States at the time, it actually just predates the U.S. of A., was pretty much an aggregarian society.

[13:45] Everything was focused upon agriculture. And by the time people got up on a Sunday morning, got the chores done, got everything together, got the rig saddled or harnessed up or whatever they had to do, it was probably 10 or 11 o'clock before they could get away and go to church.

[14:04] And most people were within walking distance or a short horseback ride or carriage ride to the local church. And that is how and why church services began on Sunday morning around 10 or 11 o'clock.

[14:19] And it has been that way ever since. Now, if you really want to be biblical, you ought to be here Saturday night. But because we are under grace and not under law, we don't have to be.

[14:35] So what are we going to do about this? It was a real item back in Romans chapter 14, the passage that Gary read earlier. So let's return to it, if we may. Sabbath keeping.

[14:46] And what does that involve? In the first place, we are not under law. We are under grace. Well, that means then that you don't have to keep the Sabbath either Saturday or Sunday.

[14:58] That is true. Now, there are some good folks, and I'm sure you probably know some, who are called Seventh-day Adventists. And they have come a long way in their doctrinal position, because I can remember early in my Christian life when Seventh-day Adventists made it very clear and publicized it with no question involved, that those who worshiped God on Sunday had the mark of the beast upon them.

[15:32] They actually taught that in some of their doctrine. I think they're a little bit embarrassed by it now, because Seventh-day Adventist people that I've talked to have come a long way from that, and most of them are pretty evangelical, and they see Christ as their only hope for salvation.

[15:48] But they are still very much committed to worshiping on Saturday, because that's when they believe. And you know what? I wouldn't make them stop if I could.

[16:01] I believe they're wrong. But who am I to violate their freedom of conscience, if they honestly see it that way? I disagree, but I'm not going to disown them for it.

[16:15] I'm not going to call them some terrible name for it. You know, I don't know that God respects anything more than our being true to our own convictions and what we believe to be right, even if we're wrong.

[16:32] I think God honors the intent of the heart. That's very large with Him. And we can be wrong about something, but if we're wrong about it with the right attitude, I think God respects that.

[16:45] And you know when it comes down to something like salvation, it doesn't take very much. It doesn't take very much to become a Christian. There aren't a lot of hoops to jump through.

[16:57] It's just an acknowledgement that you are a sinner, and that Jesus is the Savior, and He's the only one in that business. So you go to Him, and you acknowledge, and admit your sin, and you put your faith and trust in Him for your salvation, and that's it.

[17:12] And there aren't a bunch of hoops to jump through. Well, of course, there are a whole lot of things to learn to embellish and improve and increase the enjoyment of your Christian life afterwards. But it doesn't take much to be saved.

[17:24] It really doesn't. We can thank God for that. So freedom of conscience really comes into play. And here in Romans chapter 14, this obviously was a big issue with the people in the first century, and I'm sure there are people who probably broke fellowship over this.

[17:42] And Paul is talking about one man, verse 2, has faith. That means he has convictions. He has principles. He has a belief that he may eat all things.

[17:55] Yes, that would probably even include those delicious sausage and cheese bowls that were back there on the table. I had a couple of those that were really good.

[18:06] You know, but that's sausage. And who does sausage, where does sausage come from? Oink, oink. Yeah, well, that's off limits, you know. And so is bacon, and so is ham, and all of that good stuff.

[18:19] But this one man here believes that he may eat all things. And would that all things include, God forbid, shrimp?

[18:32] No. And crab? And catfish? You know, catfish are unclean. They're bottom feeders, and they don't have scales.

[18:46] But they sure are good when you fix them right. Delicious, you know. But some have a conviction against that. Now, if somebody says, oh, I just don't believe that I eat.

[18:57] I'm saying, well, I think you're wrong, but I'm not going to argue with you. Go ahead and do it as unto the Lord. And that's what the writer here, that's what Paul is saying. But he who is weak, now, that might not be considered a compliment, but actually it means, literally, it means one who is not fully appraised of the situation, doesn't understand.

[19:20] But he's got his convictions. And you need to honor somebody's freedom of conscience. He is weak. He eats vegetables only. And back to our Seventh-day Adventist friends, by the way, and I know some of these people are dear believers.

[19:33] They know the Lord Jesus Christ, but they're really stuck on this thing of vegetarianism. They will not eat meat. I remember I went down to Kettering Hospital several years ago to visit somebody who was going to be there for surgery.

[19:46] And I was talking with one of the personnel that worked there and got acquainted a little bit. And they said, I want to invite you to lunch. And I said, okay, while the patient's in surgery, we'll have lunch.

[19:59] And I looked at the menu, and he says, now, of course, you realize, he said, this is Kettering Hospital, this Seventh-day Adventist Hospital. We don't serve meat. But we don't have hamburgers, but we have soy burgers.

[20:13] And they are delicious. You can't tell the difference between a soy burger and a hamburger. They are just wonderful. And they're so healthy. And so I said, yeah, well, okay, I'll try one.

[20:25] I took one bite of that thing, and I never tasted anything so awful in my life. I mean, it was terrible to wolf it down, and I didn't want to appear ungrateful because he was buying.

[20:39] I didn't want to appear ungrateful or anything. But I tell you what, I didn't ask for seconds. You just can't beat a good old Wendy Sandberg or something like that. So anyway, they have their convictions, and they are entitled.

[20:54] And, you know, you can apply this to so many areas, like the conscientious objectors in the military. I fully disagree with their position of being a conscientious objector.

[21:05] But I'm not going to badmouth their conviction or their sincerity. I just disagree with them. You love them in the Lord, but I just don't see it that way.

[21:18] And I don't know if any of you saw the film recently released, Hacksaw Ridge. Quite an amazing film.

[21:30] And the whole thing was this story about this kid who was a conscientious objector. And he took a beating in basic training because everybody ridiculed him and pounded on him and insulted him and criticized him and made fun of him and everything because he didn't want anything to do with a weapon.

[21:49] He didn't want anything to do with a gun. He just believed it was wrong to handle a weapon that was designed to take somebody's life, no matter who that was. And the man had incredible...

[21:59] This is a true story, by the way. The man had incredible courage of his convictions. And when push came to shove and one of these horrendous battles, it was just a terrible bloodletting.

[22:10] And this was Korea, by the way. This man, unarmed, went in under fire and made arrangements to physically, individually carry out men on the field who had been wounded and were unable to move.

[22:30] And he physically carried them out to safety. I don't know how many... Literally, it was a couple of dozen who wouldn't have even survived the battle had they not been rescued. And that young man showed more grit and more courage by being willing to do that.

[22:47] And I tell you, my hat's off to somebody like that. I disagree with his position regarding militarism and arms. I think George Patton was right. The secret to winning wars is not to go out there and die for your country, but it's to make the other SOB die for his country.

[23:04] That's the plain truth of it. You know, that's conflict. That's what it's all about. That's why this America is birthed, really, because we were committed to that at one time.

[23:16] So conscientious objectors, my hat's off to them. I don't agree with them, but I will fight for their right to hold their position because they are being true to their conscience.

[23:27] And that's what this passage is about. It's allowing someone to disagree with you and to respect them for it, even though you disagree.

[23:38] So he goes on to say, let not him who eats regard with contempt. And that means don't look down your nose and regard someone as inferior because they disagree with you.

[23:55] Let not him who eats regard with contempt him who does not eat. And let not him who does not eat judge him who eats.

[24:06] For God has accepted him. Good grief, Charlie Brown. What the text is saying, God has accepted him. What in the world gives you the right to reject somebody that God has accepted?

[24:21] That's the argument here. If God has accepted him, who are you to refuse him? So you embrace him, you love him, and you disagree with him.

[24:33] That's okay. We can agree to disagree. That's what the text is talking about. Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls.

[24:44] When this thing plays out and the big showdown comes and everybody's going to give an account, those who are there, they're not going to give an account to you. They're going to give an account to the Lord.

[24:57] And that's what we need to keep in mind. One man, verse 5, one man regards one day above another. Now he's talking, it isn't used here, the word isn't used, but I'm confident this is what he's getting at.

[25:11] He's getting at Sabbath keeping and the feast days, keeping the feast days and all the rest. And you know, the Jew, the male Jew, 20 years of age and upward, was regarded, was required to present himself before the Lord for one of the feasts in Jerusalem.

[25:31] And it was either Passover, Pentecost, or a feast of tabernacles. And he had to go to present himself before the Lord. And how you did that was you went to the temple and you purchased an animal for sacrifice.

[25:43] And you went into the temple and you presented the animal to the priest and the priest would examine it and look it over, make sure it didn't have any defects or anything like that. And it was acceptable for sacrifice. And then he would offer it.

[25:54] And that was you presenting yourself in the person of that sacrificial animal before the Lord. And you were to do that once a year to any one of these three feasts.

[26:05] And that was part of the Jewish requirement as well as the whole sacrificial system and the Sabbath keeping. One man regards one day above another.

[26:15] And that, of course, would be the Sabbath. Another regards every day alike. Do you see anything strange about that phrase? Anybody? Another regards every day alike.

[26:30] Well, I'm using a New American Standard here. And in my translation, the word alike is in italics. Is it in yours? Do you know what that means?

[26:44] That means the word is not there in the original. But the translators put it there because they thought it would help you to understand.

[26:55] But what it does is it confuses the issue even more because what this is actually saying is one man regards one day above another.

[27:08] Another regards every day. Period. Period. What does that mean? That means for the believer in Jesus Christ, every day is the Lord's day.

[27:20] Every day. Not just one day out of the week. We've got too many, as it were, we've got too many people who practice their religion on Sunday and live like the devil through the week.

[27:32] And you know what these people are called by those who are looking on? Hypocrites. Hypocrites. We are to live every day as unto the Lord.

[27:44] Not just one day a week. That's not the day, well, on Sunday you're not supposed to do this, you're not supposed to do that. And you know, we bring that over from Judaism and try to apply it to Christianity.

[27:57] And they were not allowed to work. There was a Sabbath day's journey which is so many furlongs they could travel on a Sabbath day but no longer because it's a Sabbath. And they try to bring that over and apply it to Christianity and it just won't work because it's not supposed to.

[28:15] It was never given to Christians to do this. But in an effort to be loyal and true to the whole Bible, some people actually take the position, well, if it's in the Bible, you're supposed to do it.

[28:29] Oh, my goodness. Can you stop and think about that? What does that mean? Well, it not only means that you're supposed to keep the Sabbath, you're supposed to observe the dietary restrictions, you're supposed, oh, what about the animals?

[28:50] Oh, well, no, we don't want to kill the animals. And then they come up and they say, well, the animal sacrifice, because Christ died for the sins of the world, the animal thing is passe.

[29:01] We don't do that. We don't require that anymore. That's the Old Testament. But all the rest of the stuff you're supposed to do. Well, did anybody here travel more than a Sabbath day's journey to get here?

[29:15] You know what the Jew had to do to overcome that? And they had ways, because for every law that God gave, the Jews could come up with a loophole.

[29:27] They were brilliant about that. And one of them was this. You're supposed to travel Sabbath day's journey. You're not supposed to travel further from your home on the Sabbath more than a Sabbath day's journey.

[29:43] Now, it slips my mind exactly how long that was, but it can be defined. And let us just say for comparison purposes that it was a quarter of a mile.

[29:56] You could not travel from your home further than a quarter of a mile on the Sabbath day. So, you travel a quarter of a mile.

[30:07] Where you want to go is two miles away. What are you going to do? Well, you travel the quarter of a mile and you stop there. You pitch a little lean-to that provides you with some shade.

[30:21] You sit under it for five minutes and you declare, this is my home. Then you get up and strike your tent and you go another quarter of a mile.

[30:34] You see what I mean when I say loopholes, find ways around things. So, were they obeying the letter of the law? Yes.

[30:44] Yes. But what about the spirit of the law? They just fractured it. Jesus had continual conflict with the religious establishment over these very issues.

[30:56] He said, you make the word of God of none effect by all of your rules and regulations. You bind these things upon the hearts and minds of men that they are not able to endure.

[31:12] All these nitpicking requirements that you make of them. constantly, Jesus was having conflicts with the scribes and the Pharisees and the elders because they were always accusing him of breaking the Sabbath.

[31:29] Here's this guy with a withered hand. Hand like this. No good for years. Jesus said, stretch out your hand. The guy, well, there it is.

[31:40] And everybody should have been cheering and clapping and praising the Lord, but instead they walked up to him. Must you do that on the Sabbath? It is not lawful for you to do that on the Sabbath.

[31:54] They were accusing him being a physician and practicing medicine on the Sabbath. And Jesus said, you people are really something. Isn't this amazing?

[32:06] Now, if one of you has a poor, dumb ox that falls into a ditch on the Sabbath day, what are you going to do? You're going to go get your neighbors and collect everybody you can and get that poor animal out of that ditch and you do it on the Sabbath day because you have compassion for that animal.

[32:29] Is there something wrong with me having compassion for this poor man and healing him on the Sabbath? Is it lawful to do good or to do evil?

[32:41] And then, he dropped a real bombshell. He said, the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. Wow!

[32:53] That's another thing. Well, one man regards one day above another. Another regards every day alike. Let each be fully persuaded in his own mind.

[33:03] And then verse 6 talks about his real motivation for doing it and he is doing it as unto the Lord even though you may agree or disagree. Now, with all of this said about sacrifice, about circumcision, about Sabbath keeping, sacrifice, never, ever, never, ever, were in vogue.

[33:29] And listen, here's another important point. These principles, circumcision, Sabbath keeping, sacrifice, never, ever, were in vogue for the body of Christ.

[33:49] Never were. We are not under law, but under grace. These things were never to have been imposed upon the Christian church.

[34:01] And the only reason they are is because those who do so do not see or understand the transition, the development that took place between the old and the new.

[34:17] They don't make that distinction. They do not see the progression of doctrine, the development of this. And if you try to explain it to them, they come up with something like this.

[34:28] Well, I believe the whole Bible. And you only believe the part you like. No, that's nonsense. As that little booklet that I pointed out to you makes so clear, all of the Bible is for us, for our learning, for our blessing, for our understanding, for our appreciation, but not all of it is directed to us.

[34:53] And the circumcision and animal sacrifice and Sabbath keeping are just three of the things that were never addressed to us, never imposed upon us, never given for us, never intended for us.

[35:06] And yet, perhaps because of a sincere desire to be obedient to the Lord, there are those who mistakenly think we are supposed to observe those things and be under them.

[35:17] But we never were. The law of Moses that is set forth in the first five books of the Bible was never given, was never given to anyone but the children of Israel.

[35:31] Babylonians, Assyrians, had nothing to do with it, knew nothing about it. They had their own laws. It didn't have any effect on them. They were never given to them. They were never supposed to be. And yet, there are Christians today who feel compelled to adopt certain of these things.

[35:46] And you know, it's interesting, but you take something like the Ten Commandments, for instance. They say, well, we are under the moral obligations of the law. I have difficulty with that, too.

[36:00] Here's what we are under. We are under what the Apostle Paul, well, it's nearby. Come back to Romans 8, just a couple of pages. Here's what we're under.

[36:12] Doesn't mean, by the way, because we are not under the law, does not mean that we are lawless. Does not mean that Christians are antinomian. And here in Romans 8, verse 1, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

[36:37] For, the law, here's the law we're under. This is the law we're under. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

[36:54] We are not under law. We never were under that law. We are under grace. This does not mean that there are no requirements for you to follow because, interestingly enough, out of the Ten Commandments that God gives through Moses, which is really just a super boiling down of all of the law that he gave to Moses, out of all ten of those commandments, the Apostle Paul reiterates and refers to nine of them in his letters.

[37:35] Guess which one is missing? The Sabbath. It's not there.

[37:45] And that's exactly what Paul is saying in Romans 14. We are not under the Sabbath law. We are not under any of those laws.

[37:56] Well, if we are not under any of those laws, then which of those laws is Israel under today? And the answer is none of them.

[38:12] But how can that be? Jews today still go to synagogue on Saturday evening or Friday evening until Saturday.

[38:22] They still observe kosher kitchens. A lot of them do. They still have their children circumcised. But do you know? None of those things are required.

[38:34] And Jews who do those things today do them strictly on the basis of tradition not because God requires it.

[38:44] Do you know when God stopped requiring all those things? It was on Calvary. It was when that veil was split from top to bottom and God was effectively saying and it's found by the way in all three of the Gospels or the synoptics and found in John but it's found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

[39:02] The veil in the temple was rent and God was saying I'm done with this stuff. I'm done with this. This practice of Judaism is passé. And today and I don't mean to say this unkindly of our Jewish friends you know I have a heart for Israel and a love for the Jewish people but Judaism is defunct.

[39:29] It has no legitimacy today at all. None. And Jews who practice Judaism do so solely out of tradition and they may feel they may feel that they have an obligation to do that in order to please God and I respect their feelings but they're wrong.

[39:53] They don't. And yet there are many who practice and by the way I don't know if you know this but in Israel today only about 10% of the population is what would be called observant Jews.

[40:11] These are people who keep the Sabbath wear the kippah and observe the restrictions of the animals and the food that they eat and everything that caused a big ruckus and when McDonald's came into Jerusalem several years ago and opened up their shop they had Jews there in Jerusalem lined up around the block to get their McDonald's hamburgers this new thing had opened up and lo and behold when the powers that be in the religious establishment the rabbis found out that McDonald's was serving cheeseburgers they immediately protested and shut the place down because the Jewish law requires that you shall not see the kid in its mother's milk and boiled down in translation means you may not mix dairy and meat together and a cheeseburger is dairy and meat together and that is forbidden and you go to Israel today and you go to a McDonald's hamburger store in Israel and you will not find cheeseburgers on the menu hamburgers yes but not cheeseburgers because that's the way they view the law and you know something it's completely unnecessary but don't you try to tell them that because that's where their conviction is that's their freedom of conscience and I say hey you're entitled to it

[41:41] I think you're wrong I disagree with you but I'm not I'm not anti-semitic because of it I'm not going to try to kill you because I disagree with you but I just think that there's wrong this law of liberty in Christ Jesus that sets us free that's the law we are under and it's the law of love and the law of liberty and it by the way you read Pauline epistles and it makes a lot of demands upon us but they are demands that God has already provided you with the ability to fulfill because God makes no unreasonable demands lastly I want you to turn to Hosea a little book back in the Old Testament Hosea is right after Daniel there's a very important verse I want you to see there and it is where Israel is right now Hosea was speaking prophetically in chapter 3 talking about this woman Gomer adulteress that he was called upon to marry and to have children by and then well let's just read starting with chapter 1 chapter 3 the Lord said to me speaking to

[42:54] Hosea go again love a woman who is loved by her husband yet an adulteress it's a pretty tall order even as the Lord loves the sons of Israel though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes so I bought her for myself for 15 shekels of silver and a whore and a half of barley bought her off the slave block prostitution block woman that had just prostituted herself and Hosea is told go marry her and we look at that and say you've got to be kidding God couldn't possibly ask somebody to do that but this is a cultural thing that we don't understand and more than that it's a theological thing that we have difficulty understanding also but he says I bought her for myself for 15 shekels of silver and an homer and a half of barley and what this is all about what this is totally all about is God is using this relationship as an object lesson to illustrate his connection with the nation of

[44:03] Israel and he has done everything for them he has rescued them he has provided for them he has cared for them he has protected them and what did they do to show their gratitude they fell into idolatry and worshipped other gods and here is an object lesson that everybody could understand when Hosea takes this prostitute woman as his wife and everybody is looking on and saying what is wrong with that man why would he be willing to do that that's crazy and what God is saying hey isn't nearly as crazy as you as a nation forsaking me for these other gods that's what's being depicted here and then he says this monumental statement then I said to her you shall stay with me for many days you shall not play the harlot nor shall you have a man so I will also be toward you for or because here's the point he's getting at for the sons of

[45:05] Israel will remain for many days without king or prince without sacrifice or sacred pillar and without ephod or household idols sons of Israel will remain for many days when will that be right now they have been fulfilling this since 70 A.D.

[45:43] when the temple was destroyed Jerusalem was destroyed the Jews were scattered throughout the whole Mediterranean basin and ultimately throughout the whole world that's what this verse is speaking of that's where they are now that's why Judaism is a defunct religion it has no theological significance at all but don't try to tell the observant Jews that because they think it is very much in vogue and they are simply practicing their Judaism the same way their forefathers did thousands of years ago but what we are saying is scriptures make it quite clear that all ended at Calvary that all ended at Calvary and the time is coming when the Jewish people will see that and recognize it for what it is so all of these things reflect a tremendous change a paradigm shift of enormous proportions moving away from all that was required all of the detailed stuff all of the sacrifices the things we were reading in

[46:54] Leviticus and all of the ritual and everything and the preciseness of it all of that is passé it served a purpose at the time and largely what it did more than anything else it distinguished the difference between righteousness and holiness of God and the sinfulness of man that's what those Old Testament passages do more than anything else and Christ of course epitomized that and he became our sacrifice it's an amazing thing this book but if you do not understand or see the transition and the development of doctrine if you see it all as being static and it is all to be applied at one and the same time by one and the same people you have an absolute nightmare on your hands trying to make anything fit because nothing will when you understand it to be a development a progression of doctrine a transition and listen the very bullseye of this transition is the book of

[48:05] Acts that's why it is such a battleground for Christians because they don't understand that so you get Pentecostalism and you get everything else that goes along with it and it's all supported in the book of Acts because they do not see that as the transition point that's exactly what it was you can read the book of Acts if you're a fast reader you can read the whole thing in 30 minutes but it took 30 years for it to happen and when you understand that and see the development and the movement from things Jewish to things Gentile and Jewish two together in one new man it's just unbelievable the light that is shed on it it is just amazing so we've got a book that is in progress and if you don't see the progress you're not going to understand and by the way this is a very simple basic little place to start right here make sure you pick up one of these on the way out it it's very basic very simple and it's great to give to somebody who has never perhaps even considered the possibility that not everything in the

[49:16] Bible is to us even though it's all for us whatsoever things were written before time were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope would you pray with me please our father we know we've just once again scratched the surface of these incredible truths that have served so many so well for so long but the time has come it came at Calvary when they became passe and a whole new order was instituted a new administration everything changed because the death of Christ left nothing the same as it was and we are so grateful thank you so much for what you been pleased to reveal through your to the revelation that you gave to Moses with the revelation that you gave to Paul even after you had ascended to heaven you continued the revelation and

[50:17] Paul has passed it on to us we are so grateful thank you for the presence of each one here today we pray for further enlightenment as we study the scriptures that we may come to appreciate the scriptures more and will result in us loving you more and more consistently in Christ's name amen