Welcome to Sacramento central Seventh-day Adventist Church. Michael, annie, nancy and I are welcoming you and we're so glad that you are tuning in. Whether you're listening on the radio, watching live on our website at 'saccentral.org' or watching on the various television networks - it doesn't matter, we're just glad that you are tuning in and you are part of our extended Sabbath school family across the country and around the world. We want to start the program like we always do, singing your favorites and today, of course, is no exception. They keep coming in and we love to sing and we know you do too.
So let's start - 'tis love that makes us happy' - if you have a hymnal, turn in it to #579 and we will do all three stanzas. This comes as a request from marcia in australia, hayley in the british virgin islands, karl and maisie in France, Joel in new zealand, robert in papua, new guinnea, and there were several other wonderful places around the world that want to sing this with us as well. All three stanzas - #579. Such a simple song, but the message is profound. And I find that every day with a - and a 5-year-old - as I'm trying to teach, you know, how to be nice and kind, that it truly - when your children get that concept - and even as adults it's very easy to forget that sometimes.
But that is true happiness - when you are not thinking about yourself but you're making somebody else happy. So let's think about that through the rest of the day. That true happiness - it's that love in our hearts that, of course, only the Lord can give us, that will truly make us happy and make other people happy. Our next song - you're used to singing two songs with us, but I have an extra special song today and it's not us, it's erwin. And erwin nanasi has been in the states two and a half years.
He is from germany and he actually came to the states to go to afcoe, which is the Amazing Facts center of evangelism, and he stayed. And we love having erwin here in the states because he blesses us with his amazing talents on the piano and he is going to be playing for us 'when we all get to heaven'. I will let you know that he is also the music director - the resident composer at weimar college and he has done tremendous work with the college students at weimar - the choir - and teaching the music. So he's going to play for us right now, 'when we all get to heaven' and you are more than welcome, he said, to follow along in your hymnals - #633. Amen! Thank you erwin.
Erwin was playing out of the hymnals that you have, but I can tell you that what's written in the hymnal is not what he just played. And that is what inspires me and just makes me excited. When you can take God's - the talents that God has given you and play beautiful music like that. At this time, let's bow our heads for prayer. Father in Heaven, thank you so much for blessing us, for bringing us here, and for the beautiful music that we just heard from erwin.
And one day, when we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be. And the best part is that we'll finally get to see your face. And I pray that we will each be ready for that day. Please send your spirit and come and live in our hearts as we open up Your Word and we study together. Be with Pastor Doug Batchelor and thank you so much for his ministry here and around the world.
In Jesus' Name, amen. At this time our lesson study will be brought to us by Pastor Doug Batchelor. Thank you debbie. Erwin, that was beautiful. I love that song - when we get to heaven.
Morning. Happy Sabbath. I want to welcome - those who may be visiting here at central church today, I want to welcome always the extended class - people who are either watching online or by satellite or from around the world. And it's a privilege to be able to study the Word of God with you. We will be continuing today in lesson #2 in our new quarterly.
Of course, here at central we sort of live in the future. We tape a few weeks in advance so that we can get the programs closed captioned and edited and sent to the various satellite networks and - but before we do, we have a free offer. Today's lesson is going to talk a little bit about the feast days because we're going to be talking about Moses' law and Christ. And there's a free offer called 'feast days and Sabbaths' and we'll give it to you just by calling and asking. The number's there on your screen.
I know some listen to this program on radio so I say the number - 866-study-more - that's 866-788-3966. And when you call, ask for offer #179 and we'll be happy to send that to you. Also, our lesson is on 'Christ and the law of Moses'. Today we have a memory verse - 'Christ and the law of Moses' - and the memory verse comes to us from John 5:46 - I'll just read it out of the lesson here. This is the new revised standard version, John 5:46.
Will you say it with me? Are you ready? "If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me." Now, I run into it everywhere - people that believe that the law of Christ and the law of Moses are two different things. Actually, they are the same law and Christ is a perfect image of the law of Moses. Let me give you an illustration of that - now I gave out some verses I'm going to ask people to read, but there's one verse I did not give out so I need a volunteer. You don't have a slip of paper. I need someone, hopefully in the first few rows, that's willing to read for me Deuteronomy :15.
Hold up your hand if you're willing. We've got a hand right here. Let's get you a microphone. You can look that up for us, Deuteronomy chapter 18, verse 15. And the reason that I want to go to this verse is because Jesus really is a type - or I should say Moses was a type of Christ.
Jesus was the fulfillment of the mission of Moses and Moses foretold that that was going to happen. So when you talk about the law of Christ and the law of Moses, you're not talking about two different things because, as it says in our memory verse, 'if you believe Moses, you'd believe me; for he wrote about me.' Now where did - where did Moses write about Jesus? Go ahead, read that verse for us, please. the Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;" alright, this is a prophecy - a very important prophecy that all the jews knew about that someday God would raise up a prophet like Moses. Moses said 'like me' - God'll raise up a prophet. That's a pretty tall order because Moses went from being the very least - I mean, he's kind of retrieved floating around in the river - to not only being a leader in Egypt, but the founder of a new nation.
There's almost nobody else you could point to in the Bible that made a bigger difference in history than Moses did. Now let's look at some of the ways that Moses is like Christ. I want you to see how they are parallels in many respects so that as we talk about the law of Christ and the law of Moses, you won't think of them as opposing laws, but really, they're in concert. They're sort of in stereo with each other. Alright, let me give you some examples: John 1:21, "and they asked him" - John the baptist - "'what then? Are you Elijah?'" - Because when John started preaching - John the baptist - they thought he was Elijah returned - "'are you Elijah?' He said, 'I am not.
' 'Are you the prophet?' And he answered, 'no.'" - What do they mean 'the prophet'? Not talking about Elijah, who is 'the prophet'? They didn't know what the name of this prophet would be - a prophet like Moses - they just called him 'the prophet' because if he's like Moses he would be the ultimate prophet. Not the Messiah, but this ultimate prophet that would come. And John the baptist said, 'no.' Again you can read in John 1, verse 25 - they asked him - "why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?" Go, again, to John - the Gospel of John - 5:45, "'do not think that I shall accuse you to the father; there is one who accuses you - Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?'" That's sort of in our memory verse.
Let's go to - I tell you what, let's jump over to - yeah, acts chapter 3 - acts 3:22, "for Moses truly said unto the fathers, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me;" - now here, in the new testament, Peter's quoting what we just read in Deuteronomy. Moses said 'the Lord your God is going to raise up a prophet from your brethren, like me.' - "Him you shall hear in all things, whatever he says to you...yea, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days." - Now who is Peter talking about? He's talking about Christ as the fulfillment of that. Now listen to stephen - his last sermon before he dies - acts :37, "this is" - speaking of Jesus - "this is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, 'the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear.'" Is there any question that the new testament writers believed that Jesus was 'the prophet like Moses'? Isn't that pretty clear? Now you can jump to - well, here's another one - John 6:14, "then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, 'this is truly the prophet who is to come into the world.'" A prophet like Moses. As Moses led the children out of their slavery, Jesus was to lead people out of slavery from sin.
Go to 1 Corinthians 10, verse , "moreover brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses" - that's a strange phrase - 'baptized into Moses'? You ever been to a church where the pastor says, 'I now baptize you in the name of The Father, in the name of Moses and the name of the Holy Spirit'? Why do you say 'baptized into Moses'? Because as Moses led the people - Moses was a type of Christ in many ways - as we're about to see - as he led them through the wilderness, out of slavery, as Jesus leads us out of slavery - through the red sea - type of baptism - water baptism - through the pillar of fire - type of spirit baptism - and many other ways, Moses is a type of Christ here. So when we're talking about the law of Moses and the law of Christ, I just want you to have this backdrop that they really are parallels. Moses is the Jesus of the old testament in many ways - the great Savior. As Moses lifted up the serpent Jesus said, 'so The Son of man will be lifted up.' And then you get John 3:16 right after that. That was, by the way, John 3:14 and 15.
Alright, now look at some of the parallels of Moses and Jesus. Did Moses survive attempted baby genocide when he came into the world? Does Jesus survive an attempted baby genocide when he comes into the world? Okay, do I need to read you those verses? Exodus 1:22, Matthew 2:16? Was Moses born from slaves? Were his parents slaves? But did Moses ever serve as a slave? Was Jesus born from people who were sinners? But did he ever sin? Alright, let me just look at some of these others. There's many. I'm just going to touch the surface here. Was Moses saved after going through Egypt? Did Jesus go through Egypt before he was - began his ministry? And you can see here it says - Luke 2:40 - "and the child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon him.
" You look in Exodus 2:10, "and the child grew, and she brought him to pharaoh's daughter" - interesting, both Jesus and Moses use the same terminology 'and the child grew' and both came out of Egypt 'I've saved my son out of Egypt' it says. Did Moses refuse earthly wealth? You can read in Hebrews 11, verse 24, "by faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called The Son of pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." So he left the palace to save God's people. Did Jesus leave the palace to save God's people? He came from The Father. Did Jesus refuse earthly wealth? That's a struggle - a bigger struggle than you think. A lot of people say, 'well, no big deal.
' But if you were offered all the Kingdoms of the world and all their glory - if you could win 'who wants to be a billionaire?' You'd probably choose that instead of choosing the Kingdom of God. Again the devil took Jesus - this is Matthew 4:8 - "again, the devil took him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the Kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, 'all these things I will give you if you will fall down and worship me.'" Did Jesus refuse the earthly kingdom - the earthly wealth? Alright, Philippians 2, verses 7 and 8 - it says he "made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in the appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross." Did Moses find a woman at a well? Exodus 2:15, "now when pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled.
.." Did Moses go through the red sea and then go into the wilderness and sit by a well? Did Jesus, after his baptism, going through the sea, did he go into the wilderness tempted by the devil and then does he later sit down by a well and meet a woman? It says Moses sat down "in the land of midian...by a well." He ends up meeting one of seven that becomes his wife. Jesus meets this woman who's had five husbands, she has one living with him, none of them satisfied but she finds the Messiah in Christ who would be the seventh. Isn't that interesting? A woman at a well. I always like to stop whenever I find this. Where did Jacob - where did Jacob find his wife? Rachel? At a well.
Where did eliezer find a wife for Isaac? At a well. So I always tell all the singles when they here this, 'where do you need to hang out? Water cooler.' Right? Okay, was Moses a great law giver? Our lesson today is about Christ and his law - speaking of Christ and the law of Moses. Moses is known as the great law-giver. Matter of fact, just think about it - he took a nation - we know God gave him this information - he didn't dream it up, but here you have someone historically, that we know, took a nation that basically came out of slavery with nothing and gave them the best laws - and most of the laws in the world are, in some way, based upon the laws of Moses. Even Moses said - or God said to Moses, 'what nation is there that has righteous and just laws as you have?' I mean, it was just amazing the wisdom that came there.
So they're great law givers. Jesus said, John 13:34, "a new commandment I give unto you" - so is Jesus a law giver like Moses? Both were Judges. Exodus 18:13, "and so it was, on the next day, that Moses sat to judge the people; and the people stood before Moses from morning until evening." Moses was a judge. Was Jesus a judge? Is Jesus a judge? Corinthians 5:10, "for we must all" - that's everybody here - "we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body." So Moses is a great judge, Jesus is a great judge. Was Moses a good shepherd? Exodus 3:1, "now Moses was tending the flock of jethro his father-in-law.
..and he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to horeb, the mountain of God." And he started talking to bushes because he'd been there too long - the burning bush. Did Jesus - was he the good shepherd? Did he care for his father's sheep? Is he the one who is willing to lay down his life for the sheep? Interesting how many are shepherds: Joseph is a shepherd, David's a shepherd, Moses is a shepherd, Abraham's a shepherd, right? Types of Christ. Does Moses bring bread down from heaven? Or at least he feeds the people with his bread of life as a type of Christ? It comes from God. John 6:32 - Jesus said - so you don't have to question 'is Jesus a type of Moses?' Or Moses a type of Christ because Christ said so, John :32 "then Jesus said to them, 'most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but my father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.
' Then they said to him, 'Lord, give us this bread always.' And Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life.'" Alright, did Moses defeat a serpent in the wilderness? Remember when all those serpents came to the children of Israel? A plague of them? He lifted up a serpent on a staff and by looking in faith to that they lived? Did Jesus defeat the serpent in the wilderness when he was tempted by the devil there during the 40 days? Was Moses - did Moses come off a mountain shining? They couldn't even look at his face. Was Jesus shining on a mountain? And he came down to the valley and it says in Desire of Ages he was still shining and they could see, not only him, Peter, James and John were all kind of glowing that day. And you've got that in Matthew :2 and it says, "his face shone like the sun." Moses - it said he had to veil his face, verse 34 - Exodus 34, verse 33. Did they come down to teach and to save? After Jesus came down the mountain he taught. Moses came down from speaking with God, he taught the people and taught them how to be saved.
But wait, there's more. Did they attempt to stone Moses? Still talking about the parallel's between Moses and Christ. Did they? Exodus 17:4, "so Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, 'what shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me!'" And also in Numbers 14, the people were ready to stone Moses when those spies came back with an evil report. Did they attempt to stone Jesus? John 8:59, "then they took up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself." Did Moses fast for 40 days, 40 nights? Did Jesus? Yeah, on the mountain. Moses fasted 40 days and 40 nights.
Did Jesus fast 40 days and 40 nights? Who else fasted 40 days and 40 nights? Elijah. If you go to Mark chapter 9, what three individuals are on the mountain together? Moses, Jesus and Elijah all fasted 40 days and 40 nights. Did Moses lead 12 individuals? Did he have 12 leaders? Yeah, Numbers 1, verse 44 - most people don't know this verse - Numbers 1:44, "these are those that were numbered, which Moses and aaron numbered, and the princes of Israel, being twelve men." Did Jesus have 12 or do you need me to go to that verse? Do we all believe he had 12 apostles? Alright, I'll skip that. Not only did Jesus have twelve, Jesus had 70. Luke 10:1, "after these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two.
.." Did Exodus - did Exodus - did Moses also have 70? Exodus 24:9, "then went up Moses, and aaron, nadab, and abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel." So Jesus has got a group of 12 and 70 leaders. Moses has a group of 12 and 70 leaders. Do you see parallels here or am I just dreaming these things up? Did Jesus give up his spirit to others? Yeah, he said, 'I'll send' - well it's the Spirit of Christ - Christ said, 'the Holy Spirit will be with you and I am with you always through the Spirit.' He ascended to heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit. Moses did the same thing. And it says here that - in Numbers 11 - God said, "then I will come down and talk with you there" - Numbers 11:17 - "I will take of the Spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them.
" How many of you want the Spirit of Christ? Do we ever pray for the Spirit of Moses? See, what Moses did with the elders is a type of what Christ does with us and so it's real. Did Moses deliver the people from slavery? Does Jesus deliver us from slavery to the devil and sin? It says here in Luke 4:18, "the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives." - Liberty - Jesus came to set the captives free as Moses did. Did Moses build a temple? You're quiet for a class. Maybe you're thinking. Did Jesus build a temple? John 2:19, "Jesus answered.
..'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.'" What was he talking about? His body. And what is the church called? The body of Christ. 'What, know ye not that ye are the temple of God?' So Moses built a temple, Jesus has built a temple in this wilderness - it's his church - his body. Was Jesus meek? Are we guessing or does he say that? 'I am meek and lowly.' Was Moses known for being meek? Numbers 12:3, "(now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)" Now did Moses write that? Can a meek person write that they're meek? You heard about the man that won an award - he won a medal for being the most humble man in the town? But then he wore the medal and they took it away. So probably this is something that Joshua later added into the book of Numbers because Joshua, obviously the end of Moses' books - you get to the end of Deuteronomy it says Moses died and he was buried and all this stuff.
Moses didn't write that part so probably Joshua wrote some of these things - Joshua, who was Moses' attendant - he saw how meek he was and it says this connected with a story about how badly Moses was mistreated, but he didn't try for the highest position. Jesus was meek. Moses was meek. That's the opposite of the devil. Was Moses willing to sacrifice his life for God's people? Exodus 32:32, "yet now, if you will forgive their sin - but if not, I pray, blot me out of your book which you have written.
" And was Jesus willing to lay down his life? Did he face the second death there on the cross and separation from God that we might be forgiven? Alright, was Moses resurrected? You read in the book of Jude 1, verse 9, "yet Michael" - who was Christ - "the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses," - the devil said, 'you can't have him, he sinned. He's mine.' - He said, "'the Lord rebuke you!'" And we know Moses was resurrected because he appears to Jesus - resurrected - on the mount of transfiguration. And, of course, you all know Jesus was resurrected. Now, that's just a few of the types that I've got of Christ and Moses, but there are many of them. So when we talk about Christ and his law - Christ's and Moses' law - they're not at odds with each other, it's really one and the same.
But some of the ceremonial laws that Christ gave Moses pointed back to Christ to help us identify him. We'll talk more about that in just a moment. Alright, first section. Someone look up for me now, on circumcision and dedication, someone has John 7:22 - hold up your hand. Who has it? Over here? Okay, you're going to have to spin your camera 180 to get him.
And we'll get you a microphone. In the meantime, it's always a little bit - you talk about circumcision in the Bible and it can seem a little awkward, but it's in the Bible, we need to talk about it. Leviticus 12, verses 2 and 3, "speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'if a woman has conceived, and borne a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days; as in the days of her customary impurity." - Whenever there's any kind of body issue, whether it's a wound or a sore - and, of course, the woman's monthly cycle was considered in that category - you were considered unclean. And so, after birth that typically happens. And so for one week she was to be unclean "as in the days of her customary impurity" - but on the eighth day she was to bring the boy to the temple.
At that time he was to be circumcised and that was traditionally the time when his name was picked and it was registered. I know when stephen was born that we still had not made up our mind - of course, we didn't know until the day he was born whether it was a boy or girl. And they offered to tell us but they did a sonogram the day that Karen went into labor and we said, 'oh, at this point we may as well just wait.' They said, 'do you want to know?' I said, 'I don't know. We still don't know what the name is.' And so when we left the hospital they said, 'you've got to have a name on the birth certificate.' And so it just said, 'baby boy Batchelor'. So we finally came up with the name stephen.
So I called my dad and told my dad and my dad was all upset because my father's name was george edward Batchelor. My father named my brother george falcon Batchelor but my brother couldn't have any children and my step-brother opted not to name any kids after my dad and so when I had stephen - my dad's getting old now - he said, 'you could have named one after me. It's a family tradition.' So we felt really bad so we called back the hospital, we said, we want to add one more name. So we ended up with four names - george stephen edward Batchelor. But they used to do that on the eighth day and it talks about when they did that in the temple with Jesus.
The day that they brought him to be circumcised is that day. Matter of fact, who has that? John 7:22 why don't you read that for us? "Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath." Now, what was the purpose of circumcision? Several. For one thing, it represented that the holy seed - there was a consecration that God gave to Abraham that the holy seed would come through his family - his line. It also represented - and, you know, I'll try to be as delicate as I can be but one of the strongest drives - strongest animal drives in the world beside food, is the drive to reproduce - sex. And it was sort of demonstrating that God's people were not going to be controlled by the flesh but by the Spirit.
It was a cutting away of the flesh. It also represented a shedding of blood that took place. The first time that Christ shed blood in the temple was not when he died on the cross, it was when he was eight days old is when his first blood was shed. Now, if circumcision was all pointing to when the holy seed would come, Christ the Messiah, and if Jesus is the fulfillment of that, then why bother circumcising him? It all pointed to him, he may as well just go without because does circumcision matter now? Paul says, 'no'. I mean, there actually are some medical benefits, but if there's no requirement biblically, there are certain types of cancer that are avoided and - I won't get into that right now.
And that's why, even in the hospitals today, no matter what your religion is, they still offer circumcision for male children. But it's not required. Paul says, very clearly, 'circumcision is nothing. Uncircumcision is nothing.' And yet, Paul took Timothy and had him circumcised because it was going to be a stumbling block for Timothy who had a Jewish father and - oh no, he had a Jewish mother and gentile father - had not been circumcised and he didn't want it to be a stumbling block as he was preaching and doing ministry. So why did Jesus? Because he kept all the law.
'Why am I going to give all these laws to the people?' He kept the law of Moses in every respect. Now didn't they accuse Jesus of breaking the law of Moses? They accused him of Sabbath breaking. Did he break the Sabbath? He broke their traditions connected with it. They accused Jesus of being demon-possessed. Was he demon-possessed? They accused him of being a samaritan - he wasn't.
They accused him of being a glutton and a wine bibber. I say that because I've met pastors that say, 'oh, the Bible says Jesus got drunk. He knew how to party. It called him a glutton and a wine-bibber.' No, they accused him of that. He was not.
So they accused him of a lot of things and I just want that to be clear. Alright, a couple of other verses here on that subject - and I don't know if we have time to read that. Yeah, I'll read that real quick. Genesis 17:9, "and God said to Abraham: 'as for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant which you shall keep, between me and you and your descendants after you: every male child among you shall be circumcised; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh or your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.
" Exodus 13:2, "consecrate to me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and beast; it is mine." 'That you set apart it to the Lord all that open the womb, that is, every firstborn that comes from animal, which you have, all the males shall be the Lord's.' Why was it that all the male firstborns were to be consecrated to God? Because they were all types of Christ. Who was the firstborn of mary? It was Jesus. Jesus probably was the last born of mary too. Some people choke when I tell them that, but the other brothers and sisters that Jesus had were probably from a first family. Joseph was probably a widower and he had other children before Jesus.
It seems, from everything we read in the Bible, they were step-brothers, because why would Jesus commit his mother to John the apostle if she had other natural children? That doesn't make any sense. And if Jesus was the firstborn and he was leading all the others, it was very unusual for the firstborn to leave the family business and become an itinerant preacher. But the youngest, they often, you know, they could go off and do their own thing. You remember the firstborn stayed home with the - the story of the prodigal son? The young one, he went off to a far country. And so, it was very unusual - it would have been considered disrespectful for the firstborn son to leave the family business, but the younger were allowed a little more latitude that way.
Alright, so those firstborn were a type of Christ. Someone look up for me John 5:1. Who has that? Over here? We'll get you a microphone and I'll signal you when they get you focused there. In the meantime, I'm going to read Galatians 4, verses 4 and 5, "but when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons." Now this is a phrase that's used many times in the Bible: 'redeem those who are under the law.' What does it mean to be under the law? If you're a new testament Christian are you under the law? Does not being under the law mean you're no longer under an obligation to obey the law? Well, it's used two different ways. Are Christians law breakers or law keepers? So we're talking about two different kinds of law.
You've got the law of Christ, which we say is the new covenant, but the ten commandments certainly are included in that. Then there are certain ceremonial laws. But mostly, in Romans, when Paul says 'we're not under the law but under grace.' He means we are no longer under the penalty of the law because Christ saves us from the penalty. So if you've been saved from the penalty - you're no longer under the penalty - that doesn't mean you're free to break the law, it means you're free from the penalty of death. Now you have life.
And so some have taken that to mean - and haven't you heard it used that way? Someone says, you're not under the law, that means you can now break the law.' Wow. But they only preach that when it comes to the Sabbath. I've never heard a pastor stand up and say, 'you're all free to commit adultery. You're not under the law. You're all free to steal from each other, you're not under the law.
You're all free to lie, you're not under the law.' They don't ever use it that way until they hear the Sabbath truth then they say, 'oh no, we're not under the law, we're under grace.' Which seems a little bit suspicious. Okay, go ahead, read for us John :1. John 5:1, "after this there was a feast of the jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem." So did Jesus - he not only was circumcised according to the law of Moses - did he keep the feasts? Now how should a Christian relate to the feasts today? There were a number of feast laws. Are the feast laws different from the ten commandment laws? I touched on this a little last week, but I think it's important that I mention this because I run into a number of sincere Christians - I don't question their sincerity, but they've been caught up in this idea that, you know, a truth that has been missing is that we're, in the last days, supposed to be keeping all of the Jewish feasts. I respectfully disagree.
I think the Bible is exceeding clear, as is the Spirit of prophecy, that those are the laws that were nailed to the cross. It talks about those laws being nailed - the ceremonial laws that were in the outside of the ark - and stephen and I were looking for a verse last week on where the ceremonial laws were placed - it is Deuteronomy 30 or - they're placed in a pocket on the outside of the ark. Those are the laws that had to do with the feasts. The Ten Commandments are on the inside of the ark. Did the law 'do not kill' exist before the Ten Commandments? What about back during the time of cain and abel? Was it wrong back then? Did God call that a sin back then? Did the law regarding adultery exist before the ten commandments were written? Did Joseph know that adultery was a sin when he told potiphar's wife, 'how can I do this thing and sin against God?' So the Ten Commandments was not the origin of those principles.
They existed long before that - the Ten Commandments were all the way from the beginning. It's always been wrong to lie. It's always been wrong to steal. And so there's something different about those laws. There's something different about the moral law - the decalogue - in that God wrote it with his finger, spoke it with his voice, spoke it publicly to a nation, put it in the middle of the ark.
But did you have to keep the passover back in the garden of eden? No, there was no sin. Back in the days of Abraham, did they have the feast of trumpets? No. So all of these different laws, they came in connection with the Exodus experience because they were types of salvation. Now, is there benefit in studying these laws and keeping the Spiritual part of these laws? I think there is. Let me look at some of the feast days with you quickly.
And, of course, don't forget, that's our offer today is 'the feast days and Sabbaths' and you'll want to make a note of that because the number will be up at the end. Alright, first feast that we're going to look at is the passover. Look, for instance, in 1 Corinthians 5, verses 7 and 8, "therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our passover, was sacrificed for us." - So do we offer sacrifice - passover lambs anymore? Who is our passover lamb? Wouldn't it be silly now to go to Jerusalem once a year and try and keep the Jewish feasts the way the jews did? Wouldn't that be something of a denial of everything that it all pointed to in going back and sacrificing lambs? The jews don't even sacrifice lambs right now. It says Christ is our passover - "therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness," - he's showing there's spiritual analogies for the leaven.
There's an analogy for the lamb. It's Jesus - "but with the unleavened bread" - that's why Jesus said you do not put new wine in old wineskins. I think when people are trying to keep the feast days today they are trying to put the new wine of the Gospel in old wineskins and it's just going to burst the skins. It doesn't work. But is there something we can learn from the passover? Absolutely.
Look at the whole passover experience. Whenever you celebrate a communion service, that's how we keep the passover now. Sure we believe in the feasts, you might say, every communion service that we celebrate. We have the unleavened bread because it represents Christ was without sin, and we have the unfermented grape juice - a type of his pure life - pure blood - and so we're keeping the spiritual part of that feast, you might say. And then you've got the feast of unleavened bread.
I just talked about that. Exodus 34:18, "the feast of unleavened bread you shall keep. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you," - now, you know, one reason it says that they ate unleavened bread connected with the passover? They had to flee. They took their bread before it was even leavened. They wrapped it up and they took off from Egypt in haste.
So one of the reasons they ate unleavened bread is it was a symbol of their leaving in a hurry. And they also did that the night that the angel of judgment went by. That angel of judgment passes by us because the blood of the lamb is on the door of our hearts. Jesus said, 'I am the bread that came down from heaven.' Now, there's three kinds of leaven that Christ talks about: Mark :15 - he talks about the leaven of the pharisees, which was legalism and works. In Mark 8:15 also he says 'the leaven of herod' which is worldliness and presumption.
In Matthew 16:6 he talks about the leaven of the sadducees, which is disbelief in humanism. They didn't believe in a resurrection. They didn't believe in angels. So Christ tells us this leaven was a symbol of sin - there anyway. Alright, then you've got - that was the feast of unleavened bread.
Third feast, you've got the feast of offering the firstfruits. Corinthians 15:20, "but now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep." And even when Jesus went to heaven he took a group of people that were raised and they were like a firstfruits of those who will be raised when he comes again. Matthew 27:51 you find that. You've got the feast of pentecost. We've got the pentagon - why do they call it the pentagon? It's got five sides.
It's one of the biggest buildings in the world. Biggest building in the world is actually in romania - that nicolai ceausescu built - yeah, you would know that. And what do they call that, the parliament building? That building - what's the name of that building? Parliament - that thing is just enormous - bigger than the pentagon. They don't even use a fraction of it. But penta means five and - pentagram is a five-sided star they put a goat on and it's supposed to be something for devil worship.
But pentecost meant 50 days after the passover they had that celebration and it was called the feast of weeks. And it was a time - it represented when Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit. Leviticus 23:16, "count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord." The new church was born - the new grain. Yeah, there was a new harvest. Thousands were baptized and they call that the feast of weeks.
Alright, then you've got the feast of trumpets - I'm trying to go through this quickly - and that was in Leviticus 23, verse , "speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath-rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation." Now, with the feast days, were they weekly or annual? The Sabbaths that are nailed to the cross that it talks about in Colossians chapter 2? Are they weekly - is it the weekly Sabbaths or the annual Sabbaths? The Sabbath - the weekly Sabbath - that was never affected by the calendar. The annual Sabbaths, they fell on different days of the week every year and so you had the feast of trumpets. The children of Israel, when they entered the promised land and Joshua - they blew those trumpets. Does it talk about seven trumpets in Revelation? And so that - when Christ comes will a trumpet blow as we prepare to enter the promised land? "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye" - this is Corinthians 15:52, "at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
" the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout. The voice of the archangel - the trumpet of God - so there's a trumpet and that will be some feast there. Then you've got the day of atonement and this, of course, was in the fall and Christ is typified there. Leviticus 16:9 "and aaron shall bring the goat" - of the two goats they cast lots for - one is called the Lord's goat - "and offer it as a sin offering." Who is symbolized by the Lord's goat? Jesus. Who is symbolized by the scapegoat? A type of satan - he never is sacrificed, he just ends up paying for his own sin.
Then there's the feast of tabernacles - sukkot - the feast of booths - and it's when they remember the time that they were dwelling. And Jesus, during the feast of tabernacles, he said - John 7:37 - "on the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'" One of the things they did during the feast of booths is they remembered how God gave them water from a rock and fed them with bread from heaven. So that's just an overview of how all of those feasts that Jesus - that Moses had, pointed to Christ. Alright, 'Jesus and the temple'.
Someone look up for me Mark 14:48. Who got that one? We've got a hand right here. Now Moses had established a number of ceremonies connected with the Jewish temple and Jesus respected that. Okay, Karen, you can read that. "Then Jesus answered and said to them, 'have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to take me?" I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me.
But the Scriptures must be fulfilled." Now, during the life of Christ, did he acknowledge that there was some unique function and purpose for the temple that had been established by God? He went there for circumcision. He went there for - you know, now we call it a bar mitzvah, where in history bar mitzvah went from to 13, I don't know, but somewhere it shifted. Back in Christ's time they did it at 12. You were considered a man. And so he went then because he was finally old enough to participate.
That's probably when he went from being a child to understanding his life's mission. That's why he told his parents 'wist ye not I must be about my father's business?' And he had an epiphany when he was 12 years old about - there was something different about his mission at that time. Jesus taught daily. Why did Jesus chase the money changers out of the temple? And when he did that he said, 'my house - my Father's house - is to be a house of prayer for all nations. You've made it a den of thieves.
' He called it 'my Father's house'. But after they rejected the ministry of Jesus - three and a half years at the end of his ministry - he said, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down in the temple.' And he said, 'behold, your house is left to you desolate.' Something changed. You know when Christ died on the cross there was a transference. It's no longer the literal lamb, he is the lamb. The high priest tore his garments because it's no longer the old priesthood - new priesthood.
Veil in the temple was torn - no longer the old temple. Jesus said, 'I'll build a new temple', right? So the whole economy changed from the Jewish literal economy and the mosaic feasts to the reality of what Christ came to establish - that we are living stones in that temple. Okay, this'll be fun during this time of year. As April 15th is coming up - taxes - taxes in your lesson. Matthew 17, verse 24, "when they had come to capernaum, those who received the temple tax came to Peter and said, 'does your teacher not pay the temple tax?'" - And Peter, not knowing what to say - he didn't want to call down the feds - "he said, 'yes.
' And when he had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him," - he knew what had happened - "saying, 'what do you think, Simon? From whom do the Kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?'" - Of course, that's before America existed. Now we take it from everybody. Back in Christ's time, if you were a roman citizen, you were tax free. There were certain people that were not taxed. Matter of fact, when David offered to fight Goliath and he said, 'what's the reward for the one that kills the giant?' And he said, 'oh, he'll be free in Israel.
' That means the King - would mean his family is tax free. And so there were some who were declared tax free. Well, what the Romans did, and what many conquering countries did, is that their people were free but the conquered paid a tax. So that's why Jesus is asking this. 'What do you think, Peter, of whom do the Kings of the earth take customs?'" - Or taxes - "from their sons or from strangers?' Peter said to him, 'from strangers.
' Jesus said to him, 'then The Sons are free. Nevertheless,'" - in other words Christ is saying, 'I'm the King of this world. I don't owe anybody taxes.' But don't any of you go out and not pay your taxes and quote me on that and say, 'I'm a Christian, I don't' - that's not what I'm saying. He said, "nevertheless, lest we offend them, go to the sea,'" - this is great - "'cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for me and you.
'" Do any of you remember the Amazing Facts I told about a man that was fishing in rayburn lake in Texas and he caught a fish with a gold ring in its mouth and it had the name etched in it and he called the guy and he found the guy that had lost it 20 years earlier and reunited him with his - he thought it was a prank but he really did - he found his ring. He had lost it water skiing 20 years earlier. Anyway, and he said, 'you give it to me.' So I've always thought if you want money, do evangelism - go fishing - and that's how you grow a church financially, right? Someone has Romans 13:7 - very unpopular verse. Who has that? Hold up your hand. Right here.
Luke - pastor Luke, sorry. When he and I talk it's just Luke, but in your presence he's pastor Luke. Alright, go ahead, Romans 13:7. "Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor." How many of you enjoy paying taxes? Oh good, alright, well, we're not alone. How many of you think that we need to? You're glad we have a military? You're glad that we have paved streets? How many of you think the government wastes money? Well, you know, there's probably no government in the world that doesn't have a certain amount of waste.
That's true - it is a problem. But should we stop paying our taxes? No, you've got to do it. You just accept that whenever you have a government there's going to be some kind of abuse - there will be some kind of waste. You try to limit it but the Bible says you need to do it. You need to pay your taxes.
You know, our time is all up and I didn't - there was one more section I didn't get to. I apologize, friends, but I think we learned something. I want to remind you that we have a free offer that you'll find very edifying - a book by Joe Crews called 'feast days and Sabbaths' and it will explain some of the differences between the laws of Moses - ceremonial laws - and the laws of Christ. We'll send it to you for free, just call that number - -788-3966. Ask for this, read it, please share it with someone else and ask for offer #179 and we'll make that available.
God bless you. And we'll look forward to studying again together next week.