Hope Church LV Sermons
Jesus and the Law
Let me invite you to take your Bibles this morning and find your place in the New Testament Gospel of Matthew. Matthew chapter five is where we're gonna continue on and if you're visiting with us, we're going right through the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew chapter five, the greatest message ever preached by our Lord. And we're just taking that verse by verse, a little bit at a time. So we'll be in verse 17 here in just a minute. I wanna begin with a question this morning and you can just answer this in your heart. Please don't answer out loud. But the question is this, how well would you say that you know your Bible? How well would you say that you're familiar and how well do you know your Bible? Well, if you're like most Christians, you'd say, well, when it comes to the New Testament, I got a pretty good handle. You know, I know there's the Gospels, right? Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John kind of tells the life of Jesus and then Acts. I think it's the story of the church a little bit and then Paul wrote some letters in there, I think, to churches and then you wrap up well, that book of Revelation, I really have no idea what that book's talking about at all, but I know it's there and so you kind of have a handle on the New Testament. But if you were real honest, when it comes to the Old Testament, that'd be a different story entirely. You'd say something like, well, you know, I know creations in there somewhere, I think, probably near the beginning and a guy named Moses, I think it's pretty important in there. Ten commandments. I mean, I saw the movie Charlton Heston, I know about that. I've read some of the Psalms, I think you're pretty important. There's a guy in there, I think that had a really hard time. I think his name is Job or Job or something like that, but there's one guy in there named Malachi, I think he's the Italian guy, so I'm not sure, but. So if you're real honest, you'd say the Old Testament, still a little mysterious to be honest, a lot I don't know about it, not even really sure why it's there. Now the problem with that is when you look at your Bible, you take the New Testament, right there it is, see? But then you look at the Old Testament and it's two thirds of your Bible. And for many of us, two thirds of our Bible, we really have no idea if we were really honest and we're asked what purpose does the Old Testament play in my life as a Christian, you might not have any idea whatsoever. Well, Jesus is gonna help us with that a little bit this morning and answer some of those questions this morning, right out of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus is gonna help us with this today in Matthew chapter five because remember, when we talk about the Old Testament, what we call the Old Testament, that was the Bible Jesus read, right? That was the Bible Jesus had, it was the Bible he taught from, it was the Bible he preached from, it was the Bible he memorized, 20% of everything Jesus says in the New Testament is an Old Testament quotation. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, you remember the story, he was there in the wilderness and tempted by Satan for three different occasions and the Bible says, how did he handle temptation, remember? The Bible says he quoted from the Old Testament, the book of Deuteronomy. Now, how many of you, if your health spiritually depended on quoting Deuteronomy would be in trouble? Me too. So Jesus used this Old Testament, it was the Bible that he read. Now, in Jesus' day, it wasn't called the Old Testament, all right? The scriptures as we have them, Genesis through Malachi, it wasn't referred to as the Old Testament, it was referred to as sometimes called the law, sometimes it was referred to as the writings, sometimes referred to as scripture or the scriptures, very often it was referred to as the law and the prophets. That was kind of a collective term for Genesis through Malachi in that day would be called the law and the prophets. Now, Jesus is gonna say a couple things about the law and the prophets here in the Sermon on the Mount and to get the weight of what Jesus is saying, I wanna kind of set the context again for you. In this day that Jesus is preaching the Sermon on the Mount to a Jewish culture, if you were religious Jew in that day, the Old Testament scriptures were of supreme importance to you. I mean, you measured everything in your life by the Old Testament scriptures or by the law and the prophets. It meant everything to a Jew in that day, they were called the people of the book, the Pharisees, the religious leaders of that day, they were so committed to it, they memorized the first five books of the Old Testament. The Jews of that day would actually post sections or portions of scripture on their doorposts when you'd go into their home. Even some Jewish families do that today, they've got the little box called the mazua when you go into their home and it's scripture that they've posted there on their doorposts, why? They had a very high view of the Old Testament scriptures. So when Jesus steps on the scene in this Jewish culture, the question that many people have on their mind about Jesus is this, Jesus, what's your view of the scriptures? Jesus, how do you relate to the law of Moses and the prophets and all this body of teaching that we hold so dear? How do you relate to that, Jesus? A lot of people had a lot of misunderstandings about how Jesus related to it, so hearing the sermon on the Mount, he wants to kind of clear some of that up. And in doing so gives us a big picture of what is this two thirds of our Bible really all about? And how does it apply to our lives today? So look what Jesus says in Matthew chapter five, beginning in verse 17. The context of what I've just shared with you, the sermon on the Mount, he continues it. Remember, he shared the beatitudes that kind of kick off the sermon on the Mount, this radical way of life. Then he shares, what is the result of a radical way of life? Well, your salt, your light. And then he goes into verse 17 to really answer their questions about, Jesus, how do you relate to the law of Moses and the prophets and the scriptures? Jesus begins in verse 17 and he says, do not think that I came to abolish the law and the prophets. Some were thinking that. The word abolish means to do away with, to bring to an end, to get rid of, if you will. He says, don't think that. He said, I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill, or to complete, or to bring to completion, or to fill in. So how do you come to do away with it, not at all, verse 18. Truly I say to you, what was Jesus' view of scripture? He said, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter, not even the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet is what he's referring to, not even the smallest letter or stroke. That was a little accent mark on the Hebrew letter. And he said, not even the smallest letter, not even a little stroke of God's word. She'll pass away from the law until all is accomplished. Verse 19, whoever then annulls one of the least of these commandments and so teaches others to do the same, she'll be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever keeps or holds to or cleans to and teaches these things, he will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus, what's your relationship to this thing we call the Old Testament? What is in that for us today? Well, kind of set the context again. I wanna first share with you a misunderstanding of Jesus' day. A view that some of the religious leaders of that day had of Jesus that was just wrong. And it's really why Jesus says here in verse 17, don't think or do not think that I came to do away with the law and the prophets. A lot of people in that day thought that's exactly why Jesus came. And I wanna show you an illustration of that from the life of Jesus. So hold your place here in Matthew five and flip over to Luke chapter 13. I wanna show you an instance in the life of Jesus to kind of give us some insight of how the Jewish religious leaders in that day thought of Jesus. Matthew chapter 13, beginning in verse 10, the words will be on the screen. An instance in the life of Jesus, first 10 says, and he, that's Jesus, was teaching in one of their synagogues on the Sabbath. So here's Jesus on the Sabbath day, teaching in one of their synagogues. And look what happened. And there was a woman who for 18 years had had a sickness caused by a spirit. And she was bent double and could not straighten up at all. I don't miss this, get the picture. Jesus is up teaching, they're in a synagogue. This woman walks in, the Bible paints a picture. She has completely been over. She can't even walk straight and she's been that way for how long? 18 years. So she walks into the place. Look what happened. Verse 12, when Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your sickness." I mean, this woman had been waiting for 18 years to hear something like this. Verse 13, he laid hands on her and immediately, she was made erect and again began glorifying God. Jesus says, the Bible says, Jesus called her over. He laid his hands on her. And for the first time in 18 years, this woman is able to stand upright and walk normal. Now what do you think the reaction of everybody in the place was? Yay, why not go, Jesus? Everybody wasn't excited about it. Look at the next verse. Verse 14, "But the synagogue official, a religious leader of the day, probably a Pharisee, says this." Or the Bible says, he was indignant. Now I want to mark that word. That word indignant is a very strong word. He was mad. He was furious with Jesus. Why was he so mad? Look what he says. He says he was indignant because Jesus had healed, uh-oh, on the Sabbath. And he began saying to the crowd in response. Now get the picture here. Jesus has just set this woman free from an 18 year bondage and he walks up and says to the crowd, hold on. He makes this statement, incredible statement. He says, "There are six days in which work should be done, so come during them and get healed, but not on the Sabbath." Can you imagine? Woman, we're really excited about what happened, because you come back some other time and get healed. We're not going to heal you on the Sabbath. Jesus says, verse 15, "But the Lord answered to him and said, 'You hypocrite.'" Man, pretty tough situation. These religious leaders, they're upset with Jesus. They're indignant with Jesus. Why? Why are they so upset with Jesus? They're so upset with Jesus because they believe by healing this woman on their Sabbath day that Jesus was breaking the law of Moses. Because you know the commandment in the Old Testament, right, that says, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." Right? Remember that one of the 10 commandments? That commandment is a principle given by God. It is a principle given by God by which we submit to and go to the Holy Spirit of God and say, "All right, Lord, how does that look in my life?" Flish that out in my life. What does that look like? It's a day set apart for rest instead of work, but how that particularly looks like an individual life may look different under the inspiration and leadership of the Spirit, but the Jewish leaders of that day didn't like that. So what the Jewish religious leaders of that day is they would take these great principles of God's Word, and then they would devote their life to filling in all the specifics of what that might look like or what that needs to look like for you. And they wrote thousands and thousands and thousands of pages and books and books to add to these principles, and they said, "Here's God's Word. Here's our interpretation of God's Word, and they're equally authoritative." And if you break this, you're breaking the law of Moses. It would be like this. In our day, if Pastor Vance was to stand up here and say, "Here's what the Bible says," for example, in the New Testament, 1 Thessalonians says, "You are to abstain from every form of evil," right? Abstain from the appearance of evil. That's a principle in Scripture. But then he was to follow up and say, "Let me tell you what that looks like for you." Let me tell you how that looks like in your life. That means absolutely no internet. It has a form, maybe, of evil. It absolutely means no movies beyond G-rating, all right? It means absolutely no television in your home after six o'clock. Before six o'clock, you can watch it, but not after six o'clock, because it has a form, maybe, of evil. For you, that means don't even go anywhere near the strip. Because it could be a form of evil. See, that's what the religious leaders of that day did. They took the principles of God's Word and they added all these minutiae of details of how that has to look into your life and then said, "This is binding." And if you break one of these, you've broken the law of God. You've broken the law of Moses. And that's what the people in that day lived under, this yoke. And when Jesus stepped on the scene, he said, "Guys, I will not submit myself to your human man-made religion." He said, "The Lord of God is authoritative, but not your interpretation of it." And the religious leaders hated him for it, right? How bad did they hate him? They hung him on a cross. So that's why some in that day believe that Jesus, for example, by healing on the Sabbath, because they had said, "You can't heal on the Sabbath," because that might be work. They said, "You can't carry any weight on the Sabbath." That might be work. They said on the Sabbath, "You can't even lift your own child," because that might be work. And they said, "You sure can't go to the trouble of healing somebody on the Sabbath, because that could be perceived as work. And if you do it, you're breaking the law of God." Jesus said, "Don't work that way." And that's why Jesus says here in verse 17 of Matthew, "Do not think that I came to abolish the law and the prophets." They had confused the law and the prophets with all this minutiae of teaching of the religious leaders of the day. Jesus said, "I didn't come to abolish the law and the prophets. I came to fulfill the law and the prophets, but not your man-made religion." See that? So back in verse 17 of Matthew, Jesus says, "Do not think that I came to abolish. I came to fulfill." What does that mean? What does that look like in Jesus' life? What does that look like in our life? How did he relate to the Old Testament? The Bible says Jesus says he came to fulfill. The word fulfill means to bring to completion, to fill in, to totally complete the law and the prophets. Now what does that look like? All I want to do is I'm going to give you three truths about how Jesus related to the law and the prophets, the Old Testament, and then apply it to our lives, okay? To make it real clear, what is this two-thirds of your Bible all about? Truth number one, the law or the Old Testament or the law and the prophets points us to Jesus. I know many of you've probably seen the Star Wars saga, right? One of my favorite. Well, the Star Wars saga, as you know, is really one big story in six different parts, right? And they all build on one another and in the end, you have a complete story, if you will, of something that happened a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, all right? But it's one story. Listen, some people have no idea that this Bible ultimately is not two books. What you have here is ultimately one big saga, the story of all of history, from the very beginning of history to the end of time, and it builds on one another. It's not two separate stories, it's one big story. And you know who the main character is in the story of the Bible and in the story of all of history? His name is Jesus. And the Old Testament is to be like a big, glaring beacon, if you will. See it like a big arrow pointing and saying, "That's him. That's the promised one. He's the Messiah." Listen, the Jews of Jesus' day was to be so familiar with the Old Testament that when Jesus walked on the scene, they were to go, "That's the promised one." We know what the Old Testament says about him. That's him was to point us to Jesus. That's why the Bible says in Luke chapter 24 verse 27, Jesus is walking with some disciples after he rose from the dead and he says, "Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets," that's your Old Testament. He, Jesus, explained to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures. Jesus says, "This book is one big story, and the main character is me," he said. Now how do we know that? What does that look like? Let me give you a few examples real quick. How does Jesus fulfill the Old Testament? How does he paint the picture in two ways. First is through the prophecies. The prophecies of the Old Testament, you know from Genesis to Malachi, there are over 60 specific prophecies about the life of Jesus, over 300 illusions to the life of Jesus. In other words, these prophecies were about specific things in his life that predicted the future and Jesus stepped on the scene and perfectly fulfills or fills every one of these prophecies in. Therefore we know he is the most significant character in all of history. Prophecies like what? You've heard these before, Genesis 49, that he would be from the tribe of Judah, from the family of Judah. Genesis 17, that he would be a descendant of Abraham, Isaiah 6, or Isaiah 9, that he would be a descendant of David, a great great great great great great great. A grandson of King David, Micah says he would be born in Bethlehem, Isaiah 7 says he would be born of a virgin. I mean try to arrange that ahead of time. It was predicted of Jesus that he would ministering Galilee, Isaiah 9, Isaiah 61, he would heal the sick and give sight to the blind. Isaiah 41, or Psalm 41, he'd be betrayed by his friend, Zechariah 13, he'd be forsaken by his disciples. Psalm 22 tells the manner in which he would be crucified, be pierced at his hands at his feet, before crucifixion had ever even been used in the world. Isaiah 53 would be buried in the tomb of a rich man, Psalm 16, that he would be resurrected from the dead. That's just a few of over 300 different prophecies about Jesus. What's the point? Jesus said I didn't come to put away the Old Testament. I came to complete it, to fill it in, to paint this picture of all of history, not to abolish it, but to complete the story through the prophecies. But there's another way Jesus fulfilled the law and the prophets or the Old Testament. He did this through pictures in the Old Testament. What do you mean by that? Think back to your English class, all right. There was a term in English class called foreshadowing. You've heard that before? Foreshadowing is a literary device when an author will give you little hints and little pictures of what's coming in the future, right? Another way to look at it is like when you're downloading a big file or an image on your computer, if your computer's like mine and it takes forever to download these pictures and what you have on the screen are little bits of information coming in. And what they're doing is those little bits of information are painting a picture. Listen, that's what the Old Testament does. The Old Testament paints little pictures, little images of what's coming in the future. I still don't get it, Pastor. Give me some examples, all right? Glad you asked. Let me give you some examples of pictures in the Old Testament that Jesus Christ perfectly fills in. They're all over. Let me give you one in Genesis. Genesis chapter three, the fall of man, right? Adam and Eve sinned against God and they ran from God in the garden. The Bible says they went to the back of the garden, they hid from God and says the Bible, God walked into the garden, they were hiding themselves and covering themselves with fig leaves because of shame over their sin, right? What does the Bible say God does? You've probably read this before and you read right over and you go, "What in the world does that mean?" Well, Genesis three, I think it's 3.17 says, "And God clothed them." What? What does that mean? That means what you have here is a picture that God saw them in their sin trying to cover their own sin and God then took an animal, killed it, took the skin from that animal and covered their shame. Why? As a picture that one day God was going to take the lamb of God, kill him for your sin and cover your sin. It's a picture. Give you another one. Exodus. You say, Pastor Mike, there's 39 books in the Old Testament. You aren't going to do 39 of these, are you? No. Exodus, remember the children of Israel coming out of Egypt? Angel of death, God sent the angel of death to carry out judgment on the nation of Egypt and he said to the people of Israel, "Take a lamb, take the blood of that lamb and put it over your doorpost and when the death angel passes over, whenever he sees the blood of the lamb, he will what? Pass over?" Then you get to the New Testament and the Apostle Paul says, "Jesus Christ, who is our Passover?" We don't have the blood of the lamb. We have the blood of the lamb, Jesus Christ. What about numbers? Book of Numbers. You've probably read this story before and go, "Why is this story here?" It's a story in the book of Numbers where the children of Israel were in the camp and they had sinned greatly against God and God sends poisonous snakes into their camp. Can you imagine? You imagine going home today there's poisonous snakes all over your house? That's what was going on and that poisonous snakes bit the people of Israel and whoever was bitten by a snake, guess what? They were going to die. Everyone who was bitten was under the curse of death. You probably read that before Numbers would go, "What in the world is this here for?" And the children of Israel cried out to God and cried out to Moses and said, "Do something, we're dying here." And God said, "All right, Moses, here's what you do. You take one of the serpents, you dip it in bronze, you make a bronze serpent and you fasten it to a pole." You raise it up in the middle of the camp for all to see and whoever by faith will look up on that. That is my provision for the judgment of death. I provide salvation, deliverance. Why? Was there any power in that bronze serpent? No, that bronze serpent was a picture of the one who was going to come fasten to a pole and raised up for all the world, right? I want more. It's my favorite. Book of Joshua? Remember the book of Joshua, right? The children of Israel are on the verge of the promised land. The only thing that separates the people of God from the promised land is a river. The Jordan River. The Jordan River begins in a city called sin, S-I-N, and flows all the way to another body of water. You know what it's called? The dead sea. Sin brings forth death. What separates the people of God from the promised land? The flow of sin. How do they cross that sin barrier? One way God raises up a man named Joshua who leads his people. He steps in the Jordan River. The flow of sin is stopped and his people are free to enter the promised land. What's the point? What is the Old Testament name of this fellow Joshua? When you take his name and translate it into the New Testament Greek, you know what his name is? Jesus. So as we read our Old Testament and we read these prophecies and we read these pictures, we're to say, "Wait a minute. This is all about Jesus." It's to be like a big arrow pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ as the most significant character in all of history. See that? So the Old Testament points us to Jesus. There's a second one and these will be quicker. We're almost done. Number two, not only is the Old Testament a law points to Jesus. Number two, the law reveals our need for Jesus. There was a great mistake in the day of Jesus and the people of Israel. They read the Old Testament as a way to be right with God. They approached the Ten Commandments for example and said, "Okay, if I can perfectly fulfill these Ten Commandments and all these Commandments, then I'll be right with God." That was never the intent of the law. The law was given to show how desperate we are for a Savior. Me illustrated for you. Occasionally I like to work out, to work out the gym. One of the workouts that I really like doing is bench pressing. You don't know what bench pressing is, right? Well, occasionally as guys, you know, when we bench press, we get a little overzealous, right? All the guys are sitting there going, "Yeah, I know what you're talking about." And we'll just slap an extra couple plates on the side just to see how well we can do bench pressing, right? And sometimes we'll get that plate off the rack and we'll get it down on our chest, and here's what happens. Boom! Right? And then what do we do? Well, it doesn't take long to figure out we are in trouble. And there is a weight upon us that in no way shape form or fashion can we ever get up off of ourselves. So what do we do in that moment? Well, we sit there and we rationalize, "Okay, I must find a way that I can properly achieve this and raise this way of my own effort, right?" You know what we do? Help! Right? Do you know that God has given you the law, the commandments, and there to be like a weight on our chest, and we realize, "Wait a minute. I've broken every one of them, so have you." And this weight on my chest, I am absolutely helpless to lift this off, unless someone comes to my aid and lifts this weight off of my chest. And you know what that's to make us realize? We are to cry out to Jesus and say, "Help! You're my only hope." That's why Paul is sitting in Galatians 3, "Therefore, the law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith." Well, Testament was never given as a means to be right with God. It was given to be a weight that we realized we could never lift this thing, and we got to cry out to God's Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the only answer to be right with God. See that? Not only does He lift that weight by lying on the cross for our sins, He perfectly lives out the law. Has any person perfectly ever lived out the law one Jesus? That's why He said, "I didn't come to abolish but to fulfill it." What does it look like when a person lives out the perfect righteousness law of God? His name is Jesus. You can't do it, I can't do it, but by placing our faith in Him, it is as if we have perfectly lived out every single thing in the law in Christ. That's why Romans 10,4 says, "He is the end of the law, the completion of the law." See that? So Jesus, or the law and the prophets, the Old Testament, it's like an arrow pointing us to Jesus, also reveals to us our desperate need for Jesus. Listen, not just for salvation, but to live the Christian life. You read the things of the Bible, and it's to draw you to Jesus. You've got to need Him to breathe. Thirdly, the law, the Old Testament, is a means to enjoy my relationship with Jesus. So what do you mean by that? Well, God's given you two-thirds of your Bible as a means to enjoy the relationship you now have with Jesus. It's a gift God has given you. Say, what does that look like? What does that mean? The law of God does not limit our joy, it gives us the fullness of joy in the relationship we have with Christ. Paul put it this way. Romans 15, verse 4, Paul talking of the Old Testament said, "For whatever was written in earlier times," what's he talking about, the Old Testament, "was written for our instruction for us so that through the perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope." God's given you two-thirds of your Bible for encouragement, for strength, for hope, for instruction. What does that look like? Give you some examples of how the Bible gives us encouragement. You may ask this question, Pastor Mike, I feel like I'm just kind of drifting in my relationship with the Lord. How can I, how can I get to know Jesus better? God's given you a book of the Bible called The Psalms, 150 of them. And if you take those Psalms and you spread them out before you every morning and you pray those and you cry out to God, you know what's going to happen? You're going to come to know God a whole better. They were written to be worship songs about God. You say this, Pastor Mike, how can I, how can I walk my faith? How can I strengthen my faith? I'm weak in my faith right now. Genesis 12 through 24 is a picture of a man named Abraham who radically walked by faith for your instruction. God's given it to us in His Word. For your encouragement, God's given it to us in His Word. Say, what does a healthy marriage look like? Do you mean the Old Testament has something to say about my marriage? Sure does. Did you know God has given you an entire Bible or a entire book in the Old Testament to give you a picture of what a healthy, godly marriage can look like? All the women are going, where is it? Show me. Song of Solomon. It takes a couple from the time they're courting to when they're dating through the, through the glories of marriage and the honeymoon and all that follows. It's a gift, God's given you. You say, how can I raise godly children? Proverbs deals with that. The book of Deuteronomy was written for one generation to teach the next generation. God's given you a whole book about it. Say, how do I walk through crisis? I have no idea what I'm facing right now, Pastor Mike. God does. He gives you a whole book to deal with it. It's called Job, Habakkuk chapter 3, all about how to face crisis. You say, well, how do I manage my finances? My finances are a mess right now as a Bible. How many things that sure does? Book of Proverbs. Malachi chapter 3. Say, how do I deal with depression? That's in the Bible. Psalm 42, David says, why so downcast? Why so depressed? Oh, my soul. Put your hope in God and gives you Psalm after Psalm after Psalm to deal with some things you're dealing with for your encouragement, for your instruction. What does a godly leader look like? How can I exercise godly leadership at the workplace or on the ball field or wherever I am? God's given you an entire book to picture for you godly leadership. You know what it is? Nehemiah. See, what about how do I deal with unfaithfulness and marriage on either end? Did you know there's a whole book in the Bible that pictures that? The book of Hosea. You thought that was the Spanish prophet? No. Book of Hosea? Yeah. What if I blow it? What if I just blow it spiritually? You ever heard of a guy named David? He wrote Psalm 32, Psalm 51, to follow his blowing it with Bathsheba. How do you handle that? God's given you page after page for your encouragement and your instruction. Pastor Mike, what if my faith right now is very small? What if God just seems so distant and so small to me right now? Isaiah chapter 40, to whom then will you liken me that I would be his equal, says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created all these stars, the one who leads forth their host by number. He calls them all by name because of the greatness of his might and the strength of his power. Not one of them is missing passage after passage like that in the Old Testament. Why? For your instruction, for your encouragement that you may enjoy this relationship with Jesus. Listen, this Bible God's given you. Jesus said, I absolutely believe it. Not one jotter tittle is going to pass away. Not one letter or stroke until all is fulfilled. This is the word of God. He says this Old Testament points to me. It reveals your need for me. And ultimately you will enjoy this relationship. I've given you 39 books of the Old Testament to enjoy this relationship that we've begun. See that? And that is how Jesus says that we're to relate to the Old Testament. This power hits you this morning together. You may be here this morning as our team comes, we're all going to stand and sing in just a few moments. You hear these things this morning about a relationship with Jesus being transformed by him and you're not really sure what that means. You hear this morning and you have been trying to earn favor with God by doing all the do's and donning all the don'ts and this external system that you've been trying to fulfill. Listen, Jesus said, I'm the end of all that. I completed all. Come to me. He died on a cross to take away your burden. He perfectly lived the law because you couldn't. And today he invites you into a relationship with him. This morning you want to begin that relationship with Christ or just have questions. When we stand and sing in just a moment, we're going to have some pastors along the side, some prayer volunteers in the back of the room there, they're going to answer your questions to pray with you. If you just need somebody to pray with you this morning, they're there. For the rest of us, as you sit, you see, as we stand and sing in just a moment has is Jesus the focus of your life like he is the Bible? Have you allowed other things to kind of enter in? I mean, when you read your Bible, does it drive you to Christ? Do you realize your desperate need for him every moment of every day, child of God? Do you know God's given you a Bible of 66 books for your instruction and your encouragement because he loves you that much? Whatever God's doing in your heart this morning, I pray you do business with God. Lord, we love you. We thank you. Thank you for the gift and the blessing. Be a word. I pray you do business with our hearts this morning. We love you and thank you, Christ name.