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Doug Batchelor: Hi friends, welcome back to "Prophecy Odyssey." In our last episode, we learned that the 10 Commandments have an important role. They reveal our sinfulness and our need of a savior. Today, we're going to continue our eye opening study of God's law. We're going to look at an often misunderstood topic, "The Old and The New Covenants," and we'll learn why God's law still matters today, even though we're saved by grace. Remember, if you'd like a deeper Bible study experience, then check out the Prophecy Odyssey Bible lessons and our free offer. I'll tell you more about how to get those resources later in the program. So, thank you for watching and God bless as you continue your prophecy odyssey.
Doug: So, if you look in the mirror and you see that there's something wrong. If you got dirt on your face, what do you do? You put your face against the mirror and rub your face? No, what do you do? You need to wash. Well, I need something to wash with. How convenient. So, what is this? What does it represent? The law of God. Is it meant to cleanse the sin? Or it shows us our need for cleansing. What does this red rag represent? The blood of Jesus Christ, it's a washcloth, but it's a symbol of the blood of Christ. So, I look here, and I see I have a problem, but this is not meant to help me with my problem. It is powerless. But this can take away the problem. And now, you know, now I look pretty good. It doesn't bother me. Matter of fact, you know--. So, I--is it--well once this has happened and I've gone through an embarrassing experience like this, every now and then, I'm going to reference the mirror. How many will admit? Show of hands, get an audience shot ready. How many will admit they have looked in the mirror today? Hands up. Honest group, praise God. Now it's important to look in the mirror, but you don't want to look in the mirror too much. How many of you know someone that looks in the mirror a little too much? I saw some of you point to one another. But you want--how many of you know people that look like they've never looked in the mirror? That's another problem, right?
So, we need this, don't we? Do we need the law? Not to save us. We need the law to show us we need salvation. The devil wants to get rid of this because if you don't have this, you don't need the blood of Christ. And so, even in some churches they are preaching doctrines of devils that we don't need Jesus and the blood of Christ. Well, we've got to hasten along, but I think that's a very important point for us to remember, amen?
James 1:23, bears out the same thing, "For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But whoever looks into the perfect law of liberty," what does God call the 10 Commandments? A burdensome law? Law of liberty. You know, it says in Psalm 119:45, "So I will keep Your commandments forever and ever and I will walk at liberty because I keep Your precepts."
Most of you are not here tonight with ankle bracelets, I'm assuming, meaning from the government because you keep the law, you're free, right? That law that's supposed to put the criminals in jail. You know, I witnessed a burglary today, not kidding. I came home. I told Karen I was standing in the store getting ready to check out with the salad I bought. I'm in line with other people. Some guy just marched in off the street. A girl was putting her money down. He had been watching through the window. He went to grab the money and the attendant tried to grab it back out of his hand, and he got out of the store with a $1 or $2 and they went out and chased him down and got their dollar back. Praise the Lord, but what kind of world is it, huh? We're living in. So, I'm glad for the laws, aren't you? I want them enforced. Otherwise, you got chaos in your culture. Blessed are those who keep the law who are doers of the Word.
Now I want to illustrate--I'm going put the 10 Commandments up here on the stage here for a minute because I want to illustrate why this is so important and how it fits in with the theme of Bible prophecy. So, here you got the 10 Commandments, and the 10 Commandments are on how many tables of stone? Two, the Word of God is dual in its nature. The Bible tells us it's the law and the prophets. In Revelation you've got two witnesses, and it's like Moses and Elijah. Moses is the great law giver, Elijah the great prophet. Two scriptures at the end of the Old Testament, "Remember the law of Moses, My servant. Remember I send you Elijah the prophet before the great and dreadful day of the Lord."
The first table of commandments deals with our responsibility to God. And for those out there that might question, this is a summary, it's not that, you know, we couldn't fit every word on the just to give you an idea. First four commandments, deal with worshiping only God. Not worshiping idols. Do not take His name in vain. Remember our time for God. It's our relationship with God. So, the first four deal with this vertical relationship. Then you get over here and you come to the last six of the commandments, and it deals with our relationship with our fellow man, beginning with honor your father and mother, going down to you shall not covet your neighbor and his goods.
What is the--if you could define God in one word, what is that one word? God is, say it with me, "God is love." The 10 Commandments are love for God and love for your fellow man. The 10 Commandments are not bad. Paul said all of the commandments are summarizing this, love the Lord with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. And if you are loving the Lord with all your heart, you'll be keeping the first four commandments, right? If you love God, are you going to worship other gods? No. If you love God, you're not going to misrepresent Him by, you know, worshiping idols. You're not going to use His name in vain. You're going to want your time with God. And if you love your fellow man, you're not going to rob, take his wife, kill him, lie, covet, honor your parents, correct? And so, love is the fulfilling of the law. The law is good. It is just and holy and good. So, God gave His law in the most majestic way He could.
What could God do that He left out to show us the importance of the law? Spoke it with His own voice from a mountain, thunder and lightning, smoke and fire, wrote it with His finger, wrote it in stone to show it as unchanging. And yet there are even Christians now say, "I don't need to worry about the 10 Commandments because Jesus died for our sins, we can break them." That's blasphemous. That's not what the Bible teaches. I mean, you know, my problem before I came to Christ was sin, lawlessness. I don't want to tell you too much too soon or you may not come back, but I used to be a thief. Yeah, and I was that guy who would go in the store and take something and not pay for it or break into homes or steal cars, and all the other commandments. So, Jesus saved me. I stopped doing that. Aren't you glad?
So, this is what the purpose is, to save us from our sins. The Bible says, "Blessed," how many want to be blessed? "Blessed are those who do His commandments." Jesus said, "If you know these things, happy are you if you do them. Not hearers only, but doers."
Number eight, what's the difference between the new and the old covenant? This is important to understand. Some people say, "Well Pastor Doug, we are now under the new covenant. We--the 10 Commandments are part of the old covenant." Well 10 Commandments are part of the old covenant. You can read about that in Exodus chapter 20, and you can read about it in Deuteronomy 5, and you can read about it in Deuteronomy 4, which says God declared unto them His covenant, even 10 commandments which He commanded them to perform. And when God spoke the 10 Commandments, the people made an agreement, that's a covenant, an agreement. They made an agreement that said, "All the Lord has said we will do." Before 40 days went by, they made a golden calf, and they broke the covenant. So, the old covenant, the Old Testament, Old Testament, Old Covenant, same words, was broken in the Old Testament.
Where do you think you find the new covenant? In the Old Testament. The first place you find the new covenant is, you'll find it in Jeremiah chapter 33. He says, "A new covenant I'll make with the house of Israel after those days. I'll write My law on their hearts." He'll put his law within us. This is what it says in Ezekiel, "He gives us hearts of flesh. He takes a stony heart." Even Moses said, "I command you this day to love the Lord your God." The new covenant, we're all saved under the new covenant. It's the new heart.
So, the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant is not the law, it's where it's written. "I will write My law," new covenant. "I will write My law in their hearts." You also find it in the New Covenant in Hebrews chapter 8 and other places. So, the new covenant is, "My law that doesn't change is now written not on stone, but on the fleshly tablets of their hearts."
How much easier it is to obey God when you love Him. Let me give you an example. Are you aware there's a law that says you're not supposed to murder your children? How many know there's a law? How many of you have children? How many don't murder your children because of the law? I saw a couple of hands go. Most of you don't murder your children because you love them. Do you go home, "Man, I'd sure like to murder them, but I'll be in jail. I can't, you know, I'm going to get arrested." Otherwise, they just--you don't think about it because you love them. I love my wife. I've never cheated on my wife. I don't think about it because I love her.
Love is the fulfilling of the law. And so, the new covenant is we learn to love God, you don't want to do anything that will hurt Him. And because you love God, you don't want to do anything that will hurt your brothers and sisters. This is what it means to have the new birth, to be born again. So, that's--I think you understand the difference there between the old and the new covenant. "He declared unto you His covenant that He commanded you to perform ten commandments; wrote them on tables of stone." And then it says, "Finding fault with them," what was the fault in the old covenant? The law or the people? He says, "I'll make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah." By the way, nowhere in the Bible does God ever make a new covenant with Gentiles. You notice that? Both in the Old and the New Testament it says, "I'll make a new covenant with the house of Israel." If you're a Christian, you become grafted into the stock of Israel. The Bible says, "If you are Christ, you are Abraham's seed." We get to partake of that covenant, and we're all saved. We become spiritual Israel, if you will.
Number nine, what is it called when we're converted and given a new heart? Well, I just touched on this. It's that wonderful spiritual metamorphosis where we go from being a worm to a butterfly. You're born again. You must be what? Born again. A new birth, it's something--the old things pass away, and all things are made new.
Number ten, what must I do to be forgiven and cleansed from sin? Now this is very important for us to understand. There's--Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. Will the whole world be saved? No. Unfortunately, Jesus said, "Straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it," because you are looking. You notice in our theme song it says, "Seek with all our hearts, search with all our soul." God says, "You will search for me and you will find me," Jeremiah 29:13, "when you search for Me with all your heart." You've got to want Him. You need to seek. Jesus said, "Seek and you'll find." He's died for everybody, but we need to become aware of our sin and then repent of our sins. Acts chapter 3, verse 19, "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins might be blotted out."
Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could start over again and have all your sins washed away. You can. Tell God you're sorry. And you said, "Well Pastor Doug, I still am tempted." Everybody's tempted. Jesus was tempted, but you tell God, "I'm sorry for my sins, change my heart," and then you spent your whole life learning how to do wrong. He teaches you then how to do right. It says in Isaiah, "When we learn to do good, you start following the Lord and you look at Jesus." This is called sanctification. And you learn a new way of thinking. You read the Bible, you keep your eyes on Christ, you start becoming like Him, you change. There's a conversion. You repent. You confess. Part of repentance is confessing your sins to God. And you might be thinking, "Doesn't God know everything Pastor Doug?" Well yeah. You're not telling Him so you can inform Him.
First time I read this, I thought, "Okay, Lord, You better sit down. We have got to talk." I mean, He already knows everything, right? If you walking out of the auditorium tonight, accidentally step on somebody's foot, you're going to say, "I'm sorry," right? Do they know you stepped on their foot? Yeah, but you still say you're sorry. That's appropriate. Now if you stomp on their foot, and you really hurt them and they start to--you say, "I am very sorry," because you really hurt them, right? If you knock them down by accident, then you help them up and you say, "I am so sorry, don't call the lawyer," right?
So, notice this, the degree of harm dictates the degree of apology, all right? How much have we hurt God? Look at the cross, the sufferings of Christ. He took what you deserve. So, get on your knees when you're by yourself. A lot of preachers, they only give part of the answer. They say, "Come forward, say this little prayer, you're now saved." Now there's a lot of people going to be saved from that because that's all they knew and that's all they got, but that's not all the Bible teaching. The Bible says, "Repent. Be sorry for your sins, confess your sins to God." He said, "Well I don't remember all my sins, Pastor Doug." Nobody does.
Start with the ten Commandments. Have you ever lied? You ever steal? You ever think in impure thoughts? Jesus said, "Sin is not just the action, it's the attitude." If a man or woman looks on the opposite sex and lusts in their heart, well today you've got to say looks on any sex because it's--you're all mixed up. But if you look and you lust, you can commit adultery in your heart, right? Do you know you can murder in your heart? Jesus said, "If you're angry with your brother without a cause, you're guilty of murder." "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Isn't that good news, friends? He wants us to be forgiven. He wants us to have peace. He wants us in His kingdom with Him. Who enters the heart of a born-again Christian and what does He do? The Bible says John 14:17, "The Spirit," God, the Spirit, "comes into your life." Something happens. He will activate. You're giving Him permission, saying, "Lord, I can't do it without You coming into my heart." He'll speak to you. He'll guide you. Jesus came out of the water at His baptism and the Holy Spirit came down. You commit your life to the Lord and God will give you His Spirit, and He can give you a baptism of the spirit at your baptism as well. Again, "Both to will and to do," He will help you to do His good pleasure.
We can't live the Christian life without God's help, friends. You know that God will never ask you to do something you can't do? Is that reasonable? Anything God asks you to do, as hard as you might think it is, He will help you do it. There are people who are thinking, "Pastor Doug, I've been struggling to quit smoking for years. I've been trying to quit drinking and it's not just smoking, it's the vaping." Drugs. Some are addicted to pornography. Some are addicted to credit cards and shopping. There's all kinds of addictions. As a matter of fact, everybody out there, if you don't have Jesus, you are a sinaholic. The question is, what is your addiction? Whatever it is, He can break the chains. I've talked to people, they struggled for years with drinking and smoking and pornographic addictions and shopping addictions and whatever it might be. Some are workaholics and He can change you. Jesus can--He'll never ask you to do something without giving you the power to do it. You say, "Oh Lord, I can't cross the ocean. I can't swim." He'll part the sea. He'll give you scuba gear. He'll do something, but He will find a way to get you across. Anything He asks you, God can move mountains, friends, believe it, amen.
Why did God make such a fantastic sacrifice for you and me? The Bible tells us in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." Now it is so hard, friends, for those of you out there that know what I'm talking about that I've lost a child. We lost a son. Doing evangelistic meetings in the Philippines, got a phone call that no parent ever wants to get. Our tall, handsome, strong, kind son died in a construction accident. Had to drop what we're doing and go home. And you know you cannot describe the pain of when you lose a child. I don't know why did God wire us to love our children so much. It's just something I can't explain. But I don't read that verse anymore the same way. When I think that God so loved me that He gave His Son, and you know, it occurred to me, God loves His son much more than I love my son. And He must really love you that He would give His Son to save you. Wouldn't you want to love a God like that?
The Bible says, what do we do? It says, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you'll be saved." Now the word believe doesn't just mean believe that He died for your sin because the devil believes that. The word believe means be live. When Jesus says something, you say, "I be-live in Him. I'm going to live what He told me." That's what it means. It's not just a cheap kind of grace and yeah, I believe it and you keep going on your way. You don't really believe it if you act like that. It means believe what He says and do what He says. Follow Him. "As many as received Him, to them He gives the right," the power, "to become children of God." He adopts you into His family and He loves you as a child, and He will not forsake you. If you make a mistake, He'll pick you back up again.
Don't get discouraged. If you come to Christ, the devil will try to discourage you and make you give up. Don't give up. There are people watching now. And you stopped going to church years ago because someone in church hurt your feelings. Don't do that. The devil wants to chase you out of church. Even Jesus had a Judas in His church, right?
So, don't be discouraged. The strongest earthly tie is a tie of a parent for a child, and that's how much God loves us. Number 13, is anyone saved by keeping the law? Answer? No. "For by," what? "For by grace you have been saved through faith, not of yourselves; it's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." We are not saved because we've earned it. For example, I'm driving too fast and I see those blue and red lights behind me. How many of you when you're driving, if you see a police car, you automatically take your foot off of the accelerator? And even if you're under the speed limit, it's like a reflex.
So, this has happened to me more than once. I didn't want to pull over, but when I saw those blue and red lights, I don't have a choice. I've broken the law, I am under the law. And I say, "Could you please have mercy on me? My insurance is going to go up, my wife's going to give me a hard time because the insurance has gone up. It's my points and I'm sorry, I was--." And then, you know, someone told me once if you cry, it helps. So, I did that. And she didn't give me a ticket. And she said, "I'll tell you what, I'm going to have mercy on this time. I'm going to write you a warning." As soon as she says, "I'm going to have mercy," I said, "Praise the Lord." I'm now under grace. I didn't deserve it. Isn't it true? Once we are saved by grace, it's no longer necessary to keep the law? "Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not!" King James says, "God forbid." "On the contrary, we establish the law." Saved people are more careful to obey than anybody because we love the Lord. We don't want to break His law, amen? Jesus said, "If any man says, 'I love Him' and keeps not his commandments, he is a liar and the truth is not in him." "Shall we sin because we're not under the law but under grace? Certainly not!"
Can I be a true Christian without keeping His commandments? What does the Bible say? "By this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, 'I know Him,' and keeps his not His commandments is a liar," as I mentioned. "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that does the will of My Father in heaven."
Number 16, who does a devil especially hate in these last days? Answer, "The dragon is wroth, infuriated with the woman," that's the church, God's people. "And he goes to make war with the remnant, the remainder of her offspring that keep the," what? Who is the devil fighting against in the last days? Those that keep the commandments, and it's not just those that break the commandments out in the world. He's trying to get the people in the church to disregard the law of God. Satan hates the law because it points us to Jesus, and it helps people find their sin and then their Savior.
What motivates a person to obey God's law? Answer? "Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law." And again, you see here where it says in Matthew 22, verse 37, "You shall love the Lord your God with all of your," what? "Heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." And again, 1 John 5:3, "For this is the," what? "The love of God," say it with me, "that we keep His commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome," not when you love.
When you love somebody, it's not a burden to keep their commandments. What are some of the glorious rewards of accepting Christ and keeping His law? Look at the positive friends, it's not a burden, it's a blessing. "These things I've spoken to you, that your joy may be full and your," what? "Your joy may be in you, your joy may be full." Again, "But happy is he who keeps the law." This is the Word of God, friends. And again, you can read here in Psalm 119:165, "Great peace have those who love His law, and nothing will offend Him."
Doug: Friends, I hope you've been blessed by today's message, but really the reason we do this is so that people might know Christ. You know, information is not going to save us. It's a relationship with Jesus, the one who died on the cross for your sins. You must personally accept Him, and that's the most important thing and why we do these programs. If you've not asked Him into your heart before, then I'd encourage you to do it right now. His arms are open wide. Just come to Him as you are and ask Him.
Doug: Hi friends, I trust you being blessed by what you're watching. If you want to be doubly blessed, then you're going to want to get the Prophecy Odyssey study guides that go along with these presentations. There's 15 study guides. They're beautifully illustrated, and they will greatly enhance your Bible comprehension. So, if you'd like to get them, simply follow the instructions that you see on the screen. You will be glad you did.
Doug: Are you or someone you know still wondering if God's law matters? Then you're going to want to get your free copy of "Is Obedience Legalism." You'll discover how the devil has tricked so many people, even Christians, about the purpose and the importance of the 10 Commandments. To get your copy, simply follow the instructions on the screen. We will send it to you absolutely free.
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