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Torah Laws: Covenant Commandments and Their Living Practice in Judaism · Reformed Thinking

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  Hello and welcome. We are kicking off a specific
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  kind of deep dive today. Usually we bounce around between
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  whatever tech or history topics are making the news, but today
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  we are slowing things down. We are starting a special
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  edition of the show that we are calling Reformed Thinking.
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  It is great to be here and I really like that title.
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  It sets the tone. We are trying to think God's
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  thoughts after Him, and we are using Scripture alone as our
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  lens for that. That is the plan, and for this
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  first session we are looking into a subject.
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  Check that. Honestly, it usually makes
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  people tune out a bit. We are talking about the law,
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  the Torah, specifically those ancient Jewish laws in the first
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  five books of the Bible. It was a massive topic and I get
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  the hesitation. For a lot of folks, reading
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  Leviticus feels like reading the terms and conditions for new
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  app. Yeah and you just Scroll down
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  and hit. I agree without actually reading
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  any of it right. It feels like this dusty list
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  of, you know, do not touch this and do not eat that.
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  But our mission today is to show that this is not just a rigid
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  rule book. We are looking into what one of
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  our sources calls the Divine Mirror.
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  That is a brilliant image. The law reflects the lawgiver,
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  so we are looking at the blazing, unapproachable holiness
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  of God. And that creates a real tension
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  for us as Protestant Christians, coming from a Reform
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  perspective. How do we handle this material?
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  Do we just ignore it? Are we supposed to follow it?
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  So to sort this out, we have some thorough research in front
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  of us. Yes, we have two primary sources
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  today. One is called the Divine Mirror
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  and the Gracious Guide. It is a rigorous theological
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  look at the law from a reformed perspective.
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  And then to give us the historical grounding, we have a
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  second source called Porah Laws, Covenant Commandments.
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  Which breaks down how these laws functioned historically and
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  culturally within Judaism. They balance each other out
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  quite well. One gives us the theology, the
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  application for the Christian life, the other gives us the
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  historical reality on the ground.
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  So let's start right where our sources start, which is the
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  context. I think a lot of people have
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  this sort of cartoonish idea of how the law was given.
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  They do. They picture God dropping a
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  massive legal code on a random group of people in the desert
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  and saying OK, if you obey all of these rules I will like you
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  and if you fail I am done with you.
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  That is a very common misconception.
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  It is kind of the default setting of the human heart,
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  really, to think in terms of a transaction.
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  I do the work, I get paid, I follow the rules, I earn a
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  reward. But if we actually look at the
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  biblical narrative, that view is completely backward historically
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  and theologically. Backward in what way?
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  Well, look at the timeline in the source material.
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  The law appears within a very specific story.
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  It was not given to the Israelites while they were still
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  in Egypt making bricks. It was given to them at Mount
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  Sinai. So.
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  The timing matters. It changes everything.
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  Think about the sequence of events.
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  God delivers Israel from slavery.
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  First. He crushes the Egyptian army.
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  He brings the Israelites through the Red Sea on dry ground.
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  He feeds them with manna in the wilderness.
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  He does all of this before he ever gives them the 10
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  commandments. So they are already saved when
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  they get the rules. They are completely free.
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  The rescue is an accomplished fact.
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  God did not say keep the Sabbath and I will get you out of Egypt.
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  He pulled them out of Egypt and then basically said now here is
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  how you live as a free people. Well, that implies the law is
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  not the purchase price of their freedom.
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  Not at all. The law is the shape of their
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  gratitude. It is the instruction manual for
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  a people who have already been redeemed.
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  If you get that order wrong, if you put the law before the
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  rescue, you lose the gospel entirely.
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  You turn the faith into a salary you were trying to earn instead
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  of a gift you've already received.
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  This brings us to a theological concept from our reform source.
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  It uses 2 grammar terms, the indicative and the imperative.
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  I usually try to avoid grammar lessons, but this one seems
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  really vital. It is absolutely vital.
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  So the indicative is a statement of fact.
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  It just describes reality like you are sitting in a chair.
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  That is an indicative statement. The imperative is a command.
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  Sit in the chair. That is an imperative.
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  So how does that apply to the book of Exodus?
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  In Exodus 20, right before the 10 commandments start, God
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  begins with the indicative. He says I am the Lord your God,
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  who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the House of
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  slavery. That is the fact.
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  That is what he has done. And because that fact is true.
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  Then comes the imperative. You shall have no other gods
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  before me. The command rests on the
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  foundation of the rescue. God is essentially saying,
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  because I am the one who bought you out of slavery, do not sell
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  yourselves back into it. That makes the rules feel way
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  less like a burden and much more like a protection.
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  They are a protection. Our source highlights a really
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  fascinating Hebrew word study here that backs this up.
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  The word for slavery in that passage is avad.
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  It refers to their bondage to Pharaoh.
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  They were slaves. They were being crushed.
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  Right, making bricks without straw.
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  Exactly. But that same root word, avad is
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  used later to describe their worship or their service to
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  Yahweh. God says to Pharaoh, let my
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  people go, that they may worship me, or literally that they may
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  abide me. So they traded a bad slavery for
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  a good one. In a sense, yeah.
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  The biblical view is that no human being is totally
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  autonomous. You're always giving your life
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  over to something. You live your career, your ego,
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  your anxiety, or you live for God.
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  Israel was taken from a crushing, slavish bondage to a
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  tyrant who wanted them dead, and they were transferred into a
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  holy, joyful service to a Creator who loves them.
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  So the core theological point here is that grace always
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  precedes law. Always.
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  God does not demand obedience to grant salvation.
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  He grants salvation to empower obedience.
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  That is a massive relief because if it were the other way around,
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  if I had to keep all the rules to get God to even look at me.
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  You would be in trouble. We all would be.
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  Our source calls that the hellish abyss of works
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  righteousness. It's a treadmill that just never
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  stops and eventually you collapse.
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  Now, before we get into the specifics of the actual rules,
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  there was a dispensational note in the research.
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  We need to clarify who we're actually talking to here.
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  Yes, we have to maintain a clear distinction between national
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  Israel and the Church. The events at Sinai were a
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  specific covenant with the specific geopolitical nation.
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  We are not ancient Israelites living in a literal desert.
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  Right, we do not have a literal tent of meeting down the street.
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  But the physical deliverance from Egypt is what theologians
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  call a typological picture. It is a physical historical
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  event that pictures a spiritual reality.
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  OK, so it points to something bitter.
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  Yes, just as God pulled them out of literal physical slavery, he
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  pulls the church out of spiritual slavery to sin.
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  So while we are not national Israel, the pattern of
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  redemption happening first and obedience happening second
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  remains true for us today. OK, so we have the context
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  established. Grace first, then law.
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  But let's look at the actual law itself.
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  What are we talking about when we say the word Torah?
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  People use that word in a lot of different ways.
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  They do, and our Jewish source material is really helpful here
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  for getting our definition straight.
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  In the strictest sense, Torah refers to the first five books
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  of Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and
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  Deuteronomy. This is the Written Torah.
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  But inside those five books there are specific commands.
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  Yes, a single specific commandment is called a mitzvah.
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  The plural of that is mitzvah, and traditionally Jewish
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  teaching identifies 613 specific commandments in those texts.
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  613, that is a huge number. Most people know the 10 and then
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  they stop counting. It is very comprehensive.
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  It covers everything from worship practices to diet to
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  property lines. Even how you treat a bird's nest
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  you find in a tree. And the source mentions a really
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  interesting tradition about that number.
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  Oh, about the human body, yeah. Jewish tradition links the
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  positive commands that do this commands to the number of bones
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  or limbs in the human body, and the negative commands that do
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  not do this commands are linked to the 365 days of the solar
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  year. So the idea is that the law
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  covers the whole person and the whole of time.
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  Every part of your physical body, every single day of your
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  life. It is an all-encompassing way of
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  living. Now here is where it gets really
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  interesting and where we see a major split between the Jewish
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  perspective and our Reformed perspective.
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  The Jewish source talks about the Oral Torah.
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  This is a critical distinction. In traditional Judaism, there is
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  a belief that when God gave the written law to Moses on Mount
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  Sinai, he also gave an oral law. Which means authoritative
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  explanations that were passed down verbally.
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  Right. The logic is that the written
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  text is sometimes vague. For instance, the text says to
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  do no work on the Sabbath, but it does not give a bulleted list
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  of every single activity that counts as work.
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  Like can I tie my shoes? Can I cook a meal?
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  Exactly. The Oral Law fills in those gaps
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  over centuries. This was eventually written down
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  in documents like the Mishnah and the Talmud.
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  This whole system of interpretation is called Halaka,
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  which translates to the way of walking.
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  But from a reformed perspective, relying on sola scriptura
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  scripture alone, we view this very differently.
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  We do. Our Reform source argues that
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  while we can appreciate the historical context of these
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  rabbinic traditions, and some of them contain practical wisdom,
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  we completely reject the idea that there is an authoritative
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  oral law that is equal to Scripture.
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  So we do not believe God whispered a bunch of secret
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  rules to Moses that he just forgot to write down.
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  We do not. We reject the traditions of men
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  that bind the conscience. Where Scripture is silent.
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  We rely on the illumination of the Holy Spirit to write the law
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  on our hearts. Rather than looking to a
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  codified list of rabbinic editions.
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  The thought is, if God wanted us to know specific mechanics about
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  tying shoes on the Sabbath, He would have put it in the written
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  text. So we stick strictly to the
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  text. But even sticking to the text,
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  we have a challenge. We have 613 laws.
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  Some seem very obvious to us, like do not murder.
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  Others seem incredibly obscure, like the rule about not wearing
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  clothing made of wool and linen mixed together.
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  Yes, the mixed fabrics. How do we categorize all of
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  these? The Jewish framework and the
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  Christian framework handle this categorization very differently.
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  Let's start with the Jewish framework from our source.
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  The Jewish source groups all the laws into 3 distinct types,
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  Mishpatim, E dot and Chuck em. Can you break this down for us?
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  Mishpatim are judgments or justice laws.
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  These are the highly logical laws, things like property
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  rights or restitution. If you accidentally break your
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  neighbor's window, you pay for it.
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  You do not need a lot of spiritual faith to see why those
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  rules are good for a functioning society.
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  OK, that makes sense. And what about E dot?
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  E dot translates to testimonies. These are the festivals, the
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  holidays, things like Passover or the Feast of Tabernacles.
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  They act as testimonies to what God did in history.
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  They are memory devices for the nation.
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  And then the third one, Chukim. Chukim are the statutes.
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  These are the commands that have no obvious logical reason to the
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  human mind. Why do you need a red heifer for
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  a sacrifice? Why the specific dietary
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  restrictions? The Jewish view is that these
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  are pure tests of obedience. You do them simply because God
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  said so, even if you do not understand the underlying
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  reason. That is a very functional way to
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  look at it, but in our Reformed tradition, and specifically
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  looking at the Westminster Confession, we divide the law
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  very differently. We do.
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  We use what theologians call the tripartite division.
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  We see the law falling into 3 categories, moral, ceremonial
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  and civil. Why is the specific division so
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  crucial for us? It is essential for knowing how
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  the Bible applies to us today as Christians.
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  So first you have the moral law. This is the transcript of God's
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  eternal character. It is summarized for us in the
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  10 Commandments. And this moral law is immutable.
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  It never changes. God is always holy, He's always
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  true, He is always faithful. Therefore, we must always not
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  murder, not steal, and not commit adultery.
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  So the moral law is still in full effect right now.
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  Absolutely. It binds everyone, everywhere,
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  at all times. Then you have the ceremonial
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  law. These are the worship
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  regulations, the animal sacrifices, the priesthood, the
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  dietary laws. In Reformed theology, we view
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  these as shadows that were pointing forward to the coming
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  of Christ. And when the object that is
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  casting the shadow finally arrives, you no longer need the
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  shadow. Precisely the reality has come,
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  and thirdly, you have this civil or judicial law.
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  These were the laws governing Israel specifically as a nation
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  state. Correct the penalties for
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  specific crimes. The structure of their earthly
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  government. And here's a key point our
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  source makes. The civil laws expired when the
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  nation state of ancient Israel expired.
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  So that is why we are not supposed to execute Sabbath
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  Breakers today. The Westminster Confession is
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  crystal clear on this. The specific political theocracy
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  of Israel is gone. We are not ancient Israel.
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  However, we do believe in the general equity of those laws.
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  General equity, Can you unpack what that means for us?
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  It means the underlying moral principle of justice in those
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  ancient laws still informs our conscience today.
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  Let me give you an example from the source.
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  Take the Law and Deuteronomy about putting a railing on your
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  roof. Right, because people use their
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  roofs as living spaces back then.
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  Yes, they hung out on their flat roofs.
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  If you did not build a parapet or a railing and someone fell
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  off and died, you were held legally liable for their blood.
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  Now, today, we generally do not hang out on the pitched roofs of
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  our suburban houses, so we do not need to follow that exact
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  building code. But the general equity, the
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  moral principle that you're responsible for the physical
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  safety of the people you invite onto your property, that remains
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  completely valid. So maybe today that principle
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  means you need to put a fence around your swimming pool or fix
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  a rotting step on your porch. That is a really helpful
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  distinction. It saves us from trying to turn
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  our modern governments into ancient Israel, which the source
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  identifies as the error of Christian Reconstructionism.
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  But it keeps us responsible for biblical justice in our
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  communities. That is the balance we have to
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  strike. So if the civil law has expired
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  and the ceremonial law is fulfilled, what is the point of
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  the law for us today? This brings us to a concept
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  called the Three Uses of the Law.
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  I found this section of the research to be incredibly
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  clarifying. This is classic historic
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  Reformed theology. The first use of the law is the
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  mirror. The divine mirror, yes.
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  Its primary purpose, especially for the unregenerate heart and
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  even for believers when we get arrogant, is to crush human
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  pride. Crush is a pretty strong word.
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  It needs to be strong. Our source points us to the
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  Greek text of Romans 3.2 O. The word Paul uses there for the
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  knowledge of sin is epignosis. It is not just gnosis which is
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  knowing a basic fact. Epignosis is precise,
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  experiential, heavy knowledge. It is the difference between
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  reading that fire is hot and actually burning your hand on a
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  stove. That is it.
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  The law makes us feel the actual weight of our guilt.
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  It shatters the myth of human goodness.
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  The world constantly tells us we are basically good people, maybe
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  just a little flawed. But the law says no, You are
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  utterly depraved. You are dead in your trespasses.
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  That sounds really harsh to modern ears.
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  People want to be affirmed. But an affirmation will not save
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  you if you have a terminal disease.
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  You need an honest diagnosis. The law confronts our modern
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  idols. It confronts our pragmatism, our
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  feeling that if we are just nice to our neighbors, God is
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  perfectly happy with us. The law shows us the God
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  standard is absolute perfection, and once we see that impossible
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  standard, we realize we are totally doomed without a Savior.
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  So the mirror drives us to seek help.
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  It drives us to Christ. That is the evangelical function
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  of the law. It shuts every single mouth so
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  that God can speak grace. Then there is the second use of
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  the law civil restraint. This is a function of God's
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  common grace in the world, even for people who do not believe
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  the gospel. The law acts as a bridle, the
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  threat of civil punishment and the basic knowledge of right and
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  wrong that is written on the human conscience.
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  It keeps the world from sliding into absolute anarchy.
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  It stops us from just destroying each other in the streets.
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  Basically, yes, it allows human society to function at all.
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  And finally, the third use. This is the one that really
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  answers the question for the Christian listener.
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  Do we just ignore the law now that we are saved by grace?
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  And the answer is an emphatic no.
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  This third use is the guide for the believer.
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  Our source mentions a big theological word here,
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  antinomianism. Antinomianism literally means
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  against law. It is the dangerous error of
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  thinking that because we are saved by grace, our daily
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  behavior simply does not matter. The mindset of I am saved so I
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  can do whatever I want. But the third use says something
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  very different. It says that for the believer,
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  the law actually changes its function.
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  It is no longer a judge condemning us to a spiritual
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  death sentence. The judge has become our Father,
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  and now the law is a friendly guide showing us how to please
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  our father. I really love the quote from the
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  source. Here we cry out with David.
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  Oh how I love your Torah. That is the true believers
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  attitude because we are united with Christ.
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  We're completely free from the curse of the law, but we are
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  free to actually obey it. It's not a covenant of works
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  where we are trying to earn our keep in God's house.
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  It is a rule of life where we express our love for Him.
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  That changes how you read the Old Testament entirely.
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  It is not a crushing burden. It is a clear.
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  Path. It is the path of gratitude.
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  Let's pivot slightly to what we might call the strange stuff in
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  the text. When we read a book like
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  Leviticus, we hit the ceremonial law, the strange diets, the
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  rules about skin diseases, bodily discharges.
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  It can feel very foreign to a modern reader.
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  Our Jewish source material gives us some really helpful context.
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  Here it. Does it clarifies that in the
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  ancient Jewish context, being labeled unclean did not always
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  mean being sinful? That is a massive distinction.
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  I think we usually equate the two automatically.
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  We do. We bring our modern assumptions
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  to the text. But in the Torah, uncleanness
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  was often about a temporary physical condition that
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  prevented access to public worship.
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  Childbirth, for example, made a woman unclean.
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  But having a baby is not a sin. It is a command and a blessing.
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  Burying a dead relative made you unclean, but honoring the dead
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  is a good deed. So why call it unclean at all?
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  It was about the concepts of ritual, purity and holiness.
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  It was teaching the Israelites the concept of separation.
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  God is life. He is pure, unadulterated life.
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  Anything associated with death or the loss of life fluids
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  pushed you away from His immediate presence.
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  It created a complex system of domains, worship, purity,
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  ethics. It taught the people that you
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  cannot just waltz casually into the presence of a holy God.
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  It created a deep sense of awe, a physical barrier.
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  A barrier that constantly highlighted the need for a
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  permanent solution and that leads us to the reformed
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  interpretation of all these laws.
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  We do not just look at them anthropologically as ancient
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  customs. We look at them through the lens
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  of the New Testament, specifically the book of
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  Hebrews. The reformed fulfillment.
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  Our source calls this system a visual pedagogy.
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  It was a teaching tool. God was using all these bloody
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  rituals to teach the doctrine of substitutionary atonement long
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  before He actually sent the Savior.
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  How so? Can you paint that picture for
• 19:03
  us? Think.
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  About the sensory experience. Every single time an Israelite
• 19:08
  sinned, something had to die. A lamb, a goat, a bull, and the
• 19:13
  Sinner laid their own hands on the animal's head, symbolically
• 19:16
  transferring their personal guilt onto the animal.
• 19:18
  The throat was cut, the blood was spilled.
• 19:20
  It was a graphic, visceral lesson.
• 19:22
  Sin brings death, but God will accept a substitute.
• 19:25
  And all of that generation after generation was pointing to one
• 19:28
  specific event in history. It was all pointing to Jesus of
• 19:32
  Nazareth. We do not allegorize these
• 19:35
  texts, meaning we do not just invent fanciful spiritualized
• 19:38
  meanings for every little detail of the Tabernacle.
• 19:41
  We see them as types. A type is a real historical
• 19:44
  symbol that finds its anti type or its true fulfillment in
• 19:49
  Christ. So when we see the Jewish high
• 19:51
  priest going behind the veil in the temple.
• 19:53
  We see Jesus entering the true holy place in heaven, and when?
• 19:56
  We see the Passover lamb being slaughtered.
• 19:59
  We see Christ, our Passover sacrifice for us on the cross.
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  And This is why we say the ceremonial law is abrogated or
• 20:06
  cancelled. Abrogated is the technical
• 20:08
  theological term, but it is not cancelled like a bad television
• 20:12
  show. It is cancelled because it was
• 20:14
  perfectly fulfilled. The shadow is no longer needed
• 20:17
  because the substance has arrived.
• 20:19
  The source is very strong on this point.
• 20:21
  The blood of bulls and goats could never actually take away
• 20:23
  human sin. It was a placeholder.
• 20:25
  It was a check written on credit that only Jesus could actually
• 20:28
  cash. And this is where the source
• 20:30
  takes a direct swing at some other theological views, yes.
• 20:34
  Specifically, the Roman Catholic view of the Mass from a Reformed
• 20:38
  perspective. Any attempt to represent a
• 20:40
  sacrifice, to have a literal altar and a priest offering
• 20:45
  Christ's body again and again in the Eucharist, is a denial of
• 20:49
  the finished work of the cross. It is finished.
• 20:51
  The veil is torn in two. We do not go back to the
• 20:54
  shadows. That is a very heavy
• 20:56
  application. It means we have direct access
• 20:58
  to God now. Direct access to the only true
• 21:01
  High Priest. This brings us to the very
• 21:03
  center of it all. We have talked a lot about the
• 21:05
  law, but we need to talk about the law giver and the law
• 21:08
  keeper. Where is Jesus in the books of
• 21:10
  Exodus and Leviticus? Is everywhere.
• 21:13
  If you read the Torah correctly, Christ is the end point of every
• 21:16
  single line. Let's talk about the two kinds
• 21:18
  of obedience mentioned in the source, active and passive.
• 21:20
  This was a massive light bulb moment for me when I read it.
• 21:23
  It is crucial for understanding justification how we are
• 21:27
  actually made right with a holy God.
• 21:28
  So first you have the active obedience of Christ.
• 21:31
  This means that Jesus, living as a man, live the perfect life
• 21:34
  that the law demanded. He did not just avoid sinning,
• 21:37
  right? He did not just avoid the
• 21:39
  negative prohibitions. He fulfilled all the positive
• 21:42
  commands. He loved God perfectly with all
• 21:44
  his heart, soul, mind and strength every second of his
• 21:47
  life. He loved his neighbor perfectly.
• 21:49
  He fulfilled every jot and title.
• 21:51
  He earned the blessing of the law that Adam lost in the
• 21:53
  garden. So he has the perfect track
• 21:56
  record of a law keeper. Yes, but then you have his
• 22:00
  passive obedience. This refers to his passion, his
• 22:04
  physical and spiritual suffering.
• 22:06
  He willingly bore the terrifying curse of the law on the cross,
• 22:10
  the Torah says in Deuteronomy. Cursed is everyone who does not
• 22:13
  abide by all things written in the book of the.
• 22:15
  Law. We did not abide by all things,
• 22:16
  so we deserve that curse. Exactly.
• 22:18
  But he took it for us. He stepped in the way of the
• 22:21
  avalanche of God's wrath. And this leads to the beautiful
• 22:24
  doctrine of double imputation. Break that down for the
• 22:27
  listener. It is the great exchange.
• 22:29
  Our sin, our massive record of breaking God's law, was imputed
• 22:33
  or credited to Christ on the cross.
• 22:36
  He was treated by the Father as if he were the Sinner.
• 22:39
  He was treated as if he were you.
• 22:40
  And the other side of that exchange?
• 22:41
  His righteousness, His perfect, flawless keeping of the law, is
• 22:45
  imputed to us. We are treated by the Father as
• 22:48
  if we lived His perfect life. That is just mind blowing.
• 22:51
  So when God looks at me, he does not see my daily failure to keep
• 22:55
  the law. He sees Christ's total success.
• 22:58
  That is the gospel. That is why we say we are saved
• 23:01
  by grace alone, through faith alone.
• 23:03
  It is not our obedience that saves us.
• 23:05
  It is His obedience credited to our account.
• 23:08
  Our source brings up a Greek word study from Romans 10.4
• 23:11
  right here, the word telos. Yes, Paul.
• 23:14
  Writes Christ is the end of the law.
• 23:17
  The Greek word there is telos. It does not just mean the end
• 23:20
  like the final credits of a movie.
• 23:22
  It means the goal, the target, the consummation.
• 23:25
  The law was an arrow and Christ is the bullseye.
• 23:27
  The law was aiming at him the entire time.
• 23:29
  So to the person listening right now who is trying to earn their
• 23:31
  salvation by being a good person, by trying to follow the
• 23:34
  rules. The source says behold the
• 23:36
  Christ who has already kept it. You are exhausting yourself
• 23:39
  trying to hit a target that has already been struck perfectly.
• 23:42
  You are trying to pay down a massive debt that has already
• 23:44
  been paid in full. That is incredibly freeing.
• 23:47
  It is the only truth that can truly free the human heart from
• 23:50
  both anxiety and pride. So we have built up this massive
• 23:54
  theological framework today. We have looked at the history,
• 23:57
  the types, the fulfillment. But as we always try to do on
• 24:00
  this show, we need to bring this down to the ground.
• 24:03
  How do we apply this to our actual lives?
• 24:05
  Our source breaks the application down into 3
• 24:07
  categories, Head, Heart and hands.
• 24:10
  Let's start with the head. What do we need to firmly
• 24:12
  believe? Intellectually, we need to
• 24:14
  believe in the divine authorship of the Torah.
• 24:17
  We reject the liberal views that say this is just a collection of
• 24:20
  ancient myths that evolved over time.
• 24:22
  We believe God actually spoke to Moses, but more importantly, for
• 24:25
  our daily spiritual health, we must understand the law and
• 24:28
  gospel distinction. Knowing the clear difference
• 24:31
  between what God commands us to do and what God gives to us.
• 24:34
  Yes, if you mix those two up in your head, you will severely
• 24:38
  damage your heart. If you turn the gospel into a
• 24:41
  law thinking I must do this list of things to be saved, you lose
• 24:45
  all your hope. And if you turn the law into a
• 24:47
  gospel, thinking I'm a pretty good person, so God accepts me,
• 24:50
  you lose your urgent need for Christ.
• 24:53
  You must know that the imperative command always rests
• 24:56
  on the indicative fact of grace. Moving to the heart category,
• 24:59
  how should we feel about the law?
• 25:01
  Because love is not usually the first emotion that comes to mind
• 25:04
  for most people when they think of strict rules.
• 25:06
  We should feel a mix of deep reverence and intense gratitude.
• 25:10
  We should love the pure holiness that the law reveals.
• 25:13
  We should look at the 10 commandments and say this is
• 25:15
  beautiful because my God is beautiful.
• 25:18
  But we should also maintain a healthy, terrifying fear of
• 25:21
  relying on our own obedience for salvation.
• 25:23
  The source gives a strong warning against pragmatism here.
• 25:26
  Yes, the primary idol of our modern age is what works.
• 25:30
  We tend to treat the Bible like a self help manual.
• 25:33
  We think if I follow these rules that will have a better marriage
• 25:35
  or better finances or a happier life.
• 25:38
  That is a very low view of the law.
• 25:40
  The law is not a life hack, it is reflection of the Creator.
• 25:44
  Our heart should be cultivated toward grateful obedience.
• 25:47
  We obey because we are already loved, not to get Him to love
• 25:50
  us. And finally, the hands, the
• 25:52
  action. What does all this theology look
• 25:55
  like in practice on a Tuesday morning?
• 25:56
  For the unbeliever listening, the application is stark.
• 25:59
  Repent. The law condemns you.
• 26:01
  It is a mirror showing you dirt on your face that you absolutely
• 26:04
  cannot wash off yourself. Flee to the remedy.
• 26:06
  Flee to Christ. And for the believer, the source
• 26:09
  uses a phrase I really like, the weary St.
• 26:12
  I think we can all relate to being a weary St.
• 26:14
  For the Weary St. the application is to look back at
• 26:17
  the indicative when you fail and you will fail today or tomorrow.
• 26:20
  Do not obsess over your performance.
• 26:22
  Look at your standing. You are accepted in the Beloved.
• 26:25
  Your status as a fully justified child of God is not fluctuating
• 26:28
  up and down based on how well you tap the rules today.
• 26:31
  That is such a comfort, but it does not mean we just sit back
• 26:34
  and do nothing, right? No, absolutely not.
• 26:37
  For our families, for our society.
• 26:39
  We maintain God's moral standards.
• 26:41
  We stand firmly for biblical sexual ethics, for complete
• 26:45
  honesty in business, for real justice, for the vulnerable, not
• 26:49
  to earn our way into heaven. But because we are, as the
• 26:52
  Jewish source reminded us earlier, a holy nation and a
• 26:55
  royal priesthood, we are distinct.
• 26:58
  Our lives should look tangibly different from the culture
• 27:01
  around us because our God is different.
• 27:03
  We act like people who have actually been delivered from
• 27:06
  Egypt. Exactly.
• 27:07
  We do not live like frightened slaves to Pharaoh anymore.
• 27:10
  We live like free, joyful children of the King.
• 27:13
  This has been such a heavy, worthwhile discussion.
• 27:16
  To summarize it all, the Torah is a divine mirror that shatters
• 27:18
  our self righteousness. And is a gracious guide for the
• 27:21
  redeemed. And Christ is the end of the law
• 27:23
  for righteousness to everyone who believes.
• 27:25
  Soul is Christus Christ. I want to leave you, the
• 27:28
  listener, with a final thought to Mull over as you go about
• 27:31
  your week. We talked extensively about how
• 27:34
  the law was given after the massive rescue at the Red Sea.
• 27:37
  It was instruction for a free people.
• 27:39
  So ask yourself this. What areas of your own life are
• 27:43
  you still treating as a slavery to earn God's favor?
• 27:46
  Are you serving God because you were terrified of Pharaoh's
• 27:49
  whip? Or are you serving him because
• 27:51
  you are overwhelmingly grateful for the Exodus?
• 27:53
  That is the crucial question that determines whether you are
• 27:56
  living in exhausting religion or living in the freedom of the
• 27:59
  gospel. Thank you for joining us on this
• 28:01
  deep dive into reformed thinking.
• 28:03
  Sola gratia sola fide Sola's Christus.
• 28:06
  Grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone.
• 28:09
  We will see you next time.