#6 Honor God’s Law

Matthew 5: 17-19

¹⁷ “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. ¹⁸ For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. ¹⁹ Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

This is written in red in bible- indicating it is Jesus’s words. What I have seen a lot of people do is take a piece of this out and use it. They say that Jesus already fulfilled the law. What really sticks out for me in this is the statement, “until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of the pen, will by means disappear from the law until everything is accomplished. ” So heaven still exists. Earth still exists. Then, we get down to the bottom it says that if you teach others to disobey you will be least in kingdom.

I see a lot of people misinterpreting scriptures to validate disobeying the laws. The laws in old testament are really instructions, they tell us what the Father sees as sin, or missing the mark. They give us a holy standard to follow. They don’t have saving power, but they do give us instructions on how to Love God with All Our Heart.

Paul said that having knowledge of the commandments brings an awareness of what sin is (Romans 7:7). The apostle John defines sin as breaking or not keeping the commandments (1 John 3:4).

We know that the laws on sacrifice are not needed today, there is no temple. But there are plenty of laws that are revealant today. I asked a group of 5,6,8 year olds to tell me if something was right or wrong. I asked them questions concerning some obscure laws in OT. Did you know that they answered every single one correctly. We know that Jesus magnified the top 10 for us and then put all the laws under the heading of love. But it’s still important that we examine all the instructions in the Torah ( 1st 5 books) to know if doing something is lawful in God’s eyes or not. Jesus was sinless, so we know that he did not disobey one of YHWH’s commandments. He studied, taught and read from the law and the prophets.

Here are the top 10 for us to read daily and teach our children.

Exodus 20

The Ten Commandments

20 And God spoke all these words:

² “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

³ “You shall have no other gods before^[a] me.

⁴ “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷ “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

¹² “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

¹³ “You shall not murder.

¹⁴ “You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵ “You shall not steal.

¹⁶ “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

¹⁷ “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

A few of the 613 laws to encourage you to study the word entirely to see what YHWH defines as sin. We should weigh Jesus’s own words much heavier than the disciples. Remember, Peter warned in 2 Peter 3-16

“He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.” We know that many have used Paul’s letter to abolish the laws and justify sin. My fear is that this could jeopardize salvation. Because to believe in Jesus is to obey him.

Deuteronomy 22: 5: A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor a man wear women’s clothing, for the LORD your God detests anyone who does this.

Leviticus 19: 31: “Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.”

Examine the meat of animals to make sure it is permitted for consumption. (Leviticus 11:2-8) (Leviticus 11:9-12). Ask yourself did Jesus eat unclean meats?

Do not take away from Yahweh’s Laws. (Deuteronomy 4:2)