From Law to Life: Jesus in the Pentateuch

But if there was only a temporary sacrifice. He could never pay the full price. And so the real solution was not us bringing animal sacrifice. Thanks god we don't have to do that today. But Jesus became that sacrifice. He shed his blood on the cross to be our sacrifice once and for all, Hebrews says. For all people, for all of time, for every single one of you, whether you know it or not, Jesus' sacrifice on the cross was a sacrifice to pay the price that we could never pay. [01:05:22] (41 seconds)  #OnceForAllSacrifice

Today, we can be transformed not by the outside in. We're not changed today by doing better, being better, behaving better, living up to somebody else's expectations. Even praying and fasting over the next three days is not about doing the right things to get the right results. No. No. No. Transformed obedience means it doesn't stout outward in. It starts inward out. And our hearts are now soft and open for God. And out of a heart of flesh, God, we wanna worship you. We wanna serve you, not just with our singing on a Sunday, but with our lifestyle through our week. [01:14:48] (49 seconds)  #InsideOutTransformation

When I read the books of the law, I'm brought to my knees going, God, I'm not worthy to be in your presence, but thank God for Jesus who's brought me into the presence of God. And not only that, that you have brought your powerful, incredible presence into my life. Wow, God. And it calls me to a transformed obedience. Now I don't just wanna behave better because the books of the law tell me to. I wanna behave better because God is calling me upwards to live the life that he's calling me to. And so out of a new heart, I wanna serve God with my whole life. [01:13:08] (50 seconds)  #PresenceTransformsLife

We see in the Old Testament how mankind continually fell short of our responsibility to God. Happy to receive, God, what you've got for us, but we just wanna do whatever we wanna do. No. No. It doesn't work like that. And so we understand that as humans, we fell short, and yet Jesus came to restore the covenant, the promise, the commitment, and the responsibilities that we have between us and God. In one Peter chapter two verse nine, the bible says that we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession that you today may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness and into his wonderful light. [00:59:32] (53 seconds)  #RestoredCovenant

We see here God's heart is firstly not just about law, but it's about love. God firstly had calling for us and not just commandments. We're not just saved into cold religion, but we're saved into a covenant relationship. Yet this almighty, powerful, god of the universe who created all things with his words, this god desires relationship with us today. Isn't that amazing? And he desires a covenant relationship. You know what a covenant relationship is? Covenant relationship means that it's one that comes with promises, with commitments, with responsibilities. [00:55:31] (52 seconds)  #CovenantOverLaw

We see God's heart and intention for this right from the beginning in in the Garden of Eden. It shows us that God wanted to be with us. Genesis three verse eight. Adam and Eve walked with God in the cool of day in the Garden of Eden. God wanted to walk with his people in Exodus. It shows us that redemption is not just freedom from from Pharaoh and freedoms from something, freedom from slavery, freedom from something that kept us away, but it's also freedom to something. It's freedom to worship in Exodus nine verse one. Let my people go that they may worship me. [01:01:44] (49 seconds)  #FreedomToWorship

When we understand that, we see that our relationship with God is not defined by some laws and commandments. It's not some restrictions. It's not just five books of pieces of paper. No. No. Our relationship with God is full of promise and commitment to one another and responsibility that God is responsible to us and promises to us, and we reciprocate our responsibility and commitment to God. And so when we read the books of the law like that, we understand what we have. [00:58:17] (41 seconds)  #RelationshipNotRules

And the covenant of marriage is not defined just by a certificate, but as we're married, we understand our marriage is not defined by that. It's defined by our shared responsibilities, our commitments to one another, our our our promises to one another that we understand in sickness and in health, in richer and in poorer, good times, bad times, whatever the season, whatever we go through till death do us part. So we understand the covenant of marriage comes with safety, comes with security, comes with blessing, comes with commitment, comes with a covenant relationship. That's way more than just a piece of paper. [00:57:27] (50 seconds)  #MarriageIsCovenant