Take your copy of God's Word and turn with me please to the book of Matthew. Matthew chapter 5. Jesus our Redeemer and Ruler was born at exactly the time that God ordained. He was born of a woman. He was born in the Old Covenant era and under the Mosaic law. And early in his ministry, he presented himself as the king of a new kind of kingdom. Even in the Old Covenant, a new era had begun because Jesus was here. Jesus is the nexus, the overlap between the old covenant and the new covenant. He stands in both. He is the fulfillment of the old and the one who has begun the new. This is what Paul has taught us. Now, since this is true, therefore we must consider how Jesus handles the Mosaic Law, and that's our aim today. Some of you may be wondering about the order of the sermons. Why did we consider Paul's handling of the Mosaic Law before studying Jesus' handling of the Mosaic Law in the Gospels? Don't the Gospels come before Paul? Well, that's why the writing, the order of the writing of the New Testament books is important. It helps us to see how to interpret what the Gospel writers were wanting us to understand. When Matthew and Mark and Luke were written, but particularly Matthew and Mark as we focus on them, What other New Testament books had been written and were in circulation? James was written in the mid 40s. 1st and 2nd Thessalonians in 50 or 51. Galatians and 1st Corinthians in 55. And 2 Corinthians in 56. And Romans in 57. Matthew was written in the early or late, in the late 50s or early 60s. So when Matthew was written, Romans, Galatians, 2 Corinthians 3, which we've studied, these were already written. They were already in circulation. Paul's theology was, in one sense, well known. And the Bible pathway, as we've taught it here, will be a help. I'm going to just touch on it briefly. Bring that up, David, for me, please. Thank you. When we talk about starting with the text on the left side, and then what was the text meant to the people who originally received it, the them-then, and then we come across thematically to the New Covenant and to Christ and to the cross. than application to us. But in the Gospels it's a little different because we have the text to the original audience and so we have Jesus speaking to people under the old covenant before the cross. But then there is an interaction in the Gospels in which there is a New Covenant interpretation. And even as Jesus is speaking in the Old Covenant, He is anticipating the New and what is to come. And therefore, we make application to us. Pastor Dale gave us a very helpful sermon last week on three ways that Paul handled the Mosaic Law. It's important to us to remember that we are talking about the Mosaic Law. We hold that the Old Testament is Scripture. It's inspired, it's inerrant, and useful. But we are not under the jurisdiction of the Mosaic Law. This is what Paul taught and fought for. And therefore, what the Gospel writers are presenting must be aligned to Paul's teaching. That's the approach we will take. Now, how did Paul handle the Mosaic Law? Well first, we use the word, they'll use the word repudiation simply to mean the Mosaic Law has been fulfilled or completed and no longer has jurisdiction. Particularly over Gentiles and now over believers. There is replacement. The Old Covenant has been superseded by the New Covenant. The Old Covenant was an arrangement that brought the people of Israel to become a nation. But now, in the New Covenant, God is bringing all people into the body of Christ and into the kingdom of God. And re-appropriation. This is where the Old Testament scriptures, the Old Covenant, even the Mosaic Law, is useful as wisdom and illustration and instruction. Paul told Timothy that you have been familiar with the scriptures through which came a knowledge in which you became to know Christ. Now as we survey Jesus' teaching from and about the Old Testament and the Mosaic Law, we will notice that at times he sets it aside, at times he expands and deepens on it. And at times, he will simply anticipate that we're not under its jurisdiction anymore. And at all times, Jesus is the Lord of the Law. He is the new Moses. And that's what Matthew 5 is all about. And the author establishes a very different environment for Jesus' teaching than when the law was given at Mount Sinai. For example, in Matthew 4, the focus is on the king and the kingdom that he is bringing. He's not establishing a geographical nation, but rather a spiritual kingdom. And this is shown by the preaching of the kingdom of heaven instead of the formation of a physical nation. It's shown by the power of the king demonstrated in healing and miracles and thus establishing Jesus's authority. And the people seeking and following the king instead of cowering away in traumatized fear. Matthew chapter 5. The contrast to the giving of the Mosaic Law is emphasized by the pastoral setting on the Mount. It's quiet. It's peaceful. And Jesus speaks. As opposed to the thundering and the lightning and the trumpets and the fearsomeness of Mount Sinai. There is a teaching method by Jesus instead of the frightening words of thundering proclamation and law giving. There's a radically different ethos and expectations by Jesus. There's triumph by the Beatitudes, not by war. Transforming and witnessing function of Jesus' kingdom in the world as salt and light, as opposed to the triumphant conquest of a portion of the land. Now the similarities are there so that, as Matthew draws out, are intended for us to see Jesus as the new Moses. And the differences he highlights help us to hear Jesus from the perspective of the new covenant. All I have to do is be away from the Miami Valley crud for a week and come back. So I want to pick up in Matthew 5, verses 17 and 18. These verses are often misunderstood and misused, but the statement of Jesus in the light of Paul's teaching is plain. Matthew 5, 17 and 18, do not think that I've come to abolish the law or prophets and Jesus speaking I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them for truly I say unto you until heaven and earth pass away not an iota or a dot will pass from the law until all is accomplished now think then of a the clarifying assertions that Jesus makes. First, Jesus did not come to abolish the Old Testament Scriptures. When Jesus talks about the Law and Prophets, what is he talking about? He's talking about the whole of the Old Testament. This must mean that was a question in the mind of Matthew's readers. If what Paul taught is true, what do we do with the Old Testament? So Matthew explains in the words of Jesus that he did not come to abolish the Old Testament. Therefore we affirm that Jesus and what he taught and Paul and what he taught is not ending the usefulness, the scripturalness of the Old Testament. In fact, Jesus came to fulfill them. Jesus came to complete the purpose for which the Old Testament Scriptures were intended. The Old Testament was intended to be fulfilled in Christ. And a question needs to be addressed. In what sense does Jesus fulfill? What does it mean to fulfill them? who Jesus is and what Jesus has done for us is anticipated in the Old Testament in many different ways. And when Jesus comes in the Incarnation and through His death and resurrection, He brought to completion, to fulfillment, what the Old Testament had promised, what it had predicted, what it had prophesied, and what it had pictured. Here He is. The reality to which all of the Old Testament Now let me illustrate it this way. You go on Amazon.com, this is not an advertisement for a website. You go on Amazon.com to order something. You place the order, you pay for it, you give Amazon a delivery destination. You have placed an order. The order is in force. You can go back and you look at what you ordered and even get some idea of when it will be delivered. When it arrives and you accept it, then the order is fulfilled. The order is completed. What was promised and purchased has arrived. In much the same way, Jesus has come and fulfilled the Old Testament. Jesus also asserts that until there is a great change in the age, heaven and earth pass away, the law will stand until all is accomplished. Now the key is until all is accomplished. The distinction here is that he singles out the law. Do you see that? He talked about the law and prophets in the Old Testament Scriptures, now he singles out the law in the sense that it is going to be accomplished till it is going to be finished and that is sure and certain. The law will stand until Jesus has fulfilled the Old Testament and accomplished what the law intended. And readers and writers, readers of Paul, know what was accomplished. Either Jesus is talking about the Mosaic Law, or he may be using the word law here to refer to the Old Testament, which sometimes happens in the New. Jesus then is affirming that the Old Testament, and possibly the Mosaic Law in particular, have been fulfilled, have been accomplished in Christ. The person they were talking about has arrived, and so they have been fulfilled. Matthew then is indicating, given Paul's teaching, that Jesus has accomplished what the Mosaic Law was designed to do, and therefore, it has now been fulfilled and accomplished, and is no longer in force. It has no further jurisdiction. Now, we would not know this from Matthew. But given that Galatians and Romans and 2 Corinthians would have been written, and Paul has been teaching for several years, necessary to interpret Matthew in the light of these Pauline books. Now there are some important responsibilities that flow from these truths. If this is so, then how is Jesus' teaching to be treated? And notice verse 19 begins with what word in our ESV? Try me again. Therefore, what does that mean? That what follows is a consequence of what went before. So the Old Testament scriptures have been fulfilled in Christ, the law, what has purpose has been accomplished. As a consequence, Whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Now since Jesus has come and fulfilled the Old Testament, and since the scripture is to be honored, then what Jesus is about to command must also be honored. These commandments is not looking back to the law or even to the old covenant. These commandments are the commandments Jesus is about to give. They're referring to what He is about to teach. Jesus is making a claim that what He commands, and what He teaches, is to be put on the same level, if not a higher level, than the Old Testament. Do people get this? At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, they are amazed that Jesus taught with authority, and not like the scribes and Pharisees. In other words, Jesus is anticipating that in the kingdom, in the New Covenant age in which Matthew is writing, what Jesus commands is to be honored and taught and obeyed just as in the Old Covenant Jew would have taught and honored and obeyed the Mosaic Law. Those who respect the Scriptures and teach, including what Jesus teaches and commands, will and should be honored in this new covenant age and in this new way of the Spirit. This is the context then for Jesus to say, you have heard it said, but I say to you. Now, listen to this very helpful quote from David Mathis, was executive actor of DesiringGod.org, in an article entitled, Lord of the Law. David writes, Jesus came to fulfill what the old anticipated, and to usher in a new covenant, a fundamentally new era of history. His followers would not be under the previous administration that had guarded God's people since Moses. Jesus Himself says He did not come to destroy the Law and Prophets, but to do something even more striking, to fulfill them. That is, fulfill like prophecy, not simply keep the ten in place, or remain under them, or leave them untouched, but fulfill them. First in His own person, and then by His Spirit in His Church. He came not to cast off Moses, but to fulfill Jeremiah. In doing so, he accomplished what is even more radical. He is establishing himself as the supreme authority, putting God's law within his people rather than on tablets, and writing it on their hearts rather than on stone, and making all his people to know him." End quote. And therefore, in verses 20 through 48, we have the new way. We must acknowledge in discussion and a debate over these verses. The question is, what is Jesus actually doing here? When he says, you have heard it said, but I say to you. First, covenant theologians generally teach that Jesus is correcting the Pharisees and giving the correct interpretation of the Mosaic law so that the believer can know how to obey the Ten Commandments. Generally what is taught? Others would see that Jesus is expanding the Ten Commandments to include an inward heart orientation, but still keeping the believer under the Ten Commandments. Now we would agree that Jesus is correcting the Pharisees' wrong use of the law. He is doing that. Let's be honest with the text. We would also agree that Jesus teaches that obedience is a matter of the inner person, the heart. But he is not teaching these things in order to keep the Mosaic Law in the New Covenant era. What Jesus does is to teach New Covenant righteousness. A righteousness that must exceed the legalism of the scribes and Pharisees. In other words, we need to take the, but I say to you, seriously, Jesus is speaking. He is teaching with authority as the new Moses. His commands are to be honored and taught and kept. He's initiating the transition from the old covenant to the new. It's quite naturally for him to do that using the Old Testament Scriptures since he is talking under them and he is talking to people who are obligated to them. And we need to realize that some of the quotes from the Mosaic Covenant are in fact not from the Ten Commandments. They're from other parts of the Mosaic Law. Jesus is giving the commandments of the new era. His words are these commandments, which must be honored and must be taught in the New Covenant age. But the point of reference is not the continuation of the Mosaic Law or the Ten Words, or Jesus is contradicting Paul. Or Paul is contradicting Jesus, which we would not have. We need to realize that there is no indication in the text or context that he is challenging the Pharisees only. That's the only thing he's doing. And yes, some of these may be what they taught, but Jesus is clearly laying out a new, higher, heart-oriented ethic that was not in the Mosaic Law. John Riesinger said, quotes, now some say that the translation, our ESV, is incorrect. They contend that the correct translation is, you have heard it said, by men of old. Meaning that men of old gave an incorrect interpretation of the law. The ESV, however, has it right. Jesus means that Moses, in the law, said something to the fathers. As one great Greek scholar said, Jesus now assumes a tone of superiority over the Mosaic regulations. Jeremiah expresses the same view even in stronger language when he states, Jesus establishes a new divine law when he opposes his, but I say to you in the word of scripture, end quote. We must understand and accept then that Christ is contrasting his teaching and his commands for his spiritual kingdom and that both kinds of rule are wholly just and good. God ordained both. But in their own time, at their proper time, under their proper jurisdiction. And the jurisdiction, the Mosaic Law and the Mosaic Covenant has come to an end. And the jurisdiction of the Law of Christ and the rule of Christ over his people and over his kingdom is where we live now. The whole of Scripture, the whole of the Sermon on the Mount in the New Testament, each section shows that Christ is appealing directly to His own authority. It is I who say to you. He has authority to interpret and apply Old Testament Scripture in new and higher manner. He has authority to give new Scripture that contain new commands. Christ is declaring his own authority as the new lawgiver. Now let's take up the text themselves and see what Jesus said to them and what Matthew wrote to the church and to us. Now remember that Jesus is not giving an exhaustive list. Gospel writers have selected under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit what they wrote. The rest of the New Testament is going to fill out the rest of of how we, as New Covenant believers, are to live. Now, this is not an attempt to expound on each of these areas. If you would like to see that, there's a much more in-depth exposition of this in my manuscripts from the book of Matthew. I'm just going to be looking at the text in a brief summary. first in regarding resolving anger verses 21 to 26 Jesus begins with addressing sins that are related to anger and murder you have heard it was said to those of old you shall not murder and whoever murders will be liable to judgment I say to you that everyone who is angry with this brother will be liable to judgment whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council and whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there, remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court. Lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. The law forbade murder and warned of certain judgment, but Jesus commands that we resolve anger and conflict early. We must recognize it in our hearts, and we are to take the steps to settle conflict before it becomes hatred, possibly leading to murder. In regards to sexual purity, verses 27 through 30, Verse 27, you have heard it was said, you shall not commit adultery. But I say to you, that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in your heart. If you're right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It's better you to lose one of your members than your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away, for it is better that you lose one of your members than your whole body go into hell. The law forbade the committing of adultery. In contrast, Jesus warns us about the sin of lust in our hearts. and commands us to deal with contributing factors, particularly in our physical bodies. And all through the New Testament, we see that worked out and expanded and articulated and nuanced, right? Regarding divorce, verses 31 through 32. Our Lord Jesus Christ addresses the issue of divorce. It was also said, whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce. Now this is not in the Ten Commandments, is it? Where is this in what is commonly thought of as the civil law? Alright? But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery." Now realize that just dropping that like that without working through the New Testament can leave some of you maybe discouraged, even having a sense of guilt you don't need to bear. But notice what happens in that text. In the Old Testament, the Mosaic Law required a legal process for a divorce. It never outlawed divorce, just as it did not outlaw polygamy. And Jesus is clearly commanding something very different. And Jesus commands here, He is forbidding divorce among God's people with one possible exception. It bears saying that this statement must be understood in the light of Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 7, which was already written. Sometimes we think of Paul as interacting with Matthew, Mark, and Luke. He's not. It's the other way around. So in the rest of the New Testament, we find the underlying reasons and rationale for Jesus' statements. And the root of it is the aim that marriage model the relationship between Christ and the Church. Regarding oaths, verses 33 to 37, Jesus teaches that we are to be keepers of our promises. Here is a law that is not in the Ten Commandments. Verse 33, you have heard it said, that it was said to those of old, you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn. I say to you, do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. Do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say simply be yes or no. Anything more than this comes from evil. So the law required a person to keep his oaths. When Jesus teaches and commands, we must not make them. In the New Covenant, we are simply to be honest in our speech with one another. If you make a promise, keep it. But to swear on something, to swear by something, particularly with Christian brothers, is not allowed. regarding retaliation, verses 38 through 42. Now here's another law that's not in the Ten Commandments, comes from the so-called Civil Code. Verse 38, you have heard it said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, do not resist the one who is evil. And if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. If anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If anyone forces you to go a mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. Now, the law allowed for exact retribution when wronged. In other words, no more than. But also, can be up to. Right? Jesus commands you to give up your rights. Philippians 2 tells us that Jesus did this, even going to the cross in order to look after our need for salvation and our interest in the kingdom. Regarding enemies and neighbors, verses 43-48. Jesus presses home the fundamental scope of the law of Christ. Verse 43, you have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. I say to you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your father who is in heaven for he makes the Sun rise on the evil and on the good and sins rain on the just and the unjust for if you love those who love you what reward head do you have do not even tax collectors do the same if you greet only your brothers and What more are you doing than others? Don't even Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, even as your Heavenly Father is perfect. See, the command law, the law commanded love for other Jewish people and was misused to say hatred for enemies was not only allowed, but commanded. Jesus commands us to respond very differently to our enemies, to those who wrong us, and to those who persecute us. This kind of love distinguishes us from unbelievers. Christians should be marked by the power and permanence of their love for each other. But we are also marked by love for those who hate us and persecute us, who slander and revile us. Because we must be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect. His perfections are the pattern and the power for our own. This kind of love then is the root of which all the commands that Jesus has given are the fruit. When we love with perfect love then we will not be angry with our brothers and will seek quick resolution into conflict. When we love with perfect love we will love our spouses and our sisters in such a way we will not give way to lust and guard our lives for purity. When we love with perfect love We will love our spouses and our brothers with covenant-keeping love that will seek to avoid divorce. When we love with perfect love, we will love God and neighbor with a promise-keeping, words-honoring integrity. And when we love with perfect love, we will love our enemies so that we will reject taking our own revenge against them. and will be poised to do extravagant deeds of good for them. This is what the new Moses taught us. It was shocking in his day, and sadly, some of this is surprising and difficult even in our day. Now, I want to take just a few minutes. I'm going to summarize the next section rather than do what has been in front of me. If you will go onto the website and pick up the manuscript, you will see that there is much more in this sermon than what I am preaching. There's a lot more supporting text and so on. You can go on there and read it. And I would commend to you for those of you who are interested in going deeper into this to do so. But not only is Jesus the new Moses, but he is the new Sabbath. Remember that the Sabbath was a sign of the Old Covenant. And when Jesus comes and does what he does with the Sabbath, He's doing something very, very important. In the Ten Commandments, Israel was commanded to keep the Sabbath. They were to do so because the Sabbath was a sign of the Mosaic Covenant. The weekly Sabbath and the Sabbath festival and rest cycles were commanded as a part of keeping the Sabbath. Violating the Sabbath was a capital offense. In the Old Testament, a man was stoned to death for picking up sticks on the Sabbath. This was recorded in order that Jewish people might understand how important Sabbath-keeping, with absolutely no work to be done, except what was necessary and mercy. Jesus' handling of the Sabbath-keeping is radically different. It was different even from the bare words of the law. Jesus is born at a time when he was under the law, but he makes it clear that while he voluntarily subjected himself to the law as a Jewish person, he was in fact the Lord over the law, and the Lord then of the Sabbath. He was not reinforcing the old way of the written code, but rather was introducing the new way of the Living Spirit. And so, in verses 18-22 of Mark, Mark chapter 2, verses 18-22, he introduces the idea of new wine skins. New wine skins. John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting and people came and said to him, Why do John's disciples and disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not? Jesus said to them, Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come and the bridegroom is taken away from them and then they will fast in that day. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it and a new from the old and worse tear is made. No one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins and the new wine is destroyed and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins. Something is coming that will require new cloth and new wineskin. The fabric of God's holiness and the Spirit's power and presence will require something new. It's obvious from the text. It will become evident that the new wineskin is in fact the new covenant and the new way. What leads me to say that? Well, the text is followed by two important stories that are repeated in Matthew and Luke. Now, I want to then pick the stories up in Matthew. I want to see. He's talked about new wineskins and in Mark, if you keep going, these two stories are repeated. but I want to pick them up in Mark. There is the Sabbath and the promise of rest, that time Jesus declared, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and the understanding and reveal them to the little children. I am reading from Matthew 11, I'm sorry. Matthew 11, picking up in verse 25, now to 26. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find What? Rest. You will find sabbatismos for your soul. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. We are used to hearing this text without its context. What is the yoke Jesus is talking about? In the context it will emerge, he's talking about the Sabbath. The heavy and tiresome yoke, and Jesus offers rest, a new Sabbath. And unlike the harsh and hard schoolmaster of the law, Jesus is meek and lowly and gentle. His Sabbath, unlike the old covenant, is light and easy. How can that be? Matthew will tell us in chapter 12 verse 1. Now at this time Jesus went through the grain field. Notice that at that time. Connection. Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. What were they doing? Harvesting. When the Pharisees saw it they said, oh look your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath. Are they right? Yes. And he said to them, have you not read that David did when he was hungry and those were with him, how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the presence, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priest? Or have you not read in the law how on the Sabbath the priest in the temple profaned the Sabbath and yet are guiltless? On the Sabbath the priests are hard at work. I tell you, something greater than the temple is here, and if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless. And why are His disciples guiltless? The Son of Man is Lord of the harvest. In verses 9 through 14, Jesus commends the Sabbath and doing good. And notice then, Jesus aware of this, let me read this. He went, verse nine, he went on from there and entered their synagogue and a man was there with a withered hand. They asked him, well, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? Do you think it's okay to harvest on the Sabbath? Is it okay to heal on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him? And he said to them, which one of you has a sheep, falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more value is a man than a sheep? So it was lawful to do good on the Sabbath, and he entered to the man. He said to the man, stretch out your hand. The man stretched it out, and it was restored healthy like the other. The Pharisees went out. They stomped out. They just didn't go out. They went out and conspired against him how to destroy him. Jesus aware of this. Withdrew from there and many followed them and he healed them all and ordered them not to make him known. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah. Brothers and sisters glory in this. What Jesus did in providing healing and doing good on the Sabbath was to fulfill what the prophet Isaiah said. Here it is. Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my spirit upon him and he will proclaim justice to whom? There it is. He will not quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the street. A bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory. And in his name, the Gentiles will hope. It's okay to harvest on the Sabbath, because he's Lord of the harvest. And it's okay to heal on the Sabbath, Because it's right to do works of mercy and good in the Sabbath. And Jesus says that because he's coming to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles and as a result the Gentiles will put their hope in this one who is in fact the Lord of the Sabbath. And the Sabbath brings freedom from bondage, Luke 13. Luke 13 verse 10, Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath, and behold, there was a woman who had a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, You are freed from your disability." And he laid hands on her, immediately she was made straight, and she glorified God, but the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, there are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, not on the Sabbath day. What a spoilsport! Then the Lord answered him, you hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath? Do you get it? And he said these things and all his adversaries were put to shame and all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him. He is Lord of the Sabbath. To do good on the Sabbath. To heal on the Sabbath. To give us hope as Gentiles. And finally, to free us from our bondage to Satan. So he upholds the Old Testament Scriptures while he gives his New Covenant ethic, and he comes for our hope as he is Lord of the Sabbath. Let's take all of this and bring it together and summarize it. First, Jesus is the new Moses. The Sermon on the Mount, he introduces the transition from the old written code, the Mosaic Law, to the new way of the Spirit. And Jesus fulfills the Mosaic Law by being the one it promised and prophesied, predicted, and pictured. And Jesus transforms the Old Covenant through his words and works so that we live under the new. Jesus's commands are a part of the New Covenant and are to be honored, to be taught, and to be obeyed. And Jesus has interpreted the Sabbath as pointing to rest. Rest from law and sin. And this rest Jesus has provided as the Lord of the Sabbath. Therefore, We will put our hope in God's character and mercy because of Jesus, our new Moses, and our Sabbath rest. Do you live as Christian? Not under the old way of the written code, but in the new way of the Spirit? Do you obey the commands of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount? We touched on them briefly. You can have a more extensive treatment in the manuscript if you pull it down. And may you hope in Christ for your salvation and for your transformation. Let's pray, Father. Thank you. Thank you that we can hope Hope in you, hope in your mercy, hope in your grace, and hope in Christ. and that He has set us free from the bondage of the law, He has set us free from the guilt of our sin, He has set us free from the bonds of Satan, and He has given us new life that we might live, not under the old written code, but we might live in the new way of the Spirit. Make it so in our souls for the glory of Jesus Christ our Redeemer and Ruler.