having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead, Counting the omer Part 1 from Bondage to Revelation and beyond, Pentecost the gift of the Holy Spirit achieved the goal of the Torah, The second omer Daniels countdown from exile to Messiah, May your name be inscribed in the Book of Life, Yom Kippur Pointing to the final atonement. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God.

Of course, specifically included in the giving of the Law, was the giving of the Ten Commandments. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. Should the Sabbath be strictly observed in such a manner as when the offender who gathered sticks was sentenced to death? Paul taught in Romans 8 that the sinful mind is hostile towards God.

The written code that was against us included that of the Ten Commandments notice that that is precisely why Paul says that we should not let anyone judge us by a Sabbath day observing the Sabbath day was, after all, the fourth commandment.

As Christians we are not lawless because we are no longer under the old covenant law, we do not wish to denigrate the old covenant Law or its intended purpose, but neither do we wish to denigrate the real and powerful work of the Holy Spirit who transforms the heart of the believer, a a creative work of God which the old covenant Law could never do. By faith David anticipated the coming of Jesus and the making of the new covenant through which sinners would be transformed and set free from their slavery to sin: Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. No as the apostle Paul taught, people are sinful by nature and hostile towards God and the Law was given to that their sin may be recognized as utterly sinful as it manifests through the transgressing of the commandments. the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. 22You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. Rabbi Loren Jacobs is the senior rabbi and founder of Congregation Shema Yisrael (which means Hear O Israel).

They reflect the right way to live, because they reflect how God made things to work. Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard? The veil is the flesh. Some people have cleverly suggested that Jesus lived in obedience to the Law and that if we are to imitate his life, then we too ought to observe the Law. The very thoughts of peoples hearts were sinful even before they committed any particular sinful act. However, it certainly is not antinomianism to suggest that Christians are no longer under the old covenant Law, including the Ten Commandments, because their sinful hearts have been changed, they have become a new creation set free from the old order and they have a far better Law effectively written upon their hearts by the Holy Spirit living within them through which they obey Jesus teaching and Jesus yoke is easy, not like the yoke of the old covenant which was against sinners and absolutely impossible for them to bear. It is also quite widely taught that Christians are no longer under the old covenant Law but that they are still under the moral law and that the Ten Commandments, (including, of course, the fourth commandment, which is to observe the Sabbath day), are still binding upon Christians and not only upon Christians, but upon all of mankind. It has been said, Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce. But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery (Matthew 5:27-31). If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, Love your neighbour as yourself, you are doing right. The first Passover celebration when the Israelites were delivered from their slavery in Egypt was on the fourteenth day of the first month [of the Hebrew calendar] (Exodus 12:2). Christians, then it becomes an indication that they have perhaps gone astray and lost sight of the reality and power of the transforming work of the Holy Spirit. But those who still try to cling to the old covenant rules and regulations, have a veil that prevents them from worshipping the Lord in spirit and in truth. We are not to ascribe divine attributes to any other being, or give to any creature the worship due to God alone. You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. It would be like trying to walk on water, defying the natural earthly laws, but while having taken ones eyes off Jesus Christ. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. We know that the law is good if one uses it properly (lawfully). It is not by observing rules and regulations, even the ten Commandments, that we may be justified and made righteous, it is only through the work of the Holy Spirit within us and by faith in the new life to which we have been raised, that we will be set free from sin.

Those (teachers of the external old covenant Law) who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be circumcised. By loving others as Christ loved us is to supersede the requirements of the old covenant. When we rest on the seventh day we are to remember how He helped us out of slavery in Egypt. They do not feel responsible to Him for what they say or do. Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? Paul described himself as one who, if having begun with the Spirit, tried to once again live according to the old covenant Law, would find that the old earthly nature would come alive again and that the Law would again be powerless to transform him and set him free. Everything else derives its existence, being and life from Him. (James 2:8-13). Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Jesus said: If you love me, you will obey what I command. He is Adonai, the Yud Hay Vav Hay, the One who is the source of all existence. Jesus the Messiah was destined to circumcise peoples sinful hearts and set them free from their slavery to sin in this fallen world and he was destined to write the new covenant Law upon the hearts of those who believe in him which is to fill them with the love of God (Romans 5:5). We may only live by faith by submitting to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit who works in us we cannot live by faith by trying to observe external rules and regulations even if we may regard them as more tangible they were only the support that was put in place until genuine faith was made known. Are Christians still salves to sin? (Hebrews 9:6-14). So, now lets return to the question I posed above: In Romans chapter 7, did the apostle Paul described himself as a Christian wanting to do good, but finding that evil was right there with him and did he also describe himself as a wretched man still enslaved by the sinful nature although he had supposedly been set free from sin through the powerful work of the Holy Spirit under the new covenant of Gods grace? Congregation Shema Yisrael is a Messianic synagogue which was started in 1986 when Rabbi Loren and his wife Martha moved to Michigan to proclaim the Good News about the Messiah to the Jewish people living in the metro Detroit area. The Law was referred to as the Testimony because it was a written Law, literally written in stone testifying not only against Gods chosen people, but against all of mankind that they are guilty sinners, enslaved to the sinful nature, needing to be restrained under the supervision of the Law and therefore, also deserving of Gods wrath for transgressing the Law. Copyright 2020 Congregation Shema Yisrael | Designed by, The History Of The Messianic Community In Metro Detroit, Principles and Procedures of Congregational Discipline, What I Believe and What I Reject Rabbi Loren, Prayers, Hagada, Machzor, and Life Cycle Events, This includes praying to angels, saints, or the virgin Mary (Miriam), or attempting to invoke their help. There it will remain as a witness against you. The later construction of the Temple in Jerusalem as the designated place of worship where the presence of the LORD dwelt among his people, the duty of the priests and Levites, the various sacrifices required by the Law, the dietary laws of clean and unclean foods, were all details stipulated in the Law of Moses with the various religious festivals such as Passover, Pentecost, the Day of Atonement etc. He can speak to us and reveal Himself to each one of us in a very personal way. Only if a person could rise above the natural laws of gravity and the principles of the liquidity of water could they ever be able to walk on the waters surface without sinking like Peter did when his gaze was fixed upon Jesus.

You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. You dont really love someone if you dont treat them respectfully, and do the things that are right toward them. They do not recognize that He is the One who gives them life and provides for them. It is only through death that we are set free and raised to new life. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. Assemble before me all the elders of your tribes and all your officials, so that I can speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to testify against them. The Ten Commandments, also referred to as the Decalogue, was written on the two stone tablets and also referred to as the Testimony. I tell you the truth, 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. Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. We may show our love for him with the way we use our money, and by our priorities and choices. The apostle John wrote: if anyone obeys his word, Gods love is truly made complete in him. The Law was placed in the Ark of the Covenant also referred to as: the ark of the Testimony. All of this tells us that the Ten Commandments are of the utmost importance. As noted, the purpose of the Law was to serve as the testimony, i.e. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law? 37Jesus replied: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38This is the first and greatest commandment. For in my inner being I delight in Gods law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. He would find himself all over again doing the very things contrary to the Law.

Strive to be content with what you have, because life does not consist in how many things you have. LEV 19:18 `Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. As you look to God with trust, He will provide you with everything needed for a blessed life.

For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenantnot of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. He redeemed us out of the most terrible situation, out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

Furthermore, we should obey His commands because of His great love for us. Through a careful reading of Romans chapter 2, it is evident that the apostle Paul, who was himself once a strict Pharisee under the old covenant Law, described how the Jews tended to brag about their relationship with God as they relied on their legalistic self-righteousness which they had quite confidently attained through observing the Law.

Jesus was indeed born of a woman and born under the law, he indeed lived an exemplary life, but he died for us and told us to also take up our crosses and to die to the old sinful nature that was held prisoner under the law so that only through death and being baptized into his death, we may be set free from the old and raised to new life by the Spirit who also raised Jesus from the dead.

The Law was subsequently given in the third month, fifty days after the Sabbath day after Passover, which is the Day of Pentecost (Leviticus 23). Martin Luther accused his friend and fellow-Christian, Johannes Agricola, of being an antinomian because Agricola apparently taught that Christians are no longer bound by the Ten Commandments. Although the Puritans may indeed have had a noble desire to establish a god-fearing and law-abiding community and although they indeed may have realized that the Law is good and spiritual and that it was given through Moses by the LORD, it is however, not the means for governing Christians because Christians must be radically transformed, their hearts of stone must be replaced with hearts of flesh, which are pliable in the hands of the Lord and humbly governed and led by the Holy Spirit. Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Trust God to give to you what is right for you, in His time, and in His way. The Sabbath also looks forward to the day when King Messiah returns and brings peace and rest to Israel, and to all the nations of the world. If all things exist because of Him, and if in Him they live and move and have their being, it is reasonable that all things conform to His will and obey His laws. When Jesus was crucified the curtain in the temple was torn from top to bottom. 6Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, Abba, Father. 7So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir (Galatians 4:4-7). You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. God has written his new covenant law upon our hearts which is the love shed abroad in our hearts in the light of the atoning sacrifice and death of Jesus and his resurrection power to new life. Those who argue that Christians are still bound by the Ten Commandments and the moral law, should be consistent in their argument and for a Law to be effective there must also be the appropriate sentence for offenders otherwise it makes a mockery of the Law. The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets (Exodus 32:15-16). However, the old covenant commandments were all external regulations, consisting of shadows and types, but not having yet revealed the way by which sinners could be once and for all cleansed and set free from sin in order to enter the Most Holy Place to worship the LORD in spirit and in truth. People are sinners by the very impure thoughts and attitudes of their hearts. Im indebted to A.W. Honour your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

are no longer binding upon Christians under the new covenant. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Through legalism, by trying to observe external rules and regulations, people will find that the yoke of the Law is something which neither they, nor the Jews under the old covenant and their forefathers, were able to bear (see Acts 15:10) for the purpose of the Law was to serve as a testimony against helpless sinners that they were condemned and in need of salvation.

Quite clearly, therefore, we may appreciate that the Old Covenant Law of Moses (including the Ten Commandments) is not the law that gives freedom (as referred to in James 2:12). People have so often even unwittingly, confused and tried to merge the distinctions between the new and the old covenants. The Sabbath also reminds us of the help we get in Messiah, who called Himself the Lord of the Sabbath. He gives a wonderful kind of Sabbath Rest to everyone who believes in Him seven days a week! This is why Jesus said that he came to save sinners and not to condemn because the world was already under condemnation for transgressing Gods Law (see John 3:17-18). If you have been rebellious against the LORD while I am still alive and with you, how much more will you rebel after I die! What should now become clear through this teaching is that the old covenant, including the Ten Commandments written upon tablets of stone and placed in the Ark of the Covenant and kept in the Most Holy Place was a shadow and type of the new and better tabernacle of the new covenant which is built with living stones with Gods new covenant law now written upon the tablets of human hearts.

Then, the Two Tablets, which were written by God Himself, were kept in the most special place on Earth, within the Aron, the Ark of the Testimony, in the Most Holy Place. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance. He forgave us all our sins, HAVING CANCELLED THE WRITTEN CODE (i.e. In his anger, aroused by Israels idolatry, Moses threw the first two tablets of stone to the ground breaking them at the foot of the mountain (Exodus 32). Furthermore, although the old covenant Law commanded the Israelites to love the LORD their God with all of their hearts and minds, Paul taught that the person controlled by the sinful nature is hostile towards God and cannot please God they will hate him, because he condemns sin and cannot dwell among sinners who refuse to be reconciled to him. When it is clear that people are not being led by the Spirit, then there is often the tendency to believe that the Law must be laid down and external rules and regulations enforced. Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful.

Again, anyone who says to his brother, Raca, is answerable to the Sanhedrin. Jesus fulfilled the righteous requirements of the Law through his death, on our behalf, on the cross. The Law which said: You shall not murder and you shall not commit adultery were given for sinners to restrain them from their sinful desires and to testify against them that they were indeed sinners by nature and therefore completely deserving of the sentence of death. We are to reciprocate their love by taking care of them when they are older and cannot care for themselves. Firstly, in giving the Ten Commandments, God spoke in an audible voice from Mount Sinai so that all the Israelites heard and there was thunder and lightning, and smoke and the Israelites trembled with fear and they asked that Moses be a mediator between them and the LORD rather than God speak directly and audibly to them again lest they should die (Exodus 20:18). In other words, sinners cannot obey Gods commands because their hearts are sinful and they are by nature hostile towards God. Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyednot only in my presence, but now much more in my absencecontinue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose (Philippians 2:12-13). In the third month after the Israelites left Egypt on the very day they came to the desert of Sinai (Exodus 19:1).

But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful (Romans 7:7-13). In Shemot 34:29 they are called the Tablets of the Testimony because they testify to Gods demands concerning human character and conduct. This commandment comes with a promise. Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. You shall not covet your neighbours wife. His wife Martha is a fifth generation Messianic Jew, which is quite unusual. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. The love of God manifest in Jesus Christ is now shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us this is the Law of the new covenant given fifty days after Jesus, our Passover Lamb was sacrificed for us we have been set free from our slavery to the sinful nature. Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed (Galatians 3:23). For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, Do not covet. But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. 22To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. 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 fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. 6These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. They have two adult children and two grandchildren. 14May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. The old covenant law applied to the earthly, sinful nature, but we have died and are a new creation, citizens of the heavenly city which is above.

In other words, in a very short period of time before the Law was even written upon the stone tablets, the Israelites had already broken the first three commandments. What does it mean to love God? The Law, including the Ten Commandments, was actually, and still is to this day, powerless to change the sinful nature of peoples hearts.

We are set free from sin and the old covenant Law not by removing its sentence of death, not by dividing the Law into two parts a moral law and a ceremonial law, not by confusing the old and the new covenants but by accepting its sentence of death and that by Gods grace we are counted as having died, so that we may also be raised to a new life free from the written code which once condemned us: For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.

After Moses finished writing in a book the words of this law from beginning to end, he gave this command to the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD: Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. Christians, if they are led by the Spirit and living by faith, keeping their spiritual eyes fixed upon Jesus Christ, are righteous people made righteous through such faith. We are only to accept those truths about Him which are revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures, Just as we need a daily rest, so human beings need a weekly time of rest if we are to function properly, Coveting is wanting what you have no right to have, The Ten Commandments work! For the wages of sin is death,(Romans 6:23). When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry. Who will rescue me from this body of death? Against such things there is no law. He has being, existence and life inherent in Himself. (By understanding this distinction between the external law of Moses which was written on stone tablets and the new covenant law which is written in the tablets of human hearts, we may better appreciate what Paul was referring to in 1 Corinthians 9:19-22 quoted below): Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. Against such things there is no law. But the Law written upon our hearts is the place within the inner man where the Spirit now dwells in the heart of the believer. (Galatians 2:17-21). The way we treat our parents will spill over to the way we treat teachers, neighbors, employers, friends and strangers. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. 15Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation. Jesus said: Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Jesus said: Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever 17the Spirit of truth (John 14:15-16). However, Paul wrote: If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker. Dont you know that you yourselves are Gods temple and that Gods Spirit lives in you? The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me, Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law. If people hate Jesus without cause then they are really only demonstrating their underlying hatred and hostility towards God. Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses seat.

17If anyone destroys Gods temple, God will destroy him; for Gods temple is sacred, and you are that temple (1 Corinthians 3:16-17). 39And the second is like it: Love your neighbour as yourself. 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments (Matthew 22:34-40). The written Law of the covenant, on the two stone tablets, was to be placed in the Ark of the Covenant and was to eventually be kept beyond the veil in the Most Holy Place of the tabernacle (see Hebrews 9:3).