(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Hello everybody, I'm back with another video in the series Defending the New IFB and in this video I want to talk about the subject of preaching the commandments of God. So in the previous video I talked about particularly the death penalty and I talked about that particular thing of how people will accuse us of preaching violence and that kind of stuff, which is false. But today I just want to talk about the law of God in general. There is a movement today of people who are against keeping the law of God and they will attack Christians for preaching the Bible, including the Old Testament, and say we're legalists and say we're trying to bring people under the law without understanding what that means. Now I already talked about in the last video what it means to be under the law, so go back and watch that and the video from a few weeks ago about being under the law if you haven't already. But today I just want to talk about how the New Testament, okay, the New Testament itself teaches many times that the commandments of God are a good thing and we should be obeying the commandments of God. And if you don't obey the commandments of God, you don't love Jesus, you don't love the Father, you don't love your brethren, etc. That these things are an expression of love unto God and the brethren, of following God's commandments. So obviously we know there is a change of the law, and I'm going to talk about that also in this video, of which particular things are changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament. Because what people don't understand is that the New Testament specifically tells us which things were for the children of Israel in the Old Covenant. Things like circumcision, things like the Sabbath, things like the Holy Days, the meats and the drinks and the diverse washings, things like the animal sacrifices, the Levitical priesthood, it specifically outlines these things as having only been figures for the time then present, or figures of things to come, shadows of things to come, and those were only for the children of Israel. But the Bible never says that every single commandment of God is done away with, and you'll never find a scripture like that in the New Testament. The only thing that they can even sort of kind of twist to teach that is not under the law but under grace, which I already proved that that means not under the Old Covenant, but the New Covenant in the previous video. But let's see what Jesus says about keeping his commandments. In Matthew chapter 5 verse 19, he teaches that keeping the commandments is necessary to be rewarded in the kingdom of heaven, okay? Because here's the thing, people who believe in Jesus Christ are saved no matter what, but if you actually do what God says, you will receive rewards in the kingdom of heaven and you will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. This is what Jesus says. Matthew chapter 5 verse 19, whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven, but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. So again, notice that both of these people are still in the kingdom of heaven, because keeping God's commandments, teaching God's commandments have nothing to do with salvation. Salvation's just by faith in Jesus Christ, all you have to do is just believe and you're going to heaven no matter what, if you've trusted Christ as your savior. The Bible says that if you break God's commandments and teach men so, even just the least of these commandments, he says you will be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. So I don't know about you, but I as a Christian want to be called great in the kingdom of heaven. I want to please the Lord Jesus Christ, so I'm going to follow his commandments. Okay, and if you don't and you don't teach people to obey God's commandments, the Bible says you will be the least and the Bible also shows us that love equals keeping God's commandments. You see, there's this movement today where people think that, you know, Christianity is all about love and in a sense it is if you actually define love in a biblical way, right? Because people will be like, well what are you, you know, saying all these rules for? You know, it's not about the dos and the don'ts, it's not about the rules, it's not about the law, you know, you're a legalist, all that kind of stuff, you know, it's just about loving your neighbor and loving, you know, other Christians and it's just about love and loving God and just having a relationship with him. That's what people will say, but what does the Bible define love as? Let's see, Matthew chapter 22 verse 35 to 40, Jesus said, or this is before Jesus speaks, but it says in the Bible, then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question tempting him and saying, master, which is the greatest commandment in the law? Okay, so notice how he's asking him about the law, obviously this is the law of Moses, right? And here's what Jesus says, Jesus said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself on these two commandments, hang all the law and the prophets, okay? Now people who want to twist the Bible will just say, well, Jesus just taught love your neighbor and they'll ignore the first and greatest commandment, which is to love the Lord your God with all your heart. And it'll also ignore the part where Jesus said that these two commandments are upon which all the law and the prophets hang. So he's not saying that all the law and the prophets are just meaningless and don't really matter. He's just saying these are the two greatest commandments and every other commandment is basically part of that, right? And we'll see why as we continue reading more scriptures. Jesus said in John 14 verse 15, if you love me, keep my commandments. And of course we know Jesus is God. So he said to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. And he says, if you love me, keep my commandments. So that is something that Jesus said to do, okay? John chapter 15 verse 10, if you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love, okay? And then I think there's another verse in John 15, I don't have it written down or memorized. So let me just look it up real quick where Jesus teaches that if you obey his commandments, you will be called his friend. So let's see. Yeah, verse 14, just a few verses later, John 15 verse 14, you're my friends if you do whatsoever I command you. So again, I don't know about you, but I want to be a friend of Jesus Christ. But Jesus said, you're my friend if you do whatever I command you. So people who are disobedient and think that there's no obligation to do the things that God says and that there's no do's and don'ts, well, Jesus says to be his friend, to abide in his love, you have to observe to do all what he has commanded you. If you love him, keep your commandments or keep his commandments. So if you aren't keeping God's commandments, that shows me that you don't love God. Chapter seven verse 12 tells us that the law is a good thing. Wherefore the law is holy and the commandment holy and just and good. Romans chapter 13 verse 8 to 10 again talks about how loving your neighbor is a fulfillment of the law. Oh, no man anything but to love one another, for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet. If there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Okay, so what is he saying? He's saying that any commandment is comprehended in that saying, thou shalt love thy neighbor and thyself. What does that mean? It means that the way that you could break all the commandments down or the way you can condense it is in that phrase, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself because of the fact that love worketh no ill to his neighbor. If you love your neighbor, you're not going to steal from him. If you love your neighbor, you're not going to kill him. If you love your neighbor, you're not going to commit adultery with his wife. If you love your wife, you're not going to commit adultery either. If you love your neighbor, you're not going to covet something that belongs to him and want it for yourself. If you love your neighbor, you're not going to do anything against your neighbor that is ill or that is wicked. You're not going to curse your neighbor. You're not going to do whatever is sinful to your neighbor if you love that person. The Bible is just saying that love your neighbor is just a summary of God's commandments, but that doesn't mean that these individual rules like committing adultery and not stealing and not killing and not these things, that these individual things that we shouldn't do are just done away with. That's not what it says. In other places, of course, the Bible tells us in the New Testament to put off these things. He says to put off fornication, to mortify fornication, to mortify evil concupiscence in order and affection, covetousness, which is idolatry. He says to put away lying and evil speaking, corrupt communication, to not let it once be named among you. He says to walk in the spirit, that you don't fulfill the lusts of the flesh, and then he defines the works of the flesh. He says adultery, fornication, uncleanness, he talks about variance, emulation, strife, drunkenness, all this sort of stuff, witchcraft, heresy. So according to the Bible, all these things are works of the flesh, and the Bible tells us we shouldn't do these things. If you do these things, you don't love your neighbor. That's very clear. I don't know why that's hard to understand. First John chapter five, verses two to three, by this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not grievous. So if you do not keep God's commandments, according to the Bible, you do not love God and you do not love the children of God, okay? Second John one six, or I guess there's only one chapter, but just second John verse six. I always just write it as one six for some reason, I don't know why. And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. And then first John chapter two, verses three to four, and hereby we do know that we know him if we keep his commandments. He that sayeth I know him and keepeth not his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in it. So what do we learn from all these scriptures? The Bible defines love as keeping his commandments. If you do not love God, or if you do not keep his commandments, you do not love God. You are not the friend of God. If you do not keep his commandments, you do not love the children of God. If you do not keep his commandments, you do not love your neighbor. If you do not keep his commandments, you don't know God. That's not, again, not saying that you're not saved, but that you don't really have that relationship with God that you think. So these people out there who are like these super liberal Christians and hyper grace or whatever type people who are against keeping the commandments of God and accuse us of being legalists and will attack us for preaching God's commandments when it's literally what God said and what God commanded, they'll preach against us for being for the law of God and saying that, you know, like, for example, people shouldn't get tattoos and people shouldn't cross dress and, you know, all these things that are, you know, commanded by God in the Bible. And they'll say, well, you're trying to bring people under the law. Well, according to the Bible, if you don't keep God's commandments, then you don't love God. You don't love your neighbor. You don't love your brother. And you know, how many times does the Bible say to love one another, love your neighbor, love God, et cetera, that these are great things to do. Okay. If you persist in your disobedience to God and you persist in your hatred of doing what is right or not, or unwillingness to do what is right or unwillingness to, to, to love God's commandments and to do them, then according to the Bible, you will not really ever know truly who God is. You will never have that relationship you desire with him. You don't really love him. He's not your friend. And also you will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. Okay. So that's not the life I want to live. I want to be the best Christian I can be. I want to earn rewards in heaven, be a friend of God. I want to love God because he died for me. But I mean, these people out there, you know, they're for some reason against keeping God's commandments, even though it's always spoken of as a positive thing in the New Testament. I literally just read like, I don't know, like 10 verses about that. So the New Testament never teaches that the law is abolished. Okay. This is another thing that again, people will say that, well, we're not under the law. And that means that the law is done away with, the law is gone. We don't have to follow the law. We don't have to follow the commandments. Okay. Now again, certain things are done away with, and I'll get to that in a moment, but I want to show you from the Bible that the Bible explicitly states that God's commandments in general, God's law is not abolished. It says in Romans chapter three, verse 31, right after he told us that we are not justified by the law. He says, do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid. Yay. We establish the law. Okay. We establish the law and that's what we as the new IFB are doing as well. We're establishing the law. Okay. Yet these people today who want to avoid the Old Testament, they think that we should just avoid the law and just have nothing to do with the law. Now Romans chapter six, verses 12 to 16, which is one of the scriptures which talk about being under the law. It tells us even in the context of that verse, verses 14 and 15, which say we're not under the law but under grace, it tells us in the context that we should not sin and that we should yield ourselves to God to submit unto Him. So it says in verse 12, let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in the lust thereof. Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you're not under the law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness. Now he says sin shall not have dominion over you because, right, for you're not under the law but under grace, and he tells us let not sin reign in your mortal body, don't yield yourself unto sin, right? So he's basically saying don't sin, don't let sin control you, right? Now here's the thing, sin is defined as the transgression of the law. First John chapter three, verse four, whosoever commit a sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law. That is the literal definition of sin, okay? So if you sin, that means you've transgressed the law, okay? So the Bible says in Romans chapter four, verse 15, because the law worketh wrath, for where no law is, there is no transgression. That's pretty simple, right? Because how can you transgress the law if there is no law? So let me ask you a question, how can the New Testament in Romans chapter six tell us to not sin, which sin is the transgression of the law, so it's telling us not to transgress the law if there is no law, which is what these people are saying. They're saying, well, no, we're under grace, so grace covers everything, and we don't have to live by God's rules and God's commandments. You know, you're a legalist, you're saying we shouldn't do this or that, but we should just kind of just have a relationship with God, and it's just fine, and we can just do whatever we want, and we're under the New Testament. We're not under the law, but under grace, all that kind of stuff. It's like, well, not under the law, but under grace does not mean there is no law, because if that's what it meant, then this passage wouldn't make any sense, because it literally tells us not to sin, and sin is the transgression of the law. So how can you not sin if there is no law? The Bible says where there is no law, there is no transgression, okay? So that proves to us, just the passage itself that talks about not being under the law, but under grace, proves actually that the law is still in place, and Romans 3.31 as well, and many other scriptures. We read a bunch earlier that just say, you know, if you love me, keep my commandments. This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments, etc. This is love that we walk after his commandments, right? So according to the Bible, for example, I just want to give, you know, a couple examples of things that are commanded by God that are sinful, okay? So in the book of Leviticus, and then also in Deuteronomy, I think chapter 14, I could be wrong about that. God says, you know, to not print any marks upon your body, okay? And so that is something that is preached in new IFP churches, that tattoos are a sin. And yet, again, people will say, well, that's just Old Testament, you know, the New Testament doesn't teach that, you know, according to the New Testament, it's not a sin. Well, first of all, not everything has to be reiterated in the New Testament if it was already said in the Bible, okay? But also, you can't find a scripture that says that that sin is not, or that the commandment is not, or I'm sorry, that commandment is done away with, you can't find a scripture in the New Testament that says that, okay? According to the Bible, there is still a law because it says not to sin, and where there is no law, there is no transgression, okay? So if somebody transgresses God's commandment to not print any marks upon your body, then you are breaking the law of God, and you're not keeping his commandments. So that's what we preach, don't print any marks upon your body, right? Just as an example. And then people will say, well, you're a legalist, I mean, okay, you can call me what you want, I mean, I don't know why that's even a bad term, legal literally just means law, and according to the Bible, the law is holy and just and good, so I don't know why that's a bad term, right? Now, usually when I, you know, talk about legalism or legalist, I use that to talk about people who think that we're justified by the law, which is not what we believe at all. As the new IFB preached us, salvation is by faith alone in Jesus Christ, and whether somebody follows God's law and commandments or not, if they have believed, they're going to heaven 100%. And the worst sinner out there, if they believed in Jesus, are saved and they're going to heaven. It doesn't matter what sins they do or don't do, their sins can never condemn them to hell because they're saved. That's what we believe. But if you want to be blessed by God, if you don't want God to punish you and discipline you, if you want to earn rewards in the Kingdom of Heaven, if you want God to answer your prayers, if you want to have a good relationship with God and be his friend, then you have to follow his commandments, according to the Bible. So that's what we preach, and the Bible should be the authority for which commandments we do or don't follow, okay? Because God just said, do this and, you know, don't do that, and then, you know, what gives us the right to say, well, that commandment I think is done away with just because we're in the New Testament, okay? You can't find a single verse in the New Testament that says it's okay to have tattoos now, or it's okay to cross dress now, or, you know, for some reason I can't think of any other examples off the top of my head, okay? But just other things, the death penalty obviously, which I talked about in the last video, is another one that's controversial that we preach. But there are particular things which are talked about in the New Testament. I'm going to read some scriptures about this. There are particular things which the Bible does say are abolished, but these things are laid out in scripture, okay? So let me read some scriptures on this. So it says in Hebrews chapter 7 verse 12, for the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law, okay? So this shows us that, number one, the priesthood is changed, right? And the context there, all the way back from chapter 4, all the way to this point, was talking about how Jesus Christ is the high priest after the order of Melchizedek, and then the earlier part of Hebrews chapter 7 explained, you know, who Melchizedek is, and how Melchizedek is greater than Levi and Levitical priesthood, etc. And so it's telling us that the priesthood is changed, right? There's no Levitical priesthood anymore, right? It's not the sons of Aaron who were priests in the New Testament. As we know from other scriptures like Revelation chapter 1 verse 6, he hath made us to be kings and priests unto God and our Father. So we as Christians in general are priests. And then also 1 Peter chapter 2, where it says we're a royal priesthood, right? So Christians in the New Testament, we're all priests, right? And then our high priest is Jesus Christ after the order of Melchizedek. That's what the Bible teaches. So there is no more Levitical priesthood, but then it also says there is made of necessity a change also of the law, okay? The reason why it says this is because there were particular things that the Levites were commanded to do, particular ordinances of divine service about the tabernacle that was part of their priesthood. And the Bible tells us that these things are changed as well. So I'm going to read some scriptures on this. Hebrews chapter 9 verse 9 to 10, which was a figure for the time then present in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience, which stood only in meats and drinks and diverse washings and cardinal ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation. So it lists a few things here, right? Meats, drinks. Okay, so that would be the dietary laws. The diverse washings, right? All the rituals of how to properly wash and be clean, etc. Carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation, okay? Hebrews chapter 10 also talks about how there is no more offering for sin, okay? Because Jesus Christ is the offering once for all, right? So the animal sacrifices obviously are done away with in the New Testament because those were a picture of Jesus Christ. Now that Jesus Christ has come, he died on the cross. He offered himself once for all. There's no point in doing the animal sacrifices anymore. Colossians chapter 2 is another example, verses 14 to 17. Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, notice the similar wording to Hebrews chapter 9, which was contrary to us and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of an holy day or of the new moon or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ. So again, it lists some things which were mentioned in Hebrews chapter 9, but then it gives some more things as well as Sabbaths and new moons and holy days as well. It says let no man judge you therefore in respect of these things, right? And then there's other scriptures like Romans chapter 14, for example, that talks about how, you know, one man esteems one day above another, let every man be persuaded in his own mind, et cetera, that's showing us that every day in the New Testament is equal. There's no purpose in following the Sabbath anymore, okay? So because the Sabbath itself was a picture of Jesus Christ, of how we rest in him for our salvation. It talks about this in Hebrews chapter 4. And so things like circumcision, I didn't even read any scriptures on this, but just read the book of Galatians. It's very clear. It says in Christ's circumcision availeth nothing, right? And it says circumcision or uncircumcision, profit of nothing, et cetera. Galatians chapter 5. So circumcision, the Levitical priesthood, the animal sacrifices, the laws concerning meats and drinks, the diverse washings, the holy days, the new moons, the Sabbath days. These are the things which the New Testament says that were pictures of things to come and are done away with in the New Testament, that were blotted out. These are the things which are mentioned. But you can't find a commandment in the New Testament that says no more death penalty, no more prohibition against tattoos, no more prohibition against cross-dressing. Now you can just fornicate and commit it to all free and kill and steal and steal people and commit witchcraft and sorcery and all that kind of stuff. You'll never find this stuff in the New Testament. There are particular things which the Bible says were only for Israel, were only for that time then present. But every commandment of God is not done away with. In general, the law is still in place, the law being the commandments of God, obviously not the old covenant. The agreement between Israel and God, that is what we're not under. We're under grace, meaning by grace we become the people of God, but God still expects us to live by the commandments which He gave us, and that's how we're supposed to show our love unto Him. So people who are against preaching the commandments of God are just against the Bible. Because the Bible teaches that every scripture is given by God. 2 Timothy chapter 3 verses 16 to 17, the Bible says all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. So according to the Bible, all scripture, that includes the Old Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, it's profitable for doctrine, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Now again, not everything in those books is applicable for us today as New Testament Christians but it's still good to preach these things and we can still learn things from them and they still have doctrine. So according to the Bible, all these things are profitable. So why would somebody be against us for preaching the commandments of God? Why would somebody be offended for us reading Leviticus 20-13 or other scriptures which are not popular because society has in general accepted all these things that the Bible says are sin. It's just because people love the world and they just want to go with the world and they don't want to offend anybody and they don't want to fit in with everybody and so they don't want to preach the commandments of God. But God's commandments are holy and just and good and so that's why we preach the Bible, the whole Bible, even the parts which people don't like, which are commandments of God and that's why we follow God's commandments to the best of our ability. So yeah, this is again something where it's like so clear, the New Testament, I mean almost every scripture, I think every scripture I read today actually was from the New Testament. So I wasn't using the Old Testament to prove that the law of God is still in place. I showed you from the New Testament how the New Testament shows that we should still keep God's commandments. So if you're against keeping God's commandments, you don't love God, you don't love the children of God, you don't love your neighbor, you don't know God, you're not walking with him and you'll be called least in the kingdom of heaven. So just start believing the Bible, start obeying the Bible. So again, we're right, you're wrong. Thank you buddy for watching, God bless you and goodbye.