Lane Harrison, Dr. Wenping, Dan Caldwell

This Sunday is Church Planting Sunday at Second. Once a year we celebrate our Foundations for the Future offering. This year we are interviewing nine of our church planters on Sunday night. I am going to focus my attention on three apiece in my blog for the next three days. By the way, after the interview, the all-church fellowship menu is Italian. Huzzah.

Lane Harrison will be our Sunday morning speaker for this year's Foundations For The Future celebration. Lane, our previous Minister of Singles at Second, planted Lifepoint Church in Ozark in 2004. Lane has developed his own church planting network. He is training church planters and helping multiply churches as much as anyone else in southwest Missouri. He will also be here for the interview time Sunday night.

Our Campus Chinese Baptist Church will celebrate its fifth anniversary on October 10. Pastor Wenping Qiu preaches to about 50 on Sunday mornings; they have a regular Friday night activity to try to reach the 800+ Chinese speaking students at MSU. Over 150 students, friends, and family have professed faith in Christ since the church began. Dr. Wenping will be one of the ones interviewed Sunday night.

The Edge Outdoorsmen Church (2012) averages 30 people in worship services, and meets in a specially built room addition at Pastor Dan Caldwell's home. The Edge is reaching families who don't feel comfort­able in a traditional church. They are merging with Pythian Avenue Church, and will soon move to that location. Dan will be with us Sunday night.

Jesus Was An Immigrant

Matthew 25:35b-36a

Jesus Was An Immigrant and Poor

Prepared by Dr. John E. Marshall

 

Matt. 25:35b (Holman) I was a stranger and you took Me in.

 

This is the third of six works in this parable: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, take in immigrants, clothe the naked, care for the sick, and visit prisoners. Jesus was here highlighting a few of many good deeds required in Christianity. He elsewhere outlined other things we have to do.

These six works needed to be highly stressed. Jesus felt the best way to do this was to drive home their importance in this Judgment Day parable.

Some treat kind deeds as if they are ultimate ends in themselves, as if helping people without ever referring to how to become a Christ-follower is okay. I know not every act of practical benevolence has to be accompanied with the plan of salvation. The Gospel always has kind deeds attached to it, but not all kindnesses have to be accompanied with verbal proclamations of the Gospel. This having been said, I feel a need to remind us something is wrong when the story that impels our kindness is the story that is never told.

We at Second need to hear this. We do well in social compassion and practical benevolence. We falter in sharing the Gospel. We give many cups of cold water; we need to give them more often in Jesus' name (Mark 9:41).

"Strangers" included foreigners, immigrants, refugees and any others who were lonely, needing comfort and companionship. Caring for strangers has ever been vital to God's people. Job valued it, "No stranger had to spend the night on the street, for I opened my door to the traveler" (Job 31:32).

Caring for the displaced should matter to believers because our Savior was an immigrant. He left His home in Heaven to become a stranger in the very world He created. There was no room for Him in the Bethlehem inn (LK 2:7). He came to His own people, but they received Him not (JN 1:11).

As a baby, Jesus had to flee as a refugee to Egypt. As an adult, He hid from hostile crowds, had nowhere to lay His head, and heard people yell "Crucify!" We wish we could have been there to help Him. Gladly, what we could not do there and then, we can do here and now. His plight should make us tenderhearted toward all strangers. Their condition resembles His.

 "You took Me in" means welcoming people into our homes. We need to receive strangers hospitably, as family. This does not mean we should foolishly risk our safety. We have hotels and other places to provide shelter.

But the core issue remains, have we given our most expensive earthly possession, our house, to the Lord? Have we consciously laid it on the altar?

 

Matt. 25:36a  I was naked and you clothed Me.

 

         A Christianity that does not minister to the poor is a counterfeit Christianity. "If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well," but you don't give them what the body needs, what good is it" (James 2:15-16)?

Ancient pagan philosophers could wax eloquent in their debates about the role of suffering in human life, but they never got around to discussing how they could actually help relieve suffering by hands-on caring for the poor. Imposing monuments celebrating strength and conquest lined the roads of Rome, but none ever celebrated anyone's compassion toward the poor.

Judeo-Christian thought taught the lesson of philanthropy to the world. Jesus thrust the idea of social compassion onto history's center stage.

Where else could it have come from? Ancient secular cultures did not pass it to us. All objective, honest observers know this of Jesus. This is why He cannot be dispensed with. His kind legacy haunts even His opponents.

With our words we readily confess a Christ-follower is expected to show self-denial. The issue becomes, when and where do we show it?

The early believers in Jerusalem saw their possessions as something to be shared with others. "No one said that any of his possessions was his own, but instead they held everything in common" (Acts 4:32). "There was not a needy person among them" (Acts 4:34) because they sold their houses and land to distribute the proceeds to people in need. We also can do this if we will see our possessions as things to do good with.

Every one of us can spend our whole lives serving Jesus in this way. He Himself said we would always have the poor with us (Matthew 26:11).

Providence has ordered that there will always be some who have, and some who have not. Some can give relief; others need it. There will always be plenty of people in need of help. We will never run out of possibilities.

Throughout His ministry, Jesus stressed loving deeds of mercy and generosity. Most of these opportunities surprise us every day in our daily conduct, in what we call the little things of life, in spontaneous self-sacrifice.

Our chief tasks are humble duties pertaining to every day living. These are not "huge" accomplishments. Preaching, teaching, memorizing creeds, casting out demons, miracles, knowledge, and zeal are not mentioned here. Jesus spoke of "mundane" deeds, of help we can handily give.

He required only what is easily within our ability to do, tests of charity, practical benevolence. Faith within us works itself out of us in love.

God is watching our reaction to human need. Anyone can do these six homework assignments. In this school, even the "little people" can be at the top of the class.

I am grateful for the 120 or so billionaires such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, David Rockefeller, Ted Turner, Mark Zuckerberg, and George Lucas who have taken "The Giving Pledge". This is a commitment by the world's wealthiest to dedicate the majority of their wealth to philanthropy.

But billions of us are not billionaires. This does not make us second-class citizens. God never intended for His work to be done only by the rich.

God blesses His followers in commonplace matters. All must help. Anyone can do these things.

The proof of salvation is not monumental works, but little things: sharing food, giving water, welcoming a stranger, clothing the needy, caring for the sick, visiting prisoners. These merciful deeds are rarely mentioned in the newspaper or on TV, but are recorded in Heaven to be remembered.

When Jesus listed His credentials in Nazareth, He focused not on the amazing, but on the disenfranchised, prisoners, blind, downtrodden (Luke 4:18-19).

Our job is to ask people to trust a God they hear of from us, a God they hopefully see in us. They are to see His light as it shines from inside us.

Are unbelievers seeing Jesus in our lives? Remember, selfishness contradicts all Jesus represented. It is the antithesis of true Christian living.

Without generosity we cannot display Jesus' personality. We act like God's children if we live beyond ourselves by generously caring for others.

What good is it for us to be called imitators of Christ if our religion never reaches the money in our pocketbooks? Some wallets are hermetically sealed, keeping even the smell of money from reaching the poor and needy.

Practical Christian benevolence is absolutely vital. It brings us the closest we can come to the goal of showing the compassion Jesus showed.

         When we say here "Holiness matters most", our first thought is our relationship with God. Often we are not sure how close we are to God, how effective our prayers are, or how much Bible reading is enough. Sometimes the best way to know how we are with God is to judge how we are with the flip side of the holiness equation--others, especially the disenfranchised.

         "If anyone has this world's goods and sees his brother in need but closes his eyes to his need—how can God's love reside in him? Little children, we must not love with word or speech, but with truth and action. This is how we will know we belong to the truth" (1 John 3:17-19a).

         We have no more true religion than the total of love we show. "There is something fitting in hearts of love going to a heaven of love" (Glover).

 

Beautiful Christianity

Matthew 25:31-35a

Beautiful Christianity

Prepared by Dr. John E. Marshall

 

Matt. 25:31 (Holman) When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all

the angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.

 

Thus begins the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, which expresses the heart of Christianity as the earliest believers understood it. This passage, maybe more than any other, brings to prominence the beautiful social ethic championed in Old Testament Judaism and New Testament Christianity.

The other three Gospels—Mark, Luke, and John—have no parallels to this imposing, majestic passage. This detail helps fuel the opinion held by some that the Gospel of Matthew is the most influetial book ever written.

When Jesus returns, He will no longer be a homeless wanderer with only a handful of followers. He will enjoy the retinue of a king; pomp and circumstance will be the order of the day. Heaven's angels will come behind Him; Earth will snap to attention before Him. On that day, unbelievers will see with their eyes what believers have always seen by faith; Jesus is God.

Jesus will judge us. Nothing will be hidden. Secret sins are temporary, concealed for only a fleeting nanosecond. In the final day, they will all be exposed. His revealing our deeds before judging us will actually be a mercy. We will finally truly know ourselves, and see that what we receive is just.

I am grateful we will be judged by One of our own, One who shared our experience. In addition to being God, He is also human. He knows us.

Be glad Jesus decides. This is important. If someone else rendered the verdict, we might fear it would be temporary, subject to reversal.

The instant we arrive in Heaven, we will realize we do not deserve to be there. As this truth comes crashing in on us, we need to know King Jesus brought us there. This will let us enjoy Heaven without fear of removal.

 

Matt. 25:32a  All the nations will be gathered before Him,. . .

 

On the final day, attendance will be all-inclusive. The whole human race, dead and living (Rev. 20:11-13), will be there for the muster roll. The living will come. Also, Earth, which is a huge graveyard, will yield its dead.

The crowd will stretch farther than eyes can see. Christianity has seen huge meetings. Over a million met for Billy Graham in Seoul, South Korea. Another million once came to hear German evangelist, Reinhard Bonnke, in Lagos, Nigeria. These stun us, but aren't as big as the last day crowd will be.

Many of us have sung of this moment all our lives. It is the theme of the song "When the Roll Is Called Up Yonder." A Methodist Sunday School teacher who always took attendance for his classes wrote the song. The absence of a sick child one day caused him to think how sad it would be to not have your name listed in the Book of Life.

After Jesus has been preached in all nations to show He is Savior of the world, He will return to judge the nations. The ancients believed each nation had its own gods, but on the final day we will see the Bible taught truth. There is only one God; He rules over all nations. People will gather from everywhere, and see Jesus is the world's only God, Savior, and Judge.

 

Matt. 25:32b-33  . . .and He will separate them one from another, just as

a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put

the sheep on His right and the goats on the left.

 

The multitudes will gather in clusters, united by their nationalities. They will separate as individuals, divided by their relationship toward Jesus.

There will be only two divisions: sheep and goats, animals that well represent those who do or don't follow Jesus. The sheep are innocent and tend to follow shepherds. Goats are unruly, tending not to follow a shepherd.

There is no third option, no temporary verdict, no Purgatory. We're in one camp or the other. Knowing Jesus or not knowing Him is the separator.

Reading of this moment reminds me how grateful I am for the Bible. It tells what is, and will be, expected of us. Without it we would be clueless as to what we should be doing now, and to what awaits us on the other side.

 

Matt. 25:34a  Then the King will say to those on His right, Come, you

who are blessed by My Father,. . .

 

This is the only time Jesus called Himself King. It is appropriate here. Sentences pronounced by a King wield ultimate authority. His first verdict is to the sheep. "Come" is the Gospel word. Jesus will woo and invite us, saying "Welcome!", as if we've been apart from Him way too long. We now come to Him in His Word, and in prayer, but an ultimate coming awaits us.

The essence of our faith here and forever is close fellowship with Jesus. Ever be coming now. Keep coming forever. The word "has heaven lurking in it" (Spurgeon). Closeness to Jesus is the best blessing imaginable.

Jesus describes His followers as "blessed by my Father". The Three in One's love for each other is the springboard of their love for us. The Spirit glorifies the Son, who glorifies the Father as the First Cause of all blessings.

 

Matt. 25:34b  . . .inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the

foundation of the world.

 

The final reward will not be a trivial gift given in a little hidden away corner. Receiving a kingdom is a big deal. We will "inherit" Heaven. An inheritance is not earned, but a gift received due to being a family member.

In Heaven we will feel at home, as if living in our own house. We will enter not as strangers or enemies, but as children receiving our birthright.

Heaven has been "prepared for you from the foundation of the world." It is ready for us. God Himself took time to do this. He prepared it; He put good things in, and left bad things out. It will be perfect. This homecoming is important to God. Since Jesus is God, He will be infinitely creative. Since He is human and knows us, He will fashion it for our infinite enjoyment.

 

Matt. 25:35a For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; I was

thirsty and you gave Me something to drink.

 

It's as if Jesus said, "I prepared Heaven for you because I knew what you would be like; you would show the family resemblance." We don't earn this praise. It rather bespeaks the fact we lived the way God saved us to act.

We are saved by grace through faith; we by our deeds of love prove we are saved. Grace and faith let Jesus in; love lets Him out for all to see.

In our text, "for" provides evidence, not cause. For instance, when we say "She is alive, for she is moving", we do not mean she is alive because she is moving; we mean her moving proves she is alive. We inherit Heaven not due to our deeds. They merely prove what we are: God's sheep.

Six works are listed here: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, take in immigrants, clothe the naked, care for the sick, and visit prisoners. These are not the only six works we are expected to do as Christ-followers.

They are a representative sample of what we should do. Christianity is not these six plus nothing else, nor is it something else without these six.

Why did Jesus pick these six in particular? Maybe because everyone assembled will appreciate the value and importance of these specific deeds.

 In the throng, some will not value preaching, teaching, praying, etc., but these six deeds they will acknowledge as significant. Jesus may think other deeds are more important, but the crowd won't. All will see and have to admit His verdicts are true. Even His enemies won't be able to object.

 

Don't Live A Useless Life

Matthew 25:25c-30

Don't Live A Useless Life

Prepared by Dr. John E. Marshall

 

Matt. 25:25c  (Holman) Look, you have what is yours.

 

He was wrong. The original talent was much less valuable now. Had it been given to someone else, it could have earned much more for the master. What could have been valuable and usable, had cankered and been wasted.

The value of a life not spent for God does not stay the same as years go by. Its ongoing selfishness makes a life not lived loving God and others depreciate in value. As years go by, the number of worthless hours increases daily, more and more time is wasted. The load of guilt gets heavier. Do not live life encased in yourself.

Life is like fertilizer; it doesn't help in a heap; it has to be spread out. Distribute life. Share it with others.

Notice what was missing in the slave. He showed no humility and no regret. He blamed the master for his own failure. Beware insolent thoughts toward God, as if to say He is unreasonable and expects the impossible.

Many problems in our life would be solved if we took responsibility for them. People who sin often try to shift blame away from themselves. As long as we blame God and others, or blame circumstances, which is tantamount to blaming God, little gets resolved; our condition tends to stay the same or worsen when we flounder in self-pity. Victims are rarely victors.

Saying "I was wrong" is excruciating and tears the flesh, but saves the life. "I blame me; I accept responsibility" are wonderfully liberating words. They let us repent, which is where the spotlight of blessing shines brightest. The first of Luther's 95 theses said Jesus meant for all of life to be about repentance. This means ever turning from our own self-confessed sins, being sorry for what we admit we have done, not for what others have done.

Many seem readily able to see guilt in others with 20/20 vision, yet rarely see it in themselves. We are wrong to expect others to blame themselves while we are not holding ourselves to the same standard.

Some of the most helpless victims are sinners who think temptation in and of itself is enough to warrant sin; "Because I want it, I should by right have it." Sinners sometimes feel they should never be expected to sacrifice, to endure pain. They say it is unreasonable to deny themselves sinful pleasures. I call this pampered spiritual entitlement.

 

Matt. 25:26-27 But his master replied to him, "You evil, lazy slave! If

you knew that I reap where I haven't sown and gather where I

haven't scattered, then you should have deposited my money with

the bankers. And when I returned I would have received my

money back with interest."

 

The slave was hoisted on his own petard. His own words were used against him. Had he really felt this way about the master, he would have worked harder. His lame alibi made absolutely no sense. Caught by surprise, he tried to conjure up a legitimate verbal defense on the spur of the moment.

Hear the blunt truth. The slave did not know his master at all, did not care for him one whit, and did not care what the master thought about him.

With little exertion, the slave could have made something. The Roman Empire used a money-lending system the Phoenicians had invented. It was in many ways like ours. Bankers borrowed at lower rates (often about 6%), and loaned at higher rates (often about 12%). The master would have been willing to accept a return like this. He was not harsh and unreasonable.

The slave's rationalization was a charade. Weigh your excuses before you express them. Some use a fear of failure as an excuse to shirk their duty; this is unacceptable. Some wrongly use "going deeper into the Word" as an excuse for not delving in to help the poor. Some unwisely use the doctrine of predestination as an excuse for not evangelizing. Some err by using belief in eternal security as an excuse for being spiritually lazy. Some mistakenly use continual "praying for guidance" as an excuse for never going on mission trips. Beware lame excuses. They do not fare well in the Kingdom of God.

 

Matt. 25:28-29  So take the talent from him and give it to the one who

has 10 talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and

he will have more than enough. But from the one who does not

have, even what he has will be taken away from him.

 

God does not let us keep what we do not use. An unused arm will atrophy, as will an unused spiritual gift. They who have a talent or skill, but do not use it, may as well not have it. The Lord recognizes this fact, acts on it, and turns it into actuality. Live in such a way that we will never hear God say, "I will no longer trust you with what I gave you".

Anything profitable to the Kingdom of God that we do not value or use has to be taken from us, and given to someone who will utilize it well. Saul proved to be an evil, unwise King in Israel; thus the throne passed to David. The religious leaders of Jesus' day squandered their responsibility; thus Kingdom of God leadership was passed to twelve lowly disciples.

In our lives, beware the myth of believing we can stay the same. This does not happen. Gainers keep gaining; the lazy keep losing. Talents and abilities are enriched or lessened. As a result, people are responsible for their own changing state of advantage or disadvantage. A life of consecrated communion with God grows deeper and better the more it is pursued. Don't drift away. Stay connected to the power source. His strength lets us work for Him, and the more we work, the stronger the strength He provides.

We have to wonder; why was the unused talent given to the slave who already had ten talents? To make the first slave richer? No, slaves could own nothing. This was not done to enrich the ten-talents slave.

The talent was given to him because the master knew he would use it well. This fact can help us adjust our wrong thinking about what a reward is. It is not something we are given to clutch, to tightly hold, but to use, to pass on to others. "What does God want to give through me?" is maybe a better question than "What does God want to give to me?"

Do not strive for more stuff or fame. These pale in comparison to gaining more of God's trust, and having more influence to exert for Him. His greatest reward is to trust us with higher responsibilities, with a wider sphere of service. The best reward is what we become for Him, not what we get from Him.

 

Matt. 25:30 And throw this good-for-nothing slave into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 

The sentence may at first seem harsh, but darkness is the only element appropriate for people who spend their whole lives running away from the light. Darkness is in people long before they enter everlasting darkness.

The slave was taken away from the lights of the banquet where the other two slaves entered. Don't live a useless life. Avoid terrible remorse. We don't want to have to remember lost opportunities, and wasted gifts.

 

Jesus Fulfilled The Law

Romans 10:3-4a

Jesus Fulfilled the Law

Prepared by Dr. John E. Marshall

        

Romans 10:3a Because they disregarded the righteousness from God…       

 

The Jews were zealous for God (Romans 10:2), but most of them misunderstood how a person is made right with God. This is the worst error people can make. It is a condemning mistake. We need a zeal for God that is harnessed by Scripture. The Bible keeps us on the right road to salvation.

         In mistaken zeal, many people want to please God based on their own works. They refuse to acknowledge a righteousness received by faith. They willfully turn their backs on the method of salvation revealed in Jesus.

         Of their own free will, they shut their eyes and choose to remain in darkness. There is no one as blind as the person who does not want to see, and no one as unenlightened as the one who does not want to learn.

People who think we can be saved by works often become adamant, though the Bible disavows their belief. It can be almost impossible to change their thinking. Once convinced of their position, they can stubbornly refuse to acknowledge need for the only kind of righteousness God has authorized.

 

Romans 10:3b …and attempted to establish their own righteousness,…

        

Rather than humbly receive righteousness from God by faith, many of Paul's kin chose to try to establish their own brand of righteousness by works, to substitute works-righteousness for grace-righteousness.

         "Establish" means to set up by their own effort. Many people want to erect a righteousness that will be a monument to them rather than to God.

         People who believe in works-righteousness fail to understand they are offending God when they insist on standing on their own two feet. They are guilty of committing a religious person's way of rebelling against God. Profligates rebel by embracing sin; the religious rebel by embracing pride.

         Those who embrace salvation by works not only underestimate the importance of God's righteousness; they also overestimate the importance of their own. God is so holy that angelic seraphim in His presence cover their faces and feet with wings. If God is this holy, what chance do we, who are covered with only a mere outward thin crust of goodness, have before Him?

         The mistake of seeking to bypass grace is an error still made often. Many people desperately try to generate righteousness. This is impossible to do. We can learn from the foolish error of the ancient alchemists, who tried repeatedly in vain to find a way to make gold. Experiment after experiment failed, but many continued the useless effort. People make the same mistake, trying to create their own righteousness. They won't admit it cannot be done.

         Longing to be right with God, people conscientiously deny themselves pleasures. They reach high and delve deep, seeking a way to earn salvation. All the while, the blessing they frantically seek is in close reach of everyone.

 

Romans 10:3c …they have not submitted themselves to God's

righteousness.

        

Here is the real reason people reject grace-righteousness; they refuse to submit to God's ways. This refusal to come under God's authority is the condemning sin. "Submitted" was a military term, referring to soldiers being willing to yield to a commanding officer. It meant putting one's self under orders from another. A person's salvation requires a submissive spirit. We must be willing to yield. There has to be a decision to do things God's way.

         Most people refuse to do this. Wanting nothing to do with being humbled, they reject a salvation that calls for repentance. Having no intent to accept a crucified Redeemer, they refuse to yield to the Gospel's terms.

Sinners usually want neither to submit to the merit of Christ nor to be obligated to God. They zealously choose to depend on their own goodness.

         A preacher was once emphasizing the fact a person's first duty toward God is to abandon sin. A listener replied, "There is a prior duty; to abandon trusting in our own righteousness." Wise words. People must come to the place they feel even their best deeds are but filthy rags in God's eyes. Only then will a person decide to give them up and seek better spiritual clothing.

         It is worth noting; we won't be naked in Heaven. We will wear robes as a symbol that righteousness was not inherent in us, but had to be put on.

 

Romans 10:4a For Christ is the end of the law…

        

"End" does not mean termination. It refers to fulfillment, to what a thing points and leads. We could rightly say here, Jesus is the aim of the law.

         The law, the life-rules God gave to us, was never meant to be an end in itself. It never saved anyone. God's righteousness was never achieved by keeping the law. Salvation has always been received by grace through faith.

         Law was given to take us by the hand and lead us to where salvation can be found. Jesus is this refuge, the end of the law: its aim, its goal.

         The only thing about law Jesus tried to totally terminate was people's wrong thinking about it. The moment we receive salvation by grace through faith we cast away all efforts to be saved by keeping the law. To believers, trying to attain salvation by works is a vestige of a mistaken past. Christ terminates our wrong thinking about the law, but does not terminate the law.

         Jesus fulfilled the law, not by setting it aside, but rather by satisfying its demands. There were essentially two types of Old Testament law.

One, Moral Law. These were the laws God gave to help us in our everyday lives be more pleasing to Him and to others. No one could keep them all. They were an ultimate reminder of people's sinfulness and failure.

Two, Ceremonial Law. God gave these rules to direct our worship. People were given access to God, but it had to be regulated. Due to failure with moral law, we could come to God only in His way on His terms.

The fact God gave ceremonial law showed the moral law was not adequate. Moral law, at best, revealed the sickness; ceremonial law gave us hope of healing by pointing to the fact God wanted to provide a remedy.

Jesus fulfilled both the moral and ceremonial law. He fulfilled the moral law by enduring its curse for us at the cross. Broken laws demanded punishment. Jesus' sacrifice of Himself provided this for us.

Jesus fulfilled the ceremonial law by becoming the means of access to the Father that all the Old Testament types and shadows had pictured. Jesus became the High Priest, the intercessor, the offering. By providing the necessary blood and sacrifice, He became the God-ordained remedy for sin.

         Christ fulfilling the moral and ceremonial law does not mean they are finished in the sense of being destroyed. The moral law is not terminated; it still does what it was always meant to do. It convinces people of their sin.

         Ceremonial law still has a role to play. It is true we no longer need to act out the specific requirements it stipulated. Jesus became the real thing. There is no need to go through the motions of enacting shadows and types.

         Nevertheless, the precepts of the ceremonial law are still retained in Holy Writ. Though they are no longer enacted, they still teach principles that point people to Jesus. In the Tabernacle and its ritual, we read powerful object lessons about the purpose and meaning of Jesus' work and ministry.

         In my pastorates, some of the most blessed lessons regarding Jesus I have taught through the years have come from the Old Testament types and figures of Him. It is in this sense that the ceremonial law still lives.

         The moral law reveals people deserve condemnation; Jesus has borne this curse. The ceremonial law reveals that God wants to make access to Him possible; Jesus is the way to the Father (John 14:6). Thus we can say Jesus truly is the end—that is, the fulfillment and the aim—of the law.