Shane Vaughn Teaches Part 3, Layers of the Law

* do you have a goose do you have a golden egg have you ever had a goose have you ever had a golden egg if you're anything like me you've never had a golden egg you never had a goose so if I was to say to you don't kill the goose that lays the golden egg would it be permissible for you to say to me that don't apply to me I don't have a goose don't have a golden egg actually if you said such a thing it would really be a foolish statement because what I just said to you has nothing to do with a goose or a golden egg no it's an old proverb and uh it * eludes to a principle that applies to every human being on the planet it basically says don't kill a golden opportunity don't burn a bridge that you might want to go back across one day the same thing applies the moment you tell a Christian that you believe in keeping the law of God they immediately Tell You Ah that's the Old Testament that doesn't apply to New Testament Christians you'd be shocked and surprised by the battle that we get here at first Harvest Ministries from Christians not Sinners but Christians * that believe were dragging everybody back to the law and nothing could be further from the truth in just a moment we're going to begin part three of our series of lessons entitled the layers of the law now if you've not watched the first or the second segment it's going to you're going to be missing a vital Foundation to understanding the law of God so what I'm going to to do right above my shoulder if you're watching on YouTube I'm going to put a card there you can click on it it'll take you to the two prior videos if you've already * watched them then welcome back I'm Shane Von first Harvest Ministries and it is my delight and my honor to welcome you into my backyard and talk to you about the law of God before we get started I begin understanding the law of God about six years ago in the year 2009 before that year I was like the typical nominal Christian I did not believe that the law of God was any longer in effect uh I believed like many of you may still believe that Jesus Christ fulfilled the law and in so doing abrogated or did away or F or finished * the law of God and I took that scripture that tells us that he nailed the handwriting of ordinances to the cross I believed all of that just like many of you but as I proved in the first two videos of this lesson the law of God has many layers to it and in this lesson I want to get into some of those layers now before we do many of you you that are watching me you might be ministers maybe you're a preacher maybe you're a pastor someone sent you this video and you're watching it to prove us wrong but I want to * encourage you to be very careful because if in fact you do away with the law of God you're going to do away with your own salary if you get one the Apostle Paul made it abundantly clear in the book of First First Corinthians and we're going to look at it real quick before the lesson starts he made it abundantly clear that ministers should be paid and taken care of by their congregations he made it abundantly clear as a matter of fact look at it real quick before we start today's lesson turn with me to the book * of First Corinthians and we're going to go where Paul makes it abundantly clear and uh that's going to be in chapter 9 verse 9- 11 I want you to notice what Paul starts this verse off with just the first line now remember before we read it he is speaking to a gentile church not a bunch of Jewish people but Gentiles and he is telling them in the first line for it is written in the law of Moses now hold on this is written probably 30 to 40 years after Jesus destroyed the law of Moses according to Christian theology this is * written about that time period many decades after Christ got rid of the law of Moses here we find Paul not referencing the teachings of Christ when it comes to validating the paying of a minister he's not reaching over to the sermon on the mount no he reaches way back to a part of the Bible that many have torn out they've completely disregarded they've believed that the Torah the Old Testament the Tanakh the pent talk is done away with but Paul listen to what he says it is written in the law of Moses do not muzzle an ox while it's * treading out the corn now remember the goose and the golden egg and do you remember how my Parable has nothing to do with a goose or a golden egg the same thing applies right here this has nothing there was a law of God that was found in the Old Testament that says when you're treading out the corn and the oxin is working don't muzzle him and not let him reap the benefit of his work but this story has nothing to do with an ox or a muzzle or corn it has to do with the principle behind that letter of the law it has to do with the mind of * God being revealed in parades and Parables and pictures and stories this is what the Paul is referring to is a story from an Old Testament but it was very much the written law evidently Jesus did not get rid of this particular law on the cross because Paul is still referencing and read what he says he said is it the oxen that God is concerned about surely he says this for us now notice the next words of this verse for this was written for our sake can I paraphrase that if you don't mind without adding or taking away from Paul * said that the law of Moses the Torah the Old Testament was written for our the gentile people he's talking to he's telling them it was written even for Gentiles sake it was written for all of our sakes now here he continues because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the Harvest now this is interesting because the the law said in the book of uh in the book of Exodus that the the plowman The Oxen is all to be fed from the Harvest so now Paul reaches over and applies this to the * work of a minister that he should be paid uh just as well as The Oxen should be fed now it never fails when you come to the decision that you know what I'm going to begin keeping the law of God you're going to get bombarded I've already talked about that in previous videos you're going to get attacked on every hand and you just got to be ready to deal with that and here's why you're going to be attacked it's very simple there are some parts of the law of God that seems very unusual to say the least and this was one of the first dilemmas I had to * deal with and in when the lesson starts which it hasn't started this is an introduction we're going to open the Bible in a moment but when I first came to the law of God and I be to read some of these laws I just couldn't imagine what meaning they would have let me give you one for an example it's found in Exodus 21 22-25 it says if men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there's no serious injury the offender must be fined whatever the woman's husband demands and the courts allow but if there is a * serious injury you are to take life for life eye for eye tooth for tooth hand for hand foot for foot burn for burn wound for wound and Bruise for bruise in other words an eye for an eye tooth for a tooth when we read that and there's another verse that I won't take time to read but it talks about if you beat your slave it's okay as long as you don't take his life these are hard things to deal with or how about if your children don't mind you you take them to the gate of the city you kill them you Stone them * what what and these laws we've got to deal with because I'm going to be honest with you it's going to be hard for you to preach to obey the law of God if we don't deal with some of these hard to understand verses of scripture so get your Bibles and let's get ready to Dive Right In hey do me a favor if you're receiving from this ministry I want you to give to us not money many of you do that but that's not what we want I'm asking you to share this teaching on your social media platforms help me get this message out would you all right get * your Bibles and let's start this study shall we 14 million that's the number of children that have died from AIDS and HIV and many more Millions have died from other sexually transmitted diseases do you know how many children today are in prison and insane asylums and drug rehabilitation centers because of divorce and the devastation of the family no we don't know I've researched it and we don't get a concrete number but suffice it to say the multiplied Millions do you know how every bit of this could have been stopped never have happened do you know * how yes it's one of the Ten Commandments thou shall not commit adultery now did God just sit up in his armchair in heaven one day and from his arbitrary mind decide I need to come up with some new laws for those people down there and make their life more miserable for them now you may laugh about that but do you know that's how people truly feel about the law of God they feel that it's arbitrary it's controlling there's one thing Satan is not good at doing he's not good at convincing people that God is not real all they have to do is * look up look around watch the Perfection of creation sort of hard only a Fool Believes that but I'll tell you what he's very good at convincing people that God is cruel convincing people that God is unfair and God is not involved in your daily lives and doesn't care about you now at that he's phenomenal his success rate through the roof God did not say thou shalt not commit adultery so that he could Bridle the fun and joyment of healthy sexual activity God created sex sex is pleasurable and most healthy people * enjoy the results of it which are children grandchildren our progeny but God knows what we don't know and that is our nature he knows that without the confines of a covenant or the agreement of a covenant then he knows without one shadow of a doubt that we will destroy our own selves if we don't protect our children from the ravages of sexually transmitted diseases and divorce and remarriage and remarriage and remarriage so therefore he tells us not what he wants us to do but what he knows must be done to preserve our society * so in religion the very existence of a law gives way to to the Temptation towards legalism now legalism is very real I've met them they've come to our church they've walked in our presence and a legalist takes the law of God and destroys everybody that's that's not keeping it now in the book of Titus Paul gives Titus some clear Direction he says avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions strivings about the law for they are unprofitable and notice what else he says they are vain now I started these series of lessons by * trying to explain to you the very nature of God in the book of Jeremiah I read the scripture for you where God desires us to know his name and his character and the first character trait that he gave us in the book of Jeremiah Was he said I am loving and I kind if anybody is practicing the law of God they're going to have within them the nature of the law of God the law of God is Not Meant to control you the law of God is meant to give you freedom in this life life you would never think that the 55 mph speed limit is there to * control you it's there to protect your life it's there because you're too dumb most of the time to protect your own life God said his law in place not for salvation but for sanctification and for a lifestyle that would give to you the life that he desired for you to have the law of God is just as if not more beautiful than the love of God because the law is the written expression of his love for us yua Jesus his son is the fleshly embodiment of that law because he lift it to a te he kept that law so if you don't think that the law of God * is the love of God then Jesus Yeshua is not the love of God either because he was the Torah or the word or the law made flesh so we have to be very careful when we get into the law of God not to become a legalist the Jewish people did not understand the meaning behind many of the laws of God they took them at face value that's called the letter of the law and they have argued for Generations centuries what you can and cannot do on the Sabbath day and I keep the Sabbath I preach the Sabbath and if you're a a a commandment keeper you'll * do the same thing but they do it in in a way that even many of you Christian folks have begun to do they don't understand the meaning behind the Sabbath so therefore their way too focused on the how of the Sabbath rather than the why the moment you get caught up in the technicalities of the how rather than trying to understand the the Tendencies of the why you will always be a legalist I want to take you to the words of Christ in the New Testament in Matthew 5:1 17- Verse 18 yua said don't ever think that I have come to destroy * the law or the prophets I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them now that word fulfill is a little misleading there and I'll explain why in a moment he said I tell you truth until Heaven and Earth disappear now he tells you when the law will be abolished as we know it today when Heaven and Earth disappear do you know when that's going to be never never never I know some of you have been taught that there's going to be a new Heaven and a new Earth but that is not what the Bible says there's going to be a renewed heaven and A Renewed * Earth the heavens and earth the Bible says and I'll post the scriptures here on the screen for you will never pass away so until such a Time the law will never ever pass away not the smallest jot nor tit will by any means disappear from the law until everything is accomplished is everything accomplished now question mark has the Lord Jesus returned and set up his father's Kingdom on Earth as he promised to do no do you know why because everything is not accomplished but some awkward problems come up when you begin to talk about the * law of God when you try to live by the words of Christ and his father's law for example the law of God forbids the intermingling of cotton and wool did you know that as a matter of fact I think I might be breaking that law right now I believe this is linen and this may be some polyester something but technically I'm breaking the law of God so how do I justify that if I'm so determined to keep the Sabbath day and the holy days and clean and unclean animals I'm going to explain to you keep watching in this video there's a strong Temptation in all * of us to answer all those questions that people throw at us we want to have an answer but remember what Paul said in the book of Titus he said when he told him not to argue over these things he said because they are vain most of the time people want to argue because of vanity they just want to be right they don't want to listen I've been there you've been there they just want to be right we have to avoid that Temptation and you have to know for yourself that you have done like David that you have taken thy law oh god oh * Yahweh and meditate ated on it day and night not just reading the letter of it but stopping and meditating and saying now holy spirit Spirit of God reveal to me the why behind the how reveal to me your thinking when you gave us this law what is the general principle for my life today now because of this vanity the Jews created What's called the mishna and the talmood which is arguments about the law and and if we're not careful in the church we'll do the same thing we don't call it the missioner or the talmood but * we argue over the nuances and the trivialities and the minutia of the law rather than living by the spirit of that law the principle behind the letter what is it that we play hopscotch through the Old Testament this is a question that someone sent me on Facebook why do we play hopscotch throughout the Old Testament what I mean by that I'm going to read the question for you he said y'all pick up this law and drop the other law right next to it and I thought about that and I asked the Lord why do we play hopscotch why do do we keep this one and * not this one about my clothes what is the criteria that we that we should use this is an honest question that I've asked the Lord what is the criteria that we should be using to decide which laws we will keep and which ones we will ignore because the truth is every one of you you ignore certain of those laws even if you follow the mission of the talmud the cabala whatever straight to the letter you're still missing a few of them I promise you that did you eat a cheeseburger lately see I could so what is the criteria how do we * decide which ones we're going to keep because there's not one of you watching me right now that would honestly say that we should dis scred the Old Testament law Thou shalt not steal nobody watching me not one of you would say that right when it comes to a law that requires a blue tassel hanging from your clothes called the CCE then all of a sudden we will find a bunch of denters that say oh no we don't have to do that I don't do that now I do wear them on occasion to symbolic services but don't wear them every day * and yet the law requires that I do so the very one that said Thou shalt not steal is a good law is the very one that says no we don't need to do that so I'm going to ask you where is your dividing line and how do you determine it some people that I know and I've been part of those people have tried to solve this problem by making dis distinctions in the law of God the first one that I met group of people they they make a total distinction between the Ten Commandments and all the other laws and and they're they're sincere in doing * that then you have another group that feels there's a difference in the law of Moses and the law of God even though God gave the law of Moses to Moses all of sudden it became Moses's law then you have another group of people most Christians that separate the moral law from all the other laws and then another denomination teaches that all of the law was nailed to the cross including the Ten Commandments everything went to the Cross it's tempting to ask do I have to do this rather than what does this mean many of you watching me right now * you have watched my teachings and you always will send me an inbox message or an email and say brother Von do I have to do that to be saved that's the wrong question the question should be how would it be pleasing to my heavenly father if I did that now you're moving beyond the legalism and you're moving into the relationship between you God and His law why did God say that I want you to ask that question every time you read a law that you don't understand why did God say that if you read a law and say I can't * see any way to apply that law in the 21st century in the here and now that's fair enough that is a fair statement for example we keep the holy days don't we but do you know you're supposed to go to Jerusalem to keep them dot dot dot dot according to the law and we don't do that how do we justify that I think the natural question that you need to ask after you ask how does that apply to my life and why did God say that is why was this law given in the first place now what I'm trying to teach you is an approach to the law the * questions you need to be asking question number one why did God say that question number two why was this a law in the first place what problem was that law dealing with in that culture and in that Society I love what Proverbs 4:7 says wisdom is supreme therefore get wisdom though it cost all you have get understanding in these series of lessons the first two this one and however many more there are I want you not to get the law I want you to get understanding of God his name his person his thinking well how do I get to * know his thinking he reveals it to you through his law and through his son and his son was the physical embodiment of his law get understanding that should be your prayer today now many people watching me you obey the law of God the best you can to the letter without an understanding of of it that's admirable but that's not desirable it's admirable you're doing your best and I'd much rather see that than someone totally disregarding the law of God you're halfway there obedience is better than sacrifice but obedience with understanding will lead * you out of legalism and lead you into relationship with your heavenly father through applying his law to your life go with me to my favorite scripture in these series of lessons Jeremiah 923 through 24 you'll hear me read this scripture and every one of these lessons because this is the Bedrock scripture that I love it's getting dark on me out here I don't know how much longer I can keep teaching but we're going to go as long as we can that's bad when you can see better without the glasses they must have got fogged up on me me Jeremiah 9:23 I love * this one let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches but let him who boast boast about this that he understands and knows me did you hear understands me how do we understand God through the law oh there's a little hidden sunlight come out of nowhere I just love when the Sun Peaks down on us and reminds us of the Majesty of God here's a secret that I found that has helped me with these daunting questions about the law number one I have a basic * assumption that I approach the law of God with every single one of them all 6 13 that are mentioned in Torah there is an assumption that I my magnifying glass that I read through my glasses that I read through is this that God gave to man no bad laws you have to start your study of the law understanding that he's loving and kind and that not one law that comes from a loving and kind God could be B that's where you start your study let that be your filter that okay I'm looking at a law that looks bad I don't understand it it makes no sense to my * Western mind but I know the giver of the law I understand him so therefore I know he gave no bad laws I have to assume now this is by faith if you're watching me and you're an atheist or an A ostic and you don't believe in the goodness of God then this point will not settle with you but if you're watching me you're a man or woman of Faith then you have to assume that God would not and did not ever give man a law that was bad for him even the laws that look questionable that look uh to be non secars out of place the second filter * that I study the law through is this that the law of God is Not arbitrary I get the impression that some people think that God sit down like I said earlier and just made up a bunch of laws that would be an arbitrary dogmatic God one that just gets a kick out of making laws he's a legislature all to himself and all he does all day every day is come up with new laws for us to follow they think that God said if it's fun I'm going to make a law against it but nothing could be further from the truth you see the Bible the Torah the * law from front to back is God's instruction book for man I want you to always remember that the law is not for your salvation the law is for your sanctification which is your life style that you live and if you happen to live that lifestyle in compliance with the law of God then you will live a life pleasing to God we call it a life of Holiness I've Got Bugs going around my head so pardon me there so what do we do with verses like Exodus 21 and 20 and it says if a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod and he dies at his hand he shall be * punished if however he survives a day or two then nothing shall be done really slavery God it's okay really yes but all if you understand the non-american version of slavery and what it was in those days you're a slave today did you know that do you go to work do you punch a clock you're a slave trust me so these verses if you just take them out of context and just throw them out there I can show you a mean arbitrary God that gave a bad law but that's impossible so now I've really got to do something more than read that I got to meditate on the * law of God now I've got to say heavenly father help me with this show me why you gave that law and when you see why he gave it which was to protect the life of this slave it was a good law it was to encourage slave owners not to kill their slaves it was protecting life you can look at it one or two ways but when you get in the spirit and you know you have a good God and you know he gives no bad laws and you know he's not arbitrary then you can start meditating more uh uh intently into the law it was David that * said show me marvelous wonders in your law here was my question when I first read that verse how could God take such a callous view of a human being and treat them like chadow as property why would God do that you want something else more surprising than that that was part of the written law and if Jesus didn't nail that law to the Cross then which laws did he nail to the Cross you want answers don't you I know I do too the problem is you only get the wrong answers because you're asking the wrong questions let me give you an example if * you're a man watching me do you still beat your wife you can only answer yes or no there's no in between do you still whip your wife if you answer yes we got problems if you answer no then you're telling me that at one time you did whip your wife you see it's a wrong question we get wrong answers when we ask wrong questions what do I mean by wrong questions here's one of them brother Von is the Old Testament the law of Moses still binding upon the Christian today there's two problems with the semantics of your * question number one you've got to Define to me what the law of Moses is versus the law of God but then you have to answer the question what does binding mean let me ask you a question does the Commandment that says honor your father and your mother which means honor Authority is that binding upon the Christian today see it's a misleading question because you don't even really know what binding means your question tells me that you are placing a weight of Salvation upon the law that God never intended to be there the law was never given for * salvation the law was given for sanctification to set God's people apart from the world and then we have to ask is it ceremonial law is it moral law is it civil law and is it the law of Moses what law is it don't place a weight on the law that God did not place there so to answer that we've got to go over to what Paul said earlier about the ox treading out the corn is that still binding upon the Christian brother Von well evidently Paul thought it was or he would not have eluded to it and then pulled it into a gentile church and said * to them that he had the authority to receive tithe and offering from them really Paul where do you get that Authority from from Jesus no from from where he tells you where from the law of Moses so is the law of Moses still binding or no now a legalist reads that verse that Paul mentions about the ox and the muzzle and he will go out to his Barnyard and make sure that when he is treading out the corn not the ochra and the tomatoes just the corn that he's not going to muzzle that ox but at the same time he doesn't pay * his laborers that's a legalist he obeyed the letter of the law actually God God didn't say don't muzzle the ox if you're treading out the okra did he this is a carnal mind the letter of the law kth the Jews fell in love with the letter of the law not going to muzzle the ox that Treads out the corn but we're not going to pay the preacher that's legalism you missed the point of the law you were so busy keeping the letter treading out the corn but then you'd put them muzzle on the ox when you treading out the okra or you wouldn't * pay your workers when the entire law about not muzzling the ox is about don't work people without paying them you missed the point cuz you're a legalist all you see is a law an arbitrary law you're going to obey it to the letter bless God and yet you missed the whole point that's why you have to meditate on the law day and night why did God give it what's the principle behind it and how does it apply to us today let me give you another example so you have a commandment keeper a legalist that will not mix wool and linen together because * the law of God said to do it but he's sleeping with his neighbor's wife that's a legalist uh we must learn to honor the depth the layers of the law of God now then you have the other man that totally disregards the law of God said it's nailed to the cross it's all the blood of Jesus I don't have to do anything no flesh is justified by the law you wind up in the same ditch that the legalist winds up in out of balance with the beauty of the law both men have desecrated ated the law of God don't be guilty of that meditate on the law of * God look for the layers of it the the the the meaning behind why God gave it in the first place here's a perfect example let's read another law that makes absolutely no sense and we could say that it's not binding upon the Christian today read it with me in the book of uh Deuteronomy 22 and: 8 it says when you build a house make a parapet around your roof so that you may not bring the guilt of Bloodshed on your house if someone Falls from that roof all right the law of God says brother Von when we build a house we've got to * put a parit all the way around that house and bless God my house we going do it the Bible Way go ahead no harm and putting a parit around your home around your roof unless you stop and think on the layers of the law and you understand why did God give that law because the roofs in Israel even to this day are not pitched roofs like ours here in America we have slanted roofs that nobody can really get up on without special tools but not so in Jerusalem even today in the cool of the evening they climb stairs and they go sit on their roof why * they're flat so the children would go up on top of the roof and play guest would go on top of the roof and sit up there and guess what would happen if you didn't if you didn't put a protective fence around that roof somebody would fall and lose their life so so it looks like an arbitrary law doesn't it but again a good God doesn't give bad laws this law was for the protection of life just like the slavery law was for the protection of life but they were given in the in the uh the the the um perspective of the days in which they * were given we don't need parapets around our rofes and anymore so if I don't put a parit up am I a law breaker no as long as I keep the principle of the law the spirit of the law what is the spirit of the law protect life now what if I build a deck and that decks out over a a cliff and if somebody was to fall off they would die then the law of God says I need to put a fence up to protect life are you seeing this now what happens when the law of the parapets falls under the category where it belongs as a civil law in the Old * Testament it's not a moral law they say it was nailed to the cross so did Jesus really nail to the cross my need to protect life that's what you say when you say he nailed it to the Cross he did away with the law of God the law of God is good Paul said it is Holy but notice what else Paul said it is spiritual and if you've got a carnal mind you will only read the letter of the parit you will go build a parit around your roof and not try to protect The Unborn in the abortion clinic because you're a legalist God is looking for lawkeepers * that will go One Step Beyond that's what Jesus did that's what yua did he fulfilled the spiritual law the spirit behind those laws that's why he told them yes you shall not commit adultery but Desiring your neighbor's wife was the spirit behind that law oh that we might be like him in the next lesson make sure you watch it I'll put it up very soon we're going to begin dissecting each of these laws and see how they apply to our lives folks thank you for watching and thank you for your desire to please God and to live according to his * instructions for your life I want to leave you with these words have you ever bought a new car and opened the glove box what were you looking for when you open the glove box you were looking for the instruction manual now when you read that instruction manual who wrote that manual the creator of the car they know all about it and they're giving you instructions when to change the oil when to rotate the tires are they trying to control you are they trying to make your life miserable no they're trying to make sure * that the life of the car delivers what it's intended to deliver God created you for greatness and the only way you can deliver that greatness is when you are abiding by the spirit of the law that's always in existence and never will go away did you know that's why we keep the Sabbath day not to be saved because we are not saved but we are changed we're being transformed we're being renewed and therefore we understand the why behind the Sabbath so we keep it out of a love for our heavenly father who created the Sabbath day would you stay * with us we're going to get deeper and deeper and deeper share this video would you put a thumbs up under this lesson if it was a blessing to you that's the least you can do