Must Christians Keep the Mosaic Law?

It seems like there are so many voices spreading their views about the Bible and God's law online, so how do I know which ones to listen to and which ones to avoid? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. We would love to hear from you. You can talk to Pastor Adriel live right now by calling us at 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also post your question on our Facebook or Instagram account, and you can email us with your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. By the way, that's our website. If you want to check that out, corechristianity.com. Well, first up today, Adriel, here's a voicemail we received from a listener named Sandra.

Hi, my name's Kirsten. I'm 17, and I'm still relatively near the faith. Recently, I've been confused about the meaning of 1 John 3 verse 4. There are a lot of discrepancies regarding that verse, and many are using it to say that we must uphold God's law, including the Sabbath. I ended up going deep down the rabbit hole of the internet a couple weeks back, which was probably a big mistake, and I've discovered that there are some groups claiming that our salvation is contingent upon our obedience to the Mosaic law.

I know that we aren't justified by the law, but all the conflicting information online has been making me really overwhelmed, confused, and stressed lately, so I was just wondering if you could help me resolve this conundrum. Thank you. That was a voicemail that we got from Kirsten, it sounds like. Honestly, what a wonderful question that is. Actually, I think it highlights for us why good theology, understanding God's word rightly, is so important. When we don't have a right understanding of God's word, it does lead to a lot of confusion. It leads to us feeling overwhelmed, confused, stressed.

Kirsten, I want to help you out with this. By looking at the passage that you first brought up in 1 John 3, and I'm going to start reading at the beginning of the chapter just to give us some context there. 1 John 3, does John say anything here that indicates that Christians need to keep the Mosaic law in order to be saved? Keep that in mind as I read this passage. See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God.

And so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is, and everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. And here's the verse that you brought up. Verse 4, everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness.

Sin is lawlessness. Now, John isn't saying anything here that would indicate that believers in Jesus Christ, those who are part of what we call the New Covenant, prophesied in Jeremiah 31, talked about in Hebrews chapter 8, are under the Mosaic law, need to keep the Mosaic law in order to be saved. What he's focusing on here, Kirsten, is our adoption, is the fact that we've been welcomed into the family of God through Jesus, the Son of God.

Jesus, who is the eternal Son of God by nature. The word of the Father, John 1-1, made you and I, the sons and daughters of God, by grace. The grace of adoption. And that's what John is talking about here in this passage. And one of the things that he's highlighting is those who have been adopted into the family of God, those who are the children of God, are filled with the Spirit. They love God.

They love each other. John seems to be focusing on how we can tell the children of God versus the children of the devil. If you go on to verse 10, he says, by this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil.

Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. And so that idea is not anywhere here in 1 John chapter 3. And actually, it's this very question that was addressed by the apostles, the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, at an event called the Jerusalem Council. If you have your Bible, you can turn to Acts chapter 15. And again, this question, which we've received on the program several times, you know, do I as a believer in Jesus need to keep the law of Moses in order to be saved? Well, look, this is something that the apostles themselves had to deal with. Acts chapter 15, beginning in verse 1, but some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. In other words, if people really want to be saved, if they want to know Jesus and be a part of the church, they need to keep the law of Moses.

They're going to have to be circumcised and adhere to these other rules and regulations. And how do the disciples of our Lord Jesus, how do the apostles respond? Acts chapter 15, go down to verse 6, the apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, brothers, you know that in the early days, God made a choice among you that by my mouth, the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God who knows the heart bore witness to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. And he made no distinction between us and them having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? That is the law of Moses. We believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.

Kirsten, there's your answer given directly from the lips of Peter. Christians are not called to obey the law of Moses in order to be justified. That's not saying that the law is a bad thing. It's just saying that's not how we're justified. That's not how we're made right in God's sight. And so if you're hearing people who are trying to put you under the law as a believer in Jesus saying, look, unless you do these things, you can't be saved.

You can't be justified. If they go to Acts chapter 15 or go to the book of Galatians or go to the book of Romans, where the scripture speaks so clearly to this, we are saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as those who are saved, we obey God's word.

We follow him by the grace of the Holy Spirit, not in order to be justified, but because he's justified us by the blood of Jesus. So thank you so much for that question, Kirsten. May the Lord bless you. So nice to hear from listeners like Kirsten, 17 years old and already thinking about some significant issues regarding her faith. And that's just so encouraging to all of us.

I love it. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. By the way, we want to say a huge thank you to our listeners who have joined what we call our inner core. Your financial support makes this program possible. Here at Core Christianity, we aren't supported by a particular church or denomination. We rely on people just like you to make donations to keep us on the air. And if you find this program helpful, we would ask you to prayerfully consider making a gift of any amount or joining the inner core.

You can do that on our website at corechristianity.com. Well, let's go to Juan in Houston, Texas, and a question somewhat related to what Kirsten asked. Hi, Juan, how are you? Welcome to Core Christianity. Yeah, how are you doing? Yeah, you answered my question.

Really? Yeah, you answered my question. Yeah, my question was about messianic Judaism.

You know, I have ran into them and I have some of my family members that went to. And I was wondering, I was wondering if that was a quote because they were pretty much telling me that I can't celebrate Christmas. I'm in sin because I'm not following the, I'm not keeping the Sabbath and that Jesus is not God and stuff like that. Well, I would say, Juan, I would say that doesn't even sound like the messianic Jews that I've heard of. I know some brothers who would consider themselves to be messianic Jews and they confess that Jesus is the Christ, that he's God. Now, you know, we can talk about some of the other things that they include there, but I would say, you know, these are genuine believers. But it sounds to me like this group that you're referring to is a cult. I mean, they deny the deity of Jesus Christ.

It sounds like they're also trying to put you back under the law. Colossians 2 16, therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ and any group that focuses on the sort of shadows and not on the substance.

That is Jesus. And it sounds like, like I said, like they're minimizing the identity of who Jesus is, which is essentially in 1 John, what John said that the spirit of the Antichrist is he's trying to get us to deny the identity of Jesus. And so when people are doing that, I think we just we turn and run or or I mean, in terms of I mean, you don't want to join that church.

But we also address the error there. The scriptures are absolutely clear that Jesus is the son of God, the eternal son of God, equal with the Father. And and so I'd say be careful with with this group, brother, and thank you for calling in. You're listening to Core Christianity. Let's go to David in Alberta, Canada.

David, welcome to Core Christianity. Hi there. How are you guys doing? I hope you're warm over there. It's minus 45 Fahrenheit where I am right now. David, I have never experienced anything like that in my life.

Growing up in San Diego, that just sounds pretty wild. May God keep you warm. Thank you, I appreciate it. What's your question, brother? I love your ministry.

Oh, thank you. Yeah, I just had a quick question in regards to, I forget what the, I believe it's in Matthew 11. But it's regarding the, I consider this probably the most terrifying verse in the Bible. I've heard other people have very different interpretations of it. I'd love to get your guys' interpretation of it, where Jesus basically says, you know, many on this day will come to me and say, Lord, Lord, do we not do miracles and prophesy and heal people in your name? And he'll say, I'll surely turn to them and say, you know, I never knew you, you workers of lawlessness. And I'd just love to get your interpretation on that. And thanks again for your ministry.

Hey, thank you for the encouragement, brother. And you're right, this is one of the most terrifying passages in all of the Bible, I think. Matthew chapter 7, beginning in verse 21. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. But the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven on that day, that is the day of judgment. That's what Jesus is referring to here. On that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Now, you note here that Jesus isn't talking about an individual Christian losing their salvation.

It's not, hey, I used to know you, we used to be in a good relationship, you were justified and then you fell away and sorry, you know, you lost your salvation. No, that's not what Jesus says. He's talking here to false teachers, false prophets in the context, you know, Jesus had made this clear back in verse 15. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

And so externally, they look really good. Maybe they do acts of charity. I mean, the people here are appealing to their works. David, they're saying, didn't we prophesy in your name, Jesus, and do all these wonderful things in your name and actually the reality is they didn't even know who Jesus was and Jesus didn't know them. Now, what does that mean? Does that mean that Jesus wasn't aware that they existed or that kind of a thing?

No. In the scriptures, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, that word know means more than just sort of have a cognitive knowledge of. To know speaks of intimacy. God said of Israel in the Old Testament, you only of all the nations of the world have I known. You think of even in the book of Genesis where it talks about Adam and Eve coming together, that they, Adam knew his wife, even the act of intimacy there in the Bible, this word to know, it speaks of so much more than just a sort of head knowledge. Jesus is saying, we were never in a relationship. We never had a personal relationship. You did not know me by faith.

That was the problem here. These false teachers are so interesting, David. They're appealing to their works, what they've done, and Jesus says, I never knew you. Now, I think one of the reasons why this is so scary is because each of us, you know, we think, man, when I'm standing before the Lord on the day of judgment, it seems like these people are just caught completely off guard. How could they be so blind? They think that they're serving Jesus, but they don't even know Jesus. These are the same people, brother, who rejected Christ. Now, how can they claim to be doing these miracles in his name and yet reject him? Well, he says, you're workers of lawlessness. That is, they didn't love him.

They didn't keep his word. It's not that we're saved by keeping God's word, by fulfilling the law. I talked about that with the first question, but when we truly know the Lord, when we have a relationship with him, when we're justified by faith, the Spirit of God begins to work in us. And we begin to love the Lord, to follow him imperfectly this side of heaven, but these people never had any of that. And so, brother, I think we ought to take this as a warning and ultimately to be reminded here of the importance of having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ by faith. Jesus said to them, I never knew you.

David, does that help clear up this passage for you? Absolutely, actually. Thank you so much for clearing that up. Sorry, my phone just went off there.

No, I really appreciate your time. Wonderful. I'm glad that was helpful, and may the Lord bless you, brother. He's right. That is a scary passage if we don't really understand the context and what Jesus is saying there.

That's right. We want to make sure that we are going to be with him for eternity and that he's not going to turn us away, right? Yeah, and again, it's not focusing on ourselves and our works on that day, on the Day of Judgment. We stand before the Lord. We can't stand in our own righteousness and our own goodness. God is going to bring everything into account, and so that's why we can only stand in the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

And that's what these false teachers didn't have. He never knew them, Jesus says. And so each of us should be encouraged to look to Christ and to find our rest, our confidence, our hope in him. Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and today we want to offer you a special resource that Adriel has produced. It's called Seeing Jesus.

That's right. It is a four-week devotional resource. It's really easy to go through, and it's going to fix your eyes on Jesus. I mean, just thinking about that passage that we looked at there in Matthew chapter 7, the importance of knowing Jesus and walking with Jesus. One of the scenes in the Gospels that I focus on here is this story in Mark chapter 6 where Jesus walks on water. This is actually a really interesting verse that baffles so many people. It says that they're in the boat straining at the oars and that Jesus walked on the water. He came to them in the middle of the night, and then Mark says he intended to pass by them. A lot of people are like, well, why would Jesus intend to pass by the disciples there in the boat?

And if you've ever wondered that, get ahold of this resource, Seeing Jesus, because we talk about that question and open up the scriptures there. It's yours for free, and Bill, you know how to get ahold of this. Just go to our website at corechristianity.com forward slash Jesus for this particular resource. Again, corechristianity.com forward slash Jesus. You can also call us at 833-843-2673 for help getting any one of our offers. That's 833-THE-CORE.

And if you go to the show notes for today's page on our website, you can find more about that resource and also any of the other resources that are mentioned on today's program. Let's go to Michael who's calling in from Oklahoma. I'm going to try to say your town, Michael. Is it Tallaquah? You got it pretty close, sir. It is. It's Tallaquah.

Tallaquah. That's one that people have a lot of trouble with that are out of state, so you did great. Nice job, Bill.

Thanks. Michael, what's your question? Yes, my question pertains to in Luke chapter 22 verse 36 where Jesus advises the disciples to obtain a sword, and if they don't have one, to sell their cloak and get one. So I was just curious on your interpretation of that.

Yeah, that's good. So my take on this, and obviously there are various interpretations that people have put forth. Some people think Jesus is saying, look, literally, you need to go and get a weapon and be ready to go toe-to-toe with some people. I don't take that view in particular because just a little bit later, Peter is going to try and defend his Lord as they're coming to arrest him. You remember what Peter does?

He cuts off the ear of the high priest, Malchus, and he's rebuked. And Jesus said, you know, those who live by the sword will also die by the sword, and so I don't think that Jesus is talking about each of us as believers. We need to make sure that we're going and purchasing weapons, that kind of a thing.

It's up to each individual person. I think the focus here is on the fact that, look, as Christians, as the people of God, followers of Jesus, we are in a very real battle, and we can't minimize that. I mean, the apostle Paul in the book of Ephesians, he talks about this spiritual war that we are in.

And too often, I think today, Michael, that is not focused on or not emphasized. As believers today, we sort of just think everything is fine and dandy, but the reality is we're in the middle of a spiritual battle for the souls of people. And the Christian life, in one sense, really is a fight. It is a war, and we are under the sovereign commander, Jesus Christ, called to follow him and to do battle. But how do we do battle?

We're not battling against flesh and blood. We're battling against principalities and powers and rulers in the heavenly places, and the way we do battle is with the sword of the Spirit. The gospel of Jesus Christ through prayer. Again, that's one of the things that Paul emphasizes in Ephesians. And so I think here the words of Jesus are primarily symbolic. He's preparing his disciples for the kinds of things that they're going to face and what it means to be a follower of Jesus, emphasizing the fact that this is a real battle that we're entering into. Following Jesus, it's not a cakewalk.

It's a spiritual war, and we as Christians need to understand that. Great answer, and Michael, thank you for your question there from Oklahoma. Let's go to Brennan from Rockford, Illinois. Brennan, welcome to Core Christianity. Hey, Bill. Hey, Pastor Adriel.

It's great to be on the show, and thank you for all the work that you're doing for the kingdom. My question is in regards to what Paul says in 1 Timothy, I believe it's chapter 3, where he says that God desires all to be saved and all to come to the knowledge of the truth. I believe that God sovereignly elects all of us to be saved or all of us Christians to be saved. And along with that, that would mean that also that God chooses to not save others. So how does that, if that is true, and since what Paul is saying here is also true, how do those two things correlate? Are all people saved? Is there something that we have to do in terms of getting to that knowledge of truth?

Just some help with that would be great. Yeah. Yeah, the text you're referring to is in 1 Timothy, as you said, it's actually chapter 2. First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people. And then Paul says, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our savior who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

And so you're right, and we're getting into some pretty deep stuff here, brother. We're thinking about God's sovereign decree. You mentioned election, that is this doctrine that God chooses people for salvation.

We can get into that at some time. That wasn't the focus of your question. But here, it's very clear that God desires all people to be saved. You think about John 3, verse 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Now, there are different ways in which Bible teachers and scholars have interpreted this passage in particular. Some people just say, well, yeah, God wants all people to be saved, but not everyone is saved, and so God is disappointed about that. Other people have said, the church father, St. Augustine, he said God wills all men to be saved who are saved.

That's sort of how he understood. I take this passage to be, I understand this passage in the way that understands it. As Paul is saying here, God desires all people without distinction to be saved. That is all kinds of people, because in verse 2, he says, for kings and all who are in high positions that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life. In other words, look, God desires all kinds of people to be saved.

For kings, all who are in high positions, pray for them. Ultimately, we can say that in a real sense, God, in terms of how he's revealed himself to us, does call the whole world to repentance and faith. We can say that God desires all people to be saved. Now, why is it that some people don't come to faith?

We have to be real careful here. We always want to say, look, God is absolutely sovereign, but mankind is totally responsible as well. Those who aren't saved, it's because they reject Jesus Christ. It's because they deny him. They don't have faith. They don't want him, ultimately, but we also know that anyone who is saved is saved solely because of the work of God's Spirit. That God is the one who grants us faith as a gift. These are two things that we see in scripture absolutely clearly laid out for us.

The absolute sovereignty of God and the responsibility of mankind. I don't think there's any contradiction there. What Paul is saying here to Timothy is God desires all kinds of people to be saved. So, Timothy, pray.

What an encouragement for us, brothers and sisters. We need to pray for kings and for all who are in authority. It doesn't matter whether you agree with them or not, with their policies, because God is good. He desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. And one of the ways he brings them to the knowledge of the truth is through the prayers of his people. And so, pray that the Lord might save others. As we explore the truth of God's Word together.