The Holy Spirit is your fulfillment of the Law so as to bring the life and ministry of Jesus into your life and ministry.

John 1:16-18 (NIV) From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, Who is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.

Most people misunderstand the law. They think they are being asked to fulfill it by means of their own efforts, skills, talents, and power. They often think God is asking them to do these things just so they will please Him. They don’t realize that the laws are for our benefit. The laws of God were given so as to bring a blessing to us. Jesus came to show us the heart of the Father. The Old Testament laws were given to Moses so as to help people live together in unity and love. Instead, they made the laws into rituals that were a great burden on the people rather than bringing justice and fairness to the people.

Mat 7:12 (NIV) So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

Here is Jesus’ heart and therefore the heart of the Father. The Law was to help us be able to identify with the pain, needs, and desires of those around us. God wanted the Law to help us see what was fair for us and others. Instead, we humans looked at the Law and tried to see how it would benefit us. Viewing the Law from a purely selfish vantage point, we tried to get justice and retribution in our favor. God wants us to look at the Law and see how we would like to be treated. Then He wants us to apply our thoughts, feelings, words, and deeds in a lawful way to other people.

Mat 12:1-2 (NIV) At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”

Just the little bit of picking a few stocks of gain to eat on the Sabbath was considered “working on the Sabbath” to the Pharisees. They didn’t care about the people; they cared about the Law. The Laws had been created by God to keep people from working seven days a week. He loved them enough to want them to have a day of rest. But, that wasn’t what the Pharisees got out of those passages from God’s Word. They weren’t trying to protect the people; they were trying to protect the Law.

Mat 12:3-5 (NIV) He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread--which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent?

From this illustration, we can see what God’s purpose was for creating these Laws. If someone has a legitimate need that would have to break the Law in order to meet it, God would lay the Law aside so as to meet that need. The Law was made for people rather than people made for the Law. God created the Law so as to help people survive in their relationship with themselves, Him, and others. Each segment of the Law was to be interpreted and applied to each situation on the basis of fairness and what was best for all involved.

Mat 12:6-8 (NIV) I tell you that One greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is LORD of the Sabbath.”

All the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament were for the spiritual benefit of people. He didn’t want people sacrificing animals or putting themselves in tough situations just so they could prove how much they loved Him. He doesn’t love the sacrifices we make; He loves grace and mercy. He had the people doing those sacrifices so they could see the pain and suffering of the sacrificed animals and see what sin does. Sin was hurting and killing them. He was also illustrating what Jesus was going to have to do for them in order for them to become His children and citizens of His Kingdom.

Mat 12:9-12 (NIV) Going on from that place, He went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked Him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? HOW MUCH MORE VALUABLE IS A MAN THAN A SHEEP! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

God will sacrifice animals for the sake of saving mankind. He considers humans MUCH MORE VALUABLE than animals. He considers you to be so important that He gave His one and only Son for you. He didn’t make the Law so as to make you miserable. He made the Law so as to protect you and help you have fair and beneficial relationships with everyone around you. But, we often forget the heart of God and see God as making religious requirements on us so as to force us to do things that only please Him. We see His treatment of us as being selfish and legalistic.

Mat 12:13-14 (NIV) Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.

What a wonderful thing just happened to this man! There was so much love and concern for his pain and suffering. Jesus really changed his life and gave him his hand so he could use it and be healed, healthy, and whole. This gave this man happiness, joy, and love. This was the perfect thing to do on the Sabbath. But, the Pharisees’ interpretation of the Law defined Jesus’ healing act as WORK. They didn’t care about the man; their interpretations had to do with enforcing the Law. They didn’t understand God or His purpose for the Law; so, they decided to kill the very God that had made these laws.

Mat 13:52 (NIV) He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”

The truths of God didn’t stop with the Old Testament. God has been continuing to talk to His people and cause His ministers to write down prophecies from Him long after Moses’ writings. The first five books of the Old Testament are called the “Pentateuch,” a Greek term meaning pente (5) teuchos (volumes). The first five books of the Old Testament (Pentateuch) were called the books of Moses. God caused many books to be written after that. He caused all the Old Testament books to be written so He could continue to communicate with the people He loved. Then He caused all the books of the New Testament to be written.

Every teacher of the Law, who has been instructed about the Kingdom of heaven, will use the treasures of the Old Testament and the New Testament. It all came from God and is vital to our spiritual growth and ministry.

2 Tim 3:16-17 (NIV) ALL Scripture is God-breathed and is useful (KJV: profitable) for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, SO THAT the man of God may be THOROUGHLY equipped for EVERY good work.

Mat 15:1-3 (NIV) Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!” Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God FOR THE SAKE OF your tradition?

The Elders came up with a system that they thought would be better than God’s system. They took the Law and the writings of the prophets and made up “superior” rules. They called these “superior” rules and regulations “traditions.” Their idea was to take the laws of God and write out definitions and applications that would cause you to live so far “above” the laws of God that you wouldn’t even get close to breaking them. They thought this system would help a person live such a pure life that they would be at the top of God’s list of godly people. Let’s take a look at their “improvements.”

Mat 15:4-6 (NIV) For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,’ he is not to ‘honor his father’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

God caused laws to be written that would help parents and their children work together in love. The Elders caused traditions to be written that were supposed to be “superior” interpretations and applications of God’s Law. The problem with the Elders was the fact they didn’t know the PURPOSE for the laws of God. Once the purpose was lost, the interpretations and applications were wrong. That is why we have to allow the Holy Spirit give us the interpretation to the Bible; AND, we have to allow Jesus to tell us HOW to apply it to our lives and ministries.

Mat 15:7-9 (NIV) You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: “‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’”

Our ministry may look good to humans; but, God looks inside our heart and weighs the motives of our heart. He knows WHY we are doing WHAT we are doing. He looks to see if we are doing these things because we love people or because we want money, possessions, popularity, power, prestige, or positions.

Mat 15:10-11 (NIV) Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, “Listen and understand. What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean,’ but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean.’”

The foods of the Old Testament were identified so as to keep people healthy. But the Elders and Pharisees made these foods into spiritual issues. God was trying to bring blessings of health, healing, and wholeness to His people. The Elders and Pharisees were trying to bring bondage and ritual to God’s people.

1. Our treasures or things we consider valuable are what establish where our heart is. The pursuit of these treasures set our goals, objectives, plans, strategies, and life patterns. Mat 6:21 (NIV) For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.


2. Our heart and its contents or treasures establish what our mouth says. The things we expose ourselves to, learn, memorize, study, pray over, put our trust in, and start trying to apply to our life are based on those things we consider valuable.
   
   Mat 12:34-37 (NIV) You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good STORED up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil STORED up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”


3. Our mouth and tongue establish what our body will be doing. Our body will be living out those things we consider valuable and therefore fill our heart with that information, systems, philosophies, and principles. That will flow out of our heart into our mouth by means of our tongue.
   
   James 3:2 (NIV) We all stumble in many ways. IF ANYONE IS NEVER AT FAULT IN WHAT HE SAYS, HE IS A PERFECT MAN, ABLE TO KEEP HIS WHOLE BODY IN CHECK.
   
   James 3:3-4 (NIV) When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go.
   
   James 3:5-6 (NIV) Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the WHOLE PERSON, sets the WHOLE COURSE OF HIS LIFE on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
   
   James 3:7-8 (NIV) All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but NO MAN can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
   
   James 3:9-10 (NIV) With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.
   
   James 3:11-12 (NIV) Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
   
   James 3:13 (NIV) Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that COMES from wisdom.
   
   Prayer Is ALWAYS The Answer: James 1:5 (NIV) If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, Who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.


4. You and the Holy Spirit have been establishing what you consider valuable; you two have been filling your heart with the treasures of God’s Word; these things have been starting to flow through your mouth and tongue; and you have been being empowered to live more and more of them each day. This brings the life and ministry of Jesus into your life and ministry.
   
   Rom 8:13-14 (NIV) For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.