Happy Friday, everyone. Today, we have a question from Wilmy, the listener to the podcast who writes

good afternoon, Pastor John. I am from South Africa. And I would really like to know whether it is

sinful for me to eat pork and bacon. This topic is actually brought my marriage a lot of heartache

as my husband is a firm believer of the laws of Moses. And although he doesn't keep them all,

pork is a big no-no for him. What would you say to Wilmy, Pastor John?

There have always been groups of Christians who believe that in order to honor God's authority

in the Old Testament, we must continue to obey the food laws and other ceremonial laws,

less we be found in disobedience. There's a good impulse in this and a profoundly bad impulse in

this. The good impulse is the desire to obey God. Nothing wrong with that. That belongs to what

it means to be a Christian. The bad impulse is the failure to obey Christ who teaches us how to

obey God in regard to the Old Testament. So the good impulse starts perhaps with the text like

Matthew 5, 17 to 18. Jesus says, do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.

I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until having a

earth pass away, not a Yoda, not a doc, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.

And the good impulse puts the emphasis on every dot, every Yoda of the law standing until the

earth passes away. And the bad impulse neglects the words, I have come to fulfill them,

and the words until all is accomplished. In other words, the bad impulse fails to see in Jesus

the kind of fulfillment and the kind of accomplishment of the law and the prophets that God always

intended in the Old Testament as the consummation and the end of the ceremonial laws. So the effort to

hold on to the prohibition of eating pork is in effect a refusal to submit to God's plan

for the fulfillment of the law in Jesus. So let's be specific now. Take the laws about foods in the

Old Testament, unclean foods, which should include pork. Jesus said something very specific about

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