 One of the axioms of Christianity is that it is impossible for us to keep the Torah, believe it or not. One of the axioms of Christianity is that it is not possible to keep the Torah. And why is that? So Paul, the apostle Paul, explains to us why it is not possible to keep the Torah. He teaches in the book of Galatians chapter 2 verse 21 that if it were possible to be righteous through observing the Torah then Jesus died in vain. That's what Paul teaches. That if it were possible to be a righteous person through observing God's Torah then there was no need to have Jesus die for our sins because we'd be able to keep the commandments of God and if we ever violated one of the commandments we could repent, which is what the Torah tells you to do if you make a mistake, if you violate a commandment. Meaning one of the laws of the Torah is the law that teaches about repentance in the wake of sin. So Paul tells us that this system of being able to keep the Torah is not possible because if it were there'd be no need to have Jesus die on the cross to atone for our sins. We'd be able to atone for our own sins by repenting and by keeping the commandments of the Torah. So let's just think about for a moment this assertion, this assertion that it's impossible to keep the Torah and I would say that this axiom is impossible to defend for numerous reasons. Let me share just four of those reasons with you. First of all in the Torah itself, God gives us hundreds of commandments and he threatens serious punishments if we don't keep the Torah. So again God gives hundreds of commandments and he threatens us with serious punishments if we don't keep the commandments. So here's the question I would ask what kind of God would do this if he know full well that we were not capable of observing the Torah? What kind of God would do that? Giving us commandments, insisting that we keep them, threatening us with dire consequences if we don't keep them, but he knows all along that it's impossible for us to keep them. I would say that would be a very, very ugly and cruel kind of God. Number two, there are numerous times in the Torah where God says that he has established his covenant with those who love him and those who keep his commandments. So God has said to us he is establishing his covenant with those who love him and keep his commandments. Now if it were impossible to keep the commandments, this statement that God makes numerous times would be meaningless. What does God mean then by saying that he makes and keeps his covenant with those who love him and observe his commandments, keep his commandments? Number three, the longest chapter in the Bible by far is chapter 119, 119 in the book of Psalms. This chapter has 176 verses. It is huge. And interestingly, the entire Psalm is focused on one theme. And the theme is relevant to our discussion right now. The theme is not the importance and significance of the land of Israel. The theme is not the beauties of nature. The theme of Psalm 119 is the Torah and its commandments. It's an evaluation of the importance of the Torah and its commandments. And the assessment of Psalm 119 is that the Torah and the commandments in the Torah are the most important things in our lives. And they're the most precious and wonderful things in our lives. They are more precious than gold. They're sweeter than honey. And the Psalmist goes on to just express with glowing emotion how beautiful and precious the commandments are. If it were impossible to keep the commandments, this would have been a very appropriate chapter to mention that factoid. Because this is a chapter that is the longest chapter in the Bible, dedicated exclusively to the topic of God's commandments. And if we were not capable of keeping them, this chapter would have been an appropriate place to apprise us of that reality. And yet in this entire chapter, it never tells us that despite the fact that the commandments are so precious and important, we shouldn't get too excited about them because we can't keep them anyway. And finally, one last point is that on this question of whether or not we are capable of keeping the commandments, God himself weighs in on this discussion. In the 30th chapter of Deuteronomy, God says to us, don't say that the Torah is too difficult to keep. Don't say that the commandment that I give you is too difficult to keep. It's not too difficult, God says. It is not too difficult. God goes on to say it's not up in the heavens that you have to go up into the heavens to bring it down to the earth to be able to keep the Torah. It's not beyond the oceans, beyond the seas, that we would have to travel across the oceans to bring the Torah back to us so that we can keep it and observe it. God says in Deuteronomy chapter 30, it is very near to you in your mouth and in your heart that you can do it. So if God has made it abundantly clear to us that we are capable of observing his commandments and his Torah, it's impossible to defend the Christian assertion that we are incapable, that we're not capable of keeping God's commandments.