Sunday Night Bible Study - Should We Pick and Choose - Part 2

Now, I want you to pay attention. It wasn't anything in Israel, it wasn't their military styles, it wasn't the type of people we're standing next to.

Good evening and welcome to Sunday Night Bible Study with Pastor Josiah Shipley of Wynton Baptist Church.

This is part two of our series of Are We to Obey the Old Testament Law? Do we pick and choose which laws we obey?

How do we defend why we as modern day Christians, at least in the West, typically eat catfish and porridge, even though there are

Bible verses where God forbids some people from eating those. The question is, how do we know which is applicable to us?

And last week, we went over how to use proper hermeneutics and just a few things, anachronisms, context.

For example, Jonah 1 -2 says, rise up and go to Nineveh. Why is everyone not going up to Nineveh? Because God's not talking to you, right?

And then he was talking to Jonah. Now the moral precept behind that is the gospel is supposed to go out to the whole world.

It's kind of the same thing. We've talked about chapter and verse divisions, how those were not original so don't be fooled by them.

You know, bow down and worship me and I'll give you all that you see. That's a Bible verse. Satan said that.

So making sure we have the proper context and so on and so forth. Now, when we deal with the law, when we say the law, you know, sometimes people say the law and it's a summary of the whole

Old Testament, sometimes talking about the five books of Moses. But in general, we're speaking of the portion of the first five books of Moses, half of Exodus, all of Leviticus, and half of Deuteronomy, or most of Deuteronomy, where it's really the

Sinai Covenant. The Sinai Covenant. And the reason it's called the

Sinai Covenant is before Moses gives the law to the people, God through Moses asked all the people, do you agree to follow all of these laws?

And all of the people, all of them said, we agree. Well then, at the end, after every law was read, all of them, the whole law was read, then it's asked, do you agree now to obey and follow all of these?

And they all in one accord said, we agree and we will obey. Now, that's pretty incredible.

Think about it. That's why it's called the Sinai Covenant. And notice there's two types of covenant in the

Bible. There's conditional and unconditional. This is a conditional covenant. Two parties agreeing on the same thing, both agreeing to uphold their end.

Well, the unconditional covenants of God, the unconditional covenants are when

God says, I'm going to do this. It doesn't matter how anyone feels about it. Okay.

And for what I was just talking about, you can see Exodus 19 verse seven. So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words

Lord commanded them, all the people answered together and said, all that the Lord has spoken, we will do.

He does it at the beginning and the end. An unconditional covenant from God says, Abraham, I will bless your offspring and make them as numerous as the stars.

David, your throne will be established forever. It's God's not asking an opinion.

He's telling you what will happen now about that covenant.

Okay. Now this is important. So listen, because this is probably the answer. Some of you are looking for, but I want you to really understand what's happening.

Hebrews, I think it's eight, 13 Hebrews, eight, 13 says this in speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete and what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

And of course it gives us some hint as to when, uh, the book of Hebrews was written probably right before the destruction of the temple, 70

AD. My point is this, the Sinai covenant was between God and the people of Israel, which means people of God in the wilderness on the way to the promised land.

So the covenant started changing when they had an established homeland and when judges were in charge and when prophets were in charge and when

Kings were, and then those different dispensations. So Hebrews eight, 13, we in modern day

Christians are not under the Sinai covenant, but are still have a purpose for the law.

So again, the Sinai covenant is obsolete. That doesn't make the law obsolete by no means,

Paul says in Romans covenant, you are not under that covenant. You are under the new covenant, okay.

Which still includes certain aspects of the law. And this was predicted all the way back in Jeremiah 31, okay.

In Jeremiah 31, uh, and Ezekiel 36, behold, the days are coming while I establish a new covenant with the house of Israel, not like the covenant of old, but I will write my laws on their hearts.

People probably read the book of Jeremiah and you know, it's shadows, it's foreshadowing and say, all right, a new covenant, well, covenants, okay, are inaugurated normally by blood.

Jeremiah speaks about the splitting of the animal in half. Fast forward 600 years,

Jesus at the last supper holds up the wine and says, this is the blood of my covenant. Jesus inaugurates a new covenant with his blood and later the outpouring of the spirit.

God, when I say he deals in dispensations, he dispenses his truths a little bit at a time so that what we have is when he tells

David, someone from your line will rule forever. David looks around and probably thought, okay, well, no one lives forever.

I know great -grandma Ruth lived for a long time, but no one lives forever, shadows, pieces of the puzzle together.

One of the most helpful passages about this is in John five. Okay. And now we're going to talk about the purpose of the law and just a little bit, but John chapter five is really helpful for this.

John chapter five says this, and I'm going to start first off in verse 18. They're trying to kill

Jesus because he made himself equal with God. But in John five, starting in verse 39,

Jesus speaking to the religious leaders that want to kill him because he just made himself equal to God says this, you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, but it is they that bear witness about me.

Yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. Skip down to verse 45. Do not think that I accuse you to the father.

There is one who accuses you Moses on whom you've set your hope. The irony there 46 for if you believe

Moses, you would have believed me. But if you do not believe his writings, how you believe my words, guys, keep in mind, we're talking about people who had the first five books of the

Bible memorized as they were adolescents. Like in the beginning,

God created the heavens and the earth and the earth was dark and formless and dark and the spirit of God hovered over the waters.

They could start there and go all the way through Deuteronomy. First five books memorized, but they followed the letter of the law, not the spirit.

Jesus says Moses spoke of him. Now, stay with me, Christian. The word

Jesus does not appear in Genesis, Exodus, and Numbers or Deuteronomy. Remember, we speak about the name of Jesus.

It's far more than being two syllables and five letters and it starts with a J in English. It's about who and what that name represents.

Moses wrote about Jesus because the whole Bible is about Jesus and the law points to Jesus.

And I'm going to show you that now. What is the purpose of a law? The Reformers typically have three uses of a law.

I have four and I know that it could just be qualified in three, but I broke it down in four purposes.

Number one, it's a mirror. It's to show our own simpleness. Romans chapter five, verse 20,

Romans chapter five, verse 20. It says this.

Now the law came in order to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.

The law came to multiply the trespass, to make people aware of how sinful they were.

This is what Romans chapter three is about. This is what

Romans chapter three is about. It speaks about how the law has shown our sinfulness.

Verse 19. Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

For by the works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

The law is there for. You know how we know it's wrong to covet, to murder?

The law. How are you supposed to love your neighbor? The law tells us all this.

And in the book of Galatians, it goes on. Paul continues with this in Galatians chapter three.

He says this, starting in verse 22. But the scripture imprisoned everything in sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.

So then the law was our guardian until Christ came in order that we may be justified by faith.

But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. The law was our guardian, our tutor meant to lead us to Christ.

That was the purpose of it. To recognize your sinfulness and lead you to Jesus.

The law serves the purpose of showing us our sinfulness, it acts as a mirror. The law also, purpose number two, is to restrain evil.

Speed limit is a perfect example of this. People may go 65 in a 55 mile an hour zone, but if the speed limit were 70, they would be going 80.

Unfortunately, I am guilty of this myself. You may hear people say,

I'll go 5 miles over the speed limit. So while there's still breaks in the law, it is restraining how evil they really would be if there was no law.

So number one, it serves the purpose of a mirror. Number two, to restrain evil. Number three, to reveal that which is pleasing to God.

I want to read Psalm 119 to you. And some of you have memorized part of Psalm 119, that word of a head in my heart that may not sin against you.

Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Psalms is before Proverbs, sorry.

But I'm just going to read a rather large section here. Psalm 119, beginning in verse 88, and maybe

I'll skip around a little bit. I'll start in verse 89, excuse me.

Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens. Your faithfulness endures to all generations.

You have established the earth and it stands fast. By your appointment, they stand this day. For all things are your servants.

If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction. I will never forget your precepts, provide them you have given me life.

I am yours, save me, for I have sought your precepts. The wicked lie in wait to destroy me, but I consider your testimonies.

I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad. Oh, how

I love your law. It is my meditation all the day. Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me.

I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the age, for I keep your precepts.

I hold back my feet from every evil way in order to keep your word. I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me.

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Through your precepts

I get understanding, therefore I hate every false way. Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

I have sworn an oath and confirmed it to keep your righteous rules. It reveals what is pleasing to God.

That's what the law does. It should make it pleasing to us. The more sanctified a man becomes, the more disgusted he is with the sin that remains.

Martin Luther. The more sanctified someone becomes, the process of being made more and more in the image of Christ.

The more you hate the sin that you used to love, the more you love the things that God used to hate. And finally and most importantly, the law points to Christ.

The law points to Christ. Turn with me, if you will, to Matthew chapter 11. I'm just going to read one verse, verse 13.

Matthew 11, verse 13. It says, for all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.

And if you're willing to accept it, he is the Elijah to come. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.

Hmm. The law prophesies, not just the prophetic books, but there is a sense in which the law prophesies until John.

Until John the Baptist. So what is the law prophesying about? Well, Jesus already answered that in John 5.

It's prophesying about me. The law is prophesying about Jesus.

The law says, do not let someone hang on a tree. For anyone overnight, for anyone hung on a tree is cursed.

Galatians says, he became a curse for us by being hung on a tree. The whole law points to Jesus.

That's what the law does. If you sin, there will be judgment. Jesus is the judge.

There's, you remember in the book of Numbers, when the people rebelled against God and Moses, and God sends serpents to bite them.

We assume they're venomous. It says fiery serpents. We assume they're venomous. And God still made a way even in the rebellion.

He had Moses make a bronze serpent and put on a pole. And all who looked to the pole in faith would be healed.

In humility, I should say. In Jesus, when speaking to Nicodemus in John chapter 3, someone who had understood that, someone who had understood that passage, they thought their whole life says, and just as Moses lifted up that serpent, so the son of man will be lifted up.

And all who look to him for eternal life will have it. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life.

For God did not send his sons into the world to condemn the world, because it was already condemned, but that the world might be saved through him.

We already read John 5, and Luke, Jesus gets even more specific, if it's possible.

Jesus gets even more specific. In Luke 24, this is the last chapter of Luke, verse 27 simply says this.

Verse 27 says, In beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted from the scriptures concerning himself.

Beginning with Moses, he interpreted for his disciples the scriptures that were talking about him. Beginning with Moses.

Genesis chapter 3, hey Eve, from your seed, by the way, biology 101, women don't have seed.

From your seed, it will crush the head of the serpent. In other words, he will be bruised.

He will crush the head of the serpent. And then, one of the most amazing passages about the

Old Testament and the New Testament is Luke 24, 44 -49. It says this,

Jesus speaking, and then he said to them, These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the

Psalms must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds and understood the scriptures, and said to them,

Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in the name of all nations beginning from Jerusalem.

You are witnesses of these things, and behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you, but stay in the city to your cloak with the power from on high.

Of course, referring to Pentecost. Everything written about me in the law and the prophets and the

Psalms. The law of the prophets and the writings. Threefold division of the Old Testament. Everything written about me.

He explained it to them. The whole law. The whole Bible. All of the Old Testament points towards the work of Jesus Christ and his redemptive work.

All of the New Testament points back to that moment. The cross. The purposes of the law.

1. To be a mirror to show our simpleness. 2. To restrain evil. 3. To reveal what's pleasing God. 4.

To point to Christ. Okay. That's enough for today. Next week we're going to talk about the distinctions of the law.

The judicial, civil, ceremonial, moral law. And how is that applicable to us today.

Okay? So this next week will be the real meat of what we're talking about. So if we're not under the Sinai covenant, which we're not, and there are some people who try to still hold on to that, you need to go back and read the passage we just talked about.

Hebrews 8 .13. Galatians. Romans 7. So on and so forth. We're not under the Sinai covenant. So how is the law applicable today?

Tune in next week for that. Alright guys. Love you all very much. And God bless. Talk to y 'all later.