SUnday Night Bible Study - Why Do We Pick and Choose? - Part 4

Good evening and welcome to Sunday Night Bible Study with Pastor Joe Sia Shipley. I want to use tonight to finish up our series. I know it's been a little sporadic, but you can find all the videos on YouTube at Witt Media Ministry or on the Facebook page.

Why Some Old Testament Commands Apply and Others Do Not

Finish up our series of why does it seem that we pick and choose which commands we obey. And the short answer is we obey that which God has told us to obey. That's the short answer. All scripture is theionistos.

Theionistos. God breathed. It is profitable for teaching, rebuke, and correcting, and training in righteousness. But we recognize, at least we should, that in Jonah chapter one, where it says, rise and go to Nineveh, it's not talking to us.

But what does that reveal about the character of God? That he wants the gospel to go to all the world. We should recognize that when God says in Exodus, take off your sandals for you stand as holy ground, is that a command for us to walk into a church service barefoot?

There's nothing really wrong with that. Do whatever you want. The point is he was talking to Moses, but it reveals to us what he thinks about his holiness and where we stand. God told Noah to build an ark.

He told you to build an ark. But what does that reveal about the character of God is that he provides a way of salvation and wants you to start. And when God provides for you, he may only give you part of a detail of what he's going to do, but you just follow in obey.

All throughout the Bible, there's commands that didn't make sense to the people at the time that later on God revealed to them. My point being though, is those are commands given to specific people and the moral behind it.

The character of God revealed in it is probable for us, but it doesn't mean that command was for us. When we speak of the Sinai covenant, the law given to Moses, the Mosaic law, that covenant is not for modern day Christians, by the way, it wasn't for the new church either.

I mean, the new church, it wasn't for the first century church either, but it was for the church and that it reveals who God is and his character. And that law is applicable and binding on us today, but the covenant is not.

And that's what we've been doing recently. So what do I mean that the covenant is not binding to us, but the law is? We've talked before, and this will be a summary statement. If you haven't watched the other ones, go back and watch them.

This will be a summary statement of this study. When we look at the categories of law, and again, Moses didn't categorize these. So it's not arbitrary, but it's a bit, it's manmade. Okay. But it helps us do a short, you know, we think of the judicial and civil law.

We think of the moral law. We think of the ceremonial law. The ceremonial law is fulfilled in Christ. Colossians 2 .16, let no one judge you with new moon, festival, Sabbath, what you eat or what you drink.

Those were all laws in the Old Testament. Everything dealing with purification, with sacrifice, with the building of the temple, that's all ceremonial and it's fulfilled in Christ. Violating the Sabbath was one of the capital, uh, capital laws.

In other words, God's the death penalty in, uh, in that time with Israel. While that's not binding on us today, it does reveal the character of God. When we say it's fulfilled in Christ, that does not mean it's no longer important.

I mean, it is filled up. If this was full of orange juice, okay, it would taste metallic-y. But if this was full of orange juice, point taken podcast, by the way, if you haven't checked out the podcast, check out Point Taken Christian Podcast.

It's pretty cool. But if this was filled up with orange juice and I kept pouring water in it, the orange juice would become diluted. Some of us are not trusting that Jesus has fulfilled the law and are trying to add to it with our works, thinking that that will bring us righteousness.

Guys, you're not trusting that it's actually fulfilled. But fulfilled doesn't mean it's not important. Yes, we do not have to, um, honor the Sabbath in the same way that they did. Okay. Jesus declared all foods clean.

Yes. That's radically different than what he did with Israel. There was many dietary rules. Uh, this was for nomadic Israel while God was purifying his people as they were in the wilderness, entering the promised land.

But God is not arbitrary in changing his laws. God said in the book of Jeremiah six centuries before Jesus was ever born, that a new covenant was coming. Ezekiel the prophet repeated in Ezekiel 36, 26, that a new covenant was coming.

In Genesis chapter three, God always said, Genesis 3, 15, a pro to evangelism, the first gospel account that from the woman seed will come one to crush Satan's head. It's not that God was arbitrarily changing.

He had a plan from time beginning and he dispensationally reeled that plan little bits at a time. The law was the training wheels on God's people. Galatians three says that it was the guardian until Christ came.

Well, if it's the guardian until Christ came, that means that when Christ came, you shouldn't put this training wheels back on. Romans seven, Paul's analogy is just like, uh, when, when a spouse, when their spouse, sorry, when a married person's spouse dies, they're not bound by that covenant.

So we are with the law. So how does that mean we're not under the covenant, but we're still, the law is still applicable to us. And Jeremiah 31 answers that question for us. You can read Jeremiah 31 about the new covenant in Jeremiah 31 or in Hebrews eight because he quotes it.

And I'm reading from Hebrews. This is what it says. And I've already read this before. So check out the other videos. The days are coming when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel, with the house of Judah.

Not like the covenant of old, but I made with their fathers. One day I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt for they did not continue in the covenant. And I didn't care for them says Yahweh.

This is the covenant I'll make with the house of Israel. After those days says, the Lord, I will put my laws into their minds and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God. And they will be my people.

You know what the sign of new covenant is? The indwelling Holy spirit. Now the, the outward proclamation of it, you know, baptism, you know, that's the outward symbolic dying, raised again to life, yada, yada, yada.

But the indwelling Holy spirit is the down payment, the guarantee of our inheritance and the sign of the new covenant. The law is written on our hearts and on our minds, not on tablets of stone, on our hearts and on our minds.

So again, when you read the account of Jonah, you need to read that that's God commanding Jonah to go, not commanding us to go to Nineveh, but the moral behind it is that God wants us to go to all the world and preach the gospel is still there.

When you read the 613 laws given from Exodus 20, all the way through the end, Leviticus and through Deuteronomy, the 613 laws. The law is applicable to us in that it reveals the character of God and the moral behind it is still binding to us.

But the individual examples of how that obedience was carried out is not because we're not under that covenant. And my example of this is my two daughters. Naomi, my daughter is seven months old. And believe it or not, we are already training her to honor her mother in very small ways.

My other daughter, Ava is three and we're teaching her to honor her mother, but not in the same way. Ava is not allowed to take a bite of a bite of food until her mother has taken a bite. Naomi is not that way.

Naomi can eat fat hands, get the watermelon before her mother. That's not arbitrary. I'm going to teach both of them to honor their mother, but not in the same way and not in the same dispensation of age they're in.

Ava is not allowed to take a bite before her mother eats. When Ava is 16, that will probably not be the same method I use to teach her to honor her mother. But the moral behind honoring your mother will still be binding on Ava even when she's 16.

God's people, like a child, when you're raising them, be standard, honor your mother, the standard, obey your parents, the standard, serve other people, will be there throughout the child's upbringing.

But the method you use to make them obey that, the method you use to bring about that obedience and method and application of how they obey that will change. It doesn't make it arbitrary. It changes with each dispensation.

That is the same thing. I want you to understand this analogy, not because it's some amazing analogy because I think it's helpful and God uses the analogy of us being as children throughout the whole Bible.

Just like with a child, the standard never changes. If you're doing what you're supposed to as a parent, the standard never changes, but the way it's applied does. With God's people in the Bible, the standard never changed, but the way it's applied does.

So do I think, for example, that homosexuals should be killed and people who have sex outside of marriage should be stoned? Those who violate the Sabbath? No, because we're not under that covenant. But what does it reveal about the character of God that he takes sin very seriously?

And I won't water down the fact that those were capital punishments during the time of Israel, during the Sinai covenant. They were capital punishments. Now, that doesn't mean mercy was never shown. Okay?

The existence of justice does not mean mercy is never shown. In fact, mercy can only be shown if there is a standard of justice. Otherwise it wouldn't be mercy. One of the capital crimes, one of the crimes that put you to death would be making graven images, worshiping other gods.

When Moses walked down from that mountain with those two tablets, guess what all of Israel was doing? Worshiping a false god. God had 3 ,000 of them put to death. But that's not the question of why did God put them to death?

He had already said, if anyone worships another God, you'll be put to death. The question is, why did all 2 million not put to death? Why were all 2 million not put to death? That's the real question.

The answer is because God had mercy. Guys, mercy does not nullify justice and justice does not nullify mercy. Mercy can only exist if there's a standard of justice. So, Josiah, why are you free to wear garments in two different clothing?

And why are you free to eat pork? And why are you free to whatever other, other laws that people always try to use? Because I'm not under that covenant. Okay? Because that was for that dispensation when God's people had those training rules on.

And I'm not under that covenant. I'm not under that guardian in Galatians 3. But what does it reveal about the character of God and the moral behind it I still obey? In other words, coming out from among them and being separate.

Okay? In other words, uh, taking sin seriously, being sexually pure, you know, sexual sin, guys, it's 1 Corinthians. I can't remember what chapter says. This is the will of God. And yes, we can know what the will of God is.

This is the will of God, your sanctification. And then the first thing it mentions is that you abstain from sexual morality. First thing it mentions after the word sanctification. So seriously, we should take that.

We're all guilty of that. It reveals just the character of God. Now, while we are not under that covenant, the moral behind that law, we are very much still under. It's written on our hearts and on our minds because it reveals who God is.

So again, do I think we should go back to that system of justice? Uh, no, because we are not under that covenant anymore. However, what it reveals about God's character. And if we loved our neighbor the way God's law told us to, our society would look a lot better.

I'll tell you that right now. A lot better. You know, I read off the list of the 16 capital crimes last week or last time. And everybody in the room I was teaching, it was probably 40, 30 of us in that room.

Everyone in the room was guilty of at least one of those capital crimes. Having a standard of justice doesn't nullify mercy. Mercy only exists if there is a standard of justice. We are under the new covenant.

It doesn't make the old covenant unimportant. It makes it obsolete in that we're not under that covenant, but the moral behind it is still there. The same way with some of the things I have Ava do to obey will be obsolete 10 years from now, but the moral behind them will still be binding.

I love you guys. I hope this was helpful. Please comment. I'd love to answer these types of questions or send a message or something. I hope you guys still enjoy these. If it ministers to people, I'm happy to do them.

Please check out our other videos like the Thursday night wow moments and things of that nature, Sunday morning Bible study. Share them, please. Love you guys very much. See you next time.