While scores of Christians throughout the centuries have been told to embrace the law which came through Moses, the Apostle Paul and other New Testament writers received a revelation that is quite different from that approach. While church teaching tells us some of the law has ended, while other parts are still in effect, the law itself declares nothing can be added or deleted. Approval was never given to alter it. While those who claim believers should strive harder to keep the commands, their hypocrisy is exposed by eliminating large, inconvenient chunks... and nobody can seem to agree on exactly what should remain on the list. Our program this week will provide vital information on the ministry of the Mosaic law, and why God replaced it with something far better.
636. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 7): A Promise of Faith Contrasted With A Covenant of Works
The promise of a covenant bringing righteousness by faith or belief as it was given to Abraham, would eventually bring what we often refer to as the New Covenant, which was ushered in through Jesus Christ. Several hundred years after God made this covenant with Abraham, another covenant would be established with the people of Israel, and would include the law which came through Moses. This law would bring a curse requiring that all of it be kept perfectly, causing God to find fault with the people in that covenant. Fortunately, that covenant of law would not nullify the covenant of promise made 430 years earlier. The promise of faith would end up kicking the law of works to “kingdom come” (because the law is not of faith). This week in our series, we’re transitioning from Abraham to Moses and the Law.
634. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 5): Abraham and the Child of Promise
Hundreds of years before God gave the law to Moses, there was Abraham. Through him God brought forth a promise, where he would become the father of many nations that would occur through a child promised to him and Sarah. Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. It was by faith the promise arrived, not works. The Apostle Paul explains how Abraham’s two sons represent the two covenants—both the Old and the New. The son born from Hagar (the bondwoman) was born according to the flesh, whereas the son from Sarah (the freewoman) through promise. One gave birth to bondage, symbolic of Mount Sinai, and the other gave birth to freedom, which would include justification for Gentiles through faith.
630. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 2)
We continue to lay the foundation for our series, as we look at some key parts of the Bible that led from Adam to Jesus, and then to the New Covenant. Is everything written specifically to us today or was it simply given as a reference point to help us see the redemptive plan God had for man all along? What motivated Adam to make the wrong choice? Why did God give Moses the law, and why did the Israelites agree to the (old) covenant? Are the Psalms and Prophets telling us how to seek comfort in our lives, or were they more about pointing Israel to the Messiah, who had not yet appeared? What was is it about the Old Testament that had convinced some of the Jews that Jesus was that Messiah? What was the purpose of Jesus’ ministry and when did the New Covenant begin? We’ll be covering some of this and more in future programs, after this week’s second half of our introduction.
629. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 1)
This will be the first program in a series where we will focus on key points in the Scripture with the goal of helping us to see the bigger picture when it comes to the Bible. Our primary stops on the route will include Adam, Abraham, Moses and the law, the Psalms and the Prophets, and also Jesus and the New Covenant. The idea is to step back from the many trees (verses) that are often taken out of context in order to gain a better view of the forest and help summarize the Biblical map. Ultimately, our hope with this series is to gain an improved understanding of the gospel and God’s Word as a whole.
629. Summarizing the Scripture (Part 1)
This will be the first program in a series where we will focus on key points in the Scripture with the goal of helping us to see the bigger picture when it comes to the Bible. Our primary stops on the route will include Adam, Abraham, Moses and the law, the Psalms and the Prophets, and also Jesus and the New Covenant. The idea is to step back from the many trees (verses) that are often taken out of context in order to gain a better view of the forest and help summarize the Biblical map. Ultimately, our hope with this series is to gain an improved understanding of the gospel and God’s Word as a whole.
Hard-hearted Religion
Religion. The very word evokes negative responses from so many. Religion has been the cause of wars and disputes for thousands of years. It has been the source of debate for countless numbers of arguments over which religion is right, which is wrong. Even within my “religion” of Christianity, there is so much division that
624. Christian Hypocrisy: Keeping Portions of the Law; Throwing Out the Rest
Chances are pretty good that your church denomination believes the “moral commands” found within the law of the Old Testament are meant to be considered a part of the Christian life. They will also declare other parts of the law have expired and do not apply today… such as animal sacrifices, various ceremonial laws, dietary laws, etc. The inconsistencies become very obvious when the old and new covenants are mixed together like this because the entire point of the entire law—all of it—was that nobody could live up to its perfect standard. Personal or moral improvement is a wonderful thing, but “trying your best” to follow a list of impossible commands will not improve your position with God. This is why all of the law was made to be abolished and obsolete… It’s all based upon God doing what the law could not do. Jesus fulfilled the law on our behalf and took the old law out of the way, freeing us from any and all condemnation.
622. “Are You Saying People Can Sin as Much as They Want?”
When traditional church doctrine meets pure grace and God’s unconditional love, those who have been embedded with fragments of the Mosaic law that are wrongly mixed into the gospel, will instinctively react with a list of questions something like this:
“Are you saying people can go do whatever they want? Are you saying it’s okay for people to sin as much as they want? Commit adultery? Murder?” (Of course, that’s not what we’re saying).
They will proceed to warn the sheep about this radical doctrine of grace that is a dangerous, false teaching in the form of heresy, because of our proclamation that believers in Christ are not under the law that came through the Old Covenant. The law demanded that all of it be kept. Other than Jesus, nobody has ever accomplished this before. Therefore, He fulfilled it on our behalf. Just because we’re not trying to keep the law, doesn’t mean that we’re breaking it. The rule book can’t bring us life, righteousness, nor God’s approval. Jesus didn’t come with a new set of rules and statutes that would end up making us better, He came to give us His life and a new heart that has made us like Him.
“Are you saying people can go do whatever they want? Are you saying it’s okay for people to sin as much as they want? Commit adultery? Murder?” (Of course, that’s not what we’re saying).
They will proceed to warn the sheep about this radical doctrine of grace that is a dangerous, false teaching in the form of heresy, because of our proclamation that believers in Christ are not under the law that came through the Old Covenant. The law demanded that all of it be kept. Other than Jesus, nobody has ever accomplished this before. Therefore, He fulfilled it on our behalf. Just because we’re not trying to keep the law, doesn’t mean that we’re breaking it. The rule book can’t bring us life, righteousness, nor God’s approval. Jesus didn’t come with a new set of rules and statutes that would end up making us better, He came to give us His life and a new heart that has made us like Him.
622. “Are You Saying People Can Sin as Much as They Want?”
When traditional church doctrine meets pure grace and God’s unconditional love, those who have been embedded with fragments of the Mosaic law that are wrongly mixed into the gospel, will instinctively react with a list of questions something like this:
“Are you saying people can go do whatever they want? Are you saying it’s okay for people to sin as much as they want? Commit adultery? Murder?” (Of course, that’s not what we’re saying).
They will proceed to warn the sheep about this radical doctrine of grace that is a dangerous, false teaching in the form of heresy, because of our proclamation that believers in Christ are not under the law that came through the Old Covenant. The law demanded that all of it be kept. Other than Jesus, nobody has ever accomplished this before. Therefore, He fulfilled it on our behalf. Just because we’re not trying to keep the law, doesn’t mean that we’re breaking it. The rule book can’t bring us life, righteousness, nor God’s approval. Jesus didn’t come with a new set of rules and statutes that would end up making us better, He came to give us His life and a new heart that has made us like Him.
“Are you saying people can go do whatever they want? Are you saying it’s okay for people to sin as much as they want? Commit adultery? Murder?” (Of course, that’s not what we’re saying).
They will proceed to warn the sheep about this radical doctrine of grace that is a dangerous, false teaching in the form of heresy, because of our proclamation that believers in Christ are not under the law that came through the Old Covenant. The law demanded that all of it be kept. Other than Jesus, nobody has ever accomplished this before. Therefore, He fulfilled it on our behalf. Just because we’re not trying to keep the law, doesn’t mean that we’re breaking it. The rule book can’t bring us life, righteousness, nor God’s approval. Jesus didn’t come with a new set of rules and statutes that would end up making us better, He came to give us His life and a new heart that has made us like Him.
621. The Mosaic Law: Given to Israel Only, Not Gentiles
When God gave Israel the law through Moses, and the Jews agreed to keep those many commands established in the Old Covenant, it was meant only for that race and nation who would be called God’s people at that time. The law had never been given to us Gentiles, who were considered unclean, far off and separated from God without a covenant. After the New Covenant was established by Jesus Christ, Gentiles were coming to God by faith in Jesus, and the leadership from the church in Jerusalem agreed that Gentiles would not need to be troubled or burdened with what their fathers had been unable to bear under that heavy and impossible law. Plus, the Jews who had been under the law were made free from it, and became dead to it as they married another and became the bride of Christ. You can’t live by something that doesn’t give life. That’s why the old way had to be removed completely and replaced with a better covenant.
620. The Law Package: No Changes Allowed
The predominant mindset within most Christian churches is that parts of the law that came through Moses are to be applied to believers today, while other parts have been eliminated after the cross of Jesus Christ. This demonstrates the widespread ignorance about that law under the Old Covenant, because God had declared that as long as the law was in effect, there would be no changes to it. Nothing could be added and nothing could be taken away from it. The hundreds of commands, rules and statutes were bundled together in one package known as “the Law.” Many ingredients; but one package that was never meant to be broken up and applied in many different ways, based upon personal perspectives or man-made doctrines. This is why people needed to be delivered from the entire law package, and why we are declared to be dead to the law under a new and better covenant.
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