I’ve got an idea… Why don’t we reassess our church budget and put as much money as possible into getting the 10 commandments posted on every billboard sign along I-35. All the way from Laredo to Duluth, MN – both sides of the highway! I know that this would be a huge task, but we could cooperate with a multitude of other churches in the common cause.
Why isn’t anybody getting excited?
Don’t you think that it might do some good? People driving by couldn’t avoid seeing the billboards and they might make a change in their lives!
The 10 commandments are God’s holy laws, given straight from Him, right?
Actually, there are over 600 laws given in the OT. Typically, we point to the 10 commandments because they were the first 10 that God gave to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Yet, all of God’s Law in the OT is bound together as one unit, and shouldn’t be separated from one another. But 600 Laws would take up too much space on the billboard and nobody could read them all as they sped by on the highway.
The subject we have been dealing with in the last two messages has been our walk with God. He desires that we walk in holiness before His presence, even as He is doing a divine work within us to make us more like His Son, Jesus Christ.
· How do I walk in holiness? How do I “cooperate” with God in my sanctification?
A common thought for many is that we walk in Christian sanctification by obeying the OT Law code that was given through Moses, such as the 10 commandments.
· What do you think? Does the Mosaic Law apply to Christians today? Does God intend for me to grow in sanctification by obedience to the OT Law?
This is a question that the church had to face very early in its formation.
Historical Background:
The OT Law’s applicability to the Christian was the issue of concern that required the first known church council recorded in Acts 15.
Some men in the church began teaching that Gentiles needed to be circumcised to be saved and they had to walk by the Law of Moses. These became known as “Judaizers.”
Paul and Barnabas debated them fiercely, until they determined to take it to the church in Jerusalem to hold a council on the matter.
Peter said to the Judaizers, “…why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.” (Acts 15:10-11)
If you read Acts 15, you see that the council agreed with Peter, Paul, and Barnabas that the Mosaic Law was not binding upon the NT church.
Paul alluded to this fact in Romans 6:14, “…for you are not under law but under grace.”
What did he mean by that? The first half of Romans 7 explains. The Law is not the way Christians are sanctified before God. It is limited in what it can and can’t do.
1. What the Law cannot do. (vv. 1-6)
a. The Law cannot have authority over us. (vv. 1-4)
In order to illustrate the fact that a Christian is not bound by obligation to the OT Mosaic Law code, Paul points to the analogy of marriage.
A wife is obligated to her husband as long as he is alive. If she should go off and marry another man while her husband is alive, she is known as an adulteress. (It is implying here that she has left her true husband unjustly).
On the other hand, if her husband has died, she has no obligations to her marriage. It is terminated and she is free to remarry if she wishes.
In like manner, Christians are not married to the Law. The death of Christ has separated us from it. Remember, as Christians, when Jesus died, we died too.
We are now married to Christ and walk in His grace.
b. The Law cannot help us serve in newness of the Spirit (vv. 5-6)
Today we as believers need to know that we cannot live the Christian life by our own strength. We cannot do it by ourselves. We need to turn our lives over to the Spirit of God, yield to Him, and let Him do for us what we cannot do ourselves.
The Law does not offer that to anybody. Only the Holy Spirit can do that.
WHY?
· The Law was not given to the church.
It was given only to the nation of Israel, not to anyone else.
God said to Moses to tell Israel, "Now then, if you (Israel - not Gentiles, not the church) will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.” So Moses came and called the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the LORD had commanded him. All the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do!” And Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD. (Ex 19:5-8)
The rest of the world could abide by or break the Mosaic Law, but the intended recipient was none other than the nation of Israel.
· The Law was not able to save.
It was intended to point to Christ. Only in Him do we find the grace to be justified and to walk in holiness.
By the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight. (Rom 3:20)
Through Christ, everyone who believes is freed from all things, from which you could not be freed through the Law of Moses. (Acts 13:39)
· The Law was not an unconditional covenant.
It was a conditional covenant. Its terms were clearly laid out as “IF – THEN.” God said, IF you will obey My word, Israel, THEN I will bless you. IF you do not obey My word, Israel, THEN I will curse you.
This is foreign to the New Covenant in Christ’s blood that washes and redeems us by faith in Him. Our covenant is not a conditional covenant, like the Mosaic covenant was. It is rather, unconditional, and ties all the way back to the original unconditional, eternal covenant God made with Abraham, in which He said, “In you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (Gen 12:3)
· The Law was not extended beyond the cross.
The Law’s demands were met in full by the complete sacrifice of the Son of God on the cross on our behalf. The Law code ceased at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
Romans 6:4 says that in Christ’s death on the cross, we were “put to death” (literal translation) to the OT Mosaic Law code.
Later in Romans, it says, Christ is the end of the law… (Rom 10:4)
The cross “canceled out the certificate of debt” (Col 2:14) that the Mosaic Law levels against the whole world under sin. It has been nailed to the cross as paid in full.
Paul instructed the believers in Galatia, “Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. (Gal 3:24-26)
APPLICATION:
What does this mean for Christians like you and me?
· Circumcision is done away – It is no longer regarded as a necessary ritual that introduces males into the people of God. The true circumcision is that of the heart by faith in Christ, and it is for men and women.
· Animal sacrifices are done away – Rams, bulls, and doves offered at the altar were merely symbolic of the perfect sacrifice of Christ on the cross.
· The OT Priesthood is done away – Christ is the true sacrifice and Christians are the true temple, so the need for an OT priesthood has ceased. All believers are considered priests of God and have direct access to Him through Christ.
· OT feasts are done away – Passover, Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, feast of Tabernacles, etc.
· The Sabbath law is done away – The Sabbath is the seventh day of the week, Saturday. The church is never commanded to meet on Saturday. The very fact that very early in its history the church met for worship on Sunday in commemoration of the risen Lord, indicates that they understood very clearly that the cherished Sabbath Law of the OT did not apply to the Christian church. The Sabbath was but “a shadow of what is to come” referred to in Col 2:17.
· Food laws are done away – Forbidden foods, like pork, rabbit meat, certain birds, etc. found in Lev. 11 are considered clean now. In the OT the food laws were designed as a picture of the holiness required in order to enter God’s presence in the tabernacle or temple. This is now fulfilled because God dwells in His people, the church. “Nothing in itself is unclean” (Rom 14:14).
· Civil laws are done away – There is a movement called “Christian Reconstructionism” which seeks to apply the OT law and penalties in civil states today. Their perspective may be noble, but misguided.
The civil laws given to the nation of Israel were never intended for the church today. There is no indication in the NT that the church should exercise political power over the state.
Paul argued that the Mosaic Covenant had passed away, including sacrifices, circumcision, purity laws, food laws, and Sabbath, were not required of Christians.
· Transition: Does this mean that the OT basically irrelevant to us? Should we “throw it out” and read only the NT?
That “sounds” awfully bad to say that the 10 commandments are done away with…
Some churches rarely, if ever, teach and preach from the OT. It’s no longer binding, as they say. The church is dictated by the New Testament alone.
The answer here is absolutely NOT!
There is indeed value in the OT Law for the Christian. It is every bit as much of the revealed, inspired, word of God as the NT is. It’s just as relevant as the NT is, and should be studied with as much diligence.
The difference is in applicability. As Christians, we are not to view the Law as a binding code of conduct in order to walk in sanctification (holiness) before God.
2. What the Law can do. (vv. 7-14)
a. The Law explains the definition of sin. (v. 7)
Often, we don’t know something is against God’s will unless somebody tells us.
Illustration: Doc Henry
Doc Henry, the pastor at Bridgeway Community Church (a Free Church in NW Austin) remarked about the high number of unmarried couples that come to his church who are living together. Many of them are brand new believers. Most of the time when the issue of their living together is brought up, they look at him very puzzled. It never dawned on them that they were doing something wrong. It needed to be shown to them from the Word of God.
There is a saying, “ignorance is bliss.” As long as I’m not aware of something, it can’t hurt me, so to speak. But in the case of sin, ignorance never pardons the sinner. We are held accountable for sin whether we realized we did wrong or not.
APPLICATION:
· It reveals God’s standard of right and wrong.
Sin in the OT is sin in the NT. Moral absolutes upon Israel are morally binding on the Church. Right is still right. Wrong is still wrong.
God has never changed His mind about sin, whether it be idolatry, adultery, lying, dishonest business dealings, murder, theft, covetousness, etc…
So it would do us well as a Church to study God’s moral standards because the coming of Jesus never changed any of that.
When studying the OT Law, always look for Principles. While specific precepts may not directly apply to the Christian, an underlying moral principle usually does.
Example: Stoning false prophets
· According to Deut 13:10, Israel was commanded to stone false prophets to death. Can you imagine if we did that today in the church? (It might do us some good!)
· Nowhere is the church commanded to do this. Yet, the moral principle that does apply to us reflects God’s unchanging, uncompromising demand for purity in doctrine in teachers and purity of devotion in followers.
· We as Christians are to rid our churches of all false teaching. It is not to be tolerated in the church because God has never changed His mind about it.
Example: 10 Commandments
The same is true of the 10 commandments. We look for the eternal, unchanging moral principles that apply to all generations. In this case, all of them are direct statements of eternal, unchanging moral principles – except for one, the Sabbath law.
According to Exodus 31:17, God declared that the Sabbath was a sign of the covenant between Him and Israel, which set them apart from all the foreign nations that surrounded them. The Sabbath Law was a civil law for Israel.
The moral principle behind the Sabbath Law that can apply to Christians is that God values a day of rest, refreshment, and worship. But it doesn’t have to be Saturday.
b. The Law excites the deceptiveness of sin. (vv. 8-11)
This is not a positive thing that the Law does, but it needs to be addressed.
In v. 9 Paul says there was a time in his life when he was “alive” apart from the Law, (i.e. he didn’t understand the meaning of it). This is probably in reference to his youth. But when Paul came to the point in his life where he was confronted with the full force of the 10th Com. “You shall not covet,” it led him to covet for things in a fierce way.
Why? Look back at v. 5: “Our sinful passions… were aroused by the Law…” (Rom 7:5)
Awareness of the standards of God arouses our sinful passions to the uttermost.
Using the example of the 10th commandment to not covet, Paul says his desire to covet became all the more powerful once he understood the Law. The Law excited that passion within him.
APPLICATION:
· It reveals that our sin nature is deceptively at work.
Don’t you notice something becomes so much more enticing when you’re told that it is off limits? The desire for the forbidden is aroused by the its prohibition.
Illustration: Forbidden fruit
When you were a kid, didn’t those cookies seem all the more tempting when mom says you couldn’t have them? Doesn’t the allure of that shiny new car pester your thoughts even more when your wife tells you a minivan would be more practical? Doesn’t that other man or woman seem so much more attractive to you than your spouse, especially when you’re facing difficulties in your marriage?
Adam and Eve in the Garden thought the forbidden fruit would make them “like God,” it instead only caused their death. It was deception.
The deception of sin is that it doesn’t give you the gratification that you expect it to give. This is why Paul says that sin “deceived” him in v. 11. “I thought sin was going to give me what I really wanted, but it didn’t.”
c. The Law expresses the distinctiveness of God. (v. 12)
The Mosaic Law code is affirmed as holy, righteous and good.
Its origin was straight from the heart of God. There was no intermingling of the opinions of fallen man mixed in it. It was purely an expression of the heart of God. It revealed His attributes, and how He expected His people Israel to walk before Him.
· Since God is holy, His Law is holy.
· Since God is righteous, His Law is righteous.
· Since God is good, His Law is good.
If you say something is bad about God’s Law given in the OT, you are essentially saying that there is something bad about the very character and heart of God!
APPLICATION:
· It reveals what God is like.
The OT Law is ripe with descriptions of the attributes of God. We know so much of who God is as a result of how He has revealed Himself in the OT. If we didn’t have the OT Law in our present Bibles, I would have to say that there is very much that we wouldn’t know about who God is.
d. The Law exposes the deadliness of sin. (v. 13)
· How can the OT Law be good and holy, and yet only result in our death?
That seems like a contradiction – at least a failure on God’s part!
Paul sums up his discussion about the OT Law by forcefully reminding us that our condemnation needs to be blamed on our sin, not on God’s holy Law. The Law exposes sin for what it really is – condemning sin. The Law is not to blame, it just shines the light on that which is – our sin.
Sin violates the Law of God and brings condemnation. And you will remember that the wages of sin is eternal death!
APPLICATION:
· It reveals the need for a Savior.
The OT Law of God stands in stark contrast to our sinful nature. It excites our sinful nature to act upon disobedience. And as a result it demonstrates beyond any shadow of doubt that we are fallen, condemned, and in need of a Savior.
So, when we study the OT Law, one thing that we keep in mind is that it drives us to the cross and resurrection of Christ our Savior, the one who fulfilled the Law.
Conclusion:
The question is “Does a Christian grow in sanctification by obeying the Mosaic Law of the OT?”
No. The Law does not offer us what is necessary to bear fruit to God (v. 4b) because it doesn’t give us the resources to serve in newness of the Spirit (v. 6b).
The OT Law is powerless to sanctify us. It can neither save us, nor help us to walk in holiness with God. The Law is insurmountably valuable in numerous ways, for it is holy, good, and righteous from the heart of God. But it is insufficient in itself to change us where we really need it – on the inside.
That is why investing in thousands of billboard signs of the 10 commandments posted along I-35 would be foolish.
If we are looking for a way to live holy before God we need wings, not cement shoes. All the Law can do is point out the wrongness of sin, but it does not provide for us the power we need to change us on the inside and make us right with God.
How are you trying to walk with God?
· Is it by the OT Law code?
· Is it by a list of rules that you have manufactured in your mind?…
· Or is there a set of regulations a favorite author of yours has written up?
· Or have you come to the realization that in spite of all the Law’s value, our only means of walking in the newness of the Spirit is by the Spirit of God Himself?
I invite you to embrace all that is good and holy in the Law of God, but bear in mind that it is dead to you, spiritually speaking. And now you are married to Christ.
