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Lesson 10: Salt, Light, And Law (Matthew 5:13-20)

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I. Intro and Recap:

a.       The Logical connection to the Beatitudes:

i.  Christians have an influence in the world:

1.      John MacArthur is right when he says you can boil down this section of salt and light with one word: influence.

ii.                        The kind of Christians who actually live the beatitudes are light salt and light to the world, they will have an influence in the world.

iii.                      True Christianity, as displayed in the Beatitudes, has a tremendous amount of influence.

iv.                      This section of salt and light is actually quite simple and straightforward:

1.      The influence of our lives is directly related to our disposition and character.

2.      A holy life makes the deepest impression.

    1. “A holy life will make the deepest impression. Lighthouses blow no horns, they just shine.” D.L. Moody.
      1. Genuine Christians will have an influence on people around them.**

II.                      Salt of the Earth (5:13).

a.       The Influence of Salt (5:13).

i.  Christians who live the Beatitudes are the salt of the earth.

1.      What does being “salty” look like?  It looks like the Beatitudes.

ii.                        What was salt used for in Bible times?

1.      There were dozens of uses for salt.

2.      Every home, however poor, used and still uses both salt and light. During his own boyhood Jesus must often have watched his mother use salt in the kitchen and light the lamps when the sun went down.

3.      Salt and light are indispensable household commodities.

a.       The function of salt is largely negative: it prevents decay.

b.      The function of light is positive: it illumines the darkness.

4.      Of the many things to which salt could refer to, its use as a food preservative was probably its most basic function.

5.      I want us to avoid assuming that all possible uses of salt were in view here.

a.       We may today think of salt primarily as a spice giving flavor; but given the amount of salt needed to preserve meat without refrigeration, it is not likely that many ancient Jews considered salt primarily as enhancing taste.

b.      This has been misapplied to say that Christians are to “spice up life” for people.

 

b.      Main point of this metaphor: Jesus’ disciples will prevent moral decay in the world.

i.  This means that the world decays like rotten fish or meat, but Christians slow the process.

1.      Christians are a kind of moral antibiotic.

2.      They bring a Moral clarity.

a.       William Wilberforce—who led the abolition of slavery in Great Britain.

3.      Christians are like a restraining influence on society.

a.       If the church doesn’t preach about the immoral trends of sexual freedom and abortion, to name a few, then who will?

ii.                        This means that there is a sanctifying influence that Christians have.

1.      1 Cor. 7:14, “For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.”

2.      There is a sanctifying influence the believing spouse has on the unbelieving spouse.

3.      The believing spouse acts as a sort of salt and light in the marriage.

4.      Your unbelieving husband may not want to hear the gospel every day, but he can’t NOT be affected by your life.

a.       Isn’t this what Peter tells the wives in 1 Peter 3.

c.       “Don’t lose your saltiness!”

i.  I’m not a chemist, but I know sodium chloride is a pretty stable chemical compound, which is resistant to nearly every attack.

ii.                        Nevertheless, it can become contaminated by mixture with impurities, and then it becomes useless, even dangerous.

iii.                      Desalted salt is unfit even for manure.

iv.                      For effectiveness the Christian must retain his Christlikeness, as salt must retain its saltiness.

v.                         If Christians become assimilated to non-Christians and contaminated by the impurities of the world, they lose their influence.

vi.                      The influence of Christians in and on society depends on their being distinct, not identical.

vii.                    Dr Lloyd-Jones emphasized this: ‘The glory of the gospel is that when the Church is absolutely different from the world, she invariably attracts it. It is then that the world is made to listen to her message, though it may hate it at first.’

viii.                  If your life is not different in a righteous way, you will have no credibility.

d.      The less salt that Christians have, means less preservation for the rotting culture.

i.  The more decay in society means that society looks less and less like Downton Abbey and more and more like MTV’s Cribs.

ii.                        Illustration:

1.      Haddon Robinson tells the story about the French culture of the early 1700s was in the process of decay.  The King had a motto: “After me the deluge.”  He was absolutely right, it was a prophetic voice.  That exactly what happened and France was ripped apart by the French Revolution. 

2.      Just 20 miles across the channel, the English culture had the same rot.  Historians have described at length the moral corruption of English culture.  And yet, England did not go through a revolution. Why?  Why was it spared?  Was it their Navy?  Was it their suave diplomats?  Their politicians?  Their police force? No.  The country was spared, as historian and President Woodrow Wilson put it, because in 1703 a man called John Wesley was born in England!

3.      Wesley was born again, lived out the Beatitudes, and proclaimed the gospel!

4.      And the Nation was preserved.

e.       Salt of the earth—not honey of the earth.

i.  Many Christians want to appease the world.  Make friends with the world, which is antichrist.

ii.                        Helmut Thielicke (Thay-Lick-E) takes this on when is says that when you look at some Christians, ‘one would think that their ambition is to be the honeypot of the world. They sweeten and sugar the bitterness of life with an all too easy conception of a loving God … But Jesus, of course, did not say, “You are the honey of the world.” He said, “You are the salt of the earth.”

iii.                      Salt bites, and the unadulterated message of the judgment and grace of God has always been a biting thing.’

f.        Here is how this works:

i.  You have a group of unbelievers and they are discussing immoral things, maybe they are cussing?  Maybe they are gossiping?  Maybe they are degrading women or men?

ii.                        And the Christian walks up and makes they all uncomfortable.  They stop talking.

g.      If you live out the Beatitudes, if you hunger and thirst for righteousness, you won’t need to work at being salt, you ARE salt.

i.  There will be a bite.

III.                   Light of the World (5:14-16).

a.       The Influence of Light (5:14–16).

i.  Christians who live the Beatitudes are light of the world.

ii.                        Jesus is making the same point twice.  Salt of the earth and light of the world are saying the same thing, with slightly different emphasis.

b.      When Jesus spoke of salt, He was saying the world is decaying.  When Jesus spoke of light He was saying that the world is in darkness.

i.  Think of it like the sun and the moon:

1.      The sun produces light, the moon reflects light.

2.      Jesus is the Light of the World, and Jesus says that his disciples are the light of the world.

ii.                        Jesus disciples will live lives of purity and righteousness, and will shine and stick out in this dark world.

iii.                      Jesus is not calling us to monasticism or some kind of a retreat from society.

c.       How does this work?

i.  Jesus isn’t telling his disciples to let their light shine, only when they are with each other.  No, He is telling them to let their light shine in the dark places.

ii.                        It may not be your call to be in full-time ministry, rather, Jesus is telling His disciples to let their light shine, wherever they are.

iii.                      Let you light shine as a mother.

iv.                      Let your light shine at your work place.

v.                         Let your light shine in your neighborhood.

vi.                      Don’t withdraw at the workplace.

vii.                    When the opportunity knocks, don’t be a coward.

viii.                  Fear God more than you fear man!

ix.                      Use opportunities to glorify God.

1.      If someone asks “how are you today?”  you tell them, “Better than I deserve.”

2.      If someone spills their drink on you, you say, “I love grace…don’t worry about it.”

3.      Make people a little uncomfortable.  Create awkward situations!

4.      Say randomly, “God is so good.”  And watch people’s reaction.

5.      You don’t need to close the deal every time you are with someone.

6.      Jesus left people in tension.  He left people curious.  He left people thinking.

x.                         Light is worthless if it doesn’t shine.

d.      What happens when a culture has no salt or light?

i.  Romans 1 happens.

ii.                        When the salt is worthless then the meat rots.  It decays.

iii.                      How many Christians are Christians by name only?

iv.                      They are worthless at making any kind of influence in the world.

v.                         They are so much like the world, they are like tasteless salt.  Good for nothing.

vi.                      They talk a lot.  They may even criticize other Christians for being too rigid, but their lives are so worldly that they have absolutely no moral influence.

vii.                    They are camouflage Christians.

viii.                  Jesus is saying you shouldn’t be camouflage, you should be blaze orange.

ix.                      You should stick out like a soar thumb.

x.                         Illustration:

1.      Deer (Copper) with a blaze orange vest.

2.      “If you are not an enigma to people, then you should seriously question your salvation.”  MLJ.

e.       Warning:

i.  There is a subtle danger I want to warn you about.

1.      It’s something I have seen happen, and has especially gained steam more recently.

2.      There have been a few different movements in Christian circles that have arisen lately that are movements aimed at redeeming culture. 

3.      And it concerns me a bit.

4.      There has been a lot of interest and talk of redeeming and restoring culture.

5.      Redeeming and restoring politics.

6.      Redeeming and restoring the arts.

7.      Redeeming and restoring the business world.

ii.                        And the thinking goes like this, “If this is the Kingdom of God, then lets bring the Kingdom of God to earth.  Let’s increase it.  Let’s make heaven on earth.”  “Let’s change society and make this a better place.”  “Let’s do kingdom work.”

iii.                      The two extremes:

1.      We try to legalize Christianity or try to build the kingdom here.

2.      We check out of society and become reclusive.

f.        The solution to this is that we focus, not on redeeming culture, but focus on the Great Commission.  Focus on getting the gospel out!

i.  That’s the mission of the Church.  And when the Church forgets this, and gravitates to other things, that’s when the Church fails.

ii.                        And interestingly enough, what happens when people believe the gospel and get saved, is they instantly become salt and light.

iii.                      And, in some cases, that actually changes the culture.

g.      For Instance:

i.  We had the privilege of hearing from Ron Risse, a veteran missionary from Indonesia, good friends with Chuck Harrison, who invited him to come share at Mission’s Fellowship last week.

ii.                        He came to our small group and shared, and we asked him questions.

iii.                      What was his method:  Translate the bible, so they can hear and share the Good News, then when people got saved, they started New Testament churches.

iv.                      What happened was utterly fascinating!

1.      The gospel changed the culture.

2.      It changed marriages.

3.      It changed medicine and health.

4.      It changed their farming.

5.      The culture was lifted from the oppressive darkness, and light shone!

v.                         The gospel produced salt and light, not the other way around!

1.      Ron didn’t go in focusing on changing the culture!  It just happened.

h.      Moral of the story is this:

i.  If you focus on the Great Commission.  If you focus on the Gospel.  If you focus on the New Birth, then God will produce people who live the Beatitudes and live like salt and light.

ii.                        But if your focus is on the being salt and light, if your focus in on redeeming culture and restoring culture, you end up creating Pharisees and self-righteous zombies.

iii.                      So I say, “Don’t worry about being salt and light!  Just live the Christian life and it will happen!”

IV.                    Jesus and the Law (5:17-20).

a.      Jesus Christ approves of the OT Law (5:17) “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets…”

i.  Jesus is responding to people misunderstanding his ministry.

1.      People thought Jesus might have been some kind of a renegade.

2.      Like during the French Revolution there were people who wanted to change the calendar, change the week from a seven-day week to a ten-day week.  They renamed the streets, they wanted to eliminate the past, and start something totally different and totally new.

3.      In a similar way, there were many people who were thinking that this Jesus was starting something totally different or totally new.

4.      What’s Jesus going to do?

a.       Will he re-write history?

b.      Will He totally change and challenge what we have been taught?

c.       Will He ban the OT?

d.      Will He start a different Kingdom than what Daniel prophesied about?

e.       Will He rename the city of Jerusalem to “Jesusville” or “Christtown”

5.      Jesus is saying, “No! I am not starting something totally new.  My ministry is based upon the Law.  I am not abolishing anything the Law or the Prohpets said…rather…I have come to fulfill them!

ii.                        The Law is still useful.

iii.                      The Law should not be abandoned.

iv.                      The Law should still be taught.

1.      However it needs to be interpreted in light of Jesus’ fulfillment.

v.                         The Law is good:

1.      Over the 2011, 4th-of-July weekend, a group of motorcyclists gathered in Onondaga, New York, to ride in protest against the New York state law that requires motorcycle riders to wear a helmet. One of those riding in protest was a 55-year-old man from Parish, New York. During the ride, police say, his 1983 Harley Davidson spun out of control, and he flew headfirst over the handlebars. His head struck the pavement, and his skull was fractured. He was pronounced dead at the hospital.

2.      The police and the doctor treating the man said afterward that if he had been wearing a helmet, he probably would have survived the accident. The group organizing the protest ride said that while they encourage the voluntary use of motorcycle helmets, they oppose mandatory helmet laws.

3.      Whatever the case for or against laws concerning motorcycle helmets, you cannot miss the irony of this accidental death: the man died protesting a law that—if he had obeyed it—would have saved his life.  Craig Brian Larson.

vi.                      The Law was a good thing, even f it didn’t save, the intention behind it is good.

vii.                    The Law is good, not bad.

b.      Jesus Christ fulfills the OT Law (5:17b). I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

i.  First off, what a statement:

1.      No sane person could say this.

2.      Imagine if I said this, and was serious.

ii.                        What does this mean? I think it means at least four things.

iii.                      #1- It means that the OT points to the Person of Jesus for fulfillment.

1.      It all points to Jesus:

2.      Leonardo da Vinci’s Last Supper:

a.       The hands are outstretched—pointing to Jesus.

b.      The beams and architecture points to Jesus.

c.       The viewer is drawn to Christ in subtle and overt ways.

3.      Jesus says in Luke, that everything in the OT point to Him.

4.      He fulfills it all.

5.      Think of it like “to fill full”

a.       The Old Testament was the sketch, and Jesus is the sculpture.

b.      The Old Testament was a pencil doodle, and Jesus is painting.

c.       The Old Testament was like a type-writer, Jesus is like a computer.

i.  One commentator made this comparison…

ii.                        “The technology and idea of a typewriter was eventually developed into an electronic, faster, and far more complex computer that does word processing. But when you type on a computer, you are really still using the old manual typewriter's technology.

iii.                      Obviously, the computer far transcends the typewriter.

iv.                      Everything that a typewriter wanted to be when it was a little boy (and more!) is now found in the computer.

v.                         This compares to the law. Everything the law wanted to be when it was young (as revealed to Moses) is found now in Christ and in the life of the Spirit.

vi.                      Thus, when a Christian lives in the Spirit and under Christ, that Christian is not living contrary to the law, but is living in transcendence of the law. It is for this very reason that life lived primarily under the law is wrong.

vii.                    When the computer age arrived, we put away our manual typewriters because they belonged to the former era.

viii.                  Paul's critique of the Judaizers is that they are typing on manual typewriters after computers are on the desk!

ix.                      He calls them to put the manual typewriters away.

x.                         But in putting them away, we do not destroy them. We fulfill them by typing on the computers. Every maneuver on a computer is the final hope of the manual typewriter. "Now that faith/Christ has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law"—but not because the law is contrary to the promises; rather, it is because the law is fulfilled in Christ and the Spirit in a manner similar to the way a typewriter is fulfilled in the technology of a computer. And I am profoundly thankful for both!  Scot McKnight

iv.                      #2- It means Jesus is the theme of the OT.

1.      He fulfills the Law in the sense that He was the Lamb of God.

2.      He fulfills the Law in the sense that He is our Sabbath Rest.

3.      He fulfills the Law in the sense that He was predicted:

a.       Psalm 22, Mic. 5:2, Hos. 11:1, Jer. 31:5, Is. 40:3, Is. 9:1-2, Is. 53:4.

4.      He fulfills the Law in the sense that He fills it full.

a.       The next sections of anger and lust and divorce and oaths and retaliation and love, display the true desire behind the Law.

b.      The Law was good, but it didn’t produce holy lives.

c.       All of these things were stated in the Old Testament, but they never really happened in the way that God inteneded.

d.      “These laws were like empty jars, and Jesus comes along and fills them…He fills full the Law, as He fulfilled the Law.”

v.                         #3- It means He perfectly lived the Law and perfectly followed the Law.

1.      Again, imagine someone saying that fulfilled the Law.

2.      They perfectly followed the Law.  This is an astounding claim and an astounding implication…

vi.                      #4- It means He is the perfect interpreter of the Law.

1.      Jesus is saying that His teachings are on par with the OT.

2.      This is QUITE a statement!

c.       Jesus Christ affirms all of the OT Law (5:18). For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”

i.  “Truly I say to you”

1.      He speaks out of His own authority.

2.      There is NO RECORD anywhere of a Rabbi speaking of His own authority.

ii.                        “until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”

1.      Jesus teaches that the Scriptures are inspired.

2.      Every word. Every comma is inspired.

3.      The OT will be around as long as the universe is around.

a.       Heaven and earth will pass away before God’s Word does.

4.      “Not one jot or tittle”

a.       Like a comma or an apostrophe.

5.      Not even a comma is insignificant.

6.      EVERY part of the Old Testament matters, and still matters!

7.      Only now, we need to interpret the Law through the lens of Jesus.

8.      This is one of the greatest statements in the whole Bible about Jesus’ view of Scripture.

9.      Stop and capture the significance of this statement.

iii.                      This is a great argument for the truth of Scripture:

1.      “This is what Jesus believed…”

2.      Some people have a difficult time with some of the stories in the OT.

3.      Like the story of Jonah being on a whale for three days.

4.      Not only does Jesus say He agrees with it hear, but He specifically mentions Jonah and the fish, concurring with it.

iv.                      Bottom line:  Jesus agrees with and believes all of the OT.

d.      Jesus Christ ramps up the Law (5:19-20).

i.  Starting now all the way through v. 48, Jesus will show a greater righteousness.

ii.                        If you relax these commandments, there will be consequences:

1.      If you misread, reinterpret, ignore, or deny the OT, there are consequences.

2.      “When the Bible tells us something about how we should live, like sex, money, power, it always does it like this: it says, God created us, and therefore God in his Word in the Bible is giving you directions for how you should live according to your own design. It’s not busywork. It’s like when the owner’s manual comes to a car and says something like, “Change the oil every so many thousand miles,” it’s not busywork, it’s saying that’s how the car was designed, [and] if you violate that you will actually hurt the car. So the Bible does say sex is for a man and a woman inside marriage to nurture love and commitment in a long-term permanent relationship of marriage. Which means polygamy, it means sex outside of marriage, it means homosexuality are considered violations of God’s will, but also violations of our own design…” Tim Keller

3.      If you relax the Law, there are major consequences, to society and to the individual.

iii.                      Don’t relax the OT commandments:

1.      If you are a doctor speaking to a room of people who have cancer, don’t tell them they have a bad cough.

2.      There is a tendency to relax the diagnosis.  It might even feel merciful.

3.      But don’t relax the Word.

iv.                      The Law is like math.  It matters.  It’s isn’t arbitrary or random.

1.      Sloppy math is deadly math.

2.      “close enough” doesn’t cut it.

3.      It’s like accounting or engineering.

4.      You can’t relax the facts.

5.      A person can’t say, “I obeyed the Law close enough.”  You either did or you didn’t, there is no middle ground.

e.       “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

i.  The rest of chapter 5 and the rest of chapter 6 elaborate on this little verse—verse 20.

ii.                        The Pharisees externalized the Law.

1.      For them it’s all about the motions, all about the behavior.

2.      They developed a system of laws around the Law.

3.      They had laws to keep them from laws.

a.       They developed a system of procedures and duties, but it was void of the heart.

b.      It was a burden on people, and it was oppressive.

i.  Mat. 23:4, “They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger….”

ii.                        23:25, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.”

4.      The Pharisees manipulated the Law.

a.       They invented laws to get around the law.

b.      They were not righteous, they were religious.

c.       They were not poor in spirit.

d.      They were proud, self-righteous, arrogant.

e.       They were religious zombies.

iii.                      Jesus is interested in the heart:

1.      Thursday was Valentines Day.  Bringing flowers to Lonnalee: 

a.       “Oh sweetie, why did you do this?”

b.      NOTE:  Men, there is a right answer and a wrong answer to this unforeseen question.

c.       The wrong answer would be: “Well…it’s my duty…it’s the right thing to do…It’s what good husbands do on fake money-making holidays like Valentines Day. ”

d.      NOTE: The right answer is: “Sweetie, how could I not? I thought of you. I delight in you!  I delight in doing this.  Where else would I rather be?  What else would I rather be doing right now, than being with you?

e.       Same action—but very different.

2.      Jesus is saying that the Pharisees are doing the rights things, but internally their hearts are not righteous.

a.       Mat. 15:8, “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me…”

b.      That’s the kind of external religiosity that God rejects.

3.      The Duty of Delight.

a.       The enjoyment of the heart, coupled with the act of obedience, is what Jesus is after.

b.      This sense of delight in the Law, is the kind of righteousness that exceeds the Pharisees and Scribes, who are just going through the motions.

c.       This kind of heart obedience characterizes the kingdom.

d.      This is what the Millennium will be like, and this is what true Christians will be like in the meantime.

e.       It will be a gradual increase in obedience, and an enjoyment to obey.

iv.                      But the point, I think, is that Jesus is basically telling everyone that that are hopeless.

1.      The Law is good, but following it with vigor doesn’t get you anywhere.  If anything, it creates a false sense of security.

2.      Jesus is showing the gap between what God actually requires, and what we can actually do.

f.        Jesus ramps up the Law.

i.  The Law is meant to crush us:

1.      Jesus ramps up the Law:

a.       The demand for higher righteousness is meant to wound us:

b.      If you read the Law and pat yourself on the back, you are unsaved.

ii.                        It’s like weightlifting.

1.      I should preface this by saying, “I am not a frequenter of the gym.  I know this comes as a shock.  I am not well-known at the Buck Center.”

2.      There have been times when I have used the weight machines where you put the pin in and adjust it to the proper weight.

3.      That is how the Old Testament law worked. That's how it still works. We think we can lift the weight of obeying God—that we can be really good. We try it a little, and we succeed. But when the time comes for the sustained, heavy lifting of daily obedience, we can't budge the burden.

4.      Living the Law was and is, unsustainable.

V.                       Application: What is our relationship to the Law today?

a.      If Jesus fulfilled the Law, how should view it?  Are we still under it?  Does it still apply today?

i.  This is a HUGE question, and I don’t want to pretend to try to answer it fully here, but let me take a stab.

ii.                        The BIG Question(s):

1.      Does the OT Law still apply to us?  How much of the Law still applies to us?

2.      How much of the Old Testament still applies today?

3.      If we lived in OT times we would stone people who committed adultery and people who worked on Saturdays?

4.      Should we still sacrifice animals and not wear different fabrics together?

5.      Can we pick and choose the parts of the Law we like and the parts that no longer apply?

iii.                      One solution to these questions is given by breaking up the law into three areas:

1.      Three uses:

a.       Civil--

b.      Ceremonial--

c.       Moral--

2.      Some interpret this as implying that God fulfilled the civil law, and the ceremonial law, but we still need to follow the moral law.

3.      This is an clever suggestion, but the problem is that the Law is never divided up.  It’s a package, and God never splits it up like that.

a.       You can’t pick and choose.

b.      You can’t divide up the Law into different sections.

4.      So while this is somewhat ingenious, I don’t think it accurately solves the question.

b.      Three things to keep in mind and hold in tension:

c.       #1- The Law is good, but This Law was for only that Nation of Israel—we are not Israelites.

i.  God dealt with a nation, with a specific land, specific priests, we are done with that, that’s old news.

ii.                        Today we are under a whole new principle, a whole new law.

iii.                      We are not Israel, we are a people, a new man (Eph. 4)

iv.                      One day, God will deal with Israel as a Nation again, but not now.  Now He is working in and through the Church, which is male-female-Jew-Gentile.

d.      #2- Paul says that we are no longer under the Law.

i.  Gal. the Law has come to an end. (Gal. 5)

1.      We are under new ground.

2.      Jesus has brought the whole system to an end.

3.      Now we have a new Law, the Law of Christ.

4.      The New Covenant repeats the same things as the Law.

5.      In fact, the Spirit is doing what the could never do.

6.      So if want to do the Law, you actually need the Spirit.

7.      Jesus becomes the New Lawgiver.

a.       “You have heard it said but I say”

8.      Galatians explains this in detail.

a.       The Law was a schoolmaster that showed us our sin.

ii.                        Many Christians (Covenantal) are bringing people back under the Law.

1.      Some folks would actually like to see the OT of Israel re-instituted in public Policy.

a.       They do this because they think we are the New Israel, we have replaced Israel, and we are the Kingdom of God, and we will eventually Christianize the entire world, so let’s re-establish this OT Law.

2.      Tithing--

3.      Sabbath--

iii.                      We are not under the Law, we are under grace:

1.      Are some parts of the OT obsolete?

a.       Mark 7:19—Jesus declared all foods clean.

b.      Acts 10-11—Rise up Peter, kill and eat!

i.  The dividing wall of hostility is over.

c.       Heb. 7-9—Jesus started a New Covenant.  He is our New High Priest.  He is our New Sabbath Rest, or better and more perfect Sacrifice.

2.      We are no longer under the Law!

a.       And if we put ourselves back under the Law, even though the Law is incredible, we lose a LOT!

e.       #3- The Law is useful to lead us to Jesus.

i.  The Law is our schoolmaster:

1.      Gal. 3:24-25, “So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian…”

2.      Are we against the Law?  Paul would say no!

3.      The Law was great, but it was powerless to save and to sanctify!

a.       Don’t think you can save yourself by obeying the Law.

b.      Don’t buy in to the deadly idea that your good can somehow outweigh your bad.

ii.                        The Law wounds us and shuts our mouths and lead us to Jesus:

1.      Romans 3:19-20, “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. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”

2.      Phil. 3:4-9, “…though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—.”

iii.                      The Law is useful to show us righteousness:

VI.                    The Gospel:

a.       The Giving of the Law (10 Commandments) came after the redemption from slavery in Egypt.  The same is true in the Christian life; after redemption (not before) comes obedience to a new Law, the Law of Christ.

Related Topics: Christology, Evangelism, Kingdom, Law, Spiritual Life

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