God said that He would destroy the wisdom of the wise.
Posted on 04/03/2020 12:09:19 PM PDT by pastorbillrandles
Why would I, a Christian preacher, take the time to expound on the Ten Commandments, when we live in a new dispensation, the New Testament ? This is a valid and fair question that more than one have raised since I started this series. The following is an example of this kind of query, from a forum I frequently post on, (Free Republic).
… nowhere under the New Covenant of grace are we told our ministry is the condemnation and death of the law. That is the work of the world, the flesh, and the devil who do a very good job – they don’t need our help. Satan for instance is called the Accuser of the Brethren and the condemnation of the law is his weapon…We are to minister forgiveness by Christ and the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness which is ours freely by faith (not works).
Why if we are no longer under law but under Grace, should anyone be interested in the Ten Commandments? Am I merely preaching ‘condemnation and death’ by doing so? I think this is an excellent question which deserves an answer .
First of all we must ask, did Jesus and the Apostles ever preach any of the Ten Commandments? Did they ever employ any of the laws of God in order to bring people under conviction of sin? Or was their preaching entirely centered around grace and forgiveness?
Mark’s gospel is a good place to start, for here Jesus is approached by one who just came out and asked him how to be saved,
And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. ( Mark 10:17-20)
Jesus immediately referred the young man to the Law, specially, the seventh table of the Law. Why? Why not preach Grace and the cross and substitution right there on the spot?
I believe Jesus answered the young man the way he did, because our Savior knows what the Law is for.
“The Law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul…” ( Psalm 19:7)
Even though the man sensed his need for salvation, and asked none less than Jesus, how to be saved, Jesus first wanted to show him the depths of his own sin, and alienation from God. The Law of God is indispensable for that task.
Jesus did not preach grace and love to Him, He pointed the young man to the Law of God.
But the young man had a very high sense of his own righteousness,
And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. ( Mark 10:21)
What Jesus did next is much misunderstood, but very instructive.
Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.( Mark 10: 22)
Jesus was not telling the young man how to be saved, when He challenged him to sell all he had, and to give to the poor and to follow him. That is not the plan of salvation at all.
What Jesus was doing was testing the young man’s claim to have kept all of the Law from his youth, by challenging him on the First Commandment! It was if He was saying, “You have perfectly kept all of the commandments of God? Prove it right now, by selling everything and come and follow me…” .
The Law is important to puncture inflated ideas about our own supposed ‘goodness’, and to show us that ‘There is none good but God’. In that way it literally becomes “Our school master to bring us to Christ”.
When the Apostle Paul had a chance to come out of his cell and to preach to Felix,
He didn’t take the opportunity to preach Grace exclusively, Felix was a hardened sinner who needed to be broken before he could ever consider the grace of God,
And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee. ( Acts 24:24-25)
Again, when the Apostle Paul was given the opportunity to preach on Mars Hill, He preached the Creation, the First and Second Commandment, and the Judgment to come.
All of the Apostles preached the Law of God, condemning adultery, murder, blasphemy, indeed the whole spectrum of the ten commandments save one. (We do not see them preaching Sabbath observance).
So too have the Evangelical preachers of the Past,
Martin Luther – “The first duty of the gospel preacher is to declare God’s law and show the nature of sin, because it will act as a schoolmaster and bring him to everlasting life which is in Jesus Christ.”
John Wesley – “Before I preach love, mercy and grace, I must preach sin, law and judgment.”
Wesley advised a friend, “Preach 90 percent law and 10 percent grace.”
Charles Spurgeon – “They will never accept grace until they tremble before a just and holy law.”
John Wycliffe – “The highest service to which a man may attain on earth is to preach the law of God.”
D.L. Moody – “God, being a perfect God, had to give a perfect law, and the law was given not to save men, but to measure them.”
( Acknowledgment to Sermon Index.com)
Neither Jesus, nor the Apostles nor the Evangelical preachers I have named, ever advocated preaching Law without Grace, nor would I. But they all strongly advocated the servant preaching of the Law, and what they called the “threatenings ” of the Word of God, to prepare the way for the Gospel.
When you say Law, do you mean the entire OT Law or just the 10 Commandments?
Since this is prt of a series on the ten commandments, I am referring to the ten commandments
You are wrong Bipolar, I do not ignore the Sabbath, in fact I have entered into God’s rest, Jesus matthew 11:25-28
Jesus preached adherence to the ten and added we must strive to love one another. I’ve always had trouble with honoring the parents as they abandoned me at an early age. Time and perception has healed that wound and I honor them for their best intentions and forgive their faults. I hope The Lord understands.
If we human beings try our best to follow Jesus’ commandment the rest fall in place.
God said that He would destroy the wisdom of the wise.
Brother Bill,
Christ lived and died and rose again under the law, to fulfill the law and to redeem mankind from the debt and impossibility of keeping the law.
The law is the ministry of death, so says my Bible.
Jesus, on the other hand, after his fulfillment of the law and having paid the penalty of the law gives us his righteousness and took our sin, nailed to the cross, forever separated from us by his free gift.
No, I am not under the law, I can’t keep it and if I tried inmy own strength of will, I would be declaring Christ as being insufficient to save, utterly.
The gospel is just that, a man, God Almighty in the flesh, the Messiah, the sent one, suffered my punishment and died in my stead so I can live free, restored to sonship that Adam lost/abducted to Satan. The second Adam took back that life in fellowship with God the Father.
I am under the perfect law of liberty. What about you?
Sin, Law, and Judgment in the New Covenant:
Correction:.
Not “second” Adam, but “Last Adam. Big difference.
Thanks for reminding me of the Gospel. I am not under law either, nor do I put anyone under the Law.I appreciate your input but did you even read the article? The Law (10 Commandments) has validity in Evangelism and as teaching guide. Ob piously it is not the way to be saved, and I do not confuse it with the Gospel.
Pastor Bill, I say this in all sincerity: you are mistaken in your interpretation of being under the law, new dispensation (new and old covenant relationship), and especially the Sabbath commandment. As Christians we are forgiven the sentence of death, which we all deserve. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. Christ paid that price for us with his life. We are saved by His grace. Paul says we now have an even higher duty (obligation) to keep God’s law for that very reason. We don’t keep God’s law to be saved, we keep God’s law because we are saved….”If you love me, keep my commandments”, etc…. 10 commandments, other commands as how not to live such as homosexuality, being a drunkard, etc…
Not one dot of an i or cross of a t will change until it’s all over, as it states in Matthew 5:17-19. The 10 commandments as written with the finger of God (it was actually pre-incarnate Jesus) stand until the end of this world. I’m sure some of the commandments will be done away with, such as committing adultery, etc…(there will be no marriage in heaven and I’m guessing no sex either by the way) But until that time, nothing changes. The word of God declares it. God also declares that we will be keeping the 7th day Sabbath. Please let that sink in, all of you that say it’s not “binding” on you. It is binding on you, so are the rest of God’s 10 commandments.
As Christians we are under an even higher obligation to keep the commandments of God. These are the same 10 commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai and the same commandments that those under the old covenant were responsible to keep as well.
Heb 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
Heb 10:14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
Heb 10:15 Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,
Heb 10:16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
Heb 10:17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
Pastor Bill, this is the new covenant that Paul talks about. It’s not complicated. My sins have been forgiven and I will live my Christian life by keeping God’s law. I consciously do it (mind) out of love (heart) for what Jesus Christ did for me on the cross. Jesus took the death sentence that I deserved. I will obey him out of love. “if you love me, keep my commandments” That definitely includes the 7th day Sabbath.
I invite all of you to read this short summary of Grace and God’s law (Does God’s Grace Blot out the Law?) It is available through Amazing Facts, a SDA affiliated website which I view regularly. Yes, I am a SDA. Please read it and let me know if there is anything you disagree with. Here is the link:
https://www.amazingfacts.org/media-library/book/e/25/t/does-god-s-grace-blot-out-the-law-
Thank you for your consideration
...and if I fail to keep God’s law perfectly...then I am lost once again? So, in the end, it IS actually my works (keeping the law), that saves me?
No. You would repent, continue, and sin no more.
If you claim to be a Christian you will certainly be judged by the law.
Romans 2:12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; 13(For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. 14 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: 15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;) 16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
here’s another good article from the same site.
https://www.amazingfacts.org/media-library/book/e/88/t/why-the-old-covenant-failed
The strongest reason for the keeping of the 7th day Sabbath and not Sunday (or any other day or no day at all):
“The very strongest reason for rejecting Sunday worship is that it was not included in the New Covenant requirements which were ratified by the death of Jesus. If Christ had desired His resurrection to be memorialized by Sunday keeping, He could have introduced it on that same Thursday night of the Last Supper. Then it would have become a part of the New Covenant, along with the Communion service and foot-washing. Jesus did not hesitate to command the observance of His death, even though it had not taken place yet. Just as easily He could have commanded the observance of His resurrection, which was still future, in order that it might become a New Covenant requirement. But He did not! And no one else ever did either, until Paul’s prophecy began to be fulfilled about an apostasy following his departure. Acts 20:29, 30. He spoke also of a falling away which would lead to the enthronement of Antichrist. 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4. But true it is that no hint of any change of the law is given in the Scriptures. The unchangeable moral law was preserved in both Old and New Covenants as the perfect revelation of God’s will.”
NO CHANGE IN THE NEW COVENANT AFTER CALVERY
“Since the New Covenant was ratified by the blood of Christ, it obviously could not have gone into effect until after Jesus died on the cross. This crucial fact must not be overlooked. Eternal life or death could hinge upon the proper understanding of this key point. Paul wrote, “For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.” Hebrews 9:16, 17. The word “testament” is the same as the word “covenant.” Only after a man’s last will and testament has been ratified by his death can the provisions be executed. In the same way, Christ’s covenant or testament would begin to operate just as soon as He had confirmed the covenant by His death at Calvary.”
“Another text leaves no question on this issue: “Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.” Galatians 3:15. Paul is saying here that after a man’s death, his will or covenant cannot be changed. Not one new addition can be made after the death of the testator. The covenant stands forever exactly as it stood when the testator died. After the death of Christ, no change whatsoever could be made in His provisions to save mankind. The conditions were all sealed and ratified by the shedding of blood. Every requirement had been laid down clearly by the perfect pattern of His sinless life and provision had been made for the writing of His magnified law, by the Holy Spirit, upon the mind of each believer.”
The 10 commandments stand as is until the return of Christ. That includes the 4th commandment of the 7th day Sabbath.
Me: And by the way, the new covenant was made with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. We as “gentile” Christians are grafted into the vine. Do you know why there was never an issue with what day to keep as the Sabbath in the new testament? It’s because everyone knew it was the 7th day and no other. There are no new covenant modifications for Christians because there cannot ever be any after the death of Christ. Paul makes that very clear. Yes, you have a choice of what day to keep holy. It’s either the day God commanded (the 7th day Sabbath) or some other day. Everyone has a choice and that’s what free will is all about. God says “I change not”
https://www.amazingfacts.org/media-library/book/e/88/t/why-the-old-covenant-failed
Regarding Romans 14: it has nothing to do with the Sabbath commandment. Paul was talking to Roman converts about how the old covenant ceremonial law no longer applied to them. (also has nothing to do with clean and unclean meats because that isn’t ceremonial either). below is a 2 minute discussion about it...worth listening to.
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