HARMONIZING THE DISSONANCE OF

OT LAW AND THE GOSPEL OF THE NT

Sermon for June 5, 2011
Pleasant Valley EMC

[Slide 1]
Among Christians today, this picture sums up too many Christians’ general attitude about
the OT Law.

We tend to see the Law as some evil tyrant, as a straight-jacket that forces one
into total conformity or else, and as an oppressive, dominating and cursed set of
commands that caused a total despair among the people.
We tend to feel sorry for the Israelites that they were so hogged-tied by this
grievous, onerous and tyrannical set of do’s and don’ts. But those poor Israelites had no
choice in the matter. Far too many Christians today believe that the Israelites were saved
by works- by obeying this burdensome Law.

[Slide 2]

Today we think we are

Free from the Law O happy condition,
Now through grace I’ve complete permission
I walk by faith and not by sight
Doing what’er my heart deems right!

[Slide 3]

We cling to verses like Ephesians 2:8-9

8
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is
the gift of God; 9not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

From verses like these we come up with catchy theological phrases like, “Have you
accepted Jesus as your Savior?” or “Have you received Jesus into your heart?”

[Slide 4]

Or we camp in Romans 8:1-4

1
Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
2
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of
sin and of death.
3
For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did:
sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for
sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
 4
so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk
according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

For us in the 21st Century in the age of the New Testament, the old Law is construed as
outdated, antiquated, obliterated, and something to be eradicated. We are done with the
Law. WE ARE UNDER GRACE!!! We are New Testament believers, and don’t try to
feed me from that dinosaur called the Old Testament. Especially not from the LAW!
We are done with that archaic list of do’s don’ts.

If only those poor Old Testament faithful could have thrown off that heavy yoke called
the Law, and if only they could have taken upon themselves the Lord’s yoke of grace
which is easy to bear, and in which we in the New Testament age find rest. How much
more joyful would the Israelites have been if only they could have flung aside that
dastardly menace called the Law!

Hmmmm!! Check out these verses! We love these verses! We have even committed to
memory some of these gems, and they are all from OT passages! And they all speak of
the Law!! Preposterous!

[Slide 5]

Thy word I have hid in my heart,

That I might not sin against Thee.

O how I love Thy law!

It is my meditation all the day

Thy word is a lamp to my feet,

And a light to my path

I am exceedingly afflicted;
Revive me, O LORD, according to They word

I have inherited Thy testimonies forever,

For they are the joy of my heart

[Psalm 119:11, 97,105, 107, 111]

[Slide 6]

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
 Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.
[Psalm 1:1-3]

[Slide 7]

Now let me point out something that is very interesting. Compare Deuteronomy 17:18-
20 with Psalm 1:1-3. Remember that Deuteronomy 17 is about how the people are to
chose a king, and how the chosen king is to conduct his rule. Notice that there is a
remarkable similarity between the two passages- they are virtually identical- at least
surely in their teaching!

[Slide 8]

It’s time to ask the first series of pertinent questions:

- What do the words “Thy word”, “Thy law”, “Thy testimonies”, and “the law of
the LORD” refer to?
-Of course we take them to mean the grace and faith words of the New
Testament, right? Is that not what they are referring to?
- Ok, let’s ask ourselves this question: Where is the New Testament at this time?
- That leads us to ask this question: What was their Scriptures at this time? (By
“their” I mean OT believers.) What was the OT believers’ Bible at
this point in their history?

Let me present two scenarios of the numerous hundreds to choose from:

[Slide 9]

Scenario the First- The God of Revelation, the God Who Reveals Himself

Exodus 25:10-15
"They shall construct an ark of acacia wood two and a half cubits long,
and one and a half cubits wide, and one and a half cubits high. "You
shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and out you shall overlay it, and you
shall make a gold molding around it. "You shall cast four gold rings for
it and fasten them on its four feet, and two rings shall be on one side of it
and two rings on the other side of it. "You shall make poles of acacia
wood and overlay them with gold. "You shall put the poles into the
rings on the sides of the ark, to carry the ark with them. "The poles
shall remain in the rings of the ark ; they shall not be removed from
it.
[Slide 10]

Leviticus 1:1-17

BULL OFFERING FROM SHEEP AND/OR GOATS BIRD OFFERING FROM

THE HERD
Male with No defects
Offer at doorway of tent of
meeting
Lay hands on sacrifice
Slay animal before God and
Aaron’s sons the priests
Aaron’s sons, the priests
sprinkle blood around
doorway of tent of meeting
Skin and cut into pieces the
burnt offering
Aaron’s sons prepare the
wood for the offering on the
altar
Aaron’s sons to arrange
pieces of burnt offering on
the altar
Entrails and legs washed
with water
Everything of the animal to
be placed on the altar and
burnt
A soothing aroma to God
OFFERING FROM THE TURTLEDOVES OR
FLOCK YOUNG PIGEONS
Male with No defects
Priests shall bring it to the
altar
Slay animal on the side of Priests to wring off the neck
the altar northward before
the Lord
Aaron’s sons sprinkle blood Blood to be drained out on
around on the altar the side of the altar
Cut into pieces the head and Priest shall take away its
its suet crop with its feathers, cast it
beside the altar eastward, to
the place of the ashes
Aaron’s sons to arrange
pieces of burnt offering on
the altar
Entrails and legs washed Tear it by its wings
with water
Everything of the animal to Priest shall offer it up in
be placed on the altar and smoke by the altar on the
burnt wood which is on the fire
A soothing aroma to God A soothing aroma to God

Scenario the Second: The god who does not reveal itself

No, I have not mistakenly used inappropriate language! This is not a person, this
god we are going to talk about. This is an object, and objects in my world are “its.”

[Slide 11]

But all semantics aside, listen to this prayer, written in Sumerian, dating back to
the second millennium B.C., but preserved in the library of Ashurbanipal, one of the
Assyrian kings of the seventh century B.C.
May the fury of my lord’s heart be quieted toward me,
May the god who is not known be quieted toward me;
May the goddess who is not known be quieted toward me.
May the god whom I know or do not know be quieted toward me:
May the goddess whom I know or do not know be quieted toward me.
May the heart of my god be quieted toward me;
May the heart of my goddess be quieted toward me.
May my god and goddess be quieted toward me.
May the god [who has become angry with me] be quieted toward me;
In ignorance I have eaten that forbidden of my god;
In ignorance I have set foot on that prohibited by my goddess.
O Lord, my transgressions are many; great are my sins.
O my god, (my) transgressions are many; great are (my) sins.
O my goddess, (my) transgressions are many; great are (my) sins.
O god, whom I know or do not know, (my) transgressions are many; great are
(my) sins,.

[Slide 12]

The transgression that I have committed, indeed I do not know;

The sin that I have done, indeed I do not know.
The forbidden thing that I have eaten, indeed I do not know;
The prohibited (place) on which I have set foot, indeed I do not know.
The lord in the anger of his heart looked at me;
The god in the rage of his heart confronted me;
When the goddess was angry with me, she made me become ill.
The god whom I know or do not know has oppressed me;
The goddess whom I know or do not know has placed suffering upon me.
Although I am constantly looking for help, no one takes me by the hand;
When I weep they do not come to my side.
I utter laments, but no one hears me;
Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of man’s hands.
They have mouths, but they cannot speak
They have eyes, but they cannot see;
They have ears, but they cannot hear;
They have noses, but they cannot smell
PSALM 115:4-6

[Slide 13]

I am troubled;
I am overwhelmed;
I cannot see.
O my god, merciful one. I address to you the prayer,
“Ever incline to me”;
I kiss the feet of my goddess;
I crawl before you.
 How long, O my goddess, whom I know or so not know, before your hostile heart
will be quieted?
Man is dumb; he knows nothing;
Mankind, everyone that exists- what does he know?
Whether he is committing sin or doing good, he does not even know.
O my lord, do not cast your servant down’
He is plunged into the waters of a swamp; take him by the hand.

[Slide 14]

Dr. Daniel Block, former professor of OT at the former Winnipeg Bible College in
Otterburne, says this about the prayer:

Is this not a pathetic piece: And what an indictment this prayer is on the religious
systems of the world around ancient Israel! To be sure, with his keen sense of sin
and his awareness of ultimate accountability before his deities, this person
expresses greater enlightenment than many people today. However, he could not
escape the fact that he was faced with three insurmountable problems. First, he
did not know which god he had offended. Second, he did not know what the
offense was. Third, he did not know what it would take to satisfy the god or gods.

Our “Read Through the Bible in a Year” schedule has long ago brought us through the
spiritual prairies of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. These sections to us are boring and
meaningless. But not to the Israelites! This was their ticket to a wholesome relationship
with Almighty God. They have a God who speaks and reveals Himself to them. They
have a God who shows how He has been offended. They have a God who shows how to
be reconciled with Him should He be offended. Is it any wonder that Moses can shout
with divine enthusiasm the words in Deuteronomy 4:7-8?

[Slide 15]

For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the LORD our God
whenever we call on Him: Or what great nation is there that has statutes and
judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today?

Dear friends, stop feeling sorry for the Israelites. Stop thinking that they felt badgered by
having to be under this Law. Start rejoicing in how God revealed Himself to His people.
Start rejoicing in how God spoke His will to His people. Start rejoicing in the Law. Start
rejoicing with the Psalmist about how wonderful is the Word of God. All those verses of
celebration towards the law I posted before: not one of them spoke at that time about the
New Testament. All those verses refer specifically to the Law, the Torah, the first 5
books of the Old Testament!

The faithful in Israel LOVED the Law!!

[Slide 16]
That leads us to another very, very important question: Why did God give the Law?

1. It was not so that the Israelites could act in a meritorious manner and thereby
attain God’s favor. Never! That was never God’s intent. Remember, God delivered the
Israelites from Egypt before they had the Law. He gave to Abraham the promised land
before Abraham had a clue about the Law. God delivered the Israelites from multiple
battles in spite of their continued unfaithfulness.

2. The Law was not given to facilitate a religious system whereby one has the
resources to be saved by works. The Law was never intended to save people by means of
works oriented religion. Read Isaiah 1, Malachi 2:13, Micah 6:6-7 and Amos. Oh they
had their religious system of sacrifices and offerings down pat, just exactly as the Law
said they should, and yet God was not one bit impressed with all their good works.

[Slide 17]

3. The deliverance out of slavery from the house of Egypt was the greatest event
in the history of Ancient Israel. The Passover was celebrated to remind them of that great
feat of God. For Christians, the cross is the greatest event in our history, and we
commemorate that by observing the Lord’s Supper. It was the giving of the Law at
Mount Sinai that became the climatic moment of divine grace in a series of supernatural
events by which God rescued Israel from Egyptian slavery. God revealed His will. God in
effect was saying, “Here is how my children can say “thank-you” to Me for My
deliverance out of bondage.” Never were these laws to be viewed as a burden. The
burden was at Egypt and slavery. The Law was freedom, and to keep it was a delight.
Obedience to the Law represented a mark of gratitude for all God had done for Israel.

[Slide 18]

Friends, here is the shocker: Nothing has changed after the cross. Oh we don’t hold the
Passover anymore since now the Cross is the climatic moment for the Church of Christ
Jesus. Our life is now an expression of “thank-you” to Jesus for dying on the cross, rising
from the dead, and ascending to heaven where He now intercedes for us, and we know
how to say “thank-you” by getting to know His Word which spells out His will, that
which pleases Him. Yes, those things have all changed, but we are still to walk in
obedience to His will- just as were the OT believers to walk in obedience to the Law.
Nothing has really changed.

[Slide 19]

Why then does it seem like Paul is so anti-Law? Again and again he writes of the
weakness of the Law.

[Slide 20]
And yet, again and again he writes of the goodness of the Law? What are we to make of
this? Is the Law positive or negative? Is the Law to be shunned or to be hallowed? Is the
Law useless or necessary? What do we do with the Law?

Here is what we don’t do with the Law, and let’s look into this under the heading….

[Slide 21]

Galatians and Paul’s Appraisal of the Law

1. A Brief Historical Background:

The Law was never given with the intent that by keeping it people would
be saved. In other words, the Law was never intended to be seen as the provision by
which we could be, or better, had to be saved by works. The law, as stated previously,
was given so the children of Israel could have a form of expressing thanks to their God
for that entire He had done for them.
Moses carefully, under God’s direction, informed the people, including the
king, how they were to take pains to remember the Law, to read it, to meditate on it, to
study it, and abide in it.
By the time we come to the reign of Josiah in 2 Kings 22, the book has
been forgotten, even lost in the very temple of God. For years and years the Israelites
have not consulted the book of the Law, but lived life as was pleasing in their eyes. By
this time Israel, the Northern Kingdom, has already been taken into exile, having fallen to
the Assyrians in 722BC. Even though the finding of the book of the Law during Josiah’s
reign resulted in a massive revival, it was too little too late. In 586 BC, shortly after
Josiah’s reforms, Babylon came and took Judah, the Southern Kingdom, into exile.
If the Exodus from Egypt was the crowning moment of the Israelite’s
history, the Exile was the lowest the nation could go. Exile was the epitome of failure,
and the Israel came to its senses and realized they had failed. They resolved in their
hearts that this was never to happen again, and since it happened due to their
disobedience, they were going to make certain it never happened again. What came out of
this resolution was a tempering with the Law. New laws were added, no restrains were
multiplied, new commands enforced resulting in a tightly regulated religious system that
evolved into legalism and the keeping of the Law as a means for works oriented
salvation. And that’s the situation we find Paul addressing- works oriented salvation. The
intentions are good, but the means are contrary to God.

[Slide 22]

2. There is nothing wrong with the Law- when it is used as it was intended to be
used. In Luke 10:25-37 there is a stunning dialogue between Jesus and a certain lawyer.
The lawyer, one who knew the Law backwards and forwards, asks Jesus what he has do
to inherit eternal life- a classic works oriented salvation question if there ever was any.
Jesus, knowing the man knows the answer to the forthcoming question, asks him, “What
does it say in the Law?” The lawyer answers correctly, and Jesus commends him for his
answer. Notice, Jesus never says one critical thing about the Law. He does not have any
harsh words about the uselessness of the Law. Jesus defends the Law, and if the lawyer
had just quit right here, he would have been the better off, but no, he has to ask Jesus
another question which clearly reveals his inner intentions: “Who is my neighbor?” The
man has answered correctly, but now he wants to find out how narrow the playing field
is. He wants to know to whom all is he to show love? Who is my neighbor? The parable
Jesus tells about the good Samaritan reveals a totally different issue: Who was the man
who was neighborly? And that’s the real question. The Law asks ourselves, “How and to
whom can I show neighborliness.” The lawyer is caught with his pants firmly wrapped
around his ankles. He has no intention of being neighborly; he just wants to get out of it
by asking who is my neighbor when the real question is, are you neighborly? And as was
said, that is what the Law states- to whom can I be neighborly? Answer: to whomever!
But notice the point, Jesus defends the Law. There is nothing wrong with the Law.

[Slide 23]

3. The problem with Galatians 3:24. Again, the Law was never given to provide a
foundation for works oriented salvation. The NASB does not do justice to the Greek of
Galatians 3:24. The NASB reads,

Therefore, the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that
we may be justified by faith.

There is no verb tense form in the Greek that I know of that justifies a translation like
“has become.” The verb is γ ε γ ο ν ε ν , and the tense is the perfect indicative active
meaning action in the past that has lasting results up to the present.

[Slide 24]

Now compare the better translations:

So the Law was serving as a slave to look after us, to lead us to Christ, so that we could
be justified by faith. (NJB)

So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.
(NIV)

So that the law was our custodian until Christ came, that we might be justified by faith.
(RSV)

Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian until Christ came; it protected us
until we could be made right with God through faith. (NLT)

Literally translated, although quite clumsy in its rendition, it would read as follows

The Law was and still is our tutor to lead us to Christ that we may
 Be justified by faith.

The point again, as has been repeatedly stated, is that the Law NEVER was designed as
an instrument whereby we could be saved by works. The Old Testament believers obeyed
the Law because that was their expression of praise and thanks for what great things God
had done for them.

[Slide 25]
One final point!

4. Obedience: The Vital Truth of John 3:36

He who believes in the Son has life eternal; the one who does not obey the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.

There are two important observations we must note about this verse:
[Slide 26]

a) There is a wonderful play on words, or use of words that form a

startling parallelism, in this case called antithetical parallelism. The point this parallelism
makes is that it uses “believes” and “obeys” as synonyms. They are saying the same
things. John could just as easily have written:

He who obeys the Son has life eternal, the one who does not believe the
Son shall not see life.

God demands obedience! Jesus demands obedience! Why don people not want to follow
Jesus? Why do sinners reject the Lord’s offer of salvation? Why are the unsaved resisting
the call of the Holy Spirit? Because they don’t want to obey what Jesus asks of His
followers.

Now here is the question: HOW IS THAT DIFFERENT THAN WHAT WAS
HAPPENING IN THE OLD TESTAMENT? What is the difference?

Absolutely no difference at all!!

[Slide 27]
b) The impact of the Greek verb tenses point to a daily commitment, a
continuous state of obedience, an ongoing devotion to Jesus, a continual believing in the
Lord. Very literally, taking the full force of the Greek grammar in this verse, we would
read it as follows:

The one who continually believes in the Son continually has life eternal;
But the one who continually disobeys the Son will not see life, but the
wrath of God continually remains upon him.
[End Slide Show]

Conclusion

There is nothing different from obedience that God demands in the Old Testament to the
obedience He demands in the New Testament. The Old Testament folks were saved by
faith, and we are saved by faith. The Old Testament Law was given so they might know
how to respond in loving ways to their gracious God, and so we also have the instructions
of the New Testament how we shall respond to show our love for what Jesus has done for
us. There is no such thing as salvation by works in any part of the Bible, except those
who WRONGLY used the Law. A distortion of the Law, as they were doing, is also a
distortion of the Gospel, which they were also doing. All this ought to give us a greater
appreciation for the marvelous harmony between the Old and the New Testament. Let’s
stop looking antagonistically at the wonderful words of the Old Testament, and let’s
celebrate it’s fulfillment in the New Testament.