Parlor Tricks – Part 2
One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” And he said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets.” [Matthew 22:35-40]
Under the Law the Jews tried in vain to live the perfect life in their own power. Trouble was, all men are sinners so they sinned. They disobeyed the Law. This brought them condemnation and separation from God. Thus the Law found it necessary to provide them with animals to serve as substitutionary sacrifices in man’s stead, but only until the once-for-all perfect sin offering of Jesus Christ was offered up to God.
Professors of dispensationalism have to get rid of some of the Law by hook or by crook because they don’t obey all of it. I mean, when was the last time any of them went to the Temple in Jerusalem and presented their offerings? Uh, that would be never! So they indulge in a little legerdemain by dividing the Law of Moses into constituent parts, such as the “ceremonial law”, the “legal code”, and the “moral law”. Then they beg the question by asserting that Christians are only under the “moral law”.
Sounds convincing, does it not? Uh, not so fast. After reading the Bible more than 100 times straight through over the past 33½ years, I’ve yet to find one instance in Scripture where the Law is divided into parts. On the contrary Scripture recognizes the Law as one indivisible unit. Either we keep the whole Law all the time perfectly without fail, or else we are lawbreakers (aka sinners).
The only “division” of the Law in Scripture is not even a contrast between the clean and the unclean, or between the holy and the sinful. We quoted Matthew at the start of this study. In those verses we see the only “division” of the Law put forth by God in Scripture. Part of the Law was directed toward God, while the other part was directed toward man.
The Law of Moses ruled the Israelites while they lived in Israel. They were a nationality with their own country and legal code. The Law of Moses was the legal code for the nation of Israel in the Old Testament and in the Gospels until Jesus died and rose again.
Now God’s hand reaches out to mankind with the Covenant of Grace. Those who take hold of God’s hand are born again into His Body, the Church. We don’t keep the Law in order to show we are perfect and can live in heaven in our own right. We already live because Jesus fulfilled the Law for us and we received Him as our Savior.
Since we have His life in us, we obey the Word of God by choice, not in order to earn our way into heaven. And when we slip and fall into sin, we confess our sins and receive God’s forgiveness. Then we continue to work out His new life which He put in us.
So which shall it be for you? Will you attempt to earn your own way into heaven by obeying the Law (or “parts” of it)? Or do you prefer to accept what Jesus already accomplished on your behalf? I am not impressed with the parlor tricks of dividing the Law into “parts”. I choose the Covenant of Grace.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Under the Law the Jews tried in vain to live the perfect life in their own power. Trouble was, all men are sinners so they sinned. They disobeyed the Law. This brought them condemnation and separation from God. Thus the Law found it necessary to provide them with animals to serve as substitutionary sacrifices in man’s stead, but only until the once-for-all perfect sin offering of Jesus Christ was offered up to God.
Professors of dispensationalism have to get rid of some of the Law by hook or by crook because they don’t obey all of it. I mean, when was the last time any of them went to the Temple in Jerusalem and presented their offerings? Uh, that would be never! So they indulge in a little legerdemain by dividing the Law of Moses into constituent parts, such as the “ceremonial law”, the “legal code”, and the “moral law”. Then they beg the question by asserting that Christians are only under the “moral law”.
Sounds convincing, does it not? Uh, not so fast. After reading the Bible more than 100 times straight through over the past 33½ years, I’ve yet to find one instance in Scripture where the Law is divided into parts. On the contrary Scripture recognizes the Law as one indivisible unit. Either we keep the whole Law all the time perfectly without fail, or else we are lawbreakers (aka sinners).
The only “division” of the Law in Scripture is not even a contrast between the clean and the unclean, or between the holy and the sinful. We quoted Matthew at the start of this study. In those verses we see the only “division” of the Law put forth by God in Scripture. Part of the Law was directed toward God, while the other part was directed toward man.
The Law of Moses ruled the Israelites while they lived in Israel. They were a nationality with their own country and legal code. The Law of Moses was the legal code for the nation of Israel in the Old Testament and in the Gospels until Jesus died and rose again.
Now God’s hand reaches out to mankind with the Covenant of Grace. Those who take hold of God’s hand are born again into His Body, the Church. We don’t keep the Law in order to show we are perfect and can live in heaven in our own right. We already live because Jesus fulfilled the Law for us and we received Him as our Savior.
Since we have His life in us, we obey the Word of God by choice, not in order to earn our way into heaven. And when we slip and fall into sin, we confess our sins and receive God’s forgiveness. Then we continue to work out His new life which He put in us.
So which shall it be for you? Will you attempt to earn your own way into heaven by obeying the Law (or “parts” of it)? Or do you prefer to accept what Jesus already accomplished on your behalf? I am not impressed with the parlor tricks of dividing the Law into “parts”. I choose the Covenant of Grace.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
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