Using the Law of God Lawfully: Why We Need the Ten Commandments Today (Part 2)
1 Timothy 1:8 (ESV) 8 Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully,
The Mosaic Law takes up a large portion of the Old Testament and was of vital importance to the Hebrews of old. Even though we who are in Christ are no longer under the Law (Galatians 5:18), there is much we can learn from this part of God’s Word. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful” (2 Timothy 3:16).
I). Live By the Spirit and Fulfill the Law of God
Galatians 5:16–26 (ESV)
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Paul is telling us, in general, that because we who are born again have the Holy Spirit we are not under the Law because the Holy Spirit will lead us to obey God’s Law through love and not through a list of do’s and don’ts. If we are in step with the Spirit we are obeying God’s Law. Obedience becomes more automatic for Christians than it was for the OT worshipper. The HS manifests his fruit within us and when we are led by the Spirit we are manifesting…22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Let me say it simply like this for now…if you are led by the Spirit and He is manifesting Himself in your life and you are becoming more loving, kind and patient with others, you’re probably not going to kill them. Thou shalt not kill is so removed from us when we are loving and kind to others.
We must remember that Jesus’ work is not “to abolish the Law or the Prophets…but to fulfill them” (v. 17). The Messiah’s coming does not render the Old Testament obsolete. “To fulfill” is not to dissolve the authority and application of the old covenant revelation; rather, “to fulfill” means to fill up the Law’s intent and show the goal to which it leads. Jesus is saying that He achieves the purpose of the Law and the Prophets in the inauguration of the kingdom in His life and ministry and in its consummation at His return. The Law is valid under the new covenant when used “lawfully” (1 Tim. 1:8), but it cannot be followed rightly apart from Christ.
How does Jesus fulfill the Law?
Jesus not only obeys the Law of God perfectly but He also does so with the right motive and attitude. Not marking His list but living His life out of love to His Father. Next, not only does He live a perfect Law-keeping life but in His very coming in the flesh has filled up or fulfilled the Law.
Hebrews 10:1–10 (ESV)
10 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body have you prepared for me;
6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings
you have taken no pleasure.
7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ”
8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Hebrews 10:1–10 (ESV)
10 For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
but a body have you prepared for me;
6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings
you have taken no pleasure.
7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,
as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ ”
8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
God vocalized His Law and promised great blessings for those who would keep it. Yet, no one ever did except Jesus. Up until Jesus God’s Law had been left unfulfilled. Obey Me and live.
Proverbs 7:2–3 (ESV)
2 keep my commandments and live;
keep my teaching as the apple of your eye;
3 bind them on your fingers;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
No one before of after Jesus ever obeyed God.
When we are given saving faith and believe God then He applies Jesus’ perfect law keeping to us. Now, all the blessings that God had promised His people throughout the ages are granted based on Jesus’ life and Law keeping imputed to us who believe.
Now I want us to look at the value of the OT Law for us who are saved. What value is the Law of God to the Christian?
What should Christians learn from the Mosaic Law?
II.) How should we use the Mosaic Law which is summarized by the Ten Commandments?
1. The Mosaic Law reveals God’s holiness. “The law of the LORD is perfect” (Psalm 19:7) because it is given by a perfect God. The stone tablets Moses received were “inscribed by the finger of God” (Exodus 31:18; Deuteronomy 9:10). The Law clearly reveals God’s standard for His people living in a fallen world. The behavior it demands is righteousness in action. “The law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good” (Romans 7:12; cf. Nehemiah 9:13). God’s desire is for that holiness to be reflected in His people (Leviticus 19:2).
1 Peter 1:14–16 (ESV)
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
2. The Mosaic Law defines sin and exposes its heinous nature. “Through the law we become conscious of our sin” (Romans 3:20). Ever since Sinai, there can be no question of God’s opinion of adultery, murder, theft, etc.—they are wrong. And the severe penalties that befell transgressors underscore the serious nature of sin as rebellion against God. In defining sin and setting a divine standard, the Law indirectly discloses our need for a Savior.
The Law lays out specifically for us what sin is, and without the Law, we would not know our sin or be convicted of it. We learn from the Mosaic law that God takes sin seriously. Sins like adultery and idol worship were punishable by death, which seems like an extreme sentence to modern readers. Our view of sin is so light compared to God’s view of sin. Reading the Law shows us how serious it truly is and how much sin separates us from God.
Romans 7:7–8 (ESV)
7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.
3. The Mosaic Law confirms our need to be separate from sin. Many of the Law’s regulations were aimed at making Israel distinct from the surrounding nations. Not only was their worship different, but they had different farming practices, a different diet, different clothing—they even had a different way of growing their beards (Leviticus 19:27). Truly, the Hebrews were set apart from the rest of the world. God’s people today are still to be set apart—not in the same ways as the children of Israel—but morally, ethically, and spiritually. We are in the world but not of it (John 15:19; 17:14, 16).
Matthew 5:14–16 (ESV)
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
4. The Mosaic Law shows how God’s plan unfolds gradually and progressively. The progressive nature of God’s revelation is alluded to in passages such as Acts 14:16 and Acts 17:30. As has been noted, the Law brought clarity and definiteness to the meaning of sin, and the precision of the commandments allowed us to easily identify infractions. But the Law itself was meant to be temporary. It was, in fact, “our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24). Christ is the One who fulfilled the righteous requirement of the Law on our behalf (Matthew 5:17). In taking the Law’s curse upon Himself, Christ brought an end to the curse and instituted the New Covenant (Galatians 3:13; Luke 22:20).
5. The Mosaic Law expounds on God’s two most basic commands. Everything in the Law can be boiled down to two commands. The primary one is found in Deuteronomy 6:5, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” The secondary, related command is in Leviticus 19:18, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus ranked these commandments as number one and number two and said they were the quintessence of the entirety of God’s Law (Matthew 22:36–40).
6. The Mosaic Law demonstrates the value of an intercessor between God and man. The whole concept of the Levitical priesthood was based on the need for an intercessor between man and God. Only the priests could enter the tabernacle, and only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies—and that only once a year with the blood of a sacrifice. Even then, there were special requirements placed on the priests concerning their behavior, physical appearance, clothing, and ceremonial cleansing. The point was that God is holy, and we are not. We need a go-between, and God is the One who chooses the mediator. Under the Mosaic system, the intercessor was a son of Aaron (Numbers 3:3); under the New Covenant, the Intercessor is the Son of God (1 Timothy 2:5).
7. The Mosaic Law shows the efficacy of a substitutionary sacrifice. The Law graphically depicts God’s requirement of the blood of an innocent sacrifice to atone for the sins of the guilty. As the author of Hebrews says, “The law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22). The burning carcass on the altar was a vivid reminder that the consequence of sin is death (Romans 6:23a). Without such a substitute, the wrath of God would fall on the transgressor. The Law allowed for an animal sacrifice to be a propitiation for sin, and the Law called the sacrifice “a pleasing aroma” to the Lord (Numbers 28:6).
8. The Mosaic Law provides many pictures of Christ and His redemption. Every lamb that was offered under the Old Testament Law was a foreshadowing of the Lamb of God and His sacrifice on the cross (see John 1:29; Hebrews 7:27). Every priestly duty heralded the work of Christ on our behalf. The lampstand in the temple prefigured the Light of the World (John 9:5). The table of showbread was a picture of the Bread of Life (John 6:35). The veil separating the two compartments of the tabernacle was a symbol of Christ’s body, destined to be torn to provide access to the very presence of God (Luke 23:45; Hebrews 10:20). In fact, the entire sanctuary built under Moses’ superintendence was filled with “copies of the heavenly things” (Hebrews 9:23).
Christians today can benefit much from a study of the Mosaic Law. We understand that the Law was not meant for the church, and we are responsible to “correctly handle the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). But, properly understood, the Law remains “our tutor to lead us to Christ” (Galatians 3:24, NAS). Once we come to Christ, we find He “is the culmination of the law . . . for everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4).
Resources Used:
https://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/fulfillment-law
