Jesus and the Old Testament

Tonight we are making our way to Mark 7 and I am so excited to get to this chapter because if you have not been shocked by the things that Jesus has said in these first 6 chapters, I don’t think you will be able to leave chapter 7 without being shocked by what He has to say. Something that is significant for this chapter is that up until this point, Mark has been more concerned with the actions and works of Jesus than He has the teaching of Jesus. Not that Mark hasn’t emphasized the teachings of Jesus but over the next 3 or so weeks, we are going to look exclusively at the things that Jesus taught. Now this probably won’t shock you but Jesus had a whole lot to say about a whole lot of things right? Jesus wasn’t the Buddhist monk that was fine with going off to some remote corner of the world and keeping to Himself. As we are going to see tonight, Jesus had a whole lot to say about the Bible. Just to sort of get an idea, how many of you have read the entire Bible before? How about just the New Testament? What about the Old Testament? We’re in the New Testament tonight but we’re gonna spend a lot of time talking about the Old. Jesus had a whole lot to say about the Law of Moses and the Old Testament and I think that this is important for all of us to realize. I’ve heard several people say over the course of my ministry and maybe you’ve heard or thought this too that the Old Testament is not quite as important as the New Testament. I’ve heard people say the Old Testament is boring, let’s just get to Jesus. I heard someone say recently, “If you want to see how fast I can fall asleep, preach the Old Testament.” Now do you think that is fair? Do you think that’s a good mindset to have? Do you think that we need the Old Testament? In Jesus’ earthly life, what part of the Bible did He have? He only had the Old Testament because the New Testament had not been written. So, how does Jesus view the Old Testament and by extension, how should you and I view the Old Testament? That’s what we will be focusing on tonight but we will also focus on the importance of our worship because tonight and into next week, Jesus is also talking about salvation and worship. Let’s pray and then we will read Mark 7:1-13

Mark 7:1–13 NASB95

The Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered around Him when they had come from Jerusalem, and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with impure hands, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the traditions of the elders; and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of cups and pitchers and copper pots.) The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?” And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me. ‘But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’ “Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.” He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition. “For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, is to be put to death’; but you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban (that is to say, given to God),’ you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother; thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”

The Problem of the Pharisees and Traditions

As we get into this chapter, we see a familiar problem with the Pharisees. The Pharisees have been looking far and wide for any accusation that they can make against Jesus. We saw in Mark 2 and 3, a whole lot of complaints being made by the Pharisees and their willingness to reject a clear command from God in favor of man-made traditions and interpretations. Here in these verses, we see just how important tradition is for the Pharisees and unfortunately, there are many today that follow the Pharisee mindset and place tradition at the same level or above the clear commands of God. I would think of those people that would say things like, “the only true version of the Bible is the King James Version of the Bible.” Or quote on quote Christians that say that interracial marriages are sinful. Those are totally outside of what the Bible actually teaches. So, what is the perceived problem that the Pharisees see in Mark 7? In verse 2 we see that some of Christ’s disciples were eating without washing their hands. That doesn’t seem that big of a deal right? I’m sure you remember being kids and playing outside before dinner and your parents asking you to clean your hands before eating. I know that we still try to make sure that our kids wash their hands before eating. But if they don’t or we forget, chances are pretty good that our forgetfulness or avoidance of that will not cast us into hell for all eternity right? But it seems like the Pharisees and the scribes have a pretty big issue with this. In verse 5 they ask Jesus, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?” It’s easy for us to not see why this would be significant and Mark recognizes this and he gives the reason as to why this is so important to the Pharisees in verses 3 and 4. Remember, Mark is writing to a Gentile audience that would not be super familiar with Jewish traditions so Mark writes that it was a tradition for Jewish people to not eat unless they first carefully washed their hands and this extended to them placing the cleaning of cups and pots as a tradition of utmost importance. If you have been paying attention, you know by now that tradition was everything for the Pharisees. They knew what the Bible said but they did not recognize that where God speaks, everything else is silent. What God says in His Word stands alone and where the Bible speaks, God Himself speaks. They would not say that God didn’t inspire the Word, they wouldn’t say that you should ignore the Word, but they had no issue with adding things to God’s Word which is a huge no-no. They believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that to deny man-made traditions by the Jewish elders was equal to sinning against God Himself. In fact, in Matthew’s account of this conversation, we read in Matthew 15:2 the Pharisees saying, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” That word Break in Greek is the same word that we get for transgress. What are transgressions? What do we normally think of? We think of sin right? This is a serious matter in the eyes of the Pharisees. But Jesus turns the table on them. Jesus goes past the manmade traditions that the Pharisees cling to and we read in Matthew 15:3 “And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?” Do you see what Jesus is saying there? He is saying, “why do you break the Law of God in order to uphold your traditions.” Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Shouldn’t we break with tradition to uphold that which God clearly says in the Bible? That is the heart of the Pharisees problems and really the problem with many in the world today. They may not outright reject the Bible but they do not see it as the ultimate authority on the matters. Jesus upholds the authority and the integrity of Scripture and that is why we read this in Mark 7:6–8 “And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me. ‘But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’ “Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.”” Jesus says that these quote on quote experts of the Law are experts at pushing aside the Law in order to hold onto tradition. Then in verse 10, we see Jesus give an example of how they do this. He brings up the ten commandments and how we are to honor our fathers and mothers but then in Mark 7:11–13 Jesus says, “but you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban (that is to say, given to God),’ you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother; thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”” What Jesus means by this is that the Pharisees and many of the Jews would recognize the importance of following the Law and providing for their older parents but they found a way out of it by declaring that whatever they had to help was corban or devoted or given to God. So, really they believed that they had an excuse to get out of doing the right thing because they claimed that whatever resources they had was devoted to God but then they would go out and do whatever they wanted with those resources anyway! They were saying that they followed the law but then they would invalidate the law by following their own traditions first. This is not a problem of interpreting the Bible, this is a problem of the heart. This is a problem of worship.

What is Worship?

When it comes to worship, what is more important in the eyes of God? Is it what you say and do or is it the heart? Doing good things is of course important because God does tell us to love our neighbor but what does He say before He tells us to love our neighbor? What’s the entire first tablet of the 10 commandments about? We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. We are to love God above all else and the love that we have for God, the way that we worship God, will be reflected by the things that we do. Far too many people think that if they just act morally good that they will be in good standing before God. They can have whatever sin they want in their hearts and in their lives as long as they do good to others but is that how one is saved? Is that how God wants us to be worshipped? Not at all! Jesus says in John 4:23–24 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” It is not the things that we do that God seeks as worship but the inner change of the heart. It is a conforming to Him and a greater desire for holiness and to see Him glorified. Charles Spurgeon said, “It is not your worshipping God by words in hymns and prayers, or sitting in a certain place, or covering your faces at certain times that is acceptable to him; true worship lies in your heart paying reverence to him, your soul obeying him, and your inner nature coming into conformity to his own nature, by the work of his Spirit in your soul; and because men can scarcely get the idea of this till the Holy Spirit gives it to them, this is a reason why it is so rare, so exceedingly rare.” This is the kind of worship that the Pharisees failed to provide. You might hesitate to even call it worship. To not worship as God has demanded to be worshipped is to not worship God at all. How would you describe your worship? How would you describe your seeking after the Lord? Is it in word or is it an internal longing of the heart. The problem is that unless our hearts are set on the Lord, we won’t find Him. This is the problem of the Pharisees. We read in Jeremiah 29:13 “‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.” Simply confessing with our lips while running from Him in our hearts is not worship. Our whole heart is needed to worship the Lord and we need to ask that the Lord would make our hearts long for Him. It was Augustine who said that our hearts are restless until they find our rest in the Lord. R.C. Sproul said, “Far more than what we confess with our lips, how we worship God shows what we really believe about His character. If we worship the God of the Bible, we can never worship Him in a cavalier manner.” What Sproul means by that is if we are truly worshipping the God of Scripture, it cannot be in a half-hearted or unsympathetic way. Jesus asserts all of this in His words to the Pharisees and as He does this, He shows us how He saw the Old Testament so let’s close with a few words on that.

Why Do We Need the Old Testament?

Why do you think we need the Old Testament? First off, because God has spoken to us in His Word. As you have already heard me say, where the Bible speaks God speaks and all else falls silent. Jesus Himself, believed in the authority and inerrancy of the Old Testament. Jesus taught the Old Testament with authority and it is through the Old Testament where we see the groundwork of the Gospel already being laid. We do not see the significance of what Jesus does without the Old Testament. We don’t see the full extent of why Jesus did what He did without the Old Testament. The work of creation is only a shadow of the greater work of redemption. The exodus is only a shadow of the greater rescue of sinners from every tribe, nation, and tongue. The building of the temple is only a shadow of the greater temple that is built on Christ the Cornerstone. Augustine is quoted to have said that the New Testament is concealed in the Old Testament and the Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed. The Gospel is ultimately not just Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The Gospel message is more than just the book of Acts and the writings of the Apostles. No, Genesis-Revelation tells 1 story. 1 Story centered on 1 person. Ultimately all of the Bible is about Jesus. This isn’t something that the Church has made up over the centuries either. This is what Christ Himself said about the Old Testament. One section of Scripture that has really been pulling at my heart recently, especially as I read the Old Testament is in Luke 24. It is in this chapter where Christ makes one of His clearest claims to the intent of the Old Testament. In Luke 24 after Christ’s resurrection, Jesus finds two disciples walking to the town of Emmaus. These two men don’t recognize Jesus and as Jesus walks with them, Christ asks them what they are talking about. They’re obviously talking about the one thing that everyone at that point was talking about and that was the death of Jesus. They say, “are you the only one who doesn’t know what happened here? How have you not heard about Jesus?” Luke 24:19-23

Luke 24:19–23 NASB95

And He said to them, “What things?” And they said to Him, “The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death, and crucified Him. “But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened. “But also some women among us amazed us. When they were at the tomb early in the morning, and did not find His body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that He was alive.

How does Jesus respond? Luke 24:25-27

Luke 24:25–27 NASB95

And He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.

Jesus is saying here, “Guys, how could you have missed this?” He then takes them through what I believe is the greatest Bible study that has ever been given. Beginning with Moses, which is just short-hand for the first five books of the Old Testament and then with all of the prophets, which is pretty much short-hand for everything after Deuteronomy, Jesus explains to these men everything concerning Himself in the Old Testament. How do the men respond to this teaching? In verse 32 after Jesus disappears from them after dinner say to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?” I want my heart to burn as I pick up my Bible. My prayer for all of you is that your hearts would burn and come alive as you see Christ on every page of Scripture. What does it mean to have your heart burn? It means that there was a joy and a clarity in their hearts like never before. Suddenly, that which seemed like a bunch of puzzle pieces on a table started to come together to make a beautiful picture. There is joy, hope, desire, affection, love all coming together for the glory of God and for our relationship to Him. What was once seen in a fog, now comes front and center. Jesus says in John 5:39

John 5:39 NASB95

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;

He then says in John 5:46

John 5:46 NASB95

“For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me.

So is the Old Testament boring? Is it pointless? No, because it’s all about Him and we should all pray that the Holy Spirit would cause our hearts to burn as He reveals to us Christ in the Old Testament. Where would be a good place to start if you’ve never read the Old Testament? Start with Genesis and go to Exodus. Maybe start with 1-2 Samuel or a smaller book like Jonah or maybe even the Psalms. There is so much Jesus on every page but you aren’t going to notice unless you actually read it. Let’s pray and then we will respond.