Sermon Tone Analysis

[TITLE SLIDE]

We’re continuing our series called Holy Things and began last week to talk about living a holy life, starting with how to live by the Spirit.

In our passage, the Apostle Paul was explicit that the way to live by the Spirit is not just to follow the laws or rules and regulations, because the law is intended to show us our sinfulness not to produce in us the fruits of the Spirit.

But, is there no purpose for the law?

I can't say there is no purpose as so much of the scriptures have to do with the law.

And that is true in the New Testament as well as the Old Testament.

Most Christians would agree that the law is still important even though we have freedom from the law as the church.

But, exactly how the law is important is debatable.

I’ll show you with a little game.

I’m going to need everyone’s help for this.

I’m going to put a law up on the screen and you are going to raise your hand if you think we are supposed to follow that law today as the church.

Keep an eye on people around you to see who agrees with you.

We’ll start with some easy ones.

[COMMAND SLIDES]

* What laws to follow game.

Don’t murder people.

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Don’t steel.

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If anyone cheats his friend out of money or property, he must pay him back plus a fifth as interest.

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If anyone cheats his friend out of money or property, he must pay him back plus a fifth as interest.

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“If anyone sins and commits a breach of faith against the Lord by deceiving his neighbor in a matter of deposit or security, or through robbery, or if he has oppressed his neighbor or has found something lost and lied about it, swearing falsely—in any of all the things that people do and sin thereby— if he has sinned and has realized his guilt and will restore what he took by robbery or what he got by oppression or the deposit that was committed to him or the lost thing that he found or anything about which he has sworn falsely, he shall restore it in full and shall add a fifth to it, and give it to him to whom it belongs on the day he realizes his guilt.

(, ESV)

If your teenage son is disobedient, then you and your friends are to throw rocks at him until he dies.

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“When men fight with one another and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of him who is beating him and puts out her hand and seizes him by the private parts, then you shall cut off her hand.

Your eye shall have no pity.

(, ESV)

If your teenage son is stubborn and rebellious, disobedient, or is a glutton and a drunkard, then you and your friends are to throw rocks at him until he dies.

()

“The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God.

(, ESV)

If your teenage son is stubborn and rebellious, disobedient, or is a glutton and a drunkard, then you and your friends are to throw rocks at him until he dies.

()

and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’

Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones.

So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

“You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Don’t eat sharks or shell-fish.

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(, ESV)

Do not wear clothing made of two different kinds of material.

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(, ESV)

(, ESV)

“You shall keep my statutes.

You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind.

You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.

It shall be a law forever that you don’t eat fat or blood.

()

(, ESV)

If a man and woman have sex without being married, the man has to settle accounts with the woman’s father and then marry her.(Ex 22:16)

(, ESV)

Do not cut yourself or get a tattoo to honor dead people.

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(, ESV)

(, ESV)

Do not cut yourself or get a tattoo to honor dead people.

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Women cannot wear men’s clothes and men cannot wear women’s clothes.

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Women cannot wear men’s clothes and men cannot wear women’s clothes.

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(, ESV)

“A woman shall not wear a man’s garment, nor shall a man put on a woman’s cloak, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord your God.

We must wear blue tassels on our clothes to remind us to do what pleases God and not what pleases ourselves.

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(, ESV)

We must wear blue tassels on our clothes to remind us to do what pleases God and not what pleases ourselves.

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If a lizard falls into your water pitcher, you cannot drink it and you must break the pitcher.

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If a lizard falls into your water pitcher, you cannot drink it and you must break the pitcher.

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(, ESV)

Most Christians realize that we are not required to follow all the laws of the OT as the church, but if the laws are part of the scriptures then what are we to do we do with them?

“And these are unclean to you among the swarming things that swarm on the ground: the mole rat, the mouse, the great lizard of any kind, the gecko, the monitor lizard, the lizard, the sand lizard, and the chameleon.

These are unclean to you among all that swarm.

Whoever touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until the evening.

And anything on which any of them falls when they are dead shall be unclean, whether it is an article of wood or a garment or a skin or a sack, any article that is used for any purpose.

It must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the evening; then it shall be clean.

And if any of them falls into any earthenware vessel, all that is in it shall be unclean, and you shall break it.

Any food in it that could be eaten, on which water comes, shall be unclean.

And all drink that could be drunk from every such vessel shall be unclean.

And everything on which any part of their carcass falls shall be unclean.

Whether oven or stove, it shall be broken in pieces.

They are unclean and shall remain unclean for you.

Nevertheless, a spring or a cistern holding water shall be clean, but whoever touches a carcass in them shall be unclean.

And if any part of their carcass falls upon any seed grain that is to be sown, it is clean, but if water is put on the seed and any part of their carcass falls on it, it is unclean to you.

(, ESV)

Most Christians realize that we are not required to follow the laws of the OT as the church, but if they are scripture then what are we to do we do with the OT law?

What is important about the OT and about Israel?

[TITLE SLIDE]

It’s not so simple as saying we don’t have to follow the law or saying that in Christ we are free from the law.

The reality is, it’s more complicated than that.

It’s common to hear someone say that the law was for Israel, but the church lives by the Spirit—that is to disregard the law.

But I believe the law is still important for 2 reasons.

1) The Spirit of God inspired the Law.

It’s God’s law, so I don’t want to dismiss it lightly.

2) The church and Israel are not as distinct as you think they are, so it’s not precisely right to say that the law isn’t for the church.

So, let’s start there by looking at…

The Church and Israel

…because understanding this relationship is the breaking point for how to deal with the laws of the Old Testament.

It’s easy to think about Israel and the church as if God chose to work through two different groups of people.

Maybe God chose Israel in the Old Testament, but Israel failed to be loyal to God, so God called the church in the New Testament in hopes that the church might remain faithful.

It’s almost as if God started over with the church.

You can see the thinking.

But the Apostle Paul anticipated this question when he wrote to the church in Rome.

He wrote,

Now, many Christians believe that God gave freewill to people, so Israel had the freedom to deny God

(CSB) — Now it is not as though the word of God has failed, because not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.

(, CSB)

God’s word doesn’t fail.

When God made promises for Isreal, He did not speak falsely.

[The Church and Israel]

He didn’t call them to be his people and then reject them when they turned their backs on Him.