Why the OT?

Intro

Alright ya’ll. I mentioned last week that we are going to start a series in the Old Testament. Right from the beginning of this ministry, it was decided that we would focus one semester in the NT, and one in the OT. Here’s why.

Our mission is the 3 C’s. Centered on Christ. Committed to Discipleship. Confident in His Word.

We can’t be a people confident in the word of God if we don’t run head first into the challenging parts of it. The parts that we are more disconnected with.

I’m taking a hermeneutic class right now. If you don’t know what that is..

In it they list all of these things that can cause gaps between when scripture was written and now…list the gaps.

I want us to overcome those gaps together. I want you to see the richness that is found in the Old Testament. The depth, the character of God, the nature of our relationship with him.

I don’t want you to just be confident in the word of the new testament, but confident in the entirety of scripture.

So, I’m super excited to announce that starting next week and for the majority of the next semester, we are going to be diving into the life of Elijah. One of the greatest prophets of all time.

This will be a great start for us because we are going to see some narrative, some history, we are going to see a relationship with God unfold…and most importantly, we are going to see how Jesus is so clearly the center of the word of God. Including the OT.

So starting next week we begin our series: Elijah, Provision & Glory.

But this week, I want to do something a bit different with the message. I want to get just a little more informative, and spend this time teaching you about the OT, what it is exactly, and why we as NT believers should even care about it.

I want to help you understand what books make up the OT, how we should read it, and then why we should read it.

So I could spend time teaching you about the composition of the Bible, but there are people far more gifted than I at communicating that…and in order to change it up I would like for us to watch this video put out by the Bible Project. Let’s watch it and then we will continue.

Play Video

Things to Emphasize:

Library of Books - Different Genres

Tonight I want to cover the practical aspect of Why the OT, and the Spiritual aspect of why the OT. And you’ll see that they are actually one in the same.

Let’s start with this.

The NT is first and foremost the end of the story of the OT. It’s actually only 23% of the Bible. So I want to put this in context.

If you only read the NT, or if the NT was your main source of understanding…and let’s say Genesis because most peeps have tried to read Genesis at some point…if you only read those..

It would be equivalent to reading the first chapter of the first book of the Harry Potter series, and then skipping to Chapter 16 of the 6th book, and reading until the end.

You would have no context of who Voldemort is, what the deathly hallows are, why snape matters. You actually wouldn’t even know who Ron and Hermione are or how much their friendship to Harry Matters. You wouldn’t know the weasleys, lupin, you would never have met Sirius…any of that.

But maybe you’re note a Harry Potter fan. What about Avengers. You would be watching the first ten minutes of Iron Man, and then jumping to Thor Ragnarok.

Star Wars: Jump in an hour after the third movie starts. First two minutes of the trilogy.

But let’s drive this home. How many are familiar with UP??...

You wouldn’t know these things based on what you just saw...

So this is clearly a practical reason to read the OT. If you don’t, you just simply won’t get the full picture…you won’t be able to understand it fully, and you won’t be able to appreciate it fully. It’s a practical reason, but it ties into our spiritual reasons.

Three things for you…Three Reason Why You Should Read the OT. Three reasons, why you as someone that lives in a new testament era, and claims to follow Christ as their Lord, Savior, and Teacher…three reasons why you should care about the OT.

1) Jesus Fulfilled It.

Turn with me to Matthew 27. This is the passage I want our eyes on tonight.

English Standard Version Chapter 27

The Death of Jesus

45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 47 And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” 48 And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. 49 But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” 50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.

Now, there are plenty of passages I could have chosen when giving you these three points. But this one has just a beautiful way of bringing them all together, and also tying it into our new series on Elijah next week.

So what is happening in this passage? Jesus is dying on the cross. And he’s dying a death that is needed as a result of what happened in the Old Testament. We learn in the OT that a sacrifice is needed for Sin, that God will provide that sacrifice, that God’s servant would be mocked, beaten, killed, yet a bone in his body won’t be broken.

The OT shows us why we need this sacrifice, how we came to needing a sacrifice for sin, how we came to be sinful in the first place. The OT shows us all of man’s pathetic attempts to become righteous and how each one of them has failed.

Why should we care about the OT? Because without it, we would never understand what Jesus needed to fulfill, or that by fulfilling it, he was the son of God.

Listen, without the OT....we would not have the sufficient understanding that Jesus was truly the son of God, and was sent from God, and was God, and redeemed us to God. Because without the OT there would be nothing for Jesus to fulfill, there would be far less understanding of who Jesus was, and far less grasp on what his death meant for our life.

It’s like every chapter of the OT is a pinprick in a black veil, and each pinprick lets in more light to shine on Jesus, and the more we read, the more pinpricks of understanding are created, the more we see Jesus for who he is.

That’s why after his resurrection, Jesus met with a couple disciples on the road to Emmaus, and as they walked it says...

English Standard Version Chapter 24

27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

English Standard Version Chapter 24

31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him.

The OT matters because without it, and understanding all the things written in it that concern Jesus, we would fail to truly recognize him. The OT matters because it’s what Jesus was fulfilling on the cross.

And this passage is the pinnacle of proof that Jesus was fulfilling the OT. But we shouldn’t just care about the OT because Jesus was fulfilling...

We should care because...

Jesus Knew It.

He knew the OT. As christians, we claim that Jesus is not only our Lord, and our Savior, but also our teacher. We learn from Jesus and we model Jesus. And what Jesus taught was rooted in the Old Testament. We care about the OT because Jesus cared enough about it to know it, to learn it. And this passage shows that.

Look back at it…it says he cried with a loud voice. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

This was a direct quote from Psalm 22:1. A quote from the OT that not only was a prophecy of the coming messiah, so Jesus fulfilling the OT, but also a heart felt cry of what Jesus actually endured on the cross.

Jesus knew the OT so well that he used it as a way of pointing people to God even in the midst of his terrible suffering. He declared this out loud so people would continue to see he was the messiah, he was the fulfillment, and he could only have done that if he knew the OT well enough to quote it.

Our teacher took the time to learn the OT. So should we. As a little boy Jesus sat in the temple and asked questions, during his ministry he was found in the temples reading the scrolls of Isaiah to those who would listen. And time and time again he is found quoting the OT to refute Satan, declare the kingdom of God, and rebuke the pharisees.

Jesus knew the OT. So should we. But it’s not just that he knew it…it’s that he loved it.

Jesus Loved It.