THE LAW OF CHRIST – Bible Study Series

Still on the law of Moses which is also known as Mosaic law. What was the Mosaic Law?

1) It was a legal code God gave to Moses, it comprises of rules and regulations that MUST be followed.

If we look at Exodus 24v12 “And the Lord said to Moses, come up to me on the mountain, and take your place there: and I will give you the stones on which I have put in writing the law and the orders, so that you may give the people knowledge of them”.

2) It was a strict system of retribution and justice.

Ref: Exodus 21v23-25 “But if damage comes to her, let life be given in payment for life, 24 Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 Burning for burning, wound for wound, blow for blow”.

You can see where it says thou shall give life for life and eye for eye, meaning that if you do what is wrong like you stone or hit someone’s eye, your eye must be damaged in exchange, but that is not the law of Christ. The reason why I’m talking firstly about the law of Moses is to avoid mixing it with the new dispensation of Grace that we are in now.

Ref: Hebrew 10v28, Many kinds of punishment were attached to Moses’ law; one of them is to be stoned to death, That is how the law was dangerous. Failure to comply with the law means you’ll be sentenced of death. Exodus 20v2-3; Exodus 22v20. You bow down to another god, you are dead.

Question: What can we learn from the strictness of the law of Moses?

(i) God is a terrible God. God hates sins, God reward every form of unrighteousness instantly. The strictness of those laws was meant to establish the fear of God in the hearts of men. It was made so strict and so deadly so that people will come to fear God and obey him. It is not because God is so wicked or merciless, but it is to show them how much God hates sins and how much they ought to fear Him. The same God in the old testament is the same in the new testament, God has not changed though the law has been changed.

(ii) If you are guilty in one law you are guilty in all the laws. Meaning that if all the laws are 10 commandments and you break only one of them, then you have broken the whole commandment. Ref: James 2v10 “For anyone who keeps all the law, but makes a slip in one point, is judged to have gone against it all”.

We can learn from there that God is a perfect God and he is demanding 100% perfection from His children, Ref: Mathew 5v48. There is a level of perfection God is demanding from His children, failure to do that could mean that you cannot enter heaven.

Even Jesus Christ said that if your righteousness doesn’t exceed the righteousness of the pharisees and Sadducees, you cannot enter heaven. The pharisees, the Sadducees and the scribes are those who were following the laws of Moses to the details.

(iii) The law of Moses served its purpose only for a time Ref: Galatians 3v19 “Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised. God gave his law through angels to Moses, who was the mediator between God and the people.

Galatians 3:19 NLT”. Meaning that the law of Moses shall continue until the time when Jesus would come. Ref: Hebrew 9v10

(iv) It was a shadow of the real things that is to come. It is not the real thing but the shadow pointing toward Jesus. Ref: Colossians 2v16-17 “For this reason let no man be your judge in any question of food or drink or feast days or new moon or sabbaths: 17 For these are an image of the things which are to come; but the body is Christ’s”. The real thing is Christ Jesus and that is why all the laws in the old testament are pointing to Jesus the Messiah. Whenever you study the old testament, do with the heart that Jesus is the center of all the message that was preached and revealed in the old testament. Jesus is the reality of that shadow of the laws of Moses. The 7th day Adventist and some other kind of religions feel like if you don’t keep sabbath days, you are not pleasing God and you cannot make heaven, and that is false teaching. Some people today still preach some Israelite festivals and traditions, holidays, new moon like the way God gave instructions at that time to Moses, these people feel like if you don’t observe the same things, you cannot make heaven; it is false. All those things were shadow of the things that is to come and now that Jesus has come, new thing has come, we should just follow the new life, and that is Jesus. We cannot follow the sabbath day. We can worship God in truth anywhere and any day. That is why the Apostle chose Sunday as an official day of worship because Jesus resurrected on Sunday, the first day of the week.

Speaking by revelation, we can worship God any day in Spirit and it would be acceptable. Don’t let anyone deceive you about sabbat days, new moon, or telling you what to eat or not (except, the Holy Spirit forbids you from eating certain foods). Don’t put yourself in bondages; Hebrews 8v5 also confirmed it.

(v) The law was hard to keep.

Ref: John 7:19 “Did not Moses give you the law? Even so not one of you keeps the law. Why have you the desire to put me to death?” Jesus said that Moses gives you the laws and you couldn’t even keep them and Why was the law hard to keep? It was because it is impossible to please God in the flesh, you must be delivered from the strength of sin, which is your flesh, your SELF. Until you are delivered from yourself, you cannot please God. So those people were trying to please God according to the flesh and it was hard, too difficult for them. God gave them the laws to show them that by themselves they cannot please Him except He (God) helped them. This is why God intentionally gave them laws that they cannot keep by themselves, Ref: Acts 15v10 The Lord was a yoke that no one could bear and then in Romans 7 v 14-19, You will see how Apostle Paul was describing the law and how he could not keep the law. He said that “The things that I don’t want to do it is what I’m finding myself doing”; To show you how weak humans are in keeping the law except through God’s help. Self righteousness leads to destruction, so we need God’s help to please him.

(vi) The Law of Moses shows that humans are sinners and needs God’s grace.

Ref: Roman 3v28 “For this reason, then, a man may get righteousness by faith without the work of the law”.

God gave the law to condemn the whole world as guilty. That no one can be justified except such surrender to Jesus.

There are people that practice good morals, charity, hospitality, all these nice things they are doing cannot justify them before God: that is self-righteousness. You cannot do all that the law required, it is not possible for human beings to fulfill all the law, you will fail in one.

God gave the law to condemn everyone such that except we stop living by the flesh, we cannot please God. Gal. 3v4; The law was to show us how weak we are, how ungodly, how unrighteous we are so that we can run to Jesus to save our depraved souls; Jesus can renew, transform and change us to another being to please God. This is what Jesus does so that we can become children of God. When He changes or transforms us, that is when it comes easy for us to please God.

(vii) The payment (attornment) of breaking the Law.

Because the law was constantly being broken, then forgiveness were needed and the blood sacrifices were required; therefore God began to lead them to do some sacrifices and rituals that will provide forgiveness or the attornment of their sins. Ref: Leviticus 4v1-4 and Leviticus:17v11 “For the life of the flesh is in its blood; and I have given it to you on the altar to take away your sin: for it is the blood which makes free from sin because of the life in it”. For without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins but this provision of attornment or forgiveness, could not erase their sins Ref: Hebrew 10v1-4 told us how the blood of the animals couldn’t take away their sins. Those people kept coming every year with animals for attornment of their sins because those sacrifices could not take away their sins but there was one sacrifice that took away all sins and it is JESUS who died on the Cross of Calvary once and for all. Hallelujah! This is the only sacrifice that takes our sins away and gives the power to overcome sins. That was the most powerful sacrifice that we can ever have, Amen.

(viii) JESUS was made a perfect and permanent sacrifice enough for our sins and offences: Ref Matthew 26v28 “Take of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the testament, which is given for men for the forgiveness of sins”. Hebrews 9v7-14 He obtained eternal redemption for us by his own blood. Jesus was offered to bear the sins of many. Jesus was made permanent and perfect sacrifice for us and I want you to be grateful to the Lord for that. To be continued…