The Law of God

Broadcaster

The Law, Part Two

by John David Clark, Sr. - April, 1990

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.Ps. 119:105

The Enemy of righteousness is not pleased, of course, when a soul finds rest in the mercy of God. However, there is something which Satan dreads more than a sinner turning from sin, and that dreaded something is spiritual perfection. In other words, Satan works harder to prevent a child of God from coming to a knowledge of the truth than he works to keep sinners away from Jesus' saving grace.

In our time, we have witnessed a successful campaign which Satan has waged in this regard. The focus of his attention has been the Law of Moses. Using Christian ministers who know neither God nor his truth, Satan has slandered the Law that was given to Moses on Mount Sinai, and has succeeded to such an extent that many saints now hold it in contempt. I cannot tell you the number of times that I have heard precious, though ignorant, believers speak of the Law of Moses in a disparaging tone. One would think they were saying a dirty word when they said "law." Those who feel this way about the Law have not paid attention to the Bible, for that holy Book plainly shows us that every righteous person who ever walked on this planet lived the way the Law taught men to live-including the Lord Jesus himself! Living the way the Law said to live has always been the right thing to do.

Whence then is this widespread contempt for the Law? Does the Spirit of God lead us now to despise those commandments of God? Is Jesus, who overcame the temptation of Satan by quoting the Law, now inspiring Christians to downplay its importance? Are so many in the body of Christ now ignorant of the Law because that is God's will? Is it sincerity and purity of heart that has caused the people of God to avoid the study of God's Law? No. It is not wisdom that has kept us from learning the Law; it is foolishness. The body of Christ is ignorant of the Law because the body has believed lies concerning the Law. And since the Law was a revelation of God, we are ignorant of Him if we are ignorant of His law.

This is the reason that Satan so earnestly struggles to convince those who have believed not to study the Law. If he fails to keep a sinner from coming to Jesus for the remission of sins, he will then use false teachers to turn that newly born saint from the knowledge of the truth. How blindly do the sheep of God's pasture follow after shepherds who themselves are blind to the beauty and value and continued holiness of the Old Covenant writings! I am persuaded to believe that virtually all of the divisions which exist among those who belong to Christ could be eliminated, if those who belong to Christ would learn well the Old Testament writings, especially the Law of Moses. But in order for the saints to learn the Old Testament, the congregation must first be persuaded to believe that it is worthwhile to do so. In other words, long-standing wrong ideas about the Law must be replaced with reverence. In this regard, as in all others, we must "look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." We must consider His zeal for the Law, not to mention the zeal of Peter, John, Paul, and the others who lived according to the Will of God in all things. In doing this, we free ourselves from Christian myths about the Law which Satan invented.

MYTHS ABOUT THE LAW

The most common misconception about God's Law is that it is no longer in effect. The truth is that the Law is more in effect than ever, because it is in Spirit now, rather than written down on paper (Rom. 7:14). When a person receives the holy Spirit of God, he receives the Law, the very same Law that God gave to the Israelites at Mount Sinai. The New Covenant is not a new Law. It is the old Law in a new form. Pay close attention now to these words of God:

"Behold the days come, saith the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. . . . For this is the covenant that I will make . . . I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts. . . ." Heb. 8:8-10, quoted from Jer. 31:31:31-33

According to the Old Covenant, if a man child was not circumcised on the eighth day after birth, he was not to be considered a part of the family of God (Lev. 12:3; Gen. 17:10-14). The coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost did not change that strict commandment of God. On the contrary, it made circumcision necessary for BOTH MEN AND WOMEN-only now, circumcision is in spirit. It broadened the commandment of God; it did not contradict it. He is now a Jew, a true descendant of Abraham, who "who is one inwardly. And circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit" (Rom. 2:29). When, by the holy Ghost, God brought His Old Covenant inside the hearts of men, it made physical circumcision irrelevant. Physical circumcision made a man a child of God under the Old Covenant form of the Law. Now, spiritual circumcision makes someone a child of God. In the eyes of God, "he is not a Jew which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh" (Rom. 2:28). When someone receives the holy Ghost baptism, he or she is then considered by God to be circumcised, the way He always really wanted it to be-in the heart. God has not altered His requirement of circumcision. He merely changed its form. In the Old Covenant, circumcision was a physical mark. In the New Covenant, it is a spiritual experience.

The New Testament, then, does not condemn the Law in any regard. On the contrary, it is the Law-in a perfect form. "Do we then make void the Law through faith?" asked the apostle Paul. "God forbid. Yea, we establish the Law" (Rom. 3:31). By obeying the Spirit, we obey the Law of God because the Spirit will lead us to live the way God has always wanted His people to live. It is the same God, and He has given us the same covenant in a better form-in spirit rather than written on paper with ink. When Paul mentions "the law of the Spirit", he is pointing us to the truth that the Spirit is not lawless. It is, in fact, the Law of Moses in spirit form.

Being in spirit form, the Law is more formidable than ever. There is a more severe penalty for disobedience under this New Covenant than there was under the Old Covenant because, with the power of the Spirit within us, we are much more capable of obeying the will of God than were our Old Covenant counterparts. Many in ancient Israel could have claimed ignorance of the Law because of illiteracy and because they had not been told what the Law said. The Bible record shows clearly that throughout their history, most of Israel was illiterate; therefore, when the Levites failed to do their job and teach them the Law, the Israelites were very much in the dark as to how God wanted them to live and worship. But in this New Covenant, even an illiterate man can be led by the Spirit. As the Old Covenant warrior Isaiah prophesied, God has made the way of holiness so easy to understand, that "wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein" (35:8). There is no more any excuse for sin or uncleanness. The power to do right and refused wrong is in the Spirit. The power to understand fully what is right and wrong is in the Spirit. As Peter wrote, God's "divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness" (2Pet. 1:3).

Please do not be deceived by those who are deceived. The truth is before you. Do not trust in that lie so often preached today that would have you think that because of the atoning work of Christ, God will not hold you accountable for your sins. In this covenant, we become more accountable for sin, if we commit it, than they were under the Old Covenant. Listen to the man of God:

"For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall consume the adversaries. He that despised Moses's Law died without mercy under two or three witnesses. Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot [despised] the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the spirit of grace?" Heb.10:26-29

It is difficult to imagine a "sorer punishment" than to "die without mercy"; nevertheless, God in his fathomless wisdom, fearsome power, and perfect justice, He has prepared a "sorer punishment" for those who sin under this dispensation of grace. The Law is not destroyed by the work of Jesus. In fact, Jesus himself warned us not to think so:

"Think not that I am come to destroy the Law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Mt. 5:17-19

The Law is more in effect now than ever. Jesus himself made sure of it. The punishment for disobedience to God's Law is more fearful than ever; the reward for faithfulness, more wondrous. Wise believers are more zealous to study the Law of Moses than the Israelites ever were. In truth, Israel, as a whole, never was zealous toward the Law. That's why the nation failed. This brings us to another myth concerning the Law of Moses. Namely, the myth that those who were zealous for the Law were the ones who hated Jesus. Just the opposite is the truth.

Myth No. 2 - Those who Loved the Law hated Jesus

A careful reading of your Bible will show that those who loved the Law also loved Jesus. Those who recognized the Law to be of God, and obeyed it from the heart, also recognized Jesus to be of God. The people who rejected Jesus were the people who did not honor God's Law as being the only holy standard by which to judge rightly. They considered their traditions to have authority and sanctity equal to that of the Law of God. Jesus would not honor the "traditions of the elders" as he did the Word of his Father. For this, The Jews rejected Jesus; and for that, God rejected them. Actually, to say that they held their traditions in equal esteem with the Law is not perfectly correct, for in reality, they held their traditions to be of greater authority than the commandments of God. Jesus noted this error in scenes of conflict such as this one:

"Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, `Why do thy disciples transgress the traditions of the elders? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread.' But he answered and said unto them, `Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?'"

After citing to these religious teachers an example of their tradition which they held in higher esteem than the Law, Jesus condemned them by saying:

"Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, `This people draw nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoreth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men.'" Mt.15:1-9

To those who wanted to kill him, Jesus asked, "Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me?" The martyr Steven faced his accusers, who prided themselves on their knowledge of deep spiritual matters, and boldly asserted, "Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the holy Ghost. As your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them which [prophesied] of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers; who have received the Law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it" (Acts 7:51-53).

Those who opposed Jesus also despised the Law in their hearts. Though they claimed to be defenders of the Law of Moses (Jn. 9:28-29), they were in fact corrupters of it. When it came to a choice between keeping the Law or keeping their traditions, they chose their traditions. On the other hand, those who loved Jesus loved also the Law of God. For example, throughout his life Peter never transgressed the Law's commandments concerning clean and unclean animals. Even when the Lord in a vision told Peter to kill and eat unclean animals, Peter desperately pleaded with the Lord not to ask him to do so, saying, "Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean" (Acts 10:14-16).

No one kept the Law more faithfully than did Paul, after Jesus set him free from bondage to the traditions of the elders. James and John, with the entire Jewish congregation, lived precisely the way that the Law said to live (Acts 21:20). Nothing could be more wrong than the notion that those who served the Lord despised the Law and that those who rejected the Lord kept it. That is a myth invented by Satan, to diminish the congregation's zeal to study the Law and grow in the knowledge of God. If we receive Satan's disinformation concerning the Law, if we believe that the apostles of our Lord and our Lord himself were contemptuous of the Law, then we necessarily will adopt that ungodly attitude toward the Law's sacred revelation. But when we acknowledge the truth of the matter and observe the reverential attitude of Jesus and his followers toward the Law, then we are warned to approach the Law of God with fear and to give it the attention that it has always deserved.

Read your Bible and you will see for yourself that Old Testament Israel was destroyed because she DID NOT obey the Law. It was not "legalism" that destroyed Israel, as some teach; it was the lack of legalism. According to God's Law, it was illegal in Israel to steal. But thievery went unpunished. It was illegal, according to God's Law, to commit murder, but murderers were not brought to the justice which the Law required. Under the Law, the poor were to be cared for, strangers to be taken in, widows and orphans to be helped. Instead, the poor were robbed, strangers oppressed, and widows and orphans plundered. If Israel had been more legalistic, she may well have survived the calamities which God sent upon her for her lack of adherence to the Law. If Israel had put witches to death, as the Law said to do, if Israel had executed those who worship heathen idols, adulterers, and even stubborn, rebellious children, if Israel had possessed the faith simply to obey the commandments of God, she would have been blessed beyond measure. As it was, she was cursed beyond description. She refused to execute upon the guilty the clear judgments of the Law; therefore, God executed upon guilty Israel those same judgments.

Many today, in the same ignorance of God that afflicted Israel, teach that Israel stumbled in faith because of her ceaseless efforts to live by the Law. I tell you, and your Bible tells you, and the holy Ghost tells you that Israel failed in her walk with God because of her lack of effort to walk in the light of the Law of Moses. And I, with your Bible, and with the witness of the Spirit of God, tell you that as it was in those days so it is now.

A principal lesson the Law teaches us is that God's people will be judged by God according to their deeds, not according to their faith, their titles, or their reputations. There is no provision made in either the Old or the New Testaments for hope of salvation without holiness. As there were false prophets among the Old Testament people, teaching them that the keeping of the Law was not a matter of life and death, so there are false teachers among you, telling you that keeping the commandments of God is not required in order to inherit eternal life. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked . Whatsoever any man sows, that shall he also reap. The only way to escape the eternal pains of the Lake of Fire is to do the Will of God. That's the way it has always been. That's the truth that has never changed. That's part of the knowledge of God which Satan labors incessantly to hide from God's children, because when we realize that our eternal destiny will be determined on the basis of our works in this life, we are inspired to seek the truth, and to be liberated from the delusive power of evil.

As we continue our study of the Law of Moses, we will expose the evil of a very popular doctrine among men: the doctrine of "salvation by faith alone." God demands, and has always demanded, a life of good works from those who would enter into eternal life (Mt. 19:16-22). Only those who have not stood in the counsel of God teach otherwise.