After going through a slew of evil kings of Israel, we come to Ahaz King of Judah. Some of this king's more evil acts included sacrificing his own son to pagan gods, as well as desecrating the altar and the temple of God, using it to design a pagan altar on which to worship instead. Blatant and callous disregard for God and His holiness.
My Life Application Bible says....
Evil King Ahaz copied pagan religious customs, changed the temple services, and used the temple altar for his personal benefit...We condemn Ahaz for his action, but we act the same way if we try to mold God's message to fit our personal preferences. We must worship God for who he is, not what we would selfishly like him to be. (emphasis mine)
Wow - totally ties in with our thoughts from the other day about the "all or nothing" mentality that we have to take when it comes to God's written Word.
Also ties in well with our Galatians passage. In his sermon, The Purpose of the Law, John MacArthur talks about how contemporary Christianity has missed the mark with our approach in reaching the unsaved, often preaching a prosperity, or even simply a feel-good gospel. But that's not what they need.
There is no truth, no authority, no rules and no judge. And that is the pervasive philosophy that is being sold to our society. We could technically address it as Post Modern Moral Relativism, Personal Freedom and Humanistic Atheism. Simply said, no truth, no authority, no rules and no judge. Bottom line: you have nothing to which you are accountable. There are no consequences for your behavior except those that are built into it, and you can choose to do whatever you want. You're in charge.
Now, on the other hand, we need to tell this society this: there is truth, there is an authority, there are rules, there is a judge, and every single one of you will answer to him. That's reality. And the Christian message is directly in contradiction to the reigning philosophy of today. (emphasis mine)
Until they understand the law they will never understand grace.
The Bible is clear that salvation is by faith alone. You cannot work your way into heaven. So, why the law? If salvation is by faith alone, then what purpose does the law serve?
The Mosaic Law was added to the Abrahamic Covenant. It did not nullify it, it added to it. The Abrahamic Covenant was a declaration of God's blessing. The Mosaic Law was a declaration of God's curse and judgment. The Mosaic Law was necessary in order for all of humanity to recognize man's utterly lost condition and incapacity for self-redemption. Abraham got it. He didn't need the law in order to recognize it. But the world as a whole needed some way to recognize that we are damned before God and desperately in need of a forgiveness that we are completely unable to earn. And so the law was given in order for our own sin to be revealed to us.
But this Mosaic Covenant was only in effect until the coming of Christ - it pointed to Christ and found it's fulfillment and completion in Christ. Fulfilled, but not presently irrelevant.
The ceremonial part of the law, gone. The moral part, which is the revelation of the character of God which has always been true, in all eras of redemptive history, is still in place and it is now clearly given to us on the pages of the Old Testament and the New Testament. We know God's moral and religious and spiritual standards, and we also, in knowing those standards, become guilty before them. The law as we face it becomes a mirror......To show us God's standard, to demand that we keep it, to exacerbate our sinfulness so it's inescapable and then to make us feel the weight of shame and sin because of our condition. That's the function of the law. (emphasis mine)
And in doing so, the law leads us to Christ so that we may be justified by faith alone.
And so I say to you, there is truth, there is absolute truth. There is an authority. And that authority is the eternal sovereign God. There are rules clearly given to us on the pages of Scripture, and for those who break them, there is judgment by the all-seeing, all-knowing Judge. And that judgment has eternal consequence to find, as eternal torment, eternal punishment in a place called Hell. And you can bear your own judgment if you choose, or you can acknowledge with repentance and faith the sacrifice of Christ for you and ask God to forgive your sins on the basis of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and never be judged for Christ will have borne your judgment.
That's the message we preach. And it doesn't have any sense to it if all we say is Jesus loves you and wants to fix your life. This is far more broad, sweeping than just that. There is blessing and there is cursing. Choose which one you desire. In the promise to Abraham, there is blessing fulfilled by the death of Jesus Christ. In the curse of Moses, there is judgment and damnation fulfilled by you forever. That's the choice. You take your own punishment or you acknowledge Christ as Savior and Lord, and He takes it for you. What fool would make the wrong choice? (emphasis mine)
Tomorrow's passage: 2 Kings 17-18, Galatians 4
2 comments:
Great post. The last verse in Galations stood out for me:
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave[g] nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
What a great thing to remember.
Great post, Tammy.
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