18th November 2023

18th November 2023


Pray (ACts)


Read (Romans 15v4)


Message (Scott Woodburn)


The so-called "weaker" Christian in the Roman church was probably someone coming from a Jewish background and asking valid questions about how the Old Testament laws applied to the Christian life. To such questions we can offer clear answers. The Old Testament is still valid, relevant and must be read and applied by all Christians. However, we must also be clear that the ceremonial and civic laws have been fulfilled by Christ and no longer apply to the church - all food is clean and the only day we must observe is the Lord's day.


What do we mean by the civic and ceremonial laws? The civic laws were those which applied to the day-to-day life of national Israel when she existed during the Old Testament age while the ceremonial laws directed how God's people were to worship. In those days the church of Jesus Christ had not left the boundaries of national Israel and the vast majority of true believers were from a Jewish background saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Christ had not yet come in the flesh, nevertheless men and women of faith looked expectantly to His arrival.


These issues are explained by our Confession which states in chapter 19 "God was pleased to give to the people of Israel, as a church under age, ceremonial laws, containing several typical ordinances, partly of worship, prefiguring Christ, His graces, actions, sufferings, and benefits; and partly, holding forth divers instructions of moral duties. All which ceremonial laws are now abrogated, under the new testament. To them also, as a body politic, He gave sundry judicial laws, which expired together with the state of that people; not obliging any other now, further than the general equity thereof may require."


So if much of the Old Testament no longer applies, why bother reading it? A simple answer is that Genesis to Malachi is as much God's Word as Matthew to Revelation. As Paul would elsewhere say "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3v16-18)


The Old Testament proceeds from the mouth of God and we read it, sing it, preach it and believe it because God has given it to us for our instruction (v4a). We are instructed in who God is and what He expects from us and in the Old Testament we clearly see the unfolding of God's plan of redemption. Christ is promised in Genesis and we see Him in type and in shadow throughout the thirty-nine books.


This instruction isn't a cul-de-sac but a road that has a clearly defined destination. As we study the Old Testament the Holy Spirit works endurance in us. In other words the Word of God urges us forward and calls us to keep on going. We see how God has worked in the past and we remember that He still works today. As we meditate upon the Scriptures our souls are encouraged and the good fruit of hope ripens in our hearts.     


I freely admit that the New Testament is a much easier read than the Old and the average Christian will feel much more at home in Romans than Leviticus. Even so, the bible has sixty-six books not twenty-seven and if we cut ourselves off from the Old Testament we are guilty of abandoning God's whole counsel. Let's not go that way. Instead may we see the clear purpose of all Scripture and drink deeply from the well of truth.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC


Q100 What doth the preface of the Lord’s Prayer teach us? The preface of the Lord’s Prayer, which is, Our Father which art in heaven,” teacheth us to draw near to God with all holy reverence and confidence, as children to a father, able and ready to help us; and that we should pray with and for others.
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