THE LAW AND WISDOM

Introduction

Wisdom in the principle thing. We are encouraged by Proverbs 4:5-7, "Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth. 6Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee. 7Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding." Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. We must have true knowledge to in turn have true wisdom. Wisdom presupposes knowledge. Not many in our day and time have this true wisdom because they do not seek it at its true source. This is what 1 Corinthians 1:24 says in regard to wisdom, "But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God." Christ is the wisdom of God. This is the true source of all wisdom. God’s word is what makes us wise as Psalm 119:97-100, "O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. 98Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me. 99I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. 100I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts." Being wise is a definite asset.

Application

To properly understand the Bible, we need to use what is known as applied theology.

Leviticus 20:22-26 reads, "Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: that the land, whither I bring you to dwell therein, spue you not out. 23And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them. 24But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people. 25Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. 26And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine." All the prohibitions of the law of God, the people of the land of Canaan were guilty of committing. Because of this God abhorred them. In other words, He absolutely despised them and their actions. His people were to be different by not committing such abominable acts. They were to be a holy that is separate people ethically from those around them, in the same way we are to be today.

If we are to be a wise nation, we will have to follow all of God’s precepts. This is the message of Deuteronomy 4:5-10, "Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. 6Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. 7For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for? 8And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? 9Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons; 10Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children." It should be obvious that those who do not obey and follow God’s law are foolish. Those who obey and teach their children God’s law are considered to be wise.

Proverbs 6:23 says, "For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: 24To keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman." These commandments and statutes give us light that we may avoid all the works of darkness. Law keepers are considered wise as Proverbs 28:7 says clearly, "Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son: but he that is a companion of riotous men shameth his father." These covenant keepers will avoid being friends with evil men. They understand that one becomes like those he associates with. Likes beget likes. Proverbs 28:9 states plainly what God thinks about those who do not love the law, "He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination." Their very words are detestable to God. They lack good sense.

Conclusion

Many in our day and time believe that the Old Testament law has been abrogated. This is not what the Lord Jesus Christ said in Matthew 5:17-20, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18For 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. 19Whosoever 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. 20For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." The only Scriptures available at the time the Lord was speaking would have been the Old Testament. He was not seeking to undo it but to uphold it by fully obeying its dictates and encouraging us to do the same. This is true wisdom. Man must live by law. It comes down to which law? God’s law or man’s law which he derives from his own mind. What is your wisdom and ultimate reference point? Mine is the law of God.

WORK AND REST

Introduction

When someone is productive, they can afford to take a day off. The key is to live within one’s means. Staying out of debt enables one to be able to relax and take time off without worrying about the future. In America, we have become consumer driven rather than productive. People work to consume. They do not work to be productive and have an abundance. When a husband and a wife go off to work, they generally end up deep in debt. With the wife at home, it forces the family to have to economize and live within what is being provided. Man cannot, however, work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, without breaking down. He is not a machine. He needs a day off. The wicked, however, do not know how to rest as Isaiah 57:20-21 declares, "But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. 21There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." If this is the case of the wicked, just the opposite applies to the saints of God.

Application

To properly understand the Bible, we need to use what is known as applied theology.

Exodus 23:10-12 reads, "And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof: 11But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard. 12Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed." When reading these verses, it should be apparent that the pattern is work and then rest. In the New Testament, because the Lord’s Day is the first day of the week, the pattern is reversed, rest and work. Either way work and rest are involved. This is a case law of the fourth commandment to Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.

Someone who will not work is just as guilty of breaking the Sabbath as those who labor unnecessarily on the Lord’s Day. In this portion of scripture, we have the introduction of the sabbatical year. The land was to rest every seventh year. There was also the introduction of the Jubilee year. This was to be the year after the seventh year times seven (49 years) or the fiftieth year. Leviticus 25:8-13 says about this year of release, "And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. 9Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. 10And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. 11A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed. 12For it is the jubilee; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field. 13In the year of this jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession." It is a time of rest from labor and release from debt bondage.

How could the Israelites afford to take a whole year off from working the land? Leviticus 25:18-22 explains this phenomenon, "Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety. 19And the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety. 20And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase: 21Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years. 22And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store." If they obeyed the Lord, the Lord would give them such an increase that they could afford to take time off from their labors. If we obey the Lord and are diligent in our callings, then the Lord will ensure that we can take a day off each week. By taking a day off, we are foregoing the income that we could have earned. Obedience to the Lord will make this up to us through His provision.

Were the Israelites obedient in regard to the Sabbatical year and the Jubilee year? Daniel 9:2 reads, "In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem." Jeremiah had prophesied that this was going to happen but obviously his word was not heeded. 2 Chronicles 36:21 says, "To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years." God punished the Israelites for their disobedience to His sabbatical year provision. They went into captivity for seventy years. They disregarded the sabbatical years for 490 years.

Conclusion

We are to walk in covenant with God. The fourth point of the covenant model is sanctions. Blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. God expects us to take a weekly sabbatical. Failure here results in cursing. For the people of God, He will abundantly supply enough that we have to only work six days and not seven. It is down payment on eternity.

THE LAW AND WORSHIP

Introduction

Man was made to worship. Since the Fall, he will either worship the Creator or the creature. There is no neutrality because there are no vacuums. In other words, there is not a nothing but a something. Can man make an exact representation of God? To do so, man would have to be God’s creator. This is an impossibility if there ever was one. The Lord Jesus Christ made this known about God in John 4:21-24, "Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 23But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him." God is looking for us to be like Him. This is only possible through the atonement in Christ Jesus. True worship is spiritual worship. In other words, we have to realize not only that God is Triune, but that He is also Spirit. What can we use to represent this Spirit since none of us have seen Him with our physical eyes? We can only recognize His effects. This is what the Lord Jesus said in John 3:8, "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit." We can only see the effect not the source of the wind. If we cannot see the source, how can we make an adequate representation of the source?

Application

To properly understand the Bible, we need to use what is known as applied theology.

Leviticus 26:1-2 reads, "Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God. 2Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD." Making representations of God was forbidden by the second commandment. This is a negative commandment. Therefore, the positive side has to be spiritual worship. To keep God’s Sabbaths and to have veneration for His established sanctuary is part and parcel of spiritual worship. To worship God in spirit and truth is to recognize Him as both Creator and Lord.

Man will either worship the Triune God or seek a god of the creation to worship. He will bow down himself to someone or something. It is inherent in his nature. Paul wrote this truth in Romans 1:18-25, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;19Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them. 20For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 21Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. 24Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: 25Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen." Verse 25 is very telling. Those who break the second commandment worship the creature more than their Creator. In other words, they are in idolatry. They are offering false worship to a false god. Therefore, they are not worshiping in truth and spirit. They are living in a fantasy world.

The apostle John was shown seven visions in the book of Revelation by an angel as Revelation 1:1 expresses, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John." This angel was a messenger sent by God to John. In other words, whether this was an actual angel or a man who had gone to heaven, he was a creature and not the Creator. Here is what happened at two different junctures during this vision process. Revelation 19:10 says, "And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." This messenger obviously shone with the glory of the Lord. John was tempted to worship him. This messenger rebukes John and points him to whom he should worship, God. Again John finds himself wanting to worship the creature more than the Creator in Revelation 22:8-9, "And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. 9Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God." The messenger once again enjoins John to true worship. Only worship of the Creator is in keeping with the second commandment. All other worship is idolatry.

Conclusion

Paul wrote this about the Lord Jesus Christ in Hebrews 1:5-6, "For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? 6And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him." Verse 6 conclusively proves that the Lord Jesus Christ is God (second person of the Trinity). He is worthy or our worship. When we worship Him, we are worshiping in truth and spirit.