Foundation #1

Jesus and the law of the Old Testament, are not in opposition to each other.

Matthew 22:37–40

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” 

Foundation #2

The Ten Commandments are not a ladder but a mirror.

Foundation #3

The Ten Commandments reveal we need saving, we need Jesus. 

The law of God shows me I’m a sinner, and sends me to Jesus for salvation. Jesus returns me to the law, to show me the way life works. 

Civil—expired with the end of the Jewish civil government

Ceremonial—expired with the fulfillment of the priestly work of Jesus

Moral—has not expired because it is based on God’s character

Example of Civil Law

Leviticus 24:17–23 

“ ‘If anyone takes the life of a human being, he must be put to death. .If anyone injures his neighbor, whatever he has done must be done to him: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As he has injured the other, he is to be injured. 

Matthew 5:38–39

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 

Example of Ceremonial Law

Leviticus 14:49–51

To purify the house [the priest] is to take two birds and some cedar wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop. He shall kill one of the birds over fresh water in a clay pot. Then he is to take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet yarn and the live bird, dip them into the blood of the dead bird and the fresh water, and sprinkle the house seven times. . . 

Example of Moral Law

Leviticus 19:2

Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.”

Exodus 20:3

“You must not have any other god but me. 

Exodus 20:4–5

“You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. 

It is not enough to worship the correct God; the correct God must be worshipped correctly.

No matter how good our idols look, no matter how accepting and wonderful they may be, they hide most if not all of the truth about the nature and character of God.

Exodus 32:5

When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD.” 

When people begin wrong in their worship, they will live wrong in their lives. 

Exodus 20:5-6

I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands. 

Exodus 20:5

I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. 

Exodus 32:27–28

Moses told them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Each of you, take your swords and go back and forth from one end of the camp to the other. Kill everyone—even your brothers, friends, and neighbors.” The Levites obeyed Moses’ command, and about 3,000 people died that day. 

In the heart of man, there is a longing to get close to God. If we create a God in our minds that is palatable to all people, we will eventually be disenchanted, discouraged, and defeated because we whittled God to such a place, that he is no longer Divine.  

Colossians 2:9

For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.