NT Framework - Law, Tradition, And The Heart

Jesus confronts how traditions can hollow out God’s commands and calls us to a heart-level righteousness that exceeds the Pharisees.

More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com 

This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).

Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner. 

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and
our series on the New Testamentframework.
Today, a smaller, bite-sizedpiece from the larger lesson.
We hope you enjoy it.

SPEAKER_01 (00:10):
People were concerned that he was doing away
with the law because hisinterpretations of the law were
not those of the Pharisees.
Verse 18, For truly I say untoyou, until heaven and earth pass
away, not the smallest letter orstroke shall pass from the law
until all is accomplished.

(00:30):
Now he did accomplish it.
But not by this point yet,right?
Verse 19 Whoever then annuls oneof the least of these
commandments under the law ofMoses and teaches others to do
the same.
Now who was doing that?
By the way, what group was doingthat?
Who was annulling the laws ofMoses and who was teaching

(00:55):
others to annul the laws ofMoses?
Well, the Pharisees.
The Pharisees were doing that.
He says, if anybody does that,the same shall be called least
in the kingdom of heaven.
But whoever keeps and teachesthem, he shall be called great
in the kingdom of heaven.
And then he says, For I say toyou that unless your
righteousness surpasses that ofthe scribes and the Pharisees,

(01:15):
you will not enter the kingdomof heaven.
So are the scribes and Phariseesgoing to enter the kingdom of
heaven?
No.
They teach men not to keep thelaws of Moses, but to, they,
through their interpretations,annulled them.
Okay?
And then Jesus goes, like, forexample, and we'll look at um,

(01:40):
let's see, which one do we wantto look at?
We'll look at uh 538.
538.
What Jesus will do is say, Youhave heard it said, meaning
you've been sitting in synagogueand you heard the Pharisees read
this text out of the OldTestament law, which is great.
That is the Word of God, right?
But then they gave aninterpretation, and that's what
was at odds with the true intentof the Old Testament law.

(02:03):
So he'd say, You have heard itthat it was said, an eye for an
eye, and tooth for a tooth.
But I say to you, do not resistan evil person, but whoever
slaps you on the right cheek,turn to your other temb also.
If anyone wants to sue you andtake your shirt, let him have
your coat also.
Whoever forces you to go onemile, go with him too.
Give to him who asks of you, donot turn away from him who wants
to borrow from you.

(02:24):
And so uh the text is the text,eye for eye, tooth for tooth.
But the question was, what's theinterpretation of that text,
right?
And the Pharisees and Scribesare going around synagogue
teaching, well, it means this.
And um, Jesus said, No, this iswas the intent.
I think he should know he gavethe law on Mount Sinai.

(02:46):
So I think he knows what itmeans.
Um, so that's the name of thegame.
The name of the game was thePharisees and the Scribes were
sinful.
What does the sinful nature doto the text of the Bible?
It reinterprets it so it can, ina form, keep it.
So the Pharisees and thescribes, they kept everything
externally.

(03:06):
They didn't keep anythinginternally.
But the point of the law was toreach into our hearts, right?
Israel's hearts.
So they'd realize they didn'thave righteousness, that they
were sinners.
So they would believe in the onewho was going to come and bring
righteousness.
That's the Messiah.
That's the point of the law, oneof the major points or reasons
for the law.

(03:26):
But they externalized everythingand thought that they were
building righteousness with God.
It was a righteousness based onworks rather than God's point,
which was to show that you can'tkeep the law, therefore you have
to have faith righteousness,right?
So let's go to Mark chapter 7.
Because this same game is goingon today.
Okay, there's nothing new underthe sun.

(03:48):
People are still doing the samething with the Bible,
reinterpreting it to justifywhatever it is.
Mark chapter 7.
Notice verse 1, the Phariseesand the scribes have gathered

(04:09):
around Christ when they had comefrom Jerusalem.
And they had seen that some ofhis disciples were eating their
bread with impure hands, thatis, unwashed.
In other words, they did notfollow a ritual purity tradition
of the Pharisees, that Phariseesand scribes required.
Okay, verse 3 is the note.

(04:30):
Uh for the Pharisees and all theJews do not eat unless they
carefully wash their hands, thusobserving the traditions of the
elders.
Was this the law?
Or was this just tradition?
It's just tradition.
Tradition.
Okay, you've seen the movie,that's good.
And uh verse four, when theywhen they came, uh and when they

(04:50):
come from the marketplace, thisis another thing they do, they
do not eat unless they cleansethemselves, and there are many
other things which they havereceived in order to observe,
such as the washings of cups andpitchers and copper pots, and my
goodness gracious, these people.
Verse 5, the Pharisees and thescribes asked him, Oh, why do
your disciples not walkaccording to the tradition of
the elders, but eat their breadwith impure hands?
In other words, why don't theygo through all these ritual

(05:12):
procedures?
This is the traditions, right?
And he said to them, Rightly didIsaiah prophesy of you, you
hypocrites, as it is written,This people honors me with their
lips, but in their heart is faraway from me.
Okay?
In other words, see, externallyyou honor me, but internally
you're nowhere near me.

(05:34):
Verse 7, but in vain do theyworship me, teaching as
doctrines the precepts of men.
See, these traditions were justthe precepts of men, they
weren't God's intent with thelaw.
He says, verse 8, neglecting thecommandment of God, you hold to
the tradition of men.
See what had happened?
They had, by keeping thetraditions of men, essentially

(05:56):
negated the word of God.
They were not keeping God'scommands.
He was also saying to them,verse 9, you are experts at
setting aside the commandment ofGod in order to keep your
tradition.
You're experts.
I mean, how good to become anexpert, what do you have to do?

(06:17):
Practice.
Practice practice.
Like your whole life has to beabout practicing how to do this.
What had they been doing theirwhole lives?
Practicing how to set aside thecommandments of God so they
could keep their tradition.
Verse 10 for Moses said, and hegives an example, okay?
The law of Corban, he gives anexample to show how they had a

(06:41):
tradition that allowed them toset aside the actual intent of
God's law, his commandment.
Okay.
Now, when you do that, if youneglect the commandments, you're
not keeping the commandments, ifyou're not keeping them, you're
doing what?
Sinning.
Sinning.
And the more if you practice it,you become an expert at setting

(07:02):
aside the word of God, thenguess what?
You're sinning all the time.
Sin, sin, sin, sin, sin, sin,sin, sin, sin, sin, that's all
it is, right?
Now, what does that do to you?
What is the effect of sin on aperson?
It hardens and blinds.
It hardens the heart, it blindsthe eyes, it deafens the ears.

(07:24):
And so the Pharisees in theGospels become known as the
blind, the leaders of the blind.
Um, because the people wouldfollow them.
So they became blind too, right?
Because they were taught how toannul the commandments of God.
Even though they heard Mosesread every Sabbath in synagogue,

(07:47):
they didn't keep it.
And so they became they sinnedand more and more and became
blind.
And that is what blinded themfrom recognizing who he was,
recognizing who Jesus truly wasas the Messiah.
So this is amazing, right?
Because these are people whosaid, Oh, we believe the Bible,
we hold to the Old Testament.

(08:08):
I mean, my goodness, theymemorize a lot of them memorized
the first five books.
Have you memorized Genesis,Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers in
Deuteronomy?
They memorized it, but theydidn't know it.
Because they had reinterpretedit and they held to their quote
unquote tradition.

(08:28):
Which were really a man.
Can people still do that todaywith the Bible?
Well, of course, they do it allthe time.

SPEAKER_00 (08:37):
Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls
with Jeremy Thomas.
If you would like to see thevisuals that went along with
today's sermon, you can findthose on Rumble and on YouTube
under Spokane Bible Church.
That is where Jeremy is thepastor and teacher.
We hope you found today's lessonproductive and useful in growing

(08:58):
closer to God and walking moreobediently with Him.
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And until next time, we hope youhave a blessed and wonderful
day.