Tonight I will begin some studies with you that can actually change your life. I will share with you insights and understandings that have changed my life. I am not talking about changing your faith. I am not talking about increasing your knowledge. I am talking about advancing your insights and understandings. These insights and understandings helped me see God differently (with greater accuracy), they helped me see salvation differently (with greater accuracy), and they helped me see Christ differently (with greater accuracy).

Tonight I want you to focus on one basic understanding: when God sent Jesus to be our Savior, He was not "fixing" the Old Testament law or Judaism. The Old Testament system, which came from God, did not need "fixing," or "adjusting," or "improving," or "restructuring," or "amending." If we have developed the idea that God did not do it right the first time with Israel so He corrected it with Jesus Christ, we need a better understanding of Jesus Christ.

If that is a new thought to you as a Christian, or if that is something that you already understand, I want us to allow the Bible to reveal to us the meaning of that understanding.

  1. What God did in and with the nation of Israel throughout the Old Testament, and what God did through the law with Israel, was temporary.
    1. God designed and intended what He did with Israel to be temporary--God knew what He was doing.
      1. God had a specific purpose in what He was doing.
      2. Go had a specific objective in what He was doing.
      3. Though Old and New Testament Israel often made it difficult, God still accomplished what He intended.
    2. People commonly use the temporary and transitional to achieve a permanent solution or to fulfill a need.
      1. I am confident that each one of us could illustrate that fact.
      2. For example, that has always been true when I have a root canal on a tooth.
        1. You drill the tooth to treat the abscess.
        2. You pack the tooth to destroy the infection.
        3. You place a temporary cap on the tooth until it is certain that the infection is destroyed.
        4. Then you put a permanent crown on the tooth.
      3. I am making just one point with that illustration: we know the necessity of using temporary solutions in order to the achieve permanent solutions.

  2. When the Israelite slaves crossed the Red Sea into true freedom and independence, God had an "out of control" group of undisciplined, disorganized, distrustful people to work with.
    1. God faced enormous challenges--and those people came very close to exceeding God's patience (Exodus 32:21-33:6).
      1. These people had terrible concepts of good and evil--the ten commandments addressed some of those wrong concepts.
      2. Their concept of deity was horrible--just remember the golden calf they built at Sinai which Aaron said was "the god who led us out of Egypt" (Exodus 32:1-6)
      3. They were delivered from a horrible, inescapable life of slavery, but did nothing but gripe, complain, and wish that they could go back.
    2. God gave these out control people a legal system designed to completely regulate their lives in every aspect of their existence.
      1. That law put in place what was necessary to seek to bring this out of control people under control.
      2. It was given specifically to Israel (Exodus 19:5,6; Deuteronomy 4:1,2; etc.).
        1. It certainly was structured around eternal principles.
        2. But it was specifically designed for this people, for this new nation, for their specific situation and needs.
      3. God had two objectives: get these people under control; and advance them from a controlled life under God to genuine relationship with God.
        1. When these people left Egypt, they were not capable of accepting and sustaining a relationship life with God.
        2. At the time they first received the law, they were not even under God's control.

  3. If you have someone who is out of control and you want to lead that person to a successful life of relationship, what must happen?
    1. Let's begin with an illustration we all understand: a good woman falls in love with an "out of control" man--it happens all the time!
      1. He is a typical "out of control" man.
        1. He does not have a clue about how to build or sustain a relationship.
        2. None of his friendships are based on relationship--all his friendships are based on beer, good times, or some form of mutual self-indulgence.
        3. All his companions are companions in his self-indulgence.
      2. She sees in this man things worthy of her love.
      3. What she wants is a permanent , successful marriage relationship with the man.
      4. What must happen if this "out of control" man is to become a man capable of building and sustaining a successful relationship?
    2. If he is to go from an "out of control" life to the capability of relationship life, these things must happen:
      1. First, he must discover the fact and honestly accept the fact that he is "out of control."
        1. He must discover a totally new concept of "good and bad."
        2. Until he does that, there is no chance he will come under control.
      2. Second, he must come to a basic, new understanding of "good and bad."
        1. He must understand why what he considered good in the past is bad and why what he considered bad in the past is good.
        2. He must understand, truly understand, that good is not defined by personal pleasure.
      3. Third, this new understanding must produce a new perspective.
        1. He must see life, people, and himself differently.
        2. This results in a new comprehension--he begins to grasp the concept of responsible existence.
      4. Fourth, this new perspective and comprehension actually produces in him a new heart and a new mind.
        1. He thinks differently, and his thinking is produced by a new process.
        2. He feels differently, and he learns to value feelings he never had before.
      5. Only when these things happen is he capable of building and sustaining relationship.
      6. Now, the woman can marry him while he is still out of control.
        1. She can marry him with the determination to reform him--and she may reform him if that means she changes his habits.
        2. However, even if she changes his habits, he still will not understand how to build and sustain a relationship.
      7. Each of us knows that is the truth--we have either seen it or experienced it.
    3. If you understand that, then you can see and understand this: that is exactly what had to happen to transform these "out of control" slaves into a people who were capable of having a relationship with God.
      1. The first major thing God did after He freed these people from slavery was give them a legal system.
        1. From the beginning, the law was intended to begin the process of discovery--they needed a whole new understanding of good and evil.
        2. From the beginning, the law was intended to bring these "out of control" people under control.
      2. God's desire, His deep desire, was for this multitude of slaves to become a nation who:
        1. Lived in successful, fulfilling relationship with Him.
        2. Was motivated in all they did by their love for the God who freed them.
        3. Belonged to God by their own choice, not out of necessity.
      3. That is what God wanted, but it never happened.
        1. Israel never advanced from "controlled by law" to "genuine, loving relationship with God."
        2. The law of itself never had the capacity to generate and sustain relationship through successive generations.
        3. Individuals who developed relationship with God were the exception: Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Elijah.
      4. Rarely did relationship with God characterize a generation.
        1. If you want to impress yourself with how frequent and total their failures were, read the book of Judges and the reign of Saul again.
        2. Read the messages of the Old Testament prophets again.
        3. Remember the captivities in Assyria and Babylon.

  4. When God delivered these "out of control" slaves from Egypt, this is what had to happen if they were to come under control and move from a controlled life to a life of relationship with God.
    1. First, they must discover and honestly accept the fact that they are "out of control."
      1. They must discover a totally new concept of good and evil.
      2. They must understand that a whole new concept of good and evil exists.
      3. Their past understanding of what is good and bad is incorrect and must change.
      4. Until they understand this, they cannot come under control.
    2. Second, they must develop a basic, new understanding of specifically what is good and evil.
      1. Idolatry with its drunkenness and sex rites are evil, not good.
      2. Refusing to defraud people is good, not evil.
      3. They must learn that good is not determined by pleasure or profit.
    3. Third, this new understanding of good and evil must produce a new perspective.
      1. They must see life, people, and themselves differently.
      2. This will result in a new comprehension--they will begin to understand responsible existence.
    4. Fourth, this new perspective and new comprehension will actually produce new hearts and minds in them.
      1. They will think differently, and they will use a different process of thinking.
      2. They will feel differently and learn to value the new feelings.
    5. Only when these things happen will they be capable of building and sustaining a love relationship with God.
    6. Control, alone, will not create the understandings, the mind, the heart, and the perspective that will permit them to have a relationship with God.

From the beginning, God wanted a relationship with Israel. But Israel never truly came under control, never truly grew and matured from a control life to a relationship life. There are many ways to illustrate that truth. But let me use the book of Hosea to let you hear that truth.

As I read Hosea 11:1-4, I want you to hear how a loving God wanted relationship, not control. "When Israel was a child, I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son. As they called them, So they went from them; They sacrificed to the Baals, And burned incense to carved images. I taught Ephraim to walk, Taking them by their arms; But they did not know that I healed them. I drew them with gentle cords, With bands of love, And I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck. I stooped and fed them." Do you hear God's love for this rebellious, unappreciative people?

As I read Hosea 14:1-4 I want you to hear how God is still trying to move them toward relationship even though it is late and they love evil. O Israel, return to the LORD your God, For you have stumbled because of your iniquity; Take words with you, And return to the LORD. Say to Him, "Take away all iniquity; Receive us graciously, For we will offer the sacrifices of our lips. Assyria shall not save us, We will not ride on horses, Nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands, 'You are our gods.' For in You the fatherless finds mercy." "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, For My anger has turned away from him." Do you hear God's yearning to forgive?

Now listen as the book closes. Hosea 14:9. Who is wise? Let him understand these things. Who is prudent? Let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right; The righteous walk in them, But transgressors stumble in them. The tragedy--with all of God's love for them, they never entered a loving relationship with God.

God's ultimate objective in Israel was not control, but a loving relationship. God's ultimate objective in your life is not control; He wants a loving relationship.

David Chadwell

West-Ark Church of Christ, Fort Smith, AR
Evening Sermon, 6 July 1997
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