Doesn’t disobedience cause destruction?
Hey, thanks again for sending in questions related to our sermons. As you know, we’re in a series entitled Jesus in Every Genre, where we’re going through really, the Old Testament and showing how every different genre in the Old Testament points to Jesus. This last week we talked about the law and how Jesus is the fulfillment of the law. He is the word made flesh. So he has the commands, he embodies the curses for disobedience, he earns the blessings for obedience, and he takes what we deserve, he gives us what he has earned, and so we are free from the obligations of the law.
So one of the things we said is that the wrong way to read the law is as a means to earn blessings for obedience. That is the wrong way to read the law that Israel never earned any of the blessings they had, all of that was grace because they never fully kept the law. No one has. Except Jesus. And so Paul in Romans Ten looks back on Israel’s reading of the law and says, they missed it, they missed God.
They tried to establish a righteousness by works, and what needs to happen is a righteousness by faith, trusting that Christ has fulfilled the law for us in our place. So the question comes in this week is yes, sure, we can’t read the Old Testament law as a means to earn blessings or righteousness that we’ll always fail. But isn’t there consequences for disobedience? Doesn’t disobedience lead to destruction?
So doesn’t that mean that really some amount of obedience then would lead to blessing? Right? We have more joy when we follow the Lord and more some type of suffering when we’re not following the Lord. And what’s the dynamic there in New Testament times? Just great question and clarification.
I think one helpful piece of information that might be missing is we may not naturally consider discipline sorry. We may not naturally consider discipline as a blessing that God is a good father. Hebrews twelve, right. And if we are stepping outside of what God wants for us, it’ll be painful. But that’s actually a good thing.
That is a blessing that shows God cares about us. If we stepped outside of what God wants for us and it wasn’t painful, that would mean God is like an absent father. And nobody would say that having an absent father is a blessing. It’s the opposite of a blessing, right? And so if it ends up being painful for you because you’re stepping outside of what God wants for you, then hallelujah.
Right? It means God cares about you just like any good father would. And if we have more joy when we’re following what God wants for us, that’s not more of a blessing. Both are blessings. It’s just 1 may be painful and the other may not be painful, right?
Again, just like any good father would treat us. So hopefully that helps sort out in new Testament times when Jesus is our righteousness, all things that happen to us work for our good. So somebody might have intended something for evil, but God will somehow use that for our good in some way. So it means we are totally blessed all the time in Christ, but that doesn’t mean that some things won’t be painful. Some of the pain we experience might be discipline.
That doesn’t mean all the pain that we experience is discipline. But all the pain that we experience one way or another, god will ultimately use for our good, which means that it will be a blessing in the end. So, yes, totally blessed all the time if you’re a Christian. But that doesn’t mean some things won’t be painful. And I hope that helps clear that up.
Glad that we have a good Father who loves us and who provides some measure of discipline to bring us mature in Christ. Thanks for sending in the question and we will see you next time.