Sermon Central
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Above The Law Series
Contributed by Carl Willis on Jun 24, 2008 (message contributor)
Summary: Jesus was the fulfillment of the law. The spirit of the law brings freedom, while the letter of the law brings condemnation.
Above the Law
Mark 2:23 (HCSB)
On the Sabbath He was going through the grainfields, and His disciples began to make their way picking some heads of grain.
Common Practice
* Left behind
* Leaving a portion of unharvested grain
* Given in the law
Leviticus 19:9-10 (HCSB)
When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap to the very edge of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You must not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the foreign resident; I am the Lord your God.
Deuteronomy 23:25 (HCSB)
When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck heads of grain with your hand, but you must not put a sickle to your neighbor’s grain.
Common Practice
* Left behind
* Leaving a portion of unharvested grain
* Given in the law
* The intent of the law
* To feed the traveler
* To feed the poor
Mark 2:24 (HCSB)
The Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
Misapplication of the Law
* The letter of the law
* 6 days of labor
* 7th day to be a day of rest
* Including planting and harvest seasons
Exodus 34:21 (HCSB)
“You are to labor six days but you must rest on the seventh day; you must even rest during plowing and harvesting times…”
Misapplication of the Law
* The letter of the law
* 6 days of labor
* 7th day to be a day of rest
* Including planting and harvest seasons
* Pharisaical interpretation
* Broadening the definition of harvest
* Application beyond the laborer
* The spirit of the law
* To prevent farmers from using the Sabbath as a day of personal gain
Mark 2:25 (HCSB)
He said to them, “Have you never read what David and those who were with him did when he was in need and hungry…”
Opening the Textbook of History
* A reference to David
* Used to illustrate a principle
* A reminder of the spirit of the law
1 Samuel 21:1-6 (HCSB)
David went to Ahimelech the priest at Nob. Ahimelech was afraid to meet David, so he said to him, “Why are you alone and no one is with you?”
David answered Ahimelech the priest, “The king gave me a mission, but he told me, ‘Don’t let anyone know anything about the mission I’m sending you on or what I have ordered you to do.’ I have stationed my young men at a certain place. Now what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever can be found.”
The priest told him, “There is no ordinary bread on hand. However, there is consecrated bread, but the young men may eat it only if they have kept themselves from women.”
David answered him, “I swear that women are being kept from us, as always when I go out to battle. The young men’s bodies are consecrated even on an ordinary mission, so of course their bodies are consecrated today.”
So the priest gave him the consecrated bread, for there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence that hd been removed from before the Lord. When the bread was removed, it had been replaced with warm bread.
Opening the Textbook of History
* A reference to David
* Used to illustrate a principle
* A reminder of the spirit of the law
* Well known
* The Pharisees would have been very familiar with this account
* Agreed on truth
Mark 2:26 (HCSB)
“…How he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest and ate the sacred bread-which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests-and also gave some to his companions?”
Consecrated Bread
* Set before the Lord
* 12 loaves of bread
* 2 rows of 6
* Called the bread of Presence
* The old bread
* Used by the priest and his family for provision
Exodus 25:30 (HCSB)
Put the bread of the Presence on the table before Me at all times.
Leviticus 24:5-9 (HCSB)
Take the flour and bake it into 12 loaves; each loaf is to be made with four quarts. Arrange them in two rows, six to a row, on the pure gold table before the Lord. Place pure frankincense near each row, so that it may serve as a memorial portion for the bread and a fire offering to the Lord.
The bread is to be set out before the Lord every Sabbath day as a perpetual covenant obligation on the part of the Israelites. It belongs to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in a holy place, for it is the holiest portion for him from the fire offerings to the Lord; this is a permanent rule.
