Old Testament reading: Psalm 142-146
Be careful where you place your trust. This is the warning of the Psalmist in 146:3-4. Those who trust in men are doomed for failure and disappointment. Why? Because men are finite beings. As verse 4 says, ‘when a man dies, so also do his plans die with him.’ Conversely, those who trust in God are described as “happy” (v 5). Why should they be happy? Because their “hope is in Him who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them” (v 6). The Psalmist then goes on to extol the many and wondrous virtues and power of God. I am here reminded of the more well-known words of the Psalmist in 20:7, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.”
New Testament reading: Romans 7-9
“The Ten Commandments Are Dead.” I put this message on our church marquee much to the dismay of many who saw it. Our reading today contains a text that should forever put to rest the idea that the Ten Commandments should be followed today. Many Sabbatarians and non-Sabbatarians still hold to some idea that the Ten Commandments are still valid today, believing the Commandments are still valid and only the other laws and ordinances were done away with at the cross (cf Eph 2:14-16; Col 2:14). In Romans 7:1-7, Paul identifies the Mosaic Law with a dead husband from whom a woman is released that she might be rightfully married to another, namely Jesus Christ (vv 1-4). Speaking of that same law in verse 7, Paul says “You shall not covet” is a part of that law which is dead. There is only one place in the entire Mosaic Law where “You shall not covet” can be found, and that is in the Ten Commandments (Ex 20:17; Deut 5:21). Thus, anyone attempting to hold on to the Ten Commandments while claiming to practice Christianity is like a woman trying to hold on to a dead husband after marrying another. Ewww!
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