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God's
Law Against Legalism
In
the Battle of Law vs. Grace, the Grace camp tries to do away with it,
and the Law camp misunderstands it, but God still has a law against
legalism.
Many
Christians today believe the law of God was done away at the death of
Jesus. They say that if one believes the law of God is still valid, that
one is "under the law" or "legalistic."
On the other hand, an opposing group of Christians contend that we must
keep all of God's Law with all of our might if we are going to be in
God's kingdom. They say that the Grace group, with their "faith
alone" are practicing "rocking chair religion."
Perhaps you can see the problem. Both camps are partly wrong if the
focal point of my thesis is correct, that God has a law against
legalism. If God's law is still valid it hasn't been done away. And if
He has a law against legalism, the Law group has some serious adjusting
to do in how they go about keeping the law.
First
let me define the term legalism as I use it. Legalism is an attempt to
be or become righteous by doing God's law in one's own
strength.
Second,
let me define the Law and its purpose. I would like to put forth a
concept of the law and what it represents that may help reveal its
purpose. The law basically is a set of negative statements that define
the character of God as it applies to man. "Thou shall not" is
the negative part. Those things God has stated that we are not to do are
the very same things that Jesus did not do as He lived a perfect life on
Earth. Jesus turned what we see as negative into a positive way of life!
Jesus defined the law as a loving way of life! Where the law says
"Thou shall not kill" Jesus, in full agreement, says to love
your enemies. Far from doing away with the law, Jesus raised the
standard to fulfill or fill to the full our concept of what the
law is intended to do. If we can picture the law as a transcript of
God's character, which is Love, we can see the eternal purpose of His
law. The Law of God in its basic form as defined in the Ten
Commandments, is simply ten statements to show us when we are not
living the way God intended. Perhaps this is why they are stated as
negatives! When we do what they say not to do we are living a negative
life or in other words, a way of life that leads to death. God created
us to live! It was in love that He gave us a document that would warn us
of danger. The law, then, could be likened to a signpost pointing us in
the right direction. We would never expect a signpost to take us
to our destination, yet some people act like the law can make them
righteous. The apostle Paul speaks to this problem in Romans 3:20
"Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in
His sight: For by the law is the knowledge of sin." He then
introduces the concept of righteousness by faith. (Read Romans
3:21-31) In verse 31 he asks a most important question to our topic:
"Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea we
establish the law." We can see that the real issue here is not
doing away with the law to obtain righteousness but rather the how
of becoming righteous. If we do away with God's law we lose sight of
what righteousness is! We can see the results of preaching that says
that God's law was nailed to the cross, or done away with, in the
increasing lawlessness in our society. The laws of the land are based on
the Ten Commandments. If we say that God's law is no longer valid we
seriously undermine the good laws of our society that were written for
our own protection to defend peace and order.
If
you believe that man can become righteous by doing the law, you are
probably wondering how righteousness is served by just believing. On the
other hand if you are one who believes that the law is
"history," your faith has nowhere to take you for there is no
more righteousness to obtain to. These two extremes make up the basic
issues of the standoff in a ongoing religious debate in
(2)
Christianity
today. Both sides define themselves in counter distinction to the other.
Both sides have some truth, but neither is totally right.
Enters
the Gospel! The word gospel means "good news." The good news
of God's plan of salvation is in short: God offers, by His Grace,
the life, shed blood, death, resurrection, and Spirit Life of His Son
Jesus Christ to cleanse, recreate, indwell and work out of us to live
righteously, fulfilling the law, when we believe or trust Him to
do it in us.
Because
God, in His perfect love and wisdom, does not want His children to be
robots; He has ordained that we must choose between life and death,
between His way and our own. It is to protect our freedom of choice and
the eternal peace of His kingdom family that He demands we choose. To
really know God is to trust Him. If we truly understand His love we will
gladly surrender our lives to His care and keeping. This is true faith.
Faith is active surrender to God's control in our lives. Faith is the
means by which we appropriate the free gift of God's Grace in our lives.
He will bring His righteousness into us through the Holy Spirit.
His Spirit in us will always work out His true righteousness, that to
which the law points.
Isn't
it simple? Grace through faith accomplishes that which the law defines!
This is righteousness by faith. Faith is not a "rocking chair"
word but an action word. It is by faith that we ask, seek, and knock.
(Matthew 7:7,8) It is because we trust God that we will actively pull
the voting lever, putting God in office in our lives. This action is our
work! Only we can do it! Every time we choose God in the daily choices
we face, God steps in with unlimited power and works His life in us just
as He did in Jesus. This is how we will be like Jesus when He appears.
(I John 3:2)
What
is God's law against legalism? This law is the center piece of the
Gospel. This is the one law that God said to remember! The one law that
satan, by dividing law and grace, has caused many Christians to forget!
The one law God put within the Ten Commandments that, if observed, would
safeguard against legalism! This is the forth commandment Sabbath law!
Exodus
20: 8-11
8
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six
days you shall labor and do all thy work:
10
But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it
you
shall not do any work, you nor your son, nor your daughter, your
manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger
that is within your gates:
11
For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is
in them, and rested the seventh-day: wherefore the Lord blessed the
Sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Because
we are physical/spiritual creatures, God our creator, gave
us physical reminders of spiritual realities. God gave the 7th
Day Sabbath as a memorial of His physical creative power. After sin
entered this world, He ordained the Sabbath to remind us that He alone
can recreate us spiritually. God told Israel that the Sabbath was a sign
that He was The One that would sanctify them or set them apart in
holiness. (Exodus 31:13) It is not just to physical Israel that God
extends that blessing but to spiritual Israel as well, all those who
trust in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for Eternal Life. What a
wonderful gift! Each Sabbath He asks us to set aside our daily cares and
responsibilities and commune with Him, rejoicing in His gift of physical
and spiritual salvation.
(3)
According
to the Hebrew word translated feast (Strong's Hebrew dictionary #4150)
in Leviticus 23:2&3 the 7th Day Sabbath is an appointment
with the King of Kings! In each week He has set a perpetual, appointed
time to meet with Him, physically trusting Him to supply our
every need and spiritually trusting His working in us to be
righteous. On the first Sabbath, the first full day of their existence,
before they had done any real work themselves, Adam and Eve were invited
to take part in God's resting from His physical work of creation.
That appointment still stands. Each Sabbath, we too are invited to rest
both physically and spiritually by faith in Jesus' physical and
spiritual life in our behalf. The physical rest on the 7th
Day is a reminder that we must rest every day, in the spiritual sense,
as He renews His righteousness in us by His Spirit. It is only by His
working in us that we can become righteous, fully keeping God's law. (Phillipians
2:13) A "Sabbath keeper" that thinks ceasing from work on the
Sabbath qualifies one for salvation or in any way merits God's mercy is
actually performing "works of the flesh." To put ones trust in
ones own power to merit salvation is nothing short of idolatry. In
Galatians 5:19, 20 Paul lists idolatry as one of the works of the flesh.
Those who trust in the creature (beast) rather than their Creator are in
effect worshipping the "beast." The 4th commandment
is a call to remember our Creator, to trust and rest in His creative
power. This is why Revelation 14:11 proclaims there is no rest for those
who worship the beast! (See Revelation 14:6-12 to review the
proclamation messages of the three angels. Please note the call to
worship our Creator in the first angels message - verses 6 & 7.) If
we believe that God is accomplishing our salvation, we can enter true
rest by faith. Our ceasing to labor on the Sabbath, then, is not in
order to be saved but rather because we are saved. We put away our
everyday concerns and pleasures (Isaiah 58:13,14) during the Sabbath
hours so that we can keep God's appointment with us and have
undistracted communion with Him!
My
friend, are you tired of trying to be "good" in your own
strength? Can you see that the 4th Commandment is the only
one out of the Ten that we automatically spiritually break by trying to
keep in our own power? Jesus says, "Come unto me all you that labor
and are heavily burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you
and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find
rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
(Matthew 11:28&29)
Perhaps
you have the uneasy feeling that your life in "grace" is not
much different than the lives of the lost souls around you, and you long
to live a life set aside in Holiness. God will make you righteous if you
ask Him to work out His righteousness (His law) in you. This is the recreation
of which the Sabbath is a reminder today! Jesus paid the price for our
salvation on Calvary. You can rest in the merits of that completed act!
Aren't you glad the Sabbath was made for man! (Mark 2:27)
Take
courage dear Christian! "There remains . . .a Sabbath rest for the
people of God!" (Hebrews 4:9 NAS)
Dear
Heavenly Father. Please forgive our lack of faith in you. Please bring
us into your true Sabbath rest. Please forgive us for physically and
spiritually breaking your 4th commandment. Teach us to truly
trust in You. Please write Your law on our hearts. Work to fulfill Your
law in us just as You did in Jesus. In His name I pray. Amen.
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