The Law – mfairlady

By Mary Fairchild

The following is a phonetic reading of an expository teaching tapes of Pastor Jim Mooberry; “The Faithful Word.” Village Church of Bartlett; 11/09/97.

“When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count but lost and poor contempt in all my pride. Where the whole realm of nature were mine that would be a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine demands my soul, my life, my all.” Isaac Watts

The Cross was the greatest message that entered mankind. That one can have a relationship with God; an eternal relationship with the Creator simply by believing something that had happened 2000 years ago. Nothing more is required. Everything that is necessary has already been accomplished in the death of Jesus Christ on that cross. All man needs to do is simply embrace this truth. This is the doctrine of justification by faith; that God gives us a righteous standing in his eyes if we will believe the message about Jesus Christ and his death on the cross for us. Now you would expect, I think, that there would be a joyous acceptance of this wonderful message by mankind; how much easier can it be? Yet the truth of the matter is, as we well know, that the message of the Cross has received near universal rejection; it would be completely universal if not for the grace of God. How can this be? Well, the great stumbling block of the human heart is that the message of justification by faith leaves out human effort. Human pride is the reason mankind rejects the Gospel.

So, the obsession of the human life is with self; self gratification, self-fulfillment, self-justification. That’s why I get so torked with the self-help movement. It just fans into flames what is the sinful part of us and that is “self is the center of everything.” So, the most fundamental axiom in the human heart is legalism; that justification is somehow by our works. Legalism can be defined by the mental attitude that a person must and can do something to merit divine blessing. One author said, “Legalism is conformity to a standard for the purpose of exalting self.” It’s really the basis of all the world’s religions. If you look at Islam, its 5 pillars of faith, they are of the Koran: penance, prayer, alms giving, pilgrimage…simply legalism getting merit from Allah. Buddhism: same thing, 8-fold path. Hinduism: life of good works to overcome karma from an old life. All the techniques and practices of the human potential movement are the same thing: loosening the powers that are latent within you and it’s all something you do in order to exalt self.

So, every religion, everything counter to the Gospel and the grace of God is centered in this idea of self-justification. It is endemic to the fallen man and so this mindset is diametrically opposed to the Cross. The problem for Christians is that once we enter the Christian life we still (part of the battle we have is still with the flesh) fall back into that mindset and we begin to do things, very subtly, for self-glory. This is the place where the Spirit of God needs to convict us. That’s why one of the old Puritans used to say, “The purpose of the Bible is to comfort the disquieted and disquiet the comfortable.” It is to remind of these things when they begin to appear in our life.

God gave us a gift to bring us to our senses and the gift was the law.

“Why the law then? It was added because of transgressions…” Galatians 3:19

“But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise of faith by Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.” Galatians 3:22

The law was given to us to do two things: to reveal the righteousness of God and to convict us of our unrighteousness. When we can see the righteousness of God then we can see our own unrighteousness. That’s a gift from God so that we might be prepared to not try to justify ourselves in his sight because we can’t. We can’t meet this righteousness and therefore we would throw ourselves on the grace of God. So, the law is a powerful instrument of condemnation. What Satan has tried to do, and it shouldn’t surprise us, is he has tried to get us to undo the work of God and get us to focus on the law as an instrument of justification. That appeals to our desire for self-glory. But the law was always an instrument of condemnation.

For those of you who want to slip back into the law and see the law as a source of sanctification in that way, here is what is required:

“For as many as of are under the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law to perform them.” Galatians 3:10

Now, notice three things, this applies, first of all, to everyone God doesn’t miss a thing… now three things:

If you want to live in His sight by some sort of a legalism, by keeping a law, there can be no lapses. It says that you must “continue” that is what the word “abide” means. There can be no lapses, not one you’ve got to continue.
There can be no leeway, you’ve got to continue in “all things” not just part of it, the parts that are easy to do or the parts that you like—“all.”
No leniency. To continue in all things to perform them 100% compliance.

So if you want to relate to God by the law Paul says you are cursed. There can be no lapses, no leeway, and no leniency at all. The law should teach us we cannot be right in God’s sight with the law. We get to that point when we come to salvation and we recognize God’s grace opens our eyes and we look to Him for salvation, but then as Christians we have this tendency to slide back into it. How can you tell? If you begin to starting thinking, “Well, you know I’m having a rough time right now and it’s probably because I’m not reading my Bible enough every day…” Perhaps one of the reasons you are having trouble simply because you are not reading the Bible simply because it is not having its work in you and your attitude is bad, but what really that smacks of more is “Well, if I read my Bible more God will bless me. He’s obligated to.” That’s legalism. Flat out legalism. This is always something we fight, we do not want to approach God on the basis of law or legalism, but we want to stay resting in His grace.

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled with the yoke of bondage. Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.” Galatians 5:1-6

This passage contains a verse that has been the source of a lot of confusion and controversy; verse 4, “You’ve been severed from Christ and you have fallen from grace.” Some have taught that, as a believer, someone who has truly trusted in Jesus Christ, can somehow lose their salvation. That to fall from grace means to lose your salvation. Others steadfastly maintain that once you obtain you can never lose your salvation. I affirm that. John 10:28, 29: “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” So, we believe in the security of the saints because of the promises of God and his preserving work. Jude says, “Those who are called beloved in God the Father and ‘kept’ for Jesus Christ.” He ‘keeps us.’ Paul says, “I am confident of this very thing that He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.” I believe that a Christian can fall from grace but that’s not the same as fall from salvation.

Chapters 5 and 6 in this letter follow a typical patter of Paul where he gives doctrine and then he gives the application of it and so correct living proceeds from correct doctrine. In chapters 1-4 he defends the Gospel of the Grace of God. He explains his origin in chapters 1 and 2, his truth in 3 and 4, now in chapters 5 and 6 he applies it to them very directly. So, he exhorts them to let that salvation that God has brought to them and wrought in them to flow in them in a life of righteousness and holiness.

Verse 1 says, “you have been freed.” Christ’s finished work has set the believer free and from the context that would be legalism and the law. Obviously that is true in salvation, but it is also true in sanctification for our Christian life as well. So, he doesn’t want them to return to that legalistic mindset in any way anymore so he tells them to stand firm because legalism is an ever-present foe that can come back to bite us. It is based in pride, self-glorification and God will have none of it. So he says stand firm; they are having difficulty with this.

One of the central difficulties of the legalists that had been plaguing this church was that it was necessary for them to be circumcised along with faith. They were Jewish Christians or at least claimed to be that. So, they said “fine, you’ve made a good start, you’ve believed in Christ but remember you have to be circumcised too because the law says that.” So, Paul begins with a very alarming statement in verse 2, he says to them: “If you receive circumcision Christ will be of no benefit to you.” I think he probably has there attention, but the key to understanding this then, is in verse 3: “I testify again that every man who receives circumcision that he is under obligation to keep the whole law.” That’s what we were talking about in chapter 3:10; you cannot mix law and grace in your approach to God. Either you approach God through grace or you approach him through law or legalism; either through “my merit” which is legalism, or through “Christ’s merit.”

Even though circumcision is just this one little point it shifts the focus to the legal arrangement; away from the grace arrangement. Now, you are no longer relying on Christ’s work for you alone, somehow you are subtly applying your own work to the equation. God will not mix it. So you are appealing to God subtly to and to grow spiritually somehow on your own work and so Paul says you are becoming someone who seeks becoming justified by the law again. This creates and obligation because the law is a unit as we looked at Galatians 3:10 you can’t just do part of it…it’s all or nothing. So, the consequences bring us to verse 4, “You have been severed from Christ, you have fallen from grace.” What does that mean? The word “severed” means “to be made ineffective.” So, to turn to legalism as your approach to God and your relationship to Him is to repudiate Christ’s work as being totally sufficient and so you are in essence saying “I don’t want just His work I want mine to.” Well, we can’t mix them… so anyone who puts any trust in self has adopted a stance where Christ is not needed and then Christ, Paul says, does you no good.

Now, you have to take all of Paul’s writings not just one verse and build a theology on that and so we know from Paul’s other writings he’s not talking about losing your salvation he’s talking about falling into legalism and out of a grace standing with God. Your growth is going to stop. So that’s why he says therefore you have fallen from grace. You haven’t fallen from salvation if you are a believer, but you have fallen from the grace arrangement or method of sanctification. You’re leaving grace when you are back into the law. So, when we fall from grace we fall into the law. That’s the same error that repeated a lot today. Believers that begin to base their relationship with God on what church they belong to or regulations and observances that they observe…. It’s very subtle…… Paul is telling us that it is a very serious matter. You are not going to grow because you have cut yourself off from the mindset that God is doing it…

Remember that Christianity is a relationship and it is not a religion. We define that today in the sense of religion being something that takes effort involved in a faith system. Christianity is a relationship. The most important thing about being a Christian is not what you do but who you are and what you’ve been made by the presence of Christ in you. Works don’t make you holy; the life of Christ in you does. Look in chapter 4:19: “My children with whom I am in labor until Christ is formed in you.” What does that mean “Christ is formed in you?” That’s true spirituality; that you are allowing Christ to minister his life through you again by relying on him alone. Jesus said “abide in Me and you will produce much fruit.” So, you can see how this subtly can shift your whole orientation and can short-circuit your growth. Works do not make you holy, the life of Christ in you does.

Now, let’s just look at two contrasts…. He says here in verse 5 “the power of our life, of the faith life, is the Spirit. For, we through the Spirit, by faith are waiting for the hope of righteousness.” Our resources are not in ourselves but in the Spirit of God. The Spirit enables us to live godly. That to me is the missing doctrine in Christian counseling today. I’m talking about Christian psychology. When was the last time that you listened to one of these programs on the radio by Christian psychologists and talk to people calling in and they have all of these techniques and methodologies but how often do you hear them say “This is something the Spirit of God has to do and you need to rely on Him and pray that God will work this work in your heart.” Where’s the Holy Spirit in most of what you hear today? You see that is where our resources are located….in Him. Romans 8 says it very clearly: “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do weak as it was through the flesh God did sending his own Son in the likeness and in the offering for sin he condemns him in the flesh in order that the requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” The requirement of the law is not fulfilled by us it is fulfilled in us because of the residence of the Spirit in our heart. The Christian life is the life of the Spirit. So, that’s why I feel that we should not shrink back in the void because of charismatic issues shrink back to a position where we do not talk about the Spirit. The Spirit of God. And we do not recognize the importance and the centrality of His ministry in our life—that would be a big mistake. So, the power of the faith life is the Sprit not the law/legalism. And the second thing that he says is that the expression of the faith life is love—verse 6. For in Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything but faith working through love. For those in Christ the outward works and rituals like this mean nothing. What matters is the evidence of a radical change in the heart and the evidence of the fruit of the Spirit is residing in there. What is the first fruit of the Spirit that is mentioned? Galatians 5:22: “The fruit of the Spirit is first love.” Now, that is the answer to the issue of obedience… can’t someone say they can just live however they want to because they are secured by grace?…. You see, that’s not the evidence of a saved heart, a transformed heart. A transformed heart loves God and desires to obey God because he loves God. The “motivation” is the issue not obedience. We are to be obedient to God…commands do not mean legalism; just because we have commands in the Bible that doesn’t make it legalistic. It’s your motivation for wanting to obey that command. If there is any hint at all that your desire to obey that command is an order to get in good standing with God that is legalism. If your desire is to be obedient to the command so that you might please God because of you love for him—that’s the proper motivation of grace.

I tell people that there isn’t anything you can do today that will make you more accepted by God or less accepted by God. Your acceptance with God has nothing to do with what you do. Your acceptance with God is centered with what Jesus Christ has done. Now, that’s done and this is grace now how do you respond to that? If you are a true believer your desire is “I love God and I want to be obedient to Him.” If there is another desire there it is from the flesh…

Remember two things, the law was given to reveal God’s glory and in the case of the Israelites to regulate their life. The timeless aspect of the law is that it is always a revelation of God’s glory, but as far as being a regulation of life, that was limited to the Israelites. They were under a certain covenant called the Mosaic Covenant where everything in their life was regulated by the law and their relationship with Him was with legalism. They were saved by grace through faith but they were to do certain things in order to receive blessings and if they didn’t then they were disciplined. They, themselves, wanted to be under that covenant. We look back now and God says that it was an illustration for all of history and all of humanity of how we can’t fulfill it. So, we should not desire to be under that kind of relationship with God.

We have been set free in Christ. Let us live in all the freedom that is ours.

Let’s pray: Father in heaven we thank you for the freedom we have as sons and daughters in Christ. That we have been freed from the condemnation of the law; all of the penalty that we owed and all of its righteous claims on us have been paid and satisfied in our Savior Jesus Christ. There is nothing left to claim on us and yet, Lord, because of that freedom Paul says not to use it as an opportunity for sin and to live in license but to recognize now that we now have a freedom we did not have before; to be obedient to God and that we can do it from the power from him through the Spirit who resides in us. Lord, help us make us make our lives one that would be pleasing to you because of this reason. May we really understand the freedom we have and may it bring joy to our hearts that we are those for whom Christ has died, we are those whom have received the Spirit. Father thank you for the fellowship we have to night in His Name. Amen.

Mooberry, Pastor James, “The Faithful Word” two decades of expository teaching tapes.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply