Law and Grace pt.2

Here’s my proposal: Maybe it’s because of a failure on our part to realize truth of the text that we are now considering.

This failure happens in two primary ways (we will talk about one this week and one next week). Just tune in, re-focus, and let’s examine ourselves, each one of us, and if this isn’t the way you are bent, tune in next week, we will get to you, but some may can relate.

The First Group [danger], the first tendency on our part, always is the one we’ve already talked about…to dismiss the law and not allow it to do its work in and upon us. So for the believer (the Evangelical) this is where we can find the danger and cliff of misunderstanding… because in the Evangelical world (of which I tend to lean…I want to see people saved to the Good News of Jesus and I am willing to do just about anything short of sin—or at least purposeful sin, to do it—so if you are like me listen up); in the Evangelical there is a tension to dismiss the law that applied to all those who came before Jesus. We easily like to justify, “We don’t like the law, that’s condemnation. There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. We live in the New Covenant times; the times of grace.” Remember what we’ve been saying a little bit of truth mixed in with some misunderstood and misinterpreted thoughts; even teaching (false doctrine—sounds sexy because it’s less judgment, less calories, but also less filling when it comes to fulness of Jesus). Let’s just tease out the falseness of this dangerous misunderstanding in this line of thinking: it is the terrible falseness of regarding grace as something that dismisses the law altogether.

GRACE WAS NEVER MEANT TO DISMISS THE LAW, AND IT MUST NEVER BE EVEN THOUGHT OF AS AN OPTION. BECAUSE THAT’S HERESY AND CONTRARY TO SCRIPTURE.

Now I’ve got some weight behind me to back up such a bold statement…it’s on good authority too, the words of the Apostle Paul. If there was ever a preacher that preached grace it was Paul. You see Paul was a Pharisee for the Jews—Religious Pedigree alone would have made him the Gen. Patton of the Jews—He was acting as JUDGE, JURY and EXECUTIONER using the authority of God’s law, handed down to Moses, to destroy followers of Jesus, right up until, he hit the holy right hook of Christ Himself and got knock into darkness so hard it made him see light. So even if you are like me, with a past and have been redeemed from some dark stuff, know Paul pressing desire to help people see the hope and grace of Christ, makes our little personal crusades of freedom look like child’s play (not trying to rob you of anything that you’ve overcome, because there’s nothing personal in that statement anyway because YOU haven’t overcome anything. Christ overcame it for you, to glory of His Father alone and now stands in your place).

In the first three chapters of Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, he deals with the whole problem of the law. He must deal with it in connection with both the Jews (the law was everything) and the Gentiles (who had no part in the law whatsoever).

People were getting confused about the law and grace and Paul shows them that they are now saved by grace. He then paints the picture as if imagining a Jew saying, “Ok, so you are saying that the law was of no value, that it was a mistake and didn’t do any good?” And Paul replies as if the question had been asked, like this:

ESV

31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

So let’s put that into context… After Paul has outlined the great way of salvation, he says:

ESV

27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

Let’s look at it this way: Why is it that we are not more thankful to God for what He has done for us in the Lord Jesus Christ? Why is it that we are not always filled with a sense of praise and thanksgiving? What is the matter?Now, let me press you into the sweetness of seeing this mingling of relationship between law and grace in one Scriptures’ greatest teaching moments ever. The best example I could point you to is captured in Luke’s Gospel, chapter 7 (turn there with me-it’s the book right before John-short hop).

Let me set this up....Between the verses of , Luke tell the story of our Lord being invited into the house of a Pharisee to have a meal. He was sitting (reclining) at the table when a woman, a great known sinner in the town, came in and began to grovel at his feet, and actually began to wash His feet with her tears. And then she begins to wipe his feet with her hair, then this harlot starts kissing his feet, and anointing them with oil (which was a big deal in Jewish customs and the oil was expensive.

The self-righteous Pharisee (Simon) was amazed at this and said to himself:

ESV

39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.”

The Lord realized what was in his thoughts and said: “Simon, let me tell you a story...

Then Jesus began to speak about two debtors—this is the most important teaching, which is ofter misunderstood. Let’s read vv.41-44

ESV

41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” 44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.

Then Jesus proceeds to draw a contrast between Simon and the woman. Simon had invited our Lord to a meal but had not received him with the customary politeness. He had not anointed his head with oil, and he had not given him water to wash his feet, or welcomed him with a kiss. But the woman, there she was, kissing his feet, washing them with her tears, wiping them with her hair and then anointing the with the most precious oil. THIS IS AN AMAZING CONTRAST!

What is this contrast due to? Jesus tells us:

ESV

47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

What does he mean???? It kind of looks at first as though he’s saying that the more you sin, the better it is, because the more sin, the more will be forgiven you, and the more you are forgiven, the more you will love.

Jesus basically turns to Simon and tells him (Brantley translation) “this woman is treating me like this and in a manner so different from you because she realizes the greatness of my forgiveness to her. You have treated me as you have done because you do not realize my great love to you in the forgiveness of your sins.” So is Jesus putting a premium on sinning? Is he saying that it is a good thing for us to sin heavily and deeply in order tha we shall have more forgiven, and therefore love more?

Of course not. No, what Jesus is teaching that is the realization of the need for forgiveness of sins that matters. The woman saw her need and realized she had been forgiven, but Simon, being a proud Pharisee (religious elite), did not see any need for forgiveness. You see Simon had never led the adulterous life of this woman; he had been a very good and respectable man. But Simon, not having seen the need, had not received forgiveness, and so he did not love.

BUT, that does not mean that he did not need to be forgiven; it does not mean that he was not a sinner, because he was. We all are no matter how good and respectable you are (or think you are).

ESV

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Actually, Simon was a greater sinner than the woman because of his spiritual pride, which is the greatest sin of all. His failure to realize his sinfulness, that is the trouble, the Lord was in effect saying by his teaching. “People do not love me because they do not know realize what I have done for them.”

Here’s the whole point: What is the state of your love and mine for the Lord? Do we love him? Do we rejoice in Him? Can we say with Peter:

ESV

8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,

This blessed Savior, the Word who was made flesh and died for us—to what extent do we love him?

The answer is: to the extent to which we realize the greatness of the forgiveness that we receive in Him and through Him. And what makes us realize the depth and the greatness of this forgiveness? There is only one answer. It is our consciousness of our sinfulness and of our need of forgiveness. And the thing that gives us that is the law! Nothing else.

So we will never appreciate grace until we have understood the teaching of the law and have seen ourselves under the law. Those who dismiss the law will never know much about grace.

*Jesus is where the relationship of law and grace meet and we find our fullness in Him.

We all talk about loving the Lord, we repeat the phrases, but I am asking, my friends, are we not a little convicted at how little weight are words carry? That are words are not even coming from the very depth or our heart, but more evolved and drifting like vapor from our mouths like, uncaring pleasantries that are expected in our Southern “polite” up-bringing. Have we ever known sorrow for sin? Have we ever known the plague of our own hearts?

Those who have are the people who love the Lord. That is what our Lord taught in the story that he told at Simon’s house: “But he who is forgiven little, loves little” ( ).