Jul 18
23
Love and the Law
Acts 15: 5: But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which
believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command
them to keep the law of Moses…7: Peter rose up, and said unto them,…10:
Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the
disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
This certain sect of the Pharisees not only wanted Christ preached but
also the Law of Moses. Today, the vast majority of messages are centered
on how man should live, how he ought to treat his fellow man, what he
should be abstaining from and what he should commit himself to. When
Peter opposed this error he called it “tempting God.” Why?
Such messages tempt God because they deny that Christ and him crucified
is sufficient to create obedience in God’s people. Preaching the law to
make believers obedient tempts God because it denies that the continual
preaching of the person of Christ the Lord in whom sinners were chosen,
redeemed, regenerated, preserved and shall be conformed unto is enough
to make them obedient. It tempts God because it denies that true worship
is in the heart and not in the flesh, in the spirit and not in the dead
letter.
Commanding men to reform their lives tempts God because it is a denial
that Christ’s circumcision of the heart is not sufficient to create a
new inner man who loves God his Savior and the brethren. It is a denial
that Christ’s blood alone purges the conscience from dead works to serve
the living God. Carnal worship tempts God by calling God a liar who says
that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed the
believer from Moses’ law of sin and death. Preaching series-after-series
on abstaining from sexual immorality, or giving, or any other form of
morality, is directly tempting God because it puts confidence in the
flesh, points sinners to the flesh, worships the flesh and exalts not
God, but self.
True believers are obedient to the only ruler of their life, the LORD
Jesus Christ. Therefore believers desire to hear Christ speaks and to
follow his commands. God’s commandment is fulfilled when love for Christ
is implanted in the newly created pure heart, resulting in faith
unfeigned. Unfeigned faith needs not disguise itself with a show of
moral reform for it is true faith which worships God in Spirit, rejoices
in Christ Jesus and puts no confidence in the flesh. I Ti. 1: 5: Now the
end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good
conscience, and of faith unfeigned: 6: From which some having swerved
have turned aside unto vain jangling; 7: Desiring to be teachers of the
law; understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm.
Clay Curtis