May 12
25
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 speak 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.