Is Grace so radical, outrageous, shocking, scandalous, and limitless that you can’t out-sin God’s Grace? Will God ever say, “Sorry, friend you’ve reached your limit; no more forgiveness for you? There are two extremes to Grace. The first extreme is legalism which says you must obey the law to please God, and the other is license or licentiousness which says, since all things are lawful for me I can do whatever I want and sin with abandon! Grace rejects both extremes.
Some people don’t understand how painful sin can be.
“Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid.” Ro 6:1-2
“You are free; yet do not use liberty as a cloak to hide your sin.” 1 Pet 2:16
Grace has delivered us from the OT punishments of the Law.
Grace will not rescue us from the natural consequences of sin.
“Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” John 6:14
When we fail, instead of a stoning or a lynching, Jesus offers forgiveness.
1. It deceives us 11-13
Legalism deceives us into thinking the way to God is through Good Works.
You could not enter into Judaism without circumcision.
Physical Circumcision is spiritually useless.
It enslaves us 14
The Law enslaves us to a harsh set of expectations and punishments.
If you place yourself under the law, you are indebted to obey the entire law.
The death penalty was reserved for those who broke the OT law.
Jesus would rather see lawbreakers repent and find forgiveness.
The lawmaker became the law keeper and then died for lawbreakers.
Jesus removed our debt and nailed it to the cross.
It is surprising that anybody would ever want to return to bondage.
It exploits us 15
The Law is dangerous because it is used by the enemy to exploit us.
The Law is not so much a sin-stopper as it is a sin-revealer.
Legalism is one of the favorite weapons of the enemy.
The accuser of our brethren has been cast down. Revelation 12:10
It condemns us 16-17
The Lie of legalism is that rules and regulations will make you righteous.
Instead of blessing you, legalism curses and condemns you!
We are not to allow the judgmental attitude of others to destroy our joy.
3 requirements of the law that condemn us.
#1 Dietary laws. Clean and unclean foods.
#2 Festival Requirements. Pilgrimages and sacrifices.
#3 Sabbath Day. The early Gentiles worshiped on the Lord’s Day.
Do not judge your brother: Romans 14:1-8
Do not return to the bondage of the law. Galatians 4:9-11
We have no such commandment of obedience to the Law. Acts 15:24
The law says, ‘Do this,’ and it is never done. Grace says, ‘Believe in this,’ and everything is done already. The Law is nothing more than a passing shadow! But Jesus Christ is the real substance! The Law is a strict taskmaster, and people use it to make us feel condemned! Jesus brings genuine freedom of conscience.
MESSAGE
The Godfather, American actor Al Pacino once said, as a youth “I asked God for a bike, but I know God doesn’t work that way. So I stole a bike and asked for forgiveness.” (because obviously God is a forgiving God, right?)
Crazy huh? I once had an atheist boss who loved to razz me. He would come on the job site and with great enthusiasm say, “Oh you Christians, you’ve got it made, you can do anything you want to do, because all you have to do is just ask God for forgiveness.”
There are people who subscribe to the idea you can sin with abandon because you can always ask for forgiveness later. “I’m good at sinning, God is good at forgiving; it’s a match made in heaven, right?”
So here’s my question If Grace means that God is forgiving, does it follow that you can just go and sin all you want? Is grace so radical, outrageous, shocking, scandalous, and limitless that you can’t out-sin God’s Grace? Will God ever say, “sorry, friend you’ve reached your limit of 70X7, no more forgiveness for you.
Does grace mean you get to do whatever you want? Let me put it this way, “If that’s really what you want to do, you have my permission to go right ahead and test that theory.” If you are sincerely asking that question, it may just reveal that you don’t understand how painful sin can be, nor how transforming Grace is.
I have always let my children know that I loved them completely and unconditionally no matter what. I will always love them and forgive them. But let’s just say that one of my children looked at me and said, “So I can just go stick my hand in the blender and you will still love me?” “Well… yes… I don’t know why you would want to do that, but if you do, you should know that, it’s going to be extremely painful. I will, of course, pull your hand out of the blender and rush you to the hospital to stop the bleeding and rescue what I can of your hand. But no matter what, I will still love you and cherish you.”
Grace is no more a license to sin than electricity is a license to electrocute yourself! Asking the question “So can I just go sin all I want?” is like asking, “So I can take this knife and stab it into my leg?” Yes, if that is really what you want to do, but you will pay an awful price for it!
The Apostle Paul put it this way, “What? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid, how can we who have died to sin live any longer in it?” Romans 6:1-2 “Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning.”
Last week we said there are two extremes to Grace. The first extreme is legalism which says you must obey the law to please God, (it’s a works based system) and the other extreme is license or licentiousness which says, since all things are lawful for me I can do whatever I want and sin with abandon!
Grace rejects both extremes. Sin doesn’t stop God from loving us, but neither does Grace give us a license to do whatever we please. 1 Peter 2:16 “You are free, yet do not use liberty as a cloak to hide sin or bad behavior.”
We have been delivered from the curse of the Law, meaning that the Old Testament laws and its punishments will no longer be inflicted upon us. But our liberty does not give us a license to sin. Grace will not rescue us from the devastating and destructive natural consequences of sin.
in John 6:14 Jesus said, “Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”
We are not under Old Testament Law, but under New Testament Law, known as the law of liberty, which promises that Jesus will transform the sinner and give him the power to resist sin; but when we fail, instead of a stoning or a lynching, Jesus offers forgiveness. That’s what it means to be delivered from the curse of the Law.
Let’s talk about Legalism; Legalism elegantly masquerades as genuine Christianity, but it is an imposter.
There are three different shades of legalism. The first is Mosaic Legalism. This is an attempt to live under the Old Testament Law. However, We are meant to be New Covenant Christians, not Old Covenant believers. We Christians are not to place ourselves under bondage to The Old Testament Law in any way shape or form, And yet we do.
The second form of Legalism is Religious Legalism. Religious legalism is where we impose extra biblical rules and commandments on ourselves and others. This is the drab and lifeless “thou shalt not” lifestyle.
A third form of Legalism is Behavioral Legalism, otherwise known as Judgementalism. This is a legalistic, critical attitude.
I know of no affliction in Christendom which is more widespread, and more devastating in its destructiveness, than Legalism.
Why is legalism so bad? Because it deceives us into thinking that we are better than others. But eventually it enslaves us into a rigid lifestyle of performance we can never reach. Whether we know it or not it exploits us and renders us vulnerable to the accusations of the enemy. And then it condemns us and leads us to criticize and judge others who do not meet our standards, cutting them down in order to build ourselves up.
1. It deceives us 11-13
Legalism deceives us into thinking that the way to God is through rituals, and ceremonies, and through Good Works. Mosaic Legalism is a complex system of laws that claims to show us how to get right with God and stay right with God, but the truth is that It is completely unable to offer forgiveness or an entrance to the kingdom.
11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision performed without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.
Circumcision is a big deal to the Jew. You can’t enter into a covenant relationship without it! The ritual of Circumcision is the first step in becoming one of the chosen people of God. But there is one HUGE problem with it as a religious rite. No child, youth, or adult who has ever been circumcised has ever received forgiveness because of their circumcision. Physical Circumcision is spiritually useless.
And when we sinners humbly submit to him, in faith, believing that Jesus paid for our sins in our place, it is then that genuine spirituality begins. It is then that a genuine relationship with God begins. It is then, because of a powerful faith without the works of the Law.
It enslaves us 14
The second reason legalism is so dangerous is that it enslaves us to a harsh set of expectations and when we cannot meet those expectations, it punishes us severely. If you place yourself under the law, to obey the Sabbath, or to follow the Ten Commandments, you are then indebted to obey the entire law.
For breaking the OT law, you were supposed to be stoned. This was the most common punishment. Other forms of punishment were burning to death, being shot by arrows or being hung
The Old Testament prescribed death punishment for several crimes including stealing (Joshua, 7:20-26), Sabbath breaking (Numbers, 15:32-36), preaching or practicing a different religion, blasphemy (Lev, 24:10- 16), cursing God and the king (Kings, 21:1-16), being a medium or a wizard (Levi, 20:27), being a stubborn or rebellious son (Deut, 21:18-21), and other major crimes. Stoning was one of the primary methods of capital punishment in the Old Testament.
Politically, I’m a crime and punishment kind of guy. I want to see criminals and lawbreakers punished. I’m sure you do to. But as a Christian, I’m a sin and forgiveness kind of guy. I would rather see criminals and lawbreakers repent and find forgiveness in Christ Jesus. And this creates a kind of tension – on the one hand if you insist on crime, I want the judge to impose the penalty of the law. On the other hand if you repent, I want the judge of the whole earth, Jesus, to forgive you. . Jesus Himself was hung on a cross for our crimes. The lawmaker became the lawkeeper and then died for lawbreakers.
14 Jesus canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
We were in debt to the law to obey it. The law consisted of many decrees against us, which were hostile to us because we are sinners. Jesus took those decrees, removed them from our sin ledger which said, “you owe so you must pay,” He nailed them to the cross, canceled the law, it’s decrees and our indebtedness to it and has taken the law and its curses out of the way!
Jesus paid that debt. Every terrible sin you and I have ever committed in thought, word or act, was nailed to the cross. These sins were placed on Jesus. When they drove the nails through his hands and feet, they were unknowingly driving the nail in the coffin of the law! Jesus didn’t need to dispose of the law, instead he fulfilled it and now, the Old Testament law has no application to our lives! Now we are free!
Isn’t it surprising that anybody would ever want to return to bondage? Surely, that must grieve our God.
It exploits us 15
Verse 15 indicates that one of the reasons that the law is so dangerous to us is because it is a tool used by the enemy to exploit us, accuse us and punish us. The Law was never intended to be a sin-stopper. It was intended to be a sin-revealer. The 10 Commandments were given by God to cause sin to increase. The Law of God will never empower us to decrease our sinning
15 Jesus disarmed the principalities and powers, and made a public display of them, having triumphed over them.
This verse can be seen in one of two ways; as human authority, or as demonic authority; both of them have been disarmed, but it seems to me this is talking about the Devil and his minions.
You see, legalism is one of the favorite weapons of the enemy. Satan loves to get Christians to be legalistic, for then he has destroyed their enjoyment of the Spirit and he can use them to spread havoc among a generation or a company of believers, and ruin a vital, active, and growing Christian life.
The Accuser is not neutral. He takes pleasure in hauling sinners into the divine court, yet that is not enough for him. The book of Hebrews says that it is the Great Accuser who holds the power of death. And Revelation comes right out and names him “the Destroyer.” Satan also seeks to carry out the punishment on the guilty. Entrap. Bring charges. Destroy. Satan uses the law like a weapon.
Revelation 12:10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, ‘Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.
No more to exploit us.
It condemns us 16-17
The great Lie of legalism is that rules and regulations will make you righteous. But instead of blessing you, legalism curses and condemns you! Colossians 2:16-17 warns us not to allow the legalistic, judgmental attitude of others to destroy our joy.
16 Therefore, don’t allow anyone to judge you in regard to food and drink, or in respect to a festival or a new moon, or a Sabbath day— 17 things which are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.
Paul mentioned three different requirements judaizers were trying to impose on the early gentile Christians. #1 Dietary laws. Food and drink. They were being judged, snubbed and shunned because they were eating unclean animals. #2 Festival Requirements. Every year Jewish Males were supposed to go to a minimum of three feasts in Jerusalem, Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. There were 7 biblical feasts, and the gentiles were castigated and looked down upon because they didn’t join the pilgrimages to Jerusalem. #3 Sabbath Day. Even in Paul’s day the Gentile Church had begun to separate from Judaism, distinguishing itself by worshiping on the Lord’s Day. Some worshiped on both days, but if not, the Judaizers would wag their fingers and shake their heads in Judgementalism and condemnation.
Romans 14 has this to say about Jewish practices: one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it.
Galatians 4:9-11 is even stronger. How is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.
At one point, the Apostles themselves held a council in Jerusalem to discuss the Law. Here was their conclusion: We have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, “You must be circumcised and keep the law” to whom we gave no such commandment. Acts 15:24
Verse 17 tells us that these practices are nothing more than a passing shadow! But Jesus Christ is the real substance! The Law is a shadow! Jesus is the substance! Dietary laws may make a man clean physically, but only Christ can make a person clean spiritually! The festivals, pilgrimages and sacrifices themselves don’t cleans from sin, only Jesus does that. Obeying the Sabbath is a ritual that won’t draw you close to God, only resting from your works and trusting in Christ can do that!
The law says, ‘Do this,’ and it is never done. Grace says, ‘Believe in this,’ and everything is done already.
Hebrews 4:9 explains that our Sabbath rest as Christians is to rest from our works!
In closing remember this: Secularism will cheat you, Christ will complete you. The Law is a shadow, but Christ is the substance!
The Law is a strict taskmaster, and people use us to make us feel condemned! Jesus brings genuine freedom of conscience. In Jesus external rituals and practices are unnecessary, and in Christ the critics and Judgementalism of the religious are silenced and instead we have liberty to love God sincerely and live for Christ completely!
Leave a Reply