The Law Arouses Sin
If a married man were to go on a business trip to a different country and one night after work, while he was sitting in a pub sipping a drink, he was approached by a
very attractive
woman with “cruel intentions”, what would be this man’s motive for staying true to his wife? The ring on his finger? The piece of paper that he signed on his wedding day? No! These external things will never keep a person from committing adultery.
The
strongest motivation for the husband
to remain true to
his wife
would be if he loved her.
It is exactly the same with Christians and holy living. The fact that a Christian ought to love
their neighbor
simply because the Bible says so is not enough motivation for them to actually do it. In fact most people perform rather poorly at things they ought to
do,
and much better at things they want to
do.
It is a fact that when we tell somebody they are not allowed to do something, we are actually arousing a desire inside them that wants to do that very thing! This is exactly what the
law does. People would not have
known what sin
was if it were not for the law, because
the
law
says “don’t do
this” or “don’t touch
that”:
What shall we say
then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin
except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall
not
covet.” But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. (Rom 7:7-8 NKJV)
One of the predominant doctrines doing the rounds in the church today regarding moral living, is that if a person is not performing very well morally we should probably question if they were really saved
in the
first place, or whether God can
use
them at all.
However it’s really not our prerogative to stand in front of one of God’s children (who may just be going through a rough time), point our finger and say “I don’t think they are really saved”. Who are we to judge? Chances are
good
that such a brother or sister might be
sitting
under the teaching
of
a person or ministry that
is
still preaching holy living and moral behavior modification at the cost of being unconditionally accepted and
loved by God and this might be causing them to struggle with some bad habit or pattern of immorality. The
Bible actually tells us to
restore such a person
with gentleness:
Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. (Gal
6:1 NKJV)
However when someone who claims to be saved, carries on in the same destructive lifestyle patterns for
years and years and simply pops into church when it’s convenient for a religious
little Sunday morning “fix”, with their lives
void of any passion for God, it might be a good idea to talk to them about whether they were really saved in the first place.
But back to the point, a definite indication of legalism is when upholding some moral standard or code is considered to be more important than the person struggling with upholding it. In some circles where people call themselves Christians, people are actually thrown out from their midst if they commit a certain type of mistake.
Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of
wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions,
heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries… (Gal
5:19-21a NKJV)
From this verse it is interesting to see that the Bible lists drinking too much beer or wine up there with
murder. Although we shouldn’t condone this kind of behavior, we are not to pass judgment on anybody either, because we do
not
always understand their circumstances.
Contrary to popular belief however, telling people that they don’t have to
obey
the laws of Moses anymore actually helps them to have more victory over sin, because it lifts the mould of external behavior modification
off them. At salvation God gives us a
100% righteous born again spirit man
on the inside that wants to live for
God, wants to love other people and wants to do
good.
Ryan Rufus from New Nature Publications1 (Hong Kong) says: “Any true believer will admit that if they had
the choice to push a button that would allow them to never sin again, they would push that button in an instant”.
This is proof that the laws of God have now been written on our hearts and that we don’t need the external written code
(the
law) to
direct us anymore:
…I will put My laws in their mind and write
them on their hearts [this means God gave us the desire to
please Him and have
fellowship with Him]; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. (Heb
8:10b NKJV, annotations added)
The laws referred to
in this verse are not the 10 Commandments either, since we are living
under a new and better covenant and
not
under the Old Covenant anymore.
Before we came to faith in Christ, the law was our schoolmaster that taught us “holy living” and was only a
type and a shadow of the real thing, namely faith in Christ. The law, like a signpost, was only supposed to point us to the real
thing - we were never supposed
to set up camp next to the signpost!
Therefore the law was our
tutor
to
bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by
faith. But after
faith
has
come, we are no
longer under a tutor. (Gal
3:24-25 NKJV)
The Bible calls the law (that was written on tablets of stone) the
“ministry of death”:
But if the ministry of death, written
and engraved on
stones, was glorious, so that the
children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because
of
the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? (2 Cor 3:7-8 NKJV, emphasis added).
If we now tell people that they should live up to the demands of this Old Covenant System, it means that we are actually putting death on
them.
To conclude, if people think that we are saying they can just go out and live in
full blown depravity, licentiousness and immorality, simply running like animals after the desires of their flesh, then they are wrong. If God has removed
our
old sinful nature
with its lustful desires, why should we
live in it any longer?
…knowing
this, that our old man
was crucified
with Him, that the body of sin
might be done away with, that we should
no longer be slaves of sin. (Rom 6:6 NKJV)
Just as we once followed like slaves after the lusts of our old sinful nature, we now have the desire and privilege to follow the
desires of our new 100%
righteous reborn spirit:
I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your
members as slaves of uncleanness, and
of
lawlessness leading to more
lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. (Rom 6:19
NKJV)
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