10 reasons not to preach the law to the Christian

10 reasons not to preach the law to the Christian

Apr 21, '08 1:24 PM

10 reasons not to preach the law  to the Christian

 

1. The law gives man the knowledge of sin or the knowledge of good and evil.

Romans 3:20 
20 ...for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Romans 7:7 
7 ...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."

 

2. The law turns sin into a transgression.

Romans 4:15 
15 ...for where there is no law there is no transgression.

Romans 7:8 
8 ... For apart from the law sin was dead.

 

3. The law makes man accountable for sin.

Romans 5:13 
13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

 

4. The law gives sin opportunities and strength.

Romans 6:14 
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law...

Romans 7:8 
8 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead.

1 Corinthians 15:56 
56 ...the strength of sin is the law.

 

5. The law increases sin.

Romans 5:20 
20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound.

Romans 7:5 
5 ...the sinful passions which were aroused by the law...

 

6. The law gives the devil a weapon.

Colossians 2:14 
14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

 

7. The law is against us.

Colossians 2:14
14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

 

8. The law is an unbearable burden.

Acts 15:10
10 Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

 

9. The law ministers condemnation.

2 Corinthians 3:9
9 For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.

 

10. The law ministers death and kills.

Romans 7:9 
I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died.

2 Corinthians 3:6-7
6 who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 
7 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious...

 

One reason to preach the law

The law was given by God to expose and increase sin in man. It forces man to see how utterly sinful he is and how far he has fallen short of the perfect standards of God.

This will bring him to his knees as he acknowledges his sinfulness, his inability to meet God's perfect standards and thus his need for grace -- for the Saviour. The law thus brings one to Christ.

Galatians 3:24 
24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

If you preach the law for this reason -- the reason for which it was given -- fine and good. Just make sure that you over-balance it with grace, for grace is the more glorious ministry.

2 Corinthians 3:9
9 For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.

But once a man has come to faith in Christ, he is no longer under the law but under grace. He is no longer under the tutor, but has become a son. He is no longer married to Mr Law, but is married to grace -- the person of Jesus. He is dead to the law because of Christ, who is the end of the law.

Galatians 3:24-26
24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 
25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

Romans 7:4 
4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another--to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.

Romans 10:4 
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Therefore, the law should not be preached to the Christian, unless it is to help him appreciate grace, and to understand the difference between law and grace, the old covenant and the new covenants, flesh and Spirit, works and faith, Hagar and Sarah, Ishmael and Isaac, Mount Sinai and Mount Zion, death and life, etc.

 

Abuse or abnormal use of the law

But if you preach the law as a code for Christian living, as a means to holy living, then you are simply abusing the law because it was not designed for that purpose. Worse, you will increase and strengthen sin in the church, instead of lessen it. Why? Because by the law is the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20). The law is the strength of sin (1 Corinthians 15:56). And the law was given so that sin might abound (Romans 5:20).

 

Ours is a ministry of reconciliation, not condemnation

To preach the law is to have a ministry of condemnation and death. In other words, you are ministering condemnation and death to our Lord's brothers. Our ministry today is a ministry of reconciliation. We tell the world, "Be reconciled to God because God has reconciled you to Himself through the sacrifice of His Son!" That is our ministry today.

2 Corinthians 5:18-21
18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 
19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. 
20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. 
21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

 

Preach from Mount Zion, not Mount Sinai

We no longer preach from Mount Sinai an angry God of punishment and judgment, but we preach from Mount Zion a God of forgiveness and grace -- all because of the finished work of Jesus.

Hebrews 12:18-24
18 For you have not come to the mountain [Sinai] that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, 
19 and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. 
20 (For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned[e] or shot with an arrow.” 
21 And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”) 
22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 
23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 
24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

Those who preach from Mount Sinai are unknowingly using the pulpit to pull people into the pit! Those who preach from Mount Zion pull people out of the pit. When the law was given on Mount Sinai, 3,000 people died (Exodus 32:28). When the Spirit was given on Mount Zion, 3,000 people were saved (Acts 2:41). The letter kills, the Spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:6).

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with his face shining, the people were afraid and ran away from him (Exodus 34:29-31). When Jesus came down the mountain after He was transfigured, the people ran towards Him (Mark 9:15). The law condemns the best of us, grace saves the worst of us.

 

The Spirit does not use the law to lead us

You may say, "Yes, we are saved by grace, but we still need the law for godly living."

No, we do not! We who are on this side of the cross cannot exhume Mr Law, marry him again and use him as a manual for "godly living". How can the law guide us into godly living when it is designed to strengthen and increase sin? Moreover, the Spirit of Grace does not use the law to guide the New Covenant believer.

Galatians 5:18
18 For if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Romans 7:6, AMP
6 But now we are discharged from the Law and have terminated all intercourse with it, having died to what once restrained and held us captive. So now we serve not under [obedience to] the old code of written regulations, but [under obedience to the promptings] of the Spirit in newness [of life].

 

The law has expired, God has wiped it out

God did not revise the law and come up with a second edition when He established the new covenant in His Son's blood. No, the law was nailed to the cross, erased, put away, put to death, abolished!

Ephesians 2:14-16
14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, 
15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, 
16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

Colossians 2:14
14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

Why did God do that? Why did God find fault with the old covenant of law?

Colossians 2:14
14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

Hebrews 8:7-8
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 
8 Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—

Simply because the law was against us. We cannot keep the law, and therefore, will always be under its curse -- instead of the blessing of a God who loves to bless -- as long as we insist on trying to keep it.

Galatians 3:10
10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”

 

How we uphold the law

Romans 3:30-31(NIV)
30 …there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 
31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

The "faith" spoken of here that justifies both the Jews and Gentiles is of course faith in Christ as opposed to justification by the law.

When we turn to this faith, we actually uphold the law.

How so?

When we put the law in its rightful high place of perfection by saying, “I cannot keep the law,” we uphold it.

But when we say, “I can keep the law,” we bring it down to our low levels and it is thus not upheld.

It is like the white belt Tae Kwan Do exponent who keeps boasting that he can beat the guy with the black belt. By thinking like this, he is demoting the guy with the black belt to his level.

But when he says, “Okay, this guy is to tough for me,” he is not only respecting the guy with the black belt, but he is also “upholding” him.

In Jesus' time, the scribes and Pharisees had brought the law down to their own levels by making it "keepable". And they thought that they were doing a pretty good job at keeping the law. 

That is why Jesus had to put the law back in its high place of perfection by saying things like "If your eye offends you, pluck it out. If your arm offends you, cut it off."

That is how serious the law is. If you want to be justified by keeping the law, then those are the standards that you must maintain.

 

The just shall live by faith

We who have been justified by the blood of Christ shall live by faith, not by the law. If you live by the law, then you are practising a righteousness that is based on the law. And no one can be justified by the law.

Romans 10:5 
5 For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.”

Galatians 3:11
11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.”

 

Tags: grace