In 1525, Martin Luther preached a sermon explaining how God preaches only two sermons in the whole Bible. In his sermon, Luther
said:
“Now the first sermon, and doctrine, is the law of God. The second is the gospel. These two sermons are not the same. Therefore, we must have a good grasp of the matter in order to know how to differentiate between them….The law commands and requires us to do certain things. ..The gospel does the very opposite, and says, ‘This is what God has done for you; he has let his Son be made flesh for you, has let him be put to death for your sake… For the gospel teaches exclusively what has been given us by God, and not—as in the case of the law—what we are to do and give to God.”
Mankind is in the process of equipping ourselves with the weapons of family, church, and the civil government for our task of ruling over the earth (Genesis 1:26-28). As we do so, I believe this lesson from Luther is absolutely essential for us to learn.
Law and Gospel (a synonym for “Grace”) are God’s fraternal twins, possessing opposite personalities and with radically contrasting jobs to do, but both absolutely essential to God’s eternal purpose. This same emphasis has been the thrust (and the name) of my ministry for the last decade or so—”Two Edges of the Sword” (Law and Grace).
So, the sword of the Word of God always has these same two edges, Law and Grace, just as God has two, distinctly different fraternal twins. The Law edge cuts me open, exposing my sin, while the Grace edge cuts that sin out! As both are proclaimed, it is necessary to clearly distinguish between them so each is used for its intended purpose (Psalm 149:6; Hebrews 4:12; Revelation 1:16)!
However, Satan has made this more difficult than it sounds. At the Fall in the Garden, all of Adam’s descendants were “in Adam” when he ate of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. We too ate of that fruit, “in him,” thus falling into sin with him. As a result, now, every time we draw breath, we are unconsciously discerning good and evil, right and wrong, for ourselves, according to our own standard, independently of God. We are doing exactly what Satan told Eve she would do if she ate of the fruit of the Tree—try to “be good” based on what we do. One might say, all mankind is totally ADDICTED to living that way. We are unconscious addicts!
For example, at my Baptist church growing up, we regularly sang the popular Christian hymn, “Trust and Obey” without realizing we were feeding our addiction to pleasing God by our good works (“obey”) every time we sang it! The hymn proclaims, “Trust and obey, For there’s other way, To be happy in Jesus, But to trust and obey.”
But how can that be? Didn’t Paul say, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him” (Colossians 2:6)? We were saved “by grace alone through faith alone” rather than by obedience to God’s Law (Ephesians 2:8, 9)?
When we are born again and we have an experience with the living God in Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit comes inside us individually to dwell, and we become as little children. We are then living simply by faith, trusting that what Daddy wants from me will happen, naturally, spontaneously and unconsciously (NSU), by His Spirit! THAT is “by grace alone, through faith alone!”
I am learning to live this way, as a little child, simply trusting Daddy to do His thing in and through me. As I do so, I am finding my “want-to’s” are changing. I find I am, NSU, actually wanting to do things that are God’s will (Philippians 2:13). I notice that I am actually keeping God’s law (Romans 8:4), never asking “Why, Daddy?”, but always saying, “Yes, Daddy!” When I am living this way, I am truly living by DOING WHAT I WANT TO DO—”by grace through faith alone,” and my addiction is broken!
However, “falling off the wagon” and back into the performance drug is so easy. When I inevitably sin, in thought, word or deed, as I always will while still living in this sinful body, what do I do? My ability to fulfill my mission of ruling over the earth depends upon how I respond to this inevitable situation.
If I immediately embrace that sin and eagerly, openly repent (James 5:16; 1 John 1:5-10; 2 Corinthians 12:8-10), I am, at that moment, fulfilling my mission in life!. I am affirming that I am not a sinless saint, but a repentant, fully forgiven sinner, living by faith (living in the Spirit)!
On the other hand, if I push that sin under the rug by ignoring it, blaming someone else, excuse myself, or vow to be more obedient next time, I have succumbed to the addiction again!.
If I am living by faith, I have, in essence, changed the words to the famous hymn “Trust and Obey” to “Trust, and trust more, For there’s no other door, To find happiness in Jesus, But to trust and trust more!” I am in the process of learning to live this way. Come join me “on the wagon,” by faith in the cross of Christ and its genuine, complete forgiveness, and the life of God within us, as we rule in family, church and civil government!
