18. The Commandments, Legalism & Antinomianism (Mt. 5:17-20)

REVIEW

FLIP CHART: SOM’S KEY VERSE, GOAL, MOTTO

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness ….” (Mt. 6:33a).

The law sends us to Christ for justification; Christ sends us back to the law for sanctification.

FLIP CHART: Show new “Perfect Righteousness” chart explaining steps to coming to Christ (As a worm, mourning, meek, spiritual hunger/thirst with the result of legal righteousness). Explain moral righteousness, immediate moral change at conversion, gradual change through life’s challenges and speeding up moral change via CCRC (Concentration, Choice, Reflection and Confession/Thanksgiving). Repeat the verse, “By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” (Heb. 10:14) HAVE SOMEONE COME FORWARD AND EXPLAIN THE CHART.)

FLIP CHART: Go over John Stott’s outline of SOM.

INTRODUCTION:

OUTLINE FOR TODAY:

1. What is meant by “these commandments?”

2. Christ Emphasizes the Importance of Obedience

3. The Obedient Will Be Rewarded

4. Legalism & the Commands of God

5. Antinomianism & the Commands of God

6. Grace Enables Law Keeping

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt. 5:17-20).

Jesus came to fulfill the Law The Law is pre-eminent.

The Law will not disappear The Law is permanent.

We must obey the Law The Law is pertinent.

THE COMMANDMENTS, LEGALISM & ANTINOMIANISM

I. WHAT IS MEANT BY “THESE COMMANDMENTS”

“Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt. 5:19).

QUESTION: What do you think “these commandments” mean?

Some feel “these commandments” refer to the Mosaic Law, others to the Noahide Law given prior to Moses, still others to the ‘ethical Decalogue’, The Ten Commandments. Others feel they refer to the teaching on the Sermon on the Mount and in fact all of the teaching of Jesus.

From the context, since Jesus has been talking about the OT Law and especially the moral law, it would seem “these commandments” refers to the OT moral law.

“Jesus equated His own words with the Word of God: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words shall not pass away.” (Mt. 24:35). What was true of the law, in its fullest meanings as the OT, was also true of Jesus’ teaching. It is timeless.” (MacArthur, 262).

Jesus says at the end of the Sermon, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mind and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house upon a rock.” (Mt. 7:24). He certainly equates His words with the OT Law.

Christ was developing what Paul referred to as “the law of Christ”.

“Paul harmonized the idea when he spoke of himself as being “”without he law of God but under the law of Christ”” (I Cor. 9:21). In Christ we are anything but lawless. Christ’s law is totally different from the Jewish judicial and ceremonial law and different from the OT moral law, with its penalties and curses for disobedience. But it is not different in the slightest from the holy, righteous standards that the OT law taught” (MacArthur, 273).

So ‘these commandments’ means primarily the OT moral law but also all the ethical teachings of Christ.

SO WHAT??? – Christ honored the Old Testament ethical code of conduct, the OT moral law.

II. CHRIST EMPHASIZES THE IMPORTANCE OF OBEDIENCE

“Breaking the commandments” is criticized, “practicing the commandments” is praised.

The Ten Commandments and the moral law of the OT have never been abrogated.

In this verse, Mt. 5:19, Jesus shows that keeping the law of God is a perpetual obligation.

The “Servant Messiah” prophesied by Isaiah came to honor the law: “He will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on the earth. In his law the islands will put their hope. … It pleased the LORD for the sake of his righteousness to make his law great and glorious.” (Isaiah 42:4, 21).

The purpose of the law:

“Through the law we become conscious of sin.” (Rom. 3:20).

“The law was added that the trespass might increase.” (Rom. 5:20).

“So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.” (Gal. 3:24).

Obedience to the Law and to the teachings of Jesus is required of every Christian:

“All Scripture (OT Torah) is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness…” II Tim. 3:15).

“If you love me, you will obey what I command.” (John 14:15).

“If you obey my commandments you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.” (John 15:10).

“We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.” (I John 2:3).

“… we obey his commands and do what pleases him.” (I John 3:22).

“Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them.” (I John 3:24).

“This is love for God: to obey his commands.” (I John 5:3)

But Jesus gives a “new” command, the corner-stone of the “law of Christ” which is not totally new but re-emphasizes an old command:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (John 13:34).

As Christians we are to go to the world and “teach them to obey everything Jesus commanded us” (Mt. 28:20).

READ: So what is our relationship to the law? “The Christian is no longer under the law in the sense that the law is a covenant of works. That is the whole argument in Galatians 3. The Christian is not under the law in that respect; his salvation does not depend upon his keep of it. He has been delivered from the curse of the law; he is no longer under the law as a covenant relationship between himself and God. But that does not release him from it as a rule of life” (MLJ, 196).

SO WHAT??? – Obeying the OT moral/ethical code is imperative. Christ gives us no option. We are also required to obey the teaching and commands of Christ. Not seeking diligently to do so is to directly contradict the teaching of Christ.

III.THE OBEDIENT WILL BE REWARDED.

Greatness in the kingdom of God is measured by doing, by practicing and teaching the commandments of God.

Keeping the precepts of God in the OT will certainly make a difference in our eternal reward.

There is rank and rewards in the Kingdom of Heaven:

“You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.” (Mt. 20:23).

“Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.” (Rev. 22:12).

“Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Mt. 5:12).

“There is no doubt, therefore, that what ever else these “least/greatest” contrasts may convey, they are not both acceptable positions in the kingdom. One is to be sought after and the other to be shunned. … The least position in the kingdom is a place no genuine son would want to

fill” (Tim Hegg).

ILL: F.B. Meyer wrote that once he shared a bedroom with C.T. Studd and woke early in the morning seeing C.T. kneeling beside a chair reading the Bible. FB Meyer asked him what he was doing so early in the morning. He answered, “I am reading the Bible to see if there are any commands I am failing to obey.”

SO WHAT??? – Our diligent obedience to the moral precepts of the OT and the teaching of Jesus will determine our rank and rewards in heaven.

IV. LEGALISM AND THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.

”Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt. 5:19).

QUESTION: What images and feelings come to your mind when you hear about the law? Are those images and feelings positive or negative? How do you respond to he law? How does it affect you?

When you start teaching the importance of practicing / obeying God’s law and ethical precepts you almost immediately get challenged concerning the matter of legalism.

Legalism – Viewing the keeping of the law as a means of salvation. Substituting some principle of personal merit or ritual purity for the unearned grace of God. Along with this can also be the emphasis that adherence to certain manmade rules is essential for moral and spiritual purity. Thus legalism is really works salvation, salvation by self effort.

Legalism’s emphasis on the law is not all wrong. There are many verses, as we have just seen, that emphasize the importance of law keeping.

“Everything in the Law must be fulfilled: not only its prefigurations and prophecies, but its precepts and penalty: fulfilled, second and evangelically, in and by His people; and fulfilled, third, in the doom of the wicked, who shall experience its awful curse forever. Instead of Christ’s being opposed to the Law of God, He came here to magnify it and render it honorable (Isa. 42:21) and rather than His teachings being subversive thereof, they confirmed and enforced it” (A.W. Pink).

Yet legalists fail because the law can not be kept perfectly and keeping it is not the way of salvation:

“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles as just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” (James 2:10).

“Just as Jesus deferred to the will of the Father, we must do the same. Just as Jesus honored His mother, so should we. …. Some may ask if doing these things can earn us salvation. The answer is absolutely not. Obedience cannot earn us salvation. Because everyone sins and deserves death, eternal life can come only as a gift from God. Salvation is a gift made possible by God’s grace.” (David Tryebig).

SO WHAT??? – We must not depend on law keeping and human effort for salvation. If we do we are legalists in the true sense of the word.

V. ANTINOMIANISM AND THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD.

“Antinomianism comes from two Greek words: anti means against and nomos means law. So antinomianism means against the law, against God’s moral law. It means lawlessness.” (Antinomianism, Message #95024, P.G. Matthew)

Antinomiansim – The repudiation of the moral law as a Christian’s rule of life.

Free Grace Theology – “It preaches a faith which is simply a mental assent or agreement with ideas rather than a deeply rooted conviction as the quality of faith that is acceptable to God for salvation. . . . The idea that you can accept Christ as Savior leaving the issue of his Lordship optional …. Receive Jesus into your heart and then continue to willfully live a lifestyle of sin and yet presume such a person will escape the wrath of God.” (Antinomianism, Message #95024, P.G. Matthew)

Johannes Agricola, a contemporary of Martin Luther, taught that the moral law of God was in no way binding upon those who were justified by faith alone. He taught that Christians were entirely free from the moral law of God.

Some have gone so far to even say that the elect do not sin even when committing acts in themselves gross and evil.

SPIRIT-CENTERED ANTINOMIANISM

“What matters is not what the Scripture tell me. I am a spiritual person, filled with the Holy Spirit. I am above the law of the Scripture. I am led by the Spirit, and the Spirit overrules the Scripture. The Spirit can even contradict the Scripture. I am a spiritual Christian, and I am led by the Spirit. I do what the Spirit tells me, and I don’t worry about the Holy Scriptures.” (J.I. Packer).

CHRIST CENTERED ANTINOMIANISM

The believer is united with Christ, he is in Christ, and his life is hid with Christ in God. God sees Christ, who kept the law perfectly, and God sees no sin in the believer because God sees him through Jesus Christ. So the believer is therefore able to violate God’s law. It makes no difference to God. (Antinomianism, Message #95024, P.G. Matthew)

“JESUS IS SAVIOR” ANTINOMIANISM

All you need to do to become a Christian is accept Jesus as Savior. The Lordship of Christ is secondary. Your salvation is secure if, once upon a time, you prayed for salvation.

PERSONAL EXISTENTIALISM ANTINOMIANISM

This concept teaches the fulfillment only of the present moment, regardless of standards or codes or consequences. Rejection of authority follows logically. We want no one else making rules for us or holding us accountable for what we say or do. (MacArthur, 267).

“ … for certain godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.” (Jude 1:4).

“Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; lives as servants of God.” (I Pt. 2:16).

“You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge in the sinful nature” (Gal. 5:13).

In Matthew 7:21-23 the word “evildoers” comes from the word “workers of lawlessness.” Jesus could be saying, “I never knew you. Away from me your workers of lawlessness, you antinomians.”

No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him (I John 3:6).

“…if you find a Christian who lives a lifestyle of sin, then you’ve found a ‘Christian’ who is not born of God” (Antinomianism, Message #95024, P.G. Matthew).

“You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder.” (James 2:19.

SO WHAT??? – Christians are saved by faith through grace alone but in no way are released from responsibility to obey the moral law of God as revealed in the Scriptures. To claim that they are is to embrace the heresy of antinomianism.

VI. GRACE ENABLES LAW KEEPING.

Law keeping is good but wrongly applied can lead to legalism. Grace is good but wrongly used can lead to antinomianism.

Legalism claims that salvation is based on human good words apart from faith and apart from grace …… Antinomianism says salvation is based on faith in God and therefore obedience to God’s law is not necessary at any stage in the Christian’s life.

“During the past hundred years Christendom has probably heard fifty Gospel sermons or addresses on one to the law, and the consequence has indeed be disastrous and deplorable: a light and backboneless religion, with loose and careless walking.” (A.W. Pink)

Christians have to sail between these two extremes: Legalism and Antinomianism –

ILL: Scylla and Charybdis – Ulysses had been warned by Circe of the two monsters Scylla and Charybdis. Scylla dwelt in a cave high up on the cliff, from whence she was accustomed to thrust forth her long necks (for she had six heads), and in each of her mouths to seize one of the crew of every vessel passing within reach. The other terror, Charybdis, was a gulf nearly on a level with the water. Thrice each day the water rushed into a frightful chasm, and thrice was disgorged. Any vessel coming near the whirlpool when the tide was rushing in must inevitably be engulfed; not Neptune himself could save it. On approaching the haunt of the dread monsters, Ulysses kept strict watch to discover them. The roar of the waters as Charybdis engulfed them gave warning at a distance, but Scylla could nowhere be discerned. While Ulysses and his men watched with anxious eyes the dreadful whirlpool, they were not equally on their guard from the attack of Scylla, and the monster, darting forth her snaky heads, caught six of his men and bore them away shrieking to her den. Ulysses was unable to afford any assistance.

FLIP CHART: Show a whirlpool on one side and a monster on the other …. The monster of legalism and the whirlpool of antinomianism. A picture of a ship sailing through the gap.

SO WHAT ENABLES US TO BE LAW KEEPERS?

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” (Ezek. 36:26-27).

“Holiness means being righteous, and being righteous means keeping the law. Therefore if your so-called grace (which you say you have received) does not make you keep the law, you have not received grace. You may have received a psychological experience, but you have never received the grace of God. What is grace? It is that marvelous gift of God which, having delivered a man from the curse of the law, enables him to keep it and to be righteous as Christ was righteous, for He kept the law perfectly. Grace is that which brings me to love God; and if I love God, I long to keep his commandments” (MLJ, 197).

He breaks the power of canceled sin,
He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean;
HIS blood availed for me.

SO WHAT??? – The new heart, the gift of God’s grace, enables us to keep the law without becoming a legalist and God’s grace also keeps us from becoming an antinomian.

SO WHAT!!!

Christ honored the Old Testament ethical code of conduct, the OT moral law.

Obeying the OT moral/ethical code is imperative. Christ gives us no option. We are also required to obey the teaching and commands of Christ. Not seeking diligently to do so is to directly contradict the teaching of Christ.

Our diligent obedience to the moral precepts of the OT and the teaching of Jesus will determine our rank and rewards in heaven.

We must not depend on law keeping and human effort for salvation. If we do we are legalists in the true sense of the word.

Christians are saved by faith through grace alone but in no way are released from responsibility to obey the moral law of God as revealed in the Scriptures. To claim that they are is to embrace the heresy of antinomianism.

The new heart, the gift of God’s grace, enables us to keep the law without becoming a legalist and God’s grace also keeps us from becoming an antinomian.