Without the law, sin will have no opportunity.
…For apart from the law sin was dead. (Romans 7:8)1
Who benefits the most from the church never knowing who they are in Christ and never knowing that they are free from the law? The accuser of the brethren! Satan’s main strategy is NOT to try to get us to sin. His strategy is to try to get us to keep the law in our flesh! Why? Because:
…the law is not of faith… (Galatians 3:12)
…whatever is not from faith is sin. (Romans 14:23)
The devil tries to get us to be law keepers because our very efforts not to sin are sin in the eyes of God. Performance based religion is sin because the only true righteousness is Christ’s righteousness, and the only way to get it is to receive it and surrender all our self-effort!
What was the #1 deception that the cunning serpent used with Eve: “I can be like God (be righteous) WITHOUT God. If I just have the knowledge of right and wrong, I don’t need God.” That is the power that still operates in the flesh today.
In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul’s speaks of his authority as an apostle being challenged by certain Jewish teachers seeking to put the people under the bondage of legalism. There were those who really couldn’t handle grace the way Paul preached it, and they fell prey to these guys who were coming in espousing righteousness by works. Paul was very upset with the church for allowing themselves to be led astray from the simplicity of the Gospel of grace:
For I am jealous for you with the jealousy of God himself. I promised you as a pure bride to one husband—Christ. But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed… These people are false apostles. They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. (2 Corinthians 11:2-4, 13-15, NLT)2
Do you see the deception? These deceitful workers looked like they were all for righteousness. Their deception was not to get people to sin, but to be good! Our adversary knows that if we attempt to relate to Jesus based on our own righteousness, our undivided devotion to Him will be corrupted. Why? Because our devotion will be to men instead of Jesus! That’s why with a mixture of grace and law, people take their eyes off of Jesus and put them on a man who will control them.
Recently my daughter came home from a youth retreat and shared with me how another youth had argued strongly with the salvation message of grace that was preached at the retreat. She told my daughter, “That preacher is wrong. We definitely have to work for our salvation!” She told my daughter that this is what she had learned in the youth group at church – one of the largest churches in the nation! It’s frightening to imagine how many youth are hearing a mixed message of law and grace.
We must guard our hearts from receiving any gospel that teaches that we are saved by anything but grace through faith in Christ’s work alone. It’s only when we live life under pure grace that our devotion to Jesus remains undefiled and undivided.
(from pages 152-153 of Unveiling Jesus)
Want more from Tricia Gunn? Check out excerpts from the Unveiling Jesus 20-part series!
Unveiling Jesus, by Tricia Gunn, is a verse by verse study of the pure gospel of grace. It’s an amazing journey of love, identity, and freedom in Christ.
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1All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New King James Version. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
2Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
