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GRACE versus LICENSE
One of the most common criticisms that I hear about the GRACE message, is that it and the liberty it brings will breed license, lasciviousness, laxity and loose living.
The advice keeps coming (and mainly from those legally inclined) that we need a certain amount of LAW consciousness to keep us walking straight and upright.
And that our Christian liberty and freedom will end up in personal moral decline.
Now this is a distinct possibility, as Jude even observes in his day and age ...
For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness (license, lasciviousness) and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Jude 5
Of course this is so ... Un.Christian CHRISTIANS are a constant problem and a stumbling block … professors but not always possessors !
And Jesus warned us about hirelings, and those who trade in religion ... But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd ... The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. John 10 : 12. 13
To my personal observation, nature has countless illustrations of truths and lessons that can be applied to things spiritual, and there is one which seems to be especially apt to this subject.
WATER comes in 3 forms … solid, fluid, and vapour,
being ICE, LIQUID and STEAM
And which oddly seems to illustrate things spiritual ...
LAW LEGALISM ICE cold and harsh
LIBERTY GRACE WATER sustaining refreshing
LICENSE LAXITY STEAM licentiousness
Water is of course one of the principal fundamental elements of our survival on this planet on which we all depend for our well being. It is sustaining, refreshing and thirst quenching, and comes down from above to us as rain. It is so blessed, and without it we are parched and in drought. Others have said that in the future wars could well be be fought over this precious commodity ... WATER could become more vital than oil, in Africa etc.
Jesus referred to it also but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:14
And so Water to me can very well represent GRACE … life giving, abundant, free, sustaining, refreshing, thirst quenching ... wonderful
But as ICE … water becomes something else … chilling, cold, harsh
Good for applying to sprains and bruises, and in a drink on a hot day, but not for all that much else.
I recall a comment made by a Christian Stock Agent that a newborn lamb could survive a surprisingly long time without food or drink (milk), but that a sudden cold snap would kill it ! Very interesting to consider this spiritually !
So with the abolished dispensation of LAW, and its proponents the Legalists.
A dash of coldness … legality, the harsh application of 'thou shalt not', 'you cant do that here' will kill off a young Christian, as many will tell you … want some names ?
Many a so called 'Holiness ministry' is just a label for another ministry of condemnation that chills and kills personal Christian liberty and freedom.
(And by observation many of these 'Holiness clubs' are merely the outworking of the leaders personal preferences and attitudes in non.essentials - dress code, etc etc
Jesus called us to be followers of HIM, not the clones of some charismatic leader !)
And then there's the STEAM … when water is boiled … becomes vapour.
It was used to drive steam traction engines, in a by.gone era I can recall.
So many of the Pentecostal denominations … superheated emotions … the ra, Ra, RA of reved up HYPE and the release of pent up emotions ! And some religious performers are very good and practiced at stirring the emotions and getting people to blow off steam.
True Pentecost, how wonderful … but man's concoction … beware !
The Fire of God YES, YES, but mans attempt to resemble it ... just steam !
Fire can become STRANGE FIRE … dangerous ! Remember Aarons 2 sons - Nadab and Abihu who offered 'strange fire' to God, and paid for it with their lives, as Gods real fire was displayed. Leviticus 10 Schofield comments 'it typifies any use of carnal means to kindle the fire of devotion and praise'
Very subtle and deceptive.
To discern the difference is the necessity, on which our very lives can depend !
Someone observed, that …
PREACHING from the MIND reaches the Mind
PREACHING from the EMOTION reaches the Emotion
PREACHING from the HEART reaches the HEART
PREACHING from the SPIRIT reaches the SPIRIT
and that trees are only known by their Fruit !
Sunshine without rain makes a desert
The same sun that melts the butter also hardens the clay
false brethren secretly brought in, who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage Galatians 2:4
Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage (the Law). Galatians 5:1
For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. Galatians 5:13
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it ?
For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Romans 6 : 1, 2, 14, 15
No, I wont have any ice in my glass of pure water thanks
No, nor steam either, thanks so much
Now don't get steamed up, or even iced up over this !
just drink the pure water ... and be refreshed |
