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In this message I am burdened to give a further word on the law. There has been much debate among Christian teachers over this matter of the law. These debates have been mainly due to the shortage of light from the Bible regarding the law. According to the Old Testament economy, God’s dealings with His people were based upon the law. This was the principle of the law. But in the New Testament economy, God deals with His people today, not according to the law, but according to faith. Thus, the law was the principle of God’s dealing with His people in the Old Testament, but faith is the principle of His dealing with us in the New Testament. According to the Old Testament economy, it was necessary to keep the law in order to be acceptable to God. But today being acceptable to God is a matter of faith.
The principle of the law has been abolished, but the commandments of the law have not been abolished. Just because the principle of the law has been abolished, never think that the commandments of the law have also been abolished and that there is no need to honor our parents or to refrain from stealing. No, instead of being abolished, the commandments of the law have been uplifted. Although our contact with God is not based upon the principle of the law, we must still observe the uplifted commandments of the law.
At this point the Seventh Day Adventists might say, “Yes, we must keep all the commandments of the law. One of these commandments is to keep the Sabbath. Based upon what you have said about not abolishing the commandments of the law, we tell you that you must keep the Sabbath.” Although the commandments of God have not been abolished, one of these commandments, the law about keeping the Sabbath, is not related to morality. Rather, it is a ritual law. A ritual is a form, a shadow, that we need no longer observe today. For example, we do not need to offer animal sacrifices, do we? Likewise, we no longer need to keep the Sabbath. In the Old Testament, the age of shadows, there was the need for the sacrifices, the feasts, and the keeping of the Sabbath. But today is an age of reality. Our sacrifice is not a lamb or a goat; it is Christ, the reality of all the Old Testament sacrifices. In like manner, our rest is not a particular day; it also is Christ. Because Christ, the reality, is here, all the shadows are over. Because the commandment to keep the Sabbath is a ritual commandment, not a moral commandment, we are not obligated to keep it today. This commandment is not related to morality, but to the shadow, the form, which is now over.
We need to be impressed concerning the principle of the law. God’s dealing with His people always depends upon a principle. For example, God’s dealings with Abraham were based upon God’s promise. God did not give Abraham the commandments of the law; He gave him only the promise. Thus, God dealt with him according to His promise. The promise given by God to Abraham became the principle according to which God dealt with him. Later, God gave the law to the children of Israel through Moses. The law given on Mount Sinai thus became the principle according to which God dealt with the children of Israel. In this way the law became the principle for God’s dealings with His people in the Old Testament. Now in the New Testament God deals with the believers according to faith, no longer according to the law. This is fully developed in the books of Romans and Galatians. If you read these books, you will see that God deals with the believers in Christ not according to the law, but according to faith. In Old Testament times God accepted people according to the law. If anyone wanted to be accepted by God, he had to meet the standard of the law. But today God accepts us, not according to the law, but according to whether or not we believe in Christ. Thus, God’s acceptance of us today is based on faith.
The fact that God no longer deals with us, the believers, according to the principle of the law does not mean that the commandments of the old law have been abolished. For instance, the first two commandments of the old law were concerned with not having other gods and with not making images. To say that the principle of the law has been abolished does not mean that these commandments have been abolished. Rather, according to the New Testament, these commandments are emphasized, strengthened, and uplifted. In the Old Testament we were told not to make a physical image, but in the New Testament we are told that even our covetousness is a form of idolatry (Col. 3:5). Greediness is an idol. By this we see the uplifting of the commandment regarding idolatry. Yes, the principle of the law has been abolished, but not the commandments of the law. The commandment about honoring our parents has never been abolished. In the New Testament this commandment is also repeated, strengthened, and uplifted. We must honor our parents much more today than the children of Israel did in the past.
We have seen that the Lord Jesus also uplifted the commandments regarding murder and adultery. Because the Old Testament commandments regarding murder and adultery were not adequate, the Lord complemented them. The old commandment concerning murder did not cover the matters of hatred or anger. Thus, the Lord complemented the old law concerning murder by saying that anyone who was angry with his brother would be liable to judgment. He also complemented the commandment concerning adultery by saying that anyone who looks at a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her in his heart. By these examples we see that the moral laws have never been abolished; rather, they have been uplifted. All of the ten commandments have been repeated and uplifted in the New Testament except the fourth commandment, the commandment to keep the Sabbath. This commandment is over because it is not related to morality. Instead, it is a ritual commandment.
Now we come to my real burden in this message. Yes, in the New Testament salvation is based upon the principle of faith; it has nothing to do with the law. We all have been saved through faith, not through the keeping of the law. But after we are saved, we must live a life that has a standard of morality higher than that of the old law. Never think that we are free to be loose, sloppy, or even immoral just because we are not saved through the keeping of the law. Do not think that, just because God does not deal with us according to the principle of the law, but according to the principle of faith, we should not care for the commandments of the law. Anyone who thinks this has been drugged by the teachings found in part of today’s Christianity. We must be sober. Again I say, after we have been saved, we need to live a life with a standard far higher than that of the old law. Our standard must be higher than that of the requirements of the law. The law requires that we should not murder anyone. But we should not even be angry with others. Even if we say to our brother, “Raca,” an expression of contempt, or, “Moreh,” a word of condemnation indicating a rebel, we shall be in danger of the judgment. Although we may not kill our brother, if we even call him a fool or a rebel, we shall find ourselves in serious trouble.
In Matthew 5 the Lord Jesus spoke about murder and adultery. Murder refers to our temper, and adultery, to our lust. Our temper and our lust constantly damage and trouble us. If we were stone, we would not be bothered by these two things. No matter how much you irritate, insult, or offend a stone, it will never react, because it does not have any temper. Furthermore, a stone has no lust. Thus, it can never be tempted by lust. But daily we are either troubled by our temper or tempted by our lust. How easy it is for us to be irritated and offended! Some of us may be offended at least ten times a day. You may be offended by your husband or wife, by your children, by your neighbors, or by your in-laws. You may even be offended by your shoes, the stove, or the tea kettle. I know some sisters who have been offended by their kitchens. It seems that their anger could never be exhausted. Others are troubled with lust. For this reason, I pointed out in one of the life-study messages on Genesis that you should never be alone with a member of the opposite sex for any length of time. If you are, you will be tempted by your ferocious lusts.
In order to live up to a moral standard higher than that of the old law, you must overcome your temper and your lusts. You may say that this is not easy to do. Right, it is not easy. This is why you need Christ. This is why you need another life. How we need to stay with Christ! We must contact Him not only day by day, but even hour by hour. Because of the temper and lust within us, we need to remain in constant fellowship with Him. You must recognize that you are neither wood nor stone. If you were wood or stone, you would not be concerned about the matter of anger and lust. But because you are a living being, you have these two things within you. Do you not have both temper and lust within? At any time we may be stumbled by our temper or tempted by our lust. Be on the alert! Be watchful and pray regarding these two “demons,” our temper and our lust. After we have been saved according to the principle of faith, we need to live a higher life, a life with the highest standard. This life with the highest standard is a life that overcomes our temper and our lust.
Week after week many are drugged by the teachings of Christianity. These teachings neither warn the Christians nor tell them the truth. So many are not warned that they will be caused much trouble by being angry and contemning or condemning others or by giving in to their lusts. By showing even a little contempt for our brother we shall be liable to the judgment (5:22). This does not mean that we shall perish. No, a saved person will never perish, and no one who is lost will be qualified to appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Only those who have been saved according to the principle of faith will be qualified to be there. But do not think that it is impossible for you to have a problem at the judgment seat of Christ. You may tell the Lord, “I never robbed a bank or murdered anyone. The only thing I did was to lose my temper.” But the mere act of losing your temper may bring you into judgment,
In 5:22 the judgment of the believers at the judgment seat of Christ is described by three kinds of judgment according to the background of the Jewish people: the judgment at the gate of the city, the judgment before the Sanhedrin, and the judgment of the Gehenna of fire. These three levels of judgment all refer to the one judgment at the judgment seat of Christ. We Christians, saved according to the principle of faith, will not be judged at the white throne spoken of in Revelation 20. Rather, we shall be judged at the judgment seat of Christ a thousand years before the judgment at the white throne. The judgment at the great white throne will be for unbelievers concerning their eternal perdition. But the judgment at the judgment seat of Christ will be for believers concerning whether they will be rewarded or punished.
Although many of you were in Christianity for years, you probably never heard such a sobering message. Did you ever hear a sermon telling you that, although you are saved by faith through grace, you must still live a life that is of a higher moral standard than that required by the old law? Were you ever told that you must live a life that never loses its temper or that does not look at a woman to lust? The higher law, the law of the kingdom of the heavens, not only touches the outward acts, but also the inward motives. How high is the standard of this law! The Lord’s warning concerning the standard of this law is serious. It even speaks of being put into the Gehenna of fire. I say again, this does not mean that the believers will perish. Pitiful Christianity merely tells people that they will go to either heaven or hell. But the Bible says clearly that after we have been saved according to the principle of faith, we must fulfill all the requirements of the new law. The law is no longer the principle according to which we are saved, but it is a standard of morality that we are required to keep. The principle of the law has been abolished, but the morality required by the commandments of the law remains and has been uplifted. Do not think that there is no need to take care of morality because we are not under the law for salvation. This is absolutely a wrong concept. The crucial point of the Lord’s decree concerning the law is that we do not need to keep the law in order to be saved, but that we must have a standard of morality much higher than the standard of the old law after we have been saved by faith.
After hearing this, you may say that you cannot fulfill it. It is good to say that we cannot make it, because then it is necessary for Christ to come into us. The very One who fully kept the law and who died in our stead has come into us in resurrection to be our life. The Lord’s warning in Matthew 5 must force us to stay with Christ. We must have a daily life full of fear and trembling. We need to say, “I must stay close to the resurrected Christ. I must be one with Him. I must trust Him and rely on Him. Because the standard of morality of the kingdom of the heavens is too high for me to fulfill, I must remain with the Lord. If I even lose my temper with my brother, I may be burned in the fire. How serious this is!”
When some Christian teachers hear this, they may say, “It is heresy to teach that saved ones will be burned in the fire.” Read Matthew 5 again. This chapter is not a word spoken to unbelievers; it is a word given to the disciples, the saved ones, the sons of God. If they do not bridle their anger, they will be cast into the Gehenna of fire. Some may say, “This is the Gehenna of fire, not the lake of fire.” Do not argue about what fire it is, for even a small fire can cause us much suffering. Sunday after Sunday, so many Christians are being filled with sugar-coated teachings. They have never heard a sobering word from Matthew 5. We thank the Lord for His mercy and grace and for the faith He has given us through which we have been saved. How wonderful it is to be saved by faith! But as those who are saved, we must listen to a serious word of warning! Even losing our temper with our brother may cause us to be burned in the Gehenna of fire.
This thought of being burned by fire is found in both 1 Corinthians 3 and Hebrews 6. First Corinthians 3:15 says, “If anyone’s work shall be consumed, he shall suffer loss; but he shall be saved, yet so as through fire.” Although such a one will be saved, he will be saved through fire. Hebrews 6:7 and 8 say, “For the earth which drinks the rain which often comes upon it and brings forth vegetation suitable to those for whose sake also it is tilled, partakes of blessing from God; But bringing forth thorns and thistles, it is disapproved and near a curse, whose end is to be burned.” Here the believers are likened to earth which may grow vegetation approved by God or produce thorns and thistles that will be burned. How awful it would be to pass through such a burning! Moreover, in Revelation 2:11 the Lord said, “He who overcomes shall by no means be hurt of the second death.” This word implies that the defeated Christians will be hurt by the second death, the lake of fire (Rev. 20:15). To be hurt by the second death is to be touched by the lake of fire. Certainly none of us wants to be touched by this fire.
This matter of the judgment of the believers and of their being hurt by the fire is neither Calvinism nor Arminianism. According to Calvinism, once we are saved, we are saved forever, and there can be no further problem. In a sense, Calvinism is correct, for once we are saved, we are saved for eternity. However, we should not say that there can be no problems. There is the possibility of being burned in the fire. According to Arminianism, some may be saved in the morning and lose their salvation that night. Their salvation goes up and down like an elevator. Neither Calvinism nor Arminianism is according to the pure word of the Bible. The Bible reveals that we are saved for eternity, but that after we are saved, we need to overcome every sinful thing. If not, we shall be disciplined, punished. If you do not repent and confess your sin, but stay in adultery, in the next age you will be put into the fire and burned, not for eternal perdition, but as a dispensational punishment.
Our age is an age of fornication and adultery. Every country is filled with immorality. Concerning this matter, so many have been drugged by “garlic” and have lost their sense concerning this sin. May this word sober us! We must stay away from today’s trend. Nothing insults God more than fornication, which damages the man created by God in His image. We all must flee our temper and our lust. Flee your temper! Flee your lust! It is not an insignificant thing to lose our temper or to give in to our lust. Indulging in these things may cause us to be burned. Thus, we need to heed this sober word, a word that will force us to stay close to Christ. We need to pray, “Lord, I have temper and lust within me. But, Lord, I thank You that I have You in my spirit. Lord, I don’t want to stay with my physical lust or my psychological temper. I want to stay in my spirit with You, dear Lord Jesus.” Here is our salvation, our rescue, our holiness. Day and night we must stay with the Lord Jesus in our spirit, looking to Him, contacting Him, and trusting in Him.
Temper, a problem to every Christian, is like a gopher: it is hidden, subtle, and prevailing. We all must be on guard concerning it. Lust is also a great problem. I am sorry to say that even among saints there have been a number of cases of fornication. What a shame! Nothing is more shameful than fornication or adultery among the saints. This damages the people created by God, the church life, and the testimony of the church. Again and again the Apostle Paul warned us that no fornicator would share in God’s kingdom (1 Cor. 6:9-10; Gal. 5:19-21; Eph. 5:5). Those believers who commit adultery or fornication are through with the kingdom of the heavens. The kingdom people must have the highest standard of righteousness. Do not lose your temper or look at a woman to lust after her. Be careful! You need to consider these matters seriously and deal with the motive at the very root. This word is not a threat; it is a warning that forces us to stay close to Christ.
Thank the Lord that we have both the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of John. We need to trust in the life revealed in the Gospel of John. Hallelujah, we have such a life! This life is the resurrection life, the overcoming life. Christ has already overcome and now in resurrection He is living in us. This is the life by which we fulfill the highest requirements of the kingdom of the heavens.
We must be very clear about the fact that actually we are not keeping the law. Rather, we are walking according to the spirit. Romans 8:4 says that when we walk according to the spirit, we spontaneously fulfill all the righteous requirements of the law. We are not trying to keep the law, for the more we try to keep it, the more we break it. This is fully revealed and recorded in Romans 7. Today we are neither under the law nor obliged to keep the law. We are free from the law, and now we are walking according to the spirit. Within the spirit, there is the King, Christ, who is our resurrection life. As we walk according to the spirit, we fulfill even the requirements of the highest law.
I believe that now we are clear about the law. We can tell others that the principle of the law is over, but that the commandments of the law remain and have been uplifted. Although we are not able to meet the standard of these higher requirements, we have the resurrection life in our spirit. Therefore, we need not keep the law in the sense of striving in ourselves, but we must walk according to the spirit. When we walk according to the spirit, we spontaneously fulfill all the requirements of the law and have the highest standard of morality. This is the testimony of Jesus, the testimony of the church. This is the proper church life, the reality of the kingdom of the heavens.
