The COMMANDMENTS (13)
“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” —James 2:10
If one has followed this series of messages on the commandments, two things should be obvious. First, “…by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in [God’s] sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin [Rom. 3:20].” Second, believers are not sanctified by “keeping the commandments.” No more can we attain to the divine standard after salvation than before. We said at the outset that the underlying issue is not one of obedience, but of love. And love cannot be cultivated by keeping the law. In fact, it is the other way around. Where love is, there will be an aspiration to obey the Lord, but seeing the Law through the magnifying lens of God’s word, even the “saintliest” of Christians “come short of the glory of God.” “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness.”
“Good works” add nothing to our standing with God. “…All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags…” (See Isa. 64:6) Unfortunately “religion,” even evangelical religion, too often cultivates the idea that there is something we can do to “please God,” and seeks to whip us into some kind of “service” as though through it we might obtain merit with God. The fact is, only as we surrender in love to His Lordship can He work through us to accomplish His will. Then all that is accomplished will be His doing, not ours, and all the praise and glory will belong to Him, not to us. Loving our neighbor is valid only as it flows out of our love for God, and our love for God is evidenced not by singing in the choir, “serving” in the church or witnessing to the lost. All these things can be done out of false motives and self-righteousness that undermines all merit.
To illustrate: Speaking of the day of divine reckoning the Savior said, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity [Matt. 7:21-23] .”The “good works” of these empty professors are by Him characterized as works of iniquity.
The Son of God went one day to dinner where two sisters hosted Him. One labored diligently for Him, the other simply sat and listened to Him:
“Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word. But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” —Luke 10:38-42
Martha’s dutiful service is not discredited, but it is subordinated to Mary’s loving devotion. “If you love Me…”
These two women are brought to our attention again:
“Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him, Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this. For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.” —John 12:1-6
Martha is still occupied for Him; Mary is occupied with Him. And the egocentric disciple charges Mary with waste and irresponsibility. For all his words of “caring for the poor,” (loving your neighbor) the Spirit of God reveals that his real motive was false. “By the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight [Rom. 3:20].”
Our root problem is heart trouble—that we have little or no heart for God. “Out of [the heart] are the issues of life [Prov. 4:23],” and “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it [Jer. 17:9]?” And “…The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” God is looking for those who have a heart for Him, who will seek Him and sit at His feet and listen. Who will pour out their richest and best, indeed, their all on Him. Insofar as that love prevails for Him, the spirit of the commandments will be evidenced in and through us. And, borrowing a fragment of scripture out of context, “Against such there is no law.”
“Oh to grace how great a debtor, daily I’m constrained to be!”
"Pastor" Frasier
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