Christ has truly set us free. Now make
sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law. Galatians
5:1
Legalism
always crucifies Christ afresh because legalism cuts out the greatest
word in Christianity. The word over the door into true Christianity is the
word: "Grace." Legalism always wipes
out "Grace," and puts in its
place "Law." Grace is the chief word in the vocabulary of
the Christian. Do you notice that where legalism reaches its fullest
expression, it always puts the crucifix in the place of the empty tomb? The
badge of the Christian is the empty tomb. That is "Life from the
dead." The badge of legalism is a crucifix, "a dead Christ."
Legalism always brings death, and the chief thing about Christ is resurrection.
It is Life from the dead. This was something that Paul came to see when it
pleased God to reveal His Son in him. And he said, "Let me get out of all
this legalistic system. Jesus of Nazareth Whom we crucified is alive. He has
been revealed alive in my heart."
If we
really see the Lord Jesus, we shall be emancipated. Some of us have had that
experience. We were in legal systems; our horizon was that system. Then the day
came when the Lord opened our eyes to really see the significance of Christ.
And that whole system fell away as being all nonsense. No, it is not our
business to say, "Come out of this and that, and come into this
other." The word "must" or "thou shall" does not
belong to this realm. That belongs to the old legal realm. The "must"
becomes a spiritual thing, not a legal thing. We could say of Paul, there was a
mighty "must" in his spirit. "I have seen the Lord, and I am
seeing more and more of what the Lord is, and this is creating in me this great
imperative. 'This one thing I do, leaving the things which are behind, I press
on toward the mark of the prize of the on-high calling.'" So we do not
say, "Change your system." But we do say, "Ask the Lord to
reveal His Son in you." Then the great work of emancipation will begin.
No comments:
Post a Comment