Clarity in Grace

Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth. You can write us, mike at nocompromiseradio .com, info at nocompromiseradio .com. Trying to ramp things up again to daily radio. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, repeat on Friday.

Wednesday shows are YouTube that you're watching now. Tell your friends, hit like, hit subscribe. If you want to hear the vain machinations of a man who's by himself laughing at his own jokes. One star for them, one star for Jesus.

Two stars. I'm trying to think of other things to do. And Mario, maybe you can help me with this. I've been doing podcasting pretty, I was kind of early on in the bandwagon with podcasting. So that was 15, 18 years ago, something like that.

Like what's next? I know a lot of stuff is video casting and all that, but maybe there's something next. I don't know what the next is. So if your listener have a good idea of what I could do next or instead of, I'm all ears.

You know, it was radio podcasting. Is there something that next? Do you think there's anything, Mario? I already have some ideas. Okay, okay, good. So today I'll start off with a quote or some quotes from a movie, 1992.

We follow orders, son. We follow orders or people die. It's that simple. Are we clear? Yes, sir. Are we clear? Yes, sir. Crystal. Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise, a few good men. John Wayne and the Cowboys in 1972.

Do I make myself clear, boy? Is it clear to you now? He said later, are we clear? Crystal. In other words, do you understand? I'm not asking for your input. I'm not asking for your opinion. I'm not asking for anything except do you understand what I'm saying?

The Need for Clarity Between Law and Gospel

Give me confirmation that you hear. Roger, or like in the chef world, heard, right? Do you hear what I'm saying? Yes, heard. Do I make myself clear? Today, clear thinking about the law and the gospel.

You say, well, you like to talk about that all the time. Well, yes, because it's kind of back in the news again. Brian Borgman did a video lecture on law gospel. And so I want to make sure we're clear.

Now, in the world of being clear, in the world of clarity, in the world of don't give me blurred, opaque things that are hard to see, do you not want your X-rays to be clear? Do you not want your MRI to be clear?

Your CAT scan, blood tests, bank account, contract, mortgage statement that you sign? You're driving down the road, 70 miles an hour. Matter of fact, I think the miles per hour max in some of the places in Utah where I just was was 75.

I'm like, these Mormons are crazy. So 75 plus nine is 84. I want the road signs to be clear. I pick up the pills that I get from the doctor through CVS or Walgreens. Used to get them through Rite Aid, but now they're gone.

I can't really tell. Does it say to take five of these or one half? Don't you want clear? I think you want clear. You know what, the building's burning and I don't know, is that the exit or is that like the pastor's office?

Do you want signs, emergency signs that are clear? Do you, look at this one here. I can't read what it says. So let me just pick something else. Do you, all right, last one. Do you want a weather warning that's clear?

Is there a tornado coming or not? When I was a kid growing up in Nebraska, there's a certain corner. I don't know, Southwest, Northeast, I don't remember. You get in a certain corner of the basement because the tornado would always come from the same direction.

So you'd want to get in the corner that it was, from the direction from whence it came, where it was going because if you're in this corner, the house falls down, it probably is gonna miss you. If you're in this corner, the house falls down in on you.

And so tornado warnings, you want clear. Weather warnings, you want clear. Evacuate this plane, you want clear. So why wouldn't we want theological clarity? Today, law and gospel, how do we keep them separate?

We don't want them blended. We don't want truth blended. We don't want morality blended. We don't want blurred sin, blurred judgment, blurred salvation, blurred ways to heaven. Are we clear? That's what we're after.

The Law Commands What We Must Do

Clarity when it comes to law and gospel because there's so much confusion about it. Now, when we think about law and gospel, as you already know, law is something that we do. So if I say law, you say do.

If I say gospel, you say done. Strictly speaking, law just tells us what to do and gospel is what Jesus has done. Promises in person and what he has accomplished. The father has sent the son, et cetera, and what salvation and how salvation has been accomplished.

And so today in this short little video cast, old school video cast, clarity on law gospel. So let's just start with law. Clarity on the law. Law is to do. And when you think about the law, I want you to say to yourself, the law is good.

The law is righteous. The law is holy. The law reflects God's nature. As I've said often, the law is not abstractly floating around there somehow. No, no, it's from a lawgiver. And so the lawgiver gives the law and if the lawgiver gives something, it's going to reflect his character, his nature, his essence.

And that is God is holy, his law is going to be holy. Romans 7, 12, so the law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. And so when the law says do, when the law says love God, when the law says love your neighbor, when the law says obey, be holy, don't complain.

These commandments are good and righteous and holy and they are what God, the creator demands. When you think about law, in addition to thinking that it's holy and righteous and good, the law tells us what we owe God.

We're creatures, here's the creator. What do we owe God? We've been made, we've been made to do something. What have we been made to do? God tells us, we don't have to make it up. We don't have to say, I wonder if this false God wants this or wants that.

No, God tells us, this is what I require of you. And with overarching comments, Matthew 22, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment, Jesus said.

And a second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. And so with your entire being, not just externally, but internally, is to love God and love neighbor. And we could talk about the 10 commandments, we could talk about other things, but those laws summarized, this is what we owe God.

The Law Exposes Sin and Silences Human Excuses

What else does a law do to think clearly about the law? Well, the law is holy and good and righteous. The law tells us what God wants. In addition, the law shows us when we don't do what God wants. Here's God's standard.

Did we meet that standard or not? And the law shows us. Romans 3 .20, for by the works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight since through the law comes knowledge of sin. And here we're talking about, as you know, the first use of the law, and that is to show unbelievers that they need a savior.

It shows them they are sinful and that they need to be forgiven. That's what the law does in its first use. It's from the hand of the creator and from the hand of the judge. Here's what I require of you.

It's a holy and righteous thing, but you don't do it. You fall short of the glory of God and you are sinful. God's standard, I don't do it. I failed, I need forgiveness. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

When God gives the law, it shows what he requires. It shows how holy and good and righteous the law is. It shows us when we fail. And in addition, it shuts our mouths. As unbelievers, our mouths are shut when the law is preached.

Here's what I mean. Romans 3 .19, whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may be held accountable to God. When God's law, love God, love neighbor, is preached to you and you understand what it really means, not just externally, but internally, not just with your strength, but with your mind, soul, body, and strength, not just once in a while, but all the time, not just more times and then less or less times and more, but all the time, perfectly, perpetually, entirely, exactly, personally.

When you realize that, then you'll say, you know what? I can't say to God, in your eyes, I'm good. I'm basically a good person. Now, comparing yourself to others, of course, you could say that, but the law stops you from saying, compared to others, I'm still pretty good.

I'm better than most. I try a lot, and so God's gonna make that up as I am sincerely trying. Maybe that'll work, or maybe my good outweighs the bad. Once the law is pressed upon you and you understand what the law says and what the law means, you basically say, I don't have any excuse.

I'm not gonna give any more excuses. I'm not gonna say, what about the pygmy in Africa? I'm not gonna say, what about wiping out societies in Cana? What about all these things? I'm just gonna be quiet, I'm guilty.

I'm not thinking about anybody else. The law quiets me. The law makes me not look at my peripheral vision against other people and about other people. I just realize I'm guilty. That's what the law does.

Justification Does Not Come Through the Law

Now, what does the law not do? Well, the law doesn't make us right in God's eyes. The law doesn't justify us. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from the works of the law, Romans 3 .28. Galatians 2 .16, we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ.

And so while the law shows us our sin, the law can't make us right in God's eyes because we're justified not by the works of the law, not by works of the law. The law is not a savior. The law is not good news.

The law is not the gospel. What does the law do? Well, here's what the law does as we're talking about gospel clarity and now law clarity. Galatians 3 .24, so then the law was our guardian until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith.

The law is like a guardian. The law was like a tutor, and the tutor and the guardian was pointing to something. Here, driving us. The law drives us to Jesus because we realize we're sinful, hell's a long time, and we can't do this, and so it prepares us.

It cultivates our heart to hear the good news. This is what God in Christ has done for you, and so it's a tutor to bring us to Christ. So when it comes to the law, clear thinking about the law, God's law is a reflection of his holiness and righteousness and justice.

It's there to drive us to the Lord Jesus, to show us our sin, to tell us what God requires, to shut our mouths, and to guide us as Christians. I've been talking mainly about first use of the law, God the creator and judge telling unbelievers, here's a mirror to see your own sin.

The Law Guides Christians Without Justifying Them

But now that we've been saved, for Christians, it's not a mirror any longer. It can be a mirror to remind you that you're saved, but it's mainly now a guide, and it guides us and tells us how to live as Christians.

God's law doesn't change because God doesn't change, but our relationship to the law giver and to the law changes because Jesus has paid for our unrighteousness, he's lived for our righteousness, and now we have the law to guide us.

So just to give you a quick illustration, remember Jesus said, don't look at a woman with lust, because if you have, you've committed adultery. That shows God's holiness, be holy for I am holy. And so for the unbeliever, we could say to them, have you ever looked at a woman with lust?

Or to a woman, have you ever looked at a man with lust? And if the answer is yes, see how that makes you not love God, makes you not love neighbor, how you've fallen short, how you need a savior. It's a mirror that should show you that you're not doing what you're supposed to do as a creature, you're sinful and you need a savior.

So that's to the unbeliever, it's a mirror, but the exact same comment to the Christian. I could say to Mario, don't look at a woman with lust. Now, if he does, he's not kicked out of the family. If he doesn't, he doesn't stay in the family because of that, but it's for his own good, for your good, Mario, for your wife's good, for your neighbor's good, and for God's glory, this holy, righteous, and good law that exposes the sin of unbelievers guides you and tells you to do the right thing.

And so people are under the law as a covenant of works, that is unbelievers, if they don't do this, they won't live. And as Christians, now that we're saved, he, God, gives us a law to guide us, to tell us how to live.

Clear thinking. By the way, one of the ways the gospel and law get muddied and law gospel stuff gets very blurred and it's not clear is when pastors and Bible teachers talk to believers about the law as if they were not getting guided, but as if they're under that law as a covenant of works, it's a mirror.

And how can you call yourself a Christian and live like that? Trying to put unbelievers back under the covenant of works if it were possible, talking to them. How can you call yourself a Christian and live like that?

I mean, a lot of people, that's how they seemingly preach. For a lot of Paul Washer sermons, that's kind of his shtick. You call yourself a Christian, let's see. T. David Gordon in his book on preaching, Why Johnny Can't Preach, my favorite book on preaching, outside of Hebrews, outside of 2 Corinthians, outside of 2 Timothy.

It's like, wait a second. No, no, to believers, we talk about the law to guide. It's good for your neighbor. It's good for you. It glorifies God. And God will chasten you if you disobey. You must obey.

This is not an option. We don't want crazy living. We don't want antinomianism. We don't want unholiness. We don't want ungodliness. You must obey God. But if you don't obey God and you sin as a Christian, you're not kicked out of the family.

And if you have disobeyed God, by the way, now let me remind you of the mercy found in Christ Jesus. Even bad dads, after they discipline their children, love them after. After you give them correction and chastisement, don't you at the end say, I love you?

And they say, please forgive me, dad. Of course I forgive you. So there's nothing wrong with pastors telling the congregation, strive for holiness, obey. But don't make your congregation think if you didn't obey enough, you're not a Christian.

The Gospel Proclaims What Christ Has Done

That's blurring first and third use. Well, we've talked a little bit about the law, clarity on the law. Any guesses on what we're gonna talk about now? Clarity on the gospel. As law means do, gospel means done.

Now, strictly speaking, no precepts in the gospel, no commands, nothing but promises, nothing but good news, nothing what God has done in Christ Jesus for redemption, atonement, reconciliation, propitiation, and then the resurrected Jesus.

Now, sometimes we use the word gospel for Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, four gospels. Sometimes we use the word gospel for New Testament. Calvin and some of the old school guys might just generally say law in the Old Testament, gospel in the new.

And sometimes we say, well, you know what? But gospel is strictly promises. And I think that's what I'm after today. Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, what God in Christ has done to save sinners.

Gospel means good news. So you know it's not about us because if we're really honest with ourselves, there's no good in us, no one does good. And so if you wanna talk about good, we're gonna have to talk about the ultimate good that is the sent son.

It was Jesus who died, Jesus who was buried, Jesus who was raised, Jesus doing it for sinners. And so since it's about Jesus, then we don't have to tell people, hey, the gospel is be good because then it focuses on people.

The gospel is not be nice. The gospel is not read your Bible. The gospel is not go to church. The gospel is not have a ministry. The gospel is not pray more. That's not the gospel. I think if you said to yourself, if I say the first word, I, whatever I say afterwards, not the gospel.

I prayed, I read, I did this. No, none of that's good news. In light of good news, we do that, but good news is about who God is. God did this. So if we start with the word God and not I, I think that's going to be helpful.

Christ Fulfills the Law and Provides Imputed Righteousness

Christ in his saving work. That's why Paul said, I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. The gospel in Romans chapter three says, let me proclaim something to you.

That while you couldn't live a righteous life because you're unrighteous, Jesus lived the perfect righteous life. And Jesus righteousness is given to you by a free gift through the doctrine of justification, imputation.

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law. The righteousness of God through faith in Christ Jesus for all who believe. So what the gospel does, it doesn't say, you know what?

To get you into heaven, let's take the law and lower it. You know, you don't have to do it, just be sincere. You know, if you just do it once in a while, you'll be okay. If you do it more times than you don't do it, fine.

It doesn't change the law. The law doesn't change because God doesn't change. But the gospel tells us what? Jesus fulfills the law for us. Of course he died for our lawlessness, but he lived for our righteousness.

So think about this just for a minute. You do the right thing. You obey the law. It's right. You have righteousness. You merit righteousness by doing the right thing. Jesus obeys the law. He doesn't have to obey for himself.

He's perfect. He's inherently righteous. He obeys for others. His whole life is for others. He's born of a woman, born under law that he might redeem those from the law. And so Jesus obeys perfectly, entirely, exactly, perpetually the law.

Love God, love neighbor, 10 commandments, et cetera. He perfectly obeys. He doesn't abolish the law. He doesn't change the law. He doesn't lower the law. The gospel keeps the law at the right standard, but it does something for us because Jesus is the one who perfectly obeyed.

Adam, Garden failed. Eve, Garden failed. Israel, Wilderness failed. David, Rooftop failed. The list goes on and on and on. How many failures do you have in your life? But here, God, the Son, perfectly obeyed.

Perfect righteousness. So on one hand, he's earned righteousness for us by meriting righteousness by doing the right thing of the law, obeying God. And then on the other hand, the positive side of the law, keep it, there's reward.

The penalty side of the law is punishment. And so Christ redeems us from the curse of the law. The law not only tells us what God requires, but judgment on those who violate it. And here, cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and to do them.

And Galatians goes on to say, Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. I earned the curse, you earned the curse. Jesus bore the curse for those who would believe. How about this for a great verse, Romans 5, 1.

Since we've been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Philippians chapter three, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ Jesus.

Not my own righteousness, but a righteousness from the Lord Jesus. Peace with God, access to God. For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin so that we might become the righteousness of God. I'm stalling a little bit because I just looked at my ring camera and there's somebody come to my front door and I'm just seeing who it is.

And now they're walking away. I wanted to see what they're gonna do. Sometimes my friends will be there helping out or something and they'll say, hey, what are you doing? So I wanna know who was at my door because if the Jehovah's Witnesses were at my door, I'd say, do you have any good news?

By the way, that's a good thing to ask the Jehovah's Witnesses. I'm so thankful you're here today because I am very spiritual and I wanna really wanna go to heaven. How do I get to heaven? You must know, you're the witness of Jehovah.

And you know what they'll end up doing? They'll blur law gospel and they'll say, do things to get into heaven. This is what you need to do. And then I say, well, I don't think you really realize how bad I am.

I said, one time I said, I don't know if you know this or not, but I'm a murderer. And if I start doing good things now, how do I get rid of my murder? And they just look at me like, what? I mean, you don't know who you're talking to.

I'm an adulterer, a murderer, a liar. That's who I am, help me. And then they can't. And then I say, and by the way, I have good news for you. The bad news is you're a heretic and you're gonna die and go to hell if you believe that silly works righteousness because your redeemer is not the eternal son who took on flesh.

Your redeemer is a created person, somehow subordinate to the father. So you have to get off my property. But when you do, you have to believe in the eternal son, Jesus, who took on flesh and who bore the curse of the law, be a curse for us and also live righteously.

And so therefore you ought to be believing in this resurrected Jesus. Now repent and believe and get off my property. Hey, hey, what do you mean? They've said that when I lived in Northern California or North Hollywood rather, they started going across the street and there was a Hispanic family across the street, the Torres family.

And I knew they were Catholic and not evangelical, but I just screamed, Mr. Torres, don't believe them. They don't think Jesus is God. I don't let them in my house. I don't say, God bless you. I try to give them the good news.

I try to rebuke them. The other day I was at the beach and some Jehovah's Witnesses were standing there. And I didn't have time to go through all this. I just walked past them and said, you're false teachers.

I mean, you're trying to send people to hell. You're talking about Jesus, but it's the wrong Jesus. It's the satanic Jesus. Jesus is lesser than the father. Well, here it says in John 14, that my father who's greater than I am.

Well, it doesn't take but a thinking person to realize Jesus's human nature is less than the father's divine nature. But Jesus's divine nature is not less than the father's divine nature because it's of the same essence and substance.

It's the same nature, idiot. I didn't say idiot. All right, let me just ask you some questions. If I say, be holy, is that law or gospel? You go, law. Jesus died for sinners. Well, that's gospel. Love your enemy.

That's law. While you were an enemy, Christ died for you. Romans 5. Hey, that's gospel. Don't covet. Law. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. Gospel. The gospel says done in Christ Jesus, the sent one, the father sending.

The Trinity and the Unity of Salvation

I think sometimes, Mario, people think, well, all you do is talk about Jesus. You don't talk much about the father, the Holy Spirit. Gregory of Nazianzus said that when you talk about one person in the Trinity, since God is one in three, when you talk about one, you mean all three.

So every time I say Jesus to you, you should be thinking the father sent him and from the father and the son proceed the spirit. If I say the spirit, well, I mean God three in one. I'm not saying spirit somehow apart from the father.

If I say the father, you'd be thinking, that's the unbegotten father who sends the son, who sends the only begotten son. So I say one, I mean three. And I say three, I mean one. And by the way, I'm certain the father's well-pleased when you listen to the son and listen about him.

This is my beloved son in whom I'm well-pleased. Listen to him as Moses fades, as Elijah fades. I'm quite positive that when Jesus is exalted, the spirit is happy. The spirit is joyful. The spirit is whatever word you want to use in your impassibility categories.

Distinguishing Law and Gospel in Biblical Interpretation

So if I say you must be perfect, you should be thinking law. If I say God chose his love for us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, you should say gospel. And when you come to the Bible, I don't think you need to say every verse is a law gospel because some verses don't seem to fit within the paradigm because I'm not talking about every single verse has to fit within some kind of category.

I think instead you come to the passage and you go, does this passage command me something? Command me to do something? Does it show me something about God's nature and character and righteousness and holiness?

Does it tell me something about my sin or I need a savior? Does it tell me something about Jesus and his saving work or the father's work in Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit? Is there a promise here for me?

Is it giving me a motivation and power to obey? Those are the kinds of questions you ask instead because otherwise, if you look at verses, you're like, wait a second, Ephesians 5, 25, husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

Is that law or gospel? Well, actually it's both because husbands love your wife is law, gospel is as Christ loved the church. Some people don't like law, gospel, hermeneutic, but I don't care if you want to use it.

Gospel-Centered Assurance

It's probably Lutheran in its origin, but the Calvinists, the reformers, the Protestants, Perkins, Beza, they all believed it. Last little thought here in the minute we have left. When you blend law and gospel, it messes up your assurance.

Remember assurance is objective and subjective. I can put it this way. Assurance is gospel related, objective, law related, subjective. So how do you know you're a Christian? Well, I read, I study, I repent, I do those things.

Fine, that's subjective, that's law, but your assurance should primarily come from gospel statements. I'll never leave you, nor forsake you. I died for you. I love you. I've given you my spirit. You're going to be glorified.

Statements like that. So when you're struggling with assurance, law gospel really, really helps because assurance comes from who God is in Christ Jesus, primarily, then secondarily, it comes from, I want to live a holy life because I'm holy.

Well, my name is Mike Avendroth. This is No Compromise Radio Ministry. I am no compromise. Now that wouldn't be right because Mario's part of the team. Mike Avendroth, No Compromise Radio Ministry, clarity on law gospel.

By the way, if you go to American Gospel Television, by the way, the third American Gospel show is coming out. I've got the proofs that I've been watching to see if I said things that are appropriate and sign off on that.

And you can watch the Law Gospel series on American Gospel Television. And you can also pick up the book, Law Gospel, A Primer, written by yours truly found on Amazon. Good to see you, see you next time.