Antinomian? | Kingdom

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Welcome back to the Kingdom podcast. It's good to be with you. We are here to learn about what does it mean to seek first the kingdom of God, and all that entails, including the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness, living in two kingdoms, king to this world and the world to come.

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All of that, even in the crazy stuff, the spiritual warfare and what does it mean that we are wrestling not against the flesh and blood, all that fun stuff.

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I'm your host John Moffitt, pastor of Grace Reformed Church in Springhill, Tennessee. This podcast is a part of the

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Theocast Ministries, which is a weekly podcast about Reformed Theology. I also host that podcast as well. Well, last week we were continuing our journey, and at the end of it

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I mentioned a word called antinomianism, and that's what we're gonna talk about today, because over the last few episodes that I've been explaining to you about the confusion of the gospel and law gospel distinction, the atonement, this accusation gets thrown at those who historically have promoted

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Reformed Theology and promoted the gospel, and we often get pitted against what's called free grace, those who would teach free grace, and then

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I've done a lot of work on Lordship Salvation. I'm not going to get into that. If you want to know about Lordship Salvation, you can go and listen to the multiple episodes that I've done on our website.

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Just type in Theocast Lordship and you can see that. But there has been some confusion, again, that's starting to arise when you're emphasizing the gospel, and you emphasize it in such a way that people then say, because the way you are talking about this, you are in a dangerous position of becoming antinomian.

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And I understand the concern, but it is, I think, a confusion, and that's what

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I want to talk about today, is the confusion of grace in the gospel and the law in antinomianism.

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So let's just start with, really, the definition of antinomianism. So anti means against, obviously, namas is law, and it is a movement that has historically been a part of the

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Church, and it's stuff that the New Testament writers dealt with, also it's been throughout the ages, and it is the theological belief that one does not find the law relevant for the

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Christian life, meaning that there is no reason to look to the law or to find necessary to obey it.

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One can be a true follower of Christ by faith alone and then live basically however they want, is how it's pitted.

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That there's no necessity, there's no reason to look to the law, and there's no value or it's not involved in their life.

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So technically they could go live however they want, be trapped in sin again. So that has been the historical definition and understanding of it.

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To emphasize the work of Christ on the behalf of the sinner, when you do this and you do it appropriately, you are going to have those who are legalistic in their training and heart come after you.

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And I find great comfort when they do. I do not find it to be a problem, I find it to be a comfort, because Paul dealt with the same issues and the same exact accusation.

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Should we go on sinning that grace may abound, and what does he say may it never be, and where does he point to you?

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He doesn't point you back to the law, he actually points you back to Christ. And I find this is necessary because it seems as if the modern evangelical, particularly in the reformed conservative camp, they believe that the only way to righteousness and sanctification and obedience is by means of the law, and fear and dread.

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So we must obey because of the fear of what happens if we don't, or we must obey, or we may not be a believer.

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So obedience confirms our salvation. This is why multiple times when people talk about Theocastra, they talk about Grace Reformed Church or myself, they say that we de -emphasize the self -evaluation part of Christianity, and we really emphasize grace, making it so that we don't have to obey.

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And so I really want to approach this on just a broad, bigger level, and to help some of you who maybe have been feeling this as well, like, wow,

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John and Justin, what you guys are saying, if this is true, it feels like people could just believe this and do whatever it is that they want.

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And that is a massive confusion of the gospel. It's almost so much so to remove the cross, because it's impossible to look at your grace that you've received from Christ as we take communion each and every week, and we hold the body and blood in our hands, and we celebrate the sacraments, to think that one could remain in their sin and yet celebrate the gospel.

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Because the gospel is the story of death unto life from sin, not death unto life into sin.

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This is why so much of the freedom of the gospel is about being freed from sin, not being freed to sin.

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So I don't know of anyone who's being accused of being an antinomy in the Reformed confessional world right now that isn't emphasizing the death of Christ for sin and the third use of the law.

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And so we're going to talk about all of that and unfold it right now. That was my introduction. Long one, but we'll get into it quickly.

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When you are thinking about the grace of God in your life, that is the motivation that is being given to us in so much of Scripture.

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Let's just start with the first sin that is recorded among humans, and that first sin is the deception of Lucifer, of Eve, and Adam, and they fall.

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And immediately after they fall, they feel the shame and the guilt of their sin, and they go and hide. And the Father comes and hides and finds them.

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And what is it He does immediately? He makes a promise to them, and they are not involved in the promise.

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He makes the promises. There is no call to response. There's no call to requirement.

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There's nothing for them to do. He says, I will do this. I will cause a promise to be fulfilled, and that is the coming of the

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Messiah who will crush the head of the serpent. After He makes the promise, He then covers their shame by sacrificing, by destroying

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His creation, and then putting skins of an animal upon them to cover their shame.

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And so God's mercy and His grace has been upon them from day one, and that's the story that we read throughout all of Scripture, that God is covering our shame with the sacrifice of Christ, and He's fulfilling the story of redemption, restoring

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His back into love and to fellowship by means of His grace to give us what we do not deserve and to not give us what we deserve.

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It has been the story ever since Genesis chapter 3. So nothing on that has changed.

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When you get into the New Testament, you can always see that it's by faith that we obey.

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It's not by fear or dread or obligation. We're not obeying to confirm or to somehow add to the gift, because then it's not mercy and grace at that moment.

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It's transactional, and there's nothing in Scripture that's transactional unless you want to earn your own righteousness.

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So this is why when the rich young ruler runs up to Jesus and says, what must I do to be saved, or I'm sorry, what must

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I do to enter into the kingdom of God, because the kingdom is for righteous only, Jesus tells him what he has to do.

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This is why Jesus says, I am the door. Like, if you want into the kingdom, you have to come through me, and I'm righteousness.

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You come through my righteousness. There is no other door that says your righteousness that you can enter. This is why He says the road is narrow.

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It has nothing to do with your obedience. It's not the narrow road of the person who obeys, it's the narrow road who finally realizes that it's only through Jesus that one can come.

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So this is important, because once we learn about being in Christ, we're a new creature, then we change and we shift from trying to earn our way into salvation, which can't be done, it's by faith alone.

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Now we look to, I'm a part of the king and his kingdom. What is the work that I do in the kingdom as a representative of the king?

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This is why He says in Colossians chapter 2, the way in which you have begun, chapter 2 verse 1, the way in which you've begun in the faith is how you continue.

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Well, you didn't begin by obedience, you began by faith, so you continue by faith.

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And what does Hebrews tell us? That it's impossible to please the Father unless it's done by faith, right?

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So even your works of obedience, if they're not done, believing in Jesus as righteousness for you and sacrifice for you, if you don't obey

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Him by faith, then they're of no value, and God will not accept them, and He will not be pleased. So we always walk by faith in the perfect work of Christ.

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I think that the difference is the tone. People hear our tone, and our tone sounds very similar to Jesus, right?

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It says, come unto me, all you, I have you laid, and I will give you rest. That sounds concerning, that there's no exacting -ness there, there's no words of wrath and anger.

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Well, not to the broken sinner, no. To the unrepentant sinner who is unwilling to see that he needs

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Jesus, then yes, preach the full force of the law upon them. Let them know that they are under God's wrath and anger and will not be relieved from it, no matter how hard they try, unless they come to Christ.

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But once they have come to Christ, it's rest. It's rest for the weary. Why? Because there's no work to be done.

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Not for your salvation and not for your sanctification, there's nothing else to be done. Those are all works of the

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Spirit. He who began a good work, and you will complete it, right? Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.

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So, when it comes to your relationship to Jesus, there is no law involved.

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As it relates to your current standing, your sanctification and your glorification are all by the work of the

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Spirit. They're all His moving, that's what we call monergistic, one who moves. There is no collaboration with Jesus.

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Now, when it comes to the work of the kingdom, and proclaiming the good news to those who are lost, and the caring for the body of Christ, and the protecting of the gospel, you are definitely involved.

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You are called to, as a matter of fact, you're so involved that you are called to die for that.

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You are to lay your life down. You are living sacrifice. So, I do believe in the third use of the law.

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You know, the first use is to condemn us. It shows us the law of the righteousness of God, and how much we don't stand up to it.

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The second use of the law is for civil use, to govern, as we can see it, like the ceremonial, or the civil law with Israel.

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And then the third use of the law, which has been promoted by the Reform for hundreds of years, is that it's to guide us.

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It's a guide because it can't condemn, and it's a guide because it can't be used as merit.

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You can't obey the law to earn favor and righteousness. Righteousness is found in Christ alone. So, we obey the law because it's a wonderful guide in a world and in a body that is broken.

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I live in a world that is godless and lawless. I live in a body that wrestles with the flesh, so the law becomes a guide.

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This is why it sounds different. You see, I don't use the law, and the Reform don't use the law as a means of gaining righteousness or proving one's righteousness.

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One's righteousness must always be found in Christ. Now, that being said, when we obey the law as we should, and as we're called to, we can find comfort in our faith.

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Our confession even tells us this, that at times it can bolster our faith to see that this is what's required of me, and this is what

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I do. Praise be to God that by the means of the Spirit and the power of faith, I have obeyed.

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And it could bring encouragement. But it being as the law, the point of it is not assurance and not to prove your salvation.

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Most of preaching today in the evangelical and conservative Reform world that tend to not be confessional, they emphasize the proving of one's faith because they're worried about lukewarm

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Christians. They're worrying about false professors. Well, lukewarm Christians and false professors will not learn how to obey the law by means of the law.

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The law is dead in purpose for that. It cannot produce spirit power in you.

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Think about it this way. Paul tells the Colossians, or I'm sorry, he tells the church in Ephesus in chapter 5 and verse 8 -18.

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He says, be filled with the Spirit. You know what he uses to fill you with the Spirit? Not the law.

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He doesn't use the law. He says through psalms and hymns and spiritual songs in reference to who? In reference to the

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Messiah and the work of Christ and God's promises. So, even the filling of the Spirit, if someone's not in obedience, they're not being controlled by the flesh, like being drunk with wine, and they're not being controlled by the

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Spirit, the result is not the law. The result is Christ and the gospel. That's how you produce those results.

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So when someone says, John, you're preaching is antinomianism, then yes, I agree with you. I will not preach the law where only the gospel will work.

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But I will go on record in saying that if you do not obey God's commands to do your work in the kingdom and to love your brother and to love

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God and to live a holy life that reflects not the world but Christ, then you're wrong and you're in sin and you need to repent.

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And how is it that we call people to repent? 2 Peter 1 .9. If you're in sin, you have forgotten you've been cleansed and you need to be restored by what?

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The remembering of the grace of God in your life. When Paul is dealing with one of the most wicked and debaucherous churches in Corinth, what does he say?

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I want to make nothing known among you except for Christ and Him crucified, because the blood of Christ is what's going to cleanse your conscience and recapture your heart and regain your heart.

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When we're thinking about when we're weighed down with sin and we're weighed down with weight, what does Hebrews 12 tell us?

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To look unto Jesus, right? Not the law. When they were weighed down with sin in Hebrews 12 and they weren't obeying, he doesn't point to the law.

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He points to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, and look at the great cloud of witnesses who also looked unto

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Jesus, and they are the ones who found the energy and the requiredness, the required power to obey by their faith in Jesus.

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This is why it's by faith, by faith they obeyed. All of the acts that happened in the book of chapter 11 of Hebrews were all because of their faith in the promises of God, not in their obedience to the law.

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They ended up obeying, but it was because of their faith, not because of their own desire to obey.

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I heard recently someone make an accusation that nowhere do we ever call people to examine themselves. Well, in the particular passages that call for examination,

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Paul, particularly in that situation when he's referencing a church that says you need to examine yourself, he's saying, if you're accusing me of a false gospel, you got your gospel from me, so if I'm not a

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Christian, you should examine yourself because you're not a Christian either, because you got your gospel from me. So in that particular situation doesn't work.

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What about 2nd Peter chapter 1 where it says that it's pointing to examination? Well, I would agree that if you look at your life and you're examining it and you're realizing that you're not obeying, you need to ask yourself why.

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That's what Peter's getting at. He's said the examination is because your eyes are in the wrong place.

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You've now allowed the world to attract you again. You've allowed the world to sidetrack you, but what brings you back on the tracks?

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It's on the tracks of Christ, right? It is Jesus that pulls us back. It's always our forgiveness.

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That's always been our motivation. Think about it even this way, when in Hebrews he's talking about the discipline of the

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Lord, he says the Lord's disciplines those whom he loves, so he's always drawing us back with his love.

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Therefore, we look at the love of Christ and the grace and the mercy of Christ, we allow that to find our firm foundation and our firm rest in Christ, and then we pick up the burden.

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That's why Jesus says, first, find your rest, second, my yoke is easy, my burden is light.

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Once you have his love and you feel his rest, then it's time to get to work, but we reverse it.

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You got to pick up the burden first before you find his rest, as if the burden is how you enter the rest. No, you enter the rest, then you get to work, and my encouragement to anyone who's hearing this, if someone's always emphasizing the work instead of emphasizing

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Christ's work, you don't have the energy, you don't have the motivation. We love because he first loved us, we look at his love for us before we look to the love for others.

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Even when he's talking about the greatest example of love, we look to Jesus laying his life down for us before we go lay our lives down for others.

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The motivation is always looking to Christ first. That's not antinomianism, that's a proper way of understanding Scripture and the emphasis of Scripture.

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I'll say this again, you must obey. It's part of the work of the kingdom, it's part of the advancement of the glory of God, it's for his glory and for our good, but it's always because of what we are.

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We are his children, right? I'll just encourage you to read 2 Peter chapter 1, and what you'll notice is he starts first of all with your divine salvation being

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God's chosen upon you and all the rewards that are waiting for you are kept in heaven by his protection and will not fade, and then he tells you get to work, and then if you're not working as you should, he says we'll go back and remember the gospel, and that's the cycle that we live in.

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That's not antinomianism, that's called biblical Christian life. So I hope that was encouraging to you.

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There are two other aspects of the Christian life that I want to add to this, not gonna do it in this episode, I'll do it in next week's episode that is related to this, but it's the righteous versus the unrighteous, so we'll see you guys next week.