Author Archives: Dan Lemburg

About Dan Lemburg

Hi I'm Dan, I'll update this bio info soon.

History of the “Law”

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Now we need to realize that law did not originate with the Law of Moses. Law was first introduced to Adam when God said, “but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”(Gen. 2:17)

So law was there in the Garden—just not “the Law” as it was later given. And sin was also around from the very beginning. But the thing we must understand is that law had to be in place for punishment to be meted out, since sin cannot be charged unless law exists to identify it.(Romans 5:13-14)

We Christians claim—and rightly so—that in Christ we are now free from the Law. But by this do we mean the Law of Moses only, or all law. Well, most of us would be quick to say that we’ve merely been freed from the Law of Moses. But doesn’t this raise another question? Doesn’t Old Testament law contain many commandments which are still pertinent today?

How about the Ten Commandments, for example? Which one of these laws would we be comfortable with breaking? Which one of them might we violate without any thought of consequences?

Excerpted from: Free from the Power of Sin: The Keys to Growing in God in Spite of Yourself

God’s Law

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In His eternal wisdom, God chose Israel from among the nations as His own possession. Of Israel God said, “…you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”(Exodus 19:6) He then gave them special revelation concerning His righteousness—its primary expression being the Law of Moses, which came some four hundred years after Abraham received God’s promise. In this Law God laid out the rules for Israel’s behavior, structure for their worship and also a special revelation of His nature. He made such things known to no other nation.

But over the centuries Israel debated both the meaning and the implementation of the Law of Moses. Over time an oral tradition evolved, handed down from teacher to student, ultimately resulting in a written collection of traditional rabbinic laws called the Mishna (compiled over 335 years from 200 B.C. to A.D. 135). Jesus made mention of this supplement to the Law when He chided the Scribes and Pharisees: “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?”(Matthew 15:3)

Eventually the Mishna became a cornerstone of the Talmud, an exhaustive interpretation of both the Mishna and the Law and Prophets compiled over 250 years from A.D. 250 to 500. An English version of this work is comprised of almost 36,000 pages in 36 volumes.  

In Judaism, man has raised the complexity of religious law to an astonishing level. But the question is why they would be motivated to make law so burdensome. The answer seems to lay in their belief that righteousness before God is possible only through strict adherence to His law—and the more works of the law one performs the holier he has the chance to become.

The Jews have indeed brought the complexity of law to a new level, but their beliefs concerning law in general are not unique to them. These beliefs are also deeply embedded in the psyche of mankind as a whole, and therefore found as a common denominator in most of the world’s religions.

The Righteousness of Law

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Scripture tells us that God is righteous. We commonly define righteousness as being in right standing with God. But what does it mean for God to be righteous? It would be silly to think that He has achieved some sort of excellence that allows Him to be good enough to be God. No, God doesn’t need to meet a standard of righteousness; He intrinsically is that standard. God’s righteousness means that He is by nature the essence of all that is good and just. Explaining God’s righteousness in The Knowledge of the Holy, A. W. Tozer says:           

            “In the inspired Scriptures, justice and righteousness are scarcely to be        distinguished from each other. The same word in the original becomes in English     justice or righteousness…Justice, when used of God, is a name we give to the             way God is, nothing more; and when God acts justly He is not doing so to             conform to an independent criterion, but simply acting like Himself in a given   situation…Everything in the universe is good to the degree that it conforms to the       nature of God and evil if it fails to do so. God is His own self-existent principle of      moral equity…”           

Now since God’s righteousness (justice) is the benchmark by which He will ultimately judge His creation, He had to provide mankind with the means to relate to His standard of perfection. He revealed that standard to man through law. So a good understanding of biblical law is essential, because it’s impossible to fully comprehend God’s amazing provision for our own righteousness (justification) without it.

Sensing God’s Reality

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God has given each of us a sense of right and wrong—a moral awareness which speaks of His existence from the very core of our being. This is why people in all civilizations throughout history have felt obliged by their conscience to appease, in one way or another, what they perceive as their god.

But God has given an incomplete revelation of Himself to most men, which has confined them to a limited perception of Him. So they set about instituting religious practices designed to placate this awesome presence, which they don’t understand but instinctively know exists. These practices commonly take the form of works and rituals rooted in fear. In other words, “I have to do something to try to please this god (or gods), in order to avoid their wrath and thus have some hope of blessing in my life.” Fear is the foundation of most religions in our world today, as well as those down through history.

However, fear of an angry, vengeful deity is never what God had in mind in revealing Himself to man. The fear of God— accurately defined as a profound and healthy respect for His awesome Person and power—is indeed the basis for our Christian faith, but it’s not the cowering dread assumed by people in most religions. Why not? Because, along with His many other attributes, the very nature of God is love, kindness, faithfulness, mercy, goodness and holiness. God always intended that He be perceived by mankind in this very way. Right from the start He has wanted us to have a healthy sense of His personal reality.

On Criticising Others

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I think I’ve acquired a pretty good understanding of God’s truths over the years, and can’t help but be a little put off by those who haven’t applied themselves to the same degree. But frankly, I’d be appalled if those who’ve gone further looked down on me the same way. My immediate response would go something like this: “Try not to be so judgmental!” Kind of humorous, isn’t it?

The criticism I dislike so much in others is the same criticism I don’t have much trouble dishing out. Well, this paints a pretty good picture of what I was like in my early life as a Christian, and the truth be told, to some degree still am. Yes, my parents named me wisely!

But let’s be honest, aren’t you a bit like me—maybe just a little? I thought so. It’s a rare person who has been able to totally eradicate this weakness so common to human nature. Why do we so easily fall into the snare of judgment? It’s law that’s behind it all. Rather, I should say it’s the weakness of our sinful flesh with its predisposition to pride that’s at the bottom of it. But without law, we’d never recognize this Achilles’ heel for what it really is. Nor would any basis for judgment even exist.

Because of the Bible, we know what a Christian’s behavior ought to be like. God’s law makes sin so obvious in those around us. It’s so easy to become critics! We find it quite natural to fall into the trap of judgment the moment we witness somebody violating His commandments. But on the other hand, we fail to keep His law ourselves, not thinking much about the hypocrisy it must provoke. It’s Pharisaism at its core! And yet we’d be shocked to think of ourselves as such.

Judgment Comes Easy

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My parents named me well. Dan means judge in Hebrew. But I’m not implying that I’m necessarily a good judge of others. What I mean is that I tend to judge quickly. And that’s not always a healthy thing—rarely is it, in fact. Still, that doesn’t seem to stop me; I tend to do it quite naturally from my heart.

It’s funny, too, how soon an emboldened sense of self-righteousness began to take root after I gave my life to the Lord: “What’s that guy doing? Why does he say things like that? Doesn’t he realize how God hates that stuff?” Never mind the fact that I’d find ways to excuse my own motives while doing something equally immature.

Although deep down I knew my lapses in behavior posed troubling questions concerning my own walk with God, these faults still seemed much worse in others. And not only that, I found it really easy to get all puffed up once I began to learn a little more than those around me. Do you suppose this might have stemmed from an attitude of superiority rooted in pride? Oh yeah! In fairness,

I didn’t go around brandishing this attitude (at least I don’t think I usually came off that way). Still, judgment was always there, quietly living its life just underneath the surface.

Victory in Defeat

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“What does my sin say about my faith?” Well, though it may be pretty ugly, I wouldn’t beat myself up too badly over it. Of course we fail to believe God perfectly! Jesus remains hidden, and we are but human. And even though Jesus, being our example, never sinned in His humanity, it doesn’t mean that we’ll ever reach such a level of perfection while here on earth. No matter how good we ultimately become as God’s children, we will always experience shortcomings in various areas of our lives.

Still, accepting the reality of our circumstances doesn’t mean that we turn a blind eye to God’s truth. Being naïve to the dynamics of sin as it relates to both faith and obedience, unbelief and disobedience, merely serves to weaken our ability to make right choices. The insightful writer of Hebrews says: “Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day…lest any of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”(Hebrews 3:12-13) Notice here how sin hardens us, in turn fostering further unbelief. Like a snowball—growing in size and gaining momentum—sin and unbelief feed on each other, serving to lead the believer further down the path toward alienation from God.

In order to prevent this from happening, we must guard our heart—even from seemingly insignificant sins. At the very least, disobedience stalls our growth. At worst, it hardens our heart to the point where we simply cease to believe. Allowing unbelief to take root is absolutely foolhardy, for when faith is shattered, God no longer has a basis for relationship with us.

While absolute sinlessness may not be attainable, walking in the holiness of Christ is. This is why we must never surrender to the domination of sin in our life, but rather set our heart to pursue growth in our faith through obedience. Even though we’ll never fully arrive at the perfection of sinlessness this side of eternity, the important thing is to keep moving forward.(Philippians 3:12-14) God loves watching His children work out their faith in this way, and will never fail to shower His blessing on those He finds so doing.(Philippians 2:12-13) 

Faith Evidenced by Obedience

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To answer this question of the weakness of the flesh, we must look beyond the question of sin to the issue of faith. Faith is the basis for our relationship with God.(John 1:12, Ephesians 2:8) It is simply impossible to come into relationship with God without it.(Hebrews 11:6) Our faith is God’s supreme treasure, and our obedience to Him is the evidence that faith exists within us.

Paul talks about “the obedience of faith.”(Romans 16:26) In Romans 6:16 he tells us: “…when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness.” Therefore, obedience is the litmus test of faith—the proof that faith exists.

In the same way, disobedience clearly reveals the presence of unbelief. In talking about the Israelites’ sin in the wilderness, the writer of Hebrews says: “And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.”(Hebrews 3:18-19) Here sin and unbelief are inextricably linked.

Disobedience—sin—is born of unbelief. So when we sin, we prove that we harbor some level of unbelief in our heart. To test this hypothesis, just imagine how you would behave if Jesus, in all His glory, visibly appeared to you. Would you sin? Of course not! The last thing you would want to do is displease Him in any way. Unbelief would be totally eradicated, and therefore disobedience wouldn’t be an option at all.

Excerpted from: Free from the Power of Sin: The Keys to Growing in God in Spite of Yourself

Sin: Pitfall vs. Practice

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If our sin does not in fact separate us from God, why would the Bible encourage believers to strive for sinlessness? And why would it bother to give dire warnings to those who practice sin in their life? “But immorality or impurity or greed must not even be named among you…for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”(Ephesians 5:3-6). Make no mistake about it; Paul is addressing the Church here, not non-believers. And he makes it abundantly clear that no such person “has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” Such warnings are repeated many times throughout the New Testament.

When the Bible speaks about sin as it concerns the Christian, it is actually talking about two broad categories of sin: that of walking in sin (the practice of sin as a lifestyle) and that of periodically falling into sinful behavior (what I’ll call a pitfall). So we need to understand that even though such biblical passages serve to caution us against stepping into the pitfall of sin, their primary purpose is to warn those who may be moving toward making sin the practice of their lives—those who time and again choose to live in sin.

We’d all be in big trouble if separation from God resulted merely from periodically falling into sin through the weakness of our flesh. Still, we must not discount sin, no matter how minor, as somehow being insignificant in God’s eyes, because the very nature of sin is that it has potential to grow and spread just as a cancer does in the body. All sin runs along a path that leads somewhere. And this, of course, brings up a very important question: when does sin as a pitfall develop into sin as a practice? Where is the dividing line between sin that merely displeases God and sin that drives His Spirit from us?

Excerpted from: Free from the Power of Sin: The Keys to Growing in God in Spite of Yourself

Not into Guilt Trips

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Believers often fail to appreciate a principle critical to our pursuit of God. It’s this: God isn’t into guilt trips; He’s on a gift trip. Which means what? It means that everything we need has already been provided in Christ. Picture God’s outstretched hand, all His abundance there for the taking by anyone who will simply come to Him asking for it.(2 Corinthians 1:20)

We can have all we want of God, but on the other hand He will never force anything on us. God won’t brow-beat or coerce His children in any way into receiving what He wants for them. Given the fact that the gift itself (not to mention the Giver) should provide more than sufficient motivation to seek greater intimacy with God, resorting to the use of guilt to compel someone to take advantage of such abundance seems a bit ridiculous, doesn’t it?      

It’s true that we are obligated to build relationship with God.(Hebrews 6:12) But a sincere pursuit of God should stem from the fact that we are assured of all He has promised, not by a twisted hope of obtaining God’s blessings from the incentive of guilt, pressure or greed.(2 Corinthians 7:1)

Still, intimacy with God needs to begin somewhere. So it’s not surprising to see our motivation to spend time with Him springing from a somewhat distorted sense of obligation. And that’s an okay beginning. Yet there’s something wrong—something missing—if seeking to be in His presence doesn’t eventually become a pursuit of the heart rather than merely that of duty.

Excerpted from: Free from the Power of Sin: The Keys to Growing in God in Spite of Yourself